To Hell With Being a Hero!

Chapter 272. Abraxas (5)

It really seemed like a futile question. Why that location? It was obviously because their enemy made their move there. Considering Chi-Hyun’s personality, everyone thought he would scold Alice, sarcastically asking what she had been listening to and where she had been this whole time. Yet Chi-Hyun’s response differed from everyone’s expectations.

“It’s something we don’t know yet. We made several guesses, but none of them have solid evidence backing them up.” And instead, Chi-Hyun studied the map like he was curious about the question himself.

Chi-Woo didn’t know what was going on. He already had an ominous feeling about this expedition, and now his brother was acting strangely. It was then he realized something after organizing everything he had heard. The Sernitas were passionate about experimenting and restructuring living creatures for their own purposes. They modified all sorts of things to the point that they even experimented with a god. And it was clear that they didn’t do all this out of sheer boredom alone, but for an important purpose—specifically, their goal to gain dominance over Liber. Now that things weren’t going in their favor after the recent failure of their collaborator, the Demon Empire, they might have finally taken out their secret weapon. That led them to the question:

‘Why that location?’ Like Chi-Hyun said, perhaps, the Sernitas were counteracting against humanity’s progress, or they could be trying to stop the Cassiubia League from expanding their territories to protect their important bases from getting stolen. But even then, it made them wonder: ‘Is that the only reason? Did they really have to go so far for that?’

If they were going to reveal their secret weapon, it seemed only natural that they should do it more properly; or perhaps they should only reveal themselves after establishing themselves a bit more in that area. It didn’t seem to make much sense right now.

“That means it’s either one of two things,” Chi-Hyun continued, “There’s a mysterious trap waiting in that area.”

“Or there’s a reason, unknown to us, why they had to choose that place,” Alice finished for him.

Chi-Woo nodded, hearing the two’s responses. Of course, they needed to find out more about the situation, but it seemed his brother was leaning more toward the latter. He seemed to think that there must be a reason why the Sernitas were making their moves up there. After all, besides its strategic location, there wasn’t really anything special about the land. The only particular part about it was that it was the place the Fenrir tribe had once risked their lives to protect.

‘I see. So that’s why…’ Chi-Woo thought.

Chi-Hyun had already revealed his stance at the beginning of the meeting when he brought up the tenth reinforcement, the Cassiubia League’s request, and the Fenrirs in that order.

“That must be why the Cassiubia League asked us to help attack that area,” Alice said, and Chi-Hyun nodded.

“We have experience landing a huge blow on the Demon Empire. This is something even the League hasn’t been able to do, and they expect us to do the same this time too.”

“But I still don’t understand. This area isn’t close to the Cassiubia mountain range, but it’s not so far that they can’t reach it either. Even if they are being careful because the Last Dragon almost died in the last war, they should’ve at least sent their regular army from their main base.”

“Then they might have to do a full-scale expansion.”

“Is the Cassiubia League afraid of going full-scale?”

“They don’t fear it, but the problem is that they would have two enemies. Furthermore, they recently suffered significant damages and casualties while fighting the joint forces of the Sernitas and the Demon Empire.” Then, Chi-Hyun added, “Moreover, the league hopes to maintain the current situation a bit longer.”

“By current situation, do you mean…?”

“There is chaos inside the Demon Empire.” Chi-Hyun spun the stick in his hand once. “As a society, the demons value war and victory above all else. And such an empire not only lost several great demons in a row, but they were also utterly destroyed by a much smaller and weaker army of humans. Thus, it’s only natural that they are questioning their leaders’ capabilities and leadership skills.”

This was a world where the phrase survival of the fittest rang truer than anywhere else and only the strong could survive. Thus, would people continue to accept the Demon Empire as ‘the strong’ after their great losses against a weaker force, the humans? At the least, there must be demonic creatures and demons who began to think differently. Yet the great demons in uppermost positions wouldn’t back down quietly. They probably would try to protect their position while aiming for higher ranks.

