The Return of the Legendary All-Master

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 311

"That's it!"

As Jeong-hoon picked up the orb, the Seven Deadly Sins creature shouted loudly.

Thanks to that, all eyes turned to the orb.

"This thing?"

Jeong-hoon examined the orb.

[Orb of Wrath]

- Type: Consumable

- Grade: Ultimate

- An orb imbued with the power of Wrath, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

- Its energy is unstable and cannot be used.

As expected.

There was a reason the Seven Deadly Sins creature was able to sense it.

A ring infused with the power of Wrath, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

But why was it in the form of an orb?

'Is it meant to be absorbed like a Black Soul?'

As Jeong-hoon tilted his head in thought, the Seven Deadly Sins creature reached out its hand, asking for the orb.

"Give it to me."

"You’re going to eat it?"

If it planned to eat it, Jeong-hoon wouldn't hand it over.

"Come on, I don’t eat stuff like this."

"Then why?"

"Heh, I need to infuse my power into it to stabilize it."

Ah, so it could be stabilized.

Only then did Jeong-hoon hand over the orb.

The Seven Deadly Sins creature fiddled with the orb, and soon, a red light began to swirl around it.

The once multicolored orb completely turned crimson before the creature handed it back.

"Is it done?"

"Yep!"

[Orb of Wrath]

- Type: Consumable

- Grade: Ultimate

- An orb imbued with the power of Wrath, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

- Consuming the orb grants the power of Wrath.

The power of Wrath.

What kind of power would it be?

Jeong-hoon carefully placed the orb in his mouth and swallowed it.

[Sin: Wrath has been acquired.]

[All stats increase by 200.]

[Your rank has risen by one tier.]

[You have met the conditions to unlock ??? skill.]

[The skill will be unlocked upon acquiring all sins.]

[You have obtained 5% of Dark Energy.]

‘Huh.’

All stats increased by 200.

On top of that, his rank rose by one tier, making him even stronger than before.

He also met the conditions to unlock an unknown skill.

Of course, to fully acquire that skill, he needed to obtain all the sins.

‘That’s strange.’

Baal had mentioned five items.

But there were seven sins.

Since he needed to gather all seven to unlock the skill, that meant the remaining two were unaccounted for.

"Seven Deadly Sins creature, do you know where the other two are besides the five?"

"No, I don’t."

It seemed they weren’t in the Demon Realm.

After finishing his thoughts, Jeong-hoon turned around.

Now, it was time to find the remaining four.

"Huh? You’re just going to leave?"

The Seven Deadly Sins creature stopped Jeong-hoon as he was about to leave.

"Why? Is there something else?"

"Yeah, I think so."

The creature pointed at the belly of the giant catfish.

"Oh?"

Without hesitation, Jeong-hoon sliced open the beast’s stomach with his dagger.

As its entrails spilled out, several orbs came tumbling out along with them.

[Mystic Orb]

Type: Consumable

Grade: Ultimate

An orb imbued with a mysterious power.

Consuming it increases random stats.

Cannot be consumed more than once.

Each of the orbs was related to stat enhancement.

"It looks like the energy gathered inside its body over time. Since it's been there for a long time, the effects should be greater, right?"

"You can sense things like this too?"

"It’s probably because of the Orb of Wrath it had."

"I see."

There wasn’t just one orb of strength enhancement.

Even with a rough count, there were more than ten.

The only downside was that they couldn’t be consumed more than once.

‘If it were possible, we could have divided them up evenly.’

Jeong-hoon handed out one orb to each of his allies.

Since they had been embedded in the beast’s organs, they carried a strong stench of blood.

"Ugh! Hyung-nim, what is this?"

Bong-Goo, who received an orb, quickly pinched his nose shut.

"Swallow it. It’ll increase your stats."

"S-Stats?"

"Yeah."

Saying that, Jeong-hoon swallowed his orb without hesitation.

