Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Translator: Penny
Chapter 25
The dungeon was silent.
Moonlight, filtered through the clouds, cast an eerie glow across its entrance.
It appeared to be a mid-sized dungeon, neither particularly large nor small.
Baek Woon gripped his staff tightly, taking each step with utmost caution.
Agron, Elena, and Jacob, however, showed no hesitation in their movements, whether out of fearlessness or sheer obliviousness.
"Hey, Agron," Baek Woon said, "dungeons are dangerous places. Shouldn't we be a bit more careful?"
"Huh? Why?"
"Why? Because dungeons are full of traps!"
"Huh? We can just avoid them, right?"
"There are even devices that shoot bolts!"
"Huh? We can just block them, right?"
"And monsters too..."
"Huh? We can just kill them, right?"
"..."
Baek Woon felt his grip on the staff tighten involuntarily.
One day, I'll definitely shut that jabbering mouth of his!
Of course, Agron meant no harm.
"Hmm, there's a trap diagonally to the right."
"Yes, I see it too, Master."
"I'll confirm it!"
As Elena agreed with Agron, Jacob immediately moved to inspect the trap.
Jacob had previously used his physical abilities to work as a guide and scout. This experience had naturally been gained to ensure Elena's safety.
"Correct. It's a trap that sprays sulfuric acid when triggered."
Using his knife and pre-prepared tree sap, Jacob disabled the trap by damaging its activation mechanism.
"Agron, have you ever explored a dungeon before? You recognized that trap remarkably well," Baek Woon asked, his tone curious.
This wasn't something one could immediately recognize just from reading about it in a book.
"The Snow Spirit Labyrinth has many ownerless dungeons," Agron replied calmly.
"Have you been inside them...?"
"Yes, all of them."
"Wait, Master, the Snow Spirit Labyrinth?" Elena asked, her jewel-like eyes widening.
"Didn't I mention it? I'm from the Winter Forest Keepers tribe of the Snow Spirit Labyrinth."
"That Demonic Realm?!"
"There are tribes there?" Elena and Jacob asked in disbelief.
Most people believed the Snow Spirit Labyrinth was a snow-white hell, inhabited only by colossal monsters. Naturally, when Agron mentioned being from a tribe, they assumed he meant a tribe somewhere in the North, outside the labyrinth, not one living within that Demonic Realm.
"That's right. For some reason, people call it the Demonic Realm."
"I... I thought only dragons lived there..."
"Master, you're incredible! Elena Rosetti has fallen even deeper in love with you!"
Jacob, like any ordinary person, was astonished to learn that Agron came from the Demonic Realm. Elena, with her far greater experience, already knew about the beings inhabiting the Demonic Realm, and her admiration for Agron's strength only grew.
"Elena, do you know about the tribes living in the Snow Spirit Labyrinth?" Agron asked.
Elena replied with a proud smile, "Yes, Master. Long ago, I explored all the Demonic Realms on the continent. That's when I learned about the tribes in the Snow Spirit Labyrinth."
"Oh, fascinating. What was your impression of them when you saw them?"
"Master, I can say with certainty that the Tribe members there were incredibly strong. They were even more powerful than the renowned knight orders of the Royal Palace or the Empire, and they carried themselves with the unwavering conviction of true warriors."
Agron gazed at Elena with an unusually pleased smile. "Thank you for telling me that, Elena."
"I'm overjoyed that you're smiling at me, Master!"
"Hey, save the flirting for outside the dungeon and focus on completing the mission."
"Eek! Don't ruin the pleasant atmosphere with Master, you little brat!"
Elena glared fiercely at Baek Woon, her eyes blazing with anger.
Just then, Jacob, who was leading the group, raised his hand to draw everyone's attention.
"I sense something approaching."
Piercing through the veil of darkness, a group of people staggered toward them from the depths of the cave.
"Well, this is a truly bizarre sight," Baek Woon muttered, pulling a talisman from his sleeve.
The people, their eyes unfocused and yellowish saliva drooling from their mouths, snarled at the group.
"What are those things?"
"Jiangshi," Baek Woon replied. "They call them zombies here, I believe."
He clicked his tongue and flicked the talisman forward.
Whoosh!
The zombies that touched the talisman burst into flames, collapsing with grotesque screams.
The stench was nauseating, and the sight was revolting.
"I'll take care of these filthy things!" Jacob charged forward, his knife flashing as he decapitated the zombies.
The zombies clawed at Jacob with their sharp nails, desperately trying to bite him.
Fortunately, Jacob's excellent distraction kept the zombies away from Baek Woon, who was throwing talismans from a safe distance.
Agron's gaze, however, wasn't fixed on the zombies but on the figures lurking beyond them—a woman and a man radiating an ominous aura.
"They're both mages, Master," Elena whispered.
As if sensing Agron and Elena's attention, the two figures standing behind the zombie horde turned to face them and spoke.
