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[Whereabouts of the final puzzle (5)]
Daein He looked at those imprisoned in prison with a cold gaze.
“You asked to see me?”
Those who were trapped had one thing in common.
The same tattoo engraved on his naked back.
A burning star.
The faces of the suffering demons carved into them.
They were silently glaring at the great man with their mouths closed.
“Well… they are terrible guys. “Before you came, our school’s experts came forward and tortured you, but you insisted until the end that they would only talk to you when you came.”
Cheon Mu-geuk was standing next to Dae-in. There were some traces of blood on the sleeves of his clothes, as if he had personally participated in the torture.
“Disciple. “Are they people you know?”
The great man nodded.
“They are called Pandemonium. “It’s a secret organization operating on the continent of Gaia, and I’ve dealt with it once before.”
At that moment, for the first time, emotional agitation appeared in the eyes of the men locked in the prison. It was anger.
“dare…!”
“Because of you, the Great World…!”
It was then. The grayish voice of an old man heard from inside the prison, silencing everyone.
“Please come inside. “I want to talk quietly.”
“under. “Look at how proud these are.”
The great man clicked his tongue and opened the prison door and went inside. Cheonmugeuk followed suit.
A total of 30 people were imprisoned.
They were all thin men like monks, with their hair shaved short.
There were signs of being beaten all over the body, and the mana hall was completely broken.
After checking their condition, Daein asked Cheon Mu-geuk.
“Master. Is this a sign of being attacked by martial arts? That’s quite a bit…”
Cheon Mu-geuk nodded with a serious expression.
“It is a sign of being attacked by a very strong warrior. “Would you believe me if I told you that even I can’t guess the other person’s level?”
“…yes?”
The great man stopped and looked at Cheonmugeuk.
Looking at martial arts alone, there was no one in the world who could beat Cheonmugeuk.
Even if you attack a great person with only martial arts skills, there is no way.
Such a martial arts skill whose level is difficult to estimate…
‘What kind of monster has come and gone here?’
Daein recalled the report he heard from Wang Guho.
It is said that when Wang Guho found the apostles of Pandemonium tied to a pillar, a quickly scrawled note was left in front of them.
-These bastards are the culprits who opened the gate.
The handwriting was written in crooked Korean.
After Wang Guho brought them to the headquarters, he judged them to be suspects based on the survivors’ testimonies and arrested them.
-I saw those bastards using magic or something!
-The monsters didn’t just attack those people.
-They took my children. Superhuman. Please find my child….
“…You guys. “Did you open the Hell Gate by using a living person as a sacrifice?”
“Kuhk….”
Those who were captured didn’t say much other than a faint smile. But that alone was enough to convey meaning.
“Stop laughing, you scum. “It makes me want to kill him right away.”
Daein struck them all on the back of the head one by one, knocked them out, and entered the prison.
The innermost part of the shadowy prison.
An old man with long bones, two heads taller than the others, was sitting in restraints.
“Cluck cluck…”
He was the voice that had just told the person to come inside.
The old man, who coughed several times, looked at the great man and spoke helplessly.
“This is how we meet. “We met earlier than expected, but…”
“You talk like you know me well?”
The old man laughed. His voice was cracked and hoarse.
Red, bloodshot eyes glowed eerily in the darkness.
“How can you not recognize the person who blew up half of the headquarters? “From the moment we found out about Earth, we first began investigating you.”
“So you hit me in the back like you were waiting for me? “To be honest, it was pretty numb.”
The great man moved a little closer.
The old man’s entire body was covered with spiderweb-like stab wounds, as if he had been injured much more severely than the others.
‘wait for a sec. That wound…!’
The moment he saw the wounds on the old man’s body, his eyes widened to the point where it was impossible to widen them any further.
Daein sent a message to Cheonmugeuk.
[Master. That wound…]
[Have you seen it now? okay. It is a trace of being hit by the Heavenly Demon Sword Technique.]
In addition to the Heavenly Demon Sword Technique, there were also traces unique to the Pacheonshingeom Chosik.
‘That doesn’t make sense. I don’t know if it’s the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, but I’m the only one in the world who can learn the Heavenly Demon Divine Art…
‘ “Is my appearance that funny?”
The old man laughed and muttered helplessly.
He took on this mission, which was very important to the organization, and made sure it was carried out flawlessly from start to finish.
The old man had the experience, wisdom, and overwhelming power to do so.
The old man asked the great man.
“…Where is the fire child?”
“That’s why you asked to see me.”
The great man frowned and glared at the old man.
It is said that when they found the guys tied to the pillar, they found a mask imitating a troll’s face in the old man’s arms.
