“Ugh… I’m upset!”
It was a deep night.
The girl with golden hair, hanging loosely, was slowly emptying her beer inside the house.
She didn’t get drunk easily because of her resistance to poison.
Only after drinking more than twenty strong beers did Elian’s cheeks turn red.
That could also be seen as a downside.
Thanks to that, there were twenty beer glasses scattered around the house.
“I didn’t really do anything wrong…”
The number one ranked hero.
In fact, Elian wasn’t at all interested in the rankings.
She was a natural-born hero.
Since she first became a hero, rather than worrying about climbing the rankings and increasing her pay, she simply preferred to fight.
She had subdued many Demon King castles.
She grew stronger and was showered with praise.
That was the belief Elian had when she started.
And it was still the same.
‘If only it had ended there!’
When Elian came to her senses, she had been stuck at the number one ranking for years.
Furthermore, there was still no sign of her ranking dropping.
Even though she went to the apprentice hero academy every time she had some free time to give training lessons!
But she couldn’t just lose on purpose.
If she did, the Hero Guild would probably go into turmoil.
With all the talk about match-fixing and the like.
So, while streaming, Elian would think about it every day.
‘Is there a way to quit this position?’
At this point, she even started to think about quitting the Hero Guild altogether.
The problem was, she couldn’t do that.
The reason was simple.
There was no hero stronger than her.
In other words, there was no hero to hand the top spot to with a good public image.
Elian had brought even the hidden masters into the Hero Guild, but in the end, she couldn’t find anyone who could beat her.
The only one who could possibly challenge her was Irene…
But actually, there was no hope there.
She looked like she would fit much better in the Hero Guild.
But she was too busy acting like a villain.
‘She’s not even a real villain!’
Thanks to that, Elian still carried the heavy burden of being the Hero Guild’s mascot and hope.
“The number one ranked hero who lost in the low-risk Demon King castle…”
Because of that, even things that commonly happen to ordinary heroes, when applied to Elian, no longer seemed like normal events.
Losing to Irene.
That defeat wasn’t just a failure.
It was a lack of trust in the system that evaluated the risk of Demon King castles.
And a decrease in the trustworthiness of the number one ranking.
“Sigh… I can’t even hit Berttram.”
Berttram.
He was one of the leaders of the Hero Guild and someone who always looked down on her.
It was so bad that Berttram wouldn’t even mix words with Elian unless he had to criticize her.
Sometimes, he treated her like she was invisible.
Of course, this was an internal matter.
But did that mean Elian was beneath Berttram?
No, not really.
Even though Elian was the Hero Guild’s mascot and all, it was an unofficial position.
In reality, they were closer to being on equal footing than having a superior-subordinate relationship.
Moreover, Elian could leave the Hero Guild anytime she wanted if she put her mind to it.
With that power and Elian’s good nature, her popularity soared.
Yet, this man was different.
Berttram wasn’t afraid that Elian would leave the Hero Guild.
He was always quick to make a move whenever something happened.
Especially after the subjugation of the Demon King Castle of Beheading, it became even worse.
Then, he finally made a strong argument in a meeting with the other leaders.
“Elian has harmed the Hero Guild’s credibility and the pride of being number one. In order to make up for her failure, we must send her to the Mirror Demon King’s castle to restore the Hero Guild’s pride!”
And that was the true nature of this dreadful subjugation request.
Unfortunately, the other leaders couldn’t stop him.
Berttram had been a founding member of the Hero Guild from its early days.
He was influential.
And so, just like that…
Elian found herself, overnight, participating in the Mirror Demon King subjugation—an extremely high-risk dungeon that had been untouched for decades.
It was essentially asking her to lose.
If she lost, she would be forcibly removed from her number one ranking due to two failures.
And at the same time, all the recent issues regarding risk levels and trust would be dumped on Elian.
Of course, Elian wanted to get out of the number one spot.
But not like this.
This was practically being abandoned and exiled, not escaping!
Besides, what would happen if the number one spot became vacant?
Berttram would surely elevate his daughter, ranked second, to number one.
How transparent of him.
‘But what can I do? I still want to stay with the Hero Guild.’
Elian pushed her beer glass away and flopped onto the seat.
She snapped her fingers.
The drunkenness vanished as if it had never existed.
“I don’t care anymore!”
“Sigh… It’s over.”
“I’m so scared. I heard strange voices in my head…!”
Luminal spoke.
This was a good sign.
Just moments ago, she had been screaming and struggling.
I was genuinely distressed watching it.
No joke, I was really upset.
It was painful to see my favorite character in tears, suffering.
Especially since I was the one responsible.
That put a real strain on my mental state too.
I vowed never to make Luminal go through any more risky enhancements again.
From now on, I swear.
“…Why are you suddenly placing your hand on your chest?”
“Ah, I have something to think about.”
This enhancement task.
It turned out to be more dangerous than expected.
The success rate was 100%.
But just because the success rate was 100%, it didn’t mean that the resulting damage would be the same.
Luminal suffered more than I anticipated.
Now, even if she hated me, I couldn’t blame her.
I slowly shook my head and began to dismantle the tools I had crafted with magical power.
The principle behind enhancing Soul Stones was simple.
You plant the soul of a demon that has turned into a Soul Stone into the absorber.
The absorber slowly absorbs the soul and turns it into their own power, and that’s it.
It sounded easy, but there was a huge problem.
The power difference between Luminal and the Soul Stone was enormous.
Of course, the weaker one was Luminal.
And when that happened, the Soul Stone would absorb Luminal instead and take control of her body.
So, I used tools to break the Soul Stone into hundreds of pieces and let it slowly absorb.
Thanks to that, Luminal might have hallucinated or heard voices, but she never got controlled.
I didn’t tell Luminal about this.
