The Demon Duke's Castle!!

The goblins were shocked. Seeing their reaction, Tae-hyun felt a sudden wave of anxiety.

Don't tell me they're going to say they can't do it after hearing the plan?

"That's... really... too..."

"Too touching...!"

"Ugh!"

The goblins burst into tears! They were shedding genuine tears of emotion.

Tae-hyun couldn't deny it either. For some bizarre reason, he possessed an irresistible charm that only worked on goblins!

"Your Majesty! Meeting you was the greatest stroke of luck in our entire lives!"

"Glory to the Underground Alliance!"

The goblins rushed forward in a swarm and began tossing Tae-hyun into the air in celebration.

"Guys."

"Yes?"

"Put me down."

"Yes, sir!"

Thud. Tae-hyun landed back on his feet. Now was not the time to waste on such antics.

"Anyway, you're in, right?"

"YES!!!!!"

"We want to do it so badly!!!"

"My lifelong dream was to run away with a Demon Duke's castle!"

"I was born to remodel a Demon Duke's castle!"

Fearing they might be left out of this historic moment, the goblins desperately raised their hands and shouted.

"Alright, alright. I'll let everyone participate, so don't worry. But can we actually pull off this remodeling without getting caught?"

"That is impossible, Your Majesty. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠noise and vibration are simply too great to be hidden."

The only reason they had been able to remodel the Emperor's castle and run away with it was because they had been building it from scratch. Who would suspect anything just because there was a bit of dust and noise during construction?

They'd just think, Ah, the construction is going well~ and feel perfectly at ease.

"Then we need to deceive his eyes after all."

"Your Majesty, I have an excellent idea."

"?"

"You should go in person and get the Demon Duke's permission. If it's our great Emperor, even a Demon Duke will be swayed."

"Someone shut this crazy bastard's mouth."

The moment Tae-hyun spoke, the Archisus Chimeras rushed forward in a swarm and subdued the clueless goblin.

"Mmph, mmph!"

"The moment the Demon Duke sees me, he'll try to kill me instantly, so that's out of the question. Is there a way to lure him out of the castle?"

"How dare they...! I cannot sit back and watch this any longer. My slaves! Follow me. I will personally tear Lalgrgal and the intruder to pieces, then throw them before Adad!"

The plague was no joke. Once it started spreading, no matter how much he tried to contain it with cold, it even contaminated the spirits. If left alone, the spirits might go berserk or rebel!

Furneus, who had originally intended to resolve this inside the castle, changed his mind. It was too dangerous to stay! He would quickly capture and kill Lalgrgal and his subordinates (who weren't actually his), cure the curse, and then invade Adad's territory!

"???"

Of course, from Tae-hyun's perspective, this was completely baffling. Is he really leaving his house empty right now? The opportunity was so incredibly perfect that it almost felt like a trap!

Demon Dukes each had their own unique characteristics. While some normally subjugated the demons of the Demon Realm to use as subordinates, others, like Furneus, commanded unique minions.

Furneus's subordinates were slave elementals! He summoned elementals and infused them with hellish demonic energy, turning them half-demon. This created a legion of demonic elementals that were stronger than normal elementals and absolutely obedient to Furneus. This was only possible with immense magical power and elemental summoning skills.

Hearing this, Tae-hyun reacted in a completely different way.

"I'm jealous. Is there any way I can learn that? Using the power of Archisus instead of hellish demonic energy..."

It looked way better than necromancy or other methods! There wouldn't be any penalties like being undead either. Of course, Carbanog pretended not to hear him and continued its explanation.

Hmm. I see. I'll keep that in mind for later.

Later when?! Carbanog wanted to ask but held back. Because it felt like Tae-hyun would actually do it.

Anyway, now that it was certain the Demon Duke had left, only one thing mattered.

"Goblins, move! We start the work before that Duke bastard returns!"

Remodeling and running away with a Demon Duke's castle. It was a quest of monumental difficulty, but at the same time, Tae-hyun was the perfect person for it.

Tactical skill? Highest level on the server.

Mechanical engineering skill? Also highest level on the server!

If Tae-hyun didn't do this, who would!

Furthermore, though the Archisus Chimeras were bizarrely shaped, they were excellent workers with high base levels.

"O-Oh my...! Eight arms. What a magnificent worker!"

"How does that guy work like that without getting tired? Wait...! He has multiple hearts?!"

At first, the goblins were a bit put off by the mutants usually only seen in mines, thinking, Yikes, those guys are a bit... but they quickly bonded while working together. They were simply too magnificent as workers not to become friends!

