Chapter 91
Chapter 91
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: A Strategy That Never Existed (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“...What is this?”
I narrowed my eyes at the building, which felt completely deserted.
The Geumeumdal Guild’s ‘body’ is comprised of three parts in total.
I destroyed one, and another was scheduled to be ambushed by the Jamryong Guild’s elite while Choi Yeon-soo created a diversion using her specialty, disguise.
I was preparing to attack the last one immediately.
But upon arrival, the building felt so empty it was unnerving.
“It’s the smell of blood. It’s strong.”
Choi Seo-hee sniffed the air.
It seemed she was accustomed to the scent of blood, having killed so many.
When I focused my sense of smell, I too could detect the faint, metallic odor.
“Which means someone has already attacked this place...”
[Using the skill, ‘Extreme Eye’.]
I imbued my eyes with mana and scanned the building from top to bottom.
The mana wavelength of a dimension stone is quite unique; I should be able to detect it from this close.
‘There’s not a single one.’
I searched meticulously, but found nothing.
This meant the reason for the attack was to secure the MV and the cylinders.
“You said you were working with the five major guilds. Maybe one of them made a move?”
“That’s possible.”
But it wasn’t a good thing.
If the five major guilds moved this quickly as a whole, it would only hasten the war against the hostile forces.
I had intended to move with as few people as possible, so this outcome was less than satisfactory.
“You were part of the Geumeumdal Guild, weren't you? Aren't you bothered that people you shared a roof with are dying?”
“I was never one for belonging anywhere. I was only with Geumeumdal because of that bastard, Kwon Seong-shin.”
Choi Seo-hee ground her teeth.
Kwon Seong-shin was the name of the man serving as the Geumeumdal Guild’s master.
I thought she had agreed to have her power sealed, but was that not the case?
‘Well, if she’s hostile toward them, that’s a good thing.’
The plan was to infiltrate the Geumeumdal Guild’s main base, have Choi Seo-hee buy time, and then take out Kwon Seong-shin.
If I let her get her revenge in the process, it would probably lessen her anger toward me as well.
First, I needed to gather information.
I immediately turned in another direction.
“What? Where are you going all of a sudden?”
“To the head.”
Gabriel Hospital.
A mountain was located not far from the central hub, and near it stood a building that had been abandoned for quite some time.
It was the main base of the Geumeumdal Guild, situated in an uninhabitable zone, making it a place that would take a long time to find without any clues.
“What an incredible amount.”
From the rooftop of a building some distance from Gabriel Hospital, I first assessed the surrounding situation.
There weren’t even that many gates, yet the virus was everywhere.
Only the Geumeumdal Guild possessed the cylinders, which meant only their members could come and go safely.
They were using the virus to defend against outsiders.
So, conquering this area had also become more difficult than in the original story.
A gate spawning ordinary monsters came into view.
A Troll, rated C-class for its tremendous regenerative abilities, was looking around as it stepped out of the gate.
*Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.*
“Gwooooargh!”
Not even a few seconds after emerging from the gate, the Troll let out a monstrous scream and collapsed.
Its body began to melt from the virus and a deadly toxin.
At the same time, its remarkable regenerative power worked to restore the melted flesh.
The two processes repeated endlessly, and soon the Troll was a gruesome sight to behold.
“This is why I don't like coming here.”
Choi Seo-hee grumbled, her brow furrowed.
“By the way, how did you know about this place? You know a strange amount of things.”
“Kang Dong-woon told me.”
“He should’ve just gone peacefully to the afterlife. No, maybe this is for the best? Thanks to him, I get to smash that kid Kwon Seong-shin’s face in. Agh, bleep—! Why does it keep censoring me like that!? Hey, isn't this too much!?”
I burst out laughing at the sight of Choi Seo-hee exploding with frustration.
Knowing her personality and her penchant for swearing, I had included a profanity-prevention clause in the contract. The result was more amusing than I’d expected.
And if she tried to take her anger out on me, she’d be in breach of contract and immediately suffer excruciating pain.
Having experienced that pain when she lunged at me right after the contract was formed, she could only seethe and swallow her anger, unable to attack me.
“You could just swear less.”
“You think that’s easy!?”
Leaving Choi Seo-hee to stomp her feet repeatedly on the ground, I turned my gaze back to the scene.
‘So many NPCs died fighting those mutated monsters.’
The Troll, having lost its sense of pain through the repetitive process, had become more ferocious, and its blood was now a mass of viruses. A careless attack that drew blood could lead to immediate infection.
Its regenerative ability remained, but only its strengths had been amplified.
Because of how tricky they were to deal with, trying to fight a mutated Melt Troll like a normal one often resulted in being overwhelmed.
And it wasn't just Trolls.
Monsters with reasonably sturdy bodies shambled around with half-melted forms.
Among them were even some where two melted monsters had fused together, becoming grotesquely deformed like something out of a horror game.
It was not a pleasant sight.
First, the school turned into a horror escape genre, and now this was a grotesque gore-fest.
“So, how are you planning to get there? I'm telling you beforehand, it's not just those monsters. There are lots of traps, too.”
“I know.”
It seemed she had cooled down a bit.
She must have realized that getting angry wouldn't change anything.
‘The Geumeumdal Guild members wouldn't be crazy enough to use this path.’
The cylinders could block the virus, but not the monsters.
They would surely be using a secret passage to get back and forth, just like in the original story.
