𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟗
Step- Step━
“It’s a secret passage, so it’s narrow as expected.”
“It can’t be helped.”
After entering the secret passage, I looked around, but there was nothing special.
Just an ordinary passage made of bricks.
Moreover, as I continued walking, I could hear the sounds of weapons clashing and various explosions in the distance.
The battle seemed to be still in full swing.
‘Would it have been better to wait a little longer before coming in?’
If I went in like this, there was a possibility that I would be caught up in the battle, but I thought it wouldn’t be a problem and went further inside, and soon I could see Emperor Guild members diligently slaughtering hostile players.
An unexpectedly wide space appeared, so this many people could fight. Looking closely, there were passages in three other directions except for the direction I came in.
‘Why is there a fork in the road?’
In addition, seeing the players scattered around in gray, I could tell that there weren’t as many as I thought.
“Ah, the Vice Guild Master has come too.”
At that moment, someone who looked like an ordinary guild member saw me and acted like they knew me.
“How many enemy forces were there here?”
“About 30? I was surprised that there weren’t that many.”
‘Isn’t this a trap too?’
Since I had the memory of being tricked before, I wondered if this was also a trap, so I looked around, but I couldn’t find anything special.
“First of all, there will be a device to unlock the barrier on one side, right?”
“We don’t know where it is, so we have to go to all three places.”
But what kind of secret passage has three different paths?
I was puzzled, but thinking that confirmation was the priority, I decided to go to the right path first.
And as I walked down the right path, a message suddenly popped up.
[An unknown curse begins to consume your body.]
[All stats are reduced by 50%.]
‘A curse?’
It wasn’t an ordinary curse either, as my stats were cut in half.
Usually, if my stats dropped this much, it might be better to step back and come up with a separate countermeasure.
Since I don’t know what’s ahead.
“Ah~ This is why we couldn’t clear it.”
“Can we get rid of it with the Temple of Purification?”
“Probably? But there’s a time limit.”
At that time, I gathered 35,000 Magic Power and made the curse disappear for 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
I don’t know how much time it takes for others to raid, but it seems like it needs to be activated for about an hour.
‘To activate it for an hour……’
600,000 Magic Power is needed.
Of course, it’s crazy to fill it up while drinking potions, so I have to rely on my self-recovery ability, but this also couldn’t be done alone.
Because I can’t even guess how many days it would take to fill it up.
‘Still, the crystal fills up quickly, so if I pick about 100 people, wouldn’t it fill up quickly?’
However, it seemed better to take care of that b*stard Lee Juho first rather than doing it right now.
If I activate the Temple of Purification, all players in this area will receive a message, so I thought there would definitely be a conflict.
‘Huh?’
Meanwhile, the road split into two again.
One was a staircase going up, and the other was a staircase going down.
After looking at the two staircases for a moment, I decided to hear other opinions.
“What do you think?”
“Maybe we should go down? If we go up, we’ll reach the surface, but we don’t know anything about what’s below.”
We’ll have to go to both to see what’s there, but for now, I decided to go down the stairs below as Yua suggested.
Also, the stairs going down weren’t that long, and when I went down all the stairs……
‘What is this place?’
A huge hall appeared, so large that I couldn’t believe it was underground.
It was a space large enough for all the guild members Aizen brought to come down without any problems.
Moreover, in the center, there was a purple magic circle that filled about half of the space, and 12 red stones were embedded around the magic circle like the hours on a clock.
‘And that guy is……’
Finally, a figure sitting on the red stone embedded at the 12 o’clock direction.
But I paid attention to the letters that appeared above the figure’s head.
[Beluin’s First Apostle (Raid Boss)]
‘No, why is the First Apostle appearing out of the blue?’
Moreover, it was a Raid Boss.
Now that I have 6 items equipped that are enhanced to +15, I was confident that I could easily defeat the 26th Apostle I fought before, but the situation was different now.
A Raid Boss while all my stats are reduced by 50% due to the curse?
No matter what I did, the result was obvious.
‘Still, it feels like it progressed quickly.’
The blocked progress felt like it was suddenly opened due to the secret passage.
Now, if I activate the Temple of Purification to neutralize the curse here and everyone rushes in to catch that guy, the main scenario will end.
“Let’s retreat for now.”
Fortunately, the Apostle sitting on the rock was currently sleeping with his head bowed.
Moreover, since no raid-related messages appeared, I thought we could escape if we retreated like this. I told Yua and Sina to retreat, and they nodded and slowly returned the way we came.
“Phew, that was close.”
As soon as we got some distance from the Apostle’s location, Sina’s relieved voice could be heard.
Indeed, if the First Apostle had rushed in the moment we entered, we would have suffered a disastrous defeat and had to rest for 24 hours, so I couldn’t help but agree with Sina’s words.
Step━
At that moment, hearing the sound of multiple footsteps from the front, I realized that someone was coming this way and waited for a moment, and soon I could see Aizen and several guild members.
“You were here, Rudin-nim.”
“Did you check the other side?”
“We confirmed that the front leads to the central hall of the abandoned castle. On the left side, we found the device to unlock the barrier.”
“What about the hostile players?”
“Unfortunately, there weren’t any.”
Listening to the story, it seemed like there were no remaining enemy forces.
Are they moving to find another way since they can’t attack the First Apostle like this?
I thought it was highly likely and told them what I had found.
“There’s the First Apostle down the stairs. It’ll probably be difficult to catch him right away.”
“Is it because of the curse?”
“That’s part of it, but……”
The immediate problem was the curse.
