Chapter 139: Hatch (5)

Yeon-woo made up an excuse and said that he would go training to leave the village.

What he was about to do had to be done as secretly and carefully as possible.

Also. It was the moment he had most been waiting for.

“Now all that’s left is to grill Leonte and Bahal.”

Yeon-woo wondered how they were doing in his collection of about 1000 spirit soldiers.

They probably had some consciousness left. Since they were outstanding high rankers.

So they could only feel frustrated in the world of souls.

Maybe they had fought each other inside. Of course, they wouldn’t be able to affect each other physically.

Yeon-woo waved his hand in the air.

An ashy fog gathered and two Spirit Familiars appeared. Because they were highly ranked, they were able to evolve quickly with just a little bit of dark energy.

[This…..place is?”

[Outside?]

Bahal and Leonte looked around after regaining their consciousness.

Swoosh!

Shadows on the ground wrapped around them like vines so they couldn’t move.

It was the Monster Portents, who had been waiting beforehand.

So the two couldn’t move freely.

[Grunt!]

[Shit! What’s all this?]

The two shouted after realizing what happened to this.

They resisted as hard as they could, emitting vestiges as they did.

Especially the fire sparking out from Bahal. It tried to burn the Monster Portents near him. Everytime he resisted, the shadows were shaking up and down with him.

[They dare. These useless things dare!]

Yeon-woo clicked his tongue looking at the tired Monster Portents.

‘As I expected. This isn’t enough.’

He had been thinking something like this might happen.

High rankers were people who were at the top of the Tower. Their souls could only be as extraordinary.

The reason why Yeon-woo had been able to get Bahal was because Bahal was tired, not because he was stronger than him.

So obviously, the Monster Portents wouldn’t be able to take care of him.

The only reason why they were able to last thing long was because of the gap because Spirit Familiars and Monster Portents. If they went on like this, they would probably wear out.

However, Yeon-woo wanted to check how strong Bahal was.

And the result. Was worse than what he expected.

It would be difficult to speak with him like this.

Eventually, Yeon-woo flicked his finger once more, like it couldn’t be helped.

Then, all the Monster Portents in his collection were summoned. A larger number of shadows covered Bahal like a mummy.

[Ahhhh! Cha Jeong-woo! Cha Jeong-woooooo! You dareeee! To meee! Like thissss!]

Bahal spit out his anger from the floor.

It seemed like sparks would fly from his glowering eyes. But the terror in them from his death hadn’t completely disappeared.

[What? Cha Jeong-Woo?]

Leonte, who hadn’t seen Yeon-woo’s face, looked at him in surprise. His vestige shook. Like he didn’t know what was going on.

Looking at the confused guys.

Yeon-woo slowly took off his mask.

When they saw him. Their faces filled with shock.

Bahal became even more angry to forget the fear and Leonte hugged his trembling self. A light wheeze escaped his mouth.

Yeon-woo accepted their confused vestiges.

“You guys.”

He spoke in a cold voice.

“Everything about the ‘stone.’ The reason why Red Dragon attacked Cheonghwado. You should tell me. Without leaving anything out. Everything.”

[How are you here? You should’ve died? Definitely. I definitely pierced a heart through your heart!]

Leonte started to mumble words because he was confused. He looked like he wanted to run away. But he couldn’t move because of the shadows.

Bahal was different.

Suddenly, he stopped resisting. He knew too well that he couldn’t escape, no matter how hard he tried to escape.

Instead, he stared at Yeon-woo. He muttered like he figured something out.

[You…..you look like Jeong-woo, but you’re not. Just who…..! Cough!]

But Bahal couldn’t finish. The Monster Portents tightened around him so he couldn’t breathe.

Yeon-woo spoke coldly looking at then.

“I hope you don’t misunderstand. The person asking questions now is me. Not you. All you have to do is answer my questions.]

[Don’t make me la…..ack!]

Bahal screamed while trying to resist.

The hold of the shadows because sturdier, and a blue fire wrapped around him.

As the blue fire darkened. As Holy Fire burned. Bahal shook even harder from the pain.

Holy Fire had the completely opposite property compared to dark properties.

So as the Holy Fire burned even brighter, Bahal felt like his body was being ripped in half with fire from hell.

However, Leonte didn’t scream like Bahal. His soul was already trembling, drenched in fear.

Yeon-woo took back his Holy Fire when he thought he was somewhat calmed down now.

And he asked again.

“Tell me everything about the stone. And everything about Red Dragon.”

[Ha. Ha. No…..ahhh!]

Seeing that Bahal was about to resist again, Yeon-woo flared up his Holy Fire again. This time, he increased the fire. The blue turned into yellow and ripped his soul.

[Ackk! Ackkkkkk!]

Even someone with a strong mentality would become apathetic to continued pain.

Also, although bodies could block off pain momentarily, souls couldn’t.

He had to taste the pain as it came.

There wasn’t any getting used to it.

So when Bahal’s energy was almost drained, he gave him dark energy again. He healed him, and tortured him again with Holy Fire.

[Please! Pleaseee! I’ll speak, so please! Stopp! I said stopppp!]

