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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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Chapter 327
He had already completed six subjugations.
'It feels like it's about time to finish the quest.'
Jeong-hoon glanced at the top of Siron’s head.
The quest still hadn’t responded.
[Secret Episode Quest: Union Hall (2)]
- Requirement: Complete the Union Hall (1) quest
- Reward: ??
- Description: Follow Siron’s lead. The quest will be completed once the conditions are met.
He had been clearing the dungeons Siron guided him to, yet the conditions still hadn’t been satisfied.
“You’ve worked hard. Let’s move on to the next one,” Siron said with a bright smile as he prepared to guide them to the next dungeon.
“Wait a moment.”
Jeong-hoon stopped him.
With a smile still on his face, Siron tilted his head curiously.
“Yes? Is something wrong?”
“How many more do we have to subjugate?”
“Hmm, let’s see. Since you’re quite skilled, I was hoping you could clear about 20 or so...”
“Twenty?”
Jeong-hoon scowled in disbelief.
It wasn’t that he was physically exhausted, but given the urgency of the situation, he couldn’t afford to keep running abnormal dungeons indefinitely.
Seeing Jeong-hoon's reaction, Siron quickly became flustered and apologized.
“Oh, if you’re feeling tired, I’m sorry. You’ve been clearing them so quickly that I didn’t even consider you might be worn out...”
‘What’s with this guy?’
Jeong-hoon felt a strong sense of unease from Siron.
Outwardly, he wore a kind and gentle smile, yet there was something off — something unsettling beneath the surface.
“No, I was just curious about how many are left. Let’s keep going.”
For now, it seemed best to watch him a little longer.
“Then I’ll be counting on you.”
“Sure.”
* * *
‘Wow... they're seriously just standing there watching?’
‘This is ridiculous.’
Mukho and Anima were still full of frustration.
Throughout the ten-plus dungeons Jeong-hoon had cleared, those others hadn’t once offered to help.
It seemed they were deliberately staying out of the way, perhaps thinking they’d only slow Jeong-hoon down since he was clearing dungeons so quickly.
But from Mukho and Anima’s perspective, their attitude felt downright infuriating.
Anima, in particular, glared at Kanteon, the dragonkin leader, with clear disdain.
‘That bastard is a disgrace to the dragonkin.’
As a result, Jeong-hoon had to keep calming the two down while continuing the subjugations.
They entered the 14th dungeon.
The 14th dungeon was different from the ones they had cleared so far.
[Lv.??? ???]
Neither its level nor name was displayed.
'What the...? It's ranked higher than me?'
Jeong-hoon furrowed his brows.
Even though he possessed power comparable to a Sovereign Class being, he couldn’t read it.
What on earth was lurking here?
“Gah!”
At that moment, a scream erupted from the direction of the leader who had followed Jeong-hoon inside.
Jeong-hoon instinctively turned his head, and the scene before him left him stunned.
“S-Siron... why! Ugh!”
“Argh!”
Siron had begun attacking his Union comrades indiscriminately.
The first victim of his sword dance was Niaiv, a member of the fairy race.
Before Niaiv could even use her abilities, Siron's blade claimed her limbs and neck, ending her life instantly.
Next was Yurina from the beast race.
Her torso was severed at the waist, leaving her upper and lower body separated.
Although she narrowly avoided instant death by activating her abilities, the real problem came afterward.
She attempted to rapidly regenerate her body, but her movements faltered. Her face twisted in panic.
In that state, Siron drove his sword down into her head, silencing her for good.
Jeong-hoon stared at the scene with a hardened expression.
[You cannot interfere with Siron.]
[Interfering will result in quest failure.]
The quest had imposed a restriction.
“S-Save me!”
“Outsider! Help us!”
The remaining survivors desperately cried out to Jeong-hoon, defending themselves from Siron’s assault.
Since Jeong-hoon had the power to take down a Demon King-class transcendent in an instant, they believed he could stop Siron.
‘Yeah, right.’
‘Funny how they only call for help when it’s convenient for them.’
Mukho and Anima sneered, curling one side of their lips in mockery.
‘That bastard...’
