Chapter 198: Star, The King of Fire (1)

What in the world happened…!’

Louis Braille gritted his teeth and hurriedly retreated backward.

Fortunately, the defense magic spell engraved on the [Martyr’s Mobile Fortress] activated and protected Louis right before the desert train exploded. However, its protection wasn’t perfect. His right arm had been blown away far enough for him to be unable to find it. Maybe due to his burn wounds or the heat from the explosion, Louis was in so much pain that it was difficult to hold himself together. For some reason, he was feeling really dizzy as well.

To make matters worse, Louis couldn’t see ahead because of the black smoke, which was the aftereffect of the explosion. Although he had a skill that kept his senses sharp, it currently proved ineffective.

‘Lee Chang-Sun, you son of a bitch!’

Chang-Sun certainly never held back, but Louis still definitely didn’t expect him to blow up the desert train, the only mode of transport within the Dungeon. Besides, the explosion could have taken out the hostages as well, which begged the question of how could Chang-Sun just blow up the station. Louis really couldn’t understand Chang-Sun.

‘He’s a heretic! He’s definitely a heretic!’

The most fundamental values of the ‘Twilight-Piercing Owl’ were justice and honor. Her apostle would never resort to such dirty tricks. Chang-Sun also used runes and hemomancy, magics wizards rarely used, to make the train self-destruct. The more Louis analyzed the situation, the more he thought he had to take out Chang-Sun.

Roarrr!

“… Hup!”

However, Louis couldn’t analyze the situation any further because of the monster that suddenly emerged from the cloud of black smoke. The Hellserpent was flying toward Louise, its jaws wide open, even though it shouldn’t be here!

[The ‘Brocken Monster’ is fighting the Boss Monster ‘Hellserpent’!]

The [Brocken Monster] restored itself after being ripped apart by the explosion, then whirled around the Hellserpent. Hundreds of fangs grotesquely chewed on the Hellserpent.

Kiyakkk!

With its fangs sturdy enough to easily destroy the Hellserpent’s thick scales, the Hellserpent bled profusely.

‘What happened? I definitely marked the Hellserpent with the seal.’?

The [Goddess Seal], which was also known as , was a skill that forcefully engraved a seal on someone, forcing them to follow the skill user’s commands for a certain amount of time. It was especially effective with the [Brocken Monster]. Louis had taken away a part of the low-intelligence monster and engraved the seal on it to control the monster for prolonged periods.

On top of that, Elspe had also supplied Louis with a lot of narcotic prey to lower the Hellserpent’s intelligence. Hence, the Hellserpent should’ve been under his control for at least twenty-four hours. However, it showed up out of nowhere and was now attacking him.

And that wasn’t all.

Kyakkkk! Kyak!

Kieeeee―!

As soon as the Hellserpent made a move, Louis heard shrieks from the sky and noticed gigantic shadows looming over him. He looked up, sensing the incoming danger, only to be taken aback. Dozens of Fire Pterosaurs were trying to glide toward him, and, to make matters worse, worm-type monsters were also slithering toward him, causing the ground to quake. Behind the worm-type monsters were all kinds of other beasts charging in his direction.

He had been driven into a corner.

[A monster wave has begun!]

As if they were high on drugs, the monsters drooled, and their eyes were blank. All they seemed to care about was finding an opportunity to devour Louis.

“G-goddess…!” Louis drew up the last drops of his mana to fight back, but he couldn’t do anything about his wobbling legs.

He was one of the strongest people within his Clan, but there was no way he could fight off that many monsters alone. Louis had been praying reverentially until a while ago, but that Louis was long gone. With all his remaining hope, he wished for the help of the ‘Twilight-Piercing Owl’, but…

[No response.]

[No response.]

…

[Your Guardian is currently unavailable.]

… The short messages crushed his hope, seemingly telling him to accept his fate.

* * *

“Wow…”

“Watching him fight so desperately actually makes me feel a little bad for him.”

“Bad my ass. That’s why you end up buying an old phone at full price, you pushover. Oh, he got one of his legs ripped off! Ah, a bucket of popcorn and a cup of cola would’ve been perfect for this moment.”

“… Hye-Bin, you shouldn’t watch this.”

Riding on Ghost Devil Horses, which Chang-Sun had pulled out from the Changgwi Cave, the Team L members arrived at the second station and found a monster wave underway. The Ghost Devil Horses had naturally refused to let the members ride them, but they became obedient after being scowled at by Cadmus. Thanks to Cadmus, the Team L members could watch Louis get caught up in the monster wave as if they were watching an interesting movie from VIP seats.

