episode_0056

Opening the door revealed a dazzling sky. Having been in a consistently dark place, the brightness was almost painful to the eyes.

“This isn’t… the outside, is it.”

“That’s right. It’s just an illusion shown by the magic circle.”

Yes. In fact, most of what’s seen here is an illusion.

The sun and clouds in the sky, the forest seen far away, almost everything is false.

The second floor, the floor of brushes and wisdom.

This place is a floor created by fully utilizing the magic of the Yeom Kingdom, called the magic circle.

To safely escape this place, you must grasp and neutralize the magic circle spread out here. But the numerous soldier dolls that begin to appear here don’t allow the challengers of the Secret Palace to leisurely examine and grasp the magic circle, and then destroy it.

“I already know about the solutions to the magic circle set up here. I’m embarrassed to ask you, who said you wouldn’t help, but could you prevent the soldiers appearing here from approaching me?”

“I can help with that much.”

Accepting the request of the Flame Emperor, I drew my Holy Sword.

I emphasize this repeatedly, but the level of the soldier dolls here is quite high. Even aside from their simple physical resistance, their attack power is also quite high, and their movement speed is quite fast. If that were applied in reality, there would be nothing more to say.

‘I’ve never properly released my strength at 100% in my current condition.’

When facing the warriors of the Moryong Family, I suppressed my strength as much as possible and swung my sword, because even accidentally killing them would be truly dangerous.

Therefore, it’s slightly different from properly releasing my strength.

Clank, clank, clank

“They’ve appeared.”

“A spectacle.”

Soldier dolls suddenly begin to appear in the blue field.

I’ve never been there, but Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum in reality.

Soldiers made of baked earth, reminiscent of the terracotta warriors there.

They slowly, but surely, began to approach with a pressure that shook the ground with their synchronized footsteps.

Their unique point is that, despite being soldier dolls made of baked earth, the weapons they use are made of sturdy steel.

‘The weapons those guys drop have good performance and sell for a high price.’

Instead, the drop rate was measured to be low, but the endless outpouring of these soldier dolls in this Secret Palace made up for it, so you could collect at least 10 or more weapons per run. If you could get a decent sword from those guys, there was nothing better than that as a White Lotus weapon.

If I could get a decent sword from those guys…

‘…No, now that I think about it, in the game, the probability of getting equipment is all over the place, but here, can’t I just break them and take the sword?’

Should I do some experimenting?

【Sword King Art】

“Mountain Cleaver.”

A single streak of light drawn perfectly in the world.

This streak of light soon swallowed the soldier dolls and cut them apart.

‘Oh…’

Seeing them having their defenses pierced and being cut at once despite having physical resistance doesn’t feel too bad.

‘At this rate, I can instantly kill most boss-level monsters.’

After confirming that, I tried to pick up the sword that the guys dropped, but suddenly the surrounding scenery changed, and the bright field began to disappear.

“…Huh?”

“Ah….”

Damn it.

While sweeping away the soldier dolls with the Sword King Art, I also broke the core that was maintaining the magic circle.

* * *

3rd Floor. The Floor of Patience and Suffering.

As the name suggests, it is a floor where you have to endure trials of patience and suffering. The clear condition is to withstand the pouring soldier dolls for a certain period of time. If you can’t endure it, the floor leading to the next level will not open.

“I’ve slightly improved the magic circle from the 2nd floor.”

“Oh….”

And Yeomje, targeting the fact that the opponent is incapable of deep thought and can only execute pre-programmed commands, set up a magic circle to prevent the soldier dolls from approaching them, and they passed through.

4th Floor. The Floor of Azure Mountains and Wind.

This floor is a floor that tests excellent lightness skill. It is a floor where you have to climb the illusory mountain created by the magic circle as quickly as possible. Of course, it doesn’t end with just climbing. If you don’t subdue the soldier dolls that interfere with you while climbing the mountain one by one, you will see a bunch of gathered soldiers, enough to make the mountain roar, when you reach the middle of the mountain later.

“It’s quite an elaborate magic circle. I never thought that the magic circle books I looked at as a hobby when I was young would be so helpful.”

“…..”

And by reversing the magic circle itself, they changed their starting position from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain, and passed through.

5th Floor. The Floor of Spears and Women.

This floor is relatively simple. You just need to defeat the two soldier dolls that appear here. However, these soldier dolls are on a different level compared to other soldier dolls.

They are like a kind of mid-boss.

“….I’ll have to face them directly.”

“It seems so.”

“Then…, I hope I’m not the last one.”

Flame Heaven Great Art.

As he himself said, it is an incomplete martial art, but it showed quite decent movements for something like that.

Of course, in the middle of the fight, he was unable to overcome the numerical difference of 1:2 and was in danger, so I helped him.

6th Floor. The Floor of Clouds and Rocks.

