Suho decided to start by solving Seo Jiwoo.
“Hunter Seo Ji-woo, thank you for your hard work. We will stay here and go back to the afterlife sea, so please go back outside and rest first.”
In fact, Seo Ji-woo’s role was over.
Anyway, Seo Ji-woo was in a state where he couldn’t even breathe properly even though he was near the Sea of Afterlife, so the most urgent task was to get him out of the dungeon as quickly as possible.
“Harmakan, I will show you the way out.”
When Suho looked at Harmakan, Harmakan used magic rather than sending Seo Jiwoo out directly.
Flash-
The magic circle created from Harmakan’s hand was compressed to the size of a fist.
[Master, there is a simpler way.]
Suho accepted the item that Harmakan had given him.
Tiring.
[You have acquired the ‘Item: Return Stone’.]
“Return stone?”
An information window appeared in front of Suho.
[Item: Return Stone]
Type: Consumables
This item is made using Harmakan’s magic.
Breaking the return stone will allow you to move outside the dungeon.
“Oh. You could make something like this too?”
[This is just a trivia I learned while researching Candiaru’s legacy.]
Harmakan was humble and said it was nothing, but the corners of his mouth and shoulders were already twitching at Suho’s surprised reaction.
“Can someone other than me use this item?”
[Originally impossible, but this item has been modified so that anyone can use it, especially if they are near the Master’s Shadow Soldiers.]
“Near the Shadow Soldiers? Did you use the Shadow Exchange skill?”
[As expected, you are sharp. Now that I am subordinate to you, I realize that most of Candiaru’s legacy was originally intended to utilize shadow powers.]
“I see.”
Suho nods.
The more I got to know them, the more it seemed like the Demonic Clan was a race with a lot of useful aspects.
Suho said as he immediately placed the return stone in Seo Jiwoo’s hand.
“Then, please go in carefully.”
“This is… … .”
Seo Ji-woo, who suddenly held the return stone in his hand, looked as if he was no longer surprised.
After all, since I had already created the dungeon, I didn’t have the mental strength left to be surprised if an easy way out suddenly appeared.
Damn.
Seo Ji-woo followed Su-ho’s explanation and destroyed the return stone with his hand, then took the portal connected to Hapjeong Station and left the dimensional rift.
[Master, you don’t need to use the return stone; you can just use the shadow exchange skill.]
“Yeah. Now that we’re on the subject, I should place some soldiers around here in advance. They can come back here whenever they want.”
It’s good that things like this are possible now that there are more shadow soldiers.
If you spread them out here and there, you can move to anywhere whenever the cooldown ends.
Suho picked out a few of the Shadow Demons and Shadow Dragons that had been extracted today and ordered them to continue guarding the gate.
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[The title of the Shadow Demon will be changed to ‘Shadow Gatekeeper’.] [The title of the Shadow Dragon Tribe will be changed to ‘Shadow Gatekeeper’.]
“Okay, then let’s go in.”
Suho led the rest of the troops and stepped into the gate.
[Enter the ‘Gate: Sea of the Afterlife’.]
Paaaaat-
That moment.
“… … !”
A dark and sticky sky spread out in Suho’s sight.
The vast ocean, where the sky was rippling and melting, stretched out endlessly across the entire world.
and.
Tiring! Tiring! Tiring! Tiring!
Suddenly, warning messages began to appear one after another before Suho’s eyes.
[You have come into contact with the energy of the ‘Sea of Death’ with a living body.] [‘Debuff: Death’ is activated.] [Your health decreases in real time.] [HP -100] [HP -100] [HP -100]
… … .
“wow.”
It’s crazy.
It was the moment when the reality of death became apparent.
HP was dropping by a whopping 100 points every second.
“If I stay here any longer, I will eventually die. Even Candiaru’s blessings are useless in the face of death.”
“Of course. Even the absolute could not escape death, so the blessings created by mere creatures are useless here.”
Antares, who had already climbed onto Suho’s shoulder, was looking around with sharp eyes.
… … wide.
No matter where I looked, I couldn’t see anything like the World Tree.
All I see is sticky darkness.
[My lord, be careful. Just because you don’t see something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.]
Berdou’s eyes were more tense than ever.
[The moment you fall into this sea, your stamina will decrease at an accelerated rate.]
Fortunately, Suho did not fall into the sea.
Because Suho had a skill he learned from the Ice Elf Sirka, the successor to the Lord of the Cold.
Slap.
[Use ‘Skill: Elf’s Step’.]
Suho’s carefully stretched out feet succeeded in walking on the black sea.
[Oooh!] [The master is walking on the sea!] [Keeeek! As expected, you are a little lord!]
Shadow soldiers raise their hands and cheer at the sight.
Suho was also relieved.
“Thank goodness. If this skill didn’t work, I was going to use the ruler’s power.”
The power of the ruler is closer to the concept of floating in the air rather than walking.
That’s why the elf’s footsteps were less burdensome in many ways.
Anyway, Suho, who had resolved the movement restrictions, looked back at the soldiers including Ber.
“But are you guys okay?”
[We are already dead souls, so it’s okay.]
“That’s fortunate.”
Shadow Soldiers had no concept of HP, so they had no way to lose health.
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“Then what about Antares?”
“Beep?”
“… … You’re already out. You little punk.”
[The King of the Mad Dragons, the Lord of Destruction, urges Ragnar to flee to the Shadow World.]
