Chapter 141 – Meteor

The location David had told us about, where the gold bars of the Bank of Korea were hidden, was on the third basement level of the National Assembly building.

It was a place not marked on any maps or blueprints.

The path to get there was more treacherous than expected.

The interior of the building, now transformed into a dungeon, had changed significantly.

Walls and pillars leaned in strange directions, and the entrance to the underground was not where we had anticipated.

And then, there were the undead blocking our way.

Zombies and skeletons dressed in suits.

The undead stood in our way in the lobby and the main assembly hall.

The undead wandering the assembly hall emitted a thick, dark aura, as befitting guardians of the dungeon.

Yerim frowned as she saw the approaching undead.

“They’re the members of the National Assembly I saw on TV. Seeing how their bodies are filled with dark energy even after death, they must not have been good people.”

That was a mistaken thought.

Fortunately for the zombie members of the National Assembly, the amount of dark energy they emitted had no relation to their disposition in life.

In fact, just as knights became death knights and mages became liches, the undead emitted thicker dark energy the higher their mana affinity had been in life.

And the more exceptional they had been in life, the stronger they became as undead.

Like the sniper zombie that had attacked us.

Well, if they were members of the National Assembly representing the people, they must have had some exceptional qualities.

Enough for the previous party to avoid them.

But Yerim didn’t seem to care about that truth.

“Purify the evil!”

She chanted a prayer that didn’t sound like a prayer and unleashed holy energy toward the undead.

Kyaaaak!

The undead were engulfed in flames, and I swung my sword to put the burning zombie members of the National Assembly to rest.

Zahina used chairs to block the zombies’ movement, Yerim dispelled the dark energy with holy power, and I finished off the undead.

They were quite strong zombies, but with the party working together, we managed to put all the undead in the assembly hall to rest.

After dealing with the undead, we looked around the assembly hall.

Now, only we and the zombies we had dealt with remained in the hall.

“The party that came in before us isn’t here.”

“They must have gone further down.”

The party that hadn’t returned wasn’t here. I nodded at Yerim’s words, and we continued our search.

We checked the small meeting rooms attached to the main assembly hall, the library, the air conditioning room, and finally the underground machine room.

The expedition party that had entered the National Assembly building before us was found in the machine room we checked last.

In the large machine room where all the machines had stopped, there were the corpses of the expedition party and one undead.

A corpse golem made from the collected bodies.

Judging by the people lying around, it seemed the undead, the corpse golem, had killed them.

This undead was the smallest corpse golem I had ever seen.

Other corpse golems were made by combining dozens of bodies, but this one seemed to be made from about six people.

Two arms, two legs, one torso, and one head.

It wasn’t some kind of toy…

Making people into a toy-like combination made it even more grotesque than other corpse golems.

‘Is it a speed type?’

It seemed to be a corpse golem designed to move easily in tight spaces.

I raised my sword and quickly approached.

In such a narrow space, striking first was advantageous.

In an instant, I reached the corpse golem and swung my sword, slashing its body.

The undead responsible for the arm fell off, and the neck of the undead responsible for the leg was severed.

It was indeed a speed type.

Other corpse golems would have struggled to react to such an attack, but this one tried to attack me even as its limbs were severed.

Instead of attacking me with its remaining arm, the corpse golem opened its mouth wide.

The belly of the corpse responsible for the face split open, and a green mist spewed out.

‘Poison?’

It was an unexpected attack.

I thought it was just fast, but it spewed poison.

Now I understood why the previous party had fallen here.

There was no priest among the bodies lying on the floor.

Without a priest, dealing with poison wasn’t easy.

Holy water dispelled dark energy, and potions healed wounds, but they weren’t effective against poison.

Moreover, different poisons required different antidotes, and undead rarely used poison, so it made sense they had been defeated.

But my party had a priest.

I didn’t retreat and instead charged into the green mist.

Feeling a stinging sensation in my body and eyes, I swung my sword in the mist.

Slash.

The remaining body was cut apart, and the corpse golem turned into a pile of bodies.

“Are you okay? I’ll heal you right away.”

Seeing me charge into the green mist, Zahina and Yerim rushed over.

Zahina created a gust of wind to blow away the poison mist, and Yerim tried to heal me.

“What were you thinking, charging in like that? Just wait a moment. I’ll heal you right… Huh?”

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Seeing Yerim’s surprised expression, my face also stiffened.

Had I been too reckless?

I thought the short time inside meant I hadn’t been poisoned much.

But it seemed I had been too reckless.

However, Yerim’s surprise wasn’t for the reason I thought.

“You’re not poisoned?”

Now that I thought about it, only my eyes and skin had stung, and there was no discoloration or pain anywhere.

It was strange.

Clearly, it was poison that could kill mages and knights.

Had I moved too quickly?

I shrugged.

I didn’t know the reason, but it was a relief I wasn’t poisoned.

