Chapter 24
Chapter 24
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Impending Doom
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, the boss had fallen.
The horrific mass of flesh no longer stirred.
At that moment, a system message announced the dungeon clear.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Dungeon Clear?] "...A question mark?"
Daehyeop Kim's mutter drew the gazes of the other three.
"This feels ominous. What's going on?"
"Maybe it's the developers messing around? Or..."
Suzuka's words trailed off there.
Vision went completely black. It wasn't because he'd closed his eyes.
What the hell was this all of a sudden?
Sweet sensed an unknown terror in the pitch darkness.
A chilling unease crawled across his skin, churning his stomach.
He couldn't see ahead, but something was there.
How long would he have to endure this?
Just as the question formed, his vision snapped back.
Wriggle-!
The moment his sight returned, the boss's corpse was writhing right in front of him.
He whipped his head around, scanning the surroundings, but Suzuka and Daehyeop Kim were nowhere in sight.
"What the hell."
Was this some kind of death throes pattern from the boss?
That seemed a bit much.
Such trivial thoughts raced through his mind as he leveled his staff.
Ready to incinerate the lump of flesh at any moment.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Main Story - Attack] [Main Story - Vigilance] In that moment, system messages appeared before Sweet.
"Main Story?"
The reason Suzuka and Daehyeop Kim had suddenly vanished.
Defeating the boss automatically advanced the main story, as designed.
Quickly grasping the situation, Sweet made his choice.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Moving to Main Story - Vigilance.] Blindly attacking might lead to disaster.
Trusting a mage's teleport like Blink, he chose vigilance.
"It's gotten bigger."
The wriggling was more violent now, the mass swollen to twice its size.
Leaving it be felt like it might go boom any second, amplifying his fear.
Should he attack now?
Or watch a bit longer?
"..."
Sweet held off on choosing, observing the situation.
Wriggle-! Wriggle-!
The corpse morphed into a massive egg-like sphere.
Thud-! Thud-!
Something stirred within.
It was like watching life gestate inside an egg.
"Burn to ashes, Fireball."
Whoosh-!
Unable to overcome his anxiety, Sweet acted immediately.
No matter what it was, he couldn't sit idle anymore.
Instinct screamed not to let that egg hatch.
Boom-!
The massive fireball struck the egg, exploding on impact.
The mysterious egg burst into ash.
"What, that was nothing."
That was when he heard footsteps from the cavern entrance.
"Raven?"
The source was Raven.
"Perfect timing. Check this out—I destroyed the last heretic hideout..."
"It's a trap."
"...Huh?"
A trap? What did that even mean?
Sweet's thoughts halted there.
Humm-!
Where the boss died and the egg burst, a magic circle etched itself into existence.
"The Raven Kingdom fell to an Elder Lich that suddenly appeared in the capital."
Her gaze turned to the magic circle.
Despair clouded Raven's eyes at the same moment.
"Until now, I thought it was just coincidence."
All the hideouts had been positioned at key nodes of a massive magic circle.
Each had a boss monster dubbed a 'scapegoat.'
The exact same events had unfolded in the Raven Kingdom.
At first coincidence, then suspicion, and finally certainty.
"The magic circle activates on the scapegoat's death cry."
The scapegoats were imperial citizens kidnapped by the Salvation Cult, their lives the fuel.
A spell to destroy the Empire, drawn on its soil with its people's blood.
The summoning of the Elder Lich.
"Annihilation approaches."
As Raven's line ended, the quest completed.
📜 QUEST UPDATE 📜 [Heretic Purification (10/10)]
- You learned from Raven about heretic hideouts scattered across the Empire. Destroy them all to uproot the evil.
- *Quest completion unlocks 'Impending Doom'.
✅ QUEST COMPLETE ✅ [Quest 'Heretic Purification' completed.] [Accepting Quest 'Impending Doom.'] Annihilation draws near.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ After hearing Raven's (the prince's) explanation, Suzuka desperately sought a way out.
But after endless trials, her mind and body were exhausted.
No matter how hard she racked her brain, no solution came.
