Chapter 162: Process of Growth
Chapter 162: Process of Growth
I don’t know if I should call it a relief, but we didn’t struggle much while passing through points 8 and 9. Having traveled with me and the kids for a while, Vivian had a general idea of my combat style. As such, she didn't play a major role in leading the battles; she simply drew a line and restrained herself from crossing it.
The same was true for Ko Yeonju.
Ko Yeonju was faithfully fulfilling the Keeper role I had asked of her, not stepping to the front unless the situation was truly dire. She did, however, occasionally help the kids through the shadows, and I could certainly turn a blind eye to that much assistance.
In any case, the monsters they chose not to handle naturally fell to the rest of the party.
When I say we didn’t struggle at points 8 and 9, I mean that the swarms of Undead Death Knights and Liches I had been wary of never appeared. I’d thought it might get a little tricky if they had absorbed the evil energy, as Ko Yeonju had mentioned, but thankfully, the absurd scenario of them appearing in hordes didn't happen.
The caravan finally encountered a single Lich upon reaching point 9. Dark smoke drifted from its wide, black eye sockets, and I knew instinctively that it was one of the ones that had absorbed the evil energy. It wasn't alone; skeletons stood in formation around it. Faced with a high-level undead, we had no choice but to alter our combat strategy.
The new plan was to entrust Vivian with Battlefield Coordination while I broke off to deal with the Lich myself. I could never leave it to the kids, and I felt a little uneasy entrusting it to the others. (Ko Yeonju had to remain the Keeper, and as a temporary member, she was excluded from consideration.) Besides, if someone had to step up, it made the most sense for me to do it, as I had the best matchup against a mage.
Furthermore, we were about to reach point 10, and I planned to have them experience a boss raid this time. "That bastard" was no pushover, so I needed to conserve the party's strength as much as possible before we reached our goal.
For a swordsman, the way to defeat a ranged enemy is quite simple. You just need to close the distance to bring them into your range and possess the means to kill them—that is, power. While that might not sound so simple to other swordsmen, I currently possessed the ability to make it a reality.
The Lich that had absorbed the evil energy was certainly powerful. It wielded magic twice as strong as its normal counterparts, and its casting speed was much faster. However, when it came to fighting mages, I was more than just a specialist.
The Lich spammed magic like a madman, but it eventually gave me an opening. I didn't miss the chance, sharply cutting through its entire body. The outcome was obvious. The corpse collapsed onto the cold ground, seemingly without even a moment to use Etherealization.
Soon, a pure flame blossomed across the Lich's body, and I turned away without a second thought. I didn't have time to search for its Life Vessel, and it was more advantageous to finish it off for good using Eternal Flame than to risk getting stabbed in the back later.
Although we encountered a Lich at point 9, strangely, no Death Knights appeared. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off, since I had run into them quite often when taking the detour route in my first run. Of course, we had already passed the detour and were now in the central passage, but it still felt like one should have shown up by now. Despite breaking through in a straight line, they hadn't shown hide nor hair.
As we resumed our march, something occurred to me, and I called Ahn Sol, who was pattering along behind me, to the front.
“Sol. Come up here for a moment.”
“Huuuh? Okay!”
Seeing Ahn Sol scamper over with a cute reply, a smile threatened to form on my lips, but I didn't let it show. As expected, she immediately grabbed the collar of my clothes. I wanted to say, "What is it with you and grabbing my clothes? Were you a ghost in a past life with a grudge against collars? Let go this instant!" but I held my tongue, knowing she would probably tear up.
“Before we entered that clearing earlier, I asked if anyone had a better idea. Do you remember?”
“Hmm... Oh! You mean the place with the black smoke and the skeleton dolls?”
Black smoke and skeleton dolls. I heard someone behind me let out a “Pfft.” After barely calming my reddening face, I continued calmly.
“Yes. Back then, did you want to go forward, or did you want to take the detour? Ah, I'm sure you didn't want to go either way, but if you had to choose one.”
