Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: ACT.21 Ch.11(4)
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[Screeeech…]
After confirming the death of the giant spider labeled ‘Boss’, which was bleeding green blood, I retrieved the sword embedded in its forehead.
The corpse vanished, and a token dropped.
For regular mobs, it's a low-probability drop, but for a boss, it's a guaranteed drop.
“So that makes four now.”
Perhaps because of the low grade, the number of drops was small even after defeating all the monsters in the dungeon.
I thought it was a good start when one dropped after just a few kills.
Smacking my lips in disappointment, I picked up the token, put it in my inventory, and stood up.
Crackle.
Space distorted, and something that looked exactly like the gate I entered appeared nearby.
Entering that gate would return me to the entrance, and the gate would close.
However, I had no intention of going back yet.
‘The Moss Spider’s Nest had a hidden dungeon.’
Using Extreme Eye, the location of a hidden lever became clearly visible.
When I reached out to a spot that looked like nothing but a wall, space shimmered, and my hand passed through it.
Grrrind…
As I pulled the lever my hand had grasped, the ground rumbled, and a hidden staircase was revealed.
[You have discovered the Hidden Dungeon, the Spider's Altar (B).]
[The drop rate for tokens is much higher in the Hidden Dungeon.]
[Warning. The actual difficulty exceeds the indicated grade. It is highly recommended to enter with a party.]
Gates that had sprung up like mushrooms after the Chapter 11 mission opened.
Among them were gates that contained hidden dungeons like this one.
The so-called ‘must-clear’ places were none other than these.
Places where you could quickly gather tokens by clearing the hidden dungeons.
“Is there no growth system other than loyalty?”
I checked the information for Alpha and the other soldiers, but there was no change.
It summons entities with a predetermined strength.
Unless they were a captain-class entity like Alpha, they had no growth potential at all.
Even if my mana stat increased, it would have no effect on them.
‘The soldiers’ physical recovery will speed up. Is that about it?’
To increase the overall power of the Army of Darkness, summoning a new captain-class entity was the only way.
Last time, I had a sacrifice and a good deal of luck, but there's no guarantee I'll be lucky again.
I'll have to prepare more thoroughly before summoning.
I shook my head slightly and entered the hidden dungeon.
Relying on the flames of Black Flame, I slowly descended the stairs.
As the system warned, entering a hidden dungeon alone was madness, but that didn't apply to me.
Spiders are weak to fire.
I could clear this place alone with just my existing ‘Lord of Darkness’ trait, but with Black Flame as well, there was no reason to be intimidated.
Besides, I wasn't alone.
“We're going to clear this place out too. They're incomparably stronger than the ants from before, so be careful.”
[As you command.]
Shing!
Unlike the previous spiders, these entities had the form of half-human, half-beasts.
Seeing them for the first time, holding multiple weapons and shields with their eight legs, is often dumbfounding.
Still, they were useless before Black Flame.
The spiders fought valiantly, but it wasn't enough to fend off the assault of the dark soldiers.
Once I can summon knight-grade soldiers, it'll be even more of a spectacle with Alpha's commander trait.
“As expected.”
I smiled faintly at the tokens dropped on the floor.
Four drops after killing twelve.
Compared to getting four after killing every spider and the boss in the Moss Spider's Nest, the difference in drop rate was immense.
I collected all the tokens and went deeper inside.
As I progressed, entities with special abilities appeared, but they were no obstacle.
‘It's about time.’
Suddenly, the path widened significantly.
The sound of water dripping from stalactites echoed gently in the silence.
There were no spiders in sight either.
A deliberate silence.
‘An invitation, I see.’
I chuckled and quickened my pace.
The simple cavern began to give way to artificially constructed structures.
At the end of a structure decorated like an altar, fitting the dungeon's name, a figure sat on a chair, waiting for me.
[Are you the one who has been mercilessly slaughtering my children?]
The queen of the spiders.
The boss of this hidden dungeon, and the master of all spiders.
As the queen showed her hostility, other spiders began to creep out from nearby.
I surveyed my surroundings first.
A fairly high ceiling and a wide-open space in all directions.
A space perfectly optimized for the spiders' web-swinging patterns.
“And if I am?”
[I will tear you to shreds and devour you. I will capture you, feed my children their fill, and I will birth even stronger offspring.]
The queen's eyes glowed menacingly as her form began to change.
Not a half-human, half-beast form, but a complete spider form.
A height that I would need to be twice as tall just to meet its gaze.
It was the queen's true form.
With that, spiders hiding on all sides revealed themselves.
“They say to dream big, but…”
Fwoosh.
The Black Flame on my sword grew even darker.
“If you dream too big, the emptiness of failure is just as great.”
[You!]
A web shot out from the queen's mouth.
Unlike the other spiders' webs, this one was coated in all sorts of neurotoxins, making it incredibly dangerous.
But in the end, it was still just a web.
Fwoosh!
The sword, cloaked in Black Flame, felt none of the web's characteristic stickiness.
It was cut effortlessly, without any resistance, and the moment it was severed, the Black Flame spread and annihilated it without a trace.
[Fire! That's the fire! The fire that horribly burned my children to death!]
Seeing the fire, the queen's frenzy intensified.
A red aura, as if her killing intent was taking form, surged around her body.
So much so that anyone watching might think the queen was the one using fire.
‘Defeating the dungeon boss clears the dungeon.’
But my goal isn't simply to clear it.
