Chapter 179: The World
Chapter 179: The World
The activities of the Demon Slayer Unit continued to be smooth.
“We have dealt with 80% of the forces of the Demon Sect that were confirmed by the Demon Slayer Leader who left his seat.”
The military officers of the Righteous Alliance were amazed by the report of Jegal Seong-woon.
“Wow…”
“This is really amazing.”
“Maybe we can uproot the Demon Sect for the first time in two hundred years.”
In fact, when the royal decree came down, the leaders who knew the history of the Demon War well were skeptical.
‘This will only be a face-saving attack and nothing more.’
‘It is very difficult to face the Demon Sect that has dominated the martial world for over a hundred years.’
‘How can they say they will completely eliminate them from the martial world? If that was possible, I would believe that he is the incarnation of a player.’
But this time, the Demon Slayer Unit exceeded everyone’s expectations.
Even before a full-scale war broke out, the hidden blades of the Demon Sect were almost annihilated.
It was unbelievable.
The experts gathered in the conference room looked at the empty seat in the center.
It was where Eurius used to sit.
“Ahem…”
“Huh…”
They groaned and stared at it for a while with faint eyes of fear.
And then one of them opened his mouth.
“But, military officer, how long will the Demon Slayer Leader be away?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know either.”
“Soon, the troops will be ready, but still?”
“Then, in the worst case scenario, a full-scale war could happen without the leader?”
“…!?”
As soon as that word came out, the atmosphere in the conference room was divided into two.
‘I’m anxious without him…’
‘The leader must have his own thoughts, but I’m worried that he hasn’t heard from him since he closed himself off.’
The first one was those who were friendly to Eurius.
They were worried about his absence and tried to delay the march as much as possible.
The representative of their opinion was Jegal Seong-woon, the military officer.
“I’m afraid that’s not a very good idea. The thing that binds the cohesion of the Demon Slayer Unit is the leader’s power.”
The Demon Slayer Unit was currently composed of forces from Huanggong, Nokrim, Righteous Alliance, and West Continent, and except for Righteous Alliance, the rest were practically Eurius’s forces.
“So it’s right to wait for his return.”
His words were reasonable and there was no room for rebuttal, but some were dissatisfied.
“But what if the Demon Sect starts a full-scale war? How are you going to respond?”
“Shouldn’t we have a temporary command system?”
“The Demon Sect’s forces have already been largely annihilated. You are too cautious!”
This was the second faction.
They were a collection of old leaders and famous families of Righteous Alliance.
They couldn’t make a peep when Eurius was there, but when he left his seat, they raised their voices again.
Jegal Seong-woon had a headache.
‘Ugh…’
Eurius’s command was flawless, but it rather created a new conflict.
The Demon Slayer Unit was doing so well that many people were too excited.
“The hidden power of the Demon Sect is not easy. What we have killed so far is only a fraction of them. My policy is to be careful until he returns.”
“Hmm…”
“Damn it!”
Jegal Seong-woon firmly refused and the opposing figures backed down. But they still grumbled inside.
‘We should also have a chance to earn some merit. The leader is certainly a great person, but I don’t like his followers.’
‘This is a chance to uproot the Demon Sect for the first time in two hundred years. How can we not raise our family name in this situation? It will be an unbearable shame for decades to come.’
Jegal Seong-woon knew their murmurs well.
‘They seem to think of the Demon Sect as some street thugs. They are not such easy opponents…’
“Then let’s end today’s meeting here.”
He ended the meeting with a somewhat gloomy face.
***
Sigh.
After finishing the meeting, Jegal Seongwoon entered his office with a tired expression.
It had been over a week since Eurius disappeared, claiming to be in seclusion.
There had been no major problems so far, but the control of the Alliance was getting harder.
There was someone who spoke to him as he came in.
“Huh? You look quite exhausted today.”
“…!?”
Jegal Seongwoon quickly fixed his expression and answered with a bright smile.
“I’m ashamed of myself. As expected, Your Highness is sharp.”
“Is that so? Well, it’s understandable since you have so much work to do.”
