Unique Title Dungeon: Blade of the Daybreaker

## Unique Title Dungeon: Blade of the Daybreaker Summary

[Entering title dungeon!]

[Multiple participant special dungeon…]

[Number of participants: 5!]

[Detected player 2567 possesses the sub scroll, matching identity…]

[Identity: You are the eldest son of the marquis. Your talents are outstanding; skilled in swordsmanship, medicinal knowledge plus a little bit of astrology. You are the most discussed topic of Dawn City but since your mother came from a peasant background, it gave you tremendous troubles. Coincidentally, you’ve heard of the Burning Dawn incident. You utilized your family’s name to exchange for a letter of appointment for the sheriff of Shatterstone Town…]

[Background: The Burning Dawn, who was stationed at the Supreme Road, was assaulted by an unknown enemy and was heavily wounded. He was desperate to find someone that can inherit the spirit and will of the Blade of the Daybreaker!]

[Main Mission: None, stay duration: 90 days]

[Temporary language pack, Disappears upon exiting the dungeon.]

[Clothing, backpack, weapons, and other items remain unchanged, Temporarily altered appearance, Returns to normal upon exiting the dungeon]

[Detected firearms and grenades did not match the dungeon period, power decreased by 90%. This is a title dungeon so after you enter the dungeon, you will not be compensated.]

[Note 1: The title dungeon allows killing between participating players. All the value of the items acquired from the potential kill will be increased by 50% and Points increased by 100%]

[Note 2: The title dungeon has no main mission]

[Note 3: The title dungeon does not allow players to acquire any kinds of equipment or items by killing a target]

[Note 4: The title dungeon does not grant player dungeon clear rewards like Points, Skill Points, Golden Skill Points, and Golden Attribute Points but player’s final rating will affect the acquirement of the title “Daybreaker’s Blade”]

[Note 5: When the player completes sub-missions or special events in the title dungeon, no ratings will be given, instead it will prolong the stay duration.] (Ch 948)

As Kieran read the notifications, he realized that the game system was encouraging the players to kill each other and complete sub missions; Kieran hoped that Starbeck would hide and protect himself until Kieran could find and meet up with him.

Kieran spawned in an elegantly decorated carriage, where a middle aged man sat across from him. The man asked Kieran if he was sure he wanted to abandon his family name just for a chance of inheriting the Blade of the Daybreaker, and the man regretfully gave Kieran a pouch of money, a gift from the Marquis, when Kieran insisted on leaving. They rode the wagon in silence, until they reached the outskirts of Shatterstone Town and Kieran got off the wagon. Once off the wagon, Kieran let the Fire Raven and Frost Wolf out of his bag; the Raven flew into the air to act as a scout, and the Wolf followed Kieran, growling at any critter that got too close to Kieran.

Kieran quickly reached the town that was in the middle of nowhere, and when he reached the front gate, some townspeople that were standing guard ordered Kieran to stop and put his hands up. Kieran showed them his appointment letter, announcing that he was the new sheriff of Shatterstone Town, and the townspeople let him in. One of the guards asked Kieran if he was sure he wanted to be the new sheriff, and when Kieran noticed other townspeople acting strangely around him, he decided to play along in hopes of getting a sub mission; Kieran acted confused, and asked them if something was wrong, but one townsperson changed the subject by introducing himself. Volgen, Shatterstone’s civilian troop captain, started leading Kieran to the security office. As they walked, Volgen praised Kieran’s Frost Wolf, and said that he had a very reliable hound of his own that had been killed by robbers two months ago.

Kieran asked Volgen why everyone reacted so strangely when he said he would be the new sheriff, and Volgen explained that over the past few months, Shatterstone has had several different sheriffs, each one dying in random accidents. Volgen then asked Kieran if he was still willing to be the sheriff after learning this, which Kieran said he would without hesitation.

[Discovered sub-mission: The Sheriff’s First Step]

[The Sheriff’s First Step: As Shatterstone Town’s sheriff, you need to break the curse and reinstate the prestige of a sheriff!] (Ch 949)

Kieran realized that the only reason he got this sub mission was because of his dungeon’s identity, and knew that all of the other players in this dungeons would be getting sub missions related to their own identities; Kieran thought about Starbeck, who, because he had the main scroll, would have more difficult sub missions. Volgen and Kieran reached the security office, where Volgen gave Kieran a brief tour. The first floor had the sheriff’s office as well as a few cells, and the upper floor was the sheriff’s living space; he then told Kieran about the civilian troops and their schedules. Volgen told Kieran that the troops refused to guard the security office as they thought the building was cursed, then left to make arrangements for a meal for Kieran.

When Kieran was alone in the security office, he pulled out a [Name: Communication Card (Main Card)], but before he could use it, the candles in the office were blown out by a sudden gust of wind. A pair of scarlet eyes appeared in the window, and Kieran quickly jammed his finger into the eye sockets, using [Brutal Lightning Hand] to shock the person, killing them instantly. Kieran went outside to investigate the body, and realized that even though the body was dressed as a thief, they were obviously a warrior in disguise. Volgen and a group of civilian troops then arrived, and investigated the body themselves before concluding it was a mercenary from Edi Merchant Group. Kieran gave Volgen permission to investigate the Edi Merchant Group, and Kieran went back into the security office after accepting the food that Volgen brought.

Volgen had quickly returned, and when Kieran finished eating, Volgen reported that the Edi Merchant Group had already left from the hotel they were staying at. Kieran followed Volgen to the hotel, and after looking around the town, Kieran realized that because of the commotion from the security office, the town had woken up, lights visible from inside every building. This made Kieran instantly realize that the mayor's office, which was a very large building, was completely dark even though the mayor should have been inside. Volgen also realized something was wrong and offered to investigate while Kieran investigated the hotel.

Vogel left with some troops, and Kieran followed Old Peeker, the owner of the hotel, to the room that the merchants stayed in; along the way, Peeker told Kieran all about them. He said the merchant group was odd, because every single member of the Edi family was a part of the merchant group, and they were also all strong enough to reliably fight against the robbers on the road. Peeker then slipped, mentioning the Burning Dawn before quieting down. Kieran asked more about the Burning Dawn, but Peeker begged Kieran to not ask him about it, as Peeker slipped Kieran a bribe.

They arrived at the room the merchants stayed at, and Kieran smelled a bloody stench from the floor. Kieran ordered the troops to move the table, then Kieran pried up the floor, revealing a hole filled with bloody bodies. The troops and Peeker were shocked and disgusted, and Peeker begged Kieran to allow him to prove his innocence by helping to clean. Kieran agreed, already figuring that Peeker was not the killer, and watched as the bodies were moved out of the hole one by one. Kieran theorized about how they might have died, until the troops exclaimed that the mayor was dead, carrying out the mayor, Holler’s, body.

Peeker was shocked, since he had greeted Holler that morning and this body had obviously been dead for a while, and Kieran wondered why someone would kill the mayor then disguise themselves as him. Kieran investigated the body, and noticed a tattoo of a half sun on Holler’s neck. One of the troops told Kieran that Holler was a member of Burning Dawn ten years ago.

Volgen was leading a group of troops to the mayor’s office. They entered through the unlocked front door, and despite the dark, Volgen quickly saw the mayor’s body on the ground. He approached slowly, and confirmed that Holler was dead. Volgen was enraged, as the mayor was a father figure to him, and vowed to avenge him. As Volgen bent down to pick the body up, the door they entered through slammed shut, and the necks of the troops were snapped. Volgen’s body was suddenly bound by a force, and Hollen’s body suddenly rose before twisting unnaturally. Volgen demanded to know what happened to Hollen, but Hollen just taunted Volgen and said he had surpassed mortality. As Holler continued to mock Volgen, Kieran stepped out of the shadows and grabbed Holler, using [Charles’ Fire] to set Holler on fire.

Outside of Shatterstone Town, a man on a warhorse took out a scroll and ripped it to pieces before tossing it into the wind. The shredded scroll turned into a black cloud that covered the moon, casting complete darkness over Shatterstone. The man then gestures, and an army of men riding warhorses approached, and they charged toward Shatterstone. The civilian troops were unable to even react to the army before they were trampled by the warhorses. The army then started setting the town on fire. The army of robbers then started raiding the town, but after a while they realized that Shatterstone was unusually quiet; there would usually be a lot of people screaming, but they heard nor saw anyone. The robbers stopped their raid, and the leader looked around before the fire came to life, forming a fire giant that started setting the robbers on fire. The leader ordered them to retreat, and as the fire giant started throwing fireballs at them, the leader realized too late that they were caught in an illusion.

In reality, the robbers hadn’t even managed to reach the front gate before they were all caught in [Deadman’s Gaze]. The civilian troops and the Edi Merchant Group in the distance watched as the heads of the army of robbers exploded. With the leader’s death, the black cloud dissipated, and moonlight shone down onto Kieran; everybody who saw this started revering or fearing Kieran, and internally they acknowledged Kieran as the “Son of Moon” (Ch 952).

Kieran threw Holler’s shriveled body onto the ground, and watched as it started inflating, returning to the appearance of a healthy, living person. Holler opened his eyes, but remained quiet when he saw Kieran standing over him. Kieran revealed that he pieced together that the hidden hole in the Merchant’s hotel room was where the merchants and the robbers conducted business, and Holler was doing business with them as well. Holler was the one who killed all the previous sheriffs, in order to prevent any of them from discovering the business deals. Kieran then asked Holler who the mastermind behind all of this was, but Holler refused to answer. Kieran dominated him with [Mesly Ring], and Holler obediently followed Kieran back into Shatterstone Town. The civilian troops and townspeople became more convinced that Kieran was a Son of Moon, since he just showed that he could control people's minds. A few people in the crowd did not look happy, and recalled that Holler had mentioned the Burning Family before being dominated; they correctly guessed Kieran’s identity as the eldest son of the Burning Marquis.

Outside of Shatterstone Town, the butler of the Burning Marquis and the man who rode in the carriage with Kieran, Wright, watched as Kieran made the heads of the robbers explode and made Holler obedient. Wright smiled as he recited a brief chant, and wished Kieran the best as he rode the carriage away from Shatterstone. The emblem of a flame on the side of the carriage started dimly shining, revealing a head with horns.

Kieran returned to the security office, followed by Holler. Kieran felt many gazes on him from the townspeople, though he ignored all of them save for a few stronger gazes that he marked down to investigate later. When they were inside the office, Holler started explaining that he worked with someone named Modi, who would give him assignments in exchange for mystical techniques. The assignments started out tame, but when Holler was in too far to back down, the assignments became unacceptable. Holler said that Modi needed a large amount of fresh bodies, so he organized the robbers to attack Shatterstone. Kieran asked for more information about Modi, and Holler said that he never met Modi in person, but he did know that Modi was unfamiliar with Supreme Road, a very large, main road, since he made common mistakes.

Given the information, Kieran started theorizing that Modi was a player in disguise. Kieran started pondering Broker’s plans, but quickly gave up since he was never able to predict what Broker’s real plans might be. Kieran pulled out the [Communication Card] again, ready to actually contact Starbeck, but Kieran stopped;

[Target is in a special environment, unable to establish communication…”] (Ch 954)

Kieran feared something like this might happen; Starbeck’s plan was to ignore everything and protect himself at all costs, but since Kieran couldn’t contact him, it indicated that Starbeck had fallen into some sort of trouble. Kieran recalled that a non- Advanced Rank player might have had a lot of trouble defeating the army of robbers, and wondered if something equally challenging was happening to Starbeck right now. After some more thought, Kieran concluded that Starbeck would be on or near Supreme Road, so he ordered Holler to gather information about recent events on Supreme Road. As Holler left, Volgen entered and asked about Holler. Kieran explained half-truthfully that Holler had been bewitched, but Kieran helped him regain his own consciousness. Volgen was relieved, and incredibly grateful that Kieran helped Holler; he asked what needed to be done next, and Kieran ordered him to rally the civilian troops and spot clean the entirety of Shatterstone, eliminating all unstable elements in the town. Volgen left as Kieran looked at his new sub mission;

[The Sheriff’s Second Step: After breaking the curse, you have established the initial trust around you but this is just the start. Shatterstone Town still has a lot of danger that requires its sheriff to deal with it.] (Ch 954)

Kieran started wondering about the sub missions, theorizing that since they were chain missions, if he would eventually seize complete control over Shatterstone. He also thought about his identity, the eldest son of the Burning Marquis, and wondered if and how the Burning Family was related to the Burning Dawn. Kieran remained deep in thought until Volgen returned with all of the Shatterstone civilian troops. Kieran knew that if he was to continue with the chain missions, he would need his men to follow his orders wholeheartedly, and he had no room for anyone with doubts or hesitations. Kieran announced to the troops that anyone with hesitations was allowed to leave with no consequence. After a little more prompting, some troops started putting their equipment down, until there were only half as many men left. Kieran congratulated the remaining men on staying, and announced the training regime that he would put in place to quickly turn them into real soldiers. Kieran then tossed Volgen a pouch of gold coins, which spilled open, and Kieran announced that the remaining men would gain wealth and prestige by following Kieran, boosting the remaining men’s morale.

In Shatterstone, Sayer was frantically writing a letter that summarized everything that had recently happened. He couldn’t use pigeons or hawks to deliver the letter, since they were too eye-catching, so he hid the letter in an alley behind his house. Right after returning to his house, Sayer heard screams, and looked out of his window to see the civilian troops, who were chasing a person. Sayer recognized the person as one of his competitors, as Sayer’s task in Shatterstone was to look for new talents as well as keeping an eye on the Edi Merchant Group. Sayer watched his competitor be killed by the civilian troops, and eagerly started planning to capture one of his targets, but as he considered how he might avoid both Volgen and Kieran, he watched his target get shot with an arrow, though he did not die. Angry, Sayer looked around for who shot the arrow, but was then filled with terror when he saw Kieran standing on a rooftop, holding a bow. As Sayer had some experience with archery, Sayer knew that he had already been spotted by Kieran, and tried desperately to hide. Volgen watched as his other competitors were struck down by Kieran’s arrows, and when he saw the bow pointed at him, Sayer left his hiding spot and surrendered.

