Chapter 24: Frozen Tear
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 24: Frozen Tear
['The Lord of the Fallen Corridor' is watching you.]
This is...!
Jinhyuk's eyes narrowed.
There was no mistake.
It was an indirect message from a boss monster.
"D-did you see this? Just now, on the status window..."
Teresa cried out in surprise.
"Yes. I saw it too."
But there was no need to worry about being attacked immediately.
An indirect message from an intelligent boss monster was merely an expression of its feelings or intent.
It couldn't pose any physical threat.
Still...
'I don't think this guy has ever shown interest in a player before...?'
The Lord of the Corridor always kept himself shut away in his room.
He naturally dealt with intruders, but otherwise, he completely cut off all contact with the outside world.
Yet, he was expressing interest like this.
...Intriguing.
Both his reason and his intention.
"It seems to be a boss monster, but what does it mean by 'watching' us?"
"To put it nicely, it sees us as amusing opponents. To put it badly, it means it has no intention of letting us leave here alive. You can interpret it along those lines."
"Does that mean it has acknowledged us?"
"It means it acknowledged me. Not you."
Where did she think she was going, trying to sneakily lump them together?
It was obvious the message had popped up because of him.
"..."
Teresa stared at Jinhyuk, utterly dumbfounded.
A renowned ranker in Europe, and a player who had joined as a mere porter.
If you asked a hundred people, all hundred of them would take Teresa's side.
And yet.
Where on earth did this man's confidence come from?
At this point, it was almost admirable in more ways than one.
Teresa had plenty to say, but she soon shook her head gently, as if giving up.
"When you first spoke to me, you said you knew all the traps, right?"
"Yes. It's been a while, but my body should remember."
It really had been a long time since he last visited the 1st floor.
In particular, it had been well over six years since he last entered these ruins.
Still, there was no problem.
After all, they didn't say "form is temporary, class is permanent" for nothing.
"Then, what should I do?"
"Just draw the attention of the undead monsters. I'll handle the rest."
By dividing the roles like this, he could obtain all the items he wanted without leveling up.
Holding his dagger in a reverse grip, Jinhyuk prepared to descend into the pit.
"I'm ready."
"Then, let's begin."
Teresa channeled her mana.
Then...
Hummmmm!
[Teresa activates Lv. 5 'Song of Battle'!]
Along with a dazzling light, a warm energy coursed through his entire body.
[All stats increase by +3 for 10 minutes!]
An area-of-effect buff skill.
Moreover, it was an incredibly broken skill that boosted every single stat.
'Oh. This is actually quite useful.'
Jinhyuk let out a quiet exclamation of admiration.
If it weren't for Teresa's unique ability, 'Blessing of the Stars'—which allowed her to resurrect upon death—he would have seriously considered copying this skill instead.
Thud!
Meanwhile, Teresa leaped right into the midst of the undead monsters.
"Grrr..."
"Kieee!"
The ghouls and skeletons reacted instantly.
They spewed corpse poison and swung crude swords and axes.
However...
Clang! Clang!
Weapons like those wouldn't even be able to scratch Teresa's armor.
And of course they wouldn't.
She was one of the 100 Players.
Among them, Teresa was a ranker praised for having the most balanced offense and defense.
Furthermore, although it was a replica version, she was currently equipped with 'Joan of Arc's Armor'.
No matter how many mass-produced monsters there were, they were no match for her.
"Khek!"
"Keeek!"
Her shield moved with calculated precision.
Crash! Boom!
The ghouls' heads were crushed in a single blow.
A force almost comparable to a siege hammer.
Slash!
Every time her sword drew an arc, a skeleton was sliced clean in half.
Fast and precise attacks.
The surrounding walls of monsters crumbled.
A path opened.
...Now!
Tap!
Jinhyuk kicked off the ground.
Lightly.
Yet swiftly.
Maintaining his speed, he slipped through the monsters with minimal movement.
Teresa held most of the aggro, but because of their sheer numbers, some still targeted Jinhyuk.
A ghoul lunged at Jinhyuk's neck with bared claws.
"Kieeeeee!"
If he fought them one by one, there would be no end to it.
Thud!
