Chapter 156: Episode 30 – Dark Castle (6)

Translator: Rainbow Turtle

“Yoo Jonghyuk?”

What was this situation all of a sudden?

The strongest beings on the second floor of Dark Castle, sometimes they would descend as a test. This had happened in Ways of Survival. However, a demon earl had never appeared in cases where Pink Kid Kim Yongpal was part of the group. Besides that, why was the demon looking for Yoo Jonghyuk after being summoned?

I didn’t answer and the demon breathed in before looking at Lee Hyunsung. “Are you Yoo Jonghyuk?”

“…I am Lee Hyunsung.”

“Then who is the person called Yoo Jonghyuk?”

I opened my mouth. There was nothing good about stimulating the demon earl here. “Why do you want to find him? He isn’t here so go back.”

The demon earl Tentacio laughed at my words. “A bug is talking back to me. It’s strange. I heard that the person who is Seoul’s strongest person is here?”

Seoul’s strongest?

“Uh… that sounds like me.”

The party members all looked at me at the same time. Why were they looking at me like that? It was true.

Tentacio also stared at me. “You said that you’re not Yoo Jonghyuk.”

“The strongest in Seoul isn’t Yoo Jonghyuk. It is me.”

What the hell was going on? Why was he looking for the strongest in Seoul?

[The constellation ‘Lady of the Brocade Sleep’ is sorry towards you.]

[The constellation ‘Lady of the Brocade Sleep’ is asking you to defeat this demon.]

…Lady of the Brocade Sleep? I wondered reflexively. Suddenly, I got a sense of what was going on.

[You are staring at the constellations of Silla.]

[The constellations of Silla are embarrassed.]

Yes, this was right. These bastards… they sold me to save their descendants?

[The constellation ‘Lady of the Brocade Sleep’ shows what happened.]

The memory of Lady of the Brocade Sleep appeared in my head. The injured Min Jiwon stuttered as she opened her mouth.

-Seoul’s strongest… is Yoo Jonghyuk.

[The constellation ‘Lady of the Brocade Sleep’ is giving you a pathetic look.]

The act of showing one’s memories required paying some probability and a significant amount of coins. The fact that she showed me her memory without hesitation meant the situation was urgent.

Damn, then send him to Yoo Jonghyuk. Why send him to me? Was I easy? I sighed lightly and spoke towards the air. “Then what will you do for me if I help?”

[The constellation ‘Lady of the Brocade Sleep’ says she will pay coins.]

“How much? Will you give me 2,000 coins again?”

[The constellation ‘ Lady of the Brocade Sleep’ is embarrassed.]

“Give me something else. Something helpful.”

[The constellations of Silla have their pride damaged and are angry at ‘Lady of the Brocade Sleep.’]

[The constellation ‘Lady of the Brocade Sleep’ says she will pay a story.]

A story?

[A new bounty scenario has arrived!]

+

[Bounty Scenario – Fight Against the Demon]

Category: Sub

Difficulty level: A+

Clear Conditions: Defeat the demon earl ‘Tentacio’.

Time Limit: ―

Compensation: The trust of the constellations of Silla, one history-grade story.

Failure: ―

+

A history-grade story. It was fairly decent.

In fact, I was already going to kill the demon earl without any conditions. The constellations of Silla weren’t as powerful as a nebula but there was nothing bad about them owing me a debt. I had to defeat this demon anyway.

The demon earl was tired of waiting and growled out, “Why are you speaking to yourself? Then you’re not Yoo Jonghyuk?”

A powerful airflow was released from Tentacio’s body and Lee Hyunsung quickly stepped forward.

“Dokja-ssi, I’ll take care of him.”

“Hyunsung-ssi, you can’t do it alone…”

“I will never lose the empty cartridge again.”

Han Sooyoung whistled like it was interesting. Tentacio made a complicated expression and grinned. “You don’t know who your opponent is. I like trampling on people like you.”

“You don’t know who I am?”

The earth shook and Lee Hyunsung ran forward as he activated Steel Transformation. Lee Hyunsung’s shoulders became covered with steel as he struck Tentacio’s shoulder horns. Lee Hyunsung had the courage to face the demon earl without backing off.

“You are someone who inherited a story?” Tentacio wondered.

Lee Hyunsung’s Steel Transformation was a stigma obtained by inheriting a story from Master of Steel. With one exchange, the demon noticed the value of Lee Hyunsung. He was an earl and knew the value of a ‘story.’

“I’ll eat it.”

Tentacio embraced Lee Hyunsung’s body. Lee Hyunsung continuously struck him with fists but Tentacio wasn’t fazed. Fangs emerged from the demon’s mouth and he bit Lee Hyunsung’s shoulder.

The strength of Steel Transformation was directly connected with Lee Hyunsung’s will. Unless his will was broken, Lee Hyunsung’s steel wouldn’t be destroyed.

Of course, this was written in Ways of Survival. However, it was only Lee Hyunsung of the second half who fit such a wonderful description.

Cracks started to appear in Lee Hyunsung’s hard steel. Lee Hyunsung’s expression started to pale.

“…What the hell is this?” Han Sooyoung’s eyes shook as she watched Tentacio. “Kim Dokja! What is that?”

