Chapter 287

Chapter 287

I frequently witnessed ghouls wandering around the dead land while I was riding a skeletal dragon and heading to the area where the most Awakened lived. At first, I thought they were a group of vagrants, but I soon realized that they were dead Awakened roaming around. They had become ghouls, which were different from zombies. Since they had kept their abilities, they were dangerous and were rampaging all over. Many of the lands in this stage were undergoing 'Macroevolution of the Land of the Dead,' especially around the cities that were partially destroyed. However, other lands were just as devastated as they were.

"Make sure to avoid the Land of the Dead."

As Sean said, it was a world half full of death energy.

When I arrived at the destination, it was also not a city created by the System. In fact, it was a residential area established by the Awakened. Although the place was the capital city of the stage, their living standards were very poor, which I had expected.

There were many Koreans, but not a single one recognized me. I hovered in the air instead of getting off the skeletal dragon. I couldn't sense any sign of Yeon-Hee from the guild headquarters, the hut where people were drinking, or in a brothel where the sound of weird groaning came from. Therefore, I had no choice but to shout toward the attackers who were ready for a battle.

"I'm here to see Mary!"

Who were they more afraid of? I was confident that they were more scared of Yeon-Hee than me. Those who were full of fighting spirit against the terrifying and overbearing skeletal dragon soon changed their attitude. They now asked to have a proper conversation with me as soon as they heard me say her name.

***

The gigantic monster filled the street with its shadow, and it was only made up of thick bones. The spot where its eyeballs should have been located was empty. Instead, there was black energy there, which necromancers usually possessed.

Ugh, not now!

It must have flown from the Land of the Dead; therefore, Seong Joo-Hwan thought the guy who appeared on the dragon was the head of the necromancers and the boss monster of Act Two, Stage Five.

"I'm here to see Mary!"

However, the stranger was demanding to see her in Korean! At that time, the guy revealed his face from the shadows. His face was dirty, but his glaring eyes were indeed those of the living. He didn't flutter a forked tongue like the necromancers. Nonetheless, it wasn't a priority to figure out where he had come from. Since he had mentioned her name, Seong Joo-Hwan had to be extra careful.

Seong Joo-Hwan yelled at the guy in the air., "Let's talk! Is that possible? If you are Mary's guest, we will serve you with all our heart!"

Did she have any close ones to call a 'guest?' Seong Joo-Hwan thought it was ridiculous even though he had just said it. However, what was even more absurd was the situation right after. The dragon vanished as soon as the man jumped out from it in front of everyone. Like it was a soap bubble popping!

Anyway, Seong Joo-Hwan quickly looked at the reactions around him, just in case anyone acted unexpectedly. However, they were all the same. Everyone was immediately frightened when they heard the woman's name, and they were becoming wary of the unidentified man. When the stranger stood on the ground, Seong Joo-Hwan could see his face from a closer distance. It was clear that he was an Asian, considering his Korean pronunciation. This was weird as he had never seen or heard of anyone like him. Moreover, he hadn't seen anyone mentioning the vicious woman's name casually.

Where have you been all this time, and why did you suddenly pop out?

It was as if the guy had fallen from the sky.

"Where is Mary?" the guy asked again insistently.

"She is not here," Seong Joo-Hwan answered while barely holding back his urge to see through the man's status window.

"Then?"

"I'm not sure where she is right now... Umm... She might have entered a dungeon."

The man was natural at treating others contemptuously in a dignified manner like her.

"Which dungeon?"

A question arose in Seong Joo-Hwan's mind because the stranger was persistently chasing after her whereabouts.

Are you a guest or an enemy?

Not only Seong Joo-Hwan, but also the guild's executives were thinking the same thing. They quickly exchanged glances.

It's less likely that he is her colleague. She never has a close relationship with others.

If this mysterious guy was her enemy, then it would be a golden opportunity to turn things around.

The man gave off an extraordinary vibe. Aside from the fact that he had appeared on the dragon and made it disappear, his atmosphere also resembled Mary's.

I won't be able to get rid of him, but I can probably keep the ring. Maybe...

Mary had been famous from the very beginning and her dedication in Act One, Stage One and Stage Two was as notorious as her ability as a pre-Awakened.

Although the System had been slowly modified and all the malicious parts were eventually erased, everyone changed apart from the System. Those who were naive became manipulative, and those who were already shrewd became extremely vicious as they had become more greedy. No one dared to point a finger at each other because every moment was directly linked to the issue of survival. Also, it was a natural evolution that a selfless woman who prioritized others had turned atrocious. Anyone would have been like her in her shoes when they were betrayed by their close aides. However, the problem was that she was Mary.

