The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player

Along with the massive invasion by the Empire, the simultaneous occurrence of gate waves threw the continent into chaos. However, unlike in the past, when they were caught off guard without any information, this time they were prepared.

Thanks to the advice from the First county and warnings from the Order, appropriate defensive measures were in place. Moreover, the Earth-born immigrants settled across the continent ensured there was no shortage of forces.

While there was chaos, few places were entirely overrun.

‘The overall level of our forces has also greatly improved.’

During the early days of Connect’s open beta, masters were incredibly rare, considered ‘superhumans’ in the continent. But what about now?

With the surge of mana released by broken seals, NPCs grew rapidly stronger. Players, with the aid of the Connect system, became extraordinarily powerful at an unimaginable pace.

Now, almost every prestigious family had masters, and the number of players surpassing level 100, considered ‘superhumans’, had crossed into the thousands.

‘It’s an incredible power inflation.’

Honestly, without external threats like the Empire and the gates, this overwhelming power might have triggered another war. However, for now, it helped them fend off the invasion, so there were no complaints.

Day 2 of the Gate Wave.

While some regions had completely repelled the wave, there were many remote areas where they couldn’t even start. Their primary goal was to protect the residents, so they couldn’t afford to deploy forces to unnecessary locations.

Thus, the areas overtaken by monsters from the gates gradually expanded. In those monster-infested regions, some individuals were stealthily navigating the forests.

Those wearing tight green suits were ‘Ranger Combat Unit’ members. A special unit of the First Knight Order, specialized in reconnaissance, exploration, and guerrilla warfare.

The Ranger Knights, each an elite of at least Expert level, were scattered in small groups, conducting reconnaissance across the continent.

Their mission was to identify and investigate any peculiarities, especially those involving gray gates.

Tap.

As the leading knight signaled, the team members moving through the trees came to a halt with feather-like lightness. Team leader Drek furrowed his brows, focusing on a specific spot.

‘Here too…?’

About 50 meters away. In the dense underbrush teeming with beasts was another flickering gray gate. The problem was, this wasn’t the only gray gate Drek had found.

‘Already five!’

In a narrow area not even two hours apart, five gray gates had already appeared. And it seemed likely that this was not the end.

According to headquarters, there were at least three or four more regions where gray gates had been densely discovered.

‘For now, we have to find them all without missing any.’

Just as Drek and his two team members were about to move again,

Rumble rumble rumble rumble!

A tremendous vibration swept across the forest, as if it was about to turn upside down. Not only that, but the concentration of mana around them was rapidly increasing.

‘Ugh. I can’t breathe…!’

As the pressure of mana crushed his entire body, even Drek, an Expert-level knight, struggled to keep himself steady.

Whoosh!

In the next moment, a red beam of light shot up into the sky from the middle of the distant forest.

“Hah, hah.”

Barely escaping the pressure of the mana, Drek stood up from his crouched position.

‘……! That’s definitely…!’

With eyes wide open in surprise, he immediately opened the guild communication channel.

「Urgent transmission! Forest near the Kireina Mountains. An object suspected to be the Demon God’s Temple has appeared! I repeat, an object suspected to be the Demon God’s Temple has….」

The Demon God’s Temple, which had pushed them to the brink of breaking through the barrier a few years ago, had once again appeared on the continent.

*

Thud.

‘Hmm.’

Raul massaged his slightly numb palm with a frown.

“Oh dear. Even Count Raul got pushed back?”

A vast plain. It had been nothing but a barren wasteland just until yesterday. But now, there stood a massive building before Raul’s eyes. The enormous black structure, which seemed to have a diameter of several hundred meters, had risen dozens of meters high.

Rumble rumble rumble.

It was still slowly rising upward. Moreover, the blood-red barrier enveloping the building didn’t allow anyone to approach. Countless people were trying all sorts of ways to get inside the giant building (Black Tower), but to no avail.

“A divine message has been delivered! This place is only accessible to those who are qualified, so please return to your designated positions!”

“This building is extremely dangerous! Do not try to enter out of curiosity; return to a safe place!”

Priests and Paladins dispatched from the Holy Empire were controlling the crowd around the Black Tower. One of the bishops from the Holy Empire spoke to Raul.

“Could you please tell me what happened to Sir Noel?”

“Not only Sir Noel, but no one among the blessed warriors has managed to enter yet. It seems there are special conditions required to penetrate the barrier.”

The bishop spoke candidly, as if there was no point in hiding it. Raul nodded as if he had expected this and turned back to the building.

He could clearly see its nature, even if others couldn’t.

『Tower of the Demon Realm』

Grade: ???

Total Capacity: 15 people

Simultaneous Entry Limit: Single Entry

Current Entry: 0/15

Special Features: Summoning-type, conditional Entry, hive-type

Entry Condition: A candidate who has defeated one of the Demon God’s Temples.

Time Limit: 12 days and 21 hours

Description: A dimension gate leading to the Demon Realm. If the barrier at the final floor is not broken within the time limit, a passage between the two dimensions will form.

The summoning speed increases by absorbing mana from the subordinate Demon God’s Temples. Also, as time passes, the dark energy inside the building thickens, making enemies stronger.

A building standing tall in the middle of the continent. The Tower of the Demon Realm, which appeared at the center of the Brennan Republic, was making its presence known.

Rumble.

A pillar of black light rising from the top of the tower pierced the sky. And around it, a circular black barrier was gradually expanding. The energy emanating from the black barrier was eerily dark, cold, and ominous.

Fifteen red beams of light were striking the Tower of the Demon Realm from the sky. It was clear that these red beams of light were mana transmission paths directly connected to the Demon God’s Temples, which had appeared across the continent.

