Chapter 107: Into the Castle of the Dead

We entered the Rank 8 Gate, the Castle of the Dead.  

The scent of death was immediately palpable.  

Black heat haze filled the air so thickly that it was impossible to tell if it was day or night.  

“Everyone, battle formation!”  

“Battle formation!”  

The guild members who entered after me began to assume battle readiness.  

In fact, I insisted on going in first.  

It wasn’t because I wanted any media attention or anything like that.  

It was simply because I was the safest among us.  

Since this was an rank 8 Gate, who knew what could happen the moment we stepped inside?  

If someone skilled like Park Sang-hyun entered first and got ambushed, the combat strength of the Vulcanus Guild would drop drastically.  

I thought it better to go in first myself, using Guild master 1’s body to check the situation.  

That’s why I pushed ahead.  

‘Well, it doesn’t look like any monsters are coming out right from the start.’  

We were at the edge of a wide cliff.  

The bleak scenery looked like it could spawn vampires at any moment.  

Before I knew it, the formation of the Vulcanus Guild was complete.  

“Advance!”  

The Vulcanus Guild moved forward.  

All one hundred of us radiated the holy attribute through our holy parts.  

The soft glow pierced through the black heat haze, making the sight of our advance truly magnificent.  

As we continued moving steadily forward,  whether by fortune or misfortune, before anyone’s tension could relax—  

“Click.”

The first monster appeared.  

Its identity was none other than—  

“Skeleton.”  

A skeleton.  

A soldier made of bare bones.  

A monster known as the basic undead.  

However, skeletons are weak monsters, appearing even in rank 3 Gates.  

So why did one appear in an rank 8 Gate?  

The reason was simple.  

“Grrrrr…”  

These were no ordinary skeletons.  

Instead of pure white bones, they were black bones, soaked in the black heat haze of this place.  

At a glance, they clearly looked much stronger than the skeletons you’d see in an rank 3 Gate.  

Furthermore, their bone-made armor and weapons looked far from ordinary.  

The horses they rode, made of shadow, snorted threateningly, and dark sword energy constantly flowed from their drawn weapons.  

“…Dark Knight.”  

They could no longer be called mere skeletons.  

These were Dark Knights—beings that transcended death and even darkness itself.  

Such beings appeared in force.  

“Grrrrrr~.”  

A massive number of them.  

True to their name, the Dark Knights appeared as a knightly order.  

“Charge!”  

“Tatata~!” 

With chilling cries, they charged toward the Vulcanus Guild.  

The overwhelming pressure was unlike anything I had felt, even when tackling rank 7 Gates alongside Park Sang-hyun.  

And the other guild members felt the same.  

Several guild members involuntarily took a step back, overwhelmed by the intimidation of this rank 8 Gate—something they had never experienced before.  

Just then—  

“Click.”

At the very front, team leaders representing each squad stepped forward.  

They drew their weapons and shouted, “Attack!”  

The battle cries of the Vulcanus Guild rang out.  

Galvanized by the leaders’ commands, the guild members advanced.  

The two forces collided.  

“Boom!”  

At the forefront, the team leaders blocked the Dark Knights’ lance charges.  

Meanwhile, the team members began attacking from behind.  

Normally, with Vulcanus Guild’s level of skill, it would be nearly impossible to even scratch a Dark Knight.  

But—  

“Bang!!”

Thanks to the overwhelming performance of Vulcanus equipment—  armor and weapons enhanced with holy attribute parts, combined with buff effects spreading to all guild members through Guild master 1’s abilities— all these factors synergized.  

“Grrrrr~.”  

We managed to inflict wounds on the Dark Knights.  

One wound after another appeared, cracks spreading across the black bones.  

Eventually, the sturdy black bones fractured.  

Of course, the Dark Knights didn’t stand still.  

Every time they swung their swords wrapped in jet-black sword energy, even if they didn’t hit directly, the energy would slash forward and cut enemies at a distance.  

Each time, all the guild members had to either block or dodge the sword energy.  

At this moment, the greatest help came from—  

“Hngh!”  

