Episode 150: Finding Vulcanus
“You found a way to search for Lord Vulcan?”
Leon is pleased with Beatrice’s words. He didn’t even expect to find a way out so quickly.
“Yes, it’s about how to find the coordinates of a ‘specific person’ you mentioned before. Through ‘extracted information’ and experiments, I came to my own conclusion.”
“exactly?”
“It took two things so far to open the gate.”
“It was the ‘coordinates’ object and the ‘material’ magic crystal.”
The first was the gate with Zerea.
To be precise, Leon’s sacred sword was used as a coordinate to head to the gate where the holy relic was located.
The second is the territory of Akasha, the Grand Duke of Slaughter.
To get there, Leon used Akasha’s severed arm.
Finally, the seedling of Gunlar.
This is when Gunlar was active. He endured them through the end of the Lionheart Kingdom.
Then why didn’t the gate open with Vulcan’s ceremonial dagger?
“Isn’t the ‘dagger’ insufficient as a coordinate?”
The dagger that Leon received at the gate where he met Vulcanus, even though it was an object he had been using since his days as an attendant, was not comparable to the holy relic or the body of the demon archduke.
Leon wondered if it was because he lacked the quality of things, but Beatrice shook his head.
“To use Lord Yapi’s analogy, an object is nothing more than a code that specifies approximate coordinates. Even considering its randomness, any object can become a coordinate that opens a gate.”
Beatrice skillfully handled her smartphone and showed a video. She is the record of her experiments recorded by herself.
And it contained a video of an experiment in which Beatrice opened the gate several times.
“Surprisingly, it doesn’t cost that many magic stones. Instead, only the lowest-ranked gates came out.”
“I said that the gate itself is not a devil’s thing, it’s just a phenomenon. Surprisingly, it doesn’t seem to care about the quality of things.”
Leon looked at Beatrice, who was proficient at using a smartphone, which he himself could not handle yet, and asked with curious eyes.
“But then, why doesn’t the coordinates where Lord Vulcan is located? It doesn’t seem like it’s simply a lack of magic stones.”
“Your Majesty, do you remember how Lord Vulcanus ‘disappeared’?”
Beatrice had heard the rumor at the Lionheart Kingdom gate the other day. She owes it to the fact that she and her knights entered her gate shortly after Vulcan’s disappearance.
And it was vaguely remembered even by Leon, who was searching for memories from 200 years ago.
“On the plains of Landolce, Lord Vulcanus, the indolent and foolish demon prince… had a decisive battle with the devil and his army, commonly known as the glacier prince. In that turn, Lord Vulcanus was victorious.”
At that time, Leon had scrambled to annihilate the Demon Grand Duke of Wisdom and his 200,000 legion. And even before that, Vulcan’s legion headed for the Landolce Plain against 170,000 demon legions.
“The 30,000 Kingdom Army and the Burning Sword Knights destroyed them. But… Lord Vulcanus and the Burning Sword Knights are missing.”
“It’s a strange thing. If both of them fell in the fight, or if one of them fell, at least a corpse would have been left.”
Beatrice paid attention to that point.
“Your Majesty, were you slaughtering demons until you met Miss Hari?”
“Yes. I missed a few, but I ended up killing them all.”
“The one called the Grand Duke of Glacier. You’ve never met him, have you?”
“exactly.”
Beatrice, as if guessing, moved on to the next question to confirm.
“Can demons kill themselves? I’ve never seen a demon of any torment commit suicide.”
“Even if they die, the main body of the Pandemonium does not disappear, but suicide is another matter. Just as they are the masters of magic, they themselves are magical beings.”
“Are you saying that each and every one of their actions counts as a magical act?”
Leon nodded. In the first place, the act of incarnating beyond the dimension is a product of magic.
The body itself was made of magic, and everything about them can only be related to magic.
“Slaughter and destruction. Wisdom and quest. Pleasure and corruption. The magical powers they source from not only work on their enemies. They also apply to themselves.”
magical power, not holy power. Because the devil itself is a mass of magical power, magical power interferes with all actions.
In other words, it meant that even simple self-determination was considered a magical act called ‘self-determination’.
“Despicable cowards, I thought no one was even prepared to die.”
“But thanks to you, it’ll be comfortable. At least you won’t run away with your death, right?”
