Chapter 435: The Underground 1
A Death Knight with a purple metal armor and a huge sword.
Ian who looked at the appearance was dumbfounded.
‘Who is it? It seems like someone I might surely know.’
As Ian’s memory wasn’t able to pick up any ident.i.ty or name, it was thought of a some not-a-big-deal NPC, but he was sure that he knew the one who just appeared.
Ian had good eyes.
And within a while, Ian was able to realize the ident.i.ty.
“Vice-captain Rosen?”
Deputy Rosen was a Luspel Imperial Knight who was always beside h.e.l.liem in protecting the empire.
Surprisingly, Rosen who always protected the empire of Luspel by being a loyalist had now appeared as a death Knight right in front of them as a gatekeeper for the catacombs.
But after those words came out of the mouth of Ian, Rosen was the one who was more puzzled.
“You know my name. But a vice-captain you say, what is that? I’m the lord of the dead, family of Chalian.”
Thud-!
Rosen took out his sword and raised it to the sky and put the gauntlet on the floor.
It was an unexpected act from anyone’s point of view, however, Ian responded with panic.
“El, Dragonic Barrier!”
Wheeing-!
In less than two seconds, before Rosen’s skill could be implemented, the Dragonic Barrier was created as a s.h.i.+eld for all the members.
The wide-area attack from Rosen got completely absorbed by the barrier.
Kw.a.n.g- Kwakw.a.n.g-!
[The attack skill of ‘Death Knight Rosen’, the ‘Darkness Quake’ was overwhelming.]
[The durability of the ‘Dragonic Barrier’ has been reduced by 57. (2,927/ 2,984)]
[A state of stun has been activated with a 75% chance.]
[‘Dragonic Barrier’ resisted the influence.]
Of the named Death Knight, the most high-level skill was considered as the Darkness quake.
The Darkness Quake wasn’t a very powerful weapon for destruction, but it sure was a very threatening skill.
The reason for it was the ‘stun’ condition.
If there was a little damage taken in from the Darkness Quake, there was a high probability of being in a stun for 7 seconds.
In that duration of 7 seconds, any weaker cla.s.s position could reach the point of death.
If I wasn’t for Ian’s quick response, the party would have suffered huge damage.
Levya who played another skill, a step later, opened her mouth with a little fl.u.s.tered expression.
“I’m sorry. I was a bit late.”
“No problem, well, It was very sudden so.”
Ian looked at the Death Knight Rosen.
‘The vice-captain of Imperial order… it is sure that we aren’t on the wrong side.’
For Ian to come over to the Rataphel domain, and the purpose of using the dimensional portal.
And to come to the underground catacombs with a certain amount of expectation.
Was to rescue the powerful NPCs of the past Luspel Empire and place them in their armies.
And for the Rosen of that time appearing in front of him as the knight was a good sign.
And it has been said that there was a high probability that the other imperial NPCs would appear further deep.
‘But if all the knights have already turned into Undead… that will be the worst turn of events.’
If it was just Rosen, then it wouldn’t be much of a problem, but if all the knights including h.e.l.liem were Death Knights.
Then the party of Ian would have an impossible situation to cope with.
Ian’s head started to work at a high speed.
They couldn’t just merely drill through the ground without any plan.
Depending on their judgments and decisions, they could win big or lose more.
‘The total number of imperial knights were around 100 to 200. We can get rid of half of them if they aren’t h.e.l.liem…’
However, Ian’s idea didn’t move any forward.
Rosen who had failed to cause any damage to them had called for reinforcements.
“I cannot help the humans who dared to step foot into the sanctuary of darkness.”
Kwahh-!
A purple smoke started to rise from the back of Rosen, and the air started to move.
With a while, the haze of purple disappeared and additional death knights came into their sight.
Now Ian’s expression had changed.
‘Rosen is of level 450 and the others are all 420s…’
The appearance of the death knights seemed like the NPCs of the empire.
However, no matter how many alternative techniques were thought, it just seemed inevitable to go against them.
Ian stopped trying to figure things out with nervousness and ordered the party members.
“Remir noona.”
“Huh.”
“I think this will be a better situation to go for the cut-and-block strategy. Let’s operate with a single focus.”
“Kay.”
While Ian was getting ready to battle.
Chuk- chuk- chuk-
The death knights began to form their own formation.
“Yu s.h.i.+n, you need to be at your best.”
“Understood, Ian.”
“We’ll move from the person that you’re targeting, one after the other.”
“Okay!”
Except for the quest that happened in the Prilania canyon, the current battle was the arduous one.
Even with the high level of anxiety and panic, the party of Ian soon went into battle.
* * *
Sllrrrr.
Thud, thud.
With a sound of a door sliding, the sound of someone’s steps approaching him entered the ears of Prof. Lee Jin-wook.
After listening to the sound of the footsteps which seemed like whining footsteps.
Lee Jin-wook was able to guess the ident.i.ty of the person who just entered the professor’s room and spoke to him without even looking at his face.
“Can’t do.”
And the protagonist with the footsteps, who was dumbfounded with the sharp words was Semi who looked at him with a sullen face.
“Huh? What ‘can’t do’, professor?”
Keek.
Lee Ji-wook, who was staring at the monitor, turned back with his chair.
And looked through his gla.s.ses to see the person.
“You, didn’t you come to ask permission to take a leave again?”
“…!”
“You thought I didn’t know? Not this time! I need to go to the other cla.s.s, move.”
At the successive successful attacks from Lee Jin-wook, Semi was perplexed.
However, she wasn’t in the plan of backing down, she immediately asked him.
