Chapter 401

* * * *

BANG!

[You have defeated the traitor.]

[Acquired a Curse Fragment.]

[Cursed Fragments Currently Collected: 69]

“Hmm.”

After defeating the last traitor, Myeong-hu turned his gaze from the message to look at Haran.

Swoosh

The light waves emanating from Haran’s body were gradually diminishing in size, perhaps because all the traitors were dead. Soon, the light waves vanished completely, and Haran spoke.

-Thank you.

As she always had, Haran expressed her gratitude to Myeonghu. Then, she began walking again.

Thump, thump

As Haran walked, Myeonghu followed, thinking to himself.

‘When will we arrive?’

Quite a bit of time had passed since they entered this place. Yet, not only was there no sign of the Cursed Pillar, there wasn’t even anything remotely resembling it. He wondered when they might finally reach their destination, the Cursed Pillar.

‘Should I ask?’

Myeonghu considered asking Haran how much further it was to the Cursed Pillar. But the moment the thought crossed his mind, he sensed Haran’s heavy atmosphere and had no choice but to hold back his question.

It was right then.

Thud!

Haran stopped walking.

‘Already?’

Myeong-hu couldn’t help but feel a little flustered when Haran stopped walking.

‘It hasn’t been that long?’

Harran stopping meant one thing: a traitor had appeared. Yet just moments ago, Myeonghu had dealt with the traitors.

Considering the pattern of traitor appearances so far, Haran stopping now felt a bit premature.

Swish

Haran, who had stopped walking, turned around and looked at Myeonghu. Then, raising a hand to point somewhere, she opened her mouth.

-It’s over there.

“…?”

Myeong-hu couldn’t help but be puzzled by Haran’s unexpected words. There?

‘No way.’

Still wearing a puzzled expression, Myeong-hu suddenly turned his head at a thought that struck him and looked where Haran was pointing.

“…!”

And when Myeong-hu confirmed what Haran was pointing at, he knew his guess was right.

‘There it is!’

Where Haran pointed, a single massive pillar stood. A pillar oozing an unsettling darkness. It was clearly the destination, the cursed pillar they must destroy.

‘We’re here.’

Myeong-hu gauged the distance to the pillar and, realizing it wasn’t far now, smiled.

-That pillar you see over there is the cursed pillar I mentioned. From now on, the traitors will appear frequently. And the curse will grow even stronger.

“Yes, understood. Shall we proceed immediately?”

Even if the curse grew stronger, it wouldn’t be a problem. Myeong-hu smiled and said to Haran.

-…Understood.

Haran hesitated briefly at Myeonghu’s reaction and words, then turned around and began walking toward the pillar of curses.

Thud!

But that lasted only a moment; before long, Haran stopped walking.

Swoosh

[Harran’s Blessing has been proclaimed.]

[Damage received from traitors is reduced by 30%.]

[Damage dealt to renegades increased by 20%.]

[You can attack renegades.]

[You can acquire fragments of curses from renegades.]

Then, light waves began emanating from Haran’s body. Haran said nothing. Yet Myeonghu knew the traitor had appeared. Myeonghu listened intently to the surroundings.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

‘What the hell.’

Footsteps echoed, overwhelmingly loud compared to any traitor that had appeared before.

-Haran…

-If he’s come this far…

-That young man…

The defectors soon revealed themselves.

‘…?’

Myeong-hu couldn’t help but be slightly surprised as the traitors appeared one by one.

‘Was everything up until now just a tutorial?’

The traitors appearing now were different from the ones he had dealt with before. The traitors he had dealt with before had no distinguishing features.

No, to be precise, it wasn’t that they lacked features, but rather they lacked individuality. It was because they were all wearing robes.

‘Knight, warrior, priest? Quite diverse.’

But the traitors appearing now had both distinct features and personalities. There were traitors who looked like knights, traitors who looked like warriors, traitors who looked like priests—truly diverse.

‘Let’s capture them.’

Of course, the fact that the traitors’ professions had become more diverse wasn’t a major problem. Myeonghu approached the traitors, each emitting darkness in their own distinct way.

-O Prophet.

Myeonghu’s first target was the knight renegade. A massive sword made of darkness was clutched in the knight renegade’s hand.

-Confirm that my choice was wrong.

As the distance closed, the knight defector spoke to Myeonghu while swinging the massive sword of darkness. Despite its enormous size, the sword’s speed was astonishingly fast. Myeonghu raised his right arm to block the dark blade hurtling toward him.

-…!

The traitor knight wore a slightly startled expression, seemingly not expecting him to raise his arm to block. Seeing the traitor knight’s surprise, Myeonghu thrust his fist toward the traitor knight’s abdomen.

CRASH!

[You have defeated the traitor.]

[Acquired a Curse Fragment.]

[Cursed Fragments Currently Collected: 70]

The fist struck, and the message appeared. Myeonghu glanced at the message and approached the nearby traitor. Thus, Myeonghu began eliminating the traitors.

-Thank you.

“Let’s hurry.”

Before long, Myeong-hu had eliminated all the traitors and moved toward the Curse Pillar again with Haran. But soon after, more traitors appeared. Just as Haran had said, the traitors truly appeared at any moment.

