Chapter 34: The Legion’s Repayment (5)
I occupied the 35th level and took another step forward. This was where the real story began. Chapter 3. Look at the screen; I will inform you about additional functions being created.
I checked the app.
Now, the once empty screen was filled with various interfaces.
“What is this?”
[Tap it. It is a shop. A system shop that all players can use in common.]
I touched the newly created icon.
As stated, this was a shop selling various items.
My eyes caught sight of [Execution Authority: 500G (Limit: 2 times)].
As a tutorial reward, I could have selected 1,000 gold.
If I had chosen that and held onto it, I would have 2 Execution Authorities at this point.
Of course, there was a high chance I would have died before that.
“Thanks to that, my gold is now 0. How do I earn gold?”
[There is only one way to earn gold. Kill enemy units, kill players.]
“…What?”
At the same time, my gold, which had clearly been 0, began to rise slowly.
And then the rising gold stopped precisely at 100G.
[The rats we defeated last time. The app judged their worth to be merely 100G.]
A value of 1/5th of the Execution Authority.
My gaze sank.
It was ruthlessly cold and sharp.
Once a race that had thrived and advanced with dreams and hopes was now entirely extinct, leaving nothing behind.
[This is reality. It would have been the same even without the app.]
“That’s true.”
I chuckled softly.
[Although it’s only 100G, there should be enough items to help you.]
I examined the items in the shop.
It seemed that the items mentioned as potentially helpful in Chapter 3 were indeed from the shop.
“There’s something for players and something for units.”
[All of them can create variables in the game.]
I pondered seriously over the items.
I had to choose carefully.
With the gold I had, I could only buy one item.
If I wanted to prove my abilities to Chae Yeon and fight alongside her, I needed to buy something that would help me now.
“How about this?”
Exactly 100G; I picked an item that seemed to fit the conditions.
A shimmering transparent liquid was contained within a bottle.
The fact that it was a consumable bothered me the most, but it was still an item that could provide me with everything I wanted.
[The choice is yours. The item has been selected. By spending gold, you have acquired ‘Lunar Fury.’]
Lunar Fury.
According to the description, it was an item that allowed one to gain the power of a moonlit wolf with outstanding physical abilities for a short period.
“Could this be what I think it is?”
[That is likely correct. The Lunar Fury you purchased is indeed a racial trait of a certain race that exists somewhere.]
I inhaled sharply.
This shop was truly selling all sorts of things.
*
“Oppa. Are you there?”
“Tell them yes.”
“Huh.”
Kang Do-yeon, who had finished her preparations, sighed as she relayed my words.
The preparations were nothing special.
It was just us crawling up to the massive hole in the ceiling above the 35th level.
[Of course, the Legion dispatched scouts first.]
The scouts, capable of flight and high mobility, began to rise through the air.
The small-sized ones drew no response from the enemies.
If there were more of them up there, it would be fine again.
“Change the screen. How does it look?”
[This is also an interesting result.]
With significant words, the screen changed.
I could now see what the Legion was focusing on.
[A normal cave. But it is vast.]
“…A village? No, is it a city?”
To me, the elongated structures looked like some sort of residential facilities.
There were areas that appeared to be squares and others that looked like fortresses.
The size was enormous.
[Kang Do-yeon reached a similar conclusion, and the Legion accepted that opinion. This place is the nest of a specific race that once lived here. The arrangement and the patterns and inscriptions found all over matched the structures of the 35th level, serving as one piece of evidence.]
“They could have been the ones living underground. Then what about the structures on the 35th level and the mummies guarding them? What is this pit leading to?”
I scratched my head.
There was still too little information to accurately discern what this place was.
[This is the 36th level… And a passage leading to the 37th level has been discovered.]
By that time, the scouts had discovered the passage to the next level.
[However, this place has been sealed by an unknown power.]
“Nothing works.”
The scouts couldn’t pass through that area.
It was like the spiderwebs that had blocked our path when we first stepped onto the large branch from the small one.
“In the end, we just need to smash everything.”
