Chapter 117 — The Devil’s Long Night (4)

Translation: Nadu

Editor: Lesurous

He was disregarding them.

He had no expectations about their strength.

He wanted to use the dwarves’ powers to prepare for the Long Devil’s Night.

However, as the matchups, the fights, continued, Muyoung realized that his thoughts were wrong.

‘Seeds were sown.’

Just expanding the territory and becoming a demon king wasn’t all.

There were seeds.

Seeds he didn’t know what they would turn into!

Muyoung sowed those seeds, and now he needed to cultivate and harvest them.

‘Interesting.’

Would a farmer feel this way?

It wasn’t expected at all.

That was why he was looking forward to it more.

“I don’t know how to fight half-heartedly.”

“If I may be so bold, please fight with me so that there isn’t one bit of regret.”

Arand lowered his head slightly.

It was a motion that allowed Muyoung to feel a unique edge of the dark elf.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

However, the dagger hidden within it was really something.

It was far from vigor a mere slave could express.

‘Were my perceptions really wrong?’

They were living creatures. Living creatures are able to bear potential anytime.

Even more, they were the seeds that grew as they watched Muyoung. They couldn’t be puppets.

Muyoung turned his head.

Ogar was looking at him.

He spoke with his eyes.

For him to ‘enjoy the festival’.

“I allow it.”

Muyoung accepted.

Swoosh!

At the same time, he took out Anguish.

The twenty thousand people that filled the audience watched Muyoung.

“If you want to fight me, win. I will only ‘acknowledge’ the winner.”

Muyoung was the lord who ruled over this place.

If he just accepted any challenge, his rank would be reduced.

Only the one who had won all the fights could gain that qualification.

‘I like those who fight.’

All the past heroes were like that.

They broke through all different kinds of harsh conditions to be called a hero.

And from the bottom of his heart, he yearned for those heroes.

If heroes weren’t born but were created, he wanted to see proof.

Until now, Muyoung didn’t give them any proper attention.

He believed he needed to move alone and do everything by himself.

Even now, his thoughts didn’t greatly change but what if they were also Muyoung’s own strength?

He was planning to find out if they could be of use to him or not.

He didn’t care if it was Arand or someone else.

But, Muyoung was going to acknowledge the last one standing.

That one would be of leadership material who would provide him strength!

Muyoung would greet them into his army, formed from both living and undead.

This way Muyoung could be in the center of everything, among the dead and the living.

“Don’t forget your word.”

Arand’s body shivered imperceptibly.

Arand was excited.

Muyoung was his idol and his goal.

At the place where he was downgrading himself as trash and thought he was a pig in a cage, Muyoung was the only one who shined.

He dreamed while he watched Muyoung fight in the arena.

That he wanted to fight in the same place as him!

“Never… forget it.”

Acknowledgement.

That was all.

It was a funny thing.

But it still felt good.

On the other hand, that was enough.

Arand turned his body.

The arena was filled with silence.

However, at this moment, his attitude towards the simple fight changed. It altered.

This was a battlefield.

A place where they cut bones and chewed on skin!

A holy battle?

A fight that produced glory as it followed the law?

There was nothing of the sort.

Winning was everything. Muyoung didn’t mention any condition besides it.

Win. Survive until the end!

‘I’m no longer a slave inside a cage.’

Arand lived for this day.

He pledged that he would live for victories and not for losses.

Plump!

Muyoung sat on his seat.

“Continue.”

Their master spoke.

Baltan, the Guardian of a Territory.

Originally, it was Seohan and his fight but the opponent changed.

Arand had risen to become a new match.

“We weren’t original citizens of this land.”

An old man started to talk.

In silence, about twenty people gathered.

They all lost.

Now just one, only Baltan was left.

“If it’s now, it wouldn’t be impossible to escape the Demon God’s Territory. But… I’m scared.”

The old man was a muscular warrior but his appearance seemed very intimidated.

It wasn’t due to his loss.

He was afraid of leaving the Demon God’s Territory.

“Due to Heidegger, we were all kidnapped.

It was Muyoung who ended Heidegger’s tyranny.

He had accepted them as his citizens. The violence in the past had also disappeared.

“And quite some time had passed since then. We grew stronger and it shouldn’t be hard to escape the Demon God’s Territory if we decide to.”

To escape the Demon God’s Territory.

They could return to the crowd of people.

However, was that all?

“I’ll be honest. I am afraid of people, of humans.”

A deep regret was within the old man’s words.

“All of you probably think the same as me.”

Others nodded as the old man spoke.

They were normally weaklings.

Ones that wouldn’t be missed were kidnapped by Heidegger, with no one to save them.

These people who were gathered here at this place were the ones who were thoroughly neglected by modern society.

Muyoung might not be aware or might not have put any thoughts into it but… the sorrows of a weakling were beyond one’s imagination.

What would have been the reason for them to naturally accept Heidegger’s tyranny?!

It was because it was no different compared to when they were within the crowd of people from the beginning.

Heidegger intelligently kidnapped those who he believed were unneeded.

“For the first time, we realized each other’s importance by coming to this place. We learned what it was to live by helping each other.”

After coming to the Underworld, their existing knowledge became useless.

A zone of the strong.

