Chapter 648

When Davey arrived at the dwelling of Verdandi, he found himself staring at a blue-haired girl, who was blocking his path.

"What?"

"Don't you have something to say to me?"

"No."

"..." The girl, glaring at him, bit her lips. "When can I go back?"

Davey looked at Verdandi, as if saying, 'Didn't you explain?'

"Isildi has always been terribly stubborn since she was young," Verdandi said calmly. She then approached them as she spoke to Isildi. "Have you already forgotten what I said? You can't right now. It's still unstable. Even minor adjustments would take a few more years."

"That's what you call an explanation?"

"You can go back right now if you wish."

"Then I would like to do so."

"But you would meet those humans you're looking for and soon face catastrophe. If that's what you want..."

"Forget it," Isildi snapped before clamping her mouth shut, her jaw tense with upset and frustration, and she didn't say anything further anymore. It seemed like she had expected something from Davey.

But it was not Davey's place to know the details about the existence of the Abyss, much less the Princess of the Abyss.

"Should have been around here... Ah." Verdandi, who was searching through the quiet, wooden house, gestured to a man collecting fruits, and said, "Grid, could you come here?"

"Mother, what is it?" He approached them with a smile on his face, seemingly more relaxed than when they first met.

Could it be the happiness of being together, without having to worry about his mother?

Upon seeing Davey, King Grid's face had a carefree expression. He then greeted, "It's been a while."

"You look well."

"Thanks to you."

Verdandi coughed briefly and shot him a look, saying, "Growing in size but still whining like a child." She then proceeded to pick one of the fruits he brought, tsk-tsking.

"Are you conducting some experiment?"

"Maybe," responded Verdandi.

She calmly placed the Chirvat Earrings on the table and began to slowly cut the fruits Grid brought. Then, with a cloth fastened to twigs, she started extracting the juice, as though squeezing out essence. And it didn't take long for a fragrant and intriguing scent to fill the air.

Eventually, Verdandi's hair began to flutter as she drenched the Chirvat Earrings in the juice.

Woooong...

A faint reaction happened in an instant, but she remained silent as she watched the trembling earrings make rattling noises. It was as if she was witnessing a mysterious hallucination as black sparks shot from her fingertips.

Ping!! Ping!!

After the earrings bounced several times, she picked them up and narrowed her eyes at them. But then her gaze suddenly filled with surprise as her eyes widened.

"You," She began to say but paused as if trying to gather her bearings. She then swallowed and threw a serious question at him. "Did you get in trouble with Atlantis?"

"You seem to know something?"

"... No. Nothing." Her voice trembled slightly and faded into silence.

"Might be better to speak up."

"... Are you threatening me?"

"If something feels ominous, anyone would ask."

Verdandi, for a moment, remained silent, not saying anything to answer the question. But eventually, she broke the quiet as she began to carefully say, "It's nothing... Just..."

A short and small sigh escaped her lips. Then, in a small and hesitant voice, she added, "No... It must have been a mistake."

"I'd rather you speak clearly. You'll regret it otherwise."

"..."

Dodging questions was sometimes worse.

"The destroyer of harmony. The tool of war for invaders," Isildi, who seemed to have approached unnoticed, spoke out. "Isn't that what you wanted to say?"

Though Verdandi shot her a look, Isildi simply wore an indifferent expression. What else could be done with such discontent? The power Isildi held was substantially above others.

Knowing this, the Divine Tree's Land seemed like the ultimate force Davey could mobilize.

"Isildi, it's not certain..."

"It's a dream."

Isildi's response made Davey ask for more explanation. "Would I understand if you just simply say it's a dream?"

"It's literally a dream. You probably know that we, the Princesses of the Abyss, are fragments of Lord Thanatos."

"Not just the princesses, other beings too, like Gordian Worm or Oedon."

"Right. And so, we're sensitive to the god's memories and dreams. And for a while now, I've been having dreams. About an existence called Atlantis."

"What have you learned?"

"Pieces of dreams... There's a scene of fighting a giant dragon."

"A dragon?"

So the power of Atlantis seemed strong enough to fight dragons.

"Could you tell me what this dragon looked like?"

Verdandi sighed briefly and spread her hands. A golden sphere gathered above her small, pale hand, taking on a form that was something like a dragon, yet not quite.

As Davey looked at it, he knew that he had seen this creature before.

"Ancient civilization..."

Ancient civilization. In the hideout of the vampire presumed to be a clone of Hercules... Hidden deep underground, connected to the Abyss, Davey had seen two things. The first was Hercules, who was driven mad with fury and was intent on destroying everything related to the Abyss. The other one was the skeletal remains of a dragon that was quite distinctive and overwhelmingly large.

"That's why I asked if you've encountered Atlantis..." Verdandi trailed off with a frown etched on her face. "Why aren't you and Neltarid at odds?"

Atlantis.

The beings Davey knew as Malicious Spirits were underlings of Neltarid, and they were powerful enough to be considered as Neltarid's army. The fact that such beings had gotten into a battle with Davey was still hard to believe.

"Hmm. Whether those I saw were Atlanteans, I can't be sure. But they did not seem to be following Neltarid."

