Fighting Fire with Fire
Sadiq's Flame is consuming your body...
HP is rapidly decreasing!
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"We have to put out the fire right now..."
"Endure it and get in there! Hurry!" Heuk-heuk commanded fiercely.
The rankers gasped in horror at the command.
"Don't put out the fire?!"
"If you put out that fire, you won't survive the Cold Curse!"
"...!!!"
Only then did the rankers realize what he meant.
Fighting poison with poison! It sounded insane, but it made perfect sense. Sadiq's Flame dealt heavy damage and ruined their gear, but at least they could still move. Unlike the Cold Curse, which froze them solid and ended their lives on the spot, this was a curse they could actually endure.
Still... the sheer audacity of the concept was terrifying! What kind of lunatic sets themselves on fire to clear a dungeon?
"Hey, get in there already!"
"That, that damn pet..."
"Just bear with it. It's Kim Tae-hyun's pet."
Heuk-heuk barked with immense pride. He was always the one relegated to doing the dirty work in Tae-hyun's party, but out here, he held a position of absolute authority. The rankers found it cheap and dirty, but they had no choice.
"Pull out all your recovery potions, fire resistance potions, and burn-healing potions! We're going in!"
"Argh... What is this! What the hell is this?!"
Watching the two flaming rankers charge toward the tower, Heuk-heuk smiled warmly.
"Kyahaha!"
One team, two teams, three teams... Heuk-heuk sent the rankers in one after another. Having already heard the news via whispers, the remaining rankers waited with resigned expressions.
"Light me up."
"Even if you told me not to, I was going to!"
Soon, it was Johansson and Suana's turn. Johansson asked, looking puzzled, "Wait, can't we just carry it as a torch?"
"...!!!"
"...!!!"
Heuk-heuk froze. Come to think of it, he was right.
Wa-Wait... Master is going to be furious.
If he went through all this trouble lighting people on fire only to return and hear, "Are you brainless? You Sadiq-brained idiot!", he would feel incredibly wronged. Cornered, Heuk-heuk immediately came up with an excuse.
"If you put it on a torch, the power is too weak to withstand the curse!"
"Is that so? Let's test it out."
"...Hmph!"
Whoosh!
"Aaargh! I told you to light the torch, why did you light me?!"
Heuk-heuk's EXP has increased.
"?"
Does helping the rankers grant EXP?
Tae-hyun was puzzled, but he immediately refocused. Now was not the time to worry about system messages. This was Mission Impossible!
Ugh, these people...!
It had been great receiving skills from the heroes, but everything after that had been a continuous trial.
"Young man. A warrior of the Archisus Church does not hide!"
"No, this is the Duke's castle! What do you mean don't hide?!"
He had to sneak around to avoid the cold spirits, but the paladins kept trying to charge forward proudly, claiming "God's warriors do not hide."
"Ugh. Crouching for too long has thrown out my back... I can't maintain stealth anymore..."
That was the penalty from the aging curse...
"Whoops, my hand slipped."
Crash!
Basically, these heroes had nothing to do with stealth skills and kept causing accidents! There was a reason they had been captured by the Duke and frozen in ice in the first place.
Well, if they were meticulous, they wouldn't have been caught.
Carbanog agrees. It suggests they should learn a thing or two from Archisus.
Archisus, the god of meticulousness! If he weren't the god of luck, he might have been the god of safety-first. In any case, Tae-hyun's nerves were stretched taut.
Carbanog looks at you with pity.
"...Seniors!"
"What is it, young man?"
"Why don't you seniors take a short rest here?"
"Nonsense! As members of the Church, how can we sit idly by while our young junior suffers?!"
Man, I really want to hit them.
For the first time in a long while, Tae-hyun had met his match. However, no matter how grand these heroes were, they were no match for Tae-hyun, who possessed the Highest-grade Eloquence Skill. Tae-hyun unleashed a barrage of logical arguments. This was enemy territory, he knew the layout best, it was easier to move alone, he would scout ahead and return, and so on!
Your Speech skill has increased significantly!
"!"
To think his Speech skill would rise so significantly in one go! Just how difficult were these people to persuade...!
"Whew. I thought my blood pressure was going to kill me."
Tae-hyun muttered to himself as he ascended to the second floor alone. They were more infuriating than Cain!
"Krooooooo!"
"!!"
As soon as he reached the second floor, a chilling sound echoed! It sounded like a fierce wind howling through the upper levels of the castle, sucking in the air.
"What?! Did I get caught?"
The first thought that crossed Tae-hyun's mind was the Church heroes on the floor below! If it was them, they were more than capable of causing an accident in that short span of time. Fortunately, that wasn't the case.
"Hear me... my slaves! Intruders have entered the Crystal Tower! How dare they look down on Ice Duke Furneus! I will never forgive them. Capture them so I may trap them in ice for eternity!"
At his command, the cold spirits on the first and second floors began to move in unison. They marched out of the castle in perfect order! Only then could Tae-hyun breathe a sigh of relief. The rankers were finally earning their keep. Thanks to this, the rankers' evaluation in Tae-hyun's mind rose to about "0.1 Cain."
Heuk-heuk did it.
