According to the original plan, the secret pa.s.sage of the Falcacio Castle was supposed to be blown up.
The reason why the secret pa.s.sage had to be blown up was simple.
The existence of the secret pa.s.sage was nothing more than a cheat.
The Falcacio Castle was the final content of the episode. It had numerous defense forces built up in it, and while pa.s.sing through the secret pa.s.sage more than half of them would turn invalid.
On the contrary, what would one think of the current situation where the secret pa.s.sage exploded?
“The game broke… d.a.m.n it…”
Muttered Na Ji-chan bitterly while taking a sip of his tea.
He really did support Ian, but he didn't realize that he would find such an answer.
“That really is a way that not many would find.”
Seeing Ian who just placed the overlapping portal made for the Asmodian users made Na Ji-chan thought that Ian might escape the trap.
But he didn't a.s.sume that he would opt for such an answer.
Na Ji-chan simply didn't understand how he could possibly stop the collapse of the secret pa.s.sage.
It might not look like a huge difference at first glance, but it definitely made a huge difference to the game.
If Ian would have chosen to attack the Falcacio Castle after escaping from the dungeon, he would have to start outwards, but now he prevented the collapse of the secret pa.s.sage to enter the castle.
“All that is left now… is just the Lich King, right?”
Of course, even before reaching the Lich King, powerful middle bosses of level 400 and above were lined up.
However, with Ian and Shakran at the forefront, there was no way they could be stopped.
The expedition would literally be able to break into the center and meet the Lich King by the end of the day.
“I need to take a breather. I'll watch the broadcast again after 5 hours. By then, they will be faced with the Lich King already.”
Chick-!
Na Ji-chan turned off the TV and entered his room while yawning.
He decided to go and get some sleep to catch the next crisis of Ian.
Ian and the expedition users controlled the explosion by the dark crystal and quickly broke through the end of the secret pa.s.sage.
It was mostly due to the expedition users, but the other reasons were important too.
Most of the monsters that existed back at the dungeon were high-leveled monsters, and after the Chaos Gate was destroyed, 30% of the combat abilities had been debuffed.
It was a situation where the term ‘abuse' could be used.
“Kya, this is like a bonus stay!”
“Can they get this weak all due to the debuff?”
“I don't know about the exact coefficient, but I think they have been nerfed at least 40%.”
Even with the debuff on the monsters, their rewards and drops weren't debuffed, so the users began to throw themselves at the monsters.
The average level of the users was around 400, and the monsters were nerfed which made them seem like level 300, so that scene was a literal ma.s.sacre.
And of course, the two most prominent ones among them were Ian and Shakran.
Tring-!
[Successfully defeated the monster ‘Injured Devildom's Gladiator'!]
[Obtained the experience of 79,809,312!]
[You have successfully defeated the monster ‘Lame Kirkos'!]
[Obtained the experience of 82,887,981!]
Ian was constantly wielding his Judgment of the Spirit King and kept cutting down the monsters of Devildom that were in front of him.
But even in such a perfectly presented situation, Ian was feeling disappointed.
‘s.h.i.+t, if only I had more time, I could've swept it all away…'
The first dungeon in the war for Ian and the expedition was the ‘Underground Prison' of Falcacio.
That meant that the first dungeon was still going on.
Overlapping in the bonus stage, it was the best hunting ground to catch.
It was very good in terms of the rewards and the experience.
However, Ian didn't have time to go behind them.
He didn't realize what kind of situation would come while spending a minute or even a second while hunting.
The clever strategy to get over the pitfalls safely, but the time limit was limited. However, they couldn't hold on to the ground as they had to get hold of the Lich King because of the quest.
Ian was constantly giving out orders and only focused on breaking through the dungeon as quickly as possible.
“Ceilron, Meran, please continue to cover Shakran at the back, and if one of you are dealers, please focus your support at the center!”
And there were few others like Emily who were questioning the orders of Ian.
“Ian, why don't we take care of them one after the other? Due to the debuff, the monsters are very week, anyway.”
However, Ian touched his hair and responded,
“No. We can't slow down yet. In this dungeon, we never know what kind of trap would ever appear again.”
“Aren't you agonizing too much about it?”
“The experiences are a bit of a waste, even then I think we need to get out of this dungeon as fast as possible.”
“Nice. It does make sense. I'll let you go ahead.”
After convincing them, Ian turned away his head. Ian quickly managed to clear the second half of the dungeon.
Had it been an hour or so?
