Chapter 327

Chapter 327

Zeon nodded.

“Dungeon of the Dead? The atmosphere certainly feels similar.”

“So you felt it too, Zeon.”

“I’ve experienced one before.”

“If it’s you, I can believe that.”

Briel nodded.

She did not know exactly how many dungeons Zeon had entered and left. But she did know that he had far more experience than an ordinary Awakened could ever accumulate even if they challenged dungeons for a lifetime.

It would not be strange if one of them had been a dungeon where the dead wandered.

“Wait a moment. Dungeon of the Dead? How does that little one know information about this dungeon?”

“I know because I know.”

“What?”

“Do I have to explain every little thing to you? I’m not your subordinate.”

At Briel’s blunt answer, cracks appeared in Seo Tae-ran’s expression.

She had never expected to be treated this way by a young child.

Anyone who knew even a little about her would never dare treat her like this. Not even the rulers of the districts.

Yet this little brat, still green as grass, was treating her so carelessly. She was so dumbfounded that words almost failed her.

“How dare you!”

For an instant, her face flushed bright red. But only for a moment. Soon, she regained her composure.

It was true that she was angry, but she could not grab Briel by the hair and fight her here.

For now, only wild dog-type monsters had appeared, but they did not know what kind of monsters would appear later.

She had no room to waste mental strength fighting Briel for no reason.

Above all, Zeon’s existence was far too bothersome for her to set her mind on beating Briel down.

Zeon was their strongest combat power.

He was absolutely indispensable to overcoming this crisis.

She could not cause trouble with Zeon over Briel for no reason.

Suppressing her anger with effort, Seo Tae-ran asked Zeon,

“If it’s a Dungeon of the Dead, that means this place is full of undead, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Now we even have a dungeon full of undead. What next?”

“It’s fortunate that it’s at least a dungeon.”

“Pardon?”

“Imagine undead walking around the outside world. It’s already a mess out there, but that would truly make everything go to hell.”

“That’s true.”

Seo Tae-ran nodded.

“Focus. If the master of this place truly is undead, it won’t end with a few wild dogs.”

“Understood.”

Seo Tae-ran nodded out of habit, her brow deeply furrowed.

To be honest, the ghost wild dogs that had attacked them just now had not been particularly strong opponents. Because of that, they had been able to eliminate them easily. But if high-grade individuals attacked, the Gauntlets of Extermination alone might not be enough to handle the situation.

At that moment, Briel took out several glass bottles and handed them to Seo Tae-ran.

“Take these!”

“What are they?”

“Holy Water!”

“Holy Water?”

“The fanatics of Dongdaemun sell it, so it doesn’t inspire much confidence, but it’s still Holy Water, so it should work on undead. If the situation gets urgent, coat the gauntlets with it.”

“Haa! Of all things, Holy Water from those fanatics.”

Without realizing it, Seo Tae-ran wore an uneasy expression.

Just thinking of Johan sent a shudder through her.

Even for her, the second-in-command of Neo Seoul, Johan and the fanatics were dreadful beings she did not want to deal with.

And Briel had brought Holy Water sold by such people.

‘This one is no ordinary madwoman either.’

Whether it would be effective or not was one thing, but the fact that Briel had bought Holy Water from Dongdaemun without the slightest hesitation proved she was not merely a little crazy.

After staring at the Holy Water for a moment, Seo Tae-ran gave an order to her subordinates.

“Everyone, apply the Holy Water to your gauntlets.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Her subordinates dipped their gauntlets into the Holy Water and pulled them out without the slightest resistance. Then a faint red light began to glow around the Gauntlets of Extermination.

The divine power of the Holy Water had truly settled into the Gauntlets of Extermination.

Seo Tae-ran looked dumbfounded.

‘It really works? This is insane.’

She decided that as soon as she returned to Neo Seoul, she would buy Dongdaemun’s Holy Water in bulk.

In the meantime, they went deeper and deeper into the darkness.

The radius illuminated by the flashlights narrowed even more.

It shrank by one meter, from five meters to about four.

That was how much more force the darkness was exerting.

Elder Go muttered,

“Given the atmosphere, around here......”

Sssrk!

In that instant, a wolf with a large horn on its nose appeared.

It looked at least twice as large and ferocious as the ghost wild dogs that had attacked them earlier.

Like the wild dogs, it too had no physical body.

Elder Go clicked his tongue.

“Tsk! Yes, of course you’d appear right when I said that.”

“How did you know?”

“That’s our old man. You timed it perfectly.”

The twin sisters gave him a thumbs-up, but Elder Go did not feel happy at all.

Just like the ghost wild dogs, the ghost wolves also moved in packs.

There was no way only one would appear.

As if to prove that fact, ghost wolves emerged from every direction.

Graaargh!

The ghost wolves roared loudly and charged at Zeon’s party.

As if it were only natural, Seo Tae-ran’s subordinates fought against the ghost wolves.

THUD—!

The gauntlets coated with Holy Water showed their power.

A ghost wolf without a physical body was struck by a gauntlet, and its head burst apart.

They did not even need to use the Gauntlets of Extermination to convert mana into elements. Thanks to that, Seo Tae-ran’s subordinates could easily reduce the number of ghost wolves.

The twin sisters chattered excitedly.

“Good! We don’t even have to step in.”

“That’s perfect.”

It was then.

Ping!

As if denying the twin sisters’ words, something sliced through the darkness and flew toward them.

One of Seo Tae-ran’s subordinates failed to react in time and was pierced by the flying object.

What had pierced his shoulder was an arrow.

And not an ordinary one, but a huge arrow as tall as an adult.

