Chapter 46

[Skill: Giant’s Armor Lv.1]

Active Skill

Mana Cost: 10.

Envelops your entire body in armor of mana, making you grow to an enormous size.

Consumes 1 mana per second while active.

Giant’s Armor, the skill Suho had acquired after killing Kwak Dooyoung, drained mana continuously just by remaining active.

His current maximum mana was 635. That meant he could maintain the skill for 635 seconds—only about ten minutes at most. And that was assuming he used no other skills.

Of course, it greatly improved his strength, size, and defense, but the biggest problem lay elsewhere. His hands grew along with the rest of him, leaving him unable to hold his weapons.

In the end, Suho had no choice but to abandon his twin swords, his primary weapons, and fight barehanded.

“Smite.”

WHOOSH!

As Suho raised his fist, Ruler's Authority layered over it, shrouding it in dark energy. He drove that fist down into the sand centipede coiled tightly around his body.

BOOOM!

“Grrrk!”

The tremendous impact sent the sand centipede reeling back, its long body thrashing. But the blow apparently hadn't been fatal. Still very much alive, it burrowed into the sand and fled.

The problem was that this single blow had halved Suho’s mana—and halved the time he could maintain Giant’s Armor.

‘At this rate, I won’t even cover the cost of potions.’

Suho made a quick decision.

Time to run.

“Deactivate Giant’s Armor.”

WHOOOSH.

The armor of aura covering him vanished, and his body shrank back to its original size.

He immediately climbed onto Arachne’s back and held out a hand to Esil.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you running?”

“...”

Esil looked as though she had plenty to say, but she promptly took his hand.

* * *

[KRAK-KRAK-KRAK!]

With the two of them aboard, Arachne began racing across the desert, its eight legs churning furiously.

SHHHHH!

Seven sand centipedes pursued them close behind. Their speeds were closely matched, making for a breathless chase in which capture always seemed just a hair’s breadth away.

“They’re going to catch us!”

Esil twisted around on the running Arachne and glared at the centipedes on their heels. Without hesitation, she hurled her spear at the closest one.

WHOOOOSH!

The sand centipede writhed aside, dodging the attack. Its momentary hesitation did let them gain some distance, but Esil’s spear flew far away.

“What about your weapon?”

“Watch this! Come back!”

Esil answered Suho’s question by thrusting out her hand and shouting. Her spear flew through the air like a boomerang and returned to her grasp.

She twirled it and gave Suho a confident look.

“This spear is my horn. It comes back to me wherever it is.”

“Your horn?”

“A demon’s horn. Some demons turn their horns into weapons. We of the Radir Clan do the same.”

“Perfect.”

“What?”

Esil flinched. Suho was looking at her with a gleam in his eyes.

“I’ll make an opening this time. Make your shot count.”

Grinning, he drew his twin swords atop Arachne.

[Using ‘Skill: Storm Slash.’]

ROOOAR!

His twin swords swept through the air, whipping up a sandstorm. His aim was to obscure their vision.

It worked. Thick clouds of sand engulfed the sand centipedes’ faces.

“Now!”

“Got it!”

At Suho’s shout, Esil hurled her mana-infused spear at them.

WHOOOOSH! BOOM!

Her spear pierced the sandstorm and detonated against a centipede’s body.

“Kreeee!”

Startled by the hit, the centipede thrashed its long body and hid beneath the sand again.

“They keep hiding whenever things turn against them!”

The spear returned to Esil’s hand as she clenched her fist in frustration.

Just then, Beru appeared before Suho after having been out of sight for a while.

[Young Monarch.]

[Let us flee in that direction.]

Suho looked where Beru was pointing. There stood...

“A pyramid?”

His eyes widened. He had been so preoccupied with the sand centipedes’ sudden pursuit that he hadn't noticed the truly enormous pyramid standing like a painting in the distance.

He murmured in disbelief.

“Wait... Is this Earth?”

[More precisely, it appears to be a field on Earth.]

To think the Gate had been connected to Earth. This was completely unexpected.

Now that he looked, Suho could see faint blue mist mixed into the blowing sand.

‘No, maybe it’s not so strange after all.’

Just as entering a Gate on Earth led to a dungeon, it wasn't strange for a Gate from the Shadow Dungeon to lead to Earth.

Without hesitation, Suho turned Arachne toward the pyramid. After struggling with the sand centipedes along the way, they finally drew close to it.

SHHH...

“Huh?”

To their surprise, the centipedes abruptly stopped chasing them.

“They’re not following us anymore! We’re saved!” Esil cheered in delight.

[Ahem.]

Beru stood tall atop her head, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.

Suho, on the other hand, tilted his head as he carefully watched the centipedes. They couldn't approach the pyramid and merely prowled around nearby.

“Are they afraid of the pyramid? Why?”

He turned back toward it and was surprised to find a small town clustered around it.

‘Looks like this really is Earth.’

Interest flickered in Suho’s eyes. Even at a glance, the town looked fairly modern. Modern signs hung on the ancient buildings surrounding the pyramid.

“Who goes there!”

