Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: How the Rank 1 Hero Protects the World
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The place I leaped into should have been an ordinary barracks, but there was only darkness.
Messages kept pouring in.
- Congratulations! You are the first to enter a hidden route. Bonus achievement points will be added upon settlement.
- Hidden route entry conditions: Securing and persuading the successor 'Reinhardt', and simultaneously recruiting the duke 'Bern'.
"Kang Ye-na!"
As I froze at the sudden messages, a shout came from outside.
Lee Woo-yeon cried out in a panicked voice.
"The space is separating!"
"What?"
But I didn't need to ask Lee Woo-yeon. The system messages that followed one after another explained the situation.
- The player who meets the hidden route entry conditions gains preemptive strike rights against the boss monster.
"Wow...."
"Kang Ye-na! Can you hear me?"
With that, even the faint shouts from Lee Woo-yeon outside faded away. It was highly likely my voice wouldn't reach Lee Woo-yeon outside either.
I clutched my head with one hand.
Who would've thought things would turn out like this.
It seemed that by using Reinhardt and Duke Bern, I'd unintentionally unlocked a 'hidden route'.
I never imagined a hidden route would trigger here. Then again, in an irregular dungeon where you couldn't build a攻略 base, only a god or prophet could predict this.
"Good luck or bad luck, I wonder."
A hidden route was a kind of perk players got by meeting specific conditions.
Like bonus achievement points improving reward quality, or learning the boss monster's weakness.
Lee Woo-yeon's blocked entry could even be seen as part of the perk.
Since the player who defeats the boss monster gets the most and best rewards, fights often broke out in the dungeon.
But with my current stats, it was hard to face the boss monster alone—that's why I'd come with Lee Woo-yeon. Now the perk was working against me.
The silver lining was that preemptive strike rights probably weren't the only perk of this hidden route.
Perk quality usually scaled with how tough the entry conditions were.
Securing and persuading Reinhardt, staging that play with Bern—those seemed pretty demanding. Turning key enemy figures was no small feat.
And in such a short time, too.
I swallowed hard, waiting for the next message.
And then.
- Due to hidden route entry, the constraints on 'Lord Corroded by Truth' are strengthened.
- 'Lord Corroded by Truth' grade adjusted from SS-grade to S-grade.
- However, the boss monster's grade reduction will be reflected in achievement points. This may affect future rewards.
"Wow!"
For the first time since entering this dungeon, hope appeared. I let out an involuntary exclamation.
Grade adjustment—what a massive debuff.
"This might actually be doable."
No, more than doable—this was huge.
The sword in my hand vibrated faintly, as if agreeing with me.
An S-grade boss meant I could leverage my class bonus specialized against magic attributes. It'd be tough, but not impossible with my current stats.
The lich I'd fought recently was powerful too, but as an S-grade, it hadn't used divine words.
The grade drop meant slightly less rewards from achievement points, but better than dying.
What I really wanted was the knight commander's stats from the clear reward anyway.
At this point, I couldn't tell if the system wanted me dead or alive... Whatever. Focus on the task at hand.
Soon, the next message appeared.
- A new temporary field will be generated. The field is formed based on the boss monster's psyche.
- Player 'Wandering Pilgrim' has been re-recognized.
- Do you agree to enter the field?
- Y/N
The moment I agreed, my vision went pure white.
It felt like being isolated in the void of space, my body shattering and reassembling.
When sensation returned to my limbs, the surroundings had completely changed.
The scene before me was entirely white. Looking closely, it was a palace interior lined with marble.
The area was utterly silent.
I'd braced for a battlefield like daytime, since it was a field created by the boss monster, but there wasn't a sign of life.
Following the long red silk carpet on the floor, my gaze led to a throne atop high stairs.
And something sat upon that throne.
Our eyes met with the lone figure wearing heavy, ornate crown, reigning in solitude.
- Encountered S-grade boss monster, 'Lord Corroded by Truth'.
At the same time, it recognized me too. I saw the boss monster rise from its seat.
A faint sense of incongruity passed when our blue eyes met, but I couldn't pinpoint it.
The emperor spoke with a sigh.
"What trick of the gods is this? Why are you here?"
"Why do you think? To take your head."
This was no god's trick—it was the system's. The emperor picked up the familiar scepter from daytime.
"Fine, the reason doesn't matter. Dream or illusion—what does it matter."
His low voice seemed more like murmuring to himself than addressing me.
Mana was gathering around the scepter.
"Those who seek my harm shall be ruled as traitors."
Of course, I had no intention of waiting for the spell to cast.
Giving the enemy time to cast meant my loss.
"Hup!"
Gripping my sword, I activated Nymph's Wind and kicked off the floor. In an instant, I closed in on the boss monster atop the throne.
As I took another step, the boss monster's mouth opened.
Its lips moved strangely, but it clearly sounded like this to me.
"Gravity!"
The moment the incantation dropped, crushing pressure bore down on me.
Before my next kick, I slammed deep into the floor. My feet hit with a boom.
Up to here, it matched the pattern from daytime when the boss monster attacked me. The gravity pinning my whole body, that pressure.
I felt my feet sinking into the floor.
My hand raising the sword trembled uncontrollably from the pressure.
Yes, definitely the same pattern as daytime.
A few hours ago, even wearing the Cloak Honoring the Hero, I'd failed against the boss monster's magic and fallen.
But now, one thing was different.
Grinning, I locked eyes with the emperor, now much closer than before.
"If it's not divine words, this is nothing!"
Easy!