Tring-!
[You have successfully cleared the ‘Underground Prison' dungeon of Falcacio Castle!]
[You have eliminated all the remnants of the Devildom soldiers from the underground of Facacio!]
[Obtained experience of 97,890,989!]
[Acquired fame of 200,000!]
At last, the dungeon clear message came in front of the expedition users.
“Kya! We did it!”
“We finally came through the dungeon!”
“Kuu, if it wasn't for Ian, we would have been watching the other part of the game on the TV.”
Thrilled voice of the expedition users could be heard everywhere.
“Good work, kid. I can't help but admire your effort today.”
Even the proud Shakran was praising Ian.
“Haha, welcome.”
However, Ian didn't forget to stimulate Shakran.
Until he defeated the Lich King, he had to use Shakran's ability to the fullest.
“Since I have shown this much, could you still keep up, uncle?”
And Shakran followed those well.
“Huhu, kid, no need to worry. From here on, I'll show you the strength of the t.i.tan Guild.”
Listening to the rant from Shakran, Ian couldn't help but smile.
‘Uncle, show a little more strength. If I get some hidden dual or something, I'll give you some congo.'
Expedition users were checking the rewards for a while, they checked their statuses and were making loud noises.
However, the hustle and bustle didn't last for long.
Less than a minute after the dungeon clear message came, bizarre sounds came from the iron gate that was blocking the end of the dungeon.
Kikkkik- Kuk-!
An unpleasantly irritating voice came from the rusty metal bars.
However, it wasn't so bad for Ian.
The iron door began to open with a creaking sound.
Kukung-!
And between the opening of the iron gate, a white light began to pour in.
It was the view of the castle that had white snow in the background. After seeing that, Ian's eyes went wide.
‘Done…!'
He was finally successful in entering the Falcacio Castle.
A bizarre fort that rose high.
The highest level.
At the center of the room was the ceiling that was so high that it was hard to see, and a huge throne that was three times the normal size.
And the owner of the throne was the King of Dead, Lich King, Chalian.
“You did well, son Asmodian.”
“Thank you, Lord Chalian. I just did my best.”
Sitting on the large throne was the Lich King, Chalian who was talking to an Asmodian who was knelt in front of him.
And of course, he was Limlong who had escaped from the secret pa.s.sage using the dark portal.
But the interesting thing was that Chalian and Limlong didn't know that the expedition users weren't wiped out.
“You have done it, surely?”
“Yes, King of Dead. I confirmed the swelling of the dark crystal.”
“Kul kul, you should have done that. The dark crystals aren't things that humans can stop.”
Chalian had a satisfied expression. He laughed in a peculiar manner while moving his shoulders.
Chalian was happy because they were convinced that the expedition users were wiped out.
It was because of the system message that Limlong had received that said that his quest that Chalian gave him was a success.
The quest which Limlong had received from Chalian was to blow up the secret pa.s.sage with the dark crystals, and the quest was deemed successful since the crystals did explode.
The words of the Lich King continued,
“If the explosion succeeded, the insignificant humans would have been severely damaged for sure.”
Limlong tried to picture the image of Ian and Shakran buried in the explosion.
“Yes, King, even the best warriors of the humans were in that group, and now the humans won't be able to get here.”
“Surely. Kulkul, humans indeed are foolish beings.”
Chalian and Limlong were happy for the killings that they did.
Limlong was happy with the idea that he had successfully destroyed the humans, and it was the same for Chalian.
In addition, Limlong would have his congo increased because his affinity with Chalian increased, so it was natural for the conversation between them to continue.
“But, are you the only Asmodian who survived from the Devildom?”
“Yes, King. However, don't worry. Until I get by to the world of Devildom, I swear to do well.”
“Yeah, well. I believe you.”
Every time his conversation with the Lich King got extended, Limlong couldn't help but smile because of how much his affinity with the Lich King had been rising.
‘Huhu, by now you would've gone out of the game humans. You probably are wiping your feet, right?'
Even though it was just a thought, it was enough to make Limlong smile.
However, he didn't know the truth.
His continued conversation with the Lich King to increase his affinity was actually helping the human users get closer.
The long dialogue exchange between Limlong and the Lich King was turning into a distraction.
‘Lotus and t.i.tan are wiped out. Will it take them at least two days to get in here? Isn't it too bad to log out like this… to go out in front of the king?'
Limlong was firmly convinced that the expedition users and Ian had died, which made it harder for him to think of any alternative.
