Chapter 240 (1/2)
<hr />
Adel Castle took the initiative and led the others on the dungeon raids.
The location this time was a massive green-colored dungeon located in the slums.
The difficulty of this one was fairly high among all the dungeons left unraided not just in the San Francisco area but the whole of California.
Slice—, chop, splash—
Splat—!
Adel’s sword sliced through the air a couple of times and tore a large toad-like monster about to pounce on him to shreds.
The bits of the monster’s remains rained down on the ground. This monster was about mid-boss level, something fairly uncommon even within green-colored dungeons, yet it still couldn’t stop Adel’s advance.
“Hey, isn’t he amazing?”
“As expected of Adel Castle. These are the skills of Europe’s best!”
“Well, things might have gotten pretty interesting if the Ranking Wars continued on, don’t you think so?”
Adel could hear murmurings coming from behind him.
They were doing their best to lower their voices as much as possible, but he could still hear them all. Adel’s hearing had already exceeded the level most regular awakeners thought he had by now.
That’s right. It’s so obvious.
Adel thought a guffaw would explode from him any second now. He had to pay a particularly good level of attention to not show any hint of amusement on his face.
Everything was perfect—they looked at him with respect, and the current situation was good for him.
Things might get delayed in one or two places, but that can’t be helped, I guess.
Right now, it looked as if he was taking the lead in cleaning up the mess that Gordon Rohan, as well as the Paragon Guild, had created.
Although it was not within his calculations that Su-hyeun would figure out this crisis so soon, there hadn’t been any big deviation from what Adel had imagined things would turn out.
That’s right. With the way things were going, it’s basically done.
Nothing seemed too concerning at the moment.
However, when this crisis comes to an end, the Gordon Company that organized the Ranking Wars should suffer a major blow.
It was unfortunate that Adel wasn’t the first one to shed light on the dungeon generation situation, but it was already enough to make him feel relieved of his pent-up stress.
That’s why you shouldn’t have shown off, you fools.
This wouldn’t be the end either. There were still plenty of opportunities left to be exploited.
A hero? My foot.
Adel recalled Su-hyeun’s face.
Even if you do right by the public one hundred times, they’ll still turn on you with one mistake. I shall make you realize that from now on.
Spit—
The sole remaining toad-like monster spewed out green saliva out of its large maw.
Adel dodged the secreted saliva and dashed toward the toad monster. Right afterward, he swung his sword in a great arc to his side, slicing the monster in two halves.
Splash—!
Just as he finished cutting down the last monster…
Huh?
Adel reflexively swung his sword one more time.
Swoosh—
His automatic reaction was due to a figure covered in a robe that appeared behind the toad monster’s sliced up halves.
Fwooosh—
Adel’s sword simply cut through nothing but air.
Nothing stood in the spot that his sword sliced past. A robed figure was definitely standing there, yet “he” vanished in an instant even though Adel hadn’t looked away once.
Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me?
He stirred up his magical energy and pushed his senses to the max, but he still couldn’t detect anything. He blinked a couple of times as he turned his head.
It was right at that moment that Adel’s whole body froze up. “What the… hell is this?”
His raid companions following him from behind only a couple of seconds ago were nowhere to be seen.
The surroundings had fallen eerily silent. Adel gripped the sword in his hand even tighter.
“You’re exactly the human I’ve been waiting for.”
Shudder—
The deathly chill that Adel felt from that voice was similar to how countless blades would stab his whole body. He immediately leaped backward to create some distance between them.
He rose up a dozen or so meters in an instant and finally got to see a figure cloaked in a black robe.
In other words, he wasn’t mistaken earlier.
Tap—
Adel landed back on the ground and remained alert against the figure. His eyes could see the robed being, yet he still couldn’t sense its presence. This was the first time he felt something like this.
“What the hell are you?” he asked.
“I am a god.”
That sure was an absurd reply.
“Claiming to be a god, huh? Then, you’re just another insane bastard.”
Rather obviously, Adel didn’t view the robed being as someone with a sane mind. He simply thought that an awakener with mental issues had entered the dungeon without permission, that’s all.
“I wonder about that…”
Upon saying that, the figure pulled the hood of its robe back.
“…!”
“It is not I who claim to be a god. No, the countless underlings serving me say that.”
The face that was revealed was made purely of bones with not a single bit of flesh on it.
It was a Lich.
“What’s this? You’re merely a monster.”
Adel took the Lich as yet another monster that commonly appeared in dungeons. Up until earlier, he had to deal with toad-like monsters but now, even a Lich? Something didn’t really add up, but he didn’t think it would be too complicated regardless.
And his thoughts weren’t really off the mark.
“Humans of this world see the existences crossing over from other worlds as monsters. Well, that isn’t wrong, strictly speaking. In that sense, I too am a monster.”
“Busy yapping on and on…”
Adel had no desire to waste any more of his time, but just as he tried to swing his sword again…
What’s going on? My body…
His body had frozen stiff.
In a mere green-colored dungeon? Me?!
“It seems that you took far too long to realize that something is wrong.”
Step, step—
The Lich King walked over to Adel and his frozen body and placed its bony finger on top of the latter’s head. “You have led us here. Your greed, your desire for vengeance, all of your vile emotions have succeeded in calling the monster that is I to this world. For that, I thank you.”
The Lich King’s finger resting on Adel’s head then slid down to his face.
Hiss, sizzle—
Aaaaaaahk—!