After witnessing a fearless adventurer jump into one of the red beams only to be disintegrated without a trace, no one dared to approach.

‘I’ve confirmed everything.’

With a cold gaze, Raul glared at the tower one last time before turning away.

* * *

‘It’s thoroughly surrounded. The time limit is also a huge issue.’

Raul was deep within the Monster Forest, in the western forbidden zone. The place where the Demon God’s Temple had appeared happened to be the domain of the orcs.

The area around the Demon God’s Temple was already a battlefield with orcs fighting against monsters emerging from the gates.

Although Raul would love to rush into the Demon God’s Temple right away, it wasn’t that simple. The mutated gray gates that appeared with the final scenario were surrounding the Demon God’s Temple almost as if they were guarding it.

He couldn’t enter the Demon God’s Temple until he got rid of them.

‘It’s really annoying. So, this is what a hive-type is….’

The Demon God’s Temple was also protected by a powerful barrier that prevented intruders from entering. And to remove that barrier, he had to deal with the gray gates surrounding it.

Gray Gate => Demon God’s Temple => Tower of the Demon Realm.

There was no other way but to handle them in that order.

‘Without allies, you might end up dealing with gray gates until the final scenario ends.’

There was a reason why the previous scenarios advised securing allies. At least over ten gray gates needed to be dealt with to open the barrier of the Demon God’s Temple.

Even if he cleared one gray gate per day, it would take more than ten days. But that would mean not even getting a glimpse of the Tower of the Demon Realm.

Raul shook his head slightly and opened the guild communication channel.

「Report your positions, everyone.」

「Team 1 has arrived.」

「Team 2 is ready!」

「Team 3…」

About ten teams, each composed of a master-level leader and intermediate-level or higher knights, were ready.

「Avoid conflicts with the orcs and clear the gray gates in the shortest time possible. Good luck to everyone. All teams, commence entry!」

「Yes, master!」

「Good luck, master!」

The top executives of the First Knight Order, including Philip, Jake, and Pierce, each headed toward their assigned gates.

And Raul flew towards the gate in front of him alone.

Whoosh.

There were orcs and monsters scattered around, but none of them noticed Raul’s movement.

Crunch.

“Kek. Kek!”

A demon caught by Raul’s grasp struggled, but it was futile.

“Hmm. Is this the extent of a baron-level demon?”

Raul, unimpressed, tightened his grip, and with a crunching sound, the demon baron’s neck broke, his body collapsing lifelessly.

Whoosh.

Raul burned the demon’s body to ensure it was completely dealt with, and the core of the gate fell from its corpse.

“The feel is definitely different. This one seems to be one or two levels above the ones we’ve encountered before.”

The level of the demon baron was roughly mid-Master. With its unique traits, it would be difficult for a human Master of the same level to handle it.

“The Demon God’s Temple won’t be easy. If the gates are this heavily contaminated, it must be much worse there.”

Rabel said, pushing away the unpleasant dark energy that enveloped the area.

“It seems the penalties for crossing the gates are gradually decreasing. If we don’t hurry, it could be really troublesome later.”

As Raul clicked his tongue, the gate disappeared, sending him back to the outside world.

Clang! Bababang!

Screeeech!

The battle around him was still raging. Raul used psychokinesis to float and head towards the Demon God’s Temple.

「First team, gate cleared.」

While moving, reports from his subordinates started coming in.

「All units, except for Philip, Jake, Pierce, and Sir Kane, move to the next spot and clear the gray gates! I will join you after clearing the Demon God’s Temple. Dalton will lead the remaining members.」

「Yes, master. We will move to the Ruben Kingdom first!」

One of the Demon God’s Temples had appeared in the southern part of the Ruben Kingdom. Although the Swordmaster and the Ashton Marquisate had already intervened, it was necessary to have a backup plan just in case.

Swoosh.

Philip and the others appeared beside Raul as if they had teleported. Philip had already stepped into high-Master level, and the other three knights had also reached the peak of advanced Master.

The strongest forces of the territory, excluding Raul, had gathered in one place. Although there were many other skilled individuals, Raul only called these four due to the entry restriction of the Demon God’s Temple.

The simultaneous entry limit was five. If more than five tried to enter at once, they would be randomly split up, so there was no need to bring additional people.

‘We don’t know how large the Demon God’s Temple is, and if we get separated and individually attacked…’

There was no need to take such a risk.

“Let’s go in.”

“Yes, master!”

The five of them leapt towards the entrance of the Demon God’s Temple.

*

“Whew, it’s been a while. Moving together with this team.”

Swish, crack!

Jake’s greatsword instantly sliced a charging fire bear-type monster in half.

“It sure has. We’ve all been working separately a lot lately.”

Every time Kane subtly moved his hand, the approaching beasts had their heads cleanly cut off.

“Speaking of which, it’s been over seven years since we started working with the Master. I still vividly remember the Master right after his coming-of-age ceremony.”

Philip said with a sense of nostalgia. If it weren’t for Count Melvin’s request, he wouldn’t have accepted the position as Raul’s guard so easily.

‘And I wouldn’t have become who I am today.’

Now, he was the General Commander of the First County and the leader of the First Knight Order.

On a personal level, he had been ennobled to the rank of baron and had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship, high-Master level. Who would have thought that a mere Expert-level knight would become a continental hero in just seven years?

‘Of course, there’s still a long way to go.’

Philip looked at Raul, who had now become his personal goal, with burning determination in his eyes.

“That looks like our destination.”

At that moment, Pierce pointed ahead with a low voice. Beyond the mountain of beast corpses, the massive gate of the temple was coming into view.

(To be continued)