Chapter 263

A ghost who served the Necromancer Lord.

He wanted to hear her story at length, but unfortunately, there was no time for that.

Because he hadn't come here alone.

As Seonghyun made that judgment and tried to absorb Vasile's memories and experiences.

Vasile spoke with noticeable joy.

-Ah! My memories... and please, find the place where the Necromancer Lord sleeps.

'The place where he sleeps?'

He asked back.

But there was no need to hear the answer.

Because Vasile's memories and experiences soon flowed into him.

In the memories that flowed in like a panorama was Vasile's entire life.

The memory that she was a mage who assisted the Necromancer Lord, a mage more powerful than imagined and the lord of necromancers, and the memory that the Necromancer Lord was also human, flowed in.

'This is a bit unexpected.'

'To think the Necromancer Lord was human.'

Well, Helena was human too, wasn't she?

It wasn't strange.

But when he heard Necromancer Lord, he was apt to think of a lich.

In any case, as Seonghyun absorbed the memories.

A message appeared before his eyes.

[You have shown an ability beyond your current stats through an 'unknown power'.]

[Wisdom+10 and Intelligence+10 permanently increase.]

As expected, because Vasile was a powerful mage.

His wisdom and intelligence increased by a considerable amount.

He received a quite satisfactory reward, but unfortunately, he learned that the Necromancer Lord was not here.

By the time Vasile was old and dying, the Necromancer Lord had left this castle.

However, he left his loyal subject behind in this castle.

And in the distant future, the City of Seven Lights, Lumencia, was established not far from here.

For now, the Necromancer Lord was not here and had left for another region, but he had a rough idea of where he had gone.

More importantly, there was something he liked.

'There really was a hidden piece.'

Seonghyun thought so and was pleased.

If there's a real hidden piece, it's only natural to get it.

Still, they had brought him here.

It was right to go with them.

Having thought that far, Seonghyun pondered what to do.

"Yoohyeon-nim?"

"Ah, yes?"

"Is something wrong?"

Ir asked with a slightly worried look.

Since Seonghyun had suddenly stopped in front of the castle entrance.

It was natural to be worried.

Just as Seonghyun, realizing a bit late that he had been spacing out too much, was about to say something.

Claudine opened her mouth.

"The playtime has been quite long."

"Ah, that's true. It's quite late in Korean time too."

"And in Japanese time."

"Korea and Japan have almost no time difference."

Since the party was composed of the Japanese Stella and Claudine and the Koreans Ir and Basque.

Their time was similar to Seonghyun's.

It was certainly getting a bit late.

It had taken a considerable amount of time to get here.

The distance wasn't that far.

But there were just too many monsters in between.

It was a length of time that if Seonghyun had come alone, he might have already entered the castle and gotten the hidden piece.

But they said this was quite fast compared to a normal party.

"Hmm, then shall we gather again tomorrow morning?"

"This happens to be a save point."

"The entrance to the castle where the story begins usually is."

"Hahaha! That sounds good! Yoohyeon-nim seems quite tired too."

Seonghyun was about to refute Basque's words, but nodded instead.

It wasn't a bad idea to take a break.

"Then, tomorrow is Monday, is that okay?"

At Ir's question, asking just in case since tomorrow was Monday, Seonghyun nodded.

Well, it was a pointless question.

The Prism Effect party, which had no guild, also made several times the monthly income of an average office worker.

It was rare to see people at this level who didn't make a living from the game.

With Seonghyun's acceptance.

Ir glanced around and spoke again.

"How about around 10 AM Korean time?"

Although Ir said it to everyone.

He was actually asking Seonghyun.

Seonghyun also nodded and replied that he understood.

"That sounds good. See you then."

"Great, great. Everyone worked hard! You too, Yoohyeon-nim!"

"Everyone worked hard."

"See you tomorrow."

"Hahaha, you worked hard!"

After exchanging farewells at the save point entrance, they all logged out one by one.

Seonghyun also exchanged farewells.

He glanced at the Necromancer Lord's castle one more time and logged out.

[The eternal world, Eternal World, will be waiting for you.]

Seonghyun came out of the capsule and stretched his stiff body.

Then he thought.

'The Necromancer Lord isn't here, but the hidden piece is.'

As he was thinking that, he realized there was one problem.

A hidden piece is a good thing.

The only problem was how to discover it naturally.

That was the biggest concern.

'If I were alone, I could just go and find it, but since we're together, this part is not so easy.'

He had to act, after all.

'Well, it'll work out somehow tomorrow.'

Seonghyun thought so and brushed it off.

Tomorrow's problems would be dealt with tomorrow.

"Seonghyun, are you out~? Come eat dinner~"

"Yes, I'm coming."

At the timely call of his mother, Lee Ingyeong, Seonghyun went outside.

2.

As if the extreme cold had seeped in.

A hall where greyish-blue ice was thickly piled up.

There was someone there with menacingly glowing eyes.

The one who had been asleep for a long time raised his empty, hollow eyes and stared somewhere far away, as if looking into the distance.

Inside the great hall where the throne was.

The one made of only bones, standing upright behind the throne, held a frosty chill and opened his mouth in a daze, looking at that place.

-My lord, has my lord returned?