"Hey! You're not ordinary adventurers, are you?"
"Felipe, you idiot! You said we just needed to capture the woman separately!"
"I thought it would be nothing and only prepared a few corpses... What are we going to do?! My babies are all going to die!"
"There's no choice. Since there are so many of them, we'll have to separate them. Hold onto my cloak."
As the man pressed his palms to the ground, the space where Agron's group stood began to tremble violently. Stones surged from the ceiling and floor, swirling like a tempest.
Kugagagaga!
The group cried out in alarm as the stone waves crashed down upon them.
"M-Master!"
"Agron!"
But their eyes never met.
In an instant, the avalanche of stones dragged Agron's group to separate locations and vanished with them.
"Ugh..."
Elena staggered to her feet.
The world spun around her, but thankfully, she hadn't lost consciousness from the impact.
This is why one should never associate with magic, spirits, or demons.
The moment she opened her eyes, she immediately searched for Agron.
"I can't sense his presence."
If he were nearby, she would have detected Agron's pleasant, blood-tinged scent, but now there was no trace of it.
She couldn't tell if the distance was too great or if the annoying magical energy emanating from the surrounding mages was interfering.
With burning eyes, she immediately set off to find her Master.
Though the pitch-black darkness made it impossible to see even an inch ahead, this posed no problem for a Vampir like her.
The cave was not designed for easy movement.
The passage suddenly narrowed to barely allow one person to pass, then abruptly required high leaps to traverse.
This was likely designed to prevent prisoners from escaping easily.
"...Someone's here."
Elena stopped, focusing on the faint sound.
It was as faint as the rustling of ants from a great distance, but her superhuman senses didn't miss it.
"Not the Master. Not Jacob or the child either."
She moved swiftly and silently as a shadow toward the source of the murmuring.
How long had she been running?
"What is this...?"
Arriving at the source of the sound, Elena frowned at the sight before her.
A magnificent cavern several times larger than the cave where she had been imprisoned.
And at its center, a Magic Circle as large as a house.
"That's a Summoning Array," Elena murmured.
Upon closer inspection, she saw dozens of people seated in a circle around the Magic Circle, chanting bizarre incantations.
The source of the murmuring must be them.
"Wait, this incantation..."
Elena glared at them with disgust. Even for a Vampir like her, the content of their chant was chilling.
"Madmen... they're trying to summon something that should never be called forth."
A hollow laugh escaped her lips.
She could understand their earlier attempt to awaken Jacob. If they had acted as if they were willing to give him everything, a Vampir like Jacob might have spared a glance for those performing the ritual.
But this entity was different.
"A woman has escaped!"
At that moment, someone spotted her and shouted the alarm.
Hearing the cry, over a dozen burly men armed with weapons rushed toward her.
"Whew, no wonder that old pig was so insistent. She's even prettier than I thought."
"Damn it, she's too good to just give away to Lord Felipe."
"We'll just say we killed her by accident and keep her for ourselves."
The men leered at her, their sticky smiles spreading across their faces as they sized her up.
"Hah."
Elena let out a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sigh, gathering strength in her fingertips.
"Hey, you wanna get beaten and dragged away crying, or come quietly?"
One of the men smirked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Why aren't you answe─ Gack!"
In that instant, a hole appeared between the man's eyebrows, and blood gushed forward.
"Huh...?"
"It's fortunate that my Master doesn't have to lay eyes on filthy scum like you."
As soon as Elena finished speaking, dozens of holes erupted in the bodies of the men surrounding her, and they collapsed in pools of blood.
They died like insects, barely able to scream.
Elena snapped her fingers.
The blood they had shed surged into the air, coalescing into a massive, crimson sphere.
"If I clean this place up, will Master praise me?"
Elena snapped her fingers again.
The sphere of blood expanded rapidly, transforming into dozens of lances that shot out in all directions.
Kugaga!
"Aaaah!"
"W-what is this?!"
The men chanting spells screamed as the lances pierced their bodies.
The bloody barrage didn't stop there.
Elena snapped her fingers once more.
This time, the blood spilled by the dying men joined the crimson sphere, making it even larger.
She pointed her finger at them again, and spears relentlessly skewered the cavern's occupants like kebabs.
The spears rained down, painting the cavern with screams and blood.
Elena, who had been surveying the scene with a leisurely expression, suddenly froze.
"Hmm?"
One person remained alive.
It was a man seated at the very center of the Magic Circle, seemingly untouched by any of the attacks.
Elena aimed her spear again and fired at the naked, cross-legged old man.
Clang!
An unknown force blocked her attack.
Elena was startled.
"What's this?"
"Stop your attacks!"
From afar, Baek Woon, being carried on Jacob's back, shouted.
"Do you know him, kid?"
"Surely not! That's the Magic Deflection Spell!"
Baek Woon hopped off Jacob's back and strode toward the center of the Magic Circle.
"What's the Magic Deflection Spell?"
