Chapter 36. Demon Lord’s Castle (3)

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Hyunwoo gulped his saliva as he looked between Hansoo next to him and the giant door made of bones in the distance.

“Hansoo. You at least feel good. Since you can escape during times of crisis because you have the crystal.”

And then Hansoo chuckled at Hyunwoo who was looking at him enviably.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going.”

“Yeah? Well. Logically speaking, you’re probably here because you have something to gain.”

Hansoo chucked as he looked at Hyunwoo who was mumbling ‘Because you’d gone up if that wasn’t the case.’

‘Well. Those words are right.’

It was better for him to go up then to stay down here since he wasn’t a Clan Lord who logically had to save everybody.

Since the hunting efficiency here was rather low.

The only runes that came out were from killing the Demons but the amount they dropped wasn’t really satisfying it if you take into account their strength.

Some people who have already fulfilled the requirements of other islands rather quickly were probably already roaming around the most attractive area out of the islands above, The <Tower>.

Since this fact was already on the Island Maps.

But he hadn’t come here for such things from the start.

‘Demonic Jade Crystal.’

If he didn’t obtain the <Demonic Jade Crystal> from the end of the Demon Lord’s Castle then there was no point even if he got to the end of the final dungeon.

He wouldn’t have known its existence without Eres.

Eres wasn’t in the condition to utilize it properly but he could pull out all the power from the Demonic Jade Crystal.

He had come here for the Demonic Jade Crystal, the Judgement and Justice of Dekrados were merely part of the process.

‘About 21 crystals collected.’

Also, if he were to hunt with ease then he could probably obtain the Justice of Dekrados also.

“It kind of seems like the Clan Lords don’t like you much. Is it because you’re strong?”

There was no reason to hate Hansoo in Hyunwoo’s eyes.

He helped others well, was diligent in his own part of the work and felt very secure because he was strong.

There were basic rules and he was very diligent in following them.

The reason why the non-clansmen had followed him at the start was because of this.

Though they had all split up now.

Hansoo chuckled as he spoke.

“Well there’s that but…it’s as you say. They just don’t like me.”

The road was long and they didn’t know when an enemy will appear.

If they thought logically then they had to combine their strength in order to defeat the enemy.

But Lords were a little different.

Historically speaking, it wasn’t that the kings did not slash off the necks of capable generals because there was an enemy.

Lords instinctively hated people who didn’t work in their way.

Lord of a Clan.

As soon as you awake the trait <Lord> , you realize it instinctively.

That your words became the law and the rules within this household.

He didn’t know himself but according to the words of Eres, it was a very addictive and amazing feeling where you are living in the modern society and then getting into a situation where others had to listen to your words.

And they tried to increase the number of their clan because of this.

To increase their influence inside and outwards as well as to apply the rules they created.

The reason why the Lords increased their power wasn’t just for survival.

But who would like it when somebody else were to come and then tell them to follow different rules.

It was a different problem from their own rules being right or wrong, he, who was an <Executor>, couldn’t have a good relation with Lords from the start.

‘Well they might not be able to judge things reasonably.’

The Lords who had been around for tens of decades were growing impatient because they couldn’t kill him.

The fact that the ones who just became Lords were around him and were suppressing themselves was even more amazing.

Since reason and emotion are different from the start.

And when somebody sets their mind on something, they’re bound to create some reason for it in their head.

‘They still need to grow a lot.’

A new ability.

And a new world where they can use it freely.

It was obvious that they wanted to swing around the fascinating new sword that they had obtained.

And getting angry was normal since they met somebody which their sword, which usually worked well, didn’t work against.

But they needed to see more and hear more.

And they had to realize that this was just the start.

And that was why they needed to escape the tutorial area in order to survive.

The most important quality of a Lord wasn’t suppressing the other Lord.

Suppressing oneself and knowing how to work with other Lords was the most important thing.

Even Mad Monarch and the Lord of Dark Angler weren’t self-assertive.

‘Well. It’s a little early for them to know of it. Anyways, I should try a little bit harder.’

What would he do by showing off his strength against baby Lords in the tutorial area.

The people here were people who came from living in the real world and had only been here for about a month.

They might look at him in a marvelous way but if Hansoo wasn’t able to do at least this much then Kangtae would’ve probably went overboard.

His real rivals were people who have been here for a few years or even 20 years while going through all sorts of hardships from square one.

People who had broken through a tutorial like this over 10 or so years ago and had been roaming around the Otherworld for a long time.

His goal wasn’t to be ahead of others by 1 to 2 years.

He had to catch up to 20 years between him and them.

Hansoo loosened up the tension in his body as he approached the first gateway, the <Door of Bones>

‘The time it will take to eat up the rest of the members will be about 3 days… it seems it’ll take a while.’

The non-clansmen couldn’t follow him.

They will receive more damage than usual as the environment gets harsher if they did not have the commands of a Lord.

And that was why he induced the Clan Lords to absorb them back in.

Since it seemed like most members had been absorbed into the clans, things were doable.

‘Let’s have a look here.’

They’ll have some sort of an image as they see how he deals with the Gatekeeper.

Hansoo smiled at Hyunwoo then slowly walked forward.

…………

Guktae frowned as he looked at the giant door in front of him.

A giant door that seemed like it was made of hundreds of thousands if not millions of bones.

One could see that from the door that reminded of France’s Arc de Triomphe, a fearful aura was coming off from it.

‘Let’s see… the remaining number is 1200.’

100 died in 3 days.

From one’s view it was merely a trivial loss.

This was a result that came off from Hansoo and the Special forces fighting the Demons competitively.

If both of them were slugging about then the damage would have skyrocketed.

‘Well. Since they have almost absorbed them all.’

As people saw that Hansoo didn’t care about keeping them safe and was focused on hunting the Demons, they all ran and joined the clans.

