Chapter 139
Chapter 139
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 139
Chapter Title: Apostles of the Dungeon
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Dungeons possess three defining characteristics.
One, Phantasmal Beasts make their appearance.
Two, Phantasmal Beasts receive power directly from the dungeon.
Three, dungeons regenerate themselves even after taking damage.
The most commonplace traits of any dungeon.
No matter where you went, every dungeon shared these features.
So why had Leyzon judged that the dungeon transformation of this place was a trap?
The reason stemmed from the second characteristic.
Phantasmal Beasts receive power directly from the dungeon.
The Transcendence Cult.
A cult that worshiped the Evil Transcendent.
The cult's followers originally drew their power from the Evil Transcendent.
However, that was merely a tiny fraction of the Evil Transcendent's true might.
In other words, their power efficiency was poor.
But if the cult's headquarters became a dungeon, the followers would receive power directly from the Evil Transcendent.
And right on cue, the wall came crashing down.
What burst forth from it was something far removed from any human.
Horns protruded from its head, its face was grotesquely twisted, and its body was no longer remotely human.
"Gaaaargh!"
The moment it spotted Leyzon's group, it charged in a frenzy, overwhelmed by its surging power.
The zealot's beast-like fangs sank into the shadow wolf.
The shadow wolf whipped its tail in instant retaliation, but even with its body shattered, the zealot tore at the wolf's tail with savage fury.
Its vitality surpassed that of a cockroach.
And that was not all.
Magic circles flared to life around it in unison.
Jet-black mana bullets swirled upward in a vortex.
At the same moment, the Sword Saint moved like lightning.
The sword drawn from its sheath was instantly engulfed in white-hot light.
Light Punishing Evil [S]
A skill that exhibits supreme compatibility against targets associated with evil.
BOOM!
The Sword Saint's blade shattered the mana bullets into fragments.
At the same time, the Sword Saint's eyebrow twitched.
"...A skill?"
The zealot's outward appearance was indistinguishable from an apostle's.
Its impulsive actions were equally apostle-like.
Yet this zealot had used a skill.
"It's just like that holy knight we saw earlier?"
Syria expressed her wonder as she broke the zealot down with her shadows.
"'Just like' doesn't cut it—it's practically identical."
Apostle transformation, a power reserved solely for high priests.
The instant the headquarters became a dungeon, every Transcendence Cult zealot underwent apostle transformation.
Of course, the lower-ranking zealots were consumed by it, losing their reason entirely.
But high-ranking priests were a different story.
They retained their faculties while receiving apostle transformation's power, their existing skills and physical abilities massively amplified.
That was why Leyzon treated the Transcendence Cult as a trap.
From the moment the headquarters turned into a dungeon, this place became their home turf.
"We'll be seeing more of these from here on out."
Apostle-transformed zealots—Apostle Beasts.
They would relentlessly swarm Leyzon's group.
And that was not all.
Rumble...
The wall the previous apostle had burst through began regenerating.
The dungeon's third trait: innate self-repair.
From now on, no matter what they destroyed in the headquarters, it would continuously regenerate on its own.
"The air's gotten heavy..."
Iden rolled his shoulders as if the oppressive atmosphere made him uncomfortable.
The Evil Transcendent had directly infused this space with its power.
The suffocating air was an inevitable side effect of its presence.
I used to think of it as just a trap back then.
Leyzon had recently experienced Pauli turning into a dungeon.
Thanks to that, the headquarters—now a dungeon under the Evil Transcendent's influence—didn't feel like someone else's problem.
Was Pauli's dungeon transformation also due to...
...some Transcendent's doing?
Leyzon pondered this as he lightly tapped Hanok's head.
Leyzon's group was currently pursuing the fleeing Shadow Warlord.
Perhaps because of that, Hanok was tense, his body rigid.
He held his neck stiffly erect, desperately trying to track the Shadow Warlord's scent.
