Chapter 114
After Song Hyung-bin shared his thoughts, we went up the stairs together, where the members of Seleste were waiting.
Everyone was waiting upstairs with their arms wide open, ready to welcome us.
"Hyungniiim!"
"Be careful."
The first one to rush towards me was Heo Yu-bin, who was sitting in 6th place.
He looked more like Ray von Walden from the Grand Quest Saga than ever before, still sobbing and rubbing his tear-soaked face against my shoulder.
"It was really hard waiting! I was worried because I kept hearing your name not being called―!"
"I kept saying that it would be better if he didn't get called sooner. Because Karis would be number one."
Kang Si-yoon, who came down from the position just above Heo Yu-bin, smiled cheerfully and said.
He met my gaze and quietly raised his right fist.
I nodded after lightly bumping Kang Si-yoon's fist.
"Did you know I'd get first place? "
"It's intuition, intuition. This hyung nim's intuition has never been wrong before, you know? "
"It's just luck, Siyoon. It's not your skill."
"Why does this guy keep denying me? "
"I plan to continue to do so in the future."
"Haha! Okay."
Kang Si-yoon laughed loudly again and hugged me tightly.
The words he finally spoke were filled with a deep sense of relief.
"...Great job."
"Siyoon, you really worked hard. And I'm grateful."
"Why do you say touching words in the past tense? "
"I was talking about
"Oh, is that so, Your Majesty! I, a lowly being, did not understand! "
"I told you to stop talking so strangely."
"Yeah, you don't like it. So I'll keep doing it from now on."
Before the rankings were announced, we didn't even exchange such trivial words because we were so nervous, but now that the debut has been confirmed, the tension has eased and everyone has returned to their original state.
I patted Kang Si-yoon on the shoulder and laughed along with him.
'It may seem abnormal at times, but I still feel empty without Kang Si-yoon's nonsense.'
Chae Eun-gyu and Ji Yoon-chul, who were congratulating Song Hyung-bin on the other side, also ran down to me.
"I told you, Karis? You're going to go up high no matter what."
"Thank you. It's all thanks to your excellent guidance."
"No. I really wouldn't have been able to finish the stage without your help."
Chae Eun-gyu smiled brightly and extended his hand to me, as if all his worries had finally disappeared.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him forward forcefully, then patted his shoulder.
"Please take good care of me."
"Hahaha! You take good care of me as well."
As Chae Eun-gyu and I separated, Ji Yoon-chul, who had been waiting timidly next to us, spoke to me in a small voice.
"... ... I sincerely congratulate you on first place, Hyung."
"Thank you, Yoon-chul."
I gave him a brief nod.
And then, looking into Ji Yoon-chul's eyes, I naturally continued to say what he probably wanted to hear the most right now.
"Let's talk a lot more in the future."
"... !"
What Ji Yoon-chul said to me right before he walked to the stage where Choi Si-a was.
I really want to talk more later.
Given Ji Yoon-chul's personality, it would have been quite difficult for him to say that out loud again now.
As I read his mind for him, Ji Yoon-chul nodded vigorously, slightly raising the corners of his lips.
"Yes, I like it."
After greeting everyone, I finally stood in front of the first place throne located in the center of the stepped set.
Of course, its appearance was less impressive than that of the throne in
'I have been waiting for the day to sit on this throne.'
The moment I proudly sat down on the number one throne, all the cameras in the gym were focused on me.
All the large screens that the national managers who visited the site were staring at were filled with me.
I looked out at the sight filled with colorful lights and smiled.
There could be no ending happier and more perfect than this.
Wouldn't the Crown Prince's sleeping self also be satisfied?
The crown prince bows his head to no one.
As the crown prince, he was always in a position looking down from a high place.
Isn't this a body that even cut down the Demon King?
As I always said, I reached the top.
As I repeated the word "number one" in my head, an important fact came to mind.
A pop-up window that appears when the rankings are announced.
I quietly brought up the status window and clicked on the completed quest item.
[Grand Quest, 'Debut within 365 days' success]
[Reward:
[Final Linked Quest, 'Achieve 1st Place in
[Reward: Find out the hidden truth]
Completing the Grand Quest unlocked my passive skill enhancement.
This was handled automatically by the system, so I didn't have to press anything special.
The reward called 'Find out the Hidden Truth' could only be confirmed by pressing it myself.
'What on earth is the hidden truth? '
From the moment I first saw that reward, I kept racking my brain, but I had no idea what it could be.
The more I think about it, the more I feel like I'm falling into a maze.
I might check it out after the filming is all over, but I couldn't resist my curiosity.
I swallowed hard and said to myself,.
'Find out the Hidden Truth.'
And then immediately everything before my eyes became pitch black.
* * *
It was a day when the snow was hurricane-like.
The weather was so fierce that the feathers of the harpies that had briefly gone out for patrol were frozen solid.
An ominous atmosphere was flowing in the conference room located deep within the dark Demon King's castle made of obsidian.
