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Chapter 486 - Frozen Temple (2)

After some thought, he realized that although he had created dungeons, he had never entered one.

“I haven’t gone inside, so I don’t know. Lilith told me to report to you first!” said Echidna, emphasizing that it wasn’t because she was scared.

Kang-Woo smirked and nodded. “Good job. Always report to me first whenever you find anything.”

Unauthorized investigations were off-limits now that otherworldly invasions had begun. Even if it was a hassle, safety always needed to be first.

“But how do you know that it’s a dungeon if you haven’t gone in?” Kang-Woo asked.

“It’s because of, uh... that cheeky human who kept calling you hyung.”

Echidna hugged Kang-Woo’s arm tightly, her eyes filled with hostility.

‘Tae-Hyun?’

Kim Si-Hun and Kim Tae-Hyun were the only ones who referred to Kang-Woo as hyung. Echidna was fairly close to Si-Hun, so her hostility was likely aimed at Tae-Hyun.

“Hmph, I hate that human. He keeps sticking to you and annoys you. You got even busier because of him,” Echidna blurted all sorts of complaints regarding Tae-Hyun.

Kang-Woo smiled bitterly and patted her head. “That’s enough of that.”

“Oh... sorry, Kang-Woo. Ahem. Anyway, that human said that he coincidentally found a dungeon after falling from a cliff, didn’t he?”

Kang-Woo nodded.

Echidna continued, “The Rift was similar to that human’s descriptions of what the one he entered looked like.”

“I see.”

Kang-Woo nodded in understanding. He had not been overly interested in the dungeon, but his eyes were now shining.

‘It’s highly likely that it’s no ordinary dungeon.’

It might have formed because of a Titan’s intervention, just like the dungeon where Tae-Hyun found the Eye of Nostrian.

‘No, even if a Titan has nothing to do with it, it might be a sign of an otherworldly invasion like with the Parasites.’

Whether it be the Titans or otherworldly beings, Kang-Woo couldn’t leave it be.

“Contact Balrog and Si-Hun.” Kang-Woo took his hand off Echidna’s head and stood up. He narrowed his eyes and continued, “We’ll set out first thing tomorrow.”

***

Whoosh.

Bone-chilling winds raged. Their breaths could be seen as steam.

“Dayum, I thought it’d be nothing but snow, but there’s quite a lot of grass too.” A red-haired woman looked around wide-eyed.

Kang-Woo turned to the woman and asked, “Why are you here?”

“What? I’m not allowed to be here?” Cha Yeon-Joo glared at him.

“No, I just heard that you’ve been super busy as the leader of the Church of Splendor.”

“I sure am, thanks to a certain someone.”

“What brings Your Excellency all the way here despite your hectic schedule?”

“You try being among those fanatics and see if you wouldn’t wanna get away from them.” Yeon-Joo shook her head in irritation. “For fuck’s sake, every single day it’s Ohmen, Ohmen, Ohmen... they never get tired of it...”

She glared at Kang-Woo in rage. Feeling guilty, Kang-Woo stopped pursuing the matter and averted his gaze from her. He turned to the party members he had gathered for the dungeon raid.

“I wonder if a divine artifact like the one Tae-Hyun obtained would appear here as well?” Si-Hun asked as he stared at the Gate entrance with a formless sword in hand.

“It might be those insects again,” said Balrog, who took off his pendant and returned to his demon form.

“If so, then I’ll kill them all.”

“Hmph, stand down, human. I will be the one to kill my king’s enemies.”

Balrog and Si-Hun were having a war of nerves against each other. Si-Hun, after glaring at Balrog for some time, shrugged after realizing something.

He mentioned, “Come to think of it, you haven’t awakened Deific Essence yet, have you?”

“Ngh...” Balrog flinched.

In actuality, Balrog had a way to fight toe to toe against beings with Deific Essence, but it was far too risky to use regularly. It was true that he had no way of facing those with Deific Essence in a normal battle.

“Huhu. It seems I’m the only one who can fight for hyung-nim,” stated Si-Hun.

“Shut up, human.”

