Episode 110.
If Setnak had been looking at the present Jung Si-woo, he would have burst into laughter.
“Oppa, you have a good determination.”
“Well, I’m planning to live for now.”
Jung Si-woo answered calmly. He didn’t get hurt anywhere. Of course, so did Yong Se-ha and Soo Ah-rin.
[Giiiiiii…]
The big explosion caused by the ghost collective had a destructive power that would’ve engulfed the entire existence of Jung Si-woo. However, at the very moment of the explosion, Jung Si-woo instinctively united the remaining corps of ghosts to create a shield to protect him. He was able to contain the explosion successfully, but it wiped out all the ghosts remaining. On the other hand, Setnak’s ghost collection was still floating in the air because it had enough energy. If he left it alone, it would explode again soon.
“The way to stop a spirit is by using another spirit…Setnak, you stink because you know everything.”
“Can’t we summon those who are disappeared again?”
“No, it’s just reverse summoning. They are subordinate to me, so they don’t disappear completely unless I die…hmph.”
He didn’t like it because it seemed to prove that the ghost was just an unusual form of power that he could handle. Of course, he was going to do everything he could to survive, to be strong…
Perhaps Setnak wanted to point out his duality and pretenses. He urged him not to be shy but to show his bare face and deal with his power without hesitation. And Jung Si-woo fell for it.
“I feel like I’m being played by someone called god, but it’s very dirty…and it’s certainly not wrong.”
He was recognizing and respecting ghosts as individual beings. But if they were going to leave them there, they wouldn’t have acted their way in the first place. If he could turn them into energy and use them for battle, he would continue to do so. In that way, Jung Si-woo acknowledged ghosts and acknowledged himself at the same time. He acknowledged the individuality of countless souls, and at the same time, accepted the work of the ruler who used them according to his will.
It was a very heavy but very sweet crown.
“I can’t use it for a while because they all disappeared.”
“Oppa, I think they’re about to expand again…!”
“It’s all right.”
Jung Si-woo took out an artifact from his inventory that he had never used before. No, technically speaking, it was something that hadn’t dealt with so far because he wasn’t confident in handling it.
[The Great Sword of the Original Soul]
[Rank – B++]
[Attack – 1,850 – 2,250]
[Skills – 0/1,000]
[Property – Curse B]
[Optional – 1. Absorbs souls to boost performance 2. ??]
[A weapon that has been strengthened by countless souls being forcibly suppressed by a transcendent will. Those who cannot bear the weight of their souls will be taken even if they are armed.]
Artifacts obtained from Sky Castle or Ant Caves weren’t often marked with restrictions for wearing or using them. However, this didn’t mean that conditions or considerations weren’t needed. The player himself had to judge the information provided and use it carefully. In that sense, the original sword, which killed the Ghost Knight, who was guarding Setnak’s fragment, was acquired by Jung Si-woo, and he couldn’t handle it for the time being. It was because it felt too creepy.
However, it was different now that he could handle the power of the soul properly. Instead of a hammer, Jung Si-woo held the unfamiliar sword with his eyes shining. As soon as he grabbed the sword, he felt the countless collections of souls who had already been crushed and murky and had no proper will left to talk to him. But he ignored it.
“My life is too short for me to care about you who I didn’t trap myself!”
Jung Si-woo didn’t have a lot of souls, but they were qualitatively more explosive than anyone else’s. Mana flowed into the ghost sword and strengthened it. He was already the owner of the sword by the time he lifted it. It couldn’t resist his will.
“If it is possible to regard this sword as my flesh, then maybe…’
Jung Si-woo immediately erased the thought that came to his mind. He didn’t mean to do it now. Instead, knowing the fear of his weapon, he threw the sword at the soul collection, which was trying to sneak behind him. Having mastered kendo for many years, his posture was high-spirited.
“Head!”
“It doesn’t have a head!”
The moment Soo Ah-rin’s response came in, the soul collection was divided into half. And soon after, it melted and was pulled into the sword.
[The level has risen.]
“Good.”
It somehow worked out as he had thought. Jung Si-woo clenched his fist and threw the sword into his inventory. When he checked the information of the sword before putting it in, the minimum attack and maximum attack power were increased by 50 each, perhaps because they absorbed a large number of souls.
“Oh, I think the castle is a little shaky…”
“It is shaking. It’s going to collapse.”
Jung Si-woo agreed with Yong Se-ha and mounted the Phantom Bike, which he naturally called. Shortly afterward, the four-story space where they were collapsed completely.
[Setnak’s 73rd castle destruction rate: 45%]
[Setnak’s 73rd castle destruction rate: 46.5%]
“Ahhhhhhaha!”
