I Became the Successor of the Martial God
Chapter 51.
‘I need to take a look inside the lord’s room.’
Yoo Baek-jun briefly pondered how to do it.
Peeking out the window, he saw a railing—one so narrow it would barely fit his feet.
Without hesitation, he climbed onto the railing.
‘Don’t look down, don’t look down…’
The height was dizzying for a moment.
Closing his eyes, he walked along the railing and soon reached the lord’s room.
“Darling, aren’t you going to sleep?”
“Hmm, I should get to bed soon.”
Inside the lord’s room were Lactus and Loreana. Loreana was lying on the bed in comfortable clothes, while Lactus sat at the desk.
He seemed to be handling some official business.
“Are you still thinking about those otherworldly adventurers we saw today? Those troublemakers.”
“Mmm… They haven’t appeared in our city for a long time. The ones who came before actually helped us.”
“But you’ve heard how many of them cause trouble in other cities, right? That’s probably the case here too.”
“I suppose so.”
The lord set down his quill and lay on the bed. It seemed he was about to sleep.
“What will you do tomorrow?”
“We’ll hold a trial after hearing the interrogation. There might be circumstances we’re unaware of.”
“Circumstances? It’d be better to just kill them or drive them out immediately.”
“Loreana, your impatience will be your downfall.”
“Hmph…”
The lord smiled and closed his eyes first.
Soon after, exhausted, he began snoring loudly and fell asleep.
Loreana stared at him intently.
‘Is she the Dream Demon?’
Yoo Baek-jun waited patiently.
Her constant pushing for execution and her behavior had been extremely suspicious.
But he couldn’t be sure. The Dream Demon possesses different hosts each time.
‘Checking their status windows… as expected.’
He inspected both of their status windows but found nothing suspicious.
Yoo Baek-jun kept his eyes on Loreana.
“Another city’s lord was killed because of those bastards, yet here you are, acting so carefree…”
Loreana muttered discontentedly while watching the sleeping lord.
A short while later…
“Zzz…”
“Haa…”
Loreana, too, fell asleep.
‘What? So she’s not the Dream Demon? If she were, I thought she’d make her move tonight.’
This castle had one particular device—one that made the entire city suffer nightmares and absorbed their power.
Under normal circumstances, the Dream Demon would check on it due to the unease caused by the hunters’ appearance.
“…….”
Then, Lord Lactus woke up.
He checked Loreana’s breathing beside him and quietly left the bed.
‘Where is he going?’
Lactus exited the room.
Yoo Baek-jun followed him by scaling the outer walls.
The lord headed to the lowest floor of the castle and then stepped into the castle garden.
“My lord, your escort—”
“It’s fine. I need to think alone.”
“Understood.”
The soldiers guarding the garden bowed their heads.
This garden was accessible only to the lord—closed off to everyone else unless for special events.
‘It’s well-decorated.’
The garden was lavishly adorned with all kinds of flowers, and the fresh air made it a perfect place to gather one’s thoughts.
But Lactus wasn’t here for that.
“…….”
Yoo Baek-jun drank a potion.
Slurp.
It was a ‘Shadow of the Night’ potion, which blurred his body in dark places for a short time.
On top of that, he also used a ‘Hide’ Magic scroll.
This would compensate for his mediocre stealth as a C-rank.
“Hmm.”
Lactus walked around the garden, surveying it. Yoo Baek-jun landed silently and followed him.
Amidst the lush flowers, at the deepest part of the garden, was a pond filled with water.
“Hmm…”
Lactus stopped in front of it.
After glancing around, he plunged his hand into the pond.
The water began draining rapidly.
In moments, the pond was empty, revealing a small door that had been hidden beneath.
Creeeak.
This was no ordinary door.
Its surface was engraved with intricate patterns—likely a seal gate, accessible only to a select few.
‘I’ll follow him inside.’
As the lord stepped in, Yoo Baek-jun slipped through before the door closed.
Inside, a dark underground passage stretched before them.
Tap, tap.
The lord walked endlessly down the corridor. How long had they been walking?
“You’ve arrived, Legion Commander.”
“Yes. What are the others doing?”
“They’re all waiting.”
“I see. Nothing unusual today, I assume?”
A bizarre monster appeared.
Its body was sculpted from pitch-black material, shaped like a human. Its form swayed unnaturally, and blade-like extensions protruded from its fingertips.
And those ominous crimson eyes…
‘A Dream Demon.’
A demon—specifically, a Dream Demon.
Likely a subordinate of the Legion Commander who had taken over the lord’s body.
Legion Commanders were the highest-ranking demons, leading countless lesser fiends.
During the Great Invasion event, they would swarm Earth with their forces.
‘He’s gathering his subordinates.’
Yoo Baek-jun held his breath.
“Did something happen outside?”
“No… You wouldn’t know, having been here all day. A Traveler from another world came to visit.”
“A Traveler?!”
The Dream Demon gasped.
“Don’t worry. He won’t figure anything out.”
“What do you plan to do with him?”
“I’ll hold a trial tomorrow. There seem to be other travelers too—I’ll use them to waste time.”
“Heh heh, that’s a good plan.”
“We’ll enslave them too.”
“Yes, they’ll sleep soundly… We’ll see what desires they harbor in their dreams…”
Typical Dream Demon talk.
The lord nodded in satisfaction and entered the room the demon had been guarding.
Soon after, he emerged, his face filled with gratification.
“The power is accumulating steadily.”
“Yes, heh heh. They say the gate to the other world is opening, right? We’ll be able to bring even more of our kin when we go.”
“Right. We’ll sacrifice the humans here and enslave those travelers.”
