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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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“Edwin, it’s too deep…”
“Just hold on a little longer.”
Claris Academy, inside the Lintz Forest, thick with large trees.
Edwin’s adventurous spirit was burning for the treasure hunt event.
“This is… out of bounds, isn’t it?”
“It probably still is. Lintz Forest is big, you know…”
‘Boys will be boys…’
Melissa sighed with a smile and followed behind him.
The chirping of birds stopped, and the presence of people around them disappeared.
‘Should I just grab him?’
Melissa, conscious of being alone with Edwin, was contemplating whether or not to hold his hand.
That was when it happened.
-SHAAAAA!!!!!!
“Wh-What was that!”
“!!”
With a deafening roar that pierced their eardrums, the area of the forest where Melissa and Edwin were standing began to glow and tremble.
-BOOOOOOM!!!
And this shaking soon stopped.
“???”
The unidentified red light became clearer and began to draw something.
“A, a magic circle?”
Melissa, well-versed in theory, knew it well.
This was a large-scale spell.
Moreover, looking at the shape, it wasn’t an illusion magic circle mainly used by human wizards, nor was it an ancient spell.
It was a black magic circle.
In other words, a demon’s spell.
“It’s, it’s black magic…”
-WHOOSH!
At that moment, the lines of the spell shot upwards.
-WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
And diagonally, sometimes vertically, it moved in irregular directions, crisscrossing, starting to draw something.
As if trying to summon something.
Its scale far exceeded the height of the two by five times.
“Melissa, behind me!”
“O…okay.”
Sensing danger by instinct, Edwin stepped in front of Melissa.
-WHOOSH!
The light revealed its identity and took shape in an instant.
-GROOOOOWL!!!
Suddenly, standing before them was a giant, monstrous creature.
A face whose shape was hard to discern due to needle marks, a body that looked like three ogres combined.
Holding a chain in one hand and a meat tenderizer in the other…
It was a patchwork made of corpses.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Chapter 3’s main episode, [Demon Advent: Gate of the Underworld], simply proceeds with two parts simultaneously.
First, the giant demon beast that Edwin and Melissa encounter in the Lint Forest, surrounded by a demonic barrier.
The battle with [Tyrant Chains-Corpse Stitch].
And inside the academy, the [Corpse Legion] invading from the Gate of the Underworld.
Mixed with the illusionary monsters appearing in the treasure hunt, it becomes a cauldron of chaos.
And the one who helps Edwin and Melissa is, of course, Yeriel.
As Edwin receives help and stops Corpse Stitch, the great demon, Bune, appears and starts the second phase.
In my estimation, Corpse Stitch’s rank is at least A or higher, and Bune’s rank is likely higher than that, so it’s safe to say that there’s no possibility of Edwin defeating Bune.
Ultimately, if it follows the original work, Bune, recognizing that Yeriel has the power of a fallen angel within her, tries to kidnap her but fails.
Instead, he curses her, sealing all her elemental abilities.
In short, just as she shows her true power, she loses her strength and becomes a character whose presence disappears.
The enraged Edwin tries to fight by squeezing out his awakened power, but he’s absolutely no match for the great demon Bune and is only humiliated.
Eventually, only after the professors and the academy’s guardians arrive does Bune, having slaughtered numerous students, leisurely escape through the return portal to Pandemonium.
In the end, the reason for this narrative’s existence can be seen as the author’s device to suppress the growth of Edwin and the main heroines while Kaelan is absent.
Therefore, I have two options.
I can either help Yeriel avoid having her powers taken by Bune, or I can quickly close the Gate of the Underworld so that the academy’s forces can focus on Bune.
“I…”
In the end, I chose the latter.
Containing the Gate of the Underworld.
The reason is that I have a good method to contain the Gate of the Underworld.
And I had a very big picture to test through this gate.
‘I can’t just let such a big episode go to waste…’
If things go well, I might be able to catch two birds with one stone, including saving Yeriel.
I just hope that Edwin can hold out until I get back.
‘Please be worth the Essence of the Black Dragon…’
.
.
.
The old commercial district.
I was searching… for the Gate of the Underworld.
-Aaaah, run!
-Hey! They said up to two!
-Are we disqualified?
-We just found two!
Many students were already battling ‘illusionary’ monsters here.
It was much more chaotic than usual because of the festive atmosphere.
So, even if monsters from the Gate of the Underworld suddenly poured out here, people might think,
‘Oh, is it a new treasure hunt event?’
.
.
.
I wondered how long I had been running around like that.
Suddenly, a status window popped up in front of me.
-Ding.
Life Achievement!
Discovery: Gate of the Underworld
Huh?
There was nothing around me.
Just the middle of a peaceful commercial district street.
But the status window disappeared when I went far away,
-Ding.
Life Achievement!
Discovery: Gate of the Underworld
and it reacted when I returned to this spot.
