Chapter 174
Grim Reaper.
A being commonly referred to as a reaper of the dead.
It was far too powerful to be dismissed as a mere magical beast, and it even possessed a certain level of intelligence like a human.
Like a specter, this creature moved only as a spiritual entity without a physical body, and its estimated rank alone exceeded A-grade.
In another dungeon, it would have easily taken the role of a boss.
And yet, such a monster had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
The problem was that not a single Awakened in Neo Seoul had ever encountered a Grim Reaper before.
Dungeons where a Grim Reaper appeared as a boss were extremely rare, and all of them were located far away from Neo Seoul, unlike this one.
Because of that, they didn’t even know of its existence—let alone its danger.
Seeing the Awakened just standing there blankly, Zeon shouted again.
“Get out of the way, now!”
“The hell? Who are you yelling at?”
“What’s so scary about that thing?”
The Awakened of the West District instead flared up and glared at Zeon.
Even though they were facing a magical beast they had never seen before, they didn’t feel the slightest fear.
Even if it were an A-grade magical beast, they were confident they could take it down.
In fact, they had the power to do so.
The problem was compatibility.
The attack power of mechanized Awakened was mostly focused on physical force.
Of course, they could use techniques like flamethrowers or compressed air blasts through their parts, but their main attacks relied on their mechanized bodies.
On the other hand, the Grim Reaper had no physical form.
Physical attacks didn’t work on its spiritual body. Meanwhile, the Grim Reaper could harvest human souls with its massive scythe.
Tsssss!
The giant mole-type magical beast was rapidly drying up.
As the Grim Reaper harvested its soul, it also absorbed its life force.
That was how the Grim Reaper increased its power.
“A specter? This is more than enough for something like that.”
A thin silver thread shot out from the wrist of a mechanized Awakened.
The thread wrapped around the Grim Reaper, but since it had no physical body, it simply passed through uselessly.
Still, the mechanized Awakened wasn’t disappointed. He still had a trump card left.
A small generator mounted on his abdomen activated, producing an enormous current in an instant.
The ultra-high voltage current flowed through the silver thread.
He was certain he would hear the Grim Reaper scream—
—but what he expected never happened.
The current he produced only caused a slight sting to the Grim Reaper.
That, however, angered it.
The Grim Reaper swung its massive scythe at the Awakened who had attacked it.
Slash!
“Huh?”
Even though he had been struck by the massive scythe, there wasn’t a single wound on the Awakened’s body.
The Awakened blinked, then burst into laughter.
“Ha! What the hell? That’s it? Not even—”
His voice suddenly cut off.
“What’s wrong?”
“Hey! Stop messing arou—”
As his nearby comrades spoke to him, he suddenly fell backward like a log.
The face of the fallen Awakened turned pale, completely drained of color.
His soul had been harvested by the Grim Reaper’s scythe.
Not only that, even the life force remaining in his body had been absorbed.
Crack…
In an instant, his body shriveled up, turning into dust and scattering away.
All that remained was his mechanical body.
Even after absorbing the Awakened’s soul and life force, the Grim Reaper didn’t look particularly satisfied.
The size of a body doesn’t directly equal the size of a soul, but it still has some influence.
The soul it had gained after swinging its scythe with effort was far too small to satisfy it.
Kieeeeh!
The Grim Reaper’s anger exploded.
The lack of nourishment from the soul only fueled its rage.
Slash!
The Grim Reaper attacked the other Awakened.
“Damn it! You ghost bastard!”
“Die!”
The mechanized Awakened fought back against the Grim Reaper, but their attacks had no effect.
Meanwhile, the Grim Reaper steadily harvested their souls with each swing of its scythe.
“Aaaagh!”
“Save me!”
The screams of the mechanized Awakened spread everywhere.
“What the hell is this…!”
Cha Jincheol’s eyes widened.
Right before him, his subordinates were being slaughtered.
It would have been better if they had at least died in a glorious battle—but this was nothing more than a senseless massacre.
“You bastard! Come at me!”
Cha Jincheol shouted furiously and extended his right arm.
Whirr!
In an instant, his arm transformed into a long cannon.
Boom!
A projectile was fired from the barrel.
It was a railgun powered by electricity.
Though far smaller than the massive railgun he had used to bring down the mammoth, its destructive power was still immense.
Swish!
But the railgun projectile passed uselessly through the Grim Reaper’s spiritual body.
The Grim Reaper turned its gaze toward Cha Jincheol, who had attacked it.
At that moment, a strange gleam flickered in its eyes.
Its gaze was fixed on the rope of the Jade Keeper hanging from Cha Jincheol’s waist.
Hoooo…
As if entranced, the Grim Reaper let out a bizarre groan.
With its characteristic drifting movement, it flew toward Cha Jincheol—
—or more precisely, toward the Jade Keeper’s binding rope he carried.
“Damn it!”
Cha Jincheol cursed as he repeatedly fired the railgun, but the projectiles passed right through the Grim Reaper, and in an instant—
—it had already reached right in front of him.
—You need to get away. If you’re cut by the Grim Reaper’s scythe, your soul will suffer severe damage.
“I know!”
Cha Jincheol shouted angrily and hurriedly stepped back.
The Grim Reaper pursued him relentlessly.
It felt as if nothing could stop it.
At that moment, something unexpected happened.
