Chapter 239: Guardian (9)

Everything had gone terribly. The barely surviving Resistance Army had great losses, and Sipua had turned against the dungeon and tried to kill me, Lin, and the others from the dungeon who had come to take her back. Hydelcyon had destroyed the magic circle maintaining the underground base knowing that it would kill the people who he once tried to protect. He was trash beyond my imagination.

I had imagined things would go this way. That Sipua would join the side of the world's enemy!

Of course, it made sense. In exchange for her and Lodert Hydelcyon's safety, she must have promised the Book Walkers a Hero's power. She must have used me as a bargaining chip as well as others who would come to this empire.

Would the Book Walkers have declined? Would they have captured Sipua instead? Of course not! If they used her as bait, appetizing prey would walk in by themselves! They were undoubtedly satisfied with Sipua's offer. Although no one knew whether their alliance would last after the prey had all been eaten, their current relationship would have been solid.

However, leaving the dungeon to find her love was different from cooperating with a world's enemy to protect her love. Even if it made sense to do so, neither me, Daisy, nor Lin thought that Sipua, as an administrative guild master, would have joined hands with the world's enemy. Even if she resisted us, we thought it would be between us and her. The thought of involving a world's enemy had been just too absurd!

We could only think that she might have prepared traps using the Resistance Army or the underground terrain. I felt especially suspicious when Daisy read Hydelcyon's thoughts.

Daisy's report that was completely contrary to his attitude,and the strange sensation when I kicked him made me even more cautious. When I asked Lin out for a drink, it was in order to talk to him about this.

Of course, Lin may have had a hidden life line that I didn't know about. But in any case, Lin was someone who had received a share of the dungeon's power, an administrative guild member who had given himself for the benefit of explorers. For this reason, I thought to prepare myself for when he fell in danger. What I then explained to him was the power of Caduceus, the power of the white snake.

The white snake's power was the opposite of the black snake's. In other words, it had the power of healing. Its effect was simple, yet powerful. As expected, however, tricky conditions had to be met in order to use it.

[When used within 10 seconds of an ally's death, you use half of your health to completely revive your ally and boost his ability by 50% for 1 minute.]

The 10 second period was indescribably cruel. However, as long as I was close enough to witness an ally's moment of death, I was able to revive him. A power to undo death, it was truly worthy of being called a god's power. The fact that I earned Hermes' power was certainly a great fortune.

One of the main reasons for my grief at the succubi's deaths in the Philippines was that I couldn't activate Caduceus as I wasn't next to them. That said, even if I did, deciding on who to save would have been difficult as well. Not to mention, I wouldn't have been able to carry out today's plan.

The reason Lin never used his sniper rifle was also for the world's enemy. Though, he never would have thought the world's enemy would appear with Sipua.

According to him, the only ones who knew about his sniper rifle was Loretta, Loka, and a few others. In other words, it was the perfect secret weapon. Naturally, compared to his handguns, the sniper rifle had a greater concentration of his power and authority.

A secret was more powerful the more hidden it was, especially in this continent. Lin concealed his secret weapon perfectly and revealed it in the perfect moment when no one was expecting it. While fighting the world's enemy, he made his opponent miscalculate his strength and led him to let his guard down.

However, even if one knew he would be revived, would he be able to include his death in his battle plan? Today was the first time I experienced Lin's true power. He wasn't only physically powerful. He was equally as powerful mentally.

In any case, I revived him just as we planned and immediately activated Overlord to conceal his aura with mine. Lin snorted at my doubt over his stealth ability, but everything had to be perfect. When Daisy reactivated the darkness magic at that timing, the reason I cheered was that I had gotten certain that my plan would succeed.

From then, I continued to grab the world's enemy's attention and restrained him to aid Lin's sniping. Although I acted as if I was fine, I was secretly trembling at his fierce resistance.

Thankfully, Lin assassinated the world's enemy before it was too late. Now, only the two great sinners were left in front of us.

"You probably don't need us to explain what you did wrong, right?"

"Lin, please don't kill us!"

"Kuuuk...!"

Despite Lin's cold tone, Sipua shamelessly beseeched him. Hydelcyon, on the other hand, was writhing in pain next to her, holding his pierced knee.

