Chapter 94: The Demon’s Gambit

As he festered alone, like a man burdened by all the world’s hardships and tribulations, the door beside the elevator burst open with a loud bang.

A hunter, responsible for the flood aftermath, rushed in, breathless. His face was stark white.

The three instinctively knew this was no ordinary matter.

Sagyeol’s question hung in the air, but the hunter couldn’t answer immediately.

His trembling lips repeated a single syllable.

“De-de-de-”

“De?”

“Demons have appeared!”

Rip!

As Yeowon shoved Sagyeol, the hem of the suit he’d been clutching tore away.

Not only his vest but also the white dress shirt underneath ripped. Sagyeol was startled, but Yeowon was not. His gaze remained fixed on the hunter who had delivered the news.

‘The Contract of Subordination.’

The truth dawned on Sagyeol a moment too late.

With eyes glinting with killing intent, Sagyeol ripped off his tattered clothes.

Lee Hyun-su rushed into the adjoining room connected to the office and retrieved a spare shirt.

Sagyeol stole a glance at Yeowon.

Usually, an apology would have been the first thing out of Yeowon’s mouth, but there was none.

Yet, far from feeling disappointed, Sagyeol found himself maddeningly concerned.

“Yeowon.”

At the sound of his name, Yeowon’s head slowly turned to face him.

“Stay here.”

“No. I’m coming too.”

Sagyeol suppressed a surge of anger.

Instead, he offered the most effective words to make Yeowon stay.

“What if *that bastard* has crossed over?”

“That’s impossible.”

Yeowon was resolute. “Even if he were to cross, it wouldn’t be now.”

It was clear that further persuasion would be futile.

Sagyeol swallowed his words and growled at the hunter.

“Lead the way.”

Due to the urgent nature of their departure, the team was small.

Only Credit’s top-tier personnel who could move immediately accompanied them: Team Leader Yoon Hye-ri and Shin Jaehyeon.

Yu Seong was currently dispatched to another city.

The problem arose from the fact that personnel had been reassigned after the flood was resolved and all gates within Grisha had disappeared.

‘It’s pointless to dwell on it now.’

Unexpectedly, one more person joined them—Winslot, from Credit’s research team, assigned to the Gate Division. They might prove useful if demons were involved.

Due to a ranking issue, Winslot couldn’t use a drone or Rephtha, so they ended up riding Reph with Yeowon.

A spark of irritation flashed in Sagyeol’s eyes, then vanished.

He then circled Reph like a Sapsali dog pretending not to be excited.

“Don’t hold his waist tightly,” “Just gently grip his clothes,” “Don’t cling to him,” he lectured with a solemn expression, yet offered utterly unsacred advice, until Yeowon shooed him away.

Winslot, who had reacted as if being stalked by a lurking beast, finally regained their composure once Sagyeol was gone.

They conversed with Yeowon during the journey, the topic being gates.

Hearing that Winslot’s thoughts aligned with his own, Yeowon’s agitated mind settled somewhat.

Those among the demons who held high status—in other words, the powerful ones—were difficult to cross over.

Winslot’s opinion was that Kratus, who would rank high even among the Demon King’s lineage, was not just difficult but nearly impossible to summon.

“There are largely two factors to consider when crossing a gate: the target’s power and their physical size.”

Having joined the research team, Winslot’s explanation flowed effortlessly, suggesting recent progress.

“While power is, of course, crucial for crossing dimensions, physical size is also a significant impediment.

It’s easy to understand if you imagine it as the power to turn a massive wall into jelly and pass through it. The colossal S-rank creatures from the flood were likely cases that crossed over as juveniles and grew for twenty years.”

Sagyeol, who had been listening silently, interjected.

“Indeed. While S-ranks have emerged from gates, colossal ones… at least not in my memory.”

“Even among lower-ranked creatures, large ones would have a low frequency of appearance.

Therefore, the impact of size cannot be ignored.”

“Kratus usually lives in human form. So, wouldn’t that make it less significant when he crosses over?”

“No. This is still speculative, but the dimensional ‘jelly wall’ would certainly act based on the true form.”

These were the words of someone even exceptionally skilled researchers in this field would defer to.

While not blindly trusted, they offered a measure of comfort.

Winslot then changed the subject.

“Have you ever seen the true form of a Dragon Demon?”

“Only in portraits.”

“I have.”

Startled, Yeowon turned to Winslot.

“Just as I began my work as a civil official, a colossal dragon flew into the domain. The lord changed that very day.”

“…”

Somehow, the story resonated with his memory.

Yeowon recalled a conversation he’d had with a knight, one of his close associates.

The previous previous lord was certainly royalty, they had said. He had even left documents due to his interest in gates, only to suddenly disappear one day.

Although he hadn’t been able to check the documents because Kratus had invaded, he now wondered if they might have belonged to Illeis.

“It was immense. Whatever you imagine, it was far greater.

With a body like that, it’s absolutely impossible to cross a gate. Unless, of course, one were to acquire most of the gate stones in the demon realm.”

Winslot had likely intended to convey impossibility with those words, but Yeowon’s heart sank upon hearing them.

