Chapter 183
What greeted them beyond the door was a knight.
A true knight, clad in full-frame armor and a red cloak.
Unlike the undead knights they had faced so far, he still retained much of his appearance from when he was alive.
The naturally captivating noble aura emanating from him made Lee Jiryung furrow his brow.
It was completely different from the image of a jailer he had imagined.
Usually, when people thought of a jailer, they pictured something ragged and savage. But the knight before them was far from such an image.
The knight didn’t even spare Lee Jiryung a glance—his gaze was fixed solely on the bed.
On the bed lay Cha Jincheol, whom the Grim Reaper had abducted.
“He’s the captain.”
“What are you trying to do to the captain?!”
The awakened from the West District spotted Cha Jincheol and shouted. But Lee Jiryung stretched out his hand and stopped them from rushing forward.
Ignoring the commotion, the knight continued staring at Cha Jincheol. More precisely, he was looking at the rope binding his waist.
The Jailer’s Binding Rope.
It was an item Cha Jincheol had won at auction from the White Bear Caravan.
The knight reached out and gently stroked the rope.
‘Is there some story behind that item?’
Zeon frowned.
It was one of the items released by the White Bear Caravan that had particularly unsettled him.
In life, there are objects that, for no clear reason, feel ominous and unsettling.
Such objects inevitably cause trouble later.
To Zeon, the Jailer’s Binding Rope was exactly that kind of item. That was why he suspected Demian had spread poison in Neo Seoul.
For now, however, it didn’t seem to pose an immediate problem, so he had simply been observing.
At that moment, Lee Jiryung spoke.
“Are you the jailer?”
He hadn’t expected an answer.
Most undead had lost their reason, leaving only instinct. Yet an unexpected reply came.
—My name is Gregoric Telma Carrion. A sinner who failed to protect the great king and fell into becoming a jailer.
“Gregoric? Can you understand our language?”
—My name is Gregoric Telma Carrion. A sinner who failed to protect the great king and fell into becoming a jailer.
The knight who called himself Gregoric repeated the same words like a parrot.
“So it’s not that you have reason—you’re just repeating a fixed phrase?”
Just as Lee Jiryung frowned—
Fwoosh!
Suddenly, a powerful light burst from the Jailer’s Binding Rope in the knight’s hand.
“What the—?”
“M-my eyes…!”
The awakened, unprepared for the intense light, staggered as their vision was temporarily taken.
Before Zeon and Lee Jiryung could react, the rope turned into light and vanished.
‘What?’
‘What is this? Why did the item—?’
At that moment—
As if giving them no time to think further, the knight drew his sword. Instantly, hundreds of knights were summoned around him.
Gregoric Telma Carrion.
A man who had sworn loyalty to his king.
A knight commander who had vowed to protect him even in death.
But he had failed to protect the king, fallen into becoming a jailer, and waited endlessly for his master’s return.
Srrng!
Gregoric pointed his sword at the awakened.
—Those who obstruct the king’s return… all shall die.
A chilling voice leaked out from beneath his helmet.
“The king’s return? What nonsense is that?”
“Damn it! Kill them and save the captain first!”
The awakened of the West District, enraged, charged at the knights.
They had been forced to watch helplessly as Cha Jincheol was abducted. Their patience had already reached its limit.
There was no stopping them, even if Lee Jiryung tried.
Their minds held only one thought—rescue Cha Jincheol.
“Kill them!”
“Attack!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The awakened of the West District launched a full assault.
That became the signal.
The Pegasus Raid Team joined the battle, and a fierce fight erupted.
Clang! Slash!
Weapons collided, and all kinds of magic attacks flew across the battlefield.
“We need to take down the knight commander first. He’s the boss.”
Bronson led the raid team to hunt the boss.
Confidence filled his face.
He hadn’t been much help in battles so far, but against a humanoid monster, things were different.
Fighting humans was what he excelled at most.
“Die!”
Bronson and the awakened attacked the knight commander all at once.
No one could withstand a group assault.
Even if the opponent was a humanoid monster.
Boom!
All kinds of skills and weapons struck the knight commander.
It was an all-out attack.
Bronson was certain that this single strike would disable the knight commander.
But his smile vanished instantly.
Flash!
A brilliant light suddenly burst from the knight commander’s entire body, nullifying every attack.
A sacred barrier of light—refreshing just to behold—wrapped around him.
Lee Jiryung muttered in disbelief:
“How can an undead use… Holy Shield?”
Holy Shield.
A skill used by those who served the gods, like paladins.
In Neo Seoul, it was mainly used by the paladins of Dongdaemun.
Though they had the drawback of being zealots, they were still followers of a god.
That allowed them to use Holy Shield.
But the Holy Shield displayed by the knight commander now was incomparably more powerful than that of the Dongdaemun paladins.
It was like the difference between the sun and the moon.
The knight commander’s Holy Shield was not merely a defensive skill—it was an all-in-one technique capable of both offense and defense.
Boom!
