The Return of the Legendary All-Master

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 309

Baal was watching everything through a hologram.

"You idiots. You should've stayed hidden. Do you lack intelligence?"

There were still many demons lurking within Bacallus's castle.

Even without the Demon King, they were demons belonging to Bacallus's territory, tasked with guarding the castle.

Still, about 20% of them seemed to have some sense, as they were so overwhelmed by Jeong-hoon's sheer power that they abandoned the castle and fled.

'I cannot interfere.'

As much as he wanted to step in personally, he had already attempted to interfere once by using his subordinates, only to fail.

If he made a move now, it would be considered direct intervention.

'Before the bet begins, let me tell you one thing. Until the time limit expires, you must remain seated on that throne.'

The time limit.

The condition of this bet was that he had to sit on the throne and watch Jeong-hoon's movements for 240 hours.

'I've lost too much. If he's going to fall into my lord's hands like this, then I must claim him myself.'

He was a human Baal had set his sights on long ago.

Throughout his time destroying countless dimensions, he had encountered numerous species.

Yet, not a single one had piqued his curiosity as much as this one.

'No, there was one.'

A person who had completed 100% of an episode and fell into his lord's grasp.

Back then, Baal had also wanted to recruit him through a contract, but that one never accepted a bet.

As a result, he couldn't claim him, but he had no major regrets.

Even though the individual intrigued him, he wasn't worth the penalties Baal would have had to endure to take him.

But this human was different.

He was stronger, more agile, and had a sharper sense of awareness than any species Baal had ever encountered.

Most notably, his ability to acquire skills and his accompanying luck were unparalleled.

If Baal could make him his subordinate and appoint him as his aide, the 96 Demon Realms would undoubtedly prosper.

That was how exceptional his potential was.

'This time, he will be mine.'

Yes.

It was unfortunate that all the Demon Kings of the Demon Realm had perished, but if he could obtain this human, it would more than make up for it.

Baal was convinced of his victory in this bet.

After all, there were five special items within the Demon Realm.

All of them had been hidden away by Escanon, and not even Baal, the ruler of the Demon Realm, knew their locations.

'Could he possibly find items even I don't know about? All five of them?'

It was impossible.

The human only had 240 hours.

That was far too little time to find all five.

And so, Baal could sit on the throne and wait without worry.

* * *

Bacallus's castle.

"Kuheuuugh!"

The screams of demons echoed throughout the castle interior.

"Stop the human!"

"We must not let him break through!"

The demons blocked the path and refused to step aside, so he had to force his way through with sheer strength.

Whoosh—

Slash.

With every swing of Jeong-hoon's spear, the demons' heads, arms, and legs were severed.

No matter what special abilities they used, it was the same outcome.

His stats had risen further after consuming black souls.

On top of that, the title Demon Slayer only made things worse for them. The demons had no way of resisting Jeong-hoon.

From the underground levels to the 12th floor—

He meticulously searched every corner without missing a single spot.

Naturally, the result was a bust.

Not a single item that could be considered a lucky find appeared.

Even so, Jeong-hoon's expression remained completely calm.

‘Master, aren't you being a little too relaxed?’

‘Yeah. The time he set is only 240 hours, remember?’

Baal had given him 240 hours.

Yet, despite that time constraint, there wasn’t a hint of urgency on Jeong-hoon's face.

"I can find them, so don't worry."

As long as a method existed, there was no reason to feel rushed.

"Hoona, are you moving on to another fortress?"

"No."

The reason he had searched the fortress first was simple.

Special items were typically stored in valuable places.

However, nothing had come up in Bakarus's Fortress.

‘Hmm… I thought they might be here since the Seven Deadly Sins pointed in this direction.’

That method was none other than the Seven Deadly Sins.

Before heading to Baal, he had sent back the Seven Deadly Sins.

"I feel like there's something here..."

"What is it?"

"I don't know. When I summoned my main body earlier, I faintly sensed five distinct energies."

At first, he had no idea what that meant.

But when Baal mentioned the five special items, he realized that the energies the Seven Deadly Sins had sensed must have been those items.

"Seven Deadly Sins."

Jeong-hoon called out.

"Yeah? What? Did you find more food?"

"No, it's about what you said before."

"What I said before?"

"Yeah. You mentioned sensing five energies in the Demon Realm."

"Oh, right. But I don’t sense anything now."

"Really?"

Jeong-hoon narrowed his eyes.

Were they buried nearby rather than inside the fortress?

"Yeah. But I still think this is the right area."

"Alright. Then, can you summon your main body again?"

"Yeah."

The Seven Deadly Sins immediately manifested its main body.

"What the—!"

"Ugh!"

As a massive shadow loomed over them, everyone trembled.

"It's fine, calm down."

Jeong-hoon reassured them while turning his gaze toward the Seven Deadly Sins.

"Ah, now I can feel it. Over there!"

As soon as its main body vanished, the Seven Deadly Sins pointed outside the fortress.

There lay a black forest.

A grotesque-looking forest befitting the Demon Realm.

"Okay. Let's go."

Now that he had pinpointed the location, Jeong-hoon immediately headed for the forest.

The forest was crawling with demons—

All of them had fled from the fortress to take refuge there.

"P-please... spare me..."

"If you let us live, we’ll leave this place quietly."

Unlike the demons who had remained in the fortress, these ones surrendered without resistance.

Every last one of them had run away in fear of Jeong-hoon's overwhelming power.

They had no intention of fighting him.

"That’s not gonna happen."

