702 Episode 25 Demon King (5)

At first I couldn't understand the message.

"What happened?"

"Maybe... the King did it."

To put it simply, the situation was clear.

Yoo Jonghyuk defeated the 'Ruler of the Washington Dome'.

Otherwise, such a message would not have occurred to me.

We went straight into the 'Washington Dome' to confirm the facts.

A gray stream stained by the invasion of the Demon Realm.

Demon species and human corpses were scattered all over the streets.

"Yoo Joonghyuk!"

I shouted, but there was no answer. We quickly started running towards the Capitol.

Through the flowing scenery, I could guess what kind of fight my colleagues who came here first must have gone through.

"Dansu ahjussi! Sein-ssi!"

I kept calling people's names.

Dansu ahjussi, Kyung Sein, Killer King, Cha Yerin, Ye Hyunwoo.

Yoo Jonghyuk's colleagues Lee Hyunsung, Lee Jihye, and Kim Namwoon. And...

"Miss Yoosoung!"

Even though I shouted at the top of my lungs, there was no answer.

Washington was locked in a strangely deep silence. No sign of 'living things' could be detected anywhere.

"Anna Croft."

I glared at Anna.

Obviously she said that my colleagues were safe.

In fact she still maintained that opinion.

"The Korean group is safe."

"How can you guarantee that if you can’t even use [Future Sight]?"

"When Yoo Jonghyuk declared a head-on confrontation with the Marquis-class, all 'Korean members' except him moved to the 'next scenario'."

Next scenario?

"The Washington Dome scenario is the final part of the 'seventh scenario', but it is a kind of 'selection scenario'."

Anna Croft looked up at the sky over Washington as she said those words.

There was a swirling vortex in the sky, showing a faint light.

A half-broken rope ladder was seen swinging down the vortex.

A certain fact came to mind belatedly.

Here on the American continent, the 'seventh scenario' and the 'eighth scenario' were currently underway together.

"As you probably know, incarnations who have hunted enough monsters can move on to the next scenario without having to clear this scenario."

In short, that ladder was the door leading to the 'eight scenario'.

"There is no way the other party members would have left Yoo Jonghyuk alone."

"It was the King’s last command. He threatened to kill everyone if they didn’t move on to the next scenario right away, so his companions had no choice but to listen."

If there had been a threat from Yoo Jonghyuk, it wouldn't have been surprising if the group had left first.

But why did Yoo Jonghyuk give such an 'order'?

—Did this kid try to monopolize the items by himself again?

'Is that really the reason?'

—How do you know if you haven’t even read Ways of Survival?

'Even without reading Ways of Survival, I know that much.'

While bickering with Kim Dokja, an additional message came to mind.

Is it because the subjugation of the 4th grade species was completed in Korea? I also qualified to move to the eighth scenario.

By the way, that 'star ladder' is a device that I have never seen in the main story.

'Wasn't the original eighth scenario 'Dark Castle'?'

—Hmm...

Deep down, I thought it was a good thing. That's because 'Dark Castle' is one of the scenarios that boasts the worst difficulty level in all of Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint.

It is the place where the 'Demon King of Salvation' was born, and a scenario where someone must 'recover'.

It was better to avoid it at all costs if possible.

However, our 'Ways of Survival expert' seemed to have a different opinion.

—If possible, don't use that ladder.

'Why?'

—If you are lucky, it may be a more comfortable scenario than 'Dark Castle', but if you are unlucky... you may end up in a place worse than 'Dark Castle'.

'They say my colleagues have already passed.'

—I hope those friends are lucky.

I was about to ask how someone could say such an irresponsible thing, but with a light spark, the connection to 'Midday Tryst' was temporarily disconnected.

If you look closely, it seems like this person does this on purpose whenever he is in trouble.

"Anyway, I guess the situation isn’t that bad."

Anna Croft, whose expression became brighter, looked around and said.

"If it is true that the King defeated the Demon King, it is safe to say that the scenario has already ended. Excluding the core ruler of the dome, all that remains are henchmen."

As she said, the key to this situation was a 'marquis-level Demon King' in the Capitol.

However, if Yoo Jonghyuk had defeated him alone, this scenario should have been considered over.

