Chapter 136
Chapter 136
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 136
>Chapter Title: The Dark King's Awakening
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‘No way, is the second phase activating?’
Bosses varied, but second phases usually triggered at 30% or 50% health.
This one was right at 50%, a perfect match.
If it activated in a crisis like this, the odds were high it’d counter with something like an ultimate ability or invincibility.
Crunch—
He had to quickly decide whether to strike faster or dodge.
The moment Do-hyun checked the message, tense as he was.
[20 minutes have passed since awakening from slumber. Arlaragini’s mind stirs.]
‘Huh?’
The message greeting Do-hyun was far from what he’d expected.
Stunned by the incomprehensible words for a moment.
Whoosh.
A change came over Arlaragini.
Life sparked in its foggy, dull eyes, clearing them up.
The eerie, corpse-like gaze from before was gone, replaced by wide, sparkling eyes scanning Do-hyun.
Hiss……?
Bewildered, it belatedly checked its own condition and grimaced.
Overwhelmed by surging pain, its face crumpled into a pout, until it couldn’t hold back and let out a roar.
Hiiiieeeek!!! Hiss!!
Arlaragini burst into tears, eyes welling up.
Seeing it bawl like *wheeeeeeen!* felt oddly fitting.
It looked just like a child searching for its mother.
Do-hyun could only stare in bewilderment.
‘What the hell? What’s going on?’
He felt like a bully who’d just tormented an innocent kid, frozen in shock.
[Race confirmed as complete ‘human.’]
[Conditions fulfilled.]
More messages appeared,
Flash—!
Intense light erupted behind Do-hyun, illuminating the dungeon.
It was just like before.
[The slumbering Dark King’s positive will awakens.]
[The ancient human Dark King, ‘Har,’ manifests his positive will.]
Hiss! Hiss!
Turning at the sound—like a child spotting its father—there stood Arlaragini, chirping away.
A middle-aged man in a dour face and training robes.
Similar height to Do-hyun, early 180s cm, lean build, yet somehow towering.
[How long has it been since I last awoke…….]
Floating midair with eyes closed, he continued, voice thick with emotion.
[If I’ve awakened, it must mean humanity’s descendants have arrived. Arlaragini takes time to regain its senses after waking, so you shouldn’t have tormented it so……?]
Opening his eyes, the Dark King fell silent.
Hiss—! Hiss!
Arlaragini, bawling pathetically despite its size, tattling away.
Surrounded by five darkness-cloaked undead.
A robed dwarf and a knight in silver armor.
“Uh…… um.”
Finally, Do-hyun, halted mid-swing with his terrifying sword raised.
Watching them sheepishly lower their weapons, the Dark King couldn’t hold back.
[……Huh?]
The situation was utterly beyond expectation.
* * *
The Dark King, Har, couldn’t make sense of it.
‘What is this?’
Gatekeeper Arlaragini.
What kind of being was it? A great ancient divine beast that once rampaged battlefields alongside his comrades.
Even its shed skin was from such a beast.
A normal human should burst like an insect from one body slam, and even famed swords would struggle against its tough scales.
‘No better guardian could exist.’
In current Sargis, nothing guarded this place like Arlaragini’s shed skin.
It wasn’t stationed here for nothing—to repel threats and guide humanity’s descendants.
The only drawback? As shed skin, it took time to wake and regain its mind.
Descendants just had to survive that window……
“Uh…… um. I didn’t do anything.”
-Master, shouldn’t you sheathe the sword first? They’re about to stomp your gut and decapitate you. I wouldn’t believe you either.
“Ah.”
Hiss! Hiss!
Zihard fidgeted noisily, while Arlaragini protested vigorously, insisting otherwise. The Dark King felt deeply confused.
‘Why’s it backwards?’
No matter how he looked, Arlaragini was the victim, and they the perpetrators.
No dignity of a great ancient divine beast—just a battered assault victim explaining its wounds.
[……Enough.]
-Gasp!
Shh, hiss……
Rubbing his forehead, he murmured lowly. Zihard inhaled sharply and shut his mouth.
Arlaragini stopped too.
Do-hyun swallowed dryly, watching the Dark King quell the chaos with one word.
‘This is the Dark King…….’
An overwhelming presence, for sure.
Where Seras radiated a holy aura like a goddess before him, the Dark King exuded vicious killing intent.
‘Lives up to the name.’
Unlike Seras, whose presence soothed, this made his skin crawl. Do-hyun’s face stiffened.
The somewhat calmed Dark King eyed Do-hyun, eyes lighting up.
