Chapter 74: Base Invincibility (★★★★★★★★)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 74: Base Invincibility (★★★★★★★★)
An iron gate stood at the entrance of Exit 1, heavily barricaded. This seemed to be the way in.
"Are you really going in?"
"Yeah."
"...Then I'll open it."
"Open it."
As the gate opened, I felt that strange, transparent barrier-like sensation, just like the one I'd felt at the police station.
I reached out my hand.
My hand vanished into the dungeon.
As I stepped inside, a message popped up.
[Dungeon Quest 2]
- Difficulty: ★★★
- Clear Condition: Defeat all zombies (★: 0 / 500) (★★: 0 / 99) (★★★: 0 / 25)
- Reward: 4,000 Coins, 3 Points, Normal Mode Level (★) Selection Ticket x5, ZA Cure (★★★) x2.
Dungeons were seriously the ultimate goldmine.
Just how many Points were up for grabs in a single dungeon?
This time, it was even linked to a Faction Quest, bringing the total potential Points to nearly ten.
I'd already sucked up 2 Points, and there were 3 Points for the Seongsu Station sealing quest, plus another 3 Points for the Dungeon Quest.
If I added the Points I got from killing other users, I could rake in almost 10 Points from this place alone.
Of course, I hadn't actually secured all of them yet.
"This is too good."
And that wasn't all.
[You have entered a ★★★ Dungeon.]
[Starting from ★★★ Dungeons, a Time Attack bonus is added.]
[If you break the fastest record in your country, an additional 100% bonus reward will be granted.]
[The record is measured from the moment of entry until the clear conditions are met.]
[Only one fastest record is recognized per dungeon level.]
"Huh?"
I read the message slowly.
Excitement surged through my body.
"Holy shit."
I never expected such an insanely lucrative event.
[Current Fastest Record for a ★★★ Dungeon in South Korea: None]
It seemed no one in South Korea had cleared a Level 3 Dungeon yet.
It was only natural, but I had wondered.
Even though I possessed a Cheat Mode, it was a Base-Type Cheat Mode, meaning my combat capabilities weren't particularly outstanding.
If I had gone with a Hunting Type mode, I would have killed far more zombies and probably cleared way more dungeons by now.
So I had briefly thought that some lucky bastard out there who had snagged a bunch of overpowered modes—even if not a Cheat Mode—might have cleared a Level 3 Dungeon.
"If that's the case, I can't just clear this normally."
I stepped back out.
"Hey."
"Yes? Is it too difficult to handle alone after all...? I'll close it again—"
"Guard this place well. I'm coming back tomorrow."
"Huh?"
"Do you want to die?"
"I will guard it with my life!!"
Up until now, the only time I had gone all out within my Safe Base was during the 1st Zombie Rush.
When I went to raid the police station, I couldn't benefit from the Base Invincibility effect, and after that, I hadn't really had a chance to unleash my full power.
Granted, it had only been a few weeks.
My body was itching for action.
Honestly, my current stats were higher than anything I had ever achieved even after playing Zombie Apocalypse for 100,000 hours.
If I went all out with this, just how much power would I unleash?
I had wanted to find out, but so far, there hadn't been an enemy capable of withstanding it.
I doubted a Level 3 Dungeon would be any different, but it was still the highest difficulty dungeon I had encountered so far.
Surely, something would be different.
Either way, there was no denying I was completely overpowered in my current state, but setting a record changed things.
Even a single second faster.
I would claim the top spot first so that no one else could ever get that 100% bonus reward.
"Heheh."
Actually, the most efficient way to milk a system like this dry was to set a mediocre record at first.
Since the slot was empty, any record would put me in first place, guaranteeing the 100% bonus reward even if I took my sweet time.
And then, the next time, I'd clear it just a bit faster.
And the time after that, just a bit faster than that.
Doing it this way would allow me to exploit the "100% bonus reward upon breaking the record" condition to its absolute limit.
If this weren't the Zombie Apocalypse Multi-Server, I would have absolutely done it that way.