Without knowing the location of that secret passage, breaking through this area to reach the main base would be difficult.
But since I knew, it was a different story.
After spotting a few Geumeumdal members emerging from a location I had been watching carefully, I immediately withdrew.
“This is enough. Let’s head back for now.”
“Don’t forget your promise to release my seal.”
“Don’t worry.”
It will have to be released.
Because I know the true nature of the two individuals, Choi Seo-hee and Kwon Seong-shin.
All sorts of plans must be forming in Choi Seo-hee’s mind right now.
Without a clue that she’s dancing in the palm of my hand.
I smirked and quickly returned home.
***
When I got home, an unexpected situation had occurred.
Jo Min-woo, who had been groaning in pain, had fallen completely unconscious.
By the time I arrived, he had already been hospitalized.
“The cause is unknown, but it’s likely the awakening of his unique ability. People sometimes lose consciousness when awakening a great power.”
Jo Min-ah, who had been pacing anxiously, looked much more relieved after hearing the doctor's words.
Still, it seemed the worry of ‘what if it’s something else’ remained.
‘I know for a fact that it’s a sign of his unique ability awakening.’
I had expected it to happen soon, but this was a little early.
Was it because I started his training at an accelerated pace?
It was also possible that the time it took to meet the conditions for awakening was shortened because he had rapidly raised his stats with the coins acquired from clearing gates.
All that was left was to watch and see.
Whether he could wake up on his own, or if he needed external help.
The former was the best-case scenario, but if things didn't go smoothly, I would have to intervene.
Jo Min-ah staying at the hospital to look after him could be considered a good thing.
It eliminated one potential worry.
No one would be crazy enough to attack a hospital under the protection of the Hongryeon Guild.
“That aside.”
I stared blankly at Jun Bo-ra, who was acting as if she owned the place.
“Hey, this is delicious. You got any more?”
“...If you start by telling me why you’re here.”
“Isn’t it about time we exchanged information?”
I had used a lot of energy today and was planning to rest a bit.
I tapped my forehead with my fingertips and nodded.
Right. This was no time to rest.
If I didn’t keep moving forward without stopping, the swamp that had already risen would pull me under.
“But...”
Jun Bo-ra glanced over at Choi Seo-hee.
Choi Seo-hee was some distance away, muttering to herself as she leaned back on the sofa.
“...What’s with that crazy woman?”
“It’s fine. She’s bound by a contract, so she can’t harm us.”
“A contract? You have that many coins?”
“It’s about using them where they’re needed.”
Choi Yeon-soo hadn’t returned yet.
Was she talking with the Jamryong Guild?
Choi Yeon-soo would handle things fine on her own.
It seemed her animosity towards me had lessened considerably.
Ultimately, showing them that following me is the way to survive is enough to make them fall in line.
“In the meantime, I’ve been looking for a solution to the virus on my own.”
Jun Bo-ra’s words broke my train of thought.
The virus outbreak. It was a mandatory event in the story.
Not just Jun Bo-ra, but Hwang Chan-jin must have also started looking for a solution to the virus as soon as Chapter 7 began.
In the original story, there were no dimension stones, and thus no cylinders.
It would be quite difficult to move around with the enhanced virus without them.
Hmm. Perhaps it would be better to just give them a slight hint about the cylinders.
Their actions would ultimately save me some trouble.
“It was strange. That guy with the glasses should have appeared by now, but he hasn't. So I went all the way to Suwon to find him. But for some reason, he was dying.”
My smile vanished as I rummaged through my inventory.
Glasses. Suwon.
There was only one person who fit those two keywords.
“Divine Doctor Gong Yeong-hoon is dead?”
He was a character who was basically impossible to interfere with beforehand due to quest area restrictions, as he lived in Suwon.
True to his title of Divine Doctor, he was an actual doctor who awakened as a player with healing-related traits, earning him the nickname ‘The Greatest Support of This Era.’
Gong Yeong-hoon was a key figure who would research the virus, develop an inhibitor, and make it possible to survive for long periods inside the Ark Gate.
Without his help, conquering the Ark Gate would be impossible, leading to a failed chapter and a bad ending.
Since I had to attack the Geumeumdal Guild directly, I was planning to ask Cha Eun-ha to handle this part.
“What do you mean? He can’t be dead already.”
“It looked like he was attacked by someone. He had lost too much blood and was on the brink of death.”
“...So it happened recently.”
“Yeah. But he was already beyond saving, so there was nothing I could do.”
A doctor cannot heal himself.
Perhaps that was reflected in his abilities.
Despite his overpowered traits, Gong Yeong-hoon was incapable of healing himself.
In the original game, that limitation was the very cause of his death.
‘A key figure is dead.’
My eyes fell on the cylinder I was holding.
The method used in the original strategy had been forcibly rendered unusable, and a new countermeasure that didn't exist in the original game was now in my hands.
‘Is this a coincidence, or...’
My hand clenched so tightly it felt like it would shatter.
Hearing a creaking sound from the cylinder, I relaxed my grip and put it back in my pocket.
‘The method may have changed, but the result is the same.’
I shook my head.
As long as I reach the desired outcome, it doesn't matter which path I take.
The absence of the Divine Doctor wouldn't hinder future progress, so I didn't need to dwell on it.
“The problem is, that glasses-wearing guy said something strange before he died.”
Suddenly, Jun Bo-ra’s expression turned grim.
“He said that people with crescent moon emblems on their shoulders attacked him without warning.”