Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Became the Gallery's Only Reptile
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With the new version update, the [Distorted Dimension Fragment]—the version introduced through Jijiyong's intel—finally went live.
Along with it came the core event, [Distorted Dimension Fragment]. Users who had been building hype after watching the version PV dove in the moment it started.
But for some reason, the users who entered the event weren't coming back out, no matter how much time passed.
Of course, plenty of veterans were among them.
Yet not a single person had cleared it.
All users who experienced the event said the same thing.
The difficulty is off.
Harder than any event or endgame content so far.
It even made the news.
The event, [Distorted Dimension Fragment], features three key battles.
Phase 1: A massive war against endless waves of skeleton soldiers.
Phase 2: A fight against a tiger beastkin girl.
Phase 3: The final boss of this event, Black Despair.
Incidentally, even the players who'd progressed the farthest were struggling with the phase 2 tiger beastkin girl, not even reaching phase 3.
This difficulty was making even control masters suffer.
As time passed with little progress, worries arose that no one might see the event's end before the deadline.
Eventually, countless users flooded the official homepage with fiery complaints.
In response, the Jijiyong team decided to offer a little help to calm them down.
It wasn't full difficulty normalization, but introducing the party system let users ramp up progress fast.
Unlike before, where phase 2 was a solo struggle, now players were pouring into the long-awaited phase 3.
But as expected, phase 3 drew gasps of admiration—or despair—from all players with its all-time high difficulty.
A league beyond the first two battles.
Even with Spirit King helpers joining in, it was this brutal.
People were jokingly calling it more Demon King-like than the actual Demon King.
The shock was so big it spawned memes like that.
So here's one thing to wonder about.
In the original world of the boss monster Black Despair—that's drawing all this hot attention from players—what's the story flow like right now?
Whish. Whish. Whoooosh.
The overall story flow wasn't much different from Jijiyong's.
The Spirit Kings provoke, and Black Despair eventually picks a fight with them—that huge arc.
But the difference was in the depth of the story.
The Spirit Kings' provocation-like actions that started the fight were relatively lighthearted, not outright trampling the opponent's authority like in the game.
So the original Black Despair—El—didn't kill them outright, just handed down this light punishment.
With black chains wrapped around their legs, forced into dynamic spins like on a ride, the Spirit Kings were horrified comparing El's power before and after his Lich King fight.
His total power, once equal or slightly below theirs, had ballooned several times over.
"El's gotten even darker."
"Whoa. Feels even tougher than before?"
Thud. Thud.
Cheong played with El's darker scales, while Silpi paced anxiously, face pale as she watched the blue-faced Spirit Kings.
Ceres had already finished her daily Amrita ration and was scolding Keter for sneaking more.
Feeling Cheong's touch while watching the Spirit Kings suffer, a dissatisfied intent from Greed reached him.
Kill them? Their initial attitude was indeed grating.
But ordering deaths felt a bit...
Well, he wasn't letting it slide unpunished.
El eyed the Fire Spirit King, face pale blue and spewing flames.
A black scale was embedded in his chest—a mark left while subduing them.
And a transmitter to check if they fulfilled their punishment.
What punishment?
That was their punishment.
Killing all Spirit Kings could wreck the environment, so this natural succession pulls them down smoothly.
'They will.'
That's why he marked them.
They'd been directly subdued.
Having felt the power gap firsthand, they'd heed him.
And if they plotted secretly, the marks would signal here, covering risks.
'That should do it.'
One might ask, what's the difference if another Spirit King appears?
Wouldn't keeping aware, prepared ones safer? Sure.
But the reason for replacement was simple.
'Become a Spirit King, Silpi!'
His friend.
To make Silpi a Spirit King.
'The current Wind Spirit King acts friendly thanks to Silpi, but sided with the others at key moments.'
So better to seat the reliably allied Silpi than some ambiguously friendly one.
'Issue is whether Silpi can become one within a millennium.'
Silpi was currently a mid-tier wind spirit.
To Spirit King: upper, then top-tier.
Time per rank makes it iffy, but... trust Silpi's talent.
These guys for real.
Gave them 30 minutes rest, and they can't even reply?
Only when El demanded did the Spirit Kings plaster on smiles and reply.
Good. Now Ceres leads Spirit King meetings, securing the biggest position.
And in a millennium, Wind Spirit King becomes Silpi, adding another ally naturally.
"An epithet? Really?"
Those guys I beat calling Ceres by name?
No way El's seeing that.
"How about Tree of Life? That'd work."
Cheong recalled how Paradise beasts called Ceres.
But that's not enough.
She's above Spirit Kings now—might as well make it cooler, grander.
"Mother. At least make your leaves stop glowing when you speak..."
"M-Mother! I was wrong!"
She says that, but Ceres seems to like World Tree.
But these Spirit Kings.
Why so quiet?
They can't object anyway, but some reaction?
Just bare replies?
Clap clap clap clap clap.
Good, atmosphere's brightening now...
Smack.
Thoughts cut off, sharp sting on the back of his head.
And that super familiar wind energy.
Unable to watch anymore, Silpi wrapped her fist in wind and smacked El's head.
After the hit, El wondered if he'd gone too far, bowed to Silpi, and sincerely apologized.
The watching Spirit Kings...
"Hehe. A child I cherish greatly."
Everyone gazed at Silpi like a hero, eyes sparkling like starlight.