Return of the Shattered Constellation

Chapter 235: Star, the Star Auction (10)

“They’re all inferior,” Agares commented very concisely as he looked downstairs, where the terror attack was taking place.

For someone who pursued dignity, these terrorists were foul beings. However, the <Maleakhe> angels and <L’Infernal> demons were idiots for allowing them to invade the <Star Grave>.

The auction hall wasn’t the only place where hell broke loose. The entire <Star Grave> was thrown into chaos. The Celestials on vacation were hit with bolts out of the blue, and guards ran around to calm down the commotion. It was quite literally mayhem.

Agares could detect everything.

“Hehe! Don’t be too harsh. It’s not like they prayed for this to happen,” Satan answered with a dried squid leg in his mouth, still relaxing on his seat with his legs on the table.

He obviously didn’t care about what was happening on the first floor.

“That is why they’re all inferior. They didn’t know what was happening in their own front yard.”

“I can’t really say anything if you put it that way. Haven’t things been… bad since Metatron and Baal disappeared?” Satan commented as he stood up. “Well, that’s why someone like me is a monarch right now.”

Putting his hands halfway into his short pockets, Satan swaggered to the window and tapped it with one of his feet in slippers. He moved like a mischievous boy, but an actual boy would never be able to do what he was doing.

Booom!

Crash―!

When Another explosion seemingly erupted, the auction house shook hard again, and all the windows shattered like fireworks. Shocked by what just happened, the spectators on the lower floor looked up and at Satan and Agares. Feeling superior, Satan leaped downstairs, keeping his eyes on the people below him.

Paah!

At that moment, Satan emitted red light.

[The Celestial ‘Malignity-Drinking Saturn’ reveals his true self!]

A giant Dragon dropped down to the center of the hall.

Thuddd!

No, could he be called a Dragon? Satan surely looked like one, but he didn’t look like the ordinary kind. All kinds of unique crowns were on Satan’s seven different heads, and his dim auburn scales made it seem as if someone had poured buckets of blood all over him. His dozens of sets of ragged wings sent shivers down people’s spines.

He was also extremely humongous. When he spread all his wings and roared, a storm struck the hall, blowing away the dome ceiling of the auction hall.

Grrrr!

“The D-Dragon of Extinction…!”

“S-Satan was at the auction?!”

“Shit!”

Most of the spectators who hadn’t escaped yet were noticeably baffled, which was understandable. After all, Satan was notorious for being the most wicked Seven Deadly Sin Monarch.

‘Snake in Genesis,’ ‘Deceiver,’ ‘Antagonist,’ ‘Head of this World’... Just like his numerous titles, destruction was known to accompany and run rampant wherever he showed up.

Both the terrorists and spectators were crushed to death when Satan descended. Not only could the great demon king speak and act carefree on usual days, but he was also cruel enough to cause all kinds of damage to achieve his goal.

Satan had decided to tone down this chaos even if it meant sacrificing innocent victims.

“He has to be out of his mind…!” Uriel tried to stop Satan, realizing what he was trying to do.

[The Celestial ‘Malignity-Drinking Saturn’ is about to release the fire of extinction to wipe out his enemies!]

Satan opened all his seven mouths and breathed out Eon Fire of <Hell>.

Rumblleee―!

In a flash, half of the auction hall, the terrorists, and the unlucky spectators who happened to be within the fire’s range were reduced to ashes. They didn’t even get to scream. Rather than getting extinguishes, the fire advanced further.

It stopped only after it struck the center of the universe, which was quite a distance from the <Star Grave>, melting all the buildings and Celestials in its way. The fire was truly fearsome. To make things worse, Satan seemingly wasn’t done yet.

[The Celestial ‘Malignity-Drinking Saturn’ wishes to continue his attacks until he wipes out all that remain!]

Woosh!

Just as Satan was about to launch another attack with all his seven mouths, the masked terrorist holding the [Chunjun Sword] frowned deeply. “Why the hell isn’t Lie Si showing up?! What is he doing?!”

If things had gone according to the plan, he and the other terrorists would have already left this place with the [Chunjun Sword] and Kali’s priests amid all the confusion. However, the man hadn’t received any news from them yet, so not even he was sure what in the world was going on. Uriel and Satan alone were already huge problems. If the other seraphim or demon kings appeared now…!

