Chapter 161 - The Time The Road Opens (1)

"We've found a safe road that leads to the Underground."

The Priest gave him a piece of good news.

But the Priest's face was grim, so the Bishop wondered what was wrong.

"Was there a problem?"

"Yes, you see…"

Click- Half-transparent footage appeared in the air.

It was a scene they'd seen through the users’ eyes.

A dark and evil devil that looked like a vampire was tearing apart the Heavens users.

It was Hyun and Ain, but the Priests of the Holy Kingdom had no way of knowing that it was a user.

"What's… that?"

"We also aren't sure, but it’s what stopped the users from going any farther."

According to the Priest, they'd discovered a safe road that led to the Underground, but they weren't able to see what kind of danger was beyond the entrance since not a single user was able to go through that black figure.

"Ahh… This isn't good. Is that Darkness? Or could it be a servant?"

"We aren't sure, but we won't be able to go through with just the users. It would be better if we were able to discover its identity, but right now, we don't have time to do that."

According to Light’s oracle, they had to cut Darkness’s roots before it was too late.

What was behind that pitch-black devil? Even if they didn't know, they had to advance.

"There's nothing we can do. We're going to have to leave it to fate…"

"Then?"

"We're moving the troops."

The Bishop ordered.

"The Pope has agreed, so prepare the knight squadron."

The Bishop made a chilling smile while looking at the black figure.

He wasn't sure what it was… but one thing he was sure of was that it was related to Darkness.

There was no way that a devil emitting such ominous energy was a normal devil.

"Also, tell them to eliminate that devil as soon as they reach the Underground."

"Darkness…"

"Yes. It seems like you've also seen it."

The Bishop nodded while looking at the nervous Priest.

"That's Darkness’s energy."

* * *

A meteor rain poured down.

The thousands of rays that appeared in the night sky were so grand and magnificent that all the people of the Holy Kingdom saw them.

"Is Light also looking at us…?"

For the Holy Kingdom, sending the knights was harder than sending users.

The Sacred Power was opposite from the energy of the Underground

To send someone with Sacred Power to the Underground, overcoming the resistance to Sacred Power was necessary.

Sending one Holy Knight required as much effort as sending thousands of users.

'Please, protect those that belong to the Heavens.'

They were going to send 200 Holy Knights and 50 Holy Magicians, so the Holy Kingdom had spent quite a lot of resources on the expedition.

They'd used a third of the sacred stones they had, after all.

The Bishop nervously looked at the crystal ball.

The Holy Knights had also been put under the «View Share» magic.

The Priests could see what was happening through their eyes.

Hundreds of Holy Knights charged while riding horses as the black sun set and the red sun slowly rose.

"Annoying."

Shakron Neizer…

One of the five strongest Knights the Holy Kingdom had, he was also the person in charge of leading the expedition toward the Underground.

He looked at the Heavens and Abyss users, annoyed, and mumbled.

"How useless."

Whish!

The chain sword in his hand stretched to 20 meters.

The weapon, which looked like a whip at a simple glance, had lots of sharp blades.

As a snake made of metal danced through the place, consecutive explosions of light went off.

Had he killed Heavens users? Abyss? To Shakron, that didn't matter.

"The Darkness… I'm definitely going to kill her with my hands."

For him, users were just a bunch of weaklings.

"I can't let these weaklings take the merit! Charge!"

Shakron's orders were embedded in the heads of all the knights.

Fwoosh-!

Light exploded, and the formation of the horses stretched out at a speed that couldn't be compared to real life.

Users that weren't even at level 200 couldn't do anything against it.

Some were swept away, and others ran away in confusion.

Shakron's knights reached the Black Town’s entrance almost instantly.

'That Darkness thing isn’t here.'

Shakron's sharp eyes looked at the surroundings.

He was looking for the figure with black energy because the Bishop had told him to get rid of it.

'Is it on the other side?'

The town wasn't big, so if it hadn't escaped, he should’ve been able to find it quickly.

If things got troublesome, he just had to kill everything in front of him.

Shakron decided to use the most comfortable way.

"Kill everyone other than our own squadron."

"Yes!"

Screams could be heard.

The Abyss users tried to resist by holding the wall, but it was useless.

"They've built useless things."

Boom-! As Shakron swung his chain sword, the castle walls were destroyed as if they were tofu.

It took only a few seconds before the entire wall was demolished.

"Wh-what?!"

"Aren't they knights from the Holy Kingdom? Why are they attacking us…?!"

Users from the Heavens weren't safe.

Most of them were killed by Shakron's chain sword, and the few that managed to escape it were killed by a Holy Knight’s sword or devoured by the fog.

"How weak."

"They're users, after all."

"You're right. They're just bugs."

It took the knights a minute to successfully invade the town.

After invading the town, Shakron gave another order.

"Search for a devil that has the energy of Darkness. If you see a dark figure, report to me."

"Yes!"

The Holy Knights replied with shouts and scattered away.

「Hold your breath.」

The attic of the inn…

Hyun was looking at the scene while «Assimilated» to Louise.

「Who was he? I think I've seen him somewhere.」

「That’s Shakron…!」

At Hyun's shout, Ain mumbled, 'Who's that?'

Even during Asra, Ain wasn't very interested in the story, so she didn't remember NPC names very well.

「I'm glad we hid quickly. If he'd seen us, we would've died instantly.」

Hyun knew how scary that person was.