The owner of the voice who shrugged his shoulders was a blond youth.
He was sitting in front of a desk piled with documents like a mountain, but he picked up his brush again while grumbling.
“Anyway, you better take care of yourself. If you collapse, my share will increase.”
His words were harsh, but they were ultimately words of concern for Jegal Seongwoon.
Snicker.
‘He’s surprisingly cute, despite what he says.’
He chuckled inwardly and opened his mouth.
“Of course, I won’t cause any trouble for Your Highness.”
The Second Prince, Leonhardt, nodded his head.
“Actually, it wasn’t you who gave me this work, but my brother. Ugh…”
He had come to the Alliance with Eurius after being rescued from the palace. It was a good thing that his life was saved, but…
“Leon, you have to earn your keep, don’t you?”
“…”
This was not the Western Continent, and Eurius couldn’t just let him loaf around and eat. He gave him some work to do. He called Jegal Seongwoon.
“They said they were short of hands in the Chakmadan, didn’t they?”
“Yes. There are plenty of warriors, but there are not enough clerks to handle the documents compared to the increased workload.”
“Then take this guy and use him.”
“This person?”
“My younger brother.”
“Huh…”
Wasn’t he the emperor if he was Eurius’s younger brother? And he wanted him to do some paperwork?
“He’s a capable guy, so he won’t hold you back.”
“…”
Eurius left Leonhardt in the office and disappeared in a flash, and Jegal Seongwoon had to think about what kind of work to give him.
First of all, introductions.
“I’m Jegal Seongwoon, in charge of the military affairs of the Alliance.”
“Leonhardt von Scharnos.”
He answered briefly and continued.
“So what do I have to do?”
“Ahem…”
Jegal Seongwoon hesitated for a moment and opened his mouth.
“This is where the final approval of the documents coming to the Alliance is done. I would like to ask Your Majesty to review them…”
“Drop the Your Majesty.”
“…!?”
Leon looked slightly resigned.
“It’s meaningless anyway. If I don’t do my job properly as an emperor, you know what my brother will say, don’t you?”
“If that’s the case, I’ll call you Your Highness.”
“As you wish.”
“Hmm…”
Jegal Seongwoon looked at him with a somewhat curious gaze and Leon frowned.
“What is it?”
“No, I heard that you were a bit more friendly, sir.”
As he said, Leon was a model prince in the West Continent. He had never abandoned his courteous attitude even in front of Eurius.
“Do you care about everything? Then should I at least show you some respect?”
“No, sir. I hope we can work well together from now on.”
Leon started to learn from him with a nonchalant expression.
It was only natural that his attitude changed.
He was not polite because of his noble temperament.
‘Why should I bother to act in front of these people from the far East Continent? They are not even my empire’s subjects or citizens.’
He thought that he was captured by Eurius as a prisoner.
In fact, Eurius had assigned him to Je Gal Seong Woon, a military officer, to keep an eye on Leon.
And a few days later.
Je Gal Seong Woon was surprised when he saw how Leon worked.
“There was indeed a reason why the lord praised you. I have never seen anyone who learns as fast as you, sir… No, second prince.”
“Hmph! Even a monkey can do this kind of work if it learns.”
He was originally much more talented as a player than Eurius.
He handled all the tasks efficiently, so Je Gal Seong Woon could not help but like him.
After a month or so, they were not close friends, but they could at least talk to each other.
“Seeing how tired you are, it seems that things are not going well. I guess the lord has not returned from his training yet?”
“That’s right. We won’t have to worry about these things when the lord comes back. He will return soon.”
He said it almost like a report, but Je Gal Seong Woon seemed to trust Eurius firmly.
“Hmm…”
Leon noticed that and rummaged through the documents while thinking about something else.
‘I feel his influence more when I come here. These people are not even from the West Continent…’
In fact, he had never seen Eurius do anything himself. But now, Jeong Do Mang was full of admiration and praise for Eurius no matter what he talked about.
And Leon had seen Eurius preside over meetings in Jeong Do Mang several times.
Everyone listened attentively to him as if they would miss a single word.
