Chapter 189
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 189
Chapter Title: Imperial Guard
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"Grr! This French bus is sweet as hell, huh?! It's basically a luxury limo, right?"
At this point, you could call it limo-tier. This is how you ride a real bus. How many Blue-grade crystals have we already snagged just from decisions?
Minguk recalled the mana crystals he had absorbed.
In the midst of conquering the dungeon alongside the Imperial Guard, they had acquired a total of three Blue-grade mana crystals.
Luckily, all three turned out to be Knowledge and Spirit crystals, allowing Minguk to absorb them and boost his specs. Of course, it wasn't time to pop champagne yet.
To hit 7-star, I need at least twenty Blue-grade crystals.
Somewhere between a minimum of twenty and a maximum of thirty crystals were required. Considering the remaining time in the temporary dungeon, he needed to absorb at least four or five per day. They also needed time to tackle Garai.
In any case, about four hours after entering the dungeon, Minguk had taken down seven darkness monsters, including a 7th-grade special entity.
That came out to nearly two monsters per hour.
No wonder Chloe's eyes were bulging out of her head.
Moreover, every time a try ended, the heroes' gazes shifted in real time as they looked at him. The suspicion and doubt from their first meeting had vanished completely.
"Look at those macaron friends with their jaws on the floor? Of course they've never had command like this before."
Minguk chuckled at Ppuu's smug attitude, acting like it was all his own doing.
Honestly, it was a bit puzzling. These were heroes fighting darkness monsters for humanity's fate. The Imperial Guard, in particular, was one of humanity's last shields, boasting top-tier raid prowess.
But from Minguk's perspective, even their top-tier try level didn't feel all that impressive.
"Probably just a lack of high-end raid experience..."
On top of that, the current heroes were said to be slightly below past standards. Nearly a decade of uneasy peace had taken its toll.
Factoring in that only those who had awakened mana could become heroes, the pool of talent with raid aptitude was even smaller.
Still, clearing a dungeon at this level isn't that tough.
The Imperial Guard lived up to their reputation as France's guardians.
They had more than enough specs to handle 7th-grade monsters and executed his commands with flawless combat precision. That's why Minguk had one-shot every monster they'd faced so far without a single mistake.
And...
"We could probably pick up the pace a bit more."
"Even faster than now?"
Chloe was at a loss for words at Minguk's suggestion.
And rightly so—taking down two 7th-grade monsters per hour was already insane. Especially since each one had completely different attack patterns blocking the heroes' path.
Yet Minguk was dismantling those powerhouses like they were regular mobs. He didn't even seem to consider failure as an option.
"...Second life or something?"
A certain novel popped into her mind.
It was one Kang Chaeyoung had been reading; Chloe had snatched it a few times but never finished. Honestly, it was a reasonable suspicion. Especially considering how long Minguk had been active.
Even with hologram training, there were limits.
"Pardon? What was that?"
"Oh, nothing, don't worry about it. Anyway, got it. I'll tell the team."
Chloe waved her hands frantically, having overheard his mutter and seen his reaction.
"It's not about pushing tries too hard. Just focus a little more on clearing the path."
"Handling regular mobs is a breeze."
Minguk and the Imperial Guard pressed on, conquering monsters at a blistering pace.
Once they cleared the dungeon, they jumped right into another without rest. Blue-grade mana crystals were the goal, so there was no need to hop dungeons for varied combat experience.
The loot boxes' items all went to the Imperial Guard. They were the ones acting as knights, so Minguk had no complaints.
Once he hit 7-star, he'd get gear with high Gear Score anyway.
"Huff... huff."
"...Urgh."
Even veterans like the Imperial Guard were wearing down from the nonstop battles.
They needed to make Minguk a 7-star hero ASAP to dive into Garai's try, but they were still flesh and blood.
True to form as a national raid team, they pushed through fatigue, fulfilling their roles and succeeding in raids. But limits were showing.
Can't push anymore.
After the latest darkness monster fight, Minguk reviewed the battle.
Even against a monster they'd already cleared, three had died mid-fight. No leading mistakes—just slow reactions to its attacks, leading to disaster.
No matter their high Gear Score gear, they couldn't tank a 7th-grade monster's heavy hits forever.
Need a break.
