The Celestial Maiden’s Young Master in Another World - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 11. The True Demon
Ordinarily, one would navigate the Labyrinth by solving puzzles and riddles.
‘But if I can just break through—why wouldn’t I?’
As someone steeped in the Korean spirit of ruthless efficiency, the very thought of doing anything else was incomprehensible.
‘Right. Fastest route it is.’
The fastest route was, by definition, the path to first place.
Fortunately, the day before the Baptism Ceremony, I’d crammed Eli’s Divine Energy deep into my Fountain Pen.
These Divine Power demons had been conjured to intimidate the candidates—they wouldn’t be particularly formidable.
‘If I’d known the Ceremony would have an event like this, I’d have made several more pens.’
Unfortunate, but there was nothing for it. They’d had no use before, after all.
I secured the Fountain Pen snugly against my chest and gave it a pat.
That should do it.
“Now then! Up next! Team Thirteen is entering!”
“Riaaaan! You’ve got this!!”
“Show us the pride of Ruderserk!”
“Waaaa!”
Buoyed by the tremendous roar of the crowd, a reward for my recent performances, I strode forward into the arena.
“Nnn… I’m nervous….”
“Don’t worry! I’m nervous too, you know?”
“You little whelps. Me? Not nervous in the slightest.”
The young ones each threw in their own comment, rippling toward the shimmering portal and stepping through.
And I, too, pressed forward.
A white, undulating aurora wrapped around my body, and I felt the soft tickle of something like down before the world around me shifted.
-We’re in!
-We made it!
“Oooooh….”
The fairies who’d entered with us chirped joyfully as they darted about—their cries reaching me first, followed closely by Corin’s dumbfounded exclamation.
The sight before my eyes was certainly enough to warrant such slack-jawed wonder.
A maze of light unfolded across a pristine white expanse.
The light itself was Divine Power.
‘The entire space is saturated with Divine Power.’
By nature, children born in the Elion Holy Empire possessed high affinity for Divine Power.
Those selected to undergo the Baptism Ceremony naturally had even greater affinity still.
“Wow—it feels warm in here, doesn’t it?”
“Mm… it feels like home, somehow.”
The children perceived the Divine Power as familiar and comforting.
Not knowing what sort of challenge might appear, the children’s anxieties began to ease already.
-Now watch carefully? A demon is about to appear to bewitch the children.
The moment Eli finished speaking, light gathered and sparkled in the void before something burst forth.
“Hello!”
The small being that fluttered its glittering wings was a fairy.
Not a spirit of solid, bready form like a pebble, but a true fairy—tiny and beautiful, just like Tinkerbell from the fairy tale Peter Pan we all knew.
“I’m the guide fairy who will show you the way today!”
Each flutter of the fairy’s wings scattered glimmers of light through the air.
The effect harmonized so perfectly with this space overflowing with Divine Power that it looked almost sacred.
But then.
“A fairy? Very funny.”
Whoosh!!
My Fountain Pen slashed through the void.
“Kyeeeeek!”
Strike first, strike true. The universal law of combat, applicable anywhere.
***
“N-no! What on earth is happening!”
Bishop Daniel, who had been guiding the proceedings smoothly until now, stumbled over his words in bewilderment.
“Rian took down the fairy in one blow! This is an unprecedented strategy!”
Bishop Daniel quickly manipulated the panel, switching the view to show another team’s candidates—ones moving through the Labyrinth under the fairy’s guidance, solving its puzzles.
“What we’re showing on screen now is Team Eight. The candidates of Team Eight are currently navigating the maze in accordance with the fairy’s directions.”
Team Eight’s candidates followed the fairy until they encountered the first obstacle.
They faltered at the sudden appearance of a marsh, and began solving the “puzzle” based on hints from the fairy.
“This is the standard strategy for navigating the Labyrinth’s maze—following the fairy’s guidance to break through. But the fairy, you see….”
The camera zoomed in on a fairy fluttering near the candidate holding the Holy Flame.
“It’s not a perfect ally. The fairy serves as a guide and also administers trials. When the powder it scatters touches the Holy Flame—”
The fairy’s wings fluttered, and shimmering powder drifted down onto the Holy Flame. The moment the powder made contact, the flame’s light wavered anxiously. Simultaneously, a number flashed across the screen.
“The Holy Flame’s power is weakening!”
The instant Bishop Daniel finished speaking, the number that had started at one hundred began plummeting dramatically.
“As you’ve likely guessed, this number represents the Holy Flame’s power as a percentage.”