“Keuk, just like when Jim destroyed the last Demon Gate, they couldn’t get away.”
Leon giggled and wondered why Beatrice had asked these questions.
“Do you have a hypothesis?”
“Yeah, maybe you’ll have to bump into it to know.”
Beatrice came to a conclusion.
“Lord Vulcanus is probably in the ‘territory of demons’.”
It’s also a glacier. In the domain of the demon grand duke of indolence and stupidity.
* * * *
The demons invaded several worlds beyond the dimension using the gate.
However, the gate itself is not created by the devil. The devil just found the gate before others and was using it, and the ‘system’ or ‘quest’ inside the gate was only able to interfere with a certain part, but did not completely control it.
“The devil has been using the gate for quite some time. I also realized it at the gate of Lionheart Kingdom, but the gate was blocked by the Lord of Wisdom.”
What this means is simple. It meant that the devil was far more advanced in the skill of using gates than Beatrice, who had just started using gate technology.
“That means they will have their own security system for the gate. They will not allow other beings to open the gate and enter their dimension.”
“But, last time I didn’t succeed. Akasha’s territory.”
“That’s the blind spot, Your Majesty. Have you ever seen the lower level demons open the gate?”
“…”
Come to think of it, Leon saw very few demons opening the gate.
In the case of the Great Demon, the Great Ceremony was prepared by using the Jewel of Wisdom as when the Empire summoned the Great Devil for the first time, or by spreading the faith of lust like Hanbitgung.
Even for large-scale or monarch-class demons, a large-scale summoning ritual was required to invade another dimension.
“However, it was possible to open the dimension on your own and return to your own territory when you became a grand supply demon. The Grand Duke of Slaughter did that…”
“I think the Grand Duke of Glacier, who fought against Lord Vulcanus, also felt the crisis and fled to his territory.”
“…!”
Now the angler is right.
The reason for the disappearance of the Grand Duke of Glacier, Vulcanus, and the Knights in the Rotation of the Landolce Plain.
“During the battle, the Grand Duke of Glacier escaped, and Lord Vulcanus chased after him?”
“Exactly.”
And the place where Vulcanus reached beyond the gate is likely to be the territory of the Grand Duke of Glacier.
In other words, since it is the territory of the Grand Duke of Devil, even if Beatrice uses Vulcan’s dagger as a coordinate, it is concluded that it cannot be opened because of the barrier of the Great Supply Territory.
“Is it possible that Lord Vulcanus was captured by them like Sir Geobrick?”
“It’s certain that Lord Vulcanus can’t move in some way. But to know that for sure, you need to find the territory of the Grand Duke of Glacier. And…”
“They say you can enter the Devil’s Territory with the arm of the Grand Duke of Slaughter that you used last time.”
Beatrice twisted the corner of her mouth. Leon also had the same expression.
* * * *
“I will be away for a while.”
Manshinjeon, which is taking a spacious break ahead of the autumn harvest, has a suspicious look at Leon’s sudden declaration.
“Your Majesty, where are you going?”
Hari, who had time and place, asked a question.
“I’m thinking of exploring the gate with Biche.”
“???”
Those who make more dubious faces. If that’s the case, it doesn’t make sense that the two of them would search for the gate all the more.
Leon is a super strong man, but he himself is not the type to neglect the power of the group.
He was a commander before being a superman. Didn’t they raise a large-scale army called Man-at-Arms on this earth, the age of superhumans?
Considering his own powerful buff ability, the army… At least it was right to take the knights with them.
“Shouldn’t you take the knights with you?”
Cheon So-yeon, the leader of the knights, raised her hand. There are already numerous elite forces in the pantheon.
Such is the case with Park Yong-shin of Hanbit Palace, who came under his immediate control, and Cheon Jin-soo, the optical swordsman of the Heavenly Sword Guild, Lee Yong-wan, Han Yu-ri of the Phoenix Guild, and Hwang Yeon-ha and Hwang Yeon-ha of the Golden Lion Guild are also cooperative with Leon.
Leon has the manpower and resources to mobilize an ‘army’ in case of emergency.
“I will head to the land of demons.”
“…!”
Leon explained to them who were surprised.
“However, it’s not a conquest like it was during the Grand Duke of Slaughter. There’s something we need to find by infiltrating into their dimension. In the meantime, you guys should take a break and protect the pantheon.”
