abcnovels
Chapter 92:
Chapter 92:
Chapter 92:
Chapter 92
The underworld’s jailers were skeleton soldiers wearing oriental-style armor.
The armor was worn out and torn in places, but that only added to their eerie atmosphere.
There were ten of them holding spears.
They moved in two rows, slowly crossing the wooden bridge over the sulfur river.
Kwon Jia and I hid ourselves a little distance away.
The sulfur gas around us concealed our presence.
‘There are more of them than I thought.’
I had expected at least dozens of them inside, but if the ones who came out were that many, then there must be more than 30 left.
If we had stormed in without knowing anything, we would have suffered a defeat.
The Ghost around us seemed to notice the movement of the jailers, and their noises gradually faded away.
Even those creatures who had nothing left but endless hunger and instinct knew how terrifying the underworld’s jailers were.
“Miss Kwon Jia. How long will it take for the patrol to return?”
“An hour. The patrol range is not that wide. They just make a big circle around this sulfur river and come back.”
“An hour. That’s a bit tight, depending on how you look at it.”
That meant we had to deal with all the jailers inside and get the hidden piece that was sleeping deeper within an hour.
And if we also considered the way to clear the world of thought, an hour might be too short.
“But we can do it, right?”
“…Are you asking me that?”
“Well, you are the protagonist of this story, after all. I have to hear the collector’s opinion.”
“Haven’t we already come this far?”
She reacted as if it was strange for me to ask her that.
The teller she knew would never ask or agree with the collector’s opinion.
“We have no choice but to do it now. Even though this is my first time coming here, we have to do it anyway.”
“That’s a good attitude.”
I nodded with satisfaction and looked around.
The jailer squad had already crossed half of the sulfur river.
They would never forgive any intruders, whether they were Ghost or collectors.
As soon as they caught sight of us, they would surely try to eliminate us without hesitation.
Skeleton soldiers who performed their given roles without fear or emotion.
They were almost like machines, so it might be easier to face the Ghost who only had instinct left.
‘If those guys join the fight later, it will be very dangerous.’
The Ghost ran away because they knew their danger. This area had become a perfect no man’s land.
‘No. That’s not true.’
I felt a presence approaching from afar and smiled at the corner of my mouth.
Kwon Jia must have felt it too, as she looked beyond the gray curtain of ash wind that was swirling in the distance.
Someone was coming from over there.
Soon, a group of collectors appeared and Kwon Jia clicked her tongue.
“People? Did they follow us here?”
“Maybe they came here out of curiosity. They want to know what we are up to, and why there are no Ghost here.”
The people who showed up late looked exhausted from fighting with Ghost on their way.
They seemed to have gathered together after realizing the danger, unlike what I had expected.
The number of collectors who gathered was close to 30.
The number had increased since we entered the world of thought, which meant that more people had joined from outside.
“This is good for us. They will draw the attention of the patrol squad, don’t you think?”
I left those collectors alone for this reason.
No matter how I thought about it, it seemed impossible for Kwon Jia and I to break into that guardhouse by ourselves.
Even if we timed our attack with the patrol, I wasn’t confident about securing our safety.
So I used them as bait.
Kwon Jia realized that too, but she looked uncomfortable.
“You don’t seem very happy about it.”
“…”
“But you have to understand this.
This place was supposed to be only for us two.
They came here without permission and tried to interfere with us.”
Besides, their eyes were full of greed for any possible items they could get here.
They didn’t just follow us mindlessly.
They must have had their own goals for coming here.
“They made their choice according to their purpose. And they are responsible for whatever consequences their actions bring. Do you still sympathize with them?”
“No. I don’t sympathize with them.”
Kwon Jia said that, but I could sense a faint hesitation in her voice.
She had repeated the same life hundreds of times and had the cheat-like trait of infinite regression, but she still reacted like that.
She was very different from the regressor I knew.
I decided not to point that out and move on.
Right now, we had to prioritize dealing with the remaining enemies while their forces were reduced.
Kwon Jia and I hid ourselves and held our breaths, watching the group of collectors.
“Baek Hyo.”
At my call, Baek Hyo appeared in the air.
Kwon Jia had already heard about Baek Hyo, so she didn’t show any surprise, but she still stared at him with curiosity.
“Please.”
Hoot. Hoot.
Baek Hyo understood my words and flew high into the sky.
Soon, I shared his vision and saw the collectors more clearly.
“Wow. What is this place? There was something like this here?”
“More importantly, where did those guys go?”
“Whatever happened, I can’t back down now that I’ve come this far. Besides, it seems like there’s something beyond that.”
“Hey. You didn’t forget to share the reward fairly, did you?”
They seemed to have agreed on something while they were coming here, and they were already having such a conversation.
“Well, it’s not a very nice sight to see them stick together like this. But there’s no choice.”
“More than that, this is the first time I’ve come to this kind of world. That Baekhwa Management, or whatever. They must have something good in mind, since they’re trying to do something here.”
“Hehehe. I hope they don’t disappoint us.”
There were already a few guys who were bragging because of their greed.
I chuckled as I listened to their words.
Yeah.
The thing that’s about to happen soon won’t disappoint you guys at all.
Rather, it will make you guys more shocked than you can imagine.
“They’re about to collide soon.”
“Yeah.”
It was almost at the same time that I said that and the collector group found the skeleton group coming out of the sulfur gas.
“Wha, what?”
“What is that? That’s not a goblin!”
Just as the collectors discovered the skeleton soldier, the skeleton soldier also discovered the collector group.
The skeleton soldier who had just crossed the sulfur stream reacted as soon as they found the intruders.
Squeak.
