Chapter 155
Chapter 155
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 155
Chapter Title: ACT.28 Disaster of Solitude (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“So The Order, those bastards, have extended their reach this far…”
Han Hyeok-jun ground his teeth.
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn isn't entirely unrelated to The Order, but were they supposed to come here at this point in time?
‘No.’
If they were meant to come, the magic circle would have been erased in most cases.
In other words, Han Hyeok-jun's presence here means the story has changed somewhere.
At this point, so much has already changed anyway.
It seems better not to dwell too much on the original story anymore.
It's just a reference, after all.
I quickly added.
“To be honest, I came here because of Paradise, not The Order.”
“You know about them too?”
“Know them? They led a massacre at our residence not long ago. We defeated them all, though.”
“Those dogs of The Order…”
His face contorted, and he placed a hand on his hip, letting out a deep sigh.
Dogs of The Order. I thought it wasn't an inaccurate description.
They were obviously supplying The Order with the Stigmas mined here.
The Order's power would have been strengthened as well.
So they've been making all our enemies stronger.
This is why in war, you have to cut off the supply lines first.
“But they won't just sit back and do nothing, will they?”
“You're right. They'll probably come for revenge soon.”
We didn't just kill their work unit; we also killed one of their liaison executives.
The deaths of the B-ranks are one thing, but losing even their skilled A-ranks is a significant loss of power.
They'll try to make up for that loss one way or another.
“That's why we're going to strike first.”
“Strike first? How?”
Han Hyeok-jun immediately pressed for details.
He looked like a fish that had taken the bait the moment it was cast.
Instead of answering, I just smiled.
“To inflict a loss they can't recover from.”
***
The only clue I had was that the Stigma mine existed somewhere in Gyeryongsan, but as expected, I found it easily with Extreme Eye.
Perhaps thinking that heavy security would be more suspicious, everyone except a minimal number of guards were laborers.
A mix of players and ordinary people.
So Paradise had ordinary people mixed in too.
‘Well.’
It's not that strange, since people who simply hate players also gather there.
Though it's ironic that they hate players while using the power of players themselves.
“So they really were up to something in a place like this. What's that? It looks like some kind of ore.”
“It's Stigma.”
“Stigma?”
As if hearing the term for the first time, he narrowed his eyes and stared intently in that direction.
Come to think of it, even though Han Hyeok-jun was a first-generation player, did he never have a chance to learn about Stigmas?
I glanced at Han Hyeok-jun's profile.
The image of him when he obtained 'Authority of Flames' overlapped with his current self.
‘At that time, Han Hyeok-jun was pushed to the brink.’
Despite being a first-generation player, his unremarkable talent meant he couldn't get into a proper guild, nor had he achieved anything worth mentioning.
Days spent just killing E-rank monsters without any foundation for growth.
In that situation, when second-generation players like me appeared, Han Hyeok-jun grew impatient.
Then, he happened to learn about the Authority of Flames and took that power, risking his own life.
That is the background setting for the character Han Hyeok-jun.
Having awakened but being a half-baked version who might as well not have, there was no way Han Hyeok-jun would know about Stigmas.
“I'll explain later. We're going in.”
“Just like you said before.”
“For now.”
I wrapped darkness around my body.
An application of darkness I gained from summoning Death Walker.
It's not invisibility, but it's a method that significantly lowers perception of us.
The mountain terrain naturally has many shadows, and if we stick to them, we can avoid being seen.
Han Hyeok-jun, also cloaked in darkness, examined his body with curiosity.
“Monsters!”
“Monsters have appeared!”
Just as we were about to move, people came screaming out of the mine.
Behind the frantically fleeing people, spiders the size of large dogs appeared.
Nearby players immediately brandished their weapons to subdue them, but half of their attacks failed to connect properly and bounced off.
Steel Spiders, their entire bodies made of metal.
If you lacked the skill to imbue your weapon with mana, you couldn't defeat them.
A total of six Steel Spiders emerged from the mine.
There was no sign of any more coming out.
“Now.”
I moved swiftly with Han Hyeok-jun and entered the mine.
He looked like he wanted to take advantage of the chaos to deal with the Paradise players, but he quietly followed me according to the original plan.
This guy, if not managed properly, could turn into a bloodthirsty murderer.
To prevent that, there needs to be at least one person he can trust enough to watch his back without hesitation.
I deliberately brought up a topic.
“Looking at you, it seems like you harbor an immense hatred for The Order.”
We descended along the path faintly lit by torches.
There was no trace of any Stigmas near the entrance; they must have all been mined.
“Did something happen?”
I already knew the backstory, but it was a question I had to ask to get closer to Han Hyeok-jun.
I felt this was the right time to ask, and Han Hyeok-jun answered without much difficulty.
“…Because I know their goal.”
“The Order's goal? We don't even know their true identity yet. You did well to find that out.”
“Because I've been chasing them. For a very long time.”
His answer ended there.
He didn't specify what The Order's goal was, or why he started chasing them.
It probably means we're not close enough for him to trust me with that yet.
That's fine. We can close the distance between us slowly.
“So, when are you going to tell me about these Stigmas?”
“I was just about to.”
About twenty minutes after descending into the mine shaft.
Stone-like objects shimmering with a green light began to appear on the walls.
I coated my hand in mana, jabbed the stone wall, and pulled out one of the self-illuminating objects.
“To put it simply, a Stigma is a special stone that contains the power of a skill.”
“I can certainly feel mana from it.”
