Chapter 57: The End of the 3rd Floor, the Heartless Army (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 57: The End of the 3rd Floor, the Heartless Army (3)
"A... Black Leaf?"
The Human-Faced Tree stammered.
It was because a completely unexpected word had slipped out.
The viewers watching were equally flustered.
-Hardtack Is the Future: What? Weren't there only three types of leaves you could get as a reward? What on earth is a Black Leaf?
-Twitch Viewer Outranks the Unemployed: Seeing how shocked the Human-Faced Tree is, it must be a hidden reward, right?
-Pizza and Sweet-and-Sour Pork Are Damn Good: Wow, how does he even know about that? There was absolutely no mention of this on the community forums.
-Sae Yeong Eon Hwan: If he's a fossil-tier veteran, it makes sense that he knows info others don't.
-Hardtack Is the Future: Does that make sense? Why would a fossil-tier play solo? They'd be in a major guild.
-Sae Yeong Eon Hwan: Why not? There is one. A veteran who doesn't belong anywhere and roams alone.
-Twitch Viewer Outranks the Unemployed: No way.
-Pizza and Sweet-and-Sour Pork Are Damn Good: Uh...!?
Yes. In fact, there was one.
The strongest player, who had cleared the Corridor alone while wearing a mask.
But it was hard to accept that possibility right away.
They had been baited by thousands of fakes too many times before.
But what if it was true?
What if they had actually beaten those astronomical odds and landed on that player's channel?
-Sae Yeong Eon Hwan: Besides, if it's not him, this whole situation doesn't make sense.
Knowing the Tower inside out and even having hidden rewards completely memorized?
How many people in the world could do that?
If someone knew this much about the Tower...
There was no mistake.
Doubt soon turned into conviction.
-Pizza and Sweet-and-Sour Pork Are Damn Good: Omg, for real? Is he the real deal?
-Twitch Viewer Outranks the Unemployed: Ohmygoshhhhh. Unknown-hyung, I'm a huge fan! I rewatch your Corridor walkthrough videos 12 times a day.
-Hardtack Is the Future: First, let me strip down and bow in absolute respect.
The chat window had done a complete 180.
However, Jinhyuk let the frantic chat messages go in one ear and out the other.
He had already known they would react this way.
"H-how do you know about the Black Leaf?"
"How I know isn't important. Just hand it over."
"But... that is...!"
The Human-Faced Tree's voice grew urgent.
The Black Leaf, which possessed the 'Decay' effect.
However, to create a Black Leaf, all the other leaves had to be withered and killed.
This meant it would never be able to quiz players again.
"Don't start making pathetic excuses now. You said it yourself. You'd give me whatever you have."
Had it already forgotten how it boasted about a spirit's honor and promises?
No way.
After talking so big, surely it wouldn't go back on its word.
"...Ugh. I beg of you. Please, anything but that. Instead, I will do whatever else you want."
"No need. What I want is the Black Leaf."
Now that he was live streaming, everyone would learn about the existence of the various leaves.
As time passed and more information about the Tower spread, someone who could pass the quiz would eventually emerge.
'I can't let that happen.'
He couldn't allow anyone else to obtain maple leaves imbued with elemental magic later on.
'If I'm not using an item, no one else should be able to use it either.'
That was the most normal and correct way to play.
Jinhyuk held out his palm.
There was no room for compromise.
In the end.
Fssss...
The colorful maple leaves covering the top of the Human-Faced Tree's head all burned black.
[You have answered all three questions posed by the Human-Faced Tree!]
[You have acquired Black Leaf (x1,280)!]
[Black Leaf]
Acquisition Difficulty: AAA
Description: When applied to a weapon or armor, it grants a special effect of the 'Decay' attribute (inflicts additional damage equal to 1% of the target's total HP every 3 minutes upon being hit). The caster takes no damage, and the Decay effect applies only to enemies.]
Great.
Finally, the last piece of the puzzle was in place.
"..."
Leaving behind the Human-Faced Tree, which now looked a thousand years older, Jinhyuk turned toward the temple.
* * *
A temple preserving a lonely, quiet atmosphere.
Out of the four entrances—North, South, East, and West—Jinhyuk chose the eastern entrance.
-Hardtack Is the Future: The east is dangerous. Isn't this the most brutally difficult one?
-Twitch Viewer Outranks the Unemployed: Yeah, yeah. At other entrances, you can at least catch a glimpse of the four-story stone pagoda, but the east is hell right from the entrance.
-Pizza and Sweet-and-Sour Pork Are Damn Good: Why did he choose the hardest one on purpose?
The reason he chose the hardest place?
It was simple.
'Because the east is the most fun.'
That was why he had favored this route the most.
After challenging it hundreds, thousands, countless times, his body eventually remembered it even if he didn't want to.
He knew exactly how to reach the boss.
Jinhyuk drew a dagger that glowed with a reddish hue.
At the same time.
Rumble, rumble!
The sotdae poles towering on both sides of the entrance began to shake violently.
They were activating their defense mechanism in response to the intruder.
"Groooar!"
"Grrr..."
It was then that the stone statues lined up along the wall began to move.
The one-meter-tall statues, made entirely of rock, glared at Jinhyuk.
-Hardtack Is the Future: Damn, there they are. Those goddamn statues.
-Twitch Viewer Outranks the Unemployed: Destroying their Life Stones is a massive pain in the ass.
-Pizza and Sweet-and-Sour Pork Are Damn Good: They're only the size of a fingernail, but they keep moving around inside the body, so it's impossible to find them unless you completely smash the statue to pieces.
This was exactly why the statues were so tricky.
You had to destroy the Life Stone, but not only did you not know where it was, it also kept moving.