But this was a multi-server.
There was no telling what kind of people with what kind of modes would challenge a Level 3 Dungeon, or when.
Before meeting Oh Yoon-seop, I might have been a bit more relaxed.
Oh Yoon-seop possessed a Level 6 Combat Mode, and his wife, Lee Mi-sook, had a Level 7 Cooking Mode.
Who knew when some lucky bastard who started with a Level 8 or Level 9 combat skill right off the bat might pop up?
So, while I couldn't stop those lucky bastards from snatching up early rewards with their bullshit luck, I had to make sure they couldn't milk the sweetest rewards.
That was why I had to go all out from the start.
The next Level 3 Dungeon?
No worries there.
By the time I tackled the next Level 3 Dungeon, I would be even stronger, and I would definitely set an even faster record than now.
It was a plan built on absolute confidence.
"My full power, huh..."
I returned home and began to run the numbers.
Even now, I was at full power whenever I received the Base Invincibility effect, but there were still plenty of ways to boost my stats even further.
First, I needed to upgrade Base Invincibility from Level 7 to Level 8.
"Wh-Wh-What?!"
This Level 8 upgrade was a swift investment to conquer the Level 3 Dungeon.
It was meant to get +1 level to all stats, and as expected, that +1 to all stats was guaranteed.
Furthermore, the rest bonus cooldown was reduced from 1 hour to 30 minutes, and its duration was extended to 12 hours.
Finally, the random stat boost for 3 stats went from Level 4 to Level 5.
Excluding Mana, if those three boosts landed on my physical stats, my base stats within the Safe Base would essentially become 15/14/14.
Next was Adrenaline, which had great options but carried the "useless" label since I had never used it.
In the past, when the Safe Base was small and I had to fight in areas where I couldn't receive the Base Invincibility effect, it hadn't meant much. But now, since the Safe Base effect covered the entirety of Seongsu-dong, it simply hadn't triggered yet.
It could serve as a spare life at any moment, so it was no longer useless.
If it triggered, my health would instantly recover to 100%, and all my stats would increase by +5 levels for 30 minutes. I'd experience the absolutely insane sensation of having all my stats hover around 20.
Of course, I doubted it would ever trigger.
Unless I stood there like an idiot, thinking, Should I see what dying feels like? and let myself get beaten to a pulp, it was practically impossible for me to die even if I wanted to.
The maximum number of registerable Residents had also shot up from 100 to 500, and Safe Fortress... seeing how the Coin acquisition rate increased to +30%, it seemed this option was scaling up too. But since I didn't want to recklessly expand my Resident count just yet...
Even without increasing the number of Residents, I was already controlling my faction through the "Paradise Membership."
I only planned to recruit indispensable talents as "Residents."
And then there was the option for those carefully vetted Residents.
The newly added option at Level 8 was more than enough to leave me utterly shocked.
"Fuck, yes. This is it. See? There's a reason you should live a good life."
It was a shame that the Normal Mode effect enhancement didn't increase past +50%, but this new option completely made up for that disappointment.
It was none other than the ability to use one of a "Resident's" modes.
And it was one mode per person.
Granted, there was a drawback: I could only designate one mode at a time, and if I wanted to use a different mode from that Resident, I had to change it, which was limited to once a day.
But that drawback was absolutely nothing compared to the overpowered ability to copy and use someone else's mode.
Honestly, I had been debating.
Oh Yoon-seop's Level 6 Combat Readiness.
I had wondered what would happen if I consumed it with Predation.
Oh Yoon-seop had no idea, but initially, if he hadn't aligned with me, I had seriously considered gambling on it even if my Predation level was low.
Well, things had worked out for the best.
I felt incredibly happy, as if the patience I showed back then was finally paying off.
"This is insane..."
This meant I could also use Kim Ji-hee's Level 4 Healing Skill and Lee Mi-sook's Level 7 Cooking.
Every single condition needed to conquer the dungeon had been resolved with this single option.