novelraw Chapter 283: Episode 283_The Art of the Scam (4)
Chapter 283: Episode 283_The Art of the Scam (4)
5.
’Is he completely blind to the mood?’
Everyone stared at Simin in shock.
To suddenly pop Sanctuary in a situation like this.
Naturally, the moment Sanctuary went up, the hard-earned strike Epia had just landed evaporated completely, without a shred of exaggeration.
The curse from the +15 sword had been powerful enough that even the Heavenly King couldn’t heal through it, but the curse-removal effect of the +15 Sanctuary was, by a slim margin, of a higher grade and nullified it.
She was speechless.
Of course everyone was thrown.
Simin might only be a spectator, but in the end, he was on Epia’s side, cheering for her.
She had to win for him to have any chance of hearing how to get back to the continent, let alone head to the Celestial Realm to loot their treasure vault.
If the Heavenly King won here, Simin—the main culprit who had lured Aria over—would be utterly annihilated, trapped in the Demon World for life.
So there was absolutely no reason for him to cast Sanctuary.
No matter how much of a committed streamer he was, ready to stage any kind of rigged stunt for his viewers, this was different.
The viewers, too, could only frown at such an obvious, tone-deaf intervention.
It was the kind of move you would see from a bumbling side character in a third-rate movie, the kind who leeches off the protagonist, then, instead of just staying put, jumps in at the worst possible moment and throws the hero into danger.
Han Simin was not that kind of idiot.
If it meant a more profitable outcome, he was the kind of man who would happily end the movie in three minutes.
“Wasn’t me, for fuck’s sake. Stop staring.”
So he protested his innocence, raising both hands high to show that he didn’t have Sanctuary.
Only then did Epia, Specialist, and the demons remember what they had forgotten.
“The demons are the ones holding Sanctuary.”
Oh. Right.
Everyone nodded.
The +15 Sanctuary had been carried around by the demons for a while to lure in Celestials.
He had never gotten it back afterward, so obviously it wasn’t Simin who had activated it; it was the demons.
Realizing that made their expressions harden again.
Even so, it was strange.
Up until just before Sanctuary went up, Epia had clearly seized the initiative. You could say with confidence that she had the upper hand.
And then the demons activated Sanctuary?
For the Heavenly King?
There was no betrayal more devastating than one delivered at a moment like this.
’Who the hell did that?’
Everyone’s eyes wandered again, searching for the source of the Sanctuary.
It wasn’t hard to find.
When their gazes finally landed on Sanctuary, Epia could only furrow her delicate brow instead of unleashing the curses she had prepared.
“You idiots.”
The ones holding Sanctuary were not the demons who had been transporting it, but the Celestials.
The demons she should have been cursing for failing to guard it properly or for activating it by mistake were already dead and gone.
She fell silent.
In this mess, only one thing was clear.
“Simin, should we call this a boss monster awakening phase, or a protagonist overcomes crisis cliché?”
The Heavenly King had recovered and was now standing on Sanctuary, receiving an even bigger buff.
Pop—
“Going somewhere?”
Epia’s form vanished in an instant.
But unlike before, the Heavenly King tracked her movements perfectly and moved to block her path.
Within the wide area of Sanctuary, where a 30% debuff and a 30% buff had created a 60% gap, Epia’s speed was no longer enough to overturn the situation.
So she had quickly decided to move to shut down Sanctuary first, but the Heavenly King had already read her intent.
“God’s Sanctuary.”
And he chanted a spell that further empowered Sanctuary.
An absolute divine spell that could only be used within Sanctuary.
He hadn’t been able to use it before because they were in the Demon World, and because there were no Celestials free to support him by maintaining Sanctuary under demon interference.
Now he could.
It flipped the situation completely.
“Go on, try acting cocky again.”
“...Tch.”
The one who now had breathing room was the Heavenly King.
Epia had to raise her sword before she could even finish that short click of her tongue.
BOOM!
A massive iron hammer, big enough to casually crush her entire body, was already crashing down from the sky.
“Hey! You bastards! Give me back my Sanctuary!”
The crisis closing in on Epia was, for someone else, a heartbreaking tragedy.
Simin hurled his popcorn aside and bolted.
*
You could sum it up in a single word.
Shitshow.
Everything that had happened since Sanctuary had gone up out of nowhere was a complete shitshow.
Originally, most of the smaller skirmishes had died down, since no one wanted to get caught up in the Heavenly King and Demon King’s fight.
But not anymore.
Now, regardless of what the Heavenly King and Demon King were doing, every demon and Celestial who had arrived was fighting like hell.
All because of that one Sanctuary.
You could call it carelessness.
The demons carrying Sanctuary had been hit from behind by Celestials and had it stolen.
It was an item that absolutely could not be allowed to fall into enemy hands if they wanted to win the war.
Because of that, the Celestials who had engineered this situation had seized the momentum again, and with their subordinates now involved, there was no such thing as “just watching” anymore.
Even if they died, they had to take Sanctuary back.
If they just stood there and watched, Epia’s defeat was a foregone conclusion.
Epia’s defeat meant the Demon World’s defeat, and the Celestials who had already crossed over would, as if they had been waiting for it, rampage through the Demon World and destroy everything.
They could easily turn the Demon World into a complete wasteland, one that wouldn’t be able to challenge the Celestial Realm again for thousands, tens of thousands—no, at least hundreds of thousands of years.
