Disciple of The Three Kings [EN]: Chapter 65

Satisfied with seeing Baran’s skills, Baek Cheong no longer had Baran take the lead.

“Yuran, I’ll show you from now on.”

She advanced with a bright smile, along with the Cheongcheonha Squad.

The scene that followed was truly overwhelming.

“…….”

Baran’s guild members were speechless.

They had cooperated with Eunha to attack gates many times.

Eunha, to whom they were bound by a master-servant relationship.

And at that time, they felt an insurmountable wall.

‘Monsters.’

At that time, Eunha was no different from the monsters of the gate.

Murderous demons, crazed with slaughter.

They slashed through the monsters as if venting their pent-up anger, and even sucked the monsters’ blood with a special technique called Blood Demon Absorption.

What Baran’s players felt at that time was fear.

Unfathomable, unknown beings.

And seeing them grow stronger, just like themselves, they thought that becoming subordinates of the Blood Cult was not a bad thing.

And now, Baran was feeling another emotion.

“Ah….”

A sigh involuntarily escaped their lips.

“Do as you see fit.”

At Baek Cheong’s relaxed words, the forty Cheongcheonha Squad members advanced towards a monster of a different caliber than the Giant Zombie that Baran had faced.

‘Death Dullahan.’

A Dullahan that had evolved by absorbing evil energy for a long time.

It was rated higher than even the upper-level undead Death Knight, and was one of the top-tier monsters that were notoriously difficult in both attack and defense.

Hwaaaap!

The Death Dullahan imbued its long halberd with evil energy and swung it, causing the ground to rise along the trajectory of the swing.

Black thorns sprouted from within.

Puhwaaaak!

The figures of the Cheongcheonha Squad members disappeared for a moment in the black smoke.

As Baran’s guild members wondered what would have happened if they had taken that attack, a cluster of light began to emanate from within the smoke.

“……!”

The Cheongcheonha Squad members looked perfectly fine.

Without a single scratch, they had perfectly defended against the Death Dullahan’s attack.

And soon after, they began to move.

‘Combined Formation.’

It wasn’t a noble sword formation like the Blue Sword Formation of the Blue Squad.

They simply moved in sync, as they had been trained and experienced in actual combat, surrounding the Death Dullahan from all sides and launching simultaneous attacks.

Kaka kaka kang!

The pouring sword energy struck the Death Dullahan’s entire body.

Pasut.

In between, the powerful energy that burst out was inflicting wounds on the Death Dullahan’s body, which boasted the highest defense.

Kakang!

Under the continuous attacks, the Dullahan was unable to counterattack and was being unilaterally beaten by the Cheongcheonha Squad members.

Among them, the highlight was the moment when the Dullahan seemed a little tired and lowered its halberd.

Sssuk.

She jumped in too naturally, cutting through the Cheongcheonha Squad members.

It was the Jongnam Divine Maiden, Baek Cheong.

She silently raised her sword slowly, with her unique smile.

Flash!

It was a flash of light.

A swift and precise strike that only a few people could properly see.

The body of the Dullahan, struck by that sword strike, slowly began to split diagonally.

“End!”

It was the death of the Dullahan, which wouldn’t have been strange even if it were a gate boss.

What Baran felt towards Eunha was fear.

And what they felt towards the Cheongcheonha Squad and Baek Cheong was awe.

“As expected.”

In the midst of it all, Lee Shin-woo’s eyes were shining.

As a righteous soldier, Lee Shin-woo wanted to grasp all the information about Eun’s forces.

To him, Jongnam, and especially the Jongnam Divine Maiden’s strike, revealed a lot.

And another person.

“…….”

Lee Ro-woon.

He was looking at Baek Cheong and the Cheongcheonha Squad with a very calm face.

As if he had expected this much.

“You….”

A face that seemed to say this much was nothing.

Just as Lee Shin-woo was about to say something to Lee Ro-woon, Baek Cheong, who had already cleaned up the area, brought the diagonally split Dullahan’s corpse and handed it to Choi Yu-ran, saying.

“Yuran! A present!”

***

They had already spent several days in the gate.

Continuous hunting.

However, the movements of the attack team seemed a little strange.

“Why aren’t they doing it by the book?”

Moving in a straight line, following the traces to attack the gate boss.

That was the basic element of gate attacks.

Also, the Pathfinders, who could be called specialists in gate attacks, had already roughly identified and reported the location where the gate boss was presumed to be.

Nevertheless, Baek Cheong, who was leading the attack team, was moving as if searching the entire gate, not on the designated path.

As if looking for something.

“It seems they’ve found it.”

Lee Shin-woo, who had returned to the makeshift barracks, said to Lee Ro-woon.

It was Lee Ro-woon who had allowed Lee Shin-woo, whose identity should never be revealed, to move freely.

And the reason was that Lee Shin-woo could exert greater abilities in gathering information than he could now.

‘Intervener.’

His ability was very powerful for players.

Jongnam.

Originally, there was no way for Lee Shin-woo’s ability as an Intervener to shine in gathering information against them.

If it weren’t for one exceptional being.

‘Yoon Tae-sun.’

Jongnam had brought Yoon Tae-sun, and no matter what, he was a player.

And Lee Shin-woo had the ability to eavesdrop on such Yoon Tae-sun from afar.

“Is it really a hidden cave?”

At Lee Ro-woon’s words, Lee Shin-woo nodded.

“It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. It seems there’s an entrance to a hidden cave here.”

Really.

“It seems to be information given by the Association. Originally, before handing over the right to attack a special gate to the ruling forces, the Association side secures and confirms it first.”

The Association was related to the Assembly.

“It seems Jongnam made some kind of deal with the Assembly. To be precise, with a part of the Assembly.”

