𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟒𝟖
“Volcus’ Thunder Strike.”
[S-rank skill. You have enhanced ‘Volcus’ Thunder Strike’.]
[It will change from S-rank to S+ rank.]
The reason I didn’t choose Card Summoning is simple.
It’s because of Ust’s attribute, which is darkness and ice.
It’s been a great help so far, but I didn’t think it would be very effective in the battle against Beluin, the self-proclaimed God of Darkness. And since my damage would also be doubled due to the title effect, I had no choice but to use Thunder Strike in order to utilize that.
“Detailed Information.”
In addition, I decided to check Thunder Strike through Detailed Information to see how it had changed.
[S+ Rank Volcus’ Thunder Strike Effect] (LV22+3)
━Strength increased by 580.
━Attack Speed increased by 580.
━Applies Strength and Defense as damage.
━On the second hit, damage increases by 34%.
━On the third hit, damage increases by 68%.
━On the third hit, knocks back enemies with lower Strength than yours.
━After all hits succeed, stuns for 1 second.
━(New) After all hits, striking the ground creates a shockwave.
━(New) Shockwave damage increased by 25%.
━(New) Shockwave range 12.5M.
━Can only be used when equipped with a shield.
*Consumes 1890 Magic Power when used.
*Consumes 5.3% Stamina when used.
“Oh……”
After checking Thunder Strike, which had been upgraded to S+ rank, I was quite satisfied.
Simply put, it meant that after successfully landing all three hits, a shockwave would be generated by striking the ground with the shield.
In other words, it gained an area-of-effect attack.
‘Good. An area-of-effect attack is always good.’
I was curious about what kind of changes would have occurred if I had chosen Card Summoning, but I decided to postpone that until next time. I slowly left the Trial of Light area.
‘But what’s the next quest?’
Is it going to be about building a defense line?
Looking at the direction things have been going so far, I thought it might be about going to build a defense line, making some preparations, and then facing Beluin.
However, if it goes that way, there aren’t many quests left.
“Oh, you succeeded!”
At that moment, Arus, who spotted me as soon as I came out of the Trial of Light, spoke to me with a delighted expression.
Originally, if you failed the Trial of Light, you would be automatically ejected outside, but since I walked out on my own now, he naturally assumed I had passed.
And in fact, I did pass.
‘But there’s no need to say anything unnecessary.’
Since there was no harm in being friendly with an NPC, I decided not to say anything unnecessary and nodded, responding to Arus’s words.
“Yes, it would have been difficult without you, Arus-nim.”
“Haha, thank you for saying so. Ah, instead of standing here, please come this way.”
The treatment has changed drastically just because I passed that damn Trial of Light.
It was certainly difficult enough to warrant a change in treatment, but I secretly sighed at his overly transparent attitude and started to follow Arus.
In any case, I had to follow him to receive the next quest.
“Bishop-nim!”
“……?”
Suddenly, a priest appeared from somewhere, urgently calling for the bishop and running towards us.
Seeing the priest like that, Arus and I stopped walking and watched him run towards us. The priest, gasping for breath, began to speak as if something serious had happened.
“It’s a disaster! Apostles have appeared in each country and stolen the sacred relics!”
“What!? The sacred relics, you say?”
“Yes, all countries except the Harpe Empire have had their sacred relics stolen from their temples. We cannot activate the barrier like this.”
‘Oh, crazy.’
I thought it would be a big deal, but I didn’t know it would be this bad. I looked at the priest who had spoken, dumbfounded.
Is this an event, by any chance?
Thinking that it might be an event that occurs after passing the Trial of Light, I somehow felt like I knew what the next quest would be.
“Th-then, the sacred relic here……”
“Yes, but we were able to locate the place where the energy of the sacred relic was cut off. We need to dispatch personnel to retrieve the sacred relics now!”
“How many paladins are left?”
“That’s…… I’m sorry, but less than 50.”
‘But why is the Harpe Empire the only exception?’
Is it because I cleared the first main scenario?
The only difference between the Harpe Empire and other countries is the fact that I cleared the main scenario.
As I thought that far, Arus, who had heard the number of remaining paladins, pondered with a gloomy expression and then looked at me.
“Rudin-nim.”
“……Yes.”
I don’t think there’s ever been a moment I’ve hated answering a question as much as this one.
“I believe you heard the situation. I’m sorry, but please retrieve the sacred relics.”
‘This guy is asking me to retrieve the sacred relics out of the blue.’
Anyone listening would think I was the one who lost them.
“The sacred relics are important items that weaken Beluin’s power. The apostles probably stole them knowing that. Of course, it’s our job to retrieve them, but we don’t have enough personnel.”
[An NPC quest has been generated.]
‘Well, yeah……’
If this is the fifth quest, I have no reason to be angry.
Even if I had chosen to build a defense line, a priest could have popped up at some point and said the sacred relics had been stolen, so it might be better to receive this quest after clearing the Trial of Light.
‘Honestly, I thought it was too early to fight Beluin after clearing the Trial of Light.’
Comforting myself like that, I checked the quest.
[Retrieve the Stolen Sacred Relics.]
Description: The sacred relics, one in each country except the Harpe Empire, have been stolen by the apostles. Please retrieve these sacred relics.
‘50,000 Divine Contribution Points?’
It was the highest reward among the main scenario quests I’ve received so far.
Since the apostles were said to have stolen the sacred relics, accepting this quest would ultimately lead to a fight with them.
Considering that, even 50,000 points seemed too low.
It should be at least 100,000.
‘The problem is, am I doing this alone?’
The Ronda Kingdom had been busy with guild wars and hadn’t made any progress on the main scenario.
That means all four apostles are still alive, which also means I might end up fighting all four of them alone.
