Chapter 90 · 8 min

Chapter 90

Spendthrift Necromancer (90)

Antlion Pit (2)

Waiting near the mansion had paid off. The moment an unfamiliar face appeared, Shadow was already moving.

They followed him and witnessed him preparing to enter a B-rank Gate.

The Demon Gate in Incheon.

Clear Difficulty: 80.

Even B-rank Awakened entered this place in groups, yet the man was preparing to go in alone.

That meant he was confident.‘Kim Minwoo…….’Han Baekgil narrowed his eyes.

They had followed him all this way without encountering a single obstruction. If they went in now, the intrusion would succeed smoothly.

That was exactly why he couldn't help feeling suspicious.

Easy.

Far too easy.‘One of two possibilities.’Either the man was so carefree that the thought of intruders hadn't even crossed his mind.

Or…….‘He intended this deliberately.’Han Baekgil looked around.

Numbers One through Seven.

Every one of them had gleaming eyes.

“Boss. We're going in, right?”

They had prepared to sacrifice at least half their force just to catch Kim Minwoo.

Yet everything had worked out perfectly.

He was entering a Gate while disguised?

He might as well be advertising, Please eat me.

There was no telling when another opportunity like this would come, so naturally everyone grew impatient.

Even Han Baekgil, despite his suspicions, felt the same.

So were they not going in?

No.

Ultimately, they had no choice but to enter.

Hadn't they already decided to kill him?

Backing down here would be the worst choice.

“……

Once he enters, we follow immediately.”

Everyone nodded.

The Assassins used Stealth Skills, while the non-Assassins concealed themselves with magic or items from the Treasure Hall.

They approached the Gate.

Two B-rank Awakened and one A-rank Awakened guarded the entrance, but that meant nothing.[Using Sensory Disruption(S)

!][Using Dream Breath(S)

!][Using Gentle Oblivion(S)

!] ..

The S-rank Awakened poured out Skills.

The guards' senses were scrambled, their memories erased, their eyes going blank.

For a moment, the Awakened became wooden dolls.

It would take several minutes for them to recover. Afterward, they'd continue guarding without realizing anything unusual had happened.

The nearby soldiers were equally helpless.[You are in a party!][Han Baekgil and 18 others enter B-rank Gate, Demon Castle!][You are intruding!][All party members' locations are separated!]

They could enter as a party, but because this was an intrusion, a penalty applied.

Everyone's locations were separated.

That was fine.

Han Baekgil pulled out a crystal orb.[‘Eye of Darkness’ displays the locations of party members!]

A Special-grade item.

One of the items previously granted through prayer.

Han Baekgil wasn't the only one who possessed one. All nineteen other party members carried one too.

It could reveal party members' positions even inside a Gate, making it tremendously useful.

Especially in an intrusion like this.

And there was something even more impressive.

It didn't merely display locations.

It could even represent the colors assigned to important party members.

Han Baekgil was pitch-black.

Numbers One through Seven, along with the two S-ranks who had arrived as reinforcements, were red.

The remaining trainees were blue.

Multicolored lights filled the crystal orb. Shadow's members had coordinated beforehand.

Everyone would gather around Han Baekgil.

Before long, the others began joining him one after another.

Then.

Poof!

One blue light vanished from the orb.‘……

Dead?’A light going out meant death.

One trainee had suddenly died.

Then.

Poof!

The blue lights farther away began disappearing at terrifying speed.

The faster they vanished, the faster the remaining lights began moving.

The members who hurriedly gathered stared blankly at the crystal orb.

“Damn it.”

“What the hell is this speed?”

“This bastard's a complete monster.”

The Awakened who'd come from Japan and China also hardened their expressions. They knew of Kim Minwoo too. He'd done enough outrageous things to become famous overseas.

Even so.

They hadn't thought this hunt would be particularly difficult.

If anything, they'd thought the Korean branch was overreacting.

The Korean branch alone had eight S-rank Awakened participating in the hunt.

And thanks to their rapid leveling, those people were far higher-level than ordinary S-ranks.

By comparison, Kim Minwoo's level was probably somewhere around 200 even with a generous estimate.

Level was the skeleton of combat.

It wasn't strange that they'd thought the Korean branch was being overly cautious about a battle they should crush effortlessly.

But…….‘Damn it.’‘This won't be easy.’Five trainees had died to a single man.

And those trainees carried stealth-related items.‘Wait, isn't he a Necromancer?’What the hell was he using to kill all those hidden trainees?

Even an A-rank Awakened who could hold their own outside had died in only a few seconds.

Even considering that Demon Castle was a small Gate, the speed made no sense.

Only after six trainees had died did the entire group manage to gather in one place.19 people became 13.

Most of them had died before anything had even properly begun.

“……

Kill him. No matter what.”

Han Baekgil ground his teeth.

The atmosphere grew heavy.

The now completely serious group began moving in search of Kim Minwoo.* * *Minwoo killed six bastards who had been moving in hiding.

Land of Death.

This Skill was practically the natural predator of anyone using Stealth.

Normally, Stealth broke when you took damage.

Even S-rank Stealth wasn't fundamentally different. It merely endured somewhat more damage before breaking.

But Land of Death?

It dealt area damage across an enormous radius.

This Gate's stage was small to begin with.

The moment Minwoo summoned his Skeleton horde, he scattered them in every direction and activated Land of Death.

