C254
Demon King.
It was a title bestowed only upon a very small number of Rankers among the demons.
Among the demons with noble titles, a small number began to call themselves kings and rule the Demon World.
Belial was one of those Demon Kings.
'The Lord of Lies'.
His palace was of the dreariest colors.
A palace of sticky gray.
'A peculiar taste'.
The place seemed even more monotonous to YuWon, who had just stayed at the golden castle.
"Your father's tastes are a bit eccentric, aren't they?"
"He's like a Demon King."
The atmosphere was perfect.
Just as he had imagined.
YuWon had only heard about it, but it was his first time personally visiting a Demon King's castle.
"Not all demons are odd. Some of them like the color pink."
"There are all kinds of weird people."
"Yeah, well, I don't understand them either."
They chatted and moved, and soon found themselves in the center of the castle.
Belial's castle was even more deserted than the Golden Castle.
There wasn't even the feeling of a single ant walking, apart from the absence of any sign of life.
He wondered if he had the whole place to himself.
As they walked...
"Greetings to you."
"Yes?"
When YuWon stopped and murmured, Mamos looked back in surprise.
At that moment...
"Ah!"
Mamos's body floated up and large eyes appeared.
Thump.
-Mamos.
Belial's eyes.
His crimson eyes and black bloodline looked at Mamos.
-Where are you wandering around?
Rumbling with a furious voice. The anger of the Demon King was enough to frighten anyone, but Mamos remained impassive.
"Stop pretending to be angry, I'm not falling into the trap anymore."
Mamos sighed heavily, as if it wasn't the first time this happened.
The Lord of Lies.
YuWon had heard of him in rumors.
An eccentric who sprinkled lies in everything he said.
The first time he had heard of him, he had wondered if that was the Lord of Lies.
And that impression hadn't changed even now that he was face to face with Belial's eyes.
Ew-.
Belial looked at him again.
His eyes scanned YuWon.
-Who is this guy by your side...
"Stop pretending you don't know."
Mamos cut off Belial.
He did know.
Guk-.
A single pupil opened, and from it emerged a demon with long arms and legs.
A demon with a face resembling Mamos', wearing a half-mask.
He recognized the face.
"Belial."
The Lord of Lies appeared.
YuWon bowed before him.
"I, Player Kim YuWon, offer you my greetings."
"...?"
Belial seemed perplexed.
When YuWon lifted his head in a greeting, Belial opened his mouth with a strange expression.
"Is it different from what I heard from that Diablo guy?"
Diablo.
A High Ranker with the same title of Demon King, and the most powerful demon in the Demon Kings' Guild.
Among the Demon Kings, he was the only being who had any contact with YuWon.
But Belial felt that the image of YuWon that Diablo had given him was different from what he saw in front of him.
"You are Mamos' father."
That's why YuWon was so polite to Belial.
"As an older brother, I cannot act recklessly, can I?"
"Are you being polite not because I am Belial, but because I am Mamos' father?"
He had never heard anything like this in his life.
After becoming one of the Demon Kings, everyone who bowed before him did so because of his power.
But YuWon's head did not bow before such things.
"If it wasn't for that guy Diablo, I would have thought it was nonsense."
Although it went against his alter ego, YuWon was a brave person who was not afraid to confront even Diablo.
There was no reason not to believe him.
"Then I should also treat you as a guest of my son."
Belial turned around.
Immediately, he entered the pupil.
"Go ahead."
Jab-.
Belial's figure disappeared.
Belial had spoken unilaterally and disappeared unilaterally.
Mamos looked at YuWon again with a worried expression.
"I will tell you in advance, my father is a man of lies."
"I know."
"And when he says he will treat you as a guest of his son, it's probably a lie too."
YuWon nodded.
From the moment Belial appeared, YuWon had been using the Golden Cinder Eyes.
"I must be on guard."
This was the Lord of Lies.
He might lack the cunning and skill of Zeus, but he was far superior to him in deceit.
Even with the Golden Cinder Eyes, YuWon would still not be able to see through all his lies.
Pak.
YuWon walked behind Belial.
And at that moment...
[You have entered the 'Chamber of Lies']
A black darkness enveloped YuWon.
The immense darkness made it difficult to see even an inch ahead.
Mamos was nowhere to be seen either. He had already entered Belial's territory.
-I like questions and answers.
Belial's voice.
Hospitality was a lie. Although he knew it, the mere fact that the other man had tried to deceive him made him unnecessarily uncomfortable.
-From now on, when I ask you a question, you ask me one too, and we can mix lies and truths in our answers.
A voice full of excitement.
This was Belial's entertainment.
And it had already begun.
Belial's method of questions and answers.
It was a well-known game among higher-ranking demons. Belial, as the Lord of Lies, liked to mix truths and lies in his stories.
