Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Chapter 156 : Traces of the Stars (1)

Traces of the Stars (1)

"Wasn't this what you suggested?"

The demon spoke.

All of this was not some plot by the demons, but purely the doing of a woman named 'Estella'.

"Didn't you so desperately wish for revenge against the humans who imprisoned you for a thousand years?"

At those words, Shin Ah-yeon felt a pitch-black emotion welling up in her chest.

Hatred, anger, sorrow, and emptiness.

Every negative feeling swirled inside her, threatening to burst at any moment.

'What is this?'

Shin Ah-yeon couldn't understand the situation at all.

She had just been facing off against an unpleasant monster of a human, and suddenly, things had changed like this.

'Am I dreaming or something?'

The doubt arose, but she couldn't act nor speak.

Just like when she had seen Jung-woo's memories before.

'Then, are these the memories of that monster?'

But these memories were not ones the monster could have.

If they were, the story would have unfolded from the monster's point of view, like it did from Jung-woo's perspective back then.

Instead, Shin Ah-yeon was now witnessing the situation through the eyes of Saintess Estella.

She had no idea why.

"Why are you silent?"

The demon pressed her, asking.

"A Saintess cannot die by ordinary means."

Shin Ah-yeon had heard some things about the Saintess Estella.

Of course, it wasn't Park Jung-woo who had told her.

Jung-woo never discussed anything about Estella with her.

So, most of what she knew about Estella was from what Alencia told her, and recently, she'd heard a few things from Ardan.

A woman who, even though she was imprisoned by humans for a thousand years, saved humanity—a Saintess with an unimaginably noble nature.

And, as she remembered, a crazy woman who relentlessly pursued Jung-woo.

That's all Shin Ah-yeon recalled.

"Only the Demon King can kill a Saintess—you know that."

Estella did not answer, but the demon kept speaking.

He seemed to grow agitated at Estella's silence.

"Wasn't it you who said it? That at the moment salvation was within reach, you'd take your own life and crush all hope."

Hearing those words, Shin Ah-yeon thought for a moment that she had misheard.

'Take her own life?'

And right at the brink of salvation, too.

'No way... Could it be...?'

There was only one thing that meant.

At the moment when victory against the demons was within reach, she would end her own life and render everything meaningless. Saintess Estella, who embodied the hopes of countless heroes and humans who had reached the end, would cut it all off by killing herself.

"You know, don't you? That even if they kill the Demon King, you'll die."

Slowly, Estella exhaled.

Her heart, at first calm, pounded ever-faster as she slowly, very slowly stepped forward.

"If you are to die anyway, wouldn't it be better to take revenge?"

The darkness filling her heart stirred.

Forward, toward the demon right in front of her.

'No...'

The moment Shin Ah-yeon tried to stop it—

"Shin Ah-yeon!!"

Suddenly, she snapped to her senses.

Opening her eyes, Shin Ah-yeon realized that someone was grabbing and shaking her shoulders.

"Why did you just stop, using magic like that?"

"... Did I?"

Only then did she notice the transparent barrier surrounding her.

She had no memory of it, but apparently, it was a spell she herself had cast.

'How did I do that?'

Shin Ah-yeon frowned and looked down at her hands.

She remembered the flash of red light, but nothing after that.

'Could that massive divine art that spread out from the hall have affected me?'

Who knew what influence the twisted divine art of Benadic had on her.

She didn't know the reason.

"What about PD Do and Hunter Ahn Tae-seok?"

"I got them to safety first. They probably went back with the artifact."

Shin Ah-yeon recalled the surging red light and the corpses gathering in one place.

In the place where the corpses piled up, a giant mass of flesh was throbbing.

She remembered Jung-woo taking PD Do and escaping at that moment.

"I see. Well, anyway, let's get rid of that big chunk of meat first. It's an eyesore."

Smiling as usual, Shin Ah-yeon pointed her staff at the mass of flesh just as before.

"I reached the 8th circle now, so I can use my Conceptualization Technique, you know? Let me show you properly."

Because the memory she'd just seen had been so vivid, Shin Ah-yeon spoke as casually as she could while moving her magic power.

Now that she'd reached the 8th circle, her magic power had greatly increased, and all minimum requirements to use the Conceptualization Technique were perfectly met.

If she could just use the Conceptualization Technique, something like that giant meatball would be nothing...

"Huh?"

"What's wrong?"

"Why isn't this working?"

She could not invoke her Conceptualization Technique.

Her magic power should have been more than enough—so why?

She'd even just used magic to make a barrier a minute ago.

"What about other magic?"

"Other magic... also isn't working."

The spells she'd already cast were working fine, so there was no problem with her mana hall or the incantation itself.

But for some reason, when she tried to cast new magic, her magic power wouldn't move properly.

"... This is bad."

She'd planned to roast the meatball, but at this rate, she might just become a meatball herself.

"Hmm."

Shin Ah-yeon swallowed nervously as she looked at the throbbing, massive heart and asked Jung-woo,

"What should we do?"

At her question, Jung-woo gave her a look like, 'Why are you even asking?'

"First, you should get out of here."

"That's true, but how could I run away leaving you behind, oppa?"

Snap!!

A blackened arm burst out from the hunk of meat, tearing open the curtain of flesh.

Benadic, with a perfect new body made through divine art, was trying to emerge.

An ominous strength was obvious at a glance.

"Still, first—"

Jung-woo was about to tell her to run as far as possible, but Shin Ah-yeon had already vanished.

