Chapter 159: The White Ghost King's Sanctuary 4
“Urgh…!”
The blonde man desperately twisted his body.
Then, his figure turned black and disappeared in an instant.
[Shadow Movement].
It was the Wraith's skill that allowed him to escape into the darkness during dangerous moments.
'As I thought, he decided to flee.'
However, Woohyuk could easily pursue him because he had left a stigma on his enemy’s soul when his sword struck his left shoulder.
Soul Stigma was the Devil Hunter’s skill that could determine the location of the opponent in real time.
The duration was 10 minutes.
'I have 25 minutes left.'
If he couldn't kill both the Wraith and the Fanatic within that duration, he would have to return to the third stage.
In truth, he could redo the third stage with his eyes closed a couple of times, but the problem was Eteria Rodinus.
It would be problematic if he encountered them as enemies on the same stage.
As Woohyuk followed the trail left by the soul stigma, he heard a loud crash behind him.
Boooooom!
Hierakos, the ancient monster, had fallen as it couldn’t endure the offensive of the undeads.
Woohyuk ordered the elite undeads to protect the magic crystals in each area of the labyrinth.
It was to prevent the Wraith from summoning new monsters or to use the labyrinth’s magic devices to buy time.
'Maybe I should summon the Demon Kings.'
He had gone to great lengths to seal them, so he had to use them as much as possible while sitting back and enjoying himself.
As Woohyuk unfolded Lemegeton, a black fog spread around and the three demon kings appeared.
“Kill the blonde human man with the stigma. He was injured and his movements are sluggish.”
“Understood, Lord Asura.”
“That’s gonna be a piece of cake.”
“I will make sure to slit his throat.”
The three demon kings were excited and sprinted away like the wind.
They dashed down the corridor and disappeared from Woohyuk’s view.
They preferred to be outside and stay active like this instead of being trapped inside Lemegeton.
In truth, even if he didn't summon them, the elite undeads would’ve been more than enough.
Woohyuk put Lemegeton back in the sage's pocket and set up traps in the secret passage.
'He will definitely use this passage again.'
The secret passage was connected to all the areas.
Its structure was quite complicated and long.
However, if the Wraith planned on going somewhere through the secret passage, there was a specific point he would have to pass.
That was where Woohyuk installed the trap.
If the Wraith moved through the secret passage in the future, he would dig his own grave.
'Now, I just need to watch out for the Blood Rhapsody.'
Blood Rhapsody was the Wraith’s skill that temporarily granted him great power by increasing his heart rate explosively.
Obviously enough, it wouldn’t be enough to defeat the three Demon Kings, but if he was lucky, he would be able to run away in time.
Shadow Movement had a skill cooldown of 10 minutes, so theoretically, it could be used up to six times in the Pitch-Black Labyrinth.
'I hope Levian and Lamia are doing well.'
Lamia, the Retired Mercenary, had no special skills, but Levian's was the Priest, so he could use the Sanctuary Barrier and Blessing of the Holy Spirit.
Sanctuary Barrier was useful when used against the Wraith using Blood Rhapsody, and the Blessing of the Holy Spirit was useful when healing injured allies.
While they both had quite long cooldowns, the situation was looking good, so he didn’t worry too much.
When Woohyuk exited the secret passage and reached Area-B,
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The labyrinth shook, and intense explosions resounded in the distance.
It was most likely the three demon kings fighting against the Wraith.
Woohyuk hastily advanced.
“Sa, save us!”
“This is bad! These far stronger enemies appeared!”
When he almost reached his destination, Levian and Lamia ran towards him from the source of the noises and asked for help.
Woohyuk calmed the two down and asked for details.
“What happened to Lutia?”
“Sh-she escaped. Those three demon kings popped out of nowhere and created a mess, so we couldn’t catch her...”
Unfortunately, the Wraith and Fanatic had both escaped in similar directions, so the pursuers had crossed paths.
While Woohyuk thought to himself, a painful scream resounded in the distance.
“Arrghh…! Aaarrrrggghhh...!”
It was unmistakably the voice of the blond man.
Levian and Lamia looked behind in worry.
“How can this happen in a 5-player survival game?”
“They’re obviously the demon kings who were defeated by Asura and sealed in Lemegeton.”
It didn’t seem like there was a bug in the game’s system.
After a while, Lamia's gaze slowly turned to Woohyuk.
“Don’t tell me, are you…?”
“Yes, I am Asura.”
Woohyuk no longer hid his identity.
Since their roles were revealed, Levian had to help him unconditionally, and Lamia also seemed to prefer helping their faction.
Levian realized his situation and trembled.
“This is such a ridiculous situation. I, a servant of Demon King Orobas, am using divine magic and allied with Asura... .”
“This isn’t the time to lament, Levian. We only have 15 minutes left.”
It had taken more time than expected to discover each other's roles and find their targets.
Levian clenched his teeth and turned to the passage through which he and Lamia had come from.
“Yes, let’s finish the game first. Since Lutia escaped, we should deal with the Wraith first...”
Levian, who was trying to take the lead, could not speak further.
The blond man was running towards them from the other side of the corridor while getting chased by the three demon kings.
“Arrrggghhhhhhhhh!”