But Jeong-hoon had no intention of letting them go.

No matter how terrified they were, they were still demons.

Who knew if they were just pretending to surrender, waiting for an opportunity to strike from behind?

It was best to eliminate any obstacles for good.

[Activating Shadow Moonlight.]

Jeong-hoon swung his spear, activating Shadow Moonlight.

"Guhh!"

"Kihek!"

The demons were cut down without a chance to resist.

There were far more demons hiding in the forest than expected.

As a result, the extermination took quite a bit of time.

"Keuk!"

With the death of the last Apostle-class demon, the battle came to an end.

Jeong-hoon flicked the blood off his spear and turned around.

Now, it was time to find the special item hidden within this forest.

The problem was figuring out where it was concealed.

"Seven Deadly Sins."

"Yeah. It's over there!"

Quick to react, the Seven Deadly Sins pointed to the right.

"Okay."

Jeong-hoon began walking in the direction it indicated.

"Bro, the ground!"

At that moment, Ha-jin shouted urgently.

"Huh?"

Jeong-hoon halted his steps and lowered his gaze.

Beneath him, the ground was covered in blackened flowers.

As their petals opened, black tongues shot out from within.

The tongues coiled around Jeong-hoon’s legs, wrapping from his ankles to his thighs.

The sudden development startled everyone following behind him, causing them to step back in alarm.

"Hyung-nim!"

Bong-Goo hurriedly pulled out a dagger and moved to assist.

"Stay back!"

Jeong-hoon raised his hand, stopping Bong-Goo.

At the same time, he drew the Shadow King’s Dagger and slashed down to sever the tongues constricting him.

The tongues were easily cut.

Slash.

However, these flowers were tenacious.

Once all the tongues had been sliced away, they began releasing poison.

[Resisting poison.]

Of course, it had no effect on Jeong-hoon.

Having reached the pinnacle of poison immunity, it was impossible for any toxin to deal a fatal wound to him.

Jeong-hoon trampled over the flowers and advanced.

[Using Barrier of Light.]

He then deployed a Barrier of Light to block the rising poison.

While the barrier covered a large area and couldn’t be maintained for long, it would last long enough for everyone to pass through safely.

"Move quickly."

At Jeong-hoon’s urging, the others hurried after him.

"It’s here."

After wandering the area, the Seven Deadly Sins finally stopped.

Jeong-hoon came to a halt as well.

"Here?"

"Yeah!"

At first glance, there was no sign of anything hidden.

All that surrounded them were dense trees and a few scattered rocks.

Could the item be buried beneath one of those rocks?

"Hmm, do we need to dig?"

That was the usual method for hiding something in a place like this.

"No, that’s not it."

However, the Seven Deadly Sins shook its head and approached one of the rocks.

"Not it?"

"Yeah."

The rock it approached was about waist-high to Jeong-hoon.

Placing its hand on the rock, it attempted to absorb its properties.

Naturally, absorption didn’t work—

But something changed.

The rock split apart, and a portal appeared in front of it.

"Huh…"

A portal hidden in a place like this?

"We go through here."

The Seven Deadly Sins stepped away from the rock and returned to Jeong-hoon.

"…If it weren’t for you, I never would’ve found it."

Even if he had been lucky enough to stumble upon it, it would have taken a considerable amount of time.

"Of course! You need me to open that thing, no exceptions."

"You?"

"Yeah. I don’t know why, but it’s reacting to my power."

"So that’s how you were able to track it."

"Something like that."

Was it because it was a demon?

It was truly a curious thing.

"Good work."

"Ha, searching so hard made me hungry."

The creature tapped its stomach and glanced at Jeong-hoon.

It was as if it were subtly hinting—I did well, so give me food.

Jeong-hoon smirked and nodded.

"Wait a little. I’ll find the demons hiding elsewhere too."

"You promised."

"Yeah."

Jeong-hoon approached the portal.

[Would you like to enter ???]

There was no description of the dungeon.

No level requirement.

Not even the slightest trace of mana could be sensed within the portal.

"Ah, right. Master, be careful. Something with immense energy seems to be hiding in there."

The Seven Deadly Sins added a final remark.

"Is that so?"

That meant this dungeon’s difficulty was extreme.

Of course, not going in wasn’t an option.

Even if it weren’t for the bet with Baal, the special item was too tempting to ignore.

* * *

At the same time.

Baal trembled all over.

Just 240 hours.

He had watched in satisfaction as Jeong-hoon wandered Bacalus’ Castle in vain.

He wanted to claim that human as soon as possible.

That thought alone made him observe Jeong-hoon’s actions with patience.

But then, the man summoned the Seven Deadly Sins and abruptly headed toward the forest outside the castle.

"Why is that thing leading him?"

It was truly baffling.

The Seven Deadly Sins marched forward without hesitation, as if it knew exactly where to go, and then suddenly stopped.

That much was fine.

Up until the moment Jeong-hoon approached the rock and revealed the hidden portal.

"That was in the forest…?"

Even Baal hadn’t known about this portal.

"Don’t tell me… can he detect items?!"

Flinch.

Baal almost rose from his throne without realizing it.

It was fortunate he stopped himself in time—had he stood up, the penalty would have activated for violating the conditions of the bet.

"Damn it… now I understand why he accepted without hesitation."

Even though it was an absurd wager, Jeong-hoon had accepted it with complete confidence.

He had known.

That the Seven Deadly Sins could sense the location of items.

"But how can that thing detect them?"

It was utterly maddening.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]