Chapter 143 – Chapter 26: Conquest #4

Apocalypse could be associated with words such as prophecy, revelation, and so on.

In other words, if there were Four Knights of the Apocalypse, then there was a possibility of the existence of things such as a book of revelations or a prophecy.

He had heard the title ‘the Four Knights of the Apocalypse’ for the first time from the last flame. However, the last flame hadn’t mentioned anything about the apocalypse. She didn’t know anything except that the knights were desperate for destruction.

For her, the Four Knights of the Apocalypse was just a story.

In-gong only had access to the first floor of the library, which could be called the surface, so he couldn’t obtain such information. However, adding up all his merits from this time, he might be able to find new information.

After finishing the conversation with Felicia, In-gong contacted the transfer facility near Takar. The communication device installed on the Black Flame Dragon had the essence of the dark elves’ power, so the distance for sending and receiving signals was considerable.

By communicating through each base from the transport formation tower, the news would reach the fourth base in a few hours.

‘6th Princess is safe. I’ll be back in a few days.’

It was a short message, but it was better than nothing.

As usual, In-gong trained before falling asleep. Then the next morning, he left with the excited Felicia to explore the ruins.

&

Felicia and Delia were the only ones involved in the ruins exploration.

Silvan was still asleep and after overworking for so long, Sepira finally lay down. Thus, Carack stayed behind on the Black Flame Dragon to take care of the two people. Of course, there were three surviving crew members on the Black Flame Dragon, but it was inevitable that In-gong would trust Carack more. Additionally, the three crew members were busy managing the Black Flame Dragon.

“Delia, isn’t it better for you to take a break?”

In-gong suddenly asked Delia as they were walking toward the entrance of the ruins. Delia’s face was filled with fatigue because like Sepira, she had worked continuously. However, Delia shook her head.

“The greatest rest is seeing that Princess is safe.”

It wasn’t just flattery but true words. They had such a hard time in the ruins that Delia was just happy Felicia was safe.

“But you were attacked as well.”

Felicia frowned and asked with a concerned voice. Unlike Felicia and Sephira, Delia had been struck by a direct attack from the Famine Knight.

Once again, Delia shook her head.

“I’m okay. Amita’s armour protected me. I am alive thanks to that.”

As Delia said, Amita’s armour had protected her. At the time of the attack, a red force field had spread from the chest piece. Thanks to this force field, she was fine despite the attack being so strong that she had been blown away.

“Silvan hyung’s sword is the same… I can see Amita’s craftsmanship.”

“Yes, indeed… It truly isn’t normal.”

In-gong and Delia exchanged glances and laughed. However, Felicia’s face was still full of concern.

“Still, it is better not to just believe in equipment. Understand?”

“I understand.”

Delia answered quickly, but In-gong and Felicia knew. If something dangerous happened again, Delia wouldn’t hesitate to act as a shield. She was just like Carack.

“Okay, then let’s concentrate on exploring the ruins. The unknown characters are found near the entrance.

Felicia clapped to get In-gong and Delia’s attention and started moving confidently.

A while after arriving at the entrance of the ruins, Felicia stomped her feet and shouted,

“As soon as you see the unknown words, you can read them. A scam… It is a scam!”

Her face was full of deprivation and unhappiness. In-gong’s ability was indeed a scam for ruins experts. How many nights had she spent studying the dwarf characters or unknown characters just for him to learn the scripts instantly?

Felicia sighed as she recalled the past.

“Caitlin noona would have said that I’m amazing.”

He missed the eyes which would shine like lanterns. Felicia’s eyes narrowed at In-gong’s remark, while Delia tried not to laugh.

Felicia had shared all the information with Delia, but she didn’t reveal that In-gong was the Conquest Knight. She had just said that In-gong had a powerful and special ability.

Anyway, Felicia’s expression, a mix of jealousy, chagrin and other emotions, was really worth watching. He was watching her face quietly when he heard a voice from beside him,

“Master, Master.”

It was Green Wind who had become solid. Green Wind cleared her throat and smiled happily as In-gong turned toward her.

“Master is amazing.”

Although it was enough to make his heart shake, In-gong shook his head.

“No, there is something lacking.”

