Chapter 468 - Central Bureau (10)

Mary’s body stiffened with fear. Ch-Ch-Ch! Shadows rose up from under her feet and swallowed her body whole. Even as she was being enveloped, Mary didn’t even think of resisting.

‘Who are these guys and why are they here?’ Yeon-woo narrowed his eyes as he sensed Mary sleeping quietly within the shadows. If there was a force that could mobilize people like Mary and Chemical, Yeon-woo would be in for a difficult challenge. ‘They’re not a part of the Sea of Time.’

The Sea of Time rarely appeared in public. Although this was also a quality that Chemical and Mary shared, he couldn’t find the official seal of the Sea of Time on their bodies.

The Sea of Time is more of a secret organization than a clan. They only operate within compartmentalized groups, and only the leaders know who the members are. They have one common goal and work to realize it.

Members take on a different identity in public. Most of them go around as hired mercenaries or pretend to be inhabitants of certain floors. Others even join merchant unions. Sometimes, they enter the other Large Clans as spies, which is why many clans work tirelessly to filter out possible infiltrators. They are everywhere yet nowhere—that’s what can be said about them.

But it’s not like it’s impossible to recognize someone from the Sea of Time. They have a mark somewhere on their bodies that helps them identify each other, and these marks can only be seen with a special device. The mark is called “time” or “time signal”.

If one could see the time signal seal, one would immediately identify Sea of Time members, which was why the seal could only be seen through a specific method known only to the clan. However, Yeonwoo had a method of finding the seals: Shadow Domain.

[Shadow Domain]

[Rank: Power]

[Proficiency: 72.6%]

[Description: A unique form of power created by the Throne of Death which utilizes the dark powers and properties.]

The user could manipulate shadows freely, and it was an easy power to handle because it worked well with other powers. It also contained a large void that could be used for storage of both people and objects. The caster could also extract information from anyone or anything inside the Shadow Domain.

Using this power, he discovered that neither Chemical nor Mary had Sea of Time seals on their bodies. It would be better if he could obtain detailed information, such as whether they were vampires or not, but it seemed that the function had not yet reached that stage. Regardless, Yeon-woo was able to exclude the Sea of Time as the cause of the prisoners’ rebellion. Then there was only one possible clan left: ‘The Daud Brethren.’

The Daud Brethren are like the Sea of Time, but in terms of characteristics, they are at the extreme opposite. They are little more than a terrorist organization. In some ways, they are crazier than the Blood Land or the Devil Army because these two clans are at least guided by their beliefs. The Daud Brethren don’t even have that. They derive pleasure from pure destruction and madness.

Like the Sea of Time, which was formed with a goal in mind, the Daud Brethren also had a goal when they were first formed. However, as the years passed, the goals faded and only destruction and madness remained. These became the sole purpose of all their deeds.

‘The crazy thing is that these guys won’t hesitate for a moment to destroy the Tower just to feed their desire for destruction and madness.’

Outside of Red Dragon, the Daud Brethren was probably the clan that had moved the most aggressively against Arthia. Yeon-woo recalled the words that Jeong-woo exchanged with the Black Prince, the leader of the Daud Brethren, from the diary.

“Pahaha! You’re asking something really funny. Why are we fighting? Because it’s fun!”

Fun. It meant that he fought only for pleasure, and he wanted Cha Jeong-woo, the sun floating high in the sky, to fall to the ground because the thought alone gave him incredible happiness. ‘He was similar to Agares.’

[Agares reads your thoughts and strongly disagrees!]

[Agares is upset, saying that it’s unpleasant to be compared to such a madman.]

[Agares frowns and urges you to change your mind.]

[Agares is irritated.]

[Agares encourages you to change your mind.]

[Agares seeks to continue a discussion on this topic.]

[Agares…]

…

[Agares’ messages have been temporarily blocked with the player’s authorization.]

[The Central Bureau warns Agares’ regarding his excessive messaging.]

[A certain person whose messages are temporarily blocked complains violently.]

[The Bureau ignores a certain person’s complaints.]

[The demons of <L’Infernal> ignore a certain person whose messages are temporarily blocked.]

[Baal sticks out his tongue as he sees a certain person whose messages are temporarily blocked.]

‘Well, Agares is probably better than the Black Prince.’ Even though Agares was obsessed with his brother, Agares did provide Jeong-woo some help. Furthermore, Yeon-woo was able to develop his magic powers thanks to Agares’ gifts. Yeon-woo was hoping that Agares’ powers would be a great help this time as well.

[A certain person whose messages are temporarily blocked nods happily.]

[The complaint has been withdrawn.]

[The demons of <L’Infernal> shake their heads.]

[Baal sighs deeply.]

On the other hand, the Black Prince focused solely on tearing off Jeong-woo’s wings. As soon as his younger brother fell, Black Prince disappeared immediately again. Due to this, Yeon-woo decided to eradicate the Daud Brethren, just as he did with the Blood Land and the Elohim. However, the Daud Brethren’s movements were so secretive that it was difficult for Yeon-woo to find them, and he’d postponed his plans.

‘So, I’ve stepped on their tail in a place like this.’

In addition, the Daud Brethren knew how to use Blood-Tear Stones, something which he did not even know about until now. They used vampires and their unique vampiric skills to drain the energy contained in the Blood-Tear Stones. The idea seemed simple, but it was only possible with a good understanding of the Blood-Tear Stones. The Daud Brethren must have been aware of the properties of Blood-Tear Stones and the secret hidden in the blood.

