SWNOVELS Chapter 81
Booooom!
As the golem collapsed, a gust of wind formed as it hit the ground and tossed YuSung’s hair into the air.
‘…So the gatekeeper was a rank 4 boss monster.’
He was clearing the dungeon at record speeds. While every other member of the party was still working on clearing their first rooms, YuSung had already demolished his third one.
He stared at the golem and thought, rather insensitively:
‘This dungeon might be too much for the current Sumire.’
He had yet to know that the girl had obtained the witch’s fragment.
Rumbbbble!!
The wall slid open after the monster was defeated, letting YuSung continue on.
The passageway wasn’t very long. One could see the button placed at the end of the hall from its entrance.
‘Will the next location open up if I press it?’
It was more of a complicated setup than he’d thought it would be.
The Castle of Phantasms was built like a maze. However, YuSung had easily seen through all of the traps that had appeared in front of him without any trouble. Of course, his keen gaze hadn’t missed that one, either.
‘…Where’s something I can throw?’
YuSung picked up a piece of broken-off brick that he found on the ground and took a stance.
Whoosh!
He threw it at the button.
Thunk!
His shot was a bullseye.
Rmmmm!
The passageway rumbled open, then immediately closed itself back up again. If he had pressed the button with his hand, he would have been trapped in there.
YuSung, however, already had experience with various types of traps that the Fist King had set up back on Martial Spirits’ Mountain.
‘Well… I disabled all of the traps. Time to head back, I guess.’
YuSung turned back around to face the way he had come through. As it so happened, he could feel a rumble in the distance. A new passageway had definitely opened.
* * * *
That was the first time that someone had attempted to overwhelm the Castle of Phantasms with numbers. The undead filling its corridors had already become Sumire’s underlings due to her [Witch’s Veil] Skill.
And the ones in charge of leading them were YuSung’s skeleton and the death knight.
“C-clack!”
“Des… troy! Master’s… enemies!”
Stompstompstomp!
The undead mob rushed the golem, footfalls creating a great racket. The enemy was being chipped down bit by bit.
“If your… blade breaks hit… it with your head! If your… head breaks! Bite it with… your teeth!”
The skeletons cheered at the death knight’s war cry, rattling their jawbones together.
“Claclack!”
“Clack, clack!”
The golem, a being created using advanced technology, had its mana core embedded in its head. At the moment, it was emitting a red light.
Vmmm!
“Destroy… The… Intruders!”
Zzzzzzzt!!
Lasers shot from its eyes, sweeping across the ground.
Pabababat!
Any undead hit by the attack instantly melted under the golem’s gaze.
However, its ultimate move was useless.
“D… descend upon this place, army of darkness.”
Sumire, an actual necromancer, was using her ring in the corner of the room to constantly summon more undead. She was a veritable undead factory, considering the large amount of mana she still had left in her reserves.
“Claclaclack!”
“Gohhhh…”
A magic circle appeared in front of Sumire, summoning skeletons and ghouls. She lifted her ring up into the air and began to chant, a purple-tinged aura emanating from her body.
“D-darkness… conceal the sun!”
Of course, there was no sun in the sky there, as they were inside the castle’s interior. The black clouds spewing out from the ring, however, still did their job and strengthened the undead.
Wshhh!
“Guohhhhh!!”
“Power is… gushing out… from my bones! This is the… blessing of our… master!”
“Clack!”
The undead enthusiastically cheered, drunk on Sumire’s power.
However, that wasn’t the end of it.
A pair of red eyes suddenly appeared in the mass of black clouds, then it began moving along the ceiling as if it had a life of its own.
‘Is… is this because of the power I got earlier?’
Sumrie watched the cloud move in wonder. The power she had obtained from the witch’s fragment had strengthened her Fog of Despair.
Whoosh!
The black cloud flew around, following its master, Sumire. Normally, the Fog of Despair would dissipate rather quickly, giving it a short activation time. However, that weak point seemed to have been completely taken care of.
“E-everyone, attack!”
Sumire pointed towards the golem. The undead, in tandem, went on the offensive.
“Grrr… blaaargh!”
The ghouls, who earlier could only attack by scratching the opponent with their nails, began vomiting up their stomach acids to melt the golem. The death knight’s greatsword had also changed—black mana was overflowing from it.
“Kuhaha! The current… me isn’t even afraid… of the Dullahan! Cry, out! Deathbringer!”
As it swung its weapon, black fire enveloped the golem.
Sumire had definitely gotten stronger after obtaining the artifact and absorbing the witch’s fragment. If one only took necromancers into consideration, she would be far and away the strongest one.
“Guohh!”
“Kill… it!”
YuSung’s skeleton jumped towards the golem’s head as the ghouls and the death knight did their thing.
Boing!
It flew high up in the air.
The golem once again gathered red light in its core.
“Destroy. Intruders!”
But YuSung’s skeleton, whose power was enhanced further by the witch’s fragment, was powerful.
Bam! Crack!!
A simple, bony punch was all it took to produce a crack in the golem’s core.
The death knight ended up dealing the final blow.
Wsh! Crack!!
The golem stopped moving entirely as its core was completely broken.
“W-we won! We did it, everyone!”
Sumire was overjoyed, expression bright. Seeing their master in high spirits, the undead also cheered.
