Chapter 105
Chapter 105
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: ACT.19 The Gate, and Beyond (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“I’ve been secretly following Hwang Chan-jin.”
Information about Hwang Chan-jin.
It was certainly one of the few topics that could pique my interest in the current situation.
So much about Hwang Chan-jin’s identity was shrouded in mystery.
He could just be someone who played the game a lot.
But there were far too many suspicious points to simply leave it at that.
For instance, the way he knew the results but not the proper process.
Like a student who memorized the formula without understanding the principle.
“His playstyle, the information he has, his decisive actions… There are so many similarities, it makes you wonder if he’s a certain someone.”
“…You don’t think Hwang Chan-jin is the Strategy King, do you?”
“No. That’s not it.”
Jun Bo-ra denied it flatly.
“I suspected it at first, but something always felt off about him being the Strategy King. Most importantly, it seemed like stopping the apocalypse was just a secondary goal for him.”
“…”
I listened quietly to Jun Bo-ra’s words.
I wondered what she was trying to say, going so far as to make such a bold claim.
“Rather…”
Jun Bo-ra’s eyes gradually sharpened.
Suspicion.
The look of someone who lacks proof but has a strong hunch bored into me, as if trying to claw at my insides.
However, Jun Bo-ra shook her head and changed the subject.
“What’s certain is that Hwang Chan-jin has a separate objective. I get this strange feeling that he knows something we don’t.”
It wasn’t an impossible story.
Players come into contact with angels or devils through sponsorship.
It was entirely possible he had made some kind of deal with them.
If he really did that, there was nothing more I could know.
The key would be what Hwang Chan-jin wanted out of the deal, but it wasn't like he would ever willingly tell anyone.
“I was half-convinced that Hwang Chan-jin was the Strategy King.”
I still had no intention of revealing that I was the Strategy King.
There were various reasons, but I became certain the moment I realized that even the angels and devils didn't seem to know much about the ‘Strategy King’.
Showing outstanding performance despite starting from nothing.
Appearing that way would certainly be more intriguing.
To do that, I needed a substitute.
Whether it was Jun Bo-ra or Hwang Chan-jin.
A plausible replacement that would make it seem like I wasn't the one.
“Even so, I don’t understand Hwang Chan-jin. To ignore the Dark Moon and head straight for the Ark Gate. Wouldn’t that mean missing out on half the available rewards? It seems more likely that you talked him into it.”
“Hwang Chan-jin did contribute to the Dark Moon affair. He blew up a main branch and seized a large shipment of cylinders headed for their headquarters. He’ll get a considerable reward for that.”
Jun Bo-ra seemed to be hearing this for the first time, murmuring with a slight hum.
“It’s true I used him. Since Hwang Chan-jin would know how to clear the Ark Gate, I let him handle that while I took care of the Dark Moon. The reason was that I was better suited to deal with them. Hwang Chan-jin probably noticed. But he must have judged that the reward for clearing the Ark Gate from start to finish would be greater than what he’d get for finishing off the Dark Moon, so he went along with it. In the end, he used me too.”
Getting 20 points on A and 100 on B, versus getting 100 on A and 0 on B.
Anyone could see the former yielded a greater benefit, but I chose the latter.
At a glance, that was the difference between Hwang Chan-jin’s choice and mine.
And I had guided things to appear that way.
‘Though the reality is different.’
I would quickly deal with the Dark Moon, join the Ark Gate raid, contribute to the defeat of the King of Disease, and collect the rewards from both sides.
In the Ark Gate, there wasn't much contribution to be gained aside from defeating the King of Disease anyway.
If all the mid-bosses before the King of Disease gave 5 points each, the King of Disease alone gave 80.
On top of that, there was the additional benefit of obtaining an important item called a Dimension Stone.
‘In other words, I can actually receive the highest level of rewards from both sides.’
I conveniently left out the part about me aiming for that, and Jun Bo-ra seemed to accept it to some extent.
Still, she watched me silently, lost in thought.
I smiled faintly.
“You, Hwang Chan-jin, and me. In the end, we all think of each other in a similar way, don't we? Am I wrong?”
We use each other for a common purpose.
Our goal of stopping the apocalypse is the same, but our methods differ, leading to partial cooperation rather than a full alliance.
Helping when we need to, using when we have to.
That was our relationship.
When I asked with my eyes if I was wrong, Jun Bo-ra let out a smirk.
“You’re right. Though it feels like I’m the only one being used by you.”
“I don’t see it that way. There are things you can do by remaining here, aren't there?”
I threw out a loaded remark.
With an enigmatic expression that was neither affirmation nor denial, Jun Bo-ra waved her hand as if to tell me to go on.
This was the same Jun Bo-ra who had unhesitatingly decided to impersonate the Strategy King for her own gain and had worked to build rapport with Han Hyeok-jun beforehand.
The face she showed me was, to some extent, a facade.
No one could be let off guard.
I stepped into the gate, which pulsed as if beckoning me to enter.
***
*Whoosh…*
A dry, death-tinged wind brushed against my cheek.
It had originally been a toxic gale, but the Dimension Stone had pushed back the poison, leaving only a simple breeze.
“Still a bleak place.”
It was a desolate land.
A reddish earth, tinged by iron oxide.
Water that was transparent but had a greenish hue, hardly looking drinkable.
No human could possibly survive in a place like this.
‘Only the monsters that have adapted to this place remain.’
I fixed my gaze in one direction.
Standing out conspicuously was a colossal tower.
The place where the ‘King of Disease’ sat on his throne, awaiting the players.
The tower was divided into eight floors.
Each floor housed one or more beasts, and on the top floor was the ‘King of Disease’, the source of the virus.
Until the King of Disease was killed, this place would remain as it was.
‘Looks like they tried to open the door hastily.’
