Chapter 624: Chapter 614

“Baek Yiseol!”

Nam Taemin shouted sharply.

Despite his sharp tone, Baek Yiseol didn’t argue.

There was no time for that.

“Even if you call me so desperately, it’s the same for me.”

In an instant, thick darkness engulfed the surroundings.

Not being able to see anything because of the darkness—

Baek Yiseol was no different.

Hiel made her decision.

“I’ll go, Chainwalker.”

She couldn’t leave her lord alone in that darkness.

There wasn’t even time for someone to stop her.

At that moment, Hiel’s body glowed as her natural abilities manifested.

“?! ”

As if repelled, Hiel’s wings folded, and she was flung back.

“Are you all right, Hiel-nim!”

Chainwalker supported Hiel, but Hiel didn’t have the presence of mind to formally express her gratitude.

This was—

This sensation was—

‘The Lord hasn’t permitted me to approach.’

It was the first time she had felt the Lord’s “rejection.”

The icy sensation still lingered on her skin.

Hiel, having confirmed this, opened her mouth.

“I regret to say, but there is nothing we can do, everyone.”

“Th-That…!”

“It’s because the Lord does not wish it.”

Grit.

Nam Taemin ground his teeth.

‘Does this mean we are still unworthy?’

Having entered the realm of anomalies—

Having been acknowledged by the Commander-in-Chief—

He felt like a fool for being so happy.

‘In the end, there’s nothing we can do in this situation!’

It was Hiel’s voice that snapped Nam Taemin out of his self-reproach.

“Even if it’s due to our inadequacy, don’t you all know? The Lord would never hold anyone accountable for it.”

The standards for judgment were always clear.

If someone failed a mission despite having the ability to perform it, the Commander-in-Chief would deliver merciless criticism.

But if failure came from being unable to complete the task, the Commander-in-Chief would instead offer warm consolation.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in his ears.

“Haven’t you already fulfilled your mission?”

Iron Castle Ship.

Nam Cheolmin, the weakest aboard the Iron Castle Ship in terms of combat strength, nodded.

And then, he found what they could do in a battlefield where the Commander-in-Chief had not permitted intervention.

“We must leave here immediately. Otherwise, we will only be a hindrance….”

“What did you say? How dare an adventurer say such a thing now!”

Bang.

Even in the pitch-black darkness, something began to shine.

Wallswail slammed his hammer, his voice thundering.

With the hammer’s last strike, the Iron Castle Ship began to illuminate the surrounding darkness.

Wheeeeee.

Players from Gaon, part of the Great Alliance, gasped in awe.

It’s really an incredible level of technology, isn’t it?

“Could this all be made of obsidian?”

“Obsidian? Isn’t that an insanely expensive mineral?”

“It really looks like obsidian!”

Obsidian.

Anyone who even superficially understood the Magic Tower would recognize the name.

The mineral used to decorate the Magic Tower’s interior, where magic was forbidden, was none other than obsidian.

Nam Cheolmin nodded.

“Obsidian absorbs and nullifies magic.”

Strictly speaking, this darkness—

Baek Yiseol continued Nam Cheolmin’s words.

“In dark magic studies, it’s called ‘compatible magic.’”

“…Compatible magic?”

How do you know something like that?

As Nam Taemin gave her a questioning look, Baek Yiseol answered.

“Well, it’s thanks to my struggles. Getting crushed by the Great Alliance, pushed around by famous guilds in Seoul—I had to try everything I could. And among those, dark magic just happened to suit me.”

Compatible magic, born from one’s past and background.

Baek Yiseol’s past was so consistent it could easily be called a talent.

Thanks to that, Baek Yiseol, despite being a [Shadower] class with no connection to magic, was able to wield dark magic.

And because of that, she could see it.

“That obsidian is even absorbing compatible magic.”

It was well-known that obsidian absorbed magic, but no one expected it to work even on compatible magic.

“As expected, it’s thanks to the Dwarves’ incredible craftsmanship.”

Their forging techniques had surely amplified obsidian’s effects.

Losing the chance to become acquainted with such Midas-like hands due to dizziness, Baek Yiseol felt a pang of regret. But there was no time to express it.

Soon, the darkness began to clear.

Wallswail raised his hammer again.

“I can guess what concerns you, but I refuse to stand idly by like a fool this time. Even if it’s not what the Lord wishes…!”

It was his resolve.

“I will go to him no matter what.”

Why was it—

The moment he spoke those words—

The face of the demon-possessed former Dwarven King came to mind.

And yet, Wallswail firmly gripped his hammer.

“At the very least, with my own eyes…!”

He hadn’t confirmed the Commander-in-Chief’s safety.

Amid the swirling malice—

At the very least, he had to confirm the Commander-in-Chief’s safety before he could retreat.

In that brief moment, Baek Yiseol and Nam Cheolmin exchanged glances.

“A demon….”

Nam Cheolmin still couldn’t believe it, but he knew better than anyone that Baek Yiseol wouldn’t speak nonsense in this situation.

That’s why he asked.

“Will it be all right, Yiseol?”

“Even if it’s not all right, do we have a choice?”

“That’s….”

“And this is what you want too, isn’t it?”

“!”

Baek Yiseol stared at the slowly receding infinitely deep darkness.

‘Yes, this is what I intend to do.’

Nam Cheolmin pressed his temples to calm his swirling thoughts.

‘Please, let us be wrong.’

Eventually, something began to take shape.