She must have bolted out as soon as Benadic emerged.

'She was asking how to run away just a moment ago, and then—'

Well, not that she'd have been much help by staying; running was the right move.

Still, seeing Shin Ah-yeon run off without saying a single word made Jung-woo feel a bit odd.

'I'll just take it as a sign she trusts me that much.'

Jung-woo slowly loosened his tie as he stared at Benadic, who had torn his way out of the meat.

His body had turned black, now the vague shape of a human.

On the black body were countless golden sigils of wishes, shining with immense divinity.

Power of wishes drawn from the souls of countless people surged along those engravings.

「I failed that time.」

A golden, glowing hole opened in Benadic's eyes.

The light emanating from him illuminated the dark hall.

「Do you have the bracelet?」

Step by step, he approached Jung-woo.

Even with his transformation complete, Jung-woo faced him calmly, which Benadic seemed to find odd.

「Come to think of it, you seem to be able to understand my speech.」

Benadic approached within an arm's reach of Jung-woo and looked down upon him.

He'd thought Jung-woo was only a strong human, but something was wrong.

He was not full of magic power, nor did he feel like a demon, and yet, there was demonic energy.

「Who are you?」

Benadic asked.

Of course, Jung-woo didn't answer. He just clenched his fist and threw a punch straight at Benadic's face.

KWAANG!!

With a thunderous shock like a bomb going off, Benadic staggered back a few steps.

Although his head turned slightly, it did not seem to have dealt decisive damage.

But Benadic, clearly surprised, hadn't expected Jung-woo to throw a punch right away.

Likewise, Jung-woo frowned at how sturdy his foe was.

「What the—」

"As I thought."

A body flowing with authority.

The moment Jung-woo saw it, he understood what Benadic had created.

"You... made a vessel, didn't you?"

Gathering the bodies and souls of many humans, Benadic had produced a vessel capable of wielding 'authority'.

Namely, the body of a Saint.

Saints are beings who innately hold great authority and thus are given powerful bodies.

They are nearly immune to physical attacks and cannot be killed by normal means.

Alencia's unique resilience was for this very reason.

'Though they're called saints, they're basically like gods.'

However, all that authority comes from humans, so they cannot exist without humans, cannot act against them—a being for the sake of humanity alone: a saint.

Currently, Benadic had replaced the divine authority with power of wishes via a divine art, and fashioned the body in imitation of a saint.

「If you know that, how can you act so bold?」

Saints cannot be killed by ordinary means.

He'd just punched Benadic and should have realized it.

"Sorry, but there are actually two ways to kill you here."

Of course, he had no intention of using one of those ways.

That would only please the demons.

"Let's take this outside."

「What?」

Just as Benadic started to say, "What does that mean?"

Jung-woo's fist slammed into his face.

***

"Huff, huff—"

PD Do was hiding in the forest, struggling to catch his breath.

By his side, Ahn Tae-seok was shaking him urgently by the shoulder.

"PD Do! Why aren't you using your artifact to get out of here? Didn't you hear Manager Park Jung-woo?!"

"W-wait just a moment. Just a brief moment."

Having an artifact that could let him escape at any time gave PD Do the courage to stay.

'If I could just film something here, for sure!'

He had to somehow make up for the loss of this program.

Of course, no one would blame him if he ran away now.

This was entirely PD Do's hunch, his greed.

'Manager Park Jung-woo...'

He'd felt it during the fight with the monster and knew for sure as he was being dragged to safety.

There was definitely something there.

"So just, even for a bit—"

Just as he was about to say he wanted to watch the situation a little longer—

KWAANG!!

With a deafening crash, something was hurled from the dungeon.

A dark mass smashed through the walls, breaking several trees in the forest as it crashed down.

PD Do and Ahn Tae-seok gaped in shock at the sight.

"What are you doing here?"

"H-Hunter Shin Ah-yeon?"

No one had noticed when Shin Ah-yeon had approached and spoken to them.

"I thought you ran away..."

"Ah, no, you see—"

With a frown, Shin Ah-yeon listened to PD Do's fumbling explanation.

He detailed at length why they hadn't fled, and Shin Ah-yeon looked at him with disbelief.

"So you stayed to get some footage?"

"... Yes."

Feeling sheepish, PD Do hung his head, and Shin Ah-yeon stared at him blankly.

'At least now I can finally go back.'

Ahn Tae-seok had assumed Shin Ah-yeon would of course tell them to run.

After all, there could be nothing good from staying here.

"Well, fine. But just don't try to jump in front, okay?"

"Pardon?"

"T-thank you!"

Surprised, Ahn Tae-seok stared blankly while PD Do bowed repeatedly.

Watching this, Shin Ah-yeon thought,

'Jung-woo oppa would like this, right?'

Once PD Do filmed something, it would put them in a position to negotiate.

And regardless of whether they showed Park Jung-woo fighting, publicizing the existence of such creatures in the world would help make it easier to prompt vigilance against the demons.

「It's useless!!」

Roaring, Benadic staggered to his feet, and at that moment, something else shot out from the dungeon, kicking Benadic again. His body slammed into a slope, crushing dozens of meters of ground around him.

"M-Manager Park?"

Seeing who was beating up Benadic, Ahn Tae-seok's eyes widened.

The one pummeling the monster at a speed and strength Ahn Tae-seok couldn't even imagine was the very man he'd thought was just an ordinary manager—Park Jung-woo.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

It's a bad match up.

A fake Saint vs the Demon King.

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】