If she found out, it might have lowered the success rate even further.
And if I had told her, she might have fainted.
Still, considering what was coming, I couldn’t avoid doing enhancements.
I had no choice but to make her hate me.
Before apologizing to Luminal, I silently took her hand.
She was still hesitantly touching her chest.
I thought she might resent me even as a joke.
“My body feels so light. I feel like I could fly right now.”
But that wasn’t it.
Instead, Luminal didn’t seem to care at all.
Still, I had to apologize.
I gave her a brief apology.
“I’m sorry. I pushed you too hard, Demon King. I sincerely apologize now. If…”
“Why is Irene apologizing?”
“Huh?”
“Irene did what she was supposed to do, right? If so, I don’t care.”
“Demon King…!”
Luminal’s words made me feel a little emotional.
To hear her say something like that!
It was a moment of joy.
But then…
“But why are you apologizing so casually?”
Luminal quickly returned to her usual self.
Was that strong mental fortitude, or was she just being silly?
I don’t know.
Anyway, Luminal’s the best. Awesome.
I quickly changed the subject.
“You said your body feels lighter? It should. The total magical power in your body has increased by eleven times.”
“Eleven times?!”
“Yes.”
Luminal looked puzzled as she fidgeted with her fingers.
Her round eyes showed how shocked she was.
Then, suddenly, she reached out toward the broken wall.
In an instant, the wall returned to its perfect state.
“Already getting used to the power?”
“Yeah. It feels like it’s been mine from the start.”
Luminal swung her arms around like she was showing off.
It seemed like she was handling it with ease.
She repaired several walls without issue.
“Usually, it takes a while to adjust.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
The magical power absorbed by the Soul Stone doesn’t immediately transform into the absorber’s power.
It requires a bit of adjustment.
But Luminal was already manipulating even the untransformed magic freely.
“Right now, I feel like I can do anything!”
“Just be careful not to get hurt falling. There’s a pit down there.”
“Really? Where… Aaaah!”
The moment Luminal stepped onto the red carpet, her body was immediately sucked into the floor.
She was so excited after absorbing just one.
What would happen when she absorbs twelve?
As I pondered that, the device beeped.
“Hmm, Luna should still be on a break. Who could it be?”
It would take Luminal a while to climb back up from the first floor, so I quietly opened the device.
Luminal’s enhancement had taken four hours.
That meant there were a lot of broadcasts and posts piling up.
For me, who was live-streaming and taking hits from heroes, this was a huge issue.
[Elian’s fan community is on fire! Should we check it out?]
“Was there even an ad like this?”
Elian. On fire.
These strangely tempting two words made me press the device without realizing it.
If it’s a virus, so what?
It’s not even my device.
If there’s a virus, I’ll just give it to Leon.
The community was ablaze, just like the ad suggested.
Did Elian have an anniversary or a major event?
I thought so as I clicked on the popular post.
Then, a shocking post popped up.
[Is Elian really dead?]
“…What?”
My hand froze instinctively.
Elian died?
…What happened?
I quickly opened the replay of Elian’s broadcast and the community page.
[Yes, it’s her first death] Elian
[She’ll probably resurrect by tomorrow] Anyway
[Wow, Elian is dead… something feels off about this]
[Cause of Elian’s death]
[Full version of the Mirror Queen Demon King Castle subjugation video]
[Elian really died at the Mirror Queen Demon King Castle]
[There’s a possibility the Hero Guild was involved]
[Here’s the statement] Leon
It was shocking.
And everyone felt the same way.
Elian, dead.
It wasn’t that the Mirror Queen Demon King Castle was underestimated.
The Mirror Queen Demon King Castle had been a high-risk dungeon for decades, maintaining a risk level of 10.
But still.
Elian dying didn’t make sense.
She was a defensive type.
She would use a return scroll if things got even a little dangerous.
And her potions never ran out.
They were even set to infinite in the game.
For Elian to die…
My instincts screamed that something was off.
“…Something feels really strange.”
A soft sky-blue hair swayed.
In a room filled with a holy energy.
A small girl stood by the window, reading the holy book.
Her clear eyes seemed focused on the book.
But her mind was already filled with complex, conflicting thoughts.
Elian.
The number one hero of the Hero Guild, the strongest human with a popular image.
Before that, she was her childhood friend.
Now Elian was dead.
“Ugh…?”
Death itself wasn’t the problem.
Elian always kept an astronomical amount of gold and magical power for resurrection in case she ever died.
In fact, if she were resurrected now, she’d probably be back to normal by tomorrow morning.
But the real problem was something else.
Elian’s death was more than just a death.
The defeat of the number one hero, and her death, meant that even the strongest of the Hero Guild had succumbed to a Demon King.
That would certainly cause massive turmoil among the people.
Elian knew this and had never planned to die.
She always thought she wouldn’t die.
But now, she was dead.
“Plus, Berttram came by.”
Less than an hour after Elian died, Berttram showed up.
And he said.
That for the next month, Elian’s resurrection would be prohibited.
The girl didn’t resist it.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t illegal.
In fact, the Hero Guild had the right to prohibit resurrection depending on the hero’s status.
Of course, the original purpose of this was to suppress the resurrection of heroes who had betrayed humanity or committed serious wrongs…
But seeing it used like this made it clear the law was flawed.
The girl quietly left the room.
Two priests, dressed similarly, approached her.
“Where are you going, El Laggar?”
She couldn’t stop this alone.
So she decided to ask for help.
She needed someone who could go against the Hero Guild.
And at the same time, someone with immense influence.
Someone who knew about all these internal struggles.
It sounded like searching for a needle in a desert.
But El already knew such a person.
“I’m going to meet someone.”
Irene.
Now, El decided to head toward Irene.