Volgen celebrated that they had successfully cleaned up Shatterstone, as he thought they wouldn’t be able to do it with the numbers of civilian troops halved. Kieran disagreed with Volgen’s celebration, since he knew Modi had to have put a mole in Shatterstone. Kieran went to the mayor’s office, where he knew Peeker, the hotel owner, had been hiding for a while. Kieran questioned Peeker, but he pretended to be completely ignorant about Modi; Kieran knocked Peeker out, then glared at a shadow, where another person eventually walked out from in surrender. This person, Snacker, tried explaining himself, but Kieran didn’t want to hear any explanation, and went to knock Snacker out too. As Kieran moved, one of Snacker’s partners, an archer named Blu, shot an arrow at Kieran, but was shocked when the arrow hit Kieran’s palm and was deflected without injuring Kieran at all. Kieran finished knocking Snacker out, and grabbed the deflected arrow out of the air, throwing it back at Blu. The arrow hit Blu’s shoulder, and Kieran knocked out Blu before quickly turning to face another person, a person thrusting a dagger at Kieran named Riley. Riley was aiming for a nonlethal attack since he admired how Kieran gave up the prestige of his family name to be a sheriff of a small town. The dagger did not touch Kieran though, as Kieran knocked Riley out first; Kieran was fine with knocking them out instead of killing them outright because his Intuition told him that none of them were intending to kill him.

Kieran wondered if the trio, Snacker, Blu, and Riley, were another faction separate from Modi as he carried them and Peeker back to the security office. Volgen was sad to see Peeker was an enemy, but followed Kieran’s orders to imprison every captive they captured during their raid. The cells in the security office were filled, but none of the captives complained or fought since Kieran had ordered the civilian troops to kill anyone who caused any problems, and especially because they were all able to hear Kieran’s interrogations and torture methods. When Kieran was done with his interrogation, he ordered his troops to hang the captives that were wanted criminals, then he turned to the rest of the captives. Sayer and Peeker immediately began begging for their lives, offering Kieran wealth and information, but Snacker, Blu, and Riley refused to exchange their pride for their lives. Snacker explained to Kieran that Blu and Riley only attacked Kieran to protect Snacker, and asked to spare them in exchange for his life, but then Blu and Riley spoke up, asking Kieran to kill them himself instead of hanging them.

Just then, a girl wearing a brown hood appeared in the office, infatuating everyone except for Kieran who immediately kicked at her. The girl, Aisphany, was shocked when Kieran attacked her, and was upset that her plans were immediately messed up. She created several defensive barriers, all of which were broken by Kieran’s kick, but she dodged before the kick landed. Her partner then charged into the office, but was immediately kicked away by Kieran also. Aisphany prepared to attack, but Kieran had already drawn [Dandelion’s Pierce] and pointed it at her throat, stopping her. She saw the coldness in Kieran’s eyes, and was overwhelmed with [Fear], but she gathered just enough strength to shout out Starbeck’s name, stopping Kieran from decapitating her.

Kieran immediately demanded to know where Starbeck was, and she stuttered, in shock that Kieran actually knew Starbeck, and told Kieran she had a message from him in her bag. Kieran grabbed her bag, seeing several of Starbeck’s things in it before pulling out a letter. It was in code, but Kieran deciphered it, learning that he was safe but things were not going according to plan. Kieran then questioned Aisphany, asking why she had Starbeck’s things, and she explained that it was payment. As she spoke, Kieran glared at her colder and colder, and she was convinced that he was going to kill her again. She begged him to believe her, that the items were simply payment in exchange for delivering the letter, but Kieran felt Greed growing active in her presence, telling him that she got the items through blackmail or some other dishonest means. Kieran started charging up a fireball, preparing to kill her, but in a final effort to stay alive Aisphany offered to help Kieran find Starbeck.

Aisphany started explaining that she met Starbeck in Dawn City; he was in trouble, but someone strong was protecting him. She said Starbeck did not like the protection from the unknown person, and actively tried to escape from the person, and used special means to divert the person’s attention while he and Aisphany made their deal. The person then told Aisphany not to mention Starbeck to anyone, and kidnapped Starbeck. Aisphany assured Kieran that she would be able to recognize the unknown person, and that she had enough influence in Dawn City to find both the person and Starbeck.

After Kieran threw Aisphany’s unconscious partner to her, Kieran turned back to Snacker, Blu, and Riley. Blu and Riley started challenging Kieran to another fight in order to save the other, and Snacker snapped at them, demanding to know why they would give up their lives, and they demanded to know why they should just sit down and let Snacker die for them. As they argued, Aisphany’s partner woke up, and revealed that she was an envoy from the royal family, here to investigate the Burning Dawn. Aisphany tried making up lies in justification, but quickly told the truth that she was trying to get as many benefits as she could. Kieran asked her what she knew about the Burning Dawn, and she explained that she personally knew very little, just that Dawn City was very interested in them, and sent several royal envoys to investigate.

Kieran took a moment to think about Dawn City, Supreme Road, Starbeck, and Broker, then ordered Aisphany to carry on with her investigation before returning to SHatterstone to report to him. As she and her partner, Raulee, left, and Kieran told Snacker, Blu, and Riley that they could challenge him, but if they lost they would have to serve him.  After Sayer and Peeker saw the trio escape death, they again started begging and negotiating.

Volgen delivered a wagon full of loot to Kieran, who distributed it fairly throughout the troops. Kieran then ordered Volgen to recruit and train more troops, and ordered Holler to purchase warhorses for the troops. He gave the trio and Sayer orders also, but Peeker was scared when he received no orders, until Kieran said Peeker would come with him to Modi’s hideout. Kieran revealed that at the hideout, one a month a “secret bazaar” would open, and merchants and mercenaries from all over would visit. Everything about this bazaar was exactly like Broker’s Secret Bazaar in the game’s city.

After Peeker gathered some supplies, they traveled down the Supreme Road, where legend had it that the god Fenrir traveled down and sacrificed himself to dispel the sickness and famine that plagued humans. The two of them eventually reached the hideout, where Peeker activated a switch, revealing the hidden entrance. A black mist came out of the entrance, swallowing Peeker, but Kieran dodged the mist even though Peeker reminded him that touching the mist was necessary to entering the hideout. Kieran summoned [Dawn Sword] and slashed at the mist, revealing that the mist was actually a swarm of tiny insects that died from the holy light. Peeker and Kieran went inside the hideout, and Kieran simply smashed through the other two defense mechanisms, a stone lion and a goat-headed devil, until Peeker heard other people approach.

Kieran grabbed the giant decapitated devil’s head and threw it at the group of approaching guards, dealing a lot of damage. Gregori, the person in charge of the Secret Bazaar, tried sneaking up and assassinating Kieran, but Kieran turned around and used [Mesly Ring] on him. As Gregori knelt before Kieran, Kieran felt a slight resistance in [Mesly Ring]’s power, and he wondered if Broker had something to do with it. Kieran confirmed that Gregori’s men were loyal to him and not Modi, and then had Gregori order his men to retrieve all of the goods being sold in the bazaar. Gregori told Kieran that Modi had a secret lab in the hideout, which not even he knew what was in it, but Kieran was confident that the lab was a trap and did not pursue it.

As Gregori’s men were moving goods, Peeker tried desperately to flatter Kieran since he was aware that Kieran did not care about him. Eventually, Kieran announced that his enemy was here, but Gregori’s men were confused when Kieran did not move. The men were filled with panic though, when they saw a giant pack of wolves charging at them; the number of wolves was like a sea, and there were many wolves that were far larger than a normal wolf. Gregori’s man and Peeker all hid, while Gregori, because he was dominated, stood in front of Kieran, sword drawn. Kieran himself continued to sit, unconcerned with the sea of wolves.

As the fastest wolf arrived, Gregori ready to fight it, Kieran summoned a mirage of his giant White Wolf, which howled at the sea of wolves. The wolves instantly recognized the power that the White Wolf had, and submitted to it, every single wolf sitting down obediently. From the perspective of Gregori’s men, it looked like Kieran had made the wolves submit from just his will, and the men revered Kieran’s strength, and willingly submitted to him. Kieran looked at his Frost Wolf pup, which hadn’t left Kieran’s side, and saw that the pup was sobbing from the loneliness it felt when the White Wolf mirage dissipated. Kieran empathized with the pup who had been ripped from its parents, and picked it up to comfort it. Gregori, Peeker, and the men saw Kieran smile softly at the pup, though the rare smile quickly went away when Kieran noticed their gazes. He quickly gave everyone their orders, then left the hideout.

Earlier, inside of a different secret hideout, a man was toasting an old man wearing wolf pelts. The man expressed excitement at what the old man, Urlzakman, would be able to accomplish with his wolves; he then gave Urlzakman a spell, saying it would make his wolves stronger. Urlzakman told the man, Modi, that he better be sure to not cheat him in their business, and Modi assured the old man that he was an honest businessman. The two then ate and drank, until Urlzakman vomited blood from the magic repulsion. He demanded to know who Modi had put him up against, that they were able to take control of his wolves instantly, but Modi just smiled and muttered to himself, concluding that Kieran must have used his Chosen One abilities, and then Urlzakman exploded. Modi gathered his things and prepared to leave, stepping over the gore, but he noticed that there was an extra shadow in the room.

Modi summoned several defensive barriers, but all of them were broken through with Kieran’s first kick. Modi was injured, but he was most angry about how Kieran managed to get here despite all of the traps he set against Kieran, especially the lab in the Secret Bazaar, which he made specifically to target Kieran. Modi opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, Kieran crushed his skull. Kieran received no notification from the game system, telling him that the real Modi was still alive, and he searched the whole hideout without finding any clues. Kieran did however, find some good loot, including the spell that Modi gave to Urlzakman, the [Brand. Strengthen Fur (Wolf and Dog)].

In a cave littered with carcasses, a man was eating a raw goat. When he finished and cleaned himself, another person entered and told the man that Shatterstone had a new sheriff, and that there was unusual wolf activity near the Secret Bazaar. The person left, and the man, Darde the Titan, theorized whether the new sheriff was Kieran or not. He then looked at one of the carcasses, which was inflating the same way that Holler’s shriveled corpse inflated when he resurrected. Modi resurrected into the carcass, which was now a healthy, living human body, and Modi screamed Kieran’s name out in rage, before leaving without saying anything to Darde. Darde similarly said nothing to Modi, as they did not trust each other.

The next day, Shatterstone Town was excited due to the arrival of around 50 warhorses, and several wagons full of loot. Holler happily greeted Volgen, who was frustrated because he was having difficulty recruiting more troops; he had recruited about ten men, which was far from the 50 Kieran had tasked him to recruit. The trio were talking to each other, theorizing why Kieran, the son of the Burning Marquis, would come to Shatterstone, and were also talking about all of the bandit groups that Sayer had robbed in order to gather all of the wagons full of loot.

Several different prominent bandit groups were all riding to Shatterstone to get revenge on being looted; Sand Bandit, Cranium Crusher, and Bearman, were the leader of the three strongest groups, and each of them were furious about being robbed. As night fell, many merchant groups in Shatterstone started leaving instead of resting for the night, as it was becoming obvious that a fight was about to break out. In the security office, Volgen was briefing the troops on the fight that would be happening, and boosted morale by reminding them that Kieran would be with them, though Volgen was internally panicking since he knew Kieran was not at Shatterstone right now.

The troops were all prepared for the fight, and were waiting for the bandits to arrive. The trio had just learned that the three most powerful bandit groups were also joining the fight, and were debating whether or not Shatterstone would be able to defend against them without Kieran. Snacker was the first to hear the muffled hoofbeats of the first ambush, and he quickly ran to begin fighting them, Blu and Riley backing him up. Volgen noticed it next, and despaired when he realized the fight was starting, even though Kieran had not yet returned. He looked at the security office, his face heavy, and all of the troops saw his expression, instantly realizing that something was wrong. As all of the troops looked at the security office, the door opened and Pride walked out.

Volgen and the troops calmed down when they saw Pride, who they believed to be Kieran, and Volgen directed the troops to start firing arrows. The bandits were not expecting the small town to retaliate, so the first wave of arrows were very effective, but the bandits quickly responded by splitting up, making it harder to target them. After Volgen was done giving his orders, he packed up his own bow and displayed his superior archery skills, making the bandits target him as one of the leaders of the town’s defense. A shadow approached Volgen, but before it could attack, Snacker appeared and killed the shadow.

As the troops fought, the bandits noticed Pride staring arrogantly down at them, not moving a step. The bandits learned about how Kieran killed the robbers easily the previous night, so they weren’t hasty to fight him, but neither did Pride initiate the fight. Bearman, the leader of one of the bandit groups, attacked pride first with a spiked club, but Bearman was suddenly engulfed by flames, killing him. Everyone was in shock of Kieran’s strength, but suddenly several bandits lost control of their bodies and flung themselves at Kieran. It was Sand Bandit, who had the power to control other people’s bodies, as he had the lineage of the Son of Moon. The presence of Sand Bandit and Cranium Crusher boosted the morale of the bandits, despite seeing how easily Kieran just killed Bearman.

As the bandits charged toward Pride, a black flame was ignited, engulfing the bandits, though Sand Bandit and Cranium Crusher escaped the flames. The two bandit leaders demanded to know who Pride was, as they recognized that the black flames were not the notorious flames that the Burning Family was famous for. Pride mocked them, then turned around and walked away. Sand Bandit and Cranium Crusher were too afraid of him to follow, and the other six Sins appeared out of the flames, ambushing them.