But the presence soon disappeared.

The presence that seemed to be his lord was gone.

And a slightly unpleasant presence seeps in.

He feels the presence of another lord, not his own.

Because of that.

The one made of only bones, awakened by the lord's presence, let out a menacing chill as a greyish-blue light shone in his hollow eyes.

'How dare they.'

'Where do they think this is.'

'The invasion of another lord.'

He had felt countless presences invading this castle until now.

But they were insignificant things.

He didn't care even if they killed his reanimating undead soldiers.

But a lord is different.

How dare another lord invade this place, the territory of the great Necromancer Lord.

He could never forgive it.

-Loyalty to the lord... Protect the lord's castle.

With eyes shining brightly, the old skeletal being who had been sleeping behind the throne began to move.

Barseon, who was the lich of the Necromancer Lord in the distant past, had awakened.

Different from the hidden piece in Seonghyun's memory.

Another hidden piece had awakened and moved.

3.

The next day.

[Welcome to the other world, the eternal world, Eternal World.]

[May good fortune be with player 『Seonghyun』.]

It was Monday morning, but.

The four of them were already gathered, as if they had been logged in for a while.

Seonghyun was a bit surprised to see them all there when he arrived.

He had gone for a morning run, had a hearty breakfast, and still arrived 10 minutes early for their 10 AM meeting.

To think they would be here even earlier.

Seonghyun looked at them, who were already there, and asked apologetically.

"Ah, have you been waiting long?"

"Huh? Ah, no! We arrived around the same time."

"That's right."

"We haven't been waiting that long."

"Hahaha! It's not like you're late."

As they all acted so easygoing.

Seonghyun felt grateful and nodded.

Then he scratched his cheek, thinking he should have come even earlier.

In any case, what mattered was that they were all gathered.

Ir looked at them and said.

"Let's go strong today too!"

"Ir is full of energy today as well."

"Tell me about it."

"Hahaha, that klutz is going to be clumsy again."

The party members said a few words, seemingly chiding the overly excited Ir.

But they were all smiling, and everyone seemed similar to Ir.

It seemed they were all just as excited.

Seonghyun nodded as he watched the group, who seemed to get along very well.

'Alright then, shall I naturally obtain the hidden piece once we go inside?'

With that resolve, he entered the Necromancer Lord's castle.

Inside the Necromancer Lord's castle, it was swarming with undead more skilled than those outside.

The castle was structured like one giant dungeon.

There was no inconvenience in combat.

Most were specters, or rather, undead, and a common feature was that quite a few of them used cold, just like Razak.

Thanks to that, Seonghyun's Inferno Lord was able to gain considerable power.

A violet flame, holding the ultimate advantage in type matchup, swirled and swept through the skeleton knight.

The skeleton knight's form melted in the flames, as if the previous damage from the Prism Effect party had been applied as a finishing blow.

Incidentally, the surging flames forcefully pushed a brick on the wall.

Click—.

"Huh, what?"

"What was that sound just now..."

"...I heard it too."

"It's not a trap."

As Basque, the rogue-class member, spoke last.

Everyone was relieved.

But they didn't know what would appear, so everyone was on guard.

From the area where the sound came from, a wall opened.

A place that looked like a secret room appeared.

"Uh, uhh?!"

"Was there a room like this...?"

"It wasn't in the guide..."

"Then this is...?!!"

Everyone's eyes widened, and they swallowed hard as they entered the room.

It seemed to be a mage's study, as various books and experimental tools could be seen.

There were also a few journals, but they couldn't be examined.

"Wow, this looks like a place where a mage was!?"

"...For real."

"Those are skill books over there."

"Who do you think wrote this?"

Everyone explored the room with great curiosity.

Well, Seonghyun already knew everything about this place.

But it would be strange if he acted uninterested.

Seonghyun also moved and looked at the skill books.

They were all Unique-rank.

Seonghyun was quite pleased with the surprisingly high rank and looked around some more.

But there was nothing worth taking besides the skill books.

On top of that, although the skill books were Unique-rank, they were all black magic skills.

"Ah, all the skill books are black magic."

"That's a bit disappointing."

"Hmm, but we'll still profit if we sell them."

"Oh? Looks like we can each take one."

"You're right."

As Seonghyun agreed and spoke.

Everyone nodded.

Then Ir seemed to exchange a glance with the other party members.

And soon.

"Uhm, Yoohyeon-nim?"

"Yes?"

"We can each take one of these, but honestly, we wouldn't have even made it this far without you, so we'll just take one for the four of us and give you the rest."

"Pardon???"

Seonghyun tilted his head as if to ask why.

He thought they could just each take one and sell it.

"Hey, honestly, we got a bus ride, so this is the least we can do. I feel sorry for even taking one."

"No, but still..."

"It's fine. It's not like they're mage-class skills, and none of us are black mages."

"Hmm."

It would be a bit much to refuse when they were being this insistent.

As Seonghyun nodded in acceptance.

Everyone smiled brightly.

He was thankful and it was nice to see them trying to give him something like this.

Just as Seonghyun thought he should find more hidden pieces for them and was about to move.

Rumble rumble rumble.

The entire castle began to tremble slightly.