The kind smile Siron had worn before entering was long gone.
Now, he wielded his sword with a chilling grin, devoid of any hesitation.
Even after the screams had ceased, Siron continued driving his sword down repeatedly, ensuring no life remained.
“Phew, I wanted to let them live a bit longer.”
With those words, Siron turned his head.
His cold, gleaming eyes locked onto Jeong-hoon.
Drenched in blood from head to toe, Siron slowly walked toward him. Only then did the quest’s restriction lift, allowing Jeong-hoon to move again.
“You... are you really a Hero?”
“Yes, as you can see.”
Siron grinned brightly, spreading his arms wide.
“I’m the only one who can save this world.”
“Save...?”
Jeong-hoon glanced at the sprawled corpses.
Was that what Siron was calling salvation?
Noticing his gaze, Siron burst into hysterical laughter.
"I thought you would understand, but it seems you're just as worthless as the rest of them."
“…You… don’t tell me you’re an Incarnation?”
At that question, Siron stopped laughing and began to sob.
"That's too much. How could you compare me to such nobodies?"
At his sudden change in expression, Mukho and Anima hid behind Jeong-hoon.
‘Wow... that guy's seriously messed up.’
‘There's something wrong with his mind. Master, be careful.’
Jeong-hoon pressed his fingers against his temple in frustration.
"Then what are you? Spit it out before I kill you."
"A god."
“…A god?”
"Yes. I'm still human for now, but soon, I will become one."
"Unbelievable. And what does that have to do with killing your comrades?"
"This world must be destroyed."
"Destroyed?"
Did that really just come out of a hero's mouth?
"Yes. Because it's rotten to the core."
"So that's why you killed them?"
"It's a bit of a shame. I had planned to wipe everything out once the damage level reached 80%."
"……."
"Thanks to you persistently clearing those abnormal dungeons, my schedule had to be moved up… but it can’t be helped."
Siron wiped the blood off his sword, unable to hide his disappointment.
"When did it start? All this scheming?"
"Hmm, I never really schemed anything. From the very beginning, I never had the slightest intention of protecting this world."
"Impressive. How did you manage to hide such filth while pretending to be a hero?"
"It was easy. I just kept smiling brightly and pretended to save the world a few times, and they started worshiping me as a hero on their own."
"……."
"Isn’t it pathetic? They’re powerless and too lazy to do anything themselves, so they just cling to this 'hero' title and beg to be saved."
So he never had any intention of saving the world in the first place.
"Disgusting."
"Heh, exactly. Absolutely filthy. Except for me, of course."
As Siron grinned, a glowing exclamation mark blinked above his head.
[You have completed the quest.]
[You have gained 100,000,000 experience points.]
[You may now proceed to the next quest.]
Upon completing the quest, a question mark blinked above Siron’s head.
[Secret Episode Quest: The One Behind It All]
- Requirement: Completion of Union Hall (2) Quest
- Reward: ??
- Description: Discover the one behind Siron.
The next quest was to uncover the one behind Siron.
In other words, finding out the identity of the Transcendent that had contracted with him would complete the quest.
Jeong-hoon pondered for a moment.
Siron had referred to Incarnations as nobodies and claimed that he himself was destined to become a god.
“You… don’t tell me you made a contract with a Designer?”
If that was the case, there was only one answer.
Designer.
Jeong-hoon must have struck a nerve, as Siron let out a brief gasp of admiration.
“Oh, so you’re not entirely clueless.”
“…So that’s how it is.”
If it was a Designer, they would be on the same level as Escanon — a Supreme Celestial.
Jeong-hoon didn’t know what kind of contract Siron had made, but since he had mentioned becoming a god, it likely meant he had secured a spot as a Transcendent.
However, nothing appeared above Siron’s head.
‘That’s not the right answer?’
Did he need to identify the Designer’s true name precisely?
“Of course, that’s not the right answer.”
“Not the right answer?”
“Yes. Didn’t I tell you? I’m destined to become a god.”
“…Don’t tell me… a Named?”
Named.
The five beings known as gods.
Could it be that he had made a contract with one of those Named?
