CH 297

A large whale was floating in the sky in the middle of the ocean.

“Hmm…”

On top of the whale was Deus, and he was looking far into the horizon.

“It seems to be that place.”

“Pardon me? Do you see something over there, Elder-nim?” Blockhead asked. He squinted his eyes and added, “But I do not see anything…”

“Did you honestly think someone like you can see through the Dragon Lord’s magic? Know your place!”

“I-I apologize…” Blockhead immediately apologized while profusely sweating, and then he carefully asked, “Is Young Master over there…?”

“I’m certain the Eternal Isles is over there judging by his faint aura coming from there.”

“Then, are you going to save Young Master, Elder-nim?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Pardon me…?”

“This is what he reaps for carelessly swinging his nether part around. Why should I clean up after my disciple’s mess?”

“Then why did we come here, Elder-nim?”

“I have my reasons,” Deus curtly replied. He paused for a while before he added, “He needs to escape from the island with his own strength, but I could be generous enough to deal with the problem that will happen after he escapes.”

“The problem after he escapes?”

“You will see sooner or later.”

Blockhead couldn’t understand what Deus was talking about, but he knew that all he was getting in response was a knock on the head instead of an answer if he asked, so he kept his mouth shut.

“Hmm… I guess I’ll fish while waiting,” Deus said before he took out a bamboo rod that was in quite a pitiful state.

“Korekawa.”

“Kweeeeee!”

The whale responded to Deus’ call.

Korekawa was the name of this mystical whale swimming in the sky.

“Let’s go over there. I have a feeling I can snag a big one there.”

“Kweeeee!”

The whale started swimming through the sky at Deus’ command.

‘Just who is this man, and is there even anything he can’t do…?’ Blockhead wondered in astonishment after seeing Deus control a whale flying through the sky.

***

Right after Siegfried finished talking to the knight captain.

“Is it here today?”

Siegfried roamed each area from three to five and collected information as to where exactly each squadron spawned along with the demons.

“I guess that’s all the information I need.”

Twelve days later, Siegfried finally gathered information from all thirteen areas.

[Alert: You have reached level 228!]

[Alert: You have reached level 229!]

[Alert: You have reached level 230!]

He fought against many demons in the process and leveled up three times.

‘This is easier than I thought? I’m not sure how strong the demons at their main base are, but I think it’s possible to clear this quest,’ thought Siegfried. He was now confident that he could escape from this cursed island.

His confidence came from the fact that he had accurately checked where the cursed knights and demons spawned in the last twelve days. He made some measurements and found out that he could definitely make it within the time limit.

“It’s past five now, so I should try again tomorrow.”

Siegfried logged out as there was nothing else left to do on the island.

The next day at 2:55 pm.

“I hope I can clear it on the first try…” Siegfried muttered as he went to the place where the first knight squadron was located.

Five minutes later…

[Alert: The Quest – ‘Escape From Eternal Isles’ has started!]

[Alert: You have 1:59:59 remaining to clear the quest!]

The time attack quest timer popped up in front of his eyes, along with the knights and demons.

Sereuk…! Sereuk…!

Krrwaaaang!

Siegfried immediately used Splitting Heaven and Earth as soon as the demons spawned.

“Let’s go!” Siegfried shouted at the knights and made a beeline for the next area.

The cursed knights naturally followed his lead.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The fight between the cursed knights and the demons had already started in the next area by the time Siegfried reached.

‘I should place down Blaze Field,’ Siegfried thought while running toward the knights.

“Let’s all go help them!” he shouted at the knights behind him.

Then, the knights from the first area joined the fray and overpowered the demons together with the knights from the second area. Of course, they were able to overpower the demons thanks to the Blaze Field that Siegfried had placed down.

However, Siegfried didn’t join this battle.

He ran past the second area and went straight to the third area.

“I’m here to help!” Siegfried shouted as he activated the ability of the Witch’s Talisman to place down another Blaze Field, and then he shouted once more, “Two knight squadrons will come to help you soon! Hang in there until they arrive!”

“T-Thank you!” the knight captain of the area replied while fighting against a demon.

‘All right!’ Siegfried clenched his fist as he felt that he might really clear this quest on the first try.

He thought that perhaps this quest wasn’t as difficult as it seemed.

Siegfried ran past the third area and went to help the fourth and then fifth knight squadrons.

Meanwhile, the first and second knight squadrons joined the third knight squadrons, and then they consolidated into a single squadron to go and help the fourth squadron.

In other words, Siegfried’s strategy was to help the first knight squadron as soon as the quest started and let it snowball from there.

[Alert: You have 58 minutes and 37 seconds remaining to clear the quest!]

He had slightly less than an hour remaining by the time he reached the seventh knight squadron, which was located the closest to the demon’s main base.

‘Let’s ignore the right side. It’s too late to help them.’

He completely abandoned the eighth to thirteenth areas. The knights from those areas would definitely help a lot in conquering the demon’s main base, but he had no time to help them.

There was no way he could help them and come back to clear the demon’s main base with only an hour remaining.

“Let’s go!” Siegfried shouted as he led the first to seventh knight squadrons into the demon’s main base.

The main base was teeming with many high-level demons.

‘Wow… That’s a lot…’ Siegfried grumbled inwardly as he placed down Blaze Field and Shadow Swamp before he went on a rampage.

[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!]

[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]

He earned a ton of Experience Points, but he didn’t level up at all. The Experience Points required from Level 230 onward were much greater than the previous levels.

However, this was not the time for him to worry about leveling up.

‘There are too many of them!’ Siegfried despaired as he fought fiercely against the unending horde of demons.

Sseuuuu…!