Third Team Leader Song Jin-seok.  

His ability was Worker of Gaia (S).  

Despite the name, he was a mage.  

However, he wielded a weapon utterly unfit for a mage—a shovel.  

Gripping the custom shovel I had crafted to suit his ability, he plunged it firmly into the ground.  

The shovel sank deeply into the dead soil unique to the Castle of the Dead Gate.  

“Thunk.”  

“Kugugugugu~!”

The ground rose up.  

It blocked the knights advancing with a wide formation and even crushed those who tried to cross the fallen walls.  

Third Team Leader Song Jin-seok’s ability was more suited for defense than offense, so his raid speed wasn’t fast, and he hadn’t made a standout impact until now.  

But seeing him wield his power in this raid made him look invaluable.  

‘I’ll need to make him a new shovel soon.’  

The others were the same.  

True to Vulcanus Guild’s style, they each fought the Dark Knights using unique abilities and weapons.  

Watching such scenes unfold from the honored position called the top seat was quite moving.  

‘Oh, Song Jin-seok, right? Not bad at all.’  

Among them were many who displayed stronger abilities than what the documents had suggested.  

While watching them for a moment, I started preparing for battle myself.  

[Holy Crossbow]  

Type: Crossbow  

Grade: SSS  

This was the crossbow I had made specifically for moments like this.  

Since I had no combat skills or special abilities like other hunters, I had to rely on a more powerful weapon to help in battle.  

That was the thinking behind making this crossbow.  

Of course, this wasn’t all I had prepared.  

In the quiver on my back, there were over a hundred Holy Arrows.  

Among them, I took out one arrow perfectly suited for this kind of battle.  

[Flash Arrow]  

Then I aimed—not at the Dark Knights, but at the air just above them.  

I pulled the trigger.  

“Fiuuung-”  

The arrow flew with a brilliant trail of light.  

The longer its path, the more brightly the arrowhead glowed.  

“Flash!”  

Before even reaching the Dark Knights, the arrow exploded high above them, releasing a dazzling light like a flashbang grenade.  

That’s the power of the Flash Arrow.  

You might think it’s just light with no damage.  

Or worry it might harm our allies looking in the Dark Knights’ direction.  

Not at all.  

That had all been accounted for.  

The Flash Arrow I just fired was—  

[Flash Arrow]  

Type: Arrow  

Grade: SSS  

Restriction: Level 150+  

Description: A flash arrow condensed with powerful holy energy. It grants strength to the righteous and punishment to the wicked upon contact.  

Attack: 1,500  

Effects:  

1. Blessing – Slightly increases all allies’ stats touched by the light.  

2. Divine Punishment – Slightly decreases all enemies’ stats touched by the light.  

3. Purification – Enemies affected by ‘Divine Punishment’ who are undead or demon-type monsters suffer additional stat decreases.  

It wasn’t a weapon designed for direct damage.  

“Grrrrr~.”  

“Grrrkk-”  

The Dark Knights began to groan.  

Their stats dropped instantly upon contact with the Flash Arrow’s light.  

Conversely, the Vulcanus Guild members felt their stats rise the moment they were bathed in the light.  

“Now’s the time!”  

“Oooh!”  

We began pushing the Dark Knights back in earnest.  

The sounds of blows echoed from all directions.  

I didn’t just fire one arrow and rest.  

“Thwack!”  

Whenever I saw an opening in the enemy’s defenses, I fired a holy arrow.  

Although I had no attack abilities or offensive skills, I wielded an SSS-grade crossbow and SSS-grade holy arrows.  

Especially against Dark Knights, who were extremely vulnerable to holy energy, it was enough to deal solid damage.  

No, if aimed well, it could even be stronger than attacks from team leaders.  

Thanks to that, before long—  

“Thud.”

“We did it!”  

“Rank 8 monsters aren’t so tough, huh?”  

“Not as bad as I thought.”  

We defeated the entire Dark Knight order.  

Not a single person was injured, and we took down all the rank 8 monsters we encountered first.  

While reorganizing our battle formation, I approached Park Sang-hyun and asked,  “How are you feeling?”  

