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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: The Demonic Palace's Exit
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Drip, drip.
The sound of falling water droplets echoed along Havel Banpellyon's cheek.
As the droplets slid down his cheek and onto the ground...
Havel finally opened his eyes.
He bolted upright!
Silver hair, nearly white, fluttered as he rose to his feet.
His head throbbed.
A faint headache signaled his return to reality.
He quickly scanned his surroundings.
A dense forest loomed around him.
The trees and grasses in this thicket were unnaturally massive.
"...Where is this?"
Havel pressed a hand to his forehead.
The throbbing ache was to blame.
As he sifted through his memories, something odd caught his eye.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Achievement 'Master of the Demonic Palace 10th Floor' has been registered. ⚔ STATUS ⚔
[ Havel Banpellyon ]
Held Achievements
Master of the Demonic Palace 10th Floor
Status: Time Regression, Immortal
⚡ Strength: 694 💨 Agility: 701 🛡️ Endurance: 801 ✨ Talent: 649 💪 Technique: 530 🍀 Calamity: 1
Achievements? Strength? Agility? Endurance, Talent, Technique, Calamity?
What the hell is this?
Absolute nonsense.
Especially the Calamity stat, which stood out ridiculously low compared to the others.
All the rest were three-digit numbers, but Calamity was a lone 1.
The proportions were all wrong.
And I definitely...
He soon recalled the Demonic Palace.
As he hurriedly looked around...
A massive stone gate from long ago appeared before his eyes.
The gate stood wide open, as if welcoming him back in at any moment.
Havel remembered this gate.
"The Demonic Palace entrance..."
This was none other than the entrance to the Demonic Palace.
"Ha, haha."
A hollow laugh escaped him involuntarily.
Outside.
This was outside the Demonic Palace.
After 64 regressions, he'd finally obtained immortality and crawled his way out.
"I did it. I finally did it..."
The "Master of the Demonic Palace 10th Floor" achievement and the cryptic letters nagged at him, but...
For this moment, Havel savored it intensely.
Tears of joy welled up in his eyes.
"Whew, so..."
But the joy was short-lived.
Havel quickly calmed down.
Now it was time to piece together the situation step by step.
Living in the Demonic Palace had ingrained this habit of swiftly tamping down emotional swings.
Can't even enjoy a moment of happiness alone—I've turned into quite the bitter bastard.
He'd finally cleared the Demonic Palace, yet he couldn't revel in it for long.
Reflecting on it, he'd always had this tendency even before entering.
And that's how he'd kept his sanity inside the Demonic Palace.
The Demonic Palace appeared in Arhan's most advanced capital.
The capital with the imperial palace had been devoured by it back then.
And left in ruins.
But now, a wildly overgrown forest stood here.
Trees growing to abnormal sizes, no less.
How much time passed while I was in the Demonic Palace?
Repeated regressions had long eroded his sense of time.
He couldn't gauge how much had elapsed.
Staying here won't help me figure things out.
First, Havel needed to find people.
Starting with whether the imperial lineage had survived.
How much time had passed? He had endless questions.
Above all, he worried most about his family, Banpellyon.
He—and the Dawn Knights they prided themselves on—had entered the Demonic Palace together.
Our absence must have left a huge gap.
If he'd known it would come to this, he wouldn't have brought the knights.
But back then, saving His Majesty the Emperor had left him no choice.
Inside, all I thought about was getting out.
Now that he was out, the worries piled up endlessly.
Havel's gaze fell on the Demonic Palace entrance.
The site of his 64 regressions.
A place he'd grown utterly sick of.
Did the Demonic Palace feel the same?
A breeze from within tousled his hair.
As if urging him to hurry away.
"I'm done with you."
With those curt words, Havel turned and walked away.
Now it was time to return to reality.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Somewhere at the edge of a forest where trees scraped the sky.
An old man bent at the waist, gathering bundles of herbs.
The herb gatherer squinted suspiciously at his surroundings.
"The forest feels awfully restless today."
An unsettling energy flowed through the woods, putting him on edge.
"As if Fenril's rampaging or something."
He clicked his tongue at the thought of the Demonic Forest's master.
This forest, warped by the Demonic Palace's demonic energy that had altered the terrain itself, was one of the world's forbidden zones.
Countless fools had vanished after stumbling into the Demonic Palace.
That was the tale always told with the Demonic Forest.
