Chapter 229
Chapter 229
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 229
Chapter Title: All Dungeons Clear
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In front of an upper dungeon devoid of any people.
Leyzon stood tall with his arms crossed.
Soon after, far in the distance, Estelle came flying in her dragonized form.
Estelle had Invisibility [SS] activated.
Thanks to that, she soared leisurely without drawing anyone's attention.
Moments later, Estelle landed right in front of Leyzon.
Then, the two figures riding on her back dismounted.
There stood Hanok and Pauli, respectively.
"Pauli, Hanok."
"Yeah, we've arrived!"
Pauli greeted him energetically, spreading his wings.
In contrast, Hanok landed sluggishly.
"L-Leyzon, sir... welcome."
"I'm not the one arriving, Hanok. That's you."
"R-Right."
Hanok gave an awkward smile.
Leyzon watched him for a moment before curling up the corner of his mouth.
"You must've had a really happy time with Yusia, huh?"
"Y-Yes?!"
Hanok's ears and tail perked up in shock as he cried out.
He hadn't expected Leyzon to know everything.
Sorry as he felt for Hanok, Leyzon had ears planted everywhere densely.
Everything happening in Sahā Village reached his ears.
Naturally, Hanok's recent activities had come to light as well.
"Grinding dungeons hard and dating hard, too."
Hanok bowed his head, his face turning beet red.
"Too bad, but now it's time to face reality."
"L-Leyzon, sir, it's not like that..."
"Hanok."
There's a saying that distance breeds distance in relationships.
Hanok surely didn't want to be apart for too long either.
"There's only one way to get back quickly."
A sly grin crept onto Leyzon's lips.
"Head to Sahā Village and pick up the 16th Ascension quest."
The Sword-Tooth Clan ascends twice at a time.
Hanok was currently at 14th Ascension.
That meant he needed to gather experience equivalent to two more Ascensions.
In other words, no going back until then.
Hanok's lips quivered.
Then, he slowly lowered his head.
For a moment, it seemed like his spirits had fallen, but when he lifted his head again, it was different.
His eyes burned with fierce determination.
He was dead set on smashing through the dungeons in record time and returning.
With eyes like that, there'd be no problem.
Hanok was strong as a hunter, after all.
"Syria, Estelle, Iden, Pauli."
Leyzon called out to his four undead.
They each stood tall before him.
Leyzon smiled in satisfaction as he looked them over.
"From today on, all of you aim for Corruption Level 20."
Leyzon had already checked all the dungeons they'd cleared in his absence.
Even without him, they'd diligently grinded dungeons to grow stronger.
But this world had more dungeons than one might think.
Especially since Leyzon had been weak back then, their dungeon efficiency had been incredibly high.
Now that Leyzon had Ascended, efficiency had dropped a lot.
Still, the fact remained that their Corruption experience was stacking up nicely.
"Clear all dungeons."
Leyzon said with a grin.
"That's our goal."
Clear every dungeon in the Empire.
"Sounds good! I'm in as much as you want!"
"An easy task."
"I'll do my best."
"No challenge for me."
The four undead responded vigorously to Leyzon's declaration.
Good answers.
"Hanok, that goes for you too."
"Just what I wanted."
Fueled by his resolve to return no matter what, his eyes blazed intensely.
Once Hanok hit 16th Ascension, even hero-grade dungeons would be fair game.
So until then, they'd sweep every low, mid, and upper dungeon.
Transportation? Estelle had it covered.
They could grind day and night without rest.
"Alright, let's go."
"I'll wrap this up quick!"
Hanok showed his eagerness.
It'd end even faster than before anyway.
Behind Leyzon stood no less than four undead.
The dungeon's nightmare.
Even a hero-grade dungeon would cower at this lineup entering.
Dungeon.
A realm born from the corpse of a transcendent being.
Entities that naturally spawned by feeding on the transcendent corpse's power.
They were Phantasmal Beasts.
And those Phantasmal Beasts were being slaughtered mercilessly.
By parasites that grew by devouring the nutrients from the corpses, no less.
The Phantasmal Beasts were being butchered.
They shattered into pathetic fragments and vanished into the distance.
Weaving through those fragments was none other than Leyzon.
Every time Leyzon swung his staff, poison magic activated.
The moment the poison seeped into a Phantasmal Beast's body, it crumbled to ruin.
The ones doing the destroying were, of course, the undead.
They unleashed their full power freely, smashing the Phantasmal Beasts to pieces.
Running desperately at their side was Hanok.
He fought with everything he had, driven by his determination to reach 16th Ascension.
Dark circles had already formed under Hanok's eyes.
This week alone.
