Chapter 421: Confront and Protect (8)

Demon Kingdom.

East, West, South, North.

The residents of the Demon Kingdom, divided into four regions by the canyons, had gathered at the center and were looking down into the abyss.

Boundaries.
Curiosity.
Suspicion.

Their gazes were filled with mixed emotions.
They were the scouts sent by the leaders of each faction.

They watched as the outsiders—those who had caused disturbances in their territories—finally noticed them.
And the moment Rosalyn looked up at them and smiled…

“They’re on our side.”

On the side of the jungle.

The Dark Elf's words caused all eyes to turn towards them for a moment.

"……."

"……."

"……."

The scouts didn’t say anything.
They simply nodded.

Because they couldn’t dismiss the statement outright.

Among the Dark Elf scouts, the one who had spoken wasn’t just any scout.

The Witch’s right hand.

The second-in-command to the leader of the jungle Dark Elves—
the one known as the Witch—
was here.

He spoke again.

“We consider them enemies.”

His hand lifted, pointing toward the God of Chaos’ followers and the Wanderers.

"……."

"……."

"……."

The four factions of the Demon Kingdom did not share the same ideals.
In fact, they were often on the verge of stabbing each other.

Even so…

The Demon Kingdom was still the Demon Kingdom.

"……."

"……."

"……."

The way to survive in the Demon Kingdom was simple:
when an external enemy appeared, they faced it together—
beyond good and evil.

“Ha.”

Wanderer Cho let out a sigh full of irritation.

The residents of the Demon Kingdom stared down at him with sharp, assessing eyes, as if they were nothing more than NPCs in a game.

Seeing them ready to attack at any moment, flames began to ignite around Cho.

“Cho.”

But his sister, Wanderer Ryeon, stopped him.

"……."

Her eyes were fixed on the scouts, but her perception stretched far beyond them—
taking in every resident of the Demon Kingdom.

A place where teleportation was impossible.

Which meant escaping… or fighting the entire Demon Kingdom…
came with terrifying consequences.

“Should we let them go?”

Cho sounded irritated.

Those in front of him, he could defeat without much trouble.

That redhead is unconscious, after all.

That redhead…
Cho preferred not to imagine him awake.

He couldn’t see the limits of that guy.

He fought the God of Chaos, didn’t he?

It was the first time Cho had seen someone openly insult a god—
even if it was just with a look.

A madman.

And madmen were best left alone.

“We have a purpose.”

Then Cho realized where his sister’s gaze was directed.

Ah.

The other being who had faced the God of Chaos.

The small black dragon.

“And I sense something unique in them.”

Choi Han.
The Heavenly Demon.

Ryeon’s gaze toward them grew cold.

“There are too many enemies.”

“Noona, but—”

Cho tried to argue, but Ryeon stopped him again.

Hum—

Rosalyn activated her magic circle.

There was no reason to waste this chance.

"……."

"……."

Cale’s group and the Wanderers stared at each other in silence.

But Cale’s side stepped onto Rosalyn’s magic circle first.

The Wanderers simply watched them go.

“Hey—wait, us too!”

Crazy Exhibitionist and his friend ran over in a panic.

“……”

The Saint’s group, who had been standing quietly, also stepped onto the circle.

As everyone gathered inside, only Eruhaben and Raon stayed in front, watching the Wanderers cautiously.

Hum—

Rosalyn’s magic activated.

Their bodies rose swiftly through the canyon, pulling away from the cliff and heading toward where the Dark Elves waited.

"Noona!"

"……."

Until the end, Ryeon held Cho back and simply watched them leave.
Even when Eruhaben and Raon flew off with magic, she didn’t move.

“…Cho.”

“What? Ah, this is so irritating!”

Only after the group reached the top of the canyon and disappeared with the Dark Elves did she speak.

“Transcendent.”

“…Eh?”

Cho’s entire body stiffened.

He stared at her, stunned.

“Transcendent…? Why are you saying that now…?”

“You—what exactly do you think that redhead is?”

“Ryeon, are you seriously saying that guy is a Transcendent?”

Shock flooded Cho’s eyes.

But in his gaze, all he saw was his sister’s calm, composed expression.

“Doesn’t he resemble the Patriarch… and that man?”

"!"

Faced with that question, Cho couldn’t answer.

The three Wanderers of the Five-Colored Family — the ones known as the Three Emperors.

Even with that title, the Patriarch stood on a completely different level from the other two.

“Transcendent.”

Ryeon whispered the word softly.

“They’re not Gods, but they’re like Gods.”

Divine World.

Celestial (Heavenly) World.

Demon World.

Human World.

Beings that stood above all of them.

“Existences who aren’t bound by any name.”

