The Path Led by Deception (1) and The Path Led by Deception (2)
The party quickly passed through the dungeon.
Since Ain had a potential explosion of agility, Louise had a black wind, and Hyun had a fairy tale that allowed him to possess those two, he was able to pass by most of the monsters.
Even so, sometimes, if you had to cross an area where monsters were concentrated, you had no choice but to break through by force.
bang! bang! bang!
While running, Hyun turned around and fired the guard’s gun.
It was to remove the troublesome guys with the effect of shock amplification.
It couldn’t be blown as far as the user, but it wasn’t very effective against spirits with relatively low strength stats.
‘This is the boss room of the Ice Thorn Dungeon soon!’
Whii-! Suddenly, the wind around them grew stronger.
Beyond the typhoon, a gale!
It was because now, at the end of the dungeon, all spaces had suction power equivalent to vertical passages.
The group had to slow down rather than crash into the wall.
“Hyun, I lack agility… ! A little fairy tale… .”
Ain asked for help with a scythe on the floor.
Ain, whose potential explosion was canceled after completely passing the monster section, felt as if he would be blown away by the strong wind.
“Oh no! If you release the assimilation now, I will fly away!”
Louise was startled and shouted in a string voice.
Louise’s agility is a whopping 354, but she was at a disadvantage in this environment as she moved using the wind reaction.
Louise assimilated to Ain, and Ain could not stand the wind if assimilated to Louise.
“Shatin. Hold him.”
“All right.
Hyun summoned Shatin to help Ain.
With a massive body and the highest agility among the group, she was calm even in the wind.
Ain didn’t like it, but he had no choice but to hold on to Shatin’s body.
‘As expected, Ice Thorn Dungeon is not the place to come with our specs right now.’
As he got closer to the boss room, Hyun could feel how dangerous the Ice Thorn Dungeon was.
Dealing with the boss of the dungeon with this party would be close to impossible.
Even if Shatin helps, the result is the same.
Her durability seems to be almost restored, but the damaged magic circle cannot be repaired for the rest of her life.
As a result, all stats and skill performance decreased.
In particular, his vitality decreased by more than 90%, and his maximum physical strength, which was supposed to be close to 10 million, went down to less than 1 million.
‘There is no way to catch the boss. Before that, I’ll have to escape to the symmetrical world!’
Fortunately, you don’t encounter the boss as soon as you enter the boss room.
It was because there was more than 10 minutes of unnecessary production before it appeared, such as the ceiling falling down and a blizzard raging.
10 minutes. That was enough time to lower my consciousness and pray.
“Everything has come. over there.”
At one point, Hyun looked around at everyone and pointed forward.
A place where a giant stone statue of a dragon opens its mouth wide.
The mouth of the stone statue is the door to the boss room.
You have to start praying right away as soon as you cross the boundary, so you can go to the symmetrical world before the boss appearance is over.
“The plan I told you on the way. Do you all remember?”
“I am… I don’t understand… I couldn’t.”
“Oh, you don’t have to know.”
Except for Shatin, everyone nodded.
Even Louise, who was inexperienced when she was young, has grown up and now has a better understanding.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t prayed for over five years. Even though I am called a priestess.”
‘… .’
Although he seemed a bit uneasy, Hyun thought he could somehow cover it with his prayer skills.
“Okay, let’s go!”
“huh!”
The party gave themselves up to the torrent of wind and were sucked into the dragon’s jaws.
And as soon as it passed through the mouth, the wind stopped like a lie.
The boss room was quiet.
No, it was more like a huge cave than a room.
“Here.”
Louise looked around in admiration.
Huge pillars of ice, like buildings, rose sharply from the floor and ceiling.
The word ‘icethorn’ must have been derived from this place.
“It is a very beautiful place… .”
A sight that can never be seen from the outside. Do you think such a mysterious place existed in the ground?
If she had more time, Louise thought she would like to wander around here for a few hours.
“I will watch it later. Pray quickly.”
Hyun urged Louise.
About 10 minutes from now. While the boss scene starts, the party must move on to the symmetrical world.
But at that very moment.
“what… ?”
“uh?”
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Stupid sounds leaked from Hyeon and Ain’s mouths.
It was because he had witnessed something wriggling at the top of the pointed ice.
‘The production hasn’t even started yet… .’
Its true identity is Setia, the wind dragon.
The named boss at level 410 and the owner of Ice Thorn Dungeon.
Krrrr.
When the dragon, who witnessed the party, growled low, a subtle vibration occurred throughout the cave.
‘Why is that… Aren’t they taken outside?!’
The moment he met Setia’s eyes, an emergency light turned on in Hyun’s mind.
