Chapter 376: I Did It

"Please come here for a second," Layla said.

"What is it?" Oh Kang-Woo walked over to where Layla was while tilting his head.

Kim Si-Hun, who had been untying the survivors from the walls with a heavy expression, also walked over. Layla was pointing at a black symbol drawn on the wall.

'The hell is this?'

There was a giant hexagram that looked as if it had been drawn with a rough brush on the wall, and it was exuding thick demonic energy.

'No.'

It wasn't just demonic energy; miniscule amounts of Divinity could be felt from it as well, as if a being of godhood had drawn it.

"This is the symbol of the Demon God," Layla explained. "This hexagram was... the symbol of Demon God Bauli and the Constellations of Evil during the era of myths when they almost brought this world to extinction."

"Isn't it a bit too ordinary for that?" Kang-Woo asked.

"That's because the myth hasn't been passed down well enough on Earth. In Aernor, this hexagram is still considered a symbol of demons and fear."

"Oh, I also heard about it while I was traveling around the continent. Just using this symbol would be reason enough for you to be sentenced to death immediately," Si-Hun added.

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes.

'The symbol of the Demon God.'

Considering this symbol was on the wall, it wasn't hard to guess who had made this mansion.

'The Constellations of Evil must've made their move.'

Kang-Woo frowned. He could understand that they had made their move, since they had already attacked Sant'Angelo to steal the Demon God's legacy. It meant that they were done hiding and were going to take full action from now on.

'But...'

Kang-Woo couldn't understand their actions. He had no choice, but he had ended up assisting the Constellations of Evil. He had framed someone else as the culprit of the attack on Sant'Angelo and took them completely off of the list of suspects.

'In their perspective, it should've been an absolute score.'

Should they not be cheering while clapping since the police were chasing after someone else entirely after they had committed a heinous crime?

'Why are they just blatantly advertising that they're the culprits?'

It was so undisguised to the point that Kang-Woo was thinking someone was trying to frame the act on the Constellations of Evil.

'But there's no reason for anyone to do such a thing.'

No matter how hard he thought about it, there weren't any forces that would benefit from framing the Constellations of Evil.

"Could it have been... the Constellations of Evil?" Layla asked carefully.

Si-Hun nodded. "Since the Demon God had died long ago, I believe they would be the culprits. I don't know why they would do such a thing, but...'

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes as he listened to their opinions. Both Layla and Si-Hun thought that the Constellations of Evil were the culprits. In other words, most of the people who knew about the hexagram would also think the same, and there weren't many people in Aernor who didn't know about this hexagram.

'... Wait.' Kang-Woo's eyes shone. A theory popped up in his head like a lightning bolt. 'What if their objective isn't to hide their identity, but to let it be known?'

If that was the case, the story would change.

'But why?'

Why would they need to do such a thing? It was true that the Constellations of Evil were powerful; each one of them possessed Deific Essence, and were free from the system's restrictions. However, they were overwhelmingly outnumbered. They had no reason to flaunt their return.

"Kang-Woo, over here..." Just then, Layla called Kang-Woo again. Kang-Woo turned around to see Layla, her face stiff while touching the victims' heads. "Something's wrong with the townspeople."

"What do you mean?"

"Mental recovery magic doesn't work on them... as if their minds have been completely emptied. I don't think their minds have just been broken."

Emptied... Layla's choice of words caught Kang-Woo's attention. Kang-Woo looked around and recalled the wraiths that had been roaming around the mansion. They had kept the people that should have been dead, alive for some reason.

"Ah," Kang-Woo expressed.

The puzzle was finally starting to come together.

'The wraiths hadn't been specialized for combat.'

Although one wouldn't even be able to land a blow on the wraiths unless they were powerful enough, they were certainly too weak to be retainers of a Constellation of Evil.

'What if their purpose wasn't combat from the very beginning?'

Chains were installed on the walls of the two thousand square feet room, spread out in a way that it would be easy to chain people. Kang-Woo had thought of something as soon as he had entered the room.

'It's like... a factory.'

A factory made to generate something from the kidnapped people. Kang-Woo asked Layla something to confirm his suspicions.

"Layla."

"Ah. Yes, Kang-Woo?"

"Do you happen to know anything about magic that can extract power from negative emotions like fear, sorrow and despair?"

"Mm..." Layla fell into thought while grabbing her chin, and then answered, "Yes, I've heard of such magic. In the past... back when Demon God Bauli was still alive, he had used large-scale magic by absorbing negative emotions from the Triad."

"What kind of magic?"

"I don't know in that much detail." Layla shook her head while expressing embarrassment.

Kang-Woo lightly clicked his tongue, but he did not mind the inconvenience.

'I more or less get it now.'

Kang-Woo's eyes lit up. It was as if the strewn-about pieces of a puzzle had finally come together. He could now understand the actions of the Constellations of Evil that used to be incomprehensible.

'So their goal had been to let themselves be known to the world from the start.'

And this factory had been to acquire a source of unlimited negative emotions.

"Hah," Kang-Woo unconsciously chuckled.

He covered his wide grin with his hand. If they had done something like this to let themselves be known...

'It means they never caught a lucky break from the start, huh?'

Kang-Woo wanted to burst into laughter right here and now. He had been bothered by the fact that the Constellations of Evil were likely benefiting from him naming Lucifer as the culprit for the Sant'Angelo attack.

