𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕𝟐
“……”
[Favorability with Celestina decreases by 2.]
‘This damn favorability drops at the drop of a hat.’
Her favorability drops at my answer that it would be difficult.
It might have gone up if I had readily accepted, but the moment the quest failed, there was a high chance it would drop even more. This was because favorability was easier to drop than to raise.
It drops if they don’t like you, it drops if you don’t grant their requests, and it drops if you fail the quest.
‘Well, who cares about favorability anyway.’
I had no intention of becoming close with Celestina, so there was no reason to care about favorability. The problem was the Demon King. But looking at Celestina’s expression, it seemed like she wouldn’t give up so easily.
“May I ask why you think it would be difficult?”
“Because I can’t face the Demon King alone.”
“If that’s the issue, you don’t have to worry. Our paladins of the Church of Light will assist you, Rudin-nim.”
‘Oh? Could this be a skill too?’
Intrigued by her words that the paladins would help, I recalled the Karzen Kingdom Soldier Summon skill I had acquired yesterday. If I accepted this, wouldn’t I be able to summon the paladins of the Church of Light in addition to the Karzen Kingdom soldiers? As someone who knew that soldiers were more versatile than most summoned creatures, I couldn’t help but be drawn to it.
“If you’re going to help, how specifically?”
“We will provide support with around 100 paladins.”
‘100?’
Does that mean 100 paladins will appear when I use the skill?
No, that’s ridiculous no matter how you look at it. I would be skeptical even if they said they would give me a skill to summon 100 soldiers, but 100 paladins?
It seems this isn’t a skill after all……
‘It seems like it’s literally just support.’
Support, not a skill. But even if they provided support with around 100 paladins, it didn’t seem like it would be of much help. Even the Hwarang Guild, with 1,000 members, charged in and half of them died, so there was no guarantee that the paladins would be stronger than those 1,000.
“1,000 paladins. If you provide that much support, then I’ll do it.”
“I apologize, but our church doesn’t have that many members.”
“So you’re telling me to catch the Demon King with 100 people?”
“Yes.”
“……”
Wow, she said it so confidently that I was left speechless. Instead, I looked at Celestina with an are-you-insane look, and thankfully, she wasn’t completely clueless. I could hear Celestina’s answer as she opened her mouth once more.
“As the hero, I believe you can do it, Rudin-nim.”
“……Ah, is that so?”
Crazy, that damn hero title. If I hear it one more time, I’m going to lose it. Why not just ask me to catch the Demon King too? If there was a Demon King in Twilight, I wouldn’t hesitate to go and catch it for her, judging by her attitude.
“Come to think of it, I momentarily forgot that you are an adventurer before being a hero, Rudin-nim. If you rescue Nayra, I will ask the church to prepare a reward accordingly.”
[An NPC quest has been generated.]
‘This is better.’
It was much more persuasive than telling me to fight the Demon King with 100 paladins. By the way, what kind of reward is it? Curious about the reward that Celestina, the Archbishop, would give, I decided to check the quest first.
[Rescue Nayra who has transformed into the Demon King.]
Description: Celestina, the Archbishop of the Church of Light, wishes to rescue Nayra, who has been transformed into the Demon King, and is asking for your help. There is still a chance to rescue her as the Demon King has not yet devoured Nayra’s soul. If you wish to help her, please accept the quest.
Upon checking, the reward itself was much better than yesterday’s. It seemed like the reward had changed because I had to catch the Demon King, not a highest-ranking demon. Honestly, just looking at the reward, I wasn’t completely uninterested.
‘The reward is definitely decent, but……’
What I particularly liked was that there was no significant penalty for failure. I haven’t received any quests from the temple so far, so it didn’t matter.
“What will you do?”
Suddenly, at Celestina’s urging voice, I looked away from the quest information window and looked at Celestina, who was quietly waiting for my answer.
Well, since the quest has appeared, I should answer.
“I’ll accept it.”
[Quest accepted: ‘Rescue Nayra who has transformed into the Demon King’.]
[Nayra’s current soul erosion rate: 11%.]
[You can no longer rescue Nayra if the soul erosion rate reaches 100%.]
‘Huh?’
There’s this too.
