Chapter 458: The Second Clue 1

As soon as the system messages came, Ian could already feel the dark energy coming from the inside of the iron gate.

Ian was surprised. He stopped and took a step back, and Remus’s eyes went wide upon looking at the direction of the iron gate.

“This… this can’t…!”

Ian who didn’t know why Remus acted like that asked,

“What is it, Remus?”

For a moment, Remus looked at the direction of the dark energy and slowly said to Ian,

“Radeus, this certainly is the power of Radeus.”

“Radeus? Ra who? Who is that?”

Asked Ian to Remus who was shaking while biting his lower lip.

“One of the minions of Chalian. He was the Archmage of the Elrika Kingdom in the past.”

“Hmm…?”

“Ian, think of Lacamer who you just killed in the prison. Radeus also is like Lacamer.”

“…!”

Upon hearing ‘Lacamer’s’ name, Ian couldn’t help but feel his body creep.

No matter how it was, even though it was Ian, it still wouldn’t be a troublesome process to deal with a Lacamer class enemy by himself.

‘I don’t think it will be a boss monster if it appears here… is it like an epic mob?’

In Kailan, even if the same leveled monsters of the same class appeared, then depending on their position in the dungeon, there would be a difference in the combat power.

Radeus would be a bit weaker than Lacamer, but it would still be troublesome.

‘What am I supposed to do? I would’ve never tried for it if it wasn’t a quest.’

Ian decided to check out the most important facts.

“Remus”

“Hmm?”

“By any chance, ‘Radeus’, is he one of the psychics who controls the puppet king?”

If Radeus was one of the psychics, then Ian had no choice but to fight Radeus.

Ian was the first to confirm it.

Ian asked Remus who was still surprised and was shaking his head,

“No, Radeus isn’t a psychic. They are deeper in the dungeon.”

“Then… this is a nice turn of events…”

“But how did you know about the psychics?”

No wonder Remus was surprised.

He hadn’t told Ian about the psychics yet.

It was natural for an NPC who didn’t know of the existence of the quest window to be surprised.

Ian tried to talk his way out of it,

“Even then, we need to try and find another way, Remus.”

“Other way…?”

“It seems impossible to enter the room right away. In this situation, it is too risky to deal with a dark magician who is as strong as Lacamer.”

At that Remus nodded.

“Definitely… you’re right.”

And the words from Ian continued,

“Is there another way for me to enter the castle?”

Remus listened to the question of Ian.

“Hmm, different way huh…”

Right then, an unexpected system message appeared in front of Ian.

Tring-!

[The ‘Underworld King’s Necklace Shard (A) (Sealed)’ item has begun to respond to the dark energy.]

[An overwhelming dark force has detected you.]

[Sudden quest has occurred!]

“…!”

Subsequently, a new quest window appeared in front of Ian.

– – –

Radeus’ Ambition (Hidden) (Sudden) –

Radeus—minion of the Lich King Chalian—and the former Archmage of the Elrika kingdom.

He succumbed to the power of Chalian and became one of his servants, but he has great ambition.

A grand plan to one day surpass Chalian and make him surrender with his black magic and take away everything from the Lich King.

But Chalian, who had corrupted even the God of Darkness, Kades, had grown much stronger and the ambition of Radeus has gone further away.

Radeus decided to cultivate a forbidden art without the awareness of Chalian.

Chalian could never tolerate it if someone else other than him turned into a Lich.

Radeus spent his time in the corner of the royal castle of the Elrika and began to do some research about becoming a ‘Lich King’ while avoiding the eyes and ears of Chalian.

Though not as powerful as Chalian, he thought that he would at least close up the gap between them.

Radeus being the genius he was, managed to complete that task soon enough.

But despite the completion of that task, he wasn’t able to reach the point of a king.

There was a decisive problem.

To become a Lich King, one needs a powerful dark bowl which could hold the soul of a Lich King, but he hadn’t found the material that was needed to make it.

A powerful dark item that doesn’t exist in the human world.

To make a soul bowl that would hold the soul of the Lich King, there is a need for a material with a high purity of dark power.

Radeus wanted to directly go to the ‘Underworld’ to get that dark material.

Which was why he had mobilized his priest, Lacamer to search for the fragments of the Underworld King’s Necklace.

If you collect all the fragments and complete the Underworld King’s necklace, you can summon the Underworld King and ask for guidance to the underworld.

Well now, Radeus has found that power of the king from you.

Because of that, he will somehow try to steal the necklace fragments from you.

Defeat Radeus and stop him from pursuing his dangerous desires.

Quest Difficulty: SSS

Quest Condition:

‘Underworld King’s Necklace’ item.