The guy is getting up right now.
Where did things go wrong? Is it a trick of deception?!
If the dungeon boss has already appeared, the planned 10 minutes will not exist.
Right now, move to the symmetrical world or die!
“Pray!”
Hyeon shouted at Louise as if he was screaming.
next few seconds. No, it might be dangerous even at this moment.
None of the party has the skills to avoid Setia’s attack… !
“for a moment. wait, hyung. that dragon… I just sat back down.”
“what… ?”
Hyeon woke up and looked up at the huge ice tower again.
Just as Louise said, Setia occasionally turned her head as if glancing at her, but never attacked.
“Hyun, should we just fight?!”
“what… ? Ain, you just do nothing!”
Hyeon hurriedly grabbed Ain while closely examining Setia’s behavior.
‘They’re not really attacking?’
The guy who cried like crazy just seeing humans.
Setia’s calm appearance was even awkward.
“Hyun, look over there!”
“huh?”
“The exit is open!”
Hyun looked at the direction Ain pointed.
“I didn’t even catch the boss.”
In the place where the floor collapsed, there were stairs leading down further.
In deep dungeons, there is a teleport magic circle that can always return to the entrance.
The bottom of the stairs must be the exit of the dungeon.
“Can I go… ?”
Hyun looked at Setia and cautiously headed for the stairs.
thud! thud!
Shatin’s footsteps were so loud that he quickly put her into Louise’s soul.
Setia didn’t react as she watched the party descend the stairs.
‘Really?’
It was only after going down the stairs for a long time that Hyun cleared his chest.
after… When he was relieved, his head began to turn.
The reason why I ran into the boss as soon as I arrived at the boss room.
There was only one possibility.
‘Is this Caidrial’s arrangement?’
Oracle of deception.
The reason I went to the Icethorn Dungeon with Louise was because I heard the voice of deception.
But Ain heard only one voice.
Since no additional special instructions were heard, Hyun was going through the dungeon on his own.
However, the deception may have made the boss quiet without telling himself.
‘Tsk, I’m doing something useless.’
When Hyun learned the whole situation, he became grumpy for no reason.
Because I thought that the deception had done nothing.
Even without Caidrial’s help, he was confident that he could cross into the symmetrical world within 10 minutes.
Did he think it would take more than 10 minutes to lower his consciousness?
‘Yes, my prayer skills must be unreliable.’
Either way Hyun didn’t like it.
Since she remembered what Gigi had done during Asura’s days, her actions could not be viewed favorably.
Perhaps, it was possible that he left Setia outside just to make fun of himself.
If so… He’s a guy you really don’t like.
“Oh, it’s a jewel!”
end of the stairs.
As soon as he saw the huge purple jewel, Ain ran to it.
“Wait, don’t touch me!”
“why?”
“It might be a trap of deception.”
“trap… ?”
“I will touch you first. You are far away.”
[‘Ain’ has been expelled from the party!]
In preparation for an unexpected situation, Hyun temporarily canceled the party.
Then he slowly reached out his hand toward the jewel. A confused Louise’s voice was heard.
“Ha, I heard it’s a trap… ! But are you doing it while assimilating with me?!”
“So it is safe. Deception won’t get you in trouble, because you don’t know what it might do to me.”
“I don’t know… I hope it’s not a trap.”
“don’t worry. Because I’m sure.”
Hyun slowly touched the jewel.
Pod! In that moment, everyone around them disappeared.
In the blink of an eye, Hyun was left alone.
But I wasn’t embarrassed anymore. I’ve had the same experience at the end of the Seed of Evil dungeon.
‘It doesn’t look like a trap.’
event cutscene.
I still cannot understand the meaning of the scene where Louise and Cadrial appeared together in Heaven.
Will I be able to understand this… .
Hyun opened his eyes wide and focused. I even finished checking that the recording function is turned on.
‘It’s started!’
For an instant, Hyun felt a feeling similar to that of an out-of-body experience.
It was because he was flying quickly through places he didn’t know where he was.
‘Symmetric world… ?’
The screen, which started as a landscape of a symmetrical world, quickly began to change.
At one point, he suddenly flew above the clouds, and after a while, he was running on a single road under the black sun.
The feeling of watching the fast-forward screen.
Normally, the screen ran at 5 to 10x speed, but in an open space, the screen ran at over 100x speed.
‘This… .’
It didn’t take long for Hyun to understand the meaning of the event video.
‘Are you showing me the way?’
The first place is this room with a purple jewel.
And as time passed, it was possible to guess that the scenery close to the clouds appeared.
Deception is now showing the route to heaven from beginning to end.