"Not kill you? That's all you want?"

"That's..."

"Think back to what I said yesterday. I gave you two the chance to go back to where you belonged. Did I say I'd kill either of you? ... And look at what you did today. This trash sacrificed his allies, who saved him when he was kicked out of the dungeon, to kill Kang Shin and me, and you sold us to the world's enemy!"

Lin fired his gun again. This time, he hit Hydelcyon's left arm.

"Kuuuaaak!"

"L-Lodert! Oh, Lodert, no! Lin, please, shoot me instead! Don't shoot Lodert!"

"Don't worry, I'll shoot you too."

Lin retorted without batting an eye and really shot Sipua's left arm. Sipua didn't even groan in response, only glaring at Lin.

"I normally hate bullying others to vent my anger. My style is to kill those who deserve death without dragging it out. But this damned..."

He couldn't hold his anger back, cutting himself off and aiming his gun at Hydelcyon again. After his gun flashed twice, two holes appeared on Hydelcyon's right ear and right arm. His shriek filled the air.

"This damned bastard is already marked by someone else. Ah, you're here?"

"Un, just came."

In the darkness, Daisy appeared. I could clearly see Hydelcyon's trembling body. Was it because I was using Overlord? The darkness magic could no longer block my vision.

"Daisy Ectradion..."

"72 alive."

"You, how did you get so strong!?"

"There were 389. Now, only 72 are alive."

As always, Daisy sounded calm. She was calmly boiling with rage.

"Last pride, as an explorer, you threw away, for your greed."

Daisy's inventory opened. Seeing hundreds of undeads crawling out of it, I felt stifled. They were undead... humans. This was the first time I had seen Daisy wield human undeads. That said, for someone who could turn monsters into the undead, being able to turn humans into undeads was obvious. Furthermore, those undeads...

Daisy continued, widening her deep scarlet eyes fiercely.

"By the ones you've killed, die."

"No, you can't kill Lodert!"

"No, that trash will certainly die."

Lin rolled his foot lightly. In an instant, a wall of fire shot up around Sipua. The magic she was trying to cast was canceled. The blazing heat made it hard even for me to breathe. Separated from Sipua, Hydelcyon shot back as he screamed crazily.

"Laughable! You think some zombies will be able to kill me!? Sipua, Sipua! Hey, Sipua! I'm about to die! Sipua!"

"Lodert, oh Lodert! Lin, please! Please save him, I'll do anything you say!"

"You will? Sorry, I can't trust you anymore."

Lin bit down on his cigarette. Almost as if Lin was the one controlling the zombies, one of the zombies bit off Hydelcyon's right arm.

"And it's too late."

"Kuaaaaaak! It hurts, it hurts!!"

Neither Lin nor I batted an eye as we watched on. As for Daisy, after she ordered her zombies to attack Hydelcyon, she was murmuring in an undecipherable tone.

"I believed you. You were an explorer, so I believed you."

"Hiiik! No, ugaaak!"

"I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have."

As Hydelcyon's shrieks got louder, Sipua's screams also got louder.

"No! Lin, please! No!"

"What made you like this? What made you join hands with the world's enemy who you hated so much!? What made you force me to experience something so dirty!"

"Kuaaaaak!"

As more pieces of Hydelcyon's flesh were bitten off by the zombies, he was getting smaller. His eyes, holding onto a tiny sliver of life, were getting dimmer. Sipua's screamed in despair, but Lin wasn't moved in the slightest.

"For these countless years, I respected you and treated you as an ally and friend. And you made me a fool! We had gathered for the sole purpose of protecting countless worlds, and you spat on our will!"

"Save Lodert!"

"Caduceus' power has already been used."

I replied instead of Lin. At that moment, Sipua's screaming stopped. Hydelcyon had already gone silent a while ago.

"Lodert...?"

"..."

"Lodert... Lodert!"

The wall of fire trapping Sipua disappeared. She shot up and looked around for Hydelcyon. All the zombies gathered in one spot ran back. However, there was nothing there. Not even a single fragment of his armor or a single strand of his hair was left.

"Lod...ert."