Thus, in accordance with how the Demon Empire’s society was structured, internal conflict was bound to erupt, and this chaos wouldn’t subside any time soon—at least not until an outside threat arose. The Demon Empire’s citizens were blood-thirsty creatures who fought each other at any chance, yet funnily enough, if a danger that threatened the empire’s existence appeared, even the worst enemies would gather their strengths to fight it.

“So, if the Cassiubia League sends out their main army, the Demon Empire may stop tearing each other apart and unite…” Alice nodded, grasping the situation.

“It’s as you think. If we use only a small number of elite forces, we may accomplish our goal without provoking the Demon Empire,” Chi-Hyun responded.

“Furthermore, we would be able to shake the collaboration between the Sernitas and the Demon Empire once more. We would only know when the situation comes to it if the Sernitas are acting on behalf of the Demon Empire right now though.”

Chi-Woo watched the two talk. They responded to each other smoothly with neither missing any beat. It was as if he was witnessing a real meeting.

“That must be why you called only those in gold tiers and above,” Alice said.

“Although I didn’t plan on placing restrictions… It’s clear anyone below that tier would die meaningless deaths,” Chi-Hyun replied.

“What’s your reasoning behind setting up this standard?”

“Ismile.”

An unexpected name popped up. Everyone’s eyes widened, and Chi-Hyun placed his focus on his device again. Then he finished reading what he’d read only a part of before.

“Because I was warned so thoroughly, I made thorough preparations before going. But wow, it’s no joke from the very beginning. I don’t know how to describe it. You should check it out for yourself. If I knew this was going to happen, I would’ve raised my tier beforehand (crying face). I won’t be able to do anything satisfying with my current status. You should take some kids with the right skills. Sorry man that I couldn’t live up to your expectations even though you put your trust in me.”

It was a bit strange how Chi-Hyun read the message as it was without filtering anything. Still, everyone could understand how serious the situation was.

“Could you tell us Ismile’s tier?” Alice asked in case.

“As far as I know, he is not under any contract yet.”

Alice slightly nodded. Even so, this wasn’t a situation that she could underestimate. Though Ismile wasn’t in any denomination yet, he belonged to the Nahla family, which was usually assessed to come right after the Choi and Ho Lactea families, and the number of merits he came with as backup must be significant. Thus, it was more shocking that such a hero would be so helpless in this situation.

“Wait a moment.” It was then someone raised their hand.

“Then, does that mean Mr. Ismile already knew about this matter beforehand?” Apoline asked in a high-pitched voice.

“Didn’t I say that the Cassiubia recently made this request to us again?” Chi-Hyun said, peeved. He was annoyed that he had to repeat himself.

“Does that mean they made the same request at least once before?”

“Shouldn’t that be obvious unless you are an idiot? What’s the point of even asking that?”

“W-What? An idiot?” Apoline wrinkled her forehead. Her mood was already terrible because of what Yeriel did earlier. And her tone turned sharper and colder because of the responses she got, “No—but then, why didn’t you tell us anything before? Are you asking us to do this now because it didn’t work out with Ismile before?” Apoline complained, and one of Chi-Hyun’s eyebrows rose.

“Ask?” He snorted and jerked his chin slightly downward. “Yeah, so what?” he said confidently, and Apoline looked a bit taken aback.

“As you said, Ismile failed to do this task. And I didn’t tell you all before because there was no point in telling some useless guys who couldn’t do anything. But thanks to some little house playing you have been doing, you became a little bit more useful, enough for me to tell you what was happening. Do you have a problem with that?”

“What? House playing?”

“Yeah. Don’t you know the saying? Even things normally useless are hard to find when there comes a time for them to be of use.”

Apoline’s face became bright red like the twilight of sunset. As someone who was raised preciously all her life, she was enraged by the comparisons and insults Chi-Hyun was making.

“It seems you are really misunderstanding something, so I will make it clear to you all,” Chi-Hyun said leisurely as Apoline boiled in wrath. “This isn’t a request. I am giving you all an opportunity.”