The tower door was open.
In front of it lay a single corpse, melted down to a white skeleton.
I clicked my tongue softly.
The door was booby-trapped; trying to open it recklessly would get you instantly infected with a vicious disease that melted your entire body, leaving no time to react.
Even with a cylinder, a trap devised by the King of Disease himself was inescapable.
Just in case, I checked the clothes draped over the skeleton.
The emblem of the Silver Hawk Guild was on the chest area.
‘They definitely went inside.’
—Welcome to the tower, human from another world.
The moment I tried to cross the threshold, a voice echoed in my mind.
It was a familiar voice.
‘The King of Disease.’
—There are already humans confronting me, but are you a companion of theirs?
It seemed the guilds that entered first had successfully reached the 8th floor.
According to my calculations, they should have reached the second phase of the King of Disease by now.
For him to have the leisure to speak to me in the middle of a fight meant he was taking it easy.
Something had clearly gone wrong.
An image of Hwang Chan-jin flashed through my mind.
That guy, not again?
“What if I am?”
After a moment of silence, the King of Disease spoke in a voice filled with elation.
—I sense a power in you far greater than any other here. I eagerly await your swift arrival.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
—…Good. However, you must arrive before these others all perish. You cannot defeat me alone.
With those words, the telepathic connection in my head was severed.
I stepped over the disarmed trap and entered the tower.
Inside, faint light streamed through windows set at regular intervals.
In the center of the room, a massive white golem, which had been curled up, noticed me and its eyes flashed.
‘There it is.’
The guilds that entered first would have killed everything on their way up, but monsters respawn on a floor after a certain amount of time has passed.
I had learned this during a run where we figured out the strategy late, made it to the 8th floor, and then had to retreat all the way back to the 1st.
The 1st and 2nd floors.
To defeat the King of Disease, one had to gather materials from those two floors.
“Kuaaaargh!!”
An arm larger than my body slammed into the ground, causing cracks to spread in all directions.
Typical golems are made of stone or earth.
That’s why they are usually yellow or gray.
Any other color signified a special kind of golem, and this one was no exception.
“This one was made of salt, wasn't it.”
Unlike the outside, where even the air was mixed with poison, the 1st floor was in relatively good condition.
That was due to the presence of this golem, made entirely of salt.
In other words, the moment this golem was defeated, the 1st floor would no longer be safe.
[Black Flame]
I drew upon my power and swung my sword at the golem’s outstretched arm.
The point of contact was charred black, and the arm was severed without resistance, falling to the ground.
A power whose offensive capability ranked among the top tier.
The results of using it for the first time were highly satisfactory.
[Kuooo!?]
A golem’s strength lies in its remarkable self-repair.
It was different from a troll’s regeneration; it was a restoration of its body.
No matter how much you broke or cut its body, it would endlessly repair itself unless the core was destroyed.
But against the Black Flame, it was useless.
*Fwoosh!*
The black flames would not be extinguished until their target was annihilated.
Was that all?
It also had a debuff effect that reduced any healing effects like regeneration or restoration to nearly zero.
As long as that was in play, the golem posed no threat.
*Swish!*
I swung again and cut off its remaining arm.
With the golem unable to use its arms, I severed its two legs as well, completely immobilizing it.
“Its core was somewhere around here, if I remember correctly.”
I climbed on top of the golem, which lay flat on its back.
The golem tried to struggle, but without arms or legs, it couldn't even thrash about.
*Crack.*
My sword slid smoothly into the golem’s body, and I heard something shatter.
There was only one thing inside a golem’s body that would make such a sound.
[Gr… uh…]
The light faded from the eyes of the golem that had lost its core.
The core served to bind the inanimate materials together into a single entity called a golem.
With its core destroyed, the golem could no longer maintain its form.
‘Easier than I thought.’
The Salt Golem wasn't a monster that should go down so helplessly.
It must be because I was far stronger now than in any previous run of the game.
I moved toward the large pile of salt that had appeared where the Salt Golem was defeated.
Salt with an effect so powerful it could even purify the viruses and poisons within the Ark Gate.
It was the result of the monster evolving to survive in this environment, but it was ironic that this very evolution would become the weapon to kill this place's king.
I took a sack from my inventory and scooped up the salt.
[You have acquired the item, ‘Refined Rock Salt’.]
‘The idea of collecting the salt isn’t hard to come by.’
The key to conquering the Ark Gate was how well one could defend against diseases, including poisons and viruses.
This salt had more than enough power for that.
However, there was a flaw in its practical application.
*Fsss…*
The salt that came into contact with the greenish smoke drifting in through the window immediately turned black.
This was its drawback.
It was merely a substitute, not something that could be used as a primary solution.
Plus, it was a one-time-use item.
‘That’s why it’s easy to overlook that this is the key to the strategy.’
This alone was not enough.
Only when the other piece was added would it become the complete key to victory.
*Srrr.*
What had appeared to be a simple wall revealed a hidden staircase.
This was how the tower progressed.
Clear a floor, and a path to the next floor is revealed.
The location where the stairs appeared was randomized with each run, so you couldn't use a cheap trick like memorizing the location from a previous attempt and just climbing up.
Even if you somehow knew the location of the stairs in advance, you couldn't access them without defeating the monster guarding each floor.
However, there was something else I learned when I had to retreat from the 8th floor to the 1st.
The location of the stairs remained fixed within a single run, and once a floor was cleared, you could access the stairs again without fighting the monster.
What this meant was…
‘Now that the guilds have already cleared their way up to the 8th floor, I don’t need to defeat every floor.’
I could find the location of the stairs with Extreme Eye.
Once I defeated the monster on the 2nd floor, I could ignore the monsters from the 3rd floor onwards and head straight for the stairs.
I grinned and made my way to the second floor.