Chapter 1203

Chapter 1203

After commissioning the completion of Herbert’s unfinished masterpiece, Tae-Sung logged out and took a break from the game.

He was exhausted from wandering around the dungeon for days to hunt down Gricale, so he felt that he deserved a well-earned rest.

After sleeping, he headed to the gym to do some strength training on an empty stomach, had a quick cup of coffee, and left the house.

As soon as he left his house, he saw that Yong Seol-Hwa was waiting for him outside.

“

Oh?

You’re already out, oppa? I was just about to come over.”

Since Yong Seol-Hwa was living in the house right across from Tae-Sung’s, it could be said that they were practically living together.

In fact, they had recently been sleeping in the same bed.

While their belongings were in separate houses, they were now no different from living together.

“Where should we go today, oppa?”

“Let’s go get some fresh air.”

“That sounds like a great idea.”

“I’ll drive.”

“Okay.”

Tae-Sung drove his Ferrari toward Namyangju. Once there, they arrived at a picturesque cafe along the Northern Han River.

“Wow! How did you even find this place, oppa?”

Yong Seol-Hwa was genuinely impressed by the beauty of the cafe.

Unlike ordinary cafes, the materials used to build this one were all first-class, and the way it was maintained could be said to be near perfect.

Even the tables and chairs were luxurious. Above all, the riverfront scenery was simply breathtaking.

‘

Was there a place like this? How come I haven’t heard of this cafe before?’

Yong Seol-Hwa tried to recall if she had ever seen this cafe among her list of known hotspots and aesthetic cafes, but she had never once heard of this one among all the restaurants and cafes in Namyangju.

Normally, a place this good would have been swarmed with people and be plastered all over social media, but the fact that she had not heard of it was strange.

“This place is mine.”

“

Huh?

What do you mean by that?”

“I own this place. It’s mine.”

Yong Seol-Hwa blinked at Tae-Sung’s response, doubting whether she had heard right or not.

“It’s yours...?”

“Yeah.”

“I think it was about two years ago? I was going around drinking coffee by myself, and I thought it would be nice to have my own cafe. So I bought this land, hired a talented architect, had it built, and then I brought in baristas. It was completed recently, but I haven’t opened it for business yet.”

“Why not? I think it’s ready.”

“I don’t need the money.”

“

Ah...

”

Yong Seol-Hwa nodded and understood what Tae-Sung meant.

Tae-Sung had no need to earn more, as he was already a billionaire with assets worth in the trillions of won.

He owned several skyscrapers in the heart of Gangnam, owned enough stocks to make him a major shareholder in most companies, and held billions in cash.

He was making millions every day without having to lift a finger, so there was really no need for him to open a cafe just to make money.

“After building it, I thought I would rather keep it as a place for just us to relax together rather than opening it to the public.”

“That’s really touching,” Yong Seol-Hwa said, leaning on his shoulder. Then, she added, “But don’t you think it’s a waste not to do anything with such a place like this? Why not open it for business and just close it to others when we’re coming? The profits can be donated, don’t you think so?”

“

Hmm...

Should I do that?”

“Well, since you don’t need the money anyway, why not give the cafe’s profits to those in need?”

“That’s actually a great idea.”

Moved by her kindness, Tae-Sung decided to take Yong Seol-Hwa’s advice and open the cafe for business. Just as she suggested, the profits generated by the cafe would be donated to help those less fortunate.

After having accumulated a fortune that he could never spend in his lifetime, he felt it would be good to give back to society by donating money to charity.

‘

Yeah. I guess it’s about time I start being interested in philanthropy too.’

With that, Tae-Sung resolved to give back a part of his wealth to society.

He once thought that donating was a waste of money, but Yong Seol-Hwa changed him. Her goodness had a positive influence on him, and Tae-Sung was gradually becoming a better person; of course, it was all thanks to her.

***

The next afternoon, Siegfried handled his duties as emperor, spent some time with his family, and then went to pay his respects to Deus.

