Swearing on a God's Name
A priest of the Phytos Church cast a detection spell on the letter.
"Hmm... I sense both holiness and wickedness at the same time..."
"What? Are you checking my letter because you don't trust me?"
"O-oh, no! It's not that, I just wanted to be sure, just in case..."
The Phytos priest broke into a cold sweat and waved his hands frantically. Thanks to that, Tae-hyun didn't even get a chance to ask why the letter felt wicked.
"Now! Hurry up and go in there to d— I mean, go find out what's inside."
"Did you just say 'd—'?"
While Tae-hyun and his party were fighting for their lives in the sea far from the Central Continent, Lee Se-yeon was also busy with her own quest.
The Frica Continent, located south of the Central Continent!
It was a place where relatively little had been uncovered compared to the Central Continent, offering endless opportunities for exploration.
The rankers of Pandemonium Online could be broadly divided into two groups: those who engaged in power struggles within the Central Continent like the Guild Alliance, and those who pursued quests elsewhere.
Lee Se-yeon was a textbook example of the latter.
Rather than operating within the kingdoms of the Central Continent, she found it far more thrilling and rewarding to seek out unknown quests in uncharted territories and reap the rewards.
Most rankers belonging to elite, small-scale guilds operated in a similar fashion.
"Screeech! Die, intruders!"
"You won't lay a single finger on our master!"
In the pitch-black forest, vampire warriors leaped from between the trees, clashing with Lee Se-yeon's undead army.
Though few in number, the undead she summoned were the elite of the elite.
While other Necromancers marched around with basic skeleton warriors, archers, or ghoul soldiers, Lee Se-yeon commanded Death Knights as her standard infantry, accompanied by all sorts of reinforced golems.
Consequently, the vampire warriors who had charged in blindly, misled by her small numbers, were utterly crushed.
Crunch, crunch!
"Ancient Blood Curse, Eye of Confusion!"
While her summoned undead minions fought, Lee Se-yeon cast curses from the rear.
The tactic itself was the textbook standard for a Necromancer. However, even a standard tactic yielded entirely different results when executed by a top-tier ranker like Lee Se-yeon.
The simplest method was often the most powerful.
Without relying on any special tricks, Lee Se-yeon successfully drove out all the vampire warriors in the area.
"Unni, you're amazing!"
"Behind you, Hyeon-ah! Behind you!"
"I see him!"
Kim Hyeon-ah spun around swiftly and struck a vampire assassin. The vampire, who had been aiming for her back from stealth, was sent flying.
"I wasn't letting my guard down."
"Good. Well done."
Lee Se-yeon looked at the dull red altar standing in the center of the forest.
An ominous-looking sword was driven into the altar. This sword was the final objective of this quest.
The Ominous Sword of the Blood Forest
Rumors of an ominous sword drift through the cursed Blood Forest. If you can claim that sword, you might be able to command powerful vengeful spirits. Of course, you aren't the only one coveting it...
🎁 Reward: ?, ???, ????
She had lost count of how many quest stages she had cleared just to find the forest where this sword rested.
Moreover, a strange vampire cult had appeared midway through, forcing even Lee Se-yeon to summon her guild members.
"Alright. I'm pulling it out, okay?"
Nod.
Her guild members nodded. Once she pulled this out, the quest would be over!
You have drawn the Ominous Sword.
The Salavian Church, a cult of corrupted vampires, has realized this fact.
Flee immediately!
Seeing the message window, Lee Se-yeon asked urgently, "What kind of cult is the Salavian Church?!"
"Uh... let's see..."
One of the guild members, who was highly knowledgeable about the history and lore of Pandemonium Online, furrowed his brow and tried to recall.
"They're one of the lost cults! It's an evil deity cult composed mostly of vampires. They were exiled from the Central Continent..."
Screeech!
Screeeeeeech!
You have heard the enraged roar of the vampires!
Inflicting status effect: Fear...
All status ailments have been cleansed.
Lee Se-yeon quickly countered the curse and gathered her guild members.
"Let's get out of here!"
"How dare you touch our sacred relic! You will not be forgiven!"
"Only in death shall you leave this place!"
Boom, boom, boom!
One side of the forest exploded, and a teleportation portal materialized. Vampire warriors poured out in droves!
Their numbers were on a completely different scale compared to the enemies they had faced so far.
"Curse of the Burning Skull!"
A vampire warrior blessed by Salabian resists the flames.
Vampire assassins blessed by Salabian are attempting to teleport!
"Oh, crap... Run!"
Lee Se-yeon quickly sent her undead army forward to form a wall, then began to retreat with her guild members.
When the system message told you to flee, there was always a very good reason for it!
"You shall not pass!"
"Get out of the way, you walking corpses!"
Crash!
In the middle of the forest, the undead army and the vampire warriors clashed!
The undead army, centered around Death Knights, received various buff skills and tore the vampire warriors apart, but the vampires were no pushovers either. Blessed by the god Salabian, they actually began to overwhelm the Death Knights with sheer numbers.
The only saving grace was that because her troops were undead, the vampires' vampiric curses and life drain didn't work well on them!
Crunch, crunch!
Even when a vampire bit into a Death Knight's neck, the Death Knight kept moving as if nothing had happened.
"How dare these rotten corpses...!"
"Receive the curse of Salabian!"
"Ugh, we got the sword, but I feel like we've stirred up a hornet's nest..."
