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Tat-tat—!
Hanbit tore down the path at tremendous speed.
Haneul followed behind at a distance.
With the buff effect active, and both of them attuned to wind spirits, their speed was further amplified.
Krrr—!
Kwa-boom—!
Where Hanbit’s feet landed, the ground erupted upward like spikes.
Simultaneously, a dagger-wielding jester revealed itself from behind.
But to the two of them, it was a sluggish ambush.
Fwish—!
Haneul kicked off and charged, drawing her sword across the jester.
The creature sensed the danger on instinct and tried to twist its body midair to evade.
But Haneul instantly regripped her sword and broke its rhythm, shifting her trajectory.
Thud—!
Kyaaak—!
The jester’s face, mask and all, was run through.
Tat-tat—!
In the meantime, Hanbit pushed forward, disregarding the traps bursting from the ground.
Kra-krrrr—!
Gnome’s solid wall was formed to exactly the size needed to block each incoming attack.
The sense of a spirit was on a different plane from a human’s.
There was no need for Hanbit to issue directions.
Fwish—!
As each trap was intercepted by Gnome’s wall, Hanbit continued cutting down the monsters ahead.
The other spirits keeping watch over the surroundings also responded swiftly to every shift within their range.
Fwish—!
Slash—!
Hanbit and Haneul’s role was to seize openings and kill monsters.
The battles progressed as fast as the pace at which they ran.
Whorl—!
Shhk—!
About five hours of charging forward with wind at their backs.
[Level increased.]
[Level increased.]
[Level increased.]
[Level increased.]
…
Fifteen levels had risen since he last checked his status window.
The number of monsters was even greater in this danger zone.
Tat-tat—!
Just as he crested a hilly section of terrain—
The two spotted the far end of the hellish zone.
Slash—!
Hanbit cut through the jesters swarming toward him, and his gaze reached the boundary of the area.
And the moment he was about to close the distance of several dozen meters—
Kwa-kwa-boom—!
Three enormous swords appeared and cleaved through the earth.
Tat—!
Hanbit, who had anticipated the ambush, grabbed Haneul’s arm and pulled back.
Clear name tags floated above the swords.
[Elite: Sword Imbued with the Soul of Madness (Lv.189)]
[Elite: Sword Imbued with the Blood of Madness (Lv.189)]
[Elite: Sword Imbued with the Scream of Madness (Lv.189)]
“Wow! There are monsters like this too?”
Haneul studied the enemies with an expression of genuine fascination.
Three swords, like captains of this zone.
They had to be eliminated before they could leave this area completely behind.
Sssss—
The enemies came to a halt, radiating aura.
One step closer and the attack would begin.
Slide—
Hanbit drew a grey-glowing sword from his inventory.
Fragile and crude — yet inside it carried the poison known as Corrosion.
He spoke to the girl beside him.
“Your weapon won’t hold up against these. Handle only the minions.”
“The minions?”
Thud—
Haneul turned her gaze and saw something squirming up from the ground.
Hollow red suits of full-body armor, weapons in hand.
Looking at the empty gaps between the plates — it really was nothing but armor itself.
[Madness Armor Soldier (Lv.182)]
“These have a really unpleasant look to them.”
The armor, which seemed to drift as though floating, was far from ordinary.
“The weak point is the gap between the arm and the torso. Do you see it?”
“The gap… ah, there.”
Haneul frowned and examined the stirring armor.
It was a genuinely small gap, but her eyes identified the weakness without hesitation.
“Think you can manage? One hit and you’re dead.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t die, and I won’t let a single one get away.”
Haneul was already in her stance, ready to dash forward.
With the buff active and her abilities, she’d be fine.
Slide—
Hanbit gripped both swords and raised his concentration.
Whorl—
The three swords before him spun in circles as though flaunting their power.
Their weak points were the circular gems embedded in their hilts.
“Let’s go.”
Both fixed their eyes on their respective targets and immediately kicked off.
It was an instant before Hanbit collided with the central sword.
Clang—!
A sharp, ringing noise rang out with the impact.
Simultaneously, the other two swords scattered and came flying in from all sides.
Tat—!
Hanbit leapt upward and immediately drove the grey sword in his left hand down.
Screech—!
The blades crossed with an unpleasant grinding sound.
Crumble—
Just then, Hanbit’s grey sword rapidly lost its form and broke apart.
At the same time, the enemy blades it had struck turned grey.
