Chapter 180
The battle between the Awakened and the undead was fierce.
They smashed, and smashed again—killed, and killed again. Yet the undead revived over and over.
“Where the hell is the core?”
“Damn it!”
Casualties began to appear among the Awakened as well.
The martial-type Awakened fighting at the front suffered the heaviest losses.
As holes opened in their defensive line, the undead surged through.
“You cursed things dare…!”
Eloi swept her spear, cutting down waves of undead. But even her strength couldn’t stop them all.
Breaking through her line, the undead closed in on Levin and Brielle. As the situation shifted rapidly, Levin moved to protect Brielle.
“Tch! It’s dangerous—get behind me.”
“I can protect myself.”
Brielle pulled out a glass bottle from inside her pointed hat.
Inside was a clear liquid.
She poured a little into her palm and murmured,
“Blow, gentle breeze.”
The moment she finished speaking, a soft wind rose and scattered the liquid from her hand.
Gwoooaaah!
Kreee!
The undead touched by the liquid melted with grotesque screams.
Startled, Levin asked,
“What is that?”
“Holy water!”
“Huh? Holy water?”
“Yeah!”
“They sell holy water at the Goblin Market?”
“No, I got it in Dongdaemun.”
“Dongdaemun? That fanatic territory?”
“Well, what they worship is still a god, after all.”
Holy water was water blessed by a god.
The type of god didn’t matter.
In Dongdaemun, holy water was sold at high prices—though hardly anyone bought it.
Brielle had purchased some just in case and stored it in the subspace inside her hat. But since it was only for emergencies, she didn’t have much.
“Since it works on the undead, it’s definitely the real deal.”
“They say even dog poop has its use—guess those fanatics are useful after all.”
“But I don’t have much. This won’t be enough.”
“If I’d known, I would’ve bought some too.”
Levin clenched his teeth.
He couldn’t leave everything to Brielle.
The undead kept pouring in endlessly, and the time to stand back and rely on the Pegasus Awakened had long passed.
“…No choice.”
With a sigh, his body turned ghostlike.
He had activated his ghostification.
Until now, very few had seen this ability.
This was the first time he revealed it in public.
He knew it would draw attention—but he had no other option.
To protect himself and Brielle, he had to reveal his power.
Several Awakened noticed his ghostlike form.
“What the—?”
“He turned into a specter. Is that even possible?”
“A new type of Awakened?”
Crackle!
In an instant, violet electricity burst from Levin’s ghostly body.
It was his unique ability—Purple Lightning.
The lightning spread through the surrounding undead.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The undead exploded in a chain reaction.
Those destroyed by the explosions never rose again.
Their cores had been obliterated.
Seeing this, the magic-type Awakened shouted,
“Use lightning magic!”
“Electric-type Awakened, attack!”
Those capable of lightning-based magic stepped forward and unleashed their spells.
Kwarrr!
Lightning flashed everywhere as undead fell.
Some had their cores destroyed and stayed down—but most reformed and rose again.
Though it was the same type of lightning magic, the difference in power was immense.
Levin’s Purple Lightning was several times stronger than ordinary lightning.
It could reach the deeply hidden cores within the undead bodies—but the others’ lightning could not. That was why the undead kept reviving.
Watching this, Lee Jiryung stepped forward.
“…No choice. I wanted to conserve my strength.”
He had been holding back to face the master of the ancient castle at full power—but he couldn’t stand by while more lives were lost.
Fortunately, Levin had shown him the key to defeating the undead.
Crackle!
Sparks burst across Lee Jiryung’s entire body.
It was the sign that he was about to unleash his full power.
Seeing this, Gesling shouted,
“Everyone, fall back! The captain’s going all out!”
As soon as he finished, the Awakened fighting on the front lines retreated.
Only a few mechanized Awakened hesitated, not understanding. The Pegasus assault team grabbed them and pulled them back.
“If you don’t want to die, move!”
“The captain’s lightning doesn’t distinguish friend from foe!”
At those words, the mechanized Awakened hurriedly retreated.
As the battlefield cleared like a receding tide, Lee Jiryung’s body rose into the air.
All eyes focused on him—
And then, a blinding, overwhelming bolt of lightning erupted.
Flash!
A massive bolt pierced straight from sky to ground.
Then, like branches splitting off, thick streams of lightning poured outward from it.
It was Lee Jiryung’s signature skill—
Giga Lightning.
KWA-KWA-KWA!
Centered on him, lightning spread outward in all directions, turning the world white.
Moments later, the world returned to its original colors.
Levin stared at him in a daze.
“…Whew.”
A faint sigh escaped Lee Jiryung’s lips, and a white haze rose from his shoulders.
“Good lord…!”
Eloi and Levin stared at Lee Jiryung with stunned expressions.
It felt like they had just witnessed something they weren’t meant to see.
What Lee Jiryung had just displayed was that overwhelming.
A storm of lightning that filled a hundred meters in every direction.