Caitlin’s one had something more to it. Indeed, wasn’t she hard to exceed?

After In-gong’s evaluation, Green Wind became sulky and disappeared. He ignored her sulkiness.

“Well, ignoring that nonsense, what does it say?”

Felicia asked with a curious voice. In-gong looked at the characters once again. Unlike the dwarf and dragon characters, the indigenous species language skill was still level one, so his reading comprehension was somewhat slow.

‘Is it similar to a power plant?’

Thanks to the strength of Conquest, In-gong eventually managed to comprehend what he was reading.

According to In-gong, these ruins formed a huge power plant. As they went deeper, the scent of magic power became stronger because the power generator was down there.

In-gong concluded as he turned toward Felicia.

“This is a facility that produces magic power. And…”

“And?”

“It does seem to belong to the extinct indigenous species.”

In fact, the latter was so obvious that In-gong didn’t care, but Felicia was different. Her eyes were shining excitedly like she was Caitlin.

“Oh, my god. It is real. Real! The indigenous species really did have a civilization before us.”

Thunderdoom Fortress was old, but the facility was still built within the records of the dark elves. It couldn’t be compared to the ruins built by the indigenous species before the recorded era.

Felicia hurried forward happily, prompting In-gong every time the unknown characters appeared. She didn’t forget to take notes of In-gong’s answers. Maybe she was creating a translation dictionary.

As Felicia marvelled over the ruins repeatedly, they reached the fifth floor, which was the lowest layer of the ruins.

The fifth floor was similar to the room on the third floor, but the density of magic power was really amazing. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the whole room was full of magic power. The room on the fifth floor was almost 10 meters tall, but the floors, walls and ceilings were full of intricate magic circles. It felt like a giant circuit diagram. In the middle of the room, there was a large chunk of magic power floating on an altar at the center of the circuit. It was almost the size of a basketball.

“A magic power crystal…”

Felicia muttered in a voice full of admiration. In-gong could see why the Famine Knight had visited this ruins.

The body of the Famine Knight, Gerard Moonlight, had been in a state of collapse due to his long imprisonment. During their first encounter, he had appeared for the Moonlight Extract, rather than Caitlin and Chris.

This was for the same reason; the Famine Knight needed to regain strength by absorbing this chunk of magic power.

In his early days, Gerard had been equal to a captain. If he had really absorbed the magic power, a terrible tragedy would have taken place.

“This facility was created to produce the crystallized magic power?”

Felicia muttered as she examined the circuit. In-gong nodded and wondered about what to do with the magic power crystal.

‘If it were a plant like the Moonlight Extract, I could just eat it.’

Unfortunately, it was a mass of pure magic power. So, it was impossible to absorb it by eating.

‘I can try to subdue it with Conquest.’

However, he was quite skeptical. The power of Conquest was different from the power of Famine. The power of Famine was absorption and depletion, while Conquest was domination and control. Unlike Ainkel’s dragon heart, which was a type of magic spell, the crystal was a collection of pure magic power. So, it was doubtful if Conquest would work.

‘Master, you don’t need to conquer it. The magic power before you was made to be absorbed. Master has the dragon heart, so you will be able to absorb it.’

He heard Green Wind’s voice while he was busy worrying. In-gong asked reflexively,

‘Made to be absorbed?’

‘That’s right, I can feel it. Maybe it’s a fragment of knowledge Ainkel left behind. The magic power in before your eyes was made for the purpose of absorption. An ordinary person may not be able to absorb too much magic power, but Master has the dragon heart. It is an opportunity for your incomplete dragon heart to grow.’

Her words sounded plausible. From the outset, this was a power plant which produced energy and sent it elsewhere.

‘An opportunity for my incomplete dragon heart to grow? What does that mean?’

‘Master, do you think that the power of a dragon heart is only that much? The amount of aura is small, so the output of magic power is also small. Master has a piece of dragon heart from Ainkel. Master’s dragon heart is starving, and you need to fill its stomach in order to make it grow.’

In-gong’s eyes widened at Green Wind’s words. This amount of magic power was enough to increase his triple core to a quad-core.

Of course, the quad-core was a hybrid of the triple-core and magic power, making it a little bit weaker than the original quad-core. Even so, the amount of magic power produced was approximately half of his aura. So, it wasn’t a small amount.

