Chapter 379

“I’ve thoroughly searched the Tower of the Four Kings,” said the informant. “But it seems there’s no clue here that you’re looking for.”

Christian nodded.

If Edrinne couldn’t find anything, then there really was nothing.

“Still, let’s take one more look.”

He climbed up the tower overlooking the Four Kings’ Castle.

He scanned the place again, but no new information appeared.

‘So the lord of the Four Kings was just a puppet after all.’

Christian clicked his tongue.

It seemed no one here knew the true secret behind the fate of this world.

‘I thought there’d be at least some clue.’

The only meaningful piece of information he’d uncovered was that the Magic Minister had handed over the Silver Snow Demon Lord to the lord of the Four Kings.

‘As expected, the Central Authority is behind everything happening now.’

Christian frowned.

What exactly was the Central Authority’s goal?

The same mystery surrounded Gehenna and the Celestial Realm. No one could guess their true intentions.

Above all—

‘Who sent me back in time?’

Yes.

Of all the questions, this was the most important.

Who? And for what purpose? Who had caused his regression?

He felt that if he could find this answer, it might unravel everything.

‘In the end, do I have to destroy the Mystic Maga to reach the truth?’

The Mystic Maga was a tool directly controlled by the demons of Gehenna.

They were likely to know all the secrets.

‘…But right now, I don’t even know what the Mystic Maga is planning.’

How exactly the Mystic Maga intended to bring about the apocalypse, or what the “Gate” the Pope mentioned recently was, remained a complete mystery.

‘This is frustrating.’

Though he had toppled his nemesis, the Four Kings’ Castle, he felt no closer to a solution—only a growing sense of helplessness.

‘I have to find a clue here. There has to be something useful.’

Then, something caught his eye.

“Is this the communication device the lord of the Four Kings used?”

“Yes. It self-destructed to maintain security, so it no longer functions.”

Christian folded his arms thoughtfully.

The fact it had an auto-destruction feature meant it was used for highly sensitive communication.

He faintly sensed traces of magic and demonic energy—similar to the communication devices used by the Mystic Maga.

‘Of course, all the messages would have been wiped clean.’

Still, faint remnants of magic and demonic energy lingered.

Though they were meaningless scraps—just fragments scattered among the ruins.

‘But it’s not entirely useless.’

Snap!

Christian analyzed the magical traces left on the device.

Reconstructing the original structure from scattered fragments was nearly impossible, but with extreme computational power, he managed to identify some words embedded in the traces.

“‘True Vessel’? Are they talking about me?”

Christian frowned.

He focused harder, extracting more information from the surrounding traces.

“…‘Double-edged Key’?”

It seemed to be referring to him.

‘What could that mean? A double-edged key?’

No further clues appeared in the context.

As he searched, he found another word.

“‘Underground Garden’?”

Christian tilted his head.

That word seemed oddly out of place.

‘That’s the name of a ruin in the Destruction Maga’s territory. Why would the lord of the Four Kings and the Mystic Maga mention it in their communication?’

He had visited that ruin in both his past and current lives.

‘It was where I first met Kashmir before becoming the Grand Prince.’

He had gone there during the Grand Prince’s succession conflict, drawn in by the schemes of Eun Seolhwa, the mother of the Third Prince, Maysak.

The place was also called the “Garden of Training,” as different floors housed corresponding monsters.

On the 27th floor, Christian had faced a fourth-rank demon.

‘Not a true demon, but a replicated one.’

He had realized it was a fake and made it disappear.

Though it was probably replicated again by now.

Christian crossed his arms.

‘I always thought the Underground Garden was suspicious.’

A fourth-rank demon.

A “Great Rank” far beyond ordinary nobles.

To imprison such a being as a monster in a ruin…

Who in the world would do such a thing?

‘Only third-rank or higher beings could pull that off.’

First and second ranks were practically natural laws, so they were out of the question.

‘The great demons of Gehenna’s third rank? No. The Underground Garden wasn’t just home to evil monsters. There were beings of light as well.’

Christian felt the Underground Garden was a joint creation of both Gehenna and the Celestial Realm.

The problem was why.

Why would transcendent beings from both Gehenna and the Celestial Realm collaborate to create such a strange ruin?

‘And why did the lord of the Four Kings and the Mystic Maga mention the Underground Garden?’

Suddenly, a theory ran cold down his spine.

‘Could the “Gate” be…?’

He swallowed hard.

‘There isn’t just one ruin like the Underground Garden in the world.’

There were all kinds of strange ruins scattered across the land.

Most were ancient relics, but some, like the Underground Garden, had unknown origins and identities.

Their common trait was that they were unfathomably deep, guarded by beings beyond natural order.

‘And traces of both Gehenna and the Celestial Realm are present.’

“Is there a map?”

“Yes, here it is.”

As befitted the lord of the Four Kings’ office, a map of the entire continent lay before him.

Christian grabbed a pen and quickly marked the locations of the ruins he’d just thought of.

Having been a relic hunter in his previous life, he knew the continent’s ruins well.

