READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 11
Chapter 11
“Ugh…”
He finally woke up.
“Are you conscious?”
Chamar was tied up with ropes in a cave that was still rough and unpolished.
He looked around as if he hadn’t grasped the situation yet.
“…Chamar?”
“How do you know my name?”
Swish…
“Your adventurer badge, it was in your belongings.”
“…You bastard, you tricked me. Did you conspire with that demon slave?”
Demon slave?
‘This is something I don’t know.’
I shouldn’t show any doubt on my face.
It’s possible.
Faust’s 【Coldness】 allows me to hide any weakness even in this situation.
“No, he has nothing to do with this.”
Chamar had half of his body melted by Agnea’s acid poison. He would feel terrible pain soon, but he couldn’t feel any pain yet because he was still wrapped in Agnea’s anesthetic silk.
“…You planned all this.”
“You’re a bit slow to realize that.”
I sat on the throne and interrogated him, as if it was my natural duty.
He was grotesque with blood, slime, and melted skin.
‘Have I become cruel, I wonder.’
Swoosh…
“Let me ask you one thing.”
“Damn you…”
“Do you have any comrades?”
Flinch…
But he hesitated to answer.
These reactions one by one gave me confidence in my judgment.
“…Of course, they must have noticed that I’m trapped here. They’ll come to rescue me soon.”
…Is this the truth?
If this is the truth, it would be troublesome.
There’s no longer Agnea, the neutral leader who could stop the intruders with low cost and high efficiency.
‘I need to ask more specific questions.’
I lifted my chin slightly and asked with interest.
“Then how many are they?”
“…What?”
“The number of your comrades.”
“…”
If he hesitates again here…
The next answer would likely be a lie.
“Why don’t you answer?”
“That’s…”
I know.
You feel your head rolling.
How much do you have to exaggerate to make me shrink?
“Th… There are more than thirty!”
“…Thirty?”
“You must have heard of the Bloodwind Mercenary Group. They’re all seasoned fighters who have tasted blood. They can easily conquer this trash dungeon!”
He’s full of confidence.
‘The Bloodwind Mercenary Group, huh… He’s not one of them.’
The Bloodwind Mercenary Group is not a shabby mercenary group that takes anyone.
But I still need some verification.
“Indeed… It’s a fairly large mercenary group.”
“If you let me go, I’ll tell my comrades…”
“But…”
I stared at him piercingly.
“Isn’t it strange?”
“What, what’s strange?”
“If you have such great comrades, you could have easily cleared this dungeon. Why did you move alone?”
Gulp…
“You must have coveted the dungeon’s treasure. Did you want to monopolize it?”
“Cough… What does that have to do with you? The important thing is that my comrades…”
“And one more thing. This part doesn’t make sense to me at all.”
I put Chamar on my palm and rolled him around like a toy.
Did I become worse after becoming Faust?
“Would such a great mercenary group really make an effort to search for you?”
“…”
“If they have more than thirty members, they would know the value of a person well. The value of you, as I judged…”
“We don’t abandon our comrades! You don’t know…”
You don’t know anything.
The Bloodwind Mercenary Group is a trash group that does anything for money, regardless of faith. You picked the wrong place to look for camaraderie. Besides, their activity area is not the Great Forest.
‘I have a rough conclusion, but…’
It’s not a good idea to blabber about the Bloodwind Mercenary Group with Faust’s mouth right now.
“I checked the passage you entered. I repaired it, so your traces here are gone.”
“…What?”
It’s a lie.
What repair?
“They probably don’t even know that there was a crack there. You’ll look like you’ve evaporated.”
The repair would be done soon, but not this fast. It would take a couple of days. He wouldn’t know that, though.
“Even if you hope so, if your comrades notice that your traces are cut off and start searching for you… How far will they go?”
I crushed his hope with an expressionless face and an indifferent tone.
“Yeah, for someone worthless like you. Maybe… a day, two days…”
“That, that’s…”
Come on, tell the truth.
Gulp…
Yeah, don’t beat around the bush.
“Save me…”
“…”
Bingo.
