Chapter 937

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Artillery shells rained down relentlessly.

The barrage was so dense and precise that simply lying low and hoping for the best was not an option.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Kaboom!

Explosions erupted all over the place.

“Take cover! Enemy artillery incoming!”

“

Kyuuuu!

Enemy shells incoming! Run for your lives!”

Siegfried and Hamchi shouted as they scurried for safety.

“Shit!”

“Damn it!”

“Run! Run!”

The party members scattered like grasshoppers caught in a wildfire, desperately running to avoid the bombardment.

Among the party members, the lucky ones who immediately ran away made it out, while the unlucky ones who were huddled together in small groups were obliterated where they stood by the explosions.

Siegfried’s party lost thirty members in the blink of an eye.

“Damn it!” Siegfried raged while hiding in a nearby building.

They had to reach the Palace of Blood while keeping casualties to a minimum. However, all his efforts to preserve his forces over the past few hours evaporated right before his eyes, thanks to the sudden artillery strikes.

‘

Is this the handiwork of the empire's artillery regiment turned undead monsters?’

With that thought, Siegfried climbed onto the roof and transformed his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp into sniper mode. He laid down prone on the roof to avoid getting detected and aimed the sniper in the direction where the shells were coming from.

He pressed his eye to the scope, set on putting a bullet through the skull of the undead bastard commanding this artillery strike.

He scanned the battlefield for nearly a full minute, looking for the culprit when—

“

Kyuuu!

Over there, owner punk!” Hamchi, who was his spotter, exclaimed,

“Where?”

“Fifteen degrees left!

Kyuuu!

But Hamchi thinks something’s off!”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“They’re not enemies!

Kyuuu!”

“

Eh?

What the hell are you talking about?”

“See for yourself!

Kyuuu!”

“Fine.”

Siegfried adjusted his aim by fifteen degrees, focusing on the approaching enemies.

It was then.

“What the hell?”

Siegfried furrowed his brow after seeing the enemy’s faces.

And the reason was...

“Isn’t that Seung-Gu...?”

As it turns out, the ones that fired the artillery shells were not the undead monsters, but rather, a party led by Seung-Gu.

If that was the case, then there was only one explanation.

Seung-Gu had ordered his Iron Golems to commit friendly fire.

“That little...!” Siegfried raged upon realizing that he was attacked by his own allies.

However, he couldn’t really blame Seung-Gu, as Siegfried’s entire party was disguised with the Festival of the Dead Sets, making them hard to distinguish from the undead monsters.

“Still, that was way out of line,” Siegfried grumbled.

He aimed near Seung-Gu’s feet and shot a round.

Bang!

The bullet slammed into the ground right in front of Seung-Gu’s feet.

“W-What was that?!” Seung-Gu cried out the moment the bullet hit, getting down on the ground. He wouldn't have bothered to take cover if he were onboard the Golem King, Reventon, but he just so happened to be walking on foot when the bullet was shot at his feet.

“Sniper! There’s a sniper!”

“Take cover!”

Seung-Gu’s party members scrambled for cover.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

A few more shots landed near Seung-Gu, causing him to shriek as if he had been hit.

“

H-Hiiiiik!”

Then, he slowly looked up after realizing that none of the bullets hit him, meaning they were just warning shots.

“Hey! Seung-Gu!”

“H-Hyung-nim...? Were you the one shooting at me?”

“Yeah!”

“Why are you shooting at me?!” Seung-Gu shouted at Siegfried, who was waving at him from a rooftop.

“You bombarded us, punk!”

“

Eeeh?!”

“You killed thirty of our party members!”

“

Gasp!”

“Get your ass over here!”

“Y-Yes, hyung-nim!”

Seung-Gu quickly gathered his party members and rushed toward Siegfried’s position.

***

“I-I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!”

Seung-Gu repeatedly bowed his head and apologized the moment he and his party joined up with Siegfried’s party.

He had to apologize, as his bombardment killed thirty—no, thirty-two people to be exact.

However, Seung-Gu could justify his actions.

Siegfried’s party looked exactly like a horde of undead monsters marching from a distance, making it practically impossible to distinguish them from friend or foe.

In other words, Siegfried and his party members were begging for friendly fire after donning the Festival of the Dead Sets.

“Well, what’s done is done, I guess.”

“

Haha...”

“Anyway, it’s good to see you.”

Siegfried smiled at Seung-Gu. Losing so many party members definitely stung, but there was no reason for him to hold a grudge.

After all, it was not like Seung-Gu fired at them on purpose.

“It is good to see you too, hyung-nim,” Seung-Gu replied.

“How were things on your end?”

“We were just bombarding the undead from a distance, then rushing in to clean up the ones that survived.”

This was Seung-Gu’s secret to surviving in the Death’s Carnival dungeon. He, too, had reached Level 299 and gained enough combat experience to develop his own strategy.

“We struggled like hell at the start, so we had no choice but to play it safe and smart.”

“Good job. That’s how you’re supposed to raid this dungeon.”

“

Hehehe!”

“Anyway, put these on.”

Siegfried opened his inventory and handed out the remaining Festival of the Dead Sets to Seung-Gu and his party members.

“

Huh?

What’s this, hyung-nim?”

“Well, you see...” Siegfried proceeded to explain the effects of the disguise.

“What?! There was something like that here?! Damn!”

“I didn’t know at first either, but Hamchi figured it out.”

“

Ooooh?

”

“Anyway, hurry up and put it on. And make sure your party members wear theirs, too.”

“All right, hyung-nim.”

With that, Seung-Gu’s party officially merged into Siegfried’s party.

‘

This guy came up with his own tactics too? He’s all grown up,’

Siegfried thought with a smile, glancing at Seung-Gu, who was wearing the Festival of the Dead Set disguise.