That was how serious this was.
Ever since the Demon World and Celestial Realm had come into existence, there had never been a war this fierce, with this much of their total strength committed.
It might well be the last war.
Once the balance between the Demon World and the Celestial Realm was broken, they would no longer be in a position to keep each other in check.
So the demons both called for reinforcements and charged the ones holding Sanctuary.
The Celestials inside Sanctuary were also receiving its full benefits, so it wasn’t easy.
Even the Heavenly King was investing his spare attention into protecting Sanctuary.
Epia fought desperately to hold them off, but the gap that had opened was not easily closed.
Somehow, the battle between the Heavenly King and the Demon King had turned into a fight over whether Sanctuary would be taken or not.
Area-of-effect skills rained down openly.
Countless Celestials and demons were swept up and reduced to a handful of ash.
It really did feel like watching moths fling themselves into a flame for the sake of a single item, like some kind of absolute ring.
And yet, in the end, the side defending had the advantage.
That was how every war worked.
Defense was easier, and the side sitting still and blocking incoming attacks had the edge.
On top of that, the Heavenly King had moved right over to Sanctuary and begun guarding it personally.
Break through that?
“...You sons of bitches.”
Simin, who had charged forward with his hammer, full of bravado, took several steps back and widened the distance again.
He knew exactly how much that thing was worth.
He wanted to whine about it more than anything, but there was no way they would hand it back just because they had “used it well.”
If he was willing to risk his life, he might be able to create a brief opening to swing his hammer once, but that wouldn’t change the outcome.
Epia, whose dress had long since turned into nothing but shredded rags, appeared beside him, panting heavily.
“Epia, can you do it?” he asked with genuine desperation.
Epia shook her head.
“Let’s run, honey.”
He was dumbstruck.
And then she said something completely unexpected.
Casually.
As if it were the most natural thing in the world.
It was an option even Simin hadn’t yet decided on—no, hadn’t even allowed into his mind.
Yet in a situation where running would mean defeat, the Demon King herself was the one to bring it up.
It was a will that said, in effect, ’Screw pride, give it to the dogs if it keeps us alive.’
He was floored.
’You...’
’You really are an amazing Demon King.’
He had thought the things she had picked up from hanging around that scammer—no, that former Enhancer—were no joke, but this level of decisiveness?
It was a bold decision worthy of high praise.
It was also exactly the right call for the current situation.
There was no answer here.
Even when Simin had used it, that Sanctuary had produced ridiculous results against demons and warlocks.
A +15 Sanctuary.
Now it was in Celestial hands, being deployed by the Heavenly King.
How were they supposed to win inside that?
“Don’t the demons have anything like that? This is way too one-sided.”
Even if they ran, they needed to at least counter with something or come up with another plan.
Epia shook her head again, looking regretful.
Her sulky expression was adorable even now.
As she kept doing things that made him like her more and more, Simin reached out and patted her head.
“Just trust me.”
It was the kind of moment that just seemed to call for a line like that.
His mind raced as he ran.
Specialist, quick on the uptake, immediately followed.
A few of the top-tier demons grabbed Aria and stuck close as well.
Their escape began in near silence, without a shred of hesitation.
Naturally, it took the Heavenly King a moment to realize what was happening.
“...Well, now.”
No one had accounted for the Demon King simply turning tail and running.
By the time the Heavenly King noticed, his brow furrowing in confusion, Epia was already gone.
“Kill them all.”
They had just... run away, as if it were nothing.
The Heavenly King’s fury crashed down upon the demons who had been left behind.
Empowered by the Sanctuary’s buff, his strength was overwhelming.
The demons were swept away.
And just like that, the final boss obtained the Divine Object and achieved his ultimate awakening.
6.
Sometimes, Han Simin came up with absolutely insane ideas that no one else would ever dream of.
Especially when it came to making money.
He made a profit in ways people could not even imagine.
And when he wanted to screw someone over, his brain spun even faster.
This time was no different.
“My Sanctuary. Fuck.”
Saving his own skin brought him no joy; the situation was too wretched for that.
He grumbled nonstop from the arms of the smaller, yet surprisingly strong, Epia as she carried him through the sky.
“Do you have any idea how much that thing was worth? Goddamn it. Even if I’d just sold it to Kenji, I could’ve gotten at least one apartment in New York for it.”
He had been blindsided at the most absurd moment.
When he had handed the Sanctuary over to the demons, it had never even crossed his mind that it might be the last time he would ever see it.
Not because he trusted the demons.
But because he was confident he could sweet-talk Epia into anything.
It wasn’t as if Epia had failed the enhancement, so there was no reason for her to take the Sanctuary from him.
Yet in the end, it had been stolen by the Celestials.
He had no connection to the Heavenly King whatsoever, so there was no way he was getting it back.
The realization that it had left his hands for good filled him with a crushing sense of futility.
He wanted it back.
’No—if I can’t get it back, then at least something else...’
“Ah!”
The moment his thoughts reached that point, an idea sparked in his mind.
A faint smile bloomed on his gloomy face.
It was not the kind of smile one wore out of happiness or relief.
“Let’s go.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s go. Time to loot an empty house. That bastard. If we can’t beat him, we might as well rob him blind.”
It was a wicked, cunning smile, one that perfectly befitted the Demon King’s consort.
*