How could they overcome this hopeless situation?
"There is one way."
"Really?"
Raven had a method!
It was a silver lining amid the despair.
She couldn't just watch the Empire fall.
"Will you trust me?"
The resolute tone hardened Suzuka's expression.
Call it a woman's intuition.
As Raven continued, Suzuka bit her lip.
"...This is how we can stop the Elder Lich's summoning."
"What about you, Raven?"
Suzuka was a player, not a native of the Akare world.
She didn't grasp most of the details.
But she could follow the gist.
Sacrifice.
Raven chose sacrifice once more.
Ever since she'd offered her arm to the Black Illusion Rabbit in Suzuka's place.
After witnessing Raven's deaths time and again in the Litania County quest.
Suzuka never wanted to see Raven suffer again.
So she trained.
Swinging an unfamiliar flail, practicing fights she'd never tried.
Even after joining Sweet and Daehyeop Kim's party, she asked questions privately, learning combat techniques.
She didn't want to rely on Raven anymore, didn't want to see her in pain.
So she grew stronger.
Yet even stronger, she could do nothing.
The story's flow was already tied to 'Raven's sacrifice.'
Her modest gains couldn't twist the fated tragedy.
"Someone has to do it."
"Why? Why does it have to be you?"
Suzuka knew, even as tears welled up.
Only Raven could delay the impending doom right now.
"Time is short."
The magic circle's glow darkened steadily.
Once fully black, the summoning would trigger.
"Ah."
Suzuka reached out toward Raven's retreating back.
Her limp arm stretched futilely forward, never reaching.
"..."
Raven turned atop the circle, gazing at Suzuka.
Then opened her mouth for final words.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "I'll wait for you."
Please, save me.
Raven's words cut off unfinished.
The magic circle activated, and she vanished.
"..."
Daehyeop Kim stared blankly at the empty spot for a long while.
His head understood Raven's sacrifice.
His heart refused.
Reversing the summoning circle.
Switching the target's coordinates, inverting the flow.
Raven's solution was truly optimal.
It would delay the Empire's doom.
But at the cost of summoning her alone to the Elder Lich.
Having reversed a higher-order circle, she lost all her mana.
"Why couldn't that damn bastard do it? Fuck!"
Daehyeop Kim was a player, an outsider.
Reverse a summoning circle? What even was that? How?
He'd never even sensed mana.
Knowing the method, learning the principle—
Could he execute it? Hell no.
"What makes him think being the 'offering' means he won't die."
The cult called Raven the offering, hunted her relentlessly.
Not even understanding what 'offering' meant, yet staking her life.
What galled him more was his own acceptance.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Replaying record.] Then the scenery shifted entirely.
Just like viewing records in the Hall of Heroes.
Daehyeop Kim stood underground. Impossibly deep.
The tunnel walls held numerous cells.
At the bottommost, the depths' end, Raven was imprisoned.
"Raven!"
Her condition was dire.
Covered in blood, pallid and fading.
Left to rot from wounds, slowly dying.
He reached out, desperate to save her.
But of course, the bars blocked his hand.
Step- Step-
An undead entered Raven's cell.
The first raid boss from the trailer highlight.
"Breaking a person's will is simple."
The Elder Lich whispered to her.
"Daehyeop Kim... was that the name?"
Flinch.
Raven, unyielding through torture and threats, reacted to the name.
"I'll capture him alive and torture him before your eyes. Even if he dies mid-torment, his soul will be trapped in my hell, writhing eternally. He'll curse you from his agony."
Raven's eyes wavered. Turmoil filled them with despair and sorrow.
"But all this can be undone by your will."
Clack-
The skull's teeth chattered in eerie laughter.
"Yield your body. Then I won't harm the man you cherish."
Raven bit her lip. Tears streamed as she agonized.
No. Don't.
Against Daehyeop Kim's silent plea, Raven's lips parted slowly.
Just as she began to answer—
The scenery shifted again.
A woman reminiscent of a clear blue sky smiled radiantly at Daehyeop Kim.
"Did you enjoy the beta test?"