Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 430: One Man, Two Roles, and Chaos in the Demon World (5)
The Primordial of Chaos.
“Human, why is that parchment vibrating?”
At Raon’s question, Cale shook his head.
“No idea. I’ll check it once we get back to New World.”
There was no need to mess with this thing here in the Demon World for no reason.
If I use it in the game, the system will turn it into a skill on its own.
New World.
That place really was useful.
The corners of Cale’s lips curled up.
Whatever the case—
This parchment, unlike corruption, fear, pleasure, and purification, had only now revealed its text.
It looks promising.
His instincts up to now were telling him so.
This parchment mattered more than the four before it.
“The human is smiling weirdly!”
“I feel like something’s going to happen!”
“But that always turns into something good for us!”
While On soothed the excited Raon and Hong, Cale tucked the parchment away again and started walking.
His steps were fairly hurried.
Choi Jung Gun.
He would wake up soon.
The system had not announced the result the way it did in the game, but Cale instinctively knew that all the corruption in his body was gone.
Mm.
Once he confirmed that Choi Jung Gun had awakened, once he heard anything he needed to hear from him, then immediately—
I need to go find Team Leader and Choi Jung Soo.
Cale’s expression hardened.
He did not even realize that his steps had quickened.
*****
“Your Holiness.”
The body of the high priest, a man who had devoted his entire life to the Order of the God of Chaos, was trembling violently.
Crunch.
The hand gripping his skull tightened, nails dug into his forehead, and blood began to run from the torn flesh.
“Your Holiness. What should we do?”
At the question from the highest-ranking holy knight, the Pope, seated in his chair, looked down.
The highest-ranking holy knight and the high priest looking up at him.
The Pope stared at the high priest, who was trembling and weeping, then rose from his seat and spoke.
“Return to the beginning, where all things exist and all things do not exist.”
The moment the words ended—
“Your Holiness!”
The high priest screamed.
But the scream could not continue for long.
Crunch!
A huge gray arrow pierced through his body.
The highest-ranking holy knight loosened his grip.
Thud.
Skewered on the arrow, the priest toppled sideways.
The light vanished from his eyes, and death fell over him.
“He has returned to the beginning.”
Saying that, the highest-ranking holy knight approached the Pope.
Crackle—
The high priest’s body rapidly turned gray. Veins bulged, and in the end it crumbled into powder and disappeared.
Shrrrk—
The Pope pulled the curtain aside.
“I didn’t expect the saint to leave us like that.”
A strange landscape filled the Pope’s eyes, unable to hide his ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) grief.
The Demon World.
Its sky entered his gaze.
The crimson sunset was the same here as it had been in his homeland.
“......”
Instead of answering, the highest-ranking holy knight simply looked at his back and dropped to one knee.
“Give the order.”
Those were the words that came from his mouth.
Without turning around, the Pope spoke.
“The scripture of the beginning is gone.”
Strictly speaking, the scriptures of corruption, pleasure, purification, and fear were gone as well.
But those did not matter.
“We must recover the scripture of the beginning. No matter what.”
“Yes.”
The Pope turned around.
Then, looking down at the holy knight, he said,
“That man’s name is Cale Henituse, yes?”
“Yes. Based on the footage, we were able to identify him.”
The White Star project the hunter families had carried out.
The Order of the God of Chaos had known of it as well.
They had also secured all the footage of Mad Attention Whore spreading across the entire Third District, as well as testimony from believers of the Order of the God of Chaos.
“Mm.”
The Pope turned his gaze back outside the window and spoke.
“I hear the Five Colored Blood family sent a letter?”
“Yes.”
Fury came over the holy knight’s face.
“How dare they, not even knowing their place—”
At those words, the Pope raised a hand.
“......”
The holy knight shut his mouth, and the Pope continued calmly.
“From their perspective, we betrayed them. They have no choice but to hold us responsible. If anything, their attitude is milder than I expected.”
The Pope thought he understood why the hunters, including the Five Colored Blood family, were not protesting the Order of the God of Chaos’s betrayal more fiercely.
“It seems the birth of the Absolute God truly isn’t far off.”
