Chapter 88

Chapter 13. The Flame of Life (4)

"Why is it so dark? This place wasn't like this before...?"

Bae, the leader of the Seungwoong Clan, frowned as he looked at the gray mist spreading through the forest.

The gray mist spread between the trees like ink dropped into clear water, obscuring the view.

In such conditions, even if they tried to push through as a group, the lack of visibility would inevitably lead to a chaotic operation.

The visible distance was barely three meters.

Moreover, the gray mist seemed to contain something that dulled their senses.

What if something suddenly burst out? It would be a real disaster.

"I can't take this. If we keep going like this, we'll be picked off one by one. Let's gather together!"

Currently, the clan alliance had chosen to search for Yeonwoo by forming a long line across the forest.

If they gathered the clan members at one point, it would create gaps in the encirclement, but Bae prioritized the safety of himself and his clan members.

The Seungwoong Clan gathered in one place at Bae's command.

"What? Is this all? Why is this all there is?"

Thirty-one clan members had gathered. Considering that there were originally over sixty, this meant that half were missing.

The clan members, who had just noticed that their comrades, who were right next to them a moment ago, were now gone, looked anxious.

The eerie gray mist and the screams that had just been heard.

Cold sweat drenched their hands, which held their swords.

It felt as if they were under a spell.

There was a growing fear that they might disappear like those who had vanished.

The clan members glanced at each other.

Their instincts kept warning them to get out of this place.

"Leader, we need to rethink this..."

Just as one of them stepped forward to persuade Bae.

"Seungwoong Clan Leader!"

Suddenly, someone burst through the mist, crying.

The clan members reflexively reached for their scabbards, but then they recognized the face and their eyes widened.

It was someone they knew well.

The deputy leader of the Behemoth Clan, who had gone to capture Yeonwoo.

He was usually arrogant, which made him very unpopular with other clan leaders.

But now, his face was pale, and his breathing was rough.

"Why are you here...! No, no. We need to leave this place quickly! Hurry! Hurry!"

The deputy leader of the Behemoth Clan glanced nervously behind him and urged Bae urgently.

He looked as if he was being chased by something.

Bae, who had come this far, was not about to return empty-handed. He tried to calm the man down.

"Take a deep breath. Even if we leave, tell us what happened. What exactly is going on in there?"

"Ghosts, they're chasing us! They're tearing us apart and will do the same to you! Hurry! We need to run!"

The deputy leader rambled, unable to form coherent sentences.

Bae's expression darkened.

"Ghosts? Do you mean monsters like Reapers or Banshees?"

"No, not those...! Ah! Come on! This isn't the time...!"

The deputy leader pushed Bae away and tried to run back outside.

As Bae reached out to grab him, the deputy leader's body suddenly stiffened.

Bae was about to ask what was happening when he noticed that his subordinates' faces had turned pale, and they were trembling, pointing at something.

Their mouths, in a state of panic, were saying one word.

'Behind?'

The moment Bae turned his head.

Kraang!

Suddenly, a massive creature opened its mouth and bit down on Bae and the deputy leader.

The lower halves of their bodies, torn off, fell limply to the ground.

"Aaaah!"

"It's a monster!"

The Flare members of the Seungwoong Clan screamed as they saw the creature, which had devoured their leader and the Behemoth Clan's skilled member in one bite.

Standing over 180 centimeters tall, with a ferocious snout. Surrounded by gray mist, its exact form was indiscernible, but it was a bizarre ghost with the eyes of a beast.

The creature, a Sogui, roared.

Kooeeeng!

The mixture of its ferocious nature as a Bulka and its ghostly wail echoed through the forest.

Kukuk-

The creature shook the ground violently as it lunged at its next target.

And.

Similar scenes were unfolding throughout the forest.

Bang!

* * *

Tututu-

The Sogui floated in the air above the forest, surrounded by gray mist.

Kikik! Kik!

Bu, the soul of a necromancer, looked down and made a strange sound.

It sounded like laughter to some, and to others, like a mournful wind.

Bu found the current situation incredibly amusing, even though he was already dead.

Every time his hand lightly touched the air, gray mist rose from the forest.

Most people's reactions to this were either to scream in terror or to roar in anger.

The gray mist had several hidden functions.

First, it dulled the players' senses, obstructed their vision, and caused confusion in their hearing and other senses.

It was a minor debuff curse, but its effect was significant.

Because it affected a wide area and multiple people simultaneously, it caused considerable difficulties in group actions.

People became confused about their exact positions and couldn't recognize those who were just next to them a moment ago.

The obstruction of their vision created a constant sense of danger, as they never knew when an enemy might appear. The eerie energy it emitted naturally created a terrifying atmosphere.

As a result, the slight fear they felt gradually eroded their minds and spirits.

The atmosphere started with one person and spread to the next, growing like a snowball rolling down a hill, eventually engulfing the entire group.

They fell into a collective panic.

Bu could observe such scenes from above.

And he couldn't stop laughing at the sight.

These weak, foolish beings. How dare they come to kill his master?

It was absurd.

To Bu, Yeonwoo was a god-like, absolute being.

Or rather, he was such a being.

In the endless chains of the dead, in the hellish depths that felt like an eternity, the one who saved him.