‘Wait… the status window appears because of the Gamer trait.’
Thinking in terms of the game…
‘It’s the z-axis.’
It’s simple if you think about the game’s minimap.
If a ping is marked on the map, but you can’t see the NPC even when you get there, it means they’re either above or below ground.
Since there’s only the sky above, the answer is underground.
Was it because of the influence of the extreme difficulty?
‘To think they hid it in the sewer…’
I immediately went down into the sewer.
.
.
.
-Kue? Kueeee!!
-Clang! Clang!
“I can’t… hold on… anymore…!”
Raymond’s moaning voice and the cries of the corpses echoed throughout the underground.
“Dylan…? Dylan!!”
-Cough.
Dylan coughed up blood instead of answering.
Raymond was in front, heavily armored, so he might not know, but Dylan had been bitten by ghouls on his right thigh and left ribs long ago.
“F**k…”
He thought the corpse monsters, ghouls, would be easy to deal with because they tended to rush in uniformly.
But the reality was different.
He couldn’t properly pierce them with his spear, and some ghouls didn’t fall in one blow, persistently harassing Dylan.
Eventually, because he had to worry about this, he failed to manage his stamina properly and suffered two critical wounds.
The corpses of ghouls got caught on Dylan’s feet.
He was starting to get used to the foul stench and the flies.
He had somehow managed to kill dozens of them.
But there’s no end.
The fear that ghouls would continue to pour out of that gate was consuming Dylan and Raymond.
And the murderous intent of those creatures was genuine.
“What am I supposed to do! I can’t anymore!!”
Raymond’s cry was desperate.
He was barely holding them back with his sword and shield, but he was gradually being pushed into a corner by the accumulating ghouls.
He was losing all the strength in his body.
The moment he lowered his shield, these ghouls would devour his body.
Just thinking about it made him tear up and snot run down his face.
“Am I, am I going to die?”
“Shut up, Raymond.”
‘F**king hell. So my destiny was to end up in a ghoul’s stomach.’
Yesterday’s social gathering felt like a dream.
What was that peaceful daily life?
It’s the Empire’s top academy… how can they not manage something like this?
Why do I have to die here…
And the thought that tormented him the most.
‘Was I really not meant to be Kaelan after all?’
Dylan’s consciousness faded due to excessive bleeding,
“I don’t want to die…!!!!”
-Thud!
Raymond also collapsed, exhausted.
.
.
.
-Kieeeek
-Kieeeek!
Maybe it was because he had lost even the sense of pain.
He couldn’t even feel the ghouls eating him.
As heavy eyelids drooped over his narrow field of vision,
-Whoooosh
Something passed by.
Ghouls soared up.
That was all.
.
.
.
Ghouls coming out in droves.
For monsters that have just respawned in Reincarnation Brave, aggro doesn’t apply for 2 seconds, so it was great for managing the Hermit gauge.
The proficiency was even more rewarding.
8 is something that only war heroes can achieve, but since the crossbow is such an unpopular weapon and easy to use, it seems I reached this point quickly…
But…
‘Why are they here…’
When I roughly cleared out the pouring ghouls, there were two male students mixed in among the corpses.
Of course, I don’t remember their names…
Anyway, it’s a slightly different development from the fanfic novel, but I’m a little embarrassed, but inadvertently, they bought me some time.
“So far, so good.”
For now, I have no intention of reporting the Gate of the Underworld to the academic staff.
Soon, this will become a very big picture.
The Gate of the Underworld is a high-dimensional black magic that connects the Empire and Pandemonium in one go, so it’s a very large and difficult spell to cast.
They probably succeeded in constructing it by grinding up all the magical beings in Pandemonium.
But, unlike creating this Gate of the Underworld, closing it is simple.
High-ranking demons, great demons, can easily solve it with a single command.
In other words, if I use Demonization, I’ll be judged as a great demon.
-Kueee!
-Thud!
I blew off the head of a ghoul crawling out of the gate and chanted.
‘Demonization.’
-Whoooosh!
And when I, in my demonized state, touched the demonic shape, a status window popped up.
-Ding.
Gate of the Underworld
› Currently Active
› Closure Possible
‘I’ll be back, so see you later.’
“Close.”
With just my one word…
-Creeeak…
-BOOM!!!
This massive demon’s mouth slammed shut.
“Phew…”
And then, I carried the two who were becoming corpses and escaped the sewer.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
By the time Edwin and Melissa looked up, the sky had turned purple.
It was because of the demon’s unique barrier.
And,
-BANG! BANG!
Corpse Stitch’s chain attacks,
-BANG!
crushed the ground.
“Melissa, stay away from me!”
“…Edwin!”
Edwin pushed Melissa back.
And when Corpse Stitch tried to lift the meat tenderizer stuck in the ground again, he seized the moment.
