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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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KWA-GWA-GWA-GWA-GWA-GWA-GWA!!!
An earsplitting roar, a blinding golden light exploded, shaking the entire world.
And amidst the deafening noise, a new sound emerged, sharp and distinct.
Crack.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
Everyone heard it clearly, even in the chaos.
It was distinctly different from the sound of crumbling walls.
And in this place, if something other than a wall was cracking, there could only be one explanation.
“Oh?”
“Oh!”
“Oh!”
They opened their eyes to see a small crack in the gate.
Hope, once glimpsed, fueled their desperation.
They all cried out, their voices rising in unison.
“One more! Just one more swing, Regita! You can do it!”
Regita, as if her frustration had finally reached its boiling point, roared back.
“That was my full strength! I can’t do it again! Just… what is this place?! Who built it?! How can something exist that even I can’t destroy?!”
The vampires listening to Regita unknowingly nodded in agreement.
It was shameful to fail to destroy something that should be destroyed.
But what was this place?
The Annihilation Inscription, this gate they had never seen before… none of it made sense.
But one thing was certain: they had all walked into this place of their own volition.
Whether they died trying or somehow managed to escape, it was up to them.
Regita turned to Jekkiel and Christine, her voice desperate.
“You vampires! What are you doing?! Do something! I did my part!”
Cough.
Having poured her soul into that last attack, Regita coughed up blood.
The Sins, gathered here, unable to escape a single room and coughing up blood… it was a sight that would shock any demon in the Demon Realm.
Fortunately, aside from Artel, there were no ordinary demons present.
They just had to survive.
That was all that mattered.
PAAAANG!
The first Annihilation Inscription finally activated.
They could feel something falling towards them from high above, the result of the explosion.
“W-We’re in trouble!” Christine cried.
With something falling from above, and all other paths blocked, they were trapped.
There was nowhere to run.
Jekkiel wedged his scythe into the crack in the gate and pushed with all his might, using it as a lever.
“Everyone, push! Push with everything you’ve got!”
“Push!”
Fortunately, Thanatos’s hilt was incredibly long.
Long enough for all four of them to grip it with both hands.
Creeeeeeak—
The gate, already weakened by the massive crack, began to buckle under their combined force.
It slowly crumpled, revealing what lay beyond.
“J-Jekkiel-nim! It’s opening!”
“Push! Keep pushing!”
“Push!”
Creeeeeeak!
The gate continued to open.
Miraculously, Thanatos’s hilt held firm, neither breaking nor bending.
Whoosh—!
Finally, when half of the massive gate had been completely crumpled and pushed aside…
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Huh?”
Their faces went blank.
Beyond the crumpled gate was… another wall. It wasn’t a gateway to another space; it was simply a wall with a gate attached to it.
“Who the hell designed this?!” they all shouted in unison.
They had never imagined that even Lepista’s Wand, as valuable as it was, would be protected by such malicious traps.
Now they understood why there were so many discarded weapons scattered around.
Even the three Sins struggled to escape this place.
There was no way other demons could have survived.
“J-Jekkiel!”
In moments of crisis, one calls out the name most precious to them.
Without thinking, Christine cried out Jekkiel’s name.
“Calm down. There has to be a way.”
He calmly examined the wall.
After about ten seconds, he stopped.
“…There might not be a ‘has to be’ in this world.”
Everyone watching Jekkiel trembled.
Regita grabbed him by the collar.
“Then what are we supposed to do?! What was the point of breaking down the gate?!”
“Regita. Look at this.”
Jekkiel pointed to a piece of the broken gate.
Although he addressed Regita, everyone’s gaze followed his finger.
And there…
“Huh?”
Regita’s eyes widened first.
Even she, obsessed with battle as she was, recognized the symbol.
A goat with demonic horns.
“…The Demon King?”
At the mention of the Demon King, Christine and Artel craned their necks to look.
“The Demon King.”
“Really… the Demon King…?”
Finally, they understood the bizarre structure of this place, its impenetrable defenses, and the presence of the Annihilation Inscription.
“This is crazy… Was this place managed by the Demon King?” Regita muttered in disbelief.
