CHAPTER 172: CHAPTER 172: BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL [1]

Chapter 172 – Battle for Survival [1]

Darklore — Warborn’s Estate.

Inside her room, Daela was sitting at her study desk, facing a small blank notebook. The notebook was black and red in color, just like everything else inside the Warborn estate.

This was an artifact Daela had especially commissioned from her father. An artifact that could only be opened by her mana and blood together.

’Finally, I have it.’ Daela thought giddily.

She had been waiting for this for a long time, and now—finally—she could write down everything she thought about her brother.

No, in fact, she wanted to write how her life had been ever since her cute brother was born. How in the beginning she couldn’t stand seeing him so weak, afraid that the world would break him. How she tried to train him harshly in order to make him feel the urgency of strength.

She remembered how her brother was always silent in the beginning, his face bearing a constant forlorn expression, his air mixed with a woeful aura that was too obvious for her attentive eyes.

She remembered all of this.

And she wrote it down.

One by one, Daela began to narrate the life of Kaden from the moment he was born. She didn’t know much about his private life, but she believed she was the most qualified to write his story from a third perspective.

A small, almost invisible smile crept onto her lips. Her eyes lit up with unmistakable warmth as she remembered her brother.

She truly... loved him far too much.

And those feelings intensified even more when she recalled how he came to save her after she was captured by the Steelbeasts.

Alone. Just an Intermediate-ranked being, walking straight into the den of a Grandmaster... for her.

At this thought, she couldn’t suppress her smile anymore, and a full, open smile bloomed on her lips and goodness...

It was achingly, devastatingly, and infuriatingly beautiful.

Her smile was as soft as molten snow and as refreshing as the morning breeze in summer.

In that moment, she didn’t look like the stoic sister who barely showed emotion—no, she looked like a girl who loved a little bit too much... her brother.

She finished the last sentence in the notebook and closed it gently, her face carrying a warm expression.

It looked like when she wrote about her brother, she was especially happy.

’I should do it often. But I need to observe my brother more to write his diary. I wonder... what next feat he will do next?’ she wondered with curious eyes.

She didn’t know why, but she felt like wherever her brother was right now... he was in the midst of something insane.

’I hope you’re okay... I should ask father to create a communication tool just for me and Kaden to talk. One that’ll work even in restrictive areas.’

Easier said than done, but Daela was determined to obtain this.

Sighing softly in the melancholy of missing her brother, Daela stood up from her chair and went to stand before the window, looking at the blinding yellow sun shining above Darklore.

’Come back fast... little brother.’ she mused lovingly in her mind one last time, before jumping through the window on her way to the training grounds.

...

Darklore — Dungeon of Ruined Death.

Asael and Kaden were sitting side by side just behind the waterfalls of black blood, their expressions tense, anxious but at the same time, eager.

There was only half an hour left before night came, and so here they were, waiting for that time while giving one last look at this hellish dungeon.

Yes—because either they would win and get out of here, or they would lose, be corrupted, and lose their free will and minds.

There was no middle ground.

"You’re quite young. I won’t accept you being corrupted, my friend," Asael suddenly said, as if able to pierce through Kaden’s thoughts.

"And how will you do it if we become overwhelmed? Sacrifice yourself? That won’t do... you have a daughter waiting for you," Kaden said resolutely, his mind already made.

He was no hero—in fact, he didn’t see himself as either hero or villain.

He was just Kaden.

He saved those he thought deserved to be saved and left the rest to hell. They might be innocent or not, it hardly mattered.

He wasn’t here to save people.

He was here to become stronger than anyone else. That was his goal.

But sometimes... sometimes Kaden couldn’t help but have some hero tendencies—and right now was such a situation.

"You won’t die here. I won’t let you," Kaden said resolutely, his blood-red eyes focused and serious.

Asael slowly turned his head toward him and saw how serious he was. A warmth instantly filled his chest, and he smiled faintly.

"I told you I’m an easy guy, I might fall—!"

"Shut up." Kaden interrupted him sharply, his face bearing a disgusting scowl.

Asael laughed.

"Hahaha! You’re too serious, my friend, and you’re worried for nothing."

He stopped for a moment before continuing, raising his finger upward as tendrils of shadow gathered around it.

"We will win, believe me. After all, you have in front of you the best master in all of Fokay—and I don’t doubt that you’re the best Intermediate being ever. It might not sound like much, but with our combined strength, it’s possible to kill a Grandmaster... theoretically."

"But hey—even if it’s not possible... it’s time to make a legend, brother. I can’t wait to go to my daughter and tell her how her father killed a Grandmaster as only a simple and pitiful Master." He smirked at the end, his eyes hazy in a dream, seemingly imagining that scene.

Soon, he started laughing like a deranged person.

Kaden relaxed, watching Asael being Asael.

He smiled too.

"Well, yes. Why not?" he said as he stood up from the rocky surface he had been sitting on. Asael did the same.

They looked at the sky of the dungeon and saw the usual dark heavens and the blood-red orb.

Soon, noises began echoing all around the dungeon.

The night had come.

Two figures appeared behind Kaden. One was like a mix of human and ogre with bulging muscles and malevolent eyes, and the other was an elf woman who held a beautiful black bow.

These were his two summoned of dead right now. Neither of them could speak, but they perfectly understood instructions.

Their strengths were at peak Master Rank, but they were exceptionally powerful ones.

Kaden looked at Asael and nodded, signaling he was ready.

Asael smiled, and soon shadows expanded from the ground to cover all of them before swallowing them whole as they disappeared behind the waterfalls.

...

Inside a room—enormous in size—filled with cracked walls and floor, a black throne stood atop a cracking creaky platform.

On it sat a human-faced being with boundless black hair and twin black flames for eyes, wearing a cracked black armor that looked like a single touch could shatter it into a thousand pieces. Leaning against the throne was a huge, black, bone greatsword made from the remains of a devastating creature long forgotten by time.

Surrounding the Black Knight were three corrupted undead, each releasing an especially powerful and oppressive aura.

Below, there were hundreds of other corrupted of all ranks.

These were the only ones not touched by the madness of the night because they were protected by the room.

The room—if you could even call it that—was filled with a heavy scent of decay and corruption, but weirdly... it was brightly illuminated by a striking white ceiling that seemed far too pure for such a profane place.

Suddenly, the Black Knight and the three peak Masters raised their heads to look at the ceiling.

There, they saw shadows expanding in the sky like ink splashed onto a blank sheet of paper.

Four humanoid beings appeared from the shadows—and one of them, the Black Knight immediately recognized.

Asael grinned upon seeing the knight.

"Hey, you creaky dead bastard. Time for the second round."

His grin widened as he pointed at Kaden.

"I came with a friend of mine. I hope you don’t mind."

The battle for survival... had started.

—End of Chapter 172—