223. The Ancient Temple of the Arch Lich
223. The Ancient Temple of the Arch Lich
***
Ancient Temple of the Arch Lich.
While marking coordinates on the world map and hurrying toward them, Serin, who had been chatting with her viewers, finally parted her lips slightly.
"I'm really fine, so please don't worry so much, everyone."
[You're almost there and you're not partying up?]
[You're really not?]
[This is crazy...]
[Why is everyone so worried about Rin today]
[Even if she dies, Rin's the only one who loses anything, so why's everyone making such a fuss lol]
[No, but still, partying is better, so why are you insisting on going alone?]
[For real, partying is safer. I heard the penalty for dying there is pretty big]
The viewers typing at her to party up kept growing in number until they were now flooding the entire chat window.
Maybe it was because far more viewers than usual had gathered, but every single one of them seemed unable to understand my actions.
Right now, I was heading to a hunting ground tinted orange, just barely past the appropriate hunting grounds, to demonstrate a hidden class skill.
From the basic question of why she was going alone to a party hunting ground, to viewers saying they couldn't understand why she'd put herself through trouble when you couldn't even send or accept party invites once inside the area.
The viewers' reactions were truly varied.
In a way, their questions were perfectly reasonable and correct, but Serin found them a little funny.
'There really is a huge influx of viewers today.'
So I added one more line, as if to settle the matter completely.
"I'm not partying up."
The moment I said that.
-Whoosh!
I felt myself pass through that characteristic subtle wave.
Ding!
A moment later, a belated notification decorated one side of my vision.
*
————
—You have entered 『Ancient Temple of the Arch Lich』.
【Several system functions are restricted.】
- Party invites and acceptance are unavailable within the area. Entering the area with other party members applies a 40% Attack Power penalty.
(If a party is formed before entering, the maximum party size is limited to 4.)
- Requests for help are unavailable. Upon death, a 72-hour penalty is applied before re-entry to the area.
- Normal, area, world, and whisper chat are locked within the area.
- Logging out within the area is automatically treated as character death, applying a 72-hour entry ban and death penalty.
【Additional Benefits】
- An additional 20% drop rate benefit is applied for entering an appropriate-stats hunting ground.
【Other】
- You have been identified as a user currently running a personal stream, so the chat window and stream status will be maintained as-is.
————
*
The dungeon entry hologram, which felt quite familiar, delivered the information, and from the maximum party size, I could tell this was fundamentally a 4-person hunting ground.
On top of that, since there were no particular additional benefits even when entering solo, it definitely felt like a party hunting ground.
Slide.
I slowly pulled the horse's reins to release the designated coordinates and began descending toward the front of the massive black temple building now clearly visible in my sight.
Arianat, having quickly landed on the ground, reduced its speed.
Clop, clop.
As the sound of hooves stepped onto the barren ground, Serin dismounted from Arianat.
This was no longer a space suitable for riding Arianat.
Neigh!
Arianat let out a small cry. I swept its pure white mane once as a gesture of thanks for its hard work, then dismissed the summon.
As I watched Arianat turn into a cluster of light and vanish, I saw the chat window rising rapidly at the edge of my vision.
[No, isn't this just reckless?]
[Wow, she really entered alone]
[Soloing the Arch Lich is something I've never even heard of]
[No, there's no merit to doing this alone, why?]
[Just party up...]
[Well, at least there's no attack power penalty]
[Why is it meaningless? If you get loot, you keep it all to yourself, so soloing has meaning lol]
[Do you think Rin can do it?]
[She came alone because she's confident, right?]
[Still, she came to show off a new hidden class skill, but I'm not sure the Arch Lich is the right place for that]
Nearly half the chat was close to disbelief, and nearly the other half was asking why she insisted on solo play.
Aside from those, only a small number of viewers trusted that I must have a reason for what I was doing.
"I'm doing this because, as much as I've gotten stronger through my equipment and hidden class, the enemies need to be stronger too for it to mean anything. And without danger, techniques don't really get ingrained into your body, right?"
No matter how much a person consciously tries, there are things you only realize after being thrown into instinctive danger a few times, rather than through hundreds of repetitions of practice.
My understanding of techniques had risen all at once according to my realm, but even so, real combat experience was essential.
In that sense, I felt the new technique needed to be shown somewhere dangerous for it to mean anything.
[????]
[What the hell is she talking about]
[Rin sounds like Plea lol]
[For real, one thing's for sure, Rin isn't normal either;]
[Self-imposed hard mode lol]
Serin looked at the chat window and smiled leisurely as she walked toward the entrance of the temple, which boasted a magnificent size.
"Even if it's the Arch Lich, it won't be harder than Daji, right? Then it's fine. And to the new viewers who've joined, please trust me this once."
Maybe because she had faced Daji just yesterday, Serin was truly fearless.
It had been just yesterday that she had faced Daji, an overwhelmingly skilled fighter who ranked among the very best even in Black Ark. So how threatening could the monsters of a party hunting ground really be?
Step.
The moment she stepped into the temple entrance, Serin's eyes gleamed with interest.
"Oh?"
The interior of the temple she entered looked like an ancient, utterly antiquated temple of solid black.
It felt like exploring ancient ruins, while at the same time a bleak and clammy energy seemed to slowly encroach upon her entire body.
And that wasn't just Serin's feeling—she was actually being encroached upon.
Ding.
*
————
*You have been afflicted by the Ancient Temple's curse.
