Chapter 758: No.99 Demon God Liberation (1)

Even as we descended to the next floor, Dang Gyu-ri did not stop giving me that strange look.

“……It really is fascinating, now that I think about it.”

“What is?”

“The pillow, and just now too. Don’t you have some kind of trait?”

For example, Kim Ho magnet, Kim Ho aura, Kim Ho pheromone, or Kim Ho Bus passenger detector.

Everyone found me with suspicious accuracy, and sometimes they even saw through disguises or stealth.

I lightly shrugged.

“I can’t say I don’t, but I don’t know what it is either.”

“For real?”

“If I knew, I’d have told you already. Where are there any secrets between us?”

“Mm. A most excellent answer.”

Dang Gyu-ri nodded in satisfaction.

Then they glanced sideways at me again and continued.

“I do think you’ll handle things well on your own now. Even if you keep charming people all over the place.”

“It’s not like I let people onto the bus indiscriminately.”

“Yeah, but that’s just how feelings are. Sometimes I get anxious for no reason. Jealous too?”

“I’ll have to do even better, then.”

So you can trust me even more.

I added that and tightened my grip on their hand.

Dang Gyu-ri’s lips curled up slightly.

“Good. Do this often.”

Soon, we reached the deep layers, Floor B.

When there were several party members, they had to be transported through [Shadow Pouch], but right now it was only the two of us.

The stealth was maintained just by continuing to hold hands.

SLIIIIIDE……

We leapt over long distances with [Shadow Leap], and sometimes seeped into shadows to move.

At last, our destination appeared.

[No.99] [Demon God Liberation]

Since this was the deep layers, there was always a risk of being caught if we dawdled.

We exchanged quick glances, then immediately stepped forward.

For a moment, my vision turned pitch-black…….

The next instant, we were pushing our way through a forest in the middle of the night.

However, unlike ordinary dungeons, the two of us were not alone. There were companions with us.

It’s a format where you proceed by replacing the characters.

Like <Escort Correspondence> or <Demon-Seal Recapture>, which I had cleared before.

Every one of our companions had their robes pulled low over their faces, and we were no different.

Dang Gyu-ri glanced around and whispered,

Clothes like this, at a time like this, in a place like this……. Nothing could be more suspicious.

Right? We’re not thieves or anything.

People should live with a little dignity.

We exchanged shameless remarks without the slightest hesitation.

What was certain was that the robed group’s objective was somewhat impure, and they were moving as secretly as possible.

However, the atmosphere was not only reverent, but even grim.

At the front, a man who seemed to be the leader was opening the path.

He carried a long wooden box on his back, and even at a glance, it was clearly an extremely important item.

Soon, he spoke.

“Not much farther remains. Can you feel it? His presence.”

“I can feel it, clearer than anything.”

“Tonight, we shall prove that no obstacle can stop our faith. And we shall set right the doctrines that have gone astray and become false.”

From the words “faith” and “doctrines,” it was clear that they were a religious group.

That made the grim atmosphere somewhat understandable.

Meanwhile, Dang Gyu-ri whispered by my ear.

“They already reek of an evil cult.”

“They do look astray and false.”

In reality, they really were cultists.

And as one could guess from the dungeon’s title, their objective was to liberate the Demon God.

Naturally, we had entered after familiarizing ourselves with the strategy in advance.

And for now, the best move was to keep moving with them.

As we continued pushing through the midnight forest, the robed man at the front signaled the group to stop.

Then he fixed an intense gaze ahead.

“At last……!”

There stood a stone building that seemed to belong in the medieval era.

Even though there were no torches, it held a faint glow.

That meant holy magic was active.

The man soon turned back toward the group and motioned for everyone to lower themselves.

“We wait until the signal comes.”

That meant other groups with similar objectives were also moving.

Attacking at the same time would be more effective.

But just then—

“There is no need.”

Everyone’s gazes shot toward the voice that had come from somewhere.

There stood a paladin, who had appeared without anyone noticing.

Like the building ahead, his entire body held a faint glow.

Not only that, paladins, priests in pure white vestments, and archers began appearing one after another from every direction.

“Have we not come out to greet you like this?”

“……!”

The cultist leader’s face hardened at the paladin’s words.

Then, as if he had realized something, he ground his teeth.

“That whore sold herself again, did she……!”

“A low expression. Even so, to answer your question, it is true that the Saintess received an oracle.”

Just as Oh Sehun and Kang Daesan had been dispatched to Hyeseong, these people seemed to have received some kind of revelation too.

It was probably something roughly like, “Bad people are attacking, so catch them!”

So they had laid a trap in reverse.

Soon, the paladin drew his sword and aimed it at us.

“I advise you to surrender. You should know better than anyone that you have no chance of victory.”

“Heh heh……. If our positions were reversed, would you surrender?”

“That answers my question.”

Taut tension and the scent of imminent battle began to fill the field.

The paladins wrapped their bodies in shining energy, the priests murmured prayers, and the archers nocked arrows to their bowstrings.

The cultist leader looked over them and said,

“Even if we are martyred here, tonight, He shall regain His freedom.”

“I wonder. That does not seem especially likely to come true.”

But the moment the paladin took one step forward—

BOOM! BOOM BOOM!

Explosions erupted one after another in the distance.

