Swish.
While Sinhyeok hesitated, someone brushed past his collar and leaped out first.
“Mister! What are you doing!”
Baek Arin dashed out without a shred of hesitation.
“Hyung…?”
Sinhyeok was ashamed of his momentary hesitation.
He immediately grabbed Ichan by the scruff of his neck and ran.
“Agh! Why me!”
“Teacher, please go first!”
Namgung Jincheon shouted as he watched the three charging in without hesitation.
“That is not the end of it! I say, come back at once!”
Sinhyeok ignored the highly realistic shout coming from behind.
“Baek Arin! Do you have a plan!?”
Arin shouted with a bright grin.
“Of course not! Mister, take responsibility!”
“That.”
Sinhyeok confirmed the horde approaching rapidly.
‘Those rock chunks.’
A horde of gargoyles was approaching.
Sinhyeok immediately assessed the terrain’s advantages.
‘None. The castle is meaningless; I need to pull back for now.’
He had to take a step back.
There was no way to hold out.
“Arin! Buy some time! We need to run for now!”
“Yes!”
“Ichan, regroup over there too!”
Sinhyeok quickly regrouped at the castle.
The old knight was surprised to see the three running over.
“No! Don’t come! Don’t come!”
The old knight shouted out of concern for the promising youths.
But a part of him was grateful. And thankful.
“No, we’re here!”
At the resounding shout, the people inside the castle smiled.
Arin channeled holy power through her entire body, stepped on the castle wall, and lifted into the air.
“Get lost!”
KWA-GA-GA-GA!!!
She cleaved a gargoyle in one blow and landed on the castle wall.
Thud.
“Come at me.”
Then, Ichan’s eyes gleamed.
In an instant, he drew forth specters and tormented the gargoyles.
“I’ll torment you to your heart’s content.”
Ichan stared at them with a wicked grin.
Sinhyeok shouted urgently to the old knight.
“Get out of the castle at once! It’s hard to hold out!”
“No! There is a shelter here underground!”
At those words, Sinhyeok’s eyes went wide.
‘We can exploit the advantages of defense.’
He scanned the surroundings.
‘Block everything except the entrance.’
Having organized his thoughts, Sinhyeok scaled the wall.
He looked at the old knight and made an urgent request.
“Evacuate everyone underground. Quickly.”
The old knight was bewildered by Sinhyeok’s words.
“Wh-what are you planning to do?”
“We’re going to defend the castle. By hiding in the safest way possible.”
The old knight was puzzled. He couldn’t easily understand, but remembering the sight of him performing miraculous feats, he moved for now.
He urgently shouted to a resident who was grabbing a bow.
“Hide quickly! Go down below!”
At those words, the residents hurriedly moved toward the underground shelter.
Sinhyeok grabbed the bow next to him.
He touched the arrowhead and simply engraved a rune.
‘Shockwave.’
Then he fired it upward with a swish.
It grazed past the gargoyles, but the engraved rune properly took effect.
BOOM!
Several gargoyles dropped with thuds.
‘Did everyone get in?’
Sinhyeok checked in a hurry.
Seeing that most of the people had headed underground, he shouted to Arin and Ichan.
“Come back! We’re going down too!”
“Yeah!”
“Okay!”
As they tried to jump down from the castle wall, their surroundings darkened.
A chill ran down their spines as a massive shadow was cast.
Sinhyeok turned his head at the terrifying pressure emanating from its sheer size.
“Damn it….”
A gargoyle of overwhelming size was approaching.
The Gargoyle Queen slowly reached out her hand.
‘I-it’s too late!’
Bracing himself to take a hit and thinking of ways to make it hurt less, he heard another impact.
“Haaaa!”
KWAANG!
A fierce impact rang out as Namgung Jincheon, carrying Sohye on his back, slammed his sword into the Gargoyle Queen.
“Young friend!”
Sinhyeok welcomed him with a face both bewildered and glad.
“Over here! Hurry!”
Namgung Jincheon pushed the Gargoyle Queen back and followed Sinhyeok down.