Beings who transcended every restriction simply by existing.

“There’s no way that redhead is a Transcendent!”

Ryeon nodded at Cho’s outburst.

“True. And the Patriarch isn’t a Transcendent yet either.”

“Mmm…”

Cho let out a frustrated sigh.

“Cho. If that redhead wakes up while we’re fighting… do you think you can face him?”

"What? Of course! Don't underestimate—"

"Really?"

"…"

Cho avoided answering.

Instead, he said something else.

“But we shouldn’t have let them go. What are we supposed to tell the Third Emperor when he gets here?”

“No. It’s fine.”

Ryeon was sharp.

She had seen the Heavenly Demon’s red clouds, the power Cale’s group had gradually revealed, and she had already put the pieces together.

“We walked right into a trap.”

“Eh?”

She realized it—
everything, including the attack on the God of Chaos’ followers, had been part of a trap.

And there was more…

“That redhead’s group… I think I know who they are.”

"What? Really?"

Wanderers Ryeon and Cho.

When the siblings fought together, their combined strength reached the Five-Colored level, even though their Unique Power was only at the Transparent level.

But that wasn’t the only reason the Family valued them so highly.

The Family leaders — including the Three Emperors — trusted Ryeon for a reason.

“Do you remember the White Star Project?”

"What's that?"

At Cho’s clueless reply, Ryeon let out a long sigh.

And she murmured:

"It's them."

The White Star Project.

The ones responsible for their failure.

Recalling a document she had once seen, Ryeon whispered:

“…Cale Henituse.”

So he had come this far.

“Let’s return to the Family.”

“Eh? Aren’t we waiting for the Third Emperor?”

“It’s not the time. We need to report to the Patriarch immediately.”

Ryeon’s sharp mind had already reached a conclusion.

“Obstacles must be eliminated.”

Cale Henituse.
His group needed to be dealt with quickly.

“Then why don’t we go after them now and kill them all?”

Ryeon smiled faintly at Cho’s words.

“That isn’t for us to decide. The Patriarch will give the order.”

Ryeon was too smart to cross that boundary.

Especially someone who seems close to a Transcendent like the Patriarch… facing him carelessly would be dangerous for us.

She didn’t want to die.
No — she would rather die herself than let Cho get hurt.

“The Patriarch will handle everything.”

“Ha. Alright.”

Cho nodded.

In truth, his earlier momentum had already faded.
And when he imagined what would happen if he had to face the man who had confronted the God of Chaos… a flicker of fear passed through him.

Ryeon could get hurt.

He didn’t want to see his sister injured.

Even though the two of them could reach Five-Colored–level strength together, the reason they remained Transparent was simple:
they valued each other’s lives too much.

Cho and Ryeon never knew that the Family leaders saw it that way.
And they didn’t need to know.

“What do we do with them?”

Cho looked at the God of Chaos’ followers—
their dazed, hollow expressions.

“Well… the God of Chaos betrayed us, so…”

Ryeon tilted her head slightly and raised her hand.

Crash!

“Gahk!”

The surviving bishop’s body froze solid.

Crack!

The moment Ryeon’s fingers tapped together—

Slash!

The bishop’s frozen body shattered.

“……!”

"!!"

The other followers froze in fear, but Ryeon regarded them with complete indifference.

“If we leave them here, the others will deal with them.”

Her eyes shifted toward the Demon Kingdom residents who still lingered above.

“Let’s go.”

Cho had a list of questions he wanted to ask, but in the end, he simply followed his sister.

His brilliant sister would handle everything.

"……."

"……."

The Demon Kingdom residents watched the Wanderers leave without a word.

Because they had already chosen to leave them be.

Instead, their gazes turned downward.

“Ugh—”
“Aah…!”

The God of Chaos’ followers lay groaning in pain.

The waning moon.
The night before dawn.

The Demon Kingdom residents began descending the cliff.

The abyss—now fully exposed—was no longer the Death Cliff.

Whooosh—

The leaves of the gray forest swayed in the wind.

“Hm.”

Cale stared at the dark screen of the device and spoke.

“After following the Dark Elves into the jungle, the recording stopped.”

“Yes. They didn’t want their path revealed.”

“Hm.”

Cale crossed his arms.

“But we’ve already been exposed.”

“True. The Five-Colored Family—and the entire world—will know about us now.”

“Hm.”

Cale thought for a moment.

“It’s not the time for an all-out war.”

His group wasn’t prepared to openly confront the Five-Colored Family yet.
Especially after evaluating the level of Wanderers Cho and Ryeon.

“If our allies are discovered, that’ll be a problem.”

The Seventh Evil.
The Third Evil.
The Kingdom of Lan.
And the Eastern Empire.