“I, I didn’t want to come here in the first place!”
“Hmm…”
“The damn demon bastard dropped me here!”
Oh, is that what the slave demon he mentioned meant?
‘I knew they often used them for dungeon exploration, but that was in the game.’
It feels so realistic.
“If that son of a bitch hadn’t dragged me into the pit…”
“Even so, you can’t change the fact that you touched the dungeon’s property.”
“Property? I… Oh, come on. Please. I only killed a few goblins…”
Only?
‘This son of a bitch, he says that after destroying half of my fortune…’
Flinch…
“But I wasn’t mistaken. That horn…”
“…”
I felt his gaze turn to Lucifer.
“Could it be… Is that… a demon? Then, you… what’s your relation to the Seven Sins?”
The Seven Sins he’s talking about are the Demon Lords.
The seven demon lords of sin.
The body I’m in, Faust, the leader of the rebel demons who gave birth to him.
‘I was abandoned by those bastards, so I don’t know if I should say I’m related or not.’
Only those who felt the betrayal of being hung on the gallows by them, who felt the cold blade on their backs, would understand.
“That… that’s right! If you’re related to the Seven Sins, then Solomon will…”
“I’m getting tired of your nonsense.”
Swoosh…
I took out a dagger from my pocket.
“Hey, wa… wait! Don’t tell me…”
“Don’t beg me for mercy.”
“You son of a bitch!”
Stab…
Stab…
Thud-!
The blade stopped in front of his chest.
…Damn.
“Kuh… Wh… what?”
“…”
I should have stabbed his heart by now.
“…Don’t tell me, you can’t stab me?”
“…”
“Kuh… Hahahaha! You’re such a rookie, aren’t you? You’ve never killed a person… have you?”
Person.
The moment he spat out that word, my head heated up.
The blood that was blocked by Faust’s coldness broke the barrier and flowed to my brain.
He hurt me, and it’s natural for demons to kill humans in this era.
It didn’t make sense to spare him.
Yeah, I have to kill him.
…Why?
‘Because I’m a demon…’
Because I’m a demon?
‘Wait… I’m a demon… I’m…’
I’m Kim Seojin.
I’m… what?
…Who am I?
“Untie this thing!”
He changed his attitude and begged me when he saw a gap.
“…Lord Faust.”
Lucifer stepped forward.
If I delay any longer, he’ll question my existence.
I have to stab him.
But I can’t.
It’s a dilemma.
…But.
‘I anticipated this might happen.’
Faust’s coldness was prepared for this outcome as well.
I thought it might happen before I interrogated him.
“…I can take your breath away at any moment, but I don’t need to dirty my hands with your miserable blood.”
“What?”
Snap-!
I flicked my finger.
Naturally, I took out the move I had prepared.
“…Let him in.”
Creak…
Thud…
Krrrk…
A goblin slinger appeared with the corpse of a goblin soldier. He put the corpse in front of the door and came to me.
Kerk! Krrrk!
The furious goblin vomited at me with a pleading expression.
“…I’ll grant your wish.”
Krrrk!
Thud…
As I approached him, he bowed his head and raised his hands as if to prop up the sky.
Thud.
I put the dagger in the goblin’s hand.
“He took your brother’s life. Don’t show him any mercy.”
“Hey, no! Wait…”
Hoo… Hoo…
The goblin, consumed by rage, drooled and got up.
I looked at his back as he ran to Chamar, who was tied to the stalagmite.
His feelings would be very different if he looked at him from the front or from the back.
Kyaah!
Tadadadat!
He ran like a fly and stabbed Chamar’s chest.
Pwoo…!
The blade pierced his flesh cleanly.
Keh… Keh…
But then, it turned into a messy action.
Pujiiik!
Pujiiik!
He stabbed his chest over and over, over and over, and I felt Chamar’s gaze beyond the goblin’s back.
I endured his gaze faintly.
Chamar’s dying eyes desperately searched for me.
“Uh… Ah…”
As if to curse me.
About the things that will happen, about Faust’s future.
It’s not funny.
Krrk…
The goblin turned his head and smiled at me. He was grateful, I guess.