Bahal couldn’t resist any longer and surrendered. He didn’t want to relive the painful experience of his soul ripping and being realigned again.

But Yeon-woo didn’t respond.

He just quietly burned his Holy Fire and took it back, and continued the process, putting Bahal in hell.

[Ackkk! Ackkkkk!]

Leonte wasn’t able to meet Yeon-woo’s eyes and tried to turn his head. But because of the shadows, he couldn’t move at all.

[I, I…..!]

Yeon-woo walked towards the guy trembling in fear. Without saying anything. Slowly.

Leonte was the guy who planted the sword into his brother’s heart. And the friend that his brother considered most dear. But the reply to his affection was betrayal.

But Yeon-woo didn’t ask why he did that.

Why he made that choice. Why he betrayed his little brother. Why he crossed over to Cheonghwado.

Because it was obvious what the obvious would be. He would probably have an excuse, but he didn’t want to know.

All he wanted was for his brother to be comforted in the least.

There was only one thing he wanted to know.

“I hope you know more than Bahal.”

It was everything about the stone.

***

“So. You’re saying that the stone you made is called ‘Stone of the Sage?’”

[Ri…..ght! So……please…..kill…..me!]

Yeon-woo sat on top of the ruined Leonte and organized his thoughts.

He had received a lot of information from him.

‘Stone of the Sage. To think that it actually existed.’

It was a magical device that any player who climbed the Tower wanted.

Without breaking, it infinitely supplied magic power, and accomplished miracles.

There were a lot of rumors about the Stone of the Sage.

To the point that even his brother mentioned them.

But his brother had just spoken curtly about it.

Stone of the Sage? If it existed, Allforone would have already cleared the Tower. It’s nonsense.

Other high rankers including his brother were firm in their beliefs that the stone didn’t exist.

There were only rumors about it. No one had actually seen it. If it existed, it would’ve already spread everywhere.

Also.

The trail endlessly gave trials to players, and led them to overcome them. If the stone really existed, everything would be useless.

Even if it did exist, one could only hope for it on the 98th floor where gods and demons lived. It couldn’t be found below the 77th floor. Also, it was thought that no one could make it.

Even if that was the case, some people still took the chance and risked their lives for it.

Alchemists, dark magicians, and other people tried to make the Stone of the Sage, or something that was similar to it.

And of them, Leonte had been the closest.

[With additional information, a part of the hidden qualities is being uncovered.]

[???ed Stone of the Sage]

Category: ???

Rank: ???

Summary: The purest form of energy in the world is a person’s soul. This stone was created in the room the emerald tablet pointed to.

*???

It is not complete. (Sealed)

** This artifact is ‘Unique.’ Only 1 exists in the Tower, and it is binded to its owner. It cannot be given to others.

**This is an incomplete artifact. Please complete the artifact. Then, you will be able to view the sealed information and options.

Information about the stone was still hidden.

But Yeon-woo knew that this was progress.

It was only hard to catch a fish. After that, it became easier to handle it. Once he found a path, progress would be smooth.

‘And I can borrow a part of the dragon knowledge if I need to.’

Yeon-woo narrowed his eyes.

He felt like he understood why Leonte had gone to such lengths to make this magical device.

But he still had some questions.

“But how did you start to make this? You wouldn’t have known about it?”

He was curious about where Leonte had received such high-class information.

Others seemed to think it was possible with experimentation. But Yeon-woo didn’t agree.

If this was an item that could be created with trial and error, Red Dragon would’ve made it already.

No, even an alchemy clans and magicians clans would’ve been able to make it.

But Leonte didn’t have the ability to do that.

He didn’t have the skills or talents.

Then just how had he made this?

‘There’s someone behind it. Definitely.’

Yeon-woo thought that someone had pushed Leonte into doing it.

They controlled him behind his back, and would’ve tried to take the result.

‘Of course, he was left empty-handed because of me. He’s probably extremely regretting it right now.’

And Yeon-woo thought that it might be someone he knew.

And as expected.

[That’s…..I stole…..the…..emerald…..tablet…..!]

“Emerald tablet? What’s that?”

Yeon-woo’s eyes sparkled at the word he hadn’t heard of before.

[What Vie…..had…..]

“Vieira? Vieira Dune?”

[Cor…..rect.”

Yeon-woo laughed and clicked his tongue.

“You were played by a witch.”

The witch of stars, Vieira Dune.

She was the chief of the ‘Walpurgisnacht’ clan. [TN: https://germangirlinamerica.com/what-is-walpurgisnacht/#:~:text=Walpurgisnacht%20has%20become%20a%20sort,near%20the%20town%20of%20Thale. ]

It wasn’t counted in the Eight Clans, but it was still strong.

Also.

‘She was a founding member of Arthia, as well as Jeong-woo’s lover.’

The world knew Vieira Dune’s face.

Sometimes she made a man’s heart beat with her youthful face. And other times, it was seductive, innocent, and helpful, luring it people. She was able to entrance people with her various faces.

But her talent that wasn’t known to the rest of the world, but the Piece of Temptation and Awareness. His brother had realized too late that everyone had been played by her.

Only after he was gone. The truth uncovered.