The Successor's Command
Kang Yoonsoo stood up slowly from his seat and opened his mouth.
A voice more fitting for a ruler than anyone else flowed out.
“I will give one command. Not as Nakron’s successor, but as myself.”
“What is it?”
“Do not compare yourselves to corpses. No one calls those who move, live, and show respect corpses.”
Caliburn’s face showed shock.
But the Death General soon shouted loudly.
“Kang Yoonsoo! Our new lord!”
At some point, Kang Yoonsoo’s title had changed from successor to lord.
They had acknowledged his position.
The other undead each expressed their joy in their own ways.
Skeletons clacked their jawbones together, banshees sang in eerie voices and danced, faint spirits wandered across the ceiling, and dullahans happily passed their heads to one another.
Henrik frowned.
“I know this might be a weird thing to say right now, but doesn’t that guy seem even darker inside than the undead?”
“Shh! They can hear you!”
Caliburn rose and spoke.
“I will guide you underground. Please follow me.”
As they descended into the basement of the Castle of the Dead, a warm energy poured out in abundance.
Shanette and Henrik, who had struggled with the castle’s cold, welcomed it. But the undead recoiled in panic as if they had encountered their natural enemy.
A clean, white corridor stretched ahead.
Caliburn walked at the front and explained.
“Due to the Holy Seal, the basement of the Castle of the Dead is constantly filled with sacred power. That is why this place is feared by all undead.”
“Um… then how can Sir Caliburn be fine here?”
“I am an undead that Lord Nakron poured his heart and soul into reviving. Therefore, I can ignore a small amount of holy power. My lord’s beloved.”
“B-beloved?”
Shanette stammered in confusion.
Caliburn’s eyes sharpened fiercely.
“If she is not your beloved, are you saying she is merely an outsider? If a human has no connection to the lord, there is no reason for her to be in the Castle of the Dead.”
Undead who were hostile to humans.
Shanette was no exception.
At that moment, Henrik quickly stepped in and wrapped an arm around Kang Yoonsoo’s shoulder.
“This young lady is indeed this guy’s lover. She’s just very shy, that’s all. Oh, and I am this fellow’s older brother. Please take good care of our worthless little brother.”
“I will devote my newly gained life to serving the lord.”
From behind Caliburn, Shanette whispered.
“Why is Uncle Henrik calling himself Kang Yoonsoo’s brother?”
“Then should I call myself his dad? Look closely. Don’t they look alike?”
“Kang Yoonsoo is way better looking.”
“Tsk tsk. Already got those pretty eyes covered with a glass film, huh. This guy.”
Henrik shook the arm wrapped around Kang Yoonsoo’s neck and teased him.
Kang Yoonsoo spoke.
“Brother.”
“……!”
Not only Henrik but even Shanette froze with stunned expressions.
They were pretending to be family in front of Caliburn, but who would have thought Kang Yoonsoo would actually say something like that!
Yet Kang Yoonsoo continued in his usual indifferent tone.
“Brother, let go.”
“R-right. My lovely little brother. Looks like my arm was choking you. Hahaha!”
Even the sly Henrik looked visibly flustered.
When they reached the end of the path, the warm and gentle light reached its peak.
A small room could be seen beyond.
“That room is where the Holy Seal was cast. It is the shameful work of the priest Argon. Even I cannot go there, so I will explain from here. First, to release the Holy Seal, several procedures are necessary…”
“Don’t explain. I hate long speeches.”
Kang Yoonsoo walked toward the room’s entrance.
When he opened the door, warm light poured out.
Caliburn shouted in a panicked voice.
“My lord! That place is dangerous even for humans!”
But Kang Yoonsoo advanced without hesitation.
The inside of the room was pure white, and in the center stood a sword emitting blinding light.
The moment Kang Yoonsoo stepped inside, a magic circle lit up brightly on the floor.
Multiple beams of light shot up from the circle at once.
Ziiiing—!
Countless flashes swept across the entire room.
Kang Yoonsoo dodged the incoming beams with movements that bordered on acrobatics.
When a flash grazed near his shoulder, part of his clothing turned to dust and vanished.
Light that erased intruders.
It was a room where even humans had low chances of survival, let alone undead.
Kang Yoonsoo swiftly dodged the flashes while swinging his longsword down at the floor.
The magic circle began to break apart.
With every damaged section, the speed of the flashes slowed slightly.
Once the entire magic circle was destroyed, the stream of emerging flashes stopped.
But it wasn’t over.
Ziiiing—!
This time a magic circle appeared on the left wall.
Dozens of light beams chased after Kang Yoonsoo’s body.
He dodged them just as before and destroyed the magic circle.
He created footholds on the steep wall with his sword and climbed up.
Next came the right wall, the front wall, and the back wall in turn.
