Chapter 160
I Became the Successor of the Martial God
Chapter 160.
At the top floor of the mansion, there was a magic stone.
A magic stone that maintained the barrier preventing monsters from approaching.
But now, it was completely shattered.
By none other than Min Yi-jae's hands.
"……."
After destroying the magic stone, Min Yi-jae moved busily, setting up something all over the upper floor.
He arranged the magic stones and unknown talismans according to a special pattern.
And shortly after.
Rumble—!
Min Yi-jae felt a massive vibration rising from the basement, accompanied by a loud noise.
It meant Yoo Baek-jun and the others had entered the basement and begun their work.
Now, it was his turn to move.
"What was that noise? Where did it come from?"
"J-Jerome! It's from the basement!"
"Hurry down and check! No, I’ll go down myself. What in the world is going on…?!"
Jerome tried to lead the cult members down the stairs.
But then.
"Wh-what’s this?!"
"The fog…!"
Their vision blurred.
A thick fog suddenly filled the upper floors of the mansion, making it hard to see anything.
Still, they tried to make their way downstairs by memory, but it was impossible.
"J-Jerome. The path…."
"There’s no path! It’s like a maze!"
As if the mansion’s interior had turned into a maze, the cult members wandered, unable to find their way.
They kept walking forward but never hit anything. They should’ve bumped into walls by now.
Jerome scowled.
"It’s a formation."
"Huh?"
"Someone’s playing tricks. You lot, buy me some time. I’ll break this."
"Buy time? Against what?"
"What else?"
A flash of light flickered for an instant.
A crack formed on the neck of an undead near Jerome, and its body collapsed in pieces.
"Against the bastard doing this."
"…!"
Min Yi-jae moved within the fog.
* * *
A battle was also unfolding in the basement.
The vast basement was filled with numerous undead, controlled by cult members.
"Enemies! Stop them!"
"Where did they even come from?"
The cult members panicked, pushing the undead forward. Skeletons, Skeleton Mages, Dullahans, Zombies—all kinds of undead blocked the way.
"Yoo Baek-jun! It’s fine to burn them all, right?!"
"I don’t care, but if it catches fire, deal with it yourself!"
"That’s nothing!"
Whoosh—!
Yoon Song-ha laughed fiercely as flames erupted.
A giant bird manifested from her fingertips and swooped down on the undead blocking their path.
—Screeeech!
—Hot, it’s hot…!
The firebird swept across the ground.
Undead-type monsters were inherently weak to fire.
The path cleared in an instant.
"Huup…!"
Yoo Baek-jun spun his body and unleashed a circular sword aura forward.
Then, he charged through the undead, igniting his sword with flames using Elemental manifestation.
"Instructor Han Seong-ah! Kill those cult members first!"
"Understood."
Han Seong-ah raised her ghost swords high.
The ominous blades glowed violet.
The cult members tried to defend, but—
Yoo Baek-jun was a step ahead, stomping the ground.
Crackle—!
"Gahhk!"
Thunderstomp kick.
Lightning spread in all directions, momentarily paralyzing the cult members.
Seizing the opportunity, the ghost swords shot out.
Thud!
Stabbed and slashed by the ghost swords, the cult members hiding among the undead collapsed.
"Damn it!"
"Bring out the necromancers! Now!"
"B-but Jerome said—"
"We’re about to die here, and that’s your concern?! Get them all out and make more undead!"
The cult members scrambled to release the necromancers imprisoned in the cells.
They were already brainwashed.
With blank eyes, the necromancers began raising corpses.
At that moment, Yoo Baek-jun signaled Han Seong-ah and Yoon Song-ha, who immediately began chanting spells as if they had been waiting.
Huuuum…
The ground split open, and an enormous number of corpses rose again. These were the monster corpses Jerome had collected for practice in this area.
The undead began reanimating.
"Yoon Song-ha!"
"I know!"
—Necromancers would appear in the basement, and undead would emerge from that spot—so annihilate them with maximum firepower.
Before entering, Yoo Baek-jun had explained the plan to Yoon Song-ha.
"No idea how you predicted this, but—!"
Whoooosh—!
She unleashed every kind of flame magic, incinerating the undead without a trace.
Pillars of fire, flames raining from the ceiling, waves of fire covering the ground—
—Screeeeam!
"Th-these lunatics!"
The undead they had painstakingly created melted away the moment they appeared.
And that wasn’t all.
The corpses meant to become undead were also completely burned away by the flame magic.
Crash—!
Next, Han Seong-ah unleashed dark magic.
Endless black chains shot down from above, entangling the necromancers.
Seeing this, Yoo Baek-jun charged forward and subdued the necromancers with Heavenly Chain Strikes.
‘H-how is this possible?’
A cult member watching the sequence was horrified.
It was inevitable.
It was as if they had predicted everything the cult would do and countered it perfectly.
Jerome’s trained necromancers and undead had been defeated too easily.
As the cult member was lost in thought, Yoo Baek-jun appeared right in front of him in an instant.
"Ugh—!"
Crack!
A neck snapped in one motion.
Yoo Baek-jun tossed the dead cult member aside. Another cult member stared at him with terrified eyes.
He didn’t stop, systematically eliminating the cult members.
"Stop him! Stop him, damn it!"
"H-he’s too fast…!"
