[You have entered the Shadow Dungeon.]
Ammut had his back against the wall, deep inside the pyramid at the Iron Body Technique training ground. He slowly opened his eyes. “An unwelcome guest…”
A dimensional door had opened suddenly, and an incredibly powerful presence entered the Shadow Dungeon. For some reason, however, the process did not seem unnatural in the least. Were they really an invader? They had opened the door as smoothly as if they were in their own home and walked right up to Ammut.
“Who are you?” Ammut said, baring his teeth at the man.
As soon as the massive crocodile man rose, an incredible presence weighed the visitor down. The earth rumbled from the pressure.
The man didn’t seem at all fazed by it, however. He instead looked over Ammut with curiosity and nodded. “Ammut… You look like you might be a beast humanoid.”
The odd air about the man gave Ammut pause. He wasn’t looking at the crocodile when he spoke. Instead, his eyes were above his head, like he could see something there.
“Don’t tell me…” Ammut belatedly realized that the dark energy coming from the man was oddly similar to Suho’s. His eyes gleamed. “Are you… the Monarch of Shadows?”
“No.I’m something similar, though.”
“What?”“You should be able to understand.”
“What are you talking about?” Ammut asked, frowning at the vague answer.
Despite this reaction, Jinwoo’s illusion form simply looked at the crocodile and smiled faintly. “As far as sorcery goes, I am similar to you.”
Ammut’s eyes widened.
The illusory Jinwoo seemed to have expected this reaction, since he calmly took in his surroundings. His gaze pierced through Kandiaru’s sorcery, which was engraved in the pyramid. Everywhere his eyes turned, the countless sorcery circuits embedded in the walls glimmered and released light.
“So you are…”
Jinwoo slowly spoke as he watched the results of the circuitry. “Yes.Just like you, I am a fake soul created by sorcery.There are nicer ways to put it, such as ‘avatar’ or ‘NPC,’ but they mean the same thing in the end.”
The sight of Ammut reminded Jinwoo of Baran, whom he’d encountered on the top floor of the Demon Castle dungeon. Baran had been the Monarch of White Flames and the King of Demons. He was the only Monarch that Jinwoo had met who hadn’t been alive—to be more precise, he had already been killed by Ashborn, the first Monarch of Shadows, before Jinwoo reached him. His soul had been recreated by Kandiaru and used for the leveling system. However, his power had not been anywhere close to his original strength, since they were no longer in the primordial darkness that was said to be the source of the Monarchs’ power.
“But I’m curious.How long have you been locked up in here?” Jinwoo asked.
Ammut grinned, noting the man’s black eyes that seemed to pierce right through him. “I don’t know. I can’t remember. The flow of time is impossible to know in this place.”
“Would you like me to kill you?”
“What? Hehe… That’s one of the funniest jokes I’ve heard in a while.” Ammut snickered self-deprecatingly. He then swung a massive arm, pulverizing the wall next to him. Bricks crumbled down around the spot, forming a massive hole. Interestingly enough, after a moment had passed, the hole repaired itself.
“See?” The crocodile’s eyes gazed right into Jinwoo’s. “Even if you really are the Monarch of Shadows, I can never die. This place is my grave, and it is also my body.”
“So the sorcery will automatically restore you even if you are destroyed,” Jinwoo said, nodding. The look in his eyes grew more subdued. Even if it might be impossible for the illusion at this moment, the real Jinwoo could easily deliver death to Ammut. He hadn’t really wanted to kill the crocodile, however, so he decided to leave it at that.
The priority was to find out more about this place. Jinwoo did not remember this pyramid. It was a legacy of Kandiaru, so to speak. There must have been many experiments in the course of the development of the leveling system, and this was clearly one of the intermediate results. Jinwoo wanted to know how this massive sorcery device had entered Suho’s shadow.
A system that recovers itself? Jinwoo was curious, but he soon realized the reason. “Don’t tell me that the leveling system, after it lost its purpose and became incomplete, is trying to recover itself?” the illusion muttered. The leveling system had lost its purpose long ago when its goal was achieved, but a new situation had arisen in the form of a new player—Suho—activating it. This had caused it to restore itself to the way it had been before.
Or, more accurately… “It’s changing itself to match the different circumstances, is it?” The goal of the leveling system was obviously to turn the player into the vessel of the Monarch of Shadows, but Suho could never become the Monarch, no matter what he did.
