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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Prøks]
[Proofreader - Prøks]
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Chapter 188: The Seven Demons of the Myriad Demon Assembly (1)
The man in white stared at me for a long time, then nodded as if acknowledging something.
"You're more perceptive than I expected."
"Now that I see it, you weren't tailing me."
I looked at the man and smiled.
"You were deliberately luring me."
"There were many eyes watching. This is the perfect place to have a quiet conversation."
I turned my head and looked outside.
It was already getting dark.
Not a single sound could be heard.
Was it because it was located at the edge of the street? There were hardly any people coming and going.
"It is quiet. Was the Keplan branch originally here?"
"It's one of many locations."
"What's your name?"
"You can call me Dante."
I stared at the young man in white who introduced himself as Dante. He had an ordinary appearance, with no distinctive features.
He was wearing a very loose-fitting white robe, making it difficult to discern his physique.
"I don't think the Information Guild usually makes the first contact. What business do you have with me?"
Dante nodded.
"That's how serious the matter is. Our guild has been closely watching the recent incidents in the Demon Realm."
"Hmm."
I felt like I had become the eye of a storm in the past few days.
Since coming out of the Demon Realm, all sorts of people had been stirring things up, mentioning demons.
I couldn't trust anyone.
I picked up a piece of fried chicken and wiped my mouth with a napkin.
"Ugh, this is pretty tough. You should learn from Hote again."
I rinsed my mouth with moonshine and said casually,
"I heard the Keplan branch is doing quite well within the Information Guild."
Dante's expression subtly changed.
"Where did you hear that?"
"I have ears, you know."
"..."
Suddenly, Dante got up from his seat without a word and walked to the entrance of the tavern.
He looked around the street and quietly closed the front door.
Now it was so quiet that only our breathing could be heard.
Whoosh
Dante brought a candlestick from somewhere and placed it on the table. As soon as he did, the lights around us went out.
Only a small candle flame flickered, illuminating the two of us.
"...Was it from branch manager Khaoto?"
"You know a lot about me."
"Don't believe every rumor. There are traitors within the guild."
"I didn't say anything? What’s this about the traitors?"
"You know about the demons, don't you?"
"I'm getting tired of everyone talking about demons."
Suddenly, I remembered Kant warning me.
He told me to be careful if the Keplan branch manager contacted me. He said they might have ulterior motives.
"Ruin, I don't quite understand why you're reacting so sharply."
"Stop beating around the bush and get to the point. Tell me something that will tempt me."
"Hmm..."
Dante looked at me.
"I know who is behind this Demon Realm."
"So?"
"I also know where they are."
"Now that has piqued my interest."
Dante met my gaze intensely.
"Do you not trust me?"
"Of course I don't."
"Forget what you heard from the Khaoto branch. Making a deal with me wouldn't be bad for you, Ruin."
"That's not important. I don't trust Khaoto or this place. The things the Information Guild does are too shady. Just take the money and sell information, why do you do things I can't understand?"
I took a sip of moonshine and then said,
"Since when have you been watching me?"
"It was unavoidable surveillance. I told you."
"Does the Keplan branch manager also watch the library's librarian?"
"...Excuse me?"
I carefully examined Dante, who couldn't control his expression at this point.
The librarian who was reading a book with his back turned in the library on the 5th floor.
The faint smell of oil was the same as the smell coming from the soggy fried chicken in front of me.
"I don't trust shady people. You seem very interested in me."
Dante gave an awkward smile.
"I wasn't trying to deceive you on purpose. I needed to confirm whether you were trustworthy, Ruin."
As I finished the last of my moonshine, Dante uncorked a new bottle and poured it into my glass.
I emptied another glass and then asked,
"So. Where is this mastermind behind the Demon Realm?"
"In Keplan."
"Who is it?"
"If you make a fuss, they might escape. I'll take you to meet them myself."
When I smiled, Dante no longer tried to hide his expression and smiled as well.
Suddenly, Dante looked at me as if he was really curious.
"Was it too obvious?"
"Extremely."
"As expected, you're quick-witted. But it's too late."
I shook my head and asked,
"What number are you?"
"Oh?"
"What's your relationship with Parin?"
Dante replied,
"I couldn't be more grateful. You walked right into my hands."
"You seem too confident."
With a look of disbelief, I asked,
"Don't you know how Parin died? Kant knew."
I drank another glass of moonshine that smelled of demonic energy and shook my head.
"This guy's information is too slow."
When I turned my head to look at Dante again...
A half-mask was now worn over the lower half of Dante's face, illuminated by the flickering candlelight.
A featureless gray half-mask.
It was the same type as the one I saw on the lowest floor of the Demon Realm.
"Quick change."
Dante smiled, revealing black teeth.
Whoosh
The moment the candle burned out and my vision was completely engulfed in darkness, a dense demonic energy emanated from the front.
A familiar spatial rending attack thrust towards my neck.
I immediately dodged with a jerk of my head and overturned the table.
Crash!
I was used to this level of darkness.
I immediately opened all the circles of my heart and rotated them in reverse. I wasn't in the mood to play along.
The moment I sensed an aura from the left diagonal direction, I thrust my hand blade into the air.
5th Circle Reverse Incantation,
Dark Hand.
Mana from the Yin dimension condensed around my hand blade.
The difference from Dark Lightning or Dark Explosion was that a materialized band of darkness wrapped around my hand as a blade, as if a swordsman's aura was being concentrated.
Thud
"Gah!"
As soon as I heard the scream, I ignited a spark in the air.