That was how Jongnam had obtained the information and moved here first.

And the reason why they moved so quickly, the reason why they came to Baran.

‘To deceive Hwasan’s eyes.’

Anyone would think that Jongnam’s contact with Baran was just an attempt to form a connection with Eunha.

Eunha, who controlled Gyeonggi Province, the stronghold of Hwasan, would look like a big piece of cake to Jongnam.

However, the Jongnam Divine Maiden, Baek Cheong, and Jongnam were merely using this entire situation.

They were heading to the hidden cave while deceiving Hwasan and everyone else.

By the time Hwasan noticed this fact, it would already be too late.

“What about what I asked you to find out?”

At Lee Ro-woon’s question, Lee Shin-woo adjusted his glasses and shook his head.

“I don’t know the method.”

In the past, it was Lee Ro-woon who had found the hidden cave, but he knew nothing about it.

He didn’t even know why the entrance to the hidden cave was created in this kind of gate.

That was why he had asked him to find out information about it and the method to get to the hidden cave.

‘Hidden Cave.’

No matter what was there, if it was enough for the Assembly and all of Eun’s forces to focus on it, and if it was enough for them to keep even the players, whom they considered insects, alive and bring them along, then there must be something valuable there.

And if Lee Ro-woon could avoid seeing it with Jongnam, he would.

However, Lee Shin-woo had not been able to find out the method.

“It seems we’ll have to go with Jongnam.”

Wait until Jongnam opens the door.

“I guess so.”

There was no other way.

Then they had no choice but to follow.

It would have been nice if they could have moved first and monopolized it.

“It won’t change anything.”

It didn’t matter if they didn’t.

They had already seen Jongnam’s power.

* * *

Indeed, Lee Shin-woo’s information was correct.

“Shhh!”

The next day, Baek Cheong was leading the attack team somewhere without receiving any questions.

Her appearance of leading the attack team without even mentioning the destination was something that could not be easily tolerated, but Baran had no say in the matter.

From the beginning, when Baran entered the gate with Jongnam, Baran’s life and death were in Jongnam’s hands.

“Hehehe.”

Baek Cheong was humming as she walked.

The strange procession continued for a while, with the Cheongcheonha Squad members silently following her and the Baran guild members hiding their unease.

“Today….”

The monsters they encountered on the way.

“I don’t have time to play with you.”

They were raid monsters that had to be hunted on a squad scale.

Taat.

Baek Cheong calmly stepped forward alone and drew her sword.

A unique stance, the Kisu style.

And then, a flash of light burst out.

Sseogeok-!

It was an overwhelming power.

There was a saying that was common in the Murim guilds [Martial Arts Guilds].

‘The attack team is….’

Attack teams also existed in Murim guilds.

However, their concept was different from that of the players.

If the attack team of a player guild was a group of people who combined their strengths to make up for their shortcomings, complementing their weaknesses and maximizing their strengths.

“Done!”

The Murim guild was the leader of the attack team.

It was said that the existence of that one person determined the power of the attack team.

Baek Cheong, who was covered in the black blood of an undead-type monster, shouted excitedly and released her inner energy, and soon the blood covering her body disappeared as if it had been washed away.

She had maintained her inner energy while killing a raid monster in one blow.

It was truly a monstrous inner power and control.

After that, Baek Cheong continued to erase everything alone.

Thanks to her, the attack team was able to move forward quickly without being held back.

And the place they finally arrived at was a strangely shaped cemetery-like place.

It was clearly a gate.

“……!”

It looked like a cemetery that someone had made.

It was a sight of stones piled up and markings engraved on them.

‘It was real.’

Lee Ro-woon’s eyes sank.

He had seen that shape, that form before.

How could he forget?

The markings that indicated the entrance to the hidden cave that had thrown him into the mire.

“Okay, Yuran. Step back.”

Under Baek Cheong’s instructions, the Cheongcheonha attack team members moved quickly and took something out of their pockets.

“That’s….”

Lee Shin-woo said, his eyes shining.

“It’s a Dharma Tool [Mystical Artifact].”

Items used by Murim people, divine weapons.

They were special items made with special techniques and materials that no one could create.

That was why they were called divine weapons.

In terms of player item grades, unique-grade items were the divine weapons.

And there was another grade of items above that.

The Dharma Tools that Lee Shin-woo had mentioned.

‘Legendary.’

They were not items that someone had created.

They were items that only Murim people could use from the beginning.

The miraculous products created by swallowing the nutrients of the world in a trapped world.

They were extremely rare even in Eun’s world, and their numbers were extremely limited, and that was what the Dharma Tools were.

It was in the form of a round sphere.

“Jongnam’s Dharma Tool, a round sphere….”

Lee Shin-woo quietly continued.

“Jongnam Divine Maiden.”

Lee Shin-woo, who was second to none in the world in terms of information about Eun, said.

“The Heavenly Treasure Orb.”

The Heavenly Treasure Orb, that was the identity of that Dharma Tool.

“It’s known to reveal the truth and amplify the user’s inner energy several times.”

That was what Baek Cheong was holding in her hand now.

Sseuk.

Baek Cheong, who was curling up the corners of her mouth, put her inner energy into the orb in her hand, and a chillingly blue light began to dominate the world.

Kurung! Kururung!

Even though no one was touched by the light that followed, the stone tomb began to collapse slowly.

Baran’s guild members were captivated by the mysterious sight.

“……What.”

In the midst of it, Lee Ro-woon was in shock.

The letters that appeared on the stone tomb.

It was making Lee Ro-woon’s heart pound.

The voice that came from beside him.

“The Heavenly Demon Cave…?”

It was Lee Shin-woo’s.