Chapter 147

Chapter 147

“I knew it. You people only look decent on the outside. Inside, you’re nothing but hideous races.”

“Shut up!”

“Die!”

At Damian’s sneer, the Awakened of North District attacked in fury.

WHOOSH—!

Dozens of Skills flew toward Damian, aiming for his life.

As expected of North District’s finest elites, each and every one of their Skills possessed tremendous power.

If even one grazed him, Damian’s frail body would be torn apart in an instant.

Damian, being an Awakened himself, knew that fact.

His awakened ability was Navigator.

In other words, he was a guide.

He had no combat ability whatsoever.

By slightly altering the ability of a guide, he could disturb an opponent’s sense of direction, but it was impossible for him to kill someone through force.

Because he knew that, he did not even attempt a clumsy evasion.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—!

Countless Skills bombarded Damian, and thick dust rose up.

“He was nothing.”

“He must be dead.”

Just as the Awakened of North District became certain of Damian’s death, it happened.

SHWAAAK!

Suddenly, a black tentacle shot out from within the dust.

The tentacle wrapped around the neck of a dwarf Awakened in an instant.

“Kuh! Wha......”

CRACK!

Before the dwarf could even finish speaking, the tentacle snapped his neck.

Seeing the dwarf die instantly, the Awakened cried out in shock.

“What is that?”

“Everyone, be careful.”

At that moment, Damian appeared through the dust.

His appearance was quite different from before.

Damian was wearing pitch-black armor from head to toe.

The black tentacle that had taken the dwarf’s life disappeared into the chest area of the pitch-black armor.

Damian caressed his chest and muttered,

“Prism Armor. An item discovered in the same dungeon as the Spirit King’s Crown.”

Normally, it took the form of an ordinary belt, but when the wearer infused mana into it or fell into danger, it transformed into armor.

Prism Armor protected the wearer with a will of its own, as if it were a living being.

The tentacle that had shot out from its chest area was proof of that.

“He killed Yolo.”

“Everyone, be careful. He’s wearing some strange item.”

“So what?”

Unable to contain their rage, several Awakened attacked Damian again.

Most of them were martial-type Awakened who used cold weapons such as swords and blades. They rushed to within arm’s reach of Damian in an instant and were just about to swing their weapons.

SHWAAAK!

Suddenly, black tentacles shot out from Damian’s chest.

The tentacles stretched out like whips and instantly wrapped around the Awakened who had been attacking Damian.

“Kuh!”

“This much is nothing......”

The Awakened tried to cut off the tentacles wrapped around their bodies with their weapons.

But the tentacles that had shot out from Prism Armor did not suffer even the smallest scratch.

The black tentacles constricted the Awakened with terrifying strength.

“Ignore the tentacles and attack the main body.”

“Damn human. To think he’d use such a cursed monster.”

Seeing that, the other Awakened attacked Damian in order to save their comrades.

They believed everything would be resolved if they defeated Damian, who was wearing the armor itself.

More than ten tentacles had already stretched out.

They judged that there would be no tentacles left to attack them. But they were about to be forced to realize how gravely mistaken they were.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH—!

More than ten tentacles shot out from Prism Armor again.

The tentacles stretched out like vipers, aiming for the Awakened.

“Damn it!”

“Kuh!”

The Awakened scattered in every direction like a swarm of locusts to avoid the tentacles. But the tentacles chased after them as if they had wills of their own.

BAAANG!

As a tentacle broke through the speed of sound, a sonic boom erupted.

The aftermath was horrific.

“Kuhk!”

“Huegh!”

The Awakened fell one after another like drugged flies.

Their condition truly resembled that. They had been crushed horribly, as if struck by a giant fly swatter.

“This can’t...... be!”

Serian’s face turned deathly pale.

The Awakened struck by the tentacles were all renowned powerhouses even within North District. Yet those powerful individuals had died like dogs in an instant, without even being able to use their strength.

It was the first humiliation of its kind in North District’s history.

Awakened were not immortal.

They could die in battle, and they could be injured.

They died in fights against other districts, in battles against monsters, and while clearing dungeons.

For an Awakened, death was closer than life.

Even so, the doglike deaths of the Awakened unfolding before her eyes made no sense.

“Just what is that armor......?”

“Your Majesty! It’s cursed armor. You must kill him at once.”

Eli’s urgent voice rang out as she continued exchanging blows with Alexandro.

Eli’s voice grated on Serian’s ears, but now was not the time to weigh her likes and dislikes.

Serian urgently spoke to the man standing behind her.

“Broy! I need you to step forward.”

“I’ve been waiting, Your Majesty!”

The man answered and stepped forward.

He was a man of ordinary build. Yet for some strange reason, his voice was rough and resonant.

The reason was soon revealed.

The moment the man threw off the robe he had been wearing, his body began to change.

CRACK! CRACK, CRACK!

With cracking sounds, his frame swelled to more than twice its size in an instant, and thick fur sprouted all over his body.

His mouth jutted out, and sharp fangs protruded.

Two ears stood upright like a dog’s, and his eyes glowed red with madness.

The man called Broy was a Werewolf.

Among the beastfolk who followed Serian, he could be called the strongest.

“GRAAAAR!”

Broy roared.

A Werewolf’s unique Howling had the power to suppress the opponent’s spirit.

It had the same effect as Fear, which only monsters above Grade A were said to be able to unleash.

Broy focused his Howling on Damian.

An ordinary Awakened would have had their whole body stiffen and their spirit damaged. But Damian was perfectly fine.

