Transator: Ekdud

Proofreader: coyotte508

TL Check: KobatoChanDaisuki

Chapter 38 Demon Lords Castle (5)

Taejin made a strange expression as he looked at Hansoo who had appeared in front of him while he was looking at the Demon Lords Castle in the distance.

Thats a dagger that I havent seen around.

Hansoo laughed as he answered.

Oh I bought the newest product.

A dagger and scythe

A shiny dagger, which wasnt seen until now, was attached on Hansoos waist.

A sword with a 30 cm long blade, which had a rather peculiarly long shape for a dagger.

Of course he had many daggers dangling on his thighs but that weapon felt different at a glance.

Set artifact?

He had seen it on the catalog.

<Justice of Dekrados>

An artifact that showed off its best effect when used in conjunction with Judgement of Dekdrados.

He thought that he was a guy who only used complex weapons just like the chain scythe.

Though there was nothing to say since he used them well.

And he also had many weird things.

What is that pouch

While the people were cooking the strange plants which appeared on the road, food continued to come out from his pouch.

But they werent really jealous because the food which came out from it was on par with the plants they cooked.

Can we really not be together above?

Taejin asked with a regrettable tone as he looked at the Giant Crystal which had gotten rather close to them.

Hansoo chuckled at those words.

I said follow if you want to follow. I wont take you with me but I wont stop you either.

Taejin shook his head at those words.

He wanted to follow him but he was not alone.

They had gotten a little closer while fighting and because of this he had the opportunity to talk with him.

And he could find out after talking to him for a while.

There werent many reasons why this guy was trying so hard to become strong.

Just one.

In order to go into more dangerous locations.

His clansmen were strong too but if they were to follow him then they would die off in stroves.

He didnt want to become strong that bad.

The reason why he wanted to become strong was for the protection of the clan but that thinghad differentmeans and aim.

Its a good choice.

Hansoo smiled as he looked at Taejin.

Since the road which he will be traveling from now on will be even more dangerous.

The things he needed to do in the Tutorial were two.

Clearing the Final dungeon.

And one more.

A Dark Lord who is bound to be somewhere.

Dark Lord.

One of the guys he needed to pull out by the roots for the safety of humanity.

Guys who were dangerous to no extent.

No, the reason why they were so infamous was because they had the potential to be so dangerous from the start.

There was one in this tutorial area too.

I will clash with him properly in the Tower.

No matter where you are, you meet in the Tower.

Since clashes were inevitable according to its structure.

Hansoo muttered inwardly as he slowly walked inside the Demon Lords Castle.

The inner parts of the Demon Lords Castle was empty.

And a red colored crystal existed within the deep parts of the Demon Lords Castle.

It is not working yet.

The aura of the Crystal was too lacking to say it was working.

And in front of that Crystal, in the large field which was enough toaccommodate for the surviving thousand people, a statue which looked intimidating at a glance stood.

Is that the Demon Lord?

While the Clan Lords were frowning, Guktae approached from afar.

Taejin frowned as he looked at him.

Detestable bastard.

But even so, he could only agree with his usefulness.

Since his clan showed off the greatest might out of the ones here.

Guktae approached the Clan Lords as he spoke:

I have a suggestion. We have finally arrived at the final gateway together. It seems like the crystal would work if we break that statue apart.

Guktae looked at the giant statue in the distance and then spoke to the Clan Lords.

Honestly speaking all of us have seven to eight mini crystals right? This isnt a large number but it is more than enough to preserve our powers.

Everyone nodded at those words.

The amount of mini crystals differed from each others contributions but it was a number which could at least take 40 of them up with them.

If it was this much, it wasnt lacking to start anew in a new place.

In a place where they could be in a very advantageous situation just by gathering up 10 people, there was nothing to even say about 40 of them.

Since it was a very pressuring number to go against if they werent Clan Lords like them.

But Guktae threw out a very straightforward talk as he looked at them.

Lets speak really honestly. In my situation I want to kill off everyone else. Its probably the same for other friends too.

Isnt that too honest.

Letsputall in the open and speak.

Everyone thought inwardly at those words.

Even if they werent that frank, rejoicingat the reduction of power of other clans was an obvious fact.

Who would like a strong competitor in a world where the fairies were setting up tricks in order to get them to compete with each other.

They might even have to kill each other as soon as they go up.

And the other 11 clans were dangerous competitors and by the time they regret about fighting, itll be too late.

Everyone wanted it even if they werent saying it as straightforward as he was.

For the power of others to get reduced in the final battle.

As Guktae saw the expression of a consensus from them, he added in some more words as extra.

But I dont think we should do that. The reason why we have gotten here together despite hating each other so much was because we were on the same boat. We need each other that much. We need to combine our strengths in order to break through the gateway to ascend.

What do you want to say?

Guktae laughed at Taejins words as he spoke.

Very simple. Let us all reduce the risk and raise the chances of winning.

?

I know that all of you have not exchanged all of your crystals into artifacts in case of emergencies. The same goes for me.

But think about it. How lame is this. If we just change our crystals into artifacts then the power of our Clan Unions rises by a huge amount. On the other hand, the crystals are an existence which just cut downour battle power even if we have it. Becauseyou wont be able to fight properly asyou never know when the guy next to you will attack your back and run away. If this were to happen then we could all die. A massacre.

Hmm

Taejin thought inwardly.

Guktae was a guy he didnt like but there was nothing wrong about what he had said.

Honestly speaking, they had to convertall the crystals in their possession in order to face the giant statue, the Demon Lord, in front of them.

Then the number of survivors would increase.

