As he wasn't strong enough to bring Shin Yoosoung back to life at the moment, Klein pushed off his visit to the Underworld.
After all, even if he could retrieve her soul, he needed to advance to use the power of 'miracles' and resurrect her perfectly. He was merely Sequence 4. Fortunately, he had already stored her body above Sefirah Castle.
After coming back from the banquet, even more rumors about horrifying events occurring were added to the previous ones. While some brushed it off, some knew that it wasn't mere rumors. They had experienced it themselves.
Seoul's incarnations trembled in fear.
A few days later, he finally left for the Underworld.
Klein raised his head and addressed the sky.
"I'm ready."
***
+
[Main Scenario #9 – Demon's Proof]
Category: Main
Difficulty level: A++
Clear Conditions: Hunt the demon species, collect nine Demon's Proof and place them on the altar on the 2nd floor.
Time Limit: 23 days.
Compensation: 50,000 coins
Failure: ―
+
After coming back from the constellation banquet, a new scenario soon started again. Right now, everything was going relatively smoothly. (Gehrman Sparrow was also nowhere to be seen.)
"…It's going too smoothly," Kim Dokja muttered.
Of course, hunting the demon species was indeed hard, but he felt strangely uneasy.
Meanwhile, Han Sooyoung came across the sight of three strange women clinging to Van.
The writer was bewildered.
"Why are you building a harem all of a sudden?"
"…"
"Those wounds don't come from fighting with demon servants. That woman is suspicious!" A woman exclaimed.
"That's right!"
Throughout, Van kept a strange expression on his face.
"I didn't realize that you have an unusual taste?"
At Han Sooyoung's words, Van slowly shook his head.
"…I'm not interested in men."
The 'women' freaked out.
"W-What are you talking about right now?"
"We're not men!"
Han Sooyoung snickered.
One of the 'women' tried to touch his arm but Van blocked it with his shield.
"Don't come close."
They backed away.
He scanned them from head to toe as Han Sooyoung stood next to him.
A lollipop in her mouth, the writer said.
"These guys are trash, you know?"
「Yoon Woochul. 41 years old. Will operate a coin farm.」
「Hwang Mingyu. 43 years old. Trafficking and more.」
「Bang Takho. 39 years old. Will kill children.」
Van pointed to the last one.
"What about this one?"
Han Sooyoung pondered for a moment.
"I don't know. Is it important?
She shrugged and took out her weapon.
"Anyway, he must have done something wrong too."
[A constellation who likes to change genders shakes their head.]
[A constellation who oversees justice assures you that this incarnation is innocent.]
Lenoch didn't kill innocents.
The mage prevented Han Sooyoung's magic from reaching his neck.
"What are you doing?" she frowned, annoyed.
"Let's not shed needless blood."
"Hypocrite."
Grumbling, she eyed the ahjussi disguised as a young girl while Van gestured for him to leave.
The ahjussi ran away in a hurry.
They then headed to the second floor.
「Incarnation '???' will die.」
Lenoch raised his head toward the sky.
[A huge fate is hoping for your death.]
He tilted his head.
[A huge fate is hoping for your death.]
The message rang out in his ears a third time.
[A huge fate is hoping for your death.]
Once they left Paradise, he encountered Yoo Sangah, who explained the situation.
"Van-ssi!"
She told him about the prophecy made by Olympus.
「Incarnation '???' will die.」
"Since it isn't said how, it is even more unpredictable…" Yoo Sangah worried.
Although she didn't know why his name appeared as '???'.
On the side, Kim Dokja pondered the issue.
"The best way would be for Van to find a means to resurrect, like an item or a skill, but I don't think there's anything like that around right now."
"Olympus's prophecies aren't so easy to avoid," Yoo Sangah refuted.
Kim Dokja continued thinking.
"Then… Your best chance would be to become a 'constellation' to die as an 'incarnation' without losing your life."
"I see."
However, Lenoch had 3 legendary-grade stories at the moment. The conditions to become a constellation were to have at least 5 legendary-grade stories. In short, he probably wouldn't have enough time to build up two more stories in such a short period.
Van only nodded.
Unlike Yoo Sangah, he didn't show any sign of concern.
"Don't worry."
[A huge fate is hoping for your definite death.]
"I won't die."
The others looked at him worriedly.
Once they reached the last floor, Van finally understood.
[You have entered the new main scenario area.]
[Main Scenario #10 ― '73rd Demon King' has started!]
How he was supposed to die.
[An error has occurred in the scenario.]
[The 73rd demon king is dead.]
[The Star Stream has corrected the balance of this scenario.]
