Chapter 77: 77

Other awakeners who had not felt anything until then began to be wary of the unpleasant, shrill sound . But still, the sound was only heard — nothing happened .

“What-what is this sound?”

“Monsters?”

“But it doesn’t…”

Any experienced awakener would know what this sound was . And the awakeners in this place were at least B-Rank . Even if one did not have enough experience in dungeon attacks, everyone in here had experienced the Tower of Trials many times .

“Is it…the sound of armor?” Lee Ju-ho also noticed what sound it was .

Su-hyeun nodded and answered, “Yes . It’s probably the sound of unfixed armors shaking and bumping each other . ”

“Why can we hear the armor sound in here…? No, why that is only sound can we hear?”

“It is more than just a sound,” Su-hyeun said .

“Then?”

“They are coming . ”

“What?”

In response to an irrelevant answer from Su-hyeun, Lee Ju-ho lifted his head following Su-hyeun’s gaze .

At that moment, Lee Ju-ho shouted reflexively, “It’s coming from above!”

“What?”

“Above?”

Everybody looked up . Soon, they could see a giant shadow and small falling objects .

“Incoming!”

Bam, bam, bam—

Clink, clank—

Numerous armor fell from above . The awakeners quickly scattered in all directions . They had gathered together so far, but there was no choice but to avoid falling armor . In the meantime, some people from the same guild gathered together . It seemed like the colleagues who had been working together for a long time had a similar sense to avoid the enemy .

Su-hyeun thought .

He looked around the fallen armor . The only one who did not avoid them was Su-hyeun .

“Hey, Su-hyeun!”

“L-look…!”

Lee Ju-ho shouted to Su-hyeun . Other people were surprised to find the truth about the fallen armor . They had thought it would be monsters wearing armor, but the armor itself was moving when they checked again .

“Ghosts?”

“Don’t be deceived! It might be a trick!”

“Don’t panic! We always have strange things before!”

The guild masters were encouraging other guild members . It looked like there was a reason why they became the guild masters . Su-hyeun, on the other hand, was more focused on understanding the situation than taking care of the awakeners under him .

“It looks like they came…”

Crack—

Su-hyeun punched the armor that rushed to him and looked up .

he thought .

He got an idea about the background and the theme of this dungeon . He looked around the empty armor that surrounded him .

“It is different from the headless knight, Dullahan . Probably…”

Slash—

Su-hyeun cut the nearest armor from top to bottom .

Clang, clang—

The armor broke in the two pieces and fell to the ground . The inside of the armor was empty, as Su-hyeun had expected . At that moment, he quickly checked the small patterns on the inside of the armor .

“It looks like the soul has tied to the armor with some sort of magical device . ”

Each armor had a soul in it . And if the soul could be considered as a life, this armor could be called a monster .

The people who had scattered in all directions now looked at Su-hyeun . And then, they saw Su-hyeun’s action and realized what was the moving armor was . It would be easy to handle now . The armor might have looked scary, but it wasn’t all that threatening .

“Do you mind if I leave it to you?” Su-hyeun asked Lee Ju-ho, who was standing far away .

“I don’t mind . ”

Lee Ju-ho, who grasped the situation, nodded his head . Su-hyeun grinned and raised his sword . The armor was coming closer to Su-hyeun, narrowing the siege little by little .

Su-hyeun counted in his mind .

Purr—!

Whirl, whirl—

Again, the magic was amplified from his sword . The magic that wrapped around Gram shined for a moment . There was a flash everywhere . People could hear a cracking sound around Su-hyeun .

Cling, clang—

Clank, clank—

Much of the armor fell to the ground . About 20 meters around Su-hyeun, hundreds of pieces of armor fell at once . Even though they were empty and weak armor, there were too many of them . Thankfully, Su-hyeun’s sword killed a lot of them at once .

“That is my present before I go,” Su-hyeun said, looking at each of the three guild maters . Then, he jumped from where he stood .

The place where Su-hyeun jumped to was a huge ship that appeared directly above . Kim Taek-hyun, the guild master of the Red Devil, asked, “Are all S-rank awakeners like that?”

Park Mo-young, the guild master of the Gambler Guild answered that question .

“I have no idea . ”

They had never seen S-Rank awakeners’ fight . All three of them were also called talented in the A-Rank group . But when they saw Su-hyeun’s ability with their own eyes, it was something hard to believe .

“What are you doing?

Lee Kang-hee distorted his face and yelled to the guild members .

“Sweep them all away!”