It's to gather as many tokens as possible.
The whole reason I entered the hidden dungeon was to get more tokens from a single gate.
Because a gate disappears the moment it's cleared.
Shing!
I changed my target.
I turned and charged toward the other spiders, who were hesitating and watching me warily.
The soldiers, who had been guarding the perimeter in a circle, also charged out in all directions.
Kieeeek!
I weaved through the spiders, cutting down every one I saw.
The spiders fought back, spewing poison and webs and swinging their blade-like legs, but nothing they did could stop the Black Flame.
The sound of tokens dropping could be heard regularly.
Over a hundred had revealed themselves, seemingly intending to bury me here.
‘They've actually saved me the trouble of hunting them down one by one.’
The corners of my mouth lifted.
A rough count of the tokens on the floor was already twenty or thirty.
It's a token bonanza.
So good, I almost wished the queen would gather more spiders for me.
[You damn human! Fight me! Stop tormenting my children and fight me!]
The queen frantically moved to follow and obstruct me.
She spewed large amounts of webbing, along with poison bombs and attacks using her multiple, blade-like legs.
But the queen's attacks weren't very effective.
Since I was moving among the spiders, a misplaced attack could kill the very children she cherished so dearly, so she often stopped herself mid-attack.
“If you really wanted to keep your children safe, you shouldn't have let them show themselves in the first place.”
You called the other spiders to gang up on me if needed, and now you're telling me not to kill them?
That's just insane nonsense.
I ignored the queen's shrieks as she chased me and focused on hunting the spiders.
Perhaps deciding that fleeing or fighting back was hopeless, they began shooting webs from their rears and showed signs of climbing to the ceiling.
It's a common tactic for arachnid-type monsters.
They would evade like that, watch for an opportunity from the ceiling, and then quickly descend to attack when they saw an opening.
“Futile tricks.”
KABOOM!
I created a Black Flame in my hand and threw it at the ceiling.
The Black Flame spread across the ceiling and onto the webs attached to it.
Kieeeek!!
The spiders climbing the webs toward the ceiling, unaware, were engulfed by the Black Flame and burned whole.
The webs snapped, and they fell to the floor, flailing to put out the flames.
Naturally, the Black Flame cannot be extinguished.
Not until its target is completely annihilated.
Fwoosh!
Spreading across the ceiling and down the pillars connecting it to the ground, the Black Flame eventually reached the floor.
The trapped spiders panicked, unable to go anywhere, and were helplessly burned.
[Humaaaan!!]
Finally, the completely enraged queen charged ferociously like a runaway locomotive.
“You should check your surroundings before you charge.”
I tilted my chin.
Only then did the queen seem to notice something was wrong. She slowed down and hastily looked around, but it was already too late.
Thwump!
From all sides, the soldiers' swords plunged into the queen's body.
Countless spikes shot up from the floor, piercing her underbelly.
As she contorted her face and tried to swing her legs, Alpha's sword plunged into her torso like a flash of light, as if to deliver the final blow.
[Kuh… ugh…]
Pinned in place as if nailed down, the queen foamed at the mouth before slowly lowering her head.
“Getting so worked up narrows your vision.”
A hidden boss drops four tokens.
Only by conquering the hidden dungeon can you achieve the best time efficiency.
Not all gates have hidden dungeons.
And among the gates that do, some must have already been cleared.
It's a shame, but there's nothing I can do about that now.
I'll just have to sweep up all the remaining ones.
[You have cleared the 1st mission.]
[500 coins have been awarded as an intermediate reward.]
[All monsters within the dungeon have been annihilated. An additional 500 coins have been awarded.]
[The hidden dungeon has been perfectly conquered. An additional 1000 coins have been awarded.]
‘Not bad at all.’
If I clear other gates while progressing through the mission, I should be able to accumulate a hefty sum.
I have another use for these coins.
‘Well then.’
I moved to where the dungeon boss had died and took the gate outside.
The forgotten heat assaulted me, so I immediately moved toward my next destination.
***
Stage 3.
After progressing the mission that far, I paused for a moment.
As if by some agreement, the big shots, including the guild masters, were all staying at Stage 3. Progressing any further would make me stand out immediately.
There was no need to complicate things unnecessarily.
‘Besides, that guy will be showing up soon…’
It's time for a short regroup.
I opened my inventory and checked the Black Steel.
A mineral that boasted incredible hardness yet was also light—practically the best mineral there is.
I wonder what will be born from this.
I'm very much looking forward to it.
“Hoo. It feels like the monsters are approaching more and more frequently.”
“Right? I'm not the only one who feels that way, am I?”
When I returned to the temporary shelter, the twins were resting, looking tired as if they had just finished their patrol.
Choi Yeon-soo was nowhere to be seen.
He's probably off attending to official matters, now that he's been authorized to act as my proxy.
There's a lot to think about for the story's progression, but delegating some of it to someone else feels much more comfortable.
“Are you resting?”
“Ah, Oppa. Yes. A pack of Flame Hounds swarmed us earlier, so we stopped them.”
“They were doggies that shot fire from their mouths, but they panicked when I ate it all up. Keke.”
“Yeah. That was pretty funny.”
Seeing the giggling twins, a faint smile formed on my lips as well.
A bright side of them I had rarely seen in the game.
My actions had been purely for my own benefit, but seeing the twins like this didn't feel bad.
“What in the world is this thing used for?”
Just then, I overheard a few players gathered nearby talking.