Chapter 46: Chapter 46

[Skill: Giant's Armor Lv.1]

Active skill

Mana required is 10.

Covers the whole body with magical armor and the user becomes gigantic.

Reduces mana by 1 per second while casting.

The skill 'Giant's Armor' obtained after defeating Kwak Dooyoung drained mana in real time as soon as casted.

For reference, Suho's current maximum mana power was 635.

In other words, the time the skill can be maintained is 635 seconds.

Thus, its usage was only limited to 10 minutes assuming he doesn't use any other skills.

Even though Suho's strength, size, and defense improved a lot, there were still other issues.

He could not hold a weapon because his hand had grown so much.

In the end, Suho gave up his main weapon, the twin swords, and had no choice but to fight with his bare hands.

"Ruler's Power."

When Suho raised his fist, the Ruler's Power overlapped on top of it, and black energy enveloped him.

He plunged his fist into the sand centipede that was wrapped around his body.

Smash!

"Krrrk!"

The sand centipede shook its long body and backed away from the tremendous impact.

However, it was not a fatal blow, so the monster survived and burrowed into the sand to escape.

With that one shot, Suho's mana power was reduced in half, and so with the time to maintain the giant's armor skill.

'If I fight like this, even the potion won't be of help.'

Suho made a quick decision.

Run away.

"Uncast the giant's armor."

Swook.

The armor covering his whole body disappeared, and Suho's body became smaller.

He immediately climbed on Arachne's back and reached out to Esil.

"What are you doing? Aren't you going to run away?"

"..."

Esil had a lot to say, but she quickly grabbed his hand.

* * *

[Krrk!]

Arachne, carrying two people, began to run across the desert, vigorously with its eight legs.

Seven sand centipedes followed closely behind them.

The distance in between was so close.

A breathless chase took place.

"We're going to get caught!"

Esil turned and glared at the centipedes following closely.

Then, without hesitation, she threw her spear at the nearest centipede.

Swish-

The sand centipede wavered and dodged the attack.

Thanks to that momentary hesitation, the distance definitely increased, but Esil's spear flew away instead.

"What about your weapon?"

"It's fine! It will come back!"

Esil stretched out her hand and shouted.

Her spear flew through the air like a boomerang and returned to her hand.

She swung the spear around and confidently looked at Suho.

"This spear is my horn. It comes back to me wherever I am."

"Horn?"

"It's a demon's horn. Some demons use their horns as weapons. The same goes for our Radiru Clan."

"We're good then."

"What?"

Esil shuddered.

Suho looked at her and his eyes flashed.

"I'll create the gap this time, so match my attacks well."

Suho smiled and pulled out his twin swords.

[Use 'Skill: Blade Storm'.]

Swish!

The twin swords swung and created a sandstorm.

His goal was to block the centipedes' eyesights.

It was successful, and the faces of the sand centipedes were covered in a thick layer of dust.

"Now!"

"Okay!"

Esil threw her spear infused with magic at them.

Boom!

Her spear flew through the sandstorm and caused an explosion in the centipede's body.

"Khiiik!"

The centipede hit by the attack was startled and shook its long body and hid again in the sand.

"You keep hiding when you're at a disadvantage!"

The spear returned to Esil's hand as she clenched her fist in anger.

[Young Master.]

Beru appeared in front of Suho.

[Please run away over there.]

Suho turned his gaze to the direction Beru pointed.

Right there...

"Pyramid?"

Suho's eyes widened.

He didn't know it because they were being chased by the sand centipede, but a huge pyramid actually existed from a distance like a picture.

Suho muttered in disbelief.

"Don't tell me... Is it Earth?"

[To be exact, it seems to be a field that exists on Earth.]

He never thought the gate would be connected to Earth.

This was a really unexpected situation.

Looking now, he could see a faint blue mist mixed with the sandstorm.

'There seems to be something strange about it.'

But just like how entering a gate from Earth leads to a dungeon, it could be that this one leads to Earth since they moved through the gate from the Shadow Dungeon.

Without hesitation, Suho turned Arachne toward the pyramid.

They managed to approach the pyramid, squabbling with the sand centipede.

Swoosh...

"Huh?"

Surprisingly, the chase with the centipedes suddenly stopped.

"They're not following us anymore! We've survived!"

Esil cheered with joy.

[Ehem.]

Beru stood tall on top of Esil's head with an arrogant look on his face.

On the other hand, Suho tilted his head as he carefully watched the centipedes' movements.

They couldn't come near the pyramid and were just moving around.

"Are they afraid of the pyramid? Why?"

When he turned his gaze back to the pyramid, there was surprisingly a small village formed around it.

'It looks like the real Earth.'

A strangeness appeared in Suho's eyes.

At first glance, the appearance of the village was quite modern.

Modern sign boards were attached to the old historic buildings. L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on N0vel-B1n.

"Who are you?!"

Just in time, the guards of the village's borders asked Suho as he approached the village.

"H-How did you get here?"