Away from Shatterstone, a person named Bankers was guessing that Kieran would not survive against the three bandit leaders. He had a gemstone in his hand, that whenever it would tremble, he would hide himself. Kieran arrived, and realized too late that he had stepped into a trap; differently colored circles appeared on the ground, caging him within them, and chains of the same colors sprung out, binding Kieran. Bankers revealed himself, and looked at Kieran in confusion, feeling like he caught Kieran too easily. He felt the gemstone tramble again, so he hid himself again, and contacted Modi as per his agreement with him. As Bankers wondered if this was an illusion, Modi ordered him to strip Kieran of his equipment and sever all of his limbs. Bankers protested, as it wasn’t a part of the agreement, but Bankers panicked when Kieran started struggling against the bindings, and used his scimitar to chop off Kieran’s legs.

Kieran’s body twisted unnaturally, and he freed himself from the bindings as his legs suddenly regrew themselves, but before Kieran could truly escape, he was pinned down by a light arrow shot by Modi. Bankers was upset, feeling like he had been cheated in their agreement, but Modi assured him that he was just being cautious. Modi then shot four more light arrows at Kieran, pinning down all of his limbs with the holy energy, and then Modi poured several bottles of holy water onto Kieran, reveling in how Kieran’s skin corroded, and how he growled in pain.

Bankers was disapproving, not liking how Modi was torturing Kieran, and also feeling like Modi could potentially trigger a civil war by using holy weapons against a member of the Burning Family, but Bankers willingly left without another word after receiving his payment. Modi poured more holy water on Kieran, assuring him that he would allow Kieran to stay alive until the end of the dungeon, but then suddenly he felt Bankers die. Modi realized that the only person capable of killing Bankers without a sign would be Kieran, and demanded to know who this fake Kieran was. Bloody Mary revealed their true self, and Modi instantly realized he had fallen for Kieran’s trap when he saw the fake Kieran was a demon.

As Modi tried figuring out how and when Kieran discovered his plan, the real Kieran appeared with the unconscious Bankers, and Modi’s head exploded as Bloody Mary vanished. Kieran did not get a system notification again, but this time he knew Modi was dead for good. Kieran concluded that Modi was just one of Broker’s chess pieces, used to gauge Kieran’s strength. Kieran was disappointed when he realized that Broker was not here, and was frustrated at how difficult it was for him to figure out Broker’s plots.

Modi’s body then disintegrated into light particles, which drifted to where Kieran had buried his equipment, [Modii’s Boots]. Kieran was suspicious when he learned he had to fight one of Broker’s men, who had the same name as the one piece of equipment that he had previously purchased from Broker, and decided to unequip the boots. His suspicion was proved correct when the light particles entered the boots, and Kieran felt the familiar energy of a curse emanate from the boots. Modi’s soul realized that Kieran was not wearing the boots, and wanted to stop the curse, but as he had already activated it the energy went out of control. Both Modi’s soul and the curse dissipated, and the boots leveled up after the ordeal.

Kieran suddenly felt one of his hearts palpitate, and he quickly turned around to look at Supreme Road. He saw nothing, and wondered if it was an illusion, but he knew that something was wrong. Kieran crouched down to draw the [Seal of Dawn] that resonated with his Dawn Force. Kieran felt a very subtle dark energy in the dry dirt on the ground, that dissipated when Dawn Force landed on it. Kieran was sure the energy was different from Modi’s curse, but Kieran wasn’t sure where the dark energy originated from. Kieran grabbed the unconscious Banker and left.

In the cave, Darde was still eating raw creatures. Despite having continuously been eating, he felt hungrier and hungrier; he only stopped eating when he noticed that Modi had died, delighting him. Darde wanted to go outside the cave to celebrate, but a voice spoke up, warning him against it. The voice then suggested they get better chess pieces, and said that a good person was in Dawn City, but said they would need to set more traps for Kieran before they leave for Dawn City.

The next morning at Shatterstone, all of the merchants and residents who fled for safety during the battle had returned. Peeker had been named as the new tax officer, and was giving a speech to all of the wagons lining up outside the town, waiting to enter. He announced that Kieran’s orders are that any resident that fled has had their residency stripped, and any merchant groups that fled the town were no longer welcome to do business in the town. There were complaints, but Peeker again reminded them that these orders came from Kieran directly, and were fair because they abandoned the town when Shatterstone needed allies the most. Peeker cursed the merchants who were forced to leave, believing Kieran was being too lenient by letting them leave alive, but he then changed his tone when he heartedly greeted the new merchants, and started informing them of Shatterstone’s tax rates.

Volgen watched Peeker, and questioned if he was actually loyal to Kieran, so he returned to the security office where Kieran was sitting, petting the Frost Wolf in his arms. Kieran did not answer when Volgen told him about Peeker, but rather Gregori, who had just returned to Shatterstone, assured Volgen that Peeker is loyal. Kieran changed the topic by informing Volgen of Gergori’s men, who would be recruited as troops. Kieran tasked Volgen with making sure all troops are adequately trained. He then ordered Holler and Gregori to purchase a lot of meat to make sure the new army of wolves would be well fed; the wolves were being reared in the outskirts of the town, away from the sight of the residents. Banker then arrived, already dominated by [Mesly Ring], and Kieran ordered him to gather the necessary materials to complete the [Brand. Strengthen Fur].

Kieran and Banker went into the outskirts where the wolves were, and Kieran drew the necessary magic circles to cast the spell. When he was done, he was very disappointed, as only about thirty out of around five hundred wolves were able to pass the Constitution check to complete the brand. Banker suggested they release the weaker wolves to cut down on the amount of meat they would need to keep them fed, and Kieran agreed. Kieran communicated with the wolves, splitting them up and having the weaker wolves go further down Supreme Road where they would have to fend for themselves, though still close enough that they would be able to return to Shatterstone if needed. When it was done, Banker explained to Kieran that he was doing magic experiments, hoping to invent new magical equipment, and he asked Kieran if he could continue his research. Kieran agreed even though he knew the research wouldn’t be done by the time the dungeon was over.

Kieran started leisurely walking back to Shatterstone, playing with the Frost Wolf pup as he walked. Eventually, a wounded woman approached him, asking for help; she had a silver arrow stuck in her body. He turned her down because her request for help gave him no sub mission, but in a last ditch effort she offered to allow Kieran to mate with her, and Kieran quickly had to wrestle down Lust, Greed, Wrath, and Envy. With the Sins under control again, Kieran declined firmly and demanded she leave, which she did reluctantly. As she carefully walked away, she was hit with another silver, enchanted arrow, leaving her on the brink of death.

Kieran looked at the archer with interest, realizing that the archer must have a special skill, as neither the bow nor the arrows were enchanted. The archer told Kieran that the woman was her prey, and Kieran assured her that he was not getting in her way. The archer bound the woman in chains, and warned Kieran not to trust wolves as she looked at the Frost Wolf pup. Then, four men approached and demanded the archer release the woman, Sharly. The archer shot several silver arrows, heavily wounding one of the men, but the other three mauled the archer with their hairy, clawed hands. Kieran watched, interested as he had never seen mystical beasts like the men before, but even though he had no intention of getting involved, the man who was shot got up and started fighting Kieran.

Kieran kicked the man, killing him, and Kieran watched as the man’s limbs turned wolf-like as he died. Kieran killed the other three men, who also turned similarly wolf-like, though Kieran was interested when he realized they were not true werewolves like he had expected. The archer explained that these people were normal humans who were suffering from the Wolf Plague, and asked him to allow her to leave, even saying that he could take her prey, Sharly, in exchange for her life. Kieran, who never believed in coincidences, was suspicious that the archer and these wolf people were so close to Shatterstone at this point in time, so he knocked out the archer and brought both her and Sharly back to his town.

At Shatterstone, Sharly’s wolf powers allowed her to heal quickly, so she regained consciousness first. She was confused when she saw Kieran, but he asked her why the archer was hunting her. Sharly explained that she was investigating the source of the Wolf Plague, and eventually ran into the archer near the Burning Dawn’s camp, who believed that Sharly was the source of the Plague. Sharly had been running from the archer, and eventually followed the tracks of Kieran’s wolf army to Shatterstone. Kieran realized that he had an opportunity to learn more about the Burning Dawn, and asked if the Burning Dawn’s camp had been infected with the Wolf Plague, though Sharly explained that she did not get close enough to the camp to know that.

Kieran then took the archer to a sound-proofed room, and roughly woke her up before starting an interrogation. A few broken fingers later, the archer introduced herself as Evie Dan, a hunter and traveler who only recently came to Supreme Road. She said she found Sharly, who she believed to be the source of the Wolf Plague because Sharly had abandoned her tribe, and was hunting her. Kieran asked her about the Burning Dawn camp, and Evie explained that the camp had been assaulted by people infected with the Wolf Plague, though she knew little more than that; she said that when news gets out, more hunters like her would be coming to investigate.

When Kieran was done interrogating Evie, he set her broken fingers, then met with Volgen who was announcing that an envoy from Burning Dawn was here. Kieran was confused, as he wasn’t sure if this was part of Broker’s plan or not.

Walloon of the Burning Dawn envoy was standing in Shatterstone, looking at a patrolling group of civilian troops in confusion - usually civilian troops would have very low quality equipment, but these troops were fully equipped like soldiers. He was even more shocked when he saw a group of troops riding expensive warhorses. As Walloon was muttering to himself in confusion, he felt a malicious gaze and turned to see Snacker glaring at him. Although Snacker was not dominated, he was still faithful to the contract he signed with Kieran, and therefore were watching the envoy the minute they stepped into town.

Walloon was about to introduce himself to Snacker, but suddenly one of Walloon’s men pulled out a dagger and thrust it at Walloon’s back. Blu shot an arrow, disarming the soldier before Walloon was hit, and Riley apprehended the soldier. The soldier completely ignored Riley’s dagger, and threw himself at Walloon, ignoring the many slashes that Riley dealt onto his back and throat. Blu shot an arrow at the soldier, piercing his chest, but other than a low growl, the soldier gave no indication that he felt anything. The soldier started growing hair rapidly, and his fingernails morphed into claws; Walloon instantly recognized the Wolf Plague, and was saddened that he couldn’t trust his own men anymore. Walloon prepared to punch the soldier, but Snacker stepped in front of him, and prepared to kill the soldier with his swords.

Before the soldier got close enough for Snacker to attack, Kieran arrived and kicked the soldier away, killing him. Blu and Riley comforted Snacker, who was depressed because he didn’t get to look cool and kill the soldier. Kieran and Walloon talked, Walloon thanking Kieran for saving him, and also explaining that they had met with envoy Aisphany, who told them that Kieran would be able to help them cure the Wolf Plague. Kieran saw Walloon’s eyes turn red, and Kieran confirmed that they wanted his help to cure the plague. Walloon explained, quietly, that Aisphany told them that the royal family knew about everything going on around Supreme Road, and sent both her and Kieran to investigate and cure the plague. He said that Aisphany’s role was to investigate openly, to draw attention, while Kieran’s role was to investigate secretly.

Kieran was analyzing this new info, knowing that Aisphany wouldn’t have told Walloon this with malicious intentions, as she had signed a contract with him, so he wondered what Aisphany’s purpose of telling Walloon this would be. Kieran then looked at the dead soldier, confirming that the Wolf Plague had spread within Burning Dawn.

[Triggered special event: Wolf Plague Havoc]

[Based on player’s experience in dungeon world, player has been automatically grouped to Burning Dawn’s faction]

[Wolf Plague Havoc: the sudden wolf plague didn’t just worsen the already wounded Burning Dawn, an internal conflict will occur soon. As the peasant son of the Burning Family, you can’t allow such things to happen. You must solve this internal conflict.]

[Note: Ratings will be based off your performance throughout the event] (Ch 978)

After carefully reading the notifications, Kieran led Walloon to the security office, where he secretly signaled to Volgen along the way. Kieran sat down, and gestured for Walloon to sit also. Kieran and Walloon sat in silence, Kieran thinking about the new identity of a royal envoy that Aisphany granted him, when he felt a brief malicious gaze. Kieran saw who the gaze came from, and felt relieved, hoping that his plan that he just hastily put together would work.

They continued to sit in silence, and Kieran was listening to everyone’s breathing. Walloon’s aide, who was standing next to him, was breathing quickly, and Kieran asked him why he was anxious. The aide expressed that he was worried about his infected comrades, and Kieran praised his ability to lie, since the aide was the one who sent Kieran a malicious gaze. Kieran then started bluffing to the aide, pretending to have done extensive investigation into the Wolf Plague, mentioning Evie’s name. The aide fell for Kieran’s bluffs, and declared that he was here to seek true power as he started transforming into the wolf-like form. Kieran used [Dandelion’s Pierce] to pierce the aide’s neck and pin him to the ground. Because of the strength granted from the plague, the aide did not die, but Kieran knocked him out and had Gregori imprison him.

Walloon watched without complaint, sad that he had been betrayed by his aide, and answered when Kieran asked him to tell him more about Burning Dawn. Walloon recounted that the Burning Dawn camp was assaulted one day; an extreme darkness covered the camp, blocking all light, and when it disappeared, everyone was gruesomely slaughtered. Shortly after the slaughter, everyone who survived showed signs of infection, and everyone reacted differently. Some people committed suicide, some imprisoned themselves, some immediately lost their sanity and attacked each other, some like the aide thought it an opportunity to get even stronger, but some like Walloon wanted to find a cure. Walloon then begged Kieran to help him save his comrades.