"Be careful. From our standpoint, not just Goddess Freyja but even Neltarid cannot be trusted."

If a transcendental will deliberately plotted something, nothing could stop it. That was why they were called gods. They were deemed omniscient and omnipotent.

"Those Atlanteans you met. They probably weren't in their normal state."

Given Isildi's cold and objective judgment, the matter was not something that could easily be overlooked.

Her power might have weakened, but her vision had not narrowed. Her dream of Atlantis, involving the Malicious Spirits, differed too much from the level of Malicious Spirits Davey had encountered. It was suspicious. On top of that, the reason why Neltarid's stewards, or Atlantis, were purged by him remained unknown.

"These earrings. If you're not in a hurry, would you give them to me?"

"To you?"

"Yes. It's useless for you anyway. Since you won't be able to use it. Better leave it to me."

As the suggestion hung in the air, Davey could not help but be surprised. "Have you ever considered this?"

"What?"

"The idea of you making this usable and then handing it over to me."

At his words, a chuckle erupted from her. "You won't regret it."

"And what's there to trust in you?"

Verdandi might appear human on the surface, but fundamentally, she was still no different from the countless Princesses of the Abyss Davey had slain. It was also preposterous to trust an entity from the Abyss while in the midst of a war against it.

"Those who made this... Can I get in contact with them?"

"Within the workshop, yes."

"Then arrange a meeting for me. I've already encountered the foreigners and seen their power."

Her abilities were indeed unique—dreams, magic, precognition. Each was ambiguous and theoretically challenging to explain. Even among the other Princesses of the Abyss, she was an outlier. And this had caused Davey to wonder often to himself if she was really a Princess of the Abyss.

"I'll help you acquire what you want in no time."

"And you think you know what I want?"

"The dimension of Neltarid. It might be possible to interfere. Well, at first, it might only be to the extent of a spiritual interference... But it means crossing over could be possible. How about it?"

"If you were my enemy, I would have genuinely praised your ability to sow discord."

"Drop it if you dislike it."

"Who said I dislike it? Proceed." Davey made his decision swiftly.

* * *

News that the Black Wind Guild was annihilated by the Lotus Guild, resulting in a total account reset for all the Black Wind Guild members, spread instantly. Hundreds were defeated by a group not even close to their number. And despite the little information that existed about Leora, the fact that a seemingly unknown guild crushed one that had dared to undertake world-class raids could never be seen in a favorable light.

"Useless bastards." Go Jin-Seok could not help but sneer disdainfully as he tossed his wine glass. "I told them to beat the shit out of the dude, but they got destroyed?"

Though the guild was merely a discarded pawn for him, its uselessness was beyond his expectations.

In truth, such struggles for dominance in the virtual world of Alf Online did not interest Go Jin-Seok. All he really intended to do was get his hands back on Maga, who had gotten away from him. Although to him, she was like a disposable toy, meant to be enjoyed momentarily and then discarded, she was also a byproduct with some lingering regret yet to be dealt with. And his real target was not Maga but another lady—an unapproachable heiress from the Sacred Group, one of the world's leading corporations. Many in the upper social echelons expected to forge connections through her.

To Go Jin-Seok, women were mere playthings, to be taken up and discarded at his whim after a night's entertainment. And he considered himself gifted in this area, believing that his ability to charm was unmatched by the mediocres who tried to approach her in high-society gatherings.

Indeed, regardless of how twisted his personality might be, his skill in manipulating women was not inferior.

So that was the real reason behind Maga's situation following his involvement. Considering Go Jin-Seok's nature of not clinging to discarded women, his continued interest in Maga was simple; the lofty lady of the Sacred Group remained untouched by him.

Silently, he got up and scrolled through his smartphone, which displayed a picture of a sleeping Maga, who was unaware of the photo being taken of her. After all, he had meticulously made sure she would not escape or retaliate after their one night together.

But now, not even he could step back due to his deteriorating physical condition. Initially thinking it was a real human, he experienced extreme stress upon realizing the non-existence of that damned NPC, the Saint of Tionis. It ultimately led to his hair changing its natural color, as well as to having a horrific alopecia. Currently, he was hiding his original hair from plain sight, knowing too well the plummet his reputation would take if exposed.

Go Jin-Seok really wanted to make a complaint to Alf Online and have the NPC deleted. However, the customer service of Alf Online told him that the machine connecting him to the game could not cause any physical damage to him and that the problems Go Jin-Seok was experiencing were due to his own problems, not the game. In fact, it would be impossible to cause hair loss just through a connecting machine of the game.

"Hey, Park."

"Sir?"

"Prepare. I'm tired of waiting for Maga."

Should the distance keep growing, it was up to them to bring her in. His debilitated state from ongoing hair loss was also losing him his strategic edge.

But what he didn't know about was the existence of an agreement between Maga and Davey and the unfolding events on Earth due to it.

"If I approach Miss Shin Hyun-Ah to buy some time, you must covertly reach out to Maga. But remember, don't force her. She must come of her own volition."

His lips curled into a sly smile as he plotted anew.