Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Necromancer of the Sword Clan
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'What could it be at this hour?'
It was late evening now.
To think she'd suddenly contact him at a time like this. Had something happened?
Shin Yu-hyun set aside his worries and answered the call.
"Hello? Yeon-ah?"
-Zzzt. Yu-hyun... zzzt. The crystal... hurry...
Click.
"What the hell?"
Shin Yu-hyun stared at his smartphone.
Nam Yeon-ah's voice had been drowned out by wind and static. He'd barely caught a few words before the line cut off.
'Something must have happened.'
He tried calling back, but it went straight to an out-of-service tone.
It seemed Nam Yeon-ah was in trouble.
'She definitely said something about a crystal, right?'
The noise had made it hard to hear clearly, but he was sure he'd caught the word "crystal."
Had something gone wrong while researching the Getia crystal?
'I need to check it out.'
Shin Yu-hyun hurriedly left the underground training hall.
As he reached the first floor of Black Tortoise Hall, he spotted Baekrang lying in the corner of the outdoor training ground.
Dia was rolling around playfully on top of Baekrang.
Seeing them, Shin Yu-hyun smiled warmly and called out to Dia.
"Dia."
"Yessir!"
At his call, Dia propped up her upper body from atop Baekrang, her face lighting up with joy as she scampered over.
"Get ready to head out."
"Where to?"
Dia looked up at him, tilting her head.
Shin Yu-hyun stroked her head and said,
"To see Yeon-ah."
There appeared to be trouble at the artifact research lab where she worked.
Before departing for the artifact research lab, Shin Yu-hyun summoned Shuv, who had been assisting the clan's intelligence unit—just in case.
He stored Shuv and Dia, along with all his summons, in Ka-mang-i's shadow space, then mounted Chiron and took to the air.
'The fact that she called me means the situation must be serious.'
As he flew toward Nam Yeon-ah's lab on Chiron, Shin Yu-hyun fell deep into thought.
The artifact research lab where Nam Yeon-ah worked was guarded by superhuman security personnel.
Namdu Group even managed security directly and dispatched rescue teams if problems arose.
Yet Nam Yeon-ah had contacted Shin Yu-hyun for one of two reasons.
One was likely an issue with the Getia crystal he'd given her.
The other was that the Heaven-Splitting Sword Clan was one of the top martial forces in Korea.
Still, Shin Yu-hyun headed to the lab alone. Even solo, he was practically a one-man army.
"I hope she's safe."
Kyuu.
Ka-mang-i rubbed its cheek against his shoulder.
By then, Chiron had arrived at the apartment basement parking lot that served as the entrance to Nam Yeon-ah's artifact lab.
Luckily, it was night, so no one was around. The apartment housed lab staff anyway, keeping it quiet.
Chiron was currently concealed by its Shadow Stealth skill, blending into the darkness with no visible form or presence.
Upon reaching the basement parking lot, Shin Yu-hyun rode Chiron to the farthest end.
A vehicle barrier blocked the way, marked with restricted access—just as before.
Vrooom.
But Chiron easily leaped over it and descended another level underground.
Soon, a small parking space appeared, walled off ahead.
With the path blocked, Chiron halted its wingbeats and landed.
"Hold on a sec."
Shin Yu-hyun dismounted, pulling Nam Yeon-ah's access card from an inner pocket of his DF coat.
He held it to the hidden sensor on the wall.
"Dead."
The sensor showed no response. The lab's systems must have gone down.
"Chiron."
Kiiing!
At his command, Chiron's long black horn began to vibrate. Then it charged straight at the wall.
Boom! Crash!
The obstructing wall shattered with a roar, pierced clean through.
The secret entrance wall was sturdy enough, but it couldn't withstand Chiron's horn.
Shin Yu-hyun climbed back onto Chiron.
"Let's go."
Vrooom!
At his order, Chiron flapped its wings and shot forward.
Moments later, they reached the entrance to Nam Yeon-ah's underground artifact lab.
'Looks like I got here first.'
The Namdu Group rescue team hadn't arrived yet.
Assessing the lab's situation and assembling a team would take time.
Shin Yu-hyun, on the other hand, had summoned Shuv and flown straight there on Chiron. The difference was inevitable.
"Where did the lab's security go?"
Shin Yu-hyun eyed the massive steel door ahead.
Previously, at least two guards had stood watch, but now there was no one.
And naturally, the access card was useless.
"Chiron."
With no choice, Shin Yu-hyun called on Chiron again.
Kiiing!
Chiron spun its horn, generating ultrasonic vibrations.
Bang! Rumble!
The steel front door met Chiron's horn head-on.
Sparks flew, heat radiating intensely.
