CH 296

“T-They disappeared?!” Siegfried screamed as if he had seen a ghost.

The knights that were running right in front of his eyes suddenly faded into thin air.

“There’s something strange about this place… It’s five in the afternoon right now, so I should try coming here again at three tomorrow.”

Siegfried could feel that there was something off about the Eternal Isles, so he decided to wait another day to find out the secret of this place.

“Well, I’m getting a lot of experience points, anyway, so I’ll just think of it as a place to grind for now.”

It was frustrating that he couldn’t find a way out of this island, but there was the silver lining that the monsters here gave a ton of Experience Points.

In fact, he was on the cusp of reaching Level 227. This was more than enough proof of the massive experience points that this place gave when taking into consideration how difficult it was to level up in his current level range.

“Let’s call it a day,” he muttered as he logged out from the game.

***

Bzzt!

Tae-Sung received a call from Seung-Gu as soon as he logged out from the game.

— Hyung-nim…

“Yeah?”

— I think you’re fucked, hyung-nim.

“Me? Why?”

— That is…

Seung-Gu relayed the secrets of the Eternal Isles that Deus had revealed to Tae-Sung.

Five minutes later…

“FFFFUUUUCCCCKKKK!” Tae-Sung screamed at the top of his lungs in despair and rage.

— P-Please calm down, hyung-nim!

“Calm down?! Can you calm down if you were me?!”

— You already earned a lot, so you’ll be fine even if you quit the game…

“Are you trying to console me right now?! FUUUCKKK!”

— I want to tell you to have hope, but… even Elder-nim said it’s impossible for you to get out of there, so… Hahaha…

“Why… Why is my luck so rotten? I should’ve known this was going to happen the moment I saw that old geezer… Why did Ingrid have to hire that old man of all people out there…?”

— Michele is tracking the flight path of the airship you were on, so don’t lose hope, hyung-nim!

“I thought you couldn’t even tell me to have hope?”

— T-That was…

“Shut up. Just tell him to do his best.”

— Everyone is getting ready to search for you as soon as Michele is done analyzing the flight path.

“Aigoo… My rotten luck…” Tae-Sung moaned as he covered his face with his hands.

Badump! Badump! Badump!

A migraine struck him, and he felt like he would die of an aneurysm anytime soon.

‘Why do I always have to deal with stuff like this? Can’t my life be peaceful? PEACEFUL!’

However, there was no point in cursing his own luck.

There was nothing he could do about it.

“Alright, just keep me posted if there’s anything.”

— Okay, hyung-nim.

“Haa… I’m going to get out of that place one way or another,” Tae-Sung grumbled after letting out a sigh. He swore to escape from the Eternal Isles, as he could not afford to continue staying there until the BNW server ended its service.

***

The next day, Tae-Sung logged into the game as Siegfried and went to the place where the battle took place at around two thirty in the afternoon.

‘They’re not here.’

There was nothing in that place—not a single sign of the fierce battle that took place yesterday could be seen.

‘The demons were on this side mostly while the knights were over there…’

Siegfried jugged his memories to try and remember the exact layout of the battle, and he positioned himself where most of the demons had gathered yesterday.

He waited for a while, and it was exactly after thirty minutes…

Seuruk… Seuruk… Seuruk…

The knights and demons appeared from out of nowhere

“Prepare for battle!”

The knight captain, whom Siegfried spoke to last time, pulled out his sword and commanded the knights.

However, the battle did not start.

Krrwaaaang!

No, it was more like they could not fight as Siegfried used Splitting Heaven and Earth to instantly kill all of the demons.

[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]

[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]

[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]

[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]

[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]

Siegfried gained a ton of Experience Points once again.

[Alert: You have leveled up!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 227!]

And the level-up was a bonus.

But…

“Let’s go!”

The knight captain said to the knights right after the demons perished.

“I’m not letting you go so easily this time,” Siegfried grumbled as he placed down Shadow Swamp.

Seuruk… Seuruk… Seuruk…

Shadows rose up from the ground and latched onto the knights.

“Ack!”

“W-We have to go!”

“Let me go! Let go!”

The knights tried their best to break free from the shadows, but there was no way they could do that.

“Hey! What are you doing? Release us this instant!” the knight captain shouted in anger.

“Nope, I can’t do that. You’re going to run away again if I let you go, right?” Siegfried replied with a shrug, and then he added, “I’ll let you go after a brief chat, okay?”

“We can’t do that! We have to go now!”

“Now? Like you mean for the past six hundred years?”

“Six hundred years? Do you mean to say that we’ve been punished for six hundred years?” the knight captain was shocked upon hearing Siegfried.

“Six hundred years?”

“It’s been six hundred years already?!”

“Oh my god! We have been like this for six hundred years now?!”

The knights were shocked as well.

“Can’t you take a day off if you’ve busted your ass for the past six hundred years? I mean, it’s not like anything worse can happen, you know?” Siegfried said.

“Ahem!”

“Sigh… So why are you guys doing that?” Siegfried said with a sigh, and then he added, “You’re getting punished because you betrayed your fellow humans and sided with the demons, right?”

The secret of the Eternal Isles was coming to light.

***

Six hundred fifty years ago, the Great Demon King, Baal, descended onto the Nürberg Continent, and the entire continent gathered under a coalition banner to fight against him.

