Chapter 149
Chapter 149
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 150
Chapter Title: The Leader's Request
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Chapter 150
Whether the meeting with Yuseong was truly so pleasing or not, the leader kept on talking.
“To be honest, I was half in doubt that you really were Yuseong. This is the first time we've met in person, isn't it!”
The leader joked that if Yuseong hadn't kept passing by the campsite, they never would have recognized him in the end.
‘This was the condition, huh.’
The campsite—that is, going back and forth on the dungeon's 5th floor at least 60 times.
There was no one who tackled a single dungeon that persistently from the start. Unless it was one of those so-called efficient dungeons that gave generous experience and good items.
And this place, the underground beneath Ludeart Lord's Castle, wasn't one of those efficient dungeons.
In other words, to take this quest, you had to complete all the previous linked quests, then happen to come to this Ludeart Lord's Castle underground dungeon and happen to go back and forth on the 5th floor more than 60 times.
‘It really wasn't made to be discovered.’
“But even so, isn't my eyesight pretty sharp? I recognized you just from the rough description of your appearance I heard.”
The leader burst into loud laughter.
“Ah, I've been holding up a busy person with my chatter. If it's not too much trouble, could you perhaps help us out? We have a request we'd like to entrust to you, the one who vanquished the demon.”
“Sure.”
“How straightforward! You have the bearing of a true hero!”
The leader praised Yuseong.
“You may or may not know this, but we're here on orders from the great lord, tasked with culling the undead that appear in this dungeon. Unfortunately, the undead that showed up this time were far more numerous than we expected. So it looks like we won't meet our goal in the time we planned.”
The leader let out a deep sigh.
“We have other duties too, so we can't stay tied to this dungeon forever. But we can't just head back like this either. So we're asking you: could you possibly subjugate the ‘Aggregate of Corrupted Things’ in the deepest part of this dungeon?”
Quest: Subjugate the Aggregate of Corrupted Things on the 10th Floor of Ludeart Lord's Castle Underground Dungeon
On the 10th floor of Ludeart Lord's Castle Underground Dungeon lurks a powerful monster, the Aggregate of Corrupted Things. Subjugate it to ease the burden on the territory's forces.
Reward: 1,034 Experience, 3,200 Gold, Lowest-Grade Agility Enhancer x4
“Got it.”
“Thank you so much!”
After accepting the quest, Yuseong left the campsite.
“It seems this really is the linked quest. Normally, that leader doesn't give this one.”
Yuseong continued speaking as if he himself hadn't known either, which was oddly suspicious.
“Usually, it's a repeat quest to hunt a few monsters inside the dungeon. They don't ask you to take down the boss.”
[For real! A real linked quest?]
[Heart pounding!]
The viewers were quite excited to see what event this linked quest would lead to.
In the meantime, word had spread, and the viewer count was rising. A good sign.
Fired up with motivation, Yuseong reloaded his ammo and resumed tackling the dungeon.
* * *
To clear the quest, he first needed to traverse the dungeon all the way to the end. Yuseong steadily hunted monsters, leveled up, and headed downward, ever downward.
Before long, he had conquered even the 9th floor.
And then the long-awaited 10th floor.
As he descended, the familiar monsters that always greeted him were nowhere to be seen. There was only a single passageway tempting him into the thick darkness.
“A little ways down this passage, and the boss will be there.”
[Boss fight!]
[Finally!]
The viewers' anticipation overflowed in the chat. But not everyone felt that way.
[Ah, it's the Aggregate of Corrupted Things after all]
[That thing is seriously gross]
Even though the Ludeart region wasn't popular, given Ark's nature of drawing beyond-imagination popularity, there were people who had leveled up here. So some information was known.
Naturally, a few people knew about that Aggregate of Corrupted Things.
And every one of them reacted with extreme negativity to the monster that was about to appear.
Yuseong walked down the passage. The straight path suddenly bent 90 degrees at the end. Turning the corner revealed a space—a wide-open area he was seeing for the first time since entering the dungeon.
And there it was.
[Eugh!]
[What the hell is that!]
The viewers who checked its state on screen screamed.
Aggregate of Corrupted Things. The name alone hinted at its grotesque form, but in reality, it was even worse.
A round, massive lump of flesh. That was the common first impression.
It was repulsive enough on its own, but it was decaying too. Filthy pus oozed in streams from between the discolored, rotting meat.
The fact that it was still alive and wriggling in that state made it even more disgusting.
Protruding from the lump of flesh were things that looked like parts of human or monster bodies.
Like independent entities embedded in the flesh, they flailed every time the lump writhed. They were decayed too, of course.
[Ah, that's a bit much]
[Isn't it too extreme?]
Even viewers accustomed to all sorts of cruel and grotesque sights in Ark uniformly expressed revulsion.
[Those who know it know: it attacks not just your avatar but your player's mind directly]
It was that bad, apparently.
Despite the viewers' uproar, Yuseong approached the boss without a change in expression. The boss's body began writhing more actively. It had spotted him.
The undead he'd hunted so far at least had distinguishable eyes and mouths, but this one didn't even have that.
