Chapter 29: The Fallen Corridor’s Master (3)

He was a player belonging to the Black Crow Guild.

It was Park Hajin.

“No, that’s impossible.”

Park Hajin’s voice quivered violently.

“We meet here, what a coincidence. So, what brings you all this way?”

Jinhyuk smiled faintly and swiftly grasped Park Hajin’s neck.

“Gak! Ack! It’s obviously because…!”

“Here for a dungeon raid?”

“That’s right.”

“You’re spouting nonsense.”

Jinhyuk tightened his grip.

“Kuhuk. Let’s talk after you let go, please. I can’t… breathe…”

“I’ll keep it short, so just answer with yes or no. Are you the ones who killed the sentries and woke the guardian?”

“What does that…”

Crack!

“Aaaaargh!”

Park Hajin twisted violently.

Pressured by a thumb on his collarbone, he was met with excruciating pain.

“Yes! Yes, it was us!”

As expected.

When he saw the wounds on the back of the sentries’ necks, he was certain.

The injuries were something only an assassin would inflict.

And the presence of unnecessary assassins in this dungeon raid meant one thing.

Park Hajin.

Yes, no one but you.

“You came here with the plan to kill me, I assume.”

“That’s not…”

Park Hajin’s pupils shook wildly.

In this no-escape situation, a false denial wouldn’t be believed.

Yet, to affirm was to die.

“Too slow to answer?”

Jinhyuk’s brow furrowed.

At the same time, his mana-charged fingers dug into Park Hajin’s shoulder.

Crack! Crunch!

The chilling sound of a shattered collarbone.

“Argh! Stop, please! I’ll talk. Just stop it!”

Park Hajin’s body writhed even more violently than before.

“Wait a moment. I am… Yes! It was our guild leader who forced me. Even though I said no, I couldn’t help it. He threatened me!”

The guild leader of the Black Crow Guild…

“Are you talking about Shin Geonsoo?”

I’ve seen him on TV.

It was a segment called ‘Rising New Guilds’ or something.

It was hard to forget the sight of him swaggering in a fancy suit and black sunglasses.

“Yes! Shin Geonsoo! That bastard ordered it. Please believe me.”

“…Fine. I’ll believe you.”

Jinhyuk released the pressure from his hand.

“Huff.”

Park Hajin exhaled a deep breath.

“Don’t feel relieved. I have no intentions of letting you live.”

Thunk!

A dagger dug deep into the flesh.

“Ku…huk?”

Park Hajin dazedly looked down at his chest.

Right where his heart was located.

“I usually don’t let those who target my life off easily. But thanks to you, things went smoothly, so consider this a favor. Be grateful.”

Jinhyuk coldly spoke and removed a ring from Park Hajin’s finger.

[Braham’s Ring]

Acquisition Difficulty: A

Magic Resistance: +10

Movement Speed: +5%

Suppression of Unique Abilities: +20

It was a shame for such an item to be owned by a dead person.

Jinhyuk slipped the ring onto his finger.

Sshhhk!

Then, mercilessly he finished off the rest of the Black Crow Guild’s assassins.

Perhaps due to the effect of [Heartless], there wasn’t a trace of mercy in Jinhyuk’s actions. And he certainly wasn’t stupid enough to show any humanity towards those who had targeted his life.

Amidst the blood-soaked scene, Jinhyuk turned his head to look at Elise.

“Does this prove that I am a Ma-in?”

He had killed the vampires they most dreaded to face, Teresa, as well as their captives.

Such acts were impossible if he intended to follow up on the implications.

The act of ‘Sympathy’ also contributed a bit to softening the opposition’s defenses.

“Fine, assuming I believe you.”

Elise stood up.

Her long silver hair flowed down her shoulders.

“What means do you plan to use to grant us freedom?”

Great.

Jinhyuk calmed his racing heart.

Keep calm.

Steady, without excitement…

Now it was time to slowly reel in the fishing line after the bait was taken.

“I’ve prepared a seven-star spell. If Elise’s soul can be sealed within an item, it could deceive the dungeon’s barrier for a moment.”

“A soul sealed? That’s a new concept to me.”

It would be.

This method only appears from the 40th floor upward in the Tower.

“Honestly, it was mostly due to luck. The formula that could serve as the basic framework was the hardest part… getting the exact amount of mana needed to supply each circuit was not easy.”

Jinhyuk gathered mana in his fingertips.

Wooom!

A blue light formed at his fingertip.

As if writing a letter, his fingers moved across the air.

One word.

[Signaculum]

And another one.

[Immortalitas] [Sanctuarium]

…

He drew a hexagram with six words.

As he injected different amounts of mana into each word, the blue light began to burn even more fiercely.

Whooosh!

The hexagram emitted an ominous aura.

“Oho.”

A hint of surprise showed on Elise’s face.

“…This is.”

“Can be used in such a way too.”

The onlooking vampires were stunned by the unfamiliar scene as they watched, slack-jawed.

In the meantime, Jinhyuk placed ‘Braham’s Ring’ in the center of the hexagram.

[The level condition (Level 1) of the caster ‘Kang Jinhyuk’ is recognized.]

[The incantation of the seven-star ‘Soul Transference’ is activated!]

[Upon obtaining the subject’s consent, the spell will be completed.]

[Only one soul can be taken out at a time.]

[The cooldown for the incantation is 365 days.]

Only one person can leave the dungeon, and the next opportunity wouldn’t come for another year.

Time is inconsequential to vampires who have received the blessing of immortality…

‘I’m not overly enthusiastic about accepting a spell I’m seeing for the first time.’

Elise’s beautiful eyes squirmed.

