Chapter 257

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Translator: Ryuma

Chapter: 257

Chapter Title: Lesson 50. Dragon's Tomb - 3

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The situation had turned out to be quite entertaining.

Even after reaching the end of the ruins, with nothing worth calling spoils to be found, the contract between Rosius and the mercenary band had fallen apart.

From Rosius's perspective, could he just let them go like this?

No way.

Now that the contract was broken, the mercenaries had no obligation to keep secrets. If they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠leaked information about the ruins to the outside, it was obvious that far greater dangers would come crashing down on Planet Galahad.

Even if it was confirmed to be ruins with nothing inside, plenty of people would still come swarming to check for themselves whether that was really true.

'The moment he decided he had to kill us right away, he took out the traitor on his own side.'

It was a declaration that he knew the traitors' intentions, a warning, and at the same time, the last chance he was giving them to reclaim their ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠honor.

"Our dimension's affairs must be settled within our dimension. We can't let them spread to external dimensions."

"......You're right, Lord Rosius."

"You've seen through everything. Lord Rosius, we'll follow you."

And Rosius's judgment proved spot-on, as the knights who had plotted to betray him now sided with him emotionally and turned their swords toward Ban Yu-won's group.

"Reinforcements are coming soon! We just need to hold them off until then. All we have to do is keep them from using spatial magic!"

The lie Rosius had told earlier was now revealed.

When Ban Yu-won had brought up the intruders in the ruins, Rosius had acted shocked, but that was because he'd been surprised by Ban Yu-won's ability to detect intruders so quickly—not by the mere fact of their existence.

Because they weren't intruders; they were the knight order that Rosius himself had deployed.

Reinforcements, in the truest sense.

In other words, the rushed exploration of the ruins had all been a ploy to deceive them, and from the start, he'd intended to kill them all.

"Tch—these bastards think we're easy pickings!"

"Don't talk like some third-rate villain."

The other mercenaries sneered at the knights switching sides so quickly, but Ban Yu-won raised his evaluation of Rosius just a notch as he faced the man pointing his sword at him.

Overlooking the sloppy contract was one thing, but his deployment of forces, clever enough to surpass even Ban Yu-won's spatial magic, deserved praise.

One could call the knights spineless, but he'd still managed to flip confirmed traitors back to his side.

However, Rosius had made two mistakes.

First, he was unaware of Tike, who was even now scanning the area around the ruins from orbit above Planet Galahad.

Second, he had a disastrously mistaken idea of the power gap between his forces and Level Force Mercenaries.

"Sorry, but the commission contract is void. You'll have to die here."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

If there were only three knights, he wouldn't have been so smug right now.

Having heard the overlapping footsteps echoing from beyond the passage, he wore an expression of certain victory.

In this utter mess of a situation, what was Ban Yu-won thinking?

'Is that the device for eliminating the dragon's bloodline factor? Probably meant to have the Dragon Slayer Sword thrust into it.'

He was completely ignoring Rosius and re-evaluating the meaning of this space.

―......Yu-won, are you thinking of doing something with the replicas we secured here?

'Too bad. Add one more to that.'

Correct.

Honestly, he had no prior knowledge of how this facility was used, but...

Soul Liberation [Soul Seal 1,000, Anti-Magic 500, Ancient Knowledge 1,000]

Didn't it just so happen that something here could provide him with that knowledge!

"It's him! Block that guy!"

But even as he tried to get to work, annoying pests were getting in the way, so it was time for the ones whose usefulness had run out to step aside.

"Aneri."

"Shall I handle it?"

"Please do."

Adios, Rosius.

You die here.

But not just like that.

"Fine, I'll deal with you first. Leader... even with a spatial magic user, you're just a newbie mercenary band. You bit off more than you could chew on this commission."

"Not sure who's the one who bit off more than they could chew."

Aneri stepped forward, stopping the other members—especially Selden—with one hand.

The moment a flash gleamed from her fingertips, the heads of the knights flanking Rosius flew into the air.

Every time they met, it seemed like her skill level had jumped again.

"Wha...?!"

"Want me to let you in on a secret?"

The blank look on his face the moment the lives of the knights he'd dramatically recruited to his side ended so pointlessly.

Aneri removed the metal mask that had always hidden her face with one hand and flashed a bewitching smile.

"When a ninja stands right in front of her target, it means the mission's already over."

Aneri had finally gone and done it.

Ban Yu-won had half-expected it, but to say that word outright!

Pretending not to have heard, he turned away, taking the cross—Soul Liberation—into his hand.

Whether Aneri was filming a ninja action flick or a horror thriller didn't matter.

He felt a twinge of guilt in this situation, where he'd arbitrarily taken something that once belonged to Aisha, strengthened it, and now even extracted part of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠its concept.

In his defense, he'd only picked it up initially thinking it might help uncover her past or info on Dimension D-13... He hadn't expected it to have such a crucial use.

He'd apologize to Aisha honestly when he got back—or so he thought the next moment.

The whopping 1,000 units of ancient knowledge extracted from Soul Liberation flooded into Ban Yu-won, ruthlessly shaking his mind.

'Oh, this is dangerous.'

Instinctively sensing the danger, he circulated his vital energy to reinforce his body just as the ancient knowledge absorbed throughout his body explosively grew all sorts of concepts.

A torrent of authority messages poured in.

These were merely the changes in Ban Yu-won's bodily concepts verbalized by the power of language, so he could perceive them himself if he focused.

'They're all growing evenly anyway, so let's just check the ones that stand out.'

Numerous other authorities had grown as well, but those were the major ones.

