The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage-Chapter 360
4.
Deathbone Dragon, Belzarach Drakxion.
Helena had said it would be fine—but Seong knew he still wasn’t fully prepared, so he deployed his vassals and his legion across the entire region to hunt.
It was an unexplored sector, one the investigation team hadn’t even reached yet, so no one had any way of knowing what Seong was up to.
Once Seong’s vassals, wielding lord-class power, and his army of tens of thousands of undead swept into the uncharted zone—
His level shot up at a dizzying pace. In that chaos, he gained not one but two full levels.
It hadn’t been long since he reached 253 in the Masked Lord’s Tomb, yet now—
[Level Up!]
[You are now Level 255.]
Despite this incredible leveling speed,
Seong wore a slightly dissatisfied expression, as if it wasn’t enough.
Was he just being shameless?
But on the other hand—
‘All those soldiers fighting for hours, and I only gained two levels?’
Even if the Overlord shared EXP with his vassals, this felt a bit much.
Still, what could he do?
With great power comes great responsibility. Like the saying went, he had no choice but to deal with it.
Even if he didn’t want to follow that rule, what other option was there?
With that, Seong wrapped up the hunt and logged out of the capsule.
It felt like ages since he’d last come out, but he just went about things casually and sat down for dinner with his family.
“How high’s your level now, Seong?”
“Two-fifty-five.”
“?? You gained a lot.”
“Not really. It didn’t go up as much as I expected.”
“Hmm, well, that can happen when you’ve got a lot of vassals.”
Mina, his sister, said it, and Seong could only agree.
Jobs without vassals did seem to level faster, but then again, those jobs didn’t earn EXP from subordinates—so in the end, maybe it evened out?
“Still, the balance works out ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) overall, so don’t worry.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
As Seong nodded, Mina glanced at him again, curiosity still lingering.
“So what region are you in now? You got your free pass, right?”
She was asking if he’d gotten his travel pass—Seong nodded.
He had, right after the last event.
Nodding again, he said:
“I’m in Region Eight. I think I’ll stay here for a while.”
He had thought about pushing forward, but Nocturne had told him Belzarach’s seal was near the Masked Lord’s tomb—so grinding near there made the most sense.
And sure enough, the deeper he explored the uncharted zone, the more frequent the undead sightings became.
This wasn’t a wasteland or a cursed land, yet the forest was swarming with undead. It was clearly unnatural.
While mulling this over—
Seong suddenly turned to Mina, curious.
“By the way, what happened to the rankers after Apophis?”
Mina had decimated a bunch of top players during the Apophis event and soared to Rank 5 on the singles leaderboard.
Seong had figured the others wouldn’t just let that go, so he was wondering if anything had happened.
But Mina just shrugged like it didn’t matter.
“Those guys? I dunno. They’re probably up to something, but I don’t care if they try me.”
“True.”
After all, even when Ranks 5, 6, 7, and 8 had teamed up against her, she’d still come out on top.
Even if more came for her, it probably wouldn’t matter.
It just went to show how powerful Mina really was—and Seong didn’t think much more of it.
Then Mina added:
“Besides, they’re on a different server anyway. Time zones are all screwed up, so it’s hard to even meet.”
“Oh right, you said everything past Region Ten is merged servers?”
“Yeah, and the time zones are different in each area, so it’s kinda fun exploring. You should come up soon.”
Hearing that, Seong smiled, genuinely intrigued by what awaited him post-300.
He already had the skills and strength of a Level 300 character.
‘After this, maybe I should skip Region Nine and jump straight to Ten?’
Region Nine was so notoriously dull that even rankers wanted to get out as fast as possible.
Seong had a travel pass, so while he couldn’t literally skip it, he could grind quickly through.
Everyone said it was the most boring part of the game.
While debating whether to skip it, Mina chimed in:
“Region Nine’s boring. Just skip it.”
“Hmm.”
Even if he had 300-tier strength, he still had to be cautious.
I’ll think about it after I take down Belzarach, Seong decided.
He nodded, as if to say “Got it.”
“I’ll think it over.”
“Hmph, whatever you say.”
Mina replied with a mock huff.
Either way, Seong finished dinner thinking he’d keep grinding until tomorrow. After washing up and messing with his phone a bit, he fell asleep.