A user who cleared the ‘Rataphel Underground Prison’ dungeon.

Time Limit: 25 minutes

* Killing Radeus completes the quest.

* This quest cannot be rejected.

Reward:

‘Underworld King’s Necklace Fragment (B) (Seal)’.

Radeus’ Skull Staff.

Dark Soul Stone.

– – – –

A new quest had appeared at an unexpected time.

The word ‘sudden’ was a quest that appeared as a surprise, but the contents of it weren’t that simple.

Because of that, even though there wasn’t much time, Ian carefully read the quest window.

‘My prediction was correct!’

The ‘Underworld King’s Necklace fragment’ item was the reason why the quest had appeared.

Just as Ian guessed, the Underworld King’s necklace was something that could summon the Underworld King to guide them in the underworld.

He first heard of this from Gripper about the place called ‘Underworld’, but the quest that was in progress was beginning to give a clear path for how it worked.

“Hu, then I guess there is no other way?” Mumbled Ian in a low voice while taking small strides towards the management room.

Remus was surprised and tried to stop Ian, but he couldn’t help but move along.

Radeus who opened the door appeared right in front of Ian.

Ian fixed the Judgement of the Spirit King and spoke to Radeus,

“Are you Radeus?”

He had a white beard and long white hair.

The man was dressed in a dark robe. The robe’s hood covered the man’s face. He then spoke with a slightly surprised expression,

“Yes, I am Radeus. How do you know me?”

Since turning into the minion of Chalian, Radeus hadn’t even stepped foot outside.

Because of that, Radeus was amazed when Ian had recognized him.

But even before answering Ian, Radeus had found the answer by himself.

“Remus, you’re making fun of me with that mouth of yours.”

Remus the former King of Elrika Kingdom, and Radeus the former Archmage of the Elrika’s royal family.

Of course, if it was a normal situation then Radeus would have shown his respects.

However, the relationship between the two in the past was like, a fellow who established the kingdom of Elrika and the royal wizard.

Furthermore, Radeus’ betrayal was the reason for the fall of the Elrika Kingdom into the hands of the Lich King.

In the present situation, the relationship between the two was nothing more than enemies.

Remus shouted at Radeus,

“You look good saying those stuff. How is it being the dog of the Lich King?”

But Radeus didn’t mind Remus’ anger at all.

While taking a step closer to Ian, he laughed and spoke,

“Huhu, after seeing that you are with Remus, you’ll get what you deserve.”

“What?”

“I wonder why you have to be the one person who had found the Underworld King’s Necklace fragment.”

According to his knowledge, Remus was imprisoned deep in the underground prison of the Rataphel Domain.

And it was his priest Lacamer who was guarding it.

If Ian was with Remus, then it meant that Lacamer who was guarding the prison was dead.

Then it meant Ian was the one who killed Lacamer, which explained the fragment of the Underworld King Necklace in his hand.

It was Lacamer who was collecting the fragments of the Underworld King’s Necklace.

Radeus spoke again,

“Either way, if you could beat my priest, then you probably aren’t a normal guy.”

Radeus was staring at Ian with an expression of anger and curiosity.

But Ian just became annoyed.

He just wanted to go ahead and complete the connected quest.

“Mr. you talk way too much than one would think. I don’t have much time on my clock.”

At the provocation from Ian, the face of Radeus which hadn’t shown any definite emotion suddenly turned red.

“Nope, I see nothing that makes you possible to defeat a priest.”

Kwooo-!

A huge dark wave began to spread around Radeus.

It looked very powerful.

But somehow Ian’s expression turned much more comfortable than before.

‘I don’t have to worry about getting caught, but it isn’t a bad thing to have a fight.’

From the information that Ian had gained through the quest window, the ‘Underworld King’s Necklace fragment’ didn’t just provide clues to the Underworld.

It contained a story related to Radeus, and thanks to that, Ian could figure out why he had appeared.

According to the content in the quest window, Radeus was hiding from the Lich King too, which meant that the staircase was a safe place from the eyes of the guards.

Ian provoked Radeus once again while smiling.

“Unfortunately, I’m going to take away the other fragments that you have.”

“…!”

“Even I have a few things to do in the Underworld.”

Radeus’ eyes widened.

Ian’s words contained information that would never be known by an ordinary human.

“You are a lot more dangerous than I expected.”

Khooo-!

Radeus picked up his staff and a huge dark vortex began to form around him.

The whirlwind of darkness began to disperse gradually and then formed into small chunks one after the other.

Death Knight, Dark Golem, Skeleton and other Undead monsters that Ian had seen until now appeared.

However, among those creatures of darkness, the first one that appeared caught the attention of Ian.

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