Red light burst out from their black, hollow eyes. At the same time, they drew out their weapons and moved swiftly to spread out their formation.
The number of the Ghost troops was ten.
The collectors were over thirty.
The difference in power was more than three times if you just looked at the numbers.
But the skeleton soldier had no fear.
Their only goal was one thing.
To eliminate the outsiders who invaded.
“Huh? What’s that? Are they trying to fight us?”
“Everyone, grab your weapons! I was already annoyed by dealing with those goblins, but this is perfect.”
“How dare you, you skull-faced bastards, to come at us without fear?”
The collectors spat out such shouts as they saw the skeleton soldier.
They would have been pushed back by their momentum, but they were encouraged by their large numbers and were also burning with fighting spirit.
This wouldn’t be a picture where one side would easily collapse.
Clack clack clack.
The skeleton soldier of the underworld maintained their formation and slowly approached the collectors with their spears.
The collectors also held their weapons and prepared to fight by raising their own strength.
The two groups collided when they reached each other’s vicinity.
“Let’s move now.”
“…Yeah.”
Kwon Jia’s answer came a little late, but as soon as I moved, she followed me without hesitation.
They were distracted by the fight and didn’t pay attention to us.
Kwon Jia and I quickly approached the palace through the path that the skeleton soldier had crossed.
Sulfur gas erupted from various places, making it a bit hard to breathe, but it wasn’t a big blow to us who were not ordinary people.
Behind us, screams and the sound of weapons clashing echoed like a reverberation.
We felt that on our backs and reached the front gate of the palace.
There was no one guarding the entrance, so we opened the gate.
Boom!
The wooden door opened wide to both sides.
At the same time, some of the skeleton soldier roaming around the courtyard noticed us.
“Jia!”
“I know without you saying it.”
The first move is the winning move.
Especially since we were in a position to surprise them, it was a more necessary action.
The skeleton soldier didn’t panic even at the surprise. Like machines programmed to do so, as soon as they saw us, they immediately grabbed their weapons and came towards us.
Kwon Jia and I collided with the skeleton soldier.
I dodged the spear that stabbed at me by twisting my upper body.
I quickly penetrated into his inner side.
I lowered my torso and pressed my body against the ground as I dashed.
The Ghost didn’t panic either, and moved his spear handle to hit my head with it.
I read his movement until there and swung my white lotus to deflect his spear handle.
A gap appeared in his movement, and I swung my white lotus with all my strength.
Slash!
The armor and the bone inside were cleanly cut off. The red light in the Ghost’s eyes grew bigger and his body crumbled.
I looked to the side, and Kwon Jia had also finished off the Ghost.
There were three huge scars on the Ghost’s body, as if a beast had scratched him.
We met each other’s eyes as if we had nothing to say and entered the building.
As soon as we crossed the threshold, some of them who were waiting inside pushed out their long spears to stop us.
They were fast to react, maybe because they had no emotions.
Kwon Jia and I knocked down one of the obstacles each.
The inside of the palace was much bigger than what we saw from the outside.
The dark interior, where no light came in, stretched out so long that we couldn’t see the end.
Red lights, presumably belonging to the skeleton soldier, floated in the darkness.
Squeak.
“…!”
As soon as I heard the sound of something being pulled hard, I immediately changed my white lotus into a shield and covered Kwon Jia and my body with it.
Ting ting ting ting ting!
Arrows flying from beyond the darkness hit the white lotus roughly.
I didn’t expect them to have archers inside.
More than that, I thought there wouldn’t be many left inside, except for those who went out on patrol, but did that mean there were more troops inside?
‘If we hadn’t used the collector group, it might have been more dangerous.’
The arrow shower stopped and I put away the shield.
Kwon Jia ran towards them as if she had been waiting for it.
When they got close, the ones who shot the bows drew their swords from their waistbands and joined the fight.
I also activated my [Bright Eyes] skill and followed behind her.
She was fighting well even in this darkness.
No, she didn’t see their faces.
She just guessed their positions by the skeleton soldier’ eyes, and predicted their attacks by listening to the sound of cutting through the air.
‘Is that the sense that has been honed to the extreme by experiencing countless deaths?’
Moreover, that was not a skill or a power of a story, but a purely skill that was completed through experience.
I could never imitate that no matter how hard I tried.
We continued to move forward while taking care of the skeleton soldier blocking our way.
How many thresholds did we cross, and how many of them did we deal with?
A large room greeted us.
There were no skeleton soldier who had been blocking us until now.
Instead, there was a skeleton soldier wearing a fancy armor, different from other skeleton soldier, sitting on a throne.
No. He was not a soldier.
He was much bigger than the skeleton soldier, and his armor was not an ordinary thing either.
He was the commander and boss-level fantasy of this place, the skeleton general.
[Intruders…]
He spat out a bleak sound as he got up from his seat and drew his sword from his waistband.
It was a sword that emitted a translucent white aura unlike ordinary ones.
[Eliminate…]
[Bright Sword (Ming Dao)]
That was the hidden piece that existed in this world of goblins and fantasy.
And guarding it was a fantasy creature that looked much stronger than anyone we had faced so far.
He was the boss of this place.
There was a sound of something rushing in from outside the door.
The remaining skeleton soldier who were guarding the inside of the palace heard the commotion and came running.
In front of us was a boss-level fantasy creature.
Behind us were enemies coming towards us.
“Can you do it?”
I leaned my back against hers and looked at the entrance we came in.
There was only one thing I had to do here.
Leave the fight with that general to Kwon Jia, and protect her back.
“Don’t hold me back.”
And the answer that came back to me was a typical regressor’s words.