The lord grinned darkly.
“For the sake of our brethren trapped in the Underworld, this otherworldly conquest must succeed.”
“Yes, Legion Commander Barwe.”
The Underworld—also known as the Demon Realm, where most demons were imprisoned.
Originally, demons coexisted with humans, but after a certain incident, they attacked and briefly ruled the world before being defeated.
Humans sealed them deep in the Underworld, trapping them there.
‘Over time, the seal weakened, allowing a handful to escape.’
But only a handful.
The majority remained imprisoned, unable to break free.
Their solution was the Demon God’s Jar.
If they couldn’t live in Halpeon, they would move to another world.
That was their plan.
“And ultimately… Hah, I won’t be back until tomorrow evening. Spread the word.”
“Understood.”
Lord Lactus—no, the Dream Demon Barwe, swallowed his last words and left the underground.
Only the Dream Demon and Yoo Baek-jun remained.
‘The device must be inside that room.’
Yoo Baek-jun watched the demon from the shadows.
“I should switch shifts soon…”
Seizing the moment when the demon briefly left its post, he approached the door.
This, too, was a seal gate. But…
‘A seal gate doesn’t mean it can’t be opened.’
Yoo Baek-jun pulled out a lockpick from his pocket.
No ordinary lockpick—this one could unlock even without specialized skills.
Of course, it had limited uses.
“Hmm.”
A spacious room came into view.
And at its center—an eerie-looking skull.
The skull emitted a sinister glow.
Yoo Baek-jun approached it.
‘An overwhelming… demonic energy.’
This wasn’t just a skull—it was an artifact.
A device that amplified the dream demon’s power and stored magical power harvested from the nightmares of nearby humans.
This was the second reason Yoo Baek-jun had gotten himself arrested and brought into the castle.
‘Even the highest-ranking Dream Demon has limits to how much power it can contain.’
That’s why they created this device—to store excess power.
Barwe had ruled this city for years, amassing an enormous amount of energy.
‘If Barwe’s identity is exposed, he’ll absorb this to strengthen himself.’
Not only that—he’d empower his subordinates too. That would make things extremely troublesome.
With this much demonic energy, it was easy to imagine how strong Barwe would become.
Yoo Baek-jun had experienced it firsthand.
“I’ll take it for now.”
He pocketed the skull.
The skull’s location changed depending on whom the Dream Demon possessed.
Since the lord owned the castle, it made sense to hide it here—somewhere only he could access.
‘This was easier than I thought.’
Being brought in as a prisoner had freed him from external surveillance.
And by tailing the lord directly, he avoided complicated traps.
Otherwise, it would’ve been much harder.
“Objective complete. Time to return to the cell.”
As if nothing had happened, Yoo Baek-jun made his way back to the prison.
“Hey! What are you doing?! Wake up!”
“Ugh… Huh…?”
“What? Did I… fall asleep?”
The guards Yoo Baek-jun had carefully placed back in their chairs began waking up.
They checked the entire prison but found nothing suspicious.
“Did we drink too much last night?”
“That’s why I told you to cut back. If the lord found out, he’d have our heads.”
“Eh, would the lord really do that?”
One last guard checked Yoo Baek-jun’s cell before returning to his post.
‘Barwe is strong. The most troublesome part is his status ailments… mental attacks.’
But he had a weakness.
When things didn’t go as planned, his mentality crumbled.
Once that happened, his movements became predictable.
‘I’ll use this skull to throw him off, then land a heavy first strike.’
That should make things much easier.
Yoo Baek-jun closed his eyes and waited.
For the moment Ryu Il-woo would arrive.
***
The next day, in a secluded clearing far from the castle…
Ryu Il-woo and the raid team had gathered.
“Han Seong-ah! What’s the meaning of this?! Why are you wearing a soldier’s face all of a sudden?!”
“Isn’t this getting out of hand?”
“If Yoo Baek-jun isn’t here, the gate raid will be disrupted…”
The raid team was in chaos.
The only ones keeping their composure were Ryu Il-woo, Yoon Song-ha, and Han Seong-ah.
“…….”
Han Seong-ah remained silent. The other swordsmen from the Sword Saint family did the same.
The tension was so thick that no one dared press further.
‘Damn it, if it weren’t for the Sword Saint family…’
‘We can’t push this further.’
Against the Sword Saint family, they had no choice but to tread carefully.
The raid team decided to change the subject.
“First, we need to rescue Yoo Baek-jun! He’s been in prison for a whole day!”
“Come on, it’s just one day. They wouldn’t execute him that fast.”
“With recent events, who knows? Frankly… a lot of hunters have been causing trouble in Halpeon.”
They weren’t wrong.
Many hunters, no longer bound by Earth’s laws, had caused incidents in Halpeon.
As a result, the locals’ perception of hunters was… complicated.
“…….”
“Ryu Il-woo, what should we do?”
Ryu Il-woo sat with his eyes closed, deep in thought.
“Everything is going according to Yoo Baek-jun’s plan. Stay calm.”
“Going according to plan? Ryu Il-woo, do you know something?”
“Yes.”
He pulled out a potion from his pocket.
“There will likely be a trial today. We’ll all attend. And when you enter the castle, drink this potion.”
“This potion, you say…”
“Yes, but do so without drawing attention.”
The raid team nodded.
“And prepare for battle. Enemies will come from all directions. Set up formations beforehand—don’t let anyone enter the castle.”
“Battle? Against whom…?”
“Demons.”
Ryu Il-woo stood up.
“If you’ve gathered here, you’re all quick thinkers. I’ll leave the details to you.”
He looked toward the castle.
“Let’s go kill some demons.”