He'd seen this before with Team GGW. Heroes sleepwalking or collapsing post-try. Familiar sights.
Today's results were solid enough to call it quits. Luck helped, but he'd absorbed nine mana crystals today alone.
Add Ppuu's quest on top...
"Settling up right now."
Ppuu appeared just as the thought crossed his mind.
Ahead of this crisis, Minguk had gotten a quest from Ppuu: earn Blue mana crystals or gear tickets based on 7th-grade special entities downed in 24 hours.
"Siiiip. But with you, the raid god, now busing the Imperial Guard..."
I just asked for a quest? You set the details.
"True, but the bigger the rewards you get, the longer it takes me to offer the next one."
A bit disappointing, but...
In this urgent moment, no time to worry about the future.
Acquired 2 Diamond Tickets.
Acquired 6 Blue-grade Mana Crystals.
Moments later, feeling something heavy in his pocket, Minguk pulled out the rewards.
What the hell, you bastard! What kind of reward is this?!
He punched Ppuu's message window. His fist passed through like slicing air.
"Agh! Wh-what did I do?!"
Out of six crystals, only one is usable? And even then, it's just one out of Intellect or Spirit?!
"I-I can't help it, Minguk! It's random! I can't pick crystals with my current power! No spamming quests!"
Minguk ground his teeth at Ppuu's desperate cry, then sighed and apologized.
Yeah, you're right. Sorry for swinging.
"Sob sob."
He didn't know exactly how quests worked, but Ppuu was clearly squeezing out everything for rewards.
Still, five out of six useless felt excessive. They weren't totally pointless if absorbed—just inefficient.
Anyway, the heroes were tapped out for more tries.
"That's it for today."
Sighs of relief echoed everywhere. Pure exhaustion.
"Dungeon's not cleared yet. You sure?"
Chloe approached.
Her words belied the fatigue in her eyes from endless tries. Her golden hair, once radiant, was matted with monster blood and dust.
"Dungeons don't run away. Mistakes are slowing us down anyway. We need rest."
"Well..."
Chloe nodded in agreement.
The last try proved it. A monster they'd normally smash, but three deaths nearly wiped the raid.
The first schedule with the temp raid leader had been a whirlwind of shocks.
He's a real monster...
Chloe accepted Minguk in a single day.
No, the whole Imperial Guard probably did after today's raids.
Minguk's leading was top-notch—flawless, even. Hard to believe for a hero with such recent fame.
His words at Hoa Bin's meeting weren't empty bravado. He knew he could deliver.
With this skill, Garai seemed doable. Unbelievably, even Celes fell short compared to Minguk's command.
Boosting his hero rank comes first, though.
At this rate, three or four days would suffice. Insane compared to average clear speeds for 【A - 5】 difficulty dungeons.
Some in the Guard, like Bridget, thought it'd take at least ten days even busing hard.
But now? Totally flipped.
Bridget's eyes turned to hearts gazing at Minguk, who proved himself today. She seemed ready to pounce at any chance, like she'd fallen for him.
Got to block that at all costs.
They'd just found a way to handle Vietnam's dungeon break. Any drama now would screw Chloe and the Guard.
"Alright, let's head back and rest. Gotta run hard again tomorrow."
"At least guarantee six hours of sleep!"
The heroes exited the dungeon for rest.
But Minguk had no time. Beyond Ppuu, Qwoo♡ had a quest too.
Qwoo♡'s Special Quest!
Qwoo♡, servant of the Creator God Chaos, cheers on Minguk's preparations for the Garai fight. I've prepared a quest for you, just like Ppuu!
📍 Goal: Beautiful love-seeker Qwoo♡ helps Minguk through sex!
⏰ Duration: One week.
🎁 Reward: 10 Sex Coins per person.
Sleep with new heroes to earn Sex Coins.
Bonus: Chaos Shop upgraded to Rank 3 (this time only). Good luck refreshing for those Blue-grade Mana Crystals you need.
Note: Refreshing costs a few Sex Coins. Upgrade reverts post-quest. This strains me, so all my quests vanish after.
Conditions aplenty, but a prime chance to stock needed mana crystals with Sex Coins.
The method to earn coins? Minguk's favorite—sharing beautiful love.
And today's tries had stocked him with French beauties who seemed smitten.