Chapter 62

“Urgh... Urrk...”

Chason retched at the nose-stinging stench and the horrific sight.

“Pull yourself together, Chason. You should be grateful they're undead.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?! How can I be grateful when I see those monsters!”

“You should be. It would have been harder if they were alive.”

“... What?”

“Killing monsters is better than killing people, isn't it?”

Chason's eyes wavered at his words.

“Raise your sword. I need you to clear this place.”

“M-me?”

“Yes. Your sword contains holy power. And its true power only comes out when someone of Bolton blood wields it.”

Chason looked down at the Seawater Sword in his hand.

“I can't...”

“Is that so?”

The response was so calm compared to his own desperate cries that Chason looked at Woojin in bewilderment.

[“GRAAAAAH!!!”]

Woojin's sword cut through the family members. The flames imbued in its blade sparked fires wherever it struck, and they screamed in agony as the fire spread over their bodies.

Their sudden transformation into undead had been startling, but they weren't particularly strong.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH-WHOOSH!

KRA-KA-BOOM!

They were helpless against Ruen's arrows and Setsuna's barrage.

“Y-you can defeat them without me.”

“Yes. I can defeat them.”

“Th-then isn't that enough?”

“The problem is that defeating them is all I can do. Unless you don't mind the Bolton family suffering under the curse like that forever.”

“...!”

“They're certainly monsters, but they're still members of the Bolton family.”

Chason's eyes trembled.

“If you don't mind their souls being annihilated too, I'll kill them for you.”

SHING.

Woojin raised his sword.

“But if you want to save their souls, you have to kill them with your sword.”

Healer was a class that could only be obtained by traveling to the central continent, where the Church was based, and completing the first class advancement. Holy water could be purchased at the marketplace, but since no undead appeared in the Dark Forest, naturally no one carried it around.

And here was a dungeon full of undead?

'Once information gets out after the first clear, people will bring holy water to tackle the dungeon...'

But right now, on the first clear, Chason was unquestionably the key.

“But don't forget. With your father absent, you're the only one left of the family's bloodline.”

Woojin encouraged him.

“You are the head of the family. You can break their shackles.”

SHING!

Woojin's sword cleaved through an undead body.

[“GRAAAAAH!!!”]

There were many of them, but they weren't much of a threat. They fought barehanded, without weapons, and used no special abilities.

BANG! BANG! BOOM!

Screams mingled with the din of battle as the undead were gradually whittled down.

[“Kih... kirr... kirrk...”]

Then an undead hiding beneath a broken piano came into view. Its face was so ruined that its features were unrecognizable, but judging by its size, it was a child of seven at most.

Seemingly without any will to fight, the child lay face down on the floor, sobbing in a strange voice.

“Ah...”

At the sight, Chason reached out without realizing it.

“W-wait!!!”

He rushed over to stop Woojin, who held his sword in a reverse grip, ready to plunge it down.

“Don't kill the child!!!”

Chason threw his arms around Woojin from behind and shouted.

“Then what?”

In contrast to the tearful boy, Woojin's face remained expressionless as he asked.

“I'll... I'll do it.”

Had the dead child reminded him of himself after losing his father? Chason shook his head, his face flushed, as he spoke.

CLICK.

Woojin sheathed his sword and took a step back.

“I'm sorry... I'm sorry...”

Chason looked at the child, fighting back tears.

“Hic... hhh...”

He squeezed his eyes shut and drove his sword into the fallen child.

CRUNCH!

With a dull sound, the child's body broke apart.

[The Seawater Sword's holy power activates.]

[Impure energy is purified.]

At that moment, astonishingly, a stream of blue water poured from the sword and enveloped the child.

[“Mom...”]

Was that what the earlier croaking had meant?

The child's soul looked peaceful as it was swept away in the current flowing from the sword.

“You did well.”

Woojin patted Chason's trembling shoulder.

“I should have... been a little braver sooner...”

Chason bowed his head, looking at where the undead had burned away.

“Don't be so discouraged. What matters isn't when you did it, but that you did.”

Woojin looked up.

“You'll need to be even braver from here on.”

BANG!

A door on the mansion's second floor opened.

[“Khhhuhuhuh...!!”]

At that moment, an ear-splitting wail rang out. Ghosts poured through the doorway, their pallid faces and bodies reduced to outlines that shimmered like a heat haze.

“M-Master...”

At the sight of the vengeful spirits, Ruen went white and hid behind Woojin.

“They're banshees. There's no need to be scared. They're just another kind of monster.”

“Yes. B-but...”

Ruen's hand trembled as she clutched his clothes.

'I didn't know she was afraid of ghosts.'

- Ugh... ueh...

“... What's wrong with you?”

Woojin chuckled at Setsuna, who had buried her face in the pocket inside his armor.

“Banshees come to gnaw on the souls of the dead. They probably aren't part of the Bolton family.”

FWOOSH!

Woojin raised his flame-wreathed sword and charged at them.

[“KIEEEEK!!”]

The banshees swarmed Woojin all at once.

Dragon Heaven, First Gate — Severance

The dark hall flashed with light, as though a dragon of flame were ascending into the heavens. In an instant, the banshees around him burned away.