5.
Night fell, and the eighth region—near Nocturne—was plunged into darkness.
From within the unexplored zone came the unmistakable thunder of hooves.
Clop—!
Clop—!!
Clopclopclop—!!!
The heavy sound of galloping horses shook the ground and made the forest tremble—but the riders didn’t bat an eye.
They maneuvered expertly through the trees, charging at full speed through the woods.
Reindel, captain of the Mirror Knights, frowned deeply as he reached the now-vanished ruins.
An investigation team was nearby, but he ignored them and brought his troops to a halt at the site where the ruins had once stood.
He ordered a scout to investigate.
“Search the area.”
“Yes, sir.”
Several scouts quickly dismounted and began checking the site.
But nothing significant turned up.
Reindel considered grabbing one of the investigation team’s members and interrogating them—but shook his head.
Eliminating the entire investigation team would be a burden, even for him.
He could do it, but with so few scouts, erasing all traces afterward would be impossible.
Better to cooperate instead.
Making that judgment, he spoke to two of the scouts:
“Start gathering intel from the investigators. The rest of the knights will prepare to set up camp here.”
“Yes, sir!”
The Mirror Knights responded in unison, their voices firm. The scouts also responded without hesitation.
Some searched the area around the Masked Lord’s tomb, hoping to find any remaining traces. Two of them approached the investigators and, posing as archaeologists, explained that the ruins they were researching had vanished.
Since this wasn’t Rieskan territory, their identities remained concealed—but the scouts were persuasive. The investigator NPCs, sympathizing with their urgency, shared detailed information.
The scouts returned and reported to Reindel.
“An outsider with those features...”
“Yes, sir. Only one fits the description.”
Reindel grinned with genuine amusement.
“Overlord, then?”
“Yes. The successor of Overpalace.”
“You’re saying he’s moving through this area without a single Overpalace escort?”
“Yes. From what we confirmed, he’s only traveling with his vassals.”
“Interesting.”
Reindel nodded, genuinely pleased.
If someone had taken the Masked Lord, they simply needed to take it back.
Even if that someone was an outsider.
Even if that outsider was the Overlord.
Actually, that made it better.
The Overlord was one of the Rieskan Kingdom’s most bothersome enemies.
The Sword Saint had always considered him a thorn in his side.
This was the perfect chance to earn merit.
As Reindel mused on that, the scout continued.
“There are reports that he went deeper into the uncharted zone. If we follow him in, we’re likely to find him.”
“A lucky break.”
“Indeed, sir.”
Everyone already knew of the Overlord’s exploits.
They knew he was a pain in the ass.
But even so—
“A fool playing king over a bunch of nobodies. Pathetic.”
Reindel smirked with scorn.
Then he said:
“Tomorrow’s a golden opportunity to steal the Overlord’s power. You brought it, right?”
He glanced knowingly at the scout.
The scout nodded and produced something from his bag.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t bring many, but we have two spare devices. If we catch him, we can likely drain the power of at least three lords.”
What the scout showed was a vial containing cursed demonic orbs—devices created by the Celestials, who once tried to plunge the continent into chaos with the demons.
They could absorb a lord’s power.
They had only managed to bring three—but that would be enough.
If he could weaken the Overlord with these...
‘Then I, too, could be promoted into a division with other lords and lord-class knights.’
Reindel had no doubt of his promotion.
After all, the outsider in Region Eight—this “Seong”—couldn’t possibly beat someone like him, who was easily over Level 300 by outsider standards.
Sure, the Overlord had troublesome vassals, but Reindel didn’t care.
He had brought his own elite knight order.
They wouldn’t be able to compete.
With complete confidence, Reindel called out to his knights:
“Prepare yourselves for battle tomorrow. Give it your all.”
The Mirror Knights responded in perfect unison:
““Yes, sir! Absolutely!!!””
And finally, Reindel turned to the scouts.
“During the fight, wait for the right moment. As soon as I have the Overlord, activate the devices.”
“Yes, sir!”
As the knights finished their briefing—
A rat-shaped shadow squeaked nearby, then melted into the earth.
In the underworld, where all was still—
Veladrina, watching through one closed eye, murmured with deep contempt.
—“How utterly laughable.”