And they must have realized it too.
“They must have felt for themselves that New World is becoming a true world now.”
That was why the hunters, including Five Colored Blood and Transparent Blood, were not pressing harder.
“Do you think they’ll stay quiet for long?”
At the holy knight’s question, the Pope shook his head.
“They are hunters in the end.”
Would a hunter let its prey go?
They would have marked the Order of the God of Chaos as traitors, and while treating them moderately on the surface, they would already be plotting behind the scenes to eliminate them.
“They will certainly try to investigate us in secret. Most likely, they’ll attempt to drive out our remaining forces in New World.”
The Pope’s gaze turned out the window.
“But we are in the Demon World.”
The holy knight opened his mouth.
“Your Holiness, the great plan will surely be fulfilled.”
A smile touched the Pope’s lips.
“It must be. We must show those who departed first for the world of the beginning a world dyed in chaos.”
The Pope closed his eyes, then opened them.
“The hunters will look for Cale Henituse.”
“Yes.”
The one who had stopped the descent of the God of Chaos.
Cale Henituse, who had interfered ever since the White Star project.
The hunters had no reason to leave him alone.
Whatever happened, they would be even more wary of him than of the Demon Realm or the Order of the God of Chaos, both of which had now been forced into the same camp.
“Before they find him, we must find Cale Henituse first. No matter what.”
“Yes.”
The holy knight bowed deeply and continued.
“I will recover the scripture of the beginning without fail.”
“You must. And—”
The Pope paused for a moment before continuing.
“Cale Henituse must also be captured alive and brought here.”
“I will carry it out without fail.”
The highest-ranking holy knight rose.
He bowed toward the Pope’s back, then left.
“......”
Left alone, the Pope closed his eyes as he took in the scenery of the Demon World.
—My child.
Eyes came to mind.
Gray eyes.
The God of Chaos.
Ever since trouble broke out in the divine realm, the God of Chaos had not once properly given the Pope a revelation.
So the Pope had done nothing but continue with the plan as it was.
But on the day the saint ended up that way, a revelation had come at last.
He had spoken.
—I want to use Cale Henituse as my vessel.
Realizing that descending personally had failed, the God of Chaos had declared that he would descend into this world through Cale Henituse.
“I need to prepare.”
He turned around.
Tap.
Looking at the woman who had descended from the ceiling, he said,
“Accelerate our work in the Demon World.”
Once the highest-ranking holy knight captured Cale Henituse and brought him in, they would use the chaos gathered in the Demon World to strip away Cale Henituse’s ego and turn the inside of him into a vessel meant only for the God of Chaos.
The woman, her whole body wrapped in gray bandages and clothing, opened her mouth.
“The Demon King may find out.”
“It doesn’t matter. Even if he does, he won’t be able to stop it—”
Looking at the crimson sunset, he said calmly,
“The corruption has already been planted in the Demon World. All that remains is the moment it blooms.”
Soon, corruption of chaos would cover the Demon World.
And the God of Chaos would descend into this world untouched by any god.
At that time, he would use Cale Henituse’s body.
Beyond the Demon World, all the way to New World. He will seize all of it.
Imagining a divine realm drenched in blood like the crimson sunset, the Pope waited for the God of Chaos to leave that place and create even greater chaos.
A faint smile rested on his lips.
And below the sky the Pope was watching, beneath that sunset—
In the forest spread across the plain, where thick trees grew densely, a boy appeared.
His eyes fixed on the small castle standing in the distance in solemn grandeur.
“There.”
The boy—
Team Leader Sui Khan—
moved into the shadows of the forest at once.
Drip. Drip.
Where he had stood, drops of blood that had fallen from his body remained behind before he could erase the traces.
At the smell of blood, Sui Khan wrinkled his nose and bound up his wound.
Once he confirmed that no more blood was flowing, he hid himself quietly and carefully.
Of course, he had left a mark Cale Henituse—Kim Rok Soo—would recognize.
Just then—
Rustle.
He sensed someone moving.
Team Leader Sui Khan’s eyes turned cold.