They couldn’t let any of them be exposed.

And above all… the System.

The System could not be exposed.

“They also can’t find out we’re involved with the Earth 3.”

The fight between President Ahn Roh Man and Transparent Corporation on the Earth 3—

They couldn’t let anyone know Cale’s group was behind it.

“They’ll try to track us down soon.”

“Maybe they’ll even come here.”

“Yes.”

This was Dark Elf territory.

Cale looked around the simple but tidy room and spoke.

“We need to create confusion.”

Confuse their enemies.

“How?”
Eruhaben asked.

Cale answered calmly:

“Either way, we’ll have to go to the Demon World soon.”

To save Choi Jung Gun.

“Ah.”

Eruhaben nodded.

“We can pretend we’re fleeing to the Demon World.”

“Yes. We’ll make sure they see us there.”

They’d create confusion.
Meanwhile, their allies would stay hidden and gather strength—
strength needed to eventually face the Five-Colored Family.

“……”

Cale reached for the rest of the storage devices.

Heh.

His mouth curved into a smile.

“Human, why are you smiling like that? The last time you smiled like that was with the crown prince! I hope he wakes up soon! I’ll give him cookies!”

Ignoring Raon’s words, Cale said:

“Actually… this is good.”

If their enemies had already discovered them…

Then it was better for everyone to know about them.

“Hey, System.”

Cale looked toward the air and spoke.

“Not now. But later—can you create a main mission for me?”

The System didn’t respond, but Cale continued calmly:

“Let’s attract the real players.”

The System stayed silent, but it was definitely listening.

“We can take on the Transparent Blood Family outside the game—on Earth 3.”

Only one enemy would remain.

“Let’s make the Five-Colored Family fight the game alone.”

Let the Five-Colored Family face every player.

It wasn’t impossible.

Of course, to gather that many people, they’d have to expose themselves to the Transparent Blood Family, the ones running the game.

But by then… we’ll already have eliminated them.

When millions of players received a mission to fight the Five-Colored Family…

By then, the Transparent Blood Family would already be finished.

And the Five-Colored Family wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

Fzzzt—

A tiny red spark appeared before Cale, distorting the air for an instant before fading.

The System was definitely listening.

After organizing his thoughts, Cale spoke again:

“The name of the mission will be—”

After a moment of reflection, Cale smiled and said:

"The Birth of a Hero."

Raising My Precious Absolute God.

The most epic main mission players would ever experience.

The Birth of a Hero.

Its beginning spilled quietly from Cale’s lips.

* * *

The next day.

"Uh... Hmm…"

Cale slowly lifted his head.

A sacred, beautiful space—pure white.

Bright sunlight poured through an opening in the ceiling, illuminating Cale and Alberu.

“Oh, it’s incredible—! I knew it!”

“Ahh, oh Sun!”

Thud!

The holy knight Boltien, overwhelmed with emotion, dropped to his knees and began praying.

Drip, drip.

The Saint was crying.

The Pope was already sobbing uncontrollably.

“Ahh, this warm light! So bright it could blind me, yet so gentle—like the only warmth in a frozen world! Oh Sun, the most radiant, the most beautiful, the most wonderful being! Suuuun, oh Suuuuun!”

He was practically shouting.

And his words were… not normal.

“Sniff.”

“Ahh—”

Behind them, the bishops knelt in a perfect circle.

At its center, beneath the beam of sunlight—

Cale sat calmly beside Alberu, who was still unconscious.

How did we end up like this?

While thinking about how to crush the Transparent Blood Family and the Five-Colored Family with an overwhelming army, Cale’s pupils trembled.

Ding!

[Sub-quest Generated: Obtain the Chaos Purification skill!]

[Sub-quest Generated: Change the sacred artifact's property to nothing!]

[You have met the conditions for these Sub-quest.]

“Ahh, this merciful sunlight reminds me of my mother’s caress when I was born eighty years ago—! Oh, I will offer my entire being to this Suuuun—!”

As the Pope shouted with fiery devotion, Cale thought:

I’m tired.

He was already exhausted.

Twitch.

Eh?

Kneeling calmly, Cale glanced to the side.

Twitch.

Alberu’s closed eyelids trembled.

Oh.

Heh.

The corner of Cale’s lips lifted.

He woke up, but he doesn’t want to open his eyes yet.

Obviously, he was evaluating the situation first.

“Hmph.”

Cale’s small, involuntary laugh made Alberu flinch ever so slightly.

Remembering what had happened the day before, Cale smiled.

-----

P/R Thoughts: Cale escapes with the Dark Elves, the Wanderers identify him as a threat, and a new strategy is born: weaponize millions of players to crush the Five-Colored Family.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Mayank]