He remembered the words that the lich spoke. Value as an offering; karma. He felt chaotic. The memory of fear that remained in his mind still made him tremble.
He almost died. This was certain. But… he did not. He did not understand how or why he managed to avoid death. Why did that, inexplicable fear not accept him as offering?
‘There’s someone other than me.’
Sungmin approached the closed door. The lich had said, that he met a being with twisted karma once before. Although Sungmin didn’t know who this was, what was quite certain was that this being had the power to overwhelm the lich, who managed to play Xeon and several others like a fool.
Who is it? – he wanted to ask the lich, but that didn’t mean he could go find him either. Actually, there were a lot of things that Sungmin wanted to ask the lich other than that.
Right now, he was wearing the magic armor.
Magic armor, Devnack. An artifact that turned a third-rate mercenary into a peak-level expert. As he had wished, he did get his hands on the armor, but it did not affect him in any way. Regarding this, the lich seemed to be confused as well. Why did Sungmin not feel anything despite wearing the magic armor?
Booom!
The moment Sungmin left the room, a loud booming sound filled the entire dungeon. Sungmin voiced out in surprised and fell on his butt. What the? – he panicked and looked around him. The booming sound was coming from the floor and it did not stop.
Beings with enormous power were clashing. The lich… was the lich fighting? With who then? What happened to the other mercenaries? And Xeon? Questions kept arising, but he did not want to care about that.
He had to run.
He didn’t know where the lich ran to. He didn’t know why the lich ran, leaving him behind. The reason was not important. What he had to do now was to flee from this place and survive. His current prowess would not allow him to flee if he met the lich again. He felt bitter.
After his training in Mount Msh, Sungmin… became too full of himself. He gained power that he could not gain in his previous life. A peak-level expert, as well as an S-rank mercenary. He gained enough power to be treated well wherever he went in Eria. This made him arrogant.
He came to know what powerlessness felt like. The power that he gained for himself only amounted to so much. Against ‘real’ freaks, he wasn’t able to do anything. Sungmin bit his lower lip. He was lucky. He was lucky… and survived.
Is that really the case though?
Reminding himself that there is no such thing as luck, Sungmin started moving again. Regret, self-blame, guilt – all of these should come after he left the dungeon.
The booming sound from the floor stopped after a certain point. The clash between strong beings also halted. Just what had happened? – trying his best to ignore that question in his mind, he walked forward when – [A mercenary?]
He was in the middle of looking for an exit, and someone talked to his mind. The voice did not belong to a lich. Sungmin stiffened up in surprise.
[Oh… don’t be too surprised. I am not your enemy. The reason I’m talking to you is because I have something… to ask of you.]
The voice contained deep fatigue. Sungmin looked around in confusion.
[My name is Lloyd. I’m the tower lord of the Gold Magic Tower. … Do you know of me?]
He did. The tower lord of the Gold Magic Tower, Lloyd. It was one of the archmages that were famous in Sungmin’s previous life as well. Scarlett, the founder of the Lecire School, later became the tower lord of the Red Magic Tower, and Lloyd was one of the archmages in Eria that was famous way before that.
However, Lloyd was dead. To be exact, he had gone missing. He was missing for almost ten years, so he could practically be considered dead. Thinking about it… the time that Lloyd went missing after he gained fame as an archmage, was around this time.
[I have a request. Right now, I am in a state where it’s hard to move my body… can you help me out?]
“… Are you really Lloyd?”
Sungmin asked while stuttering. Whether Lloyd could hear his question was unknown but, [I shall swear upon mana. I am Lloyd. I am the Lloyd of the Gold Magic Tower. And also… I will absolutely not hurt you.]
Fortunately, Lloyd heard Sungmin’s question, and replied to him. To a mage, the oath of mana was absolute. Sungmin felt slightly relieved and asked again.
“What happened to the black mage… the lich?”
[Lich… You must mean Prescan, correct? He is not here. He fled.]
Lloyd replied. The cause of the booming sound seemed to be from the battle between Lloyd and the lich.
“How do you want me to help you?”
[First, please come to this place. You should be able to find your way here. Any more than that… is hard to say. I’m almost about to run out of magic energy.]
Lloyd’s voice became more powerless. Sungmin pondered for a short while, and Lloyd added for the final time.
[If you help me, I will reward you for it.]
Sungmin sighed. With the lich gone, there weren’t any others that could threaten him in this place. Especially since Lloyd swore upon mana. In the end, Sungmin went back to the place he came from and looked for a way down.
The tightly shut iron door had no lock on it. Sungmin opened the door and went inside, and found a staircase leading down. When he descended the stairs. It was moist, and it smelled of mold. When he climbed down, he arrived at a large clearing.
The cave was in an utter mess. The floor was cracked apart like a field in a drought, and signs of destruction were everywhere as though bombs had exploded. Looking around, Sungmin’s face stiffened.
He saw Xeon’s corpse.
to a mummified corpse, was Xeon lying down with a pale expression. He saw an impaled chest. The blood from the wound certified Xeon’s death. Never did he imagine that he would see Xeon’s corpse here.