On top of that, the statues' attack power and movement speed were infuriatingly fast and precise.
A total of seven statues surrounded Jinhyuk.
They clenched their fists and gradually tightened the encirclement.
Thud!
Crash!
The battle began with the sound of tearing wind.
The statues closed the distance in an instant.
'Here they come.'
Jinhyuk lightly loosened his limbs.
To break their elaborately coordinated Combined Attack Formation, he had to disrupt their rhythm.
First, the right.
The high-aiming attack was simple and linear, but it possessed a destructive power that couldn't be ignored.
This had to be dodged.
Jinhyuk lowered his center of gravity.
Whoosh!
Almost at the exact moment the fist sliced through empty air.
This time, a kick aimed at his waist flew in.
The second strike, precise and catching him off guard, was weaker in power instead.
Clang!
Jinhyuk raised his dagger and blocked the attack head-on.
He distinguished between what to dodge and what to block.
And amidst the storm of consecutive attacks, Jinhyuk slowly began to look for the moment his opponent's rhythm faltered.
-Hardtack Is the Future: Wow, he's dodging all of that. His movements are insane.
-Twitch Viewer Outranks the Unemployed: At this point, he's basically memorized every single pattern, hasn't he?
-Sae Yeong Eon Hwan: As expected, he's on a completely different level from those attention-seekers who claimed to be veterans.
-Pizza and Sweet-and-Sour Pork Are Damn Good: Oi, oi, I believed in you!
At this rate, it might actually be possible to break through the entrance of the eastern gate.
Of course, since he was alone, it would take a long time to destroy the Life Stones.
But succeeding at all would be an unbelievable achievement.
However.
The scene that followed left the viewers utterly speechless.
-Hardtack Is the Future: Is this... for real?
-Twitch Viewer Outranks the Unemployed: There's no replay function here, right?
-Pizza and Sweet-and-Sour Pork Are Damn Good: What on earth did I just watch? Right now?
The statue's movements stopped.
Immediately, like a puppet with its strings cut, the fragments crumbled and collapsed.
There was only one case where this happened.
When the Life Stone was destroyed.
Crunch.
Jinhyuk pulled his dagger out of the statue's shoulder.
There, the Life Stone, sliced in half, was revealed.
'The Life Stone has a tendency to move in the opposite direction of their attack.'
If they attack with their right arm, it moves to the left arm; if they attack with their right leg, it moves to the left leg.
It was probably an instinct to hide their weakness at all costs.
And he had found the exact location through the subtle vibrations of the stone and his sickeningly vast experience.
'All that suffering in the past was definitely not a waste of time.'
The corners of Jinhyuk's mouth curled upward.
Thanks to that, the battle he expected to take at least an hour was over.
In just three minutes.
* * *
[Current Viewers: 38,350]
Less than thirty minutes after starting the stream, 38,000 viewers had already gathered.
It was an incredibly rapid pace.
Even more so considering it was his very first broadcast.
-Veteran Detector: The more I watch, the more goosebumps I get. Maybe he really can succeed in the boss fight?
-Twitch Viewer Outranks the Unemployed: It's possible. I started watching the moment this hyung turned on his stream, and I've just come to trust him blindly.
-dead998: Come on, clearing something alone that even the elite raid teams of major guilds failed at? Raids were literally created to overcome the limitations of solo play in the first place.
-BigPie: I agree with this. There's a reason roles like tanking, AoE DPS, aggro, and healing are divided.
-Deadline Life: Agreed. Besides, the named monsters haven't even appeared yet.
Hopeful expectations and pessimistic doubts clashed in the chat.
Just then.
"I don't care whether you believe it or not, but you're distracting me, so I'd appreciate it if you stopped chattering."
Jinhyuk scratched his head in annoyance.
-BigPie: Huh? Is he talking to us?
-Poop-flavored Curry: No way. Unless he's out of his mind, would he say that to his viewers?
-Good at Anger Control: Right. He must know that ignoring viewers will make his subscriber count plummet.
"Yes, I'm talking to you guys."
Just watch quietly.
Because I have no intention of catering to your feelings.
"If you want to leave, you can leave. If you want to watch, you can watch. But keep one thing in mind: I am the owner of this channel, not you."
There were always players like that—those who fawned over viewers just to get views.
Trying to grant their every wish and accommodate everything, the player ends up becoming a gentle sheep.
Of course, views definitely go up.
It was only natural since they did everything the viewers wanted.
But.
If you let yourself get dragged around like that, you won't be able to do what you actually want to do.
'Idiots.'
If the roles of host and guest are reversed, no matter how high the views are, it's useless.
Jinhyuk planned to run his channel in a completely different way from those pushovers.
Strategies only a veteran would know.
And overwhelming skill.
With these two backing him up...
'I don't have to be dragged around by the viewers.'
After all, as long as he provided high-quality content that set him apart from others, viewers would flock to him on their own.
'Maintaining my concept is much more important.'
Yes, that was the core identity that the player 'Unknown' had to maintain.
And just as Jinhyuk expected.
-Kang Ho-doo: This hyung's concept is insane lol.
-Deadline Life: Wow, so chic. Is he going full "my way"?
-Twitch Viewer Outranks the Unemployed: Normally I should be offended, but somehow I'm not. What is this? Am I a masochist?
-Coffin Dance Song: Pant, pant. Step on me more.
-Sae Yeong Eon Hwan: Honestly, he has the right to be arrogant. I actually find it refreshing, so I like it more.
The viewers felt a strange charm in this capable yet prickly player.
But it was right at that moment, as the chat window was scrolling frantically.
'This is...?'
Something registered in Jinhyuk's senses.