His movements were so swift that the sluggish undead couldn’t hope to block him.
The number of cult members rapidly dwindled.
They fled to the deepest part of the basement, dragging the remaining necromancers with them.
Toward a place with an ornate door.
"We have to hold here! If we lose this spot, Jerome-nim will kill us!"
"Then—!"
"We have to summon it. Now!"
The brainwashed necromancers focused their minds. The death energy emanating from them covered the ground, beginning to form something.
Squelch, squelch!
Corpses clumped together, merging.
The bodies of various monsters combined, taking the shape of a colossal abomination.
‘Flesh Golem.’
The monster’s name was Flesh Golem.
A golem stitched together from countless monsters, inheriting the traits of each.
Undoubtedly a troublesome foe.
‘But still…’
Only for an ordinary hunter.
Before the golem could fully form, Yoo Baek-jun closed the distance with Heavenly Thunder.
‘I’ll finish it before then.’
Flames gathered in Yoo Baek-jun’s grip. His fist shot out, drawing an arc.
Heavenly Destruction slammed into the Flesh Golem.
Whoosh—!
The explosive flames transformed into a dragon’s maw, engulfing the golem entirely.
Thud! Splat!
The Flesh Golem collapsed before it could even fully form.
The corpses composing its body were utterly incinerated.
"Cra—!"
Before the cult member could finish shouting ‘Crazy,‘ Yoo Baek-jun grabbed his neck and snapped it.
"Eeek!"
"Spare me, please!"
The remaining cult members trembled in fear.
The thick scent of blood.
The aura of Massacrer emanating from Yoo Baek-jun crushed them.
"Not planning to."
With their last hope, the Flesh Golem, defeated, they had nothing left.
Yoo Baek-jun swiftly slaughtered the cult members and subdued the necromancers.
"Yoon Song-ha, Instructor Han Seong-ah. Guard the entrance. Enemies will swarm from the ground floor soon."
"Yes, young master."
Min Yi-jae’s formation would soon be broken.
He had told him not to over exert himself —once the formation was broken, he would retreat without hesitation.
But before that, there was one last thing to do.
Crash—!
Yoo Baek-jun kicked open the door the cult members had desperately guarded.
Inside was a well-decorated, spacious room—it looked like a library filled with books.
At its center, a boy slept.
‘Noel.’
His bleached hair was striking.
Short and young-looking, but he would turn twenty next year.
‘Was he malnourished as a child?’
Above him floated a tiara.
From that tiara, magical energy extended like tree roots, wrapping around Noel’s head.
"Using an artifact for something so pointless."
Yoo Baek-jun shattered the tiara with his spear. Fragments scattered like glass, and the magic binding Noel’s head vanished.
"Hey, wake up."
"……."
"I said wake up."
Yoo Baek-jun shook Noel roughly.
Still, he showed no sign of waking.
Unable to wait any longer, Yoo Baek-jun clenched his fist—
"……."
Noel’s eyes opened.
He looked around blankly, as if trying to grasp the situation.
His gaze settled on Yoo Baek-jun.
"Who… are you?"
"Can’t you tell? I’m here to save you."
"Why would you save me?"
"Who I am can wait. How about we get out of here first? This isn’t exactly a relaxed situation."
"……."
Noel shook his head.
It wasn’t just that he didn’t know the man in front of him—there was a more fundamental reason.
"It’s impossible. I have people I need to protect… For their sake, I can’t leave this place."
"Those orphanage friends of yours?"
Noel looked at Yoo Baek-jun in surprise.
He was from an orphanage abroad.
As a child, he nearly starved to death on the streets before being saved by a nun from the orphanage, where he then grew up.
Jerome, noticing Noel’s talent, kidnapped him—and took the orphanage staff and children with him.
—Obey my teachings faithfully. If you perfectly understand everything I teach you… I’ll let you see the people from the orphanage again.
—But if you resist or try to escape this mansion…
—I’ll kill every last one of them.
That was Jerome’s threat.
Noel, who cherished the nun who saved him and his orphanage friends, had no choice but to obey.
But if those shackles were removed—
"Hey, take this call."
"Huh?"
Yoo Baek-jun took out his phone, dialed a number, and tossed it to Noel.
He fumbled to catch it.
On the screen—
—Noel!
—Oh, thank God…
His orphanage friends and the nun. Their tear-filled eyes stared back from the screen.
Noel’s eyes widened.
"S-Sister! How did you—?"
—Young master, the target has been rescued. As you instructed, we’ve dealt with everyone in the building.
"Good work."
Jeon Soo-yeon appeared on the screen, accompanied by other intelligence agents she had recruited.
—They saved us. I don’t know the details, but they suddenly appeared and rescued us.
"These people are…"
"My subordinates."
"…!"
Noel’s shocked eyes turned to Yoo Baek-jun.
"Now you’ve got no reason not to leave, right?"
He nodded blankly.
Of course, he wasn’t planning to just flee.
"But before that, let’s finish one thing."
"Finish what?"
"We need to get revenge."
Revenge.
There was no need to ask who it was directed at.
Noel’s expression changed.
Twisted with fury.
"Can you do it?"
"Yeah."
Yoo Baek-jun quickly explained what needed to be done, and Noel readily agreed.
Now, all they had to do was wait for Jerome to arrive.