‘I’m telling you to follow this path… !’
The process was incredibly complex.
symmetrical world. In other words, he was going back and forth between the underground and the ground more than 10 times, and in the meantime, he had to pass through terrain that was even rougher than this Ice Thorn Dungeon.
Hyeon was able to intuit that this was not a trick because there were places he knew from time to time among the rapidly passing scenery.
‘It’s a map made of images!’
Just before the end of the event scene, the frantic running screen slowly stopped.
finally the destination.
Hyun looked at the place on the screen and held his breath.
‘Land of Darkness… ?’
Hyun remembers seeing this place in the symmetrical world and in Letty’s test.
But now, this land of darkness was too different from his memories.
The black mist that flowed down like a waterfall completely stopped, and there was a huge hole in the pyramid that served as an altar.
‘Am I asking you to take Louise back here?’
The video ended there.
Pod! In an instant, Hyun returned to the room where Ain was waiting.
As the event scene ended, the jewel emitted a purple glow and lost its luster, turning it black.
“Hyeon, what was just now!”
Louise seemed to have seen the same event video.
A mixture of bewilderment and fear has been conveyed in fairy tales.
Hyun realized his mistake belatedly and smiled bitterly.
I couldn’t tell Louise in advance. It would be embarrassing if everyone around him disappeared without knowing why.
“That means… .”
Kyaoooooo!
It was at the moment Hyun was about to explain that a scream came from up the stairs.
‘Setia’s cries?’
Hyun listened intently.
It was not difficult to realize that in addition to the cries of the beast, someone’s shouting and the sound of weapons were mixed.
Could Setia be fighting someone?
“hyeon! on top now… .”
“Yes, it will be a chase party!”
There is no information about the pursuit team.
I don’t even know how many levels there are or how many there are.
However, there was no guarantee that they would not be able to hunt Setia.
Even if hunting is impossible, it won’t take long to find the stairs drilled in the floor!
As soon as he finished grasping the situation, Hyun shouted at Louise.
“Louise, let’s pray!”
“i get it!”
“Ain, you wait. I’ll go ahead and summon you right away.”
It is not easy to pray in a time of urgency.
In particular, in order to enter the symmetrical world, it is more difficult to lower the soul to the point of unconsciousness.
But didn’t she and Louise succeed in praying while feeling the agony of dying on the plains of Iluna?
So again… .
Tadak! Tadak!
The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs came this way in an instant.
Pod! It was at that moment that the new type of string disappeared.
“Ah, you’re here already… ?”
Ain looked awkwardly at the person who appeared to be a paladin and smiled.
“I am not a criminal… .”
And after about 2 seconds.
Pod! Her body also completely disappeared from the room where the black jewel was placed.
Pod!
“Whoa, I just almost died!”
The air shimmers, and about 2 seconds later.
Ain making a fuss appeared in front of Hyun.
The summoning using the heavenly coupling was a narrow success.
“Were you a paladin?”
“huh. It wasn’t even named, they were high-ranking knights. I lived a good life!”
“… That must have been a bit risky.”
Hyun was admiring every time he used the ring.
The utility of being able to call your partner in front of you wherever they are is deceptively good.
The only downside is that it can only be equipped with a duel grade of ‘Grand Master’ or higher.
If that condition hadn’t been met, he would have put the ring on Louise.
If I can summon it anywhere, I’ll eat all the main quests raw.
“You can stop.”
“… … .”
“Louise. The prayer is over.”
“oh… !”
Even after coming over to the symmetrical world, Louise came to her senses only after being called several times.
Even in that short moment, he fell into a deep unconsciousness that made him unable to hear the sounds around him.
‘I don’t even have prayer skills… This is something I can’t even compare to.’
Hyun shook slightly.
For a moment, it felt like being eaten up by Louise’s empathy.
“Are you calm?”
“Mmm, I’m fine!”
“Don’t fall in too deep.”
The unconscious is the aggregate of all emotions.
Hyeon, who was praying while assimilated to Louise, unintentionally peeked at her inner thoughts piled up at the bottom of her unconscious.
Louise feels a huge debt to both of them.
one himself.
Louise often said sorry and thank you. Or he brought up the word that he would make him a king, so I was aware of that to some extent… .
The other one was something Hyun himself hadn’t expected.
A celestial man who disappeared without leaving a word of warning. Papi.
Unexpectedly, deep inside Louise’s heart was full of worries about Poppy’s safety.
If something bad happened to him… The guilt Louise would feel would be much greater than she thought.
‘I think it’s because I don’t have a preconceived notion of being an NPC.’
Come to think of it, Louise was also incredibly saddened by Maria’s death.