That's why YuWon sought Belial.
To have a question and answer session with him.
-There are more rules. Once you have told a lie, you must tell the truth next unless, of course, the other person sees through the lie.
"What if what you thought was a lie turns out to be the truth?"
-Then you will have to accept the penalty for answering incorrectly. You must compulsorily tell the truth in your opponent's next question. How about that? Does it sound fun?
[Do you accept Belial's interrogation method?]
A conversation mixing lies and truths.
But in the process, you don't know which is the lie. Once you identify the lie, you will be able to see that the next answer is the truth, but to do that, you must first identify the lie.
It's a game where everything seems like a lie until you discover which one is false.
"That sounds fun."
Belial's lies.
And his Golden Cinder Eyes.
It was a battle of skills and a battle of which brain can work faster.
This was more advantageous for YuWon than going head-to-head with the Demon King Belial.
-I will ask you first. What is your purpose here?
It was a question for which there was no reason to lie.
YuWon responded.
"I want to fight alongside the Demon Kings."
Although he spoke the truth, he concealed the truth in his answer.
To fight together, but not which side.
Whether it meant uniting Muspelheim with the Demon Kings or wanting to bring the Demon Kings to Asgard, he couldn't say with just this answer.
This means he forced the person to discard one question from their opponent with just one answer.
A fight where swords and shields are thrown back and forth through words.
"Now it's my turn."
-You caught onto the game pretty quickly.
As if having fun, the voice mixed with a chuckle.
YuWon slowly opened his mouth.
"Do the Demon Kings intend to intervene in the war?"
-Wherever there is blood, the Demon Kings go. It's my turn now. Which side are you going to join, Asgard or Muspelheim?
"Asgard. Now it's my turn. The Demon Kings are currently in Muspelheim..."
A series of nonsensical questions and answers.
YuWon and Belial closely watched each other's questions and answers. If they were caught lying even once, they couldn't escape the next question.
You must also be careful with lies.
You must also mix your lies to confuse your opponent.
Only then will you find the meaning of this question and answer game.
"This will never end."
YuWon realized that they were covering their tracks with each other himself.
He must shake things up.
To do that, he must ask a different question.
So...
"What kind of son is Mamos to you?"
-...
Unlike before, the response didn't come immediately.
It was because it was a completely different question than what he expected.
That's all.
YuWon infused mana into his Golden Cinder Eyes and looked at Belial in the darkness.
"Where is the demon I was talking to earlier?"
-He's just a useless... and worthless son.
[The 'Golden Cinder Eyes' see through lies]
Hwareuk-.
YuWon's eyes burned as he stared into the dark abyss.
A very brief hesitation.
But that gap was enough. In those eyes, seeking truth and falsehood, Belial's lie was revealed.
'This answer is surprising.'
He knew Mamos was Belial's sore spot.
Otherwise, Belial probably would have sired multiple children and created a bloodline like the other Demon Kings.
Despite that, Mamos grew up without receiving much love from Belial. YuWon thought there must be a reason for that.
But even here, Belial seized the opportunity to lie.
"You're lying."
[You saw through the lie]
[The next response from Belial will surely be the truth]
He could feel Belial's agitation.
To ruin the possibility of a lie like this...
When it came to Mamos, it seemed the lies would spill out without conditions.
'This makes the question easier.'
To identify a secure lie.
That was the task YuWon had to accomplish in this conversation.
The initiative, which hadn't moved anywhere, tilted towards YuWon.
"Ask a question."
Just like the response, the question wasn't immediately followed.
The next response had to be the truth.
Whether it was the pressure or the fact that he, the Lord of Lies, had lost the initiative, Belial trembled.
-How did you get here?
It was quite a broad question.
This was evidence of his surprise and bewilderment.
If YuWon gave a vague answer like "I did what I could," he might get away with it.
But no.
YuWon had been waiting for this question.
"I know everything that will happen. Even the outcome of this war."
-You're lying.
Naturally, Belial denied YuWon's response.
An omniscient being.
He didn't believe such a being could exist, not even one who knew the outcome of the war between Asgard and Muspelheim.
But...
[Kim YuWon's response is 'true'].
[Belial must tell the truth about two questions].
-...what?
The question-and-answer system told them that what YuWon said was the truth.
It was a question-and-answer system.
Even if you were an Administrator, you couldn't deceive the system. No matter what rank you had, you were not exempt from the power of the system.
The system revealed that YuWon's words were true.
Belial's right to question had ended. It was YuWon's turn.
However, YuWon's response didn't end there.
"I know the outcome of this war."
He knew everything.
Even the outcome of the war.
So far, it was the truth.
And then he added.
"The war will end with the defeat of Muspelheim."
The lie added by YuWon, even if it was just a hint, shook the Demon King's resolve.
Tags:
LWTG (Novel)