The black aura in the shape of a black yong sparkled as it opened its jaw against the White Star.
Baaaaaang—!
There was a loud explosion as a cold fire appeared in Choi Han’s eyes.
Craaaaack-
The walls of the basement cracked and started shaking as if the whole building might crumble at any moment when Choi Han saw a bright light.
A holy silver light was releasing its serene light.
The shield with two wings was releasing its silver color in full to make its presence known.
“Haaaa.”
Choi Han couldn’t help but scoff.
But his pupils shook a bit as the White Star slowly became visible behind the shield.
Craaaaaaack.
The White Star’s mask started cracking.
The face underneath the mask appeared.
“Mm!”
Toonka subconsciously groaned.
‘Cale Henituse!’
The face underneath the mask was exactly the same as Cale’s.
‘I would have been fooled by that face if I didn’t meet the Dragon first.’
Toonka, who had been running toward the Henituse territory, would have definitely thought that the White Star was Cale if he had not met the black Dragon and Choi Han in the middle.
‘Ah. Did he say that the White Star is not the real White Star?’
Toonka hated complicated things. That was why he came to a simple conclusion.
‘The fake White Star, the bastard who is pretending to be Cale Henituse is the sealed god.’
Toonka looked amused.
‘When else would I get to beat up a god?’
“Kahahaha!”
He couldn’t help but laugh with joy.
“This sounds fun!”
He then charged toward the White Star and his shield. The White Star’s eyes looked toward Toonka at that moment.
The moment the silver shield and Toonka’s fist smashed against each other…
Baaaaang!
Toonka was sent flying from the shock while the White Star groaned a bit and started speaking.
“…It is my fault for thinking that you guys are my allies, my close friends.”
‘Hmm?’
Choi Han slightly frowned while slashing his sword toward the White Star. But Toonka responded to that statement without putting much thought into it.
“Fucking bullshit!”
Toonka charged forward again and reached toward the White Star.
A bitter smile appeared on the face of the fake White Star, who had Cale Henituse’s face.
“Your true selves are revealed now that there is nobody watching.”
Toonka’s hand was then able to easily grab the White Star by the collar.
“…Hold on!”
Choi Han tried to stop Toonka. However, Toonka completely ignored him. It could not be helped.
“You can’t do anything in such a tight space!”
He then dragged the White Star upstairs.
“No!”
The middle-aged mage turned pale from shock and tried to cast a spell toward Toonka.
“Hmph.”
However, his actions turned useless at the black Dragon’s interference.
“Fuck!”
The middle-aged mage frowned. These enemies must have suppressed their subordinates as everything was quiet despite such loud explosions echoing through the area.
He looked toward the White Star, who was weakly being dragged away by Toonka with disbelief and concern.
However, Choi Han was feeling differently.
‘Something is weird.’
He heard someone’s voice at that moment.
“How odd.”
It was Alberu Crossman who was watching all of this.
“Why did he get caught so easily? What did he mean by what he said?”
Choi Han had the same questions. He urgently rushed after Toonka. Alberu shouted toward his back.
“Teleportation is possible outside the building! Remember that teleportation is possible in the yard!”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Alberu could see the black Dragon’s front paws move.
“We just need to expand the magic circle around the house all the way to the garden. I can easily do that.”
His chubby front paw moved. He opened three toes.
“I just need three minutes. Hmph.”
Shhh.
The black Dragon disappeared after saying that. He had used his invisibility spell.
“Let’s follow them as well.”
Alberu followed Choi Han and the black Dragon up to the surface. Of course, his subordinates had already bound the middle-aged mage.
He hurried up to stairs to see the White Star. Being thrown out the door.
Boom!
“Ugh!”
The White Star rolled on the dirt floor of the garden with his face revealed.
“Why is he so weak?”
Even Toonka was looking at Choi Han with confusion. Choi Han didn’t know what to say.
The White Star had not shown any signs of attacking and had only sighed when he first saw Raon.
In fact, he was being dragged around like a rag doll.
‘What the…? What is going on? I didn’t expect something like this.’
Choi Han and the White Star made eye contact at that moment.
