The Root of the Plague
Through the crack in the prayers, the eye of Oculis slipped in smoothly.
After passing through a distance as long as the esophagus, a wide-open space appeared. The inside of the lungs.
The inner walls of the lungs were covered in sticky pus.
“Found it.”
There, I was able to locate Changsik. Why was he here?
Unlike his usual self, an unexpected coughing fit from Kalid had driven his sputum into his throat—had it somehow entered his prayers?
Changsik must have somehow handled that painfully slim probability.
But inside the lungs, a Changsik completely covered in pus was groaning and working hard on something.
What is he doing?
I approached Changsik with the eye of Oculis to take a look. He was pulling out something stuck deep in the lung.
“Is this an item?”
That was the order I gave Changsik—loot the item. And he was still carrying it out.
“Analyze?”
The thing Changsik was groaning while pulling out was a sword handle stuck deep inside. To loot it, you had to pull the entire sword free. The handle was barely visible, buried far too deeply.
Even so, Changsik was at 50 overlays of transfer now… At 50 overlays, his strength stat would top 2,000.
How could he not pull it out?
‘Sense.’
It was the first time I used the eye of Oculis to analyze, and it worked.
+
[(Quest) Great Sword of the Ancient Plague]
This great sword used by the plague lord Morvas is infused with powerful ancient plague bacteria and curses… (More)
※ Unlocked after quest completion
Only those with the appropriate qualifications may use it.
‘This is it.’
The quest item.
The options were hidden, but it was almost certain that Kalid’s infected plague root was this thing.
Navigation had proven its worth.
I blinked my eyes wide.
In the hidden quest description, the reward was written as [(???) Great Sword of the Ancient Plague].
“Hodu. Go to Hansik right now and tell him to gather every skeleton immediately. Bring the throne too. And loot every item that Breath of Steel has synthesized.”
“Kung!”
Hodu bolted off at incredible speed.
And I equipped the [(Mythic) Dimensional Ruin Gauntlets] I received from Choi Kang.
▶ [Dimensional Ruin]: Maximum HP -90%, Mental Power +90%
“Ugh…”
The horrific pain made my HP drop by 90%.
Even without the bundle and throne, [Fortitude] activated. At the same time, my mind cleared, MP shot up by 900 in a single surge, and the MP recovery was absurd.
Mythic items… this much?
[(Legendary) Throne of the Immortal King] entered [Dragon Rare].
“!!”
The Throne of the Immortal King had super-large capacity that could even hold the gauntlets.
Combined with the Dimensional Ruin Gauntlets…
I no longer needed to carry the throne around.
[(Rare) Golden Epaulets] entered [Dragon Rare].
[(Unique) Ghost Shield] entered [Dragon Rare].
[(Rare) Shadow Dagger] entered [Dragon Rare].
…
The results of synthesis began looting.
I checked my inventory.
It was an enormous space.
The size of my family’s estate grounds.
The single Throne of the Immortal King looked tiny. Once I pulled it out, it appeared at the end of the Dimensional Ruin Gauntlets.
Kuwong.
I climbed onto the throne and sat. My HP, down to 3% after equipping the mythic gauntlets, dropped further to 3% remaining.
“Ha…”
A precarious state where one touch would kill me. But the effects of the Throne of the Immortal King boosted my subordinates’ speed, and in the distance Hodu came flying like an arrow.
“Hek hek!”
“Well done.”
The sound of skeletons marching in perfect step came from the direction he had come.
A total of 84 troops—except for Changsik, Hodu, and Hyodo—wait, except for the ones listed.
Hansik, Geunsik, Minsik, and Cheolsik stood at the front, the rest lined up in order.
“Changsik is pulling out the Great Sword of the Ancient Plague from Kalid’s stomach right now. But he can’t get it. Even after 50 overlays, it’s not enough. More overlays are needed. You’ve prepared, right?”
The skeletons all bowed in unison.
I extended the Dimensional Ruin Gauntlets in front of them and dumped every item in the inventory.
Around 80 items. Quite a lot.
“Separate out all the items that boost MP recovery and luck.”