-Dash!
Edwin’s nimble form moved to the right side of the Stitch and slashed at its arm joint.
‘Sever!’
-Slash!
-GROOOOWL!
At that clean strike, the Stitch flinched for a moment, but it instantly regenerated the wound.
-GROOOOWL…
“!”
-Tremble…
“?”
Recognizing Edwin, the creature began to spew filth from its entire body.
-Tremble…
-GROOOOOWL!!!
And with a speed incomparable to before,
-SWISH! SWISH!
it began to swing its arms.
-BANG! BANG! BANG!!
Each blow was heavy enough to pulverize even a plate-armored knight, yet,
‘Crazy!’
it possessed unpredictable speed.
Edwin judged that it was even stronger than the Flame Ghoul.
-BANG! BANG!
The continuous thunderous roars caused the trees of Lintz Forest to break… and the soil and rocks to shatter and scatter.
It became a scene of utter chaos.
‘It’s on a different level from the selection test’s Stitch…’
The stitched-together corpse had many weaknesses, but its recovery speed was just as fast.
In other words, unless it was a blow imbued with divinity, it was difficult to deal effective damage to the creature.
‘Focus.’
Edwin, still not used to handling divine power, closed his eyes and concentrated.
-D, dodge it!
Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.
Because it was so loud, students near Lintz Forest began to gather one by one and help Edwin.
-Cast support magic on that guy first!
-Isn’t that the C-rank guy?
-Does that matter?!
Edwin in the vanguard.
Melissa and a female student who could cast support magic in the middle.
And a male student with a dagger in the rear, forming a makeshift party.
-Clang!
-Dash!
Thanks to the acceleration support magic, Edwin was barely able to escape Corpse Stitch’s attack range.
But that was it.
A student handling a poisoned dagger tried to sneak behind the Stitch using stealth, but
-Clatter!
-!!
“S…sav…!”
He got caught in the chain and became a victim of the meat tenderizer.
-BANG! CRUNCH!
-Kyaaaaaa!!!
The gruesome scene of him instantly losing his shape and blood splattering everywhere.
No one could even scream.
Only the feeling of nausea welled up.
-GROOOOOWL!!
Having killed one, Corpse Stitch tore off and ate the student’s face, then
-THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
suddenly, it began to move its massive body deep into Lintz Forest.
“Melissa, are you okay?”
“E, Edwin… I, I’m okay, but the problem is…”
“Problem?”
“It’s probably targeting another corpse…”
“What do you mean?”
Melissa’s explanation was simple.
Deep in Lintz Forest was the grave and monument of a war hero who wanted to be buried in the academy.
Of course, it could be defined as just a corpse with only bones remaining.
But to the corpse-eating Stitch…
There was a slight possibility that it could lead to the worst-case scenario.
“…Edwin?”
Edwin stood up without hesitation.
“Melissa, since it’s a festival, there are probably guardians stationed everywhere.”
“N, no. Don’t leave me…”
“It’s okay, it’s just that guy around here. Go to Professor McClone where there are many people.”
-Dash!
After speaking briefly, Edwin kicked off the ground and ran.
-Slash!
Once again, Edwin’s sword strike scattered on the Stitch’s back.
But the creature didn’t even budge.
And then it brought its two weapons together,
-WHOOOOSH!!!!
“!”
and attacked Edwin with a 180-degree rotation.
-BOOOOOM!!
“Ugh!”
The trees in the trajectory where Edwin had dodged were turned into a mess,
-S, sorry! This is impossible!
-I’ll call for others!
-It’s a demon’s barrier! The entire Lintz Forest… it’s trapped us!
-What?!?! We can’t… escape…?!
Even the students hiding nearby were in despair after hearing that they were trapped.
Just as Edwin was trying to get up and grab his sword again, the Stitch’s rotational attack continued relentlessly.
-BOOOOOM!!
‘Ugh!!!!!’
It was hard enough to just dodge the Stitch,
“Edwin!”
-Creeeak…
-!!
-THUMP!
Even the trees in the forest were falling, threatening Edwin.
-Creeeeak…
-THUMP! THUMP!
Edwin’s range of movement was narrowed by the layers of fallen trees, and just as Corpse Stitch was about to finish him off by raising its arm,
-WHOOOOOOSH!!!!
-GROOOOOWL!
The area around the Stitch suddenly became bright.
And the mysterious flames began to mercilessly burn the creature,
-WHOOOOOOSH!!!!
-GROOOOOWL!!!
then gathered again and merged into the form of a bird.
A phoenix.
An immortal bird.
An awe-inspiring presence that burns away even fear.
A density of flames that not even Melissa, known as the Crimson Flame, could approach.
“Stay away from my junior!”
The elementalist, Yeriel, had appeared.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Save her again? My brother in isekai. Nobody will be able to bloody save you after she is on your ass