He only felt that Poppy was a vivid artificial intelligence of the 1.5th generation, but to Louise, where Assrian was the real world, it was no different whether it was a user or an NPC.
No, it might be that he had more affection for the NPC than the user who treats life and death playfully.
“Louis.”
Hyun quickly changed the topic.
Just to keep Louise from noticing her thoughts.
And again, because there was something I had to apologize for.
“sorry. I promised to locate his men. I couldn’t keep it.”
To the darkness, subordinates were essential.
500 levels. Until it becomes true darkness, Louise must awaken two more times.
The first fragment is located on a remote island in the sky.
It was impossible for Louise to occupy the place where the celestials were fiercely vigilant.
The reason why he tried to gather his subordinates scattered all over the world before heading to the sky was also to strengthen his power.
Fortunately, Shatin came to visit on her own, but she alone is not enough.
“I didn’t have time to look up information from the interloop because I was too busy… .”
“You do not need to worry about it. Because of my whim, the plan was pushed forward by two days, so I broke my promise first.”
Louise said with a smile as if nothing was wrong.
“And Hyun, didn’t you come with me? Oh, of course Ain too… I mean.」
“We’re only level 200, right? It won’t help at all in fighting the celestials in the sky.”
“The level doesn’t matter. With you, anything is possible.”
Louise paused for a moment and then continued.
“If you were an angel… I may have served you with all my heart.”
“what? Do demons serve angels?”
“Is it strange? Then let’s pretend you’re a demon too.”
“That is just as strange. Stop talking stupid.”
Again, before the topic became strange, Hyun brought up a story he had just thought of.
“It’s a bit late, but I think there’s still a chance to get your men.”
“huh?”
“It seems that the minions of darkness are sleeping in the sky as well.”
「Heaven, where are you talking…」?」
“Land of Darkness.”
Hyun said while recalling the video of the event he had just watched.
last screen. Deception was telling me to head to the land of darkness with Louise.
“The war broke out five years ago.”
“I see… ji.”
“At that time, many of your men also died.”
Hyun experienced the war indirectly through Letty’s test.
The battle was so intense that Louise’s survival was a miracle.
Even Louise once said that she didn’t know how she survived, and that if she hadn’t been lucky enough to meet Poppy, she would have died.
“But if your subordinates who can still move are sleeping, can’t you wake them up?”
At first glance, it seemed that the remaining souls in the land turned into ruins did not exist, but if there were none, there would be no reason to blow Louise into the land of darkness.
Since the sleeping souls remain, deception points to it as a signpost.
“My subordinates remain… ?”
“The possibilities seem sufficient.”
“You have never been wrong. I will do as you say.”
“What are you two talking about, tell me a little story!”
Hyun nodded at Ain’s complaint.
The content of the conversation was information that Ain knew, so there was nothing wrong with it.
“okay. Let’s move to a safe place for now.”
“A safe place? Is it dangerous here too?”
“The Holy Knights of Shakron also crossed over to the symmetrical world, right? They won’t pray to the devil… It seems the priests are using magic to cross the world.”
“I don’t want to be chased again… .”
“It’s okay if you hide. Even if they do, there won’t be many of them. I don’t think Tracing Evil can even read the coordinates of the symmetrical world.”
After running for about 10 minutes, the group found a quiet stream.
A perfect place to just relax.
Louise dipped her feet in the water and Ain decided to go to the bathroom for a while.
In the meantime, Hyun glanced over the recorded event video once again.
Occasionally, important parts were replayed a few times in slow playback.
Analyzing the video like that, Hyun was slowly completing a virtual map heading to the land of darkness in his head.
“Oh, are you here?”
A hologram screen floated in the air in time for Ain’s return.
“What’s the mission this time… ?”
“Just listen.”
Everyone had to know what to say from now on, so Hyun summoned even Shatin.
Ain and Shatin couldn’t see the event scene, so they played the 5-minute video from start to finish.
Of course, you won’t remember all of them just by seeing them once.
It doesn’t matter though. He will constantly tell the party the way, and it is enough for him to check the video from time to time for detailed routes that may confuse him.
With everyone’s eyes focused on Hyun, he began to explain his plans for the future.
***
There is an atmospheric layer called the ‘White Line’ 200 kilometers above the planet Asura.
In that area with a thickness of about 5 kilometers, neither humans, celestials, or even low-ranking transcendentalists can approach.
Inside the area, mana, divine power, magic, etc… This is because all the energy of the world is swirling unrefined and forming a space of death.
That white band is the boundary of the sky!
Most people just call the sky beyond the clouds, but technically it is a misnomer.