Meanwhile, Satan’s Eon Fire of <Hell> struck the ground once again.

Rumble!

[The Societies <Maleakhe> and <L’Infernal> have issued an emergency order due to the chaos in the <Star Auction>!]

…

[Other Societies are thinking about joining in and helping suppress the sudden chaos to protect their members who are currently in <Star Auction>.]

[The Societies that made their decisions declare to join the suppression.]

[Many Celestials are trying to descend.]

…

That wasn’t the end of the messages.

[The Celestial ‘Taurus’ has descended!]

[The Celestial ‘Tsunami Bringer’ is about to descend, saying that he cannot miss this kind of chaotic event!]

[The Celestial ‘Antlered Animal King’ has descended, saying that he is going to check on his apostle candidate!]

[The Celestial ‘Plague Monarch’ scrapes up her pill bottles and prepares to descend!]

…

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ pesters her mother, saying that she wants to descend too!]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ observes the situation, clicking her tongue.]

The Celestials who had been waiting for an opportunity to meet Chang-Sun in person began to descend.

“Some small fries saw this as their chance, huh?” Agares coldly commented, looking at the sky of the universe, finding stars twinkling beautifully.

He spread his black wings, which he had been hiding, as his <Starlight> grew stronger.

* * *

[The Skill ‘Windstalking Tiger’ has been activated, manifesting the Skill ‘Lightness’!]

Paah―!

Chang-Sun and Mercury were fleeing out of this place.

“Is there another way out of here?” Chang-Sun asked Mercury, glancing backward.

Moodoo and the Gray Elves were currently behind them. Thanks to the wind of [Talaria], they were moving quite fast, but there were too many people. Although they had successfully escaped from Lie Si and the other children of the Emperor’s Seat, they couldn’t get out using the same path they took to get here. After all, their pursuers would start searching from there. Even without the pursuers, heading back to the auction hall didn’t really make sense either.

Rumble….

Things still seemed to be in chaos upstairs, considering the ceiling was still shaking profusely. Was there another exit?

“I don’t know either.” Mercury shook his head, looking as if, for the first time, he couldn’t think of a solution.

“… What do you mean?”

“I’m a regular here, but I have never even heard about the <Star Grave> having an underground lake. Considering Uriel and Marbas still aren’t here, they clearly don’t know about this place either,” Mercury said.

“Then…?” Chang-Sun trailed off.

“We’re just heading to where the wind is leading us.”

“The wind…”

“[Talaria] has the ability to ride the wind, so we’re going upstream. It would most likely lead us out of this place,” Mercury explained.

According to him, the wind was blowing from three directions right now. The first was coming from a dark tunnel, the second from the opposite side of the lake, and the third was where they were heading right now.

An idea flashed across Chang-Sun’s mind. ‘Armand.’

Woosh!

Summoned by Chang-Sun, a gust of wind blew toward Chang-Sun and took the form of a human.

『What?』

Chang-Sun still hadn't gotten used to seeing Armand, who looked so much like Ithaca. However, he didn’t let it show. ‘Can you scout ahead?’

『Hmph, that’s easy.』

Armand turned into a gust of wind again and dissipated.

“Is she… a wind elemental spirit?” Mercury’s eyes slightly widened upon detecting Armand. “No, her Divinity is too strong to consider her a mere ordinary elemental spirit. Is she a Celestial’s subordinate or apostle? No, she was too weak to be one…”

“She’s something like that,” Chang-Sun replied briefly, seemingly telling Mercury that he couldn’t tell him the whole story.

Mercury dryly chuckled. “I get now why Minerva shows a lot of interest in you.”

Chang-Sun was a mystery to Mercury as well. At that moment…

『Stop! Someone’s up ahead!』Armand’s voice echoed in Chang-Sun’s head.

“Mercury!” Chang-Sun hurriedly shouted.

Mercury slammed the ground with his [Talaria]. The whirlwind around them twirled and stopped them from moving any further. A strong and sharp gust of wind narrowly missed them.

Swoosh!

Chang-Sun recognized the claw mark the gust had left on the ground and the wall.

‘[Tiger Disaster]!’ Chang-Sun thought.