“Bingo.”
As Siron nodded, a glowing exclamation mark blinked above his head.
[You have completed the quest.]
[You have gained 100,000,000 experience points.]
[You may now proceed to the next quest.]
Jeong-hoon was too dumbfounded to say anything.
[Secret Episode Quest: Confrontation]
- Requirement: Completion of the "The One Behind It All" quest
- Reward: ??
- Description: You have uncovered the one behind Siron. Confront him and reduce his HP below 90%.
The next quest was a confrontation with Siron.
‘So I just need to reduce his HP below 90% for it to count as a success?’
It seemed like a simple quest, but things were different if his opponent was an Incarnation contracted with a Named.
Incarnations receive power by fulfilling quests given by Transcendents.
That likely explained why Siron had consistently played the role of a hero — it was probably part of the quest.
Otherwise, there would have been no reason for him to keep hiding his twisted nature for so long.
After accepting the quest, Jeong-hoon immediately stepped forward using the Heavenly Demon Lord’s Dominion technique, closing the distance between himself and Siron in an instant.
In his hand was the Shadow King’s Spear, which he swung in a wide arc from above.
[Activating Shadow Moonlight.]
Shadow Moonlight.
Clang!
Siron casually raised his sword and deflected the spear strike.
"Well now, aren't you a little too drunk on your own skills? It's troubling when you leave so many openings."
He muttered as if disappointed.
‘Danger.’
Sensing the threat, Jeong-hoon quickly stepped back using the Heavenly Demon Lord's Dominion technique.
===
[NPC Information]
- Nickname: Siron
- Level: ???
- Class: ???
===
When Jeong-hoon first encountered him, Siron was a Level 1,500 Hero (Grand Master).
But now that he had revealed his true nature, both his level and class were concealed.
‘I need to go all out.’
If he tried to gauge Siron's strength by holding back, he'd be defeated for sure.
[Black Field is activated.]
[All stats are boosted by 1.8x.]
[Due to Black Field's effect, all stats of monsters invading the area decrease by 15%.]
Jeong-hoon activated Black Field, then rapidly deployed buff-type items and his Ultimate Aura.
Switching from the Shadow King’s Spear to Anima, Jeong-hoon drew the bowstring and aimed at Siron.
“Are you planning to use the same method you used to subdue Dregar?”
Siron sneered.
He had observed Jeong-hoon's battles closely enough to grasp some of his abilities.
“Got a problem with that?”
Jeong-hoon released the bowstring.
Ultimate Arrow.
The arrow shot toward Siron.
Fwiiish!
But once again, Siron effortlessly deflected the arrow with his sword.
[Celestial Strike is activated.]
At that moment, Celestial Strike triggered, unleashing a rain of arrows.
“I told you, it’s pointless.”
Yet the arrow rain couldn't harm Siron at all.
Hero’s Blessing.
The blessing enveloped his body, shielding him from the barrage.
“You won’t know that until we see it through.”
As Jeong-hoon switched to Leviathan and prepared his next attack, Siron was already right in front of him.
“Then I suppose I should show you.”
Jeong-hoon’s eyes wavered.
‘Dangerous.’
[Using Barrier of Light.]
He hurriedly activated the Barrier of Light.
Crack!
The barrier shattered almost instantly.
Jeong-hoon swiftly retreated using the Heavenly Demon Lord's Dominion technique.
‘Master! Are you okay?!’
Mukho shouted urgently.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
He had survived thanks to instinctively activating the Barrier of Light.
If he'd been even a second slower… the thought alone was terrifying.
“Wow, what’s this? I didn’t know you could even wield divine power.”
Siron slowly walked toward Jeong-hoon with a look of surprise.
‘This bastard… acting all smug.’
Jeong-hoon gripped Leviathan tightly in his right hand.
‘Master, are you sure you're okay?’
Anima asked, her face full of concern.
‘Yeah.’
Jeong-hoon nodded.
That last attack confirmed it.
He acknowledged Siron’s strength, but it wasn’t enough to stop him from completing the quest.
Just 10%.
He was confident he could reduce that much.
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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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