'I won't stand for someone catching a lucky break from my choice.'

Even if it led to both of their demise, he would do whatever it took to stop random people from catching a lucky break from his actions.

'Why, you ask? Because it sucks! It's unfair! For example, let's say you bought someone a lottery ticket and they ended up winning. That person then comes to you to thank you for buying the ticket for them. You would for sure feel like shit. So, that doesn't make me a piece of shit. That's just how humans are.'

"Hyung-nim?" Si-Hun called.

"Oh, don't mind me." Kang-Woo waved his hand and turned around.

He more or less understood the situation. He did not know what for, but the Constellations of Evil were collecting negative emotions such as fear, sorrow and despair.

'They're not just collecting them.'

The entire continent was already filled with fear, directed at Lucifer, Lord of the Flies. If their objective was just to absorb negative emotions, they could just absorb it from anywhere in the continent.

'But they tried to let their identities be known by going out of their way to make this contraption.'

There was only one explanation.

'They can't absorb fear directed at Lucifer.'

If that wasn't the case, there was no reason at all for them to let themselves be known.

"Dayum."

'What an interesting turn of events.'

Kang-Woo snickered. He had discovered their objective and their means of fulfilling it.

'In that case, I'll make good use of it.'

He had been trying to think of a good event for Lucifer, Lord of the Flies. Kang-Woo slowly walked up to the hexagram on the wall and put his hand on it.

'Try your best.'

Fwoosh. The hexagram set ablaze and disappeared.

'Though it won't change anything.'

Even if they were gods that possessed Deific Essence, no one was a match for Kang-Woo in distorting the truth.

"H-Hyung-nim? Why did you burn the symbol?" Si-Hun asked in confusion.

Kang-Woo smiled and turned around. There was no need to explain himself.

"There must be more mansions like this," Kang-Woo stated.

There might be a chance that they were not in the form of mansions. As long as they had decided to make themselves known, they would do whatever it took to amplify fear directed at them.

"Find them all. Find and burn them all."

Kang-Woo smiled widely.

***

"Is it going well?" an expressionless man with a diagonal slash scar on his face asked in a monotone.

A translucent being bowed to the man. He answered confidently, "Yes, of course."

Proserpine, who was lying down, said uninterestedly, "You say that, but the negative emotions don't seem to be gathering that much."

"Ngh..." The Constellation of Fear, the translucent being, froze.

Like she had mentioned, the collection of negative emotions was slower than expected.

"We could just go on a slaughter trip, can't we? Why are we making things so complicated?" Proserpine suggested.

"Hmph. Please be quiet if you don't know anything." The Constellation of Fear snorted and continued, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to change one's target of fear once it has been engraved?"

The entire continent was plunged into fear of Lucifer. If they just went on a killing spree like Proserpine had suggested, people would just believe it was Lucifer who did it. Hence, it was meaningless; their fear needed to be directed at the hexagram.

"Don't rush me and wait a little longer. The gods will soon react," the Constellation of Fear said.

A human called Kim Si-Hun, known as the hero of the continent, was traveling across the continent to destroy the mansions. The Constellations already knew that he was a retainer of Gaia. Since he was an apostle of a god, he would not be idiotic enough not to know what the hexagram symbolized.

'And once the news reaches the gods...'

They would not be able to focus only on Lucifer like they were now. After all, the hexagram symbolized the being that had once driven the gods toward extinction.

"There's been a response," said the boy with blank eyes.

The Constellation of Fear turned around in delight. "Hehehe. As expected."

He glanced at Proserpine as if boasting.

"Hmph," Proserpine snorted and turned around.

"Now then, let us see what they're saying."

The Constellation of Fear placed his hand on the boy's shoulder and interfered with the providence using his Divinity. He did not interfere with much; he was just using a tiny amount of the blessing given to the beings of Earth, one of the Triad.

Riiing.

[The gods of the divine realm are trembling anxiously.]

"Good."

The Constellation of Fear smiled as he stared at the blue window in front of him. He had expected such a response.

[The gods of the divine realm are feeling fear of collapse.]

"Hehe, plunge into fear."

[The gods of the divine realm are enraged by the atrocities committed by Evil God Lucifer!]

"Yes, be enra— Huh? Lucifer?"

Why was that guy's name being mentioned again?

[The gods of the divine realm are enraged by the atrocities committed by Evil God Lucifer!]

"W-Wait!" The Constellation of Fear reached for the intangible blue window. He shouted in frustration, "I did it!"

[The gods of the divine realm are enraged by the atrocities committed by Evil God Lucifer!]

"It wasn't Lucifer!!" The Constellation of Fear pounded on his chest in frustration.

[The gods of the divine realm are letting their apostles know of Lucifer's atrocities!]

"No!"

[The gods of the divine realm are mocking Lucifer as the Lord of the Flies!]

"I did it!!!" The Constellation of Fear shouted, frustrated by the absurd situation.

But of course, there was no way that his words would be able to reach the gods in the divine realm.

[The gods of the divine realm discuss that they need to eliminate Lucifer as soon as possible!]

[The gods of the divine realm are devising a solution.]

[The gods of the divine realm are gathering Divinity. They are using a branch of the World Tree.]

[Elder high elf, Elune expresses her will to manifest!]