“Use him as fertilizer for the garden to be completed.”
* * *
I sent Lucifer away.
With a lame excuse of checking the status of the Garden of Regeneration.
I wanted to be alone.
I thought I needed some time to sort things out.
‘Why… couldn’t I kill him in one shot?’
No, maybe it was inevitable.
After all, I’ve never killed a person.
No matter how much Faust’s coldness protects my mind and makes the best judgment, I can’t kill a person without hesitation.
‘That realism…’
The goblin stabbed Chamar over and over. Blood splattered everywhere and Chamar died as he bled out.
Only after he died, I realized.
This is not a simple game.
Killing and being killed, I have to kill others to survive.
And the target is, not a monster or a demon, but a human like Kim Seojin.
‘If I were Faust, I wouldn’t have hesitated.’
Flutter…
My hand trembles.
This confusion is because I’m not a complete Faust; and not a complete Kim Seojin either.
I know.
I know I had to kill Chamar and I have to kill countless humans in the future.
I know, but I hesitated.
As if by habit, as if there was a brake, something inside me screamed.
Don’t kill.
Don’t kill humans.
I regretted that I couldn’t ask why. If I knew the reason, I could have made a choice.
“…You’re a half-breed.”
I can’t fully trust Lucifer, and I don’t want to imagine how the demons I’ll have to lead in the future will react to my pathetic appearance.
‘The worst case scenario: usurpation.’
I don’t have to go far.
Right now, the first episode that will come later will put me at a crossroads.
To die or to kill.
‘…I have to choose.’
Then, I can’t delay.
I have to choose.
To die as Kim Seojin or…
To live as Faust.
When that moment comes, I won’t hesitate.
* * *
[The construction of the Garden of Regeneration is completed.]
[If you assign labor to the Garden of Regeneration, the time required for recovery will be reduced.]
[Tip: The higher the level of the servile demon, the more serious the injury, the longer it takes to heal.]
Thud…
“The garden is safely completed, Lord Faust.”
“Good.”
The Garden of Regeneration.
I laid down the goblin fighter who saved my life on the ground of this place.
Swish…
Vines sprouted from the ground and wrapped around the goblin’s body. Maybe, he would heal in time if he stayed like this.
The unwelcome guest Chamar brought chaos to the dungeon, but he also gave me some decent benefits.
First of all, the confirmation of the hole.
This could be solved in a day or two as soon as Phenex recovered and ordered the repair.
‘Even if Chamar’s comrades find the hole in there… I have my own countermeasures.’
It probably won’t happen, but after experiencing an unexpected attack, I always feared the worst.
Is this also a positive influence?
The second benefit was the magic stones he gave me.
As befitting a sudden intrusion event, a whopping 1,500 magic stones!
300 magic stones for a single draw, so 1,500 magic stones meant I could draw five times.
‘Considering the trouble he caused me, is this such a great reward?’
And lastly,
The early elimination of the area owner Agnea.
In Lemegeton, Agnea usually destroyed the core facilities of the dungeon and then removed them safely.
It took time to develop the dungeon, so it would have taken four or five more days.
‘Thanks to that, the dungeon repair was faster…’
A whopping 3,000 magic stones.
10 consecutive draws!
With the magic stones I got from Chamar, I had enough for 15 consecutive draws.
If the gacha only yielded average results, the dungeon at the tutorial level would grow rapidly.
The difference between four and five is not big, but the difference between one and two is big.
And above all, the biggest gift Agnea gave me was…
‘Of course, this.’
[Agnea had a great treasure.]
[You need to check the item bound to the core.]
Surely, there was a message like this when I hunted Agnea. And now that item was gently placed in my hand.
A jewel that emits a brilliant light.
It was similar to the demon stone, a 6-star demon selection ticket.
But the pattern that appeared inside the jewel was not a demon’s wing, but a weapon’s shape.
A sword, an axe, a staff, and a scythe.
The pattern kept changing its appearance.
“Hellstone.”
Commonly known as hellstone.
A 6-star exclusive weapon selection ticket.