Chapter 217

“Hmm.”

The Dark Lord said it earlier, and now Helena too.

It seemed they were both referring to the integration of skills.

Indeed, it definitely felt like something had been surpassed.

Skills were integrated, and darkness-type skills could be triggered just by imagining them.

Should this be called transcendence?

That was the feeling.

‘I never thought this could happen in the game.’

Controlling darkness with just imagination.

It sounded easy at a glance, but in reality, it was not.

To imagine darkness, to make it writhe and move.

That was even harder than doing something new perfectly right from the start.

However—

The moment Seonghyun thought about the darkness he had made into a spear suddenly multiplying.

Its size grew huge.

Swoooosh!

Then Seonghyun imagined the spear dispersing like it split into multiple arrows.

The huge spear divided into hundreds of arrows.

Pasha-shashat!!

Finally, Seonghyun imagined those arrows shattering into pieces like glass shards.

Exactly as he imagined.

Pababapapak!!!

Tens of thousands of arrows shattered into countless fragments.

Watching that, Seonghyun smiled, clearly pleased.

Meanwhile, the vassals watching had their mouths wide open.

-Khahaha!!! As expected of the Lord!

-Truly amazing, my lord!

-Amazing!

-Ah, as expected of our master.

“Huh, huh. You have become the master of darkness.”

“…Even so, you learned it all at once. Truly incredible.”

Each of the vassals was a remarkable individual.

But they all could not help but marvel at Seonghyun.

They knew how difficult it was to freely control power by imagination alone.

So they could only admire him.

Even Serphina was admiring.

Helena laughed and shouted out playfully.

“Ahahaha! Our Seonghyun is amazing!”

Why Helena was boasting, no one knew.

Anyway.

Seeing the display, Seonghyun left a brief comment.

‘The freedom is incredible, but the mana consumption is no joke.’

Turning the spear into tens of thousands of glass shards consumed even more mana than commanding tens of thousands of death legion soldiers.

It was a rather inefficient ability.

So that was why the message said the old skills could still be used separately.

It maintains the existing mana consumption while ensuring freedom.

Since you can create the necessary darkness-type skills on the spot,

It’s actually an advantage.

If only the mana consumption weren’t so much, you could endlessly use darkness skills freely.

Is that why it’s said to have surpassed?

“So what exactly does ‘surpassed’ mean?”

At Seonghyun’s question, Helena thought for a moment.

She seemed okay with it and nodded.

“Hmm, simply put, it means you’ve become a true lord.”

“Hmm.”

Strangely, it was harder to understand.

But it seemed to mean transcendence.

To have become a true lord.

If that was the case—

“Can all lords become true lords?”

“Usually, yes. But Overlord is a bit different. Becoming a true lord is proof that you can become a transcendent.”

“Transcendent?”

When Seonghyun repeated the word,

A message appeared before his eyes.

[You have acquired the keyword, ‘Transcendent’.]

“Right. You, Seonghyun, can’t become a transcendent yet,

But it means you’ve built a foundation to become one. I can’t tell you more for now.”

“Hmm. I see.”

Helena suddenly looked troubled while speaking.

It seemed like the system was interfering.

It was unfortunate, but discovering this much was still a great gain.

Thinking of the parts of Helena’s memories he could read,

Memories about transcendent beings came to mind.

Those who have awakened the true power of a lord.

At his current level, Seonghyun had just barely crossed that boundary.

‘Since there’s something set in the system.’

He’d learn more in time.

There were limits to what he could see from Helena’s memories, so if he wanted to know more, he’d have to find out himself.

Anyway, he had gained an interesting skill.

The mana consumption was serious.

But if freedom was this unfettered,

‘The possibilities just expanded.’

Above all, since it could be combined with existing skills, he could do all sorts of things.

Seonghyun looked at the other two lord-type skills expectantly.

The Lord of Fear and the Lord of Blood.

Could he get them if he surpassed more than ten darkness-type skills?

It didn’t particularly seem likely.

But just in case, he kept thinking.

Sure enough, Helena spoke.

“The conditions to awaken true power are all different.”

“Hmm. The Lord of Fear’s skill effect also changed this time.”

“If the first level is unlocked and you advance to the second stage,

You might gain true power.

In the case of the darkness one,

It could be because you easily defeated the previous owner yourself.”

“I see.”

The conditions seemed more complicated than expected.

The Dark Lord must have been a special case.

That was a little disappointing.

But on the contrary, it was good.

If everything was easy to obtain, it might even kill the fun.

Seonghyun nodded, thinking that finding each thing one by one was more enjoyable.

Then, to check this new skill, he looked around.

‘Hmm.’

There were no monsters left in the Forest Shrouded in Darkness anymore.

Since the darkness had vanished, rather than being dark as its name implied, sunlight shone from above.

It would be hard to check anything more here.

‘Let’s get out.’

Helena’s diary was sealed, too.

His business in Wood Drum Village was done.

There was nothing left to see here.

It seemed best to leave.

After all, this was the basement of Hexia’s castle.

There were no more places to explore.

It wasn’t a good place to test skills, either.

He decided he would try his skills at a hunting ground outside.

With that in mind, Seonghyun sent all his vassals except Helena back to the Netherworld before heading out.