She was quiet when she disconnected herself from the others. However, she reappeared when people arrived at the light pillar after breaking through the traps by themselves in Act Two, Stage One. Then, she started to become more active from Act Two, Stage Two.

However, she acted like a fanatic of the System. She demanded that all of the guild members needed to perfectly complete the quests that the System randomly started. If their performance was poor, then the guild leaders were punished by her. For instance, she included them in her dangerous quests to make them a warrior who wasn't afraid of death. Well, they never made it out alive. Those who were notorious for being cruel to ordinary Awakened were exposed to her brutality, and they were usually guild leaders and their close aides, the attackers.

Of course, they tried to resist. A few people protested when other camps joined them, and the World Awakened Association such as Revolucion and Tomorrow couldn't withstand her obsessive requests.

However, the results were always the same because her power was beyond human at that point. She not only was able to manipulate people's minds and use them as slaves, but also her level and combat skills were also beyond a human's.

After a few weeks, it was Seong Joo-Hwan's turn. There were no more members of the World Awakened Association, so he was established as a guild leader. It was also because he was the only Korean who absolutely obeyed her. Since then, he always lived with tension as if he was walking on a thornbush as he could follow the footsteps of the former guild leaders at any time. To meet her requirements, he had to treat his members more harshly than the former leaders. For example, he captured the ones who had run away and forced them to enter the dungeon or the Land of the Dead.

Then, this mysterious man appeared!

"Why are you looking for Mary?" he asked.

"...He said I will find her here."

"Yes, she stops by once in a while. She actually visited this afternoon, so she won't come for at least a few days."

"Is there any way to contact her?" the guy asked persistently.

Joo-Hwan replied, "She has a residence here, but she doesn't consistently visit it. Please reveal your identity. Why are you looking for Mary? What's your relationship with her?"

That was the answer Seong Joo-Hwan needed to hear.

"I'm her colleague. Take me there."

People around them buzzed.

She has a colleague? Is that even possible?

It was hard for Seong Joo-Hwan to believe Seon-Hu's words.

"...I will take the lead."

***

This was Yeon-Hee's stage, which was carried out separately from Lee Tae-Han's and Seong-Il's stage.

"The power of the dead is beyond the power of the living," he said.

"Is that the purpose of this stage?" I asked.

The man grimaced. "It changed along the way. As you know..."

"Go on."

"They were already intimidating, and there were some quests we had to clear. About a hundred days ago, the Guide reappeared to clarify the purpose of this Stage."

That was when I had woken up from the seal, and I had been stuck in dungeons ever since.

"Tell me about Act Two, Stage Three. How many stages were combined, and what was the goal?"

He seemed to be lost in thought for a bit as he was suspicious as to why I was asking. However, he began to answer instead of asking why, "Three stages were combined in Act Two, Stage Three. The goal was the same as the final stage of Act One. We fought a war against the corps from the gate."

It was similar to the Stage of Advent up to that point. In the past when the top stages weren't eliminated, Act One, Stage One started with four hundred fifty thousand stages, then they were merged into twenty-four stages at the end of Act Two, Stage Two. Then, those stages were merged again into eight in the Final Stage of Act Two.

What about this time? Although the number of top stages that disappeared was a problem, there wouldn't be much difference. In the past, more stages failed to break through each stage, so the number of current stages was similar to what it had been in the past.

"The stage wasn't extended in Act Two, Stage Four. The main quest was..."

When he finished explaining, I grasped why the Land of the Dead had formed and why there were the ghouls wandering around. It was because of the cities that had lost vitality in Act Two, Stage Four. The System would have made more stages and generated a series of quests that concentrated the vitality of the earth at the time I was sealed because of me. The System would have wanted the other Awakened to gain the power to free me from the seal.

His explanation was consistent with what Sean had told me. The cities that exploded their vitality in Act Two, Stage Four became the Land of the Dead, and a war between the dead and the living broke out around that location in Act Two, Stage Five. It was obvious that the System's original plan had gone awry. Its goal was to end this tiring battle at the end of Act Three during the all-out war against the Seven Demon Kings.

Shit.

The unnecessary sacrifices had increased, and the front against the dead had extended. Me being sealed had turned the situation into a fucking mess. All eight stages, even on the stage where I started and Seong-Il was managing, would be having fights with the dead. The situation was terrible.

Are we going to have the same ending as in the past? The defeat of mankind...

"Mary! Mary-!" I screamed after entering her residence, the border of the Land of the Dead and the city. I also sent telepathy in all directions that only she and I could hear.

- Yeon-Hee! Woo Yeon-Hee! Stop it! You can stop it now!

- Seon... Seon... Seon-Hu!