Chapter 493 – 493. God’S Atlantis
493. God’s Atlantis
「You have entered Zone 6,333, the Castle of the Obsessed King.」
It was a fresh reminder of the power of information.
Just knowing about Zones 6,331 and 6,332 allowed us to reach Zone 6,333 without any harm.
Perfect information and a perfect strategy.
The gods would probably think, ‘Kang Minjin is the real regressor.’
‘But there are no regressors in this round.’
Kang Minjin was a human who entered his younger sister’s novel. Even though he hadn’t experienced these events firsthand, he was proceeding without a single flaw. It could only be explained as a protagonist buff.
Thud!
As soon as we entered the castle, the gate slammed shut. We didn’t panic and instead looked around. A dilapidated, broken chandelier barely hung from the high ceiling. The interior space was much larger than it appeared from the outside.
-Not again.
A deep male voice echoed. The voice filled the space, causing the A-Plan Legion to stop in their tracks.
-What else have you come to steal, invaders!
The voice, filled with resentment, was laced with intense hostility.
-I will not be robbed any further! Invaders! I will take your lives to protect us!
Everyone except me and Kang Minjin took a battle stance. But there was no attack.
Kang Minjin fiddled with his halberd. A small blue dragon, hidden in his arms, rubbed against his hair. He was more tense than before we arrived here. Even with the strategy, he couldn’t relax from this point on.
‘Did Yuria successfully enter the hidden zone? It’s frustrating not knowing her situation.’
Kang Minjin, holding his spear, stepped forward.
“This is the real deal. Just because everything has gone smoothly so far doesn’t guarantee it will continue to do so.”
He swung his spear towards the old, torn black curtain covering the window on the right wall.
“Kieeeaaak!”
The black curtain tore, and a scream echoed. The black curtain flew towards Kang Minjin, trying to engulf him.
“Hup!”
The spear was swung three times in quick succession. The shredded black curtain fell to the floor, turning into wrinkled leather. The presence of eyes and mouths in various places confirmed that it was human skin.
“This castle itself is our enemy. Don’t let your guard down.”
Kang Minjin’s eyes shone brightly.
“Let’s go.”
•••
Clang, clang.
Five knights in black armor walked towards us from the hallway.
“Invaders… die… invaders… die…!”
“Die…”
“Ggrrr…”
The faces visible inside their helmets looked like withered mummies. Blue flames burned where their eyes should have been, and black energy seeped out of their mouths and bodies like smoke.
Death Knights.
Knights who had abandoned the comfort of death for the sake of their faith, more loyal than anyone else.
“Death Knights possess overwhelming physical abilities, defense, and the swordsmanship and experience they had in life. Never let your guard down,” Kang Minjin said. We all prepared for battle. We applied the holy water we had prepared to our weapons. Since there was no one in the A-Plan Legion who could use the power of light or holy power, which were the natural enemies of the undead, we had to rely on items.
‘Undead… They’re already corpses, so they won’t be electrocuted. Normally, I’d find them annoying.’
But I had the Hwaryeon Bido. Even without applying holy water to the blade, the Hwaryeon Bido itself possessed a great magical power that was the natural enemy of demons and the undead. The crimson lightning manifested through the Hwaryeon Bido also had great magical power.
“Astrape.”
Red lightning surged from the blade.
I charged towards the Death Knights with Kang Minjin and Joo Seo-hyun, engaging in battle.
I ducked to avoid the Death Knight’s sweeping sword and lunged forward. Red lightning burned the Death Knight’s body. But it couldn’t stop the death knight, who didn’t feel pain.
‘Kang Minjin is doing a good job of stirring things up in the center, and Joo Seo-hyun… I don’t need to worry about her. She’s overcoming her lower physical abilities with swordsmanship. She’s doing well.’
It wasn’t that we were perfectly in sync. We were fighting separately. Yet, we were overwhelming the Death Knights. It was because our skills were superior to theirs.
I stabbed the Death Knight’s body with my sword. But it didn’t fall easily.
Whoosh!
I dodged the greatsword by spinning, and using the momentum, I struck the knight’s head. Clang! The helmet cracked, but I couldn’t shatter it. As I felt a tingling sensation in my hand and tried to retreat, the Death Knight’s greatsword split into two, aiming for my neck and abdomen.
‘A split second!’
The world slowed down. Upon closer inspection, the greatsword hadn’t split; it was an illusion created by swordsmanship. The one aiming for my abdomen was the real one.
‘…Ha. Interesting.’
I deactivated Astrape. Without using acceleration or a split second, I wanted to defeat the one in front of me purely with swordsmanship.
Yeongcheon Style (影天流) – Byeokgye (碧溪).
I passed by the Death Knight and swung my sword. My target was the neck, but the Death Knight blocked it by raising his gauntleted arm like a shield.
‘Did Byeokgye not work because it’s a corpse without eyes…? No, it’s because of the skill that guy possesses.’
The Death Knight moved his heavy greatsword delicately and skillfully. It was dangerous. But at the same time, it was an opportunity.
Yeongcheon Style (影天流) – Paewol (蔽月).
I dodged the knight’s greatsword by a hair’s breadth and launched a counterattack. The Death Knight’s helmet shattered.
I was drawn into the battle. The Death Knight relied on his armor and focused on defense, aiming for a heavy blow. In contrast, I was repeating the cycle of attacking and retreating.
I was the victor of the battle.
After more than 30 attempts, my sword finally broke through the Death Knight’s defense and severed his neck.
“I… lost…”
The Death Knight’s inner light disappeared, and his body crumbled.