The Underground Alliance Goblins whispered among themselves.

"Since it's come to this, shouldn't we persuade the mutants in the mines to join our side..."

"But is it even possible to persuade them?"

"Then should we just capture them, bind them with devices, and use them?"

"But wouldn't a golem be better then? They're expensive, though."

Clang, clang, hammer, hammer—

In any case, the work progressed rapidly.

An immense amount of resources! From materials to devices, this was support that even the prosperous Underground Alliance Goblins couldn't provide without serious resolve. It was support worth at least hundreds of thousands of gold! It was something Tae-hyun could never have done alone.

"Is this really okay? You won't have anything left after giving me all this."

"There is something left."

"What is left?"

"We still have Your Majesty!"

"...You guys!"

Tae-hyun was deeply moved and firmly shook hands with the goblin. To think they could touch his heart like this!

"By the way, although not many elementals are left, we can't really work without subduing them first."

"That's true. The ones wandering around from time to time are quite bothersome."

The goblins agreed. Although the Duke had taken most of the elementals, a few remained, wandering around. For now, they were working in places out of the elementals' sight, but they were about to start in earnest, so they needed to clear them out beforehand.

"Since their numbers are small, can't you just defeat them?"

"I'd prefer to subdue them if possible."

"Ah, I see! You want to subdue not just demons, but elementals too, to use them as an energy source!"

As expected... If it's the Avatar of Archisus, even that makes sense.

Both the goblins and the demon Pogalo nodded. They couldn't think of any other reason! Why else would the Avatar of Archisus capture elementals?

However, Tae-hyun replied with a lukewarm expression.

"No... I wasn't thinking that. Besides, demons are enough for that kind of thing."

With the Demon Power Plant running fine, why ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would he need to open an Elemental Power Plant too? At those words, Pogalo felt a surge of resentment. Demons are fine, but elementals aren't? You petty, dirty bastard...

"If we kill the elementals, they'll be forcibly unsummoned, right? Furneus might notice."

When elementals took massive damage and died, they were forcibly unsummoned back to the Elemental Realm. If that happened, the summoner might notice, and information could leak from the Elemental Realm.

"There's no way a captured elemental can contact Furneus, right?"

"Then subduing them is the way to go."

"Fufu. It seems you need help, young man."

"No... I'm fine, actually."

Tae-hyun grimaced at the familiar voice coming from behind. The heroes of the Archisus Church!

Shh.

The heroes, who had been resting in the corner, had caught the scent of an opportunity to shine and stepped forward like ghosts.

"We shall subdue the elementals with our church's marvelous techniques."

"You'll be amazed when you see it, young man!"

"I don't really want to see it."

"You want to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠see it so badly? My shoulders are swelling with pride!"

"No, I said I don't really want to see it..."

The ultimate counter to the Speech skill: Curses! If they don't listen to a word you say, the Speech skill is completely useless!

However, contrary to Tae-hyun's worries, the heroes showed their true worth. They were a bit unhinged, but heroes were still heroes!

"Take this!"

"!"

"!"

I-I'm not crying. Tae-hyun deeply hid his emotion. Lately, Archisus felt strangely generous! It wasn't a church that gave away things so freely... Tae-hyun did his best to restrain his emotion so he wouldn't be disappointed later. If he got used to this, he'd definitely be let down in the future!

Yeah, yeah. Let him be enraged. Why care now? He was already planning to do something that would make him even angrier!

The rankers, who had returned riding Heuk-heuk, praised each other. Normally, they would keep each other in check and fight whenever they were bored! It was their daily routine to check the rankings on the community boards and leave malicious comments like "Isn't he overrated??" under anyone doing slightly better than them...

But this time was different. By clearing a quest where they literally had to risk their lives together, a bond of friendship had formed.

"You did really well. If you hadn't buffed me, I would've been in danger because of the flames."

"Heh. No way... You were more amazing. Charging straight ahead even when your whole body was engulfed in flames was incredibly cool."

Isn't there something weird about these compliments? Why did everything involve flames?

After warmly praising each other, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rankers spoke again.

"Whew. Now we can go back to the fortress and rest, right?"

"That was a seriously intense quest."

Normally, rest was essential after a major quest or a grueling hunt! As humans, their minds were bound to get exhausted. To avoid making frequent mistakes or losing motivation, they needed to rest properly.

-Guys.

-Oh! Kim Tae-hyun! We're all gathered! Can we return now?

-No. Furneus went outside, so go draw his attention for a bit.

-...Excuse me??