- Apex Light Sword receives hero class correction and evolves into a holy sword!
- Apex Holy Sword exerts absolute effect against magic attributes!
Clang!
A metallic ring echoed through the hall.
My swung sword severed the mana, shattering the spell effortlessly. Rebounding mana grazed my cheek with a sting, but no scratches.
With my lightened body, I kicked off again.
As I closed in on the boss monster, I saw shocked eyes. Lips moved to form words.
How?
But those words never came.
"Graaah!"
Apex Holy Sword deeply slashed the monster's chest. The boss monster's face twisted in pain.
But I clicked my tongue.
'Not enough distance!'
The moment the spell broke, the boss monster instinctively sensed danger, leaped from the throne, and retreated, preventing a full cleave.
A perfect chance for a one-shot kill, wasted.
But for the enemy, it wasn't just regret.
"Urk...!"
It clutched its deeply slashed chest and barely escaped my sword's range with magic, but it was a fatal wound.
And...
"What have you done!"
The wound on the emperor's chest blackened and burned with a foul smell, like boiling lava—a gruesome sight.
Meeting its hate-filled gaze, I grinned and raised the gleaming white sword.
"What can I say? Delivering justice?"
"Insolent nonsense!"
"Nonsense? But true."
Pity it was the enemy—I wanted to show it the flashing message in my view.
- Apex Holy Sword recognizes the opponent as 'evil'.
- Holy sword trait, 'Judgment of Evil', activates, inflicting additional damage.
Even I hadn't seen this message in ages.
'Judgment of Evil' rarely triggered unless the foe was a demon or similar. No matter how much I wanted it, if the enemy didn't meet the holy sword's criteria, it wouldn't activate.
A holy sword judging 'evil'—absurd, but when it did trigger, it was to my benefit.
This boss monster's narrative must have qualified as 'evil' by the holy sword's standards. Fitting for a tyrant who massacred commoners mercilessly.
I'd thought the monsters had unusually detailed lore for a ghost dungeon.
Who knew it'd pay off like this.
At this point, it wasn't my pure skill crushing it—the enemy had dug its own grave.
If it hadn't publicly abandoned its own child, Reinhardt wouldn't have betrayed the emperor.
"So you should've lived decently."
"Kuh!"
That didn't mean I should give the boss monster any leeway.
I swung my sword once more, swiftly.
With no time for spells, the emperor raised his scepter to block, but the attempt was futile.
It was literally sliced.
Sching.
The boss monster stared at the neatly bisected scepter in two pieces—a sight to behold.
Of course. No way a mere scepter could block my sword without magic.
High-grade mage classes excelled with powerful AoE, but casting time made them weak in close quarters.
An SS-grade using divine words might be different, but a magic-based monster relying on regular spells was fair game for my current stats.
"A mage in close combat, one-on-one against me? Impossible from the start."
This hidden route was a jackpot. Reinhardt really hit the big one. Almost felt bad calling him an idiot.
The true perk of the 'Emperor Assassination' route wasn't the grade drop.
Mages facing swordsmen like me inevitably needed shields. The recent S-grade lich had used 'Energy Drain' to turn people into fodder and barriers.
But this hidden route was 'Emperor Assassination'.
No guards protected the boss monster.
Even the generated field was based on its psyche: the emperor's envisioned space was an empty void.
He reigned alone.
Unlike daytime, the boss monster was doomed against me.
I scoffed.
"Pathetic. An emperor, all alone. What a pitiful life."
No surprise— he'd crushed his own son and subordinates, who else would stay?
The emperor ground his teeth at my taunt.
"You bastard!"
"Oh? Getting foul-mouthed now that you're losing?"
"How dare you, against Us!"
His roar echoed in the empty space, unheard.
He gripped the shortened scepter, dodging my sword, but I sent sword ki at his escape paths.
"Urk!"
Each strike severed hands, legs, waist.
Clang!
The threatening scepter swing only shortened it further.
Now it was just toying with it.
Mana gathered mid-cast occasionally, but the chest wound and missing scepter caused repeated failures.
Twice, thrice, four times.
Soon, the emperor lay limply on the floor, limbs twitching feebly.
I walked slowly toward the boss monster.
"Urk, I, I myself...!"
The moment I saw the fallen emperor, some soul lingering in this body screamed.
Indignation, injustice, immense sorrow overtook me.
Was it supposed to be this easy?
This pathetic?
Just because someone else stood here...
If not for me, because of me...
"No."
I rejected the scream.
Words I'd once heard myself.
"It's not your fault."
My sword hand trembled like a novice's.
Impossible, yet.
This time, no magic. The one borrowing my body trembled.
I yielded to the fingertip sensation.
The blade slowly cut skin, blood flowed. The emperor faced the incoming blade without closing his eyes.
Meeting that gaze head-on, the knight commander executed the emperor.
Yes, your death must be ignoble. No grand glory, no noble defeat.
Like every death I'd witnessed.
Thud. The emperor's head hit the floor.
Vacant eyes rolled.
They reflected nothing.
The long-awaited revenge's fulfillment was an empty death.
No need to ask if this was it.
The system, which had turned the dead into dungeon ghosts, answered instead.
- 'Lord Corroded by Truth' has been defeated.
- The ghost's wish is deemed fulfilled. The ghost releases its rage and enters eternal rest.
- You acted admirably as that figure! Bonus achievement points upon dungeon clear.
- The sixth night forcibly ends.
- Player victorious; exiting temporary generated field.
With the messages, my vision flickered.
When I opened my eyes again, an utterly unexpected sight awaited me.