Chapter 32
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: The Key of Rest
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Lee Ru-ri checked the Gravekeeper's health gauge.
The Gravekeeper's HP had been whittled down to nearly 15 percent.
As the flash gradually faded, the sight of the Gravekeeper kneeling on the ground came into view.
"You're messing around. Heal."
Gravekeeper of the Withered Knights' favorability has increased by 20,000. Current favorability: 20,000
Walking toward the Gravekeeper, she relentlessly stabbed with her spear.
"Spear of Sorrow."
Rumble rumble rumble, crash, boom!
—Kuhk!
The Gravekeeper's HP plummeted helplessly.
'Heal.'
Gravekeeper of the Withered Knights' favorability has increased by 20,000. Current favorability: 100,000
"What do you want to do?"
—Kill me.
"If you die, what happens to these lingering spirits?"
—That is...
"Give me your will. Then we won't touch these spirits."
—If you don't keep your promise...
"That won't happen. The strong don't break promises with the weak. Knights don't do that, right?"
The Gravekeeper slowly looked around at the surrounding graves.
—Understood. I acknowledge my defeat.
The Gravekeeper reverted to its original form and slumped powerlessly in front of the door.
Meanwhile, Lee Ru-ri used Aura of Submission to max out the Gravekeeper's favorability.
Gravekeeper of the Withered Knights' favorability has increased by 1,000,000.
Target's cumulative favorability so far: 1,000,000.
(S) Hidden Skill Activation (Success): Completed 1 condition. (Remaining conditions ― total 1)
(SS) Hidden Skill Activation (Failure): Conditions not met.
'Done.'
Having watched her battle and recovered in the meantime, Han Seung-woo staggered over.
"No injuries, I hope?"
"I'm fine. How about you, Seung-woo? You okay?"
"Much better, thanks to you. But this thing..."
"It won't attack anymore."
"How is that even possible?"
"I'm figuring it out myself. But one thing's clear now—my position. Meaning, my real ability... is to control monsters?"
Han Seung-woo stared blankly at Lee Ru-ri, his face saying he couldn't quite process what his own ears had heard.
"Since the cat's out of the bag anyway, and I'm still learning, you adapt to me too."
She flashed a bright grin.
The Gravekeeper stepped aside from the door it had been guarding and bowed deeply to Lee Ru-ri.
—Thank you for keeping your promise.
Acquired Gravekeeper of the Withered Knights' Gift. Confirm? Y/N
'Reward for keeping the promise?'
Gravekeeper of the Withered Knights' Gift
Acquired new skill <Key of Rest>.
"See you later. Good work."
Han Seung-woo shook his head at the sight of Lee Ru-ri chatting with the monster, clearly still not used to it.
The two shoved open the door the Gravekeeper had been guarding and cautiously stepped inside.
Ding— Ding— Ding— Ding—
"What's that sound?"
"Sounds like an old grandfather clock chime."
"Four rings, so probably four o'clock."
"Guess that's how time works here."
As their conversation trailed off, a silence heavier and more oppressive than the air itself blanketed the entire space.
Whoosh!
Thud!
A massive magic orb came flying from somewhere, slicing right between the two of them.
"Ru-ri, you okay?"
"Yeah! You?"
"I'm good. I'll head that way!"
Whoosh!
Thud!
The same magic orb that had flown earlier blocked Han Seung-woo from reaching Lee Ru-ri.
Lee Ru-ri extended her hand toward the direction the orb had come from, checking the monster's info.
S(H) — Ezold Trapped in the Time of Despair: Current favorability <0>
'Crazy? Suddenly S-rank?'
Lee Ru-ri urgently called out to Han Seung-woo.
"Seung-woo! It's an S-rank monster! Be careful!"
"You too, Ru-ri!"
The sound of Han Seung-woo charging toward the monster hurling the magic orbs echoed.
'I need to secure line of sight.'
Lee Ru-ri aimed just above Han Seung-woo's head as he ran and unleashed her Spear of Sorrow.
But the flash from the spear was swallowed by the darkness every time it was cast.
'What the hell is this thing? I can't see it at all.'
In her desperation, Lee Ru-ri scattered poison needles around, but the monster named Ezold hadn't appeared since the first info scan.
The generated health gauge had vanished in an instant and didn't reappear.
"Seung-woo! Something's off!"
"What is it?!"
"The monster's gone!"
"What?!"
The two huddled together and scanned their surroundings.
Sure enough, no more magic orbs were flying, and the periodic grandfather clock chimes had stopped too.
"What the...?"
Crack.
"Ru-ri, over here."
Crunch.
Cracks formed somewhere with collapsing sounds, and soon the entire gate interior shook violently.
Rumble rumble rumble, boom!
The darkness that had engulfed the two dispersed in a flash.
Blinded by the sudden light, they stood dazed for a moment.
Lee Ru-ri snapped out of it first and realized they were outside the hidden gate.
"This is weird."
"Definitely."
"Let's get out first!"
The two sprinted toward the gate entrance.
Before long, they encountered monsters endlessly spawning from the gate's center and pouring out simultaneously.
"This is—!"
"Gate break. We have to stop it."
Without a word, the two swept through the spawning monsters and raced to the entrance.
As they reached the gate entrance after pulverizing monsters at breakneck speed, they heard murmuring voices.
"Careful!"
"No telling when more'll come out!"
Lee Ru-ri recognized the voices first.
"Seung-woo, it's the teachers!"
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
At the emergency alerts blaring, the two hurried out of the gate.