Twitch.

It was an indescribable form.

Lumps of flesh, tendrils, entrails.

If one had to describe it, it was like an incomplete “cell.”

“W-What is this?”

That thing began clinging to the Iron Castle Ship.

Chainwalker flinched instinctively.

How had it bypassed the constantly active shield?

Squirm, squirm.

It was merely a small cluster of cells.

But it grew at an alarming rate.

Even if one didn’t want to see it, they couldn’t help but notice.

The Iron Castle Ship’s glass windows were being overtaken by the cells.

“Wallswail!”

Clank.

Wallswail spun a heavy valve without responding.

The Iron Castle Ship’s interior rapidly heated up.

“If anything gets in our way, I’ll burn it all down!” shouted Chainwalker.

The massive metal ship heated, forcing the cells to shrink back.

Thanks to this, the Iron Castle Ship pushed forward, allowing them to see it.

Through the obsidian glow, clearing the darkness further—

Twitch.

The shape of what seemed to be the cells’ main body appeared.

The players’ vision flickered.

As expected, it was a mosaic-covered message.

Nam Cheolmin counted the letters and nodded.

“Is that the Demon King of the First Throne, Bael?”

Nam Taemin nodded as well.

“I don’t feel anything from him, hyung.”

The demons and Ten Thrones they had encountered so far were all terrifying presences.

Each demon, regardless of type, had one clear commonality.

“Their gaze isn’t like that of a demon.”

The peculiar gaze of demons, which looked at humans as if they were lower than beasts, was absent.

On the contrary, it was so devoid of intent that it raised questions.

Nam Taemin muttered to himself.

“Before that, is that thing even alive?”

The cells twitched but gave off no discernible aura.

The emotion it evoked—if it could even be called that—was one thing:

Fear of the unknown.

Faced with an incomprehensible existence, Nam Taemin’s heightened senses turned into a curse.

He couldn’t maintain his composure.

But for one person, it was fortunate.

“Taemin, maybe it’s true that ignorance is bliss….”

“All I see is a lump of flesh.”

“Is it because I’m like a naive pup who isn’t afraid of a tiger?”

Onboard the Iron Castle Ship, only Nam Cheolmin failed to grasp Bael’s true nature.

And that allowed him to see everything.

Twitch.

‘It looks desperate.’

Yes, Bael seemed to be struggling already.

Nam Cheolmin’s eyes shifted to the traces of burned cells inside the Iron Castle Ship.

‘But if it wasn’t trying to hurt us….’

Why had Bael spread its flesh?

If it didn’t even have the energy to care about its surroundings during the fight—

“!”

“Wait, was it trying to escape?”

As I think about it, at this moment, Bael’s actions began to make sense.

Spreading its cells chaotically, twitching uncontrollably—if all of this stemmed from the ‘fear’ triggered in battle…

Nam Cheolmin opened his mouth cautiously, unable to suppress his suspicion.

“Could it be… is the Commander-in-Chief even overwhelming Bael?”

But he couldn’t celebrate yet.

He had heard it from Yiseol.

That perhaps, the Commander-in-Chief might be… a demon.

“No.”

He shook his head firmly.

‘Until I confirm it with my own eyes, it’s nothing but speculation.’

So Nam Cheolmin widened his eyes and focused.

The only being that could drive Bael into such terror had to be the Commander-in-Chief.

He frantically scanned the surroundings, trying to find him.

But something felt off.

“Huh? W-What?”

He couldn’t see him.

No matter where he looked, the Commander-in-Chief—

Hoyeol—was nowhere to be seen.

The outfit.

And above all, his silver hair, which shone even in the deepest darkness.

It didn’t make sense that he couldn’t find him, even after frantically searching his surroundings.

Suddenly, a chill ran down Nam Cheolmin’s spine.

At last, he realized—

Why the Commander-in-Chief’s title was “The Infinitely Deep Darkness.”

Nam Cheolmin stared at the darkness encasing Bael, suffocating him.

That darkness itself.

Without realizing it, Nam Cheolmin muttered under his breath.

“…Could you be there, Hoyeol-ssi?”

“Damn it.”

I swore to myself that I wouldn’t lose consciousness, but when I came to my senses, I was in my inner world.

This must mean that my body and mind had completely lost control, like when the status abnormality [Blackening] activated.

I couldn’t help but let my shoulders slump.

“Well, I am possessed right now.”

Someone might ask me—

Aren’t you worried? Facing Bael, who is on the verge of his complete manifestation, how can you be so irresponsible as to lose consciousness and then complain in your inner world? They might even yell at me for it.

“That’s a fair point.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

If I could, I would’ve held on until the very end.

But what could I do?

Without Grandfell…

I, Lee Hoyeol, am nothing but a weak and powerless player.

So—

Clank.

I turned my head in the direction of the sound.

No one else might recognize it, but how could I not?

That sound, one I heard every single day, like clockwork.

The sound of a teacup being moved, with a green tea bag still steeping inside.

In my inner world.

I saw Grandfell.

And Grandfell looked back at me.

That was why, even in this situation, I could feel reassured.

I spoke first.

“Scaring people like that—don’t you think you’re overdoing it?”

You haven’t left, Grandfell.

I walked toward him.

Silver hair.

A graceful appearance.

An upright posture.

This was the Grandfell I, Lee Hoyeol, knew.

Clank.

Grandfell handed me the cup of green tea he had steeped and spoke.

“I have been waiting for you.”