Ragna, whose spirit had been released, was withering away on Suho’s shoulder with a dazed expression.
“Okay, you go in.”
Suho sent Ragna back into the shadows.
And while doing this, I watched my HP drop in real time and bought a bunch of healing potions from the shop window.
[You purchased ‘Item: Intermediate Healing Potion’.] [You purchased ‘Item: Intermediate Healing Potion’.] [You purchased ‘Item: Intermediate Healing Potion’.]
… … .
“This potion probably costs quite a lot.”
I wonder if there are any places like this.
A place where you absolutely must drink potions regularly.
Even if you drink several bottles of potions at the same time, the potions don’t restore HP any faster.
In the end, it means that potions are limited to barely maintaining your current health.
“If a battle breaks out in this state, it’s absolutely impossible to recover with just potions.”
[Your Majesty, why don’t you leave the reconnaissance of this place to your soldiers and stay outside safely?]
It was Ber’s advice.
“Now that we’re here, let’s look around as much as possible.”
Suho had the shadow dragons capable of flight spread out in all directions to scout out the surrounding area.
And I too walked across the sea of the afterlife with the footsteps of an elf.
[If you feel it is dangerous, you should always exchange shadows with the soldiers outside the gate.]
Harmakan also did not spare advice to Suho from the side.
[No, it would be better to just exchange them with the soldiers left on Earth. Considering the cooldown of the Shadow Exchange skill, that would be more efficient… … .]
That was when.
Creepy.
“come.”
At that moment, Suho’s eyes flashed sharply.
Choaaaak!
In the pitch-black, sticky black sea, giant tentacles burst out from all directions, targeting Suho.
[Nightmare Bud] [Nightmare Bud] [Nightmare Bud]
“I guess this is a flower field.”
Suho swung his sword as if he had been waiting.
Choke choke choke choke choke choke!
“Kkieeee!”
Suddenly the battle started.
Starting with the nightmare flower buds, nameless weeds appeared and attacked Suho.
Now that humans with their luscious vitality have entered the sea of the afterlife, their goal is clear.
Kyaoop! Kyaoop!
Kyaawoop!
A multitude of plants opened their mouths wide to catch the guardian and devour it.
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There were even some that suddenly popped out from under Suho’s feet.
[Protect the Little Prince!] [Protect the Master!]
Actually, none of these guys were a problem.
What can a weed do against the mighty Shadow Soldiers?
But Suho’s real problem was in a completely different area.
“… … These weeds, it seems like they don’t give any experience points?”
[Master, the Sea of the Afterlife is not a place for leveling up. It is an area that cannot be replicated even in the instance dungeon of Candiaru.]
Suho’s expression became serious.
“I didn’t know leveling up was impossible.”
This was a very, very serious problem.
Suho looked around again.
Again, the afterlife sea is vast.
It’s literally a vast ocean.
We mobilized all of our troops and searched this place diligently, but there was not even a shadow of the World Tree.
With such a wasteful method, I was about to squander the money on potions.
“Hmm. Is this the place for this? Let’s change the method.”
Suho suddenly lowered his gaze to his feet.
“Everyone, follow me.”
[Oh, my lord?!]
Ber was astonished.
with a plop-!
Suho, who was safely walking on the surface of the water, suddenly jumped into the sea of the afterlife.
[All follow the little monarch!]
In response to Ber’s urgency, the soldiers dived into the sea following the guardian.
And I got rid of the weeds growing underneath as soon as I saw them.
The problem was the guardian.
Tiring!
[Stamina decreases in real time.] [The deeper the sleep, the stronger the effect of ‘Debuff: Death’.] [HP -100] [HP -109] [HP -123] [HP -149] [HP -162]
… … .
This is death.
As the sleep deepened, Suho’s HP decreased by more and more.
This was clearly an act of hastening death.
‘Somehow my father told me to level up first in order to find the World Tree.’
Fortunately, I had leveled up a lot as my father had told me, so I still had some time to spare.
Moreover, there was no problem breathing in this strange black sea water.
It was thanks to this that I learned from Essil the technique of putting a protective shield on my face using magic when I was wandering in the desert in the past.
So, leaving the mobs to the soldiers, I swam deeper and deeper into the afterlife sea.
‘… … found it.’
Suho’s eyes sparkled.
‘Yes. They say the sea of the afterlife is where the dead wander.’
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But then I wondered why I couldn’t see anything, and it turned out that everyone was gathered down here.
Yes, that’s right.
Deep in the ocean after death… … .
It was literally ‘hell’.
A terrible lot of souls.
Countless inhabitants of the world, including humans, lay silently frozen like cold corpses.
But no matter what their outward appearances were, their eyes were empty as they were already dead.
Even the souls that had already been drained of their nutrients by the weeds were unable to feel any pain and were simply one with the black water.
[Your Majesty… … .]
Ber, who had been sticking close to Suho to protect him, looked at him with anxious eyes.
Only after jumping in like this, Suho finally witnessed the terrifying reality of the afterlife sea…
“It’s a moonfish.”
Was laughing.
Brighter than ever.
“Everyone, stand up.”
… … !
[Shadow extraction was successful.] [Shadow extraction was successful.] [Shadow extraction was successful.] [Shadow extraction was successful.]
… … .
[The King of the Mad Dragons, the Lord of Destruction grumbles that you are still being treated unfairly.]