We couldn’t fight a Raid Boss with a curse that halves our stats.
So, if we just lift the curse, we could fight the First Apostle, but for some reason, I felt that it wasn’t enough.
‘The Earth Dragon is bothering me, but is it just my imagination?’
Thinking about it now, there seemed to be no place created without any meaning.
“Rudin-nim. If you don’t mind, could you lift the curse?”
“You want to try? It’s a Raid Boss.”
“If we lift the curse and the place is spacious, it might be possible.”
“Ah, don’t worry about the space.”
It would be spacious enough even if all the guild members in this area went there.
Also, Aizen seemed to have guessed that the place where the First Apostle was located was quite spacious based on my answer.
“It seems like the place is quite spacious.”
“It’s huge. But it takes time to lift the curse.”
I briefly explained how to activate the Temple of Purification.
First, take the crystal and get help from Ladels in the Elf Forest to infuse it with Magic Power.
I told him that if the Magic Power gathered is 10,000, the curse can be removed for 1 minute, and Aizen came up with a simple countermeasure without even thinking about it.
“We’ll need guild members. Would 100 be enough?”
“If we’re going right now, yes, but if we prepare a little more before challenging, wouldn’t 30~40 be enough?”
“What do you think, Rudin-nim?”
“Me? Honestly, I’d say it’s a bit uncomfortable. If we just lift the curse, we can challenge it right away, but I feel like there’s something more.”
I don’t know if my answer moved him, but Aizen seemed to be thinking for a moment and then gave an order.
“Take 30 guild members and charge the crystal.”
“Okay.”
There were many guild members outside the secret passage, so I thought it would be enough to take about 30 of them to the Elf Forest and charge the crystal.
Then, suddenly, the World Tree in the Elf Forest came to mind.
‘What happens if I fully restore the World Tree?’
Can we also receive help from the World Tree?
Anyway, what’s certain is that if all the Emperor Guild members here go, restoring the World Tree would be a piece of cake.
Since hundreds of people would be gathering attributes, I thought we might be able to restore the World Tree within 1~2 days if we’re lucky, so I decided to change the plan a little.
“No, instead of doing that, take all the guild members here to the Elf Forest. I’ll tell you the location.”
If I tell them the location, they’ll be able to find it even without me.
If they can’t find it, I’ll contact them again.
However, Aizen looked puzzled by my words telling him to take all the guild members to the Elf Forest.
“All of them?”
“No one can clear it anyway without activating the Temple of Purification. So, take your guild members and restore the World Tree in the Elf Forest.”
Even after I asked him to restore the World Tree, Aizen still looked puzzled, so I had no choice but to explain.
I roughly explained that if you gather attributes and give them to the World Tree, it will recover, and I’m curious about what role the restored World Tree will play, so I’m asking him to do it. Only then did Aizen nod.
“You’ve progressed quite a lot. The Temple of Purification and the Elf Forest.”
Well, it’s been a while since I discovered the Elf Forest, but there’s no need to tell him that.
“Alright. But what are you planning to do, Rudin-nim?”
“The Earth Dragon.”
I answered casually, but everyone flinched and showed surprise.
The ruined village where the Earth Dragon is located was a one-time visit, and since I found it, everyone in the Emperor Guild knew about it.
The location and the boss that’s there.
“Are you going to catch the Earth Dragon?”
“It’s not in a confined space, so I can always escape. And I have to find out what role it plays there too.”
If it doesn’t work out while fighting, I was thinking of sealing and absorbing the Earth Dragon.
If I take the absorbed summoned beast, wouldn’t it be a decent fight against the First Apostle?
Anyway, after hearing my answer, Aizen spoke in a worried voice.
“Do you need any help? If you want, I can pick the best among the guild members……”
“It’s fine. I’ll escape if necessary.”
“Alright. Then let’s move accordingly.”
After the conversation ended, Aizen returned the way he came with the guild members.
Instead, Yua and Sina, who had been listening to the conversation, started to act up.
“Rudin-nim. Are you planning to go there?”
“No, going there is fine. But you should take guild members with you. How can you go alone?”
“I can escape easily enough. Rather, let’s go up the stairs above.”
I was thinking of checking what was on the stairs above and then going to where the Earth Dragon is.
Perhaps because I changed the subject, they both looked dissatisfied, but they quietly headed up the stairs, and soon we could see a fairly large space, perhaps someone’s room.
‘Is it a study?’
Seeing the bookshelf and old books placed on one wall and the desk, I thought this place was a study and looked around, but there didn’t seem to be anything special.
Well, if there was anything special, that b*stard Lee Juho would have taken it first.
Still, I thought there might be something and walked around a bit more, but I couldn’t find anything.
‘I should go outside.’
Click━
I thought I might be able to get more information if I left this room, and as I went out, a fairly long corridor appeared.
I briefly looked around the corridor and moved to the right, and as soon as I heard a sound, I found a number of followers and an Apostle under the railing.
[Beluin’s 9th Apostle (Boss)]
‘Is that guy guarding this place?’
If my stats weren’t lowered, fighting wouldn’t be a problem, but it was impossible now.
And seeing that the followers weren’t just standing still but moving around, I returned to the original room before being discovered.
“Huh? Did you go outside?”
“Yes, there were followers and the 9th Apostle. We haven’t been caught yet, so it’s better to leave right away.”
Sina immediately nodded at my words to leave.
She knew that something bad would happen if we were caught here.
Thanks to that, we had no choice but to leave the secret passage without any significant findings.
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