[Strength increased by 85.]

[Agility increased by 59.]

…

A message appeared in front of him, indicating his stat increases.

“Wow… You’re really just swallowing that?”

Bong-Goo looked at Jeong-hoon with an expression of disbelief.

“If you don’t want it, give it back. I’ll give it to someone else.”

When Jeong-hoon reached out to take it back, Bong-Goo hastily hid the orb in his arms.

“N-No! I’ll eat it!”

“Then hurry up and eat it. The effects are insane.”

At those words, Bong-Goo squeezed his eyes shut and put the orb in his mouth.

The stench was so bad that he felt like throwing up, but he forced himself to swallow it.

A message appeared in front of Bong-Goo as well, indicating his stat increases.

“I-I have to eat it too.”

After some hesitation, Ha-Jin also swallowed the orb.

The others followed suit.

Even as they gagged from the smell, they couldn't help but smile, as their stats had increased significantly.

“Alright, let’s move on to the next one.”

They had already found one of the five items.

Now, it was time to search for the second.

Its location was Valos’s Castle, at the westernmost edge.

“This is ridiculous!”

Baal slammed his fist down.

It was the first time he had learned that such a monstrous lifeform existed in the Demon Realm, and watching Jeong-hoon effortlessly subdue it only fueled his uncontrollable rage.

The fact that the Seven Deadly Sins creature could sense the items was one thing, but what infuriated him even more was how easily it handed them over.

“At this rate, that bastard is going to collect all the items…”

Damn it.

If he had known this would happen, he never would have started the bet.

He had been desperate because the Demon Realm’s military strength had sharply declined, but he never imagined that Jeong-hoon would find the items—ones even he didn’t know about—so easily.

But there was no way to interfere.

All he could do now was desperately pray that Jeong-hoon wouldn’t find the remaining items.

As if in response, a familiar voice rang out.

<Baal.>

A voice belonging to an entity he dared not even look up at.

It was none other than Escanon of the Apocalypse.

Baal’s master.

“L-Lord!”

He wanted to kneel immediately, but due to the rule that forbade him from rising from his throne, he had no choice but to remain seated.

<It seems something is happening in my Demon Realm.>

The probing tone made every hair on Baal’s body stand on end.

His lord was watching all of humanity at this very moment.

In other words, Jeong-hoon was also within his range of action.

“I-I apologize… I just wanted to subjugate the humans somehow…”

<And so you turned the Demon Realm into a complete mess?>

“P-Please forgive me! I truly did it for the revival of the Demon Realm!”

<Look at yourself now. What happened over a single human?>

“……”

He had no excuse.

Too much had been lost in his attempt to claim a single human.

Even so, Escanon did not harshly reprimand Baal.

If it had been a serious issue, he would have intervened long ago.

This time was no different.

The human had begun searching for the Sin Items hidden deep within the Demon Realm.

If he were to obtain them all, it would be quite the headache. But that would never happen.

<How amusing.>

“…Excuse me?”

<No matter how much they struggle, it is the perfect way to make them realize they can never escape my grasp.>

Escanon’s voice sounded utterly delighted.

Yes.

That was the kind of being his master was.

The more humans struggled, the deeper their despair would become, and the further they would be dragged into ruin.

That was precisely why the Episode System had been created.

“I-I see…”

<I’ll let it slide this time, but next time, I won’t be so lenient.>

“I will keep that in mind…”

Baal bowed his head and shouted in a resounding voice.

No response came from Escanon.

Only then did Baal finally allow himself to relax.

* * *

[Sin: Sloth has been obtained.]

[All stats increased by 200.]

[Rank has increased by one stage.]

[You have met the conditions to unlock ??? skill.]

[The skill will be unlocked upon obtaining all Sins.]

[You have gained 5% of Dark Energy.]

The second was a potion.

A pure essence imbued with the Power of Sloth.

This essence had been inside a monster’s heart, and its form resembled that of a slime, making it a troublesome opponent.