‘Soul erosion rate is 11%……’
Based on a simple calculation, it had risen to 11% in almost a day since the Demon King appeared, so it seemed to be increasing by 10% per day. And according to that calculation, there were about 9 days left in real-time. If I spent today preparing for this and that, it seemed like I would actually have about 8 days left.
“Thank you.”
At that moment, Celestina handed me the orb that was placed on the table, along with her thanks.
“This is the Orb of Prayer. Please use this orb to rescue Nayra.”
“I’ll try my best.”
“And when you go outside, the paladins waiting will follow you, Rudin-nim.”
After saying that, Celestina got up from her seat, bowed her head to me again, and headed somewhere within the temple. Since I had nothing more to do there, I got up from my seat and left the temple. At the same time, a message window popped up.
[You have acquired the one-time use skill ‘Paladin Summon’.]
‘Is this what she meant by the paladins following me?’
No, more than that, this is the first time I’ve heard of a one-time use skill. It’s a skill that automatically gets deleted after one use, right? But since it summons around 100 paladins, it seemed like it would be somewhat helpful.
‘Phew, what should I do now?’
Should I finish enhancing first?
Right now, I don’t have the confidence to fight and win against the Demon King. But what if I enhance all my rare-grade or higher equipment to +15? And if I also enhance the Magic Bullet Bomber and the Four Elements Necklace, it might help in the future battle against the Demon King.
‘But it seems like rare enhancement stones cost 130-150 gold.’
Maybe because they’re rare-grade, but the price was incredibly high. Since rare-grade items don’t drop from normal bosses, it was natural that they could only be obtained by defeating raid bosses, which was why this price was formed.
Also, since there were 11 pieces of equipment to enhance, if I just assumed 150 gold per piece and enhanced them all to +15, it would cost a whopping 8,250 gold.
In terms of cash, that would be…… a little over 160 million won?
‘……Well, it’s only that much because it’s me.’
If it were anyone else, they would fail the enhancement even after spending that much money, and furthermore, even the equipment would break. But since I calculated based on the premise of guaranteed success, it could be said that I was much better off than others.
[Friend ‘Jeokseong’ has requested a conversation. Will you accept?]
‘Jeokseong?’
While I was pondering about the enhancement, I unexpectedly received a conversation request from Jeokseong. What’s going on? Since the hostile relationship with the Yonggammusang Guild had been lifted, there was no reason for Jeokseong to contact me.
Or maybe……
‘Did he finally contact me?’
[Connected to the conversation.]
With that thought flashing through my mind, I accepted Jeokseong’s conversation request and immediately heard his voice.
━Rudin-nim. Someone from the Yonggammusang Guild came looking for you. They said they absolutely had to meet you, so I contacted you, but……
“Hmm? So it wasn’t Heuksin himself who came, but a guild member?”
━Yes, that’s right.
‘Look at this guy?’
He undoubtedly came to ask for the staff back. The only surprising thing was that he sent a guild member instead of coming himself. Or maybe there was something else he really needed to see me about, unrelated to the staff, but I boldly ruled out that possibility.
Anyway……
“Tell them I’ve returned to the Harpe Empire.”
━Huh? Ah, yes. I understand.
Not really wanting to meet them, I left those words and ended the conversation with Jeokseong. Then, I opened the cash transaction window to purchase enhancement stones, but before I could even search, someone’s shout reached my ears.
“The Fighting Spirit Guild is attempting the Demon King raid right now! Everyone who wants to participate, gather around!”
“We’re going on the Demon King raid!”
‘Demon King?’
Turning my head towards the direction of the voice, I could see quite a large crowd gathered. Roughly 700-800 people. Besides, if you add the Fighting Spirit Guild to that, it seemed like there was a possibility of success in this subjugation.
‘Just in case, should I participate too?’
Since I had accepted the quest, I had to deal with the Demon King somehow. Especially since I couldn’t do it alone, I had to borrow the strength of other players, and it seemed like a good opportunity had presented itself just in time.
‘But just in case, let’s enhance only the Magic Bullet Bomber and go.’
At the very least, I should try out the newly acquired item, the Magic Bullet Bomber, shouldn’t I? Besides, it didn’t seem like they would attempt it with just that number of people. Thinking that far, I searched for enhancement stones in the cash transaction window and purchased 10 weapon enhancement stones and 10 accessory enhancement stones.
