Chapter 174
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 174
Chapter Title: The Locked Box and the Black Flames
"Wow..."
Entering Briareus's treasury, Do-jae couldn't help but let out a gasp of admiration.
As soon as he entered, lights automatically flickered on, softly illuminating the interior, with brighter spotlights highlighting the collectibles.
It felt like stepping into a lavish, well-curated museum.
"A treasure trove no less impressive than Herteias's."
A single glance revealed it was filled with sculptures and crafts that bore the touch of a master artisan.
*Whoosh-.*
Do-jae slowly made his way from the entrance, tossing items into his subspace one by one.
For the most part, Briareus's treasury was filled with works of art, many of which were difficult for the eyes of a human from another world to comprehend.
Or perhaps Do-jae just had an unrefined eye.
"There's almost nothing of immediate practical use."
While Herteias's treasury had been piled high with mountains of weapons and armor, here there were only three weapons and a single leather armor set.
Right now, quality was important, but quantity was even better.
"I'll check them out later..."
Do-jae casually tossed them into his subspace and began to look around the treasury again.
One wall was lined with glass bottles, sorted by color.
"Highest-grade healing potions, highest-grade vitality potions, highest-grade blessing potions, highest-grade mana potions..."
Potions that would fetch tens of millions of won per bottle back in Korea, and there were at least a hundred of them.
He felt a pang of guilt toward Briareus, who had nagged him about spending even a few tens of thousands of won on microtransactions.
"Thanks, Briareus. I'll make sure you hit rank one when I get back."
Do-jae offered his thanks to the absent Briareus as he shoved the entire shelf into his subspace.
"Let's see... what's this?"
After clearing out the treasury, Do-jae stood before the last remaining item: a single box.
It looked like an ordinary chest, the kind you'd see in a pirate manga where characters eat strange fruits to gain bizarre powers.
*Clank- clank-.*
He gave the lock a light tug, but it wouldn't open.
An ordinary iron lock would have had its internal mechanism shattered by that much force.
*CLANG-!*
"Ahem..."
He pulled on the lock with all his might, but it didn't even budge.
Do-jae took out the Black Scale to cut the lock off.
*BANG-!*
As expected, the lock didn't break.
He tried throwing it, burning it, and every other method he could think of, but the box remained unscratched.
It seemed to be enchanted with the same absolute physical nullification and various other defensive spells that had been on the entrance.
Perhaps all twenty-seven spells Herteias had mentioned were cast on it.
"Just how incredible must the treasure be for him to lock it up this securely?"
Deciding to ask Herteias to open it, Do-jae stored the box in his subspace and left Briareus's treasury.
Having cleaned it out completely, of course.
***
"Herteias. Can you open this for me?"
He handed the box to Herteias, who was lounging comfortably on a luxurious leather sofa.
After fiddling with it a few times, he handed it back to Do-jae.
"I can't do it right now."
"Why not?"
"Unfortunately, its structure is different from the door."
Herteias explained that the layering sequence of the spells on the box was completely different.
He said that complex magic, where even a slight difference in the order of mana accumulation could be called a new spell, was difficult to unravel.
"So, you can't open it?"
"No! There is no sealing magic I cannot break! It will just take more time..."
Disappointed, Do-jae had no choice but to put the box back into his subspace.
He was incredibly curious about what amazing item was inside, but he couldn't afford to spend another two days here.
"Well, I'll deal with the box later. Can you take a look at this?"
He put the box away and took out a single sheet of paper.
It was the magic circle he had drawn in the Black Lake Village.
"Hmm... at a glance, it looks like a transportation-type magic circle. What is this?"
"You can tell just by looking at it? That's amazing."
"There is no magic circle unknown to the great Gold Dragon. Kuhaha."
It was meant as sarcasm, but Herteias looked pleased.
Do-jae had expected him to recognize it as a demon king summoning circle at first glance.
If he was knowledgeable about summoning magic, couldn't he quickly modify it into a circle that connects to Earth?
"Sigh... Briareus would have recognized it instantly."
Herteias's eyebrow twitched.
"Nonsense! Are you implying Briareus is better with magic circles than I am?"
He hadn't meant to provoke him.
It just seemed likely.
After all, hadn't Briareus known a way to return here on his own?
If his mana hadn't been insufficient, he would have crossed over through dimensional travel.
"I'm just saying."
"I'll let it slide since you don't know any better, but in terms of magic, our Gold clan surpasses even the gods. No gods, save for the supreme ones, are more skilled in magic than we are."
"Alright, I'm sorry. You're the best!"
"Hmph. You are forgiven."
This was a hurdle right from the start.
He realized Herteias's knowledge of magic circles wasn't as profound as he'd thought.
He'd probably spend ages trying to decipher this one too.
"Well then, shall we head back to the Titan village in the rainforest for now?"
"Wait. What is that magic circle?"
"It's just something I saw by chance somewhere."
"Give it here. I'll analyze it."
"It's fine, it's probably nothing special."
"No, you've piqued my curiosity. Show me, quickly!"
Herteias tugged on the hem of Do-jae's robe.
Do-jae quickly put it back into his subspace.
"You dragons remember everything you see once, right? Just draw it from memory."
"Hmph... You think it's that easy? Just because we remember everything doesn't mean we can pull out memories like objects from a shelf."
