Three weeks after the war was over, Jaehwan and his Depth Expedition Team were at the Void Factory, the entrance of .
"It"s here," he mumbled as he watched the building in the distance. He already had the knowledge of the place from Mulack"s memories.
This half-circle building was the final door to the . It was what surrounded the Dead Man Palace, the place of Sole King Catastrophe.
"Everyone stop!"
Euren and Cayman quickly made the forces behind them stop and line up. Jaehwan thought, "There are too many."
He had repeated many times that not everyone would be allowed into the even if they followed, but they still had a total of 3,000 soldiers.
-We can still join even if we"re weak!
It was "s oldest dream. It was everyone"s dream to at least try.
"Ugh… this is a mess. And the one that NEEDS to go is still knocked out."
He thought as he glanced at Sirwen, who was being carried on Chunghuh"s back. Jaehwan had already decided to take Sirwen with him. It wasn"t because of her character or anything. It was just because she was very useful. She was, after all, a [Nightmare]. However, she was knocked out while she was doing that squeeze thing and she did not wake up. Chunghuh"s eyes met Jaehwan"s.
"…What did you do to her?"
It seemed he was having misleading thoughts, but Jaehwan did not feel like explaining. Euren then came to him and asked, "Master, should we move in right away?"
"I"m not your Master anymore."
"You are still my Master, sir." Euren spoke sternly.
Jaehwan answered, "Let me remind you. I won"t be a guardian once we"re inside."
"…I know, sir."
"Good."
It was cold, but it had to be done. Euren knew this very well. Jaehwan was going to leave soon. was now on its own.
Then, the door to the Void Factory opened. From within, the roar of horned monsters filled the air.
"It"s beginning."
Within the factory, there was a conveyor belt. Some monsters walked out. Most were unihorns, but there were quad and pentahorns among them as well. All of them had that distinct factory stench.
"So, this is where those horned monsters are created."
All the horned monsters in were created in this Void Factory. This was the feeling that Meikal got when he worked on the horns. The feeling of being "made".
"It was a factory made by [Masters]."
Jaehwan remembered Chunghuh"s explanation. This factory was created to hold off Dead Men within the Dead Man Palace.
"Everyone! Ready for the battle!"
With Cayman"s shout, the soldiers changed formation. Some pulled out their weapons.
"Hmph. I should switch out my weapon with their horns!"
Kanghw.a.n.g and the other leaders seemed excited. There were a lot of quadhorns. Horns were best utilized when they were made to be used as weapons. They were very durable, and worked very well against Dead Men.
People began to fight. Jaehwan and the Awakeners mostly fought the quadhorns only. There were pentahorns also. There was the pentahorn Garknak, one that Jaehwan first killed when he first arrived at , but there wasn"t just one. A lot of them appeared. At the center was a huge Garnak, and there were a total of 8 horns on its head. "Octahorn!!" someone shouted. Horned monsters beyond penta were very rare and were hard to even fight against. There was a rumor that they needed at least three 7th stage Adapters to fight one heptahorn.
But this was a octahorn.
The octahorn Garnak glanced around, checking each soldier one by one. It then found Jaehwan and his scabbard.
The Garnak immediately roared and lunged at them.
"Master, I will fight him!"
"No! Let me!"
Cayman and Karlton quickly blocked the way.
"Fools, it"s seniors first!"
Chunghuh also joined in. An octahorn was very valuable. It was a good opponent to test their power against, but the reward for defeating one was just too tempting. Yet, Jaehwan ran out through them.
"M-master!"
Jaehwan would not have cared if it wasn"t for a certain reason.
His sword was shaking tremendously. As he swung his sword against the charging pentahorns, his sword munched away at them right away.
"I guess it was obviously hungry."
The sword was severely damaged during the fight against Sameng Garam. If it wasn"t for the fact that the Spirit Weapon healed itself, it would be better to just replace it.
"It"s about time to move up a level."
According to Meikal, Spirit Weapons had levels. The reason Jaehwan chose to fight the octahorn was to see if his sword would move up a level because of it.
Jaehwan began to fight the monster and people stood behind him, not too far away from the scene. It was very dangerous, but they did not back away.
"What are you guys doing? It"s dangerous, you fools!"
"Doctor, we must see this." Yong answered Chunghuh"s shout.
Chunghuh frowned.
"WHY?"
"We might never get to see it anymore."
Everyone knew what he meant.
"Oh, I see what you mean."
Jaehwan had not chosen who to bring to the yet. How many would be allowed to follow him? Chunghuh laughed. It seemed like he was confident that he was going to be chosen to tag along. Everyone smiled bitterly as it wasn"t a case.
"Hey, why do you have such a face?"
The doctor then turned to Cayman who had the most trust from the entire team.
"Don"t worry. He"ll take you for sure," Cayman smiled, but he looked sad. Before Chunghuh could ask why, light burst from the front.
The power was mesmerizing to see. The world was torn in front of them, and the breath of the octahorn was decimated. The surrounding pentahorns couldn"t even scream as they were destroyed.
The World Stab.
It was the attack that finally killed Sameng Garam in the end.
It was the attack made by the Awakener at the step of Creation.
The octahorn Garnak was lying on the ground, whimpering. All of its horns were consumed by Jaehwan"s sword. Jaehwan then approached to put the monster out of its misery. Then, he heard a voice coming from within the factory.
[Wait. Let him live.]
Then came more voices.
[Amazing human. Smell of a General… none.]
[It"s been a long time since I saw a being that can fight a Garnak at that level.]
[It"s only a crude creation though.]
Jaehwan then sensed it. There were three of them on top of the building, three powerful spirit energies. They were only about the size of humans, but they were horned monsters. Everyone realized it quickly.
There were ten horns on each of their heads.
"G.o.ds… they existed."
Some of the people moaned. Jaehwan narrowed his eyes.
"So, it"s them."
According to the record Mulack left, there was a total of four "humanoid horned monsters" in the factory.
[They have the energy of horned monsters, but they weren"t monsters. They were powerful as Generals and were as intelligent as the wisest of humans. They were the fallen disciples of G.o.d that were summoned under contract with the Master artisans…]
But there was only three. It seemed one had not come out.
"They"re finally here, those Factory Overseers," Chunghuh said.