Chapter 65 - Chapter 10: Breakthrough #3
Generally, being marked with hundreds or thousands had the connotation of ‘many.’
It wasn’t a skill that blocked a hundred types of poisons like the name implied. It was a skill that allowed the person to survive by increasing resistance to poisons.
In-gong took down the final man.
It was impossible for him to completely invalidate the poison using Hundred Poisons Resistance. His fingers were shaking and his breathing was becoming difficult.
"Cure Poison."
In-gong used the magic on himself. It was a recovery spell he had acquired when he used an absurd excuse on Felicia.
Unlike Fire Arrow and Heal, he didn’t have much opportunity to use Cure Poison, so it was only level one. However, it worked quite well. Maybe it was due to his high magic control.
In-gong’s breathing calmed down. He was curious about the identities of those who had attacked, but it was more important to secure the safety of the party.
“Green Wind.”
Once In-gong called, White Eagle flew through the air and landed on his left arm. It was at that moment.
“Kiaack!”
The man in front of In-gong rolled over and opened his mouth. An ugly sound emerged from him.
‘Master?’
The ground convulsed. No, it was the ceiling. In-gong realized that the roof was starting to fall.
Magic? Explosion? A sign to other enemies hiding? Or was it just a coincidence?
It didn’t matter the reason. In-gong turned his head and saw that the entrance was starting to fall. He reached out to Felicia and Delia who were lying on the ground.
“Green Wind!”
The meaning of his words was obvious. White Eagle flew away from In-gong’s left arm and spread out the white metal wings to increase the defense range. In that state, it flew towards Carack, Karma and Daphne and stayed above their heads.
Then In-gong ran. He held Felicia and Delia in one hand each and ran toward the hole leading to Thunderdoom Fortress. He threw the two people as hard as he could when he reached the end.
Felicia and Delia rolled like broken marionettes and disappeared into the hole. The height of the hole wasn’t too high, so In-gong turned around straight away. Stones had already started to drop all over the place.
‘Master!’
Green Wind shouted. A huge rock was shaking on top of White Eagle. If it fell off White Eagle, it would crush everyone at once.
‘Dragon Blood!’
In-gong activated the power hurriedly. As the distance compressed, the force at which he pushed off almost crushed the floor.
Concentration.
The change in the flow of time was relative. In-gong saw another falling rock and made another leap. He urgently gathered aura on his fist and made it explode!
Kwang!
The rock on top of White Eagle shattered completely. However, it wasn’t over. The rock broke into pieces and scattered randomly due to the explosion. Some of them fell toward Carack’s and Karma’s head, but White Eagle moved and blocked them properly.
As soon as he landed on the ground, In-gong reached out again. The entrance was already blocked by rocks. The shaking of the ceiling was increasing.
In-gong grabbed Karma and Daphne. He left Carack behind as he sped toward the hole.
‘Master!’
Green Wind called out to In-gong. There wasn’t time for another return trip.
In-gong didn’t stop. Rather than going back to save Carack, he threw Karma and Daphne into the hole and shouted while raising his left arm.
“Green Wind!”
It was a command to return. Green Wind was shocked as she flew above Carack but couldn’t resist. She shot across the rocks and returned to In-gong.
‘Master!’
In-gong ignored her call that was filled with disappointment and anger and turned toward the hole. Then he cried out once again,
“Carack!”
The King's Knights- Call!
Carack jumped across the space. He appeared in the air in front of In-gong and fell to the ground. The height of the hole was higher than he thought, but the shock wasn’t great because he had Carack as a cushion.
In-gong rolled again and raised his body. Then there was a huge roar like it had been waiting.
Kwakakakakakang!
He knew just by the sound. It wasn't a simple collapse. It was intense enough to completely collapse the connection between the mine and Thunderdoom Fortress.
In-gong breathed out roughly. The hole he just passed through was completely blocked. If he had been even a few seconds late, both In-gong and Carack would have lost their lives.
‘Master, are you okay?’
‘I'm sorry. I thought badly of you.’
In-gong nodded a few times before raising his left arm to White Eagle. He avoided the collapse but the poison still remained. He had to hurry and use first aid.
In-gong gathered the lighting devices of his party members to make the surroundings brighter. Carack was the heaviest and the most difficult one to move.
'I have to treat Felicia first.’
Felicia knew detoxification magic, so it was the most reasonable choice. In-gong used Cure Poison and removed Felicia’s mask. The air inside the fortress was murky but there were no problems with toxic gases.
“Once again, Cure Poison.”
The level of Cure Poison was low, so he had to use it more than once. In-gong used Cure Potion three times before pulling out potions from his inventory. They were all received as rewards for his merit level.
In-gong opened Felicia’s mouth and poured a stamina recovery potion inside. He didn’t wait for an effect and opened an awakening potion.
As the name suggested, it was a potion that restored the consciousness. It was best to wake up naturally, but he had no time to wait. In-gong apologized to Felicia before pouring the awakening potion in.
“Keook!”
Felicia’s eyes flashed open as she sat forward. It was so painful that she frowned and tried to hold back the nausea.