The enemy who looked so much like Cale opened his mouth.
“Even if this is a place where your desires are revealed, I never expected that your desires would be to become heroes! Yes, I guess it is understandable that you all want to be heroes.”
What was up with these statements that made no sense?
Choi Han could not understand why this guy was ‘acting’ like this in the current situation.
‘He should be acting as much like Cale-nim as possible if his intentions were to pull us back to be his allies or to cause chaos.’
But he was saying things and acting in way that the real Cale Henituse would never do.
Choi Han didn’t dare to move without knowing the enemy’s hidden intentions.
‘Cale-nim will be here soon.’
He would try to figure out what was going on until that time. Of course, they could not let him escape.
Choi Han decided his course of action and pointed his sword toward the White Star who was still on the ground.
* * *
Inside a room deep within the highest floor of the Roan Kingdom’s Puzzle City City Hall at that time…
“Oppa!”
The door of the room that was currently being used as the crown prince’s bedroom burst open. Sword master Hannah poked her head into the room.
“Hmm? Hannah?”
Saint Jack sat up in shock. Excommunicated priestess Cage was next to him, looking at the bed with an impossible to explain expression on her face.
Alberu Crossman.
He was lying peacefully on the bed with his eyes closed.
“What is it? What happened?”
Hannah looked around the room and quickly walked in after hearing Jack’s question.
Jack had an ominous feeling seeing his younger sister acting like this.
‘…I hope nothing has happened again… it has been a while since his highness fainted.’
The first team dispatched into the sealed god’s temple was stuck inside and the large orb above the temple had turned from blue to red.
Crown prince Alberu Crossman, the man who should be calming the chaos, suddenly fainted after that.
That almost caused even more chaos, but Cage had told Saint Jack that the God of Death seemed to be helping. It allowed Saint Jack and Eruhaben to step up and calm the situation.
It made it seem as if Puzzle City was calm and relaxed on the outside, but there was a lot of chaos and fear underneath the surface.
It would have turned into pandemonium if the representatives of the different kingdoms had not covered up the situation and delivered messages to calm their respective nations down.
“Oppa!”
Hannah headed toward the window.
“Look outside!”
She then opened the window.
“What is going on?”
“I don’t have time to explain! Look outside!”
Hannah grabbed Jack by the arm and dragged him to the window. Cage followed them as well and immediately started speaking.
“Son of a…!”
Coarse words came out of her mouth as her eyes looked toward the thing above the temple that had been a red orb.
The red orb was maintaining its shape but was no longer red.
A person was speaking inside the orb.
– …It is my fault for thinking that you guys are my allies, my close friends.
It was a face they were all too familiar with. Cale Henituse. He was speaking sadly with sorrow and bitterness visible on his face.
Choi Han was pointing his sword at him and then Toonka attacked Cale.
– Your true selves are revealed now that there is nobody watching.
Commander Toonka grabbed Cale by the collar as he weakly commented.
“W, what the-”
Saint Jack looked at the orb in disbelief. He then turned toward Cage.
“Do you think that is what is going on inside the temple?”
The area they could see had a normal building and a forest, which seemed quite odd for the inside of a temple.
“They did say that the test was an illusion.”
Since this test was one that showed people illusions… It was understandable that there could be such a place.
But Jack could not believe that what he was seeing was a part of the test.
“W, why are they fighting like that?”
Commander Toonka was one thing, but Choi Han pointing his sword at Cale?
That made no sense whatsoever.
The Cale inside the screen rolled on the ground and groaned.
– Even if this is a place where your desires are revealed, I never expected that your desires would be to become heroes! Yes, I guess it is understandable that you all want to be heroes.
Saint Jack subconsciously commented.
“Do you think that it is real?”
Cage immediately responded.
“Of course not! I’m sure there is a reason for this! The sealed god must have done something! Miss Hannah, how is the situation outside?”
“It is quite a mess.”
Hannah’s face stiffened.
The thing they first saw once the red color inside the orb disappeared was Choi Han’s Black Yong attacking someone and that person releasing a silver shield.
“…Young master Cale was wearing the White Star’s mask though.”
