Game of Divine Thrones

Chapter 160: The White Ghost King's Sanctuary 5

"I know."

“No matter how strong you are, it will be difficult to survive the explosion unscathed! It’ll be so powerful that this labyrinth will collapse completely!”

Lutia was hoping the game would end in a draw.

She wanted them all to return to the previous stage instead of dying here along with her.

But Woohyuk shook his head.

“You’re the only one who will die.”

“You, you think I’m not capable of actually doing it? I won’t die alone like an idiot! If you take one more step, I’ll...”

“Amii, take care of her.”

“Yes, Lord Asura.”

Amii swung Ignis, and the Hound of the Baskervilles jumped out and rushed towards Lutia.

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!”

“Kyaaaaah! Save me!”

Lutia was terrified and she ran towards a passage nearby.

She had threatened to self-destruct, but when the moment to kill herself actually arrived, she wasn’t brave enough to waste her own life.

However, she could not escape from the current situation.

Crunch!

The Hound opened its jaws wide apart and swallowed Lutia.

Lutia was burning to death inside its stomach, and she cursed at Woohyuk.

“Asura…! I will drag you down with me!”

Splash!

Black blood sprayed around and dropped from the air like a fountain.

Lucia's body was used for the Fanatic’s Martyrdom.

Her flesh was torn apart into countless pieces, leaving only her heart intact.

Before long, her heart in the Hound’s stomach began to burn red hot.

“Sh, shouldn’t we escape? It looks like it will explode soon.”

“If you're nervous, install a barrier or something.”

At Woohyuk’s words, Levian immediately started chanting.

A transparent spherical barrier appeared, covering them all.

“Amii, go and stop it too.”

"Yes? How am I…”

“You won’t burn since you have the Eternal Hell trait.”

First, the Hound of the Baskervilles would absorb most of the heat from the heart exploding, and then Amii had to control the rest of the heat.

As Woohyuk stared at her, Amii frowned and dejectedly ran towards the Hound.

She was despairing that she was being used as a meat shield during dangerous situations like this.

“Come here. Let's block it together.”

As Amii beckoned it, the Hound of the Baskervilles assimilated with Ignis' flames, handing Lutia's heart to her.

Amii tightly tied it with Ignis and hugged the heart in her arms.

“Okay, let it blow up now!”

The reason why Lutia's heart hadn't exploded so far was because the Hound was holding back the heat.

However, there is a time limit.

No matter how restrained it was, Lutia's heart would burst within seconds.

After a while, the heart ran out of control in the Hound.

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom!

Along with a loud explosion, Ignis' flames burst apart, spreading around in all directions.

As Woohyuk had predicted, it was difficult for the Hound to absorb the entire explosion caused by Lutia’s self-destruction.

Amii clenched her teeth and tried to control the rampaging flames.

‘This much is nothing...!’

Even though she was sealed in Lemegeton and was being used as a meat shield, she was still a demon king.

She was competent enough to stop the succubus' self-destruction.

Levian's expression brightened as Amii made the flames die down.

“Oh, we’re alive! I was almost put to eternal sleep without having accomplished anything.”

“Do you have a demon to inherit your name?”

"I do. He’s still quite young however.”

Unlike humans and elves, demons inherited the names of their predecessors.

If a demon couldn’t perform the rite of inheritance before he became an adult, he would use the name he had been using until then.

In these cases, the demon would be a lot weaker compared to demons who had inherited names, as he would start from the very bottom and would have to make his way up.

That is why the unselected demons were constantly scheming against their own people and trying to steal their names.

Names were like classes to them, and an average demon could take up to two names.

If one had two names, it was customary to be called by the stronger name.

Woohyuk was well aware of such customs and traditions, so despite being of different races, he was able to communicate with Levian without much difficulty.

[The Fanatic has died.]

[The Devil Hunter's mission has been completed.]

[You have cleared the Pitch-Black Labyrinth.]

[You will be given a 10-minute break before moving to the next stage.]

System messages tardily rang in his head, announcing the end of the game.

The Fanatic seemed to be considered dead only after the heart stopped functioning or disappeared.

“Anyways, we can go to the final stage now.”

“Ah, it's finally time to meet the White Ghost King.”

The last stage was even weirder and harder than the Pitch-Black Labyrinth.

In order to avoid unnecessary troubles during the last stage, Woohyuk had to erase the variables in advance.

Woohyuk picked up Grandia and stared at Levian.

“Wa, wait... Aren’t we on the same side?

“We were. But not anymore.”

Levian was a demon who was loyal to Orobas, the 55th Demon King.

If he left him alive, there would be trouble later on.

As Woohyuk approached with blatant murderous intentions, the frightened Levian stepped back.

Levian knew that his opponent was the strongest person here.

He had fought against three demon kings at the same time and won the battle.

But there was nowhere for Levian to escape.

The three demon kings were standing behind him.

“Ugh… But I have to pass on my name before dying at least...”