Louis managed to kill over a hundred monsters, but still extremely outnumbered, fatigue quickly caught up to him. He soon found himself covered in wounds, dying. He was missing an eye, a bird having seemingly pecked it out, and his face was smeared with blood.

Grumbling that it would have been much better if she had popcorn, Shin Eun-Seo happily watched Louis’ demise, who put the Team L members through so much trouble. On the other hand, Shin Geum-Gyu could no longer watch what was happening to Louis anymore, finding it too gruesome. He looked away and quietly covered Woo Hye-Bin’s eyes.

“… How did you do it?” Gyeo-Ul asked, wondering what Chang-Sun had done to control the Hellserpent and the other monsters.

“I initially planned on using this.” Chang-Sun pulled out the [Fire Dragon Fruit].

Gyeo-Ul tilted his head. It was his first time seeing the item. “What is that?”

“It’s an elixir that forcefully increases a monster’s Class but drives them crazy,” Chang-Sun explained.

“It could have been dangerous. Still, why didn’t you use it?”

“I didn’t have to because of this guy.” Chang-Sun petted Cadmus, who was majestically perched on the Ghost Devil Horse’s head, under its chin.

[Your Subordinate ‘Cadmus’ has learned the Skill ‘Dragon Fear,’ dominating the battlefield by force!]

‘I did hear that high-ranking Dragons’ menacing aura makes ordinary monsters’ instinctively submit…’?

Chang-Sun observed the battlefield.

With [Dragon Fear], Cadmus dominated numerous monsters—no, it forced them to move by triggering their primal fears.

‘... but I didn’t expect the Hellserpent, a disaster-class monster, to yield to Cadmus.’

The Hellserpent’s level was likely higher than Cadmus’ right now, yet it still willingly followed Cadmus’ orders. If so, then that could only mean that Cadmus’ innate Class was way higher than the Hellserpent’s. What in the world was this creature? It couldn’t just be considered as a hatchling of a high-ranking Dragon anymore.

Kiyoo?

Noticing Chang-Sun looking at it, Cadmus looked back at him and tilted its head, silently asking him what was wrong. Chang-Sun quietly chuckled and patted Cadmus’ head, realizing that its identity wasn’t important. All that mattered was that Cadmus was on his side. The way Cadmus rubbed its head against Chang-Sun’s palm was cute, regardless of its power.

“Wait here. I’ll be back soon.” Thinking he should get going, Chang-Sun slowly drew up his mana.

Pzzz, pzzz.

With sounds that resembled a bag of popcorn in a microwave, purple sparks flew up and took the shape of wings.

[The Title ‘Jigwi Giant Incarnation’ has been applied!]

Chang-Sun swiftly flew toward Louis.

Kiyoooo!

Seemingly wanting to tag along, Cadmus immediately flapped its adorable little wings and followed suit.

* * *

Louis had lost count of how many monsters he had killed. Monster corpses covered the ground, making it difficult for him to even move around. The relatively flat ground was also riddled in so many puddles of blood that whenever Louis took a step forward, he would hear a

splash

.

“

Huff, huff, huff…!

” Louis panted. He was in such a bad condition that he looked as if he would drop dead any second. It had been a while since he lost his eyesight and depleted his mana, forcing him to use his vital force. The only reason he managed to survive for so long was his deep faith in the goddess, which was also dwindling now like a flickering candle.

‘Goddess…!’

Even in this desperate moment, Louis looked for Minerva, but the only messages he received told him she was currently unavailable. Even as he was about to become a martyr, she remained silent. It was as if she had decided to just sit and watch him suffer, so for the first time in his life, Louis couldn’t help but doubt his belief. Was his religion wrong all along? Was she letting him suffer to punish him?

“It doesn’t matter what you do. The ‘Twilight-Piercing Owl’ still won’t answer you.”

Hearing Lee Chang-Sun’s voice, Louis turned his head. Approaching him from the distance was the heretic that he had been planning to execute using any means necessary. Unfortunately, he couldn’t move anymore.

“She’s probably busy fighting the ‘Gemini’ right now,” Chang-Sun added.

Enraged, Louis wanted to ask Chang-Sun how in the world he would know that, but he soon found himself unable to think at all.

Slash!

Something hot slit his throat, causing him to lose consciousness.

[The Player ‘Louis Braille’ has died!]

While burning Louis’ karma using [Soul Exploitation], Chang-Sun turned his attention to the Hellserpent, which was still fighting the [Brocken Monster]. The long battle to the death had exhausted the Hellserpent as well. Chang-Sun completely crushed the Hellserpent and the [Brocken Monster] with a light swing of the [Yuchang Sword], a tiger having seemingly clawed them to pieces.