Kieran agreed under the condition that Walloon and his men follow his orders unconditionally, and then ordered Gregori to free the captives and gather some troops. They immediately set out for the Burning Dawn camp, as Kieran wanted to investigate as quickly as possible. As they rode, a group of bandits attacked them; Kieran ordered Gregori to organize some men to kill them, and Walloon watched the troops easily kill the bandits despite being greatly outnumbered. They continued riding, Walloon scared that the bandits might already have started raiding the camp.

They reached the camp quickly, but when they arrived they saw that the camp’s walls were crumbled and broken, and the camp was littered with bodies that had obviously died painful deaths. Kieran and everyone else examined the bodies, but Kieran watched as Walloon started mumbling fearfully to himself, and an energy was rapidly spreading towards him. Kieran threw some devil fire at the energy, evaporating it, but everyone saw an illusion of the soldiers being tortured and murdered. When the illusion vanished, Darde the Titan appeared and greeted Kieran, laughing at him as he suggested Kieran not use his devil's powers any more. Darde’s clone vanished, then all of the dead bodies started rising. Evie started guiding all of the panicking troops to safety, while Sharly picked up a spear and charged to fight the living dead. Kieran then showered the living dead with Dawn Force, causing them all to drop down dead again. He ordered Gregori and Walloon to get everyone to retreat while he investigated deeper in the camp. Walloon and his men saw Kieran’s holy energy and revered it, wondering if Kieran was a gift from god.

Deep in the camp, there was a giant pit. Esiko was climbing a rope down into the pit, where he eventually reached the bottom and started walking through it. There was an awful stench of routine bodies, that almost got too vile for him to stand, but suddenly the stench went away and Esiko saw a brilliantly shining magic circle, with a black can in the center of it. Esiko used a scroll that defended him from the magic circle, allowing him to walk on top of it, but he was so absorbed with the black can that he did not notice the magic circle changing. As he went to pick the can up, a giant shadow monster appeared and killed Esiko. An energy came from the scroll that Darde gave him, enveloping his body, and morphing him into a similar monster. Esiko and the shadow monster started fighting, and eventually Esiko started laughing, and spoke, in Darde’s voice, saying he would eat the shadow monster. The two monsters started attempting to eat each other, but then Kieran arrived and used [Dawn Sword] to kill both of them.

Darde was expelled from Esiko’s body, but he returned to his true body that was in a wagon. He laughed to himself, cursing Broker for understating Kieran’s strength, but he got excited at the thought of eating Kieran. He was also happy that Kieran’s attack would have weakened the shadow monster. Elsewhere, a shadowy figure appeared and also cursed Broker for telling him that Kieran was weaker than he actually is. The shadowy figure then started preparing to continue his fight against Darde.

Kieran watched the two monsters dissipate, and wondered when or how Darde got the ability to use other people’s bodies. He had researched both Darde and Extremus, so he was confident that Darde never had such an ability, making him wonder if he got it from Extremus, since the two of them were collaborating. Kieran then picked up the black can, and saw a fingernail inside of it. Kieran did not have enough mystical knowledge to understand the magic circle, so he took some time to completely memorize the circle before returning to his men.

Walloon was happy to see Kieran return, and Kieran instantly recognized that Walloon and his men were looking at him differently after seeing his Dawn Force. Kieran had originally not wanted to use his holy powers, but recognized that he needed to get any advantage he could to fight against Broker. So, Kieran started using Saint Thorn’s [Holy Light], healing and reenergizing everyone. Walloon was reminded of the old Grand Duke of Dawn, and begged Kieran to return to the Burning Dawn with him, as the Burning Dawn needed help. Kieran considered the request, then told him that he was intending on visiting the Burning Dawn base anyway. Before they left though, they all put in the effort to properly bury and lay to rest the tortured soldiers.

That night, they continued riding; Evie and Sharly were constantly fighting with each other, not because they were mortal enemies, but because both were pursuing Kieran and saw each other as rivals. They fought for the entire ride, until Kieran suddenly stopped when the cooldown for [Mesly Ring] ended, and grabbed Walloon’s aide who had been kept tied up and unconscious. When he was woken up, he started struggling again before being dominated. Kieran quickly asked him about Burning Dawn and the Wolf Plague.

Through Blairefolk, the aide, Kieran learned that Burning Dawn used to have camps in both the north and the south, but a hundred years ago, Saint Cyanda VII ordered a siege on Golden City in the south, also destroying the southern Burning Dawn Camps. There are four generals from the Saint Cyanda imperial household in the Burning Dawn, as well as approximately 10,000 soldiers total; of these soldiers, around 2000 of them had already been infected with the Wolf Plague, and three of the four generals were also infected. Kieran was disturbed, worried that the Plague was Broker’s doing, especially because everyone who was infected was respected within the Burning Dawn. Blairefolk then told Kieran that one of the generals, Dilder, had previously ordered him to assassinate both Walloon and Kieran, in exchange for an identity and freedom despite being infected.

On a mountain near Supreme Road the Burning Dawn North Camp was located. Within the camp, Deputy General Dilder. He was in a meeting with two Southern Generals, finalizing their plans. One southern General was hesitant, finding flaws in Dilder’s plans, but Dilder assured them that his plan was foolproof.

Aisphany and the other Northern General, Orderfell, were together. Orderfell, who was infatuated with Aisphany, was boasting to her, but Aisphany was getting annoyed with him. She reminded him that they were supposed to be surveilling Dilder, as he and the Southern Generals had been having frequent secret meetings, but Orderfell brushed her off. Aisphany regretted ever getting involved with Starbeck and Kieran, and revealed that Orderfell was the only General uninfected. Aisphany thought about the Wolf Plague again, realizing that the Plague seemed to only be infecting specific people, and wondered why the mastermind behind the plague would be so obvious in their plans.

Aisphany feared for her life, knowing that she was getting involved in something too deep for her to handle, and decided to escape even though it would mean going against her contract with Kieran. She parted from Orderfell, and returned to her room, but only after packing did she realize that her partner, Raulee, was not around. She ended up searching all night for him, until dawn when she realized that something was wrong. She hid, then saw Orderfell tied up and gagged by Dilder. Dilder told him that he would usurp Orderfell’s position, as Dilder was just a Deputy General, but before Dilder could do anything to him, a soldier arrived and announced that Walloon and Kieran had arrived.

Dilder led his men to the walls of the camp, where he looked down at Walloon, Kieran, and Blairefolk. Didler was disappointed that Blairefolk hadn’t assassinated them, but was happy that he would be able to kill Walloon himself. He greeted Kieran, and watched excitedly as Kieran walked toward the lift to enter the camp; there were scouts with crossbows ready to fire as soon as Kieran got on the lift. As Dilder watched though, Kieran vanished, reappearing behind him; Kieran kicked Dilder and the two Southern Generals, killing the three of them instantly. The soldiers who were planning on ambushing Kieran were confused, not knowing what to do, and Kieran started giving a speech, addressing specific soldiers who had great past achievements, and urging them all to remember their vows when they first joined Burning Dawn. all of the soldiers were greatly inspired, but one hesitant soldier asked if they were worthy because of the Plague. Kieran then ignited his devil’s fire in one hand, and let Dawn Force shine on the other hand; with his hands shining, Kieran partially transformed into his White Wolf, and declared that he also caught the Wolf Plague.

The soldiers one by one declared that they would follow Kieran, and transformed into their wolf form since they were inspired by Kieran’s willingness to show them his wolf form. They all laid down their weapons and howled. Outside of the camp, Sharly also transformed into her werewolf form as she and Evie continued arguing. Walloon interrupted them when it looked like they were about to actually start fighting each other, suggesting they not fight on this momentous day that Kieran takes over the Burning Dawn. The two stopped fighting, and went up the lift.

In the camp, Orderfell was terrified when he saw Kieran and the wolf soldiers approaching him. He begged for his life as the wolf soldiers glared at him, ready to kill him, and even offered Kieran his position as General. Kieran was confused, not expecting Orderfell to be a common noble, and confirmed his suspicion by threatening Orderfell with [Dandelion’s Pierce]; Orderfell passed out from fear the second the blade touched his neck. Kieran wondered why Broker would have spared Orderfell from the Plague. As he thought, Aisphany approached him and pretended to be close to him to anger Sharly and Evie. She was annoyed when Kieran didn’t even stop to look at her, still deep in thought about Orderfell.

Kieran then felt an energy within Orderfell that resonated with his Plague Force, and woke him up, only to feel the resonance disappear as he woke. Kieran asked him if Orderfell had gotten into contact with something wolf-related recently, but Orderfell was too scared by being surrounded by werewolves to answer. Aisphany told Kieran that Orderfell had previously boasted to her about having a taxidermy wolf head, and Kieran ordered her to bring him to it. Aisphany led Kieran to a building that used to be a command center, but had been renovated by Orderfell into a beautiful vacation villa. Kieran ordered Walloon to strip Orderfell of every single cent of Burning Dawn funds that went into the renovation, and the Burning Dawn soldiers started cheering; [Lionheart] roared briefly before going silent again.

Orderfell knew he would be broke when Walloon was done with him, but he did not dare to  complain. He followed  Kieran into the building, mentally cursing him, until he realized that Kieran had stopped and was staring at him. Orderfell begged for forgiveness, then cried, saying he felt like he was being eaten alive when Kieran looked at him. Aisphany mocked him, but when she looked at Kieran, she too was filled with fear and tried running from the building. Before she could exit, the luxurious building was replaced with a forest, where a giant was walking, barefoot, on some iron brambles that would pierce his feet with every step. As the giant walked, his blood flowed and flooded the land, though he didn’t stop. A black beast was watching the giant from the shadows, and it attacked the giant, though the giant eventually decapitated the beast after a fierce fight. The giant picked up the decapitated head, a wolf’s head, and was too happy with his victory to notice that the forest and even his own shadow was distorting.

Aisphany noticed, and wanted to shout a warning to the giant, but she was unable to speak. The distorting shadow gained a pair of crimson eyes that turned to look at Aisphany, and it attacked her. Aisphany suddenly woke back up in the command center, and she quickly realized that what she saw was an illusion, but it did not stop her from shouting a warning at Kieran, who was reaching toward the severed black wolf’s head. She was filled with fear as Kieran picked up the head and inspected it, but was relieved when nothing happened. She was then filled with curiosity about the wolf’s head, and started to stand up, but then Kieran’s voice came from behind her, warning her not to move. She was filled with fear, and tried to figure out which Kieran was real, but when the Kieran with the wolf’s head asked her who was behind her, she was suddenly unable to turn around.

Aisphany pulled out a knife, one of the few weapons she uses, which had a mirror-like finish that allowed her to look behind her. She was shocked to see herself, as she was rapidly aging, and she stood up when she saw herself becoming a mummy, running toward the Kieran with the wolf head and Orderfell. As she ran toward them, Kieran grinned coldly at her and Orderfell started growling. When she saw Kieran’s cold smile, she was suddenly reminded of her hard childhood when she was always hungry, and was abused by her parents. She watched her parents die, turn into skeletons, then rise again to torment her. She cowered and cried, begging for forgiveness, when she felt like she had been slapped.

She opened her eyes, and saw Kieran standing before her, with the wolf head in his arms. She was confused, in shock from everything she had just seen, and wondered if Kieran had slapped her, when she watched as he slapped her again. Aisphany wanted to scold Kieran, but he told her to remain quiet, and then she really looked at the wolf head he was holding; although it was a decapitated head, it was still alive. The head’s mouth was gnashing, and its eyes were looking around. Aisphany recalled her illusion with the wolf and the giant, and eventually looked at Kieran’s shadow which was distorting. She cried out to him, wanting to save him before the red eyes showed up, but Kieran ignored her. Aisphany grabbed her knife and dashed out, but she suddenly realized that, despite the room having a window where the sun was shining through, she did not cast a shadow of her own.

She was then immobilized by some energy, and Aisphany could only watch as her shadow appeared, then rose from the ground, materializing with red eyes. The shadow looked at Kieran and mocked him, when Kieran revealed that he had expected this from the coincidences of Aisphany meeting Starbeck, and the arrival of Evie and Sharly. The wolf head in his hands suddenly withered, and Aisphany’s shadow screamed in pain. The restraints on Aisphany were released, and she ran to Kieran’s side, cursing Starbeck for getting her involved with Kieran and whoever it was who was controlling her shadow. She watched as the wolf head continued to wither, until all that remained was a rotting piece of wood and several giant maggots. Every time a maggot fell from the piece of wood, Aisphany’s shadow would scream in pain, until the shadow demanded to know how Kieran was resisting the plague he bred from a Beast of Plague and Famine, which even an Advanced Rank player shouldn’t be able to fight against.

Kieran recognized the shadow as a trap he had triggered, and not an actual player, so he ignored the shadow’s screams and allowed Gluttony to devour it. Kieran looked at [Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art] which had leveled up from the resonance from the maggots. Kieran then looked at the ground, realizing that he felt the energy of a curse again; no one else noticed, but Kieran used his Origin Forces to eliminate the curse again, though he noticed that this time it was a lot harder to dispel the curse than last time. He also felt a sense of danger coming from the ground beneath his feet, and he concluded that the curse was not another player’s doing, but rather something that originated from Supreme Road itself. Kieran also realized that this curse was why all of the other players were fighting using clones or other people’s bodies, as the curse would target anyone who displays a certain amount of strength. Kieran waited until the malicious danger he felt went away, before ordering Orderfell to bring him as much information about Supreme Road as possible.