The guards stationed at the town’s perimeter met Suho’s approaching party in bewilderment.

“H-how did you get here?”

“Don’t tell me you crossed that red desert?”

“... What are they saying?”

Suho looked perplexed.

The language barrier.

The Egyptian guards had suddenly unleashed a torrent of Arabic.

“They’re asking how we made it here past the sand centipedes.”

“Huh?”

Unexpectedly, Esil understood the Arabic and translated for him.

[Demons can converse by understanding intent rather than human languages.]

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

‘Well, that makes things easier.’

Suho dismounted Arachne with Esil and spoke with the guards. Rather than a conversation, it was mostly a series of questions and answers required to pass through the gate.

“Are you hunters?”

Yes.

“What is the purpose of your visit?”

None. They had stumbled upon the place while fleeing centipedes.

“How long will you stay before leaving, then? Food is scarce here.”

They would rest briefly and leave soon.

‘Hmm.’

As Suho answered each of the guards’ questions through Esil, he glanced over them, gauging their mood.

‘They seem interested in Arachne.’

The enormous spider he had ridden here looked incredibly menacing. Yet, surprisingly, the looks they gave Arachne were quite favorable.

“Which of you is this spider’s summoner?”

“Is this spider a transport summon?”

“Impressive, thinking to cross the red desert on a spider.”

“Could your spider carry other people too?”

“Most other hunters come here by helicopter.”

A helicopter?

At those last words, Suho looked around in puzzlement. What would possess someone to go so far as to take a helicopter to this dangerous land surrounded by giant centipedes? What could possibly be the reason?

His gaze swept his surroundings. Everywhere he looked, there was nothing but sand. The pyramid was the only thing to see.

“Is it because of the pyramid?”

At his question, the guards gave Suho and Esil curious looks instead.

“You really came here knowing nothing at all.”

“...?”

He felt like an idiot.

* * *

The desert city of Kamura.

This little town had originally lived off tourists coming to see the pyramid.

But a month ago, the entire surrounding desert had become a field dungeon, and Kamura’s hell had begun.

Countless tourists and residents in the city turned into Mist Burns and began attacking people. At the same time, those who awakened as hunters fought back.

Many died in the process.

Those who barely survived began escaping the field by helicopter. With giant centipedes prowling around the town, helicopters were the only possible means of transportation.

Then something strange happened.

Hunters from outside began arriving in town on those very helicopters, one after another.

They all had one objective.

The pyramid.

For some reason, the moment they arrived in the city, the hunters began exploring every inch of it.

There was a reason for their behavior.

“Apparently, it’s because a fortune-teller made a strange prophecy a month ago.”

“A prophecy?”

Suho tilted his head at Esil, who was translating the guards’ explanation. Looking somewhat awkward, she recited the prophecy.

“Soon, a life born of death shall awaken from its seal.”

[Oh?]

Beru’s eyes gleamed with interest at the prophecy.

“... And its power shall raise the dead.”

Suho and Beru instantly looked at each other.

Of course, the prophecy was extremely far-fetched and abstract. But to them, its meaning sounded all too clear.

[Young Monarch, that prophecy sounds rather like...]

“Is it about me?”

A life born of death?

Didn't that sound like a blatant reference to Suho, the son of Sung Jinwoo, the Shadow Monarch?

What was more, Suho's seal had recently broken, and raising the dead was literally what Shadow Extraction did.

But other people seemed to have interpreted the prophecy in an entirely different way.

Esil continued.

“And just when that prophecy came out, a dungeon break happened inside this pyramid.”

What timing.

In truth, “a life born of death” was the sort of phrase one might find in any country’s mythology.

That included Egypt, of course.

Pyramids and pharaohs.

Throughout history, countless rulers had always pursued eternal youth and immortality as a pastime. But Egypt’s pharaohs had gone a step further, desiring even a world beyond death, and had worked countless slaves to build those enormous pyramids.

“The timing was such a coincidence that hunters came flocking from all over, thinking the prophecy must be pointing here.”

Finally understanding the situation, Suho nodded.

Pyramids were already structures that had harbored mysteries for ages. To people who knew nothing of the Shadow Monarch’s power, the fortune-teller’s prophecy could sound as though a skill granting eternal life—something like ‘Resurrection’—would appear here.

After all, the Rune Stones occasionally found in dungeons yielded all sorts of skills.

“But surprisingly, it seems they really did find something important in there.”

“What?”

“Hmm. Hold on.”

Esil stared at the guard she had been speaking with. For some reason, he blushed and shrugged.

“He says telling us is easy enough, but he has a condition.”

“A condition?”

Suho was just about to ask her to find out what it was.

By then, Esil had already grabbed the guard by the collar and hoisted him into the air.

“You dare bargain with me?”

For the first time in a while, Esil had reverted to her haughty demon-noble self, glaring imperiously at the guard.

Under that arrogant gaze, the guard turned deathly pale and stammered an answer.

“Th-the hunters finally found an inscription in hieroglyphs deep inside the pyramid!”

“An inscription? What did it say?”

“... May light shine upon the challenger’s future.”

Those words had never once existed in Egyptian history.