In Sungmin’s previous life, Xeon’s death did not occur. Even when he became a C-rank mercenary and discovered ‘that’ dungeon, Xeon was alive and well. In this life, though… Xeon had died. The body of Xeon, who had surpassed the peak-level, made Sungmin feel very complex.
Sungmin was wary against Xeon. He heard advices from Ludd as well, and Xeon himself also had an attitude that made Sungmin wary of him.
“This way.”
Before Sungmin could even approach him, Lloyd’s voice rang out. Sungmin flinched in surprise and turned around to the place where the voice came from.
“I.. am very lucky.”
Lloyd’s face was drenched in blood. He somehow managed to survive, but he could not avoid a fatal wound. Sungmin immediately approached Lloyd in quick steps.
“I did not think that there would be a survivor.”“What happened here?”
Sungmin crouched down towards Lloyd and asked. Lloyd coughed dryly, and his cough contained blood.
“Nothing much. …I tried to kill Prescan… but his chimera was stronger than I imagined. I was only able to make him flee since he was not at his full state. Thanks to that, I was able to save my life as well.”
His questions were answered. Why did the lich leave the dungeon without even taking the magic armor – why was the Gold Tower Lord go missing.
In his previous life, this must be what happened: Lloyd discovered this place and fought the lich. Despite the lich’s victory against Lloyd, he fled this place with a fatal injury. Not being saved, Lloyd died in this place.
“…What do you want to ask of me?”“Please take me out of this place. I… cannot move because my magic energy has run out. The telepathy I sent you was with whatever little mana I had left.”
Lloyd bitterly laughed as he spoke.
“And also… one more thing. That heart floating over there. Please destroy it.”
Hearing those words, Sungmin lifted his head to look up. It was as Lloyd spoke. A heart was levitating in the air.
“Originally, I was going to do it… but as I said, I’m out of energy. But to destroy that later… there may be a possibility that Prescan will return later to take it, so I think it will be more comforting to destroy that heart right now.”“…What is that thing?”“I do not know either.”
Lloyd sighed as he replied. He fought an unidentified chimera girl as well as Prescan, and although he managed to make them flee, he did not know that that heart was.
“However, that thing is dangerous. That’s for sure.”
The chimera girl was strong. No, it wasn’t simply ‘strong’. The power she wielded was very strange and ominous. The two received fatal injuries and fled without even recovering that other heart, but it was unknown when they will return to take it.
“…Understood.”
Lloyd seemed to have a difficult time speaking, so Sungmin nodded his head. He didn’t know what kind of impact him saving Lloyd, who originally went missing and died, would have on the future, but creating ties with an archmage wouldn’t be a bad thing. Sungmin gripped on his spear and looked up.
The problem was quite trivial.
Sungmin was not able to fly. He wasn’t even at a level where he could eject his spearforce. He did not have many methods to attack a levitating heart. Sungmin pondered a little bit before throwing the spear to the heart.
Fwoosh! His spear ripped through the air towards the spear. However, it was unable to penetrate the heart despite the force behind it. Even though he had exerted a lot of his qi into it, it decelerated as soon as it came close to the heart, and fell down without doing any damage.
“It won’t be that easy.”
Lloyd muttered with a dying voice. Even Lloyd’s magic was unable to do anything to that heart. Sungmin clicked his tongue and picked up his spear again. Throwing his spear lacked strength. Sungmin estimated the height that the heart was floating on, and crouched down.
Taah! He leaped into the air until where the heart was. In the air, Sungmin took a deep breath and exerted a lot of his own qi into his spear.
Then, he pierced towards the heart. At that moment, the magic energy swirling around the heart expanded. That was a function to protect the heart from external forces. The thumping sound became louder and pushed back his spear. Sungmin bit his lips while feeling the resistance from the heart, and exerted more strength into his arms.
Thump.
The thumping of the heart resounded in his ears. His own thumping heart beat at the same rate. The spear continued forward, and after a certain point, the resistance he felt from his arms disappeared.
The spearhead collided with the heart, and penetrated it.
Did it pierce through?
Pop! The heart disappeared. Sungmin’s spear pierced through empty air. Sungmin did not know what just happened and widened his eyes.
Sungmin’s heart stopped beating for one moment. Feeling suffocated, he opened his mouth wide. Swaying in the air, Sungmin subconsciously let go of his spear. The spear fell down, and Sungmin’s body fell with it.
Before he made contact with the ground, his heart started beating again. Thump, thump. The thumping sound of the heart could be heard in his ears. Hearing that sound, Sungmin felt unfamiliar. He immediately moved his body to somehow safely land, but the unfamiliar feeling of the heart thumping did not disappear. Sungmin put his hands on his left chest with a confused expression.
[You have acquired ‘Black Heart’.]
A voice sounded out in Sungmin’s head.
This was the same voice as when he gained skills.
***
T/N: Well then. Is ‘Black Heart’ a good thing or not? Will Lloyd realize that it’s infused in him? If he does, what would he do? He can’t hurt Sungmin because of the oath, right?
chapter teaser: Loot! Escape! And finally some rest?