It would have been impossible if they hadn't breached the Cold Curse! Indeed, the rankers were playing their roles perfectly, just as Tae-hyun had instructed.
"Detonate the Plague Bombs!"
"Are we sure this antidote actually works?"
Unlike the Ice Duke's castle, the Crystal Tower was easy to breach. Furneus had been far too overconfident in his own power. He was certain that unless another Demon Duke personally invaded, no demon could breach this cold. Guarding his territory with only spirits and no other subordinates was a testament to that confidence. It was a confidence befitting a Demon Duke, and indeed, it was well-founded.
If not for Sadiq's Flame, Tae-hyun's group wouldn't have been able to breach it either. Furneus likely never anticipated that an Apostle capable of wielding Sadiq's Flame would come here. Thanks to that, the rankers who entered with their bodies on fire were able to ascend to the top of the tower without much of a fight. Though anxious, the rankers detonated the Plague Bombs and released the poison.
"Gasp! Gasp! (Let's get down quickly!)"
"Gasp gasp gasp! (Got it!)"
Boom! Crash!
Like fireworks, the Plague Bombs detonated at the highest point of the territory, scattering poison everywhere.
Your Engineering skill has increased.
Your Infamy has increased!
Your Reputation has increased!
"They set them off!"
Thanks to the system messages, Tae-hyun could guess the situation. The rankers had successfully ascended and released the poison. With this alone, half of their objective was complete!
"Adad! You dare look down on me?!"
Demon Duke Adad! The master of Galgral and Lalgrgal! Naturally, from Furneus's perspective, once Lalgrgal's deadly venom was released, he had no choice but to misunderstand: Adad ordered this!
Due to Furneus's wrath, the Cold Curse grows increasingly powerful!
[SUCCESS] You have successfully resisted using Sadiq's Flame.
"Uh, this is getting a bit dangerous."
Tae-hyun would be fine, but what about the other rankers...?
"..."
"I-Is this the end?"
The rankers looked down, frozen solid. They had planned to escape the tower after detonating the bombs and releasing the poison... But suddenly, the cold had intensified along with a message that Furneus was furious. It was a cold so intense it even extinguished the flames on their bodies! There was no dodging or escaping. They were simply frozen in place.
The cold intensifies...
HP is rapidly decreasing!
You cannot move!
For the first time, the rankers realized how terrifying the cold could be. The power of Mother Nature! Though, technically, it wasn't Mother Nature...
"Is it really over like this?"
"Should we curse Kim Tae-hyun before we go?"
It was an enticing proposal! A ranker shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Kim Tae-hyun, you son of a—"
"I have come to save you!"
"...You're awesome!"
"Didn't you just try to curse Master?"
The one who saved the rankers on the verge of freezing to death was Heuk-heuk. Regardless of how intense the cold became, he flew around using Sadiq's power, rescuing the rankers trapped throughout the tower! He was performing several times better than Tae-hyun had anticipated.
Fwooooosh!
"Aaargh! Gently! Gently!"
"I have to breathe hard to melt it, you foolish humans!"
Though their HP was heavily depleted, the rankers, whose lives had been saved, let out massive sighs of relief. They survived! They had somehow survived.
"Sniff! We lived!"
"I thought we were dead!"
"While cursing Master, no less."
"..."
"U-Um. Please keep what we said a secret..."
"If there's anything you want, just name it."
Their tone had become exceedingly polite! Heuk-heuk was deeply satisfied with the rankers' attitude. This was more like it! This was the proper attitude to have before a Black Dragon.
Bow down lower, humans!
With all the spirits heading outside, it became much easier for Tae-hyun to move. It was to the point where he could have brought the heroes along.
Of course, I won't.
They were beings that multiplied the difficulty by several times. No spirits were visible on the second floor of the castle.
"There might be others frozen here."
"Furneus has a bad habit of keeping enemies like trophies, so it's highly possible." The demon Pogalo agreed.
"Hopefully they're demons."
"..."
I can't agree with that! Pogalo cursed Archisus inwardly. If he were human, he should be thinking about rescuing humans, but instead, he was looking to expand his collection of demon slaves...
Click, click, click—
Tae-hyun repeatedly opened doors to check. The empty castle felt eerie and silent. It was a silence that made one tense for no reason!
Though he obtained expensive artwork and gems, it wasn't enough to satisfy Tae-hyun. Having come all the way to the Demon Realm, he wanted items that were more unique and harder to obtain.
Something... like... something you can't buy on the auction house...
Something like the son of a Demon Duke who radiates energy?
"Exactly, Carbanog."
Click—
You have discovered the Dimensional Mirror.
You currently possess the Authority of the corresponding deity. You may use the mirror.
"...!!"
A massive mirror, the likes of which he had never seen before! Inside the mirror, dimensional energy was swirling. He could feel a power capable of connecting to anywhere.
"But... which god is it?"
"..."
Carbanog shook its head. It said that unless Furneus was insane, there was no way he would keep a treasure containing Archisus's authority out in the open like this.
"Isn't that a bit harsh?"
Lately, Carbanog had been attacking him with cold, hard facts! However, the logic itself was sound. If it were a treasure containing Archisus's authority, it would never have been kept like this. It would have been placed deep inside somewhere with a sign saying "No Demons Allowed!"