He targeted its joint, throwing off its center of gravity.
"Khek?"
The ghoul's body lurched violently.
It was visibly flustered.
Naturally, since its body had suddenly stopped listening to it.
Using the same method to deal with the ghouls and skeletons, Jinhyuk penetrated deeper inside.
And the moment the fog grew slightly thicker...
Crackle.
Black sparks flew toward him like lightning.
"..."
Dangerous.
Jinhyuk instinctively veered to the side.
Boom!
A massive crater formed on the ground where his feet had been just a second ago.
As expected.
It was a spine-chilling level of destructive power.
'It wouldn't be a ruin if it weren't at least this tough.'
Jinhyuk's eyes darted around rapidly.
To the left.
Specifically, between the rocks on the left.
He spotted a Lich chanting a spell there.
A skeletal mage with not a single shred of flesh.
Yet, the burning blue light in its eyes seemed to pierce through everything.
"This is no place for a mere human."
A grating, metallic voice echoed.
What a cliché line.
Did that mean this was a suitable place for corpses to take a nightly stroll?
Jinhyuk completely ignored the Lich's threat, which was riddled with assumptions.
'Five Dullahans acting as escorts, huh...'
He had wanted to avoid a direct confrontation if possible, but there was no helping it.
He had to take them all down.
If he ignored them and bypassed them like the ghouls and skeletons, he risked getting flanked.
"Turn back. Take even one more step, and I shall reduce you to ash."
The Lich conjured black lightning above its palm.
It was a spell that looked to be at least 5th-circle.
Step.
Jinhyuk took a step forward.
"Oops. My bad."
"So you persist..."
The Lich nodded toward the Dullahans.
"Krooo!"
"Kraaa!"
The five Dullahans roared savagely.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
With an earth-shaking rumble, the Dullahans closed the distance in an instant.
They even formed a perimeter, unlike typical low-intelligence monsters.
At the same time...
The lightning in the Lich's hand vanished.
"Die in regret, human!"
It was fast.
But the moment the straight black beam was about to pierce Jinhyuk's heart...
Whoosh!
A fierce blaze erupted.
The lightning shattered to pieces against a barrier of fire.
"H-how could a mere human...!"
It had been an all-out attack.
And yet, he had blocked it so effortlessly.
The Lich had been confident that its magic would never lose to any human.
But that pride was utterly shattered.
Starting from this very moment.
Rumble!
The flames scattered into thousands of embers.
From within...
"I'm short on time, so I'll end this as quickly as possible."
With a brief declaration, Jinhyuk targeted the foremost Dullahan.
Tap.
He stepped on its thigh.
Leap!
Then, stepping on its shoulder, he leaped high into the air.
Having soared nearly five meters off the ground, Jinhyuk pulled his shoulder far back.
"Mine isn't as fast as lightning, but..."
I can guarantee one thing.
"Your shield will never block it."
With his mana-infused +10 dagger, stacked with his Gap stat and Adaptive Stats, a 5th-circle spell stood no chance.
Unless it was a shield at least two circles higher.
This time, the dagger in Jinhyuk's hand vanished.
A red flash.
A single beam of light shot in a straight line toward the Lich.
"Ugh!?"
[5th-Circle 'Energy Shield' is activated!]
Channeled by reflex, the shield expanded, wrapping a transparent barrier around the Lich's entire body.
However...
Crack!
The shield shattered like a glass wall.
Naturally, the Lich standing behind it also had a gaping hole blown through its body.
"Cough... ugh..."
The Lich stared back and forth between its wound and Jinhyuk in disbelief.
But that was only for a brief moment.
The blazing blue light in its eyes gradually faded.
Having sustained such a massive blow, all of its accumulated mana had dissipated.
Of course, as long as its life force vessel remained intact, it wouldn't perish completely.
It simply wouldn't be able to move for a while.
'That pretty much cleans things up here.'
Jinhyuk retrieved his dagger embedded in the ground.
"Grrr..."
"Groan..."
The Dullahans, who had been under the Lich's command, also began to slowly back away.
They had likely lost their will to fight.
Jinhyuk did not pursue them.
After all, his purpose here was not to level up, but to secure items.
"Phew."