Needless to say, even for me, defeating four apostles alone is nearly impossible.
“But you’re not saying I have to do this alone, are you?”
“Of course not. It would be difficult to retrieve the sacred relics alone. But don’t worry. We will find skilled warriors to assist you, Rudin-nim.”
‘Skilled warriors?’
I had a feeling that only those who passed the Trial of Light would receive the sacred relic quest.
‘Then it would be difficult to start the quest right away.’
No, not just right away.
If only those who cleared the Trial of Light are gathered, I might not be able to start the quest for several days.
‘Maybe I’ll have to do it alone……’
“Rudin-nim?”
As I was thinking about the possibility of having to do the quest alone, Arus, seeing me lost in thought, spoke with a worried voice.
And looking at him, I realized that I hadn’t even accepted the quest yet.
“Ah, the sacred relics, right? Leave it to me.”
“Thank you. I’m starting to think you might be the hope of our church, Rudin-nim.”
[Quest accepted. ‘Retrieve the Stolen Sacred Relics.’]
Hope, my ass.
It felt like he was saying all the nice things he could because of the situation.
“Ah, instead of standing here, quickly show Rudin-nim the locations.”
“Yes. The locations are……”
[Specific locations are marked on the map. You can identify these locations using the command ‘Map Check’.]
Since it’s the Ronda Kingdom, I wouldn’t understand even if he told me the names of the regions.
But regardless, since specific locations were marked on the map, it didn’t seem like there would be any difficulty in finding them.
If necessary, I could just fly there on a griffin.
“Then, Rudin-nim. I’ll leave it to you.”
Once again, after I accepted the quest, Arus left in a hurry after leaving those words, and I, left alone, sighed briefly and opened my information window.
“Status Information Window.”
[Name: Rudin]
[Title: Hero of the Present World]
[Level: 131]
[Fame: 6504]
[Guild: Emperor]
[Health: 66656/66656]
[Magic Power: 29496/29496]
[Stamina: 100.0%]
[Attack Power: 9863] [Magic Attack Power: 2794]
[Defense: 8908] [Magic Defense: 5748]
[Stats]
Strength: 4116 Intelligence: 1819 Agility: 2544
Stamina: 2781 Magic: 2218 Skill: 876
Fighting Spirit: 720 Summoning: 1418 Command: 660
Faith: 523 Luck: 637
[Elemental Attack Power: All Attributes (30%), Water (3%), Lightning (30%)]
[Elemental Resistance: All Attributes (15%), Water (67%), Lightning (20%)]
[Acquired Skills: 20/20]
‘My stats are high, at least.’
My stats are definitely high.
But if you ask me if these stats are enough to fight and win against four apostles at the same time, I would definitely say no.
In the end, I needed at least 20 players to retrieve the sacred relics.
20 players who passed the Trial of Light.
If they passed the Trial of Light, their skills would be proven, so with 20 players, there would be a chance to somehow manage, but since I was alone now, I had no choice but to wait.
‘Hmm, should I reconnect first?’
With the Trial of Light over, I logged out with the intention of ending the second Intuition and reconnected to check if Aizen was online.
I figured he might be online since some time had passed, and thankfully, I confirmed that he was. I immediately contacted him.
━Yes, Rudin-nim.
“How far have you progressed with the quest?”
━I’ll be finishing the second quest soon.
“Really?”
It was faster than I expected.
It meant he had gathered the light attribute, defeated the Remnant Thoughts, and was now about to face the Trial of Light.
Thinking about the Trial of Light coming right after, there wasn’t much difference between our progress.
“I’m calling to tell you about the fourth quest.”
━The fourth one?
“Ah, the third one is just delivering a letter.”
I briefly explained the third quest and then mentioned the important fourth quest.
“In the fourth quest, you get a choice……”
Well, the explanation itself was simple.
Trial of Light and Building a Defense Line.
You can choose one of the two. If you choose the Trial of Light, you have to defeat three paladins with limited stats, and if you win, you get a title and skill enhancement.
━That’s a decent reward.
It seemed like the reward piqued Aizen’s interest.
“Also, if you pass the Trial of Light, you have to retrieve the sacred relics from the apostles. And I think you’ll need a certain number of people for that.”
━So the fifth quest is the problem. But I don’t think we necessarily have to fight.
“You’re thinking of trying stealth?”
The quest objective isn’t to defeat the apostles.
The objective is to retrieve the sacred relics, which means there’s no problem with stealing them through stealth.
━If we’re short on personnel, it wouldn’t be bad to try that approach.
“That’s true.”
The problem is, I don’t have any stealth skills.
And to be honest, I wasn’t sure if stealth would even be possible.
Since there would be at least one raid boss-level apostle each.
But if we’re really short on people, I thought it wouldn’t be bad to attempt stealth. While I was thinking that, I heard Aizen’s voice again.
━I’ve completed the second quest.
“Oh, then you’ll be coming to the Ronda Kingdom.”
━I’ll be there soon.
Even if Aizen comes, we still have to wait until he takes the Trial of Light.
Can he pass that test on the first try?
That thought crossed my mind, but if I’m not planning to clear the quest alone, I’d have to wait anyway, so I decided to just kill time. Then, I heard his voice again.
━Rudin-nim.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
━I’m being told to go to the Karzen Kingdom.
“……What?”
Why is the Karzen Kingdom suddenly being mentioned?
And what he said next was even more absurd.
━Another guild member was told to go to the Iot Kingdom. It seems like it’s being assigned randomly.
“Randomly?”
I was dumbfounded by this unexpected turn of events. I had believed that if Aizen and the executives came to the Ronda Kingdom and all passed the Trial of Light, we could easily clear the fifth quest.
‘What’s going on?’
One thing was for sure: contrary to my expectations, everyone was being scattered.
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