Chapter 98: Great Stone Mountain, Mogron (8)

When I suddenly came to my senses, I was walking on a dark glacier with no end in sight.

Just when did it start.

Cold ice was frozen beneath my feet, and darkness surrounded me.

A wind that made my face grimace palely blew, and my body trembled on its own from the chill.

On that silent ice, my own pain was my only companion.

I didn’t know where to go.

It seemed I was lost or the path didn’t exist at all.

I moved my feet with just the thought that I had to move forward, but with each step, the pain only deepened.

In this darkness, the blade called loneliness stabbed my heart, and the ice-like silence choked my throat.

It seemed I couldn’t even remember how I arrived here, or even where this pain began.

Only the desperate desire that I must find hope at the end of this darkness led me, and that was why I continued to walk toward that darkness.

Kkiik, kkik…….

What I heard from beyond the darkness was a desolate metallic sound.

As I advanced further into the darkness, I saw iron rings and chains hanging in the air.

Sharp knives and tooth-shaped tools were laid out on a table, and from some point on, countless torture tools, difficult to identify, were scattered in all directions.

In the darkness, a frightening silence tightened around me, as if trying to suffocate me.

Even though I tried not to, vivid images of pain and fear kept appearing before my eyes.

A rotten smell that started to waft from some point on, pierced the tip of my nose.

-It hurts, it huuurts──!

-Kkiaaaaaaaak……!

-Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.

Unidentifiable screams, which I heard as if they were auditory hallucinations, whispered to me what kind of place this was.

[You have faced one of the Primordial essences!]

[The Primordial Demonic seeps into your essence!]

[The spirit of the Postponer of Ruin resists the Demonic!]

As the power of the Postponer of Ruin began to drive out the demon’s presence, the shackles of pain, which had seemed eternal, slowly showed their end.

“……Ah.”

A landscape as if it had materialized the concept of pain itself.

This place was likely the space that spoke for the existence called the Demon of Pain.

It made sense, as this space filled with all kinds of pain was probably the Demon of Pain itself.

‘Damn bastard.’

In the case of the Demon of Blazing Fire I had faced before, he was quite proactive when it came to contracts, but the Demon of Pain was different.

The contractor agonizing and suffering in their craving for a contract was also great amusement for the Demon of Pain, so even the contract process was not easy like this.

In any case…….

Although the process wasn’t easy, I finally stood before the massive scales that had revealed themselves.

Although its size, shape, material, and everything else was different from what I had seen before, there was no way I wouldn’t know what that was.

The Scales of Fairness.

Before it, which held the truth of this world, I declared.

“I want a contract, demon.”

Kkiik, kkiiik…….

The scales, made of what might be iron or something else, shivered.

[The Contract of the Golden Rule begins.]

[Present the price of the contract.]

Even though the contract had officially begun, the scales were still maintaining their balance.

Unlike the hot-tempered Demon of Blazing Fire, it meant the Demon of Pain had not yet placed anything on the scales.

‘It’s telling me to put the price of the contract on the scales first.’

It wasn’t strange.

The Demon of Pain was the pervert of perverts among demons, one who enjoyed even such a process of agony.

However, the reason I had come to this place this time was not to make a contract with the Demon of Pain and obtain magic.

What I wanted was to get back the price Albino paid, which the Demon of Pain had taken.

That was why I was not the one who would put the price on the scales first.

“I declare. The condition of the contract I want is all rights to the price paid by the contractor of pain, Albino, to the Demon of Pain.”

Kkigik, kkigigik───!!

With that, the Scales of Fairness tilted rapidly to one side, making a bizarre metallic sound.

It meant the weight of the price placed on the scales was quite heavy.

[The price of the contract is insufficient.]

[Balance the contract.]

Now, from this point on was what was important.

Regrettably, I couldn’t present conditions or constraints to reduce the price in the contract with the Demon of Pain right now.

It meant I couldn’t extremely reduce the price using all sorts of catalysts, constraints, and conditions like when I contracted with the Demon of Blazing Fire.

Right now, I had to pay the full price in the contract with the Demon of Pain.

Of course, if I truly hadn’t had any preparations, I wouldn’t have come to this place in the first place.

“I declare. All the price of the contract that Albino paid, I will bear that in his place.”

As I placed the price I would pay onto the scales, the scales began to move toward balance in earnest.

Kkigik, kkigik───!!

The scales tilted with a hair-raising noise, but they couldn’t achieve a perfect balance.

The Scales of Fairness were still tilted.

Not towards me, but towards the Demon of Pain.

[The price of the contract is insufficient.]

[Balance the contract.]

The Demon of Pain was saying.

That just by bearing the price in Albino’s place, I couldn’t take Albino back.

‘Damn bastard.’

If I had my way, I’d want to say ‘don’t talk nonsense’ and break the contract itself, but the reason I couldn’t was that the Scales of Fairness, made of the Golden Rule, had also acknowledged it.

I knew.

That all contracts through the Scales of Fairness, made of the Golden Rule, are fair, but some contracts are especially more fair.

‘In any case, there’s nothing I like.’

In any case, the price was insufficient, so I had to place another price on the scales.

What should I place to make it balanced?

The deliberation was not very long.

Because the price the Demon of Pain wanted was obvious from the start.

“I declare. As the price of the contract, I will personally remain here for 1 more second.”

