The interior of the old castle exuded an air of antiquity and grandeur.

The more I looked around, the more I found myself in awe.

‘As expected of an empire, huh?’

It was already exhilarating to witness such a scene with my own eyes, after only ever seeing it through a monitor.

But what was even more shocking was the sheer number of corpses scattered throughout the place.

Normally, the moment you stepped in, a swarm of disgustingly strong and difficult-patterned mobs would come rushing in.

To make matters worse, if an ally fell, they would immediately be turned into the minions of the boss—the infamous battle against the Corpse Sovereign.

To prevent that, the usual strategy was to form an elite party of select warriors and take on the challenge together.

But now, the master was dead. With its power lost, corpses lay strewn about in every direction. The sword wounds on their bodies varied, each one different from the next.

Not a single one of them appeared to be from the imperial army.

That could only mean one thing.

The imperial forces had cleared this place in a straightforward full-scale assault. They hadn’t bothered devising countermeasures for the Corpse Sovereign.

Because they had no need to.

If the enemy’s ability turned fallen comrades into its subordinates, then the simplest solution was to ensure that not a single one of their own fell.

One might call that reckless.

But from another perspective, it was a luxury afforded only to the strong.

What the weak must overcome through strategy and trickery, the strong can simply crush with overwhelming force.

Sheer, unrelenting power.

Seeing this, I instantly understood how those bastards managed to wipe out this entire Demonic Realm.

‘And on top of that, strategy and tactics aren’t exclusive to the weak.’

If monsters wielding such power also possessed cunning strategies and razor-sharp leadership… it was no wonder that no nation could stand against them.

I was right to never underestimate them.

I briefly furrowed my brows in thought… but quickly let it go.

After all, I already knew the empire was powerful. That wasn’t new information. What I needed to focus on now hadn’t changed.

“I think I found something. Come take a look at this.”

Who knew what would happen next? Like always, I had to grow stronger and expand my influence to prepare.

I called out to Siel and Lien.

The empire may have swept through most of the enemies, but there could still be traps lying in wait.

Hans was waiting outside.

Following my instructions, the two girls who had been searching different parts of the castle approached me.

A large frame stood before me.

Originally, this was a hidden mechanism—reciting a specific incantation here would reveal a secret chamber.

But this wasn’t a game anymore.

There were no ‘interact’ keys to press, nor could I trigger a spell with the click of a keyboard.

Just as there were methods exclusive to the game, there were now methods that only worked in this reality where the game had become real.

“You ready, Lien? When I count to three, we—”

BOOM!

A thunderous crash rang out.

I hadn’t even finished explaining.

But Lien, misinterpreting my words as a countdown, had already thrown a full-force punch at the frame.

…Not that it really mattered.

In fact, it might have been a good thing.

Not only had the hidden door been smashed apart, but even the ancient castle itself trembled from the impact.

Had I joined in to help break the door, I might have ended up buried alive for no good reason.

The shattered frame revealed a hidden passage behind it. Almost immediately, an ear-splitting alarm blared.

‘Looks like they cleared all of this too.’

No arrows flew at us. The imperial vanguard had already triggered every trap.

Normally, the moment we touched this place, a flood of spells would be unleashed—arrows flying at bullet speed, hordes of enemies rushing in. We would have had to overcome all of that.

But the empire had conveniently dealt with everything for us.

They had cleared the dungeon and walked away without taking the rewards.

A free ride like this? Unbelievable.

With ease, we stepped into the revealed passage.

Darkness stretched ahead of us.

But the further we walked, the brighter it became.

A dazzling golden glow.

Before us lay a room overflowing with treasure.

“Woooow….”

Lien let out an awed gasp.

Well, even if we had made a lot of money before, we never had gold piled up in mountains like this.

It wasn’t every day one got to witness a sight like this.

“Still, these are items from the Demonic Realm. Don’t touch anything carelessly. They could be cursed—”

I started to warn Lien, who seemed overly excited… but stopped myself.

These gold coins had been taken from adventurers who had challenged the Corpse Sovereign and failed. There might be lingering resentment or curses attached to them.

‘But curses like that wouldn’t work on Siel or Lien anyway.’

For some reason, the two were oddly resistant to such things. There was no way the grudges of dead adventurers would affect them.