He swallowed.

“…A magic circle.”

Connecting the dots of the ruins revealed a clear geometric pattern.

‘A magic circle formed through the ruins. This must be the true nature of the Gate.’

Goosebumps prickled his skin.

‘If this magic circle activates, an apocalypse far worse than before will come.’

In his previous life, the Bloodthirsty Demon Lord had caused slaughter across the continent, using the chaos to break down the boundaries between the three realms.

But it wasn’t a complete collapse—higher-ranked beings were still limited in their ability to descend to the surface.

Celestials, demons, lower-ranked devils, and constellations only intruded in limited numbers.

But this time was different.

‘If the magic circle centered on these ruins activates, the boundaries between the three realms will be completely destroyed.’

That meant even the highest-ranked beings could descend freely.

It would be the end of the world.

There was only one question.

‘Why didn’t they use this method in my previous life? This must be the Mystic Maga’s ideal apocalypse.’

Christian bit his lip.

There was only one possibility.

‘It wasn’t possible in my previous life. But now, it is.’

He had to stop it.

‘It’s not too late.’

Christian stared at the map.

If the lines connecting the ruins formed a magic circle, there must be a core point.

‘The Glass Lake in the Gray Zone?’

A secret hidden from ordinary people.

A lake with water as clear as glass.

‘It’s not a natural lake, but an artificial one. A ruin.’

He knew well, having nearly died trying to explore it in his previous life.

‘Who controls Glass Lake now? The Swordsmanship Clan? The Dark King?’

The Gray Zone was a lawless area where various factions vied for power.

The strongest among them was undoubtedly the Swordsmanship Clan.

‘Though the Swordsmanship Clan is technically in the Gray Zone, they operate on a different level from the others.’

Even combined, the other factions couldn’t match the Swordsmanship Clan.

They didn’t care much about dominating the Gray Zone, so other factions thrived.

But even the Swordsmanship Clan had a formidable rival.

The Dark King.

A Saint Sovereign.

A genuine ninth-rank sovereign.

Currently, the Swordsmanship Clan had no ninth-rank transcendent, so they couldn’t easily confront the Dark King.

‘Which side controls Glass Lake? The Gray Zone’s power balance keeps shifting.’

Then Christian remembered something.

Besides the Swordsmanship Clan and the Dark King, there was a third faction.

Also near Glass Lake.

“…Could it be?”

A sudden unease crept over him, and he frowned.

At that moment, a loud voice interrupted.

“Grand Prince Christian! Please save me!!!”

He turned to see a familiar face.

A woman whose beauty was completely overshadowed by her loud, flashy demeanor.

It was Ruina, the money-grubbing merchant.

“This is bad! I’m doomed!!”

She grabbed Christian’s hand desperately, looking like a complete mess.

But Ruina couldn’t get the words out.

Clang!

Edrinne drew her sword.

“How dare you grab my friend Christian’s hand. Do you want to die? Or should I chop off each of your fingers joint by joint, then cut off your wrist?”

“…….”

Christian cleared his throat awkwardly.

Sometimes, he wasn’t sure if Edrinne was kind or just terrifying.

“Enough. Ruina, what’s going on?”

He asked, guessing the problem.

“Is there trouble at Glass Lake?”

Ruina was no longer just a merchant.

She was now the queen of the newly revived Opalma Kingdom in the Gray Zone.

…Though Ruina as a queen was still hard to imagine.

‘Glass Lake is part of the Opalma Kingdom’s territory.’

The Karn Empire, Golden Cross, and Holy Empire had all recognized Opalma’s lands.

Since there were few other powers in the Gray Zone, they reclaimed their territory without much trouble.

For places like Glass Lake, which other factions had occupied, they paid a price and negotiated concessions.

They were now rebuilding the kingdom, gathering the wandering Opalma refugees.

‘If the Mystic Maga starts meddling with Glass Lake, Ruina won’t be able to handle it.’

Chris nodded.

“I need to rally the forces of the alliance.”

The one thing working in his favor was that, as a hero, Chris already had most of the alliance’s power under his control.

Even if the mysterious Maga were the opponent, he could handle it.

But then Ruina said something unexpected.

“No, why suddenly the Glass Lake? There’s no real problem there.”

“…Then why did you come here?”

The answer that slipped from Ruina’s lips was completely unforeseen.

“The Swordsmanship Clan has declared war on our Opalma Kingdom!!”

“!!”

Chris’s eyes widened in shock at the sudden news.

‘Why would the Swordsmanship Clan do that all of a sudden?’

At this point, the Swordsmanship Clan was probably in turmoil over internal power struggles.

Besides, as mentioned before, the Swordsmanship Clan had no interest in the Gray Zone.

“…What did you do to the Swordsmanship Clan?”

“W-What do you mean, what did I do?!”

“There’s no way they’d declare war if you’d been keeping a low profile.”

“That’s absolutely not true! Am I crazy enough to provoke the Swordsmanship Clan?! I didn’t even set foot near them, and yet they suddenly declared war. And the Dark King is involved too!!”