“Ah, Master. Thanks to you, it was manageable.”  

“Don’t flatter me. Tell me the truth. Can we take down the boss monster too?”  

His praise felt good, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.  

Though we had safely defeated the rank monsters, these Dark Knights were probably the weakest monsters inside the Castle of the Dead.  

After all, despite its name, we still hadn’t even seen the Castle itself.  

The real fight would surely begin once we reached the castle.  

If this fight was already so close and difficult, going to the Castle of the Dead itself would be near-suicide.  

With that thought, I asked the question.  

Park Sang-hyun smiled confidently and answered,  “As you said, you asked us to trust your items when participating in this raid. If you trust us in return, we’ll be able to perform just as well.”  

***

Of course, the Dark Knights we faced first were only the beginning.  

While heading toward the Castle of the Dead, we had to continuously battle the Dark Knight order roaming outside the castle.  

“20,000—”  

When people hear ‘undead,’ they usually think of mindless zombies.  

Undead rush forward without any strategy or tactics.  

But the Dark Knights were different.  

“Dark Knight unit spotted on the right flank! Collision in 10 seconds!”  

“Left, left flank too!”  

They noticed melee hunters were positioned upfront, so they attacked from both flanks.  

“Grrrrr~!”  

They also ambushed from the rear, hidden in the black heat haze without making any sound.  

If it weren’t for the holy attribute light emanating from us, we would have been caught off guard.  

Even more—  

“Infantry?”  

While we faced off against suddenly appearing Dark Knight infantry,  Dark Knights on horseback attacked Vulcanus Guild’s flanks and rear simultaneously.

“Dark Knight cavalry!”  

Anyone interested in tactics would immediately recognize this strategy.  

“The undead are employing the Hammer and Anvil tactic…!”  

Hammer and Anvil.  

An ancient cavalry tactic originating from the northern Greek kingdom of Macedonia.  

But it didn’t stop there.  

Dark Knights armed with bows appeared, shooting black energy-infused arrows from beyond normal range.  

Two Dark Knights rode on a single horse, charging forward, with the one behind suddenly breaking through the middle of our formation.  

Tactics that are hardly believable from undead.  

This was a clear demonstration of why an rank 8 Gate was an rank 8 Gate.  

“Front line, defensive stance! Eliminate the parasites first!”  

The Vulcanus Guild wasn’t one to be underestimated.  

Employing strategies and tactics even more advanced than the Dark Knights’, we successfully blocked their attacks.  

Hammer and Anvil?  

Mounted archers’ hit-and-run tactics?  

They didn’t work on us.  

The reason was—  

“Third Team Leader, please erect a wall along the Dark Knights’ right flank route!”  

“Hngh!”  

“Kugugung!” 

“Teams 8 and 9, cover the rear!”  

“Leave it to us!”  

“Team 1, break through the front!”  

The tenth team leader, commanding Vulcanus from the front lines.  

Thanks to Choi Yoo-na.  

‘She wasn’t promoted to team leader for nothing.’  

Originally just a regular member, she was promoted after gaining recognition not only from teammates but also from the leaders.  

Her ability was A-rank.  

Compared to other team leaders, it was somewhat lacking, but her real strength wasn’t in combat.  

‘A-rank ability, Strategian.’  

Her power wasn’t for fighting at all.  

Her ability allowed her to check the current battle situation on a system-like interface.  

Terrain and objects were displayed as a map, allowing confirmation of allied combat power, positions, and enemy routes.  

Combined with her exceptional leadership skills,  

it was only natural that the Dark Knights’ attacks failed.  

Even when working as a team, she had shown excellent results.  

Now commanding a hundred members, she led the formation like a fish in water.  

She was no accident as an A-rank ability team leader.  

“70,000_” 

We grew accustomed to facing the Dark Knights.  

Though powerful foes, thanks to Choi Yoo-na’s command, we pushed forward without obstruction.  

And finally—  

“This is…”  

“The Castle of the Dead.”  

We arrived at the main stage of this Gate, the Castle of the Dead.