Corrosion had begun.
Boom—!
Hanbit landed, stepping on the crossed swords.
Then he reached toward the red gems embedded in their hilts.
“Fire Lance.”
Ka-boom—!
The spell released at close range produced a tremendous explosion.
Thud—
Cracks formed in the corroded, weakened hilt gems.
Whorl—!
Hanbit pulled back and immediately surged forward, swinging his pure white sword in a sharp arc.
Fwish—!
The horizontal blade cut through both gems with precision.
Crack—!
The hilt cores, completely destroyed.
The two swords crumbled to dust in moments.
Ding—
[Experience points increased by 200,000.]
[Experience points increased by 210,000.]
Tat—!
Hanbit immediately kicked off toward the remaining enemy.
Flames scattered from the pure white blade.
Fwish—!
The enemy sword charged forward radiating green aura, as though answering back.
The blade closed the gap in an instant.
But Hanbit’s movements were faster.
Whoosh—!
Having read the trajectory, Hanbit vaulted upward as though turning a backflip.
The sword gripped in both hands swung downward with powerful force.
Clang—!
The enemy’s body was slammed headfirst into the ground from the massive impact.
Hanbit immediately shifted his grip and drove the flame-imbued sword forward.
Crack—!
Crackle—!
The flame-scattering blade smashed through the hilt gem and drove deep inside.
The last elite monster met its end in that moment.
Ding—
[Experience points increased by 210,000.]
[Level increased by 1.]
[1 Stat Point granted.]
Kra-krrrr—!
Fwish—!
Within a radius of several dozen meters, Haneul was dispatching the armor soldiers at rapid speed.
Catching enemies from behind and driving strikes precisely into their weak points.
There was still visible room for growth, but her reaction speed alone was leagues beyond ordinary.
Kwa-boom—!
The moment she finished off the last enemy on the ground, one more erupted from below the surface behind her.
The instant she sensed the vibration and sound, Haneul’s stance snapped low.
Whoosh—!
The armor’s outstretched sword drove through empty air.
In the same instant, Haneul closed in and thrust her blade into the gap between arm and torso.
Fwish—
The armor crumbled with a burst of black smoke.
Boom—!
Haneul kicked the body away and pulled out her sword, then turned her head.
She jogged over quickly and came close, asking:
“Well? Good job, right?”
Eyes sparkling, seeking praise.
Hanbit smiled faintly.
“Good job. There was a reason you were so confident.”
“Hehe. But I still have a long way to go, so I need to work harder.”
Haneul was happy, but not satisfied with where she was.
It seemed she wanted to build fundamental skill — not just ride on stats and items.
“Let’s head inside now.”
Having cleared all the enemies, the two walked toward the boundary.
A pitch-black terrain that stood in stark contrast to the endlessly red ground they had traversed.
The moment they stepped into it, the scenery around them shifted.
‘So this is the last part.’
Directly ahead, an enormous fortress-like structure came into view.
Above it churned a black vortex, and twisted crimson light bled through the air.
The objective was the commander directing the Madness Legion.
“The air feels kind of rough? Like it’s scraping against you.”
Haneul waved a hand through the air around her.
Mana corrupted by dense madness.
That it could be faintly perceived through the five senses was quite something.
“When do you think your brother will get to Floor 28?”
“Noeul? Give me a second.”
Noeul, ascending the tower with measured caution.
His abilities would be quite effective inside the Madness Legion’s fortress.
By the time they were ready to push into the stronghold, she could probably bring him in.
Of course, if he felt too afraid, there was nothing to be done about that.
“Hey, when do you get to Floor 28?”
Haneul called Noeul and asked directly.
The conversation was very short.
“He says he just arrived.”
“Really? Then explain the situation and ask if he’s willing to come.”
“Yes, just a moment!”
Haneul nodded and turned her head back.
Then she immediately put the question to him.
“Hey, it’s incredibly dangerous here — you want to come? Black Dragon is asking for you!”
Short and blunt, but it was dangerous — that much was accurate.
The simple invitation produced a result in no time.
“He says he definitely wants to come! Should I explain how to get here, the same way you did for me?”
“…Let’s do that.”
Hanbit nodded, and Haneul resumed the call to explain.
Then, a short while later—
Fwoosh—
A reddish-orange-haired boy appeared a short distance away.
“Black Dragon!”
Noeul, who had been glancing around quickly, spotted Hanbit and came running over at once.
