Chapter 307: Depths of the Poison Mire
Not just Sung Min-woo, but even Doran looked a bit overwhelmed by Mu-hyuk's thorough preparations this time.
"Dude, this is a bit much, don't you think?"
"My lord..."
But one person was different.
Yerin.
"O-oppa."
"Hm?"
"You look so cool....!"
Hearts seemed ready to pour from her eyes.
"Doesn't he look super cool?"
"Yeah! How can you be so prepared and perfect? There's nothing you're lacking."
"Of course not."
Sung Min-woo bowed his head at the couple's display of affection.
"Ughhh."
He put on an exaggerated act like he was about to puke.
"Man, I'm seriously gonna hurl. Give me the antidote quick."
"Ah, right."
Mu-hyuk chuckled and distributed antidotes to everyone.
"Drink up first."
"Thank you, my lord."
"Yeah, thanks..."
Everyone downed their antidotes.
The black mist has been neutralized.
Thanks to that, their HP stopped dropping.
"HP's not dropping anymore?"
"Yeah, this stuff works great."
"Obviously. And this..."
He pulled out a large quantity of antidotes.
"Let's split these evenly for now."
"Okay!"
"Thanks, oppa!"
Everyone stowed their share in their inventories. Doran tucked his into his pouch, and Mu-hyuk agreed to carry any extras.
"We don't have a ton, so use them sparingly."
"How?"
"Hmm, one per two monsters?"
"Then we'll need to move fast."
"Exactly."
Even using them as planned didn't seem too risky.
With everyone in agreement, they pressed forward.
"Another swamp."
Whenever a swamp appeared, they used coagulants to create a path.
"My lord, monsters ahead."
When monsters showed up, they kept their distance and handled them with summons only. If they got poisoned unluckily, they pushed through without antidotes as long as possible, hurrying their steps. Better to take down one more monster before drinking.
"Whew, got it!"
"Can drink now?"
"Yeah."
"Damn, good pace? Let's clear the 3rd floor easy!"
But expectations faded quickly.
"Ah, shit...!"
Using one coagulant every short distance meant their stock was visibly dwindling.
They needed to conserve coagulants too, not just antidotes. In monster-free areas, they'd push through without them.
"This swamp's too deep."
"Oppa, I'm sinking up to my chest..."
Mu-hyuk reached out and pulled Yerin up.
"You okay?"
"Yeah! But it's getting deeper."
"And the poison's stronger."
Now HP was dropping 50 every 10 seconds.
"No coagulants left, nothing we can do."
"True. This is good enough."
After trekking a while, monsters appeared.
"Everyone up!"
The four leaped skyward with a skill. In midair, they tossed coagulants below. The swamp solidified instantly.
Thud.
They landed softly.
"Summon."
Skeletons handled the monsters.
*
How many sleepless nights had it been?
"Almost done!"
"How many times have I heard that...!"
"For real this time!"
"Yeah, hurry up. I have no idea what that player Mu-hyuk did to cause this mess."
"Whew, I'm dying here."
"Man, back in the day I'd just ban the account..."
"Crazy bastard. What era do you think this is?"
"That's why I said 'back in the day'..."
"Aigoo, shut up and hurry."
"Yes, sir..."
An hour later, the frantic ops team finally slumped into their chairs. Exhausted, but smiles crept onto their faces. Too grueling, but it was over.
"Haa, finally...!"
"Done...!"
"Yeah, it's done. Finally!"
"Fuck yeeeah!"
Then the door burst open.
The ops team lead.
"System?"
"All fixed."
"Notice?"
"About to post."
The team lead scowled.
"Why the hell haven't you posted it yet!"
"J-just finished..."
"Excuses! Do you know how urgent this is? Post it now!"
"Got it!"
The lead left, and the staff hammered away again.
"This sucks."
"Just a bit more."
"Sigh, yeah."
Just the notice left.
Clack clack clack.
"Done?"
"Yeah, almost..."
Final enter key smash.
Article has been posted.
And so, a post went live at the top of the Illusion homepage.
Hello. This is the Illusion operations team.
We have revised the guild war system, which has been the subject of much controversy, along with some convenience features.
1. Previously, guild wars had a minimum 3-day cooldown regardless of win/loss.
→ Revised: Losing a guild war now doubles the minimum cooldown.
EX) After first loss: 6 days. After second: 12 days.
2. Previously, disbanding a guild after winning, recreating it, and challenging the same opponent again was possible.
→ Deemed system abuse; new guilds cannot participate in guild wars for 1 month after recreation.