It was the result of keeping up with Leyzon's relentless march with almost no breaks.
Of course, even Leyzon, sustaining that pace, was quite fatigued.
Fortunately, he had Photosynthesis [Special].
That let him recover stamina periodically, so it was manageable.
'Looks like we've cleared all the nearby ones.'
They were breaking through a whopping ten dungeons a day.
If it wasn't a long one, they'd clear it in under three hours.
Normally, no matter how strong you were, clearing dungeons this fast would be impossible.
But Leyzon knew every dungeon inside out.
No getting lost; he bulldozed straight through them all.
'100% dungeon clear rate is a must.'
Taking out every Phantasmal Beast in a dungeon was essential.
So Leyzon mobilized all his abilities to wipe them out completely.
It was pure level grinding madness.
'Now the busier dungeons are up next, huh.'
Not that it mattered anymore.
They were out in the open now anyway.
In fact, he was actively provoking the Imperial Family.
'The things the Palace cares about: three.'
The Millennium Mage.
The Emperor's Sword.
The Prophet hiding in the Palace.
As far as Leyzon could tell, the Emperor's Sword wasn't moving.
With the Emperor away.
Without direct orders, it'd stay strictly neutral.
'Can't vouch for the Millennium Mage, though.'
Too many variables with that one.
Every story he'd heard about it was utterly bizarre.
You couldn't cower in fear of some unpredictable bastard.
So Leyzon moved boldly instead.
'And finally, the Prophet.'
He was hoping it'd show itself.
Thus, Leyzon kept a watchful eye on the Palace while aggressively clearing dungeons.
Not hero-grade caliber, but every bit counted.
The dungeon experience piled up steadily.
A month into the all-dungeons-clear grind.
Leyzon finally got the contact he'd been waiting for.
The sender: Five, Crow.
The long-awaited breakdown of the Palace's power structure.
Leyzon quickly scanned the telegram.
What he learned: the Palace was currently split into four factions.
First, the Emperor's Faction.
The force aiming to maintain the existing imperial power.
Weakened by the Emperor's absence, but imperial authority was still imperial authority.
Forces still supported it.
Second, the Crown Prince Faction.
The Palace had one young prince.
This faction sought to seize imperial power by propping him up as a puppet.
Key figure: Duke Lordmangri.
The prince's maternal grandfather.
Third, the Northern Noble Faction.
Duke Kaidan, de facto ruler of the northern Ged Mountains.
A coalition of northern and western nobles led by him.
Fourth, the Eastern Noble Faction.
Eastern and southern nobles centered around Duke Imperbava.
The weakest of the four factions.
Originally, power had been divided among the North, East, and Palace.
The East had little ambition for greater power.
But with power concentrating elsewhere, they'd inevitably get pushed out.
The East had no choice but to join the power struggle.
Thus, they started later than the other noble factions.
'Duke Imperbava.'
Leyzon had met Duke Imperbava in person before.
He'd entered Hanok in the tournament he hosted, after all.
'Not a bad guy, personality-wise.'
Fundamentally decent.
Still, among the foxes vying for Palace control, his faction was the weakest.
Leyzon read the additional details in the telegram.
As expected, each faction aimed for power monopoly.
Whoever won, the others would lose big.
Naturally, none wanted to lose, so they fought fiercely.
Excluding the East, the factions were evenly matched.
The Emperor's Faction held firm around the Emperor's Sword.
It was the calm before the storm.
A storm that would explode all at once if even one spark ignited.
For now, only the eye of that storm persisted.
'Still no clue which faction the Prophet belongs to.'
The one who stole the Bluebird Knight Captain's body.
Greed's Puppet Troupe.
Night Raven hadn't pinpointed anything related to it yet.
With the mausoleum gone, he'd expected movement soon, but nothing.
'Where's the Puppet Troupe Master hiding?'
Leyzon stroked his chin, eyeing the four factions.
He couldn't be sure which one the Puppet Troupe Master was in.
But process of elimination worked.
'Not the Emperor's Faction.'
The Puppet Troupe Master was after the 'Demon.'
If he'd joined the Emperor's Faction, he'd have snatched it already.
No such news meant he wasn't there.
'Not the East, either.'
Unlike the other two, the Eastern Faction was the weakest.
No reason to stick with the underdogs.
Efficiency-wise, Crown Prince or North made the most sense.
Leyzon reached that conclusion.
Process of elimination complete.
Now, verify directly.
And this elimination gave Leyzon his next move.
As mentioned, two factions eliminated.
Even Leyzon couldn't touch the Emperor's Faction.
That left one option.
'Time to make contact with Duke Imperbava.'
Infiltrate the Eastern Faction to nab the Prophet and the Palace.