The crowd stared at one man, the leader of the palace’s knights: Walchess Lenid. He was the unfortunate knight who tried to protect the prince with all his might but failed.
“Leader, hurry up and get treatment…!”
His direct lieutenant worried over him, but Lenid shook his head slowly. How could the pain of a lost arm counter this sense of loss?
“…It ended.”
Lenid strode down the chaotic hallway and to the terrace. The massive army of undead had suddenly disappeared without a trace. However, the remnants of their destruction were disastrous.
“Casualties…?”
Without taking his eyes off the scene, Lenid asked. Countless citizens of the empires must’ve died in vain. To be honest, he didn’t even want to know the exact number. However, at times like this, he had to stay alert. The fact was difficult to accept, but the Crown Prince was slain.
Therefore, he must deal with this situation.
“…”
However, the lieutenant couldn’t easily speak. The reason was self-evident.
“Did many of them die…”
Lenid bit his lip and asked again.
“How many…?”
“…”
“How many died?”
“The exact count is still…”
“It’s alright with the ones you counted. Tell me!”
Lenid bellowed. He knew he shouldn’t let his anger out, but he just couldn’t control it.
“…Three people.”
But did he hear wrong? The numbers were strange.
“Three people…?”
“Yes.”
He asked again but received the same answer. Lenid wondered if his subordinate was joking.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. A total of three people died in this attack.”
A large-scale battle broke out, and the palace was smashed into pieces, but only three people died. He couldn’t even believe it and asked several times, but the Crown Prince was even one of the three…
“The remaining two are soldiers stationed before the wall, and it was believed they fell to their deaths while running away.”
The two who died did so by their own mistakes. In other words, the reason why he couldn’t answer the question immediately wasn’t that there were too many casualties, but… was it the opposite?
“…How is that possible?”
“The enemy soldiers were keeping us in check for defensive purposes. According to the soldiers, they avoided killing.”
He didn’t know why they did such useless things, but at least one thing was understandable.
“Was the purpose of creating a disturbance?”
Lenid lowered his head in defeat. If he’d noticed this in advance and given up protecting the palace and gathered all the troops to protect the Crown Prince… if that was the case, wouldn’t the results be different? Only regret and guilt lingered in his heart. Of course, he also knew that even if he had made a different choice, the result would still be the same.
Wearing a mask and looking like the devil himself, that was a monster to bring about the end of the world. Like the monster that the Empire created hundreds of years ago.
“Aren is here.”
While he stared over the devastation, his lieutenant spoke again. Lenid turned, hoping that he had returned with good news. But seeing how he was huffing and panting, there was no need to ask.
“I’ll kill you… I’ll find you and kill you….”
He failed. Lenid’s eyes dimmed. The Crown Prince had died at the heart of the Empire. The palace was destroyed, and the person who committed this crime escaped.
“Please lay your order…!”
The subordinate knight asked. Coming to his senses, Lenid moved to deal with the situation. No, it was when he was going to, mumbles began to grow louder from the far side of the hallway.
“The Third Prince ordered to see the leader.”
“…Ordering, not asking? From the Third Prince?
Lenid realized belatedly. The Third Prince, who lived in silence under the Crown Prince’s rule, was now the only remaining prince in the Empire. Of course, there was no basis for the Third Prince to do this. It must be some of the great nobles who dreamed of planning treason under this chaos.
“Is he going to use me to protect himself…?’
Lenid stared quietly at Aren, the only being who could fight back when everyone was struggling against the invader.
‘After the death of the third emperor, that monster will be freed from his restrictions. If so, the Empire will be over.’
Lenid opened his mouth bitterly.
“Tell him I’ll be there soon.”
There was only one way left to protect the Empire.
“Kyakkkkkkkkkkk!”
Yoon-seok, who appeared behind her back in his b Demonify} state, caused a stir, but…
Yoon-seok informed her that the Crown Prince was dead. She looked dispirited. Well, it was natural since he returned with the news less than a day after he left.
“…There’s no way you would lie about something the whole world will know soon. I see. So the Crown Prince has died.”
After some time, Princess Orlene accepted the fact. However, the strange thing was her reaction. He thought she would be happy, but she looked dark. He thought it might be because they were blood-related, but…
“I will repay you in the future.”
Fear was mixed in those eyes looking up at him. Perhaps now, she was thinking that she held hands with the devil. Of course, it wasn’t an issue for Yoon-seok to care about.
“I’ve told you the news. I’ll get going.”
Yoon-seok left immediately, holding no regrets toward the princess. By now, Lee Su-yeon must be waiting for him to find her in a safe place.
“OMG!”
When he moved behind Lee Su-yeon using b Death God}, a dagger flew toward his neck. It was a markedly different reaction from the princess, who immediately collapsed. However, there was no need for him to avoid or stop it.
“…Oppa!”
Just before the dagger touched his neck, Lee Su-yeon, recognizing Yoon-seok, stopped and suddenly hugged him.
‘I didn’t expect this…’
It looked like she was quite worried about whether Yoon-seok would return safely. Well, he didn’t hate that.
“So, did you succeed…?”
Lee Su-yeon couldn’t watch until the end, so Yoon-seok told her about killing the Crown Prince and Aren’s existence.
