Chapter 240. Unsealing (2)
The four jewels which existed in each floor of the maze.
The players and the NPCs called them the <Jewels of the Dead>.
The host of the curse, the powerful spell which prevented the humans from proceeding further into the maze.
The alliance of all the kingdoms and empires of the past had succeeded at pushing the Ains back down underground hundreds of years ago.
But that was it.
Though they had won, they were afraid of finishing their jobs.
So they had created this maze with the power of the giant spell and proceeded to seal the entire place.
Because though their powers were similar after the war, if one side stagnated and the other grew in strength, the gap would widen.
The Ains would stagnate but the humans would grow.
And later they would just need to suppress the Ains with their superior strength.
But the Ains were not stupid.
Right before the maze was completed, the Ains performed a surprise attack, set up the cursed jewels and ran downwards.
This was the Jewels of the Dead.
The curse which had a terrifying effect on the humans as long as it was working.
And because of this, the kingdoms and the empires couldn’t go down to kill the Ains despite having built the maze and having restored their strength.
They could just prevent the Ains from coming out by setting up a powerful seal and reinforcing it.
Even after the players came into existence and had sealed all four of the Jewels of the Dead, they still didn’t like to come into this place.
They would just order the players to get the required Protection Elixirs.
Anyways, the Kingdoms wanted this seal to be maintained.
And this was why they were willing to ask the players to reinforce the seal from the inside.
Olsen thought of the blue pouch and spoke.
“That’s… To power the Seal?”
Sharon Stiller shook her head.
“Half correct.”
If the Great Seal suppressed the Ains, the minor seals affected the Jewels of the Dead and suppressed the curse in the maze.
One of the four minor seals had been damaged by an explosion and because of that the entire Great Seal had shaken.
They were merely calming down the Great Seal which had been shaken from the explosion in the 1st floor.
‘Well. That just proves how dangerous the Ains are.’
Sharon Stiller muttered.
Though they were dealing with it the best they could, in order to deal with the main problem they would need to go down to the area of the main seal on the fourth floor.
But of course the issue was with the minor seal which had broke on the 1st floor.
Arthur Krancheska didn’t believe the humans.
Since the minor seal had broken and the entire 1st floor of the maze was cursed again, Arthus Krancheska and the other Magic Brigade members would be extremely weakened if they stepped in there.
Which would cause even the players he could wipe out like bugs to become threats to him.
This was why Krancheska wanted them to fix the minor seal instead of the Great Seal.
The minor seal.
A seal which was suppressing the Jewel of the Dead which had been broken from the explosion.
Once the seal was placed back on it, the curse will get weakened again and Arthur would be able to come down and deal with it himself.
This was the deal she had with Arthur.
Flame Warrior-V made a confused expression.
Since they were currently on the 4th floor.
“Why did we go past the 1st floor?”
In order to accomplish the job given to them by the Kingdom, they needed to be on the 1st floor.
Sharon Stiller smiled towards Flame Warrior-V.
“Some trash would come in then.”
Once they reseal the minor seal with the materials inside the blue pouch, the curse will lose effect and the Magic Brigade would come down to enhance the seal on the fourth floor.
‘Arthus Krancheska. He’s going to come in himself.’
She had gone past the jewel because she didn’t want that man to come in.
In order to deal with her problems first.
But since all this had happened, it would be be better to work together.
Sharon Stiller’s expression turned dark.
‘Yes. Let’s not forget our original objective.’
They had one goal.
Change all the guys below into experience for the Gold Demons to grow.
The time of crisis which would shake all the kingdoms and empires would be here soon.
Power was a necessity.
They needed powerful people.
And the Gold Demons who devoured all the bug players below would easily fit that role.
‘There’s no real need to deal with that man.’
Sharon Stiller spoke towards Olsen, the Scarlet and the Gold Demons.
“Don’t forget. Our objectives are taking their artifacts and gaining experience. The Scarlet Demons will tie down that Hansoo guy. Then..You guys need to kill the bug players and take their artifacts. We can just die then.”
“Understood.”
As the Scarlet and Gold Demons nodded at Sharon Stiller’s words.
Olsen asked.
“… Wait, if that guy is really that strong, aren’t we not enough to deal with him?”
Sharon Stiller nodded.
“Yes, it is indeed a bit stressful.”
There were about a thousand bug players who were quite skilled.
Though she herself and the Scarlet Demons were high level players who had amazing control, the bug players were a level above.
This was why she had even thought of calling everyone in the maze to deal with the man.
Since that would make things much easier.
But then they would be sharing.
‘It belongs to us, we farmed them.’
Sharon Stiller mumbled inwardly.
They would not share them.
And honestly, there wasn’t a need to.
As they had a final card.
“We have this.”
“Well, I guess.”
Olsen shrugged as he looked at Sharon Stiller staring at the Stone of Immortality.