For the demons who were about to enter eternal sleep, the ritual of inheritance was of great importance.

Even if his ego disappeared, his demonic energy would remain in the world and would continue to be inherited over time.

However, Levian currently had no choice.

He watched Grandia swing towards his neck before closing his eyes.

***

[Welcome to the last stage.]

[The name of this battlefield is the Golden Desert.]

[Here is your first mission.]

[Defeat the other challengers and reach the resting place of the White Ghost King.]

[Only one party can enter the White Ghost King's Sanctuary. This is decided on a first-come, first-served basis]

[Participants who fail the first mission will be forcibly transported to the previous stage.]

[Each participant can recruit up to ten party members.]

[Please refer to the note for rules on party management.]

A series of system messages covered Woohyuk's eyes.

Woohyuk took a look at them, and then took a deep breath.

'I should get serious from here on.'

At first glance, the stage seemed simple. But this battleground was not easy.

There were many things to care about besides the other challengers in the Golden Desert.

One of them was the Harvest Night.

When the Harvest Night quest would begin, day would suddenly turn into night, and a red moon would appear while a total solar eclipse would occur at the same time.

Its duration was about 300 minutes.

During this time, if another participant was killed and sacrificed, various benefits would be obtained in proportion to the total number sacrifices.

Some of these benefits would only last until the end of the next Harvest Night, though.

'There were definitely a lot of troublesome people in the past.'

The Golden Desert was so vast that it was difficult to search for all the other competitors one by one and kill them.

Besides, the mission would be cleared on a first-come, first-served basis, so it was best to just head to the pyramid in the center where the White Ghost King resided.

In the past, Woohyuk had also made this decision. As he got closer to the pyramid, the frequency at which he encountered other challengers increased.

However, the number of sacrifices they had offered to the White Ghost King was high, so their stats had been quite increased.

Moreover, they had many special abilities, so it was quite difficult for Woohyuk to deal with them.

Because he knew of this stage’s rules in advance, Woohyuk had come up after eliminating all of his allies from the past stages.

If he had left them alive, they would’ve become troublesome enemies to deal with on this stage, or would’ve been sacrificed by another troublesome enemy.

'I should head to the middle of the Golden Desert for now.'

He had to reach the pyramid and block the entrance before anybody else would reach it.

Unlike the previous stages, the Golden Desert was a unique stage with no other duplicates.

All those who had survived the previous stages until now would gather here, so Woohyuk was planning to reunite here with Eteria Rodinus.

'It's pointless to enter the pyramid without Eteria Rodinus.'

He didn't think the White Ghost King would simply hand over the Sangreal Chronicles to him.

He's a sort of Dimension Manager.

It would be risky for Woohyuk to fight against the White Ghost King as he was similar to a god in this dimension.

If he couldn’t get a complete victory, the White Ghost King would only give him one of the rewards and disappear as he had done in his past life.

The White Ghost King’s Sand Temple would also collapse and disappear, and it would be difficult to find the White Ghost King again.

'I only have one chance.'

He couldn’t make any mistakes until he obtained the Sangreal Chronicles.

As he walked alone in the Golden Desert, Woohyuk unfolded the note in his hand.

[Party Management Rules]

[#1 The first person to receive a party member becomes the leader of the group.]

[#2 The leader can choose his or her successor in advance in case he or she dies.]

[#3 Leaders have four privileges: invite, banish, command, and vote.]

[#4 Leaders cannot be replaced through votes. If you don't like your leader, kill him or leave the group.]

[#5 If a leader dies without a successor, the party is automatically disbanded.]

There was nothing remarkable.

It was all very basic, and Woohyuk had already experienced the Golden Desert in the past.

'I have to become a leader again this time.'

He was going to party only with the members of Eteria Rodinus, but it was safer to hold onto the leader position in advance.

He could not give the leader’s privileges to another party member, since Eteria Rodinus was trying to control him through the unidentified prophetic book.

As Woohyuk recalled Helena's spiteful expression, a bunch of poison arrows flew towards him.

Swoosh!

A blond woman who had found Woohyuk from a distance had used Multi-Shot, a ranger skill.

Woohyuk spoke up after neutralizing the attack with the Queen Star Snake Ghost.

“You must be so eager to die.”

“Tsk!”

The blond woman frowned and pulled the bow again.

Before she could release it, she felt a cold aura behind her, and she hastily turned around.

“Drop your weapon if you don't want to be reaped by the shadow killer's scythe.”

Woohyuk had summoned the undead Amy, and she had quickly reached the opponent’s back.

The blond woman clenched her teeth and dropped her longbow to the ground in response.

Woohyuk took out a rope from his pocket and tied her up.

“Walk in the direction I’m pointing to.”

“…”

“If you don’t move quickly, I’ll punish you.”

Crack!

Crack!

“Kyaaaahhh!”

As Woohyuk whipped her relentlessly, the blond woman screamed and slowly stepped forward.