One of them wielded magic corrupted by demonic energy, and the other had almost become the Demon King.

If a low-tier adventurer’s curse actually worked, that would be the real surprise.

‘And as for me? No need to even consider it.’

Thanks to my own trait, I wasn’t just resistant—I was outright immune to such curses.

Leisurely, we began sifting through the room.

Among the gleaming piles of gold, treasures far more valuable caught my eye.

Sorting through them carefully, I picked out useful gear and potent elixirs.

And then, a smile crept onto my lips.

A chest—gold and black intertwined in an unmistakably familiar design.

I had worried that the previous protagonist of this world had already looted it.

But no. It had simply been buried under the mountain of gold coins.

At this moment, there was only one thing for me to do.

I pressed my hands together in prayer and opened the chest.

And what greeted me was…

“……?”

A piece of paper.

A single sheet of fluttering parchment.

A one-time-use scroll.

No Boss Trait Rune, no artifact, not even a remotely valuable item.

I dug through the room in denial, searching for another chest.

But there was none.

Of course there wasn’t. This was the only one.

To put it simply…

I had just rolled the worst gacha possible.

Reaping the rewards of a boss someone else had defeated.

Obtaining treasures and elixirs without lifting a single finger.

By all means, that should have been a cause for celebration.

And yet, I couldn’t stop thinking about the artifacts and rune stones that could have been inside that chest.

Letting out a deep sigh, I stared at the scroll I had obtained.

‘It’s not like this is a total loss…’

A one-time-use scroll that allows anyone to randomly use one of the boss’s skills simply by tearing it.

If I had to judge, it was undoubtedly a good item. A really good one.

And yet… it felt somewhat underwhelming.

There was just one exception—

A skill so broken it could single-handedly ruin game balance.

Devour.

The Corpse Sovereign’s ultimate ability, which allows him to absorb the traits of all his subordinates in his final phase.

When used via the scroll, the effect was slightly modified—it granted a one-time buff, allowing the user to acquire the trait of a single defeated monster.

With this, it was possible to gain traits normally unobtainable, opening the door for exploitative gameplay.

But the problem was…

‘There’s no way I’d actually get that.’

That bastard had over a hundred different skills.

What were the odds that I’d land on that one?

I had played too many gacha games to believe in a mere 1% chance.

So rather than hoping for a miracle, the practical choice was to use it for offense instead.

But most of the Corpse Sovereign’s skills were only effective if he had summoned creatures or subordinates.

In other words, without them, they were useless.

It was basically the same as getting nothing from the chest.

Knowing that rune stones had a relatively high drop rate, I couldn’t help but feel utterly robbed…

But with another deep breath, I forced those feelings aside.

‘Well, no point dwelling on it.’

No matter how long I sulked, the contents of the chest wouldn’t magically change.

Besides, there were still other places left to loot. It was too early to be disappointed.

As we walked, the castle’s entrance soon came into view.

Hans stood waiting for us at the front.

I was about to call out to him and suggest moving on to the next location—

…Or at least, I intended to.

“Ah, you’ve arrived. I’ve been waiting.”

Hans greeted us with his usual polite smile.

But something about him felt off.

His demeanor. His tone. His entire attitude toward me—none of it seemed natural.

I instinctively reached out, stopping Siel and Lien before they could approach him.

That was when I heard the voice.

A voice that did not belong to Hans.

“So it was possible to use him after all. What a shame.”

And in the very next moment—

Like a puppet with its strings cut, Hans…

No. Hans’s lifeless body collapsed to the ground.

The blond-haired man standing nearby observed the scene with disgust, clenching his fist.

With that single motion—

Hans’s corpse twisted and compressed unnaturally, as if being crushed by an invisible force.

The man who had been speaking with me just moments ago… was now nothing more than a splatter of blood on the ground.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Luck was never something I relied on anyway.”

He had just erased a human life, and yet his expression remained completely unbothered.

Unshaken. Unmoved.

Casually, he began walking toward me.

Hair as brilliant as the sun.

Eyes as deep as the ocean.

The unmistakable symbols of the imperial bloodline.

I knew who he was.

There was no way I couldn’t know.

“Here and now… your reckless defiance ends.”

Before us stood the Empire’s First Prince.

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