454 One Clue (6)

* * *

“So...... you're saying that the man who is now the king of the kingdom of Elijah is one of Charleon's minions? ”

“Yes, Ian. He's not even a" man. "”

“If not human, what? Are you saying you're undead or a Horseman? ”

When Ian asks, Remus looks a little surprised and answers.

“That's right. He's a Horseman. No, technically, it's magic. ”

“ ……? ”

“The Doppelgänger is who he is, sitting on the throne, looking exactly like me. ”

A new quest from Remus: 'Puppet of the Kingdom of Elika’.

The content of this quest was simple.

We can sneak into Elika's castle, defeat the fake king, and then we can sit down ‘the real Remus’ again.

But there was one prerequisite.

No one in the kingdom should know that the king has been replaced.

The quest states that the king of Elika, who has been replaced by the Rich King, must be restored to his original king.

Don't let the Rich King notice.

Ian scratches his back head with a silly look on his face.

"No, it wasn't easy to infiltrate Ratafel's territory," he said. "How could I sneak in?" Besides, I have to take a luggage... ’

Ian sighs a little, staring at Remus with a comfortable face.

If you use a similar method to infiltrate Ratafel's territory, it's not even close to impossible.

However, rather than taking that level of difficulty and risk, it seemed better to push the troops away even if it took a little longer.

Ian complained to Remus.

“Is this a trick? ”

“Of course.”

“I told you this was supposed to be a helpful trick. ”

But Remus still answered Ian's question with a confident look on his face.

“Of course it must be helpful. If I sit on the throne again without the Rich King noticing, the royal army will be able to do so without bloodshed. ”

“No, that's not it…. Sneaking in, killing doppelgangers or whatever, putting you on the spot, it's just so unrealistic. It's more difficult than taking down an all-out war. ”

Only then did Lemus, who understood Ian's complaint, open his mouth with a smile.

“Oh, that's something to worry about. ”

“Isn't it too peaceful? ”

“I must be at peace. It is because I know that your ability is not a difficult task. ”

“ ……? ”

Ian stares at Remus with a ridiculous look.

Remus takes a moment to speak slowly.

“There is a secret passageway to the northwest of the castle. ”

“Secret…… passageway? ”

Remus nods and answers.

“Yes, the secret passageway. Only I know the passageway that runs all the way to the Resistance. ”

“Oh?”

Ian's eyes were filled with doubles.

If there is a secret passageway, like Remus said, the quest may be easier than you think.

Is that why the difficulty is only S? ’

Of course, it was not an easy difficulty with S, but until recently, it always seemed to be an easy difficulty compared to that of the quest.

However, after hearing about the secret passageway, I could see that a moderate level of difficulty had been established.

"But if it's my ability, then the mission shouldn't be too difficult, what does that mean? ’

Suddenly, one question came to mind as I recalled Remus' words.

And that question was quickly solved.

* * *

Shoot-!

A cool gush of water.

I felt a cool water pressure that matched the sound, and Jinsung lay in the bathtub.

“Hmm, I'm tired.... ”

The new house that I moved into a few months ago was my favorite place in many ways.

Because it was a newly built new apartment, it was more comfortable than the original studio.

Especially this bathroom where sincerity lies is truly incomparable.

The thick stream of water that was poured out by Jinsung, who only used to shower in the villa, which was constantly flowing, made her feel like she came to the hot spring every time she took a shower.

If I lay still in hot water, there was literally no heaven.

“Ahhh!”

It is true to yawn when your mouth is torn.

But in the midst of all this, all I could think about was Kailan.

‘Once we're online, we should head to Castle Elkarik. We won't even need to bring the party this time, so we better get moving. ’

Jinsung closed his eyes and recalled the conversation he had with Lemus before logging out.

"Phoenix……"? I mean, that's interesting. ’

The new guardians of the Kingdom of Lotus are the new dragons Carseus and Griffin.

And like this, the other kingdoms each had one or more guardian gods.

It was the same for the Kingdom of ElKarik.

- The guardian god of our kingdom, the legendary god Phoenix.

The Divine Spirit who guards the ElKarik Kingdom, Phoenix, a summoner who has never even seen Ian.

If the flame that burns in the heart is not extinguished, the Legendary Demibeast was the guardian of the Elkarik Kingdom.

And Remus said it was Phoenix who was guarding this secret passageway.

- At the end of the secret passageway, a vast number of worlds rise. And in the water of the world, there's a Phoenix nest.

- Hmm. Do we have to kill him to get through there?

If it's killing Phoenix, anyone can do it but you. The one who's nesting in the water of the world right now, he must be a child less than a year old.

So, what do we do?

- You have to earn his heart.

- Mind...?

Ian recalled a conversation with Remus and began to put them together in his mind.

- Behind the water, there is a door to the castle. But it's blocked by a powerful barrier. And in order to open that door, we need firewater.