Whatever had happened to him couldn't be confirmed yet.
But Leyzon had promised to let Hanok meet the Shadow Warlord.
He hadn't forgotten that promise.
"Sniff... Lord Leyzon, I'm fine."
Hanok struggled to maintain his composure.
"My brother's mental fortitude isn't that weak. He wouldn't let his body be taken so easily."
Hanok believed in Leyzon, and by extension, he believed in the Shadow Warlord too.
His unshakeable resolve was palpable.
Leyzon gave Hanok firm support.
At the same time, he kept his eyes squarely on the situation.
This is a lure.
The Shadow Warlord fled while dodging Syria and Iden's assaults.
He wielded the full extent of the Shadow Warlord's original powers.
And the black aura comprising his body was unmistakably the Evil Transcendent's influence.
Fortunately, no full apostle transformation has taken hold.
Just as Hanok said, his body wasn't completely overtaken.
The problem was that the empowered Shadow Warlord was proving difficult even for Syria to pin down.
She could kill him if she wanted, but killing him wasn't an option.
Leyzon locked eyes with Iden.
Iden read the intent in Leyzon's gaze and nodded.
Iden would scout the surroundings as the reconnaissance specialist.
Iden's form blurred into the shadows.
"I'll scout ahead."
Iden vanished with high-speed movement, merging into the darkness.
Leyzon gripped the Staff of Abundance in return.
He pulled an Abyss Crystal from his bag.
Seven crystals remaining.
The number of instant activations available.
"Sword Saint."
The Sword Saint glanced back while sprinting alongside the shadow wolf.
"Can you use Lightning to bind the Shadow Warlord's legs—just once?"
"Once is doable."
The Sword Saint had already pressed deeply into the ground.
"I'm counting on you."
Leyzon's gaze fixed on the Shadow Warlord's retreating back.
The Shadow Warlord raced on all fours, tail streaming behind him.
Syria's shadows struck at him repeatedly.
But with freakish flexibility and reaction speed, he scaled the walls to evade every blow.
The Shadow Warlord was too fast to track with the naked eye.
His movements were those of a wild beast, pure and simple.
To catch a wild beast...
...you set a trap.
The [Undying Life] enveloping the Staff of Abundance began to glow.
Skills activated, forming three barrels.
Leyzon loaded an Abyss Crystal into each barrel.
"Dragon Scale."
Aura compressed, locking the barrels to maximum.
"Thrashing around like this is your front yard, huh?"
Leyzon's lips curled into a chilling smirk.
"Sorry, but dungeons are my specialty."
Leyzon had the entire layout of the dungeonized headquarters memorized.
That's why he'd anticipated the Shadow Warlord's escape route.
A small plaza surrounded by thick walls.
The Path of Rules.
A bizarre place where both ceiling and floor were glass.
There was only one straight corridor leading out.
No matter how he fled, that was his only option.
Crackle—
In that instant, a red flash devoured all light in the area.
Beneath the glass ceiling.
A crimson line streaked through.
Thud!
The fleeing Shadow Warlord tumbled through the air with a crash.
Beyond him, the Sword Saint rolled too, unable to handle the speed.
Lightning [SS] had the advantage of moving at lightning speed.
But being truly lightning-like, it was an absurd skill impossible to control.
Thus, the Sword Saint had always reined in its power to some degree.
But just now, he'd unleashed it at full throttle.
A strike at Lightning's maximum output.
It had precisely shattered the Shadow Warlord's leg.
Yet even as he rolled across the floor, the Shadow Warlord slammed his hand down.
Black aura enveloped his body in response.
"Sword-Tooth Transformation!"
Hanok shouted.
The beastified Shadow Warlord refused to yield despite his mangled leg, intent on escape.
It was absurd tenacity.
But this had been anticipated too.
Boom!
Leyzon's barrels fired.
The Shadow Warlord dodged the shot Abyss Crystals involuntarily.