Once he was done with all of that, he set out to raid an Ancient Dungeon that had appeared within the Proatine Empire’s territory.

“Your Imperial Majesty! Sire!”

Quandt came running in a rush.

“

Oh?

What brings you here?”

Siegfried was puzzled, as Quandt was supposed to be in the workshop right now, working on completing Herbert’s final masterpiece.

“The artifact you have requested has been completed!”

“

Ooooh!

”

He finally realized why Quandt had come running to him.

“Please accept this.”

What Quandt handed him was a blade that could be mounted onto the +10 Sky Piercer.

[Mortal Blade]

[Nothing is indestructible before this blade.]

[Type: Accessory]

[Rating: Transcendent]

[Attack Power: 0]

[Charges: 10/10]

[Effect: Mortality: destroys the enemy’s weapon regardless of its remaining durability.]

“

Ooooh!

”

Siegfried attached the Mortal Blade to his +10 Sky Piercer.

Click! Clack!

The +10 Sky Piercer now looked even more menacing and formidable, and it was all thanks to the gleaming blade mounted on it.

“Do you like it?”

“Of course I do!”

Siegfried smiled while admiring the Mortal Blade.

‘

It’s almost complete.’

With this, he finally had a way to counter Lee Geon’s broken skill, the Devouring Grand Art.

Lee Geon was using his weapon as a filter to nullify the side effects of his skill. What if the Mortal Blade destroyed that weapon? Lee Geon would no longer be able to overcome the side effects of his skill, and Siegfried would naturally emerge victorious.

‘

No. I shouldn’t be arrogant.’

However, Siegfried decided not to grow arrogant just because he had the Mortal Blade.

He knew very well that Lee Geon was also preparing thoroughly for their rematch.

‘

This is just the start. I need to raise my level even more.’

Though he had leveled up his skill to Seven Steps to Invincibility, it still was not enough. He needed at least Five Steps to Invincibility to expect a guaranteed victory against Lee Geon.

Of course, that wasn't the only thing he needed.

It was highly likely that Seven Steps to Invincibility was not the only thing he needed.

Why?

It was all because Lee Geon was someone who could prepare something unexpected, so relying solely on a single skill would be far too risky.

Siegfried needed to level up, sharpen his reflexes, and hone his skills far more than ever before, which meant...

“Let’s go, Hamchi.”

“

Kyuuu!”

Siegfried immediately left the imperial palace and set out to clear the Ancient Dungeons. He couldn’t rest easy until every Ancient Dungeon within the Proatine Empire’s territory was gone.

After all, he had never anticipated that an Ancient Dungeon would spiral out of control and create a colossal storm that threatened to wipe out his entire empire.

Thus, he had to eliminate all Ancient Dungeons as soon as possible, and this was his top priority at the moment.

***

Meanwhile, Grand Duke Neighdelberg found himself in a very difficult situation.

The failure of the Great Marchioni Empire Operation was so catastrophic that he needed to find a way to redeem himself after losing Emperor Stuttgart’s trust.

And so, the grand duke spent every waking moment plotting how to destabilize the Proatine Empire and put Siegfried in a difficult spot.

Unfortunately, the reality was that there were not that many effective ways to destabilize the Proatine Empire except for direct military confrontation.

As the world’s second most powerful nation after the Marchioni Empire, the Proatine Empire was remarkably stable.

There was not much of a weak spot to exploit, nor could he orchestrate an obvious scheme that would alert the Proatine Empire and put them on guard.

Of course, the Proatine Empire was already fully aware of the Marchioni Empire’s intentions, but the Marchioni Empire was still oblivious to that fact.

‘

What should I do? How should I go about this...?’

The grand duke pored over maps and brooded for a long time on how to bring down the Proatine Empire.

‘

If it’s this place then...?’

Then, his eyes landed on a massive mountain near the Proatine Empire’s border. The mountain was called Dragonhead Mountain, and it was named because its shape resembled the head of a dragon.

