Chapter 221
Chapter 221
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 221
Chapter Title: 63. Leviathan (4)
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8.
“You underestimated them.”
The moment they heard El Pam’s words, Dibo and the others all wore dazed expressions.
‘What’s he talking about?’
To them, El Pam had repeatedly emphasized.
“They’re beyond what I imagined. That’s why I stepped in. There was no reason to test them against Leviathan.”
What El Pam wanted to see was the limits of his companions.
And in El Pam’s view, Leviathan couldn’t properly reveal those limits.
‘I didn’t expect this much.’
In truth, it was beyond El Pam’s expectations as well.
‘To think they’d complete their tempering so perfectly.’
Growing one’s skills and fully assimilating those skills were two entirely different things.
And assimilation was far more difficult.
Yet El Pam’s companions had finished it all.
It wasn’t the result of effort or hardship.
‘Overwhelming talent.’
It was the product of what they were born with.
That was why El Pam hadn’t noticed.
His standards were from before he returned to the past, but looking back now, they hadn’t shown their true talent then.
“Uhahaha!”
Once they grasped the meaning of El Pam’s words, his companions relaxed their faces and burst into laughter.
“The boss is surprised too! By this new and improved Dibo!”
“Hey, don’t get cocky. It looked like you were about to die, so I helped, and now he’s saying this to save face.”
No one was more validating than El Pam himself—it was what they all wanted most.
“Yeah, I’m surprised.”
‘With these guys.’
Of course, they didn’t know.
‘We can conquer that place.’
Their skills exceeding expectations meant the trials and adversities ahead would exceed them too.
In any case, his rejoicing companions—but their joy didn’t last long.
Kyuuu!
A sound interrupted their celebration.
“Mano?”
Kyuuu!
Mano suddenly popped out from El Pam’s body and raced toward Leviathan’s corpse with all its might.
“Ah!”
Only then did everyone remember.
‘Poseidon’s Ring!’
The reason they had entered this place.
And the snail Mano swiftly retrieved that reason.
Kyuuu!
From Leviathan’s corpse, Mano brought back a ring that looked as if it were made of ice.
El Pam picked up the ring.
‘It’s different.’
The moment he did, El Pam felt the same aura as Hyperion’s Helmet or the Hydra’s Heart.
An overwhelming presence.
Of course, there was no hesitation.
El Pam immediately slipped on the ring. And used it right away.
“Cold Beam.”
That’s when they all saw it.
“Huh? Boss? The Cold Beam is... a bit bigger than usual?”
“Hey, a bit? It looks at least three times bigger than the one you normally use!”
A Cold Beam spell nearly the size of a person.
It was the power of Poseidon’s Ring.
“Looks like this one boosts size.”
It made all ice-attribute spells nearly three times larger!
“Wait.”
And soon, they all realized.
“Does that mean Blizzard spells get bigger too? Three times bigger?”
What it meant for El Pam to have obtained Poseidon’s Ring.
“My God.”
His companions were stunned by the fact.
El Pam, however, was different.
‘It’s not quite what I expected.’
It was an impressive item, but by El Pam’s standards, it didn’t match the legendary-grade items he’d acquired before.
Ice spells certainly grew larger and more powerful accordingly.
‘Hard to handle.’
But for El Pam, who used telekinesis, ice spells were already tricky—and three times bigger didn’t appeal as much.
‘Not bad, though.’
Of course, he wouldn’t refuse it.
‘I can master it.’
Making the difficult easy was what gave it meaning.
Above all, El Pam knew.
‘I’ll have plenty of time to practice ahead.’
Now wasn’t the time for second thoughts—it was time to move on.
“Alright, let’s head out.”
9.
The moment El Pam’s party emerged from the Mystic Gate, the first thing they encountered was a Mechanic’s Metal Armor.
The Metal Armors had their massive Gatling guns trained on El Pam’s party.
“Hands up!”
And as if El Pam’s party had anticipated it, they raised their hands before the order was even given.
“Restrain them!”
The Resistance members swiftly subdued El Pam’s party.
They confiscated their weapons and cuffed them.
It was a justified response.
They had arbitrarily challenged a Mystic Gate in the Resistance’s secret headquarters, after all.
If they’d been any other adventurers, they wouldn’t have been restrained—they’d have been executed on the spot.
Thus restrained, El Pam’s party was immediately escorted to the prison in the Resistance’s secret base.
No one was surprised.
‘Just as expected.’
El Pam had foreseen everything up to this point.
“El Pam, you’ve caused quite a massive problem.”
Commander Sigmund appearing with the other executives was also as El Pam had predicted.
