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“Huuaaam.”
With a long yawn, Seong erged from the capsule.
Maybe it was all the accumulated fatigue, but he still felt tired.
Not overwhelmingly so, but it lingered.
After eating dinner with his family—
A quiet evening, nearing bedti.
Before sleep, Seong began browsing the internet for information.
When it ca to Eternal World, his older sister Yu Mina usually had the best info—
But this ti was different.
So he searched for it himself.
“Hm.”
As expected, there wasn’t much.
The region where the Masked Lord was said to be buried hadn’t been discovered yet.
An unexplored zone.
These were areas that hadn’t been opened to players yet.
From the eighth city onward, such zones began to appear.
It was the point where players found it harder to level up and began to fall behind in competition.
And if the ga were only about endless grinding, it would be boring.
To offer sothing new, from the eighth region on, the ga introduced “Exploration Corps” content focused on these unexplored areas.
And the location of the Masked Lord was said to be within one of those zones.
It wasn’t a huge problem though.
‘I’ve got the map, at least.’
With the map and quest in hand—
Finding it would be simple.
Still, he needed to check how much of the surrounding area had been explored.
No matter how much he searched, there was no detailed info available—
So Seong could only piece together fragnts.
‘Looks like they’ve gotten pretty close.’
There was no detailed map, but he could get a feel for it.
A massive rocky mountain near the grave.
That mountain matched one recorded by a user from an Exploration Corps working nearby.
They’d made it quite close.
Concealing himself wouldn’t be hard.
But the problem was—
‘If the Corps got this close, the Intelligence Knights will probably find it soon too.’
Right before he logged out today,
Veladrina had reported that the Intelligence Knights were preparing to search for the Masked Lord.
He’d need to head to the tomb imdiately upon logging in tomorrow.
After quickly reviewing what he could about the tomb, Seong thought,
‘The Masked Lord’s power is one of the monarch powers dormant within the Overlord class, right?’
That’s what the Book of Monarchs had said when he used it.
There was no way the system would lie.
aning—
‘If I acquire the Masked Lord, I might awaken imdiately.’
The other half still lay dormant inside Overlord.
He had to secure this.
With that in mind, Seong fell asleep quickly, a hint of excitent in his chest.
The sooner tomorrow ca, the sooner he could seize the Masked Lord’s power.
And so Seong slept—
Dreaming only of finding the Masked Lord’s tomb.
1.
Unexplored zones had a certain allure for adventurers.
Even if their personalities were questionable, there were plenty of people who admired figures like Columbus for discovering new worlds.
The thrill of discovering sothing new—so unknown region—was far stronger than people imagined.
And the people drawn to that thrill gathered in the Exploration Corps.
These Corps were spread widely starting from the eighth region, and those near Nocturne’s unexplored zone were no exception.
So aid to find new ruins or remnants of ancient civilizations—
While others hoped to discover suitable land for building new villages or cities.
This Corps, like many others, kicked off the day with lively energy.
“Phew, anything near the rocky mountain feel like a ruin?”
“Nothing showing up, even with detection skills.”
“There might be concealnt magic or high-tier skill effects. Check any local lore or legends too.”
They didn’t just scan the terrain—they dug like archaeologists, gathering intel from surrounding NPCs, cross-referencing ancient stories and traditions to find clues.
That’s how many ruins had been discovered before.
Of course, they often struck out.
So zones were full of traps or monsters.
But that was fine.
These adventurers might focus on exploration—
But they weren’t weak.
You couldn’t even enter the eighth region unless you were over level 250.
They were all quite powerful in their own right.
And it wasn’t just players gathered here.
“Tsk... There were a few legends tied to that [N O V E L I G H T] mountain.”
“Oh? You already found sothing?”
“I’ve got a connection in Nocturne. Apparently, that city’s way older than it looks.”
“Ah, as expected of a city governed by Overpalace—the living legend.”
The Corps’ leader, the NPC archaeologist Borokan, caught everyone’s attention with that statent.
Player and NPC alike—everyone here was obsessed with history and unexplored zones.
They all focused intently on Borokan’s words.
“From what I’ve heard, this whole region used to be the land of masks.”
“Land of masks?”
“Oh! I think I’ve heard of that! A city—or maybe a country—where everyone wore masks?”
“That’s the one. I’m guessing remnants of that city or nation are buried sowhere near here. The story goes that after the ruler of the masked ones died, the rest scattered.”
