Today, it was officially declared: the war is over. And that the pursuit of the fleeing Balkan scum, as well as allowing soldiers into their hideouts, would cease.
The commanders kept asking if it was true, but I could tell they were secretly pleased.
Of course, I have no intention of giving up just yet.
To be precise, we’ve abandoned the idea of personally hunting down those bastards.
But that doesn’t mean we have to catch them ourselves, right?
No, there’s no absolute need for humans to go in, is there?
So, today I issued a new order.
Bring me the monsters.
Mostly undead, or those that can survive under any harsh conditions… heh heh heh heh.
—Excerpt from the Atlanta Secret Library, “The Fall of the Balkan Kingdom — War Diary”
Step by step, I descended slowly, but the staircase seemed endless. About ten minutes had passed, covering roughly 250 meters, yet no door was in sight. Not a single ray of light penetrated the darkness; the surroundings were pitch black, so dense it felt like standing alone in an endless, bottomless sea. Perhaps sensing the same eerie feeling, Kim Hanbyul quietly began chanting a spell.
“────. ────. Azurite White. Light.”
Moments later, the pitch-black vision suddenly brightened. A fist-sized orb floated upward, radiating a dazzling light. Using Jewel Amplification, the orb shone twice as brightly as a normal light spell. With a gentle flick of her staff, Kim Hanbyul sent the orb drifting forward through the air. As the path ahead became visible, Im Hanna exhaled softly and smiled gently.
“Thanks. I was really tense, but this helps a lot.”
“Huh? Tense? Why would you be tense?”
At Vivian’s question, Im Hanna paused mid-step on the dirt stairs, turning back with a hesitant, uneasy look in her eyes.
“Am I the only one feeling this way?”
“Feeling what?”
“Well, every time I step down, it feels like I’m not actually stepping on stairs. It’s hard to explain, but it’s like I’m stepping on something else. It’s really unsettling.”
“What do you mean?”
Vivian tilted her head in confusion. But I think I understood what she meant, and I silently admired Im Hanna’s intuition. Yeah, for an archer, being this sensitive is only natural.
And I knew why she felt that way—because her third eye was already activated.
“I don’t feel anything strange. The steps feel solid to me. Look.”
Just then, Jin Suhyun strode forward and began stomping heavily on the stairs. Thud! Thud! With each step, dry dirt scattered in all directions. On the fourth stomp—
Crack!
Suddenly, a loud cracking sound echoed as a large fissure appeared across the stairs. Jin Suhyun gasped in shock and quickly pulled back. But the crack was already spreading slowly, then accelerating rapidly in all directions. The meaning was clear as day.
“Hey, you idiot!”
“Wait! I didn’t mean to do that!”
“Enough talk, just run!”
“It’s too late! Hanbyul, Haesol! Activate the shield—!”
The clan members were thrown into chaos, anticipating the collapse. Then—
“────. ────.”
Amid the confusion, a faint voice began chanting a spell. Atti hadn’t yet removed her hat, but her tone was mechanical, flat, and emotionless. Holding her oversized pointed hat slightly, she muttered the incantation under her breath.
“Feedback!”
A short but powerful shout. Atti tapped the dirt stairs with the Somnium of Chaos in her left hand. Then, something miraculous happened. The precarious stairs, on the verge of collapse, suddenly stopped. Not only that, the cracks began to close rapidly, the gaps sealing shut as if time itself was rewinding. In the blink of an eye, everything was restored to its original state.
All eyes, including mine, fixed on her.
“Ten minutes.”
Atti lowered her hat and spoke.
“Ten minutes?”
“These stairs are magically created mana stairs. When an intruder reaches the midpoint, they collapse on their own, dropping the intruder. Then, falling rocks finish them off.”
In other words, Jin Suhyun’s stomping was a mere coincidence. The same collapse would happen again in ten minutes.
That was all we needed to hear. We quickly regrouped and dashed downward. The sound of dirt scattering felt ominous for no reason, but after about five minutes, we finally spotted what looked like a door. About two meters tall, a faded iron door stood out starkly against the earthen surroundings.
“Wait a moment…”
Im Hanna seemed to feel the same and began inspecting the door carefully. Finding nothing unusual, she gently placed her hand on it and turned to Jung Ha-yeon, who cast a protective spell. Then, with effort, she pushed the door open. The rusty creaks echoed through the silent tunnel.
Everyone remained on guard as the door swung wide open. At last, we stood at the entrance of the Abyss of Annihilation.
Inside was just as pitch-black. Kim Hanbyul sent the orb inside first, followed by Jung Ha-yeon and Jegal Haesol, who cast light spells. Normally, this would be a waste of mana, but both were confident they could double cast or more.
As the interior brightened, Im Hanna looked around cautiously and stepped inside slowly. But after only a few steps, she stopped again. Her brow furrowed deeply as she glanced left, covering her mouth with her hand.
“Oh my god…”
“What is it?”
The moment we passed through the door, a foul stench hit us—an unbearable mix of damp underground air and rotting corpses.
