The Veteran Player Already Knows

Chapter 150 - Declaration of War (2)

“...Ah, aaah. Really. It was a puppet body I worked so hard to make.”

With those words, such a statement flowed from Estelle’s headless corpse as it stood up.

“...Huh? What? Uh?”

Of course, as you can tell just from the sentence, it was a very grotesque scene. Seo Ah-in was looking at it with a nearly broken expression.

When the fragments of the exploded head began to squirm and crawl back together, she was so pale that she started clinging to my arm.

“...”

This one.

She didn't bat an eye when fighting Demonic Beasts with her life on the line.

But she was strangely weak to this kind of horror movie situation.

“E-e-eeeeek-! W-what is that?!”

“I told you. It’s not a person.”

Saying that, I nonchalantly pulled a chair up to the table in front of Estelle, or rather, Raven, and sat down.

“I heard you were coming, but I didn’t expect such a violent greeting. What were you going to do if I called the guards here?”

She said, pointing her finger under the table.

She was probably referring to the emergency security bell installed there.

“Go ahead. I’m curious what would happen too.”

At least in a situation like this, where anyone could see the demonic mana billowing, one of us was bound to be framed as a follower of a demon and fall into ruin.

Of course, one would generally think that this one, who was treated as an executive of the Association, would use various means to pin the blame on me.

So what?

That’s a story for ‘normal’ situations.

“...Indeed. If the opponent is you, nothing is certain.”

Raven chuckled and swept her hair back.

It meant her exploded head had been completely restored to the point where such an action was possible in that short time.

‘...Ha, really.’

Although it was not her main body but a puppet made of mana, the fact that such regeneration was possible in just a few minutes reaffirmed just how powerful the demon race was.

Raven was more of a strategist than someone specialized in direct combat.

The fact that even she possessed this level of durability greatly increased the burden of combat.

It was no wonder that even a top-tier veteran like me was trying to get to the Spirit Realm quickly through Han Si-yeon-ssi.

“...”

As I was thinking that, I felt Seo Ah-in looking at me with a strange gaze from the side.

What? What is it now?

“No. It’s just that you always acknowledge your opponent like that and then say strange things, Gyu-sik-ssi...”

“...”

“It’s like you find it more enjoyable to crush someone like this...?”

Don't describe me like some kind of pervert.

Well, in this case.

I guess you couldn't say her words were that far off.

***

Ever since their first encounter, Raven had always thought that Kim Gyu-sik was an interesting human.

For her, who had lived for an terribly long time and was easily bored by everything, that in itself was a huge compliment in some ways.

In fact, it wasn’t as if she had never met such a person before.

Most of them were people who had left their names in history books for their achievements, for better or for worse.

However, even for her, who had seen all sorts of people while experiencing the process of the future turning into the past countless times.

It was definitely the first time she had ever had such an impression of someone.

“...Are you really in your right mind?”

“Of course I am.”

The man, who had spouted something absurd, replied without batting an eye.

Even though he had just uttered something so ridiculous that even Raven herself momentarily broke her usual ‘mask-like’ demeanor, it was as if he had come here with the intention of saying such a thing from the very beginning.

“...”

What flustered Raven even more was the presence of Seo Ah-in, who was just sighing as if she had expected it, even after hearing what this man had just said.

Didn't it seem like he did this kind of thing casually all the time?

“Let me confirm again.”

Raven said, clutching her throbbing head.

To think the day would come when she would lose her composure in front of a human.

“Did you just say you would help me?”

“You heard me correctly, so don’t ask again. Do you want to die?”

“...”

No, wouldn't anyone react like her after hearing what he just said?

Such a conviction was running through Raven’s mind, but she took a deep breath and re-organized what this man had just said.

“You’re going to help me, the apostle of the King of Flies, to resurrect him, the great disaster that will annihilate humanity... You?”

“Yes.”

For someone who said he would destroy humanity with his own hands, his attitude was terribly indifferent.

What on earth was in this man’s heart?

“...What do you want? Do you also wish to become an apostle of the King of Flies and receive his grace?”

“As if, you rotten insect bastards. I’m not that handsome, but I’m satisfied with my current state.”

The answer that came back with a scowl at Raven's question only amplified the doubt.

To be sure, it was a question Raven herself had asked half-heartedly. No matter how you looked at it, his attitude was not that of someone who would suddenly side with the demons.

“...For his level, Gyu-sik-ssi is quite handsome.”

“Hmm? What did you mumble?”

“Nothing.”

To the man and woman muttering such banter, Raven spoke, clutching her head, which was throbbing even more than before.

“...Then for starters, how exactly do you plan to help?”

Being a top-level executive of the Climber Association was a position that could exert far more powerful authority than it appeared on the surface.

The reason she was able to infiltrate a formidable organization like the Magic Tower by corrupting Edgar was solely due to the groundwork laid with such powerful authority.