After destroying the magic circle on the back wall, one appeared on the ceiling.
Even for Kang Yoonsoo, it was impossible to dodge the flashes while destroying the ceiling circle.
He looked back toward the door.
“Brother.”
“…Let’s drop that awkward title once we get out of here, little brother.”
Henrik took out a small, intricate doll from his puppet summoning box.
Unlike the other wooden dolls, this one had color and realistic body proportions.
The puppeteer scattered threads of mana from his right hand and threw the small doll toward the ceiling.
“Wait! Won’t the threads snap like that?”
“Mana threads don’t break from external force.”
Henrik answered Shanette’s question as he manipulated the doll.
The small doll clung to the ceiling like a spider.
It then drew a short sword from its sleeve and began damaging the magic circle on the ceiling.
What Henrik had brought out was none other than an assassin doll.
His skill was dazzling, and the ceiling magic circle vanished in no time.
Shanette asked with a surprised expression.
“Just how many dolls do you have?”
“Who knows. If we’re only counting the ones in the summoning box, around five hundred?”
“……”
“Look at this young lady’s face. You think I wasted all these years?”
All the magic circles had been destroyed.
Kang Yoonsoo pulled out the sword emitting brilliant light from the center of the room.
◈ Cutting Power: 3
◈ A sword created by a great priest to seal evil undead. It has almost no value as a weapon for killing, but it contains immense holy power.
◈ Deals fatal damage to demon races.
◈ When planted in the ground, it has a temporary chance to heal allies' curses.
◈ Can be offered to certain religious orders to receive quests related to the goddess's holy relics.
◈ When worn by a priest, healing magic effects increase by 3 times.
It was a Unique-grade sword, but unsuitable to be used as a weapon.
‘But it’s absolutely necessary for the ruins I’ll raid later.’
Kang Yoonsoo put the cross sword into his backpack.
The light flowing from the room disappeared.
The holy power that had existed in the Castle of the Dead had been extinguished.
The warmth vanished, and the cold darkness from the first-floor hall spread all the way down to the basement.
“Clack clack clack!”
“Uwooooooh!”
From far away, the sinister cheers of the undead reached them.
Even Caliburn smiled brightly in a way that didn’t suit him.
“To be honest, I was greatly surprised. I never expected you to remove the holy power so easily. As expected of our lord. From now on, the Castle of the Dead will become an even more sinister and cursed place.”
“We’re not done yet.”
“Indeed. The decisive seal has not yet been released.”
“There’s still another seal that hasn’t been undone?”
When Shanette asked, Caliburn nodded.
“Two seals were placed on the Castle of the Dead. The Holy Seal and the seal of biting cold. The cold that envelops the castle was not created by us undead. It was the work of Sharen, who sealed us within this castle.”
Caliburn’s attitude was serious.
“As long as the seals remain on the Castle of the Dead, we cannot leave its vicinity. My lord, we have a mission left by Lord Nakron. To turn the corpse of the strongest dragon on the continent into an undead. To be freed and fulfill that mission, we must conquer the ruins located somewhere on the continent.”
Caliburn knelt before Kang Yoonsoo.
“Lord of the dead! I earnestly beg you. Please conquer the Ruins of Ice and Souls and liberate us!”
Legendary Quest — Castle of the Dead
Death General Caliburn and the undead cannot leave the Castle of the Dead due to the actions of the priest Sharen in the past. The undead wish to leave the castle and become the strength of their new lord. Conquer the Ruins of Ice and Souls, sealed somewhere on the continent, and liberate the undead.
📍 Objective: Conquer the Ruins of Ice and Souls
🎁 Reward: Liberation of 7,827 undead. Caliburn's absolute trust. Nakron's combination book.
Caliburn had requested a quest.
It was a high-grade undead quest that could not be received through ordinary means.
Moreover, it was the first legendary quest to list its rewards in detail.
They could gain command of an undead legion exceeding seven thousand and the trust of a high-grade undead.
It was an enormous reward, but the difficulty of the quest was clearly just as high.
Kang Yoonsoo looked at Caliburn and nodded.
“Yeah.”
When Kang Yoonsoo accepted the quest, the Death General showed an expression of deep emotion.
“I will never forget this. Our new lord.”
Caliburn’s tone had become extremely gentle.
He had completely sworn his loyalty to Kang Yoonsoo by removing the holy power within the Castle of the Dead and accepting the quest.
Caliburn, who had been observing Kang Yoonsoo, suddenly drew the sword from his waist.
Shanette and Henrik were startled, but Kang Yoonsoo remained indifferent.
Holding the sword, Caliburn spoke.
“My lord, though you are a great one, your power is still far too weak. Therefore, I wish to pass on my own swordsmanship to you. It will surely be of help in the journey ahead.”
“Do it.”