Even checking one by one would finish in 3 seconds.
I chose items without overlapping slots and equipped them— a bracelet that raised MP recovery by 5%, and matching earrings that raised it by another 5%.
I put on the bracelet, then closed my eyes and rammed the earrings into my ear canals. The pain was so intense my eyes watered, but there were far more people suffering worse than me right now.
Blood trickled down my earlobe.
It didn’t matter.
Compared to the pain I would have felt if I couldn’t clear this quest, this was nothing.
Kuuuung—
Kalid, who had been coughing up thick phlegm, kept thumping his chest on the floor.
Kuwung!
“You’ve prepared to die, haven’t you?”
Kwaak—
The skeletons took the submissive posture.
“Changsik needs your strength.”
— As Your Lord commands.
Sending the skeletons under Kalid meant they would definitely die.
That way, the overlays on Changsik would increase.
If 50 wasn’t enough, then 100, 200, 300, 400…
I didn’t know how far it could go, but I would keep going until it worked.
I had pinned all my hopes on Changsik.
“Charge.”
The skeletons all rushed toward Kalid’s stomach.
Kuuuung—
[A skeleton soldier has died… Transfer to nearby skeleton soldiers]
[A skeleton soldier has died… Transfer to nearby skeleton soldiers]
[A skeleton soldier has died… Transfer to nearby skeleton soldiers]
[A skeleton soldier has died… Transfer to nearby skeleton soldiers]
[A skeleton soldier has died… Transfer to nearby skeleton soldiers]
[A skeleton soldier has died… Transfer to nearby skeleton soldiers]
…
“Summon.”
Kuuuuuuung—
♬
At that moment, a call came through.
[Dad]
“Hello!”
— Son… cough…
The voice…
“Dad!!”
— Dosik-ah… Are you okay?
“Dad! I’m fine! What about you!”
— Cough. Cough… Good thing. I’m okay too.
He said that, but it was clear his dad was infected as well.
There were three skeletons with him, but those guys… they must have brought the plague from Oryukdo…
“Dad. Dad… it’s because of me…”
— I’m fine, son. It’s not your fault. Dosik-ah.
‘Dosik-ah, Mom is fine.’
“Kkuk.”
Mom and Dad…
Why do they always stay fine?
“Dad, wait just a little longer. I’ll handle it!”
— Son, Dad is proud of you. Kkulk. I’m fine, so don’t worry… Stay safe and healthy.
“Dad!”
— I’m sorry, son. Cough.
[Call ended]
[A skeleton soldier has died… Transfer to nearby skeleton soldiers]
[A skeleton soldier has died… Transfer to nearby skeleton soldiers]
…
— The call wasn’t answered, connected via echo…
“Uaaaa!! Summon!! Summon!!!!”
* * *
[I have resisted the ancient end-of-the-world plague.]
But why am I resisting the plague?
Why am I different from the others?
Suddenly, something different from everyone else came to mind.
“Status window.”
The traits given from the very beginning.
[Skeleton] and [Lord].
Is this really…
“So I have the trait of a skeleton?”
The skeletons had been immune to Hydra’s poison.
Then why wasn’t the transfer applying to me?
Because I wasn’t a skeleton soldier?
That’s right…
I wasn’t a skeleton soldier.
I was a skeleton lord.
Dad…
I’ll clear it soon.
Tears came from worry.
“Summon!!”
[Not enough MP.]
MP was at rock bottom.
MP rising per minute: 337.5
Even though one summon per 10 seconds was possible, it was still not enough.
“Summon!”
Hansik appeared.
“How many overlays does Changsik have right now?”
— Currently 313 overlays.
“313 overlays means strength stat of…”
— 13,380.75
“But, but! Why can’t Changsik pull out that damn great sword!!”
— I’m sorry.
In my anger, Hansik flattened himself on the floor.
With the eye of Oculis, Changsik was still groaning while pulling out the great sword. But he didn’t move. Like he was trying to pull Excalibur…
Did I miss something?
That didn’t make sense logically, did it?
With 13,380 strength, that was a monster.