After confirming with Yerim that I was fine, I looked around the machine room.

The bodies of the previous party and the pile of corpse golems were scattered around the machine room.

Apart from the stopped machines and the bodies, there was nothing in the machine room.

No stairs were visible, and there were no other doors besides the one we had entered.

However, this was the second basement level, and David had said the gold vault was on the third basement level.

I rolled on the floor.

Thud, thud.

As expected, there was space below.

I raised my sword and slashed the floor.

Flash.

A golden light erupted from the cracked floor.

We returned to the surface more than 20 minutes later.

As David had said, the secret vault in the basement of the National Assembly building was filled with gold bars.

Enough to fill two half-empty spatial expansion bags we had brought from the capital.

With this much gold, we could buy a manor or a small estate, if not a large territory.

With joyful hearts, we went back up and entered the main assembly hall, where we found unexpected people.

All the expedition forces that had come to Yeouido were gathered in the assembly hall.

As we entered, the U.S. military officer at the door greeted us warmly.

“Welcome. You’ve worked hard. You managed to finish just in time.”

“What’s going on? Why is everyone here?”

I asked the officer, and he answered my question.

“Everyone is evacuating.”

“Evacuating?”

“We received word from the fleet. The hero’s party failed to defeat the Demon King.”

“Don’t tell me the hero was defeated?”

“No, that’s not it. He seems to be fine for now. But…”

“Is the situation dangerous?”

“The second operation is underway. It will be difficult for anyone to survive. The hero, the Demon King, everyone.”

At his words, I rushed outside.

Looking up at the sky, I saw lines being drawn in the northern sky.

There weren’t just one or two lines.

Lines were being drawn from the western sea and from space.

Dozens of lines were converging toward the north.

Clearly, the point where those lines converged was Pyongyang, where the Demon King was.

“Are those missiles…?”

The U.S. soldier who followed me out answered.

“ICBMs, intercontinental ballistic missiles launched from the fleet and the mainland. All of them are armed with nuclear warheads.

The distance is far, but if you stay outside, you might be exposed to radiation. You need to go inside.”

He left those words and ran back inside.

Instead of following him, I continued to watch the lines converging in one place.

* * *

Even after Seung-ah, the hero, and the Saintess jumped into the hole, the Demon King did not pursue them.

Instead, he looked up at the sky.

Though nothing was visible in the sky yet, the Demon King knew.

Something was flying toward this place from far away.

Instead of chasing the hero, the Demon King levitated into the air.

Rising higher and higher, the Demon King.

In an instant, the Demon King reached the top of the Ryugyong Hotel.

By the time the Demon King reached the top of the hotel, the lines began to appear one by one.

Lines approaching from the western sea and lines descending from above, from space.

All of them were missiles, ballistic missiles.

The Demon King was not surprised at all, even though he knew the weapons of this world were coming.

He already knew that what was flying toward him were missiles, and that those missiles carried the terrifying bombs known as atomic bombs.

Instead of watching the terrifying bombs fall, the Demon King raised his hand.

Whoooosh.

The dark energy that had filled the area gathered in the Demon King’s hand as he floated above the Ryugyong Hotel.

His hands filled with dark energy.

The Demon King raised his hands, now filled with dark energy.

A black pattern appeared in the air.

Above the Ryugyong Hotel, and above the towers that had recently appeared around it.

The patterns that appeared were all absorbed into the pattern above the Ryugyong Hotel, and the magic circle, having absorbed the other patterns, grew to an enormous size, covering the entire area.

Like a giant shield.

The massive magic circle, now one, covered part of the city, and the Demon King stood at its center, looking up at the sky.

The Demon King seemed to have known and prepared for all of this.

That the hero would come, that nuclear missiles would fly toward him.

The missiles began to appear.

And then, a flash.

Blink!

Bright light covered the city several times.

But there was no sound of explosions following the light, no shockwave.

Instead, as the light faded, the magic circle created by the Demon King began to glow brighter and brighter.

As if the magic circle was absorbing the nuclear explosions, it grew larger and brighter.

And after all the missiles had turned into light, the Demon King, floating above the massive magic circle, raised both hands.

At the Demon King’s gesture, the magic circle shot upward.

From directly above the Demon King, into the sky, and from the sky into space.

Watching the magic circle rise until it looked like a dot, the Demon King spoke.

“Thank you for helping me cast this spell. I should return the favor.”

As the Demon King, Mira, moved his mouth, the magic circle, now invisible, shattered.

Fragments of the magic circle spread in all directions.

At the same time, the Demon King’s magic took effect.

The satellites orbiting the Earth began to fall.

Toward the United States, toward the U.S. fleet in the western sea.

The artificial satellites, now imbued with mana, ignored the heat of reentry and plummeted toward the targets set by the Demon King.

‘Meteor.’

It was the first high-level magic of the Demon King to appear in this world.