And not only that, the one who gave him a physical form and power.

From the moment a tiny bit of 'reason' emerged, Bu swore absolute loyalty to Yeonwoo.

And as he continued to eat the souls of the dead, his loyalty deepened.

Other Sogui likely felt the same way.

Therefore.

Bu could not forgive those who dared to harm his master.

To him, they were filthy creatures who came to defile the god he served.

Whether they had the ability to harm his master directly or not was irrelevant.

Their mere existence warranted death.

No, they should be turned into wraiths and locked in a painful eternity.

So Bu spread the gray mist even more intensely.

The more he did, the louder the human screams grew, and the higher the morale of the other Sogui rose.

Their fear and screams were his entertainment and a delightful pastime.

He also thought:

Once these are all dealt with, his generous master would surely give them more souls of the dead.

They could become even stronger.

So he wondered:

If he could become even stronger, what kind of entertainment could he enjoy then?

Moreover.

Hadn't his master said:

You will soon become a 'Lich,' a being capable of greater things.

If he could help his master even more and enjoy greater entertainment.

His non-existent heart felt like it was pounding.

"Master... the enemies... shall be... destroyed!"

Following the faint memories of his past life, Bu loudly proclaimed.

Tututu-

* * *

"Die!"

Avoiding two blades sweeping at his lower body, he leaped high into the air.

As the soul of a Giant Bulka, he was the largest among the Sogui, yet he was also the most agile.

The sight of a Sogui over two meters tall performing a somersault and landing, then fiercely slashing with its claws, was astonishing.

Swoosh!

Four claw marks sliced through the air, and the body was split into five pieces, falling to the ground.

Even the shields and armor, which boasted of withstanding any monster or demon's attack, could not withstand the sharp claws of the Sogui, which were tightly bound with black energy.

"Mad...!"

Another player, who was horrified by this, was struck in the forehead by a flying piece of black energy and fell backward.

The soul was trying to escape the body.

Before the soul could fully escape, the Bulka opened its mouth and swallowed it.

Souls and ghosts were turned into wraiths. This was necessary for the master to provide them with good prey.

And this soul was of good quality, tasting quite good.

Kooeeeng! The Bulka roared happily into the sky.

As the soul of the wraith absorbed the soul, his memories from his past life gradually returned.

Thanks to this, his instincts also awakened, allowing him to perform such feats.

The players, hearing this roar, no longer dared to attack the Bulka and retreated.

What they saw was a monster.

A creature that would scatter when stabbed with a sword and quickly dodge when hit with magic.

No matter how they tried to corner and kill it, it would regain its strength and fiercely attack again.

And when it attacked again, it was almost impossible to handle.

Agile, fierce, and ferocious.

It was so strong that it could easily tear them apart and devour them.

They had faced countless demons on the 11th floor, but they had never heard of such a creature.

Moreover, the gray mist that kept appearing in their peripheral vision eroded their mental strength.

By the time they regained their senses, only three remained.

They instinctively felt:

There was no one else left in this forest besides them.

The intermittent screams that had continued had stopped.

"Ugh..."

"Damn...! Why do we have to suffer like this...!"

The three players, with trembling legs, wiped away their tears and snot.

The smell of urine was already spreading from their pants.

They wanted to run, but they couldn't even bring themselves to do it.

The gray mist that had spread around them felt like a prison, no, a bottomless pit.

No one knew what lay beyond it.

The three could only stand shoulder to shoulder, waiting for the unknown danger that might come at any moment.

Just then.

Thud.

Thud.

Heavy footsteps echoed through the oppressive silence.

The three players' eyes naturally turned in that direction.

Between the mist, two intense will-o'-the-wisps appeared. As the footsteps grew louder, the will-o'-the-wisps grew larger, gradually approaching.

A vague black shape began to emerge, and soon a person stood before them.

Wearing a black mask, he emitted a fierce gaze.

Yeonwoo stood before them with a cold look.

Blood dripped from the longsword in his hand, which he had used to cut the throats of the few remaining players as he moved in a straight line to this spot.

The three players, sensing their fate, swallowed hard.

Their eyes, which had been darting around, were now fixed on Yeonwoo. Their terrified eyes begged for mercy.

But no sound came out. Finally, one of them managed to speak, his voice hoarse.

"Why... why are you doing this...?"

Yeonwoo, who had been approaching them, tilted his head.

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you doing this to us? There's no need to be so cruel!"

They had lost their friends and comrades in just one day.

No, it was even worse than that.

They had lost their rival clans, who had been competing with them just yesterday.

The 11th floor stage would undoubtedly experience a significant power vacuum due to the loss of major clans.

All of this was the work of one person.

Just one person.

Who had made hundreds of players vanish in an instant.

Could he really not feel any remorse for such a terrible act?

But.

"You're making a lot of noise."

"What...!"

Swoosh!

With a light slash in the air, the head of the player who was screaming broke apart.

The two remaining players screamed silently and fell to the ground.

They were already half-mad. They had long given up on the will to live and any last hope.

There was no way out of this situation.

But.

Looking at them.

Yeonwoo whispered in a demonic voice.

"Does anyone want to live? I'll give one person a chance."