If they thought about it, there was nothing wrong with what he said. This was an opportunity for them to gain the reinforcements they needed. Perhaps even an exemption for a promotion test to rise in tiers. None of the Celestial Lights were pleased to hear that they were thought of as less than a Nahla member, but it was true that Chi-Hyun was giving them an opportunity instead of taking the chance for himself.

“Let me make it clear to all of you. I’m not making a request, nor am I forcing you all.” Chi-Hyun turned away from Apoline and looked back to the rest of the people in the room. “But I promise you all one thing,” Chi-Hyun emphasized, “Anyone who makes progress in a task like this will be given special privileges.”

Though individual tiers were decided by the growth system, Chi-Hyun held authority in everything else. For example, even if a hero reached gold tier, they wouldn’t be able to gain control over a zone or establish an official faction without Chi-Hyun’s approval.

“I advise you all to work hard if you want to make your gold tiers worthwhile.” Then he smirked seeing Apoline chewing her lip with a bright red face, “Who knows? If you do well this time, people may think more highly of the Afriliths than the Nahlas.” Chi-Hyun spoke like he knew what Apoline was thinking and considered her pathetic. Apoline heaved. Though she had heard the rumors, she didn’t think he would be this rude. But in the end, she couldn’t retort even as her fury shot up. As higher authority called for greater responsibilities, she needed to do necessary work for the right reward. What could she say more when he was telling her to grow her skills if she wanted different treatment?

‘But still, how could he talk so rudely…!’ Chi-Hyun’s attitude angered her the more she thought about it, and unable to quell it, she was about to say a word when she suddenly heard a loud snort.

“He’s bringing up families every chance he has…” It was a mocking tone. Though he murmured to himself, he was clearly talking loud enough for Chi-Hyun to hear him. Chi-Hyun also turned around. Even without seeing who was speaking, Chi-Hyun could tell it was Chi-Woo. He also knew why Chi-Woo was talking in this manner and was about to simply drop the issue when Chi-Woo added another line.

“How can anyone speak in fear of him?”

Chi-Hyun frowned seeing his brother brood annoyedly. In a voice much lower than before, Chi-Hyun asked, “…Mr. Choi Chi-Woo? It sounds like you have been harboring a lot of complaints.”

Chi-Woo stared back at him like he was waiting for this moment. “Yes, I have tons.” Chi-Woo spoke clearly with bold eyes. “Why? Can I not even say a word of complaint to you, Mr. Choi Chi-Hyun?”

“…”

By the way Chi-Woo spoke, it sounded like he was about to charge at Chi-Hyun any moment now.

“If you have any complaints…” Chi-Hyun thought briefly whether or not he should just kill this guy, but in the end, he said, “…You should take the issue up to me separately.” He repressed his anger and inhaled deeply.

“Ah, yes. If that’s what you wish, I guess I’d have to comply,” Chi-Woo continued to speak mockingly like he wasn’t scared of how Chi-Hyun would react.

“The meeting is over. Since I have relayed all important information to you all, I leave the rest to your individual judgments.” Chi-Hyun got down from the pedestal and walked across the conference room. He looked like he was fuming with rage. It was the same for Chi-Woo. Thud! Chi-Woo pushed away his chair hard and got up.

“Teacher…”

“I’ll be back.”

Ru Amuh called out worriedly, but Chi-Woo glared and quickly followed as Chi-Hyun headed outside.

“Why…?” Apoline said in surprise seeing Chi-Woo’s furious steps. ‘W-What? Why is he acting like that? I thought he disliked me?’ she thought. Apoline thought like how Emmanuel acted to shield Yeriel, Chi-Woo had gotten angry at his brother in her stead. Not knowing what was really going on, she thought there was no other explanation why Chi-Woo would’ve suddenly gotten so mad.

‘But they are families—brothers related by blood…? Wait. Is it because….?’ Apoline chewed on her fingernails in confusion and wondered, ‘Perhaps…?’ Her eyes rolled around; considering her age, perhaps, it wasn’t strange that she began to have wild imaginations about what just went on.