This war was known as the War of Descent.

The War of Descent waged on Baal and his legions lasted for five whole decades.

Fortunately, the coalition forces managed to repel Baal and his legions back to the demon realm.

The War of Descent ended with the victory of the coalition forces.

However, the entire continent was in absolute shambles after the war. The continent did not relent and focused on rebuilding from the war, and the one other thing they focused on was catching and punishing the traitors.

It was time for them to punish those who had betrayed the coalition and sided with the demons.

The Dragon Lord at that time, Gerog, declared to the traitors.

— You filthy traitors will be trapped for eternity to fight demons again, and again, and again.

Gerog cast Eternal Magic on the traitors and banished them to an island on the continent where they would have to fight the demons without being granted the sweet release of death.

And that was how the Eternal Isles was born—the traitors who had filled their bellies by betraying the continent and siding with the demons were marooned to the island and were sentenced to punishment lasting an eternity.

“So it has been six hundred years. It seems I have completely forgotten about time after fighting and dying repeatedly for so many times…” the knight captain said.

“Tsk tsk… So why did you have to be a traitor?” Siegfried asked while clicking his tongue.

“Yeah, I should not have done that… Sniff…!” the knight captain replied as tears formed at the edge of his eyes.

The other knights reacted the same as the knight captain.

All of them seemed to be regretting the decision they made six centuries ago.

“Stop crying. I’m here, so let’s figure out a way out of this mess,” Siegfried said.

“A way out? Do you have a plan to free us from this place?” the knight captain asked.

“Not really, but we have to keep trying, right? I don’t have plans to stay here forever.”

“If that is possible… If you can free us from this eternal punishment, then I will do anything! Anything you say!”

Ding!

A message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

[Escape From Eternal Isles]

[Escape from the Eternal Isles together with the cursed knights.]

[Reward: ?]

[Warning: This is a time attack quest that you may only do from three to five in the afternoon!]

‘Huh? Time attack quest?’ Siegfried decided to ask the knight captain after checking the quest details.

“What do we have to do to get out of here?”

“There is an airship in the base of the demons. We have to kill the demons and get on the airship to leave this island.”

“That sounds quite straightforward?”

“I am afraid it is not as easy as it sounds…” the knight captain said as he shook his head before explaining, “There are thirteen forces just like us on this island, and all thirteen have to win in their respective areas to…”

Siegfried summarized the knight captain’s explanation.

1. There were thirteen squadrons of cursed knights on the Eternal Isles.

2. Each of the squadrons was battling against the demons in their respective areas.

3. The knights would gather at their rendezvous point and attack the demon’s base.

The quest seemed quite easy and straightforward, but the problem was the balance.

“This punishment is far too cruel. The balance of strength between us and the demons is equal, so we win or lose by a hair’s margin most of the time.”

The Dragon Lord, Gerog, seemed to have set the power balance between the knights and the demons dead equal. In other words, the sadistic Dragon Lord made sure that the knights wouldn’t be able to break free from it even if they fought the demons for thousands of years.

“Wow… That guy is crazy… Is this even meant to be cleared in the first place? Isn’t he blatantly telling them to bust their asses for the rest of their lives while dangling false hope right in front of their eyes?” Siegfried muttered in amazement at the Dragon Lord’s sadism.

Of course, this was the perfect punishment for the traitors who had betrayed the continent and sided with the demons, but the problem was that Siegfried had somehow gotten involved in it as well.

He was totally unrelated to the sins that the knights had committed, but he somehow found himself in the Eternal Isles. And the only way for him to get out of here was to clear the time attack quest.

“What do you think? Do you think it’s possible to win in all of the areas and conquer the demon’s main base?” the knight captain asked.

“Hmm…”

Siegfried was conflicted inside. ‘The knights and demons are equally strong. I can easily break that balance, but the problem is time…’

He only had one body, so it was impossible for him to help all thirteen squadrons. The key to clearing this quest was to maintain their numbers and conquer the demon’s main base.

Unfortunately, it was impossible for Siegfried to do something like that by himself.

“I guess it is impossible, judging by the look on your face…” the knight captain said with a downcast look.

“No,” Siegfried shook his head and said, “It’s possible with a sound plan.”

“I-Is that true?!”

“We will have to go through trial and error, but I have an idea, so let’s try it out for now.”

“Oh!”

“But before that, you need to tell me where the other squadrons are so I can make a plan or whatnot.”

“Ah, alright!”

The knight captain proceeded to explain where each of the squadrons was located.

‘Six of the groups are spread out in an arrowhead formation pointing to the left while another six are in the same formation pointing to the right[1] and one squadron between the twelve. Our squadron is at the edge of the one pointing to the left…’

Siegfried started analyzing his situation.

‘Hmm? I think it’s possible.’

He came up with a brilliant plan.

“Excuse me?”

“Yes?”

“Will you remember me tomorrow?”

“Unfortunately, I will not.”

“Then give me a week. I think I can come up with something within that time.”

“What is your plan?”

“My plan is…” Siegfried explained his plan to the knight captain.

“Oh!” the knight captain exclaimed. His face shone with hope for the first time in six hundred years.

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1. Imagine < • > for the formation. ☜