***

Swish, bang—

The ship was higher than he thought . In the end, Su-hyeun had to use the Imoogi skill to raise his leap and barely arrived at the ship .

“Wow . It is huge . ”

The ship that floated above and blocked the light like a cloud was as big as a small island .

The empty armor fell from the ship, but where did this ship come from? The theme of the dungeon was still covered in a veil .

Su-hyeun climbed up on the bottom of the ship, which he had barely caught . He had made a hole under the boat with his sword and went inside . The bottom of the ship was empty . It looked like the armor was hidden here .

He wondered if he made a trip in vain . But still, he looked around carefully . Soon, he found a staircase leading up .

Thump, thump—

The sound of the steps came to his ears clearly because it was so quiet . This wooden ship made a rustling sound, as old as it was . When he reached the top of the stairs, he smiled .

“Yup . There are still some here . ”

Rattle—

When he opened the upper door to go to the deck of the ship, the light that was hidden by the door so far was finally revealed .

Clang, Clank—

Rattle—

There was a ton of empty armor . The number looked similar to the armor shown below . Half of them still remained here .

“No . Not just a half . ”

Su-hyeun looked carefully among the armor filled on the deck . He found a giant armor sitting on the top of the bow . It held a helmet in its hand .

It was similar to Dullahan, but a little different . Dullahan usually held his head, not a hollow helmet . It could be one of two options . This one was something that either evolved from Dullahan or degraded from it .

[Are you our enemy?]

The voice rang .

The ringing voice made it unclear where it came from .

Clang—

At that moment, Dullahan got up from where he sat . It was his voice .

“I am probably your enemy,” Su-hyeun said .

[Probably?]

“Let me ask you one question . Depending on your answer, I could be your guest . Of course, if you think of me as a guest . ”

[Ask . ]

“If you could get out of this place, would you attack people outside?”

[Yes . ]

Dullahan clenched his fist . It looked like he firmly determined something .

[I will kill all living things . That is our mission . We will kill all the living things and defy our deaths since there is no way we will survive again . ]

It was a selfish notion indeed . Since there was no way for the dead to survive, they would kill all living things to make everything equal . Su-hyeun crumpled his face . He wanted to hear what he would say, but what he said was just nonsense .

“Then if you planned to kill anyway, why did you ask me if I were your enemy? Su-hyeun asked .

[Becasue I do not want to fight against you . ]

“Why?”

[You are dangerous . You have the power to kill us, the dead ones, again . So, I don’t want to fight . ]

“…Is that so?”

The power he mentioned probably meant the Flame skill .

Even without that, they would die if he destroyed the magic circle engraved inside of the armor . But it looked like they were afraid of his Flame the most .

“So, does that mean you guys distinguish the weak ones and strong ones when you fight?”

[Of course . We do not want to experience death again . ]

“Are you afraid to die?”

[Of course . ]

“Then how do you kill living people? You know it is scary . ”

[That is why we are going to kill them . We will kill all living things and make them share our emotions . Then, the dead ones will no longer be treated as dead . ]

“So since you guys can’t be happy, other people should not be happy either . Is that what you are saying?”

Su-hyeun bit his lips . It was because he remembered bad memories . There was a guy who had said the same thing: Lich King .

“You are irritating me, really… . ” Su-hyeun said .

He had met intelligent monsters many times, but each time he could not help his feelings of disgust . Ignorant monsters who were not intelligent did not pick who to kill . But intelligent monsters liked to pick and kill their opponents .

“I don’t like it . ” Su-hyeun said again .

Grrr—

Miru cried low as if it felt Su-hyeun’s feeling .

Thump—

Su-hyeun started to walk toward Dullahan .

Clang—

Clank—

Hundreds of pieces of armor split from side to side, making a road . The magic that spewed from Su-hyeun split the floor .

“I know a b*stard like you . ”

Thump—

“There is a very, very bad son of a b*tch,” Su-hyeun said .

It was one of the worst monsters Su-hyeun could remember .

Lich King . He was the god of the dead and the king of Liches . He was different from other monsters that were simply strong .

He took even the rest of the dead ones and drowned them in their eternal torment .

They looked similar too . It was just a difference between the skull and armor . But it was the same that they both died . Su-hyeun was furious . He had to blow off steam .

“Thank you for bringing back the dirty memories . In return—”

Crack—

Crunch—

Su-hyeun grabbed one armor that came close to him and twisted it with his hand . He lifted his eyes .

“—I will definitely kill you . I promise . ”