Chapter 160

Jun-sang slowly began to stretch and warm up his body. Since he couldn’t predict what kind of quest would activate, he needed to be ready to respond to any situation immediately after the transfer. This was only possible because of the generous waiting time. Or, more accurately, because the remaining time was so ambiguous for doing anything else, this was all he could do. At least it was better than sitting idly and waiting for time to pass.

Henes quietly watched him, and when Jun-sang checked the remaining time and turned his head, she looked at him with a tense expression. Lyches couldn’t understand why the two of them had suddenly stopped bathing and were looking so serious, but when Henes quietly explained the situation to her, she nodded with a grave expression.

“Something like that…”

“So, Your Majesty, we’ll need a lot of your help in the future.”

“…”

Only then did Lyches understand the reason why this girl had accepted her whim.

“Seriously… I can’t win.”

“Huh?”

Henes looked bewildered at Lyches’s bitter smile, but the Fairy Queen nodded quietly and said, “Okay. I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you.”

After warming up and talking, they nervously waited for time to pass. When it was finally time, Jun-sang said to Henes and Lyches, “I’ll summon you back soon.”

“Okay.”

Neither of them liked the process of de-summoning, but this time, even the slightly headstrong Lyches couldn’t voice a complaint.

“…”

Seeing them quietly nod, Jun-sang reached out and stroked their heads. He didn’t know what would happen after they were left behind when he was transferred. Of course, he was curious, but he had no intention of experimenting on them or his other pets just to satisfy that curiosity. The best-case scenario would be a tie, and if something went wrong, it would be worse than not trying at all. Why would he need to test it?

Henes and Lyches felt Jun-sang’s touch and quietly closed their eyes. As they went through the process of de-summoning, they disappeared from his sight.

It would be better if the transfer happened as soon as preparations are complete during the waiting time.

Jun-sang thought this as he waited for the time to pass. When the remaining time was completely used up, a light erupted from his body, and the transfer was completed.

He arrived at the entrance of a cave in a dark forest. As soon as he arrived at the new location, Jun-sang first used his cloak to hide his presence, then checked the quest details.

Prevent the Ritual.

: Just as the Spirit Gate was opened and the power of the sealed spirits was activated, a ritual to open the Gate of Evil Spirits is happening simultaneously in various parts of the continent, including a corner of the Maze of the Ancient King. Break through the maze and prevent the ritual taking place in the Ancient King’s Stone Chamber.

[This quest is participated in by multiple people at the same time.]

(Hidden) Defeat Undel, the Priest of Evil Spirits. (Cooperative)

(Hidden) Defeat the Cursed King Emhura. (Cooperative)

(Hidden) Defeat the Guard Captain Kyurol. (Cooperative)

(Hidden) Defeat the Hellhounds. (0/4) (Cooperative)

(Hidden) Rescue the Maidens taken as sacrifices. (0/7) (Cooperative)

(Hidden) Destroy the Seven Guardian Stones. (Cooperative)

The Gate of Evil Spirits?

Jun-sang frowned as he checked the quest details. It was a normal quest, not an epic one. But with six hidden quests, it was far from a simple normal quest. Moreover, the quest description said that these rituals were happening simultaneously in various parts of the continent. Jun-sang had painfully experienced this kind of quest several times before.

“Tsk…”

While Jun-sang was clicking his tongue, other returnees arrived one after another. There were seven of them, not including Jun-sang. This meant the quest had at least double the difficulty of a normal one.

“This… doesn’t look easy.”

“I know. A quest for eight people…”

Some people wondered why it was seven and not eight. The number of people mobilized for a typical quest was usually four. Therefore, parties were often formed with four people. It wasn’t impossible to form a party with more, but it would result in the number of participants changing each time. What would happen if a party of five was formed and only four were transferred, and the missing person was a healer? Of course, this was an extreme case, but if such a situation occurred, it could lead to the life or death of everyone in the party, not just a setback in power. Naturally, it was far more efficient to form a party of four from the beginning and build teamwork accordingly.

