Chapter 1404. Crimson Ball (14)

‘What’s the last gift supposed to be...’

There was no need to bother guessing. I’d see it soon, anyway. Sure enough, I saw the Brigade members on the move. They had already killed everyone who could be considered the core of the alliance, so they had no reason to hesitate about retreating.

What was a bit unexpected was that First Ki-Young didn’t target First Hyun-Sung.

I had no idea if the circumstances of the operation simply didn’t allow it, or if it was the psychology of wanting to save the strawberry on top of the cake for last, but at the very least, he didn’t seem to have any intention of laying a hand on Kim Hyun-Sung at this point in time.

‘He definitely seems to be thinking about revenge, though.’

After all, the psychopathic murderer Jung Jin-Ho said it himself, hadn't he?

He said, “Your dear nobleman, Count Kim.”

Kim Hyun-Sung had always been a part of Lee Ki-Young’s goals. If anything, it was more accurate to say that he considered him even more important than anything. The second hypothesis had to carry more weight than the first.

While I was picturing First Hyun-Sung and First Ki-Young in my head, the latter quietly took out something bizarre.

As soon as Lee Ki-Young held the ominous-looking object in his hand, it crumbled into dust with a dry

crack

.

[Debris of the Ferry That Crossed the Styx – Legendary Rank]

[These are fragments of a small ferry that sank while crossing the River of Death. The fragments, imbued with the blessing of Aes, the God of Curses, raises the dead within a small area. The dead just about to cross the River of Hatred will gain abilities beyond what they had in life. Those killed by the dead will also rise again. This is a single-use consumable item.]

I couldn’t help but frown a little at the item's description.

‘I had never seen... anything like that.’

The item probably didn't exist in the second life, but there was a high chance I simply never encountered it. Perhaps Kim Hyun-Sung had obtained it when he was going around taking out black mages, and he could have quietly disposed of it back then.

Either way, it didn’t matter where the item was right now. What mattered more than its whereabouts was the fact that it was a Legendary.

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

It looked dangerous. Thanks to massive power inflation, legendary items were no longer that rare in the second life, but at this point in the first life, there weren’t even forty of them in circulation, perhaps not even twenty.

Anyone with a legendary job or item would make a name for themselves, and every strong figure on our continent possessed a legendary item.

Xiaolin's whip and Juliena were Legendary items. The consumable item with nothing but a short description written on it was actually a Legendary item as well.

Despite being Legendary, it was a single-use consumable item rather than something that could be used repeatedly, which meant...

‘It has to be dangerous.’

The words "River of Death" and the 'God of Curses" alone told me that it was an item that could unleash power far beyond its rank. I frowned at the ominous aura that wrapped around the fortress. Moments later, the corpses in front of me began to rise one by one.

As expected, the quality was nothing like the undead raised by novice black mages. The response was so immediate that I'd believe it was a spell cast by a black mage as strong as Han Sora, who wasn't supposed to exist on this continent yet.

The description window mentioning the God of Curses and the River of Death made the item look ominous, and sure enough, it was a consumable containing power at the far end of Legendary.

If the fragment had been just a little larger, it'd be strong enough to be classified as Semi-Mythic or even Mythic.

The undead showed no traces of reasoning and intelligence. As with all undead, the only thing reflected in their eyes was pure rage toward the living. I couldn’t tell whether that was fortunate or unfortunate. High-level dark mages were sometimes able to raise undead with a sense of reasoning and intelligence.

In other words, these monsters were granted higher stats instead of intellect. First Life Hee-Young had a strong aversion to undead and was frowning deeply at the sight, which made sense because she was a priestess.

Of course, Second Hee-Young looked uncomfortable as well.

— O God, please forgive those cursed ones.

“O God, please cleanse those cursed ones.”

‘What are you guys saying?’

By coincidence, First Hee-Young and Second Hee-Young talked at the same time.

— Mr. Lee Ki-Young.

“Mr. Lee Ki-Young.”