There is nothing here. All there is is a huge door and sword marks engraved on the door.

There is only one way to get past this place. You can open it by hitting the door with sword energy according to a set sword path. For reference, if you obtain the 【Sword King Art】, you can automatically analyze this sword path and hit it, but if you come here without obtaining the 【Sword King Art】, you will stop here.

To proceed further, you must challenge it again and again and obtain the White Lotus enlightenment event.

When you get the enlightenment event, all of White Lotus’ skill levels randomly increase between 1 and 3.

‘Looking at that, the skill increase event is a waste, but from the beginning, you have to come and go several times, so….’

“…Sword path. This is the sword of Jongnam.”

“Do you know it?”

“I’ve seen it once. But…., the sword path left here is heavier…., and deeper. And…, it seems like it won’t open unless you engrave the correct sword path on the door.”

“Can you do it?”

“I’ll have to try.”

Holding the sword he got from the soldier doll, he swung the sword.

Looking at the sword of Jongnam he saw in the past and the sword path engraved on the door, he continued, continued, continued.

At the same time, soldier dolls gathered around.

This is the evil part of this place.

When you reach this place in the game, White Lotus enters a state of combat withdrawal to gain enlightenment by looking at the sword.

Even in an already difficult situation, you have to deal with several waves of soldier dolls with 4 people.

‘It doesn’t matter because I’m here.’

After some time had passed, Yeomje finally succeeded in opening the door by engraving the correct sword path.

7th Floor. The Floor of Concentration and Resonance.

This place is also quite annoying. In the setting, the soldier dolls here are specially treated, so it is impossible to completely remove them unless you attack a specific core. In the game, it is assumed that a critical hit will occur. What if you don’t have critical hit equipment?

Just die. There is no answer. What are you going to do with a basic critical hit rate of 5%? You even have to land a critical hit when you make the final hit.

“Just looking at them, they’re not ordinary soldier dolls.”

“What are you going to do?”

“If I receive your help as little as possible, I won’t have face to show to others, right? I’ll find out myself.”

Perhaps because he learned the sword of Jongnam from the previous floor, Yeomje’s movements have definitely improved.

It’s just that he learned it in a makeshift way, but his movements were clearly those of a martial artist.

Of course, the limitations of learning it in a makeshift way were inevitable, and he was soon in danger, so I stepped in and swept away all the soldiers.

8th Floor. The Floor of Yin and Yang.

“Huh?”

“Hmm?”

What is this? Why is it just open here?

Originally, you have to gather the yang energy and yin energy here and slam them into the yin-yang jade to open it?

You can get yang energy and yin energy by defeating monsters, but the drop rate isn’t that high, and above all, the monsters are super strong, so it’s a troublesome section, but why is it just open?

[The Yang-Eui Muguk Divine Art resonates with the Yin-Yang Jade of the door.]

[The proficiency of the Yang-Eui Muguk Divine Art increases.]

Ah.

9th Floor. The Floor of Flow and Rejection.

The first thing you feel as you enter is a strong flow of magical power.

This is also made by using a magic circle to forcibly create a specific flow of magical power, but…. even Yeomje would have difficulty changing the magic circle or anything in this kind of flow of energy. There is only one way to move forward in this place.

Entrust yourself to the flow.

Entrust yourself to the flow, and if you flow as the flow indicates, you will reach a rejecting space. That is, you can reach the door leading to the next floor.

“Ugh!….?”

“….?”

But that flow was strange.

Something…, it felt like something was completely twisting the flow with a greater force, and it was falling apart….

“Ah.”

It’s me. Damn it.

10th Floor. The Floor of Eyes and Dragons.

Even though it’s clearly the 10th floor underground, this place was full of snow.

The snow is not caused by a magic circle. It’s just that a huge amount of yin energy is accumulated here. The snow that is created as a result eventually takes the shape of a dragon, and you can only obtain the key to the next floor by subjugating this dragon.

Of course, soldier dolls pop out here endlessly as well.

“Flame Heaven Great Art.”

Due to the flames, the snow slowly melts away.

At the same time, Yeomje slowly approaches the dragon that is staring at him.

I watched Yeomje while dealing with the soldier dolls that were approaching around me.

Perhaps thanks to the compatibility, Yeomje was able to defeat the snow dragon somehow.

But the price was so great that he needed time to recover from his wounds before completely moving on to the next floor.

11th Floor. The Floor of Plum Blossoms and Fragrance.

“It’s fragrant.”

“Yes. It is.”

Red plum blossoms blooming.

This place, where the fragrance flowing from the red plum blossoms makes you feel like your mind is being healed, is a resting place prepared for the Secret Palace challengers who have fiercely descended from the 1st floor to the 10th floor…, but it would be a big mistake to think so.