Thud!
“That’s enough, you skull-headed bastard.”
Someone had struck the Grim Reaper.
It was Levin.
Levin, like the Grim Reaper, was in a ghostly state.
Ordinary physical attacks couldn’t harm the Grim Reaper, but things were different if the attacker was also in a ghostly form.
Crackle!
Purple currents flickered across Levin’s entire body.
Kieeeeh!
Struck by the violet electricity, the Grim Reaper let out a pained scream.
It hadn’t been affected much by electricity generated through machinery, but the electricity emitted directly by an Awakened dealt real damage.
At that moment, blazing high-temperature flames engulfed the Grim Reaper.
Zeon had fired a fire missile using his superheated gauntlet.
With both electric and fire attacks combined, even the Grim Reaper took heavy damage and staggered.
“I’ll kill you, you skeleton bastard!”
Mandy transformed into Eloi and unleashed a barrage of attacks.
Under the continuous assault, the Grim Reaper staggered again, clearly heavily damaged.
It had shown overwhelming resistance to physical attacks, but it couldn’t withstand various elemental attacks as well.
Zeon approached the staggering Grim Reaper.
The dragon’s energy contained within his superheated gauntlet erupted.
For a moment, the Grim Reaper instinctively felt fear and trembled.
No matter how powerful an A-grade magical beast it was, it couldn’t compare to a dragon.
The Grim Reaper hastily retreated from Zeon and flew toward Cha Jincheol.
“You bastard. Won’t you get lost?”
Cha Jincheol threw a furious punch, but once again, it had no effect on the Grim Reaper.
The Grim Reaper passed through his fist and grabbed the Jade Keeper’s binding rope at his waist.
Fwoooom!
In an instant, a sinister black light exploded from the rope.
“Ghk!”
“What is that?!”
Blinded by the intense light, the Awakened shut their eyes.
When they opened them again a moment later, Cha Jincheol had completely vanished.
“No way!”
“Boss!”
The Awakened of the West District frantically searched the area, but Cha Jincheol was nowhere to be found.
Zeon spoke to Levin, who was still in ghost form.
“Find it.”
“Got it, hyung!”
Levin flew off and searched the surroundings. But neither the Grim Reaper nor Cha Jincheol could be found anywhere.
Levin returned, releasing his ghost form.
“They’re not here, hyung! Looks like they’ve already gone far away.”
“Then it must have taken him to its nest.”
“If it’s a nest… you mean the place where the dungeon core is?”
“Most likely.”
“But why kidnap him of all people?”
“That item.”
“…Huh?”
“I think it’s because of the Jade Keeper’s binding rope.”
“Why that?”
“It felt like an item imbued with the resentment of some being.”
It wasn’t uncommon for an item to contain the lingering will of its former owner. But most of the time, such remnants were nothing more than faint attachments or wishes that faded with time.
However, the presence lingering within the Jade Keeper’s binding rope was on a completely different level.
It radiated such intense resentment that it made one’s skin tingle.
If it was this powerful even while sealed, it was impossible to imagine how dangerous it would be once released.
That was why Zeon had said, “Damian has released poison into Neo Seoul.”
As long as the seal held, there was no problem—but once it broke, disaster was inevitable.
“Still, I thought it was relatively safe since it was acquired by the West District.”
The Awakened of the West District had replaced most of their bodies with machinery. Because of that, curses like resentment didn’t affect them easily.
“But the moment we entered this place, the seal weakened, and the Grim Reaper took it… This dungeon is probably related to the Jade Keeper.”
Zeon didn’t know exactly what the Jade Keeper was. But since the item Cha Jincheol carried was called the Jade Keeper’s binding rope, there was a high chance the owner of this dungeon was connected to it.
“First, let’s find the Pegasus raid team.”
“Oh, I know where they are. I saw them while searching for the Grim Reaper.”
“Really?”
“I’ll guide you.”
Levin stepped forward to lead the way.
Zeon, Brielle, and Eloi followed behind him.
The Awakened of the West District, left behind, looked at each other for a moment before hurriedly following as well.
“Let’s go together.”
“Damn it!”
They had realized there was no other option but to join the Pegasus raid team.
The squad leader bit his lip.
‘To think the boss would get kidnapped the moment we entered the dungeon…’
Neither Cha Jincheol nor his subordinates had expected this situation at all. That was why they were completely unprepared.
Fortunately, as Levin said, it wasn’t difficult to locate the Pegasus raid team.
In the distance, they could see a stronghold protected by Wings of Protection.
Levin led the way, clearing the path.
Whenever they encountered suspicious areas, Levin would go ahead in ghost form to scout.
There was no magical beast capable of harming him while he was in that state.
Even when unexpected monsters appeared, Eloi took care of them all.
Thanks to that, the group safely reached the vicinity of the stronghold.
The faces of the West District Awakened who followed behind were filled with shock.
‘What kind of party is this?’
‘What is this lineup?’
Zeon, a sand sorcerer; Eloi, boasting insane offensive power; Levin, who could freely become a ghost; and finally, a mysterious child wearing a pointed hat.
It was a combination that seemed like it would never work together.
And yet, strangely enough, their synergy was incredibly powerful.
At the center of it all was Zeon.
‘So it’s not just that he awakened a rare ability… he also has a good eye for people?’