When the heck do I use this thing?
I looked through the draft plan, but there was no item like this.
I also haven"t found a place to use it yet. That was the case even though I defeated Demon Lord Heros.
But I"m sure that there has to be a use for it.
The area then started to shake as if there was an earthquake. A large portal of darkness appeared at the center of the area.
I could see some information as I looked at the portal.
[The Resting Place of the Dead]
Only the dead can go through here.
All who enter through here will stand on equal footing.
I knew it. I knew it seemed too easy.
Demon Lord Heros had not died. He had just gotten rid of his sh.e.l.l in this world and returned to his true self.
He also returned to his territory as well.
"Only the dead can go through here."
I think I finally understand why the Soul of the Dead is necessary to go into Heros"s territory.
That meant that I was the only person who could enter the Resting Place of the Dead while alive.
I ended up fighting Heros alone in the game and it looks like the same situation will happen here.
"It ended up being a bit more roundabout way, but it still ended up in the same place."
"What is going on? Is it not over yet?"
It was Goonto"s voice.
It was nice to hear. The battles had been so fierce until we got here that I couldn"t even tell who was still alive and who was dead.
Goonto was still alive, as expected of a warrior who had reached the level of One with the Sword.
"Wait here. I"ll be back after putting an end to it."
"You"re going alone?"
"I have no choice. You can"t enter through here while alive."
Even Goonto could see the information about The Resting Place of the Dead. But he still seemed confused.
"Then what about you?"
I showed him the Soul of the Dead.
Goonto then nodded his head.
"It"s dangerous on your own!"
I heard another welcomed voice. It was Jonnan.
"Senior, you"re still safe."
It was not just Jonnan. Batoon, Goultan, Jul Goo, and Eruni were all still alive. It seemed that they had listened to my orders to stay in the back and support others instead of joining the battle directly.
"I will go in with you."
"Thank you for your thoughts, but it is impossible. I only have one Soul of the Dead."
"I"m sure we can find a way."
It was possible.
But they probably won"t. That was how I was feeling.
I guess it was best to say goodbye now. There was this odd sense of wariness that kept making my shoulders cold.
I had this strange feeling that I wouldn"t be able to meet Jonnan and the others anymore once I go through here.
I grabbed Jonnan"s hand first. He was the person who would always take first place if I had to pick someone in Royal Roader who was like family.
"Thank you for everything until now. I couldn"t express it well until now, but senior, you are like my father."
"I feel the same way. You feel like my own son."
He didn"t seem to be lying. I guess we really do have a connection.
Having someone like him by my side made it feel as if my life in Royal Roader was not worthless.
I said goodbye to Batoom and Goultan as well. It wasn"t as much as Jonnan, but there was something that tugged at me when I shook hands with them as well.
Next was Jul Goo.
I subconsciously patted his shoulders hard.
"You"re reliable now. You"re pretty much a general!"
"My lord!"
"Hey punk, you should be cheering me on, not crying."
Jul Goo quickly turned his head away as if he was trying to hide his tears.
Next was Eruni……
"Aigoo!"
Eruni quickly hugged me as if she had been waiting for her turn.
Eruni was almost thirty now. It was about time for her to get married.
But she didn"t seem interested in getting married at all. She was close to level 400 now as well, so she was skilled enough to be respected wherever she went, but she kept living as if she was my slave.
I knew a bit about how Eruni felt. How she felt about me that is.
But she has never shown me how she feels.
It"s probably because of Kaldera. She probably feels that Kaldera is much more suitable for me than herself.
That was why I felt even worse.
But she should be able to find her own life now. As they say, out of sight, out of mind.
She might be lost for a bit after I disappear, but she will snap out of it.
But why am I thinking like this? I sound like someone who is headed for his death.
No. I will return alive.
I feel sorry for Eruni, but I will show my face in front of her again. Then I"ll find a decent young man and force her to get married if I have to do so.
I need to make sure to come back alive in order to be able to do that.
"Just wait a bit. I"ll be back soon."
Eruni nodded her head while still hugging me.
"But don"t wait too long. Return to t.i.tan Valley first if you don"t hear anything for a few days."
Eruni shook her head this time.
And she was still not letting go. She seemed to want to prevent me from going.
I lightly pushed Eruni away.
She finally let go.
"Why are you all acting like this? You look like people sending someone away for good. Smile and don"t cry. I"ll be back soon."
I talked to them as energetically as possible.
But the atmosphere was still bleak. Even Goonto had turned his away to hide his emotions.
This wasn"t good. I would need over a day to say goodbye like this.
"I"ll be back."
That was all I said before I jumped into the black portal.
I got a glimpse of their surprised expressions.
But my sight soon became dark.
And then it became bright.
Well, it was more that my sight returned than that it suddenly turned bright. Inside a Demon Cave is a pitch-black world without a single source of light.
It was thanks to my Owl"s Eyes.
"Human! You must have no fear!"
I heard a loud voice echo around me. This must be a large cave.
I"m sure that that must be Demon Lord Heros"s voice. Based on his thick voice, he is probably the size of an elephant.
But I turned my head to see that Heros"s size was normal. He was pretty close to me in height.
It seemed as if Demon Lord Heros has returned to regular human Heros.
"Haha, did you not see that this place is called the Resting Place of the Dead? You cannot defeat me here. You are just a fake deceased while I am a true deceased."
I had no reason to talk to him. It wasn"t like Heros was going to give me any useful information. In fact, he would probably just try to make me confused. He would try to lower my confidence.
Quickly finishing the battle was the best solution.
It"s disappointing. I would have saved some Guard Points and Intelli Points if I knew it would be like this.
I invested everything already thinking that that was the final battle. That was why I could only use Spirit Energy right now.