It was the “signal” the cultists had been waiting for, and it meant attacks had begun elsewhere.

FLAAAAASH—!

A thick pillar of light shot up in the distance on the opposite side as well, meaning a battle had broken out there too.

The cultist leader’s face filled with rapture, and he ordered the group,

“Be martyred. Offer your worthless lives for Him.”

“Martyred.”

“Martyrdom.”

“Be martyred.”

The cultists repeated the same word.

At the same time, their bodies began swelling grotesquely.

Their builds grew two or three times larger than humans, their arms and legs stretched long, and their heads and legs changed into those of goats.

Before battle, they had revealed their true forms.

Seeing that, Dang Gyu-ri must have thought they should do something too, because they raised their nails as if about to claw at me.

“ROAAAR, I was actually Dang Gyu-young all along!”

“No way! You’ve revealed your true identity!”

“Hehehe, today I really will devour you.”

“Can you let me off with one arm?”

“Hmm. Bring it here first.”

And so my arm was bitten all over.

Meanwhile, the paladins and cultists began fighting in earnest.

FLAAAAASH!

WHIZZ WHIZZ WHIZZ!

Pure white arrows rained from every direction, and pillars of light filled with holy magic crashed down.

The goat-men writhed in pain.

“Baaaa—aaaa—”

“Martyrdom. Be martyred. Martyrdom.”

Then they charged straight into enemy lines, swung both arms, and rammed with their horned heads.

Likewise, the cultist leader had also transformed into a goat-man.

He set down the wooden box he had been carrying so carefully all this time, then smashed it with his fist.

CRUNCH.

From the shattered fragments, he pulled out something black and long.

A greatsword as tall as a person.

Everything from its grip to its blade was pitch-black, and red energy like the evening sunset rippled across it.

A demonic sword.

It was this dungeon’s core item, and one of its major rules.

When the goat-man swung it as it was—

SLASH!

The paladin who had just charged at him was cleanly split in half.

The others cried out in shock.

“[Dusk]! It’s the demonic sword!”

“The demonic sword has appeared!”

“Engage with caution!”

But making those warnings look meaningless, the cultist leader began cutting down paladins with unstoppable force.

SLASH, SLASH!

Thick shields, armor, and holy magic were all useless.

Every time the demonic sword swung, they were sliced apart like sheets of paper.

Its performance is that absurd.

What he was swinging was the S+ rank demonic sword, [Dusk]—

—or a replica of it.

Of course, even as a replica, it produced more than enough performance to count as roughly B+ rank.

Not only did it have overwhelming cutting power and additional dark-attribute damage, but it also came with an option that drew out the user’s potential.

It even grows stronger as time passes.

At first, it only adds a few bonuses to skills and traits, but later, it outright raises their ranks by one or two stages.

Of course, you can’t use it that long.

Because it came with a three-piece set of side effects.

The first was increased weight. It steadily grew heavier until later, when the user could not even lift it, let alone swing it.

The second and third dealt dark-attribute damage over time and mental-type damage to the user.

Naturally, those also grew stronger as time passed.

“Baaaa—aaaa—!”

Just as that suggested, the cultist leader had only been swinging the demonic sword for a short while, yet he was already in a near-death state.

His entire body was being corroded by sunset-colored energy, and his unfocused eyes were wandering.

Apparently, his ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) mind was already flickering in and out.

Even so, he tried to land even one more strike.

CRAAACK.

With an eerie sound, his arm bent.

It had failed to withstand the increasing weight.

The paladins shouted at once.

“Now!”

WHIZZ WHIZZ WHIZZ!

FLAAAAASH!

Arrows and holy magic concentrated on him, and the cultist leader collapsed where he stood.

[Dusk] stabbed deep into the ground.

The paladins shouted again.

“Retrieve [Dusk]!”

“It must never fall into the hands of the cultists!”

Even that brief exchange had dealt tremendous damage.

They had to prevent another similar disaster from happening.

But just as they rushed toward the demonic sword, a pitch-black human figure suddenly rose from the ground.

It was one of the Gyu shadow undead, Blood Sword Commander.

Its arms increased to six, and it gripped six swords before scattering sword energy in every direction.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

“……!”

“Damn it.”

The paladins flinched and failed to approach any farther.

Meanwhile, a blue curve was drawn across the sky and took the form of a large eye that looked down on the battlefield.

[Sky Vision]

[Mutual-Destruction Eye]

[Mutual-Destruction Sky Vision]

CRACKLE—!

Everything froze in an instant.

The paladins, the priests, and the goat-men alike.

I looked over the sight and removed my hand from one eye.

This is when you call it reaping the fisherman’s profit.

Since they had busily fought one another, it was easy to time my skill.

The freezing would soon break, but by then, we would already be gone.

I turned to Dang Gyu-ri and said,

“Let’s go.”

“Yeah. I’ll take the sword.”

Soon, Blood Sword Commander pulled [Dusk] out of the ground.

Sunset-colored energy immediately corroded its body, and its arms slowly drooped under the weight.

As expected, the three-piece debuff set applied.

Of course, the solution to this was surprisingly simple.

Once the debuffs stacked to a certain degree, Blood Sword Commander passed the demonic sword to Dark-Shadow Commander beside it.

Dark-Shadow Commander held it for a while, then passed it to Ghost Demon.

Juggling is possible.