With his leg already injured.
Getting caught in that explosion would end him.
Rumble!
The blast completely collapsed the exit.
The Shadow Warlord landed on the glass floor.
But only for a moment.
Because Leyzon's remaining two barrels were aimed at the floor.
The crystals fired toward the glass.
"Fierce Poison Eruption."
As the light spread, the glass floor shattered into pieces.
The Shadow Warlord plummeted through the scattering shards.
His arms flailed wildly.
No matter how much the Shadow Warlord, aerial maneuvers were restricted.
This side was different.
Beneath the broken glass floor.
A massive pool of blood surged up in an instant.
The blood pool swallowed the Shadow Warlord whole.
And at the same time, it coalesced in Syria's hand.
Clink!
With a resounding chime, the blood pool solidified into a crystal.
The Shadow Warlord was trapped inside, only his head protruding.
"Grk."
Unable to move, he let out a groan.
Leyzon descended slowly on his Bone Broom.
"Shadow Warlord."
Leyzon called his epithet, and the Shadow Warlord looked up.
A smirk already played on his lips.
As if Leyzon couldn't do a thing to him.
"No. Whatever's inside the Shadow Warlord."
Leyzon stared straight down at him.
Leyzon's eyes gleamed sharply.
"You're Gullian, aren't you."
The Shadow Warlord's—Gullian's—neck snapped with a crack.
His sharply turned face glared back.
A reaction admitting he hadn't expected Leyzon to see through his identity.
The moment Leyzon saw the Shadow Warlord fleeing, he'd realized.
The way he handled shadows, his quick reflexes, his movements.
They reminded him of High Priest Gullian, whom he'd killed before arriving here.
From that, Leyzon inferred.
The spare lives all high priests shared.
Gullian had inserted his into the Shadow Warlord.
A form of possession.
"You've got some nerve."
The Shadow Warlord wasn't a fellow Transcendence Cult member.
Possessing an outsider like him was a massive gamble.
Here in the headquarters brimming with the Evil Transcendent's power, he could suppress and steal the Shadow Warlord's soul.
But outside its reach, things would differ.
He'd have to vie for dominance with the Shadow Warlord's soul.
Yet Gullian had possessed him anyway, fully aware.
A desperate all-in bet with his own life.
"Heh, heh heh."
At that moment, laughter spread across Gullian's lips.
"What does it matter? If we die, we go to His side anyway."
A creepy grin split Gullian's face.
"When a usable body shows up, you use it. And I'm confident."
Madness glittered in his eyes.
"I'll devour the Shadow Warlord's soul and make this body ours. You can't stop it."
Gullian's possession was a soul fusion.
Yanking him out rashly would damage the Shadow Warlord's soul too.
The only way to remove him was for the Shadow Warlord to win the soul struggle.
"No."
Hanok spoke up then.
His eyes pierced Gullian transparently.
"There's no way my brother would lose to someone like you."
The usual fragility was gone from Hanok.
He simply believed in his brother unwaveringly.
Watching Hanok, Leyzon turned back to Gullian.
"Even setting that aside."
Leyzon's hand clamped down hard on Gullian's head.
"Thinking I have no way to pry you out is just arrogant."
"Look forward to it. I'll send you all to His side for sure!"
Gullian feared no death.
He only wished to send as many as possible to the Evil Transcendent.
The epitome of a Transcendence Cult high priest.
"Syria."
At Leyzon's call, the blood began swallowing Gullian.
The plan was to keep him sedated until they left the Transcendence Cult.
Gullian met Leyzon's eyes with that same creepy grin.
"Aren't you forgetting one thing?"
Leyzon's gaze met his.
"Our apostle-ified zealots can commit the same sin."
With that, Gullian was consumed into the crystal.
The reason he'd fled to the end.
And why no Apostle Beasts had unusually appeared around them.
That reason was now revealed.
"These mad bastards..."
They'd finally crossed the line.