The greedy Holy Knight, Shakron Neizer.

He was a story named NPC. At that moment, he should’ve been around level 390~400.

All of the knights with him were at least at level 300.

The decision to hide and give up on fighting the moment he saw his face was the correct one.

「I've seen that guy before!」

「Shakron…?」

Louise didn't know his rank, but it seemed like she also knew his face.

Shakron's knights were looking around the town, trying to find something.

When they heard steps within the inn where they were staying, they became nervous.

After all, their senses were beyond a normal human's, so there was a chance that they would be able to hear them breathing.

「Has everyone except for us died?」Ain carefully asked after the sounds became distant.

「Probably…」

The knights kept searching for a while.

Then they heard Shakron's angry screams. It seemed like things weren't going as planned.

Then…

Slam- The earth began moving as if an earthquake was happening.

'What's going on…?'

Hyun looked outside through the window of the attic.

Ah…! When he realized the reason behind the earthquake, he shouted through the party conversation.

「Ain, log out!」

The shockwave went off right after that.

BOOM-!

Even though they had their eyes closed, it felt as if they were surrounded by light.

«Incineration»…

The magic that the Magicians the Holy Kingdom brought used was one that burned every being that didn't have Sacred Power.

The attack's effective range was everything within the caster’s field of vision.

The «Incineration», which started from a single point, soon grew in size and reached the fog outside the town.

The light covered the entire town, so Hyun and Louise had to face that attack.

[You've received 3837293 damage!]

[A Transcendent is protecting you! Your HP will be fixed at 1 for 3 seconds.]

['Physical Defect: Melting' has been canceled!]

'Ugh…!'

Hyun moaned in pain after feeling his body turn into dust.

He didn't even have time to tell Louise to use a return scroll.

If it weren't for the Robe of the Praying Priest, she would've disappeared without leaving a trace.

The town couldn't resist the effect of Incineration and was destroyed.

Slam!

When the light stopped, all the buildings had already collapsed.

Louise, who was in the attic, was buried under a pile of rock.

They heard a dry voice after a short while.

"I guess everyone should've died."

"I don't think that those that have Demonic Energy would've been able to survive."

"It was quite an extravagant way… but I guess there won't be problems."

The knights had checked the devil before going there through the Priest's magic.

It looked only a bit stronger than the users, so there was no way a devil like that would be able to withstand «Incineration».

"It seems like that wasn't Darkness."

Shakron smirked.

The fact that Light hadn't said anything probably meant that Darkness was still alive.

It seemed like the devil that looked like a vampire was just a servant that had received part of Darkness's strength.

"I didn't have any expectations. There's no way Darkness was at a place so easy to reach."

"I also wasn't expecting much, but unlike us, Priests always worry about lots of meaningless things."

While the knights talked with each other, someone found a new road.

"Mr. Shakron, there's the road."

[Remaining time before the road that leads to the Ruins of Darkness opens: 15 minutes 20 seconds.]

The road that led to the 'Ruins of Darkness' Hyun was waiting for.

Shakron smiled while looking at the road covered with fog.

"Is that the road that leads to the ruins? Then, Darkness should be ahead."

"According to the Priest, that should be the case. The fog will soon clear."

A few minutes after that…

As the fog cleared, a road that led toward a dark valley appeared.

"We're going. Everyone, prepare."

"Yes!"

Shakron's knights disappeared as quickly as they'd appeared.

There was only a heavy silence within Pitchblack Lighthouse.

After a while, some pieces of rock began moving, and Louise appeared from under them.

Hyun used an elixir that increased the recovery speed. Thanks to that, Louise recovered more than half of her HP.

"This…"

Louise looked at the remnants of the town.

There wasn’t anything left where the light had passed. There weren't any humans, devils, or even users…

If it weren't for a few traces, one wouldn't believe that it had been a peaceful town until the day before.

"…"

In the end, it was like Louise saw the city of Iluna crumbling again.

Thanks to «Assimilation», Hyun knew that Louise's feelings differed from what she felt that day.

She wasn't feeling fear and desperation. It was another type of feeling… Even if she hadn't said anything, Hyun thought he could understand her feelings.

She was silently screaming.

Ain: Are they gone?

LeeSeoHyun: Yes.

Paf-!

Ain appeared out of nowhere.

She’d been in the attic before everything crumbled, so she reappeared in the air.

She easily recovered her balance and landed on the ground; then she looked around.

"What happened…?!"

Ain couldn't hide her surprise after seeing that the town had disappeared without leaving a trace.

「They used «Incineration».」

"«Incineration»?! How many Magicians did they bring?"

「About 30 I believe…」

The specs of named NPCs were higher than users of similar levels.

Judging from the power they’d displayed, the Magicians they’d brought were probably around level 300 ~ 350.

'Did… the quest fail?'

Hyun looked at the quest window.

[ - You have to escape the danger of the Heavens and take Darkness with you. You probably already know where you have to go. ]

[ - Take Darkness to the place called heart. There, she probably will open her eyes to a new strength. ]

Hyun slowly nodded.

The fact that a new message hadn't appeared despite them not being able to defend the town meant that the main quest was still going.

The important thing wasn't defending from the attack of the Heavens but taking Louise to a specific place.

'So we'll have to go that way.'

The fog that moved over periods of a month had completely opened, and a road that led to a dark valley had appeared.

That was the road that led to the Ruins of Darkness. He would probably get answers to Louise’s identity at the end of the road.

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