'Tough one.'
The lab's main entrance was built to repel invasions, far stronger than the decoy wall in the parking lot.
"Shuv, Dia."
While Chiron worked on the door, Shin Yu-hyun summoned Shuv and Dia.
"You called, Master!"
Dia burst energetically from the shadows.
She scooped up Ka-mang-i from his shoulder and hugged it to her chest.
"Looks like you've arrived."
Shuv emerged from the shadows beside Dia, smiling gently at Shin Yu-hyun.
"Haven't even gotten inside yet."
Shin Yu-hyun glanced at the lab door.
Chiron was diligently spinning its horn to breach it.
"Let me handle it."
"Sure?"
At Shuv's words, Shin Yu-hyun signaled Chiron.
Chiron drooped its horn dejectedly and backed off, looking a bit downhearted. It had wanted to open the door itself.
"Good job."
Dia patted Chiron's head.
Swish.
Shuv swept his arm in a circle, summoning two longswords forged from black mana.
The two black swords followed Shuv's movements through the air.
Crack!
They flew into the gap Chiron had gouged in the door with its horn.
Screech!
Shuv maneuvered his arms, prying the gap wider with the black swords.
Swish!
He summoned more Dark Sword Beats, embedding them into the door.
Crunch!
Over a dozen black longswords pierced the widening cracks.
Shuv snapped his fingers.
Boom!
The black mana composing the swords detonated, shredding the steel door like paper and blasting it away.
"We're in."
"Incredible."
A meter-thick steel door, obliterated.
Shin Yu-hyun was impressed.
"Thanks. Hehe."
Shuv grinned, his golden eyes with black sclera gleaming like a predator eyeing prey.
Shin Yu-hyun peered into the now-open lab entrance.
It was spacious, but dark—power was out.
"Like the gates of the underworld."
Pop!
Shuv cast Light on his palm.
A few white orbs appeared, illuminating the interior.
A long corridor stretched ahead.
"Ka-mang-i."
Kyuu!
At his call, Ka-mang-i began summoning the undead.
Grrr!
Fluffy leaped out first—a white wolf three meters long, two meters at the shoulder. The red horn from its Blood Wolf days had turned gold.
Skeletons followed.
About a hundred remained; he deployed five Sabers and five Lancers first.
Then Saber No. 1 with Frostblade Seolbaek and Flameblade Yeomhwa in hand, Lancer No. 1 with its red poison dart launcher, and Archer No. 1 with the blue Frostbow.
"Let's move."
Skeletons up front, Dia and Shuv on the flanks, Chiron and Fluffy in the rear—they entered the lab.
The light orbs Shuv had conjured allowed them to see well enough.
"We need to restore power first. Head to the generator."
The lab's floors were likely sealed by steel doors and bulkheads. In emergencies, they dropped automatically.
Smashing through to the fourth or fifth basement—where Nam Yeon-ah might be—would take too long.
But restoring power would let him use the access card to open bulkheads swiftly.
The emergency generator was on this level, basement one.
Activating the magic stone backup would make things easier.
'It was in the right section, right?'
Recalling what Nam Yeon-ah had told him, Shin Yu-hyun led the way.
Clank, clank.
The five Sabers and five Lancers scouted ahead warily.
"No one's here?"
"There should have been researchers, but no sign of them. No security either."
"Doesn't look like they evacuated outside... Maybe deeper down?"
Shin Yu-hyun and Shuv scanned basement one while talking.
Corridors and small labs were empty. Only scattered equipment littered the rooms.
Whoosh, slash!
"...?"
Saber No. 57 tilted its head, glancing at its leg. Something had coiled around its ankle.
Slither!
Like a snake, it yanked hard.
Saber No. 57 toppled, dragged into the darkness in an instant.
"What—what was that?"
Shin Yu-hyun stared ahead in shock at the sudden event.
A 4-star skeleton snatched in the blink of an eye!
'What the hell happened in this lab?'
This was nothing like his previous life.
Even Shin Yu-hyun couldn't identify what took Saber No. 57.
"Shuv, did you see that?"
"Yes."
"What do you think?"
"Can't say for sure yet... but it looked like a magic beast."
"A magic beast?!"
Shin Yu-hyun frowned at Shuv's words.
"Did a dungeon gate open inside the lab?"
A dungeon gate in the lab!
That could mean a dungeon stampede.
But.
"No."
Shuv shook his head.
Shin Yu-hyun looked puzzled.
"Not a dungeon gate? Then what?"
"Probably a magic beast from beyond a warp gate."
"Warp gate?"
His heart pounded wildly at Shuv's words.
Warp gate.
The spatial portal the Getia were said to have used to invade Earth.