Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: Black Castle Dungeon
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Black Castle Dungeon.
A place that had seemed peaceful was suddenly thrown into chaos.
This was all thanks to two undead.
As if the pair had made a bet or something.
Those two undead had rooted out every last undead in the Black Castle.
"L-Leyzon, sir... is it really okay for us to gain Ascension EXP like this?"
Hanok spoke up beside Leyzon, his face full of bewilderment. They'd done nothing themselves, after all—just smashed the heads of the undead the pair had brought them.
Leyzon slowly broke into a smile.
"Hanok, the world has always been unfair. It's a place where those who have, get more."
"Ugh... but won't this leave us short on real combat experience?"
Hanok might have a soft side, but at his core, he was diligent.
He even trained sporadically with the five during breaks.
Hanok wanted to climb to the pinnacle of Pioneers on his own.
Someday, to become a true asset to his brother, the Shadow Warlord.
So he never stopped putting in the effort.
That was why this freebie felt so off to him.
Leyzon pondered for a moment.
Then he grinned softly.
"Hanok, you're already a seasoned warrior of top caliber. Among the warriors I know, you're one of the best."
Leyzon had always held the warriors he knew in high regard.
"R-Really? Heh heh, you think so?"
Hanok's ears perked up.
He was weak to praise.
"Exactly. You're plenty strong, Hanok! Sometimes your hard work deserves a reward like this—you've gotta enjoy it now and then, right?"
Hanok's tail began to swish.
"Y-Yeah, when you put it that way, it does make sense!"
"Good. Then let's get back to smashing undead heads."
Leyzon had successfully talked the innocent Hanok around.
"I was hoping to test out my new skills, though. What a shame."
Come to think of it, Leyzon had overhauled all of Hanok's skills.
With his 10th Ascension, he'd upgraded most of them straight to S-rank.
That explained Hanok's disappointed smack of the lips.
'So the regret of not trying his skills outweighed any guilt over unearned growth.'
They'd have to fight whether they liked it or not once they reached the surface.
So Leyzon silently urged him to savor the moment.
Leyzon's group pressed deeper into the Black Castle.
Before long, the tower they'd spotted earlier loomed very close.
Up close, it felt even more enormous.
'I wonder if Pauli's inside.'
As this was a dungeon, there had to be a boss somewhere.
Was that boss Pauli?
It was still too early to tell.
Crack!
A moment later, Syria approached, holding a severed undead head.
"Leyzon, sir. We've cleared all the undead in the area."
"No more around."
Eden popped up right behind her.
Aside from the tower itself, the vicinity was now completely cleared.
Recognizing this, Leyzon stood before the tower's entrance.
The doorway was sealed by a massive iron gate.
"Syria, sense anything inside?"
"Not really. Unlike outside, no undead vibes either."
He'd half-expected the tower to be crawling with them.
Surprisingly, it seemed empty.
"Mind opening it?"
No reason not to go in, then.
Leyzon stepped back a bit, and Syria positioned herself before the iron gate.
She summoned shadows and shoved the door open.
Creeeeak—
The massive gate groaned open on rusty hinges.
A chilling wind immediately blew out from within.
"Achoo!"
Lebon, whom Hanok was carrying, sneezed.
His body shivered.
Hanok's face similarly hardened.
The aura emanating from inside constricted around them.
"Leyzon, sir."
Syria sidled up to Leyzon.
Even she furrowed her brow slightly.
"Pauli's in there."
An aura utterly different from the other undead in the Black Castle.
Its source: the castle's master, Pauli.
"Eden, watch Hanok and the old man, will you?"
"Got it."
Taking them any farther seemed too risky.
Leyzon entrusted them to Eden and turned to Syria.
"I'll protect you thoroughly, Leyzon, sir—no harm will come to you!"
She was reliability itself.
"Good. I trust you. Let's go."
Leyzon entered the tower with Syria.
No lights were lit inside, leaving it pitch black.
Leyzon rummaged in his bag and pulled out a pair of glasses.
Enchanted to grant night vision.
Thanks to them, he could see through the darkness without issue.
"Syria, your vision okay?"
"Yep. I can perceive through shadows."
No worries, then.
Leyzon and Syria began making their way inside.
"I wonder what happened to Pauli."
It had turned into a dungeon while they were away.
Even Syria—who rarely cared about others—seemed bothered.
"That's why we came all this way. To ask."
As Leyzon advanced, a staircase leading upward came into view.
Syria took point, with Leyzon following.
They climbed for quite a while.
"Hm?"
Syria suddenly snapped her head downward, sensing something.
"Syria?"
Leyzon called out, but she fell silent.
Then her eyes widened hugely.
"Leyzon, sir—run up ahead!"
With her shout, she hurled herself downward.
The moment Leyzon saw it, he spotted black moss seeping from between the bricks.
The leaking black moss gradually took humanoid form.
