CH 415

The queen suddenly fell silent as she felt something deep within her was trying to break the shell and come out, filling her entire body and mind. Her pupils became vertical slits like those of a reptile, and her whole body began to tremble uncontrollably shortly after.

“Your Majesty… Please calm down.”

Scales began to cover from her pointy ears to her smooth, white-skinned legs. Her once voluptuous chest shrank and clung to her ribcage, while the sound of her bones twisting and cracking filled the air.

Her green hair fell to the ground at once. Her eyes became full of hunger and excitement, and they flickered before finally calming down with a green crystal-like glow. A Dragorin was standing tall in the mirrors that reflected the queen’s affair with Kanonas.

“I got too excited, Kanonas.”

As the queen said, she revealed her true form whenever she was extremely excited, either due to anger or arousal.

Kanonas remembered the first time he saw her true self. It was the day when he first set his foot in the queen’s bedroom. She was in the midst of a secret and dangerous tryst with her personal guards, someone like Aslan, and she didn’t even bother to hide the scene. The queen saw through Kanonas’s desire to become her lover as he came to her bedroom immediately after his mother, Ruthra, who had also been his lover, died.

“...Yes, Your Majesty. Please speak.”

Kanonas lowered his head at the feet of the queen, whose nails were standing on end.

“The Soul Ring is not a sacred relic created by our Lord Lacryma. It was an object that the first Demon King, Doom Arukuda, lost during the War of New Devil a long time ago.”

Kanonas’s eyes widened.

He asked, “Why was…such a dangerous object sealed away with the other relics?”

She explained, “It was no longer dangerous after the curse was lifted. Our great ancestors even placed it in the safest place in all of Elsland. But the Order!”

“Your Majesty, the Order was…”

“It should have never been used. I have repeatedly warned people not to touch it.”

Kanonas said, “Many in the Order are committed to delaying the advance of the Demon King’s army.”

“Even if it means going against my wishes?” asked the queen.

Ever since he had become the queen’s lover, Kanonas had been trying to send Aslan, a potential rival, to the Demon King’s realm. In order to do that, he needed to persuade both Aslan and the Order. He did that by finding a foolproof method: Aslan got sent to infiltrate the Doom Man’s territory. By using the Soul Ring, which allowed him to transfer souls into the body of the Demon King’s people, it was a guaranteed success.

Thus, it was Kanonas who recommended Aslan as the leader of the twenty-third expedition team, convinced Aslan, and even used his influence in the Order to allow Aslan to be equipped with the Soul Ring.

Kanonas became busy defending the Order while hiding the truth.

“Enough, enough. That’s not it, Kanonas. The original purpose of the Soul Ring was not to transfer souls.”

“Then… What was it?” he asked.

“Doom Arukuda used it to collect powerful souls.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“So, find a way to bring Aslan back as soon as possible. That object must never fall into the hands of any Demon King, no matter if it's Doom Man, Doom Arukuda, or anyone else…”

***

[Saint Cassian’s Soul Transfer Ring (Item)]

[Ruined Doom Arukuda’s Soul Harvest Scythe (Item)]

Doom Arukuda! An instinctual warning shot through my brain. I actually felt pain climbing up my fingers. Anyway, there was something I had to do as soon as I saw Doom Arukuda’s name. Faster than anything else!

[Odin’s Absolute Warzone has been opened.]

Yeon-Hee reacted instantly. She seemed to think that I had sensed some danger. As she clenched the Clown’s Dagger, she knocked down Aslan. With one hand pressing down on his face and the other holding the dagger, she aimed the blade at Aslan’s neck, ready to thrust it at any moment.

Meanwhile, the Kciphos, who had been quietly sitting in her arms, bared its fierce fangs and waited for her command. I sent a signal that it wasn’t because of Aslan. Only then did Aslan sigh with relief as he had escaped from Yeon-Hee’s threat.

Ever since I entered Saint Dragorin, Lunea had somehow figured out everything I did. If Doom Arukuda discovered that I had taken its item, it would kill me. That was why I opened the warzone immediately without even having a chance to check the item’s detailed information.

However, suddenly…

Swoosh-!

The ring transformed into a huge scythe in my hand without me doing anything. It was the same phenomenon that occurred with Half of the Great Read’s Heart. The Half of the Great Red’s Heart initially had the shape of a broken sword, but it changed into its current small form when I picked it up.

It was the same this time. The ring found its original form in my hand. However, the pain continued to intensify similar to what happened when I acquired Half of the Great Red’s Heart. It was extremely painful. The pain that surged up was the same as when I forcibly absorbed the Old One’s Mana, which was also poisonous to me.

The pain escalated to agony to the point that I almost dropped the scythe to the ground. The sharp blade looked extremely dangerous, capable of cutting any head.

At that moment, Yeon-Hee sprang toward me.

“What is it! What is going on?”

Her pale face flashed in front of me, then disappeared.

“You! What the hell did you bring?”

