Chapter 149  

As Emilia's intimidating presence filled the room, Kim Un-Jeong felt his breath being choked out of him.

Bang-!?

With a loud noise, the entire castle shook. Pieces of stone fell from the tall walls above.

"Oh, did they come here on their own?"

Emilia looked far away, her eyes bent into crescent moons. After that, her figure disappeared from the bed without a trace.

"Uh, uhm... Emilia, wait!"

Kim Un-Jeong quickly tried to grab Emilia, but it was already too late.

The path to Juseok Palace and its interiors had all been made into a trap to capture Yu-Seong and Helen Mirren. As part of the trap, there were a large number of hunter forces that made up most of Pyongyang’s entire force.

The problem was that Emilia, who was angry, had no way of identifying the hunter forces. With Helen attacking from the front and Emilia striking from behind, no matter how strong the Pyongyang elites were, they would not be able to withstand the two hunters who were regarded as top-ranking monsters in the world.

‘What… What should I do?’

Kim Un-Jeong paced back and forth in the room. His gaze was full of worry.

‘With things as they are, I guess I have to abandon my plans for Pyongyang.’

Even if it was just himself, Un-Jeong had to survive. It was unfortunate that the power he had enjoyed until now would disappear in an instant, but there was still some hope for him. Through gritted teeth, he muttered to himself, "The Philosopher's Stone..."

With that magnificent stone, Un-Jeong could rebuild a city like Pyongyang at any time.

Kim Un-Jeong glanced around the room that was full of a bloody odor, then he turned and ran out.

Inside the spacious room that Un-Jeong had just left, one figure who had been concealed in the darkness slowly emerged.

"The Philosopher's Stone? I thought there might be something when I heard that one of the Twelve Dark Kings has been dispatched to this small city, but this is bigger than I thought!" Rachel licked her red lips.

Rachel’s eyes sparkled as she gazed at Kim Un-Jeong’s disappearing figure. The sight of him fleeing further stimulated her curiosity.

‘This city has more fun things than I thought.’

In fact, Rachel had just arrived in Pyongyang a few days ago. She initially had been meant to depart for another location after meeting the Black Gauze King, Emilia, and establishing a casual relationship with her. This had been the Godfather’s instructions. However, after coincidentally meeting Kim Do-Jin, Rachel had become completely distracted and had forgotten everything else.

‘It was an exciting hide-and-seek.’

Tonight, the city of Pyongyang was filled with the smell of gunpowder and death, both of which Rachel relished. The odors were particularly strong this time, much more than any other instance before.

Unable to hold back her curiosity, Rachel stopped playing hide-and-seek and headed for Juseok Palace, where the smell of death was strongest. She had heard Kim Un-Jeong mentioning ‘the Philosopher's Stone’ through a simple coincidence, and there was no way she could just ignore it.

‘I have a feeling that more exciting things are going to happen.’

Rachel was the type of person whose instincts were usually accurate. Trusting her instincts, she began to tremble with excitement. In fact, blood, death, and a place overflowing with madness were the things that Rachel loved the most.

However, the moments when she couldn't fully control herself due to excitement and agitation were short.

Rachel, with her gaze once again cold and aloof, sighed disappointingly as she smacked her lips. "Ah, if only we had my gold nugget here, that would be perfect. Hm, am I being too greedy? Whoo-hoo..."

After that, Rachel started to follow the trail of Kim Un-Jeong who was getting further and further away into the darkness.

***

As they roamed the streets of Pyongyang together, Yu-Seong realized once again how terrifying Helen was.

‘As expected, not everyone at the S-rank is equal.’

Some examples would be Choi Woo-Jae and Choi Mi-Na, and even Rachel. One could also compare Kim Do-Jin and Yu-Seong’s own experiences. It was clear that having the same rank did not guarantee similar abilities.

Levels, one's own skill composition, proficiency, everyday training, and even talent all combined to create actual ability. Also, even if someone’s ability was great, they shouldn’t let their guard down.

‘And a third one bites the dust.’

Helen had already claimed the lives of three proud S-rank hunters of Pyongyang. In fact, two of them had been lured by her fake emblem and had fallen for her trap without putting up much of a fight.

‘It all ends with one mistake.’

Human life was indeed petty and fleeting, where everything could come to an end in a split second. Without a prepared defense skill, most humans would simply die from a single bullet wound.

‘The same applies to hunters.’

Yu-Seong felt proud of himself, having experienced quite a few dangerous situations up to this point. In reality, his experiences were already beyond what normal player individuals could experience. However, running and fighting alongside Helen in this large-scale war was on another level altogether. It was a completely new experience.

‘And in this situation, we are outnumbered.’

Helen, having ample battle experience, utilized her mobility to effortlessly overcome numerous traps. She had also asked for Yu-Seong’s assistance, but there was not really much that he had to do. It felt as if she was intentionally keeping Yu-Seong close to educate him.

Finding the path to the basement was not too difficult since the scattered hordes of Homunculus that Helen had spread around thoroughly searched the complex interior of Juseok Palace. Not even the most complicated roads could be a problem.

