Subscriber of the Gods Chapter 350 - To Lyubin

‘He said it was the key to solving this situation.’

As the proxy of the evil god had said, the treasures here were not under any magic or curse.

“A-Are you alright? No, why are you alright, Ethan…?”

The Shine One cautiously asked. His true feelings slipped out at the end without him realizing it.

Clearly, all the equipment here was under a powerful curse. Yet Ethan was fine even after drawing the Desert King’s sword.

If anything, the sword seemed to shine even brighter.

“I’m fine. So please tell me. What do I need to do?”

“That’s the key. Insert it into the groove on that door and turn it, and the tomb’s door should open again.”

The evil god’s proxy shook his head at the absurd situation. Now was not the time to be dazed.

Ethan being fine was one thing, but he absolutely could not let those two out of here.

Especially that Ethan Whiskers fellow.

He had exceeded the specifications he had imagined.

“I don’t know what trick you pulled. But fine, good. That much you should do! However, do you think you can easily get out just because you’ve found a way out?”

The evil god’s proxy grinned.

“To get out of here, you’ll have to kill me… and get out…”

Shaaak-

Suddenly, the evil god’s proxy felt a chill.

“Don’t you know yet?”

Ethan was somehow behind him already.

“Wh-What…?”

Shaaaak-

Out of nowhere, he felt a chill in his chest. Soon, that chill spread throughout his body, and then black blood flowed from his mouth.

Sruuk-

As the evil god’s proxy turned towards Ethan behind him, his vision tilted diagonally.

That was the end.

The evil god’s proxy died right there.

“…!”

The Shine One was shocked by that overwhelming skill. And soon he admired it.

When fighting him at the entrance of the tomb, Ethan had been going easy on him.

“There was a little trouble, but it’s been resolved well.”

-You have cleared the quest!

-You have received a reward!

-Your fame rises!

-You have achieved an achievement!

-You have gained likes for achieving the [Found the Treasure] achievement.

-You have gained ‘5’ likes.

“You really went easy on me.”

“I am a follower carrying on Lady Moonforce’s will. Shine One, you were once a follower of Moonforce too. How could I dare raise my sword against a fellow believer?”

Words of rebuttal came to the Shine One’s mind, but he couldn’t speak them out loud.

“…You’re right.”

How could he speak after seeing him cut the evil god’s proxy in two just now?

“But still…”

“Yes?”

“Never mind. Let’s hurry and go.”

***

“The spell binding me has been broken. Now I can go to where my comrades are.”

Along with the formal opening of the tomb, the will Desert King left behind also disappeared.

Until now, even death couldn’t take Shine One, but as soon as he fulfilled his duty, the spell binding him also broke.

“…I never thought I’d be able to come out.”

In his long years here, he had wished for it a few times, but a few times he had also thought it would be better if that wish didn’t come true.

“It really takes a lot of sacrifice to seal an evil god. His Majesty sacrificed his life and 500 warriors to seal the evil god. There was no better way than that.”

That evil god is currently unsealed.

No matter how strong Ethan is, an evil god is literally a god.

It was an existence that could only be dealt with by sacrificing countless lives to seal it.

“To be honest, I… don’t have a way either.”

“It’s alright.”

But Ethan wasn’t focusing on Shine One’s words. For now, classifying the Desert King’s treasures was the priority.

‘I need to find only the useful ones.’

The top priority to find was the Shield of Purification.

The Shield of Purification was a definite artifact that would increase Ethan’s defense skills by one more, and he needed to confirm if the one here was the Shield of Purification he knew.

‘It’s not a unique artifact after all.’

As far as Ethan knew, there were several pieces of equipment similar to the Shield of Purification.

Although they were said to be mere replicas, other Shields of Purification were quite useful in their effects.

‘It might just have a similar name. Still, if it has the same name, it’s worth looking forward to.’

Ethan first put down the sword he was holding. Although it was said to be the sword the Desert King used in his lifetime, it wasn’t that great of an item.

