Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: Nightmare Dungeon (2)
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“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
Kang Hyun-su had never once confused nightmare with reality since entering the dungeon.
That was why he immediately saw through the fact that the nightmare wasn’t real.
But Song Hana and Tu-hwang were different.
Escaping a nightmare depended on individual willpower.
But failing to distinguish between reality and nightmare, and falling into it?
‘It must be influenced by the mental strength stat.’
Kang Hyun-su’s mental strength stat was the highest among all existing players.
His mental strength stat had also risen considerably through achievements and accumulated stats.
‘And I can’t ignore the gear boost either.’
The mental defense skills embedded in the Guardian Ring.
The Ring of Health, which increased mental strength stat by 3,000 and amplified it by 100%.
On top of that, the Dragonscale Armor set option boosted mental strength stat by 450%.
Thanks to this overwhelming gear boost.
Kang Hyun-su had never confused reality with nightmare after entering the Nightmare Dungeon.
However.
‘Those two are in a different situation.’
Song Hana and Tu-hwang’s mental strength stats were quite high.
But this was a nightmare that had even killed future rankers who surely had far superior mental strength stats to those two.
‘I need to help them.’
Kang Hyun-su removed the Guardian Ring and Ring of Health from his finger.
Then he slipped both rings onto Song Hana’s finger.
Tu-hwang was at least resisting somewhat.
But Song Hana was just trembling uncontrollably.
‘Once the option effects kick in, it should help her realize the nightmare isn’t real.’
But if she had already fallen too deeply into the nightmare?
Even the Guardian Ring and Ring of Health would likely be useless.
“Mom, Dad, I’m sorry. Please don’t abandon me.”
Song Hana shed tears as she rubbed her hands together desperately, begging.
“No, I don’t want to be alone. It’s too scary. Please stay with me.”
Song Hana whimpered like a child.
It was obvious she hadn’t grown up in a normal family.
‘Is this why she never talked about Earth all this time?’
He had thought she avoided mentioning Earth simply because she feared getting homesick.
‘Guess that wasn’t it.’
Since their first meeting in the tutorial.
Song Hana had followed Kang Hyun-su like a chick trailing its mother bird.
‘Back then, I didn’t know.’
After being appointed commander, while sharing drinks together, a heavily intoxicated Song Hana had confessed her true feelings.
That she had desperately tried not to be abandoned by Kang Hyun-su all this time.
That she would work even harder from now on.
So please don’t abandon her.
‘At the time, I thought she was just joking that she was scared I’d leave her too.’
It had been an extreme situation.
Kang Hyun-su was the only one she could trust.
‘So I thought it might be because of that.’
But it seemed she had trauma from Earth that carried over.
“Hana, Song Hana! I’m right here. You’re not alone. I’ll stay with you forever.”
Kang Hyun-su kept saying words that might give Song Hana strength.
‘Not sure if she can hear me or not.’
For now, this was the only thing Kang Hyun-su could do.
“Together?”
At that moment, Song Hana reacted to Kang Hyun-su’s words.
“Yeah, I’ll stay with you.”
“Forever?”
“Yeah, forever.”
“Really? For real?”
“Yeah.”
“Thank you, Hyun-su.”
With those words, Song Hana opened her tightly shut eyes.
“Haa! Haa!”
Song Hana, now with eyes open, let out ragged breaths.
“Hyun-su? What is this?”
“You just got trapped in a nightmare. Rest for a bit.”
Along with those words, Kang Hyun-su removed the Guardian Ring and Ring of Health from Song Hana’s finger and approached Tu-hwang.
“Come at me all together! I won’t forgive anyone who looks down on me as a beastkin!”
Tu-hwang was literally going berserk.
Thud!
Wounds repeatedly appeared and healed on Tu-hwang’s body.
‘It’s a nightmare, but it doesn’t end as just a dream.’
Like Song Hana, it could lead to mental shock that nearly collapsed the ego.
Or, like Tu-hwang, who had fallen deeply into it, one could take actual wounds in that state.