Balrog frowned aggressively and walked past Si-Hun.

“What? Why are you so serious?”

Si-Hun was left slightly flustered by Balrog’s unexpectedly boring reaction and chased after him.

“I hope we’ll be able to find information about Nostrian here.” Lilith sighed.

She had been fairly bothered by the fact that information regarding Nostrian had been far more scarce than she had expected. Her expression was filled with fatigue.

“Are you okay, Lilith? I could cast a fatigue recovery spell on you...”

“Oh, I’m fine, Seol-Ah. I’m just a little stressed out.”

“But you never know. Come here.”

Han Seol-Ah grabbed Lilith’s hand and cast healing magic. Twelve wings pouring out light appeared from her back. The light flowed into Lilith and her fatigued expression regained energy.

“My, my, Seol-Ah. You’ve gotten even better at this! Healing is an understatement at this point!”

Lilith widened her eyes in surprise. As she had mentioned, Seol-Ah’s healing magic had gone beyond the confines of healing; it felt as if every single cell in Lilith’s body had been reborn anew. Forget being in perfect condition, she was brimming with energy that she had never experienced before.

‘This is...’

Lilith turned to Kang-Woo; such an extraordinary effect was better than Kang-Woo’s Authority of Enhancement. No, that was an understatement; it was on another level.

‘When did she become so...’

Lilith stared at Seol-Ah in disbelief.

Seol-Ah’s face reddened and she waved her hands. “N-No, you’re exaggerating. It’s just because my magic is specialized in healing.”

“Mm. I guess that could be true.”

Although Seol-Ah possessed a few offensive and binding skills, she would still be classified as a non-combatant. Leaving aside her Deific Essence, buffing would be a far better use of her abilities and time than attacking.

“That aside, a demon being healed by an angel’s power feels a little weird.”

Lilith smiled as she looked down at the white light lingering around her. Demonic beings like Undead and demons would usually take immense damage from sacred power, but Seol-Ah’s abilities, fortunately, seemed to ignore such racial differences.

“I should be the one feeling weird by the fact that you’re a demon, Lilith. You’re so beautiful...”

“Oh? Hohoho. Thank you, Seol-Ah.”

Lilith smiled alluringly and grabbed Seol-Ah’s hands.

“Right.” She brought her mouth close to Seol-Ah’s ear as her eyes shone. She whispered, “Come to think of it, Seol-Ah... You can use this spell on Master Kang-Woo as well, right?”

“Oh. Yes, of course.”

“Fufufu. I see.”

“Why would you ask such a... Oh!”

Seol-Ah, who had been tilting her head in confusion, widened her eyes in surprise. Lilith hummed as she smiled widely.

“With such an extraordinary spell... It would allow us all to enjoy our time together without issues.”

“Th-That’s a bit...”

“Oh, my. Are you uninterested?”

“...”

“Hoho. I’ll make sure to teach you all sorts of things.”

“N-No, it’s not that I’m not interested. It’s just... um... Even so, doing something like that is...”

“Fufu. There’s no need to worry.” Lilith whispered persuasively, “There’s nothing that feels better than doing something you know is wrong.”

“Ngh...”

Seol-Ah lowered her head, her face as red as a tomato as a demon whispered sweet temptations into her ear. Lilith found such a reaction cute and she embraced Seol-Ah as she giggled.

“What’s going on over there?”

Kang-Woo, who had been watching Lilith and Seol-Ah talking about something from a distance, flinched after feeling uneasy. He felt as if something very, very bad would happen to him soon.

‘Why am I feeling this w—’

“Hm! Kang-Woo! This way!”

Echidna pulled Kang-Woo, who was getting goosebumps for an unknown reason, by the hand before he could finish his thought. He turned to her and the other party members.

‘Yeon-Joo, Balrog, Si-Hun, Lilith, Echidna, and Darling make seven of us.’

It felt like a lot but it wasn’t a bad party composition.

‘Besides, I don’t need to hide my identity as desperately as I used to anymore.’

There was no need for him to hide his identity like his life depended on it not that Gaia found out his true identity. Although Yeon-Joo and Si-Hun still didn’t know, Kang-Woo was confident enough to be able to persuade them even if they found out.