"It's a spell that absorbs the energy from magical attacks. This one's been crafted with remarkable precision..."
"Can you break it, kid?"
"Ugh, I'm not a specialist in Magic Circles."
"Then what are you good at, kid?"
Baek Woon glared at her.
I can't even curse at her, being the elder.
"I'm a Talisman Daoist. Whether you're a Daoist, magician, shaman, or witch, everyone has their own specialty. Just being able to decipher someone else's Magic Array is an extraordinary feat."
"Hmm, so you think you're impressive?"
"...That's just how it is."
Baek Woon selected the most promising talismans from his collection and affixed them to various points within the Magic Circle.
Each talisman was designed to disrupt magical formations.
Whether they would be effective against such a massive circle remained uncertain, but he had to try something.
At that moment, the naked man sitting cross-legged opened his eyes.
Though aged, his eyes gleamed with fervent desire as he glared at Baek Woon and Elena.
"Too late, you insignificant creatures," he rasped, his voice ringing like a broken stringed instrument.
"You will all become sacrifices to The Master here. Heh heh heh."
"What exactly is this man trying to summon? As a Vampir yourself, couldn't you reason with him?"
"No... he's not a Vampir. This is far more dangerous—"
Thud!
In that instant, a pitch-black, grotesque arm burst through the old man's abdomen, who was sitting cross-legged.
"Guh... Gwaaaah...!"
The old man trembled violently, blood gushing from every orifice in his body.
The owner of the jet-black arm tore through the old man's belly, emerging into the center of the Magic Circle drenched in blood.
Grrr...
A sinister being with eyes burning like the sun, two horns rising from its forehead, a serpentine tongue, and bat-like wings.
"A, a demon..." Baek Woon stammered, falling back on his rear, his body shaking uncontrollably.
I am Death, father of wandering spirits.
The demon dripped viscous blood, its gaze fixed on them like a predator eyeing its prey.
"Ugh...!"
Elena bit her lip, then transformed the pool of blood into a massive spear and hurled it down at the demon.
Gah!
Yet the demon blocked the spear with a single finger.
Elena stared in horrified disbelief.
Child, I am the one who bathed in the blood of Vampir, the demon rasped in a voice like metal scraping against metal.
Though it was merely a voice, it shook their minds and rattled their innards.
Baek Woon and Jacob felt nausea rising in their throats.
The demon unleashed a ferocious aura and swept its hand through the air.
Kugagagaga—!!
With that single gesture, Elena, Baek Woon, and Jacob were flung to the far end of the cavern wall.
"Ugh...!"
"Gah... This is... impossible!"
Jacob coughed up blood, while Baek Woon bled from his nose and mouth.
Elena, barely able to stand, leaned against the wall, glaring at her opponent.
If my body had fully recovered, I could have put up a decent fight...
Even a demon is just a newborn fledgling at this stage.
Her power was far from weak enough to be crushed so easily by a being that had only manifested in the world a few days ago.
Just as the three of them were sinking into despair and helplessness,
"Hmm? You're all here."
A voice both welcome and unwelcome echoed through the air.
Elena's expression darkened with apprehension.
"M-Master! Run!"
"Agron! You shouldn't be here!"
Even Baek Woon, bleeding profusely beside her, shouted at him.
But Agron ignored their cries and charged forward.
"What's this mess, Elder? Elena and Jacob are in terrible shape too."
"Master! You must escape! Jacob and I will hold them off. Hurry!"
Elena belonged to a race that valued honor as much as life itself, much like warriors. Having pledged to serve her Master, she was prepared to sacrifice her life to protect him.
You reek of that witch's foul stench.
The demon flicked its crimson tongue, glaring at Agron.
"What's that charred thing over there?"
"N-no, Agron...! Listen to me this time... R-run, now!"
Grrr... How amusing, nameless Barbaroi.
The demon bared its gleaming white, razor-sharp teeth, unleashing a torrent of power. Baek Woon, Jacob, and even Elena clutched their chests and collapsed to the ground under the force of its aura.
I'll chew your entrails alive and swallow them whole.
The demon plunged its claws toward Agron's heart.
Crack!
No, it had tried to.
What is this?
Agron gripped the demon's forearm, glaring at it with piercing blue eyes.
Why... why isn't my attack working?!
"You're just a lump of magical energy. Sorry, but magic doesn't work on me."
In that instant, Agron's iron-like fist slammed mercilessly into the demon's face.
📝 Translator’s Note:
You may notice that certain lines or phrases in this novel appear both in their original Korean (or Hanja) form and in English translation.
This is intentional — these phrases are classical idioms, divine titles, or poetic expressions that carry layered meanings.
To preserve their original tone and authenticity, the raw text has been kept for reference, while the English interpretation is provided right before or after it. This helps convey both the literal and cultural nuance of the original work.
but if you guys dont want tha raw for future chapters or my future other novels u can just text me on discord and say so discord name Mr.Penny