199. Second Only to One, Above Ten Thousand (一人之下 萬人之上)
199. Second Only to One, Above Ten Thousand (一人之下 萬人之上)
***
[Whoa, just looking at the first choice is already suffocating]
[After clearing a one-person raid, now they want you to solo a large-scale raid lol]
[Honestly, if we're being serious, isn't this all just ridiculous?]
[2222]
[Every single reward is insane]
[No but this isn't a difficulty meant to be cleared]
[The rewards are so crazy it's hard to just stop]
[With a 150% item rarity increase and a Unique adjustment, wouldn't at least one Mythic drop?]
[3333333]
[No matter how I look at it, the difficulty tuning is wrong]
[Wouldn't it be better to stop here?]
[222]
[Realistically, stopping here is the right call]
[Clearing the previous trials gives 3x reward items, 2 guaranteed Legendaries, so 6 Legendaries are guaranteed for sure]
[You're giving up after seeing that reward list? A Mythic item is guaranteed?]
[The Void is a dungeon even Jeanne d'Arc gave up on, it's totally broken, and the devs openly admitted they failed the difficulty tuning and are just leaving it as is]
The chat was scrolling faster than ever, as if about to explode. Even the viewers were split among many opinions.
"I think I need some time to think about this too."
Serin, who had been watching the chat, couldn't make a quick decision like before.
The rewards on offer were too great to choose by viewer vote, so she had no choice but to be cautious.
And for good reason—a Mythic-grade item was on the reward list.
The value of a Mythic item corresponded to tens of millions of won in real-world terms. Even a poorly rated Mythic item was an ultra-high-value item with a base price exceeding ten million won.
With such an incredible item listed as a reward, she couldn't choose as lightly as before.
Moreover, the Cave of Trials was a dungeon that could only be cleared once a month, and there was no guarantee that the next visit would offer rewards as good as these.
Ding-a-ling!
『IceTreeForest donated 100,000 won!!』
《I'll leave it up to you, Rin. You got this all the way to the end!》
『NoOneHere donated 50,000 won!!』
《Giving up on a special item? Go go go go for 3》
『GoodPlace donated 50,000 won!!』
《You can face the Legendary Dancer, so isn't this obviously 2?》
『kyhoo donated 50,000 won!!』
《Being of the Void!! Will you challenge the impossible?》
When they realized it was hard to appeal to Serin through chat, the donation alerts rang out one after another.
After checking the donations, Serin smiled awkwardly with an apologetic expression.
"Thank you so much to everyone who donated. But for this choice, I won't be taking opinions."
Having said that, Serin opened the hologram once more and checked the choices.
*
————
Left.
Despair of Atraxium: Reward item rarity increases by 150%, and the minimum starting grade of reward items is adjusted to Unique.
—The Great Demonic Beast 'Kellashium', which destroyed Atraxium, the great city that once boasted a magnificent civilization, appears. The space transforms into the city of Atraxium.
Middle.
Legendary Dancer: The number of final reward items is 'unconditionally' reduced to 1, but a Mythic-grade item is guaranteed.
—The Chaldea Empire of the distant past. 'Daji', a Dancer-class hero and one of the Great Heroes who saved the nation, appears. The space transforms into the Chaldea Imperial Grand Banquet Hall.
Right.
Being of the Void: Place all items acquired so far into the Void Rift to craft one 'special' item suited to the user's class.
—Difficulty is close to 'impossible' for the user's current level. A Being of the Void appears, and the space transforms into the Void Dimension.
————
*
Unlike before, when only two choices had been presented, there was now an additional 'middle' choice.
Inferring the difficulty, since the description stated that the Being of the Void was close to impossible, it seemed harder than the choices above, but that didn't mean the others were easy.
"A great demonic beast, a Great Hero, and a Being of the Void..."
Serin muttered the choices aloud once, then toyed with her hair and sank into thought.
Of the three choices, the only one she had experience with was the great demonic beast Kellashium.
—Great Demonic Beast Kellashium.
One of the four great demonic beasts she had hunted in the latter half of Black Ark, and from experience, it was clearly a beast that would be overwhelming to take down alone.
With all sorts of bizarre abilities, the moment I let even a small attack land, it was over. And this time, I had to face it entirely alone, with no one to support me.
'And there are even additional traits.'
If she considered that the additional traits Troll Blood and Resurrection of the Dead would also be present, the clear difficulty of even the first choice was already close to 'impossible'.
Unlike in Black Ark, I wasn't equipped with endgame-level items, so even if my current skill was higher, I couldn't say my absolute destructive power was greater.
And judging by the rewards, the fact that the great demonic beast Kellashium appeared to be the easiest of the three choices made her let out a hollow laugh.
"So... a great demonic beast gets treated like this."
Suddenly, a comment from the chat came to mind suggesting she give up here and just take the six Legendary items, but she immediately shook her head.
Give up? That was absurd.
With a 150% item rarity increase, there was a chance of a jackpot where multiple Mythic items might appear among the rewards, but compared to a guaranteed Mythic item or the crafting of a special item, it felt too ambiguous.
So she eliminated even the great demonic beast from the choices.
"The middle path and the right path. I'm torn between the two."
Swipe.