They had all realized.

Though Hansoo can hunt all the Demons with his body alone, that he could not defend them from the attacks of countless mages

If they didn’t go into the clans then the special forces wouldn’t defend them and then they’ll be wide open against the attacks of the mages.

Though the people who had survived from Hansoo hunting the Demons were hundreds, being safer was the better option.

While Guktae was making a satisfied expression, a familiar existence appeared in front of the Giant Door.

“Hello everyone. Welcome to the first of the three doors, the Door of Bones.”

<Door of Bones>

There wasn’t any other name that more befitting.

The fairy who had seen the people’s expressions nodded.

“It’s very simple. Do you see the giant door over there? You just need to get past it.”

“…It’s closed.”

The giant door that the fairy pointed to was firmly closed.

But then climbing the walls that stretched tens of meters next to it seemed impossible.

No, if they were meant to be climbed then why would the door exist.

‘We don’t even know if the fairy might kill us as an example on the way up.’

Their lives were too precious to test climbing up the wall when they could just talk it out.

The fairy laughed as it spoke.

“Eehee. You need to pay a passing fee.”

Everyone made a bitter expression at those words.

“What do we need to pay with?”

The fairy shrugged as it spoke.

“What else. The crystals on you guys. Crystals. Just pay 30. Then it’ll be a free pass.”

“…”

Curses almost exploded out from their mouths.

The sum total they had hunted in the past 3 days was 50.

And there were only about 30 in their possession.

But for them to pay 30 crystals in order to open a door.

Which meant they had to hand over their lives too.

The reason why they were able to plan things about while trying so hard was because they had a backup plan which came from the crystals.

The <Tower>, which was right above the Central Island, was shown on the Islands Map and was told to have even more opportunities than now.

The reason why the name Central Island was given was because it was an island right below the Tower.

And they, who had already gained a lot in the central island, could still look out for opportunities even if they go up with heavy losses.

But if they lose the crystals then they would have to give up on all of those opportunities.

And the fairy had told them clearly.

That there were 3 doors.

Which means there was a chance that they will get robbed 2 more times like this from now.

Guktae struggled to maintain his expression and then spoke.

“Is there a way to pass without paying?”

The fairy nodded at those words.

“Simple. You need to kill the Gatekeeper.”

“…Gatekeeper.”

“Yes. Gatekeeper.”

As soon as the fairy’s words ended, a fearful vibration started to ring throughout the ground.

The origin of the vibration was the door in front of them.

Kadududuk.

Udududuk.

The hundreds of thousand if not millions of bones that had made up the door mixed and intertwined as it turned into something giant.

“…Wolf?”

Somebody spoke out in dismay as they saw the giant wolf that stretched 50m long from head to its tail.

Grrrrrrrr.

Though it was made of bones, there were blue flames burning from its eyes.

And this was from 30m above them.

It was only 30m on paper, it felt like a building was standing up and growling at them.

It didn’t even squeak like the weak skeletons.

Since the number of bones that its body consisted of was too many to do so.

The people made fearful expressions as they saw the giant black wolf made of bones that were polluted black.

The fairy laughed as it saw those people.

“Here. There isn’t a moon anymore right? If you aren’t going to pay then you just need to walk beneath it.”

Grrrrrr

The people gulped their saliva as they gazed at the giant Wolf.

“…How about giving 30 crystals?”

“Yeah. How are we going to…”

30 crystals.

A number that could only be gained if they killed 30 demons.

It actually looked as strong as 30 demons.

And that was the problem.

They had hunted 50 of them by killing them 8 or 9 at a time but 30 of them charging at them at once was of a different dimension.

The Clan Lords made bitter expressions as they looked at each other.

There weren’t any crystals on the few remaining non-clansmen.

Which meant that they had to pay 30 crystals.

No, another person did exist.

He didn’t have as much as them but someone in possession of a lot of crystals.

They looked at Hansoo as they spoke.

“Let’s pay the crystals together.”

That thing was too burdensome no matter what.

Hansoo shook his head.

“We need to fight it.”

“…what?”

Everyone’s expressions froze.

‘Damn… does he mean it’s not worth it.’

Guktae frowned inwardly.

But it made sense that it wasn’t worth it.

They were 1200.

On the other hand, he was alone.

It was possible that he would feel wronged if he had to burden part of the 30.

But they couldn’t act recklessly.

The situation would become very complicated if he decides to go up when they try to force him with strength.

“We aren’t telling you to pay all 30. Just a part of it…”

Hansoo thought quietly inwardly while listen to those words.

‘Eres. I really think you are extremely amazing.’

Eres had saved 600 out of 1000 people and ascended.

Surprisingly, Eres managed to have less than 30 deaths before they reached the Door of Bones.

The thousand people Eres had numbered a little less but were much more formidable than the ones here.

Like steel which got stronger as you hammered it, people who were strengthened from 20 days of fighting without rest.

They had good synergy, kept on fighting against the demons and continuously reinforced their Battle Power from crystals.

And the only action that Eres had regretted in the central island.

— I shouldn’t have paid the crystals to go through it.

Eres was scared of people dying while fighting that giant thing so she had paid the crystals she had gathered to pass it.

And because of this, she had to pay crystals on the next gateway too.

Since she had already given the crystals once and could not reinforce their battle powers with those crystals.

And the same with the next gateway as well.

And after she had arrived at the Giant Crystal at the Demon Lord’s Castle at that pace, she had lost 400 out of 1000 people during the final battle.

No, It ended with 400 because of luck.

If they pass through something sweetly once in this world, then it’ll just come back with interest and Eres had felt this through pain in her bones.

‘It seems like I’ll need to make some extra explanations.’

Hansoo mumbled inwardly as he saw everyone’s frozen expressions.