Though herdefensewasnotveryhigh, 30,000healthwasnotlow.What onearthcouldbein the left pathway?What didRoamissthatmadeherhealthgofrom 30,000 to0?
‘I don’t think it’samonster.’
If itwasamonster,Roawouldknow.
Atrap?
Soo Hyuk waslostin histhoughts, at the same time;the Firestorm’sdurationfinished.HepausedhistrainofthoughtandsaidtoKamianand theKomaGuild members.
“Let’sgo.”
“Ok, but where are wegoing…”
Kamianasked, at thequestion, Soo Hyuk thought for amoment, then looked toward thepathwayon theright.
“Let’sgotowards theright, that’swhere the chimeracamefrom.”He didn’tknowwhatwason theleft.Butseeingthe chimerae out of the right pathway, the summoning circle shouldbeat theendofthepath.
Thewholeteambegantowalktowards the right pathway.Although Soo Hyuk walked forward in full confidence,Kamianand theKomaGuild were being careful, unlike before whenRoawasn’t dead.
-Chwiig
-Aaoouuu!
But thesounddidn’tsoundlike what they hadheardbefore.
‘Normal.’
When Soo Hyukheardthesound, heknewitwasneither the boss nor themid-boss.So, it was evident that this onewasa normal chimera.Soo Hyukstoppedwalkinghalfwayandraisedhishandto signal at theback.Seeinghissign,Kamianand theKomaGuild stoppedmoving.
-Chiiik!
-Aaoouuu!
“K?”
As soon as the chimera came into theirview, Soo Hyuk calledK-Cross.Thereasonwastocheckthehealthof this chimera infront.
Knowing the reason why he was called, K-Cross, activated his ‘Hawk’s Eye’ to check the monster’s health.
“Huh?”
K-Cross, whojustconfirmed itshealthlooked a bit disturbed.
“It’s1.8million.”
Thoughitwas still high,pared to themid-bossitcould only be considered normal.
And thatwastheproblem,theythoughtastheygo deeper, thehealthof the chimeras would get higher.Andconsideringthe mid-boss chimera,theythoughtthismonsterwould have morethan2million, not lessthanthat.
“What, 1.8million?”
Just likeK-Cross, Soo Hyuk too felt strange with thehealthbeingreduced.
“Yes.”
K-CrossconfirmedSoo Hyuk’squestion.Thenlooking at the chimera, thinking.
‘ThatmeansI can’t get poisoned.’
The one Soo Hyukkillednear theentrancehad1.8 million health as well.That chimera’spoisondidn’t affect him.Thatmeansifhecan’t get poisonedhedidn’t need toavoidit.So, without anydy, Soo Hyuk cast a spell on the chimera infront.
-Mutated Orc Skin
-Mutated Wolf Skin
Not long after, the chimera copsed and awindowappeared.
‘IthoughtI’dlevelup.’
His Experiencelevelhadfilled upto 99%,pared to 92%.But Soo Hyuk, whothoughthe wouldlevelupcouldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed.
Afteracquiringthe dropped items, he and theKomaGuild started to move forward.
“Oh,there’ssomething shiny overthere?”
K-Cross, who wasinvestigatingtheareawith hisskill, spoke out as he wasmoving.
Soo Hyuklookedover in thedirectionK-Crosswaslooking, but hiseyessawnothing except thedarkness.
‘Isit anitem?’
SinceK-Crosshad no reason tolieabout what hecouldsee, so, there was likely something shining ahead of them.Soo Hyuk thought that itcouldbeamagicalitem.
As thegroupmoved a littlefartherahead, Soo HyukcouldseetheitemK-Crosswas talking about.Though something wasstrange, they were certain itwasamagicalitem.
‘But why can’t Iseeany chimera nearby?’
The chimera was nowhere to beseen.As the summoning/magic circle waslocatedat theendofthepathway, there was nocetohide.
‘Are theysummonedeveryhour?’
Soo Hyuk thought while walking towards thecircle, andwonderingwhy therewereno chimeras.
“Ithinkwe have met therequirement.”
Kamiansaid, who wasfollowingSoo Hyukjoinedhim by the magic circle.
“Letmejustsee the magic circle.”
FeelingKamian’spresencebehind him,SooHyukreplied at once.
“SooHyuk, what’sthestatusof thequest?”
JustasKamianaskedthequestion,SooHyukopenedhiswindow.
〈TheTroubled UndergroundWaterway〉
In the underground sewers ofHadrac,chimerassuddenly beganappearingin thewaterways.Ianand Alexmadethedecisiontocleanup the underground waterways, but thechimeraswere strong andpossessedpowerfulpoison.In theend, theexpeditionfailed, and themostthey couldachievewastopreventthechimerasfromescaping.Cleanthe underground waterways of thechimerasandidentifytheirsource!
[ChimeraSummoning Circle A:0/1]
[Chimera Summoning Circle B:0/1]
[Chimera Summoning Circle C:0/1]
[Chimera Summoning Circle D:0/1]
[Chimera Summoning Circle E:0/1]
[Chimera Summoning Circle F:0/1]
[Chimera:0/ ???]
[Quest reward:S-RankPromotion, ???]
“No, theyarejust the same.”
But when the Guildcheckedtheirstats, theirconditionsweremet.
Unlike the Guild Quest, Soo Hyuk’squestremainedunchanged.
“Ithinkwe’llhavetodestroyit.”
Unlessconfirmed, all thatremainedwasdestruction.
“Hmm,let’s go back.”
Hearing Soo Hyuk,Kamian, and theKomaGuild memberstook a step back.Soo Hyuk too walked away from the magic circle and cast a spell.
“Firestorm!”
Suaak!
When thespellwascast, ahugewhirlpool offireappearedengulfingthe whole magic circle, then, at thattime.
