Chapter 316. Bait (1)

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Darkness had fallen over the War Fortress.

Akran and countless others were gathered in this location.

“Ugh…”

“Thanks, but… can’t you be a bit more gentler?”

The adventurers had set up a temporary camp where they rested their bodies, and helped out those who were wounded.

They had no way of going up anymore because Taesang had taken all the crystals. Either way, the injuries of those who’d been held hostage in the War Fortress were too severe.

These people had been wounded from the collision between the mysterious man and the Dark King.

Even now, there were people still being rescued from the rubble and debris within the War Fortress.

Thankfully, there were quite a lot of survivors due to their individual fortitude.

Though their conditions weren’t the best, they would heal quickly after a brief respite.

‘… Those two can’t even be considered human anymore.’

Akran frowned as he looked at this scene.

A brief collision had caused all this.

Though there was a reason to hate the man who had caused this, Akran did not.

Since the Dark King’s tyranny would’ve continued without that man.

In the end, the mysterious man hadn’t been at fault.

It was all because of the Dark King; he’s the one that should be cursed.

‘… Wait. Maybe he really did get cursed?’

UAAAAAAHH!

Akran shuddered as he heard the screams of the Dark King in the distance.

In all honesty, the reason why everyone had been able to take a breather and heal up their injuries so soon was because of the Dark King.

They would’ve had to set up a defensive perimeter and keep watch in case of more attacks, but the Dark King had been dealing with all of that for now.

For some reason, the Dark King was going around massacring every abyssal beast in the nearby area.

Not even taking the crystals that dropped from the beasts.

‘Crystals…’

With a grim expression, Akran looked to the group of three sitting by a fire in the distance.

Taesang, Misun, and Lauren Bell.

The mysterious man had turned the Dark King like that, and had just simply left.

Which meant that there was nobody here that could handle Taesang.

But what the man had said to Taesang before he left was weighing on Akran’s mind.

‘What did they talk about at the end…?’

Akran stared at Taesang with a heavy expression.

***

Taesang and his comrades were sitting by a fire.

Though they wouldn’t feel the cold with their current grade of strength, this was the easiest way to get rid of the disgusting darkness.

Darkness inspired fear in everyone; even the very strong feared the darkness.

‘Well, this brings back memories.’

As she looked at Taesang, Misun thought back to her days back on earth when she’d gone camping with her friends. He was busy chewing on a piece of monster meat that they’d roasted over the fire.

He seemed to be having a lot of different thoughts.

Chewing on a piece of meat, Misun carefully asked Taesang,

“So… did that man just leave? He didn’t want anything from us?”

Taesang had been the only one who had talked to the man before he left.

Since the man just disappeared after making the Dark King act like that.

Taesang looked at Misun, and then quietly nodded.

“Yeah, he just left.”

“… Does he really not want anything from us? We should still be quite useful.”

Though becoming an underling wasn’t great in any sense, the fact that such a powerful being had left them behind…

Taesang smiled bitterly as he replied:

“Do you really think that?”

“…”

Misun was at a loss for words.

In all honesty, she didn’t really want to ask about Hansoo.

What could they do for him in a fight between transcendents?

Misun then looked at Taesang again.

‘… What’s going to happen with you now, Taesang?’

Taesang’s eyes had been glued to the crystals on the ground for a while now.

The countless crystals that the Dark King had left behind.

Misun frowned at this.

Seeing Taesang devouring all those crystals kept bothering her.

As well as his strength that was now vastly superior than average.

Maybe…

Maybe this was the last chance for him to become a transcendent.

A monster who was about to take flight.

But unlike Misun’s worries, Taesang was having different thoughts.

Thoughts about the conversation he had with the man about the crystals.

‘… A stupid question, really.’

Taesang smiled bitterly.

He was still embarrassed about what he’d asked.

— Those crystals… What happens to them now?

Taesang had stared at Hansoo with anticipation.

If he followed what the Dark King did, then he would obviously end up like him.

But what if he ate the crystals and used his power righteously?

He was embarrassed because this question had shown the man the greed that was burning inside him, yet he was still curious.

But the man looked towards the west and only said one thing.

— You deal with it.

— Pardon?

— I said, you handle it all.

Then the man disappeared towards the west.

‘Ugh…’

Taesang laughed at himself as he thought back to that moment.

His expression had been extremely hopeful back then.

He felt like he had been accepted by the man.

He thought that he had received the rights to all the crystals.

Since devouring the crystals was the better option for him instead of letting everyone use it to climb up.

But after thinking for a while, he came to a different conclusion.