"Did you come across that red desert?"

"... What are they saying?"

Suho had a puzzled look on his face.

Language barrier.

Arabic words were pouring out of the mouths of the guards, who were Egyptians.

"They're asking how we got here avoiding the sand centipedes."

"Hmm?"

Surprisingly, Esil understood Arabic and translated.

[Demons can understand and communicate with human thoughts, not human language.]

Come to think of it, it was strange that Esil, a demon, spoke Korean in the first place.

'Anyway, this is more convenient.'

Suho came down from Arachne with Esil and talked to the guards.

Rather than a conversation, it was mainly in a question-and-answer format to pass through the gateway.

"Are you hunters?"

>Yes.

"What is the purpose of your visit here?"

>Nothing.

>Got here by chance after being chased by centipedes.

"Then, how long will you stay? Food is scarce here."

>We'll just take a short break and return soon.

'Hmm.'

Suho, who had been answering each of the guards' words through Esil's interpretation, glanced at them and read their mood.

'Looks like they're interested in Arachne.'

Arachne was a huge spider that looked menacing.

Surprisingly, their gaze toward Arachne was quite favorable.

"Which one of you is the summoner of this spider?"

"Is this spider a transport pet?"

"It's amazing that you thought of riding a spider across the red desert."

"Can you let other people ride on your spider?"

"Other hunters usually come here by helicopter."

A helicopter?

Suho looked around with a puzzled expression.

What was running into the minds of those who dare to ride a helicopter to this dangerous land surrounded by giant centipedes?

For what reason?

Suho looked around again.

All he could see was sand and only one pyramid.

"Is it because of the pyramid?"

In response to Suho's question, the guards instead looked at Suho and Esil with curious expressions.

"You guys really didn't know anything."

"...?"

They felt like a fool.

* * *

The desert city of Kamura.

This small town was originally a tourist spot that made a living for the community with tourists who came to see the pyramid.

But a month ago, Kamura's hell began when the entire desert in this area became a field dungeon.

Numerous tourists and residents in the city turned into Mist Burns and started attacking people, while those awakened as hunters fought against them.

There were many deaths.

Those who barely survived began to escape the field via helicopter.

Because of the giant centipedes roaming around the village, the only means of transportation was a helicopter.

But then something strange happened.

Using helicopters, outside hunters began to gather in the village one by one.

They had one goal.

Pyramid.

For some reason, the hunters began to thoroughly explore the pyramids as soon as they arrived in the city.

They had a reason.

"It's because a shaman made a strange prophecy a month ago."

"A prophecy?"

Suho tilted his head at Esil's translation of the guard's words.

Esil told the contents of the prophecy with a somewhat awkward expression.

"Sooner or later the life born of death will awaken from its seal."

[Oh?]

Beru's eyes flashed with interest at the prophecy.

"... And its power will raise the dead."

Suho and Beru looked at each other at the same time.

That prophecy was very absurd and abstract but it sounded too intuitive to them.

[Young Master, I guess that prophecy...]

"Was it pertaining to me?"

A life born of death?

Doesn't that sound like an explicit reference to Suho, the son of Sung Jinwoo, the Shadow Monarch?

Even the recent removal of the seal of protection, or summoning the dead, isn't it pertaining to the shadow fragment skill?

However, it seemed that the prophecy had been interpreted in a completely different way by other people.

Esil continued.

"And, of course, when that prophecy came out, a dungeon break occurred inside the pyramid."

What a timing.

In fact, words like 'life born from death' were expressions that could be found in any myth of any country.

Even in Egypt.

Pyramids and pharaohs.

The hobby of many rulers in history has always been immortality.

However, the Egyptian Pharaohs went one step further from immortality, and even built a huge pyramid with countless slaves, desiring even the world after death.

"Because the timing was so precise, hunters flocked from all over to say that the prophecy seemed to be pointing here."

Suho finally understood the situation and nodded.

The existence of the pyramid has been a building that has been embracing mysteries for a long time.

However, if people who did not know the power of the Shadow Monarch listened to the shaman's prophecy, it could have been interpreted as a skill that gave eternal life, such as 'resurrection of life'.

Runestones, which are sometimes found in dungeons, brought out a variety of skills.

"But unexpectedly, something important was found inside."

"What?"

"Uhm. For a moment."

Esil stared blankly at the guard who was talking to her.

Then, the guard looked awkward for no reason and shrugged.

"It's not difficult to let you know, but they say there's a condition instead."

"Condition?"

It was at that time when Suho was going to ask what the condition was but Esil had already grabbed the guard by the collar and lifted him up.

"How dare you make a deal with me?"

After a long absence, Esil returned as a lofty demon noble and glared fiercely at the guard.

Seeing those eyes, the guard's complexion turned white and he stammered out an answer.

"T-The hunters finally found a hieroglyphic phrase deep inside the pyramid!"

"Writings? What does it say?"

"... Let there be light in the future of the challenger."

It was something that had never existed in Egyptian history.