‘Secrets related to the otherworld gods… The Blood-Tear Stones and Blood Essence originate from the blood they shed. They coagulated and turned into these stones and essence. While the Blood-Tear Stones are bits and pieces of this coagulated blood, the Blood Essence is the pure form that contains the Divine Factors.’ The main questions Yeon-woo had were why the substance remained in the form of mineral veins within the cave and why there was so much. Also, how did the Central Bureau find this place?

The otherworld gods were outside beings who were not subject to the Tower’s rules, and even though this was an unexplored area, it was still within the limits of the Tower. It was a place where traces of the otherworld gods should not be present. Even the Crawling Chaos was only able to project its intentions within the Tower. ‘Have there been wars with otherworld gods or demons in the past? Or…’ Yeon-woo’s thoughts were interrupted as the cave continued to quake. He realized that the tunnel, which was wide enough to accommodate dozens of people walking abreast of each other, was glowing bright red. He also noticed that the tunnel didn’t have any sharp turns and looked like a passage through which something had flowed through violently.

‘Wait.’ A theory popped into Yeon-woo’s mind, but he got goosebumps just thinking about it. He shook his head. If he was right, then… ‘The otherworld gods are loftier entities than I can imagine.’

If his theory was correct, it would become harder to guess the identity of the Black King, whom the Crawling Chaos was searching for. However, Yeonwoo left these thoughts behind and spread his Sky Wings while shaking his head. He’d managed to kidnap Chemical and Mary, two of his suspects, and additionally: 「I’ve completed your orders, Master.”」

「I locked him up in the shadow.」

Hanryeong and Shanon sent messages confirming that they had completed their missions. This meant that Ohn and Gylfi had also been kidnapped. Now, all Yeon-woo had to do was find a secluded space that the Central Bureau administrators would not be able to find and summon Lana to search for the Vampiric Lord.

All of a sudden, Yeonwoo straightened his back. ‘Already?’ Yeon-woo thought it would take them a little longer to find him because of the general confusion and chaos.

“Shadow King!” Bam! Tarnek appeared, the ground cracking beneath him. His aura was so bloodthirsty that the rocks falling down from the ceiling turned into powder and scattered even before they hit the ground.

After his entrance, many others with the same bloodthirsty aura, appeared. It was the Special Police Unit, the most formidable frontline force of the Central Bureau. Only combat-type high rankers who had risen high within the Tower could join.

“You’ve decided to act just like the Martial King, huh? And in my area, not once, but twice! Do I look like a pushover to you? How dare you!”

‘It looks like he’s pretty angry.’

Tarnek exuded a power and aura comparable to those of Agares. Yeonwoo felt his chest cramp, and he spread his Sky Wings to withstand the pressure. However, he could not fight one-on-one with Tarnek for long at his current power level. In fact, it was ridiculous to even think about taking on the Special Police Unit. Even if one was lucky enough to beat a member, one would not be able to avoid the system sanctions and the Bureau’s pursuit unless one left the Tower for good.

‘I’ll have to get out of here.’ If there was anything fortunate about the situation, it was that the Bureau’s forces could not easily leave their respective zones. Yeon-woo spread his Sky Wings and moved. At that moment, Tarnek’s magic power lashed out like a whip.

Deep grooves appeared in the spot that Yeon-woo had just vacated. The rate of the cave’s collapse began to speed up, causing the area to shake even more violently. On top of that, Tarnek was pointing his horns forward as if he were about to charge.

Just approaching him would leave you overwhelmed by its sheer pressure until you imploded into a pool of blood. In front of this great show of force, Yeon-woo looked kind of pitiful. Even if he used Sky Wings to their maximum, Yeon-woo did not know if he could withstand this level of force.

“Master, I’m right here!” Yeon-woo screamed urgently, like a man who found an oasis in the dry desert. He stared at a spot behind Tarnek.

“What?” Tarnek stopped running forward and suddenly turned his head back in surprise, believing that the Martial King appeared. The Martial King was the only person who had ever defeated him, and Tarnek was also sure that some conspiracy related to the Martial King was involved in Yeon-woo’s presence in the cave. Naturally, Tarnek reacted immediately.

However, the Martial King was not there, only bits of rock falling from the ceiling and brisk, cool wind. Tarnek belatedly realized that he had been deceived and looked back with a deeper frown as if asking what this stupid boy was doing. He then twitched with surprise to see magic clusters with the properties of condensed qi and sword energy orbiting around Yeon-woo.

They looked like fireflies flashing their lights and dancing, but their appearance was enough to leave Tarnek and the other special force members speechless. Only half a day had passed since Yeon-woo had destroyed the Heavy Mountains with just six clusters, closing down an entire stage. However, Yeon-woo had pulled out a hundred or so of these crazy magic spheres. Was he thinking of using them all in this tunnel?

All members of the Special Police Unit felt their backs cool as a chill ran up their spine. Their suspicions had been proven true: the Shadow King was an even bigger lunatic than his teacher, the Martial King!

“This crazy bas—” Tarnek screamed as he realized what Yeon-woo was planning to do.

“Explode.” Hundreds of magic spheres burst with light at the same time. Just before his vision was obscured by the blinding light, Tarnek sensed that Yeonwoo was laughing evilly.

「This guy’s personality! It’s! Going! To! Explode!」 Shanon gleefully cried out.

The heat expanded as it filled the Cave of Yaanek. The screams and surprised gasps were quickly buried and silenced.

Gu-Oh! Just before taking the portal to leave the cave, Yeonwoo seemed to hear a cry of agony as if the thing that formed the cave were struggling in pain.