Waiting for the coming night, he quickly slipped deeper into the darkness of the forest.
Avoiding the enemies pursuing him.
Then a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
It’s been a while.
This feeling.
It really had been a long time.
For the first time in a while, Sui Khan felt as if he had gone back to being Team Leader Lee Soo Hyuk.
Hurry up and get here, Kim Rok Soo.
Once that bastard came, they would find an answer to something.
As always, the plan would come out of that guy’s mouth.
But the smile soon vanished from his face.
...Choi Jung Soo.
Why had that bastard gone out of contact too?
For now, wait.
While doing what I need to do.
That is my role right now.
Night fell.
And the forest at night was especially dark.
Concealing himself within that darkness, Sui Khan moved while avoiding the ones chasing him and gathering information.
*****
Rustle, rustle.
Cale, who had been turning the pages of the report, stopped.
Night had fallen, and by the light of a small magic lamp he had been reading materials on the gray sickness slowly spreading through the Demon World.
Then he turned his gaze.
“You’re awake?”
Choi Jung Gun had awakened.
“How do you feel?”
At Cale’s question, Choi Jung Gun did not answer. He only looked at Cale, then at the area around him.
A stark building shaped almost like a temple.
The magic circle had been turned off, and at its center lay Choi Jung Gun on a bed, with Cale beside him in a chair, reading a report.
“Do you remember how you ended up like this?”
Cale’s voice was remarkably calm.
“Would you like some water?”
He picked up the water bottle from the table, and then a voice sounded.
“I—”
It was Choi Jung Gun’s voice.
Cale looked back at him.
“I’m alive?”
There was bafflement in his eyes, and Cale let out a small snort.
He definitely was part of the Choi family.
He behaved a lot like Choi Jung Soo.
And besides—
He’s like Choi Han too.
The eyes of Choi Jung Gun as he spoke in a dazed voice.
Those eyes were like a blade sharpened to the utmost.
They were taking in everything.
Yes. Those eyes.
He was suspicious of Cale.
Suspicious of this whole space.
“Why?”
Cale thought he knew what he was suspicious of.
“Do you find it strange that I’m standing here in front of you, sir?”
At that moment, Choi Jung Gun froze.
“S-sir......?”
That form of address threw him off.
“You’re Choi Jung Soo and Choi Han’s ancestor, aren’t you?”
“An-ancestor......?”
Whether Choi Jung Gun was flustered or not, Cale tossed out the next words flatly.
“Or should I call you senior?”
After fighting the White Star in the past, at the Temple of the Sealed God, Cale had once seen Choi Jung Gun in memories of the past.
He had been hiding there as an upperclassman at the school Kim Rok Soo attended.
Everything after Cale realized who Choi Jung Gun was and everything he went through with him afterward had all been fake, an illusion.
But the memory of Choi Jung Gun being at the library as an upperclassman at that school—that much had definitely been real.
“Mmm.”
Choi Jung Gun let out a low sound, then gave a short laugh.
But Cale had no intention of giving him room to relax.
Through the village doctor, he had already confirmed that Choi Jung Gun’s body was now completely healthy.
“Choi Jung Soo went out of contact while investigating the God of Chaos and the Demon World.”
“......”
The expression vanished from Choi Jung Gun’s face.
The truth was, Cale did not really know the Choi Jung Gun in front of him.
For both of them, this would be their real first meeting.
Choi Han.
Choi Han, standing outside the door like a guard, probably wanted to come inside.
Maybe he had sensed Choi Jung Gun waking and was listening to the conversation through the door even now.
But there was something Cale needed to hear first.
Why?
Why had Choi Jung Gun needed to die after falling victim to corruption of chaos?
And Choi Jung Gun had told Aurora that the head of the Five Colored Blood family was the first Wanderer.
“Is there anything you need to tell me?”
Cale asked, and Choi Jung Gun answered.
“The first Wanderer wants to become the first Transcendent.”
A Transcendent?
“Cale.”
A strange emotion rose onto Choi Jung Gun’s face.
“Do you think the Absolute God—that child—is evil?”
A strange light appeared on Cale’s face as well.