A structure where only the strong could eat up everything.

The weak would only crawl on the ground. The violence of the strong was no different than the tyranny of Heidegger.

They had to live each day by studying other people’s faces.

They had to go through a narrow path making small strides to even make ends meet.

Don’t they just need to get stronger?

‘We weren’t even given a chance to get stronger.’

The vested interests that were developed for decades.

They used their fixed resources only for themselves.

Occasionally, they chose those fine children who seemed to have potential to become a fine man and place them under their command.

The rest were abandoned. Small chances weren’t even given easily.

The weak competed against each other to go through a place that was thinner than a needle’s eye.

A hell’s path was created to earn even a crumb that was dropped from the strong.

However, this place was different.

At least in this place where Muyoung ruled, there were opportunities.

What they thought at that moment was the dungeon.

The dungeon was a place that flowed with honey.

A path where they could become strong, fast and easily.

Muyoung didn’t place any restrictions for them to enter that place.

They were able to earn rewards by finishing the dungeon by combining their strength.

After coming to this place, they had realized that they could survive if they combined their strength after a long time.

For them to not chip each other away and gnaw each other to death.

They could build their own house and have their own land.

In the Great City, even that was impossible without authorization.

Although it wasn’t safe, there were numerous groups in this place.

They were able to receive at least minimum safety.

“Will you return?”

The old man talked.

Would you return and give up this opportunity?

“I don’t want to.”

The old man answered alone.

It was better to die than return.

Rather than return to that filthy cesspool, he was willing to die fighting at this place.

“I also don’t want to. I’m sick and tired of it.”

“I want to stop crying by holding on to a rotten rope.”

“But could we remain at this place?”

Everyone was skeptical about it.

Numerous dokkaebis and other species.

There were at most a dozen humans.

They were behind in number.

Although Muyoung remained neutral, it was impossible to know when he would change his mind.

The old man clenched his fist.

“That’s why we need to win. Baltan, you are our hope. If you win, we would be able to gather much more weak people. If there was a small hope among the weak, we could let them know that they could infinitely get stronger.”

If Muyoung’s plan was to really encompass everyone.

The old man dreamt of a far future.

A dream where those weak who were condemned like himself gathered and developed their strength.

It was the last bet he placed his life on.

At the same time, everyone’s attention focused on Baltan.

Baltan, the Guardian of the Territory.

People thought he had changed from before.

It wasn’t normal for him to suddenly became stronger and become a guardian.

But, nevertheless, Baltan was the only one who stood by their side.

Since the fact that Baltan accepted Muyoung’s deal and became an undead was solely to protect Irene and them.

The old man lowered his head further.

“See you soon.”

Swoosh!

Baltan took out his sword.

His white armor shined more than usual.

Plod!

He moved towards the battlefield.

The finals had come.

He needed to win against his last opponent, Arand.

“Please.”

“Win for us!”

“For recognition!”

“…for hope.”

Everyone spoke of their small wish.

As Baltan walked towards the battlefield, his footsteps were immeasurably heavy.

A dark horse, Arand.

The Guardian of the Territory, Baltan.

Their final round strongly focused everyone’s attention.

Muyoung wasn’t an exception.

“They all have their own goals. They all moved with their own ideas. And you are the one who rules over their goals and ideas.”

Don’t think lightly.

Never think lightly of that weight.

Ogar was speaking of it.

It seemed likely for him to secretly know how Muyoung thought of them.

Muyoung’s shoulders became heavier.

However, this weight was enough for Muyoung to fully endure.

Ogar scratched his cheek.

“I watched them closely. How they grew stronger each day. But, honestly, I’m not sure. Even if they had goals, I’m not sure what made them change that rapidly.”

However, even Ogar didn’t know everything.

He wasn’t a wise man but just an unusual fire tar.

Muyoung thought he knew a bit about this part.

“It’s the most basic of emotions.”

“Most basic?”

“Desire.”

Achieving goals and desire were subtly different.

Even more, hidden desire had spurted.

It was the same for Muyoung.

The 40 years of suppressed desire had spurted and he earned the driving force to continuously get stronger.

Ogar made a surprised face.

“Desire…desire you say. Will you be able to control that desire?”

“Desire shouldn’t be controlled.”

“Then?”

“It’s about spurting, colliding, and raging.”

“In other words, you are saying you are going to release it since it’s bothersome to control.”

Kehaha!

Ogar laughed out loud.

He felt like he got punched hard.

It was so.

Muyoung currently set his own rules and principles.

That he was going to leave them be if they were to run wild as they break from their mold.

That he was going to measure which desire was bigger between his and theirs.

This also was another unpredicted fight.

‘Show me your desires.’

A strength that spurted and raged would produce a strong strength in the end.

If he was after the Demon King’s position, shouldn’t he at least endure this with a smile?

A Demon King was also a king.

Even if he had no experience, he couldn’t just postpone it.

Even Muyoung acknowledged that his thoughts had been too small.

He was disregarding the strength of a group.

He just belittled the strength of mankind.

If there were no heroes, he just needed to create them.

He realized that simple logic.

Wham!

Just in time, the fight for desire between Baltan, the Guardian of the Territory and the dark horse, Arand had started.

A thick sandblast scattered like falling starlight.