Chapter 39: 39

Flick!

Clank, clank!

Pierce, pierce!

A relatively sharp Ice Spear flew over and exploded in front of him .

Su-hyeun brought his hand up and blocked his face from the debris . During that short time, all signs of the Lich had vanished .

It seemed that it had become aware of Su-hyeun and escaped .

Su-hyeun raised his head again .

‘He didn’t seem to be half as good as the previous one…’

It was a different Lich than the one that appeared as the dungeon’s boss in the level-fluctuating dungeon .

Different from the summoner Lich, who had imperfect vitality and power, the Lich here was the real deal .

‘A Lich on the 20th floor…’

The level of difficulty increased the further he ascended .

The existence of Lich could’ve brought about many variables .

The Lich was a monster that was very knowledgeable about magic . According to their level of magical knowledge, a Lich could do a variety of things .

The Lich could not be seen as a boss on the 20th-floor’s trial .

Instead, the 19th-floor’s ancient monster was a more demanding opponent .

If so…

‘A certain situation that the Lich is trying to make…’

That would be the primary key to the trial .

‘Good . End of thinking . ’

Sweep!

Su-hyeun’s body disappeared from the spot as if he had sunk .

The mercenaries releasing magic attacks at Su-hyeun were caught by surprise and shouted, “He… he disappeared!”

“Find him!”

Though they searched the area, Su-hyeun was nowhere to be found .

[Shadow Assimilation . ]

Sweep!

Su-hyeun reappeared under a bronze statue located in the distance .

At the back, the soldiers were still busy searching for Su-hyeun, unaware that he had already entered the castle .

‘It takes a while to manifest . ’

‘Shadow Assimilation’ was a skill that was obtained in the case of infiltration . It was purchased on the 15th floor with a considerable amount of achievement points .

It was commonly used by awakeners of the assassin class, where it gave one the ability to move with a specific shadow in sight .

It was quite a useful transportation skill .

One needed to use a shadow larger than the user himself . Although the shadow needed to be within sight, a penalty like that was not much of a problem for a spatial skill .

The problem was its manifest period .

As it was a spatial skill, the difficulty level increased, leading to an extended manifest period .

‘Should I have increased my skill proficiency level?’

It would have been a pain to do that .

To a certain extent, the skill was only obtained for infiltrations like this, not a skill that could be used frequently .

It was better to increase the skill proficiency of other skills instead .

‘Anyway, I should have gone far enough…’

He hid behind the bronze statue and observed the soldiers searching for him .

Thankfully, they were not able to spot him . Before Su-hyeun got caught, it was better for him to go deeper .

[Shadow Assimilation . ]

Su-hyeun soon spotted another shadow in sight .

From a distance, he used the shadow he saw to utilize the Shadow Assimilation skill .

With that, Su-hyeun succeeded in infiltrating the castle .

The castle was empty .

It seemed that most of the soldiers were sent out to prevent him from entering .

Although Su-hyeun had succeeded in infiltrating, the castle was dead silent as if the soldiers didn’t think that he had entered the castle .

‘There’s nothing special…’

Trudge .

‘Must I go in further?’

The scale of the castle was relatively massive .

It was hard to even look around the castle in a day . It was nearly impossible to just observe this place alone .

‘If so…’

Su-hyeun lowered his head and looked at the ground .

“Well, those with something up their sleeves usually liked the underground more . ’

Slung!

Su-hyeun hung the tree branch held in his hand on his back and took out Gram .

And…

Burn!

The flame lit up, and Su-hyeun held on to Gram in the opposite direction . Holding the sword’s handle with both hands, he directed it towards the ground .

Poke!

Burn!

The fallen sword made the interior of the castle hot with the flame . Cracking sounds were heard as the castle walls and floors started to crack apart .

Crack, crack!

Rumble!

The corridor where Su-hyeun stood at started to crumble .

‘Regardless of whether the castle falls or not, what does it matter to me . ’

There was a shortcut downwards; he didn’t need to find his way around .

Crumble!

The floor of the castle crumbled, rumbling loudly . Su-hyeun grabbed onto the walls and fell along slowly .

Looking down, he spotted nearly pitch-black energy .

No, he had felt it .

“Bingo . ”

Thinking that it was not an ordinary castle, he believed that something was hidden in there .

He had been worried that it would be concealed in a complicated way, but it didn’t seem so after he managed to find it so easily .

‘Indeed, it was easier to act instead of thinking about it . ’

In truth, it was better to have used both brains and body to execute, instead of just relying on either one .

Of course, that didn’t mean Su-hyeun wasn’t a clever thinker .

Slick!

Su-hyeun threw himself down . Since he was now sure there was something beneath, there was no need for hesitation .

Pierce, pierce!

Swoosh!

At that moment, black stems shot out towards Su-hyeun as he fell .

Su-hyeun leaped upwards reflexively . He then injected flame into his sword and sent it downwards .

Bang, bang!

Burn!

As the flame hit the stems, both had been wiped out . Su-hyeun climbed along the undamaged corridor and looked in the direction where the energy came from .

“I had thought some rat came along, but it was the kid from earlier . ”

A husky voice rang out .