Flare
Dante, with a sharp, hand-shaped hole in his chest, was glaring at me while spitting out black blood.
"Gah, how..."
"That line is getting old."
"But I clearly..."
"That line is old too. Anyway, stalling won't do you any good. Demon or whatever, that hole won't regenerate."
Suddenly, Dante's pupils dilated as he looked down at the hole in his chest.
Black blood continued to pour out.
"Now that I see it, you're neither demon nor human."
I definitely had that feeling in the Demon Realm too.
I thought it was strange that he spoke in a voice too human-like for a demon.
Seeing this guy, I understood.
"This is a first."
He wasn't a complete demon.
It was like looking at a demonized human.
Meanwhile, Dante continued to spew black blood.
I nudged him with my foot and asked,
"Where's your boss? Tell me, and I'll kill you quickly without pain."
"Kuh..."
"Talk."
The moment I kicked his head, his neck snapped.
"What are you doing?"
"..."
Suddenly, I had a strange feeling and brought my face closer. He was already dead.
"He's dead?"
Feeling slightly dumbfounded, I immediately nodded.
If he were a true demon, he wouldn't have died so easily. Even when I detonated Dark Lightning in their hearts, they could easily hold on for a few minutes.
This guy really wasn't a complete demon.
First, I tried to tear off the half-mask attached to his face...
"Why won't it come off?"
It was completely stuck to his face like a leather mask.
I had to struggle for several minutes, generating wind pressure, before I could separate it.
"Kant was right."
After a moment of thought, I lit up the tavern and slowly looked around.
Like an old abandoned house that had been recently cleaned, there were traces of long neglect.
I didn't know if Dante was the real Keplan branch manager or just a subordinate, but there was definitely someone above him.
Why did they choose today of all days?
That's what I didn't understand.
There were plenty of other days, so it was too sudden for them to target me today out of the blue.
While examining the kitchen, I pushed the refrigerator aside, and a staircase leading to the basement appeared.
There was no reason to delay.
As I continued down, I felt a faint distortion of mana flow from the wall to the left. I immediately struck it with Dark Lightning.
Booooom!
My vision cleared, revealing a messy lounge area that looked like it had been ransacked.
Junk was scattered everywhere, and piles of documents and broken furniture were strewn about.
There was also a large table for office work, but it was also covered with countless piles of documents.
I approached and started looking through the piles of documents one by one.
"This is insane."
As if they were really receiving information requests, the documents were filled with details about clients, objectives, and success rewards.
It was intentional.
The location of the documents, their contents, the ransacked furniture – it was all deliberately arranged.
They had clearly considered the possibility of this place being raided.
In fact, it was so messy that even a seasoned thief wouldn't know what to steal.
But what if I was the one raiding?
I searched for blank pieces of paper with burning eyes.
In these situations, an amateur usually checks the table first, an intermediate the trash can, and an expert, believing that the most obvious place is often overlooked, checks the papers by the door.
So what about a super-expert like me?
I picked up a blank piece of paper that caught my eye.
Surprisingly, the moment I infused my fangs with magic power, letters appeared in black.
[Assembly, Summoning, Midnight.]
"Wow."
It seemed like I had finally caught their tail.
I instinctively sensed that something serious was happening.
The only problem was that I didn't know the location or the time.
Where was the summoning taking place?
Which day's midnight was it? There was nothing written about it.
Just in case, I searched all the other blank papers, but there was no other evidence.
This was useless.
Hmm...
After a moment of contemplation, I left the lounge and wandered around the stairs.
There might be more evidence somewhere else.
When I reached the end of the stairs, I saw a large magic circle drawn on the entire wall.
Even when I infused it with mana, nothing was detected.
It seemed like a magic circle that had been used in the past and then closed.
"Hmm."
Even after searching all the suspicious areas from the first floor to the basement, no further evidence was found.
I went back up to the first floor and continued drinking moonshine next to the dead Dante.
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't come up with a good alternative.
I needed to know the location to raid them, but if I didn't know the location, I had no choice but to wait.
Frustrated, I emptied a bottle of moonshine and opened my circle.
The moment I manifested mana from the Yin dimension, the demonic residue accumulated in my body disappeared.
Ding—
I heard the sound of the clock tower's pendulum ringing from somewhere in the distance.
I turned my head and looked towards the kitchen.
Just now, for sure...
Ding—
I kicked off the ground and ran past the refrigerator in the kitchen, down the stairs to the end. The magic circle I thought was closed was now lit up.
It was a teleportation magic circle.
I knew it instinctively. This was the place.
"Damn it. Was 'midnight' today's midnight?"
Dozens of possibilities flashed through my mind.
Should I go in right away?
Should I inform the idiots and go in?
Should I rest for a while and then go in?
Should I send a message to Black and Fichte and then go in?
The problem was, I didn't know when it would close.
I made a quick decision and ran back up to the first floor, stripping Dante of his baggy white robe.
The clothes were so big that even when I wore them, my physique wasn't revealed at all.
I quickly went back down the stairs and put the gray mask on my face.
With a snap, the mask attached to my face as if it were being sucked in.
The teleportation magic circle was gradually getting closer.
Damn it.
There was no other choice.
Whatever it was, I had to go now.
The man who always moves forward, the man who doesn't always act trivially, the man who acts when it matters, the man who doesn't shy away when he has to, the man who knows how to move forward even when afraid – that man, at this very moment, threw himself into the magic circle.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Prøks]
[Proofreader - Prøks]
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