Siegfried fought at the forefront with Irradiate activated, but there was no end to the horde of demons coming at him.

‘I need more allies…’

It was at that moment that he was losing hope that…

“Let me help!”

Ingrid, who had been missing for the past two weeks, suddenly appeared and massacred the demons.

“Huh? Ingrid?”

“I was wandering the whole time, but I’m glad we managed to meet up!” Ingrid replied.

Actually, Ingrid crashed into the Eternal Isles just like Siegfried, but the island they were on was simply too vast that she had been wandering around over the past two weeks.

She heard the sound of battle coming from the demon’s main base out of sheer coincidence, and she went to take a look to find Siegfried fighting against the demons.

She immediately jumped in to help the moment she saw him.

“What should I do?” Ingrid asked while sweeping the demons away.

“Just keep going! Don’t stop!”

“Okay!”

The addition of Ingrid, who was Level 299 and at the cusp of becoming a Master, was truly a huge boost to their combat prowess.

‘Awesome! She’s stronger than twenty of those cursed knights!’ Siegfried exclaimed inwardly in awe while watching her plow through the demons.

However, a chill suddenly traveled down his spine after he realized something while watching her plow through the horde of demons as a one-woman army.

Shiver!

‘Don’t tell me… Did she become that strong just to catch me? Crazy… Just how bad is her obsession with me…?’

Her obsession was definitely on the verge of madness at this point. No, it was more like insanity, judging by how strong she had become in such a short period of time.

He heard from Lionbreath that she had gotten a lot stronger, but it was a whole different feeling seeing her in action with his own eyes.

‘Ah… I got caught by a crazy—Ugh… Forget about that for now. I need to focus on escaping from this island.’ Siegfried was scared for his life, but he decided to set his fear aside for now and focus on the battle.

Siegfried and the cursed knights were able to kill all of the demons thanks to Ingrid’s help, and they finally reached the gates of a small castle.

[Alert: You have 22 minutes and 11 seconds remaining to clear the quest!]

There were only twenty-two minutes remaining until five o’clock.

Bam!

Siegfried smashed the gates open and infiltrated the castle. However, the boss monster waiting for them was a large demon with two wings that resembled gigantic bat wings. The boss monster’s appearance was already quite intimidating, but what was even more intimidating was its name.

[Balrag]

[A demon renowned for its combat prowess among demons. It is famous for its insatiable hunger for battle.]

[Anything its whip touches gets torn like a piece of paper.]

[This boss monster is known as the Battle Demon in the demon realm.]

[Type: Champion Monster]

[Level: 299]

[Class: Fighter]

[Title: Viscount]

[Rank: Lt. Colonel]

The boss of the Eternal Isles was a demon called Balrag.

Siegfried took a closer look at the boss monster and saw that it had horns curling inward like a ram, a bull’s head, two large bat wings, and a tail similar to a rattlesnake’s tail.

Chwak!

Balrag cracked its whip threateningly.

Fwaaaah!

A flame surrounded Balrag as it emitted sulfur fumes.

“Come, eternal prisoners. Will you defeat me and attain freedom, or will you be trapped to suffer for eternity?” Balrag said in a deep voice.

Siegfried took a step forward and replied, “Our goal is to beat the shit out of you and get the hell out of here!”

Bzzt! Bzzt!

Powerful currents enveloped Siegfried’s body as he activated Overclocking.

***

“Hmm… It’s about time that thing appeared… I wonder if it’s taking a nap somewhere?” Deus muttered to himself while fishing from the back of the flying whale, Korekawa.

He had fished ferocious monsters such as a Kraken or Sea Serpent over the past two weeks.

“Are you waiting for somebody, Elder-nim?” Blockhead asked.

“Yes,” Deus replied.

“Who are you waiting for? Does a being that can dare to make you wait even exist in this world, Elder-nim?”

“Ha? Do you think anyone has the right to make this great being wait?”

“N-Not at all! I was just surprised that Elder-nim was waiting for someone!”

“Yes, it is indeed rare for me to be waiting…”

“So… Who are you waiting for, Elder-nim?”

“Ah, here he finally comes,” Deus said as he looked up at the sky.

Flash!

Krwaaaang!

A bolt of lightning flashed, and a thunderous roar echoed as the sky split open. A golden dragon at least five hundred meters long descended from the heavens.

The dragon was so huge that it made the Chromatic Dragon look like a lizard.

—Who dares to escape from the Eternal Isles?

The golden dragon’s furious voice thundered across the sky.

“Hey, come over here, lizard,” Deus commanded while gesturing with his hand.

— L-Lizard?

The golden dragon looked around after hearing someone call him a lizard, and he finally spotted an old human standing on the back of an ancient beast known as the Sky Whale.

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‘Where did this lunatic come from?’

The golden dragon was flabbergasted after seeing the arrogant, frail-looking old man.

— Did you just call me a lizard, old human?

The golden dragon asked while laughing in disbelief.

“What else am I going to call a lizard?”

— What?!

“You should shut up and come over here instead of asking such obvious questions when a great being like me is calling you, lizard.”

— Ha! You must be a senile old man! You dare speak that way to me when I can devour you in one—

“In one what?”

— …!

“I hope you weren’t trying to say devouring this great being in one bite or something arrogant like that.”

The golden dragon was stunned after seeing Deus suddenly appear right in front of his nose.

— H-How…?

“I think you need to be taught some manners first,” Deus said with a chilling smirk before throwing a punch at the golden dragon’s nose.

Bam!

A sound louder than the thunder that echoed when the golden dragon appeared flitted across the vast ocean.

Fwaaaaash!

And a fountain of blood rained down, dying the ocean red…