Looking around, I saw the A-Plan Legion members watching me. Especially Joo Seo-hyun’s gaze was unusual. She was biting her lip and glaring at me. Her clenched fists seemed to indicate frustration.
“Oh, what? Was I the last one?”
“Sung Yoojin. I understand. The feeling of time slowing down and your consciousness becoming one with your weapon. It’s a feeling that’s not easy to experience. But restrain yourself for now. It’s dangerous in the current situation, and we’re currently trying to conquer this zone.”
Kang Minjin said seriously.
The feeling of becoming one with the weapon? It seemed Kang Minjin was misunderstanding something.
I nodded vaguely. In my experience, arguing would only lead to more nagging.
“Okay.”
•••
What stopped our steady progress was a broken statue. Four statues in the form of demons were lying shattered on the floor.
The others didn’t think much of it. Having come this far, they had experienced that this castle was an old one where the undead appeared. They wouldn’t make a fuss about a broken statue.
But one person, Kang Minjin, couldn’t hide his agitation.
“No way… Why is this… Why are the gargoyles dead?!”
He was so agitated that he blurted out a soliloquy. Kang Minjin’s mind must be working furiously right now.
‘Yuria passed through here. Did she get caught by the gargoyles? Well, gargoyles are originally monsters that act as gatekeepers. It would have been difficult for Yuria to deceive them, even with her reduced stats.’
Kang Minjin must be confused.
If someone had entered the castle before us, the initial voice shouldn’t have been heard.
‘They entered through a different place than the entrance. Without being detected by the owner of the voice, the ruler of this zone.’
But due to the nature of this zone, it was inevitable to be detected if there were many people. What Kang Minjin could think of was that the enemies were all skilled at hiding like assassins, or that there was only one person.
“Master? What’s wrong?”
Ji Youngbin called out to Kang Minjin. Kang Minjin snapped back to reality.
“…These statues are gargoyles. They pretend to be statues and attack people. But now, the gargoyles are broken and dead. It means someone came before us and dealt with the gargoyles.”
“Is that possible? Even if we don’t know about other zones, Zone 6,331 is impossible to conquer without that strange compass. And so far, there’s no sign that anyone has come before us.”
Yoo Inha, who had been quiet until now, spoke. The others nodded. Thorough preparation was needed to get here, and there was no sign that anyone had come before us.
“Maybe they were following us and overtook us at some point.”
“Master, then we should move immediately, shouldn’t we? Before they gain control of the zone.”
“……We can’t be sure it’s ‘them’. It could be just one person, or it might not even be a person. Their goal might not be to control the zone… Hmm.”
“If not control, then what?”
“It could be something else. Either way, we need to move immediately.”
Kang Minjin probably thought that their unknown goal was the hidden zone.
And later, he would find out that the hidden zone had been looted by someone else. At that time, even if he wanted to suspect me and the others, he wouldn’t be able to.
Because the information about the hidden zone was only known to Kang Minjin.
Thirty minutes later, we arrived at the King’s Hall.
A skeleton wearing a golden crown sat on the throne, waiting for us.
“Invaders… you’ve finally come this far. My soldiers, arise! Protect the kingdom from the invaders!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Seventy elite soldiers appeared.
They were undead, but they were actually alive. They were only temporarily manifested by the king’s power.
“Yoo Seohee, Yoo Inha! It’s your turn!”
Kang Minjin shouted.
“Yes. Finally, it’s our turn. I was getting restless from just watching from behind.”
“……”
Yoo Seohee used her skill, Seduction. All seventy soldiers were men. Their gazes were fixed on Yoo Seohee, who was twisting her voluptuous body. The soldiers drooled and staggered towards Yoo Seohee.
“Seohee-ssi! I will protect you.”
Ji Youngbin shouted as if it was an opportunity.
“…Fire Blast.”
Yoo Inha, who had been watching for the right moment, used magic. A blazing fire engulfed the soldiers. The soldiers screamed and fell to the floor.
“……Arise again! My soldiers! Even the fires of hell cannot burn our souls.”
The soldiers reappeared.
“…Yoo Seohee, Yoo Inha, Ji Youngbin. You take care of the soldiers. The rest of you… kill the king.”
•••
“…Is my kingdom… being ravaged by invaders again…”
The skeleton shattered and disappeared into dust.
The crown rolled on the floor.
「The ruler of Zone 6,331 has changed.」
「The ruler of Zone 6,332 has changed.」
「The ruler of Zone 6,333 has changed.」
「The master of the A-Plan Legion has gained control.」
Such messages appeared for me, but Kang Minjin would have received more numerous and complex messages.
As soon as the conquest was over, the Legion members collapsed on the floor, giving their tired bodies a rest.
I pretended to rest while keeping an eye on Kang Minjin.
Kang Minjin’s face was still hardened. I asked him as he was about to go outside.
“Kang Minjin. Where are you going? Aren’t you tired? Rest a bit.”
“…You guys rest here. There’s something I’m a little concerned about, so I’ll go check it out.”
He was clearly going to check the hidden zone.
Kang Minjin returned after 10 minutes. His face was dark.
“I found a hidden zone that someone had already been to. Fortunately, it seems they didn’t gain control. I’ll start conquering the hidden zone in an hour, after doing some investigation.”
His expression was far from fortunate.
•••
After passing through the thorny bushes and taking a suitable rest, Yuria examined the castle. If she entered through the front entrance, she would be immediately detected by the castle’s owner.
She had to sneak in through a different place than the front. Fortunately, it wasn’t difficult to find an opening. She could enter through a window. The problem was getting to the back door without being detected by the undead inside the castle.
“……”
Yuria drank a mana potion she took out from the shadows and immediately infiltrated the castle.