Either way, the face that appeared once Choi Han’s attack destroyed the mask was Cale’s. They were sure it was Cale Henituse and not someone who just looked similar.
Hannah had rushed over to this place to see her brother and Alberu Crossman as soon as she watched it.
She recalled the things she had heard on her way over.
‘What the hell? Why are the heroes fighting against each other?’
‘Why is Sir Choi Han pointing his sword at the Commander-nim? Why is he attacking him?’
Everybody inside Puzzle City had seen this footage. Well, there were a lot of people who had not seen it at first, but their friends quickly got them to look as well.
‘What is going on?’
‘Are they fighting like that inside the temple? Why?’
Their voices had sounded full of panic.
Hannah clenched her eyes closed before opening them back.
“…We cannot let the people watch this footage. Who knows what they will think?!”
“Exactly.”
She heard an unfamiliar voice behind her.
Hannah turned her head to see Eruhaben walking in. Cage shouted while looking at him.
“Eruhaben-nim!”
“The Roan Kingdom’s side and the representatives of the different nations are calming people down while other Dragons went to observe the screen. Don’t worry too much.”
Eruhaben was speaking calmly but they could not relax after hearing the voice inside the orb.
The Cale inside the screen started speaking weakly while taking one step then another toward Choi Han who was pointing his sword at him.
– I have sacrificed many times until now.
Everybody inside Puzzle City, including Eruhaben, was watching Cale. Most of them had their mouths shut. They couldn’t say anything against what Cale had just said.
– I have never called myself a hero. I never even asked to turn me into a hero.
Queen Litana subconsciously mumbled to herself while trying to calm people down.
“…Young master Cale.”
She sounded apologetic.
– However!
Cale Henituse inside the screen raised his voice at that moment. His voice sounded empty.
– You bastards finally show your hidden desires and are aiming for my position!
Litana could hear one of her subordinates speak.
“…Is it possible that they are attacking Commander Cale-nim on purpo-”
“Stop!”
Litana shouted at her subordinate. However, her eyes looked chaotic. His subordinate was not wrong if they were to take what they were seeing at face value.
However, her pupils were shaking for a different reason.
“Is it possible-”
“No, Sir Choi Han is the Commander-nim’s sword.”
“But Commander Toonka is from the Whipper Kingdom, and let’s be honest, the only person in there from the Roan Kingdom is young master Cale-nim. Everybody else is a foreigner.”
“…What the hell is going on in there?”
“Either way, it seems true that they are hostile toward each other in there.”
People were whispering everywhere and coming up with all sorts of theories.
None of them were positive.
Litana immediately started walking toward Eruhaben.
“…If at least the crown prince was awake right now……!”
There was not much that Litana, a foreigner, could do when the representative of the Roan Kingdom was not here.
As for the individual Litana was headed toward… Eruhaben had to hear Cage’s angry voice.
“There is no way the young master-nim would speak like that! He’d happily hand over the hero position if someone else said that they wanted it!”
Eruhaben nodded his head.
“Yes, you are right. That bastard-”
The ancient Dragon’s eyes turned cold.
“That bastard is not Cale.”
He was certain.
“Choi Han is not someone who would attack rashly. He must have attacked because that bastard is the enemy.”
“Then……?”
“It must be part of the sealed god’s scheme.”
“Ah.”
Eruhaben immediately responded to Saint Jack’s question. Sword master Hannah’s face looked grim as she asked.
“Do you think that other people would know that?”
Everybody closed their mouths.
The people of the Roan Kingdom inside Puzzle City and the people all over the Western continent… They only knew of Cale, the hero. It would be hard for them to differentiate this fake Cale from the real Cale.
Having them see Cale fighting Choi Han and the others on his own was not good.
“…Huuuuuu.”
Eruhaben simply responded by sighing. Hannah ruffled her hair in frustration as she shouted.
“Where the hell is Cale Henituse in such a situation?!”
If that Cale was fake, shouldn’t the real Cale be somewhere?
Hannah was extremely worried that the already chaotic people inside Puzzle City who were already on the verge of exploding might fall into chaos because of this.