Daein recalled the Red Goblin he had met on the continent of Gaia.
‘This old man must be a much higher ranking officer than a goblin.’
Although he has lost all his magic, the spirit of a strong man does not completely disappear.
At first glance, the old man was quite a strong man.
In terms of martial arts, it is at least the highest level.
He may be a key executive of Pandemonium.
The old man repeated the same question.
“Where is the fire child?”
“You know what?”
Lily left it behind on purpose.
I didn’t want to bring up bad memories and I didn’t want to show people what to do from now on.
“From now on, I’m the one asking questions. All you have to do is answer what I say. “If we don’t want to get tired, let’s not waste time.”
As the great man looked at him with a cold gaze, the old man grinned.
“Tsk tsk. I am already dying. “Do you think torture or something like that would work?”
“Don’t worry about that. “We have many good priests.”
The great man himself rolled up his sleeves.
It wasn’t just his reputation that increased over the past seven months.
“There is a lot to do, but not enough time. So what can I do?”
Traveling through many dimensions to retrieve jewels imbued with the power of God, Daein used any means possible to achieve his goal.
“I come across as a pretty nice person to the outside world, right?”
Many people call Daein a saint, a savior, a warrior, and even recently the son of God, but
“but not to you.”
In life, one cannot meet only good people.
Sometimes I had to meet mean, cunning people, vicious criminals, and all kinds of villains.
Every time that happened, the great man did what he had to do without hesitation.
Slurp.
Daein took out torture tools whose purpose was difficult to understand from subspace.
A stimulant that maximizes the senses, a drug that destroys the mind, a long, thin skewer, a saw blade, scissors, tongs, and a tube…
“…disciple. “Did you discover a new hobby without me seeing it before?”
Daein shrugged his shoulders to Cheon Mu-geuk, who looked a little surprised.
“This is fast when I’m busy. It might look a bit like that. “Master, would you like to go outside for a moment?”
“Cluck. What do you think of this teacher? “Get started quickly.”
Cheon Mu-geuk brought a chair and sat down. I meant to appreciate it properly.
I am fortunate that my teacher is Cheonma.
If it had been a gentleman like Sword Saint, I would have frowned at him first.
Thinking such trivial thoughts, Daein expressionlessly began the torture.
“Where did Armaan’s jewels get stolen?”
However, the old man did not flinch despite the torture that continued for a while.
Instead, he looked at the great man with empty eyes and smiled.
“It was the fire child who made me like this.”
“…What nonsense?”
The great man’s hand stopped.
‘Child of Fire.’
It was the title used to call Lily in Pandemonium.
They kidnap children, perform all kinds of experiments on them, seal demons inside their bodies, and plant ‘fragments’ when they successfully settle in.
Lily was Pandemonium’s most perfect creation.
“Kkeukkeuk….”
The old man’s eyes sparkled with madness.
“It was a complete child of fire. No, it was more than that. He probably never expected that he would be made into such a beautiful and strong being…”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
Lily continued to be with Daein. Of course we came here together.
“I really want to ask. How on earth did they copy it? What did you grow it into? Did you capture the Demon King and synthesize a new organization? Are there any drugs we don’t know about? ah! “The reason I went looking for God’s jewel was…!”
The old man was very excited.
The veins in both eyes burst and blood flowed out, and the whole body trembled with joy.
“Tell me! “How could they create such a perfect god?”
“Make… a god…?”
The great man’s expression became distorted.
He recalled the Pandemonium laboratory he had seen on the continent of Gaia.
Children who suffered from becoming chimeras.
A lot more corpses than that.
…I felt like I finally knew a little bit about their purpose.
“Are you just doing something useless instead of conquering the world?”
[A useless thing…?]
The old man’s eyes were no longer in focus.
The body was already dead.
The person speaking now was a distant being watching the great man with magic engraved on the old man’s body and soul.
The great man intuitively realized the identity of the other person.
“Are you the leader of these ridiculous guys?”
Tsutsutsu….
The old man’s eyes turned gray. He spoke not with his vocal chords but with his will.
[I do not believe that foolish creatures can understand the great meaning.]
“I have no desire to understand your bullshit. “Do you have the jewels?”
The other person did not answer. Instead, he glared directly at Daein and conveyed his will.
[The fire child is mine. Both the completed and the unfinished… must return to their parents.]
At the word ‘parent’, Daein couldn’t hold back his anger and burst out.
“What kind of parent in the world would do something like that to their kids!”
Fuwaaaaaaa!
The energy that burst out from the great man tightened the old man’s body. Crunch…. The old man’s body collapsed like an empty can.
But the corners of the old man’s mouth were turning up.