Orderfell brought Kieran many books, and Aisphany tried talking to Kieran, though she stormed out when Kieran didn’t pay any attention to her. As she left the room, she ran into Raulee, who had been missing for a while. She asked him where he was, but then stopped when she realized he was acting like a completely different person. She prepared to attack him, but Raulee apologized to her, explaining that he needed to hide his identity to leave Dawn City. Aisphany was angry at being so easily tricked, and attempted to get revenge by loudly claiming that Raulee had used Starbeck to escape from Dawn City, but she then got angry when Kieran didn’t care about her accusation. Kieran explained he didn’t care because, while Aisphany used Starbeck to get money, Raulee used Starbeck to accomplish his mission; Kieran then revealed that Raulee is actually the imperial envoy, not Aisphany.

Kieran then turned to Raulee, and asked him what he was intending to do with the Burning Dawn, since the imperial family and the Burning Dawn were not on good terms. Kieran allowed the devil’s energy to wash over Raulee, and while enduring the energy, Raulee said he wanted to save the Burning Family. Kieran questioned him, wanting to know how and why he intended to save Kieran’s family. Raulee tried explaining that he needed the Burning Dawn and the Burning Family to help protect Saint Cyanda, as something happened in Dawn City, but when he tried appealing to Kieran’s loyalty as a citizen of Saint Cyanda, Kieran loudly exclaimed that he had no loyalty after the Saints did everything in their power to ostracize and get rid of both his family and the Burning Dawn. Raulee tried desperately to think of anything to say, finally resorting to threaten Starbeck, who he revealed was the second son of the Burning Marquis, and Kieran’s younger brother.

The second Raulee dared to bring Starbeck into the conversation, Kieran kicked him and ordered Gregori to interrogate him. Raulee knew Kieran cared for Starbeck, but he was shocked at just how important Starbeck was to him. After Gregori took Raulee away, the Burning Dawn camp went back to normal; the uninfected soldiers easily accepted and did not fear their infected comrades. Walloon was happy to see this, and happily got Kieran all the reports and information he asked for. In the command center, Orderfell was calculating how much money he owed while fearful of the interrogation he could hear going on in the other room. After a while Gregori, covered in blood, exited from the interrogation room and reported to Kieran;

Twelve weeks ago Saint Cyanda XI went missing and the eldest prince tried covering it up. The second prince had many allies though, and the news eventually leaked throughout the imperial family. Raulee is loyal to the second prince, and wanted to get the help of Kieran and Burning Dawn to force the eldest prince to step down. Raulee then revealed that Dilder and the other infected generals were planning on helping Golden City take over Burning Dawn, which Raulee didn’t care about since his main goal was helping Dawn City, not Burning Dawn.

After Gregori went back to continue the interrogation, Walloon was advising Kieran, suggesting they adequately defend this camp in preparation of an attack from Golden City. he also ordered him to send scouts into Dawn City to look for Darde, as he was suspicious as to why Darde was being so quiet. Kieran was also wary of Extremus, but since he knew nothing about him, Kieran was unable to actively search for him. Walloon stopped talking when Aisphany entered, as he was suspicious of her, and he left to carry out Kieran’s orders. Aisphany looked at the equipment Kieran was wearing greedily, and attempted to flatter him, but Kieran snapped at her, saying she would mess up his plans. Aisphany snapped back at him, but Kieran ignored her as he walked away.

All of the soldiers were preparing for the upcoming battle, many trying to relax as much as they could in the time they had, but Walloon suddenly shouted, frantically telling Kieran that he couldn’t join the battle. Kieran calmly looked at him, and ordered him to step aside and let him join the battle, which Walloon reluctantly agreed to. Kieran then walked past him and jumped down from the camp walls; Walloon explained to the soldiers that Kieran intended to single handedly fight against Golden City. The soldiers were inspired, and several started following Kieran, especially the riders, led by Luzarc, who all agreed to leave the camp and follow Kieran. Walloon was frustrated, not wanting too many people to leave the camp since the camp still needed a strong defense, but Luzarc ignored Walloon and led all of the riders in a charge toward Golden City.

Kieran was running toward Golden City, using the Fire Raven as a guide. The city was very close to where the Burning Dawn South Camp used to be;

[Triggered special event: Golden City Invasion]

[Based on player’s experience in dungeon world, player will be automatically placed in Burning Dawn’s faction]

[Golden City Invasion: Independence was not Golden City’s goal, they wanted to devour more with their hungry ambitions and Burning Dawn is a thorn in their side and as Burning Dawn’s legitimate leader, you must stop Golden City’s ambitions.]

[Note: Ratings will depend on your performance] (Ch 999)

Kieran welcomed his special event, and was not afraid of the curse on the land since he had confirmed that his Cardinal Sins Force and Dawn Force were not restricted by the curse, and the curse would only activate if he used powers similar to the curse, or some other form of wicked energy; if he restricted himself to Dawn Force, his sword skills, and Spirit attacks, the curse wouldn’t activate. Kieran stopped running when he reached a camp filled with Golden City troops.

Inside of a tent in this camp, three generals were sitting around a map, discussing strategies on how to take down Dawn City. They all agreed that they needed to defeat the Burning Dawn camp first before they could focus on Dawn City. As they discussed how they would take down the Burning Dawn, [Dandelion’s Pierce] flew around the tent and killed all three generals, as well as the soldiers standing outside. Kieran went inside the tent and grabbed the general’s decapitated heads, throwing the heads into the gathering crowd of soldiers. Kieran decided the best way to massacre the entire camp would be to kill the soldiers from the top down, so after killing the generals Kieran started searching for the officers.

Kieran easily killed the officers, and many soldiers started retreating, though suddenly a large wave of arrows was fired, targeting both Kieran and the retreating soldiers. The Golden City cavalry had arrived, second in strength only to the Burning Dawn’s riders. The riders forced Kieran to go through several authentications for Strength, Constitution, and Spirit, which no normal person would have been able to pass, but Kieran passed them and pointed [Arrogant Word] forward before using [Reckless Rush]. After breaking through the riders with [Reckless Rush], Kieran started dual wielding [Arrogant Word] and [Elmerius Sword], completely slaughtering the riders. When he was done, Kieran felt [Fusion Heart] beating, the devil getting excited. The devil roared, and the runes on Kieran’s body suddenly started shining; the devil’s energy attacked the darkness within Kieran’s body violently, but Kieran stopped the devil before it could reach Kieran’s head, where the darkness was very deep.

The devil was unwilling to stop, but reluctantly went back into the [Fusion Heart]. The devil, before leaving, roared again and made all the blood on the battlefield ride into the air, forming the devil’s head above Kieran. The devil also used [Blaspheme Whisper], making all of the dead soldiers rise again. Despite the zombie soldiers attacking the camp, the still living soldiers were most scared of the bloody devil head in the sky, and started panicking when they realized that the “devil of Burning Dawn” (Ch 1001) was back. The remaining soldiers lost all will to continue fighting, and some collapsed and started begging for their life while others immediately started retreating; the zombies killed them all regardless.

Kieran was cautious, expecting the curse since he was not planning on using the Devil’s power. Kieran was then overwhelmed with the power of the curse, which was much stronger than it was before; the curse attacked him, and both of his hearts started working to block the energy of the curse. The fingernail that Kieran had previously found started shaking, and Kieran pulled out the jar to see that the fingernail had slightly changed in shape; when he pulled the jar out, Kieran also realized that the curse was no longer resistant against the devil’s power. Devil Force and Cardinal Sins Force both devoured the curse’s energy, slightly increasing in strength. Kieran then, wanting to test a theory, drew many [Seal of Dawn]s and placed the jar on the ground while charging up a fireball. When he set the jar down, the curse started attacking his body again, attracted by the Devil Force, but Kieran then picked the jar up again, stopping the curse, and allowed the two Forces to continue devouring the curse. Kieran repeated this process, feeling the two forces slowly getting stronger, until the area was consumed by Devil and Cardinal Sins Force.

The Sins appeared, rampaging except for Pride who stared Kieran down. When Pride was done staring at Kieran, the Sin slowly started to raise his hand, but then the other six Sins surrounded him and held him back. Pride then summoned the [Dawn Sword], temporarily beheading Envy and ignoring the energy repulsion, forcing the other Sins back. Pride then turned back to Kieran, who was still repeatedly allowing the forces to devour the curse. By this time, the fingernail had dramatically changed, and looked more like a bird’s talon than a human fingernail. The talon vibrated, and the jar eventually shattered. The talon, freed from the jar, started growing quickly, morphing into the true Son of Moon, until it was beheaded by Pride’s [Dawn Sword] before it could even finish its transformation. Kieran and Pride then looked in the direction of Dawn City, where the two of them felt a very strong aura, similar to the Son of Moon.

A convoy of three wagons were already heading toward Dawn City before the aura revealed itself, but when the aura appeared, Darde excitedly exited his wagon and urged the wagoners to continue moving quickly. Darde was then urged to go back inside his wagon by a voice, which he obeyed. Inside another wagon, a person was calmly drinking wine, unfazed by the aura. Instead, the person was enviously thinking about Kieran’s Devil Force, before he stood up and started preparing his equipment.

Starbeck was in a room filled with his equipment; even though he did not personally feel the aura, his equipment felt it and notified him. Starbeck then anxiously started trying to put together a plan to help out Kieran. Having successfully calmed himself down a little, Starbeck left the room and found Wright, the chief butler of the Burning Family and the person who escorted Kieran to Shatterstone, who advised Starbeck to not leave the mansion as Dawn City was dangerous lately. Starbeck told Wright he wanted to see the Burning Marquis, the father of his and Kieran’s dungeon character, and Starbeck followed Wright deeper into the mansion despite Starbeck’s fear.

In Saint Cyanda palace, the men of the two princes who were competing to take the throne following their father, the King's disappearance, felt the aura. The two princes were angry when none of their men were able to track the source of the aura thought. The two princes simultaneously decided to search the King’s chambers, the only place they had not yet searched, and started arguing when they met each other along the way. When neither backed down, both of them immediately resorted to unsheathing their swords and they started fighting, ignoring the fact that their fight would undoubtedly trigger a civil war.

Kieran was still observing the talon, the [Deed of Seal], before curiously looking at Pride, who was still standing near him. Kieran, despite having been occupied with the jar, still noticed how Pride borrowed the [Dawn Sword], and how the SIns had started displaying human intellect, especially Pride. Kieran and Pride stared each other down, neither saying anything, until Kieran gave Pride permission to vanish. Envy then told Kieran that Pride would eventually usurp him, and Kieran would end up Pride’s captive, and Kieran used his own [Dawn Sword] to again rip Envy apart; the other Sins obediently vanished without saying anything. Kieran then turned to a mirage of the Devil that had formed while the Devil Force was devouring the curse, and he noticed that the mirage was being sustained by the energy of the land, and could remain for a long time even without Kieran nourishing it. Kieran then thought about the SIns again, revealing that he allowed Pride to leave because he was patient enough to continue the matter later, avoiding ending up in a stalemate with Pride. Kieran declared that, in a worst case scenario, he would be willing to save himself from Pride by getting rid of his [Fusion Heart] despite how much weaker it would make him.

The Fire Raven then alerted Kieran of a group of riders, and Kieran decided to wait for the Burning Dawn riders, who he praised for their decision to follow him in the dangerous mission. As the riders got closer, Luzarc, the leader, was in shock when he saw not only the destroyed Golden City camp, but also the devil mirage. Within the camp, the remaining soldiers were regrouping and preparing to launch a counterattack, led by the highest ranking officers still alive. Before they could start the counterattack though, the area where most of the soldiers and officers were gathered was engulfed by a fireball. All of the remaining soldiers then decided to retreat, no longer intending to fight, but Devil Kieran flew in the air and killed them all; he then used [Blaspheme Whisper] to revive the soldiers, and ordered the zombie soldiers to attack Golden City. because of the special environment of Supreme Road, Kieran’s Devil form was greatly strengthened;

[Chaotic territory, player’s devil form acquired temporary enhancement, all attributes +3, transformation duration extended…]

[Devil Lord Constitution +3]

[Flame Blast +3]

[Beheader Flaming Sword +3]

[Blaspheme Whisper +3]

[Fiery Sulfur +3]

[Light of Fear +3]

[Devil Libra +3] (Ch 1005)

Luzarc was inspired, and his men shot a flare into the sky, which exploded into a flame shaped like a devil’s head; this was the charging order of the Burning Cavalry, which hadn’t been fired in a hundred years. The Burning Dawn riders were excited when an energy filled their bodies, giving them great strength.

At the Burning Dawn North Camp, Walloon was anxiously in charge of the defense of the camp. He uneasily checked all of their weapons, but nothing could ease his anxiety. Perdal, a Burning Dawn soldier from Shatterstone, urged Walloon to take a rest, when Perdal suddenly saw the Burning Cavalry charging signal. Walloon was shocked, knowing Luzarc wouldn’t use the signal lightly, and was immensely relieved when he realized the signal meant that Kieran had successfully defeated the Golden City Camp. Walloon then ordered the soldiers to raise the flags of Burning and Dawn, two separate banners that symbolized Burning, that led attacks, and Dawn, that protected the rear.

The Burning Cavalry’s charging order could be seen by everyone on Supreme Road. Among everyone who was the flare was Ran Dan, leader of the Dan family, and Evie Dan’s father. Ran was concerned when he saw the flare, realizing that it meant an heir to the Devil had arrived, and he wondered if the heir was kind or evil.

An old lady wearing animal skins and leaves was leading a tribe of werewolves. She was filled with fear when she saw the signal, and threw some fruit shells on the ground. She was concerned when the shells landed on the ground vertically, interpreting it as meaning the devil’s heir was acting on his own accord, but then the shells caught on fire. The fire spread to the lady, but she escaped and, out of curiosity, ordered her tribe to continue moving so she could see the heir.