[Special Situation urred]
[Quest ‘Destroythe Magic Circle’ has beencreated.]
Amessageappearedbefore him.
***
Roa, who had beensenttoinvestigatethe left pathway, movedforward lookingaround.
‘Dark.It’sveryDark.’
Unlike thepathwaysshe passed earlier, this particr leftpathwayhadnotorchestoguideher inside,makingthe tunnel dark.
‘It’sagoodthing Ilearned‘Night Vision’.’
So,evenin theabsenceoflight, herviewwasn’t affectedverymuchin thedarkness.Roa, whowasa Rogue, coulduseher skill thanks to thissituation.‘Night Vision’allowedher toseein thedarknessto a certain extent, though not enough asplete daylight.
‘It’sblocked.’
Roamovedwhile checking her surroundings, andsoonreachedtheendofthepathway.But therewasnothing at theend.
‘Isthat why it wasn’t on themap?’
She waswonderingif thepassagebeingblockedwasthereasonwhy thecrossroadwasn’tdrawn onthemap.
-Roa:I’mat theend.
RoacontactedKamian.
-Kamian:What’s going on?Did youfindanything?
-Roa:No, absolutely nothing.I’mat theendand there is nothing.
-Kamian:Yeah?Areyousure thatyoudidn’tmissanything because of thedarkness?
-ROA:Well, Iusedmyskill ‘Night Vision’ andfoundnothing.I’ming back.
Kamian:Copy that!
After theconversationwithKamian,Roalooked around.Shewaswonderingwhether or notshehadmissedsomething.
‘There’snothing.’
Evenwith her Vision,shefoundnothing.
‘Is there something hidden?’
Asshelooked around, nothing stood outinparticrbutshecouldn’t bepletelysurebecause therewasnothing insight.
Shehada nudging feeling that something might be hidden here.
ButRoawasneither a treasure hunter nor athief.Shewasjust anassassinwhopreferredtopursueextremeattacks, especially on Rogue-affiliated tasks.Shehadno unique skills tofindhiddenobjects.In otherwords,shecouldn’tfindanything.
‘I’lljustgo.’
Even if something washidden, she couldn’tfindit.SoRoa, whohadnointentionto waste any moretimeturned back.Thenstarted toproceedtowards theentrance.
It was just then.
[You Have Died.]
Themomentsheturnedherback, amessageappeared.
“…Huh?”
Lookingat themessageinfrontof her,Roawasforcedto panic.
‘Dead?’
What, dead?Shewantedto check what killed her, butshecouldn’t,shehad lost control of herbody.Soon, herviewbecamedarkandshewaslogged out.Roa, KimYoung-Chuncame outof the capsule.
KimYoung-Chun, who was justlogged out, was unable tosayanything.
‘What killed me?’
She couldn’t help butponderon what hadpreviouslyhappened.
‘But therewasnothing.’
She was sure there was nothing in thepathway, then what onearthkilledher?
Ring!Ring!
KimYoung-Chun, lost inthoughts, checked her cell phone which was ring at the iing call.ItwasKamian.
***
“Isitthere?Woulditbeoverthere?”
“Well, I’llhavetocheck.”
“Wouldn’t it bebettertogowith you?”
“No, I don’t think it’ssafe.And to be honest, I don’tknowwhat’s in there.”
Soo HyukdeclinedKamian’soffer.He didn’t want torushin asituationwhere everything wasfilledwithuncertainty.Rather, hewantedtogoat hispaceandfigureit all out.
“Ok, I’ll be waiting here.Callmeright away if youneedme!”
“Sure, I’ll be back.”
AnsweringKamian’swords, Soo Hyuk walked towards theleftaisle whilelookingat hisquest.
[Congrattions, you have found the Chimera Summoning Circle. Just a warning, even if you destroy the circle, it’s of no use. There is still the recovery circle nearby. To destroy this circlepletely, you’ll have to find the Recovery circle and destroy it, topletely destroy the summoning circle.] [1]
[Destroy the Recovery circle, hiding somewhere near the Summoning Circle!]
[Recovery Magic Circle: 0 / 1]
[Quest Rewards: Chimera Summoning Magic Circle will get weakened.]
I didn’t know there was a Recovery circle.’
He thought, destroying the Magic circle was the end of the quest, but it wasn’t. There was another magic circle that could restore the destroyed summoning circle. To destroy the circle, he first had to destroy the Recovery Circle.
But there was a problem, the Recovery Circle didn’t have an urate location. The only clue that was given, was that they were somewhere nearby.
‘It’s a high possibility that he is over here.’
The only ce Soo Hyuk hadn’t checked yet. The left pathway. Though Roa said there was nothing, her mysterious death spoke a lot. There must be something down that path.
As soon as Soo Hyuk arrived at the left pathway, he opened his inventory. Then he took out a crystal ball, it was no ordinary crystal. The crystal ball was imprinted with light magic.
[Every 10 seconds, 100 mana is consumed.]
Suaak!
As he activated the crystal, it began to emit light fending off the darkness that pervaded the pathway previously, now everything was visible.
Soo Hyuk carefully examined his surroundings while moving along the path. He was being careful because he didn’t know what killed Roa.
There!
Being as alert as he could, Soo Hyuk soon reached the end of the pathway.
Then looking at the floor he thought.
‘You said there was nothing.’
He thought of Roa, who said there was nothing at the end.
Suaak!
But on the floor, there it was, a magic circle emitting bright lights. He was sure it was the Recovery magic circle. [2]
Trantor and Editor Notes:
1: During the trantion of this part there was both the use of mage and the use of formation/circle so, this bit is a little confusing.
2: With some more context about what is mentioned in [1], it is looking like it is another magic circle that was set in ce.
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