[The Star Stream has corrected the broken probability.]
[The main scenario contents have been updated!]
[A suitable candidate who received the favors of demon kings has been found.]
[The position of '73rd Demon King' has been transferred to 'Incarnation ???'.]
[An error has occurred in the scenario.]
[Evolving into a demon king is impossible.]
+
[Main Scenario #10 – 73rd Demon King]
Category: Main
Difficulty level: SS+
Clear Conditions: You can choose one of two ways. Take possession of the throne and become the 73rd demon king, or kill the newly born 73rd demon king. The scenario can only be cleared by choosing one of these two methods and there is no other way to proceed.
Time Limit: 30 minutes
Compensation: 200,000 coins, ???
Failure: Death and expulsion from the scenario.
+
Van closed his eyes.
「Don't worry, I won't die.」
Opening them, his gaze swept over the room.
Han Sooyoung.
Kim Dokja.
Yoo Joonghyuk.
Yoo Sangah.
Jung Heewon.
Lee Hyunsung.
Lee Gilyoung…
He looked at the people staring at him.
"Kill me."
"No! What are you saying?" Yoo Sangah exclaimed.
Jung Heewon was also against it.
"I know that you are suicidal but this is a little…"
"I've never been suicidal."
Where did this misunderstanding even come from?
The others didn't seem to believe him.
Contrary to the others, Yoo Joonghyuk, who had been contemplating regression until now, pulled out his sword.
Yoo Sangah tried to stop him.
"Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi, what are you doing!"
Sighing, Han Sooyoung held her head.
"You bastard… Why do bad things always happen when I'm around Kim Dokja?"
Van reminded her, "Don't you want 200,000 coins?"
That was the scenario reward.
She raised her head and glared at him.
Grumbling, she reluctantly seized her dagger.
"Right, it's all for the 200,000."
"Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi! Han Sooyoung-ssi!"
Lee Gilyoung grabbed Yoo Sangah's clothes and shook his head at her.
She was shocked.
Kim Dokja inwardly cursed.
"Kim Dokja, what are you waiting for?" The writer yelled.
He frowned. Did she forget about his King of no Killing attribute? He had explained it to her before.
"I still can't kill anyone!"
Han Sooyoung clicked her tongue.
***
Klein managed to find Shin Yoosoung's soul.
[As promised, I fulfilled my part of the deal.]
Persephone reminded him,
[However, only retrieving her soul is useless. You have to find a way to resurrect her yourself.]
Gehrman Sparrow nodded.
That was actually the easiest part for him now.
After leaving Persephone, he went to Sefirah Castle with the soul.
Due to being Sequence 3, he didn't need to complete a ritual anymore and could access the gray fog with his will.
Then, he sat at the long bronze table.
Due to being on modern Earth, most of what he knew of this world was common knowledge. He didn't know any particular rare piece of history involving high-level beings. Thus, he didn't experience a sudden complete digestion of his potion that made him an angel right after advancing and remained at Sequence 3.
However, that wasn't a problem.
'Sequence 3 is enough.'
By leveraging the power of the gray fog, he could elevate his Sequence by one level above Sefirah Castle.
Hence, he could create 'miracles' above the gray fog.
Not wasting time, he summoned the Staff of the Stars from the pores of history, picturing the ability to 'graft'.
「A true miracle is resurrection from the dead.」
Feeling his spirituality rapidly being consumed, he grafted one of his 'miracles' that served as his spare life onto Shin Yoosoung's soul, putting her into her well-preserved body that he had put back to reality, and descended.
Monitoring her state, he watched her skin regain colors in real time.
「After all, the reason why the Disaster of Floods didn't disappear once the young Shin Yoosoung died may have been…」
***
A sword pierced Lenoch's chest.
"Cough!"
Blood flowed down his mouth.
[Your incarnation body has completely been destroyed.]
It was painful.
[You have failed the scenario.]
The others watched his body get sucked into an empty void. Jung Heewon gritted her teeth. Kim Dokja closed his eyes.
"No!"
Yoo Sangah's voice vaguely reached his ears.
The sword was removed from his body.
His consciousness was fading.
However, one thing was clear.
[You have been expelled from the scenario.]
They had succeeded in the scenario.
Van made a bitter smile.
***
Shin Yoosoung opened her eyes.
Her mind was disoriented, as if she had just woken up from a long sleep.
And in a way, that was indeed the case.
In a daze, she raised her gaze.
"…Ahjussi?"
Gehrman looked at her.
He had succeeded.
Shin Yoosoung had resurrected.
On his face, a smile bloomed.
"…Yes."
The most genuine he had ever done until now.
"I'm there."