“‘Was’ managed, it seems. It appears to be abandoned now, intentionally or not.”
Just then, Regita shook Jekkiel’s shoulders again.
“The Demon King! If it’s the Demon King’s mark, shouldn’t you be able to do something?! You’re the expert at defying the Demon King!”
“…I defied him once. And it wasn’t even defiance, it was a mutual agreement.”
“Once? What do you mean once?! Don’t you remember? You risked your heart for Christine, and then…”
Crack!
Rocks which fell from above had buried Regita.
The situation was dire.
‘What is it?’
Jekkiel’s expression turned serious.
He had honestly thought this was the end, but after discovering the Demon King’s mark, a flicker of hope ignited within him.
‘He wouldn’t have left it abandoned with the intention of killing everyone.’
The Demon King.
He was a being who constantly sought amusement.
Hadn’t he demanded Jekiel “entertain him” as a condition for relinquishing his title as a Sin?
So, if his amusement was satisfied, he would have definitely left a way for the trapped demons to escape.
Think.
Think.
Think.
“Regalus.”
He dared to utter the name.
A resonant hum emanated from the wall in response.
‘Illusion magic!’
This wasn’t a real wall.
It was an illusion.
A smile spread across Jekkiel’s face.
“…I’ll sacrifice myself. If I activate the Queen’s Nest, I can absorb the damage alone.”
“No need.”
He stopped Christine, who was about to recklessly sacrifice herself.
If this was just illusion magic, no one needed to die.
Regalus.
This time, it was a battle of wits against the illusion magic left behind by the Demon King.
He placed his hand on the wall.
Now that he knew it was illusion magic, he could sense the flow of dark mana within it more clearly.
It seemed the wall was designed to drain the dark mana of anyone who touched it…
The problem was figuring out how to drain it.
There were no puzzles, no clues.
‘What Regalus always finds amusing…’
Sacrifice.
The greater the sacrifice, the more people involved, the more Regalus would clap and rejoice.
At least, that’s what Jekkiel knew.
There was no need to hesitate.
“This should be enough.”
Taking a deep breath, Jekkiel began pouring his life force, infused with dark mana, into the wall.
Christine stared at him in shock.
“Jekiel! What are you…?”
But she couldn’t finish her sentence.
The wall was reacting, glowing red.
“Hold on, Artel! Just hold on!”
“Y-Yes?”
“Intercept anything falling from above! Protect Regita!”
“Yes!”
She answered readily, but it was no easy task.
Magical inscriptions were already raining down from above.
‘Faster!’
There was no time to calculate how much life force to expend.
He poured everything into it, drawing upon every ounce of his being, as if it didn’t matter what happened afterward.
‘It can’t end here.’
He had students to nurture.
He couldn’t let Christine die here.
GOOOOO!
Finally, his will to overcome his limits transcended his physical limitations.
His life force surged outward, pouring into the wall like a broken dam.
Cough—!
He coughed up blood.
But he didn’t stop.
His brain and blood vessels felt like they were burning.
Perhaps they were.
He could smell the acrid scent of burning flesh.
But his mind, having surpassed its limits, felt no pain.
PAAAAAANG!
The wall erupted in a brilliant light, revealing what lay hidden within.
“A magic circle!”
“A Return magic circle!”
Hope flickered in Christine and Artel’s eyes.
A Return magic circle, a way back to the outside.
Anything that touched it, even just a single body part, would be transported.
Cough—!
“Jekkiel!”
Christine caught the collapsing Jekkiel, placed one foot on the Return magic circle.
“T-Take me too!”
Artel grabbed Christine’s waist.
“W-What about her?”
She pointed to Regita with her other hand.
Having exhausted all her strength in that last attack, Regita lay motionless, half her body pinned beneath the fallen rocks.
“…Take her. Cough!”
Artel stretched out her other hand, barely managing to grasp Regita’s horn.
KWAAAAAANG!!!!
The moment the falling inscriptions exploded…
Flash!
The Return magic circle activated.
Everything went white.
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[Bro got scammed by the demon king lmaoooo]