“Professor, it really can’t happen this time?”
“Hmm?”
“I have never canceled it even once this semester, so saying ‘this time’ for just once is a little sad to hear.”
“That, really? Didn’t you cancel the last cla.s.s, cla.s.s B?”
“Yeah. Besides, tomorrow is a holiday that was declared for the whole nation! Professor, I really appreciate your pa.s.sion… wouldn’t it be a loss in the long run if you take cla.s.ses even in the holidays?”
“Why do suppose it will be?”
“Well, firstly, the students will feel less motivated to study.”
“And?”
“Secondly, professor, your physical strength is very low. How about you give us a better quality lecture on your workday and take the holiday as rest time, that sounds better right?”
Lee Jin-wook’s expression stiffened with the logical allegations that Semi had just made, touching his chin he opened his mouth,
“Are you sure this is the collective opinion of all?”
“Of course! Even with tomorrow’s cla.s.s being canceled, everything else will be perfect in the timetable!”
“Perfect…?”
“Perfectly clean…”
“…”
Lee Jin-wook looked at her face narrowing his wrinkled eyes.
‘There is some time till the end of the final exam…’
It was natural for the professor to feel comfortable at the explanation.
To stand in front of the whole cla.s.s for 2 hours and teach, consumed a lot of energy.
And there was enough ground for the cancellation, so it was a good idea.
However, there was a reason why Lee Jin-wook was worried…
‘There is nothing for me to do if tomorrow’s cla.s.s gets canceled.’
He who went hunting in the afternoon was killed and had to face the Kailan’s death penalty, which meant he couldn’t play until 5 pm tomorrow.
And that was the actual and critical problem of Professor Lee Jin-wook.
“Keum, cancel ah…”
Lee Jin-wook repeatedly touched his chin with concern still running in his mind.
Seeing that, Semi decided to hand a little sweet information.
“Professor, do you know about that?”
“What?”
“Yoo-hyun senior has told this.”
“Hmm…?”
“Professor Seonmi is going hiking tomorrow morning.”
“…!”
“Professor Seonmi is going alone, try contacting her…”
And with that story, the negotiations were concluded.
There was nothing as sweet as the opportunity for a bachelor to find a partner to spend the day with.
“That, that seems like a good one…”
“Huhu, am I not a student of capabilities?”
“Huh, you have such good qualities.”
“Then, professor, canceling…?”
“Okay, deal! Tomorrow we will all rest. See you next week, Semi-ah!”
Professor Lee Jin-wook hurriedly turned off the computer.
Seeing him like that, Semi smiled.
‘Nice! Then I can watch the videos of Ian with peace today!’
Honestly, Semi didn’t want to rest tomorrow.
As her mind was still stuck in the field, she wasn’t able to do the a.s.signed task that was needed to be done by tomorrow.
However, as all of the students wished for the same thing, the cancellation was concluded, and now the task could be postponed to the later week.
Semi smiled and ran out of the room.
After hearing the good news, she wanted to rush home and watch the broadcast after going home.
* * *
There were many kinds of monsters in Kailan.
Skeletons, orc, goblins, ogres and many more.
Monsters of various categories, who could be identified by just listening to their names.
But what was interesting was that even if the same monster appeared twice, they didn’t possess the same ability and skill.
Just as how humans had the same ability, the monsters of Kailan also had a certain tactical distinction with a range.
Relatively strong orcs, specifically the ones with a good head.
The difference between each unit (monster) becomes bigger with a higher tier of the monster.
In the case of goblins, the main monster, there wasn’t much of a difference in them that could be noticed, but the difference was highly noticeable in the higher tier monsters like the death knight.
Not to mention the NPCs who were proud of their abilities before they became the Undead.
KaBang-!
The fist of Yu s.h.i.+n and the sword of Rosen made contact with the other and went bouncing with a sound.
Though almost 30 minutes have pa.s.sed since the battle had begun, Ian only succeeded in removing three death knights.
Death Knights, including Rosen, were pus.h.i.+ng the party of Ian with a hard battle.
‘The AI is so good on the units such as monsters.’
The plan made by the party of Ian was simple.
A battle that slays those that looked the weakest while Yu s.h.i.+n takes it on, Bbakbbak would do the best with his tanking abilities.
The best and effective form of combat had been disabled under the command of Rosen.
When the attacks were being focused on a specific death knight, the specific target moved to the back of the battlefield and the others began to protect it.
Of course, even if the battle kept happening like this, they would eventually win, but they would have to spend around 3 to 4 hours.
‘I wanted to finish this quickly… is there another way?’
Though they cleared out all the monster in the dungeon while descending down, as things went now, it was more likely for the Rataphel lord to be discovered.
At least before that, they had to clear out the dungeon and get out of there.
‘If we had one or two more damage dealers…’
Right after the mission was done, Cameres had returned to the Dragon Haven.
Ian who was in his deep thoughts felt hesitation.
“Sh*t.”
If one NPC had been there, he could finish the battle in just 10 to 20 minutes.
‘Maybe if either Kaizer or Pauline…’
He tried to recall the retainers who were currently in the Kingdom’s army and fighting hard, and he wasn’t able to think of anything else.
Since there were many constraints, there was a limit to how much they could do.
While Ian was in deep thoughts.
Bang-!
On the side of the battlefield, an enormous sound came.
A huge explosion which was enough to make the whole dungeon battle stop.
Ian’s gaze turned naturally in the direction of the sound and was shocked at what he saw.
One of the death knights, who had a full Hp till then, was a cold corpse on the floor.
Right behind the corpse, there was a man standing whose ident.i.ty was unknown.