Prism Armor protected its wearer from external curses and various status abnormality attacks.

Though the price was that it burned away the wearer’s life force and mana.

That was why Damian had tried to refrain from wearing Prism Armor until now whenever possible.

Because it burned away his life force and mana, he could not endure for long.

But now that the picture he wanted had been completed, there was nothing holding him back.

Damian glanced sideways at Serian and said,

“You’re not leading the nonhuman races. You’re hiding behind them. Queen of the nonhuman races, their last hope? Just how much have you wrapped yourself in lies and protection? From now on, I’ll tear the curtain of your hypocrisy to shreds.”

FLARE—!

An ominous black light erupted from his entire body.

It was the light emitted by Prism Armor.

It was light erupting as it burned away his life force.

The more life force burned, the stronger Damian became.

Seeing that, Serian muttered,

“You’ve gone completely mad.”

The deep-rooted hatred and rage of a single human directed toward her frightened her.

But she could not retreat either.

If she yielded to Damian, the lives of the nonhuman races in North District would become painful.

Even if she had to receive all the curses and hatred in the world upon herself, she had to protect them.

‘Above all, I cannot let that cursed monster emerge into the world.’

Her gaze turned toward the warehouse behind Damian.

---

“To think a dungeon could be manifested in this manner. Unbelievable.”

Elder Go muttered as he looked around.

The place where he stood was inside Spectrum Prison, and among its zones, the violet supernormal space.

Even he, a Barrier Mage, could not help being impressed. The inside of the supernormal space was perfectly isolated from the outside.

Spectrum Prison was also a kind of barrier.

But even he, a Barrier Mage, was not confident he could create a barrier of this scale.

It was impossible without the help of an item.

“As expected, it must be the power of that thing called the Spirit King’s Crown, yes?”

It was then.

“Shouldn’t we intervene even now?”

Suddenly, a low voice came from behind him.

When Elder Go turned around, he saw three men in black suits.

“Oh? It seems it was stifling inside my shadow.”

“I apologize.”

One of the men lowered his head and apologized.

At that, Elder Go smiled his distinctive smile and said,

“No need. You are all human as well, so it must have felt stifling.”

Those who had been hiding inside Elder Go’s shadow were men drawn from the Shadow Unit.

Like the execution unit directly under the mayor, they were a special operations unit that listened only to Elder Go’s orders.

The abduction of key figures, assassination, and surveillance were their main duties.

They fundamentally possessed the ability to hide inside shadows. As long as any object had a shadow, they could perfectly blend into the surroundings and hide their true forms.

But Elder Go was an exception.

He had the rare ability of a Barrier Mage.

A barrier cast by a Barrier Mage was perfectly severed from the outside space. Because of that, the Shadow Unit could not dare hide in Elder Go’s shadow without his permission.

It was all possible because Elder Go had allowed it.

Their mission was to locate and abduct the Navigator from the White Bear Caravan.

For that purpose, they had hidden inside Elder Go’s shadow and concealed themselves near the White Bear Caravan. But when Spectrum Prison unfolded, they had been trapped inside the violet supernormal space.

Even so, they were not worried.

Because Elder Go was beside them.

This kind of dungeon or barrier was Elder Go’s specialized field.

No Awakened in Neo Seoul could dare compare to him.

“Can you break it?”

“Tch! I can break it, yes. Though it will take time......”

Elder Go clicked his tongue.

As expected of a Barrier Mage, he was hardly affected by Spectrum Prison. That was because he had cast a barrier around himself and blocked external influence.

But destroying the dungeon or escaping from it was another matter.

With his ability, he could escape, but it would inevitably take time.

At that moment, one of the Shadow Unit men spoke carefully.

“The mayor ordered us to secure the Navigator without fail. To do that......”

“Tch! It cannot be helped.”

Elder Go clicked his tongue.

He might be one of the infamous Numbers of the execution unit, but in the end, he was nothing more than Jin Geum-ho’s subordinate.

If it was Jin Geum-ho’s order, he had no choice but to leap even into the fires of hell.

“From now on, I will forcibly open a door in the dungeon. The impact will not be small, so all of you must brace yourselves.”

“Yes!”

The men answered in one voice.

Elder Go closed his eyes and drew up his mana.

To forcibly create an exit in the dungeon, he first had to grasp its structure and principles.

The most difficult part was resonating his own mana with the dungeon’s mana to understand its structure, so he had to focus his mind.

WOOONG!

Just as Elder Go’s hand glowed blue with a resonance hum, it happened.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE—!

The violet supernormal space suddenly began to shake wildly.

“What is this?”

Elder Go was startled.

One of the Shadow Unit men spoke carefully.

“Could it be an earthquake?”

“The inside of a dungeon is a world separated from reality. Earthquakes cannot exist here.”

“Then?”

“Something from outside is clearly affecting the dungeon.”

“What? What does that mean? There are no monsters nearby. Then are you saying a human is affecting this dungeon? There is no way such a thing is possible......”

The man denied his own thought.

A dungeon was a single vast world.

To affect it, one needed an unimaginable amount of power.

There could not possibly be such an existence.

It was then.

CRACK, CRACK, CRACK!

As if flatly denying the man’s thoughts, the violet supernormal space began shattering like glass.

“Shit!”

ROOOOAR—!

At that moment, an enormous amount of sand poured through the broken fissure.

Elder Go’s eyes widened.

Because he had discovered a man standing upright on top of the sand surging in like a tidal wave.

“Ze......on?”