The light circling around him was as vivid as ever.
“I was trying to come safely and it ended up taking too long!”
“You’re plenty fast. Well done.”
It almost sounded like an apology, but it really was quick.
Particularly given that he was a magic-focused player, he would have faced a fair number of tricky situations along the way.
“And he just gets a compliment outright…”
Haneul watched the exchange with a slight pout.
It was beginning to feel a bit like a teacher-and-disciple dynamic, so Hanbit moved to change the mood.
“The underground you sensed on Floor 1 — this is probably it. And the only remaining objective is the boss in there.”
“The feeling is… really ominous.”
The black vortex churning overhead and the twisting crimson light exuded an oppressive aura.
Being with a light spirit, Noeul might be feeling it even more keenly.
“There are a lot of other monsters inside too, besides the boss, right?”
Haneul had returned to her usual self, hand resting on her sword hilt as she asked.
Hanbit picked up a twig and sketched a rough diagram on the ground.
The interior of the fortress, made up of six floors.
“The boss area on Floor 6 only opens once every monster has been cleared. But wiping them all out through direct combat is practically impossible.”
The Madness Legion’s fortress had a peculiar structure.
When the monsters on one floor died, all allies on other floors were buffed by the energy of madness.
Working upward from Floor 1 in sequence, the monsters on Floor 5 would end up receiving four separate rounds of reinforcement.
That was something that simply could not be overcome.
“So we need to cut down the clear time as much as possible.”
Noeul, staring at the diagram with a grave expression, fell into thought.
Then he looked up at Hanbit and said:
“You were looking for me — which means you need the light spirit’s power. What do you need me to do?”
“..”
The sixteen-year-old boy read the situation calmly and asked about his role.
A composure and demeanor that occasionally surfaced, out of step with his age.
Setting talent aside, it was a matter of mindset that was simply different.
If a chance for a deeper conversation arose sometime later… he might come to understand why.
Slide—
Hanbit reached into his inventory and pulled out small octahedral cubes.
Thirty of them, yet they fit easily into both cupped hands.
“What are those?”
Haneul leaned in curiously and asked.
Hanbit set them carefully on the ground and picked one up.
“Bombs. Powerful ones.”
“Bombs?”
The base components of elemental bombs obtainable from Void Golems.
All the materials needed for crafting were on hand, and the original plan had been to finish them by filling them with Salliste’s fire.
He had also tried the King’s Trace, but it couldn’t withstand even a moment before shattering.
“The true nature of the Madness Legion is demonic. Can you guess what effect light would have?”
“Against demons… it would deal tremendous damage.”
As the widely known principle went, demons were weak to the power of light.
Of course, it was possible to infuse elemental properties using magical tools and consumables — but the innate element of a spirit was in a different class entirely.
“A light spirit is a being that’s incredibly rare to even have the chance to form a contract with. You can take pride in that.”
“I was lucky, and it was Lumia who chose me.”
Noeul credited the name of his lower-tier light spirit rather than his own ability.
Perhaps it was that very character of his that had drawn the spirit’s heart.
Krrr—
The vortex above the fortress and the crimson light churned ominously.
A phenomenon born of the madness festering within.
“Let’s make the bombs first. Help me, you two.”
“Yes!”
“Understood!”
Hanbit began crafting light elemental bombs with the two of them.
It was fortunate he had brought a portable crafting table with plenty of room to spare.
“These are prettier than I expected.”
“Be careful! What if one goes off!”
Haneul spinning a cube around in wonder, and Noeul trying to stop her.
A plan built around a light spirit was a perfect option with no variables whatsoever.
The materials needed to amplify the lower-tier light spirit’s power were already factored in.
“All you need to do is go to the positions I marked and plant them. It’s a safe route, so as long as you stay quiet you’ll be fine.”
Hanbit marked a detailed path on the diagram and distributed the bombs between them.
Floor 1, with the smallest installation range: Noeul.
Floor 2, which required speed: Haneul.
Floors 3 through 5: Hanbit, entering the fortress from the outside.
“You could give me one more..”
“This way the timing comes out even. You’ll be going straight into the boss fight right after the explosion, so be ready for it.”
Hanbit set Haneul’s mind at ease and passed along all the information about the boss.
With the strategy meeting concluded, the three made their final preparations and stepped forward.
“Let’s go.”
Tat—!
They split apart at once and moved along their respective routes.
The final stretch of the underground.
It was the beginning of that assault.