"If things continue like this, we will surely be annihilated. We must either hurry and reinforce the walls or fight while keeping our distance from the enemy using long-range support! "
"Wouldn't you shut that noisy mouth of yours, Baiver? Every time you open your mouth, your rotten self vibrates, and I can't concentrate at all."
"Heinz, you're always sharpening your knife during meetings, so what's the point of not being able to focus?"
"Oh, the old man is angry again. Instead of fighting like that, should I cast some black magic on him? "
"Shut up! Natasha, don't you know exactly what we're dealing with right now!"
It's always been this way.
The original demons were stubborn beings who only pushed forward with their own opinions.
Everyone just says what they want to say and wastes time.
The Demon King, who was watching the conference room become increasingly chaotic, muttered just one word in a voice as cold as ice.
"Quiet."
"!"
"Your, Your Majesty!"
The king of the demon race is hostile to humans.
The Demon King Seir, who had led the demon race with overwhelming force alone for over 1,000 years, rose from his seat.
"Baiver."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
"Please continue what you were saying. It seems like it was a very important conversation."
"I, I will do as you command!"
Baiver cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses to the bridge of his nose.
The leader of the Ismenios is a higher-level race of demons with an upper body in the form of a human and a lower body in the form of a snake.
Known for being the most rational and logical thinker among the demons, his words are very important in the current situation.
"Looking at the current enemy forces, it seems that they are planning to attack the western wall, which is the weakest defense. The biggest problem right now is that the Dwarf Army suffered a devastating blow from the previous long-range artillery fire from humans. The remaining Dwarf Army forces are not enough to stop the human offensive."
"Then why don't we divide our forces? "
"If we withdraw our troops from the other wall, a separate human force may move there. In short.... We are in a situation where we cannot move easily."
Seir glanced at the map that Baiver had spread out.
Certainly, the effect of the humans' flexible attacks gradually reducing the Demons' forces is now showing.
"Your Majesty, there is no need for that old snake's words! If the enemies come from the west, just leave them alone! Our wolf army can help the lowly dwarves."
Heinz, the leader of the werewolf tribe, who had been interrupting Baiver's words until just now, swung his sword down and drooled.
"Didn't I say no! You wolves must continue to block the east! If you lose your troops, it's only a matter of time before the eastern wall collapses! "
"Ah, I don't know; I just want a quick fight, you little snake."
"How many times do I have to tell you to not reduce your troops!"
"Baiver."
Seir stared at Baiver with sharp eyes.
The air in the conference room suddenly became heavy.
"Let Heinz do what he wants."
"Bu, but Your Majesty!"
"I won't tell you twice."
The Demon King's word is absolute law.
Baiver could only lower his head and nod in a small voice.
"... I will follow your orders."
"Yay! Alright, let's go smash the heads of those lowly human babies right now! "
The meeting no longer has any meaning.
As Seir walked out of the conference room, his cloak fluttering, Natasha, the leader of the warlocks, followed him.
"Your Majesty, why did you send Heinz? "
"If you had a brain, wouldn't you understand? This war was already predicted to result in our defeat a long time ago. Now that the humans have broken through the Saifuden Mountains, it is inevitable that this castle will be conquered."
"Then on purpose―?"
Seir smiled coldly.
"I'm going to die anyway, so I'd rather die doing whatever I want."
The war is already tilted to one side.
Seir had already acknowledged it in his head.
He said that he was defeated by the crown prince, who led the humans.
But the Demon King was not one to just sit back and watch his own head fly off.
Seir and Natasha stopped in front of an iron door that gave off an ominous vibe.
"How many days are left until the seeds are ready?"
"Um, about two days, I guess."
"Then I guess I'll have to somehow hold out for two days."
The Demon King pushed open the heavy iron door and entered the room.
In the middle of the dark room, a single seed was glowing, its entire body wrapped in red light.
"... Is the spell complete? "
"Yes, Your Majesty. Once the seed is ready, everything will be ready."
"Perfect."
Seir smiled with satisfaction.
Yes, what happens if we lose the war?
So what if my life is lost?
It is the mission of the demons to fight until the very end.
While humans move to protect what is precious, demons move only to pursue destruction.
A seed that has grown steadily by eating mana and containing its own life for about two months.
If Natasha succeeds in planting that seed in her body with her magic,.
It is possible to break the providence created by the god of this world.
It may not be possible to completely destroy it, but it would certainly be possible to disrupt it.
"Proceed as planned."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Two days passed like that, and Natasha's spell planted a seed deep within Seir's body.
And finally, on that day, all the walls of the Demon King's castle collapsed, and the human army surged in like waves.
"Nice to see you, Seir! "
"Ugh... heok."
Seir, the Demon King who ruled the Dark World for 1000 years, loses his life to Karis von Walden.
But at that moment,.
-Kiiiing.
The seed planted in Seir's body releases a quiet yet cruel energy, successfully severing some of the mana lines of this world.
And the aftereffects also affect Han Ji-hyeok.
"There's an error in the function that returns to reality―!"
The system that God had created was damaged.
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