“Fuck! What the hell-”
Hannah’s eyes opened wide while looking at the orb above the temple.
“Huh?”
“What is it, Hannah?”
“O, o, oppa.”
Hannah clenched Saint Jack’s clothes.
“What, what is it?”
“O, over there-”
Hannah pointed toward the orb. The others all looked in that direction as well.
She was pointed not where Choi Han, Toonka, and Cale were fighting against each other, but at the corner of the screen. She was pointing at the forest.
Eruhaben subconsciously opened his mouth.
“Over there, that bastard who is crouching with that orb in his hand-, that bastard is definitely-”
“Young master Cale-nim!”
Cage shouted.
At the corner of the screen… Cale was crouching in the forest with the cintamani carefully in his hand and he had his unique smirk on his face while watching the others fight.
“Anybody would be able to tell that-”
“That is young master Cale-nim!”
“I, I agree.”
As Eruhaben responded with confusion…
The other Cale who was fending Choi Han off… The Cale who sounded full of grief looked around as he spoke.
– How disappointing. The things that I had barely managed to achieve while going through all sorts of difficult trials… Would the people outside know that you all are trying to take it away now that nobody is watching you? Toonka, I am your close friend, Cale Henitu-
It was at that moment.
The grieving fake Cale turned his head.
* * *
“…How-”
The man with Cale’s face now that the White Star mask was broken frowned while observing a part of the forest.
Cale stopped crouching after they made eye contact. He then flinched for a moment.
‘Hmm?’
The cintamani in his hand was gently vibrating, so gently that it was almost hard to tell.
‘…It looks a bit more black as well?’
Whether it was because of the Dark Tiger filling the screen or because of something else, the cintamani seemed to be releasing a black aura. However, Cale nonchalantly commented as he could not feel anything.
“It seems that he can see me as we thought.”
– Sounds like it.
Dark Tiger Alberu responded in a relaxed manner.
– He didn’t notice me though. Is it because this item was prepared by the God of Death?
“That seems to be the case, your highness. He noticed me right away.”
Cale leisurely headed out of the forest.
However, his thoughts were incorrect.
“Ha! I knew it was weird while you were crouching there!”
The fake White Star shouted.
– Hmm? It looks like he already noticed you?
Alberu commented while the fake White Star shouted with anger.
– Why is the God of Death’s power with you?! How dare you bring another god’s power into my test!”
My test.
Cale smiled at that comment.
– Dongsaeng, it looks like that bastard figured out the identity of this item. Is it because it is not hidden under cloth this time?
Alberu smiled as well.
– And I guess he is the sealed god since he said this was his test.
Cale walked out of the forest and commented to the man who had the same face as him.
“You’re the sealed god, aren’t you?”
The sealed god glared at the cintamani before suddenly looking around. He then frowned as if he remembered something.
“Haaaa. It’s obvious what is going on. That son of a bitch always gets in my way.”
He glared at the cintamani as if he wanted to burn it up before waving his hand in the air.
“I wasted my time!”
* * *
“Hmm?”
“Hmm?”
Cage and Jack looked confused while looking out the window. Hannah mumbled at that moment.
“…Did the feed just get cut off?”
“That seems to be the case.”
The person pretending to be Cale said that he had wasted his time before the feed turned off. The orb above the temple turned red again.
“…Uhh… mm… I don’t know what is going on, but that son of a bitch the fake young master Cale mentioned seems to be the God of Death. I think the God of Death must have done something. I guess he helped them properly?”
Cage smiled with satisfaction and then chuckled.
Raon flew in with On and Hong through the open window.
“Goldie gramps! We saw the human! He is fine!”
Eruhaben chuckled and responded.
“I guess he is even smacking gods in the back in there.”
* * *
“I don’t know what you mean by wasting your time, but… You’ve done a lot of things that have been a waste of time.”
Cale tilted his head to the side and leisurely commented.
“Who cares what you have done? No matter what you do, it doesn’t work against me.”
The Dark Tiger growled at that moment.
– Choi Han.
Choi Han’s hand was reaching for the back of the sealed god’s neck.
—