Chapter 216

Chapter 216
## Chapter 216: The 101st Constellation

“……”

“……”

An oppressive quiet filled the area.

Sir Raiga, the Knight Commander, sat across from me. We remained locked in a silent staring contest, neither of us offering a word.

‘What is his goal in being here?’

It was Raiga who had initiated this meeting, claiming we needed a brief, urgent discussion. Yet, now that we were settled, he seemed to have lost his voice. Even so, demanding an explanation for his presence felt like a tactical error.

‘He’s here because of last night’s events.’

There was no doubt it concerned our confrontation at the Palga training grounds. The problem was my own memory; everything following the trigger of ‘Primordial Despair’ was a total blank. The only certainty was that we were both still breathing and standing. On the surface, neither of us showed any devastating trauma.

‘…At least, not where it’s visible.’

The internal reality was a different story. My physical form was screaming in rhythmic agony. I couldn’t detect even a whisper of mana within my circuits. My right arm, snapped during the previous day’s chaos, remained completely numb. I suspected Raiga was in a similar state of ruin. We were both merely putting on a front of stability.

‘‘Primordial Despair’ forced the duel to a standstill. Raiga eventually backed off, so it’s only natural he’d come looking for answers.’

That explained his hesitation. He was likely gauging my reactions to see if I actually recalled the conclusion of our fight. Honestly, I was just as desperate for details as he was, but I couldn’t afford to let my ignorance show. I rested my chin on my hand, adopting the most nonchalant posture I could muster.

“Have you come to finish what we started last night?”

It was a safe bet that the fight hadn’t reached a clean resolution. If it had, one of us would be a corpse. We had fought with genuine lethal intent; appearing perfectly fine the next morning was a statistical impossibility.

As if I’d hit the mark, Raiga’s brow gave a subtle twitch.

“…You seem more put together than I anticipated.”

“Hmph. If a scuffle like that left me broken, I’d be in the wrong business.”

Inside, I felt like I was falling apart. If my passive regeneration wasn’t clocked at over 4,500%, my arm would still be a useless piece of meat. Across from me, Raiga’s eyes sharpened with a cold glint.

‘He’s functional after taking a hit like that?’

He clearly found it hard to swallow. Even though he had been the one to retreat, the sheer force he’d hammered into the goat before that point should have been fatal several times over. To achieve that, he’d pushed his own body past its breaking point. His bones were currently held together by sheer willpower after being forced back into alignment. He wore thick, layered robes specifically to mask the massive hematomas blooming across his skin. Every word he spoke tasted like iron as blood pooled in the back of his throat.

If he was this damaged, and the goat claimed to be unbothered?

‘Is he bluffing?’

Under normal circumstances, Raiga would have laughed in his face. But he couldn’t. The imagery from the previous night was burned into his mind, terrifying and absolute.

“What is it you want from me?”

He asked the question as if the goat were the one who had sought him out with a hidden agenda. What did he want? Raiga was the one who usually held all the cards. There was no logical reason for him to desire anything from a mere goat…

‘Damn it.’

Raiga took a sharp breath, his spirit heavy with a sense of defeat. There *was* something. Something he craved with a desperation that bordered on madness. He forced the words out past his pride.

“………What sort of hex did you place on me?”

It was something he could neither rationalize nor endure. He was shielded by hundreds of divine favors and protective wards. Even the Demon King shouldn’t have been able to touch him with a curse. Yet, it had happened—a crushing, inescapable weight that refused to dissipate.

‘A hex?’

I tilted my head mentally. A curse? That sounded wrong. If a curse had been active, my ‘Star Blessing’ would have alerted me immediately. It had caught the corruption placed on Ainhassar the Light Dragon by Destruction itself, so it wouldn’t have missed a curse born of despair. But the skill remained silent.

Which meant…

‘Raiga only *thinks* he’s been cursed.’

He wasn’t actually under a spell; he was suffering from a misunderstanding. But it was still bizarre. How could a warrior of Raiga’s caliber mistake an emotion for a magical affliction?

‘It’s because he’s never known true fear.’

The man was visibly rattled. The Raiga sitting before me wasn’t the same titan I’d faced yesterday. He was fighting to maintain his mask, but his pulse was thundering. His heart, which usually beat with the steady rhythm of a machine, was racing the moment he looked at me. That was all the confirmation I needed.

‘I see.’

I finally grasped the nature of the “curse” he was describing and why he had come to me in such a rush. I allowed my voice to take on a relaxed, confident edge.

“The ‘Iron-Blooded Lord’s Heart’ has stopped functioning, hasn’t it?”

“……!!!”

Raiga’s frame gave a violent shudder. I was right. There was no way a monster like Raiga only possessed a single hidden trait like ‘Mutation.’ He was bound to have several. Having the ‘Iron-Blooded Lord’s Heart’—a trait that usually grants immunity to emotional instability—made perfect sense for him.

But when faced with ‘Primordial Despair,’ Raiga had felt genuine terror. His usual stoicism had crumbled. Because he had never experienced that kind of primal dread, he assumed it was an external curse and came to me for the cure.

‘Traits aren’t the end-all-be-all.’

It was logical. Raiga was a victim of his own perfection. Born a genius, he’d won every prize and survived every trial. Having never known loss or fear, he had become entirely reliant on his Heart trait to keep him steady.

So…

“Do you want me to break the spell?”

I let a smile spread across my face. This was an opportunity I couldn’t waste. Raiga, the man who hunted the shards of Destruction—I had an endless list of things I needed to learn from him.

—

“The Knight Commander… went to see the goat?”

The figure behind the golden mask spoke with visible irritation. A silhouette in the corner of the room bowed.

“Yes. He appeared to be in a state of extreme urgency.”