Yet it was only for a brief moment.

A smile curled around her previously tense lips.

She found a loophole in the incantation.

‘If you destroy the base hexagram of the incantation, you can cancel out the spell itself.’

Even if the man tried anything, they could always kill the human and break the seal with other vampires like Bellus around.

Now she had her safety mechanism in place, though she still felt an uncomfortable tinge.

‘Simply because things are suspicious doesn’t mean I can pass up on this opportunity.’

She had been trapped for far too long.

Thus, the temptation of freedom was too difficult to resist.

If not now…

Maybe she would never be able to leave this underground palace.

Her hesitation was short-lived.

“I accept. Proceed.”

As soon as Elise nodded, that very moment.

[Braham’s Ring absorbs the soul of the progenitor ‘Elise’.]

A dazzling light wrapped around Elise’s entire form.

***

“Haha.”

Jinhyuk retrieved the ring from within the hexagram.

Thump! Thump!

His heart beat erratically.

…Success!

It felt like all the hardships were finally paying off.

Had even one thing gone wrong, it would have been impossible to seal Elise within.

In the past, there had been countless failures too.

‘Thanks to the variable named Teresa, things went much smoother than expected.’

[Hmmm. Not as bad as I expected. I thought it would be confining, but it’s unexpectedly comfortable.]

Elise’s voice could be heard from the ring lying in his palm.

It seemed the interior was to her liking.

Lucky that.

For the future home to be satisfactory.

Just then.

“Ugh…”

A feeble moan came from Teresa, who had collapsed on the floor.

“How did that woman!”

“Wasn’t she dead?”

The vampires bared their fangs in surprise.

Clearly, they had confirmed her breath had stopped.

Even checked for any magical response, but there was none.

It was the undeniable certainty of death.

Yet, why?

“Oh… I forgot to mention. That friend, she revives even if she dies.”

The blessing of the star.

As long as she wasn’t killed instantly, she could revive.

Jinhyuk marveled as Teresa stood up.

Wow. Seriously.

The more he looked, the better the ability seemed.

It’s no wonder they call her a holy vermin, right?

[You wretch! How dare you mock me!]

Elise roared, having realized she was tricked. Naturally, she was furious.

However, Teresa, who had regained her senses, muttered with a complicated expression.

“So this was your plan.”

Because of the ‘Star’s Blessing’, even as her heart stopped, she managed to witness everything.

The wily rhetoric boiling down the progenitor.

Finally sealing her away. Everything.

This must have been why he insisted on blind trust…

“There are many things I want to ask, but now is not the time, right?”

“It’s not the moment for a leisurely chat.”

Right.

The time for conversation would come later.

Because not everything was concluded yet.

[Teresa has activated the Level 4 ‘Sanctus’.]

Teresa’s sword moved from side to side.

Pluck! Pluck!

The gags and blindfolds that restrained the people were removed.

“Gasps…”

“Panting!”

People who had been deprived of their senses gasped for air.

“I lived. I’m alive!”

“Wowww!”

Cheers erupted from here and there.

They all thought they were going to die, and now they had regained their freedom.

“You’ve arrived.”

Song Cheonhwa gave Teresa a short nod.

“I’m glad I’m not too late.”

Teresa helped Song Cheonhwa to his feet.

“How many people came in the rescue squad?”

At least three main attack groups from large guilds should have been deployed.

That level of force was essential, at a minimum.

But.

“Excluding myself, just one.”

The response from Teresa decimated all of Song Cheonhwa’s expectations.

***

“If you had pretended to be a Ma-in, at least you could have saved your life.”

“Such a foolish human…”

The vampires ground their teeth in anger.

They were ready to wipe out all humans, as they had been instructed to do if anything went awry.

There was no need to hesitate further.

Swoosh!

Various blood-potions began to dominate the surroundings.

Droplets of blood amalgamated into a giant wave.

The wave grew in height as if to engulf the entire palace.

The sheer strength of the magic was enough to make the skin crawl.

“We’re wrong.”

“I thought I’d barely survived, but…”

“I don’t want to die!”

They’d already been devastated once by the same skill.

Tanks who could stand against large monsters were torn apart like paper.

All types of dealer spells were nullified by higher-ranking magic.

The memory of that nightmare persist.

However, the wound had hardly healed before they were facing the same situation again.

Song Cheonhwa bit his lip with frustration.

“It ends here?”

Even with Teresa’s arrival, it was useless.

The vampires had 11 more of their kind than before.

The disparity in force hadn’t diminished at all.

At that moment.

[Level 13 ‘Blood Wave’ is activated!]

Kwakwakwakwakwa!

A wave of blood surged forward.

It was unstoppable.

There was no escape.

“…”

Song Cheonhwa closed his eyes.

Others also hung their heads or covered their faces with their hands, awaiting the impending doom.

But.

“…?”

The expected impact of the wave was not felt.

Nor was there any pain.

Song Cheonhwa cautiously opened his eyes.

Then he saw.

A man wearing a strange mask stood there.

Whooosh!

A giant wall of fire blocked the wave of blood.

Not just barely holding it off.

The moisture evaporated, and the droplets of blood gradually disappeared.

As if to prove who wielded denser magic power.

Who is he?

‘I’ve never heard of a Ranker with a mask… and using daggers.’

It must be someone new.

But does that even make sense?

A player capable of such powerful fire magic had gone unnoticed?

Even as he watched, he couldn’t quite believe it.

That’s why he had to ask.

“Who exactly is that person?”

To Song Cheonhwa’s question, a gentle smile rested on Teresa’s lips.

“A person you must absolutely trust.”