Once, a strong wind whips up and plum petals fall in all directions.

This is the problem.

All of those plum blossoms are sharper than most blades.

In the game, it is a time attack maze where you have to escape while your health decreases at regular intervals.

‘First of all, here I….’

I said I wouldn’t help, but Yeomje consumed a lot of stamina while coming up to the 10th floor.

So in this place….

“It’s okay.”

“!”

“I think I understand the meaning of this place…, just a little.”

But Yeomje, by igniting his own flames, broke through this place.

12th Floor. The Floor of Lakes and Rivers.

“Yeomje, your condition doesn’t look very good.”

“It’s okay. The fragrance of the plum blossoms just now was so fragrant and sweet that I feel better.”

Yeomje’s condition was not good, even as a kind word.

His complexion was noticeably bad, and even the aftermath of facing the snow dragon had not yet been properly resolved.

In that situation, he constantly used his energy to burn the plum blossoms to cross the plum blossom hell, so….

“Stop it and rest. I’ll finish the remaining 2 floors.”

“You?….”

The floor of lakes and rivers, the method of clearing this place is simple.

Divide the lake with a concentrated attack that pierces the lake and the river and strike the device inside.

【Sword King Art】

But I have already divided something greater than a lake.

KWAANG!!!

I divided the great sea, so what is a lake?

13th Floor. The Floor of the Blue Sky.

“I really…, I really was able to reach this place.”

“Please rest. It seems like there aren’t any special mechanical devices here.”

I said, looking at the only soldier doll blocking the door directly in front of me.

In this place, the floor of the blue sky, only one soldier doll appears.

If you defeat this, it’s over.

But…, facing this guy is extremely difficult.

Clang.

“You’re already full of thoughts of fighting.”

“That stance is…, Namgoong’s….”

Emperor Sword Form, First Form.

“I’ve already seen that at the Dragon Phoenix Assembly. So I have no business with you.”

【Sword King Art】

“Earth Cleaver.”

I cut it down in one fell swoop.

* * *

This place is actually composed of 14 floors.

Of course, there is no need to fight on the 14th floor. Because it is a treasure vault, you can just leisurely enjoy it and take the treasures.

“Really…, I came to this place. To this place that no one had been able to come to since the first Flame Emperor….”

“Congratulations.”

“No. This is your strength, what did I do.”

On the 14th floor, with the countless legacies built by the first Flame Emperor before his eyes, Yeomje shed tears as if he was moved.

At the same time,

“Someday, I will have to come back here with the heads of all the families and the leaders of the sects.”

“With the heads of the families and the leaders of the sects?”

“Yes. Each of those 13 doors had the symbols of each sect and family and what they wanted to achieve engraved on them. That is…, the first Flame Emperor must have wanted us to break through this place by combining the strengths of not only the Yeom Family, but also all the sects and families.”

I don’t care about the intentions of someone who’s already dead, but…, if that’s the case, then that’s the way it is.

“Take whatever you need. You have made a great contribution to coming this far, so you deserve it.”

“It’s okay.”

Oh my, you shouldn’t have.

In the game, there were many treasures in the treasure vault, but the number of items you could take was limited, so I wonder what kind of things there will actually be? I’ll take a look around.

“I also need to check if there are any technical manuals for the Flame Heaven Great Art.”

And as they all moved their steps together, an earthquake occurred.

“?!”

“What?!….”

The treasures of the treasure vault split apart, and a huge door remained there.

A door with the word 炎 engraved on it, along with the shape of a flame, appeared.

“T, this is?….”

“A door leading to the next floor?….”

Uh…, I haven’t even seen this in the game?

“….Shall we go?”

“….We have to go.”

This might be a little exciting?

It’s better to challenge an unknown place than to go through a familiar labyrinth anyway. When they opened the door, they saw stairs leading down, just like before. As they took one step, one step towards it, it felt like the surrounding air was getting hotter.

“Since there was the word Flame…, will traps or something related to fire pop out?”

“I guess so.”

What will pop out?

They move forward with excitement.

And what they saw at the end was…, a very huge egg.

Moreover, an egg wrapped in endless flames.

And at that moment, a woman’s voice began to be engraved in their minds.

“Finally, the descendant of that child has come to find me.”

“?!”

“T, this voice is?….”

“Now I will be released from the long covenant and freed from this frustrating cage.”

Crackle

The egg cracks.

At the same time, flames repeatedly jump out recklessly.

And the flames gradually jumped out regularly, as if a heart was pulsating.

Even in the meantime, the egg continued to break and turn into a pure white light, and gathered into one form.

It was a person.

A beautiful woman with crimson hair fluttering like flames, crimson eyes as if flames were contained within, and pure white wings shining with a faint golden light.

“My name is Suzaku. Descendant of the covenantor, the time has come to fulfill the long covenant.”