He and Mercury simultaneously turned their heads toward where the wind came from.

Tap―

A man with long white hair walked out of the darkness. Like a ferocious beast that had found its enemy, his eyes gleamed with [Tiger Eyes].

[The ‘Tiger Eyes’ of the Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ are shining!]

“I knew you would come here. Unless you used the lake, this route was your only option.” Heoju, the man with [Tiger Eyes] and wearing fur that was as white as his hair, grinned so wide he bared his fangs. His canine fangs looked especially sharp today.

‘I knew it was weird that he stopped sending me messages. Has he been here all this time?’ Chang-Sun’s face darkened.

Heoju was a member of the <Purple Star Astrology>, so there was no telling how he was connected to the children of the Emperor’s Seat. Moreover, He had recently been obsessing over Chang-Sun. For that reason, meeting Heoju here right now wasn’t good. Things could have been different if they were on Earth.

“Lee Chang-Sun.” Heoju looked at Chang-Sun. Mercury stepped forward to protect Chang-Sun, but Heoju didn’t even glance at Mercury. “I want to ask you something.”

Tap!

Heoju walked toward Chang-Sun, who silently drew the [Yuchang Sword] and [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] in return.

‘Will I be able to use [Execution Sword] on him?’ Chang-Sun calculated his chances of victory and the distance between Heoju and him.

Doing so would mean Mercury would find out Chang-Sun’s real identity, but he wouldn’t get a better opportunity to capture Heoju.

‘The problem is I’m not sure I can think of Mercury as my ally like Minerva. Heoju’s divine class is way too high right now as well.’

Heoju looked much stronger now than Chang-Sun remembered. It had to be because he had absorbed Ithaca’s <Starlight> after decrypting the [Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan]. He now seemed as strong as an Earthly Fiend monster deity—no, a Heavenly Spirit demonic deity.

Although killing Heoju as soon as Chang-Sun found a chance to would be wise, doing that would give Chang-Sun and the others no time to run away. If the <Maleakhe> angels and <L’Infernal> demons caught him during the sealing process, the plan of the <Underworld> would get exposed. Chang-Sun pondered if he should focus on carrying out his plan or have his revenge.

『Is he…?』

Armand frowned upon noticing something. Chang-Sun nodded, which was enough of an answer for her.

『They’re my dear sisters, and he…!』

Tap…!

Heoju approached Chang-Sun. “Answer me. What’s your relationship with that fien—!”

Before Heoju could even finish speaking, Mercury came forward and signaled Chang-Sun to escape.

[The Celestial 'Sky and Earth Connecting Wing' summons divine creatures using the Relic ‘Caduceus’!]

Mercury swung his staff, causing the two snakes that had coiled around the staff to untangle and grow hundreds of times bigger.

Hisss, hisss, hiss!

The enormous boa constrictors crawled up to the ceiling and dropped on top of Heoju.

“Get out of my way!” Heoju yelled.

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ has activated the Authority ‘Jackal Tiger Roar’!]

Heoju’s roar unleashed a sonic boom that shook the cave so hard it almost crumbled down. With the ceiling sustaining too many cracks, fragments of it started to drop on top of everyone.

While attempting to flee, Chang-Sun flinched in surprise and retreated backward.

[The Authority ‘Monster Excursion’ has been activated, warning you of incoming danger!]

Woosh!

A black spatial gap opened in front of Chang-Sun. Agares flew out of the gap, his dozens of wings spread wide. Seemingly finding Chang-Sun’s attempt to flee pathetic, Agares quietly snorted and grabbed Chang-Sun’s nape using his white hand.

Clanggg!

Maximizing the output of his cores, Chang-Sun barely parried away Agares’ right hand.

“Hmph!” Agares held out his left hand this time and aimed for Chang-Sun’s heart.

For the first time, Chang-Sun felt dismayed. ‘I can’t dodge this!’

Smash!

The horrible sound of someone’s chest turning into pulps echoed, but it didn’t come from Chang-Sun.

“You…!” Chang-Sun muttered.

「Get… out of here!」

Splash!

Although Chang-Sun wasn’t sure when it reached him, the Elfin Root was now standing in front of Chang-Sun and looking at him. Its lips trembled as blood dripped from its mouth.