So how could this old man roam it freely?
The reason was simple.
He was once renowned across the land.
But now, he'd cast it all aside to live in seclusion.
"Heave-ho."
The old man effortlessly vaulted a tree root ten times his height.
Then he slipped casually between the trees.
He was the sole wanderer of the Demonic Forest.
The herb gatherer, Penaxian.
If I'd just been a bit stronger, I could've ventured deeper.
Penaxian eyed the forest's interior with regret.
Mountains of rare herbs waiting there.
But even as the Demonic Forest's one and only herb gatherer, his range was limited to the outskirts.
Deeper in, he'd inevitably provoke Fenril.
"Tch, I've got plenty of years left before I die."
As Penaxian shook off his lingering thoughts and stepped forward...
Crunch!
Something burst abruptly from the underbrush.
"Whoa?!"
Penaxian thought his heart had stopped.
There stood a man with silver hair bordering on white.
A person in the Demonic Forest?
He'd never imagined anyone else besides himself haunting this place.
Soon, chills raced up his spine.
...I didn't sense his presence?
No matter how familiar he was with the Demonic Forest, this was a forbidden zone.
Penaxian always stayed on high alert here.
Yet he'd missed this entirely?
The situation was beyond suspicious.
His hand naturally drifted to the sword at his waist.
That thing...
It might not even be human.
As the tense air thickened...
"A person? You're a real person, right?"
The man blurted something bizarre.
He even looked ecstatic for some reason.
What is this? Just a lost wanderer?
Penaxian blinked in bewilderment.
A castaway in the Demonic Forest? Hard to believe, but...
He recalled old rumors of bandits dumping people here.
Maybe that sort.
Hmm, am I getting old?
Missing a human presence like that.
He might need to stop coming into the Demonic Forest.
"Lost wanderer? How long have you been missing the path?"
"Not exactly lost, but I don't know the way. About an hour of wandering."
"That's a lost wanderer. Follow me. I'll guide you out."
Penaxian nodded at the man's words. It made sense.
Not days, just an hour—explains why he's still alive.
Lucky enough to avoid calamities that long.
Though for an hour, he's come pretty deep.
But lost people's sense of time warps easily.
Penaxian relaxed and decided to lead him out.
"Thank you, elder."
"Elder? Heh, young folks using old-fashioned talk these days. What's your name?"
"Ah, um, well..."
The man hesitated to give his name.
From his reaction, he had some circumstances.
Makes sense—getting lost in the Demonic Forest screams bad luck.
After a pause, he finally spat it out resolutely.
"...Havel Banpellyon."
Hearing that, Penaxian nodded calmly.
"Hm, a noble, eh."
He figured Havel had been dumped here amid family intrigues.
"Whatever your plight, don't worry. I won't go blabbing your name around."
Penaxian showed consideration.
But this time, Havel was the flustered one.
This reaction to Banpellyon?
Banpellyon was one of the Empire's Three Great Families.
And the old man seemed to be hiding his own status, but...
His bearing screamed nobility to Havel.
No matter how detached from the world he seemed...
Any noble of the Unified Empire Arhan should react more to that name.
Maybe he thought it was a lie.
Havel decided to confirm.
"Elder? I really am a Banpellyon."
But Penaxian just looked puzzled again.
"Hm? It's not that I don't believe you. Ah, is it a famous house? Sorry. I've been out of worldly affairs for quite a while."
This went beyond just being secluded.
Sensing something off, Havel followed the old man anyway.
"You're keeping up better than expected. The Demonic Forest is infamous for its perils."
To Havel's eyes, the forest was indeed treacherous.
Mushrooms and flowers taller than people.
Insect swarms the size of beasts.
It felt like he'd shrunk to doll size.
"Elder, may I ask something?"
"Go ahead."
"Wasn't this originally Arhan's capital? There was no forest like this..."
He voiced his lingering doubt, and Penaxian blinked.
"What era are you talking about?"
From the reaction, Havel realized a significant time had indeed passed.
About 10 years, maybe.
He no longer aged, but his time in the Demonic Palace wasn't short.
Worries for Banpellyon grew.
"This being Arhan's capital was over 100 years ago. You say the strangest things."
But at those words, Havel's steps halted abruptly.
"...What did you just say?"
"Huh? Well..."
Boom!
As Penaxian tried to reply...
A massive rumble echoed from deeper in the forest.
