The Return of the Legendary All-Master

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 289

As the barrier shattered, the monsters that had been roaming outside all turned their gaze in unison.

[Lv.505 Dark Teros]

[Lv.511 Blood Teros]

Their eyes gleamed with a strange light—beasts that looked like a fusion of a bear and a tiger.

“This is bad! We have to stop them! We absolutely cannot let them through!”

Jiron, his face pale, shouted urgently as he drew his sword and tried to rush forward.

Jeong-hoon raised a hand to stop him.

“Wait a moment.”

“Huh? What are you doing?! We don’t have time for this!”

Above Jiron’s head, an exclamation mark flickered.

It signified the completion of the scouting quest.

[Quest completed.]

[You have gained 10,000,000 experience points.]

[You can now proceed to the next quest.]

The next quest—

[Episode Quest: Survival of the Seivro Knights]

- Requirement: Completion of the Delphos Grand Duchy Barrier Scouting

- Reward: Access to the next quest + Experience Points

- Description: Protect the Seivro Knights from the monsters. If more than 50% of the knights are lost, the quest will fail.

The objective was to defend the knights.

To do that, all the monsters before them had to be eliminated.

Jeong-hoon accepted the quest.

“I’ll take care of this.”

“B-By yourself?”

“No.”

Jeong-hoon signaled to Ha-Jin and Bong-Goo, who were standing behind him.

“Okay!”

“Hyung-nim, we’re ready!”

Ha-Jin and Bong-Goo rushed forward.

Yeo Min-Ji and Yeo Sunwoo followed suit.

“Cover us.”

“Understood.”

As always, his mother took position at the rear, providing ranged support.

“The barrier is gone.”

“Finally, we can feast on humans!”

With eerie words, the monsters came pouring down.

‘Let’s begin.’

Having reached the pinnacle of power, it was time to put this strength to the test.

Jeong-hoon shot forward, executing Heavenly Demon Lord’s Dominion.

In his grasp was the Shadow King’s Spear.

As expected of an ultimate-grade weapon, this spear was specialized for sweeping away enemies.

[Activating Shadow Moonlight.]

As Jeong-hoon slashed from left to right, the Shadow Moonlight effect was triggered.

As the spear sliced through, a black afterimage trailed behind it, accompanied by a faint glimmer of light.

It was almost as if the afterimage itself had cut down the monsters.

“Guaaaah!”

“Ghak!”

In an instant, eighteen monsters had their upper bodies severed and collapsed lifelessly.

No matter how they were over Level 500, withstanding Jeong-hoon's spear strikes was impossible.

“Die!”

“Kill the human!”

The monsters launched their attacks at Jeong-hoon all at once.

Instead of counterattacking, Jeong-hoon raised his spear and began absorbing all of their attacks.

The reason was simple.

— Special Ability (1): Absorb the attacks of designated targets to activate one of the spear’s five abilities.

He was activating the spear’s special ability.

And he wasn’t limited to a single target—he could designate multiple enemies at once.

Thus, he absorbed the attacks of every monster attacking him.

Then, he triggered the special ability.

[The unique ability of the Shadow King’s Spear has been activated.]

The unique ability of the Shadow King’s Spear.

[Attack power increases by 20%.]

The first effect: a 20% increase in attack power.

At his current level, his attack power was already doubled.

With the additional 20% boost, its destructive force was unimaginable.

Jeong-hoon swung his spear in a large diagonal arc from below.

[Activating Shadow Moonlight.]

Fifteen seconds had passed, allowing Shadow Moonlight to be activated again.

As it triggered, another eighteen monsters fell.

Jeong-hoon spun his spear at the wrist, deflecting the monsters' attacks, then created some distance and slashed their heads off with precision.

“We need to kill that human first!”

“Kill him!”

The Dark Teros and Blood Teros focused their attacks on Jeong-hoon.

But the others were holding their own as well.

Ha-Jin was using his Dark Soldiers to push back the monsters. Those soldiers were clad in glowing red armor.

‘That must be the ancient relic.’

A Legendary-grade ancient relic.

Originally, Kaneda Shun would have obtained and made great use of it, but now, the Dark Lord was Ha-Jin.

Thus, this fortuitous encounter rightfully belonged to Ha-Jin.

Meanwhile, Bong-Goo was fighting with a Legendary-grade dagger and the Unique-grade Cloak of Shadows he had received earlier.

Of course, against enemies over Level 500, the battle was perilous.

However, Yeo Sunwoo and Yeo Min-Ji were assisting him, moving in sync.

From the rear, his mother provided covering fire, preventing the Teros from easily approaching and keeping the situation stable.

Thanks to this, Jeong-hoon could focus entirely on subjugating the Teros.

Slash.

[Activating Shadow Moonlight Slash.]

Jeong-hoon actively wielded Shadow Moonlight Slash, cutting down the Teros.

By the time the number of Teros slain by his hands surpassed 1,000, the overwhelming flood of monsters visibly began to dwindle.

"…This is impossible."

Meanwhile, the Seivro Knights, who had been watching from a distance, were left in utter disbelief.

Especially the knight commander, Jiron, who couldn’t bring himself to close his gaping mouth.

‘Commander, if the barrier weren’t here, what would happen to us?’

A conversation from just before their return.

‘We fight to the end.’

Jiron had no choice but to say that, even knowing it would lead to their deaths.

If they didn’t stop the Teros, countless people living in the Grand Duchy would be slaughtered.

‘Their levels are too high… If they swarm us, we’ll all die.’

‘Even so, we must fight. We are the Seivro Knights—the order that protects this proud Grand Duchy.’