Conversely, it implied that if Kratus *did* acquire most of the gate stones, he could cross over.

As he pressed down on his pounding heart, Sagyeol, who was riding close beside him, asked, “There’s something I don’t understand—that bastard is a dragon?”

“That’s his true form. Though he usually takes the appearance of a demon.”

“A dragon? A *dragon*?”

“Yes, the very one you’re imagining.”

Sagyeol was silent for a moment.

Yeowon tilted his head, wondering if a dragon was truly so surprising when creatures resembling dinosaurs were rampaging through the flood zone.

“No, it’s just… I always thought of dragons as a symbol of fantasy, you know? But magical creatures are real.”

Though he didn’t understand the distinction, Yeowon simply nodded, pretending to comprehend.

“We’re almost there!”

Lee Hyun-su, who had been riding behind them the entire time, shouted, signaling them to stop their casual talk and be vigilant.

Reph slowly came to a halt.

The scene was littered with corpses. The mansion, relatively intact when discovered, was now half-destroyed and engulfed in flames.

The air froze.

Yeowon’s expression hardened.

There was no sign of life anywhere around. It was an annihilation, requiring no confirmation.

Just then, the hunter who had guided them here suddenly began to tremble violently.

“Y-you said you’d spare me! Spare m—”

Thwack!

The trembling hunter’s head suddenly exploded.

His remaining body collapsed limply, like an android whose power had been cut.

It was a scene devoid of reality. Death was familiar, but the sensation of being ‘caught off guard’ was alien to Yeowon.

‘Caught off guard.’

“Damn it!”

Sagyeol was the first to move.

He swiftly changed direction and charged forward.

Yeowon, regaining his senses belatedly, secured Winslot and grabbed Reph’s mane.

Reph instantly caught up to Sagyeol, who was ahead.

The remaining party also turned their mounts belatedly but couldn’t keep pace with the two.

Yeowon lay prone on Reph’s back, his eyes closed.

‘Think.’

‘Think.’

‘Wasn’t their goal me? Why would they do something like this? Diverting most of their forces elsewhere, what could they possibly be trying to—’

An ominous realization clawed at the back of his mind.

“Sagyeol. Your mother, where is she interred now?”

“The guild… basement.”

Sagyeol’s voice trembled, not from the wind.

Having understood everything from Yeowon’s question, he gritted his teeth.

“Reph. Faster.”

Yeowon stroked Reph’s back, whispering into its ear.

“Show me your limits.”

*Growl.

Reph began to surge forward.

Even with two people on its back, it was faster than its companions.

“Wait. Yeowon! Slow down!”

Yeowon pretended not to hear.

If his worst assumption proved true, he had to stop it now, no matter the cost.

“Yeowon!”

Reph shot forward.

Sagyeol gripped Reph’s mane, knowing that no matter how much he urged it, this was its limit.

Yeowon’s figure vanished into the gaps of the flood.

Strangely, his disappearing back reminded Sagyeol of when he had thrown himself from the airship.

‘No.’

This was different from then. Yeowon wasn’t trying to leave; he was trying to solve a problem.

Though Sagyeol tried to reassure himself, it was no use.

Gritting his teeth, Sagyeol clenched Reph’s mane. An uneasy sound escaped his fiercely clashing teeth.

The distance between them grew steadily.

A short while later, Reph reached the city.

From beyond the bulkhead, nothing could be seen.

Reph did not stop, scaling the towering wall as if it were flat ground, crossing the high bulkhead.

There was nothing unusual as they passed through the shorter, narrower outskirts compared to other areas.

Snow-covered plains, cold asphalt, and occasional vehicles passing on the road. Nothing seemed amiss.

Black smoke rising in the distance grated on Yeowon’s nerves.

That was where the Credit Guild headquarters and the Hunter Association were located.

As they approached the city center, the situation drastically changed.

Screams echoed. Broken building fragments and burning cars were visible.

Corpses and injured people lay strewn across the roads.

Panicked individuals sat blankly or sobbed uncontrollably.

Fire hydrants had burst, and fires raged everywhere. It was pure chaos.

Amidst the pandemonium, Yeowon spotted a few people engrossed in their terminals, almost eerily so.

He activated his own terminal from atop Reph.

The terminal, which had been mostly useless during the flood except for essential functions, soon spat out the information he sought.

A breaking news article, emblazoned in crimson letters, detailed the Credit Guild’s attack by demons.

Yeowon’s face darkened.

The upper floors of the guild building, which should have been visible by now, were gone.

In their place, only acrid smoke and empty air remained. It wasn’t until they traveled two more blocks that the exposed steel framework of the building’s remnants finally came into view.

CRASH!

Even that soon collapsed. Several floors, split diagonally as if by a slash, tumbled downwards.

Yeowon brought Reph to a halt.

“Winslot. Get off here.”

Winslot dismounted obediently, partly out of fear and partly knowing they would be no help against demons.

Instead, they offered a prayer for Yeowon’s safe journey, their expression anxious.

“Lord, please be careful.”

Instead of saying, ‘I am not the lord,’ Yeowon simply replied, “Right,” and turned away.

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