Quite a long time had passed since then. Time had greatly improved the level of weapons.

Because of that, most of the equipment in the tomb was similar to or slightly higher than the level of current-era equipment.

‘But they would have put all the best equipment of that time in.’

As he looked around here and there, Ethan found a shield shining bright white.

“Found it.”

As expected, it was the item he had been anticipating.

Ethan immediately picked up the Shield of Purification. There were initials engraved on the inside.

GH.

“Gabriel Horn.”

The Shield of Purification made by Goldhand Gabriel Horn. It was the real thing.

Ethan injected mana while holding the Shield of Purification.

It was a small amount of mana, but thanks to making it high-purity through Lyuka, the Shield of Purification began to shine brightly even with a small amount.

-You can use the special skill: Purification.

Moreover, this Shield of Purification could be transformed.

Shaaaak-

The Shield of Purification, which was originally a small shield, shrank even more and then became a tiny shield that fit snugly on his wrist.

It looked like a bracelet.

‘Hmm.’

Ethan smiled contentedly. This was as good as gaining one more life.

“Now let’s go.”

“Huh…? Aren’t you taking everything here?”

“Shine One, times have changed a lot. The equipment here is certainly precious, but in the current era, they’re not that good.”

Ethan said, pointing at the weapons with his finger.

“And these weapons, didn’t they all originally belong to someone?”

Shine One blinked his eyes as if asking how he knew.

“Objects that have been used for a long time have an aura left on them. We also say they have the owner’s touch.”

Ethan stuck the Desert King’s sword back into the mound.

“Their sacrifices were not in vain.”

Then, as if commemorating them, he picked up the weapons one by one and stuck them into the ground.

“Rest in peace.”

Ethan didn’t take any other of the Desert King’s treasures.

He only took the Shield of Purification.

***

Hanter looked up at the huge temple.

“…Will he really come out after finding the Desert King’s treasure?”

“Usually, I would tell you what I expect and predict. Honestly, I’m not sure how this will turn out. Didn’t the current Desert King of Lyubin go in and come out badly beaten? I heard all the warriors died, and the Desert King who came out alone was almost crazy and just secluded himself. He entered such a place… alone.”

“Shouldn’t he fail originally…?”

“I think such words have no meaning to him.”

“Then shall we make a bet?”

“Pardon?”

“Count Ethan finds the treasure and comes out, or he doesn’t come out.”

Mercenary Captain Hunter said that and quickly added:

“I bet on him coming out.”

“I’ll bet on him coming out too.”

“I’ll bet on that side too!”

“This isn’t a bet if everyone chooses the same side, you idiots!”

“Where are you trying to get an easy win!”

“Isn’t the one betting on him not coming out the fool?”

“The Count is someone who even rips scorpion men in half. Whatever is in there will be ripped in half.”

“The Desert King’s treasure too?”

“He wouldn’t rip the treasure in half, would he?”

While these frivolous conversations were going on.

The temple began to shake violently.

“What’s this!?”

“Rashibed! Is this a sign that monsters are coming?”

“No. The temple itself is shaking.”

Rashibed began to retreat far away.

“D-Don’t tell me it’s collapsing?”

Kuuuung-!

With a thunderous sound, the main gate began to open.

Kwagagagagang-!

“Th-The main gate…”

Rashibed looked at the main gate with a surprised expression.

“I heard even the Desert King couldn’t enter through the main gate… why is the main gate suddenly…”

I heard that because the main gate didn’t budge at all, even the Desert King eventually entered through another door on the side.

Kung-!

That main gate was now opening. Of course, all the magic spread out on the temple had been disabled.

“…”

“Sh-Shouldn’t we run away?”

When the scared mercenaries were poised to run away at any moment.

Someone came out of the main gate.

“!”

“C-Count Ethan!”

“Seeing your surprised expressions, it seems you thought I wouldn’t be able to come out.”

Ethan approached them with a smile.

“D-Did you find the Desert King’s treasure!?”

“I did find it. But I couldn’t bring it out.”