‘Hu, okay.’

Anyway, it was possible to absorb the magic power and make his dragon heart grow. In that case, there was no reason to hesitate.

“Felicia noona, stand back for a moment.”

In-gong checked the magic circuit and stood in front of the crystal. Instead of paying attention to Felicia, he brought his hands to the crystal.

“Shutra?”

Felicia sprang back in shock as a huge amount of light emerged from the crystal. At the same time, In-gong’s dragon heart responded. It devoured the magic power which was pushed into In-gong’s palms.

In-gong’s arms started shaking, and the dragon heart seemed like it would burst. In-gong clenched his teeth and persisted. Once he couldn’t tolerate it anymore, he screamed and a clear voice was heard in his head.

[The dragon heart’s level has risen.]

[The dragon heart’s level has risen.]

[The dragon heart has grown.]

In-gong’s hands were thrown away from the crystal, and he gasped for air. Then… he could feel it.

The dragon heart had grown. Just like Green Wind’s words, so far, the dragon heart had been ‘small’. The aura output hadn’t changed, but the output of magic power had increased tremendously. It was almost three—no, five times what it had been before.

In-gong formed a fist. He released his magic power consciously—a green magic power which grew like a flame.

‘If there is this much magic power…’

In-gong cast Fire Arrow. Rather than an arrow, a giant pillar formed above In-gong’s palm, almost like a ballista.

“Fire Spear? No, Fire Ballista?”

The shocked Felicia asked In-gong.

“No, it is just Fire Arrow.”

The basic configuration was the same, but the amount of magic power entered was different. Of course, this was a performance in order to show off his magic power. Rather than pouring more magic power into Fire Arrow, it was better to use Fire Spear or Fire Ballista.

However, it was clearly something not everyone could do.

In-gong made the fire pillar disappear and explained to Felicia,

“I absorbed the magic power from the crystal, and my dragon heart grew. Thanks to that, my magic power is now stronger. How is it? Isn’t this good?”

Would the word ‘amazing’ come out this time?

In response to In-gong’s question, Felicia opened her mouth slowly,

“Shutra is a scammer.”

&

In-gong used the rest of the magic power in the crystal to treat Silvan. As the fairy’s magic power had been exhausted, its absorption rate was enormous. It was like pouring water onto earth which had become cracked from a drought.

The ruins still produced magic power, but the functions were greatly diminished. Everything had already been extracted so he decided to report it to the Demon King’s Palace without any regrets.

After completing the work at the ruins, In-gong’s group headed toward Silvan’s first base in Karamis. From there, he would report what happened to the Demon King’s Palace.

By late afternoon, the Black Flame Dragon was soaring through the sky.

&

Famine had been expelled.

In the first place, it had been too much for Famine to control the Famine Knight, and the backlash from losing the Famine Knight was severe. For a while, Famine would be in a deep sleep.

The Death Knight realized the Famine Knight had vanished. He also didn’t miss the fact that it had been because of the Conquest Knight.

Conquest’s betrayal was now a matter of fact. She had truly chosen to be hostile towards them.

Death felt pained.

However, the Death Knight didn’t feel anything. Unlike Death or Famine, he had known this a long time ago. 1,000 years ago, he had witnessed the end of Conquest during that fight and understood Conquest wouldn’t side with them anymore.

The Death Knight let out a long sigh. As he thought of the distant past, he became convinced once again.

The Conquest Knight was incomplete. Conquest had been destroyed 1,000 years ago, so it was unlikely she even had proper communication with the Conquest Knight.

The Death Knight looked toward the south.

It wasn’t just the Conquest Knight; there were two more beings who attracted his attention.

2nd Prince Zephyr Ragnaros…

The strongest child of the demon king, and a person who had been born with the flesh of a dragon.

…And there was another one—Warrior Locke, born with the spirit of a dragon. He was the sword prepared by Guardian Queian, one of the six elder dragons and an enemy of the beings longing for destruction.

Famine was expelled, and the Famine Knight destroyed. However, there was no big hindrance to the plan.

The Death Knight shifted his gaze from the south towards the sky.

He waited for the promised day to come again.