Lee Se-yeon grimaced at the bloodthirsty roars echoing from behind. Once you crossed enemies of that type, they would relentlessly harass you. They would send assassins wherever you went, or launch outright ambushes...
Thud, thud, thud!
In the meantime, the center of the undead army was breached, and vampire warriors began to pour through the gap, sprinting toward them.
"You will never esc—"
"Undead Explosion! Golem Explosion!"
Kaboom!
With a colossal explosion, half of the forest was blown away. Lee Se-yeon sighed, summoned her mount, and quickly put some distance between them and the blast zone along with her guild members.
Rebuilding those golems is going to be such a pain...
Tae-hyun had already destroyed them once before, and she had barely managed to gather the materials to remake them. Now they were blown to pieces again.
"Adventurers! Even if you flee to the Central Continent, we will hunt you down! The Central Continent will soon fall into our hands anyway!"
"He's spouting some classic villain dialogue, isn't he?"
"Don't worry, Guild Master. According to my research, all evil deity cults say stuff like that. In reality, very few of them actually succeed in doing anything in the Central Continent."
"That's not very comforting..."
"Yikes! A fish!"
"...Adventurer, isn't screaming at a passing fish a bit much?"
A Phytos paladin looked at the player with utter disdain. Frightened by a mere fish!
However, the players had a very good reason for their terror.
Why did Kim Tae-hyun send us here?
He definitely sent us here to die! Sob!
In truth, Tae-hyun didn't hold any particular grudge against these players. Stealing a pirate ship and running away was practically a harmless prank in his eyes. Of course, he couldn't just let them off scot-free, so he was handling them alongside his other business... but from the players' perspective, it was terrifying.
"Do you think he'll attack us again if we go outside?"
"N-no way. Kim Tae-hyun isn't that kind of person..."
The player speaking suddenly choked on his words. The rumors about Kim Tae-hyun circulating on the community boards flashed through his mind.
Normally, they would have been mocked with comments like, "Did you guys get scammed by Kim Tae-hyun too?" but right now, those absurd rumors felt strangely plausible.
"I believe... I told you to leave..."
Boom!
Okenoas threw a preemptive strike right along with his words! To the dragon, it was probably just a casual swipe of his front paw, but for the player on the receiving end, it meant an immediate forced logout.
"A d-dragon! It's a real dragon!"
"They said it was an Ancient Dragon's dungeon, but did he seriously send us to a place with a live dragon?!"
"Is he insane?!"
Unlike the panicked players, the paladins of the Phytos Church barely managed to hold onto their sanity and shouted, "We brought a letter!"
"What did you say?"
"H-here is the letter! Written by the great hero of the continent... Count Kim Tae-hyun..."
Faced with imminent death, the Phytos Church NPCs offered praises they would never normally utter as they held out the letter.
"I do not know... who that is..."
"H-he is the Pope of the Archisus Church..."
"Archisus... Ah... That... swindler... If I recall correctly, he went to the Gold Dragon because I rejected his offer..."
"Y-yes, that's right! Archisus! That swindler!"
"Does a mere mortal dare insult a god...?"
"We are deeply sorry!"
The Phytos Church NPCs, who had almost died just by trying to agree with the dragon, quickly changed their tune.
"Very well... Tell that... Pope to enter. I would like to meet the successor of Archisus..."
"!"
The players, who had been listening while trembling in fear, were even more shocked. The dragon actually gave permission to enter! Just what on earth did Kim Tae-hyun write in that letter?
Okenoas took the letter, opened it, and began to read. Everyone present swallowed hard in tense anticipation.
"Hmm..."
"H-how is it?"
"His handwriting is so terrible I cannot read a single word..."
"..."
Without even slaying a single monster, simply returning alive showered them with rewards equivalent to clearing a decent dungeon.
"W-we returned alive!"
"We are so sorry for misunderstanding you, Tae-hyun! We thought you pushed us in there to die..."
"...?"
"???"
Cain and Choi Sang-yun tilted their heads in confusion. He definitely pushed them in there to die, though?
"You were giving us a chance to redeem ourselves! Sob!"
"Well, if that's what you think, then sure. So, did you deliver the letter?"
"Yes! The dragon said he wants to meet you in person, Tae-hyun..."
"..."
"...??"
When Tae-hyun fell silent, the players grew flustered. They had expected him to be pleased.
"Are you lying to me?"
"?!"
Tae-hyun cast a deeply suspicious gaze over them. At this, the Phytos Church paladins and priests stepped forward to explain.
"No, Count Kim Tae-hyun! It is the absolute truth. The dragon truly wishes to meet you!"
"Hmm... Maybe you guys teamed up to play a prank on me..."
"..."
The players realized Tae-hyun wasn't joking.
"Why would we do that?!"
"Well, I sent you in there to die, so naturally—"
"Wait, you sent us in there to die?!"
Overhearing the conversation with the players, a Phytos Church priest cut in, sounding exasperated.
"No, Count! Please believe us. We can swear upon the holy name of Lord Phytos!"
"...To be honest, swearing on his name is so cheap these days that it's hard to trust..."
"?!?!"
An absolutely unbelievable statement coming from the Pope of a church!
Only after bickering for about thirty minutes did Tae-hyun finally decide to believe them for now.
"Sang-yun. Wait here, and if I don't come back out, push all of these guys into the sea."
"..."
"W-we can hear you, you know."
"I said it so you would hear."
With those parting words, Tae-hyun stepped into the dungeon.