I Raided the Demon’s Treasury

Chapter 63

– Time remaining until ‘Tutorial Chapter Five- Defense’: 10 minutes

“Everyone, make sure to double-check everything!”

“Yes!”

“What about the catapult projectiles?”

“All prepared!”

“The traps are set and functioning.”

With only 10 minutes left until the start of the fifth chapter of the tutorial, the final chapter, the Golden Castle was busier than ever.

Led by the twin sisters and Go Chang-seok, the preparations against the monsters were perfectly in place.

The castle walls were lined with various siege weapons like ballistas and catapults, along with their projectiles. People held upgraded bows with hundreds of arrows laid out beside them.

Since it was a siege defense, it was more efficient to use ranged weapons than melee ones.

Of course, this was only feasible because of the castle’s strong defenses.

“Hyeollang oppa! How did you manage that?”

“The gate looks brand new!”

“Aren’t you going to tell us too?”

“Tell us! Please? Pretty please?”

This was the Golden Castle. An A+ rank castle, reputed to be the strongest among the dozens, even hundreds, of other castles.

Even if the Sea Serpent they had seen before were to wreak havoc, it was unlikely that the golden walls would break easily.

“Everyone, stay in your positions and be ready!”

“Yes!”

Following Yoo Seo-ah’s instructions, everyone took their positions.

Se-woon also took his place at the center of the castle wall, above the main gate, gazing out at the cliff-lined horizon.

In his hands, he held the great bow he had stolen from the Lord of the ‘Towering Watchtower,’ known as the ‘Great Hunter.’

“We’ll be fine this time too, right?”

“Of course.”

He reassured the anxious Yoo Seo-ah.

Though she maintained a strong front in front of others, she occasionally showed this vulnerable side to Se-woon.

It likely meant she felt comfortable around him.

After all, Se-woon was the only one in whom she could place her trust and momentarily set aside the heavy burden of expectations resting on her shoulders.

– Time remaining until ‘Tutorial Chapter Five- Defense’: 12 seconds

– The final chapter of the tutorial is about to start.

– All players are advised to prepare for the monster attack from within the castle.

As the countdown timer ticked down, everyone swallowed nervously. Suddenly, they saw something red quickly approaching from the horizon.

The familiar voice accompanying it was none other than,

“Hyuuuung! They’re coming up! Really, they’re coming up from the sea!”

It was Park Jung-pil.

Though unnecessary, Park Jung-pil had gone out scouting upon noticing Se-woon’s interest in the sea.

He rushed back into the castle faster than ever.

And finally, as the timer hit zero…

– ‘Tutorial Chapter Five – Defense’ begins.

– Defend the castle and survive by fending off the invading monsters.

The undulating horizon of cliffs began to be overrun with monsters, surging like waves.

“Graar—”

“Screeaaak!”

“Grumble, grumble…”

It was exactly as he had seen before his regression.

Monsters of all shapes and sizes, like mermen, serpents, turtles, and crocodiles, crawled forth.

Their sheer number spanned the wide horizon from side to side.

It was like a scene from a movie.

However, unlike the grandeur felt when seen in a film, the overwhelming number added an element of terror.

Everyone thought they were mentally prepared, but the sight of the monsters made their hands tremble with apprehension.

Meanwhile, Se-woon silently lifted his bow, aiming it at the horizon.

“Hyung, here it is!”

Park Jung-pil, who had climbed up the castle wall, handed Se-woon an arrow.

No, it wasn’t an arrow.

It was a short spear.

Though shorter than a typical spear, it was still a weapon over 1.5 meters long.

Taking it without a word, Se-woon nocked the spear onto the bowstring.

The ‘Great Hunter,’ true to being a great bow, accepted the spear without issue. However, since this wasn’t its intended use, it creaked and groaned in protest.

At that moment, the entire bow, starting from the grip Se-woon was holding, turned a dark crimson.

– Through internal energy, the ‘Judgment of the Grad Empire’ is enhanced.

– The elasticity and durability of the ‘Great Hunter’ temporarily increase significantly.

The bow, now dark crimson, bent even more under Se-woon’s strength.

The bowstring was pulled back so far that the shaft of the short spear was almost fully drawn into the bow.

Merely pulling back the string emanated a dark crimson aura, spreading an oppressive force around.

Feeling this, all the clan members focused their attention on Se-woon.

But that wasn’t the end. Just before releasing the string, Se-woon summoned a treasure he had preselected from the Treasury of Greed.

– Opened the Treasury of Greed.

[ Bloodthirsty Demon Spear, Ruin ]

– The famed spear of the hero Keltar, known to always emit flames and requiring storage in water.

Whoooom!

As the power of Ruin infused the spear, it hummed with an intense resonance, ready to unleash its energy.

This short spear, stolen from the castle lord, already boasted C-rank performance, making it one of the best weapons in the tutorial.

Yet even such a weapon seemed barely able to contain the power of Ruin.

Black flames, symbolic of Ruin, flickered at the spearhead, as if threatening to explode if not released immediately.

So Se-woon complied with Ruin’s demands.

Fwoosh!

The moment he released the bowstring, the short spear shot into the sky as if it were piercing the sun.

Naturally, everyone’s gaze followed the arrow upward.

And when their eyes descended again,

“Screee—”

Kwajik!

From an almost imperceptible distance, the giant toad-like monster that had been lumbering forward was struck on the crown of its head, causing its body to explode.

The impact was so powerful that a huge crater formed on the ground, taking down dozens of nearby monsters along with it.

It would be fortunate if this was the end, but Ruin’s true power was far from over.

– The Serpent’s Tail Short Spear cannot withstand the power of ‘Ruin’ and disintegrates.