But it wasn’t like Lich’s, where it was fully split .

It was using voice modulation magic .

“What were you doing here?”

Su-hyeun wanted to obtain some hints from him .

Su-hyeun had already learned that the castle was intertwined with the Lich . However, there was no knowing what the Lich would’ve done there .

If possible, Su-hyeun was hoping that the Lich would be a tell-tale .

“Why would I tell that to someone who would soon become a dead man?”

“If our aims are the same, wouldn’t it be better if we cooperated?”

The Lich started to gather magic in its hands, but Su-hyeun re-directed the topic .

These words used to work quite well .

Either way, they only worked towards their motives . If someone as strong as them were to cooperate with them, they would have considered it .

However…

“I don’t trust you . ”

Lich’s reaction was firm .

“Why is that so?”

“The energy that you’re using . ”

Lich took off its hood revealing its face and pointed at Su-hyeun .

“It was the energy that would become our enemy . ”

“…Ah, is that so?”

The flame was the problem .

The flame’s nature was similar to light and fire, which conflicted with the Lich’s energy . Just as light and dark didn’t go together, the Lich despised Su-hyeun .

“Well, what a shame . ”

Burn!

Su-hyeun raised the flame that Lich had despised onto his whole body .

The castle was soon heated up . With that power, Lich backed away with black magic wrapped around him .

“If so, I would have to finish you off first slowly…”

As he talked to Lich, Su-hyeun did not approach but instead turned his head away .

At that moment, the Lich who backed down while being pressured by Su-hyeun’s magic stepped forward again .

“Did you think that I would be alone?”

Slide, slide!

Underneath, three more robed men appeared in the endless underground .

Su-hyeun put up a perplexed expression, as he felt the same kind of magic from them as well .

‘Things are getting complicated . ’

There wasn’t just one Lich there .

Crumble, crumble!

The castle shook again .

The heat filled up the hall . Maxman stopped commanding his soldiers and stopped in his tracks .

“This… What…”

The intruder had entered the castle .

His existence was enough to overwhelm thousands of his soldiers . With a single blow, he could’ve cut down the iron gate to their fortress and resisted the magic attacks from dozens of his mercenaries .

He was a monster .

Although Maxman had been on the battlefields for decades, he had never seen a monster like that intruder .

Thus, Maxman had to stop him . If such an intruder was in the castle, none of them could sleep a wink .

However…

‘Is the intruder an enemy?’

Maxman was surprised at the quick brief on the damage report by his soldiers .

There were no dead soldiers .

Come to think of it, the intruder did not hold a sword in his hands . Instead of a sword, he held a tree branch he had picked up somewhere .

Of course, the intruder could have killed the soldiers with just a single tree branch .

He had the skills to cut down the iron gate, so did it matter with what weapon he was holding?

However, the intruder did not act that way .

It meant that he didn’t intend to kill anyone .

‘Then why…?”

He could not understand his objective .

Despite being confused, he was sure about one thing .

‘Something was going on . ’

The feeling of danger and anxiety he felt now was not due to the intruder since he had no intention to kill the soldiers .

Even if the kid was an intruder, it was hard to consider him an enemy when he did not harm the soldiers even at the expense of trouble .

‘If so, just what is this feeling…’

“Captain!”

Maxman turned his head sharply towards the soldier who called out to him .

“There’s a signal from within the castle! I think the intruder had entered the castle . ”

“What’s his exact location?”

“The basement . ”

“Gather the soldiers and mercenaries immediately… No, wait . ”

Maxman shook his head .

“Pick out those who can move and set off . I’ll go there myself . ”

Clank, clank!

Crack, crack!

Dozens of rectangular windows were fixed on the walls . Su-hyeun fell back as he was hit by the flame .

“How disgusting . ”

He furrowed his brows and turned his head around .

One of the skeletons reached out its hand and stood there .

Whoosh!

They seemed to have prepared for a long time since quite a bit of energy was shot out .

It was a familiar type of magic .

‘Dark Gun, Guide . ’

It was a high level of dark spatial magic that took the life of opponents after pressurizing them by crumbling every space available .

It could not be received by the normal flame .

“Damn it . ”

Burn!

The flame on Su-hyeun’s sword had become blue .

Wrapping it around the sword, Su-hyeun made a downward stroke .

Slash!

Rip!

The Guide’s darkness was split in half . The scattered power dissipated, revealing the Lich .

“The Guide…!”

Seemingly flustered, the Lich’s voice cracked as it initially would . Three more Lich appeared around Su-hyeun and surrounded him .

“Haa…”

Su-hyeun let out a long sigh .

Had he known this would happen, he would have taken his time .

‘All I can do now is regret…’

It seemed that Su-hyeun had to use one more of his cards .

‘I hadn’t wished to use it hastily if others got involved…’

Creak, creak!

Starting from the back of his hands, Su-hyeun’s skin was gradually covered in scales .

When both arms were covered entirely in scales, Su-hyeun’s eyes had turned similar to those of a beast’s . All his senses were amplified and turned sharper than before .

“I have no other choice . ”

[Transfigure: Imoogi . ]