Chapter 168: Demonic Palace (2)
“Huff, huff…!”
Rogue Berg panted heavily, looking up.
He couldn’t help it.
A hole in his abdon.
A severed leg.
Countless cuts across his body made standing impossible. In fact, it was clear he wouldn’t last much longer.
‘Of course, she doesn’t seem inclined to wait that long…’
Swoosh.
“Damn it…”
Berg cursed.
The blood-red sword approached slowly.
He’d already seen how terrifying that Demonic Sword was. His fallen comrades hadn’t even left corpses, their souls sucked into it. Despite living with death always near, he never imagined such an end.
“Why, cough, why!”
“…”
“For what reason, what’s the problem! With your skill, with our support, we could’ve taken down both boss monsters. So why!”
Wincing in pain, Berg demanded answers.
He didn’t expect a response, but staying silent and dying felt too unjust.
Was it to monopolize the rewards?
That didn’t make sense. It would’ve been more rational to act after collecting all the monster byproducts and resources, not to betray them so early.
Was she a thrill-seeking murderer?
That was even more absurd. With such skill, indulging in such irrational pleasure was hard to believe.
…Then what?
What reason drove her to ambush them and trap them in a cursed Demonic Sword even after death?
That’s when it happened.
Her voice cut through his chaotic thoughts.
“Why I killed you?”
“…Y-Yes, ha, why!”
Berg asked again, his voice mixed with shock.
He didn’t expect an actual answer, but since she responded, it was only natural to listen.
He looked up with eyes full of questions, and the brown-haired woman smiled like a child.
“You insulted Harang.”
“What?”
“You badmouthed, belittled, and slandered Harang the whole ti we were here. Don’t you rember?”
“That’s, cough, what…!”
Berg retorted, even more shocked.
Sure, they’d talked about it.
He seed skilled but was just a southern bumpkin who underestimated dungeons.
A guy like that wouldn’t pull his weight in any party, they’d said behind his back with Salina Mayer and the others.
‘But so what?’
It wasn’t untrue.
It wasn’t like they were sowing discord among friends.
It wasn’t comndable, but it wasn’t sothing forbidden either.
Yet, for such a reason, she betrayed her team…
Crunch!
…Berg’s thoughts didn’t finish.
The blood-red sword swiftly pierced his head.
Shuuuuk-!
Watching the Demonic Sword absorb the corpse’s energy, the brown-haired woman smiled wider.
Yes. She was going to kill them anyway, but they deserved it for their sins.
“Only I can harm Harang.”
No one could insult him.
No one could hurt him.
No one could take his life.
It had to be her.
Only she could hold his severed head and wail—or laugh until her voice gave out.
Her cheeks flushed as she imagined that day.
Swoosh.
Swoosh-.
Having drained the energy of all her party mbers, the brown-haired swordsman left without hesitation.
For a mont, her hair appeared red, but only briefly.
Soon, she blended into the darkness, unnoticed by anyone.
***
At that mont.
Harang’s party, the first to enter the Demonic Palace, was exploring with unparalleled ease.
This was, naturally, thanks to Harang.
As the scout, he took down every monster in a single strike.
“Dark Swarm! Get back, it’s a cluster of tiny insects! Point or line attacks like swords or arrows won’t work. We need spirit power…”
Wooooong!
Shweeeek-!
Boom-!
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Spreading an Aura projectile widely makes it manageable.”
He obliterated the Dark Swarm with an Aura projectile—a technique only top-tier Graduates could use—and moved forward nonchalantly.
Beep, beep-!
Ziiiing-!
Fsssss-!
“That’s… a hybrid of a One-Eyed Rock Bat! Their hide is tough, so aim for the eyes! You need to hit when they open their eyes to fire lasers… Queir! Can you handle it?”
“Got it! Leave it to… huh?”
Shashak.
Shashashak-!
“Ugh, it’s faster than I thought? This’ll take forever…”
Pew pew pew-!
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Oh, it looked tough for you alone, so I stepped in. I’m pretty confident with dagger throws too.”
He easily hit the eyes of a monster too fast even for a skilled elf archer.
That wasn’t all.
