Player Who Returned 10,000 Years Later

Chapter 68 – Rite of Calling (Part 3)

This chapter is sponsored by Asekhan.
(3/3)

Editor: Cherish

A huge cave.

There are stalactites hanging from the ceiling, emitting a glow that fills the space with light.

Even deep within the cave, darkness couldn’t be felt at all.
The unusual glow illuminating the entire place was admirable.

There were about twenty people in the cave, busy at work.

One put a mask at the center of the drawn circle, another was spraying a dark red liquid.

Just a little away from them stood a man holding a glowing magic crystal.

— How’s the preparation going? — A low voice came from a transparent ball.

The man with tattoos all over his face responded politely:

— It’s almost ready.
But… because of the rush, there’s no guarantee of success…

— Hmm… — There was irritation in the voice coming out of the magic ball.
— Well, do your best! Do everything you can.
—

— Okay, — the tattooed man answered quietly.

— This is the first step to a great calling.
Failure is not acceptable.
— With this, the light from the ball faded.

The tattooed man stuffed the ball into his pocket, then went to the place of the rite.

— Did you spray all the blood of the victims?

— Yes! Priest Yu Dae Shik, all preparations are complete!

The blood of the victims’ was the most important element of their calling.

The tattooed man named Yu Dae Shik knelt down, and put his hands over the ritual circle with blood splattered all over.

‘There still aren’t enough victims.’

As soon as they heard the rumors that Kim Jae Hyun, commander of Mir Guild, had been captured, they immediately headed here to prepare for the ritual.

Because if he gave away their plan, the rite of calling may fail completely.

But because of the rush, they didn’t have time to prepare enough victims.

If they hadn’t cooperated with another big guild, they wouldn’t even have a chance to try the ritual.

‘Useless creatures.’

Dae Shik remembered the image of Jae Hyun promising to sacrifice a Class S special ability Player.

(Editor’s Note: Reminder that Jae Hyun is Mir Guild Commander, father of cocky kid-who-got-beat-up Yeong Hoon.)

Trying to jump over his head, he got caught in the clutches of the government and ruined all their plans.

(Editor’s Note: In this case, ‘jump over his head’ means that he was trying to do something beyond his abilities.)

‘There’s nothing we can do about it now.’ He rolled his eyes with a frown.

So far, the summon attempt has been progressing well, but the probability of success was extremely low.

It would take a few more sacrifices to increase that probability.

— Ah…!

— Priest!

Dae Shik swiftly drew out a sharp dagger and slit one of his subordinates’ throats.

Because he cut the carotid artery, blood spurted out like a fountain.

— It’s your own fault that you didn’t find enough victims, — Dae Shik said with a crazed look, staring down at his dead subordinates.

The people around him froze and their faces turned pale.

— Priest!

— Have mercy!

They fell to their knees, shaking with fear.

The tattooed man bared his teeth and declared:

— Don’t worry about it… The devil will spare you for offering your blood and then give you immortality.

A paradox that none of them realized.

Each of them wanted to live forever, yet none were willing to die as a sacrifice to be reborn.

The first person who wanted to escape from this hell was a girl with freckles.

When she felt something was wrong, she turned around and started running.

Dae Shik looked at her and frowned.

— Disloyal garbage.
Did you forget the Cardinal’s words?

— Ahhh!

He threw a dagger at the running girl’s back.

Black energy flowed from the blade’s edge.

As it landed in the girl’s back, a pain spread all over her body that made her scream.

— Pupils, do not forget about the ten most important demonic commandments.
— He clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
— Anyone who is not ready to offer everything to the Devil will lose their chance at immortality… —

That was how the brutal massacre began.

He killed everyone: those who rushed to flee, those who decided to attack him, even those who started to pray.

Dark red blood flooded the circle prepared for the summon.

— Heh heh heh.
That’ll be enough.

Dae Shik, who had caused the bloodshed, smiled broadly, putting his hands on the circle again.

A demon of the Ninth Thousandth Circle of Hell.

It would obey only his will once it comes to Earth.

‘We’re already behind the other schools…’

Devil’s schools, scattered all over the world.

Only the school in Korea was late and deviated from the plan.

‘Japan, for example.
Three demons have already been summoned there.’

Of course, their conditions were very different from the Korean ones, but it didn’t change the fact that they were quicker.

‘I can’t let my followers escape.’

Remembering his meeting with the Japanese Teachers, his face turned sour.

If his men run away, he’d bring shame to the Cardinal to whom he swore allegiance to.

Dae Shik awakened the Magi sleeping in him, and began the ritual.

— Excitare, demon! Videte mea vocant!

(Editor’s Note: The original couldn’t be translated, so I made up a spell in Latin.)

The summon circle, covered in the blood of countless victims, began to glow with a bright light.

***

— Oh!

— I thought I was going to die! — After climbing down from Echidna in Pohang, Young-ju began to breathe heavily, taking in as much air as she could.