‘Good thing I kept Immortal Holy Flame active at all times.’
If he hadn’t maintained Immortal Holy Flame constantly?
Tu-hwang’s body would surely be covered in wounds right now.
Clack!
Kang Hyun-su grabbed Tu-hwang’s hand.
And slipped on the Guardian Ring and Ring of Health.
“Jupi, snap out of it. That’s not real. Get out of the nightmare.”
Kang Hyun-su kept repeating the same words.
“Kang Hyun-su?”
Tu-hwang reacted.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“It wasn’t a dream after all.”
Tu-hwang flashed a bright smile and.
Opened his eyes.
“Kang Hyun-su! So everything that happened with you was real!”
Tu-hwang pulled Kang Hyun-su into a tight hug.
‘Looks like he temporarily forgot everything that happened after meeting me.’
Kang Hyun-su removed the Guardian Ring and Ring of Health from Tu-hwang’s hand and put them back on himself.
At that moment.
[You have cleared the Nightmare Dungeon.]
[Rewards will be given.]
Whoosh!
With a burst of bright light, the dungeon’s mana gathered in one spot and.
Transformed into nine items.
‘What? Weren’t there only three rewards?’
Before regression, that was what was known.
But there were nine items in front of Kang Hyun-su’s eyes, not three.
And all of them.
‘EX-Rank!’
He had known it was a jackpot from the start.
But.
He hadn’t expected this level of mega jackpot.
‘These sly foxes.’
Shadow Lord, Immortal, Sword Demon King.
Those three.
‘They deceived everyone.’
They had clearly not revealed all the rewards from clearing the Nightmare Dungeon.
‘Well, all three were from major guilds.’
Since they went on the expedition with guild support, they had to report what the Nightmare Dungeon clear rewards were.
But if they reported getting nine EX-Rank items?
‘The guild would have taken the shares of the six who died.’
So they probably reported only three items as clear rewards.
After that.
‘They pocketed the remaining six separately.’
Likely dividing two each among the three.
It might have even been a wise decision.
‘No need to let the guild have all the good stuff.’
Kang Hyun-su checked the item information.
‘Padron’s Sword, Book of Immortality, Shadow of the Moon.’
These three were the signature items and skills used by Sword Demon King, Immortal, and Shadow Lord before regression.
‘What about the other six?’
One ring, one earring, one necklace—a total of three accessories.
The other three were skill books.
As for the three accessories.
‘They all have “Nightmare” in the name.’
Unfortunately, since they were single items and not a set.
‘No set options.’
[Nightmare Ring - EX-Rank]
-Increases mana stat by 45%.
-Increases mental strength stat by 45%.
-Increases skill resistance by 45%.
-Increases skill attack power by 45%.
-Stored Skill: Nightmare EX-Rank
When activated, inflicts the caster’s desired nightmare on the target.
Cooldown: 24 hours
‘Nightmare Ring, huh.’
The Nightmare Earring and Nightmare Necklace had the same options.
‘Guess we can each take one.’
They boosted mana and mental strength, plus skill resistance and attack power.
If the attached skills were different?
They’d be more useful.
‘But since the options are the same, they’re only good for reducing cooldowns.’
It was better to split one each.
Still, though.
‘The Nightmare skill itself seems pretty useful.’
The fact that it inflicts the caster’s desired nightmare seemed like it could have great effects.
As a skill, its activation rate would depend on the caster’s mana stat, skill attack power, and the target’s mental strength stat and skill resistance.
‘With my mana stat, it should be fine.’
Unless they had exceptionally high mental strength stat and skill resistance, it would hit nine times out of ten.
‘Let’s see.’
Kang Hyun-su turned his gaze to the three skill books he hadn’t checked yet.
‘Blessing of the Sun, Blessing of the Moon, Blessing of the Stars.’
All three were defensive skill books.
‘Not very useful for me.’
They were all EX-Rank, sure.
But from Kang Hyun-su’s perspective, with the Guardian Ring.
‘Learning them would be a loss.’
The moment he learned them, the Guardian Ring would absorb the three EX-Rank skills.