Kieran looked at the flare, recognizing it as the same symbol that was on the wagon he rode to Shatterstone in,

[Chaotic territory energy explosion…]

[Detected player has devil’s bloodline…]

[Player acquires further temporary enhancement, all attributes +3, all skill levels +3, acquired temporary skill: Devil Gate, transformation duration extended…]

[Devil Gate: Use the blood and flesh of a thousand enemies to form a temporary gate. Able to summon even more devil slaves into this world through the gate. Gate has a 1-minute duration and the devil slaves that comes through the gate will be forcefully returned to the abyss following the gate’s duration.] (Ch 1005)

Kieran was overwhelmed with the power he felt, but did not forget his goal and flew over Golden City. Inside the City, despite smoke rising into the air and a giant bell repeatedly ringing, most of the citizens were too confident in the city’s strength and the Burning Dawn’s falling strength to be concerned about anything. They laughed at the Burning and Dawn families, until they saw for themselves Devil Kieran flying over the city, setting the city on fire, and the army of zombie soldiers. Most of the citizens of Golden City were bandits, slave traders, or other types of people who had to know how to fight; most of them picked up their weapons to help the guards fight against the zombies, but they were unprepared for how strong Kieran’s zombie soldiers were. When a zombie killed a defender, it would grow stronger, causing panic; all of the guards, who had just as few morals as the citizens, all abandoned their duty when they saw the strength of the zombies.

Many of the bandits, robbers, and slave traders fled the city, abandoning their loot and wares, which lured brave people deeper into the city with the intention of looting what was abandoned. Kieran flew over the city, seeing several abandoned slaves who did not know what to do. Kieran recruited the slaves by encouraging them to rebel against their slavers; the slaves picked up equipment and joined Kieran’s army of the dead. The army eventually reached an ornate Temple, that housed a divine statue that was blurry, and ever changing without a fixed form. Before the statue was a sea of bodies, each was killed gruesomely. Kieran watched as the statue started moving, twisting as if the iron was liquid, and it formed a whirlpool that swallowed up both all of the bodies and many of Kieran’s soldiers.

Kieran resisted the suction of the whirlpool, but as he was in the sky he was able to look into it. He then dived into the whirlpool without hesitation when he saw something glittering within it. A few seconds later, the suction ended, and Kieran’s men stood, confused and not sure what they should do. Nordin, the king of Golden City then arrived and mocked Kieran, saying not even the Devil’s heir could resist Greed. Nordin then also mocked Luzarc, as he had publicly executed some of Luzarc’s men in the past. Nordin commanded everyone to kneel, and told the slaves that he would kill all of them after a weak slave was the first to kneel. As Nordin’s men went to start slaughtering the slaves, Nordin prevented Luzarc from interfering, and told Luzarc that he had dreamed about personally crushing the Burning Dawn.

Nordin was then enveloped with a black energy that turned him into a frenzied black monster. He roared, casting an aura onto Luzarc and the riders that sapped them of their life force, making them age extremely quickly. Luzarc did not back down, and used a spell that lit his sword on fire in preparation to attack Nordin. Nordin continued to mock him, and told Luzarc that the biggest secret of the Burning Dawn was in Golden City, not within the Burning Dawn; it was why Kieran dove into the whirlpool, though Nordin said that no one had ever escaped from the whirlpool before. As Nordin laughed, Devil Kieran’s hand tore through a void, and grabbed Nordin, setting him on fire. Kieran got the [Burning Horn] from within the whirlpool.

Kieran’s flames were giant pillars that shot far into the sky; Ran Dan saw them, and with disgust he ordered his family to move faster. The old lady also urged her tribe of werewolves to continue moving, though she started mumbling about immortals, and she wondered if the immortals were testing their heir. The two princes stopped their battle when they received news of Golden City, and agreed to a temporary ceasefire while they dealt with this issue. A person angrily threw a glass of wine at a wall, shattering it. They cursed, wondering how Kieran could resist the “grave’s temptation”, and why the [Burning Horn] was not destroyed. He wondered if Broker had betrayed him, but decided that it was irrelevant, and declared that he would be the one who gets the Unique Title.

Starbeck left the Burning Marquis’ room disappointed after the Marquis coldly rejected Starbeck’s idea, telling Starbeck that Kieran was no longer a part of the Burning Family. He was still unwilling to abandon his plan to help Kieran, and tried talking to Wright for his assistance, but Wright quickly stressed to Starbeck that he couldn’t go against the Marquis’ orders. Starbeck, ready to do something drastic, reached for his equipment, but he was interrupted when several servants appeared and reported to Wright that several Ministers were requesting meetings. Wright was confused and concerned, but as he was giving the order to let them in, another servant approached and reported that the King’s officer, the two princes, and several princesses were also requesting meetings. Wright then received a letter telling him all about Kieran’s siege on Golden City, and how he was being called the heir of the Burning Dawn. as Wright laughed, he declared that they would close their doors and reject all of the meetings. Wright positioned the letter in a way that allowed Starbeck to read it as well, and he praised and admired Kieran. Wright left to report to the Burning Marquis, and the servants were all busy with excitement, so no one noticed as Starbeck stealthily left.

At Golden City, Kieran and the Burning Dawn were rebuilding. The slaves and ordinary citizens were promised freedom, and voluntarily joined the rebuilding efforts, while all of the remaining bandits, slavers, etc. were captured and enslaved. The repair efforts started with the walls, which were simply and temporarily patched up, before they started working further in the city. Luzarc sent his aide to deliver a message to Walloon, to send the remaining riders to Golden City while also ensuring the defense of the North camp.

Inside Golden City’s palace, Kieran was skimming through many books, looking for anything related to graves and the Burning Dawn’s secret legacy. He eventually found an old book made of wolfskin that had a poem about the Supreme God Fenrir, who threw aside his crown after walking over the iron brambles and curing all the plagues of the world, even though his acts led him to his death. Kieran was interested in the mention of the crown and the Supreme God’s grave, feeling like he was close to uncovering something. He then found an old letter from the leader of the Burning Dawn one hundred years ago, that mentioned the Supreme Road and a crown that he was unable to wear due to his lineage; the writer said he would bring the crown to his friend in Dawn City for advice on how to wear it.

Kieran concluded that the writer of the letter must have been either the first generation Burning Marquis or Grand Duke of Dawn. He was also concerned at the mention of Supreme Road, since he had already noticed that all of the other players in this dungeon were completely avoiding Supreme Road. Kieran wondered about Extremus, who he had expected to be within Golden City, but Kieran wondered if there was something more important than sub missions that would convince Extremus to abandon the city. Kieran concluded that the crown was very important, but he still knew too little about it to make any decisions.

Luzarc then reported to Kieran that he was in contact with Walloon, redistributing the defenses between the North Camp, Golden City, and the few outposts in between in preparation for the impending war. Luzarc told Kieran that they could reliably defend against the imperial army, and Kieran put Luzarc in charge of Burning Dawn while he would be visiting Dawn City. Luzarc was in shock, but Kieran ignored Luzarc’s protests and left Golden City.

In Dawn City, the rumours of Kieran single handedly defeating the Golden City’s army and successfully leading the siege against Golden City had turned into legends; these legends were further supported by the Burning Marquis’ decision to not hide the news of all the meeting requests he had received. Many nobles started believing the old saying that the Burning Family were the descendants of the Devil, and some went to the Burning Marquis’ mansion to seek responsibility for Kieran’s actions from the Marquis. When an old noble entered the mansion, everyone surrounding the mansion heard screams and smelled a sulphuric scent. Many nobles were angered by the Marquis’ actions, and they started teaming up to get revenge on the Marquis. Meanwhile, in the Dawn family’s mansion a very brief battle started, and ended up destroying a lot of the mansion.

Kieran had arrived at Dawn City a few hours ago, and stayed in the shadows to scout out the city. He investigated the trouble going on at Burning mansion, and felt like the fight at Dawn mansion was strangely coincidental, especially since the Dawn family was much more respected than the Burning family. Kieran was watching an inn from afar, where he had spoken to the innkeeper; he knew that the innkeeper would report Kieran to the guards, but Kieran was suspicious about how quickly the guards arrived at the inn. Many guards were surrounding the Dawn mansion, but inside of the ruined mansion the Dawn family members were angrily pacing. Many people were watching the mansion from the shadows, Kieran included, but Kieran decided to enter the mansion instead of observing from afar. When he entered the destroyed mansion, still [Undercover], Kieran quickly noticed traces of an explosion, but after using [Tracking] Kieran also saw a footprint that had been embedded into the ground with such force that it survived the explosion. Kieran felt a positive energy left over around the explosion site, and wondered if the target of the attack was the Grand Duke of Dawn, or his heir.

Kieran left the mansion when the Dawn family members started getting more anxious, as neither the Duke nor the heir had arrived yet. Kieran concluded that the person behind the attack was Extremus, as Extremus was the only player that had a high enough [Undercover] and assassination skills to pull off the attack. Kieran also assumed that, since the Duke and the heir were missing, Extremus needed their bodies in order to get the crown. Kieran had already concluded that it was either the Burning family or the Dawn family that had the crown, but now he was guessing that neither were able to figure out how to use it, and they hid the crown; the place that the crown was hidden, Kieran guessed, required the Duke’s bloodline to enter.

Kieran was frustrated at being a step behind Extremus, and tried to track him, but Extremus was very skilled at leaving no tracks. Kieran was about to leave to continue his investigation, but then he saw an extremely graceful figure in the shadows that was jumping around. Though it was difficult to lock the figure down, Kieran followed them to a building that he was confident Extremus was in. Kieran hid in the shadows, cautious of Extremus, and allowed Pride to appear. Pride stealthily infiltrated the building, going up to the second floor where he heard a person talking to the shadowy figure. Pride entered the room and ripped a letter out of the person’s hands while also setting the shadowy figure on fire. The person, Otto, was afraid of Pride’s strength and started begging for his life. Pride was disgusted, and vanished as Kieran walked out of the shadows and approached Otto; Kieran used [Mesly Ring] on Otto.

Otto told Kieran that he was a subordinate of someone that he only called “lord” since he did not know his true name; the shadowy figure was a bodyguard granted to Otto from the lord. In the past few days, Otto had been instructed by the lord to closely monitor Dawn City, especially around the Burning Mansion and Dawn Mansion though Otto was sure that the lord’s enemy was neither the Burning Marquis nor the Grand Duke of Dawn. Otto told Kieran that recently the lord had sent his men to battle his enemy multiple times, but each time the lord had lost the battle and ended up losing many men; despite this, the lord never went to fight his enemy personally. Kieran concluded that the lord had been fighting against Darde, and did not personally fight out of caution of Extremus’ strength, which also led him to conclude that Broker, Darde, and Extremus were having a fallout as their plans were not going smoothly. Kieran continued to think, feeling certain that Broker had many more plans up his sleeves to make him confident that he would succeed in this dungeon, but he was interrupted when an explosion was heard outside.

A giant titan was attacking Dawn City, and when the alarm bell started ringing the entire city went into a panic. The guards tried attacking, but their arrows were all easily deflected without injuring the titan, who angrily started attacking the walls. As the titan prepared to charge straight through the walls, the guards fired ballistas at the titan, though the giant ballista arrows were deflected when a defensive barrier enveloped the titan. The titan then charged through the walls, destroying the walls that were previously believed to be impenetrable. Most of the city guards decided to retreat, leaving only the imperial royal guards left to fight, though the titan did not give the royal guards so much as a chance to launch an attack. The two princes watched the titan, before both of them unanimously decided to ask the Burning Marquis for help.

The nobles were hopeful that the Burning Marquis could defeat the titan, but they retreated in fear when the titan destroyed an entire street with a single strike of his palm; even the princes retreated in fear. With the natives out of the way, the titan, Darde, demanded that his enemy reveal himself. After a second, Darde’s shadow started bubbling, and a figure started revealing itself. Darde’s body then emitted a bright light, and the figure instantly died.

[Player Ansecord died…] (Ch 1015)

Kieran was very concerned because he learned enough about Ansecord, the “lord”, from Otto to know that Ansecord was too cautious of a person to allow himself to die that easily. Kieran in particular was thinking about how Otto told him that the lord would not make any moves personally, when a fireball made of devil fire was thrown at Darde. As Kieran looked at the fireball, the Devil Force within the fire made the [Fusion Heart] grow active, and the room that Kieran was standing in burst into flames as the mirage of the Devil appeared behind Kieran. Kieran watched the fireball hit Darde, and in the explosion a figure could be seen grabbing and lifting Darde into the air. A giant pillar of fire erupted from the ground, ripping through Darde’s defensive barriers and tearing and burning his flesh. Darde was in shock, but could not fight against the Burning Marquis’ flames that eventually devoured him completely.

Kieran was expecting the Marquis’ strength, so he was not as shocked as the nobles who were also watching, but Kieran was relieved to have finally pieced everything together when he realized there was no system notification of Darde’s death. Kieran quickly went [Undercover] and ran, knowing that the Burning Marquis would have noticed his Devil Force that erupted when Kieran saw the fireball. Kieran arrived at the Burning mansion before stopping; when he stopped, the Burning Marquis appeared before Kieran. Kieran slowly looked the Marquis in the eyes, ignoring the Spirit authentications, and noticed that despite the system making the Marquis and him father and son, the Marquis looked nothing like Kieran. Their only similarity was their presence, especially as both of them were unleashing their Devil Force. The Marquis asked Kieran if he also felt the aura, relieving Kieran as he feared a messy family squabble would start, and Kieran calmly responded. The marquis told Kieran that he was bolder after inheriting the Burning Dawn, and then he unleashed his Devil Force upon Kieran, who allowed his own Devil Force to be unleashed.