One ominous thing is that the scenario ending message is still not displayed.

It was clearly said that the 'ruler of the Washington Dome' had been killed.

So why hasn't the scenario ended yet?

It was then that Anna, who had been a few steps ahead, suddenly stopped.

"Cheon Inho."

A portal appeared opposite the building on the right. We were nervous and each took out our weapons and held them.

Could it be that another 'demon species' has appeared? Or not—

All right.

The light footsteps coming from beyond the portal were not human.

Next, a white horse with dazzling fur appeared, lightly touring, accompanied by a bright halo of light.

The knight on the horse lightly stroked the horse's head.

"Calm down Griffith."

Shiny silver chain mail and a red surcoat wrapped around the chain mail. At first glance, the man's bright blonde hair swaying in the wind made you guess that he came from a great family.

"Are you Anna Croft?"

Anna, who suddenly came to her senses at the knight's grave voice, asked back.

"Are you really Sir Elliot?"

"This is my first time seeing you in real life, Prophet."

The knight lightly got off his horse and approached with a gentle smile.

"As expected, you are just as beautiful as I saw in my dream."

Then he knelt down on one knee in front of Anna and held out his hand to her. It looked like he was trying to kiss her on the back of her hand.

But instead of giving the back of her hand, Anna looked down at the knight with expressionless eyes.

"Tell us the purpose of your visit, Sir Elliot."

The knight stood up with an embarrassed expression.

"It looks like the Lady is very angry. I came here to help my sister through her difficulties, but I am disappointed to receive such cold treatment."

Only then did I feel like I knew how the story was going.

—That's one of Britain's representative incarnations.

Kim Dokja, who only appears when he has something to say, appeared again this time without fail.

'Who is it?'

—Him? Elliott Haston.

'So who is that?'

—Have you ever heard of the Knights of the Round Table?

I was startled and looked at the man's clothes again. The man who looked like he was cosplaying as a knight had a pattern drawn on his coat that I had seen before somewhere.

Knight of the Lake.

Only then did I realize who the man was.

'Could it be the incarnation of 'Lancelot'?'

—That’s right.

Lancelot, one of King Arthur's knights.

It was a famous constellation in Korea as well.

'But wasn’t Lancelot originally born in France? He chose a British incarnation.'

—Oh, you know that too?

Of course I know. Even after all this, I am a writer.

As far as I know, Lancelot was a fictional character created in France while reinterpreting the 'Legend of King Arthur'.

—Because a French constellation does not necessarily have a French person as its incarnation. Neither Jecheon Daeseong nor Uriel are constellations from Korea.

'Of course, that's true.'

We checked Elliot’s condition through [Character List].

The proficiency level of all skills was very high. All of their overall abilities are at or above Korea's 'King' level.

—Courner 'Griffith'. He even managed to save a rare species of spirit creature.

Hee hee hee, the crying horse snorted at me.

A great powerhouse with expensive equipment and means of transportation.

It would have been nice to welcome such a great force coming to help, but Anna Croft didn’t look happy.

"I asked for help three times, but there was no response."

"Haha, Prophet. Of course we wanted to help too, but..."

It seems that the UK has consistently rejected requests for support.

It is understandable that support will be difficult for any country at this point.

But the problem is this.

Why did the UK accept the request for support now?

To put it simply, it could be because there is more room in their country's scenario.

—That can’t be possible.

Regardless of country, all incarnations of the destroyed world are selfish.

Their only motivation is survival, so they are naturally reluctant to do anything that poses a threat to their survival.

Nevertheless, if they moved, it meant that there was a reason to take that risk this time.

"Who is this person?"

When Elliot's eyes turned to me, Anna answered on my behalf.

"This is Cheon Inho from Korea."

"South or North?"

"It’s south."

"Hmm."

Elliot looked at me with a strange gaze as Anna explained.

A look that seems to be evaluating the breed of horse. Then he quickly smiled and turned his head.

'Constellation-nim.'

—This is a person that will soon be beaten by Jonghyuk.

'Yes?'

One after another, portals appeared on the other side.

"Is this Washington?"

"It’s a city with nothing special about it."

Incarnations of different races.

It seems that not only the UK but also other countries participated in this scenario.