And then?
‘It’d just be wasting three EX-Rank skills.’
The skills stored in the Guardian Ring were all EX-Rank anyway.
Even F-Rank skill books were enough to replace stored skills.
Whether F-Rank or EX-Rank skill book, once learned and stored in the Guardian Ring.
‘The skill rank automatically fixes to EX.’
From Kang Hyun-su’s standpoint, the EX-Rank defensive skill books—Blessing of the Sun, Blessing of the Moon, Blessing of the Stars—offered no real merit.
But.
‘It’s different for those two.’
They would be a huge help to Song Hana and Tu-hwang.
It was just that the Guardian Ring was so overpowered.
‘EX-Rank skill books are incredibly rare.’
Without memories from before regression?
Kang Hyun-su couldn’t have obtained this many EX-Rank items and skills.
“Let’s distribute them first.”
At Kang Hyun-su’s words.
“No, I didn’t do anything. Just take them all.”
Song Hana gave up her claim.
“Yeah, we didn’t help clear the dungeon—we were just a hindrance.”
Tu-hwang agreed with a dejected expression.
‘They took a big psychological hit.’
It seemed escaping the nightmare didn’t end it.
‘Their confidence has dropped a lot too.’
Recently, Song Hana and Tu-hwang, whose skills had improved dramatically, had been overflowing with confidence.
But this incident had deflated them completely.
‘Not a bad thing.’
Confidence is good.
But arrogance is not.
The Nightmare Dungeon served to teach Song Hana and Tu-hwang just how dangerous the Atlantis Dimension was.
‘It could have turned into arrogance.’
The Nightmare Dungeon had given Song Hana and Tu-hwang the perfect reality check.
“Let’s head back for now.”
Kang Hyun-su took Song Hana and Tu-hwang back to Luzabenu.
That evening.
Kang Hyun-su called Song Hana and Tu-hwang.
And then.
“Here.”
He divided the items and skill books, three each.
To Song Hana: Padron’s Sword, Nightmare Earring, Blessing of the Sun.
To Tu-hwang: Nightmare Necklace, Blessing of the Moon, Blessing of the Stars.
“We don’t deserve these.”
“Yeah, you should take them all.”
“They’re not that useful to me anyway.”
Kang Hyun-su had already taken the real prizes: Book of Immortality and Shadow of the Moon.
‘Plus a bonus Nightmare Ring.’
The remaining six weren’t very useful or helpful to him.
But to those two?
‘They’ll be a huge help.’
Song Hana and Tu-hwang were free-willed players and Kang Hyun-su’s summons.
If those two grew stronger?
‘It’s the same as me getting stronger.’
For now, it seemed he needed to give them some light mental care.
‘If I leave them like this, they’ll burrow into a hole.’
It would also boost their trust in him incidentally.
“You two must have been pretty shaken by this. But…”
Kang Hyun-su worked his mouth diligently.
He had two goals.
To instill confidence in those two who were down in the dumps.
And to deeply plant in their hearts the fact that he truly trusted them.
It wasn’t even a lie.
Kang Hyun-su truly trusted Song Hana and Tu-hwang.
‘They’re the Blood Emperor and Fist Emperor who ruled as absolutes even before regression.’
Now, they were growing stronger even faster than before regression.
And.
He had clearly seen the sight of those two displaying power worthy of being called Blood God and War God.
‘Through future foresight.’
Dragon Karas? Fist Emperor? Martial Sovereign?
Summons couldn’t grow.
They were useful now.
But eventually, as time passed, they’d have to be replaced with stronger summons.
But Song Hana and Tu-hwang were different.
They grew endlessly, getting stronger.
Two people who had become named player-level powerhouses in just three years.
And.
‘They’ll definitely get even stronger.’
Overconfidence was a problem.
But being too deflated was also a problem.
At Kang Hyun-su’s appropriate mental care.
“Really?”
“Ahem! Well, if you trust me that much, I guess I have no choice!”
Song Hana and Tu-hwang snapped out of it and crawled out of their holes.