– The flames latent within ‘Ruin’ explode.

Boom!

Whoosh!

Kra-koom!!

It was similar to when Se-woon used ‘Hrunting’ to attack the Ogre leader.

As the short spear, the vessel, shattered, the bloodthirsty demon spear, Ruin, unleashed its flames explosively.

True to its title of a demon spear, those flames were no ordinary fire.

Just like the dark flames from the strongest black magic Se-woon could currently wield, Dark Flare, pitch-black fire spread through the monsters, burning them to ashes.

“Screeeeaak!”

“Screee!”

“Graar, groooar—!”

The scales were scorched, and the flesh burned. The gills were shredded, and the fins melted away.

The monsters that had just emerged from the water could not withstand the flames they encountered for the first time and threw themselves back into the sea below the cliff.

However,

Ssssss—

By the time they sank into the sea, it was already too late.

With their gills and fins burnt, those monsters couldn’t breathe even in the water and slowly perished.

The monsters on the ground writhed and rolled, but the result was the same.

In an instant, hundreds of monsters screamed and succumbed to death.

– Your level has increased.

– Your level has increased.

– Individual merit points have increased by 1,000 points.

– Individual merit points have increased by 1,500 points.

– For defeating the sub-boss monster, ‘Moss Toad,’ individual merit points have increased by 10,000 points.

…

As long as the flames didn’t extinguish, the monsters’ screams didn’t either.

With a single attack, Se-woon managed to sever the center of the horizon.

– The Constellation, ‘Hungry Prince’ gulps at the fragrant smell.

– The Constellation, ‘Bowed Raven’ mutters that even if it’s for an incorporeal force, isn’t it too wasteful to use a knife meant for slaughtering cattle on a chicken?

Mammon seemed to have been reluctant, but Se-woon wasn’t. After all, this attack was not solely to reduce the number of enemies.

While reducing the enemy’s numbers at the same time…

– The ability ‘Wolf’s Threat’ of the ‘Red Wolf Armor’ causes the enemies facing the flames to fall into fear!

– The ability ‘Aura of Dominance’ of the ‘Gray Wolf Cloak’ strengthens charisma and worsens the enemy’s fear!

– The morale of the Allied forces skyrockets!

It was also intended to increase the morale of the Allied forces.

“Crazy! This is no joke!”

“We can’t just stand still either!”

“Load the catapult, fire!”

“Fire!”

Witnessing Se-woon’s attack, confidence surged in the faces of the onlookers.

With this single attack, everyone realized it. That they could win. No, that winning was inevitable.

Boom, crash!

The giant rock fired from the catapult flew towards the enemy lines.

The rock, polished into a sleek circular shape, retained its momentum as it tumbled along the ground, crushing numerous monsters beneath it.

Thud!

A giant arrow shot from the ballista pierced through the body of a large monster. Even the tough scales that could ignore most spears and swords couldn’t withstand the arrow from the ballista.

Phewww-

Dozens of arrows soared into the sky.

Thanks to their previous practice, the arrows they shot pierced precisely through the vital points of the monsters.

The more this happened, the greater the fear engraved on the monsters became, making their movements sluggish.

As a result, they lost over a thousand allies even before reaching the Golden Castle.

Although they somehow overcame their fear and stepped forward, the reality they faced was even more brutal.

Thunk!

Boom!!

Se-woon’s clan had not merely been repairing the castle walls and making defense weapons all this time.

To block the monsters’ advance, they had set up numerous traps in front of the castle walls.

The scale of the traps was larger than expected, making it impossible to leap over them.

The monsters at the forefront realized this and halted their steps.

“Kii, Kiiik!”

Thud, thump!

The monsters moving from the rear, however, were unaware of the trap’s existence.

As those behind pushed recklessly, the foremost monsters were forced into the traps, getting impaled on the spikes below despite knowing about them.

Even so, the number of monsters was not as small as the previous ‘waves’ of just dozens.

Monsters continued to surge from the undulating horizon ceaselessly.

By the time the traps were filled with the monsters’ corpses, providing a foothold for others to reach the castle walls.

Ding-ding-

A soft melody was heard from somewhere.

– The monsters heard the ‘Scream of Terror’.

– Due to the excellent playing skills, a considerable number of monsters fall into “fear.”

– The monsters, engulfed in fear, lose their sanity and begin to rampage.

The sound of the Syrinx, an instrument resembling a fairy, filled the air.

However, it wasn’t Se-woon playing it this time.

He had entrusted the instrument to Go Chang-seok along with other weapons, thinking it would be far more efficient to engage in battle than to play an instrument during a fight.

The person playing the instrument now was one of Se-woon’s clan members.

Apparently, his skill was quite good, as his performance had an effect comparable to when Se-woon used sheet music.

Moreover,

– The Constellation, ‘Singing Unicorn’, entrusts itself to the melody of fear and violently swings its horn.

Unbeknownst to Se-woon, a new Constellation was watching the instrument player.

The Singing Unicorn.

The 67th-ranked Demon Lord, Amdusias.

Already, there were over ten players in Se-woon’s clan who had been chosen by the Constellations, a selection said to be incredibly difficult.

And they were chosen by the 72 Demon Lords who wield great power in the axis of the Demon Gods.

“Kang Han-cheol, let’s go.”

“Understood.”

“I’ll follow too!”

Enjoying the beautiful melody, Se-woon climbed onto the wall rampart.

Simply blocking the advance of the monsters would be enough to easily pass the final chapter of the tutorial, but Se-woon’s goal was not just to ‘pass the tutorial.’

Leap!

Se-woon, Kang Han-cheol, and Yoo Seo-ah.

From the rampart of the Golden Castle, the three players leapt toward the thousands of monsters.