Black Temple

Gray stone golems came pouring out.

They all emitted unidentified black smoke from their mouths, so the pressure was no joke.

“Should we activate the return teleport?”

“Let’s go.”

Rachel Walker spoke with genuine slight confusion at the golems’ momentum, but Lee Dojin naturally thought it was a joke.

So he immediately stepped forward.

He stretched out his arm.

Kwagwagwagwang!

Five golems burst in succession from the horizontal sword path thickly painted with colorless sword energy. The rock chunks that were the golems’ medium scattered in all directions.

And it caused a chain reaction. There was a moment when the golems hit by their companions’ rock chunks lost their center of gravity and tilted.

Lee Dojin didn’t miss that moment.

Once again, he smashed the hearts beyond the golems’ chests with his sword.

Park Seonggu accurately seized the clear opportunity Lee Dojin had created.

Chwak-!

When he infused mana into the small circular shield, an additional mana barrier spread around the circle.

Blue boosters shot out from Park Seonggu’s red suit that looked somewhat like medieval armor.

Lee Dojin could tell that Park Seonggu was doing quite a lot of research to perform well in his position as a tank.

Park Seonggu, who instantly advanced on the ground, crushed two golems with his shield.

Rachel Walker was momentarily stunned by the sight of her juniors advancing without hesitation and fighting well.

“How noble.”

And soon she calmed herself again and drew a magic formula with her magic wand.

As soon as the formula was completed, the magic was immediately cast.

A whitish blizzard rapidly froze the area in front.

Jjeojeojeojeojeok!

Rachel Walker’s main magics were lightning and ice.

Due to the golems’ characteristics, they had strong resistance to lightning magic.

So countering with ice magic was the most reasonable and efficient.

Lee Dojin’s wooden sword cut through the frozen upper body of a golem.

The cross-section of the cut stone was smooth.

The battle soon became systematized.

Park Seonggu pushed back the golems. This secured the attack range for the party and narrowed the golems’ range.

Rachel Walker froze the stone golems. And Lee Dojin definitively eliminated all the golems.

The raid proceeded much more smoothly than Rachel had thought.

She could tell exactly who this was thanks to. It was thanks to Lee Dojin swinging his wooden sword freely at the front.

They passed the entrance of the dungeon and reached the upper level in one breath. Passing through the entrance made of stone, stairs made of rock walls greeted the party.

This time, huge golden golems were quickly coming down the stairs. But black smoke was also spewing from these golems’ mouths.

“They seem to be golems that are either cursed or receiving orders from someone.”

Rachel Walker analyzed the situation, recalling her experiences and learnings so far.

“The boss monster might be something like a necromancer.”

Rachel’s reasoning certainly seemed plausible.

Lee Dojin was just swinging his wooden sword without much thought.

Kwaaang!

Golden rock fragments were smashed to the other side, scattering black smoke.

---

“…”

Lee Dojin’s footsteps, as he was swinging his sword, suddenly stopped. The surrounding scenery suddenly changed.

A vast black temple came into view. The scenery that had clearly been bright daylight was now dyed pitch black.

And what began to walk out of those temples were black knights. Death Knights.

The Death Knights walked towards the party of three, scattering black smoke.

“Hmm.”

Rachel, who slowly composed her breath, moved her wand again. Her hand gestures were as elegant as an orchestra conductor, but the speed was very fast.

Lightning magic cast in an instant struck vertically. The lightning pierced straight through one Death Knight.

However, the Death Knight, whose size approached 2 meters, was not neutralized by that single lightning strike.

Shwaeaeaek!

The Death Knight, with its form distorted, rushed at Rachel Walker.

The sword in its hand rushed in sharply. Just as the sword was about to reach Rachel, Park Seonggu, who had sprung out from the side, swung his shield fiercely.

Kwaang!

The Death Knight’s body was pushed back. However, Park Seonggu also felt a sense of dissonance.

Park Seonggu broke out in a cold sweat at the ambiguous impact that couldn’t be called an effective hit.

“I don’t mind blocking their attacks. But the hits don’t land well…!”

“When they take damage, their ability is to partially disrupt their form. That’s called ghostification. Anyway, it’s troublesome.”

Lee Dojin heard Rachel Walker’s words. And he raised colorless sword energy.