***

Chi-Woo went to his brother’s office after a long time. But now that he was there, he didn’t know what to do. His brother didn’t say anything after calling him all the way here and simply glared at Chi-Woo while sitting at his desk. But Chi-Woo wasn’t the same as before; he wouldn’t cower before his brother anymore, and he slumped on the sofa chair without hesitation and crossed his legs and arms.

Seeing this, Chi-Hyun said coldly, “Did I say you could sit, Chi—no, Mr. Choi Chi-Woo?”

“Sir, I sat because you didn’t say anything. How could you invite a guest and not even ask them to sit? It’s ridiculous.”

“Sir?” Chi-Hyun’s usually indifferent face turned exasperated. “You…ha. But I don’t recall inviting you as my guest.”

“How strange. I clearly remember you telling me to talk to you separately not long ago. What could that be but an invitation?”

“…” Chi-Hyun became speechless. He had forgotten that his brother never lost in an argument once he got angry; since they were children, Chi-Hyun never beat his brother in this regard. It was unbelievable how well Chi-Woo could blabber even when he was so young.

“Chi-Woo, do you really believe what you are saying?” In the end, Chi-Hyun was the first one to back down from this strange way of addressing each other as formal strangers and turned the other direction. “Is that really the attitude of someone who has done wrong?”

“And it’s okay to ignore your brother who has gathered his courage to apologize and throw a die and a talisman at his face to humiliate him?”

As soon as Chi-Hyun succeeded in making a point, Chi-Woo retaliated with several counterattacks in a row. And the way Chi-Woo smoothly spouted the lines seemed to indicate that he had a lot of pent-up anger.

“…Never mind.” Chi-Hyun also had more to say, but he decided to give up. It was only going to be tiresome to argue about who was more in the wrong. They were just going to go back and forth.

“Ah, is that so? Good. Then I guess I would do you the favor of leaving—”

“You know the guy you wanted to introduce to me?” Chi-Hyun purposefully changed the topic. “I met him recently. Well, he had quite a good plan.” Seeing Chi-Woo calm down a bit, Chi-Hyun continued. “I invested 300,000 royals for now.”

Chi-Woo’s response was indifferent since this was information he already knew. “So?”

“…That’s unexpected. I thought I would at least hear a thank you.” Though he could’ve insisted on hearing more about the project and changed the arrangement to his favor as the investor, Chi-Hyun had only lent the money to Zelit since he came from Chi-Woo’s introduction. Thus, Chi-Hyun expected Chi-Woo to be grateful, yet his response was disinterested.

“Why should I? Did I ask you to invest in him? I just told you to hear him out. And didn’t you lend him such a huge sum of money because you thought the conditions were good too?”

Chi-Hyun became speechless again because Chi-Woo was right. He wouldn’t have lent a coin if he thought the project wasn’t good and only invested because he saw the value in it.

Thus, Chi-Hyun licked his lips and changed the topic again, “…Are you going to go? You know what I talked about in the conference room earlier.”

“Yeah, I’m going to go. Why? Are you going to prevent me from going again?”

“No—am I not even allowed to speak anymore?” Chi-Hyun burst out in annoyance. He just wanted to talk at this point, but Chi-Woo seemed to want to fight in every sentence. In the end, Chi-Woo let out a humorless laugh.

“If you have a conscience, you should think about why I’m acting this way.”

“What did I do so wrong…” Chi-Hyun started but he couldn’t finish his sentence. Now that he recalled his past actions, his brother wasn’t exactly wrong. He had threatened, bound, forcefully dragged Chi-Woo away, imprisoned him, and…Chi-Hyun fake coughed. “Hmph. It could be dangerous. Though Ismile doesn’t have a denomination yet, you can’t undermine his skills.”

“Is that so?” Chi-Woo’s expression seemed to say, ‘so what?’ A little part of him was confident. “I don’t know. It’s not like I was playing the whole time either. Won’t I know for sure once I try?”

