Chapter 153
Chapter 153
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 153
Chapter Title: ACT.27 Main Player (5)
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When I came out, only three hours had passed.
It felt like I'd just woken up from a short nap.
However, the progress I'd made in the Training Grounds was clearly still intact.
“Have the others not come out yet?”
There seemed to be quite a few people who hadn't gone in, as many outside the gate were staring at me with curiosity.
Looking around, I couldn't see a single high-ranking player.
They must have all entered the Training Grounds without exception.
The time it takes to finish and exit the Training Grounds is completely random, so there's no way of knowing how long it will be.
What's certain is that three hours is extremely fast.
So, how should I use this spare time?
“Hm?”
Rummaging through my inventory, I found something I'd forgotten about.
The secret grimoire Yurgan had left me as a memento.
When I opened the book, it was filled with characters I'd never seen anywhere on Earth.
Even if I handed it over to linguists, it would probably take them years.
I needed to find another way.
Someone with a language translation item, or perhaps a skilled mage who could grasp the concepts and meanings even without being able to read the language.
‘…There is one.’
Around this time, they shouldn't have left Korea yet.
If I moved quickly, I might just be able to achieve my goal.
I stared intently at the grimoire before putting it back in my inventory.
Since it was called a secret grimoire, it was bound to be filled with powerful spells.
Mastering them would be a great source of power.
Worthy of taking up a slot among my traits.
For the time being, the demonic beasts wouldn't be rampaging, so now was the perfect chance to travel to other residential areas.
I immediately headed west.
***
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Korean Branch.
The moment I saw the large sign on the building, I was certain I'd come to the right place.
“Welcome. Are you interested in the occult?”
A pleasant-looking young man approached with a gentle smile.
Behind him, I could see the interior of the building.
At a glance, it looked like a library, but strange objects placed here and there caught my eye.
The kind of things that come to mind when you think of the occult.
“No. I'm here about magic.”
“Magic… You don't actually believe magic is real, do you?”
“Why wouldn't it be?”
*Fwoosh!*
A black flame ignited in my hand.
“Seeing as things like this exist.”
The young man's expression changed in an instant, and people from inside the building rushed out.
The atmosphere, which had been welcoming to an outsider just moments ago, turned hostile.
“A player. Sorry, but we're hostile toward your kind.”
These people weren't players.
A normal person trying to fight a player?
Ordinarily, that would be no different from a death wish.
But they were different.
“Walking into the lion's den on your own. Do you have no regard for your life?”
“Players tend to be like that. Thinking they can handle anything.”
The people surrounding me sneered.
Magic circles floated above each of their fingertips.
Magic.
The very magic that first comes to mind when you think of fantasy.
If these people truly had no power, could they have continued their business so peacefully in a world like this?
No way.
They had power, which was why they were going about their business here as usual.
People who possessed individual powers even before players appeared.
They were what you'd broadly call innate ability users.
“I didn't come here to fight, so I'd appreciate it if you'd stop with the threats. If I wanted a fight, I would have launched a surprise attack, not approached you head-on like this.”
As I said this with my hands raised, a few of them exchanged glances.
Most of the magic circles aimed at me remained.
Their hostility toward players wasn't so shallow as to be swayed by a few words.
I knew that, but…
100% and 99% are two different things.
“Whether you came to fight or not is irrelevant. We don't like players. The fact that you came here knowing that makes you all the more suspicious. What is your purpose?”
The magic circles glowed brighter.
As if they'd kill me on the spot if I gave an answer they didn't like, some had already finished casting and were just waiting to fire.
‘Around C-rank?’
In player terms, they'd be high-tier C-rank.
As expected of a small branch, there were no formidable figures.
‘Ten here. Five inside. And three in the basement.’
While pretending to talk, I'd already used Extreme Eye to thoroughly assess the building's interior and its surroundings.
I had a rough grasp of their strength.
There were more people inside, but they were about the same level as the ones out here.
This seemed like it would be easier than I thought.
“I'd like to borrow 'Odin's Eye,' the one used for researching ancient tomes and various grimoires. It should be here right about now.”
“How do you know about…!”
The faces of those surrounding me gradually hardened.
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Also known as the 'Order of the Golden Dawn,' this group was a well-known secret society related to magic.
A group that had existed since the 19th century in Europe.
The important point was that they actually used and researched magic.
They originally kept it hidden, but with the appearance of players all over the world, they were forced to surface.
“I don't know how you know about our order's sacred artifact, but we have no intention of lending something so precious to a complete stranger.”
The man who appeared to be the branch manager nodded his head.
It was a signal that the conversation was over, a command to seize me immediately.
“Bind him.”
*Flash!*
The magic circles all lit up at once.
A purple light erupted from beneath my feet, transforming into chains that tried to bind my entire body.
I remembered it.
A binding spell called 'Bind.'
It had the effect of dampening the target's mana control, so getting caught by a group casting would likely leave one helpless.
Of course, I had no intention of being caught so easily, so I jumped to get out of the spell's range.