I didn’t think the Seoul rankings announced by the dokkaebi were wrong. Apart from me, Han Sooyoung was the only one who knew the exact level of the demon earl.

I replied. “He is a 3rd grade demon.”

Demon species above the 3rd grade had their own story.

[The 3rd grade demon ‘Tentacio’ is telling the story of Bug Slaughter.

Bug Slaughter. It was a pretty useful narrative. It wasn’t in the form of a stigma yet but its power exceeded the stigmas of incarnations since this was his own story.

As Tentacio’s story started to be released, all the incarnations, including Lee Hyunsung and Han Sooyoung, stood in place like hardened bugs. Lee Jihye and Lee Gilyoung who was still unconscious, twisted in pain while Kim Yongpal had already collapsed while foaming at the mouth.

This was the real power of the ‘story.’ It was to swallow other beings into the ‘story.’ The frozen incarnations were waiting for their master’s command.

“It is the time of slaughter, Bugs.”

Lee Hyunsung’s steel shattered helplessly and Han Sooyoung’s clones exploded. It was a complete wipe out. The story ‘Bug Slaughter’ showed overwhelming power against many weak people. The earls of the second floor were beyond measure.

I held Lee Hyunsung’s shoulder as he was thrown back. Lee Hyunsung was released from the fear at my touch and he stuttered.

“D-Dokja-ssi.”

“Move back.”

“It isn’t possible. If I don’t protect Dokja-ssi this time―”

“A cartridge doesn’t disappear so easily. Watch me.” I patted Lee Hyunsung’s shoulder and walked forward.

Tentacio laughed like it was interesting. “You can resist my story? You are someone with moderately strong mental power.

“Mental power isn’t the problem.”

“Then what? Kneel, Bug.”

The pressure around us suddenly rose and people fell to their knees. Of course, I was fine. Tentacio was confused as he watched me walking casually. It was thanks to Fourth Wall. There was also a more fundamental difference.

“…Answer me. How can you move?”

“In order to get that story, you have to pick at least 100,000 people with weak stories and kill them. You’re quite a nasty bastard.”

“What?”

This was the difference in ‘status’.

“Still, Bug Slaughter is a fairly usable story. At least, when the enemy is weaker than you.”

[You aren’t interested in the ‘Bug Slaughter’ story.]

[The effect of ‘Bug Slaughter’ is negated by you.]

Tentacio’s eyes widened. “At least marquis grade… perhaps a demon king? No, that isn’t likely… are you a returnee?” The peak of the demon species, the 72 demon kings were equivalent to narrative-grade constellations. “But a returnee can’t be on the first floor of Dark Castle…”

“That’s right. Both are wrong.”

An existence with their ‘status’ revealed was constrained by probability.

[You are looking at the demon earl ‘Tentacio’.]

Tentacio turned pale. I didn’t delay and rushed towards Tentacio while using White Pure Star Energy.

[Blade of Faith has been activated!]

[The special option of Unbroken Faith is activated.]

[The ether attribute is converted to ‘divine.]

The new texture of Unbroken Faith was unfamiliar to me.

“Kuaack!” The demon screamed painfully as the ends of his horns were cut off. The second strike flew towards Tentacio before he could move.

It wasn’t just that the earl’s story wasn’t effective on me. My movements itself were different from ordinary constellations. The demon gritted his teeth.

“A constellation? No way… this is impossible!”

I wondered if I should borrow Messiah’s Path again but I didn’t need to use the ‘quotation’ against Bug Slaughter. There was a limit to the number of ‘quotations’ and I also needed to check my abilities without a story.

First, I needed to adjust my stats. Let’s see.

[Physique Lv. 62 -> Physique Lv. 90]

[Strength Lv. 60 -> Strength Lv. 90]

[Agility Lv. 60 -> Agility Lv. 90]

[Magic Power Lv. 62 -> Magic Power Lv. 90]

[All stats have increased significantly.

[A total of 116,400 coins have been consumed.]

It was huge spending but it was worth it.

[Your body is moving towards the limits of a human.]

[A formidable energy has filled your body!]

[All stats have reached the scenario limit!]

My heart beat faster as if I had received a caffeine transfusion. The adrenaline level in my body increased sharply and my body became as light as a feather.

My stats had an average level of 90. There was probably no one among the incarnations who had my stats. This was the only thing I could do as a constellation.

“Then let’s go.”

I relentlessly swung my sword. Tentacio’s body was torn by the blade. Tentacio didn’t fall easily despite my stats suddenly rising. He seemed to be strengthening his body using his remaining magic power. It was a wise choice because the story didn’t work.

“Kuaaaaaaah!”

Tentacio let out a terrible scream. As the battle continued, one or two injuries appeared on my body. As expected, I couldn’t fight him without any skills.

Then this would work.

[The special skill ‘Miniaturization Lv. 3’ is activated!]

[The effect of Miniaturization has decreased the size of your body.]

“What?”

[The exclusive skill ‘Bookmark’ is activated!]

“I will choose the fifth bookmark, Kyrgios Rodgraim.”

[It is confirmed that your body composition is similar to the corresponding character.]

[The status of the character is higher than you.]

[The level of the skill is being forcibly adjusted.]

Normally the messages would end here. However, one more line popped up.

[Your status has risen and coordination with the person will increase.]