"Dragon Horn, burn them. I want to, let them go."

"I told you not to call me Dragon Horn... Tsk."

Fire ignited on the zombies, and in a brief moment, the hundreds of zombies all burned away, not even leaving behind ashes. Seeing that we were the only ones left, Sipua plopped down.

"No... It can't be..."

"I agree. No one will believe what happened here, especially what you have done."

The worst we had assumed was Sipua laying a trap, not a fight with the world's enemy. One of the five administrative guild masters of the First Dungeon had not only attracted the world's enemy, but had also trapped us by making an Event Dungeon. I still couldn't believe it. When I thought about how Loretta would react when she found out, I couldn't help but sigh.

"Lodert, Lodert...! You killed Lodert, you! There's... no longer any meaning to life... I don't want to live."

"If the burden you carried was that heavy... If you hated it so much that you would have rather thrown it all away, I'll help you go to rest."

It seemed he had made his decision. Lin held up his gun and aimed it at Sipua.

"Die, Sipua. From this moment on, I will preserve the dungeon in your place."

"Wait, Lin."

"Uh?"

I looked at Lin. Then, I spoke.

"This punishment would be too light. Just today, hundreds of people lost their lives. Even Lin died once. Even with all this, are you trying to bind yourself to the dungeon for her?"

"... I'm practically bound to the dungeon anyways. Or what, will you take her place? What happened to your will of wanting to rid all worlds of their enemies?"

I halted. At Lin's words, I felt a deep sense of regret. I of course didn't think that I was the first to have held this wish.

Right... Lin must have also been threatened by his world's enemy, and he undoubtedly faced numerous challenges while fighting against them. Then, despite his deep hostility and hatred against them, he chose to become part of the dungeon, throwing away his wishes.

As such, I replied resolutely.

"Let her carry the burden herself. She has to pay the price for her sins. The only way to do so would be to bind her to the dungeon."

"You... You're more cruel and vicious than I thought. But how?"

"The chance of succeeding isn't high, but I thought I should try it."

There wasn't much time before Overlord would end. I could hold on until now because I hadn't used much of my power, but only 10 or so seconds were left. If I wanted to utilize the stat doubling effect of Overlord, I had to hurry.

It went without saying that charm was one of the stats being amplified. Currently, I was confident that I didn't lose to anyone in the dungeon in terms of charm. That applied to the Sipua in front of me as well.

I approached her. Her eyes shot towards me with a deadly glare.

"Hero, Hero! Damn you to hell! I will never go back to the dungeon! You will be torn to shreds by the world's enemy and your world will fall to ruin! Remember this. It. Will. Come. True!"

"Lilith's Temptation."

I didn't have the time to listen to her meaningless babble. There was only a 20% chance of it succeeding. If I failed, Lin would have to become the new administrative guild master.

However, my worry was for naught. Almost as if it was the most natural result, the power that left my body dominated her.

[You used Lilith's Temptation! You stole 50% of the target's health and magic!"

[The target falls under 'absolute obedience', forever becoming your servant.]

The moment the messages rang out, I saw a bone-chilling scene. Sipua, who had been cursing me out just a moment ago, changed her expression completely. Almost as if she had gained an incredible enlightenment, she looked around and examined her body. Then, she located me in the darkness and spoke as she kowtowed.

"Ah, aaaah... My master... P-Please forgive my impudence! Please don't look at me like that!"

"Kang Shin... You...!"

"Damn... This is why I didn't want to use it."

Someone who had thrown away everything, including herself, for her love had discarded her love as if it was an old pair of shoes. Could the person in front of me be considered Sipua? If someone asked me this question, I could only shake my head.

In a different way than Lin had intended, I had killed her.

"This is... truly a punishment. Kang Shin, you scary bastard."

"I won't use this skill ever again. Damn it..."

My gamble succeeded. From now on, she would continue to protect the dungeon as an administrative guild master along with losing the love of her life and obtaining a new love that would never be reciprocated. That was the greatest punishment I could give her.

The moment I put her under my command, a fanfare rang out. Ironically, the voice belonged to Sipua's.

[Event Dungeon clear! You obtained 10 stat points and 3 skill points!]