But the reason why they held onto the crystals was because they felt uneasy.

Since this crystal was a sure escape path.

Gukgtae looked at them and shouted as he suggested.

So I have a suggestion. Lets all change the crystals we have into artifacts. Whichever artifact you change it to is however the user wants but lets use it all without a single one remaining.

Kuhmm

Hum

This is a means to get rid of the escape path. Since we dont know what kind of crazily orders the Clan Lord will give after escaping if theres one left. Since theres probably somebody who thinks that itll be a profit massacring the 1000 people here and surviving by himself.

Oh. By the way, Im part of those guys. Can you trust in my clan like this and fight?

It wasnt an impossible feat.

They didnt know how strong that statue was but if 1000 of them had to fight with all their might, 100 people acting crazily would be extremely fatal.

They could bury everyone here except the five who would escape with the mini crystal.

too honest

Thank you for the complement. On the other hand, if there wasnt a single crystal left in my hands then I couldnt do such a thing. Because that just means lets just all die. I dont want to die that way. If we all set our boundaries and have our clans fight in those areas with all their might then there will be no instances of being backstabbed. You just need to do your best on your defenses.

Cant somebody hide the crystals?

Guktae shook his head.

We cant hide the crystals because we know the number of each others crystals too well.

Once we all agree lets buy and show each other. If we compare the number of crystals distributed and the cost of the items on the catalogue, you wont be able to hide the crystals even if you wanted to.

Hmm

Everyone started to ponder at these words.

Its not like there were an uncountable amount of demons and because they had hunted them down employingtheir special forces together, the number of crystals were clear.

A situation where they knew the number of crystals on each other very well because it was impossible to sneakily move around the special forces to hunt.

According to those words then it was possible to know the total amount of crystals without a single one being left out.

Honestly speaking, it was an obvious thing to decrease factors for anxiety and reinforce their battle strength as much as possible.

Guktae added more words as he looked at these people.

Think about it. Would the fairy have set the difficulty so that it wasnt possible to win? No matter how much fairy likes for us to die then they wouldnt have put in so much effort like this when they were going to kill us all. They could just simply kill us off and thatll be that.

Mmm

It means that that thing is possible if we all combine our strengths. Then it means a lot more can survive then you guys escaping with the mini crystals. If you all agree then Ill change first.

Everyone pondered at those words but then nodded.

And they all started to buy artifacts one by one and showed each other.

Im choosing the Thorn Wood Casket.

Im getting the Ariadneas Essence

Guktae made a content expression as he checked them one by one.

Good. Im choosing the Wilderness Lords Cape. This costs 8 crystals. Everyone should know I received eight Hansoo you had exactly 59, where did you use them all?

59 of them.

Everyone thought silently.

If you include the Judgement of Dekrados he bought before then it totals to 119 crystals.

They had known this but confirming it again made them amazed.

Hansoo chuckled as he lifted and showed the dagger hanging onto his waist.

I used it here. Justice of Dekrados.

Guktae gazed at Hansoo dagger and then nodded with a content expression.

Though four are left over is there anything else youre going to buy?

Hansoo pondered for a moment and then shook his head.

Guktae chucked at that Hansoo.

You probably dont have a reason to go up. Keep it well then.

Well. Youre probably here because you have an objective left.

Guktae laughed inwardly.

If he was somebody who would goup for his own safety then he wouldve left already.

The fact that he had stayed until now meant that he had something to do left.

Anyways, if he decided to not fight and create a chaos or go up then nobody could stop him.

It was better to just tell him to hold onto the escape path and fight actively.

Well. Theres not a single crystal left between the Clan Lords. We can finally focus on the enemy in front of us.

As soon as Guktaes words ended, the giant statue squeaked as it raised its body.

No, it was not a statue.

It was like a living thing having been petrified like a statue.

Its been a while huh.

Demon Lord, Barbatoy.

Though it was a weaker version, old memories sprung up when he saw the thing he had fought back then to death with after a long time.

Though it wasnt a good memory.

Just the number of humans who had died by getting ripped apart by his hands was easily over ten thousand.

While Hansoo mumbled inwardly, Taejin shouted loudly at the Demon lord.

Normal clansmen fall back and special forces, long range and those with healing skills

A decision that had been laid because it could be a massacre if the normal clansmen, who couldnt even fight against the gatekeepers, got swept up in the fight against the Demon Lord.

If they couldnt even fight againstthen they were not of help.

But Taejin, who had been shouting, realized that this wasnt necessary.

Since an enormous amount of undeads started to rise out of the ground in a crazy pace.

Goddammit Dont fall back and cover us instead!

It looked like that they couldnt even get close to the Demon Lord without normal clansmen.

And soon the undead charged ferociouslyand chaos was created.

And at that moment the fairy appeared above their heads.

Wow! For one thousand people to have survived! Amazing! You just need to finish it off. First of all, the arrival point, even if you chose the same island, would be different from the mini-crystal to that of the giant crystal so you dont need to worry about getting revenged. Heehee.

It sounded like that they should attack from behind and leave without feeling any pressure since they didnt need to worry about being chased after running away with the mini crystal.

But everyone snorted.

Since they didnt have any mini crystals anymore.

But the fairys words did not end.

By the way, it isnt that the giant crystal turns on when you kill the Demon Lord!

?

It will turn on after 30 minutes. So you just need to survive until then right?

The fairy disappeared with those words and everyone flinched.

It was survival and not kill.

Which meant the clan which fought the hardest would have the greatest loss.

Its perfect. Really.

And Guktae laughed as he looked at everyone flinching in the battlefield.