Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: Fall of the Revolution Leader
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The king was a fool.
He had no idea what it took to make a nation prosperous.
Nor did he understand the first thing about wielding power.
So it was only natural to feel frustrated.
He couldn't even recognize that the country was heading down the wrong path. What kind of king was he?
The kingdom was already rotten to its core.
Therefore, the king had to be dethroned.
The incompetent king had to be overthrown, and the irrational system torn apart and rebuilt.
Revolution.
Under that noble name.
Power was needed for it.
To topple the twisted royal family and establish a new order.
And to spread the correct ideology across the continent.
Thus, they summoned a being that would grant power through noble sacrifice.
A great existence that had once contracted with the Ten Emperors.
The demon of hell.
The demon vanished after saying that.
Leaving behind an orb infused with its own power.
Afterward, through several experiments, he learned the demon's words were true.
The power within the orb.
To use it, one had to risk their life at minimum.
And that was just the start.
Without fundamentally high mental strength and a sturdy body as a foundation, one would die before even properly activating the power.
The moment he learned that through death row inmates...
He belatedly realized he'd been tricked by the demon.
This wasn't the power he wanted.
Regret surged violently, but it was already too late to turn back.
Right before realizing justice.
The royal family's dogs had bared their fangs upon discovering his plan.
His hard-fought coup was on the verge of total failure.
So the day before.
He summoned a trusted subordinate in secret and handed over the orb.
Justice doesn't die.
Someone will recognize it.
Someone else will understand and uphold it.
Inheriting his will.
To spread this noble cause across the world.
Yes.
Like that...
Srrrrk.
Remnants of the past.
A memory now faded.
But to someone, more precious than anything.
"Ah, O God."
Drauder, who had glimpsed that memory in the deep darkness, slowly reached a hand toward the sky.
The most brilliant light of all.
Just a little more.
Just a bit further from here, and he could touch it.
Why couldn't he reach it?
He didn't know.
He simply couldn't comprehend.
"Please forgive..."
Just.
Kwachik!
His mind brimmed only with profound questions.
Meanwhile.
The Iron Mask Man plummeted to the ground, using Drauder as a cushion.
Luke rolled across the floor in a frenzy, barely saving his life.
[Suffered fatal fall damage!]
[HP reduced to 5% or below!]
[Dangerous state!]
[Need to recover body swiftly...]
Alarms blared in his head.
His entire vision flashed red.
His life force hung by a thread.
If not for Drauder, he would've splattered on the bare ground and died.
He survived.
By cleanly finishing off the revolutionary army's leader, Drauder.
However, problems still remained.
The darkness that had infested Drauder's mind and body until now.
That black energy had now transferred to his own body, targeting it.
'Damn it all!'
It was infuriating.
He'd finally taken down the leader.
But now the darkness clinging to that leader was going berserk again.
"Get off me, you crazy... bastard!"
Wriggle, wriggle!
Black tendrils stuck to his entire body like ticks.
Even trying to peel them off by hand did nothing—they were glued on tight.
"P-Poko?!"
"Poko, help me!"
"Pokoooo!"
Poko finally burst in and joined the effort to pry off the darkness, but it was useless.
It only burrowed deeper into his flesh.
This wouldn't do.
Body control rights.
The moment they were taken, his character would move by the Authority's will.
Confirming that via the messages, Luke immediately raised his kukri.
He tried to slice off the slime-like darkness.
But.
Clang!
'What the—it's this tough?!'
The blade bounced right off.
It was as durable as metal.
"What kind of crap is this? Yong Hoseop, you son of a...!"
Curses spilled out naturally.
Luke inwardly rained down vitriol on the developer while exerting every ounce of strength.
How much time passed?
Thud!
In the end, stamina depleted, Luke collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, leaving himself even more defenseless to the darkness.
Give up.
It was impossible now.
No method could remove this evil darkness.
Realizing that too late, Luke gazed blankly at the sky with a dazed expression.
"Ha, can't even log out."
"Poko."
"If it's gonna be like this, screw the secret map or whatever..."