Ahn Sol, who looked like she was about to blurt out, "I didn't want to go either way," immediately shut her mouth since I'd beaten her to the punch. She then gently closed her eyes and furrowed her brow slightly, as if trying to recall her feelings from that moment. In the meantime, I scanned a 200-meter radius around us while admiring Ahn Sol's innocent face, her cute, pert nose, and her small, cherry-like lips. Come to think of it, I should probably teach the kids MultiTasking when we get back from this expedition.
As we continued our march, I saw her pouting lips slowly part.
“It's too vague... But if you really pushed me to choose, I think I would have gone into the clearing.”
“I wasn't pushing. Anyway, why? I know it was just a gut feeling, but I'm curious about what you felt.”
“Just... when I thought about taking the detour, I felt a very suffocating feeling inside.”
Ahn Sol answered in a clear voice. And that was all I needed to resolve my question. After prying her hand from my collar and sending her back, I was finally able to organize my thoughts.
Basically, living monsters roam. They don't stay in one place. While you can't classify the undead as "living," they do possess emotions like resentment and a thirst for slaughter. However, it occurred to me that perhaps, after point 5, someone had intentionally arranged the placement of the undead.
A skeleton legion in the clearing leading to the central passage, and Death Knights placed along the detour route. And the occasional Lich. Placements differ depending on the person, so it wasn't my place to comment. But perhaps, as time passed, that arrangement had loosened, and the undead's roaming range had widened.
If so, almost all the pieces fit together. There were users who had entered before our caravan in the first run, and they hadn't been able to get past point 5. Using point 5 as a benchmark, I could prove that my memories of the Cave of Screams weren't wrong. The most certain way to confirm this would be to enter the detour and find a Death Knight, but I had no desire to do that whatsoever.
I couldn't be sure if my guess was right or wrong. Still, having formed a hypothesis that was close to an answer, my steps through the cave felt much lighter.
*
"That bastard," our final objective in the Cave of Screams, was incredibly infamous back then. The caravan I was with at the time wasn't extraordinary, but it did have users with decent skills. After all, we had pushed the Cave of Screams to the brink of conquest. However, with the appearance of "that bastard," we lost our leader and many other skilled users. It was only natural that the caravan, composed of the survivors, disbanded.
Anyway, the survivors, including myself, immediately reported our expedition to the temple, and upon hearing our report, the temple requested an investigation team from the city's representative clan. At the time, Mule's representative clan, which received the request, didn't listen to our opinions at all. I had clearly emphasized that we had lost many skilled users, but the only response we got was a snort of derision.
And so, they formed an investigation team with about thirty mediocre users and Residents from within their clan and dispatched them. They ended up losing seventy percent of the members they sent. Alarmed by the news, the representative clan immediately formed a massive investigation team of over 100 people, even inviting several famous users from other allied clans. Only then were they able to report that they had finally defeated "that bastard."
I also vividly remember an incident where a rival clan, from a time when the Northern Continent was fractured into small, like-minded groups, mocked them for struggling with a mere small-city dungeon.
But it was an undeniable fact that "that bastard" was not to be underestimated. The power it displayed and its obsession with slaughter were deeply engraved in me, who was just an ordinary user back then. As such, to shake off these engraved feelings, defeating it this time was a necessary process for me.
Suddenly, an image of it flashed through my mind. Eyes like a bottomless abyss. Jet-black armor covering its entire body. And the thick, viscous killing intent that dripped from its form. The identity of "that bastard" that had made the users of Mule tremble in fear was...
“Oof!”
“Halt.”
As I stopped walking, having detected something, I felt a slight impact on my back. It seemed someone had been following closely behind me. I slowly turned around to see Vivian rubbing her nose with a grimace. When she saw my calm expression, her cheeks puffed out as if she was getting angry.
“You should warn us sooner when you do that!”