3. Some item options deemed to slightly disrupt balance have been revised.
4. For better communication, guild war chat and friend chat systems have been revised...
These are the major changes.
Maintenance for implementation scheduled from 4:30 to 4:35 AM on July 11th. Please take note.
They double-checked for typos and errors, then cheered.
"Yeeesss!"
"Overtime's finally over!"
The long ordeal ended.
*
Mu-hyuk, resting and browsing the homepage.
"Oh, notice is up."
"Huh? What's it say?"
"Guild war system revisions and..."
This part he'd expected.
But...!
"Item option revisions?"
Something unforeseen.
Ah, this feels ominous.
He'd known the Red Dagger of the White Horse Army was seriously balance-breaking even before the guild wars. He'd felt it acutely during them.
So he'd suspected a nerf might come, and there it was in the notice.
Not mentioned explicitly, of course.
But 99% chance it included the dagger.
Nothing to be done.
He just hoped the nerf wouldn't render it worthless.
"Whoa, big changes? And the guild war stuff is definitely because of us, right?"
"Probably."
"Yeah, it was pretty extreme."
Sung Min-woo chuckled slyly.
"And items?"
All eyes turned to Mu-hyuk.
"Must be nerve-wracking?"
"Nerve-wracking? It's basically 100%."
"I see."
"Ah, oppa, it's about that dagger, right?"
"Yeah."
"Sucks if it's nerfed..."
"It's fine. We don't know yet."
Maintenance was tomorrow dawn.
He'd check changes upon waking.
"Anyway, ignore it and focus on clearing."
"Okay."
As they stepped forward, brows furrowed.
The swamp deepened, binding their legs like unyielding spiderwebs.
Mental and physical drain mounted.
Occasional grass hid grotesque venomous bugs that swarmed their bodies, raising goosebumps.
"Ah, again...!"
"I hate bugs so much!"
The worst environment imaginable.
After a few more monsters, fatigue peaked.
"Haa, Mu-hyuk."
"Yeah."
"Let's rest, eat dinner, log back in."
He glanced at Yerin.
She looked drained too.
So did he.
"Yeah, see you at 8."
"Good call."
"Oppa, I'll call when I log out."
"Sure."
Sung Min-woo and Yerin logged out.
Mu-hyuk opened options, set his character to safe logout. Added alerts for any danger.
"Summon."
Then summoned skeletons and eyed Doran.
"Gonna be alone a bit."
"It's fine, my lord."
A bit worried, but with skeletons, three hours should be okay.
"See you soon."
"Yes!"
Mu-hyuk logged out lying down.
His character closed its eyes peacefully. Doran sat beside, resting.
*
Mu-hyuk logged back in right after dinner.
You have entered Illusion.
His prone character opened its eyes.
"My lord?"
"Yeah."
"Already back?"
"Just worried."
Mu-hyuk scanned around. No issues, thankfully.
"Bored. Wanna scout a bit?"
"Gladly, my lord."
This was invaluable experience for Doran. His levels were skyrocketing.
16 levels higher than when they met.
Impressively fast.
Grinning, he wandered.
"My lord, monsters."
"One's fine. Let's fight."
"Yes!"
With skeletons, no problem.
Command.
Delegated to each skeleton's commander, Mu-hyuk nocked an arrow.
Doran did the same.
They aimed together, loosed simultaneously. Two arrows sliced air, embedding in the monster's forehead.
Critical damage triggered.
Rare criticals were a treat.
Skeletons followed up.
Experience acquired.
Easy kill. They advanced.
"Hm...!"
Doran halted.
"What?"
"May I scout around?"
"Around?"
"Yes, something feels off."
Doran's specialty flashed: scouting.
Mu-hyuk nodded.
"Go ahead."
"Thank you."
Doran carefully surveyed.
After a while, he pointed one way.
"Something there."
"Let's check."
Entering dense foliage, bugs scattered everywhere.
"Ugh...!"
He swatted them away.
His grimace lingered.
Damn bugs...
Shaking his head, he stepped forward.
"That way, my lord."
"Yeah."
Soon Doran stopped.
No further path. An impossibly high wall loomed.
Doran touched it cautiously. Mu-hyuk joined, tapping.
Tap, tap, thunk.
Definitely hollow there.
Mu-hyuk's eyes sharpened.
Something's there.
He swung his sword hard. The wall crumbled, revealing an entry.
Clearly no ordinary place.