Chapter 34

  ~ Sealed Within ~

  SW/SW/SW

  When Kail woke up, everything was blurry. Shaking his head, he blinked several times and peered to the distance. He was in a place so… ancient-looking. There were two stone sculptures and looked a lot like the gargoyles in those RPG games, mouth open in a screaming-like posture and hand holding a torch.

  Was he still logged on?

  That was weird… the last thing he saw was a park.

  Oh! Those pursuers!

  Kail stood and hastily spun around. Instead of human beings, he saw an ivory throne with a pair of wings extended to its side.

  Flabbergasted, he tried to rub his eyes, but something was in the way. It was solid and cold. Another surprise caught him off guard. When he lifted his hand to feel the weird thing, his hand was… covered in a sinister-looking gauntlet.

  He let out a snort.

  He played GeaOnline until he was around 40 or so and got himself a nice set of demon armor from a quest reward. Then he donned it because QueeN pestered him to. No wonder everything about him was different.

  …

  …wait.

  He was a Summoner, wasn’t he?

  For him to be able to wear melee character’s armor… it was quite a subject of ponder.

  No, no, no. This was GeaOnline and everything was possible. Maria’s main weapon was a lance, but she was able to cast spells. A devastating one, at that. QueeN was able to learn Taming skill, which a Magician didn't have.

  Based on evidence, Kail drew a conclusion that anyone could do what they wanted to do and wear the gear they want to.

  But he couldn’t make the head nor tail of this place. How come could he end up standing in this… eerie throne room? On that note, whose throne was that?

  Kail looked around but everything was dim, but the strange thing was he could see perfectly in the dark. Far in the distance he saw windows. They were without glasses and looked like they belonged to a castle in middle-ages. Looking ahead, he saw nothing but a gaping chasm. There seemed to be a city in the distance, but he wasn’t sure. Might be his imagination.

  Anyway, he was kind of curious about this place. It might be a boss’ lair and he couldn’t wait to explore the place. Rare treasures awaited him.

  A huge double door… Kail walked towards it.

  Clank! Clank! Clank!

  He stopped, realizing that the sounds were coming from his armor.

  Curse you, QueeN…

  Hmph, there was no need to hide. If something were to happen, he’d surely spawn in Dragonis, anyway.

  The intricate double door opened by itself as soon as his hand reached out to touch it. It came as a surprise to him.

  The outside was no different than the throne room. The wall was solid, black rock and decorated with paintings that belonged to some kind of royal family. Deep red carpet was laid out on the floor, promising comfort to anyone who walked on it. Countless chandeliers were floating magically on the ceiling, illuminating the vicinity in a rather calming, yet sinister light. Such a contradiction.

  Kail held back his breath when he saw knights dressed in black standing on either side of the door. They didn’t seem to feel his presence or realize that the door had been opened. How odd.

  Experimentally, Kail walked outside while noting the knights’ reaction.

  They were as silent as a statue.

  It could be that his armor rendered him invisible. As much as he wanted to check it, Kail didn’t want to risk blowing up his cover. The greater the benefit of an armor was, the stronger the drawback. Surely there must be some kind of restriction to keep his invisibility going—for instance, when invisible he couldn’t attack enemies or else it would blow his cover.

  While he was still invisible, might as well as looting the entire place.

  0000

  The place was quite winding. Kail couldn’t remember how many floors this place had. More than five? Quite possible. There was no use for a map since it was blackened, meaning that he hadn’t explored this place or hadn’t bought the map yet.

  How he wished he’d turn back the time and bought the map to this place.

  …wait…

  Just wait.

  …how was he able to think normally? He meant, after all of this weirdness and stuff going on and about, how come he’d able to solve everything with a cool head? And he had cursed QueeN using archaic words, not ‘fuck’, not ‘shitty’, not ‘bitch’. Moreover, he hadn’t shouted his shock at all and regarded everything so calmly. So calmly that it scared him.

  What was going on?

  He really needed a quiet place to think. Looking around, everything was the same. Winding corridor, tall doors, royal paintings… was this place enchanted so that whoever might enter but none return? If that was true, then it was strange. He didn’t feel any changes in the air.

  Kail opened a door cautiously. Seeing that the room was empty, he quickly entered, making sure to lock the door. He tapped the air to open up his status. Surely he had caught some kind of disease in-game.

  Kail’s hand stopped moving. He stared at his basic status for a long time. With a trembling hand, he tapped the Status menu and was in utter disbelief.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  …what awaited him wasn’t an answer, but more questions instead...

  Spoiler: Status