If Young-ju hadn’t pulled out her chain in the middle of the flight to strap the three of them to Echidna, they would have just fallen down.

— Kang Yu, did I do well? — When Echidna adopted a human form again, she looked up at the guy with sparkling eyes.

Her eyes were practically begging for him to pet her.

Kang Yu smiled awkwardly and rubbed her head.

— Heh, heh, heh! — She giggled happily, pleased to have helped Kang Yu.

— Next time…

— Hmm~?

— Fly a little slower.

The girl’s cheeks rose higher as her smile widened.

— So you want to fly even longer with me!

‘I want to live.’

— That’s fine.
Next time, I’ll fly a little slower.
I’d like to be with you longer, too.

— Okay… — Kang Yu nodded with an incomprehensible expression on his face.

It seemed that Echidna slightly misunderstood, but what’s important was the result— that she’ll fly slower.

‘There’s no gain without some loss.’

Either way, they had arrived quickly.

Kang Yu turned towards the Level S Gate.

Hwa Yeon walked over to the squad members guarding the Gate.

— It’s an honor to see you!

— How’s the search going?

— They say they haven’t found anything yet.

— I see.
And Commander Ku Hyun Mo?

— When he heard what was going on, he went into the Gate with his division.

— I want to talk to him.

— Got it!

Hwa Yeon picked up the equipment that could contact people in the Gate.

— Roger that, we’ll be following behind you.

After finishing the brief phone call, she came up to Young-ju and Kang Yu.

— Any news on the search?

The squad leader looked grim as she relayed the info:

— They say that up till now, nothing has happened, but there was an explosion somewhere in the caves.
It’s hard to say for sure what it was, but they felt an unpleasant energy.

— Unpleasant energy? — Young-ju questioned.

— Most likely… it’s Magi.

Young-ju’s expression became serious.

Kang Yu squinted as he said:

— I think they’ve already started the rite of calling.

— The group who went ahead gave us the coordinates of the caves.
I told the Second Division to take their time and wait for us, so it’s time to move out.

Kang Yu nodded and followed Hwa Yeon into the Level S Gate.

Within the spacious Pohang Gate, there were hills with black holes here and there, reminiscent of ant houses on the outside.

‘Are all of these entrances to the caves?’

Kang Yu wasn’t sure if the Second Division could determine exactly which cave the Teachers were hiding in.
After all, it was almost impossible to look through all the caves.

— That’s where they’re hiding.

He followed Hwa Yeon, who guided them by the coordinates, to the entrance of one of the caves.

The Second Division was already near the entrance, armed and ready to fight.

— Ah! You’re here! Hwa Yeon, I’m sorry it took so long.
But there were many caves to go through…

A golden-haired man with sunglasses approached the girl.

Ku Hyun Mo.

The commander in charge of the Second Division.

— It’s okay.
Are you sure it’s this one?

— Yes! The sound of the explosion was coming from here! — He turned back slightly to his teammates.
— You guys heard it, right? —

— That’s right! — The entire team answered in a chorus to confirm their Commander’s words.

Kang Yu directed his gaze beyond the entrance of the cave.

‘Magi.’

He was sure that the energy coming from there was Magi.
He tapped Hwa Yeon on the shoulder to catch her attention:

— Let’s go in.

— Got it.
— She turned back to Hyun Mo and continued: —  Commander, I’m counting on you and your group.
—

— Ha-ha! Since you’re asking, we’ll do our very best.
Position A, everyone!

— Position A!

Repeating loudly after the commander, the squad quickly lined up in proper formation.

In a flash, their movements became coherent, as if they were one.

Kang Yu, watching the squad that looked like they were in a superhero movie, bit his lip.

‘Will they be any help at all?’

From the outside, the squad looked more like an amateur group than a government formation.

— Let’s go! — Ku Hyun Mo shouted as he looked at Hwa Yeon, his eyes gleaming with pride.

He must have thought the ‘Position A’ that his squad took looked incredibly cool.

Following his instructions, his squad entered the cave.

Kang Yu slowly trailed behind them.

The cave wasn’t as dark as he had expected.

The stalactites hanging from the ceiling were shining green.

The cave, illuminated by their light, even looked beautiful.

— Kang Yu, I can smell blood.

Kang Yu nodded in agreement with Echidna’s words.
He could smell it too, even without using any Power.

Unlike the bewitching cave, the smell of blood was frightening.

Following the smell, they went deeper and deeper into the cave.

Eventually, they reached a space of a hundred meters in diameter, where a circle was drawn in the center on the ground, from which the smell of blood was strongest.

‘Could this be where the calling took place?’

He turned his head towards the man reaching out to the circle.

He had such a big tattoo on his face that Kang Yu couldn’t make out what he looked like.

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The tattooed man sobered up as he looked at the guests who suddenly showed up.

There was an eerie smile on his face.

— Ah… It’s too late.

There was a split in the air, like a crack in glass.

***