Chapter 151
Everything happened in an instant.
What was that dagger?
And what exactly was this Death Curse?
Then...
Shing!
In the blink of an eye, members of the Great Council surrounded Suhyeok with swords and spears pointed at him.
"You bastard..."
Karian's voice was thick with fury.
"Do you even understand what you've done?"
The White Dragons aiming their weapons at Suhyeok were no different.
"This is exactly why allowing humans into this place was a mistake from the beginning."
"We should've simply killed these malicious codes the moment we saw them."
"What a pain."
"We should've killed him earlier."
"Since things have come to this, someone will have to take responsibility, won't they?"
Their gazes shifted toward Kaiden, the Chairman.
Soon, every council member was looking at him.
This is going badly.
If this continues, there'll be no way out.
Even Kaiden probably couldn't openly side with Suhyeok now.
Not only had the incident already happened...
There was even clear evidence that Suhyeok had killed the First Elder.
"Keugh...."
Kaiden couldn't give a definite answer.
In the end...
There was only one option left.
They had to save the First Elder somehow.
"Cough... cough...."
More than ten Blue Dragons with healing abilities gathered around Veil and attempted to treat him.
But nothing worked.
He was already too close to death.
[Healing abilities are ineffective due to the Death Curse.]
[Stamina cannot rise above 1%.]
[Time remaining until eternal rest: 3 minutes.]
Even the Constellations seemed unable to believe what was happening.
They had started suspecting each other.
What the hell is going on????
If someone can put a Death Curse on a dragon, wouldn't it have to be one of the Constellations? There's no way a Player could do that.
Even if it was a Player, somebody must've ordered them to do it.
Can't trust anyone anymore.
If it's related to death, maybe the Underworld faction? But it's a curse, so I'm not sure.
Suhyeok looked toward the collapsed Veil.
Healing was ultimately a process of injecting Mana into the body and using it to regenerate damaged areas.
The Blue Dragons kept trying...
But the curse prevented their Mana from entering his body.
This wasn't going to be easy.
"Move the Elder immediately!"
"No!"
"If we move him now, he might die on the way!"
The atmosphere sank even colder.
The killing intent of every council member seemed to press down on the entire hall.
[W-What are we supposed to do, nya...?!]
[If he really dies, this is going to turn into a war, nyaaa...!!]
Leon was right.
If the First Elder died here...
It would become war.
The dragons would seek revenge not only against Suhyeok...
But against every human on the continent.
To dragons, the death of one of their own had to be repaid in blood.
[Apostle Authority ‘Simulation’ activates.]
At that moment...
Time around Suhyeok stopped.
The world turned black and white.
Only one thing retained its dark crimson color.
Smoke.
It was flowing from the First Elder's abdomen.
Time is stopped.
I have enough time to think.
The priority is saving the First Elder.
The culprit was almost certainly Lee Seha.
His goal was to split Suhyeok and the dragons apart.
Beyond that...
To start a war.
Ding!
[Simulation presents the optimal options.]
Bring the Saintess possessing Sacrifice (S) to this location.
Kill all dragons and eliminate the source of the problem.
Proceed with option 1, slow the curse's progression, then head to the vault containing the third Authority.
Suhyeok froze.
...The third Authority?
There was a third Authority inside the vault?
Even before his regression...
He'd never known that.
Suhyeok fell into thought.
Options 1 and 3 were effectively connected.
That meant the real choice was between 2 and 3.
Option 2.
Kill every dragon here.
And that didn't mean only the council members.
It would include Sylvie too.
[If this option is selected, success probability exceeds 80%.]
Even if I can kill them...
There's no way that's the best choice.
Then option 3.
Bringing the Saintess from a lower floor within three minutes was possible.
She didn't exactly have the right to refuse anyway.
The real question was whether Sacrifice could improve the First Elder's condition.
No.
"Improve" was the optimistic version.
If Sacrifice can't even slow the curse down, then we're screwed.
[If this option is selected, success probability is below 50%.]
A coin toss.
Practically gambling.
Even when Suhyeok ran the Simulation repeatedly...
Success and failure alternated.
And most of the results were failures.
He had no choice but to decide.
Then...
While he was thinking deeply about what to do...
...Wait.
Why didn't I think of that?
Suhyeok immediately acted.
He closed his eyes and focused.
The empty black-and-white world began turning blue, starting from around his body.
A moment later...
[‘Constellation Without an Epithet’ pays Rank.]
[The Constellation's Rank already belongs to a high tier.]
[Rank begins interfering with fate.]
[Success probability of option 3 rises from below 50% to 75%.]
[Due to a title effect, Luck is maximized.]
[Probability reaches 90%.]
As expected.
This was only possible because Suhyeok still belonged to no faction...
And hadn't even received an epithet as a Constellation.
And because he was still a Player.
Interfering with fate itself meant making enemies of high-ranking Constellations.
Now...
It was time to choose.
[Option 3 selected.]
[The Simulation begins.]
"Wait."
Suhyeok spoke.
"I can save the First Elder."
"So leave me alone for three minutes."
"If you do..."
"I'll save him and find the culprit."
The blades pointed at Suhyeok's throat pressed closer.
"Hah."
Karian's voice was icy.
"Don't talk bullshit."
"No matter how strong you are for a Player..."
"You can't deceive the shared mental world of dragons."
"And now you dare negotiate with us?"
Terrifying Mana exploded from Karian.
He looked ready to kill Suhyeok immediately.