[You made three mistakes. The first was to take the Fire Child from me, the second was to hastily connect the portal, and the third was to incur my anger.]
“Really? “You made just one mistake.”
When the great man stretched out his hand, the old man’s neck was lifted and held in his hand.
“It was filmed by me.”
Crack!
The great man broke the old man’s neck. The man who threw the body on the floor looked down at the still smiling old man and said.
“If you get caught, you get kicked out.”
***
Daein, who returned to his room, had complicated feelings.
‘Hellgate needs to be stopped right now, but Pandemonium is coming to Earth…’
The two even seemed to have formed an alliance of sorts.
The Hell Gate that occurred in Cairo was opened artificially by Pandemonium.
If they repeat the same thing while secretly lurking on Earth, the number of battles humanity will have to deal with will immediately increase severalfold.
‘You have to make a plan. First, we have to eradicate the Pandemonium bastards hiding on Earth, block Hellgate at the same time, and find the gem… But who on earth prevented the disaster in Cairo?’
“Keuung….”
When Daein was wrapping his head throbbing with all kinds of worries and concerns,
“Mister!”
Lily opened the door and came rushing out.
“mister! “Look at this!”
The great man said without even turning his head towards Lily, writing down this and that on a piece of paper.
“I’m busy right now, so let’s go somewhere else and play… Oh, what a surprise!”
Lily’s face suddenly appeared in the man’s field of vision. Lily held something she held dearly with both hands and held it out to Daein.
“I guess my guardian angel has come and gone! “I found it down there!”
“what?”
What Lily held out was a palm-sized capsule engulfed in white flame.
The flame did not seem to have any lethal power, and only gave off a warmth that felt comfortable when placed on the palm of one’s hand.
“Open it quickly!”
“What does this have to do with guardian angels?”
“She was the same color as this one! Look Carefully.”
Phew-. When Lily blew air with her mouth, white flames scattered and yellow LED letters on the capsule blinked.
-You must see it by yourself!
“…Alone? me?”
“huh!”
The great man ignored the text and tried to turn the capsule to open it.
Then the capsule beeped and the LED letters changed.
-I told him to open it by himself–^
“…I won’t watch it, so you can watch it alone. Instead, you should tell me later!”
Lily looked a little glum and soon left the room.
“Oh my…”
Daein looked at the capsule in his hand with a puzzled expression.
A guardian angel gave it to you?
It seemed like some kind of childish prank. I was so busy that I wondered what I was doing.
‘I scanned the inside with magic and there doesn’t seem to be anything dangerous.’
“Ugh.”
Daein grabbed the capsule and turned it sideways with the feeling that ‘there is nothing to lose even if you are fooled.’
Inside the capsule was an envelope and a small external disk the size of a finger.
The great man opened the letter first.
-I’m writing this in a hurry, so the handwriting is a mess. It was originally written much better than this!
The letter, which started with an excuse, was full of crooked handwriting.
Handwriting that closely resembles something seen in someone’s reflection.
-Listen and don’t be surprised. I… am from the future.
“…What do you mean?”
Is the kid playing a prank?
The great man tilted his head and read the next line.
-You won’t believe it, will you? There’s a photo in the envelope, so take it out.
Daein searched through the envelope and found the photo. And then I took a deep breath.
“…!!”
Familiar faces appeared in the photo.
With himself in the middle, Baek Chang-soo, Baek Young-hee, Wang Gu-ho, Min-jae, etc. It was a group photo taken by guild members gathered together.
Everyone looks a little different than they do now.
And next to the big man in the picture….
“No way…. the little boy?”
The girl, who looked exactly like Lily when she was in middle school, was smiling brightly, drawing a V with her hand.
-Do you have some faith now? A very suspicious man.
“…….”
The great man quickly read the letter.
-We only have 5 minutes. I have a lot to say, but I don’t think I can write it all.
-You can’t call me kid anymore, right?
-All the information you need is saved on the disk. See you later! please!
-Stupid watch. Just give me a little more time….
Daein was absorbed in the story left by Lily from the future and read it blankly for a long time.
It was a series of short but amazing stories.
Lily comes from another future unknown to Daein, who returned from the future to the past.
I don’t know how old he was, but the feeling conveyed in the letter was that he was no longer a child.
-…Miss, there are only 10 seconds left.
“kid. “You grew up amazingly.”
Suddenly, a smile appeared on the man’s lips. He traced a part of the letter with his thumb.
As if stroking a girl’s head.
-You know, uncle.
-The man…is dead.
Only that part was stained with tear stains.
-So don’t die.
[ Whereabouts of the final puzzle (5) ] End
ⓒ Ganjjajang