First Ki-Young nodded, and I nodded as well.

Of course, our actions were completely different from each other.

“

Screeeeeeeech!!

”

“

Scr... eeeeeeeeeech!

”

The revenants who had returned from the River of Death wailed at the same time as Sun Hee-Young’s eyeball slimes rushed toward them with their opened mouths.

‘What the hell is this? Is this some kind of monster clash?’

The eyeball slimes streaked across the air and swallowed the undead before spitting them out. The undead, moving without fear or terror, dug their claws and teeth into the slimes, ripping out their eyeballs as they surrendered their bodies to purposeless rage.

“

Screeeeech!

”

“

Screeech! Screech!

”

‘Damn... they’re gross.’

“

Screech!

”

‘Still, we’ve got a Saintess on our side.’

There was no need to use the eyeball monsters. Sun Hee-Young carefully held her rosary.

“Into God’s embrace...” She stepped forward with one large stride, and a dull, bleak light spread in all directions. The undead collapsed in an instant, but...

‘These bastards... are showing almost no reaction.’

They ought to have been reduced to dust, but they remained relatively intact. They were taking damage at all, but they were getting back up in mere moments, making us realize once again that these undead were born not of dark magic but of God’s blessing.

“It seems holy power isn’t very effective, Miss Hee-Young,” I said.

“You’re right, Mr. Ki-Young,” Sun Hee-Young said.

In other words, we had to get physical with them. Understanding my words, Sun Hee-Young condensed her holy power into a tangible object.

Swoosh!

A gigantic mace fell from the sky, crushing several undead into bloody pancakes, but their numbers were great.

Ha Yeon-Soo wielded her sword and beheaded them in earnest, but these bastards kept moving even after getting beheaded. Of course, they couldn’t really be considered a threat to us.

Even though our party had no tank and those on the other side weren’t undead created by conventional means, they weren't really demon knights or something like Dullahans.

In the past, it'd be different, but to the current Sun Hee-Young and Ha Yeon-Soo, they were nothing more than high-level monsters.

The fact that holy power wasn't working against them was unexpected, but even that posed no real problem at all. As expected, Ha Yeon-Soo quickly adapted to the new type of undead.

The screaming creatures charging toward her collapsed to the ground with their ankles cut. She didn't even swing her sword. What she held in her hand was a thread so thin it was barely visible. I wouldn’t see it if my eyesight weren’t so good.

‘Wow. So she has a skill like that, too.’

She concealed her presence and blinked from east to west, chopping off the heads of the undead in rapid succession.

She briefly caught her breath, and the creatures pressed in on her again to take advantage of that opening, but she showed no sign of panic. Calmly and coldly, she swung her sword.

“...”

“...”

‘I can see why Ji-Hye noona likes her.

The thought slipped out of my mouth without me realizing it.

“Miss Yeon-Soo, would you like to keep working with me after this?” I offered without thinking.

“...”

I received no reply, but her face suffused with contempt, and I believed that served as her answer.

‘At least say something.’

The eyeball slimes easily devoured the ones crawling toward us. With enough time, we could probably clear all the undead on the fifth floor without taking major damage. The problem was that there were simply far too many of them.

To be frank, it wasn’t a level that Sun Hee-Young and Ha Yeon-Soo could handle on their own. Unless one was a high-level mage, it was impossible to stop all the undead around the castle.

It was impossible to plug every hole in a jar that was leaking from all sides using just one hand. Even if Belier, Alps, and Lee Chang-Ryeol were to join us, we'd still fail to cover the entire castle. I could survive the ordeal, but the others probably wouldn't.

‘What about Kim Hyun-Sung? Is he okay?’

“

Kyah

”

“

Screeeech!

”

“

Ugggh!

”

I could hear the undead from the other floors as well. The most crowded area of the castle was the fourth floor where Kim Hyun-Sung was staying, which meant the most chaotic place was just below us. Even without the undead, multiple groups were fighting each other in a chaotic brawl, so there was no way they were prepared to face the undead.