“It’s… our victory!”
“Claclack!”
“Grrr!”
Those monsters may have looked terrifying to the point that one could fear them appearing in their nightmares, but they were completely whipped for Sumire, their master, like no other.
“Hoo… ray!”
“Clack!”
“Grr, grrr!”
Continuing their self-congratulations, the group of undead lifted Sumire up above them using their arms.
“K-kyah?! You guys… waaah!”
Then they threw her up into the air.
* * *
* * *
“Cl… ack!”
“Grr!”
“Y-you guys…”
She was stifled, touched by the passionate display of affection she was receiving from them. Sh e had never experienced anything like that before. It seemed like the small fry undead were starting to resemble their master in personality, little by little.
“Mas… ter! The passage has opened!”
“Grr, grrr!”
“Mas… ter! Please let me, a ghoul… scope the passage… out first!”
Nod.
“I-I understand. Then… be careful!”
The ghoul made its way into the passageway after getting her permission.
“Grr! Grrr!”
Tap.
However, as soon as it touched a brick that was jutting out of the wall, a trap activated, sending a torrent of arrows into the air.
Woooosh! Stabstabstab!
“Guhhhh! Kgk.”
The ghoul became immobile, body turned into a veritable honeycomb by the sheer number of arrows in it.
Sumire made a little gasping noise with her mouth.
“Is… is…” she asked, carefully, “Does anyone else want to volunteer next?’
The undead army Sumire commanded could be revived whenever as long as she still had mana. The volunteers could step up without any fear.
“Mas… ter! Please give me the opportunity!”
“Clackclack!”
“Grr grrr!”
If YuSung had destroyed the traps he’d come across using his finely-honed skills and experience, Sumire did so using numbers. The undead could not die and therefore were not scared of the traps.
Rumble!
After she pressed the button, the passageway opened with a tremor. Sumire, who had obtained the power of the witch, had accomplished a major feat.
‘I really cleared it!’
Sumire wanted to be stronger than anyone else in her party.
So that she could remain in YuSung’s party…
So that she could be of help to YuSung…
The witch’s fragment was a newfound power that had managed to find its way to such a person.
‘It… it was called Laplace’s Coffin, right?’
But there was a strange sense of foreboding towards her newly-obtained Skill. It almost felt like her subconsciousness was warning her, telling her it was dangerous.
But that wasn’t important to Sumire at the moment. What was more important was to meet back up with her party leader, YuSung.
‘…Let’s go back to YuSung-ssi!’
* * * *
[★Korea-Japan Expedition Chatting Room☆]
[すみれ: (*⬤⁰⥿⁰⬤)ノ I have finished clearing this end!]
##
what the hell is this symbol, i have never seen it before in my life[Shin YuSung: Nice work, Sumire. Head back to the entrance for now. We’ll all meet up and go through the new passageway together.
[すみれ: !!! ]
[すみれ: ᕕ༼ ✿•̀︿•́ ༽ᕗ]
[Only!No.1!: Sakura? How about your end?]
Ten seconds passed after Seiji sent his message. There was still no reply from Sakura.
An ominous feeling settled over the group. Seiji sent another message.
[Only!No.1!: Sakura?]
Again, nothing but silence in the chatroom.
Ring!contemporary romance
[Sakura✿: Yeah]
—A belated response from Sakura.
Seiji let out a sigh of relief and resumed typing.
[Only!No.1!: Where are you right now?]
[Sakura✿: I’ve been waiting here this entire time.]
[Sakura✿: Come here and get me Seiji, quickly.]
Seiji creased his forehead. He couldn’t point out exactly what, but there was something odd with Sakura’s messages.
‘…Maybe it’s because we’re chatting over text?’
Her manner of speech was different from the usual. And it was rather odd that she had asked him to pick her up.
‘Is she hurt?’
Uncertain, he kept on chatting with her.
[Only!No.1!: Did you get hurt anywhere?]
[Sakura✿: Mhm. Exactly. So hurry and come here.]
Even as he realized something was off, Seiji decided to head into the passageway Sakura had entered and began running.
* * * *
Tap. Taptaptap.
Sakura typed a message into her Pocket with blank eyes.
[Sakura✿: Mhm. Exactly. So hurry and come here.]
She pressed the ‘send’ button. Almost right after, Seiji’s response appeared.
[Only!No.1!: Okay. I’ll be there ASAP.]
“He says he’s coming,” she said, voice listless.
The succubus gently stroked Sakura’s head, the girl sitting on her lap.
“Nice work. What a good child you are.”
She smiled in a creepy manner, both corners of her mouth jutting up.
“…You know what you have to do for me, yes?”
Sakura responded without a second of hesitation to her question.
“I need… to kill the intruders.”
The succubus smiled widely as she stared at her as if satisfied. She brought the girl into an embrace.
“So good… so good. Show me your loyalty from now on, then. With your own hands, you have to…”
She leaned into Sakura’s ear and began to whisper in a honeyed tone.
“Kill your friends. I’ll give you a reward if you succeed. Something very good… fufu, you know what I mean, right?”
Sakura did nothing but nod at the succubus’s words with a dazed expression on her face.
“…Yes.”
Without the Korean team knowing…
The Japanese team was on the brink of annihilation.
done.co