𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟐𝟑
━Kwaaang!
I immediately swung Roar of the Thunder Dragon at the grotesque monster that was rushing towards me as if to devour me.
However, the moment my attack clashed with the monster’s claws, my arm was forced back by an overwhelming force, and in that gap, a black light shot out from the monster’s mouth and struck me.
Kwaaaang!!━
[You have received damage! -5,274.]
‘This is crazy!’
With a horrified look, I watched the monster, which had long arms like a gorilla and shot small dark beams from its mouth. I tried to counterattack with Thunder Strike, but even that wasn’t easy.
Kwang!- Kwaaang!━
‘As expected.’
Hitting its arms was pointless.
To inflict damage, I needed to get inside and strike its body, but the monster’s strength and speed were superior to mine, making that difficult as well.
The only fortunate thing was that I wasn’t facing the monster alone.
While I held its attention for a short time, various fire-based magic spells began to fly from behind and attack the monster.
Kwakwakwang!!━
“Thunder Strike!”
I didn’t miss the opening created by the fire attacks, quickly closing in and landing a Thunder Strike on the staggering monster. At the same time, I could see my depleted health and stamina being restored.
“Flame Blast!”
And as soon as the Thunder Strike attack ended, a large flame fell from above like a thunderbolt, finishing it off.
[You have gained 90,000 combat experience!]
“It’s really convenient having a strong vanguard.”
“I don’t find it convenient at all.”
I replied to Hwaryeon, who was blatantly saying it was convenient.
Today, while I was waiting for the predictable end of the main scenario, I suddenly received a message from Aizen. He said he had found a quest and dungeon and asked for my help.
Since it wasn’t a dungeon located in the main scenario area, I thought of it as a warm-up and readily agreed, coming here. But to my surprise, monsters stronger than any I had encountered so far were waiting for me.
“That’s why I said we should bring Eris-nim too.”
“I didn’t know these kinds of monsters would appear.”
The dungeon was a considerably large labyrinth.
Therefore, we had no choice but to split up, and while dividing the groups, I, confident in my abilities, moved with only Hwaryeon, who excelled in rear attacks.
At that time, there was a suggestion to take Eris, the healer, as well, but I replied that it was okay since I could heal with my shield skill.
‘Tsk, Eris isn’t just capable of using healing magic, why did I do that?’
For reference, Eris possessed various support magic spells, and with the Bamut Pope Set, she also had a skill that could control monsters for 15 minutes, so if she had come along, she might have been a significant help.
“But where did you find a dungeon like this?”
“I heard Illia-nim found it. I heard she found a clue in the library.”
‘That woman again.’
It was the woman who had previously asked me about the S-rank skill I had acquired.
I was curious about her identity, but I didn’t want to get involved, so I ignored her. But to be able to find a dungeon like this, she must have something special.
‘Should I ask a little more?’
I thought that perhaps I could get unexpected information from Hwaryeon, so I decided to talk a little more about Illia.
“……That’s amazing. But if she’s capable enough to find a dungeon like this, wouldn’t she have become famous by now?”
“Rumors don’t spread that easily. Maybe if she showed something overwhelming.”
Hwaryeon added that hundreds of videos are uploaded to the Twilight homepage every day, but only a very small number of them receive attention.
“Or…… Ah, if she showed off the rumored S-rank crafting skill, she would become famous in an instant.”
“S-rank crafting?”
“Yes, there was a lot of talk about S-rank skills a while back. Thanks to that, our guild tried to recruit that person but failed, and I heard that all the other guilds failed as well.”
‘They already succeeded in recruiting her.’
Hwaryeon was talking about failing to recruit the S-rank crafting skill holder they wanted so much, without knowing they had already succeeded.
It was partly my fault for not revealing it.
“Anyway, the S-rank crafting skill was once the center of everyone’s attention, and with its high profile, she could become famous instantly. But if that’s not the case, she has no choice but to show something special and overwhelming.”
“Ah, yes.”
But why did the conversation flow in this direction?
It felt like it progressed according to the flow of consciousness.
“More importantly, I’m worried about the other group. The monsters that appear are not easy to deal with.”
“Well, the other group has a lot of people, so they’ll manage somehow.”
They might even have a more stable hunt than me.
They all had decent skills, and there were many of them.
Anyway, as I continued walking and talking with Hwaryeon like that, I soon saw a dead end.
“It’s a dead end.”
“It’s a labyrinth, so that’s not strange.”
Hwaryeon nodded in agreement with my words.
Also, this damn dungeon was so vast that it reminded me of the Grand Labyrinth in the Karzen Kingdom, making me wonder when we would find the exit.
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong, Rudin-nim?”
“There’s something on the floor.”
Just as I was about to turn back because it was a dead end, I noticed something on the floor and picked it up. It was a stone fragment that looked like a piece of something.
[Fragment Shard]
Description: A fragment shard of unknown use.
‘It’s definitely an item since there’s a description.’
It was difficult to tell just by looking at it.
To put it bluntly, even a stone on the roadside had a similar description.
However, seeing the name ‘fragment shard,’ I thought it might have some use somewhere and decided to put it in my item window.
* * *
“This is……”
“Another dead end.”
No, it was a dead end, but it was different from before.
I looked at the large wall in front of me and the round hole carved into the bottom of the wall, thinking there must be something special about it, but I couldn’t figure out anything at the moment.
If only there was some kind of clue.
“Oh? It’s the Vice Guild Master!”
“……?”
At that moment, I turned my head towards the voice coming from behind and saw the Emperor Guild executives and Dein.
There were about seven of them gathered, and judging by their appearance, it seemed like no one had died on the way here.
‘By the way, was there a path connected here?’