Jinhyuk caught his breath.
From here on, he needed to be on guard.
He had to pass through an overwhelming number of traps.
* * *
"W-what kind of porter is that?"
Teresa muttered weakly.
Her heart had been pounding wildly when she finished clearing the swarming undead and went to join him.
She had been eager to proudly show the man who kept ignoring her:
Look how strong I am.
But the moment she witnessed Jinhyuk's battle, her puffed-up chest deflated completely.
'It was true.'
The rumor that he had dealt with four Dullahans on his own.
She had been half-skeptical, but it was the truth.
And even that hadn't been his full strength.
He had completely toyed with a Lich, which was of a much higher tier.
'No wonder he's so confident.'
With that kind of strength, it was only natural for him to be so relaxed.
However...
The surprises didn't end there.
The moment he entered the trap zone, Teresa was left utterly speechless.
"Ah..."
Her small lips parted in a daze.
* * *
Crash!
Jinhyuk dodged a spike that shot up from the ground.
Almost at the exact same instant, fifteen arrows flew at him from the front.
They were threatening, but they were a decoy.
The real threat was the transparently coated wire.
'With the fog, I have to pay even closer attention.'
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Deflecting the arrows with his dagger, Jinhyuk constantly checked his footing.
Then...
[Your vision is distorted.]
An uncomfortable, prickly sensation grated against his retinas.
'From now on, the gap will be off by about 32 centimeters.'
This meant any incoming attack would feel much faster than it actually was.
This was the primary reason why this trap zone was so tricky.
He adjusted his memorized timing by one step.
...Let's go.
Jinhyuk pressed forward once more.
Rustle.
The sound of something brushing against the ground.
This time, it was from behind.
Just as a snake-like rope tried to snag his ankle, Jinhyuk threw his body forward.
Click! Click!
Traps triggered one after another with every step he took.
Naturally, everything here served as a trigger to activate a trap.
'Three steps here... and then two steps to the right.'
He kept moving.
There was no other way but to choose the path of least danger.
The physical traps were relatively easy.
The tricky ones were those that targeted the mind.
He had to avoid the latter at all costs.
Because triggering one of those meant instant death.
Just a little more.
Just a little bit more...
He was now about 100 meters away from his goal.
[Your hearing is dulled.]
[Your sense of touch is paralyzed.]
As the distance closed, his five senses began to deteriorate.
An environment that rendered even his exceptional reflexes useless.
Studying the rules was pointless.
Trying to grasp the patterns was futile.
Therefore...
the path ahead was a zone where everything lost its meaning.
The only solution to breaking through this trap was to die thousands, tens of thousands of times, memorizing the entire sequence by heart.
Boom!
Jinhyuk deflected the trajectory of a short spear with his dagger.
Though his senses were running wild, he did not lose his focus until the very end.
Clang!
Deflecting.
Boom!
Once more.
Clang! Clang! Boom!
And once again.
'This is... the end!'
Whoosh!
Jinhyuk caught the short spear rushing toward his heart with his bare hand.
Then, he slammed it straight onto the ground.
[All senses return to normal.]
[The fog blanketing the pit disperses.]
[The undead enter their eternal rest.]
Looking at the flood of status windows, Jinhyuk let out a groan.
"Doing this after so long really makes my muscles ache."
No, seriously.
His right wrist and shoulder were stiff. If only he were three months younger, this would have been a breeze.
'Though looking at this, I feel completely cured...'
Jinhyuk gazed at the items resting on top of the rock.
The first thing that caught his eye was the ancient Latin written on a long piece of parchment.
It was the 'Covenant of Apostle Peter' that Teresa wanted.
And...
'Yes. It's good to see you again too.'
A crystal emitting a blue light so brilliant it made his eyes water.
The 'Frozen Tear'.
He had finally laid his hands on it.
'First, I'll pack the Subspace Inventory Crafting Recipe and the Demon Soul Pill. As for the Frozen Tear, I'll have to call Teresa over to neutralize its poison and cold.'
Touching it with bare hands would result in severe frostbite.
But just as he was about to call Teresa...
"Put that... down. Slowly."
A low, gravelly voice echoed from behind Jinhyuk.