“Aren?”
Lee Su-yeon responded as if she had never heard of him. It wasn’t a widely known fact. He was the secret weapon of the royal family; he was sure now.
“Anyway, you said you told the princess the news, right? I’ll stay here for a while and watch the situation.”
After a few more words, Yoon-seok borrowed a ticket from Lee Su-yeon and returned to Earth. He then briefly summarized what happened in Seheranbad to Ashton, and his plans ended a little earlier than scheduled.
「92:10:08 until the next duel.」
Yoon-seok, returning to the waiting room, first checked the remaining time. About four days left.
‘Let’s check the rewards out first.’
Yoon-seok approached the tablet.
{Thunder Sword}
Rank A – Magic rank increases by +6 for 10 seconds every 50 seconds.
Rank B – Whenever the enemy falls into an electric shock state, a maximum of 20% of magic is recovered.
Rank C – Immune to all curses and state effects.
Rank D – When using lightning attribute magic, the power increases 15 times, and the enemy will be put into a state of electric shock at random.
Rank E – Increases all stats by +2 and becomes resistant to all lightning attributes.
Rank F – When using dagger weapons, additional lightning attributes are granted, and attack speed increases by 5x.
It looked like the Crown Prince, the owner, was the problem. It was a very good skill. He knew just by looking at the first two effects. b Heavenly Body} was the only one that had such an effect on Rank E alone without going through synthesis. The Rank A and Rank B effects were actively fraudulent.
However, this Unique Skill wasn’t rated SS- because of these.
‘I can’t see the ‘ability’ written from the notebook.’
Later, the Crown Prince would be known as the Thunder God, and his name was put alongside several others as top-contenders. His whole body was surrounded by lightning, and he fired electricity from the sky, defeating thousands of invaders in an instant.
‘As expected, do I have to upgrade to Rank S to find out?’
There was a strong possibility. There was a high probability that it had transform properties like b Demonify}. Yoon-seok felt troubled. This wasn’t the biggest reason why Yoon-seok decided to get this Unique Skill.
It was because he thought of the synergy of combining b Frozen Heart} with the ice attribute, b Incarnation} with fire, and b Thunder Sword} with lightning. But…
‘It’s good as it is now, though?’
All stats increased by +2. Needless to say, that alone was enough. In addition, it was the same for the fifteen times increase in power when lightning was used. Skywrath Energy was flexible in changing attributes, so all his skills would skyrocket. Furthermore, if he shocked an enemy, he could recover a maximum of 20% magic, and his magic rank increased by +6 for a little while.
If he had the timing right before using a huge skill, the resulting destruction would be unheard of.
“Plus, the unknown Rank S effect as the cherry on top…’
Perhaps he might’ve been a pretty difficult opponent if the Crown Prince had more talent or chose duel rather than exploration and grew stronger without the help of his servants.
Following that, Yoon-seok’s brow furrowed with his next decision. Should he synthesize or leave it as it is? He couldn’t easily decide. Therefore, he decided to check the looted equipment first.
*Thunder God’s Necklace (Rank S-) — Neck accessory made from the essence of lightning. There is also an unknown God’s blessing upon it.
Reduction of reuse waiting time by 75% when using skills or powers with lightning attributes.
Compared to Rank S, there was only one line of explanation to the ability. Nevertheless, for those who met the conditions, it was undeniably powerful. Of course, it was useless for Yoon-seok.
‘It’s a waste to recycle it, so I’ll have to keep it for now.’
Instead of putting it in his sub-space bag, Yoon-seok wore the necklace around his neck. Although there’s no real benefit… well, at least it was stylish.
‘I think this looks good on me?’
Following that, Yoon-seok used his remaining MP to upgrade Environmental Adaptation. As it reached A+, various characteristics emerged, but he quickly chose the decent-looking ones. Before long, he had it upgraded to its cap.
「General skill has reached its limit.」
「Environmental adaptation evolves into a Unique Power.」
「The same skill can no longer be acquired.」
He reached the end after using up approximately 5.85 million MP.
「Analyze the characteristics of skill and how the owner uses it.」
「Complete.」
「Please select an additional effect to be applied to your Unique Power New Human.」
New Human… by the name alone, he couldn’t imagine what it was. Following that, a selection page emerged to select a total of three keywords, just as when Light of End appeared.
Well, it was meaningless. Whatever he chose from those dozens of options, it was all up to luck.
「Survival was chosen.」
「Pioneer was chosen.」
「Evolution was chosen.」
「New abilities will be given to the Unique Power New Human.」
Yoon-seok checked the results, hoping that he would get his money’s worth.
*New Human — Half of all environmental penalties are reversed.
The base was pretty good. Rather than reducing field effects, it was a buff. It was safe to regard it as the final version of Environmental Adaptation. So far, he was very, very satisfied. Then, what about the additional effects?
Survival: Ingest non-living things. The unique characteristics of the ingested object apply for an hour.
Pioneer: If natives from dimensions other than Earth are killed, 10 AP is gained.
Evolution: You are no longer a human.
Yoon-seok froze. Aside from survival and pioneer… he was no longer human? Frowning for a moment, he wondered what that meant.
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