Aerin, who was searching for the Annihilation Stone.
Annihilation Stone, Sein Archipald.
The place to verify him.
Thud. Thud.
The moist walls, akin to a monster’s womb, made one wonder what secrets this place held.
And Sain knew the identity of this.
‘Demonification.’
The power that manifests the world where the owner of magic lives.
So.
Kwwooo-!
What should appear is simple.
The owners of magic, they don’t use traps like the cunning empire.
They only.
“Wow, insane. Where did you get this from?”
They were individuals who boasted only their own bodies and strength.
The term that refers to them.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
They were demons.
In the setting, although the demon world existed in the story, it was a place that did not exist.
Occasionally, there were beings called demons that appeared, but they were actually like the charred remains of the demons’ lineage.
Only one.
There was a being known as a true demon.
“Krrrr….”
“Hellhound.”
A being referred to as the last demon.
“It’s been a while.”
Sain Demon.
Sain chuckled as if disappointed while looking at the large hellhound that appeared before him.
It was once a summon that he used to command.
“Just in case I ask.”
“Krrk.”
“Do you remember me…?”
Now, it was just a monster scattering ruthless magic one after another.
“Krrraaah!”
The charging hellhound.
Sain leaped to dodge its attack.
Whoosh!
On the path the hellhound had taken, blue flames sprouted and emitted heat.
“Hah. That’s not possible.”
There was hardly a pinch of magic left in his body now.
Even his remaining magical power seemed to be sealed, so it was unrealistic for the hellhound to recognize him.
But even so, it was not something he could forgive.
“Hellhound. Listen well.”
With a firm stance, Sain held a mithril sword he had crafted in his hand.
“I don’t particularly like Bosintang….”
A hellhound baring its teeth behind.
“I heard that a dog unrecognizable by its owner should be beaten.”
“Growl!”
The charging hellhound, this time, did not evade but extended its sword.
Shwick!
As the hellhound gnawed at the sword wedged in its mouth, it writhed in agony.
“Didn’t I say you shouldn’t bite without permission, did I not?”
Rippling energy.
Though extracting magic due to a stopped heart was burdensome, it was no time to differentiate between cold rice and hot rice.
Rising aura.
Thunk!
Piercing through the hellhound’s jaws, Sein, once again holding the sword, stepped back.
“Lucky.”
Only the demons can call the hellhound.
How it ended up here was a mystery, but it was not normal.
A body weakened over time from lack of magical infusion.
Originally, it was a creature close to a raid boss that one should hunt after surpassing level 20.
“What are you doing, Okkyun.”
It meant “not now.”
“If you’ve seen the owner, you should show your belly.”
“Grrrr!”
It was a different kind of movement from when he thwarted the Empire’s trap.
Sein’s magic capacity was limited.
“Grrrr!”
Hence, with minimal movement, one had to achieve maximum efficiency.
The hellhound rushed forward quickly.
Sein dodged the hellhound as if in a bullfight.
Shwick!
He thrust the sword into the creature’s massive body.
“It’s like the armor I used to wear, isn’t it?”
The sight of the hellhound with seven daggers stuck in it resembled a figure clad in thorny armor.
“Krrrrrr!”
Of course, the hellhound howled in pain and rage.
“I didn’t expect you to weaken this much.”
To the beings of the Abyss, magic was akin to life itself.
If the lad who had fed on magic under his command was like a lively young man in his twenties, then the lad who had been deprived of magic for a long time was like…
“Aron, the inspiration, would move better than you.”
He was akin to an old man playing Russian roulette with life and death.
If you say that the guy wasn’t threatening.
Crack!
That wasn’t the case.
Another wound appeared on Sein’s body.
The armor painstakingly crafted at Aaron’s forge was already in tatters.
Hellhound’s claws were something that could only be withstood by pure mithril.
Also.
“Don’t be ridiculous, is this it?”
The attack of the hellhound exuded a power even stronger than the venom seen in the Empire’s traps.
Qualification to prove the existence of the underworld.
‘Magi.’
The wounds on Sein’s flesh were turning black and spreading, akin to the aura of death that necromancers manipulate, denying existence itself and consuming utility.
No matter how dying the hellhound was, the reason it could claim at least hundreds, even thousands of casualties if let loose outside was precisely this.
“Grrrr….”
Of course, that might be someone else’s story.
Sigh.
The magi that had been gnawing at Sein’s body was disappearing as if rewinding.
At first, it might have been inevitable, but now it was different.
“It’s what I gave you, so if you fall for that, you’re a fool.”
The magi that constituted the hellhound belonged to Sein.
Even though life had changed and the body had lost its qualifications, power like magi remembered the soul.
‘The setting in Sanctuary was the same.’
Magi that could inherit and use special abilities from past lives.