This was because it possessed an absurd ability—it could absorb both physical and magical attacks entirely.

The only way to defeat it was through the use of debuffs.

Of course, for Jeong-hoon, the fight was incredibly simple.

That was because he had the Seven Deadly Sins creature.

And he possessed the enhanced Judgment of Death.

As with Wrath, there was more than just the Sin itself.

The unknown liquid that the creature had expelled as it died.

The liquid was strangely multicolored, ranging from red to purple.

And each color enhanced different attributes.

"You want me to drink something that thing spat out...?"

Ha-Jin recoiled in extreme disgust.

"This one increases strength when you drink it."

Jeong-Hoon scooped up the liquid spilled on the ground into a glass bottle.

The liquid had a sticky, jelly-like consistency, making it easy to collect.

Once the bottle was half full, Jeong-Hoon gulped it down.

‘Tastes absolutely vile.’

The liquid was no different from vomit.

Because of that, a nauseating stench and sour taste spread through his mouth, making it feel like he was actually holding vomit in his mouth.

[You have exceeded the limit.]

When he finished drinking the contents of the bottle, a message appeared, and the remaining liquid in his mouth wriggled before forcefully ejecting itself.

So exceeding the limit causes it to be forcibly regurgitated?

“Urgh...”

Watching this, Bong-Goo covered his mouth and turned away, seemingly fighting the urge to gag.

"I've noticed this before, but for someone who looks the way you do, you've got a surprisingly weak stomach."

At first glance, he seemed like the type who would chew up anything grotesque without hesitation.

"Hyung-nim... Do I really look that scary?"

"Look in a mirror."

"Even so, there's no way I'm drinking that."

Just looking at it made him feel nauseous, and he shook his head furiously.

"Don't you want to increase your stats?"

"I-I'm fine, really."

"Yeah? You need to raise your stats to reach the Fifth Advancement, though."

Jeong-Hoon had already reached the Ultimate Realm.

But the others hadn’t.

They weren’t even close—first, they needed to reach the Celestial Realm.

And for that, they had to gather Celestial Energy, which required them to complete the Fifth Advancement to accelerate the process.

‘I was able to gather it before thanks to that NPC.’

NPC Ling-Ling.

Though she hadn't intervened at all since the real-world manifestation, she remained vivid in Jeong-Hoon’s memory.

"E-Even so..."

Hearing the mention of the Fifth Advancement, Bong-Goo fidgeted nervously, his hands trembling.

Boosting his stats even a little would increase his chances of success in the Advancement Quest.

But no matter what, he refused to put that revolting substance in his mouth.

"I'll drink it."

Just then, Yeo Min-Ji raised her hand.

Her face was filled with determination.

Well, drinking something this disgusting definitely required a strong resolve.

Jeong-Hoon filled another glass bottle nearly halfway with the sticky red liquid and handed it to her.

"Here."

"Yes. Urk...!"

The stench must have been overwhelming—she barely took it before gagging.

But without hesitation, she swallowed the liquid in large gulps.

"Who's next?"

Jeong-Hoon looked at his mother and Yeo Sunwoo as he asked.

"…I'll drink it."

His mother was the next to step forward.

Unlike the others, she drank the liquid without any sign of discomfort.

Yeo Sunwoo followed suit.

Now, only Ha-Jin and Bong-Goo remained.

"You two, drink up."

Jeong-Hoon handed them bottles filled with the liquid.

"…Ah, this is insane."

"Just looking at it makes me want to puke..."

Ha-Jin and Bong-Goo tried to hold out as long as they could, but under Jeong-Hoon’s silent pressure, they eventually gave in.

“Urgh!”

“Blegh! Gah!”

After barely managing to drink it, the two of them collapsed in a corner, dry heaving.

But what now?

There was still a lot more left to drink.

Next was the yellow vomit—an agility-boosting liquid.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]