Looking in the direction the arrow had come from, Zeon muttered,

“So there was a hunter who controls wolves.”

As if answering him, arrows flew from the darkness one after another.

Since they had seen the subordinate get hit, everyone blocked the arrows without much difficulty.

Elder Go unfolded a defensive barrier around himself and the twins to block the arrows, while Seo Tae-ran and her subordinates deflected the arrows one by one.

Zeon intercepted each arrow with Fire Missiles.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The hunter in the darkness kept firing arrows without tiring.

Under the combined attack of arrows pouring down without warning and the ghost wolves, Seo Tae-ran’s subordinates were gradually driven into a corner, their movements becoming disordered.

Briel looked at Zeon with a puzzled expression.

“Aren’t you going to help? At this rate, they might all be wiped out.”

“They aren’t weak enough to be wiped out by this much.”

“Really?”

Briel’s eyes widened.

That was because she did not feel Seo Tae-ran’s subordinates were that strong.

Zeon said calmly,

“They’re all suppressing their abilities.”

“Really? I didn’t feel it at all.”

“Not just you. Most Awakened wouldn’t notice. They’re controlling their power that precisely.”

“A few of them died earlier. Then did they die without using the stronger power they were hiding? How can they do that?”

“Who knows.”

Zeon looked at Seo Tae-ran with sharp eyes.

He had realized it from the beginning.

Seo Tae-ran’s subordinates were not normal humans.

They gave off a scent similar to the murderer who had killed Levin’s family.

An artificial and foul scent.

Compared to the murderer, they looked more refined, but crucially, he could not feel the unique vitality of living humans from them.

They felt more like precisely moving dolls, or Golems.

They probably would not use the sealed power unless Seo Tae-ran gave the order.

Even if the price was their own deaths.

A normal human, or one with a will of their own, could never do that.

After all, death was something every living creature feared.

‘What choice will she make? Will she leave all her subordinates to die like this? Or will she reveal their full power?’

Either way, Zeon had no intention of helping them until then.

The reason they were hiding their full power was simple.

It was so they could efficiently eliminate troublesome people later if problems occurred.

‘For example, someone like me.’

Knowing that, there was no reason for him to foolishly step forward first and help them.

It was then.

Slice!

A sharp blade suddenly thrust through the darkness.

The blade pierced the chest of the subordinate who had been struck by the arrow earlier.

At the sight of the subordinate staggering with a fatal wound, Seo Tae-ran bit her lip irritably.

‘I didn’t want to reveal their full power here...... but there’s no choice.’

In the end, Seo Tae-ran could not endure it and gave the order.

“I permit the release of the first-stage seal.”

As soon as she finished speaking, joy appeared on her subordinates’ faces.

Until now, they had sealed their power to look like ordinary martial-type Awakened. Because of that, several of their comrades had died, but none of them resented Seo Tae-ran.

That was because they were beings who had no choice but to obey Seo Tae-ran’s orders.

Even if the order was a command to leap into hellfire and die.

Now that the first-stage seal had been released, it was time for them to run wild to their hearts’ content.

Their outward appearance did not change.

But their eyes, atmosphere, and presence changed.

The subordinate who had been pierced by the sword from the darkness struck the flat of the blade with his palm.

CRACK—!

The solid blade broke, and he regained his freedom.

Then he pulled out the blade fragment piercing his chest and the enormous arrow piercing his shoulder.

Normally, in this kind of situation, blood should have gushed from the wounds. But almost no blood flowed from the subordinate’s wounds.

They were fatal wounds that would have already killed most Awakened. It was a situation that made no sense by common standards.

Briel said in shock,

“What are they, Trolls?”

“It looks like they had a Troll’s regenerative power implanted.”

“Really?”

“Those things aren’t complete humans. They’re Bio-Soldiers like the murderer who killed Levin’s family. Upgraded ones, at that......”

“Then were they made in the same laboratory as the murderer?”

“There’s a high chance.”

City Hall secretly operated many laboratories.

Those laboratories operated in secrecy and carried out numerous projects that outsiders could never know about.

Among them were modification projects that transformed ordinary humans or lower-grade Awakened into powerful warriors.

Seo Tae-ran’s subordinates were surely born in such a laboratory.

Whether by their own will or someone else’s.

With their first-stage seals released, Seo Tae-ran’s subordinates were moving at a speed incomparable to before.

“Their muscle strength has been enhanced too, and their senses seem sharper.”

As proof, one of Seo Tae-ran’s subordinates was dragging out the hunter who had been swinging a sword in the darkness and crushing his head.

CRACK—!

Not only had he identified the location of the hunter hiding in the darkness, but he had overwhelmed him in both strength and speed.

CRASH—!

With an explosive sound, a ghost wolf’s head shattered, and another hunter who had been firing arrows was struck by Seo Tae-ran’s subordinate and sent flying out.

Crumble!

The gauntlet soaked in Holy Water melted him away without a trace.

Elder Go, who had been watching that sight, clicked his tongue in displeasure.

“Tsk! The laboratory truly set out to create things that don’t seem human.”

Even at his rebuke, there was not the slightest tremor in Seo Tae-ran’s expression beside him.

Seo Tae-ran had two convictions.

The first was to assist Jin Geum-ho, and the second was to protect Neo Seoul no matter what sacrifice was required.

‘I will never forgive anyone who hinders Lord Jin Geum-ho and Neo Seoul.’

Her gaze suddenly turned toward Zeon.

Zeon, who felt Seo Tae-ran’s gaze, looked back at her as well.

‘Zeon!’

Just looking at his face made unpleasant emotions crawl up from deep within her chest.