“…Sounds like you’ve become quite strong,” Chi-Hyun said even though he already knew everything. “Since you are so confident, I want to see your skills once.”

Chi-Hyun couldn’t stop Chi-Woo from going after making a promise to his master. But he was still worried. He admitted that his brother had progressed considerably compared to the past, but it was Liber they were talking about. Though it’d be a lie to say that there were countless enemies stronger than Chi-Woo, there were still quite a good number of them. Furthermore, who knew what would happen where? His brother was still lacking in critical experiences. Thus, Chi-Hyun wanted to squash a little bit of his brother’s arrogance that had reached the sky after gaining a bit of power.

“You want to see them? Do you want to have a duel or something?”

“If you want, I could teach you a thing or two,” Chi-Hyun spoke purely out of concern for Chi-Woo, but Chi-Woo’s response was unexpected. “Huh…is there really a need? You are not that strong.”

“?” The legend wasn’t ‘that strong’? This was completely out of the blue. Noel, who had been listening to the two argue warily, doubted her ears.

“To tell you the truth, I fought you in the image representation space.” Chi-Woo seemed convinced. “I don’t know about your magic skills, but…you are really bad at pure physical fighting.”

It was more aggravating how genuinely Chi-Woo spoke.

“What, what?” Chi-Hyun was baffled. In the first place, Image Representation was made based on personal experience and abilities. Thus, even if the space recreated him, it was nothing more than a very small part that Chi-Woo knew—though of course, it was truly him the last time he fought with Chi-Woo in the space; he had simply acted to provoke Chi-Woo’s awakening and obviously didn’t go all out. How dare Chi-Woo talk like that was all he was?

“You went down two times…”

“Hey,” Chi-Hyun got up. “Let’s fight one more time. Not in the image representation space, but in reality. I will properly fight you.” Chi-Hyun clenched his fists like he was intent on showing Chi-Woo his place.

“Hm~ No, I won’t do it~” Chi-Woo got up from his seat too and said irritatingly. “I’m too busy. I have to prepare for the expedition.”

And seeing Chi-Woo turn around, Chi-Hyun urgently shouted, “Hold up there. Hold up.”

“I do not listen to orders coming from those weaker than me.” “What did you say?” Chi-Hyun shouted and hurriedly extended his arms as Chi-Woo moved. Swirl! Invisible webs of mana tried to wrap around Chi-Woo, but failed. It failed to move farther as if it had hit a giant wall.

‘Look at this guy?’ Chi-Hyun forced out more mana, and Chi-Woo raised his hand. Flash! Light burst out, and with the sound of bells, clusters of lights lingered in Chi-Woo’s palms. It was the class ability of a gold tier High-Ranking Exorcist: La Bella’s Bible.

“I knew you’d do that.” Chi-Woo chuckled seeing the cluster of lights take form. “Why don’t you try harder.”

Chi-Hyun stared blankly and retrieved his mana. The mana elements his brother used now was…?

“Oh, you know when to back away. As expected of the legend. How wise…” As his brother backed away, Chi-Woo exclaimed like he was impressed and laughed. Nearby, Noel heard Chi-Hyun’s blood pressure rise.

“Y-You…” Chi-Hyun pointed at Chi-Woo while clutching the back of his neck. He could push things further if he wanted to, but only stopped because his brother could be seriously injured.

“You shouldn’t worry about me. It’s you who should stay safely put in this city instead of causing trouble everywhere unnecessarily.”

What? “You bast—!” Chi-Hyun jumped over his desk and simultaneously, Noel grabbed him and pulled him back. “My Lord! Endure it! Please, this is your younger brother!”

“Release your arms!”

“Young master, please go quickly! Quickly!”

As Noel pulled Chi-Hyun back with all her strength, Chi-Woo quickly opened the door and escaped. From behind, he heard his brother shout, and he chuckled as he ran across the corridors.

“Ha! That serves him right!” Chi-Woo looked more refreshed than ever as if he had shaken off a great burden.