The Three Relics of the Seeker

I accepted the three items handed to me by the Seeker, who was a walking catastrophe if one were to cross paths with him. One was a heavy, metallic flail with a tip sharpened into an arrowhead; another was a wooden gag with a hole in it, equipped with a strap so it could be held in the mouth. The last item was a crude hand axe made from a black stone. I checked the detailed information of the items, assuming ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they were all classified as items.

They were all incredibly primitive-looking objects. Furthermore, all three items came with warnings that they could be destroyed very easily. It felt like a warning that they would shatter if I used them carelessly. The gag, in particular, couldn't even be removed from my mouth until I had completely escaped the Yellow Spot once I started using it. If I took it out, I could never use it again.

'Wait, but he wants me to go into the center of the Yellow Spot alone with these...? How is that possible? This bastard... does he think I'm some kind of incredibly powerful being?'

Perhaps the Seeker of the Abyss held me in very high regard. Seeing how he welcomed me as if praising me as an Apostle of Disaster, he seemed to have immense expectations... but while my subordinates and summons were insanely strong, I, as a human, wasn't particularly powerful. And what kind of place was the Abyss to be wandering around alone? No matter how I thought about it, this was a suicide mission. If I ran into a Hero's party on the way, I could be killed instantly.

Although I had conquered the Crimson Zone—the second most dangerous place in the Abyss—that was purely because the Black Wheel, the Mushroom Men, and the Parasitic Trees I had purchased were excellent, not because I was strong enough to dominate it myself. I knew ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my own level well. Honestly, I had only grown my forces to such a ridiculous extent through unique routes; if I had to fight one-on-one right now, I might even struggle to beat Eunji. That was why I could send Nick and Meiling to their graves in the House of Thrills through agitation, fabrication, and tricks; if I had been forced to fight them head-on, I probably would have died with them in a mutual destruction. After all, I was a ruler and a master of slaves, not a warrior who stood on the front lines.

That was my essence, yet this crazy bastard was telling me to go alone to the center of the Yellow Spot, somewhere in the Abyss.

"Excuse me... but if I go into the center alone, I'm definitely going to die... Wouldn't it be quite troublesome for you if I died?"

Seemingly flustered by the fact that I was weaker than he thought, the Seeker shifted his hand gestures. Then, he pulled two more pieces of wood from his robes. They were the gags that would allow me to endure the center of the Yellow Spot.

"Wow. Thank you."

I quickly tried to snatch the two gags from the Seeker of the Abyss. He dodged quickly and muttered in a slightly annoyed voice.

"Ah, right."

Thirty thousand coins for a single piece of wood. Still, since they seemed essential for entering the center of the Yellow Spot, I bought both of them. 'The Yellow Spot itself can be entered by everyone, but these are necessary to penetrate the center... Me, Mer... who should I take? Cheshire? Aila? Or should I drag Palus down with me... Taking Helen, who has danger detection, might also be a good idea...'

As I pondered who to take with me, I asked the Seeker if he had anything else for sale. Since he was the only merchant NPC in the Abyss, I figured he might sell something. Maybe I could get something that would help with survival.

"Aha."

It seemed the Seeker was an NPC who sold statues. The items I had received earlier also seemed to be things he had carved himself... Well, I shouldn't have expected finished products like those sold by peddlers in a place that only had stinking filth and strange-looking parasitic humans.

"Could you show me all three of them first?"

At my words, the Seeker pulled out statues with strange appearances from his robes.

'A Twisted Disease Statue, huh...'

I wanted to buy them all, but I didn't have enough funds to invest in this right now. I had used up almost all the coins I had saved in the Black Market. "It's a bit difficult right now, so I'll buy them next time."

He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠put the statues back into his robes, looking slightly disappointed. If I succeeded in mass-producing parasitic humans, I would get 70 coins per head, so I could probably slaughter them to quickly gather the coins to buy those. 'I can extract Black Wheels from the dead parasitic humans... and use the remaining bones for mass-producing Parasitic Trees... perfect.'