He said to his scattered party members, “Everyone, focus up and get into formation.”

Si-Hun and Balrog were in front, Yeon-Joo, Kang-Woo, and Echidna were in the middle, and Lilith and Seol-Ah were in the rear.

‘Though I don’t really feel the need for it.’

Kang-Woo laughed in spite of himself as he looked at the formation. Although being in formation was the most effective, each of them was so powerful that Kang-Woo honestly did not see the need to be so orthodox.

‘I guess it’s better than being reckless.’

Being in formation was also effective in getting people into the right mindset besides being able to fight efficiently.

“Let’s go,” Kang-Woo said.

“Okay, hyung-nim.”

Kang-Woo and the party slowly entered the dungeon.

Riiing!

[You have entered the ‘Frozen Temple!’]

A blue message window popped up in front of them.

Whoosh—!

“Oh, f-fuck! It’s fucking freezing!”

A blizzard raged. Yeon-Joo hugged herself as she shivered intensely.

“Celestial Repayment,” Seol-Ah chanted as she raised her arms.

A translucent barrier enveloped the party members, making the freezing cold feel like a light breeze.

“Phew, thanks. I thought I was gonna freeze to death.” Yeon-Joo stood back up from her crouched position and looked around. “Where is this place...?”

There was a thirty-meter fortress wall made of ice in front of them. They could see the top of an ice palace beyond the wall.

“Hah, are we in Frozen?” Yeon-Joo chuckled, steam leaving her mouth.

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes as he looked around.

‘Something’s... off.’

He was sure that this was his first time here, but it felt familiar for some reason. Kang-Woo looked around to find the source of the familiarity, but could not find anything despite even using the Authority of the Beholder.

“Hyung-nim, the gate is this way.”

“Okay.”

Kang-Woo turned to Si-Hun after looking around. Si-Hun was pointing with his sword at a giant gate as well as what looked like two ice statues of knights twenty meters tall. They were so big that Balrog looked like a dwarf next to them.

Rumble—!

“Wh-What the hell?!”

The ice statues moved simultaneously once the party members got closer to the gate. Unlike Yeon-Joo, who stepped backward in shock, Kang-Woo calmly walked toward the ice statues.

“Sheesh, they’re so unnecessarily big.”

Kang-Woo looked up at the statues and whistled. He lightly raised his right arm and turned the Key of the Demonic Sea into an ax. He grabbed the ax and pulled his arm back.

[You who wish to tread into the Temple of Frost.]

[You must first prove you are worthy.]

The ice statue wielding a spear and the one wielding a sword spoke simultaneously. Their deep voices echoed within the party members’ heads.

Boom—!!

The earth shook as the two ice giants moved. Kang-Woo apathetically swung around his ax despite being in front of two overwhelmingly powerful-looking giants.

The ice giant with the spear stomped his foot and said, [We will first test your intelligence.]

“Intelligence?” Kang-Woo tilted his head in wonder.

[One of us will tell the truth.]

[And one of us will lie.]

“Oh! I know what this is!!”[1] Yeon-Joo clapped her hands together. “This is... uh... you’re supposed to ask—”

Whaaaaaaaam!!!

As she was mumbling with her finger on her forehead, the head of the ice giant with the sword shattered.

“What the fuck?!” Yeon-Joo cursed in shock and stared at the destroyed ice giant.

Kang-Woo had thrown his ax at the ice giant’s head. He turned to the ice giant with the spear and pointed at the shattered ice giant.

He asked, “Is he dead?”

[No.]

“Then you’re the liar.” Kang-Woo smiled in satisfaction and nodded.

Yeon-Joo stared at Kang-Woo dumbfoundedly. “What the...”

‘Wait, that’s illegal.’

1. This is a famous puzzle known as the liar and the truth-teller. There are two doors; one leads to freedom, and the other leads to death. There are also two people; one of them always lies, and the other always tells the truth. You don’t know which is which. You can only ask one question to either the liar or the truth-teller to earn your freedom. ☜