The Devil mirage again appeared behind Kieran. As the two Devil Forces collided, and the air started distorting under the pressure, a black energy started appearing in between the two of them, which shocked the Marquis. The Marquis, although expecting Kieran to have grown strong, was shocked that Kieran was able to hold against his own power; the Marquis decided to increase the amount of power he was using, and the sky gradually started turning black. As Kieran fought against the Marquis’ strength, he resisted the despair that the Marquis’ power brought; the Devil mirage also fought against the despair, and gave Kieran the last bit of memories that it had;

Kieran saw a land made up of dead bodies, where the air was a poisonous miasma; The Devil, the Lord of Despair stood among the land of bodies. Outside of the illusion, the mirage appeared to be shrouded with flames as the Devil’s temperament changed. It had previously been roaring in rage at the Marquis’ provocation, but after Kieran saw the illusion, the Devil mirage started acting cooly and calmly just like how Kieran carries himself. The Devil Mirage then used its energy to break through the darkness that the Marquis’ power had brought, and the nobles who were caught in the darkness thought they were freed from the darkness before they realized they had to choose if they wanted to submit to the Devil or not. Those who rejected died instantly, while those who submitted were allowed to live. The Burning Marquis started laughing when he felt the despair from the nobles, and heartily praised Kieran’s strength.

The Marquis then increased his strength again, and threw a fireball at Kieran as he started physically changing, undergoing an extremely small transformation into the Devil. The Devil Mirage laughed at the fireball, and Kieran summoned the giant flaming beheader sword to block the fireball. Before they could continue their fight though, Wright hurriedly arrived and announced that Starbeck was missing, causing the both of them to freeze in complete silence, before both of their Devil Forces erupted in anger. The Burning Marquis let out a heavy laugh before declaring to Dawn City that he would return whatever harm they brought to Starbeck to their own friends and family but a hundred times worse, while Kieran released Wrath, who declared that Dawn City had one chance to tell him where Starbeck was, while Wrath’s sinful energy spread throughout the city. After telling the nobles to have a report of Starbeck’s location by morning, Kieran went inside Burning mansion.

Wright led Kieran to the hall where he last saw Starbeck, after Starbeck visited the Burning Marquis, and he used [Tracking] to follow Starbeck’s tracks. Kieran followed them outside, where he was happy to see that Starbeck had jumped the gates by himself; he was not forced to leave nor was he kidnapped. Kieran saw the rough tracks on the other side of the wall, implying Starbeck suffered a sprain from climbing the fence, but as Starbecks tracks went down the street away from the mansion, they abruptly stopped. Kieran wondered who would both have the time to clean up their tracks, and the confidence to mess with Starbeck’s dog, Afu, that was so strong that not even Kieran would willingly mess with. Kieran walked away from the Burning mansion, knowing that he and the Burning Marquis were not actually close enough to talk, and continued looking for Starbeck.

Kieran reached an alley, where he saw through the Fire Raven’s eyes that someone was following him. Kieran confronted him, and threatened him with fire when he tried leaving. The stalker was not stupid enough to try and fight Kieran, so he tried escaping; the stalker’s friends arrived and shot arrows at Kieran to help him escape. Kieran shot fireballs at the arrows and the stalker, who was able to evade the fireballs, until Kieran kicked him dead. The Stalker had tried begging for his life by claiming he had info on Starbeck, but Kieran killed him without even reacting to the stalkers words. The stalker’s friends tried jumping Kieran, but Kieran used his Cardinal Sins Force to light a black fire that devoured the attackers. Kieran was confident that there would be more groups of attackers, but he did not care and continued his investigation.

In the alley where the attackers had turned to ashes, Ran Dan and his family of hunters had arrived. Ran looked at the ashes and felt the wicked aura of the Sins still leftover in the ashes, and Evie Dan tried defending Kieran by saying he had brought peace to Supreme Road. Evie’s brother was angry, feeling like it was wrong of her to defend Kieran, and as they argued Ran was thinking. He was about to order his family to escape from Dawn City for their safety, but his order was interrupted by the howls of wolves.

Outside of Dawn City, Kieran’s giant White Wolf was running and howling, summoning thousands of wolves from the wilderness around the City. The wolves all gathered around Kieran, and remained obedient even after the White Wolf vanished. Kieran ordered the wolves to pick up Darde’s scent and find him. The Front Wolf pup was reluctant to see the wolves leave, but it loyally returned to Kieran before growling when a group of people walked out from Kieran’s shadow. The old lady wearing animal pelts, assisted by Sharly, approached Kieran and introduced herself as Carla. Sharly offered Kieran help in finding Starbeck, but after Kieran refused, Carla offered a collaboration with Kieran. Carla explained that she was very old and had little time left, and that she wanted to achieve immortality. She said that in exchange she would help Kieran solve the puzzle surrounding the crown. Kieran was shocked, wondering if this crown was more valuable than the Unique Title, and even wondering if the crown could actually grant immortality.

In an underground cave, Darde was extremely injured and was pouring healing potions down his throat, with little effect. He was angry, as according to his plans the Burning Marquis should have been injured before he started his assault on Dawn City. Darde looked at a figure in the cave, but started panicking when the figure started turning translucent because if the figure vanished, it would mean Darde would suffer a huge decrease in strength. Darde decided to merge himself with the figure to save it, but when he finished devouring the figure he was struck with an intense magic repulsion that caused his giant body to shrink until he was very small. Darde was consumed by rage toward everyone, especially the Burning Marquis, Extremus, Ansecord, Kieran, and Starbeck who he personally blamed for his downfall. Darde wanted to start coming up with another plan, but then he realized that he was surrounded by an army of wolves.

Darde tried reasoning with Kieran, saying they should team up to fight Ansecord and Extremus who had also teamed up. Ansecord had attacked Dawn mansion according to Darde’s plans, but Ansecord was also supposed to attack Burning mansion and injure the Burning Marquis as well. Ansecord and Extremus teamed up, and faked Ansecord’s death to make it look like the Burning Marquis had been attacked. Kieran continued to walk toward Darde, unleashing his killing intent. Darde was sent into [Fear], and in a last effort to save his life, Darde screamed that he would tell Kieran everything about the crown, then revealed that it would allow players to leave the game. Kieran froze, and quickly determined that Darde was telling the truth, before he started wondering why Broker hadn’t revealed himself yet with both a Unique Title and the opportunity to leave the game up for grabs. Kieran concluded that, to Broker, the Witch’s Legacy must be more valuable than both of them combined.

While Kieran was deep in thought, Darde had escaped from the [Fear] and set up several defensive barriers. He then offered to tell Kieran everything, including why Broker himself was not here in the dungeon, in exchange for a truce between the two of them. Kieran was tempted by the opportunity to leave the game, but he would not agree to someone else's terms. Kieran started kicking and slashing at Darde’s barrier as Darde threatened to send a signal flare that would summon Extremus and Ansecord, but then Darde tell to the ground after suffering from a sickness that Kieran had infected him with using [Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art]. Kieran then woke Darde up and started interrogating him.

Outside, morning was quickly approaching and the city was filled with fear since they hadn’t found Starbeck yet. There was an uproar though, because the heir of the Grand Duke of Dawn, Reinholt, had been found tied up and badly injured in the basement of a civilian’s house. Despite obvious torture marks, Reinholt was still conscious and had a clear mind. Reinholt was returned to Dawn mansion, where he was being treated for his severe injuries. In Reinholt’s room, when the doctors and servants finally left him, Reinholt showed a cold smile and revealed that he was actually Ansecord who had taken over the Dawn heir’s body after his fake death. Ansecord was excitedly thinking about the crown, and admired his new body that, although physically weaker than his previous one, was capable of using the powers of the Dawn Family bloodline.

Ansecord summoned a loyal butler, who although was shocked that Reinholt’s body had healed so fast, did not doubt the heir’s identity. Ansecord gave the butler an order, and the butler agreed despite his heavy face. Ansecord then snuck out of the Dawn mansion and went to the Imperial palace, which was almost completely empty as everyone was out looking for Starbeck. The Burning Marquis was standing on the stairs outside of the palace waiting, while Extremus was hiding in the shadows nearby; the two of them were having a silent battle, attacking each other with their auras. Ansecord approached and tried convincing them to get along, and the Burning Marquis told Ansecord that he was collaborating with him, not Extremus; Ansecord calmed the Marquis down by mentioning the grave in Golden City. Ansecord then revealed his plans, that he chose Reinholt’s body since it could be used as a key to the grave where the crown was, he purposely did not attack the Marquis after attacking the Grand Duke because he knew the Marquis would grow ambitious without the Duke restraining him. By getting rid of the Grand Duke and putting the Marquis under his control, Ansecord was closer to getting the crown. Ultimately though, Ansecord revealed that his grand plan was to take Broker down.

Ansecord then started leading the Marquis into the Imperial palace, heading toward the missing King’s bedchambers. Ansecord joked with the Marquis about Kieran, who Ansecord revealed he had set up a plan to trap Kieran, using Darde as bait; Ansecord was sure that Kieran would not be able to resist killing Darde since this dungeon greatly rewarded players for killing each other. Ansecord already considered Kieran and Darde to be dead, meaning the last obstacle in his plans was Extremus, though he did not make any moves yet and led the Marquis and Extremus into the palace.

The three of them went into the bedchambers, and moved the bed revealing a stone floor underneath. Extremus threw the Grand Duke of Dawn’s dead body onto the floor, and Ansecord cut into his palm, allowing Reinholt’s blood to pour onto the dead Grand Duke. The flowing blood formed a circle on the ground, and Ansecord started chanting, causing runes to appear within the circle.

[Player Darde has been eliminated by Player 2567!]

[Player Darde has died!] (Ch 1023)

Ansecord was very happy when he saw the notification, as it was according to his plans, and he continued to chant making more and more runes appear. When the Grand Duke’s body started melting, Ansecord announced it was done, and he and Extremus jumped the Marquis, but suddenly a spike formed from the blood and bones of the Grand Duke shot out of the ground and pierced through Extremus’ heart, killing him. Ansecord revealed that he had lied to Extremus, saying the two of them would defeat the Marquis and then split the treasures underground, but Ansecord had actually planned to kill Extremus here. Ansecord then started flattering the unharmed Marquis in an attempt to appease him, but the Marquis was more concerned with the underground treasures and dropped the subject.

The Grand Duke’s body then started vanishing as the stone floor started sinking, revealing a staircase going down. The Burning Marquis went down first, and Ansecord gave a signal, following the Marquis when he sensed the butler of the Dawn family carrying out his order from earlier. When he reached the secret treasure vault, Ansecord started panicking when he realized it was completely empty. After frantically looking around, Ansecord started trying to figure out who emptied out the vault and when, but he was interrupted when the Marquis started angrily unleashing his Devil Force, ready to kill him. Ansecord then tried calming down the Marquis, and trying to get him to agree to helping Ansecord find where the crown and the treasures went. As Ansecord was talking though, the missing King Saint Cyanda XI walked down the stairs and told them that his imperial household had the crown.

Ansecord was embarrassed that his plans were ruined by this King that no one actually took seriously, and wanted to attack him, but the Marquis stopped him. The Marquis then asked the King if he was related to Starbeck’s disappearance, and the King told him that he ran into Starbeck coincidentally, and sent him somewhere safe; the King then told the Marquis that if he wanted to see Starbeck again, he had to kill Ansecord. Anecord, in a panic, tried convincing the Marquis that he had two sons and it shouldn’t matter if he lost Starbeck or not, but that just made the Marquis enraged and he threw fireball after fireball at Ansecord, who was fearfully dodging. The King was very happy, as he had pretended to be normal and powerless due to the strength of the Grand Duke and the Marquis, but now the Grand Duke was dead and he had the Marquis under his control. The King joyfully watched the Marquis slaughter Ansecord, and as he reveled in the bloodshed, the power of his bloodline finally awoke in him, though neither he nor the Marquis noticed.

Ansecord then activated his ace, and clouds appeared and covered the moon. All of the shadows in the City started to distort, and the shadows drained the life force of every living thing within range. The souls of these innocent living beings were then herded to Ansecord, and he was engulfed by shadows and souls, turning him into a giant monster that kept continuously growing, until he was too large for the treasure vault, until he was too large for the bedchambers, until the entire palace was engulfed by darkness. When the shadows dissipated, there was a giant crater where the palace once was, and the Marquis was laying on the ground, extremely injured, but he was grabbing Ansecord by the neck, trying to suffocate him. Ansecord, also wounded, then pierced the Marquis’ chest with a sword. The Marquis was still alive, but he was more concerned about the King than Ansecord; the Marquis felt a strange presence, and a sense of danger.

Reinholt’s body was too weak to sense this presence, so Ansecord did not even suspect that the King survived the attack. Ansecord threatened the Marquis, but he was then suddenly decapitated by the King who was behind him. The Marquis looked up at the King Saint Cyanda XI feeling very unsettled; the Marquis felt like he was looking at a completely different person, as the King was both behaving completely differently, and was releasing an aura unlike anything the Marquis had felt before. The Marquis cautiously asked the King XI who he was, and the King told him that he was King Saint Cyanda VI, the true Son of Moon, and he was also Broker. Broker then slit open the Marquis and collected his blood, saying that the blood of a devil’s descendant could revive slain sinners. The Marquis, who was just barely still alive, couldn’t comprehend that Broker would want to revive someone.

Broker then dropped some of the Marquis’ blood on a piece of meat, which started wiggling and morphing into Extremus’ body. As the flesh of meat that was resurrecting Extremus started crawling toward the Marquis’ body to devour, Kieran descended with [Dawn Sword], which Broker was just barely able to defend against with a hasty barrier. Broker was angry, since he had planned for Kieran to go and save Starbeck, and he grabbed the resurrecting Extremus and ran. Kieran was not unprepared though, and used a net of spiderwebs to capture him. As the special effects of Mardos’ spiderwebs were harming Broker, Kieran summoned the Creature of Desire which instantly started firing thousands of eye lasers at the trapped Broker.