What is the system trying to do, then? Jinwoo wondered. “Don’t tell me it’s aiming to be nothing more than a job change quest?” It seemed the leveling system was upgrading itself in order to allow Suho to achieve a job change—the apparition grew sure of it. The existence of Ammut, an NPC, as well as the sorcery inscribed in these walls proved it.
“Huh!” Jinwoo soon burst out laughing at the realization. He was nervous about what job his son would end up with, but at the same time, he was looking forward to it. In that sense, he was no different from an ordinary parent fretting over the future of their child.
“ButI know for sure what I should be doing now.” The apparition grinned to himself, having concluded his thoughts.
The image’s body glitched uncertainly, like a weakening signal. Ammut, who’d been staring at him, snickered. “You’re better than me, at least. You can move freely outside the area of the spell, even if it’s only for a moment. I think you’ve hit your limit, though.”
The illusory Jinwoo looked down at his hands, which were flickering like a flame about to go out. “You’re right.I’ll have to get back now,” he muttered. He’d seen everything he’d come here to see. He gestured in the air, and a system message appeared.
[Do you want to exit the Shadow Dungeon?] (Y/N)
He turned away without hesitation, walking toward a shadow gate that appeared in front of him.
“Why did you come here?” Ammut asked.
“Why else?I was seeing if I could help out my son in some way.”
The crocodile growled in acknowledgment. “And have you found anything useful?”
“Yes.Very much so.”
“For example?”
Jinwoo’s apparition waved his hand through the air in front of him, and the sorcery circuits in the pyramid all began to glow at once. Ammut stood among them, as he always did.
Jinwoo told the crocodile, “Ammut, I’ve synced your soul, which is trapped here, with your real soul counterpart in the Sea of the Afterlife,just the way I am.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you can become a shadow soldier at any time, should you wish.”
Ammut’s eyes bulged at the implications.
Jinwoo smiled and continued, “You don’t want to rot in here forever, do you?Why don’t you just become my son’s soldier instead?But for that to be possible, Suho—”
“He’ll have to be strong enough to control me. Far stronger than he is now.” Ammut’s expression grew extremely eager all of a sudden. He balled his massive fists and banged them against each other, baring his teeth. “Leave it to me. I will make the daily quests twice—no, three times—as hard.”
“Do give him some potions while you’re at it.” The illusory Jinwoo grew a little nervous at the beast man’s explosive energy. If Suho could endure the training, however, and take Ammut as his shadow soldier, his army would be far stronger than it currently was.
“Oh, and one more thing…” Jinwoo snapped his fingers, and the sorcery he’d already tampered with activated.
There was a rumble, and the pyramid shook as if it was about to fall apart. Ammut looked confused. He was one with the pyramid, which meant he could tell that it was growing slowly in size.
At the sharp peak of the pyramid, a ray of darkness shot into the air. It pierced the dimensional wall and proceeded outward into space.
“What are you doing?!” Ammut cried.
“A safety measure, if you will.It has nothing to do with you, so don’t worry about it.” With that, Jinwoo turned and walked back the way he had come.
Ammut sighed as he looked at the spot Jinwoo had been standing, a confused look on his face. He’s just an apparition. How did he do something like that?
In his lengthy life, the crocodile had sometimes wondered if perhaps the war could have been won if he, the strongest of the monstrous humanoids, had joined the fight with the Monarch of Iron Body. “But I see nothing would have changed,” he muttered.
***
[You have exited the Shadow Dungeon.]
As the illusory Jinwoo returned to Suho’s side, the hunter was wrapping up the battle on his end. His powerful hands tore the Kraken’s tentacles apart and grabbed the true Jarvier, hiding within the illusion, by the throat.
“Ugh! But how…”
The powerful illusionist was nothing more than a shabby Skeleton. His soul, which was shaped like a light between the white ribs, glowed with an evil presence.
“This can’t be right…!” Jarvier gritted his teeth and glowered at Suho.
Kira, the shadow assassin, was freeing the hunters who had been spellbound by the apparitions. Jarvier’s mana, which had seemed infinite, was dwindling, and his illusions were slowly losing power.
Suho was hesitant to deliver the final blow, however, even though he had the enemy by the throat. The reason was simple.
“What are you doing?End it,” Jinwoo said.
“Father…” Suho’s eyes wavered as the apparition of his father came up to him.
Suho’s concern was touching, but Jinwoo reprimanded him, just like before. “Just kill him.Don’t worry about me.”
The hunter clamped his lips shut, then pierced Jarvier’s ribs, destroying the illusionist’s soul.
[Demonic spirit illusionist Jarvier has been defeated.]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[…]
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