[You have killed the Boss Monster “Hellserpent’ and the Illuminati’s Summon ‘Brocken Monster’!]

[Acquired a significant amount of Merit.]

…

[As a reward, you have acquired a ‘Nine Circle Demonic Creature’s Reversed Scale.’]

…

[Dungeon Ranking]

First Place: Lee Chang-Sun

Second Place: Jacque Valentine

…

[You haven’t completed the Dungeon Quest. Escape the stone desert.]

…

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ exclaims that the sparkling scale is really pretty.]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ lightly clicks his tongue, thinking you’re likely incomparably stronger than most humans. He considers giving you a new bonus reward.]

…

[The Celestial ‘Tsunami Bringer’ quietly marvels at the reversed scale.]

[The Celestial ‘Antlered Animal King’ is intrigued by your hunting technique.]

…

Having taken out the Dungeon’s boss monster, completing the Dungeon Quest would be really easy now. However, he still had unfinished business.

‘I got a clue regarding .’

[Nine Circle Demonic Creature’s Reversed Scale.]

A scale that grew upside-down on the Hellserpent’s chin. Oddly enough, it holds a frost attribute instead of fire. More clues have to be found to reveal more information about it.

· Type: Ingredients.

· Effect: Currently unknown.

‘I have to stabilize first,’

Chang-Sun thought, noticing a completely baffled beastfolk looking at him from afar.

He was certain that the beastfolk was Canola, the owner of the store at the ‘Burning Hell’ station. It seemed his store was also ruined when the station crumbled down.

Rather than getting angry, however, Canola just seemed antsy and was sweating excessively for some reason. When he met Chang-Sun’s eyes, he flinched and started running in the opposite direction.

Paah!

Spreading the Jigwi’s wings, Chang-Sun fully activated [Windstalking Tiger]. Gliding above Canola, he slammed the beastfolk’s head to the ground.

Boom!

“Argh!” Canola screamed. Half of his bones had been crushed. “Why?! Why are you doing this…?!”

“You really don’t know?” Chang-Sun tightened his grip on Canola’s head.

Craaack―!

“Arggghhh!!!” Canola screamed in pain once more. Terrified, he felt as if Chang-Sun was really about to crush his head. “L-let’s talk! We can talk this out…!”

“Your king has appeared before you, but you citizens pass by me without even saying hello?” Chang-Sun said.

“D-d-don’t kill me…!” Canola begged.

“Give me your store management rights if you want to live,” Chang-Sun demanded.

Feeling as if he was being suffocated, Canola desperately begged.

‘What a thug…!’

The store management rights were a lifeline for the last of the population living in this Dungeon. Hence, giving it up was no different from becoming one of the subjects of the new king, whom Canola didn’t really even know much about. Having sided with Elspe, Canola really couldn’t do that. However, if he had no other choice but to surrender, he would at least negotiate better terms first.

Unfortunately, it seemed Chang-Sun had no plans to negotiate. Rather, with Canola’s everything, including his life, in Chang-Sun’s hands, he demanded Canola’s unconditional surrender.

Noticing Canola’s eyes rolling around as he busily weighed his options in his head, Chang-Sun quietly chuckled. “If you don’t want to, forget it. I can just ask Jarapgu to retrieve it after I kill you.”

“… A-a-alright! I’ll give it up! I’ll give it up, so please spare me!” Canola was stunned. Chang-Sun knew more about the system than he expected.

“Too late.” Chang-Sun pushed Canola’s head into the ground a little further, the soil muffling his screams.

Boom!

The ground sank as if a Giant had stomped on it.

Crack.

Cracks then spread quite a distance in every direction.

“… Eeeekkk!” Canola shrieked as he shut his eyes. He soon realized that Chang-Sun had turned his head, but he had become so shocked that he had soaked his pants by then.

Smirking, Chang-Sun asked, “Got anything to say?”

Canola quickly shook his head before Chang-Sun could change his mind.

* * *

[Acquired the second store management right!]

…

[Successfully conquered the ‘Burning Hell’ station and the ‘Boiling Hell’ station.]

[You have found a Hidden Piece.]

[The theme of the Dungeon Quest has changed from ‘escape’ to ‘conquer.’]

[There are a total of ten stations within the stone desert. Using any method, conquer all the stations and obtain store management rights. Get the store owners, who are also stationmasters, to accept you as their new king.]

[You now own or have conquered two stores.]

[The Hidden Quest (King’s Return) has begun!]