Among them were some faces I recognized.

"Sister Ren, did we come to the right place?"

"Well, according to the coordinates, this is the right place."

'Asuka Ren', the incarnation of Miyamoto Musashi, and his fellow incarnations.

These were the incarnations that cleared the scenario together with Kim Dokja in 'Peace Land' in Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint.

Unfortunately, the 41st round of 'Peace Land' took place while I was passed out, and I had no connection with them.

In the back portal, a large number of Chinese incarnations appeared.

I looked at the Chinese who took the lead and asked Kim Dokja.

'Is the author Fei Hu?'

—No, I don’t think Fei Hu came.

Fei Hu is the representative incarnation of the Chinese nebula, <Emperor>.

His face was not visible as he was busy participating in the mainland’s scenario.

—Still, it’s not easy to get together like this in the beginning, but it’s quite a unique scene.

Although there were no famous incarnations like China's Fei Hu or India's Ranbir Khan, the sight of incarnations from all over the world gathered together was spectacular in its own way.

"Mr. Ren. Are you here?"

"Prophet."

Asuka Ren and Anna exchanged warm greetings, probably because they were already familiar with each other.

"Who is this person…?"

"This is Mr. Cheon Inho. He came from Korea to help us."

"Korea! Is this the King’s group?"

Asuka Ren bowed to me as if she was happy to see me.

"I am Asuka Ren."

"I am Cheon Inho."

"It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Cheon Inho. I received a lot of help from the Korean incarnations in the last scenario. How is Killer King?"

Was 'Killer King' among the many incarnations there?

I was about to ask what Killer King had done there, when a gruff voice came from behind.

"Prophet! Where is the 'Demon King in Washington' you spoke of?"

An incarnation whose country was difficult to guess from their appearance.

At the same time, the murmurs around me disappeared all at once.

That made it clear.

They have all come to kill the 'ruler of Washington East'.

"The Demon King has already been caught."

Anna Croft's answer made the incarnations stir.

"That can’t be possible. We came here with a scenario."

Scenario?

"A sub-scenario has been sent to eliminate the disaster in Washington."

It was a word that gave me an uncomfortable feeling.

Did they receive a 'sub-scenario' instead of a main scenario?

"The disaster has already been eliminated. We have just received the message."

Even with Anna Croft's explanation, the incarnations' excitement did not seem to subside.

"That can’t be possible. There’s a scenario like this out there!"

"Do they want to monopolize compensation in the United States?"

"We don’t have time, so stop talking nonsense and give me directions quickly! Where is the Demon King?"

"I came here to help as much as I could, but the Americans don’t even know how to thank me."

What happened?

Anna Croft and I looked at each other without understanding what was going on, and then we saw Christina, who had gone exploring nearby, come back in a huff.

"Anna. Something’s wrong. The invasion zone hasn’t been lifted yet."

When the hunt for 'Disaster' ends, the planetary invasion automatically ends.

But Washington was still gray.

The land is deeply polluted by the 'roots of darkness' that have spread everywhere.

A scenario that still doesn't end.

At that moment, a pitch-black light rose from the distant Capitol.

"That’s—"

Even though no one told them to, the incarnations ran towards that direction at the same time.

Eliot, the Chinese incarnations, Asuka Ren was also riding a skateboard and riding away.

Anna and I exchanged glances and then ran after them.

How long did we run like that?

We soon arrived at the Capitol in question.

Someone was sitting on top of the Capitol building, stained with hazy smoke.

Elliot muttered.

"That’s the 'Demon King in Washington'."

What was there was not a human figure.

A beast reminiscent of a pitch-black wolf.

An ominous aura felt from the black hair growing all over its body.

As its golden eyes slowly looked around, several incarnations screamed.

An overwhelming feeling that makes you feel suffocated just by looking at it.

"Ah, Demon King—"

"All armies ready for battle!"

"We’ll hunt the Demon King!"

While everyone was frightened and took out their weapons, I stared blankly at the monster.

For some reason I couldn't take my eyes off that monster.

'Constellation-nim.'

Because.

—Damn, I guess that’s true.

No matter how I look at it, in my eyes,

'Yes?'

Because that 'black beast' looked like Yoo Jonghyuk.