“Using it, you can acquire the power contained within the Stigma. That's the important part. The downside is that it only contains skills.”
“Is something like that possible?”
Han Hyeok-jun stared at the Stigma in my hand as if he couldn't believe it.
If only he had known about Stigmas earlier. If only he could have obtained one.
He wouldn't have lived his life being looked down on like that.
That must be what he's thinking.
I shook my head lightly and continued my explanation.
“There are drawbacks. You can't tell what power is inside, and even if you acquire a power, it's usually low-rank. In simple terms, it's like a random draw where most of the prizes are duds.”
“…So Paradise was managing a mine that produces these things. But from what you're saying, it sounds like high-rank ones can appear too?”
“Exactly. That's the problem. If Paradise supplied a Stigma containing an S-rank power, it means the enemy's strength would have increased significantly.”
Han Hyeok-jun's brow furrowed.
No one would be happy about their enemy's power increasing.
‘Though it's unlikely there are any S-rank Stigmas among them.’
I'm looking with Extreme Eye, but this isn't a good mine where high-quality items appear often.
Finding a couple of A-ranks would be considered a good haul.
I shifted my gaze to the Stigma I had just mined.
The pattern was too ambiguous to be called a letter; it was closer to a picture.
If you break down the pattern and interpret it, you can get a rough idea of what power resides in the Stigma, but at this point in time, no one knows how to interpret them yet.
I identified the points containing information in the pattern and quickly analyzed it.
‘D-rank. Water-related. Offensive-type skill.’
As expected, it was an unremarkable Stigma.
I tossed aside the one I was holding and looked around for another Stigma.
S-ranks get all the attention, but even A-ranks and B-ranks are quite good.
I can't stand to see things like that fall into enemy hands.
I plan to take all of them before destroying this place.
“And there's a separate, most fatal flaw to Stigmas. The power you gain through them…”
Just as I was about to mention the one thing I hadn't said, I caught sight of Han Hyeok-jun.
He must have copied me and dug one out, for he had placed a Stigma on his palm and was admiring it, as if savoring it…
“Crazy bastard, hey, wait…!”
Before I could stop him, Han Hyeok-jun absorbed the Stigma he had just picked up.
Normally, absorbing a Stigma takes time, but the fact that it was a low-rank Stigma and Han Hyeok-jun's mana stat was high played a big role.
With that much mana, it was possible to absorb it just by touching it for a moment, which is what happened.
From what I glimpsed, that one was a dud too.
Han Hyeok-jun probably doesn't have many slots left for traits and skills. Where did he get the confidence to do that?
“…What's this fatal flaw you mentioned?”
A few seconds later, Han Hyeok-jun suddenly asked.
My anxiety spiked.
I calmly stated the rest of my sentence.
“You can't raise its rank by any means. And you can't get rid of it once you have it.”
Silence.
In that moment, I was certain.
He screwed up.
“Se-hyeon.”
“What.”
“Gacha is a harmful civilization.”
“…”
If only he knew how to interpret the patterns, it wouldn't be a gacha.
From what I heard, he got a skill called 'Digging'.
The worst of the worst duds.
When I pressed him on why he did it, he said his luck had been good recently, so he gave it a try.
He really showed me what baseless confidence is.
There was nothing I could do about what had already happened, so I said no more and started walking again.
I lightly ignored his suggestion to use his newly acquired Digging skill to quickly advance deeper inside.
Kyaaaak!
It seemed not all of them had gone outside, as a few Steel Spiders got in our way.
There was no way a C-rank monster could hold us back now, and besides, Han Hyeok-jun was with me.
Every one that appeared was just hastening its own short life.
‘This one looks useful.’
After going in a fair bit deeper, I started to occasionally find Stigmas containing B-rank power.
Just as I thought that, I found an A-rank one and quickly took it.
It seems they hadn't mined this far yet, as there were no signs of human touch.
Good thing I found it first.
“Se-hyeon. It looks like you're picking and choosing which Stigmas to take. Can you tell the good ones apart?”
“I can sense the flow of mana. I figure the good ones probably have more mana, so I'm picking them based on that.”
“So there was a method like that. Dammit. If only I hadn't been so hasty earlier…”
I changed the subject because he'd seem too pathetic if I told him the truth.
It's not entirely wrong, either.
Plus, Extreme Eye shows me exactly where each Stigma is embedded, so it couldn't be more convenient.
‘…What's this?’
Just then, I detected a massive, completely alien source of mana.
It's not a Stigma.
It's something I know well.
Above all, it's something that has no business being in this place, at this time.
I dropped the Stigma I was holding and started running at a terrifying speed.
As I passed through the untouched path toward the deepest part, I realized that what I thought was impossible was real.
“Se-hyeon! What's wrong! Why all of a sudden…!”
Han Hyeok-jun, who had followed me, also saw it and couldn't speak another word.
Why in the world was this here, at this point in time?
The sight, which didn't match any information I had, made my breath catch in my throat.
“…”
Neither I nor Han Hyeok-jun could find any words, busy staring at the thing before us.
It felt like my blood was turning cold.
Only after noticing my own jarringly rapid breathing did I consciously cool my head and check again.
Maybe I saw it wrong.
Maybe it just looked similar but was something else entirely.
But, no.
This was definitely real.
Before long, I let out a hollow laugh.
“This is insane.”
A cracked appearance, as if space itself had fractured.
A dark red border drawn along the crack.
There, an Ark Gate stood, from which I could clearly feel the power of a 'Disaster'.