“This soul collection was also part of the magic core. To be exact, it’s a link between the lower and upper floors. But now that it’s gone…”
As soon as it was destroyed, everything from the 4th to the 1st floor of the castle would collapse. In the process, the countless number of low-level undead that Jung Si-woo couldn’t finish were smashed, raising his level once again. It was easy to raise his level.
“It looks like the fifth floor is just floating in the air.”
“It is actually floating.”
There was no trace of space between the first and fourth floors. The magic from the fifth floor was advantageous since it was floating in the air, creating a transcendent scene, but the reason it was hard to realize it easily was that there was still only a deep darkness as the space up to the fourth floor had to be opened to the outside.
“I’m still not out of Setnak’s influence of mana…if I had enough time, I could’ve stormed the fifth floor and proceeded step by step.”
There wasn’t much time left for that. Having grasped the structure of the mana, he decided to break the core as efficiently as possible and aim for the shortest time to clear the mission. He had to charge straight to the top floor.
“Let’s go!”
“Kyaaaak!”
The phantom bike soared vertically. They hopped into the cylindrical space and skipped a few floors in no time! As he went upstairs, the pressure of dark Mana was intense, but he actively accepted it and sped up. Soon there was a ceiling above him, but Jung Si-woo increased his speed even more. The bike was facing almost completely up.
“We’re going to fall, Oppa!”
“I don’t know about me, but you guys have wings!”
The front fender, which protruded sharply to hit the enemy, was injected with Jung Si-woo’s mana and splattered blue sparks. Jung Si-woo unleashed the Cruel Charge and used his mana on the bike, maximizing the capability of the fuselage.
“I’m going in!”
“Is there anything there?”
“Of course.”
Jung Si-woo grinned. The mana of this area had already been identified by the five senses skill. The entire place was covered with thick mana, but among them, there is a strong stench that stabbed at his nose. The very top, the core of the magic engineering that kept this deformed Mana going! There would also be one of the most powerful monsters in this castle there.
“The most powerful…?”
“Yes, it’s even something I’ve come across indirectly.
“Indirectly? Oh, no way…”
But Soo Ah-rin couldn’t continue. It was because the shock was delivered to the group as a terrible roar filled the air at the moment when the spark-finder and the ceiling, which was quite narrow compared to the size of the building so far, collided with each other.
“Ahhhhhh!”
“Hold on tight!”
Jung Si-woo drew forth and absorbed Setnak’s fiercely resisting mana, weakened it, and again hit the ceiling with his bike. It was impossible to permanently increase one’s mana, unlike when his power directly absorbed the fragment, but at least it was possible to make the vast mana his temporarily and add it to the attack!
[Cruel Charge skill became Lv11]
Shortly after the Cruel Charges skill grew, everything paid off. A neat hole was drilled in the ceiling, and the party was thrown straight into space beyond it. They settled on the top floor of the magical castle quickly. No, there was a problem with the word ‘settle.’
[Setnak’s 73rd castle destruction rate: 51.8%]
“Ahhh!”
“Soo Ah-rin, Shield!”
“Si, Shield!”
When Jung Si-woo shouted urgently, Soo Ah-rin hurriedly called out the shield without knowing anything. Terrible pressure suddenly came on the sacred shield that wrapped around their bodies. The gruesome hostility in the attack seemed to break their bodies in two, but Soo Ah-rin’s desperate shield, fortunately, endured it and disappeared.
[You’re fast and firm.]
It was rough and murky, but it was a young woman’s voice. Jung Si-woo put the phantom bike into his inventory in the short moment when the sacred shield was shattered and then secured Soo Ah-rin and Yong Se-ha in time to land on the floor.
“Whoa…did I succeed somehow?”
“I can’t believe you’re calling this a success…”
Soo Ah-rin was relieved that her head was still stuck to her body after the hectic ride. On the other hand, Yong Se-ha tried desperately to recognize the powerful enemy and soon groaned, identifying it.
“Hyeong-nim, that undead…”
“That’s right.”
Jung Si-woo took out the giant’s roar and grabbed it, relieved that there was enough space to swing a sledgehammer somehow. On the other hand, their last enemy was staring back at them as soon as the first attack was blocked.
“It’s the Death Knight.”
[I am the Knight of Death, Beache.]
Black armor that was incredibly hard and a dangerous-looking blade. Blue flames were burning inside the black pitch armor…most of all, the appearance looked similar to Death Knight Caina’s core.
[All who violate the sanctuary will be killed.]
A ‘real’ enemy, estimated to be at least level 250, appeared.