In other words, even though she was in a position where she could do almost anything she could think of in that way, the reason the resurrection of the King of Flies had been so slow until now was because it was that difficult.

No matter how much this man had recently risen like a comet and was eyeing the top ranks, the continuous hardships were such that she didn't think he could solve them so easily.

“The [Vessel] to be possessed, the [Sacrifice] to summon the King of Flies' spirit, and the [Catalyst] to keep it bound to this world, those three, right? You’re already working on the vessel.”

“...”

But seeing the man brush off such hardships as if they were nothing, the headache pounding in Raven’s head seemed to accelerate even more.

The information this man had just pulled out as if breathing was the core of the theories she had established over almost several hundred years, and it was information only she knew.

The sacred knowledge accumulated over that long period of time, sacrificing everything, solely for the resurrection of the great King of Flies.

‘...Such things, as if...’

He was laying it out as if he were giving a weather forecast, like the weather might be cloudy tomorrow.

How on earth did he know these things? What kind of human was this crazy bastard?

“Then I just need to get you the sacrifice and the catalyst. I’ll find a suitable one for the sacrifice soon and...”

“No, wait. Wait a minute. Honestly, I don’t think I should be asking this question to someone who is offering to help, but I must ask.”

“What is it?”

When she asked, unable to collect herself, the other person’s reply came back with an almost annoyed tone.

It was a situation where a demon who had lived for so long was flustered and losing the initiative to a human, but Raven was not in a state where her thoughts could reach that far.

Leaving aside the depth of the information the other person had, no matter how she calculated it in her head, she couldn’t figure out this man’s intentions.

“For what reason are you offering to help me?”

She had to know this, if nothing else.

Otherwise, she could never accept any help he offered.

The King of Flies, by his very existence, was a threat that could annihilate all of humanity. She couldn't just believe that a human would go out of his way to help with that.

Especially a human who knew the resurrection method in such an inexplicably detailed way.

“You’re a villain, yet you talk a lot. If someone offers to help, can’t you just take it?”

“...If the opponent is a human more villainous than the villain, wouldn’t this much of a question be natural?”

As she uttered those words, Seo Ah-in, who had been next to Kim Gyu-sik, nodded her head with a very sympathetic expression.

“That’s true, isn’t it?”

“...Whose side are you on, anyway?”

Kim Gyu-sik grumbled and faced Raven.

“As for the reason... honestly, it’s nothing much.”

A conviction that there was definitely something more rose in the expressions of Seo Ah-in and Raven.

The sentence that followed from Kim Gyu-sik was also in line with that conviction.

“No, that guy. Until he materializes, he’s basically an existence that is there but not there. He can't harm this side, but this side can't do anything to that side either. Right?”

“...Right?”

Hearing this exchange, Seo Ah-in, who seemed to have realized something, looked at Raven with a pitying gaze.

It was the look of someone watching a person who was about to get thoroughly beaten up.

“Then if he materializes, that side can hit this side, but this side can also hit that side. Right?”

“...That’s true, but. What on earth are you trying to say?”

“It’s simple.”

Kim Gyu-sik yawned and continued.

“Instead of leaving the most threatening boss mob in the demon series to resurrect at some point in the future and stab me in the back...”

Undoubtedly.

“Isn’t it better to resurrect him with my own hands quickly, so I can kill him quickly?”

Uttered towards the king of demons, who was said to be the strongest and most threatening in history, as a ‘declaration of war.’

It was, on the contrary, a chillingly dry voice.

As if.

‘Dealing with’ the ‘worst threat to humanity.’

Was just another day's work for him.

***

“...Woooow...”

Seo Ah-in, who was looking up at the empty sky while walking out of the Association, let out such a moan.

Raven had also been staring at me with a similar mesmerized look, so I eventually gave up on getting an answer and came out to walk.

Well, her reaction was what it was, but she would eventually side with me.

She would probably come running with her eyes rolled back if I just brought her a few ‘results.’ It was a pretty tough job to do alone.

“Why are you so out of it again?”

“After hearing what you just said, Gyu-sik-ssi, wouldn’t it be harder to find someone who isn't out of it...?”

Now he says he'll casually fight something from mythology. Is this person even human?

Seeing Seo Ah-in mumbling such things, I smirked and replied.

“Well, what will you do if you’re already surprised?”

“...Pardon? There’s more?”

“Of course, there is.”

I had to get the ‘sacrifice’ to bring to Raven, didn’t I?

Of course, given the grim nature of that word, I would have to find a very vicious one who wouldn’t mind being used in such a way.

To be used as a sacrifice for someone like the King of Flies, a normally strong one wouldn’t do, so I would need one that was conspicuously powerful.

Well, there was a suitable candidate.

“Ah, Kim Jae-han-ssi?”

So I would have to declare war on that side as well.

“You said before that there was a schedule request from a broadcasting station, right?”

On a very grand scale.