Holding my breath, I looked around and saw a large open space about 400 meters in diameter. It was like a crossroads, with six doors leading out in all directions, including the one we came through.
The problem was the center—a small plaza-like area piled high with faded, pale-white remains. On the sloped parts, tattered flesh still clung to some of the bodies, stained dark red.
“Those are…”
“Probably the users who came before us.”
Someone’s voice was met with soft gasps behind us. Now I understood what Atti meant earlier—there were stairs attached to the ceiling above the mound of bones and corpses.
Approaching carefully and surveying the area confirmed my suspicions. Aside from skeletons that had been dead for hundreds or even a thousand years, there were many relatively recent corpses—some as fresh as five days old, others up to a month.
One odd thing was that some bodies were missing their clothes or equipment. Surely no one entered the ruins naked; someone must have taken them. Then again, with so many bone fragments piled up, it’s possible some survived by sheer luck, cushioned by the pile.
Just then, Ko Yeon-ju’s voice came from nearby, confirming signs of passage through several doors. That settled my thoughts.
At that moment—
“They’re here. They came in again!”
“Really? How many this time?”
A whispering voice buzzed in my ears.
“Who’s there?!”
Jin Suhyun shouted, bracing herself, but the noise didn’t stop. Instead, it grew louder, filled with mocking laughter from all directions. The sound was grating.
“Heehee, heeheehee! More fools crawling in to die.”
“But these ones… they’re different. They made it past the stairs!”
“Really? No way!”
“It’s true!”
Jin Suhyun opened her mouth to shout again, but I raised my hand to signal her to stop. She clenched her teeth, and the voices abruptly ceased. Yet the strange feeling of being watched lingered.
Gathering the clan together, I looked at Jin Suhyun and spoke quietly.
“Don’t pay them any mind. We just focus on our mission.”
“But—!”
“That’s an order. From now on, think of those voices as vagrants. Lee Yujeong, what did I say about vagrants?”
“Huh? Oh, right. Never engage, just ignore them…”
Though a bit hesitant, Lee Yujeong answered well.
“Exactly. Just ignore them. Don’t let them affect you.”
“Heeheehee! What nonsense are you spouting?”
“As if they even have a real form. They can’t harm us directly. All they want is to mess with our minds.”
“Puhahaha! You really believe that? Seriously?”
Every time I spoke, the noise answered back. The clan looked uncomfortable, but as long as we ignored it, the voices quieted.
“See? That’s what I’m saying.”
“Looks like it’s time to teach them a bitter lesson! Hehehehe!”
And then, at that very moment—
Screeeech!
Clank!
Suddenly, a grating metallic sound pierced my eardrums. It came from just ahead, slightly to the right—inside the door. It was an unpleasant noise, like iron bars being forcibly ripped out.
But it didn’t stop after just one time.
Screeeech!
Clank!
Screeeech!
Clank!
Screeeech!
Clank!
Three times in a row, echoing all around with a slight delay between each.
Grrrrrrrrr…
Clop clop… clop clop…
Then came a long, bubbling wail, like something boiling over, mixed with the sound of hooves.
—“It’s death! The Death Knight is coming! Uhihihihihihihi!”
—“Run! If you escape through one of the doors, you might survive! Of course, I won’t tell you which one~.”
“Damn it. Can’t we just shut these bastards up?”
“I’d like to, believe me.”
Jin Suhyun clenched her teeth, covering her ears, while I just shrugged. Meanwhile, Ko Yeonju and Im Hanna were focused on their own tasks. Both women knelt, eyes closed in concentration—probably trying to sense the enemy’s presence. I ignored the commotion and waited. Hanna was the first to open her eyes.
“They’re right. Except for the door we came through and the one straight ahead, they’re coming through the other four.”
“How many?”
“About five to seven at each door. Around thirty total. I can’t say for sure if they’re Death Knights, but with the sound of hooves, it’s very likely.”
“If they’re Death Knights on horseback… that’s almost Lich-level, isn’t it?”
Kim Hanbyul added in a daze, and several clan members paled. She was right—Death Knights on horseback or Liches were no joke. We’d faced undead before, but usually the commanders were either absent or just a few mixed in with the horde. If all thirty were Death Knights… that wouldn’t be easy. Hmm. Actually, maybe it would be easy for me.
—“Hey, what’s with these guys? How do they know all this?”
—“They’re the ones who passed through the stairs. Damn, this is serious.”
Ignore it. Just ignore.
Noticing my hesitation, Jung Hayeon cautiously spoke up.
“Suhyun, intercepting them is good, but Hanna’s right… maybe we should try opening the door ahead, just to check…”
At that moment, something strange caught my eye. Shadows on the ground thickened like smoke, swirling and twisting before being absorbed back into the earth. I looked up, stunned, and saw a woman slowly rising to her feet. It was Ko Yeonju finally standing.
“S-Suhyun.”
I instinctively frowned, but it wasn’t a trick of the mind. Her voice trembled unmistakably. Ko Yeonju’s eyes were wide with terror as she stared ahead.
After a moment, her trembling index finger pointed straight at the door in front of us.