Since it seemed the decision would take some time, Serin leaned against a wall. Even as she spoke aloud for the viewers to hear, she fiddled with the choice hologram, wondering if there was any additional information.
Then, more detailed information was displayed.
*
————
Daji: The founder of the class known as Dancer. A woman known to have risen to the ranks of the strongest in Dancer history.
She was also one of the three renowned heroes who saved the Chaldea Empire in its early days.
Along with epithets such as Nation-Toppling Beauty and the Most Brilliant Flower of the Chaldea Empire, she always stood tall as an elegant flower throughout her life.
Title: Second Only to One, Above Ten Thousand.
A woman who rose to an unprecedented and unrepeatable position as a Dancer, known to have only one person above her—the Emperor of the Chaldea Empire.
By her very existence, she became a symbol of the Chaldea Empire, and her appearance was so outstanding that it was said even the King of the Kingdom of Praha, who waged war against the Chaldea Empire, was bewitched by her beauty.
The creator of every dance of all existing Dancers.
【Grade: S+】
【Category: Great Hero】
————
*
While reading the description of the Legendary Dancer, Serin found herself reading on, having forgotten even the rewards at some point.
Each and every epithet describing Daji gave her a strange tickling sensation in her chest, and she unconsciously felt a strong interest welling up.
"The strongest Dancer..."
Moreover, the title she held was so utterly arrogant that merely looking at it stirred something in her heart.
—Second Only to One, Above Ten Thousand.
It was so similar to the thoughts she herself had held while drunk on omnipotence in Black Ark.
At the end of the massive main story, Cecilia had risen to the position of Emperor of the Empire—above ten thousand. And in the end, it was Serin herself who had shaken off even Cecilia's proposal.
Step.
Serin, who had unconsciously begun stepping toward the middle path, let out a small laugh and stopped her body.
Suppressing the impulse to move her feet, she also examined the information on the choice called 'Being of the Void'.
*
————
Being of the Void: A being that dwells in the rift between dimensions.
In the rift between dimensions, where nothing is said to exist and nothing can live, countless screams of souls are said to always echo, and the power of chaos is said to rage intensely.
A being born within it has possessed 'mystery' as an existence from the moment of its birth, and because its species, traits, and appearance have never been properly identified, it belongs to the unknown.
It is recorded that the primordial beings who created this world also emerged from this place and adorned history.
【Grade: ???】
【Category: Void】
————
*
"...?"
Serin, looking at the hologram, tilted her head involuntarily.
'Is this what they wrote as a description?'
Compared to Daji, it was far too lacking.
Since everything was listed as belonging to the unknown, even after reading the description, she couldn't get any sense of what it was like.
As she fiddled with the hologram and examined the additional description of the Being of the Void, Serin was dumbfounded.
Even the additional information she could find was nothing special.
Just that it was bizarrely strong.
There was some information in the chat as well, but all she could learn was the notoriety that it was a dungeon even Jeanne d'Arc had failed.
'A dungeon that even Eunha failed...'
That did pique Serin's curiosity.
The chance to craft a special item and the phrase saying it was close to 'impossible' at my current level stirred my competitive spirit, but also made me scoff.
But even adding all those factors together, she couldn't shake the feeling that it was still greatly lacking.
......
"Viewers, did you wait long?"
Serin quietly pushed herself off the wall and gripped her Crescent-Moon Weight.
[Oh?]
[Finally choosing?]
[Hurry hurry!!]
[333333]
[2 is fine too]
[You're really not giving up on this?]
[If you fail, all the rewards disappear, isn't that too wasteful]
[You cowards, do you really think Rin would give up just because you egg her on with chat about giving up or whatever]
[After building up expectations like this, give up here? Then she's not a streamer]
[Stop the baseless hate on Rin, seriously, do you really think someone of Rin's class would give up here?]
[To say that, honestly the difficulty is bug-level?]
[The difficulty is absolutely ridiculous]
[Honestly, even if Rin gives up, I'd accept it]
[She even ran a solo raid against the Grim Reaper, and you call her a coward for that? That's real bullshit]
Serin looked at the various chat messages and smiled softly.
"I'm not giving up."
And so she slowly moved her feet.
To face the Legendary Dancer.
Compared to Daji, who bore the arrogant title of Second Only to One, Above Ten Thousand, the Being of the Void hadn't left much of an impression.
***
The Chaldea Imperial Grand Banquet Hall.
The hour of dawn, when the full moon faintly illuminated the space.
In the vast banquet hall brightly lit by moonlight, only one woman existed.
A woman who was both radiant and bewitchingly alluring stood calmly in her place with an elegant bearing.
-Nation-Toppling Beauty.
-Greatest Beauty Under Heaven.
-The Most Brilliant Flower of the Chaldea Empire.
There were countless other words that described her, yet all those words lost their meaning before her.
All those words could not express the beauty she possessed, and those who actually faced her could not bring themselves to utter them in her presence.
*
————
【Second Only to One, Above Ten Thousand】
Daji.
————
*
"How long... has it been since we last met?"
The woman wore a radiant smile that seemed capable of brightening the world as she watched the figure approaching from afar. Her brilliantly shining red eyes never once left the silver-haired woman whose hair resembled freshly fallen snow.
"Come."