The countless chanisms and traps in the Demonic Palace.
He detected them as if holding a map, with a skill that would make even a Rogue guild master weep.
“How, how is this possible…”
“Co on, snap out of it.”
“But I’m an elder of the Black Coin Guild… to be outdone by a young guy? This can’t be, it can’t…”
The lanting Black Coin Guild elder, Shylock, suddenly perked up and rushed forward.
That wasn’t all.
Confirming the direction he ran, everyone added excited comnts.
“What!”
“This is…”
“Looks like we’re pretty lucky?”
A grand door.
Not just in size. Adorned with dazzling gems and gold, it seed to shout at them: Incredible treasures await inside. Co in if you dare.
“Just selling the gems on that door would fetch a fortune.”
“True. The door itself looks like sturdy tal. Could we cut it and take it?”
“That’d probably ruin my sword…”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t an for you to do it. Just thinking out loud… We should focus on how to open this door first.”
“But it’s strange. Are there usually such obvious treasure rooms in dungeons?”
Harang asked, and the other three gave him looks as if to say, You don’t know that? before quickly composing themselves.
It was understandable.
Before entering the Demonic Palace, they didn’t know his skill. But now, they all knew how exceptional a swordsman he was.
‘I can’t comprehend it.’
‘How, at such a young age…’
‘I know all 50 faces of the Next Generation. He wasn’t among them… No, more than that… that’s not the skill of a 20s Graduate. It’s almost Master-level.’
They still knew little about the young man nad Harang.
But his incredible swordsmanship alone earned their respect. In a dungeon, martial prowess was the greatest virtue.
With that thought, Shylock continued explaining.
“Do you know why the eastern continent has so many dungeons?”
“Not really.”
“Because of the magicians. All Five Major Magic Towers are here, so there are bound to be many magicians.”
“What do magicians have to do with dungeons?”
“There was a trend among magicians to build dungeons. Unwilling to simply return their amassed wealth to society before death, they constructed massive tombs in dungeon form.”
“Oh…”
“Yes. Natural dungeons wouldn’t have treasure rooms, but magicians deliberately created them to entice juniors to conquer their dungeons.”
“So magicians beca more famous after death based on their dungeon’s difficulty or rewards. Ambitious ones often built dungeon-like tombs.”
“Allen ir’s right.”
“That’s interesting.”
“Of course, that’s not the point now. Let’s see, there should be a keyhole sowhere… Found it!”
Shylock, examining the door while explaining, cheered.
He’d found the keyhole.
If he hadn’t, they’d have needed to solve puzzles or find other chanisms, so he was thrilled.
‘Lock-picking is my specialty!’
With a gleeful expression, Shylock pulled out his picking tools.
He pressed his ear to the wall, carefully probing the lock.
Scrape, scrape.
Click, click.
It didn’t open imdiately.
Naturally. A tomb of this scale, likely built by a 7th-star magician, wouldn’t unlock easily.
‘Stay calm. Take it slow.’
With that mindset, Shylock battled the lock for 30 minutes.
“Damn it! Damn it!”
“Are you really a Rogue guild elder?”
“…”
“Hm.”
In the end, he raised the white flag.
“Why won’t it open? Ugh… It must’ve been altered by the Magi from the dinsional rift…”
“Oh, sure.”
“Argh! That pointy-eared brat again!”
“Oh, your voice is louder now than when you were confident?”
“Hey, can we avoid fighting in the dungeon?”
Just as Queir and Shylock started bickering again, with Allen ir trying to diate, Harang, who had been silent, pulled sothing from his pocket and approached the keyhole.
It was a picking tool.
Not the high-end one Shylock had, but an ordinary one found anywhere on the continent.
As he inserted it into the lock, Shylock thought to himself.
‘No way…’
Monts later.
That ‘no way’ beca reality.
Grind-!
Grind grind!
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Oh, it’s open. Let’s go in.”
As if it were nothing.
As if he’d done sothing trivial, Harang spoke calmly, leading the group.
Seeing this, Queir and Allen ir looked incredibly reassured.
‘…Should I quit?’
Only Shylock, his pride shattered, followed behind with a dejected expression.
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