Ssshh.
The boss started moving toward Yuseong. Most monsters let out threatening roars upon spotting players, but this one didn't. Still, the lack of a roar didn't make it any less threatening.
“Shall we give it a shot first?”
Yuseong raised his gun barrel.
Bang!
A plain bullet fired. It sank into the flesh with a plop and vanished. The tiny bullet hole was quickly covered by swelling meat.
“All the monsters here are like this.”
[Ludeart is no place to go lol]
[Ah, but I kinda wanna go once for the linked quest]
[Lol, wonder if the people tracking Yuseong's movements are tearing their hair out right now]
While Yuseong read the chats, the boss began acting in earnest.
Shwaaak!
Long tentacles extended from the lump of flesh. Writhing grotesquely, they aimed for Yuseong.
Bang!
Yuseong dodged them and opened fire for real. His magazine had switched to explosive rounds.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The explosions battered the flesh. It trembled violently—clearly effective. But the way it rippled like waves with each blast wasn't visually appealing.
[Ewww!]
[Makes me wanna curse!]
The viewers recoiled at the sight too.
Crunch!
The thing moved its extended tentacle. Not to attack Yuseong. The tentacle stabbed into the ceiling. Then it pulled.
Whoosh!
Its massive body lifted off the ground. Completely different mobility from its crawling before. The boss launched itself straight at Yuseong.
Boom!
The impact of its body hitting shook the dungeon with a resonant thud. Yuseong had escaped its attack range before it landed, so no damage. But it kept attacking.
Shwaaak!
Tentacles shot out from all sides of its body. No telling front from back. Or rather, such concepts didn't exist for this boss.
The boss stabbed tentacles into ceiling, walls, and floor here and there, moving nimbly.
“I knew it, but seeing it up close, it's impressive.”
[Thought it'd be super slow, but damn fast]
[Tarzan vibes]
But its 3D movements and attacks still fell short of hitting Yuseong.
What looked like simple attacks weren't simple at all.
Tentacles extended everywhere blocked Yuseong's escape paths. Using fixed tentacles, it made sharp turns and speed adjustments at will. It charged at Yuseong dodging sideways like a guided missile.
But Yuseong pierced its trajectories with nimble footwork, excellent dynamic vision, and judgment. Plus, he shot off its thin tentacles with his gun, hindering its movement instead.
[Damn, eye candy as always]
[Oho, knew you had it!]
The viewers enjoyed Yuseong's movements.
Perhaps angered by Yuseong slipping away every which way, the boss suddenly writhed violently.
Pop pop pop!
Chunks of skin burst open here and there, spraying wriggling flesh bits and yellow pus everywhere.
<Eughhh>
[What a concept]
[Every skill is so nasty]
But that reaction was premature.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The detached flesh chunks exploded. Zombies crawled out from inside.
-Grraaah!
-Uuuuugh!
The zombies reached for Yuseong as they approached. They were pretty fast. And there were a lot.
They swarmed around Yuseong, rapidly encroaching on his movement space.
With the zombies up front, the boss kept its distance this time, unlike before. And it spat out more flesh chunks.
These new chunks differed in shape and size from the zombie-spawning ones. And they dropped around Yuseong.
Rat-tat-tat!
Yuseong picked off only those plummeting straight at him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The hit chunks exploded, showering yellow pus. It poured onto the zombies below.
-Grrraaah!
-Ggigeek!
White smoke rose from the pus-hit zombies. Their already fragile skin flaked off in chunks.
[What the?]
“It's corrosive acid.”
But this attack wasn't dangerous only because of the acid. Yuseong glanced around. The zombies filling the area were collapsing in droves.
“The flesh chunks explode for the primary attack with the flying bits, then the spread acid delivers the secondary attack.”
[What a filthy bastard]
[Isn't it too hard?]
“It's manageable. It has a lot of abilities and all, but low HP, from what I hear.”
[Ah, should be fine then]
“But like the other undead here, it's highly resistant to physical attacks.”
[Not fine]
The boss's attack took out quite a few zombies. Gaps opened up in the space. Yuseong slipped right through them.
He broke out from the zombie clusters and unleashed gunfire at the boss.
Boom boom boom!
The boss spat out more flesh chunks again. Trying to replenish the zombies.
“Fewer this time. Seems there's a limit to how many zombies it can sustain at once.”
<Obviously>
[Otherwise zombies alone would fill the space]
After that, the boss repeated the pattern. Spit zombies for a human wave to restrict Yuseong's range, then acid-filled flesh grenades. It even attacked directly with tentacles.
Simple if you called it simple, but the combo was vicious. Onlookers couldn't help but be impressed.
But Yuseong handled each one calmly.
Dodged or blasted charging zombies and tentacles with explosives, intercepted the flesh grenades.
Once he got the hang of it, Yuseong even shot the flesh grenades over zombie clusters to maximize kills with the blasts.
He exploited those openings to pump mass ammo into the boss.
Even with high physical resistance, it couldn't fully block special rounds' effects.
Before long, the boss let its flesh droop limply.