‘Really, I have nothing to do.’

Just a moment ago, Yu-Seong had been afraid of losing his way, but now he could leisurely watch Helen's battle tactics from up close.

Just then, Yu-Seong froze. In the dark hallway, a glimmering red object was suddenly flying toward them at a frightening speed.

"Duck!" yelled Helen.

Yu-Seong instinctively threw himself to the side.

The red object flew towards them with a loud explosion; then a massive crater could be seen right where Yu-Seong had been a second before. If Yu-Seong had reacted just a moment slower, he would have exploded into pieces or reduced to a grotesque corpse.

Yu-Seong felt a chill running up his spine. Sweating profusely, he switched Wind Flow into Wind Control and looked into the darkness beyond.

Tap, tap.?

‘Footsteps?’

Contrary to the swift flight of the red object, the footsteps sounded slow and leisurely. It went on for a considerable amount of time.

“It is still early, but it seems the end boss has already appeared,” Helen commented with a smirk.

Before Yu-Seong could even spot the figure beyond the darkness, Helen already identified the enemy. She groaned as she looked at the Western girl who was no taller than 160 centimeters in high heels.

The Western girl stopped in front of Helen and Yu-Seong, then greeted, "Hello, friends."

In an instant, Helen stepped forward and blocked the dark red energy that shot out toward them.

Thump-!

With a loud boom, the ceiling crumbled and sent dust flying all over the place. Only then did Yu-Seong regain his senses, drawing a deep breath. He had shown no reaction to the brief skirmish before.

Emilia leaped over the debris of the fallen ceiling and laughed. "Your skills are still the same, grandma. Good reaction. The boss here has set up a trap, but I know it’s too easy to keep you away.”

“This is a trap? And…who are you calling grandma? You’ve lived a hundred years longer than I have, old hag," said Helen with a snort.

‘Lived a hundred years longer than Helen?’

It was rumored that Helen had lived for over 70 years. If her opponent had lived for 100 years longer and still appeared to be a young girl, there could only be one explanation.

‘Non-human races!’ The strong odor of blood and her red-black energy indicated that Emilia was likely a vampire.

As if confirming Yu-Seong's suspicion, a message appeared in the air.

- The Red Fang of the Dark Night gazes at the player Choi Yu-Seong through an incarnation with a cold smile.

At that moment, Helen and Emilia no longer stared at each other. They simultaneously turned to look at Yu-Seong.

‘Dang it…’

Although he was using a skinsuit, Yu-Seong couldn’t fool the gods.

Emilia gazed at Yu-Seong indifferently. Then, her pupils thinned like a snake’s.

‘Oh, you are the stubborn human who rejected my god's offer. ’

"You have done a very good deed."

Helen immediately blocked Yu-Seong, who was now surrounded by Emilia’s fierce red-black energy.

It was fortunate that Helen was here. However, if they stuck to their original mission, her being held up for this long was not ideal.

‘We need to steal the Philosopher's Stone as soon as possible and return to Seoul. But to do that, I may need to struggle and fight with the non-human race woman, who may be one of the Twelve Dark Kings…’

Could Yu-Seong do that? The answer to the question came easily.

As the moonlight vanished from beyond the collapsed ceiling and darkness descended upon them, a sudden silver light cut through the darkness and fell upon Emilia's head.

Craaack-!?

Something collapsed before a faint red barrier appeared above Emilia. It had small flames dancing all over it.

The situation proved to be difficult, but the sword did not move away. It stayed right where it was with its silver light.

"Who the hell are you?"

Taken aback by the sudden attack, Emilia shot a beam of light from her hand in a split second.

The attacker, a man, raised both hands and unleashed a pentagram magic circle. He vanished. The sword that was about to fall to the ground also disappeared from the air, returning to the man’s grasp.

Both Helen and Emilia were unable to react in time. The man was now behind Emilia. He was inside the protective barrier that Emilia had activated.

Emilia, realizing this, swung her arm in surprise. Before her attack could land, a silver curve cut through the darkness, and the sword pierced right through her chest.

"Huh?"

One of the Twelve Dark Kings, considered to be the strongest among the Demon King Worshipers, was falling to the ground in a pool of blood.

Yu-Seong, while watching this scene in real-time, felt immense horror.

‘Heart Strike: Beyond the Space Slash!’

Only one person could wield such unparalleled technique, which was capable of transcending a segment of space to deliver a decisive blow straight to the opponent's heart.

‘Kim Do-Jin!’

If the novel’s protagonist was incapable of handling the miraculous ability to jump through space, then who could possibly do it? No matter where he came from, how torn his clothes were, and how bad he looked, only one thing was for certain.

‘Originally, he only uses that technique upon reaching S-rank!’

Kim Do-Jin had exceeded the bounds of the original novel.

After feeling momentary shock, Yu-Seong snapped back to reality and began running toward Kim Do-Jin.

‘A vampire will not die even if its heart is pierced.’

In other words, Emilia was still alive.

"Watch out!"

As always, being careless led to one's demise.