.

.

[Defeated a traitor.]

[Acquired a Curse Fragment.]

[Current Cursed Fragments Collected: 200]

[200 Cursed Fragments have been gathered.]

[The conditions for using the Curse Key have been fulfilled.]

[Haran can now use the Curse Key.]

[You can no longer acquire Curse Fragments.]

Myeonghu killed every traitor who appeared, one after another. As he neared the pillar, he defeated the 200th traitor and saw a new message.

‘So the shards were the condition.’

The cursed shard I had acquired but never seen—I had wondered what its purpose was, but now I see it was the condition for using the key. After disposing of the remaining traitors, Myeonghu looked at Haran.

Was it because they were about to reach their destination, the Curse Pillar? Instead of the usual words of thanks, Haran wore a tense expression. Myeonghu averted his gaze from Haran and looked at the Curse Pillar visible ahead.

‘Given the distance, it seems unlikely more traitors will appear.’

Judging by the Cursed Pillar and their current position, it seemed unlikely more defectors would appear.

“Let’s go.”

Myeong-hu said to Haran, who was staring at the Cursed Pillar with a tense expression.

-Ah, yes!

Haran snapped out of her daze at Myeonghu’s words and began walking ahead. As Myeonghu had predicted, no more defectors appeared. It might not be because of the distance, but because they had gathered all the fragments.

[Warning!]

[You are near the Cursed Pillar.]

[You are cursed.]

[All stats reduced by 10%.]

[Damage dealt to enemies is reduced by 20%.]

[Damage received from enemies increases by 20%.]

Following Haran toward the Cursed Pillar, Myeonghu saw the message and realized he had entered the pillar’s influence.

‘He said there was a guardian here…’

After reading the message, Myeong-hu turned his head to look at the pillar. Before entering this place, Haran had said that each pillar had a guardian entity.

‘Is that it?’

Before the pillar stood an unidentifiable being, a massive spear strapped to its back. It was undoubtedly the guardian entity Haran had spoken of.

It was right then.

Swish

The being guarding the pillar, which had been standing still with its head bowed, moved. And then a message appeared.

[The pillar guardian awakens.]

[The avatar of Ekalik, the god of war and destruction, watches you.]

Mum-chit!

The moment he saw the message, Myeong-hu couldn’t help but freeze.

“…A god?”

The reason Myeong-hu hesitated was precisely because of the entity’s identity. Frowning, Myeong-hu stared at Ekalik’s avatar watching him and thought.

‘Would an attack even work?’

Judging by the situation, it seemed he had to eliminate Ekalik’s clone to destroy the pillar. But Myeong-hu was not of sufficient rank to attack a god. Or rather, to be precise, he could attack, but he couldn’t inflict damage.

‘It is a clone, but…’

Of course, since it was a god’s avatar and not the god itself, Myeonghu’s worry might be unfounded. Yet, for some reason, he felt uneasy.

“Until I destroy the pillar… I beg you.”

Just then, Haran opened her mouth and spoke. After finishing her words, Haran closed her eyes.

Whoosh

As soon as he closed his eyes, light burst forth from Haran’s body and began flying toward the pillar. Then a message appeared.

[Haran has used the Key of Curse.]

[5 minutes remain until the Curse Pillar is destroyed.]

[Protect Haran from Ekalik’s avatars for 5 minutes.]

[If all personnel die, Haran will be attacked.]

‘Ah, so I don’t need to eliminate it after all.’

Myeong-hu sighed in relief upon reading the message. Even if the clone couldn’t take damage now, there was no reason to worry.

‘Come to think of it, this probably wasn’t meant to be soloed.’

The final message mentioned “all personnel.” Judging by that, this quest wasn’t meant to be soloed. Then again, attempting such a quest alone was absurd to begin with.

-How dare you!

Myeong-hu, who had been reading the message, turned his head at the furious voice ringing in his ears and saw Ekalik’s clone. Ekalik’s clone wore an extremely angry expression.

-Foolish creature! I shall grant you enlightenment through death!

As the shout ended, Ekalik’s avatar began to fly toward him. Seeing it approach, Myeonghu quickly started running away. The distance closed rapidly, and soon Ekalik’s avatar swung its spear.

‘It won’t kill me in one hit.’

Myeonghu had survived Atakshya’s attack. Even if it was responsible for war and destruction, he didn’t think he’d die from an attack by a god’s avatar. Of course, just because he didn’t think he’d die in one hit didn’t mean he was going to take it.

“Moving Strike.”

Myeonghu instantly closed the distance to Ekalik’s avatar with a moving strike. Then, he threw a punch and shouted.

“One Punch.”

BOOM!

-Guh!

The One Punch exploded, sending Ekalik’s clone flying backward with a tremendous roar. Myeong-hu watched the flying clone and broke into a wide smile.

‘The attack worked?’

Because it was a clone, the attack worked. The fact that the attack worked meant only one thing.

Thud thud thud!

Myeong-hu began running toward Ekalik’s clone.

============================ Afterword ============================

Monday, I hope you power through it!