The blond man had activated Blood Rhapsody, and his eyes were bloodshot red.
He had a distorted face due to the skill’s side effects.
“Great timing! He’s coming towards us!”
Lamia, who felt empowered, ran towards the blond man, pulling out her twin swords.
Now that she had confirmed that the three demon kings were under Asura’s control, there was nothing to fear.
However, Woohyuk, who had already experienced the Pitch-Black Labyrinth once in the past, stopped her.
"It’s dangerous. Wait for him to come over here.”
“What’s so dangerous? He’s just running for his life after losing his mind right now.”
Lamia did not listen to Woohyuk.
Her role was the Retired Mercenary.
If she defeated the Wraith herself, she could get the Wraith’s Ebony Cloak.
But there was one thing she hadn’t considered.
Stab!
The Wraith had temporarily gained tremendous power after activating Blood Rhapsody.
That was the reason why he hadn’t got caught by the three demon kings so far.
“Urgh…!”
Lamia spat out red blood as she had her heart pierced by the blond man's hand.
Levian watched them in astonishment.
“He, he’s fast…!”
“If the person in charge of the Wraith role were weak, the game itself would end too quickly.”
Unlike the previous stages, the roles and skills given to each of them were extremely important.
Realizing that, Levian hurriedly deployed the Sanctuary Barrier and blocked the passage.
Lamia had already died, so he did not need to use the Blessing of the Holy Spirit.
“I will… survive… no matter what...! Can’t die... in this damned... ruin…!”
The blond man stopped in place after spouting out those words with difficulty.
Afterwards, his silhouette turned black and he turned into a shadow.
“Wha, what?!”
“Where did he go?”
“Did he teleport himself?”
The three demon kings, who were chasing the Wraith, looked confused.
They were ignorant of the Wraith's skill, Shadow Movement.
However, Woohyuk could guess where their target was headed to.
“The secret passage. He intends to take control of Area-C.”
Whenever he took control of an area in the labyrinth, the Wraith received cards that could turn the tables of the game.
Not only could he summon and command monsters, but he could also control the magic devices in the area.
If he took control of every area, he would become the manager of this labyrinth.
At Woohyuk's explanation, Levian urgently searched around.
“A secret passage?! Just where the hell is it?”
“Over here. Follow me.”
Woohyuk took the lead with a calm look.
Later, when he drew an inverted pentagram on one side of a stone wall, a secret passage emerged.
“Oh, using an inverted symbol makes me feel like we’re in a dungeon of the demon world.”
“Is the White Ghost King a demon?”
“I don’t know. He might be.”
The three demon kings knew nothing about the White Ghost King.
As Woohyuk led the other four down the secret passage, a system message popped up before his eyes.
[The Wraith was caught in a trap you set up, causing fatal damage.]
[Catch him quickly before he runs away with the help of the Fanatic.]
[There are 10 minutes left.]
[From now on, the Wraith and the Fanatic are able to have telepathic conversations with each other.]
The Pitch-Black Labyrinth granted many advantages to the Wraith.
One of them was that he could communicate telepathically with the Fanatic by the end.
By now, he was probably staggering with his wounded body and calling Lutia for help.
'He will try to avoid fighting us as much as possible and buy some time from now on.'
From his point of view, it was much better to return to the previous stage than to die here.
So, with the help of Lutia the Fanatic, he would try to hide somewhere in Area-A that he was controlling.
In this situation, the key point was Lutia's decision.
'The chances are about 50-50.'
She could use the Wraith as bait and hide alone during the remaining 10 minutes, or she could risk her life and head to Area-A together with the Wraith after saving him.
Both of the choices weren’t disadvantageous to Lutia.
Woohyuk couldn’t predict what she would do.
When he arrived at his destination, he saw the blond man leaning against the wall as blood poured out of his wounds.
"This is the end, Wraith."
“Urgh…”
The Wraith clenched his teeth.
The most he could do right now was to lean and stop himself from falling unconscious.
Blood Rhapsody and Shadow Movement were both on cooldown and could not be used right now.
Slash!
Before the three demon kings could move, Grandia cut his head off.
Then, a system message appeared before Woohyuk's eyes.
[You have killed the Wraith.]
[This will be announced to all participants in the labyrinth.]
[New skills have been granted to the Fanatic.]
[From now on, the Fanatic has taken control of the areas conquered by the Wraith previously.]
Lutia did not show up in the end.
She had decided not to help the Wraith.
Woohyuk followed the secret passage with the others and headed straight to Area-A.
“I have a rough idea of where she is.”
In the center of Area-A, traps with high difficulty were placed one after another.
Lutia, who had inherited the knowledge of the Wraith, had grasped the structure of the labyrinth and would definitely try to buy time over there.
However, such tricks would not work on Woohyuk.
“Advance.”
When Woohyuk gave the order, the summoned undead troops began to advance down the passage.
Avoiding or removing the traps one by one would take a lot of time.
Instead, he would send the undeads to activate the traps in advance.
When Woohyuk reached her position with ease through an unexpected method, Lutia stepped back in shock and confusion.
“D, don’t approach me! I have a secret weapon!”
A skill she had gained with the Wraith’s death.
It was the Fanatic’s Martyrdom.
In simpler terms, it was self-destruction.