The clever Leon also realized that Eurius had skillfully manipulated their hearts.
Not everyone in Jeong Do Mang followed Eurius, but he was taming them with a carrot and stick approach.
Until then, Leon was so arrogant that he thought Eurius had defeated him because of his luck and superior swordsmanship.
He was definitely better than him in martial arts talent, but he did not care much about the rest since he had heard that he was inferior to him since childhood.
But lately, Eurius showed him something new.
He should have admitted it long ago, but he finally came to a conclusion.
‘Maybe I was wrong about my brother all this time.’
***
Meanwhile, Eurius, who had been out of touch for a week, was not far away.
He was in the underground training hall of Jeong Do Mang!
‘Stat window!’
He wanted to check what he had after a long time.
[Eurius von Scharnos]
Job: Crown Prince, Transcender
Strength: S+ Agility: SS Intelligence: A+ Spirit: S+ Force: SS+ Force Aptitude: SS+
Player Factor (1%)
[Traits]
Swordsmanship (SS+)
Imperial Bloodline – You have awakened the authority of a player.
Emperor’s Dignity A rank (1st undefeated) – Increases your noble bloodline, experience, charisma and leadership as the emperor of the empire.
Sixth Sense – The sixth sense given to outstanding force users. You can sense things that are not detected by the five senses using force.
Camouflage (S rank) – When you reach a high level, you become ordinary again. This is your unique skill that reflects your 4th stage trait. You can hide all your information. This trait will not break unless it is a detection skill with a higher rank than this skill.
Sword Fusion (S rank) – The realm of the sword achieved by enlightenment. Shows sub-items.
-(4th stage) Intangible Sword
-(Level 5) Sword of the Mind
-(Level 5) Sword of the Ego
The four martial arts of Divine Beast- Lee Cheongmun. They are enhanced by divine energy and have subcategories as follows.
-White Tiger’s Divine Energy
-Azure Dragon’s Breath
-Vermilion Bird’s Flame Spirit
-Black Tortoise’s Diamond Water (Divine Energy Acquired)
[Hidden Skill]
Restart- Players can rewind time and start their lives over at any time. However, you are not an official player, so you are limited to one time (currently permanently unavailable).
Second Chance- When you restart, some of your stats, memory, and awakened talents are inherited.
???(Currently an unusable skill)
Overheat- A skill that only you, who have four cores, can use. It temporarily raises the rank of your force by two levels. However, using it for too long or recklessly will damage your cores.
‘Sigh…’
Eurius let out a sigh.
Compared to when he first started, his growth was incomparable. But even with such a status, he was in a crisis.
A way to grow more from here!
There were two main ways.
One was the book that contained the legacy of Emperor Scharnos.
‘The Emperor’s book said there was a level 6, right?’
Eurius had reached level 5 of using the Sword of the Mind. But according to the Emperor, there was one more level above this.
However, he could not enter this realm at the moment.
“Acquire.”
Ding!
[You do not qualify (Player Factor 50% required).]
It was a limitation of his birth. But he was told that there was no way to increase the player factor.
‘The first one is still impossible. I don’t know what kind of method there is, but it’s impossible in a short time.’
Then it was the second way.
The second was the legacy of Lee Cheongmun, the peerless warrior who was on par with the Emperor!
Eurius had one of his legacies in his hand right now.
A red stone that emitted heat in his hand!
[Vermilion Bird’s Core]- A core that contains the power of the Vermilion Bird. If you take it, you can absorb its power.
This was the same stone that Shin Jaseong, the former lord of Jeongdo, had used.
The Archbishop Galleus he had met before had spat it out while purifying him.
‘Is this the way?’
[Of course. But as I said before, I can’t guarantee how long it will take.]
‘I can’t help it.’
Eurius nodded his head and brought the red stone to his mouth with a cautious expression.
Gulp!
Hwaruk!
Something that had a faint heat passed through his throat and went into his esophagus.
Surprisingly, he did not feel any pain.
And right at the next moment!
Hwaruk!
Kwaaaaa!
An amazing thing was about to happen inside his body right now.