Back then, Seung-Gu couldn’t even take care of himself, but now, he was leading a party. In addition, he maximized the advantages of his class by using efficient strategies to raid the dungeon.

The fact that Seung-Gu had grown so much in such a short period of time resulted in Siegfried finding him admirable—

—At least, for five seconds.

“

Eh? Huh?”

Seung-Gu flailed his arms wildly while putting on the Garment of the Dead.

Thud! Crash!

Then, his foot got caught in the fabric, causing him to fall to the ground head first.

Thud...! Thud...!

A couple of items dropped onto the ground.

[Sudden Death]

[Cause of Death: Acute cerebral hemorrhage from a blow to the head after tripping over.]

[Unlucky people can crack their heads open upon tripping over.]

“I expected too much from you. I swear, the moment I praise you, you always end up doing something stupid,” Siegfried sighed, shaking his head in disbelief. However, Seung-Gu’s death was not a comic relief that he could simply laugh off.

Why?

It was all because this proved that even someone powerful enough to lead a party couldn’t escape from the Lurking Death curse.

Sure, Seung-Gu was notoriously unlucky, but still.

‘

For now... we should keep sweeping the outskirts of the city, find more parties, and get everyone in a disguise. Then, we’ll charge straight toward the center in one coordinated push.’

With that plan in mind, Siegfried started moving again.

‘

Hold on, how many have died so far?’

Siegfried wondered. He decided to check the death count again.

And when he saw the number—

“What?!”

—He gasped, and his eyes widened in shock.

“

Kyu?

What’s wrong, owner punk?”

“Hold on. Something’s strange,” Siegfried replied, narrowing his eyes to check the count.

“

Kyu?”

“Hmm... This is really strange...”

“What is it?! Tell me, owner punk!”

“It’s none of your concern.”

Hamchi was an NPC, so Siegfried figured there was no point in explaining the game mechanics to him.

***

Siegfried roamed the Death’s Carnival dungeon, searching for other parties and steadily growing his forces.

The process was indeed time-consuming, but he was not in a hurry.

With a generous five-day time limit to clear the dungeon, he decided to take full advantage of it and take things slow to minimize casualties.

But that was not all...

Siegfried also logged out to contact the others. There was no way to communicate within the game, so they had to exchange information in the real world.

He would share information regarding the Festival of the Dead Set and proposed to others that they should regroup near the outskirts first before attempting to raid the dungeon.

Naturally, his proposal was unanimously accepted.

The information regarding the Festival of the Dead Set was indeed valuable, and the strategy he came up with was rock solid. But the biggest thing was that the others realized that they needed to stick together anyway if they hoped to clear this dungeon.

Two days later...

[Death’s Carnival: Outskirts]

As soon as Siegfried logged back into the game, a message displaying his current location popped up.

One by one, the others began logging in and made their way toward his location, until every remaining party scattered throughout the dungeon eventually gathered in one place.

“Whoa...”

Siegfried muttered in awe at the sight before him. Excluding the seventy hundred party members that died so far, more than one thousand three hundred were standing together, all of them disguised in the Festival of the Dead Set.

They looked like a massive horde of undead monsters, making it impossible to tell friend from foe.

“Listen up! When the fighting starts, make sure to take off your masks so we can distinguish allies from enemies! We need to be able to recognize each other in battle to reduce casualties.” Siegfried removed his mask and addressed the party. Then, he called out, “And Cheon Woo-Jin! Where are you? You’re taking the rear!”

Right next to Siegfried, Cheon Woo-Jin casually removed his mask and replied, “Sure.”

“

Ack!

You scared me, bastard!” Siegfried shrieked, jumping in fright.

“

Pfft!

Why so jumpy?”

“You scared the crap out of me!”

“You’re such a scaredy cat.”

“You bastard...!”

Siegfried shot him a glare before turning to walk ahead.

And with that, the one thousand three hundred Adventurers in full disguise began their march toward the Palace of Blood.

Along the way, they encountered countless undead hordes.

Surprisingly, no battles broke out.

The undead monsters did not recognize them as enemies, so there was no reason to fight–unless someone stupid enough struck the undead monsters first.

‘

Perfect.’

Siegfried grinned, satisfied that his plan was working flawlessly.

“

Ugh!”

“Gah?!”

“Argh!”

There were a few party members who succumbed to the Lurking Death curse and died without warning, but that was not a problem, as losing a handful to the curse was far better than suffering massive casualties in an all-out battle.

‘

I wonder who the boss is going to be...’

Siegfried wondered.

As they drew closer to the Palace of Blood, he began to grow curious about the dungeon’s final boss.

How was the undead version of Emperor Stuttgart going to react to him?

‘

Well, I guess he’s not going to be friendly because he’s a monster, right?’

He was getting worried and uneasy.

‘

Emperor Stuttgart has so many Masters at his side so... Ah, forget about it. I’ll just have to see what happens when I get there.’

In the end, Siegfried decided to stop thinking about how he would defeat the emperor’s personal guards, which were mainly composed of Masters, and pressed forward.

The Palace of Blood loomed closer and closer.

It was then.

“Hey! Where the hell are you going, Han Tae-Sung?!” Cheon Woo-Jin shouted suddenly.

“

Kyuuu!

Where are you going, owner punk?!” Hamchi chimed in, too.

“Huh? What’s up?” Siegfried asked, blinking in confusion at his comrades’ reaction.

The reason was that he thought he was walking forward, but somehow, he was sliding sideways as if he was doing a moonwalk.

Ding!

As soon as he realized that something was wrong, a message popped up in front of him.

[Alert: Treasure Hunter!]

[Alert: Your title has detected a nearby treasure!]