The moment the battered hunters saw them burst out, their legs gave out and they collapsed.
Han Seung-woo quickly performed the gate clear sign, while Lee Ru-ri ran to Kwon Dong-nyeon and Lee Sang-chun.
"Teachers, you okay?"
"Hah... Thought we were goners for real."
"What about the monsters inside the gate?"
"Seung-woo and I took care of them all!"
"Looks like things are sorted here for now."
"You two alright?"
Han Seung-woo asked after finishing the clear sign.
"We're fine. But Yang Jeong-hyun..."
"Yes?"
"Problem is the whole area's in break status. No time to waste. We need to provide support."
"Why would this happen all of a sudden..."
"Hurry."
The four headed to the first support request coordinates.
Fortunately, no casualties, and the gate was stably closed.
While checking sites one by one like that, they froze solid at the final gate coordinates.
They were overwhelmed by the sight of the colossal monster locked in standoff with the hunters.
Lee Sang-chun muttered lowly, wrapped in shock.
"Never seen a monster that size before."
At that moment, the massive monster hurled a magic orb as enormous as its body at the hunters.
In an instant, three hunters vanished from the spot.
"N-No! Don't!"
Lee Ru-ri charged straight into the midst of the still-confronting hunters.
'That's definitely the same magic orb from before!'
As she raised her hand to attack, the monster's info reactivated.
SS — Ezold Trapped in the Time of Despair: Current favorability <0>
'No way—the rank changed?'
While Lee Ru-ri assessed the situation, Ezold hurled another magic orb.
One wizard tried to counter by throwing his own magic orb.
But it backfired, and he was sacrificed along with his spell.
"Aaaah! N-No... nooo..."
Hunters vanishing without a trace all around her.
Seized by uncontrollable terror, Lee Ru-ri collapsed right there.
Han Seung-woo hurriedly messaged Choi Si-jin the gate coordinates, ordering civilian evacuation and rallying any available hunters for support.
Meanwhile, Kwon Dong-nyeon and Lee Sang-chun got into formation.
As Han Seung-woo moved to take position in the line, he noticed Lee Ru-ri's state was off.
He rushed to her side, helping her up with support.
"Ru-ri. Can you hear me?"
"E-Everyone d-died... H-How... a-all of them..."
"Ru-ri! If you lose it, I'm dead too. That okay with you?"
"No! Absolutely not! No dying!"
Lee Ru-ri screamed.
Civilians had been evacuated as far as possible from Choi Si-jin, Yang Jeong-hyun was hospitalized, and twenty hunters were en route.
And in that time, another hunter fell victim to one of Ezold's magic orbs.
"Don't die... Nobody die!"
Watching powerlessly, Lee Ru-ri wailed and went berserk.
Black whirlwind.
Indescribable black whirlwinds swirled fiercely from both her hands once more.
Everyone braced their legs hard to avoid getting swept up in the vortex.
"Director Han! What's going on?!"
"Ru-ri's not right!"
"All low-rank hunters, fall back now!"
Han Seung-woo kept a firm grip on both of Lee Ru-ri's hands, and per Lee Sang-chun's order, all C-rank and below hunters scrambled away.
Now, only four faced off against Ezold: Kwon Dong-nyeon, Lee Sang-chun, Han Seung-woo, and Lee Ru-ri.
Without a single high-rank hunter, the C-ranks had fought Ezold and been brutally wiped out.
Ezold halted its attacks, sensing Lee Ru-ri's black whirlwind and fixing its gaze on her.
"Teachers! It's gonna target Ru-ri!"
Han Seung-woo yelled to Kwon Dong-nyeon and Lee Sang-chun.
"I'll draw its eyes first!"
Kwon Dong-nyeon maxed out his shield's defense and hurled it with all his might to block Ezold's line of sight.
Clang!
Ezold casually crushed the shield in its palm.
"Hah, what the hell is that insane strength?!"
Lee Sang-chun cried out in despair.
Ezold immediately reached out with its other hand to crush Kwon Dong-nyeon.
"Dong-nyeon! Watch out!"
Kwon Dong-nyeon swiftly dodged the attack.
While Lee Sang-chun and Kwon Dong-nyeon desperately alternated aggro,
A-rank healer Kim Heung-min and B-rank dealer Jang Ji-an arrived first after two gate clears together.
Kim Heung-min quickly healed everyone, while Jang Ji-an swung sword energy at Ezold.
"Everyone."
The black whirlwind enveloping Lee Ru-ri gradually subsided.
And from within, she stepped forward steadily and spoke.
"Get back."
As if entranced by something, everyone instantly fell back behind her at her words.
Lee Ru-ri slowly extended one hand and uttered.
"Sorrow."
She followed up softly.
"Spear."
⟨ Spear of Sorrow ⟩
A spear twice as long and massive as Ezold tore a hole in the sky and plunged straight into Ezold's chest.
Han Seung-woo felt an immense pressure from Lee Ru-ri's skill.
Not just him—every hunter present did.
He suddenly realized it was the same skill she'd used on the Gravekeeper back in the gate, but the intimidation and destructive power were on another level entirely.
"Ru-ri..."
Han Seung-woo called out to stop her, but she didn't respond.
She simply stared at the limp tip of her outstretched hand, a sound escaping her parted lips.
"Spear of Sorrow."
Spear after spear impaled Ezold relentlessly,
—Groooooaaaaarrr...
Ezold let out a monstrous screech and vanished completely, without even a trace left behind.