“I'll help too!”

Chason swung his sword, and the streams of water pouring from it whirled into the banshees.

[Using Bolton Secret Art.]

[Bolton Secret Art - First Form]

[You are wielding the Seawater Sword.]

[The power of Bolton Secret Art increases.]

With his resolve strengthened, Chason's swordsmanship proved better than expected. Just as the technique's description said, he moved unpredictably like rolling waves, evading the banshees' attacks and overwhelming them in moments.

[“KIEEEEK!!!”]

Struck by the currents, the banshees screamed and turned to ash on the spot.

“Less trouble than I expected.”

[Congratulations.]

[You have leveled up.]

▶ 43 → 44

But they must have given a surprising amount of experience, because the level-up notification sounded.

- Ehehe...! Ehehehehe...!

Apparently one banshee remained. After being touched by the ghost's hand, Setsuna was flying in circles as though drunk.

THWACK!

Woojin smacked the banshee on the back of the head with his sword.

* * *

- Ooh... oooh... I'm dizzy.

Setsuna sat in Woojin's pocket with her head bowed, mumbling dejectedly.

“You've got a lot to learn.”

- I'm sorry.

Woojin couldn't help laughing in disbelief at how absurdly easily the banshee had gotten her.

'She may have Ancient Wisdom, but she's still a child who was only born recently.'

Knowledge and actual combat were different things, and fear was another matter entirely.

“Ruen. The same goes for you. Once we reach the central continent, we'll be facing undead a lot more often.”

“... I'm ashamed of myself.”

The two who had frozen at the banshees answered Woojin in tiny voices.

'Anyway, this is too easy...'

Of course, facing undead in a beginner region was difficult in itself, but the enemies were still weak compared to those in the dungeons he'd experienced so far.

'This is uncharted territory. And the quest itself is Grade A...'

Certain that something else remained, Woojin still couldn't let his guard down.

“The boss room.”

The boss room appeared as soon as they climbed the stairs to the second floor.

“Oh... The boss room already? Isn't this too easy?”

Ruen must have been thinking the same thing, because her face brightened at the sight of the ominous green door.

“Right. Suspiciously easy. Usually when it's like this...”

Woojin slowly opened the door.

“Either the boss is damn hard...”

[Entering the boss room.]

“Or there's some f***ed-up twist.”

RUMBLE.

As the door swung wide, they saw a powerfully built middle-aged man seated on a throne.

[“Welcome to the Bolton family.”]

The man rose and spread his arms toward Woojin.

[“I am Gilbert, the first head of the Bolton family.”]

“The butler gave us enough of a welcome.”

[“This place is called the Family Heads' Chamber. It is also where the successive heads of the family lie at rest.”]

Gilbert spoke with a faint smile to Woojin, who stood with sword in hand.

[“The Bolton family has had countless heads over its thousand-year history, but only the chosen may remain in this room.”]

FWOOSH!

[“The greatest...”]

Flames sprang up from the torch beside the family head.

FWOOSH!

[“And the most outstanding.”]

Figures began to take shape in each of the torches mounted on the walls.

[The former heads of the Bolton family are being summoned.]

Five souls appeared before Gilbert.

[Quest updated.]

[Quest Name: The Bolton Family's Curse]

▶ Eliminate the successive heads of the Bolton family.

Once the summoning was complete, the quest changed.

“Defeat them, and it's over.”

Both the quest objective and the way to clear the dungeon were simple. Yet the uneasy feeling lingered.

[Camilo, the third head of the Bolton family, has been summoned.]

[Roberto, the eighteenth head of the Bolton family, has been summoned.]

[Flon, the twenty-seventh head of the Bolton family, has been summoned.]

[Minuel, the thirty-first head of the Bolton family, has been summoned.]

“Ah...”

The moment Woojin saw the souls of the summoned family heads, his face twisted.

[Harterwin, the thirty-eighth head of the Bolton family, has been summoned.]

“... Dad?”

Chason's voice trembled the moment he saw the soul dressed in a red uniform, sword in hand.

“Dad!!!”

“Chason, stop!”

“... Let go of me!!”

He roughly shook off Woojin's hand.

“You said he'd be alive! You...! Liar!!”

- B-but there definitely wasn't any death's scent...

Setsuna was at a loss as Chason wailed.

[“Naturally. The heads of the Bolton family do not die. Their souls merely become bound to this place.”]

Gilbert answered Setsuna with a sneer.

[“That is the Bolton family's curse.”]

He held out both hands, moving them up and down as though weighing something on a scale.

[“There are only two choices: remain trapped forever, or be annihilated.”]

“Chason, I'm sorry it turned out this way, but get a grip. Are you going to leave your father here forever?”

“You're going to annihilate my dad?”

Only then did Woojin understand the reason for his unease. It wasn't simply because of Harterwin's soul. In truth, he had anticipated that possibility to some extent when he'd learned this was Bolton territory.

“N-no. I won't let you!!!”

Woojin frowned as Chason pointed his sword at him.

'... So this was it.'

The reason the quest was Grade A.

▶ Eliminate the successive heads of the Bolton family.

Chason, too, was a head of the Bolton family.