“Oho!?”
“Damn, that’s aweso!!!”
Excitent exploded through the group.
They didn’t know about the Masked Lord, but they’d clearly heard so related legends.
With all that lore coming out, the Corps beca energized.
But exploring an unexplored zone wasn’t as simple as running around.
You had to map the area, survey the surroundings, and analyze what was buried beneath.
As the Corps bustled with activity—
Several figures slipped into the shadows.
Within the flickering shades, voices whispered back and forth—audible only to them.
—Looks like the Corps has done quite a bit of groundwork.
—Yes, sir. Thanks to them, it was easy to get this far.
The one responding nodded in agreent to the deputy commander.
They were mbers of the Intelligence Knights from the Kingdom of Rieskan.
Like the Corps, they had obtained relevant intel.
Deputy Commander Haldrin addressed one of his n.
—Did you gather the intel?
They’d split up to collect info before regrouping here.
To Haldrin’s question, one knight imdiately replied,
—From what I gathered, there was sothing significant near the rocky mountain.
So the mountain was the key?
As Haldrin considered this—
His right-hand man, Kruger, spoke up.
Usually he had a lazy tone, but when it ca ti to report, Kruger beca surprisingly formal.
—It’s true the mountain is a key point. But searching the whole area would take ti. It might be better to wait and follow the Corps’ movents instead.
—Hmm.
It had been an easy trip up to this point.
But starting an independent investigation now would be like trying to drill through bedrock barehanded.
Haldrin found himself hesitating.
He needed to make a rational judgnt—
But efficiency also mattered.
Just as he was wavering—
Kruger added with finality,
—Even if they find it first, as long as we enter before them, we’ll be fine.
—Agreed. Let’s wait and gather more intel in the anti. I’ll keep an eye on the Corps’ activity. The rest of you spread out and collect information.
—Yes, sir.
—Understood.
The others bowed and dispersed swiftly.
Seeing how everyone followed orders, Haldrin—who had previously been wary of Kruger—nodded with satisfaction.
‘I guess it was just my imagination.’
That weird feeling he’d had earlier must’ve been a false alarm.
So Haldrin watched as the Corps worked from early morning onward.
How much ti passed?
It was now afternoon, the sun lowering into the west.
Just past lunch, one of the Corps mbers shouted urgently.
“There’s an unidentified ruin near the rocky mountain!”
At that cry, Haldrin’s eyes sparkled.
The boring wait was over.
As Corps mbers were still surveying the entrance to the ruins—
Haldrin gathered his knights and rushed into the tomb first.
And before long, a system ssage appeared.
[Current Tomb Occupants: 15]
“...?”
The Intelligence Knights numbered ten.
But fifteen people were inside?
Haldrin muttered in confusion.
“Could a Corps mber have snuck in without us seeing?”
“Unlikely. If they had, there would be signs. Even we didn’t see anything—so they’re probably not with the Corps.”
At his subordinate’s reply, Haldrin nodded.
Which ant—
Sothing had gone wrong.
Whoever entered the tomb first would have the best chance at claiming the Masked Lord.
Haldrin barked his order.
“Soone beat us to it. We capture them.”
As he stepped deeper into the tomb—
Another system ssage appeared before them.
[You have entered the Tomb.]
[The Masked Trial begins.]
Suddenly, their bodies vanished from the entrance—
As if a mask had swallowed them whole.
The Intelligence Knights reappeared deep inside a massive underground chamber.
Perfectly carved stone blocks lined the space.
They stood still, glancing around—
And quickly realized sothing was wrong.
Their group of ten had beco five.
Another ssage appeared.
[The Masked Trial must be undertaken in groups of five.]
In other words, they had been split apart.
With their numbers advantage erased, Haldrin grimaced.
Still, unsure of what trial awaited, they began limbering up.
Watching from afar, Kruger transmitted the scene to soone.
Receiving the transmission, Veladrina bowed her head and reported to Seong.
—The rats have entered the tomb as well.
Seong nodded.
They were bound to arrive sooner or later.
“So the real contest begins now.”
“Ahaha, how fun. Peshil really designed an entertaining tomb.”
“Hmm~ That’s true.”
—This will be exciting!
—Ti to show what I’m made of.
Helena responded, followed by the other vassals.
At last, three teams had assembled.
The trial was about to begin.
And then—
[A new team has entered the tomb.]
[Current Tomb Occupants: 30]
It seed the Corps had entered as well.
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