Hundreds of lightning bolts rained down like a storm, completely devastating the land.
Across the charred black ground lay hundreds of corpses, burned beyond recognition.
The undead, scorched so badly their original forms were unrecognizable, had their cores destroyed and could never rise again.
It was such an overwhelming display of power that no one could close their mouths.
“…Insane.”
“I knew he was strong, but not to this extent…”
Brielle’s pupils trembled violently.
Even her, usually cynical, couldn’t hide her shock at Lee Jiryung’s lightning.
“Waaaah!”
“The captain wiped out all the undead! Let’s move inside!”
The Pegasus assault team Awakened shouted and charged into the ancient castle.
Lee Jiryung landed beside Levin and spoke.
“Did you see?”
“You could become like this too. Join the Pegasus assault team—I’ll train you.”
“I’ll pass.”
“Zeon isn’t here, is he? I can take his place as your guardian—for you and that little one…”
“My brother isn’t dead.”
“You sound certain.”
“Because he really isn’t.”
At Levin’s firm reply, Lee Jiryung glanced at Brielle.
She, too, wore a face full of conviction.
Lee Jiryung frowned slightly without realizing it.
“…Maybe he really isn’t dead. A sand mage… perhaps he found a way.”
—
Zeon ran his fingertips along the wall.
It felt smooth and cold.
The underground passage was, surprisingly, entirely made of stone.
If Neo Seoul knew about this place, they’d go mad trying to secure it.
It sounded absurd, but in this era, stone and rock were incredibly valuable resources.
With the world turned into a desert, places where proper stone could be found were extremely rare.
Buildings required stone.
Even if magical reinforcement was applied, it still needed a solid stone foundation.
After touching the wall for a while, Zeon frowned slightly.
He suddenly felt warmth coming from the stone.
What…?
He didn’t know the reason, but a sudden change like this was rarely a good sign.
Sensing something ominous, Zeon quickened his pace.
He realized he was getting closer to the ancient castle.
Objects that hadn’t been seen before now hung along the walls.
Sharp spikes, grotesque blades with serrated edges, branding irons—every tool imaginable for torture lined the passage.
Zeon passed through the corridor and went deeper.
What awaited him was a horrifying sight.
Inside iron-barred cells were worktables, and on them lay dissected corpses of demonic beasts.
One humanoid beast had its abdomen split open, its insides completely exposed—but not a single organ remained.
Whoever had dissected it had removed everything.
Zeon moved past the cell.
Deeper inside, even more horrifying scenes awaited him.
Cells were filled with mutilated corpses—limbs severed, skulls split open.
The stench of blood surged from all directions like a storm.
It was impossible to tell how many lives had ended here.
Then—
“Ghh…!”
A groan echoed from deeper inside.
Faint—but unmistakably human.
Cha Jincheol?
Zeon hurried toward the source.
What he saw there was beyond anything before.
On a worktable lay a human, limbs spread wide.
Restraints bound his arms and legs. His abdomen and skull were split open, exposing everything inside.
His organs had all been removed and placed in a bucket beside him, while his blood drained through tubes into another container.
His muscles were shredded apart, exposing stark white bone.
The most horrifying part—
He was still alive.
“Kill… me…”
With his one remaining eye, the man pleaded at Zeon.
Zeon recognized him.
He was an Awakened from the Pegasus assault team.
Likely captured during the operation and brought here.
In front of him stood a figure in a black robe, holding something like a butcher’s knife, absorbed in the dissection.
Slice.
With a chilling sound, the Awakened’s heart was removed.
Yet he didn’t die—only continued to feel pain.
That was the ability of the black-robed figure dissecting him.
To keep its victim alive.
Its name—
Interrogator.
Its role was to torture and dissect anything brought here, analyzing their bodily structure.
It had the power to prevent death until it had fully understood its subject.
Because of that, every beast or human brought here was forced to watch their own body being dissected alive.
Just like the Awakened on the table now.
Zeon looked at him.
The man begged desperately to be killed.
Not to live—but to die.
“…Hoo.”
Zeon nodded once and swung his hand.
Exion shot forward like an arrow and struck the man’s head.
Thud!
His head exploded.
No matter how powerful the Interrogator’s ability was, it couldn’t preserve life without a head.
Having lost its subject, the Interrogator finally turned to Zeon.
From beneath its robe, its eyes glowed ominously.
Shhk—
It raised its blade and pointed it at Zeon.
As if declaring him the next specimen.
Behind it, the cell doors opened, and identical black-robed figures emerged.
They were other Interrogators, each holding a blade and pointing it toward Zeon.
In that instant, Zeon’s gaze turned just as chilling as theirs.
“You wretched creatures, doomed to wander without death—how dare you point your blades at me?”
Fwoosh!
Zeon’s body was obscured by a black cloud.
Exion had spread out, enveloping him.
Wrapped in Exion, Zeon lunged toward the Interrogators.
KWA-GA-GA-GAK!