DLC 10

Chapter 10 Magic Circuit (2)

“Have you awakened, warrior?”

…What?

As death closed in, Jinhyeok had been waiting for regeneration.

Yet when he opened his eyes, the Demon King was standing right in front of him.

How was he supposed to explain this?

What kind of checkpoint system does the Infinite Regression Ticket even use?

If he had truly regenerated, he should have reappeared outside the Demon King’s castle.

“Ugh…”

Jinhyeok groaned as he tried to move.

His body refused to obey him.

This isn’t regeneration.

He had simply lost consciousness after overusing magical power.

And now, when he woke up, the Demon King was staring down at him.

There was no terror quite like it.

This was the closest he had ever been to the Demon King.

Jinhyeok’s mind raced.

Strangely enough, however, the overwhelming pressure he had felt before was nowhere to be found.

“Are you alright?”

The Demon King sounded genuinely concerned.

Wouldn’t a villain normally attack first instead of asking if he was okay?

While Jinhyeok sat there in confusion, unable to answer, the Demon King placed a hand on his lower abdomen.

“Hero, I examined your condition. It appears you have mastered dark magic, though I could not tell at first because you were surrounded by a remarkably powerful protective barrier. It seems you suffered severe internal injuries during your battle with the Demon Lord.”

Goosebumps ran across Jinhyeok’s skin.

You examined my body?

What if he discovered that the source of my magical power is his own?

That wouldn’t end with a simple death.

No.

At minimum, he would be torn apart.

At worst, he would be tortured until he revealed everything.

Should I try to distract him? No. If he already knows, there’s nothing I can do.

Jinhyeok swallowed nervously.

“Drink.”

Yet despite Jinhyeok’s obvious tension, the Demon King calmly offered him a cup of tea.

“…It’s not poisoned, is it?”

The thought crossed his mind for a moment.

Then he immediately dismissed it.

The idea that the Demon King would resort to poison against someone like him was absurd.

“Unless he plans to kill me with his fists, I doubt he’d bother with tricks like this.”

With that conclusion, Jinhyeok closed his eyes and drank.

“…Huh?”

Since it had been prepared by the Demon King himself, he had expected something scorching hot and bitter enough to resemble liquid hellfire.

Instead—

It was sweet.

Very sweet.

The warm tea slid smoothly down his throat.

It’s good.

“One of my few hobbies,” the Demon King said. “Here. Have another cup.”

“Ah… thank you.”

The Demon King’s taste was considerably sweeter than the average person’s, but that wasn’t what mattered to Jinhyeok.

Thanks to regeneration, he had never felt hunger.

But this was the first thing he had eaten or drunk since being kidnapped into the Tower.

That alone made it meaningful.

It’s warm.

It feels like my body is coming back to life.

Though his time inside the Tower had been both long and short depending on how one looked at it, Jinhyeok had accumulated more exhaustion than he realized.

In that state, sugar tasted heavenly.

This is kind of ridiculous.

The terrifying Demon King’s favorite drink is milk tea overloaded with sugar.

Jinhyeok finished the rest of the tea and smiled faintly.

Then his expression stiffened.

What am I thinking?

The Demon King is still an enemy I have to defeat someday.

“Warrior. Does it still hurt?”

Ironically, the Demon King looked at him with genuine concern.

The contradiction left Jinhyeok bewildered.

“…Don’t you want to fight me?”

“Even if you are a hero, I have no desire to fight someone as weak as you.”

For a brief moment, Jinhyeok wondered if the Demon King might not be as evil as he had imagined.

“Thanks to that supreme anti-demonic blessing you possess, you were probably able to slaughter the Demon Lord’s army despite your pathetic body. But such tricks will not work against me.”

“…Haha. Just as I thought.”

No.

He really was a villain.

“Then why did you save me?”

“Hmph. I was merely curious about the protection surrounding you. Besides, there is no reason to kill someone who has already fallen.”

The word the Demon King had repeatedly mentioned since the very first attempt was blessing.

Jinhyeok’s eyes lit up.

This could be an opportunity.

He knew almost nothing about the Blessing of Light beyond the fact that it was incredibly powerful.

But if anyone understood blessings, it would be the Demon King.

Extracting information from an enemy might seem absurd, but—

It doesn’t matter. I can always regress.

Only someone with Infinite Regression could think that way.

“This is the Blessing of Light. It wasn’t granted by a goddess. It’s a power I acquired myself.”

The Demon King’s eyes narrowed with interest.

“Oh? Power of this level?”

“Yes. That’s why even I don’t fully understand its true capabilities.”

The Demon King listened quietly before speaking.

“You are not lying.”

At that moment, Jinhyeok’s heart nearly stopped.

Can he tell when someone is lying?