In any case, it would have been natural for the number to be eight, which is double the usual four, and the actual number of people mobilized for this quest was indeed eight.

Jun-sang checked the abilities of the other returnees. Half of them were green, and one or two were even blue. Blue indicated a much lower level of ability, not even comparable to his own. Of course, it was meaningless to compare individual abilities with mere numbers, and considering that the people marked yellow in Jun-sang’s sight had been boss-level enemies from epic quests or Dark Seed users, it might have been only natural.

But one thing was clear. They seemed lacking in many ways to form a team and be of any help to Jun-sang. Furthermore, Jun-sang was no longer alone. He had four wolves, ten spirits in total, and four other pets.

After confirming the abilities of the returnees, Jun-sang wasted no time and used Phase Shift to move into the cave. If he had to do it, it was best to finish it quickly.

As he entered the cave, a dark, natural cavern was revealed. In the past, he would have summoned spirits like wisps or fireflies to light the way, but with his new super-senses, Jun-sang could see the situation within a certain distance more clearly than if he were using his eyes, even without a light.

He immediately used Phase Shift again to move quickly into the cave. Deeper inside, the cavern widened into a large open space. And in it, the first enemies, zombies, were lumbering around. There was no need to waste time with opponents of this level.

But Jun-sang, who was about to destroy them and move on, suddenly decided to check the enhanced abilities of his spirits. Before the Spirit Gate was opened, the spirits’ power was so weak that they could barely defeat a single zombie on their own. But how about now? He had a rough idea, but he needed to confirm it through an actual battle.

Finishing his thoughts, Jun-sang summoned all of his spirits at once. The dark cave was brightly lit up as the spirits appeared. The zombies, who had been lumbering around, shrieked and rushed at the spirits that had suddenly appeared in the cave.

The first to move was the light spirit, Firefly. Firefly exploded in a brief flash, like a camera flash. The flash was powerful enough to instantly blind a normal creature, but unfortunately, it did not do much damage to the zombies’ rotting eyes. The zombies flinched and paused when the light exploded, then shrieked and tried to move again.

But they couldn’t move their feet. The ground they were standing on had turned into a sand swamp, sucking in their legs. This was the power of Sandfish, the earth spirit.

A cold north wind began to sweep toward the zombies, who were flailing like people caught in water. This was the combined effect of the Southern Wind, Snowflake, and Gentle Breeze. The zombies flailed, and the cold wind froze their rotting flesh, making them stiffen like statues.

A bolt of lightning then struck the stiffened zombies. As the lightning, reeking of pungent ozone, rained down in the cave, the frozen zombies shattered into pieces with an explosion-like roar.

The last was the wisp. A phantom-like red flame burned the shattered bodies of the zombies, and the Gentle Breeze pushed the pungent smoke out of the cave.

“…”

With about twenty zombies disappearing in an instant, even without him undoing his invisibility, Jun-sang nodded in satisfaction. At this level, the power was even stronger than when he had used the Elemental Dragon for spirit amplification. What would happen if the Elemental Dragon amplified the spirits’ power now? Even a boss-level creature would find it difficult to withstand such an attack.

Jun-sang called Mong-mong to collect the seeds, then summoned Henes and Lyches as well. The brown-haired girl and the small fairy queen with rainbow-colored hair immediately appeared with a flash of light.

“This is…”

As Henes looked around and spoke, Jun-sang briefly explained the content of this quest. Lyches, who was listening, reacted immediately.

“The Gate of Evil Spirits… I can’t believe there are humans who would do something so insane.”

Jun-sang shook his head at Lyches’s words. “It’s difficult to assume they’re necessarily human.”

“Huh? Then…”

“I don’t know. I don’t know exactly what they are. Only that they are enemies to be defeated.”

“Hmm…”

As Mong-mong collected the seeds, Jun-sang said to them again, “Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

Jun-sang summoned his wolves to the front and arranged the spirits around himself and Henes. He then left the rear to Lyches and the Elemental Dragon and began to quickly break through the cave.