It is a covert mission. As long as it was Leon and Beatrice, we could somehow retreat no matter what the threat.
It goes without saying that both of them have superpowers, and Beatrice, who can open and close gates, is a must-have talent.
autumn harvest period. Leon and Beatrice left for the demons’ dimension.
* * * *
After the cataclysm, gates began appearing all over the world, but the world was defending them on the edge.
The lower levels of the hunter guild eagerly clear yellow or green gates, and high-level gates such as red or orange are handled by large guilds with S-class hunters and raiding parties.
Then, when the black gate, called the crisis of humanity, appears, the neighboring countries work together to close it somehow, even though they argue.
Human power has become incomparably stronger than 30 years ago, and now quite a few gates have reached a point where they can be easily defended.
“Yes, 17 gates closed today. 42 gates in progress.”
“Hmm… there are more gates left than usual.”
Hearing the report from Manager Jin-soo Kim of the Hunter Association, the president of the Association, Oh Kang-hyeok, said that there were more… My clear gate was bothering me.
“Um… On an annual average, it’s not much different from last year.”
“Oh~”
Only then did Oh Kang-hyeok realize the sense of incongruity he had.
The reason why the gates in Korea are clearing one after another recently was thanks to the existence of a certain large guild.
“The Mansinjeon is still resting because it’s harvest season?”
“Yeah, it looks like he’s resting in a rotation of 33%.”
Manshinjeon was very valuable to the association because it cleared gates that were remote, low-grade, and cost-effective without discrimination without worrying about investment costs.
And the influence also had on the 10 guilds, and now Hanbitgung, Phoenix, Golden Lion, and Heavenly Sword guilds were joining.
“His presence is great.”
“Well, to be honest, it’s burdensome to grow this much.”
While being dispatched to Manshinjeon, Manager Jinsu Kim felt the potential of Manshinjeon and the man named Leon.
“As you may know, His Majesty Leon is not limited to one country.”
“Yes. It seems that the President is reassured by not allowing him to go into politics.”
The reason Leon is not interested in the country’s politics right now is respect for Korea and its legitimate leader.
Above all, the eyes he sees are not ‘country’ or ‘continent’ but ‘world’.
“How far do you think the growth rate of the pantheon next year will skyrocket?”
“Chornozem in Ukraine, Beida Huang in Heilongjiang Province, cornfields in California in the US… The world’s granaries that were polluted with magical elements are being purified, and Goddess Demera’s followers are increasing.”
Is that all?
The Pantheon is spread out in a very accessible way through the Internet for its doctrine and subscription method.
Compared to the existing major religions, it is new blood, but the real gods and miracles were attracting not only atheists but also believers in the existing religious world.
“In fact, only in Korea alone, more than 400 people have been known to use Seongbeop. Even though it is at the level of practicing light magic of a god of faith.”
The prestige of the pantheon that spreads all over the world will explode not by year but by month.
“The UN devil case was big. An atmosphere was formed all over the world that distrusted their governments and leaders and forced them to believe in the pantheon. Should I say this was a good thing…”
“Everything has a transition period.”
Oh Kang-hyeok, the head of the association, who has already been sharing information to some extent through Yapi, was worried about demons that were secretly moving at a serious level all over the world.
And the conviction that only Leon and the Pantheon were the only ones that could solve it increased even more.
“It would be nice if it went on like this. As the scale of the Pantheon grows, the security of the world will be gradually resolved.”
However, Oh Kang-hyeok knows this through experience. It is said that fearful enemies usually target the most vulnerable and cut off the buds.
────────!!
At that moment, the association’s employees’ mobile phones… The cell phones of Manager Kim Jin-soo and Oh Kang-hyeok of the association also sounded like a tearing alarm.
A gate presence alarm is mandatory for association employees. It rang in succession.
– Beep! Beep! Beep!
“Chairman of the association…! This is!”
Manager Jinsu Kim’s complexion turned white. It was so clear what the alarm that was still ringing was saying.
Oh Kang-hyeok, the head of the association, immediately gave the order.
“Issuing an emergency order to the teen guild!
“yes…!”
Oh Kang-hyeok stared at the screen of his phone with cold sweat running down his spine.
On his mobile phone, hundreds of gates from all over the country were being added in succession.