“Huh… You couldn’t bring out those precious things…”

“It doesn’t matter since I got what I wanted, Mercenary Captain Hanter.”

“Yes!”

“Go to Gaister Oasis and wait there. I’ll come find you separately.”

Hanter gulped.

“We’ll be waiting!”

This was Ethan who had conquered the impregnable temple.

Since Ethan hadn’t forgotten his promise, now all that was left was to wait.

“Rashibed, I no longer need a guide.”

“Then Count…”

“I’ve got a new guide.”

Saying that, he pointed behind him.

At that moment, Rashibed made a surprised expression.

He thought Ethan had come out alone, but behind him stood a knight with absolutely no presence.

“Wh-Who might…”

“Rashibed, thanks for guiding the way.”

“N-No! It was my honor! Thanks to you, I even got to see the optimal route I had always only thought about! It’s Count Ethan who improved my guiding skills. If you ever need to visit this desert again, I would be grateful if you could find me, guide Rashibed!”

“Sure, I’ll definitely find you. Although next time it might not be in the desert.”

“Pardon?”

“You’ve worked hard.”

Leaving behind a puzzled Rashibed, Ethan headed towards Lyubin with Shine One.

***

The royal palace of the desert city Lyubin.

An old man in a robe was leaning on the window, looking at the sky.

“This doesn’t look good.”

“What’s wrong, Sir Kepha?”

“It’s strange. There should be a star there originally. I can’t see the star.”

“Do you mean the Guardian Star?”

“Yes. The Guardian Star. I can’t see that Guardian Star. Instead, another star is shining.”

There was one star shining very brightly.

“It’s the Dark Star. The Dark Star is shining.”

“I-Isn’t this not an ordinary matter? The Guardian Star setting and the Dark Star shining!”

“We need to report to His Majesty. But…”

The Desert King is currently in seclusion, and the king’s deputy is handling all affairs in his place.

“He’s only nineteen. We can’t entrust all of this to a nineteen-year-old child.”

“But… this is too big for us to handle. You know, don’t you! The meaning of that shining Dark Star!”

“…We need to convene a grand council. We need to summon all the heads of the clans and bring out His Majesty from his seclusion.”

“But His Majesty…”

The Desert King had lost his spirit.

He headed to the forgotten temple to unite the scattered desert people, and there he met a terrible fate.

“We need to respond quickly. Even though His Majesty is powerless, if he hears about the Dark Star, he might regain his will. This could be an opportunity for His Majesty too!

***

“I’m sure this is the location of Lyubin I remember… Is this really Lyubin?”

Shine One looked at the huge desert city in front of him with a surprised expression.

This place used to be full of temporary tents in the old days.

The refuge where they fled from the evil god had become a proper city.

“As I told you on the way here, the current Desert King ruling Lyubin recently visited the temple.”

Ethan told him about the current state of the Desert King ruling Lyubin.

“Huh… Such a weak person became the Desert King? Then it’s already over. There’s no way that evil god bastard would just watch this situation.”

Shine One clicked his tongue.

“Then who is ruling this Lyubin now?”

Ethan knew the situation well as he had heard about the current Lyubin situation from Rashibed earlier.

‘Plus, I have the information I originally knew.’

During the time Ethan was frequently traveling the desert in MePan, there was no Desert King in Lyubin.

Instead, there was a Desert Empress.

‘The daughter of the Desert King who is currently secluded in Lyubin.’

But there was a puzzling part.

‘Even then, the evil god must have been released. But not much was known about it.’

It wasn’t peaceful, but there were no signs of doom or people being slaughtered.

‘There was one strange thing though. I heard the Desert King’s daughter was very young. But after the Desert King gave up his position so pathetically, she suddenly gained the title of Desert Empress and rose to the top.’

As the Desert King’s daughter, she must have had talent.

But the problem was that the talent was too great.

‘Maybe the evil god changed its strategy.’

It might have come up with and implemented a better method than before.

‘Anyway, it doesn’t matter.’

Ethan had a good method.