Chapter 162
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 162
Chapter Title: Lightning Rune Test
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[Soul Binding Quest]
└Defeat the Seven Archangels
└Archangels Defeated (1/7)
└Success ▶ ?????
‘Soul Binding Quest? A quest like this existed?’
He had only seen main quests and sub quests before. This was the first time he’d laid eyes on something like this.
‘It looks like a quest that popped up after killing an archangel…….’
The reward was hidden, and the difficulty was sky-high.
It required taking down all seven archangels, after all.
‘Judging by the name Soul Binding, is this a quest that persists even after the round ends?’
Normal quests had deadlines up to the end of the round.
They didn’t carry over to the next one.
But with the words “Soul Binding” and a difficulty impossible to clear in one round……
‘It must be a quest that continues until death.’
That was the only conclusion he could draw.
‘In practice, that means killing all seven archangels by round 20? Six now, technically.’
It was an utterly ridiculous difficulty.
As he let out a hollow chuckle, Yamtti approached.
“Master.”
Just then, Ryu Min’s Reaper transformation ended, revealing his true face.
“Is it all done?”
“Yeah. Business is finished.”
“That last angel you caught looked pretty strong…….”
“One of the Seven Archangels. Top of the hierarchy among angels.”
“Gasp! You took down such an incredible being, Master?”
“Incredible? When I actually fought it, it was nothing special.”
Ryu Min smirked, cleaned up the corpses with his trace erasure skill, and said,
“Let’s go. Time for sub quests.”
* * *
As Ryu Min left the temple, he hid his Last Time Regressor title.
[The Sacred Empire’s reputation toward the Last Time Regressor has dropped from ‘Hostile’ to ‘Blood Enemy.’]
He had earned the temple’s wrath by killing not just angels, but even the Holy Emperor.
‘Technically, another angel killed the Holy Emperor.’
With the title hidden, no annoyances would come his way, but the bitterness lingered.
‘Did a good deed for once in a while, and now humans hate me or cause trouble.’
It was just idle grumbling he didn’t really mean. In truth, he couldn’t care less.
Whether NPCs saw him as an enemy or they were real otherworlders, why bother in this situation?
‘As long as I get the rewards, who cares about their reputation.’
He had plenty of titles anyway, so substitutes weren’t an issue.
“Master. Do we have to part ways now?”
“Yeah. Like I said, start clearing from here, and you can finish four within the time limit. That’ll get you into Achiever territory easily.”
“Boo, I don’t wanna separate…….”
“Stop acting cute and go already. Dawdle and fail the quest, get deleted, and I’ll hunt you to the ends of hell to punish you.”
“Ah, got it! I’ll definitely survive!”
Yamtti had to live.
Her abilities would be useful going forward.
After parting with Yamtti, Ryu Min set off immediately.
‘One sub quest down already. Nine hours left to complete nine more.’
He’d already planned which quests to do.
From past experience, he’d mapped the optimal route minimizing time and travel.
‘First up, here.’
Ryu Min entered an alley of street vendors next to the plaza and spoke to an NPC.
“Came to buy some goods.”
“Welcome! What can I get you?”
“From here to here—everything. Hand it over.”
“Pardon?”
The second sub quest was ‘Flex at the Street Stalls.’
* * *
Finding sub quests in round 10 wasn’t hard.
Wander around, and you’d stumble on them. Plenty of varieties too.
Delivering goods, odd jobs, favors, monster extermination, escort missions, etc.
Even part-time gigs like minding a shop for a few hours.
‘Those eat too much time, though. Inefficient.’
For sub quests, nothing beat ones you could finish fast.
Right now, the quickest were temple donations and sweeping up all stall goods.
‘Anything else takes at least thirty minutes.’
After buying out the stalls, Ryu Min headed to the mercenary guild for the next quick quest.
“Welcome. What brings you to the Golden Eagle Mercenary Corps?”
“Looking to take a subjugation mission.”
Monster subjugation took time, but if you had the skill, you could wrap it in under thirty minutes—a fast quest.
The desk attendant glanced at Ryu Min and beamed.
“Oh my, you’re a Skilled-rank mercenary. We have a fitting subjugation mission. Let me introduce it.”
[Touch the monster you want to subjugate.]
└ 1. Lizardman
└ 2. Werewolf
└ 3. Skeleton
└ 4. Sandworm
[To cancel, express your refusal.]
Ryu Min picked the strongest of the four: Sandworm.
‘Subjugation time’s similar across the board, so might as well grab the strong one for extra EXP.’
After a brief “wait a moment,” about a minute later, the guild door opened, and a group approached him.
“You the Black Scythe? Nice to meet you. I’m Hark Berman, 3rd Subjugation Captain of the Golden Eagle Mercenary Corps. Ready to head out now?”
“Of course.”
Following the captain led to a massive, futuristic machine.
A so-called ‘warp device,’ teleporting you anywhere in an instant.
“Step right in.”
Ryu Min joined the captain and his subordinates on the warp device.