We definitely started in different directions, but seeing as we met here, it seemed like the paths converged at this point.
I thought it was a labyrinth, but was it not?
Moreover, as I waited a little longer, I saw more people arriving, but this time, it seemed like some of them had been lost to the monsters roaming around.
“Huh? Why is everyone gathered here?”
“Are the paths connected?”
“No, I think this is the destination.”
As we gathered and chatted, everyone soon started talking about the round hole in front of us, wondering what it was.
“But why isn’t there anything?”
“I know, right? I thought there would be a boss monster or a treasure chest since we reached the exit.”
“The hole carved in the center. Don’t you think we need to do something with that?”
I thought there would be something since there were so many people, but that was my mistake.
The Emperor Guild members, who seemed to be just as clueless as I was, looked around casually and soon lost interest, either looking around or sitting down to rest.
“Phew, at least that’s a relief. I was worried a boss might appear.”
“Why a boss?”
“Haven’t you encountered the monsters on the way here? Seriously, they’re incredibly strong.”
While listening to their meaningless conversation, a few more people arrived. One of them spotted me and waved slightly.
It was Illia.
“Everyone was here.”
Illia said, looking at the guild members gathered there.
Also, some people seemed to know that Illia had discovered this dungeon, so they asked questions related to it.
“Excuse me, Illia-nim. Do you have any information regarding this dungeon?”
“Yes, I do.”
Illia answered leisurely.
“To open the door, you need scattered fragments. Actually, I didn’t know what this meant, so I didn’t tell anyone except the Guild Master.”
‘Somehow, it feels like a lie.’
I had no clear evidence or basis, but somehow, I felt like Illia’s words were a lie.
“But I found this on the floor of this dungeon.”
Anyway, after saying that, Illia took out a stone fragment similar to the one I had picked up earlier from her item window.
The shape was different, but just by looking at it, I could tell it was a fragment shard.
“Don’t you think we need to gather these stone fragments and fit them into that hole?”
“Come to think of it, Rudin-nim has one too.”
“Ah, is that so?”
At Hwaryeon’s words, Illia looked at me, and I had no choice but to take out the fragment shard and hand it over to her.
“Based on my guess, if we gather these fragments and insert them into that hole, the door will open.”
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
Well, if Illia’s words were true, two fragments were not nearly enough to fill that hole.
Considering the size of the fragments, we would need to collect at least ten of them, wouldn’t we?
It would have been nice if we had known beforehand, but it felt somewhat frustrating to be told after reaching this point.
‘By the way, are they skilled enough?’
Even if we overlook Dein, the monsters that appeared were strong enough to kill several people on the way here.
Dein could inflict massive damage with her S-rank skill, attacking from the rear with penetrating damage if someone drew the attention of the monsters, so I thought she was probably faster than me in terms of killing speed.
However, looking at the party Illia was in, it seemed like there was no one who could perform like that, so I became curious about her skills.
“Well then, the task is set, right? Everyone, spread out and find these stone fragments.”
“……”
At Illia’s final words, everyone started to get up and move.
It seemed like they were going to wander around and try to find the stone fragments since there was no other solution by just sitting there.
‘Should I move too?’
With the thought that it was better to find the stone fragments than to stay here, I was about to move, but a message appeared before I could.
[The seal of the Iot Kingdom has been released.]
[The seal of the Pronia Kingdom has been……]
As expected, they failed.
As if the time limit had run out, messages appeared stating that the Iot Kingdom, the Pronia Kingdom, and even the Ronda Kingdom had failed consecutively.
Seeing the messages, the guild members who were about to go look for the fragments stopped for a moment and waited for the next message, and as expected, the next message appeared.
[Number of seals successfully maintained: 1]
[Number of seals that failed: 5]
[Beluin’s Specter will appear at the five locations where the seals failed.]
[If the five Specters merge into one, the God of Deep Darkness, Beluin, will descend with 83% of his power restored.]
‘Huh?’
This…… it seems like there’s still a chance?
Reading the message again, it seemed like if we eliminated the five Specters before they merged, Beluin wouldn’t descend.
‘Still, we need to consider the worst-case scenario……’
In the worst-case scenario, if Beluin were to descend, he would do so with 83% of his power restored. Seeing that message, I felt sorry for the five countries that failed.
If at least two more countries had succeeded, he would have only recovered half of his power.
[Beluin’s influence, freed from the seals, covers all continents.]
[All stats of monsters increase by 10%.]
[Beluin’s Thoughts will appear throughout the continent.]
‘If it’s Beluin’s Thoughts, then it must be that, right?’
I recalled the strange monster that was roaming around the ruined village where the Earth Dragon Ukron was located and felt a sense of difficulty.
It was difficult to defeat the Thoughts without using light attribute attacks.
‘Should I go to the Church of Light, even though I’ve been putting it off?’
Considering the Divine Contribution Points I had saved up, obtaining a light attribute skill would be a piece of cake.
However, I had been planning to save up more to purchase an S-rank skill, so I couldn’t easily make a decision due to a sense of regret. While pondering, I suddenly remembered the Cash Transaction Window.
‘Should I browse the Cash Transaction Window?’
Additionally, I thought that if I bought all the light attribute skill books currently available in the Cash Transaction Window, their value might increase later.
Currently, very few people would know that the weakness of Beluin’s Thoughts was the light attribute.
However, Twilight was a game where you could choose 20 skills to your liking, so it wouldn’t be strange if everyone had at least one light attribute skill.
Also, since light attribute skills could be acquired with Divine Contribution Points, I gave up on the idea of hoarding light attribute skill books that had briefly crossed my mind and decided to look for skill books that would be useful to me.
Leave a Reply