“Why would he seek out that creature? Do we have any leads?”

“None. He deployed a qi barrier to seal off all sound.”

A privacy barrier? That meant the conversation was strictly off the record—a move completely out of character for the arrogant Raiga.

‘I was planning to sideline that goat from here on out.’

The Golden Mask bit their lip. Raiga had approached the goat despite knowing he was being watched. Why? Was he attempting a recruitment? Was the goat actually worth Raiga’s personal attention?

‘He isn’t a nobody.’

As the scion of the family that governed Baal and the twelfth guardian, not to mention a high-ranking member of the Reaper Church, the goat had status. But that wasn’t enough to make Raiga move. That arrogant man acknowledged no one; something else was at play.

‘…There is a variable I’m missing.’

There was a secret regarding the goat that even they hadn’t uncovered—something Raiga wanted badly enough to abandon his pride. After a moment of thought, the Golden Mask came to a decision.

‘I don’t know what he’s after, but I won’t let Palga have the advantage.’

Raiga and the Golden Mask were ancient rivals. They couldn’t allow Raiga to claim a potential asset. They would have to visit the goat personally. But just as they prepared to leave…

“……Golden Mask. We have a problem.”

Another shadow manifested, breathing heavily. The Golden Mask paused.

“What could possibly be so bad?”

“The goat has departed the palace grounds alongside the Palga Knights.”

“………What?”

The news was absurd. The goat had left with Raiga’s personal guard? That wasn’t just a recruitment; it was a public claim of ownership. The issue was the goat’s high standing in the Reaper Church. Raiga had bypassed the Church entirely, just as he had excluded the goat from previous briefings.

‘Raiga. Have you lost your mind?’

This was a declaration of war. It was a reckless, nearly suicidal political move. But Raiga wasn’t an idiot. On the contrary… it meant the goat possessed a value that outweighed the risk of starting a civil war.

—

I had a thousand questions, but I couldn’t just ask them. I decided to take a different approach.

‘I don’t need to ask.’

I would observe him in action.

‘I’ll see for myself how he tracks and eliminates the fragments.’

I wanted to witness Raiga’s methods for hunting ‘Destruction’s fragments’ and how he handled the systemic anomalies they caused. Seeing it in person would provide more answers than any interrogation. I decided to lean into his misconception about the curse. I needed to dominate the conversation without showing my hand.

* The price for lifting this hex is simple. Keep me close as an ally. That is all.
* Are you proposing a formal alliance?
* No, I’m saying I have no interest in being friendly with someone who breaks so easily under a little curse.
* ……?
* Can you truly hunt the hosts of ‘Destruction’s fragments’ while you’re in this state? They are concentrated sources of corruption.
* ……What are you implying?
* If you think you’re still capable, prove it. Show me you’re worth my time.

The look on Raiga’s face was beyond description—a mix of shock and pure outrage. But the bait worked.

As a result, I found myself traveling with the Palga Knights. We exited the palace immediately, utilizing several long-range warp gates.

* Goat. Most fragment hosts reside within this chasm. It’s not too late to turn back if you’re afraid.

I was now standing at the edge of the Sunken Abyss. It was a nightmare realm filled with high-level monstrosities, a place where the unexpected was the only constant. But I wasn’t worried.

‘Actually, this is ideal.’

I needed to come here regardless of Raiga.

《Main Quest 11: ‘Abyss Monster Hunt’ has been triggered.》
《Eliminate the horrors within the abyss!》
《Rewards will be calculated based on the quantity and quality of kills.》
《Warning: Entry into the ‘Abyss’ is a one-way trip until the task is complete.》
《Rankings will be finalized upon your departure.》
《A ‘Special Talisman Cube’ is available for those who reach the Hall of Honor.》

—

The Hall of a Hundred Constellations. This was the celestial palace where the hundred supreme beings gathered.

“The Most Radiant Hero’s Constellation……”

“Why has he unlocked ‘Randolph’s Tale’?”

“I thought he held the exclusive rights?”

The gathered deities were buzzing with curiosity. The Most Radiant Hero’s Constellation had suddenly made the story of Randolph available to everyone. The cost in starlight to follow Randolph’s journey was so astronomical that most had given up on it. Only the Hero’s Constellation had been rich enough to subscribe. Now, he was sharing the hoard.

“How could I keep such a masterpiece to myself?”

“……I suppose that’s fair.”

“Hmm.”

It was a story of a pioneer carving a path through the unknown. Randolph’s relentless progress moved the hearts of the stars. When his proficiency in the blade climbed past level 31 to reach 32, the constellations collectively held their breath.

“I need to see what happens next.”

“……The cliffhanger is agonizing.”

But the broadcast cut off there. They were left in the dark. They had watched him consolidate his power, but the application of that power was the true mystery.

“If you want to see the conclusion, you’ll have to pay the toll yourselves.”

They could pay the starlight to continue, but only a few could afford such a steep price. The rest looked upon the Most Radiant Hero’s Constellation with sheer jealousy.

“Hm?”

“Where is this starlight coming from?”

Suddenly, at the Starlight Stairway—the birthplace of all constellations—a surge of energy erupted.

*Whoosh!*

An impossible 101st constellation manifested, radiating brilliant starlight.

“The 101st? That’s impossible……!”

“Who is this? Who has the power to defy the ‘Rules’ and appear here?”

The hall fell into total disarray. Such an event was unprecedented. The Hall of a Hundred Constellations was named as such because only a hundred could ever exist there. It was an immutable law of the universe that had never been breached.

Every eye turned toward the being that had shattered the status quo. And upon seeing the identity of this 101st constellation, the Most Radiant Hero’s Constellation could only stare in paralyzed shock.

“Y-You……!”