The Fourth Shelter (1)
The black Demon King, Kimereis, had no intention of letting one of his favorite stages get destroyed.
"I couldn't just sit back and watch a stage I care about crumble like that."
Kimereis snapped his fingers.
Snap.
Gray mana swallowed the tail car whole.
When Yoon Taeyang regained consciousness, he was already in a completely different space.
“Ugh.”
Taeyang instinctively tensed every muscle and scanned his surroundings. Ran, Benjamin, Paca. Even the Imperial Guard Captain, sprawled in the corner with a deathly pale face. Everyone who had been in the tail car was there.
And then Taeyang spotted him—the massive black man, Kimereis.
Ran muttered in confusion, “What the hell? Where are we?”
She wasn’t the only one lost. Taeyang, Paca, and every single person who had been inside that tail car had no idea what was happening.
Snap.
Kimereis snapped his fingers again. Every eye in the room locked onto him. Only then did they realize this man was the one behind everything.
“Nice to meet you all. I am the Demon King in charge of this stage—Kimereis.”
Benjamin pointed at him with a face like he was about to pass out. “K-Kimereis!”
“Benjamin. It’s been a while for you, hasn’t it? I remember seeing you before those wrinkles carved themselves into your skin.”
The Imperial Guard Captain, still leaning against the wall with a ghostly complexion, raised his gun and aimed it at Kimereis. “Who the hell are you?”
Kimereis had zero interest in answering the captain’s question. He ignored it completely and turned straight to Taeyang, Ran, and Paca with an apology.
“I’m sorry. Personal reasons forced me to interfere with your trial.”
“Grrrrr.”
Paca barely managed to steady himself and growled, “I need an explanation. We’ve come this far—what, do we have to clear some other stage now?”
“Not at all. This is the engine room. Even though I stepped in, you have all officially cleared the twelfth-floor stage.”
“What?!”
The Imperial Guard Captain shouted in shock. The few surviving guards wore equally bewildered expressions.
Kimereis ignored them and continued. “Player Yoon Taeyang, Ran, Paca. You will naturally receive achievements based on your performance up to this point, plus two additional ones. Clearing was right in front of you, so you aren’t really losing anything. Any objections?”
Taeyang glanced sideways at Benjamin Acraptor.
Two achievements.
If he had killed Benjamin, he would have gotten at least one for sure. But the reverse was unpredictable. The situation clearly wasn’t over, and Benjamin was a wizard skilled enough to create new variables.
The only real shame was losing the chance to finish off the injured Paca. Still, opportunities like that could always come again later. And since they were on the same floor, the odds of Paca carrying cards or artifacts at Taeyang’s required level were low anyway.
Ran asked carefully, “Why clear the stage so suddenly while handing out two whole achievements?”
“Because if I’d left it alone, the ‘Endless Express’ stage would have collapsed.”
Kimereis turned his head to look at Benjamin. Truthfully, it was hard to say. Even if Benjamin died here, the humans left on the train might have found their own solution somehow. Maybe an even more interesting stage would have been born.
But that new stage probably wouldn’t have suited Kimereis’s tastes as perfectly as this one. To preserve this well-crafted environment, the Demon King had made an unusual decision—he had spared a mere human.
“You can leave from here. We’ll say the engineer saved you. That should cover it.”
Benjamin twisted his lips. “You want me to keep struggling to survive in this hopeless world? Disgusting.”
“A world without a future? Hmm. Is that what you believe?”
Even Kimereis had been surprised by the scene of them taking down the white dragon. Benjamin’s eyes sank into deep thought. He still had so much work left. At least, that’s what he told himself. But having his life used so blatantly didn’t sit well with him either. His pride clouded his judgment.
“Well, if you want to give up and choose suicide, I won’t stop you.”
Kimereis turned back to the players. “As for you three, you may proceed to the next floor. Ah, but first you should stop by to receive your overall evaluation. This is the twelfth floor, after all.”
With a wave of his hand, a door appeared in midair.
[4-3 Endless Express: Reach the engine room. — CLEARED]
Acquired Achievements: Yorkshire Terrier, Puppet Bride, Feline Behavior Patterns, Legion Commander Encounter, Ark Creator Encounter, True Nature of Power, Monster Rookie, White Dragon Encounter, Heroic Conduct, Lead-Role Supporting Actor, Dragon Slayer, Dragon Heart, Endless Express Clear, Kimereis’s Reward, Kimereis’s Reward
Taeyang stared at the system window with a dazed expression.
Way more than I expected.
“It’s surprising, but I guess it makes sense.”
The achievements weren’t the only thing he had gained from this stage.
Light Saber: Type – B.
A blade that devoured enormous amounts of mana and could cut through anything. Taeyang fiddled with the Light Saber, frowning slightly. The weapon’s nature as a sword clashed with parts of his preferred playstyle.
“Anelka used one sometimes, but I’m still most comfortable with my fists.”
It was a matter of familiarity. The instinctive distance control, mind games, and personal tactics that happened in the heat of battle—Taeyang’s mindset was built for a martial artist, not a swordsman. After so many years, changing that foundation wouldn’t be easy.
He clicked his tongue, deep in thought. Still, the Light Saber was too good a weapon to just give up on.
