Chapter 184
His name was Trigian Mael Briden.
He was the ruler of a kingdom, known by the title King of Knights.
A sovereign respected by all, and the great sword that protected his realm.
The kingdom prospered, and it seemed as though peace would last forever.
But catastrophe came suddenly, and the kingdom fell.
Having lost his people, the king fell into despair. He resented the gods, hated them—and ultimately fell into corruption.
The fallen King of Knights committed countless atrocities and was punished by the gods, sealed within the Jailer’s Binding Rope.
The knights he once led all became undead.
The undead knights longed only for the resurrection of the great King of Knights, Trigian. But when the world itself—Kurayan—was destroyed, the Jailer’s Binding Rope that sealed him vanished as well.
In despair, they waited endlessly for the rope to return.
And as if by a lie made real, the Jailer’s Binding Rope did return—and Trigian’s seal was broken.
Just as Trigian regained his senses and began examining his new body—
—Have you regained consciousness, Master?
A strange voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
‘Who are you?’
—Master, I am Hyeonmu. Do you not remember?
‘Hyeonmu?’
—I am the support AI, Hyeonmu.
‘How fascinating. Another consciousness parasitizing a human mind…’
—Parasitizing?
For a brief moment, Hyeonmu detected something off.
Though inferior to Samjok-o, it was still a highly advanced AI.
It could think and judge for itself.
—Emergency inspection of Master’s consciousness.
Hyeonmu immediately began scanning Cha Jincheol’s mind.
At that moment, Trigian—who had taken control of Cha Jincheol’s body—rose to his feet.
Clink! Clink!
A faint metallic sound came from his arms and legs.
A strange light flickered in Trigian’s eyes.
‘What is this body? There’s metal mixed into it.’
Cha Jincheol’s body, fused with machinery, was something Trigian had never seen before.
Carefully, Trigian moved his arms and legs.
‘Combining a human body with machinery… What kind of mage would conduct such a grotesque experiment?’
—Master’s consciousness deemed corrupted. From this moment, all connections with the Master will be severed. Initiating Support AI Hyeonmu’s Samjok-o Return Protocol.
‘Samjok-o? Return protocol?’
Trigian’s eyes flashed.
Though the terms were unfamiliar, he quickly grasped their meaning.
He had searched Cha Jincheol’s memories to understand them.
Though he was a knight, he was also well-versed in magic.
Trigian first cast a searching spell and examined his own body.
The structure of his mechanical limbs became vividly clear.
Next, his attention was drawn to his heart.
Attached to the human heart was a mechanical device—
A mana engine.
A product of magitech unique to the West District, amplifying the mana of the heart.
Designed by Kim Kyungsoo and completed by Samjok-o, the mana engine was the very embodiment of science and magic combined.
In an instant, Trigian analyzed its structure and understood its principles.
Then his consciousness moved to the junction between the head and neck—the central nervous system.
There, he found a small metal box.
About the size of a fingernail, it was inscribed with all kinds of magical processing, and inside it, there was active movement.
He could sense the consciousness of the AI called Hyeonmu within it.
‘What is this? Could it be a golem core?’
Thinking of it as a golem made it easier to understand.
A human had implanted a golem core, and thus the golem’s consciousness was interfering with the mind.
The mechanical limbs, aided by the golem, could exert optimal power.
It was truly astonishing.
To Trigian, all of this was revolutionary.
‘But there’s a main body, you say?’
Then what resided within Cha Jincheol now was only a fragment of that main body.
‘If even a fragment can display such power… what kind of world would the main body show?’
Trigian’s imagination expanded without limit.
Though he had only just taken over Cha Jincheol’s body, he was already adapting to this body, this mind, and the culmination of a new civilization.
But he was not given more time.
Boom!
With a loud explosion, his body shook violently.
He sensed a great threat.
At last, Trigian opened his eyes.
Before him, he saw a man trying to attack him—and others desperately trying to stop that man.
The one trying to attack was Zeon.
Those trying to stop him were the awakened of the West District.
“This crazy bastard dares try to kill the captain?!”
“Damn it! Everyone, attack him!”
The awakened of the West District all rushed at Zeon.
Zeon let out a faint sigh.
“This isn’t the time for this. Your captain isn’t normal.”
“Shut up!”
“Die!”
The awakened ignored Zeon’s words and attacked.
Dodging their attacks, Zeon looked at Cha Jincheol.
A red light flickered in Cha Jincheol’s eyes.
Like a camera trying to focus, it brightened and dimmed repeatedly.
At a glance, it was clearly abnormal.
Then—
The light in Cha Jincheol’s eyes stabilized.
The red glow no longer flickered; it settled firmly into his pupils.
At that moment, Zeon was certain.
The entity that had been sealed within the Jailer’s Binding Rope had completely taken over Cha Jincheol’s body.
“Too late.”
Even so, he couldn’t leave Cha Jincheol as he was.
He didn’t know what had taken over his body, but he couldn’t allow it to enter the world like this.
To reach him, he first had to break through the awakened blocking his path.
Boom!
Zeon’s fist slammed into the abdomen of the foremost awakened.
The man collapsed without even managing a scream.
Zeon leapt over him and struck the next one behind.
His physical ability surpassed that of most martial-type awakened.
Combined with eight years of wandering and fighting in the desert, the awakened of the West District were no match for him.