Tzzzzzt—
In the blink of an eye, they arrived in a desert where sandworms appeared periodically.
“We walk from here. Shall we?”
[Sub Quest – Subjugate Sandworms]
└Condition ▶ Subjugate 100 Sandworms
└Sandworms Subjugated (0/100)
Seeing the message, Ryu Min smirked.
‘Two hours for most people.’
For him, under thirty minutes.
Plenty of monsters could shorten it further, but sandworm spawn rates capped it at thirty.
Ryu Min moved with the ten-man subjugation team.
All NPCs, and they ignored him completely.
By design, they were business-only mercenaries competing, not a proper party.
‘Not like they’ll steal my share, though.’
These mercenaries were mediocre.
Player equivalent of level 30—three of them barely took a sandworm.
‘In other words, NPCs just draw aggro. The challenger player does the actual killing.’
Ryu Min didn’t even need that.
The sandworm would be dead before it mattered.
“There it is!”
At the shout, he spotted something wriggling underground.
He’d already sensed it.
Sandworm.
Ryu Min, who’d reached for his scythe, put it back in his inventory.
‘Time to test the new rune?’
He’d never used the Lightning Rune before. Curious about its effects.
Needed to get a feel for later use anyway.
Crackle-crackle—
Sparks flew from Ryu Min’s hand.
‘Feels like this. Lightning magic isn’t great against sandworms matchup-wise, but oh well?’
Magic was a powerful offense, but matchups existed by element.
Earth-attribute sandworms burrowing in sand resisted lightning.
Damage halved, simply put.
‘Still, it’ll hit hard enough.’
With high Intelligence, no problem killing them.
“Grraaawr!”
“It’s out!”
The sandworm burst from the sand, boasting tree-trunk size.
But.
‘Shoot.’
Lightning shot from Ryu Min’s fingertip, striking true.
Zzzzzap—
It became grilled worm on arrival.
Thud—
Charred black, dead in one hit. The mercenaries gaped.
“You a mage?”
“Took down that fearsome sandworm in one shot—impressive!”
“An amazing grand mage joined our subjugation team!”
Ryu Min ignored the praises pouring in.
Even he was a bit stunned.
‘Expected it with high INT, but one-shot? Really?’
Overwhelming damage ignoring matchup.
He could pass for a grand mage anywhere.
‘If the Prophet doubts how I fight, show this.’
Crackle-crackle—
Grinning at the sparks in his palm, Ryu Min moved on.
Subjugation was easier than expected.
* * *
Mercenary guilds allowed up to three subjugations.
Ryu Min cleared all three in record thirty minutes each.
Thanks to the Lightning Rune.
‘Well, even with the scythe, I could’ve done thirty.’
But he used only the rune throughout.
Never drew the scythe.
To familiarize himself with its powers, but……
‘Above all, it’s convenient.’
Standing still casting beat swinging a scythe while running.
One-shots every hit made it easy.
The public skill Handiwork helped aim easily too.
‘Shoot, Charge, AoE Burst, Amplify. Tried most of it?’
Self-destruct? No way.
High damage—mess up, and he’d die.
‘Self-destruct only as absolute last resort. If ever.’
Mages had AoE and comfort, but not all upsides.
‘When all cooldowns are up, you’re helpless.’
Testing the rune revealed cooldowns per ability.
‘Shoot at six seconds shortest…….’
In battle where seconds decided life or death, six was a huge penalty.
‘That’s why magic classes ration skills and manage cooldowns.’
Hybrid Ryu Min didn’t worry much.
Run out of magic? Switch to scythe.
[Subjugation complete.]
[Your exploits recorded at the mercenary guild.]
[Your mercenary rank rises from ‘Skilled’ to ‘Expert.’]
Chain successes raised his guild rank.
‘Next time, harder missions.’
Still far from dragon hunts, though.
‘Now, next stop…….’
Checking the time, Ryu Min left the guild.
Ten quests seemed doable with time to spare.
* * *
Ten hours.
A long stretch, but quests made it fly by unnoticed.
“No, no! Time’s almost up!”
“Gotta get one more…….”
Shouting players noticed the change and looked up.
They were back in the colorless starting space.
“Already ten hours?”
“Argh! My quest was almost done!”
With quest count determining rankings public knowledge, everyone quested nonstop.
Many jumped in late, but ongoing missions counted as failed.
[Humans? It’s Nell. Did you all do your quests well? Now then…….]
“Angel! I had a mission going right until now? Just ten more seconds and it’d be done—count it as success…….”
[You thunder-struck human scum!]
Nell’s eyes flashed murderously; the player clamped his mouth shut.
[You lowly human dare interrupt an angel? When did I say you could speak? Begging to die?]
“S-sorry…….”
[Don’t even answer. I don’t wanna hear it.]
The angel looked angrier than usual—not imagination.
[Normally I’d show rankings now, but first, one question for you all.]
Nell’s bad mood had one reason.
[Any of you receive an oracle?]
The Heavenly Realm was in uproar over Archangel Remiel’s death—one of the Seven.