The lifeless armor collapsed to the ground with a deafening crash. I turned toward Yoon Jiyeon, who had just landed beside the armor. A sense of accomplishment hung in the air—we were truly a team now.
I walked over to her and placed my fist on her shoulder.
"Nice job."
Beads of sweat trickled down her face. She stored her sword back in her inventory.
She smiled and gave me a strong slap on the shoulder. "Nice job!"
"Ouch!"
I rubbed my sore shoulder.
Taehyun was bouncing around the fallen armor. "Did you see how massive it was? And how you jumped into the air?" *whoosh* He mimicked sound effects with his mouth, acting out the scene.
A piece of the armor slipped off and hit the ground with a heavy thud.
"Ahh!"
Yoon Jiyeon jumped back, shooting a terrified glance at the armor, which sent Taehyun into hysterics. She clenched her fists.
"You little—if I catch you…"
She started chasing Taehyun, who was still laughing as he ran in circles around the armor. I sat down to rest for a moment.
My gaze shifted to the massive wooden double doors that blocked the hallway. It was better to let them rest before entering the throne room.
Actually, I didn't think we could even step into the throne room at our current level. I pulled up my stats.
+
[Information]
Name: Kim Honja
Age: 23
Mythos: [Not revealed]
Eidolons: [Not manifested]
[Attributes]
Endurance: 42
Strength: 90
Agility: 80
Ether: 99999999
Intelligence: 4
Charisma: 1
Luck: 2
[Passport]
Status: Active
Affiliation: 'Demonic Realm'
Estimated Threat Level: None
Class unknown (calculating...)
Stellaron: 220,200
+
Aside from my Ether points, which were abnormally high, there was no way I could hope to defeat that guy. I looked again at the double doors. Even from here, I could feel the aura radiating from beyond them.
Even if it was a fake, just a mental projection, a concept... none of us would survive a confrontation with him.
"Yoon Jiyeon!" I called out as I stood up.
"I think we should use this castle to level up a bit more."
"You think so?"
"The monsters in these hallways respawn endlessly. We can use them to increase our strength and agility before we go into the throne room."
I turned to make sure Taehyun wasn't listening.
"We'll need to run fast once we're inside. One wrong move and it's over."
She nodded with a serious look.
"I'll stay here in the meantime." I pointed to the fallen armor. "I need some time to salvage parts from it."
She sighed. "Alright… Come on, Taehyun!"
"Huh?"
"We're going to train."
He drew his sword and began miming a battle in the empty space in front of him.
***
Once they were gone, calm returned.
I leaned over the armor and ran my finger along it.
[Golden Armor – Material Quality: Rare.]
If I remembered correctly, Kwon Joonseo could craft items using the system interface.
I took the golden shoulder plates and stored them in my inventory, then focused as hard as I could, trying to summon a sales or market window—anything like that.
[Market.]
The window appeared before me, and I let out a sigh of relief.
The market interface was similar to those found in most online games. It allowed players to list their items for sale or buy directly from the system. But the function I was most interested in was...
[Recycle.]
The tab opened, showing a section where I could place items to be transformed into a random piece of equipment. You could choose the equipment type, but the gear itself would be random.
I dragged the first piece of armor from my inventory into the window and clicked the RECYCLING button in capital letters. The armor shimmered slightly and disappeared, replaced by an orange crystal.
I carefully stored the crystal in my inventory and repeated the process with the second piece, which turned into a gray crystal.
I also bought two agility potions for 300 stellaron.
Then I waited in front of the door for Yoon Jiyeon and Taehyun to return, giving me plenty of time to explore all the memories Kwon Joonseo had left behind.
They came back a few hours later, walking and smiling, which meant they had leveled up without much trouble.
"All good?"
"A few close calls, but we managed to raise our agility up to 70."
"Great."
It was still a low number compared to what was waiting in the throne room, but maybe it would be enough to help us escape.
I drew my sword from my inventory.
"Get ready. When I give the signal, we sprint to the other side of the room straight to the portal—no stopping."
Taehyun and Yoon Jiyeon nodded and drew their swords too.
"If Hades is so powerful, why doesn't he come after us when we're killing his guards?"
I placed a hand on the heavy door.
"Remember, none of this is real. That's not Hades—it's just the image people have of him. And most people imagine him sitting on his throne. He can't leave that room."
The door creaked open slowly. It wasn't particularly heavy, but its sheer size made it imposing.
The room beyond was pitch black. We entered in silence. I could hear Yoon Jiyeon's labored breathing on my left and Taehyun's trembling sword on my right.
Contrary to expectations, the throne room of the King of the Underworld was freezing. The only visible thing in the darkness was the mist of our breath.
***
Yoon Jiyeon could feel the cold seeping through her clothes and stinging her skin. They moved forward blindly, each step feeling like it lasted an eternity.
Suddenly, a light flickered on in the distance, then another—and another. Torches lit up one by one along the walls.
"Now!"
Yoon Jiyeon bolted forward at full speed, followed closely by Taehyun and Kim Honja. At the far end of the room, she could see a glowing purple portal. The agility she'd gained while training with Taehyun was definitely paying off.
She felt a strange sensation rising behind her. She didn't turn back—just kept running.
The sensation grew stronger, as if she were suffocating. Every instinct screamed at her to run faster and never look back.
Taehyun and Kim Honja were still behind her, so she pushed even harder.
She was now just meters from the portal when the oppressive feeling began to fade, and she could breathe again. She'd managed to outrun it.
The portal was right in front of her now—she just had to step through.
Her foot passed through the translucent surface.
But when she turned to check if Taehyun was behind her and grabbed his hand to pull him in with her, she saw with horror a dark silhouette staring at her from afar, a figure that seemed to devour all surrounding light.
A deep discomfort washed over her as she fell backward through the portal.
Even from that distance, just seeing that thing was unbearable. She turned her gaze toward what was keeping it at bay.
In front of Hades stood Kim Honja, holding his sword horizontally to block his path.