Chapter 288 — Demon King Slayer (3)

TL Note: A lack of gender words in Korean means that sometimes the gender of a character is ambiguous. This chapter was the first time a gender pronoun appeared for Gabriel, showing that she is female, not male like previously assumed.

[Archangel!]

Demon King Ose was looking to this side with eyes that were frightened beyond surprise. It was the same for the constellations of the absolute evil system. For them, the archangels of Eden were the worst enemies.

It wasn’t strange that they would be shocked at the sight of two archangels emerging simultaneously.

[Why are there archangels? The angels of Eden mostly died after that day!]

I heard the murmurs and felt regret. This was the world of the 1863rd regression. Gabriel and Jophiel wouldn’t know what happened in this round.

[■ck, what nonsense is this?]

Gabriel’s true voice rang out like she had been waiting. Like Uriel, Sswear words emerged from her mouth. I had to stop her before things became bigger.

“Gabriel. You don’t need to listen to their nonsense. Quickly handle them!”

[...Don’t whine at me. Cheeky human.]

There were places to tackle but she had to follow the words this once. Gabriel’s power filled my entire body.

[I am the archangel Gabriel.]

I could feel my hairs standing up. Finally, Gabriel’s main story was heard.

[I have been sent to tell you this good news.]

Of course, that ‘good news’ only applied if Gabriel was on the same side.

[Don’t be scared! The archangels are nothing but remnants who have lost their stronghold!]

Demon King Ose encouraged the constellations. However, as he was talking, Oso was already moving far away. It happened when the constellations held their star relics and rushed towards me.

[This is about the fixed end.]

Gabriel’s story, the ‘Revelation of the Apocalypse’ had begun.

「 You have seen a ram with two horns, the great horn between the eyes is the first king. 」

Golden strings flowed from my body. The size of my body was growing along with the strings. My body was overflowing with power like a ram in breeding season. Pure white horns rose in the place where the demon king’s horns had grown.

[U-Uhhhh...]

The constellations of the absolute evil system were frightened just looking at the horns. Some constellations dropped their weapons like helpless incarnations and some of them rushed around screaming.

[Uwaaah!]

It was like they saw their end.

「 He will be stronger and stronger with his own power, not my power. 」

The six wings behind my emitted a brilliant flash of light as the attacks of the constellations poured towards me. Even so, I didn’t receive any damage.

The solid metal summoned before my eyes neutralized all types of attacks. It was a weapon that the giant god clan were likely to use. The snake shining with a white light climbed up the shaft and the snake’s eyes were studded with a dazzling windowpane reminiscent of a cross.

This was Gabriel’s divine speak, the Preference Scale. I grasped the handle of the spear. All of a sudden, the world felt like it was tilting. All beings in the vicinity were placed on a scale. They were on one side of the scale or the other.

I turned my head and Gabriel was smiling. Her palms touched my shoulder.

「 He will commit terrible destruction and shall destroy the mighty and holy people. 」

The spear shone brilliantly and I threw it with all my might.

Then part of the world was erased. The constellations attacking me from the sky, those running from the side and even the ones who had lost their fighting spirit and had sunk to the ground. They disappeared like they never existed in this world. The only things left were the existences on this side of the scale.

This was the true power of the archangel. Gabriel opened her mouth and spoke in a grudging voice. [...I missed one. There was a limit to the number of petals.]

In fact, Demon King Ose had anticipated the situation in advance and had already fled. He knew that he couldn’t cope with an archangel alone as a lower-ranked demon king. However, Jophiel didn’t just watch.

A red fog was generated behind me and followed Ose. The whole world screamed like it was in pain. It was apparently a red fog but when I looked closer, it was an army of small soldiers.

The 503rd unit of Eden turned the sky red. It was the elite unit that followed the Commander of the Red Cosmos.

[Kueeeeok!]

Red thorns rose from the bloody fog that moved like piranhas. A terrible scream was heard in the distance as the soldiers of heaven held a festival of blood. Then after a while, everything became silent.

The torn incarnation body of the demon king flew in the wind like crumbs. The silent Gabriel moved my feet and trampled on the fragments of the demon king.

[It’s nothing.]

[The constellations of the absolute evil system are greatly baffled by the emergence of the archangels.]

[The demon kings are doubting the probability of the Star Stream.]

[Some constellations have condemned the abnormal intervention of the archangels...]

[Shut up these ■■.]

The six wings stretching from my back flew through the wind as countless feathers and the power of the archangels diminished.

I felt a bit nauseous but the burden on my body wasn’t as severe as I thought. Maybe it was because the amount of probability in the 95th scenario was much more abundant or maybe it was the Outer World Covenant with Secretive Plotter. Either way, it was good for me.

[It isn’t finished yet.]

However, Jophiel didn’t retract her strength. Jophiel continued by giving a command. [Kill him too.]

She was pointing to Yoo Jonghyuk who was as stiff as a statue. I hurriedly waved my hands. “There is no need. He isn’t a bad guy...”

[He is absolutely evil.]

My right eye stung and the world started to look different.

[The stigma ‘Eye of Sin’ is triggered!]

Eye of Sin. It was Archangel Jophiel’s stigma.

[Measuring the ‘sins’ of the target.]

The eye that saw the ‘sins’ accumulated in every existence in the world. There was only a dark abyss in the place where Yoo Jonghyuk had just been standing.

[The ‘sins’ of the target can’t be converted to a numerical value.]

A darkness with no end. It was a darkness that got worse just by looking at it. Even the demon kings or constellations of the absolute evil system didn’t have such huge sins.