In-gong patted Felicia’s back and asked,
“Noona, are you okay? Do you feel strange?”
“Sh-utra?”
Felicia gazed at In-gong with half-hooded eyes. Due to the stimulus effect of the awakening potion, her mind wasn’t completely back.
However, In-gong couldn’t afford to let Felicia recover naturally. He quickly told Felicia who was still catching her breath.
“Everybody is poisoned. We have to hurry and treat them.”
Felicia looked at the people next to her and understood the situation. She stretched out and laughed.
"You are relentless.”
“Sorry.”
Felicia cast a magic spell on Carack who was closest, while In-gong headed toward Karma who was lying at the very end.
It was really a struggle. After using the detoxification magic and making their drink potions, In-gong confirmed that everyone was okay and collapsed on the ground where Felicia was already sitting.
Felicia lay down and watched Carack.
“Carack has a lot of injuries. There isn’t anything serious but... his abdomen isn’t good.”
In-gong looked at Carack. His body was scratched from the rocks and there was something on his abdomen that looked like a footprint.
In-gong was reminded of the moment he landed on top of Carack and nodded.
“Yes.”
‘Master?’
Green Wind asked with censure in her voice but In-gong once again didn’t reply.
Felicia raised her upper body forcefully and asked In-gong,
"What happened?”
She had no memories after falling due to the toxic gas. In-gong explained as briefly as possible.
Six monsters appeared after the group collapsed.
A massive cave-in had occurred when one of them screamed.
Felicia touched her forehead like it was sore.
In-gong lied that the reason for his resistance to the toxic gas was White Repair, but she ignored it because now wasn’t the time to consider it.
There was something else more important to Felicia.
“They are all dead?”
"Unfortunately."
In-gong hadn’t killed them because there was no time and he also wanted to interrogate them.
Yet they had died due to the cave-in. He didn’t know if the scream had caused the collapse or if it was just a signal to cause the collapse, but they were dead.
The last man had thrown away his life to kill In-gong’s party.
“Those guys killed General Kashubal?”
"It is most likely.
An intermediate general of the Demon King’s Palace wasn’t invincible. He was resistant to poison thanks to the strong body of a draconian but that only lasted to a certain extent.
'Moreover... It might not have been the same as us.’
Frankly speaking, the black unidentified people that appeared had been too weak. It was possible that other people had appeared to take care of General Kashubal.
This time, In-gong was the one who asked a question.
"Do you have any guesses on who they are?”
"There is no basis, so I can’t guess.”
The identities of those people. Why did they attack people from the Demon King’s Palace twice?
In-gong was reminded of Balkarova who he encountered on Enger Plains. Just like the six men, Balkarova was a monster that didn’t appear in Knight Saga.
What was going on? Was there a third power that hadn’t appeared in Knight Saga?
If they did exist, what benefits would they get from this? Interfering with attempts to excavate Thunderdoom Fortress? Or some other purpose?
Felicia sighed for a long time. She spoke to In-gong while her eyes remained closed.
“Shutra, you are in charge of this mission. I will follow your decision. We now have three paths.”
The road back was blocked and the group was now in the fortress. In-gong also came up with three ways.
"First of all, we just wait here.”
That wasn’t good. The outside didn’t know about the circumstances of In-gong’s party. Right now, there was a possibility of giving up due to the cave-in. Even if they pierced through, it would require some time.
“Secondly, go to the entrance of Thunderdoom Fortress.”
This was also dismissed.
The entrance to Thunderdoom Fortress had collapsed completely. Machines were required to get rid of the huge stacks of rocks in front of the entrance.
In Knight Saga, they had started digging at the entrance and entered Thunderdoom Fortress using it. However, In-gong’s party entered through this passage connected to the mine, so of course the entrance remained tightly sealed.
"Thirdly, pierce into the very centre of Thunderdoom Fortress and gain control of it.”
It was a dwarf fortress, so it was likely that a transfer formation existed. It was like the portal they had found in the dwarf cave in the Jishuka Mountains as well as the dungeon where the Thunder Light Anvil had been, which Felicia had discovered after the battle with the Red Lightning tribe was over.
‘Yes, definitely.’
Moreover, there would be more than one way to get out if they reached the center.
Although the method and timing was different, Thunderdoom Fortress was still Thunderdoom Fortress. In-gong said with a lively smile,
"As always, isn’t the third option the best?”
“Perhaps.”
There would be third parties, dungeon guardians and various traps inside the fortress, but even so, they couldn’t just sit here and wait for help to come.
“Then let’s prepare to move.”
If a crowd of people came to investigate the noise, they would most likely run to this place.
In-gong stood up and reached out to Felicia, who laughed and grabbed In-gong’s hand.
It was different from planned, but it was time to break into Thunderdoom Fortress.
&
"My stomach hurts.”
TL Note: Some people seem to have missed it or forgotten, but Hundred Poisons Resistance is actually a skill that showed up a while back. So it wasn’t something that he randomly acquired in the last chapter after being exposed to poison.