Each time the fairy’s powder touched it, the number dropped further.
“Didn’t I tell you? That’s right! The fairy isn’t an ally at all! The powder from what the children thought was a helpful companion is weakening their Holy Flames!”
The panel split to show several other groups. All of them displayed visibly declining numbers for their Holy Flames’ power.
“Group Eight and all the other groups’ numbers keep falling! But look at this, everyone!”
At Bishop Daniel’s words, the panel shifted back to focus on Group Thirteen. The Holy Flame that Lumiel held burned perfectly intact, its original form wholly preserved.
“Only one group is different! Thanks to Rian’s quick judgment, Group Thirteen is maintaining its Holy Flame’s power! Unlike the others, their hundred remains at—wait?”
Crack!
Just then, on screen, Rian’s Fountain Pen pierced straight through a demon’s face shaped like a lion’s head.
And at that same instant, the number surged upward.
“Yaaaah! What’s happening?! The Holy Flame’s power is climbing past one hundred and continuing to rise!”
“”Waaahhh!!””
Bishop Daniel and the spectators all shrieked in unison, seized by excitement. A scene no one had witnessed even once in all the Baptism Ceremonies unfolded before them.
‘Of course! Who’s ever killed the guide fairy in the Labyrinth maze before?’
I led my companions forward, and every time we encountered a Labyrinth demon, I drove the Fountain Pen through it, feeding the Holy Flame steadily.
Goosebumps prickled across Bishop Daniel’s forearms.
A strategy no one would have expected from a candidate. An ingenious, powerful method to break through the Labyrinth maze that no one had ever conceived of before.
‘Naturally! Which candidate could possibly kill Labyrinth demons?’
Perhaps Lionel, at most—aside from Rian Ruderserk.
Bishop Daniel gathered his scattered wits and pressed on with his commentary.
“An unprecedented occurrence! An historic first! The one causing this extraordinary upset for the second time already is none other than Rian Ruderserk!”
“”Waaahhh!!””
The crowd’s roar grew louder with Bishop Daniel’s glowing praise.
The candidates’ Baptism Ceremony competitions were meant to be quaint, charming affairs. Perfect family viewing for year-end celebrations.
But then Rian went wild. In a way that was shocking and thrilling!
“Wow! I’ve been watching the Baptism Ceremony for years, but I’ve never seen the Labyrinth breached this cleanly before!”
“I told you! I said Rian Ruderserk would pull off something incredible one of these days!”
A man with a bandit’s face began waving a blue handkerchief above his head and shouting, spurring the spectators around him to join in.
Soon the stands filled with a sea of blue handkerchiefs.
‘This rookie’s already decided.’
The mood had completely turned.
The stands became a veritable blue ocean. Who could have orchestrated such a sight at a Baptism Ceremony?
Looking at Rian on screen, dashing through and thriving, while the crowd roared its approval, there could be no room for doubt.
As the Arena filled with the crowd’s heat and clamor,
Rian was tearing through the Labyrinth maze at high speed.
Thud!
“Keeee-ack!”
Crash!
“Graaa-ahhh!”
Smash!
“Screee-aaahhh!”
I drove the Fountain Pen through all manner of obstacles blocking the maze and pressed onward.
The Labyrinth mission really did seem to be modeled after the Sphinx. Every demon I met was desperate to ask its question.
A question demon—what else?
“Um, Rian… is it okay to get through this way?”
“Yeah, Corin saw too. That’s a fake demon the Labyrinth created specifically to test us.”
There was concern, but no objection. Because each time the Fountain Pen struck it, the demon form vanished.
‘As expected, it’s not that strong. At this rate, I can handle it all the way through with just this one Fountain Pen.’
-If it were a real demon, the Fountain Pen would’ve shattered instantly. Lucky for us.
I reassured the worried Corin and pressed ahead.
‘What’s the next fork?’
-There’s a trap ahead. Better to go around it. Takes too long.
‘Got it, we’ll skip that.’
Eli’s navigation was smooth. Incredibly so.
We bypassed troublesome traps, took alternate paths instead, and directly broke through the passages we could.
I could avoid these troublesome Divine Energy demons easily enough, but ever since Corin said something when we first defeated that fairy, I’d kept hunting them down.
‘The Holy Flame seems to be getting a bit stronger.’
Thanks to Corin’s observation, I was able to understand exactly what role each creature played that emerged from hiding in the Labyrinth.
‘The Holy Flame must be weakening, probably.’