As I was checking if the purchased enhancement stones had entered my item window, the amount of gold displayed at the bottom had increased to a surprising amount, even for me.
[753 Gold 56 Silver 52 Copper]
‘I think I earned at least 100 gold?’
It seemed like the amount I obtained from killing the Yonggammusang Guild members was over 100 gold. Moreover, when I checked my status information window, I could see that my level had also increased by 2.
As a result, my current level was 92.
I didn’t know what would happen if I died to the Demon King here, but I decided not to worry about it and found a suitable place to start enhancing the Magic Bullet Bomber. The option that appeared afterward felt somewhat ambiguous.
[+10 -Luxury Shop- Magic Bullet Bomber] (Unique)
Description: A ranged weapon capable of firing 3 shots per second. Once, a dwarf named Dreton, who crafted legends, joined forces with an archmage to create this weapon to slay a dragon. However, Dreton, who completed this weapon, was ultimately defeated in a decisive battle with the dragon. Judging the weapon to be dangerous, the dragon shattered it to pieces, ensuring it could never be made again.
Attack Power: 51 (+31) Magic Attack Power: 0
Durability: 210/210
*Attack speed increased by 2 times.
*Magic Power decreases by 10 for each magic bullet fired.
*Applies fixed damage equal to Attack Power stat.
*Enhancement Option (1): Attack speed increased by 30.
*Enhancement Option (2): Range increased by 20M.
*Enhancement Option (3): Additional fixed damage increased by 10.
*Enhancement Option (4): Damage increased by 2% against dragon-type creatures.
‘The attack power is a bit pathetic.’
Well, it’s better than not enhancing it at all.
At least with the enhancement, I raised the fixed damage to 61, so if I shot for a minute, I could deal over 18,000 damage.
In a situation where I didn’t know how long the battle would last, I thought that if I could deal that much damage, I could at least do my part. I put off enhancing the necklace for a while and went back to the street where people were gathered.
‘They couldn’t have left already, could they?’
Murmur~ Murmur~
‘Oh?’
With that thought, I went out to the street and saw that even more people had gathered than before. At least 2-3 thousand people? If you added the Fighting Spirit Guild to that number, it seemed like this subjugation might be possible.
“Where is the Fighting Spirit Guild?!”
“We have this many people gathered, aren’t we going to depart?!”
“We’re departing!”
“Those who are ready, please move to the teleportation device!”
“Can someone lend me 1 gold so I can use the teleportation device?”
It seemed like I heard them say they were departing. And with that, some people headed towards where the teleportation device was, and I also followed them, moving to the village near the Veadi Mountain Range.
Pabat!-
As I moved to another village through the teleportation device, I could see quite a few people there as well. From what I could see, it seemed like it wasn’t just the Fighting Spirit Guild, but a few other guilds were mixed in as well.
‘Well, it can’t be helped since it’s the first subjugation quest that appeared in the Karzen Kingdom.’
The subjugation quest that appeared just yesterday.
Maybe because of the high difficulty, the reward itself was almost embarrassing to compare with the Bamut Church’s.
[Subjugate the Demon King Agreenes who has appeared in the world.]
Description: The demons who descended upon the earth have gathered the souls of humans and finally resurrected the Demon King. The resurrected Demon King’s goal is to eradicate all life on earth and create a world for demons only. Realizing this, the Church of Light has requested help from each nation, and the nations who received the request have promised to spare no effort in providing support. In accordance with the will of the Church of Light and each nation, subjugate the Demon King.
Of course, these rewards could only be received after defeating the Demon King, but.
‘Still, it seems like there are thousands of people gathered.’
If it weren’t for the fact that the opponent was the Demon King, all my worries would have disappeared upon seeing this many people. Perhaps if it were just Deronak, this number of people would be enough to defeat him, right? The problem was that the opponent was the Demon King, who was much stronger than Deronak. And among the skills the Demon King used, the song worried me.
‘There’s no one here who can withstand hearing the song, right?’
The song attack that dealt a whopping 18,000 damage. Still, since it was posted on the homepage, I thought everyone would be prepared, but I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
“We will now move to the vicinity of the Demon King!”
“Everyone, move!”
‘Alright, let’s fight first and think later.’
I quietly started walking, following the players who were chatting and moving their feet.
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