A little further inside, skeleton soldiers appeared, with zombies leading the way. The enemies were confirmed, but there was no need for Jun-sang to move. He did only one thing.

“Attack.”

He uttered a single, short command. It was a single word, almost devoid of emotion. But the moment that word was spoken, the four giant wolves and ten spirits rushed toward the enemies.

-Gwahhh!

The zombies flailed their arms and charged at the wolves, but they fell into the sand swamp created by Sandfish, and their necks were torn out by the wolves, stopping them in their tracks. The skeleton soldiers fared no better. They bravely charged with their swords and shields at the wolves, but their formation was broken by the wind, and a barrage of electricity, flames, and ice rained down on them, shattering them in an instant.

“Wow…”

Lyches, who had been a little tense because it was her first battle with Jun-sang, was speechless at how quickly the enemies were wiped out. She wasn’t tense because of the fight itself. She was just trying to figure out the right time to step in and make a good impression on Jun-sang, which made her nervous. But even to her eyes, the sight of the wolves and spirits working together to instantly sweep away the undead was frankly astonishing. She could understand the wolves, but to command as many as ten spirits at once? She had thought he was amazing just from commanding the Elemental Dragon, but she hadn’t known it was to this extent.

After the battle, as Mong-mong ran out to collect the items again, Henes saw a few wolves with wounds and untied her whip from her waist.

Whip crack!

Lyches was confused, wondering what Henes was doing, whipping the wolves. But when she saw the cuts on the wolves’ bodies instantly heal, her eyes widened.

“Wow… how did you do that?”

Henes, hearing Lyches’s admiring words, replied in an embarrassed voice, “It’s just… this whip is that kind of item.”

“That’s so cool.”

After Mong-mong finished collecting the items, Jun-sang used his mini-map to lead the way, and after two or three more battles, they finally arrived at the entrance of the maze.

“Hmm…”

He couldn’t see the detailed structure since the mini-map didn’t have a zoom function, but he could get a rough idea of the locations of the hidden quest objectives through the red markers. Jun-sang looked at the maze in front of him and remembered the time he was in the Tutorial. Back then, he had to touch the walls and explore the maze one by one, but the Jun-sang of today had a level of power that was completely different from back then.

Jun-sang first used his mini-map and super-senses to gauge the thickness of the walls. Then he checked the top and bottom to consider the repercussions if the walls were to collapse.

Seeing him, Lyches, who was standing idly by, quickly said, “It’s reinforced with magic.”

“Is it?”

Jun-sang frowned at the unexpected information and asked again, “Is it harder than your house?”

He was asking how the walls compared to the white walls surrounding Lyches’s residence. If they were that strong, it would be difficult to break through them.

But Lyches waved her hand as if that was an absurd thought. “Oh, please. It’s really unfair to compare it to such a crude level of magic. I put my heart and soul into making my place.”

“I see.”

Jun-sang nodded, took Langdazal’s Fury out of his inventory, and said, “Stand back.”

Lyches was flustered. “Y-you don’t mean?”

But that was exactly what he meant. As Henes pulled Lyches, who was frozen in place, back, Jun-sang slowly stepped forward and slammed the giant flail into the maze wall. He was only lightly hitting it to check its strength, but the magic protecting the wall reacted violently to the light blow and then vanished in an instant.

“Ha… haha…”

How uncivilized…

Lyches thought to herself. She had called it a crude level of magic, but that was a phrase only a being who had lived for ten thousand years like Lyches could use. But for him to casually hit it once and destroy the magic completely?

Before she could recover from her shock, the flail was swung again, destroying the wall and creating a hole. Lyches thought that if the maze hadn’t been protected by magic, the ceiling might have collapsed from a shock like that.

While she was thinking, Jun-sang returned Langdazal’s Fury to his inventory, sent his wolves and spirits through the hole he had created, and said to the retreating Henes and Lyches, “Let’s go.”

“Okay…”