To make matters worse, every person who died at their hands would only increase the number of enemies. Compared to here, an all-out brawl had to be unfolding there.

If Kim Hyun-Sung were alone, things would be different, but with others under his protection, his safety couldn’t be guaranteed. No, to be honest, I couldn’t even say for sure if Count Kim Hyun-Sung, who was still in the middle of his growth, would really survive this ordeal.

I was safe with Sun Hee-Young and Ha Yeon-Soo on my side, but it was because both of them had already completed their growth.

Undead of this quality would be hard to handle for adventurers at the current stage of the world. Even Ha Yeon-Soo was quietly growing tired.

‘It looked like she was easily cutting them to pieces, but I guess it only looked that way because she's the one doing it. These bastards are difficult opponents, and each one looks like the final boss of a Rare dungeon or a mid-boss of an Epic dungeon.’

Since they were granted additional power beyond their abilities while they were still alive, some of them were definitely stronger than usual.

On top of that, holy power, holy water, and silver blades didn’t work on them. When entering a dungeon filled with undead, one would prepare all sorts of items just in case, but this time, they were facing them head-on without any preparations at all.

“

Aaaaaaagh!

”

“What the hell... Damn it... damn it! The undead! It’s the undead! Hold the line, damn it!”

“

Aaaaaaaagh! Aaagh!

”

The expendable pawns the Brigade had thrown away were nothing but idiots who only knew how to swing blades. In an instant, they were buried beneath the dead and reborn as those very things. The royal guards with their large shields were at least able to hold them back somewhat, but even they had no room to breathe.

They were already pushed to the brink of exhaustion, and in this damned castle it wasn’t easy to secure a clear field of view.

It was impossible to tell who was an enemy and who was an ally. The enemies weren’t just the undead. The people who had been crossing swords with each other just moments ago couldn't just join forces just because the undead had appeared before them.

I turned to Sun Hee-Young and Ha Yeon-Soo.

“Let’s go down to the fourth floor,” I suggested.

“Okay, Mr. Lee Ki-Young.”

Without showing a hint of doubt, Sun Hee-Young nodded.

“What about the target...” Sun Hee-Young asked.

“Mr. Chang-Ryeol will track him down for us. It’s not like we have business with them right now anyway,” I answered.

“Understood.”

We pushed through the dead and headed down to the fourth floor.

Just as expected...

‘This really is a battlefield.’

“

Aaaaaaagh!

Run!”

“

Screeeeech!

”

“Damn it!”

“Die! You monster bastards! Die!”

“

Aaaaargh!

”

“Come here! Come here! Light the torches! Damn it, light the torches! Aren’t there any mages? At least bring some oil!”

“Holy power isn’t working!”

“What about holy water?! Does holy water work?!”

“How the hell are we supposed to get holy water here, damn it!”

‘These useless bastards really are something.’

“Run... run!”

Fear was, of course, beginning to spread among them. They ought to be banding together, but they were scattering in all directions instead. It seemed they had already judged that resistance was simply impossible.

‘They’re going to get wiped out.’

“Get Mr. Kim Hyun-Sung first, Miss Yeon-Soo,” I ordered.

“...”

“...”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Ki-Young,” Ha Yeon-Soo said.

“Pardon?”

“The order I received from Ji-Hye unni was to protect you in case something unexpected happened. It’s not that I don’t trust Miss Sun Hee-Young, but I don’t think I can leave your side here. If they were ordinary undead, that would be one thing... but these ones are different,” she explained.

‘Why would Ji-Hye noona...’

Even Sun Hee-Young seemed to feel that her words made sense.

While I was idly tapping on my thigh for no reason at all...

‘Should I summon Commander Jin or something?’

A bright light appeared in the distance, and a familiar voice echoed.

“Light it up!”

“Light it up!!”

“Light it up!!!!!!”

“Pene—Peneloti! Where are you?! Where the hell are you?!”

“Light it up!! Light it up!!!”