“Or maybe you shouldn't have been walking without thinking?”
“Ugh...”
“You should be on high alert during a march. You can't let your mind wander.”
Vivian seemed to have nothing to say to that and lowered her gaze slightly. I heard her mutter, “But you always tell us beforehand when there's danger,” but my own conscience stung a little at her words, so I didn't press the issue. Besides, I had other things to discuss.
“There are no responses within a 200-meter radius. However, I'm sensing the most powerful and dangerous energies I've felt so far. I'm curious if any other users feel a similar presence.”
The party members were all staring at me with blank faces. As I calmly met their gazes, their eyes eventually split into two groups. Some looked toward Ko Yeonju, while others turned to Ahn Sol. However, Ahn Sol simply shook her head in response. I'm probably not the only one who interpreted her headshake as, "I didn't want to come in here in the first place."
Soon, all eyes were on Ko Yeonju, who tilted her head with an ambiguous expression.
“Well, I don't feel anything definite yet. But now that you mention it, User Kim Soohyun, I think I can feel an unpleasant energy creeping up.”
I nodded once or twice and turned back around. While lost in thought, it seemed we had almost passed point 9. That meant the boss of the Cave of Screams was just ahead. Countless memories surfaced in my mind, but I quickly composed myself and resumed the march.
Sensing a strange sense of déjà vu from my words, everyone followed me without a word. After walking for about ten more minutes, a massive black gate, large enough to be seen with the naked eye, began to appear in the distance.
A slight commotion rippled through the party as the huge gate came into view. It was far too large to be the entrance to a simple room, and it radiated a darkness like the abyss itself. It was only after I read the door with my Third Eye that I understood why the others hadn't shown any particular reaction.
I could feel my body gradually heating up. The Eternal Flame sleeping within me was awakening on its own as we approached the gate, circulating through my body. However, I intended not to borrow the power of Eternal Flame this time if possible. I had decided to raid this with the party, and we also had Ko Yeonju, one of the Ten Strong. I knew it wouldn't be an easy fight, but I didn't think we would lose.
Wary of letting my current confidence turn into arrogance, I stopped walking just a short distance from the gate. It was nearly six meters tall, and with both doors combined, it looked to be about three meters wide. I heard Lee Yoojung let out a sharp intake of breath.
“Hmm. I don't feel any particular energy.”
As I stared at the gate for a moment, Ko Yeonju stepped forward and reached out her hand toward the jet-black door. The instant her hand made slight contact, she let out a low groan and violently yanked her arm back with a horrified expression.
“Hngh!”
“User Ko Yeonju! Are you alright?”
“Don't touch that door!”
Shin Sangyong flinched and took a step back at Ko Yeonju's sharp cry. She was biting her lip, continuously rubbing the hand that had touched the door. Seeing the "Shadow Queen" react so violently for the first time, the other users all stared at her with surprised faces.
After rubbing her hand for a while, she seemed to have calmed down a bit and finally spoke with a shudder. However, her voice was much, much lower than usual.
“Unbelievable. What is this feeling? Pain, resentment, murderous intent, venom, rage, sorrow, despair, curses, grief... It's like all the negative emotions in the world are concentrated here. What in the world is inside...”
“We'll find out when we go in.”
As I cut her off and replied in a calm voice, all the party members except Ko Yeonju swallowed hard and watched me. Ko Yeonju also wore a conflicted expression, as if she wasn't sure she could face what was inside.
However, she soon met my gaze and, with a determined look, nodded once or twice. Her role would become extremely important from this point on, so she needed to prepare herself mentally before we entered. I then instructed the party to prepare for battle, and everyone began their preparations with tense expressions.
Watching Hayeon prepare Memorize, I also slowly drew my sword.
Now, only the final gateway, "that bastard," remained. Its identity was the Doom Knight, known as the Nightmare in my first run.
In other words, the one called Horrence, the Knight of Ruin.