"Poko!"
"Huh?"
Then.
Poko pointed at the clinging darkness and hopped around excitedly in place.
Gugugugu-!
Suddenly, black haze poured from within his body.
The evil darkness.
An even denser, murkier aura of the Night King overwhelmed it by comparison.
And it was ferociously devouring the darkness.
The Night King's aura!
'Holy shit.'
Ruler of the night.
Lord of shadows.
Was the Night King's darkness even more powerful?
In no time, the evil darkness was completely swallowed by the night's darkness, vanishing from sight.
And in the end, the Night King's aura began counter-controlling the Authority.
Absorbed it.
No—perfectly mastered it.
The Authority that had driven the monstrous Drauder insane.
He'd succeeded in making it his own through the Night King's aura.
"......"
Luke stared blankly at the messages for a moment.
He simply couldn't believe it.
'W-Wait a sec...'
Then.
The hearts protruding from Drauder's entire body suddenly came to mind.
Surely he wouldn't end up like that if he used the Authority?
Anxiety welled up inside.
But only for a moment.
His eyes caught a phrase in the messages.
'Guys with these cheat abilities already exist?'
And not just one or two, apparently.
An Authority, superior to skills.
Even Luke, a second-year gamer, had been unaware of this realm.
'No way...'
The first thought was Gu Hwi, who had killed him.
Next came the Geukcheon rankers around 30th in the unified rankings.
Their abilities and techniques were the least known among top users.
Since they couldn't be stolen like items via PK, even Luke didn't know the details.
'Plus, those Geukcheon guys were notoriously tricky to fight compared to others.'
Perhaps because of that.
Regrettably, he'd never succeeded in killing even one until now.
The Geukcheon.
It was a well-known fact that they were tremendous powerhouses too.
Swipe.
Then.
He spotted the viscount's army emerging from the camp in the distance.
'Not the time for this.'
Verification later. First, cleanup.
None other than Drauder's drop items.
Luke swiftly approached the corpse.
'Ooooh!'
There it was.
A map fragment with a design similar to the one he held.
Dell Mark's remaining secret map lay on the ground.
First, the hidden scenario.
Second, the viscount's commission and Drauder raid.
Finally, messages announcing massive changes to existing scenarios and quests.
'Check quests later, skip the rest...'
Luke rapidly hammered the skip button.
If the ops team saw, they'd foam at the mouth and collapse.
Unaware of that, Luke boldly skipped the messages and picked up the items.
His eyes sparkled.
A rare item that returned its owner in mere seconds.
The top-grade return stone he hadn't stolen at first had dropped from Drauder along with the secret map.
'Jackpot!'
And that wasn't all.
The high-end gear and material items he'd scouted earlier were scattered around it too.
Selling just these would net over 30 gold easily.
Once he'd gathered all the drops.
Finally, Luke reached out toward Drauder's corpse.
'Can't miss corpse farming.'
Of course.
Damn right.
A red wooden plaque appeared in his hand.
The symbol of the revolutionary army.
"......Of all things, this."
Luke let out a deep sigh and stood.
He then pulled up the missed level-up messages.
A whopping 14 level-ups.
Well, it made sense.
A level 79 user had slain a level 154 named NPC.
Plus raid experience on top, so it was natural to blow past the required EXP.
Thus, Luke's level was now 93.
'Not bad at all.'
Black Cat's Authority.
Dell Mark's secret map.
Updated hidden quest.
Top-grade return stone.
30 gold worth of gear and materials.
And over 10 massive level-ups.
Once he claimed the viscount's quest rewards too, his pockets would be overflowing.
'Contribution rank 1 is basically mine.'
Hostage rescue.
Killed cadres and key members.
Finished the revolutionary leader Drauder.
His mouth was already watering.
'Bounce before the others arrive.'
They might demand something collectively over drop ownership.
Luke thus slipped out of Bilbar Mountain, evading the viscount's army.
And.
Waaaaaaaaah-!
Soon after, cheers from the viscount's army echoed across all of Bilbar Mountain.
A roar proclaiming victory.