“Where?!”
At that moment, the old mage Malakai was waving his hand from the castle.
“Over here!”
Everyone ran toward him upon seeing him.
Sinhyeok hurriedly checked with Malakai.
“Where do we go down?”
“Here! You come quickly too!”
Upon entering the castle, there were stairs leading underground.
Sinhyeok marked the entrance and turned around.
The Gargoyle Queen, who was rising up, and the gargoyle horde. And afar, a robed figure floating loftily in the sky was briefly visible.
‘A skeleton…?’
The face couldn’t be seen clearly.
However, the protruding hands, feet, and neck were nothing but bone.
‘A Lich?’
Setting aside the question for now, he stretched his hand out.
Sinhyeok looked at the gargoyle right at his nose and grinned.
“Transmute.”
RUMBLE…
All the castle walls collapsed and poured down.
At the same time, the castle itself came flowing down.
Sinhyeok fled toward the stairs and immediately solidified it.
CRASH!
Sinhyeok, who had thrown himself onto the stairs, looked up at the hardened stone above him.
A gargoyle was stuck there, blinking its eyes at Sinhyeok.
“Ugh. My back.”
Sinhyeok struck the gargoyle’s head nervously.
“Kreeeek!”
“Drop dead.”
He brought his hand down hard, truly meaning for it to die.
Thwack.
Its head snapped, and all reaction vanished.
After confirming it was dead, he went down the stairs.
It was somewhat dark below.
He grabbed the torch beside the stairs, enchanted its end, and ignited a flame.
“Is everyone alright?”
The old knight laughed dryly, holding his waist.
“We’re fine. Everyone’s in one piece.”
Sinhyeok looked around the underground space and asked.
“Does it connect to another space?”
The old knight shook his head.
“It’s merely a cellar for storing wine and the like.”
Namgung Jincheon put Sohye down and looked at Sinhyeok.
“Young friend. Do you have a plan?”
Sinhyeok was especially glad that the most unexpected person was here.
“You shouted like you weren’t going to come.”
“Tch. Guess I got properly hooked.”
At those words, Arin and Ichan smiled quietly.
Sohye approached Baek Arin and nestled into her warmly.
“Unnie, I missed you.”
Baek Arin hugged Sohye and nodded along.
“Me too~”
Sinhyeok stared at the thumping ceiling above and cast Mapping to check the situation.
As mana crystallized in his body and clinked as it fell, Namgung Jincheon watched with a fascinated expression.
“Young friend, might that be an inner core?”
“Probably… not.”
The situation above entered his head vividly.
Gargoyles with vacant expressions were everywhere.
Above them remained the gargoyles and that robed man he had seen earlier.
“Mister. Like last time?”
Baek Arin looked at Sinhyeok while holding Sohye.
“That’s the plan. Ichan, you have enough specters? You spat out quite a few earlier.”
Ichan made a sullen face.
“Stop tormenting me.”
“Tormenting? It’s called recycling.”
At that, Ichan grimaced.
“Poor things.”
“Now, now, everyone get ready—”
Sinhyeok began by checking the usable materials.
‘The stones piled up above and the dirt underground, basically.’
Ignoring the booming impacts with effort, Sinhyeok touched the underground stone wall.
He sent a faint stream of mana through to check beyond.
Confirming the returning pulse, Sinhyeok verified that the underground dirt was quite solid.
‘Is iron ore mixed in?’
He immediately asked the old knight.
“Sir Knight. Is iron mixed in down here?”
“Most likely. Our Pergana was originally famous for iron, after all.”
‘Plenty of iron and dirt!’
Sinhyeok checked the underground while envisioning various traps and threats in his head.
‘Suck them in one by one like a sand trap?’
Grab the gargoyles one by one and throw them into the pre-set trap areas.
And if we down below land the final blow at the end.
“Not bad.”
Sinhyeok immediately approached the old knight and explained.
The old knight nodded with a smile upon hearing the explanation.
They brought the mage in as well, picking up the pace even more.
