Light of Arad: The First to Walk - Chapter 203



Only Krnovel

203

As Hilda scattered light into the hallway, Jinseong was already adjusting his posture.

It was not because of the two apostles, Cassius and Hilda, who were far away.

Rather, another apostle who is closest to the truth.

[Keep moving, let’s get moving right now, Jinseong. There’s no way that girl wouldn’t sense our presence. Let’s take off that disgusting mask of easygoing babbling and reveal her distorted expression of pain.]

Strictly speaking, it is another split self of the apostle.

The 6th Apostle, the self separated from the Direzier of the Black Disease, Black Orb.

Even though their personalities may be somewhat different, the anger and desire for revenge directed at Hilda are bound to be the same.

‘Shh, that’s ridiculous. Even if I were to empty my pockets of everything I have, it would never work.’

[What are you afraid of? Don’t you know that that damned bitch’s power itself is nothing special? Don’t you know that simple fact even though you pretend to know so much about this world? You don’t have to borrow the power of an idiot who only knows how to use a knife. With your true skills and my power. It’s definitely possible-.]

“That’s not it, you idiot! Hilda isn’t weak! What if you didn’t know that?”

[… … What does that mean? Even among the apostles, Hilda is considered weak in terms of fighting ability.]

‘No, no, no, that’s all Hilda’s acting.’

Her ability to transfer apostles through the power of the Holy Spirit is not the only one.

She was the one who protected the Demon Realm that broke away from the planet Terra from cosmic radiation by sending it to another dimension.

Even though it is a fragment, it is a massive magical power that can envelop the entire land that broke off from a single continent.

That’s not all. It’s a later story than the main scenario that Jinseong, Vivi, and Chili Shrimp are currently working on, but what about her abilities that will be revealed in the Demon World?

Jinseong already knew that even the title of the first and greatest Elemental Master was too poor an adjective to describe her.

This is thanks to the various background settings that Neople left in various places beyond the game’s script and main scenario.

‘Stronger than Bakal. I thought even Bakal wouldn’t be able to defeat Hilda 1:1. Bakal at the peak of his power, the one who started the Dragon War.’

An encounter with the Tyrant King Bakal, which formed the climax of one of the main scenarios released in the game Dungeon & Fighter.

Bakal, one of the most popular apostles among users, also known as the ‘history teacher’, had such power that he was able to tear apart the heavens, which had been a single continent, as it is now.

[what…….]

Even Bakal couldn’t be confident of victory because of Hilda.

Heukgu, who could not have known such facts, could not help but be bewildered by Jinseong’s words, but did not refute them further.

‘Besides that – damn it, it’s too much and too long to explain. Anyway, Hilda is stronger than you, Heukgu, no, even your real self, Direji, remembers. Remember. If you try to take revenge now, you’ll disappear forever. And so will I.’

Because the black ball was both a deregistration and a non-deregistration.

[… … I understand. If I were in the dimensional rift, I would never have believed that… … but I will believe it.]

Because I trusted the power of knowledge and information that Jinseong possessed.

Jinseong smiled happily at Heukgu’s voice full of sincerity.

Of course, there was no time to just sit there like that.

Casillas kept coughing.

“Ahem, ahem, why? Are you dissatisfied?”

“No, I wouldn’t be dissatisfied. But you, who cut off Luke’s head… just spent your energy ‘blowing away’ the ‘small fry’…”

Hilda trailed off.

Only after hearing that did the scene from the cinematic animation related to Dungeon and Fighter Luke come to mind.

‘Yeah, there’s a scene where Casillas cuts off Luke’s neck. But Luke immediately reattaches it and heals him. It was a bit of a confusing scene.’

Was that what it meant when it said that an apostle cannot kill an apostle?

Is it a system where even if you make an attack that is ‘enough to kill’, it ends up being useless?

As Jinseong’s thoughts reached that point, another question occurred to him.

‘… … But in the past-. When Bakal started the Dragon War and tried to pass through Cain, I thought it was considered as ‘he couldn’t attack’. Wasn’t that the case? Then… … there’s a possibility that Cain didn’t attack on purpose-.’

Similar to the Casillas vs Luke situation, but a completely different case.

Isn’t there a Bakal vs Cain situation?

Cain did not attack Bakal.

Jinseong knows that he ‘withdrew’ the fist that was about to attack.

‘I was blocked by some kind of force… … and did not attack… … If that was not because of the rule that says apostles cannot kill each other, but because I was literally blocked by a ‘force’-.’

Just as a new hypothesis was forming in Jinseong’s head, Heukgu’s voice woke him up to reality.

[Jinseong. What are you thinking?]

“-ah.”

[In this situation, are you just turning a blind eye… … I, who trusted you, am once again-.]

“Ahem, shh.”

As a veteran and a rotten person in the game Dungeon & Fighter, it is inevitable that he will discover new things and become immersed in ‘the game of his life’.

Jinseong felt awkward for no reason and shut Heukgu’s mouth.

But he was right. There was no room for other thoughts in this situation.

‘If it were Hildar… … .’

It scattered light into the hallway.

Above all, isn’t it Hilda who knows well what she said a little while ago, the power of Kashias?

Jinseong thought for a moment. While he was concentrating, Casillas’ voice echoed through the hallway.

“How can I not do that? I just did it because dealing with that old man wasn’t enough to cool down my boiling blood.”

“That’s true. But it seems like my blood hasn’t cooled down yet.”

Hilda waved her hand in the air.

“What? Oh, no, wait-.”

Before Kashias could stop them, two energies, one blue and one red, began flying toward the end of the hallway, circling as if they were going to devour each other.

───────────… … !!!!

The two energies that were flying fiercely in a spiral exploded at some point in the hallway.