Dragonhead Mountain was still an active volcano, one that erupted and rested in cycles of roughly seven hundred years. The last eruption was a hundred fifty years ago, which meant that the next eruption was still a long way off.

‘

But if I could force it to erupt prematurely... Then half of the Proatine Empire’s lands will be reduced to ash.’

Each eruption of Dragonhead Mountain left a record in the history books as a catastrophe of devastating scales, meaning that its destructive power was beyond question.

Now, the only problem was to figure out how to force a dormant volcano to erupt prematurely.

‘

Let’s try mobilizing the mages.’

With that in mind, the grand duke once again summoned the empire’s magicians. He knew that exploiting a natural disaster was far more destructive and terrifying than any other form of terror.

In addition, it had a low cost but could bring in an extremely high yield for the effort put in. With that, the grand duke began plotting the fall of the Proatine Empire.

***

The Ancient Dungeon within the Proatine Empire known as the Forsaken City was an exceedingly peculiar place. In its early days, countless Adventurers had attempted to clear it, but not a single one had succeeded.

Of course, they also hadn't been able to clear the hundreds of other Ancient Dungeons, but the Forsaken City was markedly different.

It was all because not a single monster had ever appeared in it. Not only that, there were no objects to interact with, nor was it one of those dungeons where a lone boss monster waited for challengers.

Instead, the dungeon was nothing more than a desolate ancient city with streets and homes littered with nothing but bones.

For that reason, the Forsaken City had gradually lived up to its name of being a truly forsaken place.

As time went by, nobody attempted to challenge the dungeon anymore, as it was nothing but an empty dungeon.

Only those who had ventured into it in the early days ever bothered with it, but no one sought it out again after that.

Today, a report came in, saying that the Forsaken City had gone berserk, and Siegfried hurried there at once, but...

“Huh?”

Siegfried found nothing even after leading the Proatine Imperial Army to sweep the area.

Unlike the Hill of Storm dungeon, there were no natural disasters.

There was no storm, no earthquakes, and no monsters surging out from the dungeon.

It was truly bizarre.

When an Ancient Dungeon went berserk, it would always bring some kind of cataclysm.

But with this one, there was nothing...

“Search the area thoroughly. Report immediately if you detect anything unusual,” Siegfried commanded.

“As you command, sire!”

Leaving those orders behind, Siegfried withdrew from the vicinity of the Forsaken City and turned his attention toward the other dungeons.

Two days later...

“

Kyuuu!

Where are we going today, owner punk?” Hamchi asked.

“There’s a dungeon called the Ancient Orc Empire. I’m thinking of raiding that one today,” Siegfried replied.

“Sounds good! Let’s go!

Kyuuu!”

Siegfried and Hamchi set out to raid another Ancient Dungeon, just like any other day.

However, Michele suddenly appeared and blocked his path.

“Your Imperial Majesty! We have received an urgent report from the southern region! An entire city and seven villages have been wiped out by a plague!”

“What?! A plague wiped them out?!”

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

“Yes, sire.”

“How? What happened?”

“Every infected villager’s body turned pitch black before dying almost immediately. What’s more, the gravediggers who buried them were found dead, killed by the same illness by nightfall. This disease progresses unbelievably fast, and it seems extremely lethal.”

“Where in the southern region did this happen?”

Michele unfolded a map and pointed to the afflicted region, “Right here, sire.”

“

Ah,

I see...” Siegfried muttered, furrowing his brow.

The area where the plague outbreak occurred was in close proximity to the Forsaken City dungeon.

“So something did come out of it after all,” he muttered.

He was convinced that the berserk dungeon had unleashed that plague. Though, of course, there was a chance he was mistaken, as plagues occasionally occurred on the continent.

However, the plague outbreak happened so close to the Forsaken City dungeon, and it appeared to be far more than just a mere coincidence.

“I’ll go and investigate it myself,” Siegfried said.

He resolved to go and see what was happening in that region.

His instincts were screaming at him that a calamity was about to unfold, so he had to act quickly before the disease could spread any further.