One second in the demon’s consciousness, where thought was expanded countless times to obtain time that was like an eternity, was not simply 1 second.

To remain 1 more second in such a place was a dangerous act, to the point that a human’s ego could collapse if it went wrong.

‘That’s why this price is heavy.’

Kkigigik!!

As if to prove that fact, the Scales of Fairness began to shake.

The scales, which had been unilaterally tilted to one side, slowly began to regain their balance.

Kkiik, kkiiik…….

The movement of the scales gradually slowed, and then, finally, stopped completely.

The scales were in equilibrium.

[The Scales of Fairness have achieved balance!]

[A fair contract is executed.]

The contract was established.

Naturally, the execution of the contract also began to be carried out quickly.

[A fair contract has been established.]

[According to the fair contract, you acquire all rights to the price paid by the contractor of pain, ‘Albino’.]

I could feel it.

That the right to control the senses of the human named Albino, which the Demon of Pain had originally held, had come into my hands.

The problem, it could be said, was the price of the contract I had to pay from now on.

[According to the fair contract, the execution of the contract begins.]

[Current time remaining : 0.99995 seconds]

The first price I paid was to remain for 1 second in this space that materialized pain itself.

Naturally, 1 second in the human world and 1 second here, where consciousness was extremely accelerated, were very different in unit, so it was not an easy price.

‘Let’s see you try.’

The space that materialized pain itself tried to present me with ceaseless pain, but there was no way the power of the Postponer of Ruin, which held an absolute advantage over Demonic, would allow that.

[The Primordial Demonic seeps into your essence!]

[The spirit of the Postponer of Ruin resists the Demonic!]

I had avoided the greatest threat this space posed, but the price of the contract still remained.

No, in fact, the second price could be seen as the true price of this contract.

The price that I would pay in place of all the prices Albino had paid to the Demon of Pain until now.

Albino had paid that price and become a person in a vegetative state, unable to do or feel anything.

As I had said I would bear that in his place, it was by no means a light price.

‘Well, I’m already prepared.’

The price that must be paid through the Demon of Pain mostly does not cause direct physical damage.

Of course, due to a price that exceeds human limits, a large amount of bleeding or wounds could indirectly occur, like with Eldran, but it meant that it doesn’t directly demand some kind of physical damage as a price.

What is pain?

The principle by which physical pain occurs is mainly related to the nervous system.

Stimulation due to injury, inflammation, disease, or other physical reasons activates specific nerve cells, and these nerve cells release specific types of neurotransmitters to transmit pain signals.

Also, this signal is transmitted to the spinal cord through the dura mater, and from there, it’s transmitted to the brain again.

As a result, the brain interprets these signals and feels pain.

In this process, the brain evaluates where the pain came from, what kind it is, how severe it is, and takes an appropriate response to deal with it.

In a word, no matter how terrible the pain, if it’s not from actual damage, it’s nothing more than a kind of electrical signal.

In other words, the concept of pain, if it has no actual substance, has plenty of room to be interpreted as a type of mental attack.

Just like right now.

[According to the fair contract, the contract is executed.]

[The spirit of the Postponer of Ruin resists the invasion of Demonic!]

[The power of the Postponer of Ruin blocks all attacks made on the spirit!]

The materialized pain, which had seemed ready to devour me at any moment, was blocked all too easily by the power of the Postponer of Ruin.

An absolute compatibility advantage against Demonic.

Immunity to all mental attacks.

The two fraudulent-like characteristic effects possessed by the Postponer of Ruin were displayed, and the price that had to be paid in the contract with the Demon of Pain was completely nullified.

‘I expected it…… but to think it would block a mental attack this easily.’

Honestly, it was a level that even I couldn’t help but be a little surprised.

Kkigik, kkigigik!!!

Kwang! Kwaaaang!!

With that, as if the Demon of Pain was enraged, everything in the surroundings began to shiver.

‘It was noticed, as expected.’

If possible, I had hoped the Demon of Pain wouldn’t know this fact, but as expected, it was difficult to hope for such a fluke against a demon.

This space was one that materialized pain itself, the essence of the Demon of Pain.

From the Demon of Pain’s perspective, it was no different from being scammed, so it wasn’t unreasonable for it to be enraged like that.

If I had my way, I’d want to keep tricking the Demon of Pain like this, but regretfully, this kind of scam wouldn’t work twice.

Because to demons, the price of a contract was always fluid.

In fact, hadn’t the Demon of Blazing Fire also changed the price of the contract right away when it seemed I was having fun with several summary contracts?

‘It’s a one-time-only free chance, but I guess there’s no need to feel it’s a waste.’

This could be seen as having used the power of the Postponer of Ruin quite usefully.

Not only had I gotten Albino back, but I had also come to hold the leash of a quite useful person named Albino.

Of course, I had no intention of telling Albino this fact, but this safety device was quite to my liking, as Albino might harbor different thoughts later on.

‘Since he made me shoulder this risk, I’ll work him to the bone for a long, long time.’

As I was thinking about Albino’s future disposal.

[Current time remaining : 0 seconds]

[According to the fair contract, all contracts have been completed.]

The surrounding space began to shatter slowly, and time, which had been as if it were stopped, began to flow again.

Now, it was time to go back.

To the place I was originally.

And, to the place I should be.

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