Having finished the plan, Sinhyeok smiled and asked the two.
“I will make a long passage. I ask that you two enchant and inspect the traps.”
“Don’t you worry!”
Sinhyeok finished preparing and looked at Arin, who was waiting in the corner.
‘That bonehead is bothering me.’
“Arin, just in case, prepare ‘that.’ There’s a bonehead up there.”
At those words, Arin set Sohye down for a moment.
“Got it. I should prepare a few things too.”
Sohye tilted her head and poked her unnie.
“Unnie. What are you going to do?”
Baek Arin smiled and tapped Sohye’s cheek.
The squishy cheek fat was quite addictive.
“Pray. Despite appearances, your unnie is a holy knight.”
“Wow! I know that! When you pray, the demon-smiting energy comes out like whoaaa!”
Baek Arin nodded at the breathtaking explanation.
“Yep, that’s the one.”
Still, she composed herself properly and even knelt down.
She closed her eyes tightly and prayed to Him for a holy power loan.
‘Father. I’m in a hurry right now! Please hear me!’
* * *
“To think they buried themselves alive.”
The Lich was bewildered by the absurd behavior of going underground and letting the earth cover them.
After surveying the surroundings, he confirmed there were no connected passages either.
“What are they trying to do?”
The gargoyles under his command were diligently breaking the wide, thick stone slab.
However, it was not easy because it was so thick.
“Time is plentiful anyway. I shall wait.”
The Lich was not in a hurry.
Thinking of them as prey already in his hands, he waited comfortably.
“They will have to crawl out eventually.”
As he was waiting, the wide stone slab shook.
“Hm?”
Holes formed here and there in the slab, and a few slipped down.
And then closed again.
“Ha! What childish pranks!”
Enraged, he tried to cast magic but flinched.
Suddenly, holes opened and iron nets flew in.
Dozens of gargoyles were caught and crashed to the ground.
“…….”
Having lost a considerable number of gargoyles to such childish pranks, the Lich was at a loss for words.
Crack.
Grinding his teeth, he gave an order to all the gargoyles.
“Break everything.”
At his command, all the gargoyles including the Queen set to work.
The moment they tried to leap into the holes, more holes opened again.
“Hahaha! Yes, struggle all you want! Crawl all the way in!”
The Lich’s anger flared as the childish tricks repeated.
Most of the small gargoyles crawled into the holes.
“Go and kill them!”
But all was silent.
He should have heard screams to feel at ease, but no sound whatsoever could be heard.
The Gargoyle Queen, unable to enter due to her size, looked at the Lich.
She stared at the stone slab in unspeakable absurdity.
“Very well. I shall step in myself. I’ll make sure you die dried up in there.”
Thick, murky green smoke rose smoldering from his eye sockets.
It was rapidly discharged from his entire body and covered the surroundings.
The Lich controlled the poisonous smoke and directed it beneath the stone slab.
He muttered, imagining terrible screams and shrieks.
“You won’t be able to endure without coming out. Beg for your lives!”
The poisonous smoke slowly seeped underground.
And a moment later, the Lich who had been expecting screams let out a shriek in their stead.
“Kuaaaack! Damnable light!”
Holy light flowed out from underground.
Annoyed by the irritation of holy power, the Lich exploded in rage and prepared a high-tier spell.
“Enough! I’ll blow you all away!”
Around the Lich, a magic circle made of dark mana unfolded complexly and compressed.
“Be crushed to death in there. Dark Strike.”
The destructive power of pure dark mana was compressed to high density, its mass increased, and its force amplified.
Sucking in the surrounding atmosphere, it terrifyingly fell from the air.
Its appearance was like a black meteor falling completely to the ground.
“Die!!!”
The Lich cackled madly, expecting the massive explosion and shockwave to come.
“Hahaha!”
But things flowed differently from his thoughts.
The stone slab undulated.
It stretched out sharply, precisely toward the Lich.
“Huh?”
The off-guard Lich’s skeletal body was pierced just like that.
“Kuaaaaa!”