I figured the Mushroom Men could also multiply their numbers incredibly fast in here. Of course, I had to be careful because a 'Queen' would appear if there were more than 300 of them... 'But that Spore Queen... for some reason, I feel like she belongs to the Manma-jeon...' It was just a hunch, but I felt like that was the case. However, seeing as the Evil Gods didn't insist on me summoning the Spore Queen, I thought she might not be a very friendly Evil God to me. Since the Poacher had evaluated her strength as being on the level of Kysiria or Einax, she must be as strong as the right-hand of an Evil God.

'That means she's quite a monster... but for now, let's not overthink it.'

I had to settle down in the Abyss and farm; I couldn't afford to summon a crazy ball of spores that I couldn't control. I bowed to the Seeker, who had returned to his meditation, and called for Eunji and Hwajon. "Let's head toward the exit for now."

"Are we going to go out and come back in?"

"Yeah. The path back is long. I thought it would be better to go out and enter through the entrance."

One thing to be careful of was that I had to enter immediately after going out. Since one minute outside was one hour inside, a massive amount of time might have passed inside while I was distracted. 'While I'm out, I should tell Ha Jin-sung to send in the relief supplies as quickly as possible...' There were many items I hadn't brought in yet because I didn't know the internal situation, but I decided to tell him to put everything in while I was out. Since one minute outside was an hour here, it would take a huge amount of time for them to enter even if he put the items in as fast as possible. For instance, if it took 24 minutes to put everything in, it would be equivalent to a whole day passing here.

Michael and the spring-exploration team he had assembled finally made it outside after breaking through the walls of the trapped nest. As soon as they all escaped, the walls of the trapped nest closed again, as if healing a wound.

"Ugh..."

"From here on, it's a wall made of meat."

"It's filled with a disgusting smell here too..."

What unfolded before them as they stepped outside was a wall of flesh filled with a repulsive scent. They had left the trapped nest and entered the Crimson Zone. They were quite a distance away from Jojun.

"Aran-nim. Have you... ever seen something like this?"

At Saint Anna's question, Aran shook his head. Even as a half-dragon, this was a sight he couldn't easily see, and he felt both curiosity and disgust. For reference, among the nine members of the Wisdom Spring exploration team, five were players: the Hero Nicholas, the Great Sage Michael, Saint Anna, the Jester Roy, and the Gladiator Alex. The other four were NPCs. In order, they were the Dragon-Blood Knight Aran, the Giant Slayer Dante, the Beast Hunter Killian, and the Heretic Hunter Caesar. Like Jojun's faction members—Hellas, Cheshire, and Palus—they were also those who had joined through Nicholas's fortuitous encounters, and every one of them was a monster with considerable skill. Of course, all four of them were likely weaker than the Dragon Slayer Siegfried.

"Killian, where do we go now?"

"If we keep going in this direction, it'll appear. The root is pointing that way."

The Beast Hunter Killian nodded, looking at the wriggling green root in his hand. It was an item the World Tree had given him, a tool to track the Cursed Stigma. In other words, it was an item that pointed to Henry, the cursed bounty hunter. Because the Spring of Wisdom was located where Henry's body was rampaging, they had decided to track Henry's body. Killian thought as he tucked the root into his pocket.

'He told me to kill the Cultist or the Druid...'

Killian had accepted the Man-gwi-jeon's request after agreeing to receive 'a certain price.' His target was no longer Nick's memory, but the Cultist or Druid who might be somewhere in the Abyss. Since he would face a penalty for failing the request if he couldn't kill them, the Beast Hunter Killian was in deep thought.

'Cultist hunting... rather than unnecessarily provoking the Manma-jeon... hunting the Druid who's already been abandoned would have fewer repercussions...'

The Beast Hunter decided to make Kang Hee-sun his target. He thought seven bullets would be enough. He was unaware of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fact that the Druid had not entered the Abyss.