Penaxian's face drained of color.
An overwhelming killing intent prickled over them.
And only one thing could emit such malice.
"Wh-why is Fenril out here in the outskirts?!"
The Demonic Forest's lord, Fenril.
The beast had come rampaging to the fringes.
"Run now!"
For some reason, Fenril was berserking this far out.
As Penaxian shouted urgently, Havel stood dazed.
"...100 years?"
That much time had passed?
Wasn't I regressing?
During regressions, subjective time dragged, but outside time shouldn't have shifted.
So why?
A lot of time did pass since entering the Demonic Palace.
It took years for everyone else to perish.
The 64th run to claim the Immortality Fruit was long.
His final immortal ascent took longer than all prior runs combined.
Even excluding regressions, plenty of time elapsed.
But even accounting for everything, maybe 30 years at most.
Has my sense of time twisted that badly?
Or perhaps time inside the Demonic Palace flowed differently from outside?
Kaboom! Rumble rumble rumble!
As Havel pondered blankly, several trees shattered, smoke rising.
Penaxian reflexively drew his sword.
There stood a wolf the size of a tree.
Fangs jutted from jet-black fur,
Its deep blue eyes piercing enough to numb the legs.
Could a sword even kill that?
Such doubts assailed the mind—a true monster.
"Damn it!"
Penaxian realized escape was impossible.
Fenril had targeted them from the start.
"You run! I'll buy time!"
Retired or not, he was a warrior.
Fierce aura surged from Penaxian.
Bushes trembled in its wake as azure aura cloaked his blade.
His form blurred.
Feet cratering the ground, he thrust at Fenril's throat.
Land the first strike decisively.
That sole intent powered his full-force sword.
And it sank into Fenril's scruff.
Squelch, clang!
Until the aura-forged blade shattered.
"Huh?"
A brief gasp of shock escaped him.
Kabooooom!
Before he knew it, Penaxian tumbled across the dirt.
"Kuhk, ack."
Once called the Iron Wave, yet...
Before a true wolf, he was nothing?
Fenril's blow struck instantly; blood poured from his mouth.
In his fading vision, he belatedly spotted Havel.
For some reason, the man hadn't fled.
"What are you doing?!"
He bellowed, but Havel didn't budge.
"Grrrrrrrrr!"
Then Fenril bristled its mane and roared.
It looked like a beast gripped by fear.
Penaxian realized too late.
Fenril was after...
That man?
Fenril bared its fangs and charged.
The ground quaked like an earthquake, trees swaying.
As it lunged to devour Havel...
"...Shut up."
Havel's curt voice rang out.
And somehow, his sword was raised skyward.
Penaxian's eyes bulged.
He hadn't even seen him draw it.
Crack!
Fenril, mid-leap, was bisected.
Stunned by the horrifying sight, Penaxian froze.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ You have defeated the Demonic Forest Lord 'Fenril'. An achievement has been registered in the Demonic Palace.
Havel stared at the floating text.
His mind reeled from the 100 years, and now more letters.
If my head isn't broken...
This had to be the Demonic Palace's doing.
Then, pitch-black energy poured from Fenril's corpse toward Havel.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Absorbing 'Fenril's' Calamity. Your stature as Master of the Demonic Palace 10th Floor rises. — Strength +5 — Agility +7 — Endurance +4 — Talent +3 — Technique +5 — Calamity +3
The text from the entrance poured out.
Among it, Calamity caught Havel's eye.
It had jumped from 1 by +3.
The change in...
He felt nothing different.
Just a vague sense that raising it further would reveal the truth.
...Absorbing Calamity? Am I even human?
He had no clue what the Demonic Palace signified.
After regressions and immortality, calling himself human might be laughable anyway.
But still.
He was human.
Havel approached Penaxian with steady steps.
"Elder, sorry. I got distracted—it was too shocking."
"You... what in the world are you?"
Penaxian asked blankly, and Havel smiled wryly.
He pulled a pristine pill from his pouch and slipped it into the old man's mouth.
Instantly, Penaxian felt his body healing.
"As I said before."
Sword Saint, Havel Banpellyon.
The name now forgotten alongside his house.
"Thanks for the guidance. I can manage from here."
"Rest a bit before—"
But Havel turned and walked into the forest alone.
Watching him go, Penaxian inexplicably recalled an ancient tale.
His grandmother's stories of Arhan's three stars.