And of course, the knowledge Ban Yu-won wanted most was included.

'Found it. ...It's possible.'

First, he checked the number of Dragon Slayer Sword replicas in his inventory.

There were thirteen experimental pieces from the ruins in total.

All lacked something—magical power, authority, will, soul—to fully become Dragon Slayer Swords, twisted in some way.

But if he combined all their power into one, it would more than satisfy every requirement for a true Dragon Slayer Sword.

'Fuse them all.'

Of course, fusion was just an imperfect merging.

And Ban Yu-won only had about 20 units of Synthesis left.

Far too little to fuse thirteen swords.

So he decided to fuse them first, then refine the result even if it came out a bit off.

With the full knowledge of creating the Dragon Slayer Sword and the essence of technique in Soul Liberation, it wouldn't be hard.

Fortunately, the result wasn't bad.

All thirteen swords had been made for the same purpose, so they merged successfully without repulsion.

Of course, the concepts were jumbled messily inside, looking fine on the outside but a disaster within—requiring conceptual refinement.

Ban Yu-won hurriedly manifested Artifact Origin Sword along with Verbal Command and Domination, sorting the flow of concepts inside the Dragon Slayer Sword to stabilize it.

It wasn't perfect, but he didn't need perfection right now.

'Now, synthesize Soul Liberation into this.'

Only after gaining the ancient knowledge was he certain.

Soul Liberation was both a compass to draw descendants bearing the dragon's curse to these ruins and the final key to completing the Dragon Slayer Sword.

A key absolutely necessary to enter the ruins' final area, and equipment the descendant would surely wear.

Its essence matching the Dragon Slayer Sword, it was no wonder it would trigger a change together when inserted into the central slot.

"Then I'll give you exactly what you want."

"Ban Yu-won?"

As he walked to the center, his older sister grabbed him in surprise, but he winked lightly and passed her by.

At the end of the clash with Aneri, Rosius's head—leaving only his body looking just like his minions'—sprang into the air, which he stylishly caught and passed to Eve.

Everything else was concept extraction from the corpses.

"We've got everything we came for. I'll stay and wrap things up, so everyone else withdraw first."

"But..."

Aneri wiped her blade clean, sheathed it, and frowned.

"It's deviated a lot from the original goal, you sure that's okay? The plan was to incite these idiots into making a big scene. Who could've guessed they'd come at us so suddenly?"

"We've gained more info than expected, so it's fine. As for the big scene..."

"Sisssit."

He stroked Eve's head, which had reverted to snake form after neat processing of Rosius's head and was now hissing while meeting his eyes.

Most situations could be handled by this cutie alone.

Today was no different.

"Leave it to Eve. You all go out and stand by. I'll attach Lilith, so no matter what happens on this planet, you can wait quietly."

Lilith, who like Eve had returned to small doll form in his pocket talisman, huffed pettishly as she hopped off to perch on his mother Kang Eun-young's shoulder.

The other women, secretly hoping Lilith would come to them, shot envious glances at Kang Eun-young—but the next instant, as Ban Yu-won snapped his fingers, everyone vanished from the spot.

"Alright, let's do this."

"Sisssit."

He drew the Dragon Slayer Sword, still sparking with golden concepts leaking out here and there due to unresolved overload.

Naturally, the Dragon Slayer Sword didn't recognize Ban Yu-won as its master.

He wasn't a dragonkin, nor a descendant of Camelot—the kingdom founded by the dragon's betrayer.

But he was the master of the master key, Soul Liberation.

He drew it and activated the Soul Flame authority.

The moment he separated a portion of his own soul—now vastly deepened by the ancient knowledge—and infused it into Soul Liberation.

It was as if a puzzle piece clicked into place with a satisfying snick.

―Ah, could it be?

"A body with all dragon factors sublimated leaves only its soul behind. Something like that plan, right?"

Curiously, the Dragon Slayer Sword no longer rejected him.

Having begun resonating with Soul Liberation, it now properly recognized him as master.

Ban Yu-won thrust it unhesitatingly into the slot.

That instant.

All tangible and intangible energies of these ruins began getting sucked into the Dragon Slayer Sword.

Even the inscriptions and drawings etched into the cavern walls peeled off one by one, melting into the sword!

"Oh, here they come."

What was coming were the legions from other planets who had pinpointed the ruins' location via the signals sent by the dead knights.

Arrival order-wise, Rosius's knights—who'd acted first—would arrive soonest, but frankly, their presence wasn't all that important in the play about to unfold.

"Livy, come out."

―Clank

The Living Armor gripping the cherished sword of the deceased Full Professor Ryu Cheol-myeong burst out of the inventory.

Since most situations were handled by Eve, Lilith, and Tike, it had been a while since Livy got to shine directly, and it seemed quite excited about it.

"Kill everyone still inside and come back. No traces. Got it?"

―Kiiik

Livy, having expressed itself by opening and closing its empty visor, floated into the air to greet the intruders.

Confirming that, Ban Yu-won gripped the Dragon Slayer Sword tighter, placed Soul Liberation atop it, and applied Synthesis 10.

And after a brief hesitation—he added a precious concept he'd obtained and stored from a previous solo exploration.

―Crackle

An immense energy resonance occurred between Soul Liberation, the Dragon Slayer Sword, and Ban Yu-won.

The power to utterly destroy dragon factors swept through every corner of him, but naturally, nothing happened.

The energy, undiminished even slightly, raced through Ban Yu-won's body, mingling with his vital energy and evolving into a more intense force.

And as it poured back from his body into the Dragon Slayer Sword, resonating with Soul Liberation—

Finally, synthesis began!