Originally, one should acquire them within the Sanctuary.
“Thank you for the gift, Okgyeon.”
It was possible to obtain it in this way as well.
This was a method that existed in past Sanctuaries as well.
An awakening event where one realizes the abilities of past lives without the need for the Sanctuary through specific stimuli and quests.
Arin.
“Should I say thank you?”
She had undoubtedly prepared such an awakening event for herself.
Sizzle!
The hellhound’s body began to burn.
A familiar attack.
Just before death, it was nothing less than a finishing move that incinerated all magi and life.
From Noble mtl dot com
Yet, Sein’s face showed no tension.
“It was nice to see you after a long time.”
“Roarrrr-!”
The charging hellhound.
Sein lowered his body and adjusted his posture.
He had seen the pattern hundreds, thousands of times.
“Let’s see it again.”
With precise timing and understanding of weaknesses, there was no way he couldn’t face his opponent.
Thud!
As Hellhound passed by Sein, it scattered magic dust.
Sein, now covered in magic dust, absorbed the infiltrated magic and pushed it into his sword.
Clang!
Mithril, also known as pure steel, couldn’t withstand the intense magic and began to crack.
But it wasn’t going to break just yet.
Seven daggers that had been prepared in advance.
They were part of the summoning seal that sent Hellhound back.
And the final one.
“Hellhound.”
A small star on its head.
Whoosh!
Sein’s greatsword twisted and pierced through Hellhound’s head.
Thud!
Hellhound fell.
In its final moments, its gaze seemed to say:
“Yeah. You’re a welcome sight too.”
Welcoming the return of its master.
After finishing the battle with Hellhound, Sein had to take a long rest unlike when he broke through the Empire’s trap.
Due to more injuries than he had anticipated.
Injuries from magic were not easily healed even with special potions, and if left untreated, the magic would corrode the body and lead to necrosis.
That’s why.
“It was called a fake life.”
The life of the Last Demon.
In the world of Sanctuary, there were hundreds, thousands of different lives, and the Last Demon was a special one among them.
Players had their own way of grading such lives in Sanctuary.
From Grade -1 to 10.
The lower the number, the more remarkable and exceptional the life.
Imperial Prince.
Last Demon.
All of that.
Grade -2.
Lives experienced only by those with the best luck among all players in Sanctuary.
Among the hundreds of millions of players, only a few could possess a second-grade life.
The life that Sein, who obtained the cheat version, had chosen was the second-grade life of the imperial prince and the last of the demons.
“What in the world…?”
Sein, who had some control over magic, opened his eyes and spoke.
Having experienced it firsthand, he understood it better.
Just how demanding and remarkable the life of a demon was.
“What’s a first-grade life, really?”
Even though he played the cheat version, he couldn’t choose the first grade.
The reason why such a grade existed, unseen by any player even once, was simple.
– There is a life that you players have yet to play.
The declaration of the developers.
“Well, I don’t really believe it though.”
Sein didn’t believe that fact.
After all, he couldn’t even choose it in the cheat version.
Swoosh.
Sein got up.
The change brought about by absorbing the Hellhound’s magic was immediate.
Thump… Thump.
His stopped heart.
Thump… Thump.
It started beating at a very slow pace.
Thus, Sein, without experiencing the initiation, gained the privilege of opening a demon’s heart, a special ability of the last of the demons.
“The problem has become more urgent.”
A beating heart was not a good sign.
Zap.
As his heart started beating, he felt a slowly increasing pain.
As time passed, the pain would worsen, and Sein would have to endure the pain he had felt then once again.
If more time passed, it would eventually lead to death.
“The potions are all used up.”
The potions he had prepared were already gone.
The materials and time available in Borpheo had their limits.
“Hopeless, a mess.”
His armor was practically useless, and all his daggers were used up.
Only the mithril longsword remained, but it seemed it wouldn’t last long.
Nevertheless, it didn’t matter.
Thud.
Sein walked out.
“Arlen. If this is what you prepared.”
One can imagine what would be left in the end.
Three lives that the Destroyer had experienced.
The origin of that life.
The fact that Sein had to prove another second-rate life.
*
*
*
Sein’s expectations were not wrong.
The place he finally arrived at was neither the ruins of the empire nor a distorted space.
Wow!
This place where a brilliant light descended.
The warmth felt as soon as he stepped foot made the magic trapped in his heart surge.
“Wow.”
Sein couldn’t help but be sincerely impressed.
“Arlin Seymour.”
The person who brought him here.
“You seem quite remarkable, Arlin.”
Research on the Doombringer.
Preparations for the proof.
It wasn’t going to be easy, not by any means.
But this was truly awe-inspiring.
“The Judgement Seat of Arcer.”
The current world, the fallen empire, and the crumbling sanctuary.
Another thing had perished.
– The temple.