Every cast caught two or three people.

Of course, the demon-type monsters living in this Gate were caught too.[‘One Who Took Valkan's Eye’ effect activates!][The demons feel powerful intimidation!][They do not dare attack!]

Apparently the tiny trickles of damage weren't enough to overcome their fear.

Rather than attacking, they fled in every direction.

Maybe they'd only dare come at him if he inflicted much heavier damage.

And Kim Minwoo had another scout besides his countless Skeletons.

Snowy.

The clever Divine Beast was fast, stealthy, and intelligent enough to exchange signals with him.

Finding prey took no time at all.

Then Merhen went to work.

When Minwoo asked whether she had magic that could hold enemies in place, she created spells on the spot.[Underwater Prison(S)

activates!][Earth's Bind(S)

activates!]

The fleeing enemies had their feet trapped in sinking ground or found themselves struggling inside prisons of water created in midair.

They were B- to A-rank Awakened, so they didn't die from one spell.

They resisted using their own Skills and managed to buy some time.‘Not that it matters.’The game ended the moment Cedric and Minwoo reached them.

Their seamless combination severed each target's head before the enemy could even exchange ten proper moves.

Every kill gave Minwoo at least one level.

An absurd amount of experience.

Thanks to that, his current level was 1

He'd gained a full eight levels from this brief hunt. He would've needed to kill vastly more monsters to gain the same amount.

After hunting for a while.

He entered one of the castle's reception rooms. After killing every demon inside, he closed the door.‘This is why Demon Castle is so good.’The map was literally a castle.

Naturally, there were many rooms inside.

There was far less danger of being surrounded than on a wide-open plain, and ambushing him was difficult too.

Once he entered a room and shut the door, an Assassin had no way to sneak inside.

The reception rooms in particular were almost perfect empty spaces without even a single window.‘Only one entrance. The front door.’Anyone entering had to either destroy the door completely or grab the handle and open it.

Assassins didn't possess spatial-movement Skills that let them phase through walls.

Mages did have such abilities.

But teleporting through the door alone was basically the same as saying, Please kill me.‘Normally they'd just open the door.’There were seven reception rooms generated throughout the castle.

If they smashed down every door simply because it was dangerous, they'd run out of Mana.

The doors were fairly sturdy.

Han Baekgil's group would probably open each door and check inside too.‘Four more.’He recalled the hidden piece's activation condition.

One person had to kill a total of ten people.

Easy in one sense, difficult in another.

Under normal circumstances, it was incredibly hard to activate.‘The hidden piece was still untouched years later.’First, this was a B-rank Gate.

The Awakened entering were high-level.

Veterans who'd rolled around the Awakened world for years.

And because solo play had reached its limits by this stage, nine times out of ten they moved in guilds or private groups.

In other words, this was a Gate where experienced people who worked well together moved in teams.

Even an S-rank Assassin would feel tremendous pressure intruding alone.

You'd want at least two or three people together, and then usually nobody reached ten kills.

Because they split the kills between themselves.

What about betraying everyone inside?‘The investigation catches you.’Getting ten kills usually meant everyone else died and you alone came out alive.

Would anyone simply think you were lucky enough to be the sole survivor?

Awakened weren't that naive.

Naturally, an investigation followed.

Gate Hunter contained countless Classes, meaning there were Awakened with every bizarre Skill imaginable.

Once they investigated thoroughly, they'd eventually catch you.

And if they caught you?

Your life was over.

Even if you were Lu Bu inside a Gate, society was vast.

By B-rank, almost nobody risked their entire life just for one big score.

That was why the condition had remained uncleared for so long.‘I didn't know the trigger either.’Until he'd slaughtered every Assassin who intruded here, he'd had no idea.

Then he'd accidentally stumbled into the condition once and learned it.

If Minwoo needed to kill all thirteen remaining enemies, maybe that would take some work.

But killing only four of them?‘Easy.’Especially when weak bastards like the ones he'd already eaten were scattered among them.

He drank a Mana Potion.

Then looked at Merhen and Cedric.

“Get ready.”

The two Legion Commanders nodded.

Dolsoe, the Skeletons, and the Specter Corps had long since finished preparing for battle.[Merhen begins commanding all Mages!][One hundred Mages attempt ‘Magic Circle Construction’!][Success!][A medium-sized magic circle is completed!][Four hundred Mages begin gathering ‘Corpse Explosion’ into the magic circle!][Merhen begins gathering Mana!]

He had scattered demon corpses all around the door.

The instant it opened and a face appeared, they'd start by getting slapped across the cheek.

Then.

Creeeak.

The reception-room door opened.

Only one Awakened was visible through the doorway. Apparently he'd drawn the short straw and been chosen to open the door as a sacrifice.

Pointless.

Minwoo had already expected that much.[Casting Land of Death(S)

!][All allied undead stats increase by 20%!][Merhen uses Cyclone(SS)

!]Have a taste of SS-rank magic.

An enormous wind began raging beyond the door.

Whoooosh!

The doorway instantly became like a vacuum cleaner, sucking in everything outside.

“Huh?!”

“What the fuck!”

The Awakened began getting dragged toward the door by the wind.[Corpse Explosion magic activates!]

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The demon corpses Minwoo had piled near the doorway exploded violently around the Awakened being sucked inside.