“This is tricky. Hyeonhye, what do you think? Should I use a sword?”
Hyeonhye’s voice came through sharply. “If you can use it, you should. It’s clearly an excellent weapon. But if you’re going to force it, better not to use it at all.”
“Wow, that’s incredibly helpful advice.”
“You’re the one who has to choose. Why are you pushing it on me?”
Her airtight logic left him with nothing to say. Taeyang shrank a little.
After thinking for a moment, he shook his head. “I’ll just switch depending on the situation.”
No one raised any issues about ownership of the Light Saber. Ran was in no position to argue with Taeyang, and Paca had taken the one the Legion Commander used. Whether Paca could even wield a sword that required a Dragon Heart to handle was unknown, but that wasn’t Taeyang’s problem.
Oh, and one more thing gained from this stage.
◈ Grants an enormous mana capacity
◈ Places significant strain on the user’s mana circuits
The effect was simple: an overwhelming amount of mana now resided in Taeyang’s body. Paired with the mana-hungry Light Saber, its usefulness was multiplied.
Kimereis spoke to him. “Player Yoon Taeyang. Thanks to you, I was able to observe a stage with genuine interest after a long time.”
“Ah, well.”
“The Dragon Heart is an excellent trait. But be careful. Handling a dragon’s mana puts quite a burden on the body.”
Taeyang nodded. He had only used it once during the fight with Benjamin, but he had already felt it. It was different from the mana that followed when the Spirit Lord Arasil descended. It felt like some vast, overwhelming force was forcibly rampaging through his body.
Taeyang stepped up to the stone tablet that displayed Kimereis’s overall evaluation. Ran was already reading hers.
Her growth has reached a level where finding a rival below the 15th floor will be difficult. She consistently delivered excellent results through precise judgment and mission execution on every stage. The highlight was the hunt for the white dragon Untara. The way she handled a sudden crisis with wit and overwhelming force was the highest form of entertainment possible on the 12th floor.
Acquired Achievement: Kimereis Certified S+ Rank.
Additional Reward: 130 Gold.
Ran asked him, “Finished reading?”
“Yeah.”
“What rank?”
“S.”
“Wow, no surprise there.”
Ran whistled. “What about you?”
“A.”
“We went through everything together, but the gap’s still there.”
“Can’t be helped.”
Ran didn’t feel any doubt or dissatisfaction with the result. Taking the white dragon Untara’s breath head-on. Cutting off its neck. They had experienced it together, but Taeyang had always been at the center. Taeyang could have done Ran’s part, but Ran could never have done Taeyang’s.
“Shall we go?”
“Let’s. Ugh. I want to wash up and rest.”
Paca approached. Not for any particular reason—he had simply come to the door leading to the shelter as well.
Hyeonhye suddenly chimed in. “If he travels with you on the next stage too, it might not be a bad idea, right?”
The beastman Paca was certainly an NPC with respectable combat ability. Whatever his personality was like, there was nothing to lose by inviting him to move together.
“Hey.”
At Taeyang’s call, Paca turned to look at him.
“How about we work together on the next stage too? Our coordination was pretty solid this time.”
Paca snorted. “Human. If we meet on the next stage, you die. Consider yourself lucky.”
“Ah, okay. Safe travels.”
Beastmen were hostile toward humans by default. It wasn’t surprising.
…Still, getting cut off that cleanly was a little annoying.
“Then I’ll head out first.”
Paca disappeared through the door. Taeyang and Ran followed shortly after.
Kimereis watched them leave with a faint smile. For a Demon King who designed stages, Taeyang was a rather welcome existence—he kept revealing new sides to the stages.
Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the engine room door. Kimereis looked over. Was there another player? He had thought they were all dead.
When there was no answer, the one who knocked opened the door and entered. A man in a disheveled red uniform, dark circles reaching all the way under his eyes.
It was Salomon Acraptor.
The moment he faced Kimereis, Salomon got straight to the point. “I already know.”
“Know what?”
“The truth of our world.”
That it was nothing but a game board created by beings called Demon Kings.
“Can I go too?”
Kimereis pondered for a moment.
Salomon Acraptor. Second-in-command of the engineer faction, Benjamin Acraptor’s potential rival, and his successor. If he left, the train would lose too many of its remaining powerhouses.
That would be troublesome.
But refusing a challenger went against the principles of the ‘Dimensional Labyrinth.’
Kimereis eventually smiled. “Of course. The ‘Dimensional Labyrinth’ does not turn away challengers. However, there are conditions.”
Watching Taeyang enter the shelter’s inn, Hyeonhye clenched her fists tightly.
From the records, the Endless Express was a stage where even players fully focused on clearing died in droves. In fact, most of those killed early on after being suspected as the “rat” had been players.
Hyeonhye had told him to give up on achievements for this stage and focus solely on clearing. But the result?
Maybe… he really can.
The potential Taeyang showed in the beginning had turned her doubt of “Can he even clear it?” into hope. And in this very moment, that hope had become certainty.
At least for Hyeonhye.
“Taeyang.”
“Yeah?”
“This game. Let’s clear it. No matter what.”
Taeyang let out a small laugh.
“You’re stating the obvious.”