[Hoh……? You’re no ordinary human.]
The Dark King approached, right to his face.
So fast, despite the distance, Do-hyun hadn’t seen him move.
Scanning Do-hyun top to bottom with interest, his gaze lingered on the forehead.
[This is unmistakably Seras’s energy……. You bear her mark?]
“……Yes.”
[That weapon must be Kashiar’s. To think I’d meet a successor here. So I’m the third?]
Do-hyun nodded, and the killing intent vanished like a lie.
Moments ago, one misstep felt fatal; now, it felt warm and comforting.
A strange coziness emanated.
[No wonder you’re strong, bearing those two’s power.]
Hiss— hiss!
[……Still, getting beaten so easily? You’re an ancient beast. Shed skin or not, losing to a greenhorn?]
Hiss……
Arlaragini nodded vigorously in agreement, then wilted at the Dark King’s scolding.
Eliza approached, patting its back.
-Liza liza.
Hiss……?
-Liza!
Hiss!
……No idea what she was saying.
Whatever it was, Arlaragini perked up, chattering with Eliza.
Was Eliza just good at comforting, or Arlaragini simple…….
Either way, her knack for cheering Zihard wasn’t for nothing.
-It’s okay, everyone’s like that at first. I was too. You got off easy—you didn’t die. Latte, though……
Hiss! Hiss!?
-Liza!
-Yeah, all true. This knee still hurts from back then, I swear!
With Zihard joining to swap stories, they bonded. Do-hyun focused on the Dark King.
He was still speaking.
[Hmm……. Growth plates not even half-closed, yet this strong……. Fully grown, you’ll be quite useful. That guy’s personality aside, he’s got a good eye.]
“…….”
Muttering to himself, the Dark King grinned, pulling something from his robes.
A small key glowing faintly yellow.
But its head was sheared off, like a key sliced in half.
[Take it.]
“……What’s this?”
Bewildered at the unfamiliar item, the Dark King replied casually.
[My core shattered over time and from the seal’s influence. Probably most others too. Seras’s was likely the same.]
“Yes.”
Kashiar’s had been intact, though……
Seemed a special case.
[Shattered fate fragments mean little. Sure, they hold core essence for some effect, but that’s not why you collect them, right?]
“……Ah.”
[Anyway, you need a medium to forge a complete fragment……. For Seras, it was sufficient malice. For me, this.]
Taking the half-key, a message appeared.
[Acquired the Dark King’s positive energy.]
[Find the Dark King’s negative energy and forge one key.]
‘So that’s how it works.’
Come to think, the manifestation message differed from Seras’s.
Not just ‘will awakens,’ but specifically ‘positive will.’
[Humans are born with either negative or positive energy. Too much means short life, but some train it to extremes, turning crisis to power.]
Like extreme yin body or heavenly martial body in wuxia.
Rare constitutions, with the Dark King at the pinnacle.
[I was born with excessive yin and yang energy. Anyone else would’ve died at birth.]
Yet Har lived, earning the Dark King moniker, for one reason.
[Dual personality.]
Meaning two personalities in one body.
His was special.
Beyond that, his unique structure held two attributes and auras.
That’s why he dominated poison and assassination—and boasted absurd martial prowess.
[I handle the martial arts with the positive energy personality.]
“…….”
[Find the negative energy fast and make the key. Slot it into the fate fragment, done. Easy, right?]
Do-hyun chuckled inwardly at the Dark King shrugging like it was too simple.
Easy to say……
‘Means finding two more?’
Two for the key, plus the fate fragment—three total.
Before, one sufficed; now it was a fragment hunt marathon.
Were the others like this too?
‘……Well, has to be for a main quest.’
Headache-inducing, but Do-hyun shook it off.
No rush—no one chasing.
‘Negative energy……. Meet the Dark King’s other personality?’
But how?
God of Ages had been out over a year and a half.
Sargis info was exhausted; nothing like this.
Finding the positive was a hidden NPC quest plus secret dungeon collab.
‘Leftovers are just the outlaws and city lord…… Huh? Outlaws?’
Something clicked.
True Ruddel stole from the outlaw leader, blinding him. And the leader descends at night via special item.
‘……No way.’
Night, moonlight.
Fits negative energy perfectly, right?
Fate fragment with the city lord, per Gamillion. Outlaws planning castle raid.
‘If the leader has the negative energy, blinded by true Ruddel so can’t access positive…….’
Realizing, Do-hyun muttered.
“Damn.”
Looks like capturing the outlaw leader completes the key.