Yeon-Hee yelled at Aslan. She wasn’t really asking out of curiosity.

“...That is what I would like to ask.”

Aslan was bewildered. He had confessed everything he was aware of without omission. Starting with the fact that he was the queen’s bodyguard at the palace, he joined the expedition and, of course, everything he knew about the ring. He even told us of other information he had learned while serving the queen.

The most impressive thing was about Dragorin. He said the Order had begun gathering people who considered themselves Holy Knights, and they were also in the process of finding other Dragorins who were not aware.

In fact, a long-awaited issue was resolved. The queen was Dragorin Green, not the Great Green. Of course, I would have to see for myself through his mental world.

***

Yeon-Hee couldn’t hold the scythe either. On the other hand, Aslan could. When he picked it up, it changed back into a ring.

“Gosh…”

Then, when Aslan put it down on the ground, it was still a ring. It was clear that the item had such a high level of resistance that prevented us from using it.

This was not limited to just this item. Before I purified and claimed Doom Entegasto’s rib, I had experienced similar restrictions. Nonetheless, the difference this time was that the intensity was even higher. A power greater than Doom Entegasto’s ability was causing this limit on me. It was so difficult to even pick the scythe again.

“Hmm…”

I thought about two things. First, its name was ‘Saint Cassian’s Soul Transfer Ring’ before it reacted to me. Saint Cassian was one of the two strongest ancient Holy Knights along with Saint Jayden. He was also the one who prophesied long ago that I would become Doom Man, a threat to this world.

The Holy Knights’ swordsmanship and magic were able to continue to exist because of his records. In fact, Saint Cassian was the foundation of the current Saint Dragorin.

Secondly, Saint Cassian had acquired Doom Arukuda’s item. Was it a trophy obtained by defeating Doom Arukuda? In any case, it was reasonable to assume that Saint Cassian had purified the power of Doom Arukuda that was contained within the item by using his own strength. Saint Cassian thus became a powerful transcendent being.

In summary, Saint Cassian was a transcendent being who had left behind a legacy for future generations. He was probably more powerful than I thought as he was capable of taking a weapon from Doom Arukuda as a trophy.

While it was difficult to judge what kind of being he was, I couldn’t help but doubt. There was a possibility that Saint Cassian was the Old One. At the very least, Saint Cassian was definitely one of the ancient dragons, like Saint Jayden.

My hope all along was that Doom Kaos and the Old One were defeatable beings. I wished for them not to be incomprehensible cosmic horrors.

However, the situation was narrowing down to that. I had expected Doom Entegasto to be in an inviolable or terrifying realm beyond comprehension, but it was just a creature made up of materials that could be removed.

I had actually seen Doom Arukuda’s cyclopean eye for a brief moment even before Doom Kaos sealed me. Also, looking at the relics from the War of New Devil, they had fought each other and lost precious parts of them.

If I could step on Doom Entegasto and climb beyond the veil, then I would be certain of what kind of existence Doom Kaos was. Just as Saint Jayden, who was the Great Red, was alive somewhere in the world, Saint Cassian could be as well. If I could face him, then I would also be certain of what he was.

The key to breaking the chains that bind me lay in confirming the true nature of such beings.

- Seon-Hu: We must end this within the time the battlefield is open.

- Yeon-Hee: Tell me more in detail. How should we end this?

- Seon-Hu: Apart from what exactly this is and whether I can make it my possession, it is unpredictable how Doom Arukuda will react if I take it outside of the Absolute Warzone.

- Yeon-Hee: So?

- It’s simple. I have to become stronger. Strong enough to reach a realm I cannot see at the moment.

I had to decide how to dispose of that thing. If it was inevitable that I needed to take it outside, then I needed a way not to be caught off guard like the last meeting. I had to have at least some power to resist higher Dooms like Doom Entegasto or Doom Arukuda, the owner of this item. It was estimated that the item also had resistance to its power. After all, it was an item of Doom Arukuda.

If I succeeded in completely taking it…

- Yeon-Hee: I won’t ask why you have come to that conclusion. You seem quite urgent right now. How long is the battlefield going to be maintained?

- Seon-Hu: Twenty-four hours.

- Yeon-Hee: If you have to become stronger in that time, then it must be from there, right?

- Seon-Hu: Yes, within the mental world. We won’t be limited by time there.

- Yeon-Hee: The battlefield is solid, right? Entering the mental world doesn’t completely stop the time here. It flows, even if just for a fleeting moment.

It meant that it could be dangerous if some transcendent being interfered here. If Doom Arukuda learned that his object had come to me, and if he decided to exercise his power on me, then things would have already gotten noisy.

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Undoubtedly, the speed at which the battlefield unfolded was fast, enough to avoid Lunea’s surveillance network.

- Seon-Hu: You don’t need to worry about that.

- Yeon-Hee: Good, Seon-Hu. So, where should we start?

I pointed at Aslan with my chin.

- Seon-Hu: Elsland.