“Even so, we need to know what it is to respond properly.”
“There’s no way to figure that out right now.”
Kang Do-yeon nodded coolly.
I fell silent, at a loss for words.
[The Legion shares the same thought.]
The legionnaires began to move.
The winged species surged through the air and crossed the hole first.
[Once again. The vengeful phantoms, whose grudges we cannot fathom, block our path once more. The Legion has no intention of wasting time. An order to advance has been issued to all troops.]
When the flying species reached the 36th level for the first time.
The underground city, which had been eerily quiet, trembled with horrifying sounds.
The mindless corpses we had seen at the 35th level.
They burst forth from the houses and buildings, radiating light from the patterns inscribed on their bodies.
[They are incredibly annoying foes. They provide no sustenance and have little nutritional value; moreover, the unknown power animating them is still a force we do not comprehend.]
“Something is definitely… there.”
Seeing the creatures colliding with the Legion’s flying species, I frowned.
The ones we had encountered on the lower levels were clearly armed, sturdy warriors.
But this time, it was different.
Sure, there were weapon-wielding warriors mixed in, but the majority were not warriors.
There were those wielding what appeared to be farming tools, and some were entirely barehanded.
Moreover, there were hunched elders and even short children.
‘What in the world happened?’
As Kang Do-yeon crawled up the hole and joined the other legionnaires, who were kicking the ground and swinging swords and fists, my mind became increasingly complicated.
“Even if there are more of them, they’re nothing special.”
And seeing the creature that effortlessly split the enemy’s body in half while smiling brightly troubled my heart.
“There is definitely a flow. Without a doubt, there is a flow.”
In the midst of a fierce battlefield.
Kang Do-yeon mumbled as she kicked away an unarmed opponent skewered by her sword.
The phantoms fought desperately against the endless black wave climbing out of the pit.
There was no hesitation in their actions.
They resembled programmed machines.
“Then who programmed them?”
Kang Do-yeon’s eyes glowed red.
The Legion had already experienced an unseen mysterious force once.
Through the race and the leader of the guardian spirits, the moth, they came to realize the existence of souls and managed to understand them to some extent.
Therefore, it wasn’t impossible to sense something similar.
“Over there. That place. The end of the city.”
Kang Do-yeon pointed with her hand to the opposite end, where a large structure was located.
Charging troops that were the size of horses or bulls bared their teeth and rushed towards it.
They trampled the phantoms, resisting with their enormous mass and muscular strength.
Leading them were legionnaires with sturdy headgear based on dragon and cave boar features, boasting amazing jaw strength.
One swung its large, solid head and smashed a phantom.
[New enemies are appearing.]
But at that moment.
The large legionnaire’s neck was literally sliced in half.
What made that possible was a man wielding a sword.
Like the other phantoms, he was adorned with patterns over his entire body as he stood guard in front of a building, holding a softly glowing blue sword.
Behind him, dozens of warriors with similarly extraordinary energy appeared to defend the building.
[We’ve hit the mark. There is a clue at the place they are guarding.]
The Legion’s gaze turned towards that direction.
Kang Do-yeon, who had tightly sealed her mouth, stepped forward.
The massive energy the Legion had invested in her was given for moments like this.
[The hardest charge-type soldier’s armor was instantly slashed apart. This means that the multi-functional soldier’s defense was insufficient. At the same time, it also meant that our razor-sharp sword would cut the moment it made contact.]
“So how should we fight?”
With a faint smile, Kang Do-yeon maximized her senses using every cell in her body.
She autonomously manipulated not only her five senses like sight, hearing, and touch but also her inner reflexes and balance.
“Keheh…”
Additionally, her body began to sprout sensory organs typical of cave creatures that had never existed before.
Organs that could sense minute vibrations and detect subtle electromagnetic waves, and so on.
Her eyes, expanded by her heightened senses, widened, and her body trembled.
All the excess information flooding her mind from the inflated senses led to an overload.
But at that moment, the Legion’s collective consciousness, which shared a mind with her, began to emerge.