The King XI died in the laser fire, and the Marquis’ body, though charred, continued to feebly twitch. Broker reappeared in a translucent form and tried entering the Marquis’ body, but Kieran kicked Broker’s soul and used [Arrogant Word] to kill the Marquis. Extremus was dead, King XI was dead, the Marquis was dead, and Broker’s soul was dissipating. From the King XI’s body appeared a heavy crown and a heavy iron key. The whirlpool in Golden City appeared again, and the grave appeared, a giant pillar that shot out of the ground and into the sky. The grave started trembling, and then all of Dawn City started trembling along with it. Despite it being dawn and the sun was rising, Dawn City was again engulfed by darkness and the dead started reviving. The Burning Marquis stood up, his severed flesh repaired with Extremus’ flesh, and his consciousness was a mix of his own, Extremus’, King XI’s, and Broker’s.

As this monster lost its sanity, a giant hand rose from the grave in the sky, and crawled out of the pillar. As the hand revealed itself, everyone in Dawn City was attacked by a great pressure, that attacked both body and mind. Kieran felt his Origin Forces going out of control, but leaned on [Arrogant Word] to remain standing. Kieran then revealed he knew this hand was part of Broker’s plans because of many coincidences he noticed, including how easily Darde killed Ansecord, how the Burning Marquis did not chase after Darde after they fought in Dawn City, the stalkers that Kieran fought in the alley when he first arrived at Dawn City, and how easily Starbeck was kidnapped despite the strength of Starbeck’s equipment.

Kieran then yelled out Starbeck’s name, and Starbeck released his dog Afu that went and attacked the hand while Kieran battled the hybrid monster of the Marquis, Extremus, Broker, and Saint Cyanda XI. Kieran used [Arrogant Word] to slash the monster’s body in half, and Broker’s soul left the body and flew toward the crown that was laying on the ground. Kieran used [Lionheart] to lift some of the pressure off of the Frost Wolf and the Fire Raven, who grabbed the crown before Broker could. Broker was about to negotiate with Kieran, but Kieran crushed the skull of the monster, causing Broker’s soul to dissipate.

Kieran immediately began drawing many [Seal of Dawn]s into the ground before running further into Dawn City. Afu was a very strong dog, but the hand had an advantage, and Kieran needed to utilize [Lionheart]’s abilities before the equipment goes into cooldown. Kieran ran to the bell tower of Dawn City, and gave a speech to the citizens of the city asking them to join the Burning Dawn. the citizens, who were suffering greatly from the pressure, felt hope when they saw Kieran’s willpower, and many citizens started shouting that they would join Kieran.

[Detected corresponding energy, Lionheart, King’s Trait acquired temporarily converted ascension!]

[King’s Step activated]

[King’s Praise activated]

[King’s Prestige activated]

[Insufficient energy, King’s Shattering Rage unable to activate]

[Insufficient energy, King’s Slaughter unable to activate] (Ch 1029)

As Kieran was shrouded with golden light, he jumped off of the bell tower and landed beside Starbeck, who was sustaining Afu with his life force in a desperate attempt to buy Kieran time. Starbeck was incredibly weak from both the pressure of the hand and the energy required to use Afu. Kieran carried Starbeck to a safer location, and told him to rest as Kieran ran back into Dawn City. Kieran loudly praised Afu for fighting the hand, and the citizens were also grateful towards Afu for protecting them;

[King’s Praise: Praise a target to recover all its injuries and stamina, gains a temporary buff that varies according to the power level of the king and the number of followers.]

[King’s Prestige: Any target that offends the king will be punished. Increase stamina consumption and injuries will be more severe and the target will fall into a restrained state. Level of restraint varies according to the power level of the king and the numbers of followers.] (Ch 1030)

Afu was completely healed and grew stronger, while the hand was debuffed and restrained. While the hand previously was winning against Afu, Afu was now stronger than the hand. As the fight continued, the citizens looked at Kieran with reverence, causing both the Devil and Pride to bask in the feeling. More than those two though, all of Kieran’s Origin Forces were voicing their agreement when Kieran picked up [Arrogant Word] and jumped into the sky to fight the hand himself. Because of the rare unity of his Forces, Kieran’s power was greatly strengthened, and a single slash was able to cut to the bone of the giant hand. After a few slashes, Kieran revealed the burning horn that he got from the whirlpool and blew it, summoning a mirage of the indomitable Burning Dawn riders from a hundred years ago; the riders quickly and easily shredded the hand completely.

Within the grave, the owner of the hand was angered by the loss of its hand. As the grave continued to tremble, eleven pillars of fire rose from the ground throughout Supreme Road, and a giant tornado was whipped up in Dawn City, Kieran realized that the pillar grave was neither a grave nor a cage, but a castle. With this realization, Kieran looked at the tornado and tried making some new plans, but he was interrupted;

[Player has completed a decisive incident!]

[Acknowledged as completing the main mission earlier!]

[Unique Title dungeon, immediately returns!] (Ch 1031)

[Unique Title Dungeon: Blade of the Daybreaker]

[Dungeon Type: Background Mission]

[Dungeon Difficulty: High]

[Main Mission: None]

[Sub Mission 1: The Sheriff’s First Step]

[Mission Completion: 100% (Rating F → E)]

[Sub Mission 2: The Sheriff’s Second Step]

[Mission Completion: 100% (Rating E → D)]

[Sub Mission 3: The Sheriff’s Third Step]

[Mission Completion: 100% (Rating D → C)]

[Special Event: Wolf Plague Havoc (Perfect Rating)]

[Perfect Rating: 100% (Rating C → S)]

[Special Event: Golden City Invasion]

[Perfect Rating: 100% (Rating S → SSS)]

[Battle Performance: Very Active (Rating SSS → Z)]

[Exploration Performance: Average]

[Special Rating 1: Inherited Burning Dawn (Rating Z → ZZ)]

[Special Rating 2: Acquired the “Crown” (Rating ZZ → ZZZ)]

[Special Rating 3: Defeated the Great Being below (Rating ZZZ → V)]

[Player Final Rating: V]

[Comparing player’s rating to other players’ rating…]

[Player acquired Unique Title: Blade of the Daybreaker] (Ch 1031)

[Acquired Unique Title: Blade of the Daybreaker]

[Detected player has key item, Burning Horn…]

[Burning Horn will be fused into Unique Title, Blade of the Daybreaker!] (Ch 1031)

After he was spammed with the notifications, Kieran realized that he was not back in his lobby, but rather in the starry platform he was sent to before the Talent Dungeon. A single star flew toward Kieran and merged itself into Kieran’s body;

[Name: Blade of the Daybreaker]

[Type: Title]

[Rarity: Unique]

[Attribute: 1. Sword Type Enhance; 2. Sword Skill Increase; 3. Dawn Amplification; 4. Dawn Sword Veil.]

[Special Effect: Dawn Summon]

[Prerequisite: Bind to player]

[Remark: Whenever your blade points, you will be invincible.]

…

[Sword Type Enhance: When using any type of sword-type weapon, weapon attack level +1]

[Sword Skill Increase: Increase any kind of “sword” skill by 1 level (Is not limited to Transcendence), 2 per day]

[Dawn Amplification: During Dawn, player gains a special effect of +3 to all attributes. Additionally, player is able to assign a certain attribute with an extra +1 buff]

[Dawn Sword Veil: Player can activate this skill during dawn. It will not be restrained by any other existence. This skill can make a copy of the sword type weapon that player currently has equipped, the copy of the weapon will have the all the original attributes, effects, and will have attack and defense based on player’s sword type skill. The copies of the weapon can be accumulated when the skill isn’t activated during dawn, the number of copies will accumulate to the next day (max 3 times), once per day]

[Dawn Summon: During Dawn, player can summon the soldiers of Burning Dawn based on player’s own will. They will answer the player’s call and fight for them, once per week] (Ch 1031)

## Unique Title Dungeon: Blade of the Daybreaker Received Items

[Name: Communication Card (Main Card)]

[Type: Card]

[Rarity: Magic]

[Attribute: Allows the player to contact other players who possess the sub card, 3/3]

[Remark: It allows you to contact at will but can’t bypass certain limits.] (Ch 949)

[Name: Modi Boots]

[Type: Equipment]

[Rarity: Legendary]

[Attack: Strong]

[Defense: Powerful]

[Attribute: 1. Modi Dash, 2. Modi Jump, 3. Modi Conceal]

[Effect: None]

[Prerequisite: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark: Modi didn’t run the fastest but the longest! Modi didn’t jump the highest but he would have a second and third chance! Other than that, Modi had an extra dodge!]

[Modi Dash: When equipped, whether walking, running or jumping, saves 45% Stamina]

[Modi Jump: When activated, after a single jump, consume more Stamina to perform a second and third jump. 3/day]

[Modi Conceal: When wearer stays still in shadow, Undercover +1] (Ch 970)

[Name: Unknown Nail]

[Type: ETC]

[Rarity: ???]

[Attack: ???]

[Defense: ???]

[Attribute: ???]

[Effect: ???]

[Prerequisite: ???]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark: You may be lucky or unlucky to be able to find it. Remember, if you do not have absolute confidence, do not open this vessel.] (Ch 983)

[Name: Deed of Seal]

[Type: ETC]

[Rarity: Legendary]

[Attack/ Defense: None]

[Attribute: Seal (Specific Species)]

[Effect: None]

[Prerequisite: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark: The sealed Son of Moon, not the complete one and not the first one.] (Ch 1003)

[Burning Horn]

No given information. Received from the whirlpool in Ch 1007, used to summon Burning Dawn riders in Ch 1030, fused into Unique Title in Ch 1031.

[Name: Fenrir’s Crown]

[Type: Accessory]

[Rarity: ???]

[Attack: ???]

[Defense: ???]

[Attribute: 1. ???; 2. ???]

[Effect: None]

[Prerequisite: Owner of the opposing power]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark: This is Fenrir’s beloved crown, it doesn’t just represent his authority, but his symbol and honor as well.] (Ch 1029)

[Name: Changed Key of Grave]

[Type: ETC]

[Rarity: ???]

[Attack: ???]

[Defense: ???]

[Attribute: Initiate (Reopen Blade of the Daybreaker dungeon with corresponding energy)]

[Effect: None]

[Prerequisite: Corresponding energy]

[Remark: It is buffed by a certain energy, granting it a more magical effect] (Ch 1032)

## Unique Title Dungeon: Blade of the Daybreaker Learned Skills

[Name: Brand. Strengthen Fur (Wolf and Dog)]

[Type: Skill]

[Rarity: Rare]

[Attack/ Defense: None]

[Attribute: Strengthen Fur lvl 1 – lvl 3 (Based on the brand attribute, the wolf and dog type being will have to go through a Constitution authentication; Lvl 1 will automatically grant a Weak rank force field barrier to the target; Lvl 2 will automatically grant an Average rank force field barrier to the target; Lvl 3 will automatically grant a Strong force field barrier to the target; The formation of the barrier will consume the branded wolf or dog’s Stamina)]

[Effect: None]

[Prerequisite: Mystical Knowledge (Master), Research of Mythical Beings (Basic)]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark: This is a special magic scroll that holds a very crooked and special enchantment knowledge. If you have the hands to tattoo, you will get twice the result with half the effort; Of course, you need to prepare the corresponding magic ingredients, including Bladeback Blue, diamond, and black oil mineral.] (Ch 966)

[Name: Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art (Musou)]

[Related Attribute: Constitution]

[Skill Type: Ancillary]

[Effect: After going through a dangerous start, you have learned the body tempering art that people dreaded, Constitution +6 (Basic +1, Entry +1, Master +1, Pro +1, Grand Master +1, Musou +1)]

[Special Effect: 1. Absorb Plague; 2. Release Plague; 3. Tenacious Body]

[Consume: Stamina]

[Prerequisite: Constitution A]

[Remark: This is the origin of the plague, it has limited benefits to you but it bears a destructive power.]

[Note: You have acquired this skill through learning, not through a Skill Book. Therefore, you cannot upgrade it with Points and Skill Points. If you want to level it up, you will need to continue learning or acquire a Skill Book!]

[Absorb Plague: Absorb plague energy at a decent speed]

[Release Plague: Release plague energy at a decent speed]

[Tenacious Body: Gains +4 buff on any Constitution authentication] (Ch 993)

[Initiate temporary special attribute: Enslave]

[Enslave: Based on your own devil level, you are able to control other low-level demonic beings around you.] (Ch 1005)

[Name: Blade of the Daybreaker]

[Type: Title]

[Rarity: Unique]

[Attribute: 1. Sword Type Enhance; 2. Sword Skill Increase; 3. Dawn Amplification; 4. Dawn Sword Veil.]

[Special Effect: Dawn Summon]

[Prerequisite: Bind to player]

[Remark: Whenever your blade points, you will be invincible.]

…

[Sword Type Enhance: When using any type of sword-type weapon, weapon attack level +1]

[Sword Skill Increase: Increase any kind of “sword” skill by 1 level (Is not limited to Transcendence), 2 per day]

[Dawn Amplification: During Dawn, player gains a special effect of +3 to all attributes. Additionally, player is able to assign a certain attribute with an extra +1 buff]

[Dawn Sword Veil: Player can activate this skill during dawn. It will not be restrained by any other existence. This skill can make a copy of the sword type weapon that player currently has equipped, the copy of the weapon will have the all the original attributes, effects, and will have attack and defense based on player’s sword type skill. The copies of the weapon can be accumulated when the skill isn’t activated during dawn, the number of copies will accumulate to the next day (max 3 times), once per day]

[Dawn Summon: During Dawn, player can summon the soldiers of Burning Dawn based on player’s own will. They will answer the player’s call and fight for them, once per week] (Ch 1031)