CH 49.2

If he just touched her skin…… this time, even she wouldn’t be able to walk properly on her own two legs. She quickly turned the subject around at that moment.

“Shouldn’t we get back to the castle by now? Everyone would have been so worried.”

“Just do it.”

“It’s a little cold because the night wind is chilly.”

“Hold it in.”

“I haven’t eaten anything all day, so I’m quite hungry.”

“…”

Bael, who simply swept his bangs with a rather annoyed face, eventually stood up at the word ‘hungry’. He then took out a black cloth before draping it around Julia and lifted her up.

“Hold tight. If you were to fall, I’ll just leave you behind.”

Contrary to his words, however, his arms had already been firmly supporting Julia’s hips. She smiled softly while burying her face under the cloth.

The daunting size of his wings spread at once and those two figures eventually soared into the night sky under the red moon. Before she even knew it, a new system window had popped right in front of her.

[▷ERROR

ERROR? ERROR? ERROR?]

[▷? ? Necklace

? necklace ? ? ? Demon King Bael ? ? ? ? ? ?. It can block ? access ? all ? except for Bael himself. Usage: ?]

* * *

Julia was currently standing at the entrance of the tower. She grabbed the huge doorknob before leaving Bero that was wagging its tail eagerly behind her.

[▷SYSTEM

Main Quest. Secret of the Tower.]

[▷SYSTEM

– Conditions to unlock: Enter the base, ‘Demon God’s Tower’ together with Bael and Legion.

– Mission: To investigate the inside of the tower. The time limit is 7 days.

– Reward: Activation of the command system.

– Failure Penalty: Permanent inability to enter the base, ‘Demon God’s Tower’.]

As she peered at the quest window that was floating in front of her eyes, she grasped her trembling heart.

‘Whoo, I can still do it.’

Today was the last day of the quest, ‘Secret of the Tower’.

Although she had made a rather huge vain attempt for the past six days, she still couldn’t give up that easily. And thus, she decided to risk her life and make an escape from the castle alone with only Bero.

She planned on using the necklace that she had just received from Bael if she were to get in a dangerous situation, but as luck would have it seemingly, she was eventually able to reach the tower safely without ever encountering any single beast at all.

The heavy door creaked wide open as if to welcome Julia herself. The landscape that could be seen there was no different from the previous day. Once she had entered, the door closed by itself slowly as if to cut her off from the outside world.

Julia then clenched her fists tightly. She had fully realized yesterday that it was not something that could be done just by using her own body.

‘First of all, you have to carefully consider the quest title itself. It can be an important hint after all.’

For example, the answer to the first episode, ‘The First Death’, was actually Berith’s death. It would have been kind of a deal like if she didn’t kill him, she would be the one to die instead.

‘And another hint is hidden within the inner wall of the tower itself.’

Julia had actually been convinced that the ‘Secret of The Tower’ was hidden in the Demon God’s creation myth.

The role of this gigantic tower was as a watchman that continued to protect the magic stone and everything from the first floor right to the top had been a kind of a bible that narrated the genesis of the whole Demon Realm. It was said that the role of the magic stone had been closely related to the game’s main keyword; ‘key’, but then, what about the genesis itself?

There was no way that an element which possessed no significant role had been placed right in the most central being, the Demon God’s Tower. At the end of those thoughts, Julia began to find some clues towards this quest.

“I knew that there were hints etched within the carvings on the walls, but the scope is still too broad.”

Julia slowly skimmed through the story that had started from the hallway entrance. A seed was awakened in a space of an utterly complete nothingness. It was actually a being that would eventually grow into the Demon God in the future.

‘Turn me into the Demon God. Whatever the method is, then I will accept you as the key.’

Bael’s compassionless voice that echoed through the underground prison still lingered in her mind. Even though he was gradually getting closer to the day when he would finally become the Demon God—whom he had been longing for—after he had obtained the key’s heart, why was he still……

As her hand naturally shifted to the red necklace—

[▷ERROR

ERROR? ERROR? ERROR?]

[▷? ? Necklace

? necklace ? ? ? Demon King Bael ? ? ? ? ? ?. It can block ? access ? all ? except for Bael himself. Usage: ?]

A red light instantly spread out along the grooves that were carved into the sculpture. A trail of light bolted at high speed down the long hallway and eventually disappeared from sight as it mounted the stairs.

Instead of following it, Julia immediately hurled her body towards the other side of the said hallway.

“Bero!”

“Woof, woof—woof!”

She jumped on the wolf’s back and opened the skill window. This was the only best way to get Bero into the tower safely.

[▷Resistance Transition Lv.2

The time limit is 9 minutes and 59 seconds.]

She checked the time bar that was floating above her and gestured straight inside the tower.

“We have to follow the Demon King’s magic—as soon as possible!”

“Woof, woof!”

Bero, which was now quite mature, jumped into the tower as soon as Julia gave a shout. It ran up the stairs that seemed for a long time in just a blink of an eye.

Julia gradually managed to keep her own balance upon the frantically swaying back. It was difficult for her to sit up properly as she got dizzy from the sudden change in vision, but she just gritted her teeth and persevered. She couldn’t afford to let go of an opportunity that she had barely gotten a grasp of.

Then, her eyes had finally caught onto the end of the red trail.

“Over there! Bero, right through the hallway on the next floor!”

“Groowl!”

As it followed her gesture, Bero quickly turned around. The place where they had finally pulled a stop was a huge lake with a falling cascade. Bael’s magic was hovering around the lake before it slowly receded from view as it melted into the water.