“You think you can escape!”
The branch manager shouted, raising a short rod in my direction.
The others did the same.
Then, something surprising happened.
Despite having just cast a spell, the Bind spell was activated again without any delay.
“This place is fully prepared to activate magic against intruders at any moment!”
Magic circles appeared in the air, surrounding me.
And from them, dozens of chains shot out.
Being their hideout, it seems they had some tricks prepared.
“The same goes for me.”
“Keuk!?”
In an instant, five shadowy figures appeared, and the five mages who were casting were struck on the back of the neck and lost consciousness.
I had used 'Army of Darkness' before coming here.
So that Zeta and the assassination unit could act at any moment.
I didn't kill them.
If I did, an already complicated power struggle would get even more tangled with one faction joining in out of anger.
Knocking them out so they wouldn't remember what happened would be enough.
“Wh-What in the…!”
The branch manager broke out in a cold sweat, his face filled with shock.
The assassination unit had already vanished without a trace.
If they'd paid more attention to detection, they might have noticed from the start.
No. Even so, they wouldn't have been able to detect Zeta's presence.
“There's something nearby! Use detection and don't let your guard down!”
The branch manager cautiously began casting again, but it was futile.
“Keoheok!!”
Because Zeta appeared out of nowhere and struck him hard on the neck.
He collapsed, unable to support his own body.
I already knew it, but having an assassination unit is incredibly convenient.
It's less about a massive increase in power and more about an overwhelming boost in convenience.
“Ugh, ughh…”
The people who had been surrounding me collapsed one by one.
At a nod from me, the soldiers moved again, striking each of them once on the head.
They wouldn't regain consciousness until after I used 'Odin's Eye' and left.
“Lightning…!”
“I know.”
The moment I stepped into the building, I struck the head of someone trying to ambush me from a blind spot on the left with the flat of my sword.
A lump formed on his head as Mage A collapsed with a dazed expression.
With the first ambush failed, the remaining four, perhaps feeling desperate, activated their magic all at once from a distance.
They must have figured they could do something by casting from afar before I could act.
They were right, to an extent.
I couldn't forcibly cancel their casting.
“Ice Spear!”
But it was meaningless.
It was just a matter of whether they could activate the spell or not.
As my soldiers moved on their own and subdued the mages, the human-arm-sized spears of ice vanished slowly before they could even reach me.
“You should have paid attention to what happened outside.”
After that, the result was the same.
Unable to stop my approach, they could only be taken down, and even the ones inside were wiped out.
“Two, four… six, seven, eight? What? Weren't there five?”
After knocking them all out, there were eight of them.
I activated Extreme Eye again and glanced up and down.
‘The basement is empty.’
Did the ones in the basement come up to provide support?
Then the numbers roughly matched.
This was actually more convenient.
Everyone here was dealt with in one go.
But there was something else I needed to worry about.
“…Of course.”
The moment I entered the basement, I sighed at the sight that greeted me.
Just as they'd said themselves, these guys were hostile toward players.
The scene made it clear that they intended to screw us over even as they were leaving Korea.
“They really slathered this place with curses.”
A magic circle, glowing with a faint crimson light, was trembling slightly.
It was what people commonly called black magic.
I'd learned magic a few times while playing the game, but black magic required a completely different acquisition method.
The problem was that even if you succeeded in learning it through that complicated process, it wasn't very efficient.
So it naturally fell out of favor, and I couldn't even remember the last time I'd used it.
I'd seen enemies use it, so I'd acquired the knowledge to wipe out their groups, but I rarely used it myself.
In any case, erasing it wasn't a problem.
*Scrape.*
I scraped away the crucial parts of the magic circle with my sword, and it lost its light.
With this, it would no longer have any effect.
A type of curse that slowly eroded those within its range with demonic energy.
It made me realize anew just how many enemies I had.
‘Leaving things like this alone always leads to bigger problems.’
To be honest, I wasn't too concerned about ordinary people getting hurt by this magic circle.
It was a factor that would allow a half-dead mid-boss to escape, absorb the demonic energy accumulated here, grow stronger, and force another fight.
On top of that, ordinary people would get tainted by the demonic energy and appear as annoying mobs.
By getting rid of this magic circle beforehand, I could prevent such things from happening.
The magic circle was one thing, but my real target had to be around here somewhere.
“Ah, here it is.”
Opening a small golden box on the desk revealed a monocle.
This was 'Odin's Eye.'
An item that automatically translated any text in the world—a dream for linguists and archaeologists.
As expected of an item named after a mythological god, it consumed an immense amount of mana, making it difficult to use for long. But with my current mana stat, I could probably use it for an hour or two.
I took a book out of my inventory.
Yurgan's secret grimoire.
The one he gave me, saying it would be a shame for his life's research to be lost.
I had some doubts about whether it could even translate the language of another world, but it was a 'sacred artifact' for a reason.
Its effect was sure to be genuine.
‘Now, what are you?’
I immediately placed Odin's Eye on my left eye and closed the other.