"I don't know, figure it out. Just teleport me."
"You cheap human!"
Herteias grabbed Do-jae's arm and cast Teleport.
Unlike when they arrived, they were already inside the domain, so there was no need to exit again.
***
*Whoosh-.*
Manhattan, New York, USA.
The spire of the World Trade Center.
A young child, looking to be in his early teens, stood with his arms crossed, gazing down below.
"So, this is the place."
Ridirian's voice trembled.
It was a voice filled with many emotions.
Anger, sadness, anguish, longing, sorrow, and even hope.
All of it was condensed into that single, short phrase.
"Mr. Havik. Was my choice the right one?"
Ridirian asked, looking up at the night sky.
Unlike the night sky of Tranpeion, this one was pitch black, with the city lights obscuring any sight of the stars.
"Before we return, shall we try to reduce the humans' strength a little?"
Ridirian slowly closed his eyes.
And around his small body, black flames began to flicker.
*Fwoosh-.*
The black flames shot up into the sky with tremendous force.
Piercing through the clouds, Ridirian's black flames connected with the high heavens, condensing into a small point.
*FWOOSH-!*
They then shot out from the World Trade Center's spire like a meteor shower.
"What? What are those flames?"
"Oh my god! Look over there!"
One of the black flames fell into the Hudson River next to Battery Park, sending a massive pillar of water into the air.
And what emerged from it left the citizens of the United States in shock.
"Leviathan...!"
"What are you doing? Everyone, run!"
A massive whirlpool formed in the river, and from it, the Grade 1 monster, Leviathan, emerged, thrashing about and kicking up spray.
The Statue of Liberty toppled, and both Liberty State Park and Battery Park were submerged.
From the river, monsters swam ashore one by one, beginning to kill every human in sight.
Watching this, Ridirian smiled with a look of pure innocence.
"It's a good night for a nightmare."
***
*Thump, thump-.*
"Do-jae. Where should I put these?"
"Ask Oson."
"Human, what's our next destination? I want to send the village Titans ahead."
"Next is the east! Contact Sarieta and head that way."
"Do-jae! What should I do..."
"You, go play!"
Inside Eurabia's completed temple, the three Titans—Harkes, Helia, and Teus—took turns speaking to Do-jae.
Hearing the slight irritation in Do-jae's tone, Teus walked away dejectedly.
"Wouldn't it be better to have the mana flow like this here?"
"Are you crazy? If you do that, the spatial coordinates will be completely scrambled."
"The coordinates don't matter since we have Teleport, right?"
"Right. But what about up and down? If we change this part, we'll have to recalculate the vertical coordinates from scratch. One wrong move and we could end up deep underground somewhere."
"Can't we solve that with Teleport too? It's not like we'll die even if we end up deep underground."
"Ugh! I told you, Teleport isn't omnipotent!"
Do-jae and Herteias were huddled together, engrossed in their research of the magic circle.
The demon king summoning circle he had intended to ask Briareus about was now a joint project with Herteias, who had insisted on looking at it, and two weeks had passed since they started.
Since he had planned to return after one temple was complete and Sarieta and Oson had finished their war preparations to some extent, the two of them invested their time day and night into the summoning circle.
They were so busy they didn't even have time to open the box from Briareus's treasury.
"I think we've made a lot of progress. I'll work on it with Briareus after I go back."
"I'm telling you, that guy won't know much about it. Let's finish it together. I need to go to where he is anyway."
"Sigh... Altein, is there any way for this Gold Dragon to cross over with me?"
- Regrettably, there is not. I have passed most of my status to you, and I am merely using that transferred status. Making another being cross dimensions would be a difficult task...
Do-jae, though inwardly pleased, shook his head and spoke.
Taking Herteias to the other side would be great for combat, but then this side would become unstable.
The only reason they could exert the power of an S-class Hunter was because the dragons had to protect this place.
That was why he had made one more request.
"I'll create a path for you to cross over, so you should ask the other dragons for help."
"I can propose it, but as I've said, dragons don't get involved unless they themselves are in danger or the continent is on the brink of destruction. Well, there are a few who might listen if it's for amusement... but none of the ancient dragons or higher will ever step in."
"That's fine. I'm not expecting any ancient dragons to get involved anyway."
An ancient dragon stepping in would mean Tranpeion was on the verge of ruin.
If things got to that point, his efforts to protect Sarieta and Oson would be meaningless.
Everything had to be resolved before the continent fell into Gellahan's grasp.
"Let's stop the analysis here. I should get back. I've spent quite a lot of time here. Because of the absolute timeline, even more time will have passed on the other side."
Do-jae stored all the research materials they had gathered so far into his subspace.
A few days ago, he had also stored all his golems except for the four black ones in his subspace.
Now that a decent force had gathered in the central region, the golems were no longer necessary, so he decided to leave only the four elite ones.
"Tch. Before that guy can decipher it, I'll activate the magic circle and find you myself, human!"
"That'd be great for me. I'm leaving now."
There was no need for goodbyes.
They would meet again soon.
- Then I shall begin the transfer. Ruiden, I leave Eurabia in your care.
A transparent energy enveloped Do-jae's body.
Soon, he vanished as if he had never been there.
"That inhuman bastard! Just you wait, Briareus. I'll come see you soon with the great doll I've made! Kuhahaha."