It was a situation where considering the worst outcome was inevitable.

Jiron was prepared to risk his life to protect the Grand Duchy.

Yet, an outsider appeared and effortlessly exterminated monsters over Level 500.

To Jiron, it felt like a dream.

Bang!

The last remaining Teros collapsed with the sound of a gunshot.

Though it hadn’t died immediately, it let out agonized screams.

Before it could suffer any longer, Jeong-hoon swiftly closed the distance and thrust his spear down, putting an end to it.

"It looks like all the ones outside have been cleared."

"Ah… You’ve done well. Thanks to you, we survived."

Jiron awkwardly expressed his gratitude.

"Yes. Now, it's time to destroy that dungeon. If we don’t, the monsters will keep pouring out."

"…Can it be destroyed?"

"Yes, it’s possible."

Jeong-hoon possessed the title [Transcendent Human].

With the power of that title, he could permanently erase dungeons.

Since it was an Ultimate-grade ability at Level 10, eliminating a dungeon of the 500-level range was no issue.

Of course, he would have to clear the dungeon first.

"Then, may I leave it to you?"

A quest marker blinked above Jiron’s head.

[You have completed the quest.]

[You have gained 10,000,000 experience points.]

[You can now proceed with the next quest.]

The next quest.

[Episode Quest: The Darkness Looming Over the Grand Duchy]

- Requirement: Ensure the survival of the Seivro Knights.

- Reward: Progress to the next quest + Experience points.

- Description: Clear the dungeon and eliminate the monsters. (Success upon reaching 70% extermination rate.)

Jeong-hoon accepted the quest.

***

‘Wait here.’

Leaving those words behind, the outsider entered the dungeon.

“Commander… are we really just supposed to stand by and watch?”

At that moment, Vice Commander Zest cautiously asked.

“Do you think we’d be of any help if we went in now?”

“Pardon?”

“We couldn’t even lay a finger on the monsters pouring out.”

“……”

The Seivro Knights, sworn to protect the Grand Duchy, had done nothing but stand there in shameful silence.

All they had done was watch.

In such a situation, how could they possibly offer any assistance?

Jiron had no choice but to nod at the outsider’s command to wait.

“For now, waiting is the right thing to do.”

The outsider’s strength was an absolute domain that Jiron could never hope to reach, no matter how much he trained in his lifetime.

The sight of Level 500 Teros being swept away with every swing of his spear was burned into his mind—an image he would never forget.

“…Understood.”

Zest could not find any words to refute him.

He, too, had long been mesmerized by the outsider’s spear techniques.

Throughout his life, he had never seen or even heard of a knight stronger than Jiron.

After all, Jiron was one of the few Sword Masters within the Empire.

Yet even he had been reduced to nothing more than an ordinary man.

If that man took action, then surely the Grand Duchy would be safe.

The other knights shared similar thoughts to Zest.

In fact, most of them were quietly rejoicing.

They didn’t have to risk their lives in battle, and there was now hope that their families would remain safe. Some knights even found themselves praying fervently to the gods, wishing for the outsider’s success.

‘Please… Protect this Grand Duchy.’

Jiron, too, was among those knights praying earnestly.

* * *

[You can permanently erase the dungeon. Would you like to proceed with its eradication?]

A message appeared before Jeong-hoon’s eyes.

“Erase it.”

[The dungeon is being eradicated.]

As the eradication began, the dungeon started collapsing.

With this, he had permanently erased a total of 14 dungeons.

This should be enough to complete the episode quest.

Jeong-hoon stepped out of the dungeon and looked for Jiron.

Jiron had faithfully followed his command to wait.

“Truly, thank you! You’ve done an incredible job!”

As Jeong-hoon exited the dungeon, the flickering portal vanished.

That meant the dungeon had been successfully erased.

Jiron and the Seivro Knights had witnessed the entire scene with their own eyes.

There was no way they couldn’t rejoice.

Above Jiron’s head, a quest marker blinked.

[You have completed the quest.]

[You have earned 10,000,000 experience points.]

[You may now proceed with the next quest.]

“It was something I had to do.”

“Something you had to do... Did you perhaps owe the Grand Duchy something?”

“That’s not it.”

“Then it wasn’t something you had to do. I truly appreciate you protecting the Grand Duchy!”

Jiron expressed his gratitude several times.

“Instead of this, wouldn’t it be better to report to His Grace the Duke? You can tell him that a hero helped put out the fire.”

Vice Commander Zest carefully suggested.

“Oh, of course. Would you like to return to the castle together?”

The quest wasn’t over yet.

Now, he had to meet with the Duke along with the Seivro Knights to receive the next quest.

However, Jeong-hoon wasn’t planning to return just yet.

‘I can’t head there during a quest.’

The quest involved 14 dungeons in total.

He needed to clear all 14 dungeons and complete the quest before he could visit other dungeons.

“There’s still something left to do. Please return first.”

“Hm? Something’s left?”

“We’ve put out the immediate fire, but there are still dungeons left. I’ll close those and return.”

“Hm… Will you be alright?”

“Yes. Please just report that we are closing the dungeons.”

“Understood. Be careful then.”

Jiron led the knights back to the castle without further words.

“Now, let’s head to the dungeon where the opportunity lies.”

The dungeon where the opportunity was hidden.

Jeong-hoon passed through the still flickering portal and stopped at a certain point.

A portal hidden deep within.

[Do you wish to enter the Lv.520 dungeon, 'Serion, Bearing the Bitter Grudge?']

This was the place.

‘It won’t be long before we encounter it.’@@novelbin@@

It was just a matter of time before Jeong-hoon and the others encountered the opportunity that would level them up.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]