What the hell is that?

- A red orb that Phoenix can make once in a lifetime.

- Hmm…?

- Phoenix presents only this flame liquor to its rightful owner.

- The Master of Phoenix, wasn't he, the King of Elika?

- My Phoenix is no longer in the world. Against Charleon, they vanished.

- Th-that's it. Then, is he in the secret passageway...?

- Phoenix from the egg he left.

The Phoenix that Lemus raised has vanished into Charleon's hands.

But his egg, which remained in the nest, woke up while Remus was being held.

In order for a non-summoner to be recognized as the owner of Phoenix, he had to make eye contact with him the moment he came out of the egg.

But now the guy in the nest woke up alone, and the only thing he could be recognized for was a summoner capable of taking him down.

- So... You said it wouldn't be hard being a summoner.

Exactly, because he's an excellent summoner. If you are even a Taming Summoner, I'm sure Phoenix can be tamed.

- I see…….

The secret passageway to Castle Elkarik was actually built by Remus to escape in case of emergency.

This is why only Lemus, who owns the flamethrower, has set up a barrier that only he can pass through.

Of course, when Phoenix, who took Lemus as his master, vanished along with the Flamethrower, but now he cannot pass the boundaries he created.

- Even if you defeat Phoenix, you can force the veil to open.

- How?

- Because if you break it, you can break it.

- …….

- Only then will the guards guarding the castle notice the invasion.

- It's imperative we take Phoenix.

Shhhhh!

I got up out of the bath slowly, with all my thoughts in mind.

I don't even know if the rank of the Phoenix is a legend or a myth, but meeting a guy with the title "Legendary Beast" was the only thing I had to do for him to be a summoner.

I heard a familiar voice in the living room as I tried to dry out and head to the room with the capsule.

“Jinsung, let's eat and play. ”

At least a few thousand nags in the decades I lived with my parents.

But now it was a voice that was never heard as nagging.

“Huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh, okay, Harina. What's on the menu?”

Because Harin's food was delicious enough to put the game on hold for a while.

* * *

The entrance to the secret passageway Lemus created was easier to get into than you thought.

The location itself was the interior of the Kingdom of Elika, but it was because the portal to the entrance was connected to another adjacent kingdom, the 'Kingdom of Polus’.

The kingdom of Polus was not hostile to Lotus, and Ian was able to easily locate and move through the portal.

‘After the Rich King Epi, of course, it will be the next kingdom of Polus. ’

I was going to declare war on the Kingdom of Polus as soon as the complaints dropped at my feet, but now the Kingdom of Polus is not in a bad relationship with Lotus.

A small baron in the outskirts of the kingdom of Polus, Chemique Territory.

Remus, who took Ian to a small cabin in the corner of the territory, gives him a message.

“Inside the secret passageway, there will be plenty of powerful monsters. ”

And in Remus' unthinkable talk, Ian looks a little embarrassed.

“A secret passageway made for evacuation. Why did you release the monsters in that place? ”

Remus replied with a non-bulky expression.

“Just because you have 'Flamethrower’, no monsters in the passageway will attack you. ”

“Hmm…? ”

“All the monsters in the passageway are fire-related monsters. And most monsters with fire attributes, they don't attack Phoenix. ”

Ian turned out to be an interesting face.

“Oh, really? ”

“Not exactly, but as long as you're not a higher official than Phoenix. ”

“So you think Phoenix recognizes something called 'Flashwater’? ”

“I don't know, maybe something like that? ”

“I see.”

“But just because you have a flamethrower doesn't mean you don't attack at all. ”

“Huh? What are you talking about? ”

“Even if there was a Flamethrower, he'd show hostility if he was attacked first. ”

“Aha, that must be it. ”

So far, Ian has not been very interested in ‘Flamethrower’.

I was only interested in one of the legendary newcomers, the Phoenix.

However, after hearing Remus' explanation, 'Flame Wine’ was also not an ordinary item.

‘This item could be extremely useful when entering the Fire Attribute Dungeon. ’

Among the high dungeons that have not yet been discovered, there will be many dungeons that are 400 levels backward composed of flame-attributed monsters.

And if you have fire liquor in such a place, all the monsters in the dungeon will become like a rookie hunting ground.

This had a greater impact on the difficulty of the dungeon than expected.

Okay, secret passageway or whatever, let's go inside. ’

As you walk through the door of the hut, a burning, red portal opens.

Ian turns his head and Remus' eyes meet once, and Remus nods and opens his mouth.

“We can get into that portal. If you go in first, I'll follow you in. ”

As soon as Remus finished speaking, Ian took a step without hesitation, and Ian's new body, which stepped on the portal, was quickly sucked inward.

Then a line of system messages appeared in Ian's temporarily blackened vision.

- Tyring!

- Enter the "Secret passageway of Remus" dungeon.