Taesang finished his thoughts and got up.

“Where are you going?”

Taesang smiled as he pointed towards the crystals.

“Gotta pick those up, right? Can’t leave them rolling around like that.”

Though Taesang had said it cheerfully, the expression of the others froze.

“What… What are you going to do with them?”

Taesang smiled bitterly at Lauren’s question.

‘Everyone fears me already…’

This wasn’t what he wanted.

He wanted to become strong.

But he didn’t want to be distanced from those who loved him, and whom he loved in return.

But he’d come to a realization.

That if you didn’t look around yourself in your charge towards the top, there would be no one left once you looked down from the peak.

‘Maybe that’s why all the transcendents act alone.’

Even if they wanted to be with other people, or wish to protect their loved ones, all their relationships would eventually end up so twisted.

And he didn’t want to become like that.

Thankfully, there was still a chance for him.

Taesang looked at the three, and spoke carefully.

“Well, we’ll need to talk to everyone about that. After we replenish the amount of crystals I ate.”

Whether they decided that he should eat them to protect them, or to use them to go up, he would agree to the wants of the others.

Maybe they might try to raise another transcendent.

No matter what, they still needed a lot of crystals.

It would take a long time, but it wouldn’t matter.

‘… This is the right path, right?’

Taesang mumbled, thinking of the man who had left.

Though he might become greedy, since he was a human as well.

UAAAAAAAHH!

The Dark King in the distance would help steel his mind from straying to that path.

Since that man could return at any moment.

Maybe even stronger than before.

Taesang then looked towards the west.

***

-Rumble-

Surprisingly, Hansoo hadn’t gone far.

He had something he needed to do.

‘… They took the flail, huh?’

Hansoo thought to himself, after visiting the center of the War Fortress before he left for the west.

He searched around a bit in case the Dark King had hidden it, but couldn’t find it in the end.

It was probably now in someone else’s hands.

Though a normal person would be burnt to a crisp once they touched the flail that was located on the mana node, there were existences that could safely grasp it.

Since he had made it possible.

‘It was probably one of the transcendents.’

Hansoo decided to forget about the flail for now.

Since there was no reason to find it nor was there a method for him to track it down.

There was something else he had to deal with at this moment.

‘We’ve arrived.’

-Rumble-

Hansoo stopped to look at the castle in front of him.

It was the Keil Kingdom’s refugee fortress, where Taesang, Misun, and the other refugees had previously lived.

The attack of the Kang-Kions had turned it into ruins, but he had a reason for his return.

‘… It’s getting on my mind.’

As to why the abyssal beasts, who went everywhere the humans could be found, had not tried to approach this area.

Even before the Kang-Kions attacked, a lot of them had hesitated.

Which meant that there was something deterring them in this place.

If that wasn’t the case, then even more Kang-Kions would’ve attacked, which would have resulted in even more casualties.

‘I must check.’

-Boom!-

Hansoo rose high up into the sky and headed towards the center of the fortress.

-Chijijijik!-

He gathered a tremendous amount of energy around his spear.

The Nine Dragons Spear.

-Sssss-

Six dragons converged almost instantly and crept to the tip of his spear.

Then-

-BOOOOOM!-

The dark orb that Hansoo created smashed into the ground of the fortress and made a huge noise.

-Rummmblee-

A single strike was all that needed to break down the fortress that had barely held on after the attack of the Kang-Kions.

But its collapse wasn’t entirely due to Hansoo.

‘Cave?’

There was a giant cave right beneath the fortress.

Kyaaaaak!

Suddenly, something that had been sitting below popped out, rising into the air.

A snake-like creature that seemed to have been created from a convergence of darkness.

‘An Evil Suction Beast.’

They were a solitary-type race.

If one didn’t know how to deal with them, then it was a grade 6.

If one knew how to, then it would only be at grade 4.

A race that sucked energy out of beings to empower themselves and to reproduce.

The reason why the cave could not be sensed was because the bodies of these things had been filling up the entirety of the cave, leaving no gaps.

‘… For them to be living right on top of these guys and still survive… They were really lucky.’

But soon Hansoo realized that it hadn’t been entirely due to luck.

These things had been sitting underground without coming up because they hadn’t finished eating.

As the dark snakes moved out, he could see what they had been eating.

‘… Jang Oh? He died?’

Clementine’s underling that had run from him.

And the godly artifact he held, Arham’s shield.

Though the artifact was on his wrist, his entire body looked mummified after being sucked out by the Evil Suction Beasts.

Kyaaak!

The snakes all started to rush towards Hansoo.