Take just the fairy that appeared offering to guide us—it must have clung to us relentlessly throughout the entire journey.
In that process, there would have been countless opportunities for them to tamper with the Holy Flame secretly.
So what if we turned the tables and captured them instead? Wouldn’t the Holy Flame’s power increase?
In the end, my theory proved correct. Now our Holy Flame burned with a vigor completely different from when we first entered the Labyrinth.
It was almost embarrassing to call it a candle anymore. The flame was so bright that half of Lumiel’s face, who was holding it, was obscured from view.
‘Fastest clear time, maximum-power Holy Flame. At this rate, first place is practically in the bag, isn’t it?’
Heh heh heh heh.
As I tossed the Fountain Pen and passed through a few more branching paths, we eventually arrived at a vast Cavern that appeared to be the final section.
“What’s this now?”
I spun the Fountain Pen between my fingers while surveying the surroundings. The space, supposedly made of Divine Power, somehow radiated an eerie chill that didn’t fit.
‘Wait. Eerie?’
A space saturated with Divine Power shouldn’t be emanating such an unsettling presence.
-Rian. Wait, something feels wrong.
“Over… over there.”
Eli and Corin spoke at the same moment.
“Ugh!”
“Erk….”
Something materialized from the empty space above our heads.
It was a massive cluster of wings descending slowly, pressing down with overwhelming force. Its form resembled what was generally considered an angel.
“Ugh. W-what is that…!”
Lumiel, upon seeing the angelic figure, trembled in terror. The other children were no different.
The air became so thick and heavy that breathing grew difficult.
“An… angel?”
Adrian stared upward with a blank expression, his head tilted back. I could see the goosebumps rising on his forearms.
‘A real angel couldn’t possibly emanate a presence like this. And yet, they’d create an angel of this caliber in a Labyrinth maze with only candidates?’
It made no sense whatsoever.
The ‘something’ that had settled directly above Adrian’s head slowly began to unfold its wings.
“It’s not an angel!”
Corin, sensing something, trembled violently and yanked Adrian away.
“Gah!”
The moment Adrian escaped the influence of those wings, he gasped for breath like someone who’d just surfaced from drowning.
‘If not an angel?’
Only one possibility came to mind. Unlikely as it seemed.
“Corin, what do you feel?”
The moment we reached the Cavern, Corin had called out to us. As if sensing something.
“Tell me everything you’re sensing slowly.”
“Ugh…. This energy is different from the Holy Flame’s aura or a false Holy Flame’s. It’s different from the subtly distinct Holy Flame I picked out during the Holy Flame search mission. It’s… the first time I’ve ever felt an aura like this!”
Corin’s words meant this was an aura entirely different from Divine Energy, Divine Power, or even the essence of spirits.
Could it be.
[-Not even properly fledged yet, and here you are making quite the perceptive observation.]
“Ugh!”
“Hack….”
Before I could even form a judgment, the wings, as if mocking us, slowly began to transform.
The pure white wings gradually stained black.
“!!”
Angels, as messengers and emissaries of the God of Light, radiate holy white brilliance by their very nature. Their wings too symbolize purity with their white hue.
Yet this angel before us was deliberately staining that white black.
As if to display the form of a fallen angel and blaspheme against God itself.
‘Could it truly be a demon?’
-That suspicion seems to be correct.
The wings, now completely blackened, slowly spread outward in all directions. The dozens, hundreds of eyes embedded in the three pairs of wings slowly opened as well.
“Ha. Terrifyingly ominous-looking, isn’t it.”
Each of the now-opened eyes in the wings gleamed with a vivid blood-red hue.
“Eek!”
“Ugh….”
The children trembled, gripped by anxiety and dread at the sight.
And now, unmistakably, this foul reek—that putrid stench which only true demons could emit.
‘Demonic Energy.’
No question about it. A demon, through and through.
I grip the Fountain Pen tighter in my palm.
‘Damn it.’
Of course. I should’ve trusted that nagging feeling.
Just like Murphy’s Law—the moment you lack something is when disaster strikes.
I lower my gaze to the Fountain Pen in my hand, and the script I’d already written is half-faded.
I’ve already burned through half the Divine Energy I’d charged. Clearly, it’s nowhere near enough to deal with that massive tangle of black wings.
I glance around cautiously. Children frozen stiff in panic, and the Labyrinth sealed on all sides with no clear path out.
My strengths are the Talisman Art and Physical Exorcism. Without a proper weapon, all I can do right now is—
‘bluff my way through.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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