Jophiel spoke. [It is an endless sin. I have never seen such a dense sin apart from Baal and Agares. All the sins in the world combined can’t go beyond his sins.]

I knew. Yoo Jonghyuk had committed many sins. He killed many people. He destroyed many worlds. Countless souls cursed him.

[He must die.]

However—

“It isn’t possible.”

This person, he also saved others.

“You can’t kill him.”

Maybe it was nothing compared to everything he screwed up. Obviously, there were some things he saved.

[The constellation ‘Commander of the Red Cosmos’ is looking at you.]

In front of that sullen gaze, I gulped and opened my mouth. “This guy is still useful. You shouldn’t kill him now.”

[...Demon King of Salvation. It is because of the scribe’s orders that you are still alive.]

“You spared me so you can spare one more person.”

I looked back and saw that Yoo Jonghyuk’s body was lightly shaking. His consciousness was somehow struggling to emerge from the water.

Jophiel spoke towards Yoo Jonghyuk. [If he wakes up, there is no guarantee that I can stop him. We have to kill him now.]

Jophiel tried to summon her fog again. I inwardly sighed. No matter what I thought, this was the only way.

“What if I can stop him from waking up without killing him?”

Jophiel’s red fog stopped.

“What if there is a way to stop him from regaining consciousness while controlling his unconscious self?”

[Is there a way to bind him? What trick are you going to use?]

The moment Jophiel was about to explode again, Gabriel stepped in.

[Jophiel, leave it. In any case, we need time to figure out the situation.]

Jophiel thought for a moment before responding. [...If he shows signs of waking up, I will kill him immediately.]

I nodded. Then I ran straight to Yoo Jonghyuk. “Hey.”

The vibrations of his body were becoming stronger. I had seen this scene several times in the original novel. Maybe Yoo Jonghyuk’s consciousness would wake up in a few minutes. It was difficult if that happened.

I slowly moved my hand and grabbed Yoo Jonghyuk’s neck. Just as he did to me. It wasn’t easy to raise him up because he was bigger than me.

“Let, go.”

Yoo Jonghyuk’s consciousness had almost reached the surface of the water and he spoke in a choppy manner. His fingertips moved slowly like he was trying to catch me.

I knew how to wake up Yoo Jonghyuk from his regression depression. In other words, it meant I also knew how to sink him deeper into that melancholy.

I saw Yoo Jonghyuk’s fingertips moving and opened my mouth. “Do you remember? The 33rd round. You cleared the 40th scenario and Lee Jihye said this.”

Yoo Jonghyuk’s eyes dimmed and his moving fingertips stopped.

「 “It would be nice if Master didn’t have to go to the next round.” 」

“Think about it. You weren’t always unhappy. Right? In all the rounds, there were moments when you were happy.”

Yoo Jonghyuk’s expression was becoming stiffer.

“The 173rd round. You protected Earth for quite some time. You also saw Lee Jihye receiving her high school diploma and Lee Seolhwa smiling at someone’s child.”

「 “Jonghyuk-ssi, are you happy that you’re alive?” 」

Every time I spoke, Yoo Jonghyuk’s expression collapsed. It wasn’t despair that broke down Yoo Jonghyuk.

“The 383rd round. You finally cleared the 75th scenario. Fortunately, nobody died in that round. That was the first time. Then Lee Hyunsung told you.”

「 “Jonghyuk-ssi, I won’t forget today until I die.” 」

The feather-like memories sank into his head.

“Then the 498th round...”

Yoo Jonghyuk’s palms moved to cover his ears. The usual Yoo Jonghyuk wouldn’t have fallen from this much. Now it was different. I held his hands and kept talking. “That happened 10 times.”

A human sank deeper into the water just because of the weight of these feathers.

“Twenty times.”

My breath clogged up and my lungs tightened. I could feel what Yoo Jonghyuk was going through. Only I could feel it. The most primitive darkness at the bottom of one person was swallowing his ego greedily.

“100 times. It repeated over 1,000 times.”

All those words were destroyed. All the happy memories flowed back to a time they could never return to. Through the countless regressions, the meaning of happiness faded. All the values he preserved became pieces of torn paper.

“Yoo Jonghyuk.”

Yoo Jonghyuk’s self was sinking into the deep sea. It was to a place that he could never come up from without someone’s help.

“Have you protected all the things you wanted to keep?”

I looked at Yoo Jonghyuk’s miserable face and thought: Don’t worry Yoo Jonghyuk. I’ll do the rest. You stop and rest.

[Your understanding of the character ‘Yoo Jonghyuk’ is increasing explosively.]

Yoo Jonghyuk’s empty eyes were showing memories of losing his master. I didn’t use Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint but it wasn’t hard to read.

「 I want to die. 」

「 I want to finish all of this. 」

「 If only I can never wake up. 」

A few drops of rain fell from the sky. It was black rain made from the blood of the demon kings and constellations. Liquid also flowed onto Yoo Jonghyuk’s face. Yoo Jonghyuk’s gaze lowered and finally fell on me.

I was looking at the moment a human’s spirit collapsed. There was a broken voice. Like a creaking machine, Yoo Jonghyuk stammered, “Wh,at... should, I, d...o?”

I released Yoo Jonghyuk’s hands and told him. “I’ll finish your story.”

Yoo Jonghyuk looked at me with empty eyes. However, I didn’t see him. The sub scenario window had just updated.

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[Sub Scenario (Secretive Plotter) – End of the Regressor]

Clear Conditions: Yoo Jonghyuk’s death.

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I reached for Yoo Jonghyuk’s Heaven Shaking Sword that was on the ground.