The Heaven Defying sword energy bisected the Death Knight’s armor diagonally.

The black armor was cut like paper.

“…What, was he really a Wooden Sword Paladin? Even a paladin shouldn’t be able to cut so easily.”

Rachel stared intently at the colorless sword energy flowing on the wooden sword.

The Heaven Defying group.

Lee Dojin smiled.

-My master used this to strike down magical beasts. Those elusive ones whose forms could hardly be seen properly. Heaven Defying defines the form of demons (魔). And as it defines them, it annihilates them.

He recalled Sword Emperor Dan Cheonwoo’s words.

Anyway, there’s no way to set the limit of this martial art. Lee Dojin resumed the sword strikes he had hesitated on for a moment.

He cut off the breath of about 30 Death Knights in succession.

Advance, and advance again.

Rachel occasionally cast intermediate protection magic on Lee Dojin while pouring out lightning.

Park Seonggu worked on luring the Death Knights to one place, just as he had done with the golems.

Rachel’s lightning magic put the Death Knights into a temporary state of unconsciousness.

At that moment, Lee Dojin stepped forward.

He pulled back his right arm holding the wooden sword. His muscles tightened like a bowstring supporting an arrow.

And when the firepower of the sword energy reached its critical point, he thrust.

Kwarurururung─!

Over a hundred strands of white light (白光) blooming from the tip of the wooden sword.

Lee Dojin’s first personal technique, <Thorn Tree>.

It was something he had created based on Soul Chasing, the first form of the Heaven Defying Sword, after gaining insight from seeing Sword Demon Jung Yong-ha’s invented footwork, the Soul Trapping Step.

About 40 Death Knights, their bodies pierced by sharp thorns, scattered like dust.

Rachel muttered, watching that technique which was closer to a thunderbolt (霹靂) than her own lightning magic.

“How noble.”

“It’s scary.”

Park Seonggu’s honest words followed.

The party continued to advance.

Cheok.

And a Death Knight appeared whose aura was on a different level from the Death Knights they had seen so far.

Black energy was spewing like steam from its entire body. Blue light like will-o’-the-wisps flickered in its eyes.

Lee Dojin could feel with his chilled senses.

That the swordsman in front of him was this dungeon’s <Boss Monster>.

The Death Knight rushed in. Its efficient sprint was similar to Lee Dojin’s movements.

The longsword drew a black trajectory.

Jjeoeoeng!

The sword that was blocked head-on with the wooden sword trembled. It was a sharp pain that made his grip tingle.

“Can’t you speak?”

Lee Dojin casually threw out the words without expectation. This was because monsters that could speak were extremely rare. What spewed from the Death Knight’s mouth was indeed just black smoke.

Since he didn’t have much expectation, Lee Dojin immediately swung his wooden sword again.

The Death Knight’s sword strike trajectory and the white trajectory intersected. Numerous shockwaves bloomed in the air.

The Death Knight’s consecutive strikes fiercely disrupted Lee Dojin’s vision. A knight’s swordsmanship.

The Death Knight thrust heavy Imperial swordsmanship towards Lee Dojin.

Lee Dojin felt it after a long time.

The thrill of crossing swords.

The pleasure of exchanging sword paths.

Dust rose sharply from the ground where the two were standing.

After crossing 10 more times, Lee Dojin smiled and cut off the Death Knight’s head.

The head sprawled on the ground was visible.

Tu-ung!

The blue light flickering in the Death Knight’s head slowly faded out.

In the center of the boss room of the black temple, a blue orb slowly rose.

It was the dungeon core.

If they destroyed that, they could go outside the dungeon.

It was proof that there were no more monsters in this dungeon.

But something else was visible beyond the temple.

“…Wait a moment.”

It was a huge black tree.

Lee Dojin stood in front of the tree, leaving the temple. He felt it instinctively.

That this tree was an Upper Tree.

He placed his hand on the black tree. Black waves rippled around Lee Dojin’s palm.

Shwaaaak!

Impure black energy flow burst out in a spiral shape. It was a ferocious momentum. Lee Dojin suppressed that energy by utilizing Heaven Defying energy.

Soon, Mistilteinn’s voice was heard.

[‘Upper Tree’ recognized.]

[‘Song of the Tree’ beginning.]

The world darkened.