And there was only about 700 left.
But I guess that"s still nice to have.
"Put all Spirit Energy into Strength!"
I picked up Goonto"s Twin Blades and charged toward Heros.
Demon Lord Heros did not say anything else. He was holding twin blades like me and moved seriously but quickly to defend my attack.
But it was a bit unexpected.
A Demon Lord should be an extremely skilled. He should be so strong that I wouldn"t be able to compare no matter how strong I was.
But I felt like we were pretty even in strength. He wasn"t weaker than me, but he didn"t seem to be stronger than me either.
"It"s doable!"
I pushed a little harder. I guess you could say I became a little more courageous? Or maybe a little more violent?
I used 120% of my abilities to pressure Heros.
Heros took a step back. He was not attacking and mainly focusing on defense in order to block my attacks.
"Just a little more. A little more."
It felt possible.
But I always lacked that final something. I failed every time I felt like I could slash through Heros"s body.
At first I thought it was because I wasn"t lucky enough. Then I felt like I couldn"t utilize my chances.
But something felt weird after that continued for over 30 minutes. It felt like I was being tricked or something.
I heard Demon Lord Heros"s voice again at that moment.
"Haha, did you finally realize it? Do you know the reason you cannot defeat me here?"
That should mean that his actions were all calculated.
What could I have missed?
I then suddenly thought of something. The name of this place.
"The Resting Place of the Dead!"
Heros did not seem tired at all. His breathing wasn"t even messed up. On the other hand, I was really tired and breathing heavily.
Of course, it made sense that I would be more tired since I was attacking while he was defending.
But it was more than that. Heros had moved a lot as well, but he didn"t get tired at all.
Heros revealed the reason for it himself.
"I do not get tired here. You are bound to tire yourself out and fall."
So that"s how it was.
Only true decreased like him could find rest here. That meant that they would have never-ending stamina.
On the other hand, I couldn"t use that benefit since I only came here thanks to the Soul of the Dead.
That meant that I was only cutting away at my own life the more I moved.
I guess I need to pay attention to my stamina as I fight from here. I felt like it was a bit late, but I had no other options.
But did Heros read my mind? He laughed again.
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"Hoho. You want to rest? Do you think I would let you do that?"
Heros then started to attack.
They were not very strong attacks.
But I couldn"t look down on them either. He seemed to have all the same abilities as I did.
Was it a unique nature of the Resting Place of the Dead?
Now that I thought about it, it did mention something like that.
[All who enter through here will stand on equal footing.]
It was not just talking about the dead. Everybody would be on equal footing. In other words, we would have the same abilities.
That was why Heros had focused on defense in the beginning. He didn"t want to accidentally make a mistake. He wanted to drain my stamina at the same time.
"Now what do I do?"
Heros"s attacks were not very fierce.
His goal was not to kill me with a single attack. He wanted to make me keep moving so that he could drain my stamina.
But he also made sure to pay attention to defense. He seemed to be prepared for any sudden counterattacks from me.
He had been that way from the beginning. I kept launching surprise attacks while thinking that I just needed one more hit to get him, but Heros dodged all of them as if he had been preparing for them.
And then he pressured me over and over.
My mind became chaotic. I didn"t know what to do.
The only thing I could do right now was to focus on defense and save my stamina.
But that wasn"t a solution. No matter how hard I tried to save my stamina, I couldn"t help but lose stamina as Heros continued to bombard me with attacks.
On the other hand, Heros wasn"t getting tired at all even with all these movements.
"Hoho, I wonder how long you can last."
I was worried about that as well.
But I can only give it my all.
Huff. Huff.
My breathing was extremely heavy. My chest felt like it would burst.
I also felt like I didn"t have enough oxygen. No matter how heavily I breathed, I couldn"t cool this frustration inside of me.
"I"m too tired!"
A whole day pa.s.sed like that.
I was amazed that I could move so long without getting any rest.
I guess it is some superpower that someone on the brink of death could show.
Or maybe it was because Demon Lord Heros was not overdoing it. He was carefully pressuring me as if he wouldn"t allow himself to make even a single mistake.
That was how I was able to last this long.
But that was over now. My arms and legs were shaking. I even felt like I wanted to give up and rest.
Heros seemed to have noticed that.
"I guess it is time to finish this! Do you have any last words?"
I didn"t even have the strength to talk. I would block one more attack if I had the strength to talk.
"Haha, what a pity. You don"t have any family nor friends to leave any last words. Then goodbye now."
Family or friends…
I suddenly thought about my family in the real world. My mother and my sister.
Why was I also thinking about Lee Man Bok"s family as well right now? And Han Sul Yi too.
Was I really going to die like this? Would my life in the real world end too if I die here?
I wasn"t sad nor worried about dying, but my heart felt like it would rip thinking about my mother who would be devastated at my death.
I can"t die like this.
But that wasn"t up to me.
Demon Lord Heros attacked more fiercely as if he knew this was the end.
"Die now."
Demon Lord Heros swung his twin blades. The attack seemed very strong.
I raised a blade to defend but I didn"t think I could block this strong attack.
I subconsciously closed my eyes.
Clang!
That"s odd. I didn"t feel anything. My hand holding the blade didn"t feel anything at all.
But I heard something clashing above my head.
"What is it?"
I heard Demon Lord Heros"s shocked voice at that moment.
"W, who are you? How did you get in here?"
Did someone else come in here? That"s impossible. There"s no way someone else had a Soul of the Dead.
But who could it be?
I opened my closed eyes.
I heard a welcomed voice at the same time.
"Hurry up and get up!"
Translator: Miraclerifle
Proofreader: Borderline m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t
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