“This blessing possesses anti-demonic properties. It cannot absorb physical force, which gives it obvious limitations as armor. However, against demonic energy, it provides a level of protection approaching complete immunity.”

So that’s why he used Dragon Slayer Fist.

Now it made sense.

Dragon Slayer Fist was a martial art created to hunt dragons.

A technique designed to pierce powerful scales using anti-magic force and inject demonic energy directly into the target.

Coincidentally, Jinhyeok’s Blessing of Light possessed anti-demonic properties even greater than those of a dragon.

The Demon King had specifically used Dragon Slayer Fist to bypass it.

If he hadn’t mastered that technique—

Even a casual punch would have killed Jinhyeok instantly.

Should I call that lucky?

If he had died from an ordinary punch, he wouldn’t have suffered regeneration pain.

But he also wouldn’t have gained magical power.

The system message—

[A specific energy interferes with regeneration.]

—and the nature of the Blessing of Light were slowly revealing the truth behind his regressions.

“That is why your blessing has poor compatibility with magic. I do not know how you cultivated it, but using magical power will be extremely difficult.”

“…That certainly seems to be true.”

And with those words, Jinhyeok discovered a new problem.

His magical power was entirely the Demon King’s.

One hundred percent pure demonic energy.

The Blessing of Light surrounding him interfered with both the entry and release of that power.

This is bad.

It practically means I can never become a mage.

For now, he could barely move magical power at all, so it wasn’t an immediate issue.

But having his future growth potential crippled was a serious concern.

“Even so, it should not be a major problem. Once your internal injuries heal, your innate magical power will return. Simply use that.”

Innate magical power?

I only have the Demon King’s magic.

“What if someone’s innate magical power is demonic energy?”

The Demon King stared at him before letting out a hollow laugh.

“Hero. Are you mocking me? You are human. The first magical power you ever possessed could never be demonic energy.”

Unfortunately, Jinhyeok had a remarkable talent for turning impossibilities into reality.

“…What if it were? What if a demon possessed the Blessing of Light? Or if a human received demonic energy from a demon?”

“You are speaking nonsense from the start. Utter nonsense. Still, since you spoke honestly about your blessing, I will overlook it.”

“I’m serious.”

“Ha. Then that person would never be able to release magical power for the rest of their life.”

“…I see.”

“Tsk. Wasting my time with such absurd hypotheticals. Though I suppose that tendency to indulge in impossible thought experiments is fitting for a wizard.”

The Demon King snorted as he looked at Jinhyeok lying weakly in bed.

If it weren’t for that wicked goddess forcing me into a contract with the Tower, I never would have agreed.

Still… occasions like this do provide some amusement.

In truth, the Demon King was in an unusually good mood.

For ages he had been weakened by the destruction of Void Fragments.

Now, for the first time in a long while, he was at full strength.

That alone felt refreshing.

And in that state, he had discovered Yoo Jinhyeok collapsed and half-dead.

At first, he had dismissed him as just another fragile climber.

Yet the more he observed him, the more interesting he became.

Dragon God.

Nothing has entertained me since that stubborn fool.

The existence of another being who reached this place without becoming a dog of the Principal Gods is refreshing.

The Dragon God had been the only individual to reach the 99th Floor without forming a contract with any deity.

Initially, the Demon King had assumed Jinhyeok possessed a goddess’s blessing.

But the light surrounding him was different.

Unlike divine blessings, it contained no impurities whatsoever.

Pure light.

Nothing more.

Such purity can only be achieved through relentless training.

The Demon King respected strength.

But his definition of strength differed from most.

Raw power alone meant nothing.

What mattered was how much someone had achieved through their own efforts.

That was the true measure of greatness.

And Yoo Jinhyeok, who had reached this place without any sign of a divine contract, deserved respect—even if they stood on opposite sides.

“Um… Demon King.”

The Demon King answered before Jinhyeok could finish speaking.

“If your goal is the 100th Floor, then give up. No matter how pitiful your condition may be, I have no intention of dying for your sake.”

“…Are you telling me to kill myself?”

The Demon King frowned.

“What are you talking about?”

“If you’ve passed the 80th Floor, you can leave the Tower whenever you want. You are probably the first climber I’ve ever allowed to leave without fighting.”

“T-That’s true?”

Jinhyeok was stunned.

He had never even reached the 20th Floor, much less the 80th.

This was completely new information.

Come to think of it…

If you can leave every twenty floors, then you don’t have to descend all the way back to the First Floor. You could simply exit from the 80th.

Not that the information meant much to him.

He still had no idea how he was supposed to clear the 99th Floor.

Still… how does the Demon King know more about the Tower than I do?

It was surprising that someone supposedly trapped on the 99th Floor possessed so much knowledge about it.

“Well then. Farewell, climber.”

The problem was that Jinhyeok currently had no way to leave.