Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Plunge to the Depths
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The knight commanders' figures grew smaller and smaller. The sky receded endlessly into the distance, and my body began plummeting straight down toward the floor.
The monsters on the bridge spotted me falling below and moved to prepare for battle, but before they could do a thing, I was already far lower. Bows or spears were utterly meaningless.
This was the fastest way to clear the Abyss Dungeon, as I'd said. Align the angle and position precisely, then leap straight down toward the bottom.
It looked simple enough at a glance, but in reality, it was anything but.
The developers weren't idiots—they'd boosted the base HP of the bridge monsters to prevent cheesing via falling attacks and adjusted the height accordingly.
Falling attacks only ignored damage if the target died. If the monster survived, the player would just end up splatting to death all alone.
They'd even positioned most monsters in blind spots, calculating distances so no accidental drops from jumps would land on them.
So from the moment you fell from the bridge, death by fall was inevitable. Everyone thought so.
*But it was that very 'accident' that led to discovering the method.*
It all started with some unlucky soul. They botched a Roll and tumbled off the bridge's edge, plummeting all the way to the dungeon's lowest level and dying there.
As that stroke of rotten luck became fodder for mockery, someone tossed out, "What if you drop all the way to the bottom and plunge attack—skip the whole middle?"
With nothing better to do, the madmen who pulled off all sorts of stunts latched onto the bait and started experimenting. I was one of them.
There were just two conditions, but each was brutally tough.
First, once you jumped, you had to reach the dungeon floor without snagging on anything midway. Second, there had to be a monster right at the landing spot for the falling attack.
The second one was especially vicious. Monsters wandered aimlessly unless they spotted a player, so you had to time it perfectly.
But who were we? Give us bonsai care, and we'd beat each other with the trees; throw in competition, and we'd claw our way even a little higher than the next guy.
After endless attempts, we finally nailed it. From the moment you entered the dungeon zone, we calculated every monster movement, every jump spot.
And this was the payoff.
Countless bridges and vines whipped past me, close enough that a slight miscalculation would've meant smashing into one and dying.
Some fired arrows now and then, but they couldn't touch me. The thwack of arrows hitting walls echoed only from far above.
*Man, that one was a nightmare.*
Just seeing the monster that had grazed past me—a beast at least three or four times a human's size—sent chills down my spine. That was the mid-boss.
Fighting it on that narrow bridge was hell enough, but true to hardcore mode's mercilessness, archers from nearby cliffs rained arrows too.
Good thing I didn't have to fight it now. Without the terrain and arrows, it'd be trash mob tier, but it was a nightmare pest.
I plummeted far past the mid-boss. The floor was nowhere in sight yet.
Of course. This dungeon was basically the trade-off for the new DLC zone—it had to deliver playtime rivaling a full region.
This was skipping straight from start to end, bypassing the middle entirely. A few minutes? No way.
As time passed, the monsters on the bridges changed.
Near the entrance, they wielded crude weapons, wooden shields, or wooden bows. Deeper down, bulkier ones appeared.
Shields turned to tough hides, spears to razor claws and fangs, bows to black liquid spewed from mouths. They were much larger than average people too.
But I'd blown past them all, so it didn't matter.
*About time to land.*
The dungeon walls—and even the bridges crossing the center—were now pitch black. I was nearing the Rune Dungeon's core.
Soon, the floor came into view far below. The muddy expanse writhed like it was alive.
I scanned my landing spot. A monster was ambling right toward it.
*Whew, lucky.*
I let out a silent sigh of relief. I'd jumped confidently, but I wasn't totally relaxed. Part of me had worried.
Good thing the bad feeling missed.
I raised the bloodstained sword. Attack buffs were pointless. Falling attack damage scaled with drop distance and bonus multipliers, not weapon power.
From this height, even a boss would drop in one hit.
The gap between me and the monster shrank rapidly. I pulled my right shoulder back slightly, then slammed down onto its head.
—Kwachijijik!
"Graaaaargh!"
The monster that took the full impact meant for me screamed in agony. I gripped its neck and spun us around.
Its upper body snapped sideways and smashed into the floor. A gruesome splat echoed, like its back had burst.
We tumbled across the ground, tangled together, rolling several times. It ended with it underneath and me on top. I plunged the bloodstained sword into its skull.
The monster convulsed like it'd been struck by lightning, then went still. I confirmed it wasn't moving, slowly withdrew the blade, and stood.
Unlike the mangled heap on the floor, I was unscratched.
Success.
I glanced up. Straight shot to the entrance, yet no sky—just darkness packed with vines and bridges.
Just the bridges in my view numbered over a hundred easily. The dungeon's depth hit home.
I looked down. Still work to do. More monsters identical to the one I'd used as a landing pad. Them too.
No hesitation—I stabbed the bloodstained sword into its gut. This was late-game territory in the main story. No buff, and it'd take forever to kill them.
I yanked the sword free and walked into the nearest monster's detection range. Its head creaked around, red eyes glowing at me.
Thud. It stepped forward.
The last monster flopped to the floor. Black mud splattered everywhere with a wet smack.
"Ugh, gross."
I wiped the black goo off my face with my hand. Didn't expect it on my face. Probably harmless to humans, but it soured my mood.
The bloodstained sword had reverted to its original color ages ago. The buff wore off mid-last kill, dragging it out a bit, but it matched my planned time well enough.
I slogged through the sticky black mud, feet sinking to my calves with each step.
This was why I hated it. Forced walking, and it even sealed Rolls.
Swamps had a similar slowdown, but this was worse. Swamps allowed heavy Rolls; here, Rolls were outright banned—you could only walk.
Griping about the blood-pressure-spiking section, I emerged to see a narrow alley between walls and a statue-like thing beside it.
A player statue for quick saves and fast travel. Useless to me now.
Couldn't unlock it yet anyway, and even if I could, it wouldn't help much.
*What's the point of me using it solo while leaving the knight commanders behind?*
How often would I move alone ahead? Plus, no reason to come back here ever.
In-game, I'd activate it, restock potions, take a breather, then hit the boss. Not here. I ignored it and kept walking.
Soon, I reached a massive door.
The Abyss Dungeon boss lay beyond. I sheathed the bloodstained sword, placed my hand on the door, and slowly pushed with force.
It groaned ku-gu-gung as it parted to either side. The interior came into view bit by bit. The boss room matched my memory.
"Hic... huhu-hic... heuk...."
A woman's sobbing echoed from inside.
It was heartbreaking yet spine-chilling. I shoved the door fully open and entered. It sealed shut behind me with a ku-gung.
At the room's center knelt a woman, hands clasped before her mouth in prayer amid tears. She wore the battle nun garb of the Raphaela Holy Kingdom.
It was shredded and rotted nearly everywhere—barely clothing at all. By my guess, the remaining fabric was under 10% of the original.
With that insane exposure from the nun outfit, less than 10% left meant naked as the day she was born.
"Hic... heuk...."
Even as I stepped forward, the nun didn't stop crying. Black liquid streamed from her squeezed-shut eyes.
—Chul-beok.
Drop.
The sobs cut off the instant my foot hit the mud.