An advanced undead form of the black moss that Halban wielded.
Legion Moss.
A 16th-Ascension Phantasmal Beast at Silver Adventurer grade.
Even Syria would need time to deal with it.
"Damn."
Syria had clearly gone down to smash its core.
The Legion Moss filled the entire tower.
One wrong move, and it'd bury him alive.
Boom!
Sounds of destruction echoed nonstop from below.
Syria was definitely fighting.
Leyzon accelerated to avoid getting in her way.
The Legion Moss relentlessly tried to grab him.
But Leyzon didn't just take it lying down.
He swung his staff.
Blood and shadows intertwined, engulfing the Legion Moss tendrils.
They thrashed and decomposed.
Legion Moss dissolved in its viscous liquid form.
Of course, that wouldn't destroy it outright.
But it bought plenty of time.
Leyzon's Bone Broom shot upward like an arrow.
"Yongrin."
He infused it with Yongrin's winds.
A gale-force blast accelerated the Bone Broom even further.
The ceiling came into view.
But the Legion Moss had caught on to his escape route.
It began sealing off the ceiling.
'Gotta punch through myself.'
Leyzon's eyes calmly assessed the situation.
It'd cost some mana, but no choice.
His firepower could breach that much Legion Moss.
The moment he aimed his Staff of Abundance—
Crack!
The entire mass of Legion Moss shattered and collapsed.
Leyzon grinned, baring his teeth.
'Syria.'
She'd destroyed the core.
What a daughter he'd raised—no other undead could compare!
Leyzon slipped through the hole in the ceiling where light poured in.
Whoosh!
Bursting out, his eyes fell on a vast plaza.
At its center stood a lone figure.
A pristine white skeleton simply... stood there.
It showed no reaction whatsoever.
Leyzon narrowed his eyes.
"Pauli."
He called the name.
But the skeleton remained utterly still.
No response at all.
Leyzon landed on the floor.
It was slick with moisture.
As if rain had pooled there.
In the silent space,
Leyzon lowered his staff slowly
and stepped toward the skeletal corpse.
Crack—
In that instant, the skeleton reacted.
Leyzon waited quietly. The skeleton twisted its body,
then gaped its jaws wide.
Between its bared teeth stood something the size of a fingernail.
The moment Leyzon saw it, he shouted.
"Pauli!"
It was an ant standing on two legs.
A fingernail-sized ant,
wearing a diamond crown on its head and a cape over its shoulders.
Corpse Ant.
Leyzon's fourth creation.
The undead fabricator that could produce anything on its own.
Pauli Poatrize.
He was inside the skull's mouth.
Leyzon's face lit up with joy.
But Pauli just stared at him blankly, unresponsive.
Leyzon raised his staff.
"As I thought."
Gazing at Pauli, Leyzon realized one key fact.
"You've lost your reason since becoming the dungeon's boss."
With those words, the skeletal corpse began to warp.
Crunch!
Insect-like legs erupted from its body.
Leyzon swiftly retreated while chaining spells.
Fierce Poison Emission
Attribute Fusion → Bleeding Recovery
Fierce poison filled bleeding orbs.
The insect legs were nearly upon him.
No time to waste.
The fierce poison blood orbs whipped about in Yongrin's winds.
Positioned right before the insect legs.
Amplified by Abundance, the orb detonated.
Shattered insect legs flew outward.
Shadows pooled at Leyzon's feet.
Lightened by Yongrin, he slid frictionlessly over the shadows and escaped.
Thick purple smoke filled the air.
Thud!
Through it, a regenerated insect leg slammed the floor.
Leyzon exhaled briefly at the sight.
Pauli was a Level 18 Corruption undead.
No matter how much Leyzon had optimized his glass cannon build,
a head-on clash was impossible.
Before long, the skeleton had climbed into the air using its insect legs.
Its eye sockets gleamed black.
Fwoosh!
Hostility from Pauli crushed down on Leyzon.
His shoulders felt crushed by a colossal weight.
His lungs seized; he couldn't breathe.
"Hoo."
But Leyzon forced his mouth wide and exhaled.
He'd faced countless powerhouses by now.
This killing intent wouldn't faze him anymore.
'Pauli doesn't recognize me at all.'
Openly baring hostility at his own master was proof.
Yet Leyzon stayed calm.
Instead, his mind latched onto one way to resolve this.
Just one.
The only method to awaken Pauli's mind.
Bang!
Part of the floor shattered as shadows surged upward.
From them emerged the Vampire Queen.
Syria Nosferatu.
Leyzon's strongest undead.
"Pauli?"
Syria recognized him and frowned.
"How dare you bare your fangs at him."
Her pitch-black murderous intent clashed against Pauli's.
"Syria."
Leyzon called as he stepped beside her.
"Subdue Pauli."
"Yes, sir!"
A solid reply.
To awaken Pauli's mind,
they had to bring him down here.