Chapter 81: The Kaplan Effect (2) (2/2)

It was a clear, pure, and beautiful, as if it came from heaven.

Kaplan turned his head reflexively and then swallowed his breath.

The girl who was looking at him with the sunlight on her back was so beautiful that he unconsciously said.

“Angel?”

“I’m not an angel, I’m Cordelia. You remember me, right? Are you awake?”

Kaplan nodded, and only then could he fully wake up.

“What about the White, White Grizzly Bear?”

“Me and Jude defeated it. So rest assured. It’s safe here.”

Cordelia said with a smile.

As if it was nothing.

‘Because we caught a big fish seven times.’

Jude and Cordelia had already received information from the Wild Fairy Queen about the monsters that appeared in Raptor Canyon.

There were no monsters among those that the two couldn’t defeat.

“Aaah…ah…thank you. Thank you very much. You were in danger because of me…”

“Eh, what are you talking about? Rather, I benefited from Sir Kaplan. Thank you very much for being with me.”

Cordelia was sincere.

It wasn’t only Jude, as Cordelia had a conscience too.

It bothered her that they had used him as bait to attract the Named Monsters.

But it sounded completely different to Kaplan, who was unaware of the situation.

‘Ah…is she really an angel…’

She received help from him.

Thank you for being with me.

How long had it been since he had heard those words?

No, it wasn’t that long. When he thought about it, he had heard of it when he first became a professor.

‘How, how can a person be this kindhearted?’

Despite being in danger because of Kaplan himself, she was worried about him.

Cordelia’s warm words were like salvation to Kaplan, who had already thought of himself as a man who brought disasters like what everyone else thought.

“Angel…Miss Cordelia must be an angel. Huuk-”

Kaplan began to shed tears of emotion. Because all his past sorrows burst out at once.

“Si-sir Kaplan?”

“Thank you very much.”

When Kaplan sobbed as he clasped Cordelia’s hand, Cordelia was flustered and broke into cold sweat.

‘Why is he doing this?’

Did he notice that they used him as bait and was now trying to counterattack?

While Cordelia’s delusional circuits was weirdly turning because of her embarrassment, Jude was looking around them.

‘The entrance of the Endymion capital.’

Jude entered the interior of a structure that looked like a gateway, and he recalled one by one the monsters that they had encountered on their way here.

‘None of them were related to the demons.’

The Wild Fairy Queen’s information was accurate.

None of the monsters who lived in Raptor Canyon were directly related to the demons.

‘Lacto.’

It was the lowest-ranking demon in contrast to the Tomb Guardian.

It had appeared relatively recently.

Not by the standards of the wild fairies who had a twisted sense of time, but by human standards.

Then, where did it come from?

Who summoned it?

Could there be a connection between Lena’s death and the summoning of demons?

‘The place where Lacto appeared was the underground of Endymion.’

Jude began to look around to search for a way to go underground. But it was then.

“Jude!”

“Cordelia?”

“We found it! Sir Kaplan found a way to the underground!”

Jude followed her voice as he went outside and saw Cordelia jumping and the amazed Kaplan making a satisfied smile.

‘It’s surely Kaplan.’

He was a man who picks up artifacts even if he falls down on the road.

If Kaplan had found it, it would certainly be not an ordinary underground path.

“This way. I came across it by accident while tying my shoelaces.”

“As expected of Sir Kaplan.”

With a broad smile, Jude peered down the stairs that were going underground, which was next to an altar.

It was tightly sealed, and Cordelia had magically opened it.

“It’s not on the map that we got from the wild fairies.”

“It must be worth investigating.”

Jude immediately responded to Cordelia’s whisper, before he turned to Kaplan again.

“Sir Kaplan, we’re thinking of going down right away. Would that be all right?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

“Then let’s start right away.”

“Yeah!”

Jude was like Cordelia.

Far from resenting Kaplan, he even suggested to continue together.

To Kaplan, they were a such a kindhearted and good-natured man and woman.

“I will take the lead.”

“Yes, be careful.”

Jude readily took the lead with Kaplan before he glanced at Cordelia.

‘What happened? He seems to be highly excited.’

‘I don’t know.’

Cordelia shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, and Jude tilted his head.

‘Is it because we’re in the early stages?’

The Kaplan in Legend of Heroes 2 was truly a man of steel.

He always had a smile on his face, but it wasn’t a sincere smile.

It was a smile for building walls, not a smile for communication.

He was a man with an impregnable fortress who didn’t let anyone pass within a certain line.

But the current Kaplan was very different.

His attitude towards Jude and Cordelia were warm and tender.

‘Perhaps because it’s in the early stages.’

Kaplan had appeared in the middle stages of the game.

“Let’s go in quickly too.”

“Oh, yes.”

Jude was somewhat convinced and at Cordelia’s urging, he followed and moved downwards.

A dozen minutes passed like that.

The stairs which seemed to continue endlessly, finally came to an end.

Having descended almost a hundred meters down, they arrived at a huge underground temple.

“Wow…”

Cordelia exclaimed as she greatly increased the light of a magic orb, which she had used as a torch substitute.

It was so dark that they couldn’t identify everything around them, but the things that caught their eyes at that moment were amazing.

The ceiling height was around 30 meters high.

Large columns were erected all over the place, and magnificent sculptures were embossed on the pillars.

The sculptures were probably the ancient elven gods that the inhabitants of Magellan, the magic kingdom, believed in.

“The Endymion capital…”

Kaplan approached the pillars in admiration.

And it was at that moment.

Jude and Cordelia almost simultaneously looked at their back.

Jude sensed someone’s presence.

Cordelia felt her hair stand on end.

A gaze that was hiding in the dark and looking their way.

It wasn’t a person.

Neither was it a monster of this world.

A pair of red eyes flashed.

It silently took a step in the dark.

Demon.

No, a monster from hell.

Jude held his breath.

He inferred the height and shape of the monster from the size and height of the glowing eyes.

It was around 4 meters tall.

Judging from the size of the glowing eyes, it was a humanoid.

Another silent step.

No, it wasn’t a step in the first place.

Snake.

Its lower body was like that of a snake’s.

“Nazarus.”

A monster from hell with the upper body of a human and a lower body of a snake.

It was a higher species than Lacto. Moreover, it wasn’t a monster that could be defeated by using tricks like how they defeated Lacto on the bridge.

“It’s okay, we can fight against Nazarus.”

Both Jude and Cordelia had grown a lot stronger.

If the two were together, it was possible to fight it head-on.

“As long as it’s not rare. No, as long as it’s not Named.”

Just as a snake’s head was only one, the common Nazarus only had one human upper body.

But among the Nazarus were those with two upper bodies.

Cordelia nodded at Jude’s words, but only for a moment.

“As long as it’s not rare?”

“Yes, if it’s not rare…”

That was it.

As he thought of the same thing as Cordelia, Jude turned his head and gazed at the pillar, and the Nazarus in the dark couldn’t wait any longer.

“Human! Tear it to death!”

“Human! Kill and eat!”

Two voices rang at the same time.

Rare.

It wasn’t an ordinary Rare Monster either.

There was a horn in the middle of the forehead, proving that it was a Named Monster.

“Kaplan.”

The Kaplan effect.

As if responding to Jude’s babble, the Nazarus that was named Caracola raised its voice.

It charged towards Jude and Cordelia.