This would change the story.
They would have three lives each if they used two stones.
This was more than enough to deal with them.
“Let’s go then.”
Soon.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Over a hundred Gold and Scarlet Demon members started to charge through the maze.
***
Rummblee.
Rumble.
“Uaaaaaaa!”
Christopher made a shocked expression while pulling the chain with all his might.
‘What the hell! How is this so hard!?’
It was so well embedded into the ground, this damned chain was extremely hard to pull out.
Since it was barely being pulled out despite almost 800 people pulling on it with all their might.
They weren’t just pulling either.
They used every reinforcements and skills to increase their strength.
Strength that could rip apart steel bars.
And it wasn’t like the people were not doing their jobs seriously.
Since the foreheads of the 800 people were coated with sweat and the muscles of their arms and legs were bulging.
But this chain was giving no signs of being pulled out.
‘What the hell… He pulled this out on his own?’
Einchel looked at Hansoo pulling out the chain at the very front with the form of a dragon with a terrified expression.
Because Hansoo had pulled this out at the very beginning by himself with ease, they had thought that 800 people pulling on it would make it so the job would finish very quickly.
But what the hell was this.
The damned chain was buried so well that the skin on their hands felt like ripping away as they pulled.
Since the chain was getting harder and harder to pull out the more that came out.
And if Hansoo, who was at the very front, wasn’t here, it would be twice as hard as this.
And there was another issue.
‘Fucking hell! Is this ever going to end?’
Einchel cursed out loud.
The fucking chain was so long that there was no end to it.
The chain they had pulled out at the beginning was already hundreds of meters long.
But these chains continued to get pulled out.
And there was another thing which scared the adventurers.
Rumble.
“Again…”
“Ugh…”
Everytime a bit of the chain got pulled out, the thousands of crosses trembled and shook the entire space.
That wasn’t all.
Kiiiiiing!
Kyaaaaak!
Every time the crosses shook, terrifying and vicious sounding screams resonated outwards.
Voices filled with hatred, despair and rage.
Einchel asked Hansoo after hearing it.
“…Why is that happening?”
She wanted to ignore it but it was extremely terrifying and it occurred every time they pulled on the chain.
It even got louder the more they pulled.
Not to mention the chain was getting harder and harder to pull.
Combining these things she currently knew, it was almost as if they were pulling something at the end of the chain that was buried.
And these were the warnings saying to not do it.
‘Fuck… Is there really something down there?’
Einchel mumbled inwardly.
Because she thought of what Kamiyou had said earlier.
— Would they have left the seal defenseless?
It wouldn’t be weird for a seal like this to have at least one guard.
Hansoo merely shrugged his shoulders at Einchel.
“The despair that was buried here acts as the binding force between the seal and the chains.”
If the chains were the medium, the mana node gave energy and the despair within the crosses supplied it with will.
As the chain was getting pulled out, the mana node and everything else above it was being shaken.
Vengeful spirits were a condensation of yin energy and did not like change.
That was another reason why they had been buried in the sealing zone.
As the chain got pulled out, the spirits who wanted things to remain the same went crazy and started to stick and hols onto the chain.
By using all the energy of the mana node here.
This was why it got harder the more they pulled.
Einchel made a confused expression but still continued to pull.
Since she knew now that they weren’t pulling a giant monster or anything.
‘And though it’s a bit hard. It should be completed quickly.’
It was hard but the chain was indeed getting pulled out.
It was only a matter of time, they would be able to pull it all out eventually.
‘Anyways, this clearly looks like a chain. Why is it called a flail?’
Einchel looked at the chain in her hands with a confused expression.
A flail was some sort of weight that smashed things.
Though it was very durable, it didn’t seem like it had the worth to be the 3rd godly artifact of an empire.
While Einchel was making a confused expression.
Kuurrrk.
‘Huh?’
Along with a strange noise, the sensation of the chain being locked could be felt.
Something that they hadn’t felt until now.
If pulling on the chain until now was like pulling a fish that had been caught by a fishing pole, this sensation felt like the hook had been stuck on a giant rock.
Kuuudududuk.
As people were becoming shocked at the chain that wasn’t getting pulled out any more.
Einchel looked at Hansoo.
Hansoo was looking at the strange thing that protruded from the ground and was attached to the chain.
‘The hell is that.’
The chains were red as well but the thing which had come out was at another level.
Compared to that blood-colored object, the chains almost looked pink.
As Einchel looked at Hansoo curiously.
Boooom!
An explosion could be heard from the distance.
‘Fuck! Screw their timing.’
The expressions of everybody turned sour at that sound.
But Hansoo’s sight was locked on the thing which had popped out from the ground.
‘Found it. Finally.’
God’s Flail.
Hansoo muttered to himself while looking at the red object which had been pulled out from hundreds of meters underground.