【Trait 'Indomitable Will' weakens the curse's effect by 20%.】
All stats decreased by 16%.
————
*
"So the welcome greeting here is a curse?"
Serin let out a hollow laugh when she was cursed the moment she entered.
And a party hunting ground where two Mythic items were basically the minimum was never going to be easy.
***
—So the welcome greeting here is a curse?
As Serin, who had let out a hollow laugh even at the curse notification, began walking boldly into the temple's interior, Eunha, who was watching the stream, found that sight very much to her liking.
She doesn't hesitate.
She doesn't waver.
Even while confirming a penalty like a curse, she doesn't agonize over it.
It might look reckless in some ways, but because Eunha knew it was an action born of composure, the same action felt different.
"I guess she really is one of my kind."
Eunha murmured softly, her eyes fixed on Serin's figure walking across the screen.
As if the feeling she'd had the first time she encountered Serin's video—that she was one of her kind—hadn't been wrong, Serin still gave off a mysterious feeling the more she watched her.
A distinctive atmosphere completely different from ordinary people.
She couldn't express exactly what it was in words, but Eunha was realizing through feeling that Serin was very different from an average person.
"..."
Eunha fidgeted with her own hand for no reason.
She was currently forcing herself to hold back from reaching for the 'Donate' button.
She had wanted to donate just now because even Serin's appearance had pleased her, but seeing Serin repeatedly tell people not to donate, she had decided to forcibly put off donating.
She intended to donate right before the stream ended or when Serin seemed okay with it, but she felt regret at not being able to congratulate her right away.
Unlike Eunha's feelings, Serin advanced boldly through the temple's interior.
Whirr.
As if taking her time, she was walking while spinning the white Crescent-Moon Weight in one hand, and as she admired the temple interior revealed by the small light, she parted her lips.
—Everyone, does only the Arch Lich appear in this temple?
Serin's casual remark overflowed with composure, utterly incongruous with the gloomy temple background on the screen.
[Nope]
[Other things appear too]
[If you watch videos, all sorts of monsters appear]
[Still, undead-type monsters appear a lot, right?]
[Regular liches appear, demi-liches appear too lol, all kinds of liches appear]
[I heard it's a pretty nasty place if you don't stack a lot of magic resistance, is that right?]
[95% of the people watching this stream have probably never even caught the Arch Lich lol]
[Still, a lot of people probably know about it from NewTube or streams? The Arch Lich is a famous hunting ground for loot, so streamers go there for party hunts too]
[Rin, don't tell me this is your first time at the Arch Lich and you went in alone;?]
[lol, the more I learn about her, the more amazing she is]
Tap.
Serin, who had been walking slowly as if checking the chat window scrolling up, suddenly stopped.
—It seems like someone's come to find me right as I said that?
Serin, suddenly saying that, was staring into the end of the temple interior shrouded in darkness, on guard as if she had sensed something.
"Interesting."
Eunha wondered what that look on Serin's face meant. On the stream screen right now, no system warning message or anything of the sort had appeared.
Yet even so, as the chat window began flooding with question marks at the sight of her seeming to sense something.
Ding!
A notification appeared on the screen.
*
————
[Ancient Temple Death Knight]
—Level 77.
Damage increase +77%
Movement adjustment +111%
Immune to Stun and physical status effects.
*Buffed by the lich, it possesses enormous resistance to magic.
Magic Resistance 85%, magic status effects reduced by half.
*No matter what damage it takes, it will only be destroyed after receiving a total of 15 hits.
[Multi-hit melee skills and damage-over-time magic skills are all counted together as 1 hit.]
————
*
Serin blinked after checking the hologram.
—Viewers, don't tell me Death Knights are trash mobs in this temple...?
"Pfft..."
Eunha couldn't help but smile slightly at Serin's reaction.
She seemed newly innocent, and at the same time, surprising.
Because she really hadn't known about the Arch Lich.
The top-tier hunting grounds were notorious for their difficulty spiking sharply.
It wasn't a party hunting ground for nothing, and that was also why the viewers kept talking to her.
Moreover, every top-tier hunting ground had completely different ways of dealing with it, so regardless of individual skill level, just facing them felt tricky.
Shing. Clank!
As the Death Knight raised its massive pitch-black sword and took a stance as if activating a skill, Serin raised her white Crescent-Moon Weight.
Then the Death Knight kicked off the ground and surged forward like light, activating its skill without hesitation.
—Randel Imperial Swordsmanship, First Form: Summary Execution.
The Death Knight's jet-black sword drew a perfectly straight line of darkness as it thrust toward Serin with a murderous aura.
Serin's eyes gleamed with interest, and at the same time, she stepped forward once, swinging her right hand wide as she activated a skill.
—Moonlight Spike.
The white weight, bearing pure white moonlight, met the jet-black sword head-on.
Clang!
A massive explosion of sound erupted as skill met skill, and in the midst of what looked like a simple exchange of blows, Eunha inadvertently let out a laugh.
The Death Knight's sword was knocked back by the impact, and the Crescent-Moon Weight, wreathed in moonlight, shot forward once more as if it hadn't lost any force.
Crunch!
Then it struck the Death Knight directly in the chest.
The power and ability of the skill she was seeing for the first time were fascinating, but more than that, her movements on the screen caught Eunha's eye.
Serin was surely still just in the process of building proficiency with her new skill.
Yet for some reason, Serin's movements on the screen right now were incredibly clean and utterly natural.