He retraced his steps past the playground where Narisha and Berto had been.

He arrived again at the door of Hexia’s basement.

He already knew from before—

It was a very large door.

Seonghyun paused, considering the door.

‘Hmm.’

The door had opened automatically when he first entered the basement.

But would it do so now?

He approached, but the door did not open.

Looking troubled, Seonghyun stared at the door.

Helena smiled and said,

“How about using Lord of Darkness to try opening it?”

“Ah.”

Since coming here was basically to obtain the Lord of Darkness,

Would proving its power open the door?

Helena’s words made sense.

Seonghyun immediately used Lord of Darkness.

Then,

Ssssssss.

From beneath Seonghyun’s feet, unreal darkness spread as if absorbing all light.

Darkness that appeared exactly as imagined.

Seonghyun freely wielded the darkness, extending it towards the door.

Part of the darkness was absorbed by the door.

The basement door, which he didn’t even notice opening, was now wide open.

“Thank you, Helena.”

“Heh heh heh, Seonghyun, if you had thought about it a little more, you would have figured it out.”

Helena looked quite pleased despite her humble words.

Seonghyun smiled slightly at Helena, then moved toward the door.

Like when he first entered the basement, his body was swallowed as if drawn in.

And where he appeared was, naturally, in front of the Hexia basement door.

But there was something different from before.

“...Hmm?”

Waiting by the door were not Karina, who wore a grotesquely distorted doll mask.

It was other black mages.

Actually, it didn’t matter who was there.

But since it was unexpected, he was about to let it slide when something came from outside the castle.

Or rather, it was a vibration.

Kugung.

Kwarrrrrrrrung.

The shaking and thunderous roar were clearly felt, despite the considerable distance to outside the castle.

What could be happening?

Seonghyun tilted his head in curiosity.

To him, the black mages who had said they would serve him bowed their heads and shouted.

“Karina is currently punishing invaders who entered Hexia.”

“There is no need for much concern.”

“...Punishing?”

There are enemies invading Hexia?

From Over Palace, the strongest organization in this world?

Seonghyun looked at the black mages with doubt.

The black mages, whether knowing or pretending not to, said no more after that.

Instead,

“Then shall we take you to Karina?”

Seonghyun thought they wouldn’t say no, so he looked at them.

“We shall guide you immediately.”

“We will summon Lady Karina.”

“We shall act according to the Lord’s will!”

They were going beyond expectations.

Summon her?

Wasn’t Karina busy?

Would it be alright to summon her when she was fighting enemies?

Seonghyun wondered.

But shortly after the black mages shouted this,

Something seemed distorted behind Seonghyun.

When he turned his head,

A white skeletal hand ripped through the space and something burst out.

Then Karina appeared, tossing off the grotesquely distorted doll mask, her dark blue hair flying as she bowed her head and shouted.

“You have awakened the power of darkness. Congratulations. Welcome back.”

“…You seem busy…”

Seonghyun asked awkwardly, surprised at how quickly she came.

Karina answered immediately.

“There is nothing busier than the call of the heir in this world.”

“...I see.”

“Congratulations again on awakening the power of darkness.”

“Hmm.”

A formidable opponent, as expected.

To figure it out so quickly.

Well, it was natural—she was someone who ruled such a vast castle.

More than that.

Who could the enemy Karina was facing be?

Seonghyun’s curiosity was piqued, and he asked.

“By the way, what kind of enemy invaded?”

Was there even a group that could be called an enemy to Over Palace?

If there was, it might be interesting.

As Seonghyun thought so,

Karina nodded as if it were nothing and answered immediately.

“Yes, it’s someone who can hardly be called an enemy. A contemporary hero recklessly came looking and was scared off.”

“...???”

Seonghyun felt like he had just heard something extremely difficult to understand.

He stood blankly for a moment, then suddenly opened his eyes wide.

“Hero?”

The hero he had to just leave alone last time had come back again?

Why this time?

A long furrow stretched through the forest near Hexia.

It wasn’t originally there—it had just formed moments ago.

And at the end of that furrow—

Kulkeok.

A young man coughed up blood while crawling out of the furrow and muttered.

“I-I thought I was going to die.”

It was none other than Luke, the hero of the era, who was still hardly deserving of the title.

He spat blood and glanced at his necklace.

“Huh.”

It was an incredible item that saved one’s life three times a day.

But it had faded and turned gray.

Meaning—

‘Did I almost die three times?’

Seeing this, Luke clicked his tongue in disbelief and laid flat on the ground.

He had not even invaded the castle, but just stepping into the city had brought such an attack.

He had been told to avoid colliding with Over Palace as much as possible.

It was true.

He had been lucky last time.

The envoys of Over Palace had waited and left without laying a hand.

Realizing how lucky he had been, Luke was about to consider what to do next.

Suddenly, a white skeletal hand tore through space and someone appeared.

Ttak, ttak.

Ttubak, ttubak.

The sound of heels and heavy boots.

Luke, alert at the sound, rose to his feet.

Then unexpectedly, a voice came.

“...Hindel?”

The young man immediately said the name of his predecessor hero.

But his eyes were not on him—they were looking elsewhere.

What was going on?