A powerful burst of light shot out from the Holy Shield and slammed into Bronson and the awakened.
“Gaaah!”
“Urk!”
With screams, their bodies were flung backward.
Bronson rolled across the ground, coughing up blood, while most of the awakened who had attacked were severely injured and unable to regain their senses.
Lee Jiryung’s expression hardened.
“…S-rank?”
He had hunted countless monsters before, but this was his first time facing an S-rank.
The overwhelming presence, on an entirely different level, made his shoulders tremble.
He himself had already surpassed A-rank and was aiming for S-rank—but before a true S-rank presence, his breath caught in his throat.
His gaze suddenly shifted to Zeon.
Unlike him, whose face had stiffened, Zeon’s expression remained unchanged.
That sight struck his pride.
He had tried to ignore it until now, but it was clear—
He felt a sense of rivalry toward him.
Perhaps it was even inferiority.
Zeon was the first person to make him feel this way.
That made it all the more unsettling.
More than anyone else, he didn’t want to show weakness in front of Zeon.
“I’ll take him on alone.”
“Captain!”
“In the meantime, clear out the rest.”
“Please be careful. If something happens to you, our Pegasus Raid Team will fall apart.”
“Trust me.”
“Heh! If we don’t trust our captain, who else would we trust?”
Gesling gave a thumbs-up.
He spoke with a grin, but his eyes were stiff.
He, too, could tell that the knight commander was a monster unlike any they had faced before.
“Right! I, Lee Jiryung—am a man who will one day stand at the top of Neo Seoul. A trial like this is nothing to me.”
Lee Jiryung launched himself at the knight commander.
Crackle!
Lightning wrapped around his entire body as he collided with the knight commander.
Boom!
The clash of the two monsters produced an enormous shockwave.
The shockwave struck even Zeon’s group.
Thanks to Zeon neutralizing most of it, Brielle suffered no damage. But it was too soon to relax.
The knights summoned by the commander began attacking them as well.
“You damned undead—!”
“Chahaha!”
Eloi and Levin stepped forward to fight them.
Through this dungeon raid, Levin had grown considerably.
In an instant, he transformed into a ghost-like form and unleashed Purple Lightning.
Crackle!
It was a power that had shattered countless undead before. But against these knights, it failed to show much effect.
“These bastards! They’re decked out in items!”
Levin gritted his teeth.
The armor the knights wore was dampening the power of Purple Lightning.
Because of that, his attacks couldn’t display their full strength.
This was the first time he had encountered such a situation.
However, the knights’ attacks also failed to deal significant damage to him.
Like the Grim Reaper, when he entered his ghost form, physical attacks couldn’t harm him.
Realizing their attacks weren’t working, the knights began channeling light into their swords.
They were imbuing them with divine power.
“Damn it! Isn’t it cheating for undead to use divine power?!”
At this point, even staying in ghost form wasn’t safe.
Divine power could affect spiritual bodies as well.
Still, Levin didn’t retreat—he fought back head-on.
Eloi was the same.
“Die, all of you!”
Wielding her maddened fox spirit, she rampaged like a lunatic.
The battlefield descended into pure chaos.
Awakened and undead knights clashed in a tangled melee, while Levin and Eloi went berserk.
At the very center stood Zeon and Briel.
Brielle looked up at Zeon.
While everyone else was fighting like mad, Zeon alone seemed calm—as if he existed in a completely separate world.
Even the undead knights, who were relentlessly attacking the others, seemed to instinctively sense danger and avoided attacking Zeon.
That made the scene feel strangely out of place.
“Zeon!”
Brielle grabbed his sleeve.
If she didn’t, it felt like he might drift away somewhere far.
At that moment, Zeon took her hand and smiled.
Seeing his smile, she felt reassured for no reason.
After calming Briel, Zeon turned his gaze forward again.
What he was looking at was Cha Jincheol.
Cha Jincheol lay there motionless, as if in a deep sleep.
‘Those who obstruct the king’s return will all be killed…?’
Zeon recalled the knight commander’s words and replayed what had just happened.
The moment when the Jailer’s Binding Rope turned into light and disappeared.
‘So the Jailer’s Binding Rope was the medium for the king’s resurrection.’
Everything became clear.
He now understood why that rope had felt so ominous to him.
The true master of this ancient castle was undoubtedly trying to resurrect by using Cha Jincheol.
Zeon began walking toward Cha Jincheol.
Sensing danger, the undead knights moved to block his path.
“Move.”
Thud! Thud!
Zeon’s fists slammed into the undead knights.
They were sent flying in all directions, opening a path to Cha Jincheol.
Zeon sprinted down that path.
Other undead knights rushed to stop him—but by then, Zeon had already reached Cha Jincheol.
Without hesitation, Zeon swung his fist down toward Cha Jincheol’s head.
“Don’t!”
“You crazy bastard…!”
The awakened of the West District threw themselves forward to block Zeon’s attack.
Thud!
An awakened took the blow with his entire body, protecting Cha Jincheol.
And then—
Cha Jincheol opened his eyes.