Crunch!
“Gah!”
Zeon tore off or shattered the mechanical arms of the West District awakened.
In an instant, those blocking his path collapsed.
Other awakened tried to stop him, but Brielle stepped in to interfere.
“Yah!”
She pulled something out of her pointed hat and threw it between Zeon and the awakened.
The object, shaped like a ball, was a kind of bomb.
Pop!
As it exploded, thick smoke spread out.
“Ugh!”
“What is this?!”
The West District awakened, having inhaled the smoke, looked confused.
Suddenly, their limbs wouldn’t move properly.
Brielle grinned proudly.
“Heh! Your throats hurt and your bodies won’t move, right? I made this special bomb just for this.”
There was one substance essential for mechanized awakened who had fused their bodies with machines—
Lubricant, which allowed their mechanical parts to move smoothly.
Regardless of quantity, lubricant was indispensable.
The bomb Brielle created had the property of solidifying that lubricant. Even a small amount inhaled would cause it to harden.
The effect lasted only about a minute.
It merely slowed down the movements of mechanized awakened temporarily.
But that alone was a huge help for Zeon.
As the West District awakened hesitated, Zeon reached Cha Jincheol.
Trigian, who had taken over Cha Jincheol’s body, spoke with glowing red eyes.
“Who are you, to dare obstruct this body’s resurrection?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
Zeon threw a punch without hesitation.
Boom!
Struck by the superheated gauntlet, Trigian was sent flying backward. His chest caved in deeply.
It was a wound that would have killed an ordinary person instantly.
But Trigian brushed himself off and stood up as if nothing had happened.
“A fairly powerful attack. But this is far from enough to harm this body.”
“We’ll see how long you can keep talking.”
Zeon replied coldly and charged again.
The dragon eye embedded in his gauntlet emitted a powerful light.
At that moment, Trigian’s red eyes flared violently.
“A cursed dragon’s eye. One who wields the power of dragons… shall never be forgiven.”
His voice was filled with hatred for dragons.
It was only natural—after all, the one who had acted on the will of the gods and sealed him within the Jailer’s Binding Rope had been a dragon.
Fwoosh!
A gray aura burst out from Trigian’s entire body.
It was the characteristic aura of mechanized awakened.
The gray aura spread like a web and engulfed the West District awakened. Already stiffened by Briel’s bomb, they had no way to avoid it.
“Gah!”
“Ugh! Captain—it’s us!”
The faces of the West District awakened turned pale.
From the moment they were consumed by the gray aura, they lost control of their mechanical bodies.
Cha Jincheol’s will had intervened in their bodies.
No one had taught him.
The moment he took control of Cha Jincheol’s mechanized body, he instinctively understood—
How to make it stronger.
A mechanical body could be enhanced endlessly as long as there were parts.
And conveniently, there were plenty of bodies nearby that could serve as parts.
The West District awakened.
At that moment, four concepts surfaced in Trigian’s mind:
Disassemble. Extract. Combine. Amplify.
Break down the mechanical bodies of the awakened, extract usable parts, and attach them to Cha Jincheol’s body to amplify its power.
His imagination became reality.
Crash! Crash!
“Aaagh! Captain!”
“Save me!”
With their screams, the mechanical bodies of the West District awakened were torn apart.
From the dismantled bodies, usable parts were extracted.
Those parts flew at terrifying speed and fused with Trigian’s body.
In an instant, Trigian’s body doubled in size.
His arms and legs thickened, and his upper body swelled massively.
He now resembled a gorilla.
It lacked the dignity befitting a king’s body—but that could be fixed later.
An enormous amount of mana flowed through the metallic body formed from countless parts.
Trigian felt overwhelming power and liberation.
“Who dares stand against me?”
His voice echoed throughout the ancient castle.
—Ooooh! The king has returned!
The first to respond was the knight commander fighting Lee Jiryung.
—Oooooo!
—The king has returned!
At his cry, the undead knights went berserk.
“What—?”
“What’s wrong with them?!”
Lee Jiryung and the awakened looked bewildered.
Their combat power had suddenly surged.
Lee Jiryung hurriedly looked at Trigian.
“So the real boss was over there…?”
He wanted to break away immediately and confront Trigian—but the knight commander wouldn’t allow it.
—Without my permission, no one may approach the king.
Seeing him, Trigian spoke.
“Gregoric, my loyal subject.”
—O King!
“Wipe them all out, and let us return to the world. I will plant my banner in Neo Seoul.”
—Neo Seoul?
“It is the kingdom built by the humans of this place. That land shall lie beneath my feet.”
—Everything will be done according to your will, my king.
The knight commander’s momentum surged.
Trigian’s resurrection had granted him a buff.
The undead knights’ combat power also increased.
Lee Jiryung’s eyes shook.
“What…?”
“Get a grip! If we let them out, Neo Seoul is finished!”
Zeon’s voice snapped Lee Jiryung back to his senses.
This was no longer just a matter of clearing a dungeon.
If they failed to stop them, Neo Seoul itself would be in danger.
Lee Jiryung spoke to Zeon.
“Fall back. Without sand, you can’t fight them.”
“Who said I don’t have sand?”
“What?”
At that moment, a subspace opened behind Zeon.
Whoooosh!
From within it, red sand poured out like a river.