But the moment they appeared, El Pam’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
Something unexpected had happened.
‘Cheryl?’
Cheryl, the Cross Hunter executive! She was standing there with the Resistance executives.
‘Why?’
It was true that Cross Hunters and the Resistance had closer ties than with other groups.
Their headquarters were hidden in Edelstein’s council, no less.
In essence, the Resistance and Cross Hunters were practically neighbors.
But that didn’t mean she’d be invited to their secret headquarters.
Moreover, Cheryl wasn’t hiding her identity—she was openly revealing it.
‘Something’s gone down.’
It meant something had happened that El Pam didn’t know about.
‘Something huge.’
And on a scale big enough to make Resistance and Cross Hunters join hands openly.
So El Pam asked immediately.
“What happened?”
There was no answer to his question.
“Answer our questions first. Why did you challenge the Mystic Gate alone?”
Instead, they posed their own question, and El Pam answered right away.
With the hypothesis he’d formed.
And about the monster beyond the Mystic Gate—and how they’d hunted it.
It wasn’t the full truth.
“Leviathan was a stroke of luck. Without it, we’d have been wiped out.”
He embellished the part about taking down Leviathan quite a bit.
Even so, it was a story absurd enough to leave listeners dumbfounded.
“My God.”
When El Pam finished, everyone gathered there stared in disbelief, utterly speechless.
‘Just how far does the El Pam party go?’
In the end, a mere five-person party had cleared a 300-man Blue-grade Mystic Gate without a single casualty.
They’d done what everyone risked their lives for, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
An outrageous feat.
“That’s it.”
But El Pam couldn’t care less.
“So now, answer my question.”
To him, something far more important mattered.
“Fine.”
Cheryl provided the response.
“A huge incident has broken out in the Maple World right now.”
“What kind?”
“The method has been revealed.”
“Method?”
“The way to know what boss monster and items lie beyond a Mystic Gate.”
At that explanation, El Pam’s expression hardened.
‘This is.’
It was true the Resistance had secured info on Mystic Gates.
But it wasn’t from analyzing the Gates themselves—it came from other channels.
Now, a method to obtain Mystic Gate info across the entire Maple World had been revealed.
Sure, such a method could exist.
Mystic Gates were stages intentionally created by the Black Mage’s followers, after all.
Artificially made stages that could be altered at any time if needed.
That was the problem.
“The method is...”
“Plain as day. The Black Mage’s followers spread it.”
It all pointed to a scheme by the Black Mage’s followers.
Of course, far from simple.
“We don’t know the reason.”
But grasping their intent was incredibly difficult.
Revealing this method was, naturally, a massive opportunity for adventurers.
A chance to grow stronger!
They’d dive into Mystic Gates on a destructive scale, beyond explosive.
Adventurers would grow at an insane pace.
So why?
Stronger adventurers wouldn’t thank the Black Mage’s followers for the boost.
It was like making their enemies even tougher.
Nor had the followers suddenly become a benevolent Santa wishing for adventurers’ growth.
“There’s some deeply sinister intent.”
There was definitely intent.
“But we can’t stop it.”
The problem was that the Maple World had no choice but to go along with this scheme.
Adventurers would assault Mystic Gates like mad from now on.
Only a fool wouldn’t.
Especially failed Gates, brimming with unclaimed items—those would be cleared at breakneck speed.
And that would make adventurers stronger.
Then what?
Stronger adventurers tackling higher Gates.
The results were already showing.
“Green-grade and even Blue-grade Mystic Gate clears are exploding right now.”
Fifth-circle and above adventurers, who’d held back due to the mortal risk, were now aggressively challenging them.
The Maple World was changing.
That was why Cross Hunters and Resistance had joined hands.
To face an unprecedented era, they had no choice.
And that was why Cheryl was here.
El Pam’s mind grew complicated.
‘No enemy like this.’
A situation even he hadn’t experienced.
And a massive one.
The changes and shocks from the Mystic Gates’ emergence would be surpassed from here on.
‘But one thing’s certain.’
So El Pam didn’t try to analyze it. He couldn’t, even if he wanted to. Analysis now would just be personal delusion.
In other words, there was one fact to see.
‘The doors will open soon.’
The time when Mystic Gates opened and monsters poured into the world was near.
And when it came, everyone in the Maple World would fight for their lives.
Before that undeniable fact, El Pam had one task.
Hontail!
Capture it.
The moment he realized that, El Pam’s mind cleared.
But that was only from his perspective—he couldn’t tell these people what he knew.
Nor was there need.
“El Pam.”
Cross Hunters and Resistance—they were here for one reason.
“We need your help.”