Casillas jumped out of his seat and quickly approached the explosion site.

“Huh? Hmm!?”

Hilda, who had come close to him without realizing it, asked while watching him turn his head around to find something.

“Why are you doing that? As if you’re looking for something?”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing.”

Kashias said. Hilda stared blankly at the back of the tougu as he turned around and quickly walked away.

Then she too looked at the point of explosion of the energy she had sent out.

Hilda knows that neither living beings nor machines can completely stop this.

It would have been natural for at least some remnants of the wound to remain, but at the point of explosion and its surroundings, there was only debris from the floor and walls that had turned to dust and were flying around.

There is nothing different in texture or color.

Moreover, not a single trace of living flesh could be found.

“Hmm…….”

Hilda followed after Casillas, making a subtle snort.

* * *

And Jinseong was literally breathing heavily with the face of someone who had died and come back to life.

“Ugh, uh, crazy… What is that? It’s similar to that, but completely different-. No, you’re using that kind of magic right away, without any casting time?”

The place he was was in front of the Castle of the Dead, in a tent he had gotten from the Adventurer’s Guild.

He had been concentrating his energy ever since he ‘obviously’ predicted what Hilda would do!

What would have happened if I hadn’t created a dimensional rift and escaped?

[Keep kek kek… … You’re talking as if you know everything about Hilda, and you’re surprised by that.]

Black Goo said.

Jinseong had something to say, but he didn’t push it.

“Ah, no, it’s not a skill-. Well, well, there’s no rule that says you have to use only skills, but…”

Even Jinseong himself does not only use the skills of the Dark Knight in the game Dungeon & Fighter.

Isn’t it true that we are here now because we have the power that exists only in the settings, let alone the usage method outside the standard?

Moreover, Hilda is the first and greatest Elemental Master. The power of the Second Apostle, known as the greatest magician in the Demon World, cannot be limited to just ‘the skills of the female magician occupation group, the Elemental Magician occupation, that Jinseong himself knows.’

“I have to be careful.”

[I praise that attitude.]

“But, you know, wouldn’t it have been better if you had given me more information about Hilda from the beginning? It seems like you don’t know much more than me, so it wouldn’t be of much help-.”

-Jinsang! Jinsang! Can you hear me!?

-Ah. I see, the reaction is different. Mr. Jinseong? Are you connected?

Jinseong, who was about to say something to Heukgu because he was feeling a bit choked up, soon had to focus on the two voices ringing in his head.

I could tell without even asking.

-Both of you, please report your current location and situation.

-I caught Quattro Manus and came out~! I came back to the Castle of the Dead with Hiram and Azalea.

-The Joint Investigation Team has finished selecting the route. It seems like it’s time to go catch that giant robot that Vivi was causing a ruckus… … Since it looks like it’ll turn into a raid, we’re waiting at the Joint Investigation Team camp for now.

-You two have made quite a bit of progress. How long did it take?

-About 30 minutes?

-24 minutes. That’s it. What’s going on? Why aren’t I getting party messages or whispers all of a sudden?

That Jinseong himself had lost contact.

This means that the two people who had been reporting the situation every minute took emergency action as they had agreed in advance as soon as they lost contact with Jinseong.

Jinseong didn’t necessarily lie, but he didn’t tell the whole truth either.

-I went inside the castle of the dead for a moment. Maybe… …it won’t be long before something like this happens to all three of us, so let’s be careful.

-Huh? Up until now, whenever I came and went, there was nothing wrong, but suddenly-.

-You might have taken a different path than us. Since you’re Jinseong.

-Aha. I understand that.

Vivi tried to question why such a thing could happen to Jinseong, who was the slowest progressing, but a single word from Chili Shrimp stopped her from doing so.

To Jinseong, it was just a word of gratitude.

– Hehe, let’s keep going. Since Chili Shrimp will probably start from ‘Sanctuary of Ripples’ based on Luke’s raid, I’ll tell you the pattern and precautions separately.

-Yes, but we’ll go slowly for now, so don’t expect too much. When Vivi, that human, comes, we have to do it together.

Jinseong’s thoughts did not stop even as he continued to tell Chili Shrimp information about Luke Raid.

When I met the Time Lord, nothing happened, so why did this situation arise only now?

‘The reason I couldn’t whisper before was because I was inside Luke’s lab. It was because I was at the Dark Altar.’

It was a question that arose because I had already been deep into the castle of the dead once.

When I was chasing Giselle, not only the whispers but also the teleportation potion were all blocked because I was at the ‘Altar of Darkness’.

Specifically, it was in the dungeon area: Luke’s Laboratory, or one of the dungeons you would encounter in the Luke Raid.

But now?

‘This time, it wasn’t Luke’s laboratory. It was definitely the castle of the dead. In the first place, the reason Cassillas and Hilda fought Luke and appeared in front of the adventurers was because they couldn’t enter Luke’s laboratory.’

This can be seen as a situation where Apostle Cassillas and Apostle Hilda temporarily retreated as they were unable to break through any further after Luke revealed his power and kicked them out in front of the laboratory door, completely closing it.

In the meantime, the adventurer who defeated Quattro Manus found another route of access, and Hilda and Cassillas appeared to entrust that adventurer with persuading Luke or even subduing him… … That was the original flow of the story.

‘But that means the whispers didn’t go through-.’

Jinseong swallowed dry saliva.

If there is one possibility, it is probably… … .

‘-Is it Hilda?’

What kind of magic did Hilda use?

Such magic that Jinseong himself could not even imagine.

Jinseong’s expression changed subtly.

‘That’s how skilled he is… … If Hilda is that skilled.’

The second apostle, Hilda with crying eyes, who I might have just been afraid of in the past.

However, for Jinseong now, this imagination rather created a sense of anticipation.