It could even crush tanks with one hit.
“In the end, I have to… kill Kalid…”
That was one way.
But… the end-of-the-world hidden quest didn’t want me to kill Kalid. It wanted the plague root removed.
The plague had already spread to the point of no return.
Even if I killed Kalid, the quest probably wouldn’t clear.
“Uaaaa!”
This was frustrating.
What exactly was I supposed to do?
It was clear that pulling out the Great Sword of the Ancient Plague was the goal to clear the quest, but why wasn’t it coming out?!
Adding more overlays didn’t seem to change anything.
Hyondo, who had lost consciousness.
His face overlapped with Dad’s.
At that moment,
Kuuuuuung—
Kalid, who had barely managed to get his body up while twitching his legs, thumped his chest on the floor once,
Kuwang…
And collapsed.
Even this sturdy Kalid couldn’t endure the epidemic.
[Time limit: 42 hours 19 minutes 33 seconds]
Not even half a day had passed and it was already this bad. As time passed, the symptoms would only worsen.
Kkulk.
“Hyondo!”
Blood streamed from Hyondo’s mouth, coughing while unconscious.
Helpless.
Was there nothing I could do?
What exactly was I supposed to do?!
Only I was resisting the ancient plague, weren’t I? Then this whole thing rested on me.
But…
“Think. Think…”
There had to be a way.
No quest without an answer.
The root of the plague had almost been found. It just needed to be removed.
The root of the plague…
I closed my eyes and focused on the eye of Oculis again.
“Sense.”
+
[(Quest) Great Sword of the Ancient Plague]
This great sword used by the plague lord Morvas is infused with powerful ancient plague bacteria and curses… (More)
※ Unlocked after quest completion
Only those with the appropriate qualifications may use it.
Irreversible.
“This is it…”
The very bottom of the quest item description.
Only those with the appropriate qualifications may use it.
Qualifications…
Did Changsik not have them?
So that’s why he couldn’t pull it out?
It wasn’t a strength problem…
‘The great sword used by the plague lord Morvas…’
Like Excalibur…
“Lord…”
One of my traits.
I was a skeleton lord.
I rose from the throne.
“I… I have to do it.”
I entered Kalid’s lungs,
“Remove the root.”
Pull out the Great Sword of the Ancient Plague.
If I could save everyone with just my one sacrifice…
“I’ll do it. I have to.”
I walked over to the collapsed Kalid.
“Absolutely.”
Hansik followed, Hodu summoned, then Geunsik, Minsik, and Cheolsik in order, following behind me.
The familiar beach.
On it, Kalid lay sprawled.
He was half-buried in the waves, breathing raggedly.
He was huge. But…
I wasn’t afraid.
The real fear was…
‘When I was powerless and lost someone precious to me!’
The words from a long time ago came to mind—the day Tess-hyung had beaten me black and blue after I collapsed while chasing a butterfly.
I was no longer…
“Not powerless.”
I faced the giant face of Kalid.
A nostril as big as a subway entrance.
The eyes of Kalid, bigger than a rice bowl, stared back at me.
Wet and clear.
The gentleness that didn’t attack humans first.
The quiet nature that didn’t shift its habitat.
This guy was basically a mascot that even sold Kalid goods at the convenience store by the gate entrance…
I slowly reached out a hand.
My hand touched his face.
“It won’t hurt much.”
Whoosh.
A strong breath blew out from Kalid.
“Just hold on a little longer. I’ll save you.”
As I stroked the big guy, Kalid gently closed his huge eyes. Even Kalid lost consciousness.
I climbed into Kalid’s nostril.
A pitch-black abyss with no end in sight.
I might never come back.
But there was no other way.
“Let’s go.”
That was the path the lord had to walk.
The skeletons followed that path.
Dad, who said he would be an interior boss.
Tess-hyung, who said he would catch Bae Hyeongsin and beat him up.
Hyondo, who said he would become a hunter to follow his dad.
Kim Cheolgeun, the goose dad boss who dreamed of happiness.
And countless others…
Their futures rested on me.
“Summon.”