According to the contents written in the Bible, the upper part of this white band is defined as ‘heaven’ and the lower part as ‘terrestrial’.
So the word ‘sky’ in Assrian has a completely different meaning from the real sky.
Heaven is the realm of heavenly beings.
On the contrary, the ground is a human domain.
It is said that the white band dividing the two districts was created by a certain transcendent in the beginning.
Therefore, the power of heavenly beings is restricted on the ground, and artificial satellites made by humans cannot cross the realm of the sky.
A white belt that surrounds Asura like the shell of a giant sphere.
Due to the unstable flow of mana, it was impossible to cross the belt even with a teleport.
However, if there was no way to pass through the white belt, the heavenly beings would not have been able to come down to earth.
Even the shell, which has a notoriety as the layer of death, had two holes.
The North Pole, where the cycle of mana begins.
Antarctica where mana is scattered again.
In the two places where such a huge torrent of mana flows, the white belt cannot be maintained and is scattered.
In other words, the holes drilled 500 kilometers above the North Pole and South Pole are just two passages connecting the ground and the sky!
The reason why the Iluna dock exists only in the polar region is because the shuttle had to pass through one of the two holes.
“Even if you use the symmetrical world, there is no way to go to the sky all at once.”
Hyun explained to everyone what he had analyzed after watching the video.
“However, there is a way to reach the sky by going back and forth between reality and the symmetrical world ‘several times’!”
The route suggested by Ki-man was to cross the ‘sky bridge’ that penetrates the hole in the North Pole.
“After passing through the symmetrical world three times, you will reach the middle layer of the sky bridge.”
Arctic sky bridge.
Although it had the name of a bridge, it was much larger than the islands floating in the sky.
Without exaggeration, it is enough to create a human metropolis in the sky.
Because of its enormous length, the upper part of the bridge belongs to the realm of ‘sky’ and the lower part to the realm of ‘terrestrial’.
Also, the middle layer, which is 5 km long, belongs to the same altitude as the white band, that is, the height outside the range of satellites.
It meant that the effect of Tracing Evil on Louise would be canceled the moment she passed the middle floor.
“Still, until we get off the sky bridge, we have to run away without stopping.”
“Why?”
“The celestials are sensitive to demonic energy. You will have no choice but to be found out just by your presence.”
Five or six celestial beings supervise the operation of the sky bridge.
In addition, hundreds of Guardians and thousands of human soldiers are guarding the roads everywhere, so it is inevitable that there will be a commotion.
“Five celestials… ! Are we supposed to fight those guys?!”
“are you okay.”
Hyun reassured Louise, who seemed already frightened.
“Most of them are F-class, and there will be one or two E-class at most. The managerial position is a job that is avoided.”
Class F refers to all Celestials below level 350.
Above that, there is a gap of about 10 levels for each grade, and celestials over level 400 are grouped into S-rank again and classified.
Of course, each of the celestials is named with 1.5th generation artificial intelligence!
Even a level 400 user wouldn’t be able to defeat even an F-rank celestial.
But what if you’re running away instead of fighting back?
What if you use the route Gi-gi gave you?
Since the five celestials won’t rush around, I’ll be able to escape the pursuit somehow.
“Of course, the most dangerous are the celestials, but the guardians have to be careful too.”
“Gudi… frozen?”
“It’s a kind of golem. It’s easy if you think of it as a soldier commanded by a heavenly man.”
“There is no such thing in the fragments of memory. You seem to have experienced the world ten times more than I have.”
Hyun laughed at Louise’s murmur.
She must be in the same age as herself, but why does she still feel like raising a child?
Will it be the same even if I awaken once more and reach level 400?
No matter how severe it is, it will change after two awakenings.
Louise said it would make him a king.
Her growth was certainly something to be welcomed, but for some reason, it seemed like it would be a bit regretful if Louise’s personality changed.
“I always feel that.”
“huh?”
“Hyun thinks this is the coolest time… .”
“Heh, talk about useless things later. Are you all ready?”
The party, who had been running under the black sun, had already reached the time to return to the ground.
The target of this prayer is Lutia. No, Ruthiel!
Hyun intended to offer prayers to a false angel.
Because that would be far better than praying to Truth or Light.
“You can stand on the edge of this cliff and pray.”
“You mean here?”
“that’s right. right there.”
Hyun felt his consciousness sink rapidly.
This time, he didn’t help Louise’s prayers.
I needed to focus a bit.
As soon as the world changes, you will be at the bottom of the Arctic sky bridge!
Pod! At one point when Louise’s consciousness was endlessly lowered, Hyun’s vision reversed.
Continued in the next volume
