Chapter 106
Chapter 106
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: Desert Nest
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[You have cleared the ‘Desert Nest’ dungeon.]
[Your level has increased.]
Desert Nest.
It was the name of the dungeon that Hae-jin and his party had just conquered in the eleventh Trials' Arena.
The basic monsters that appeared in the desert came at them one after another, growing ever stronger, so it was a fitting name.
In any case, once they finished the dungeon, Lee Sang called out to Hae-jin.
"Hae-jin hyung-nim."
"Yeah?"
"What happens when you clear a dungeon?"
"What happens? You get rewards. The method varies by dungeon, but here, a door opens like that."
Hae-jin pointed to one spot.
The wall behind where the adult Behemoth had been when they first entered the boss area.
That wall had turned into a door and sunk down.
Rumble...
After the door opened, Kwon Na-ye, whose eyesight was the best as an archer, was the first to spot something.
"Hmm? What's that?"
"What's up, noona?"
When Lee Sang asked what Kwon Na-ye had found, she pointed with her index finger across from the newly opened door.
"There's some flame-shaped drawing."
"Flame-shaped?"
Hae-jin knew exactly what it was.
'Holy Flame mark.'
Holy Flame.
It referred to the sacred flames.
At the far end of the Desert Nest dungeon, there was a space made of a wall marked with the Holy Flame symbol.
Hae-jin thought about it there.
'Oh, right. Since I inherited Joo-hyuk's stuff... I probably won't need what's over there, huh?'
He wouldn't need what's over there.
In other words, there was a useful item in the space with the Holy Flame drawing.
But Hae-jin hadn't yet explained it to his party members and said,
"Let's go check it out for now."
"Yeah."
"Sure."
"Alright."
"Yes."
"......"
Everyone gave their responses and moved with Hae-jin.
Toward the spot where the Holy Flame was engraved on the wall.
There, they could all see it.
The altar in front of the wall engraved with the Holy Flame.
On the altar was a single dagger.
A dagger decorated in the shape of the Holy Flame engraved on the wall.
Ji Su-jeong reached to pick it up.
Then Lee Sang stopped her.
"Hold on, Ji Su-jeong-ssi."
"Yes?"
Everyone spoke casually with Hae-jin, but not yet with the newly joined Park Bo-young and Ji Su-jeong.
As such, Lee Sang and Ji Su-jeong were still using formal speech with each other.
Anyway.
At his call, Ji Su-jeong gave him a look asking why he'd called her.
Lee Sang spoke to her.
"It's too suspicious."
"What's suspicious?"
"It's just sitting there all alone. What if picking it up triggers a trap?"
Lee Sang's reasoning was fairly plausible.
You know those clichés in movies where people explore ancient ruins?
Something that tempts curiosity, and when the item is moved, a trap activates.
It was pretty reasonable reasoning.
"Yeah, it's not."
"Huh?"
Lee Sang stared blankly at Hae-jin's words denying his reasoning.
Sure enough.
Hae-jin just picked up the dagger, but nothing happened.
Of course, it wasn't that absolutely nothing occurred.
Just that there was no trap like Lee Sang had reasoned.
As Hae-jin took the dagger, they saw the wall with the Holy Flame symbol in the current space—the one they'd seen first—sink down.
With the Holy Flame-engraved wall sinking, Hae-jin's party could see from there.
Stairs leading up to the surface.
Once Hae-jin took the dagger without issue, Ji Su-jeong grumbled sulkily at Lee Sang.
"What? Nothing happened at all? It even opened the way out of the dungeon."
"Ah, that was..."
Lee Sang scratched his cheek awkwardly with his index finger.
In the midst of that, Hae-jin called Ji Su-jeong.
"Ji Su-jeong."
"Yes, oppa?"
"Don't say anything to Sang. He had a point. From now on, don't touch stuff like this carelessly in dungeons. You got lucky this time, but in other dungeons, over 70% of these are trap switches."
"Ah, okay..."
Ji Su-jeong pouted, having gotten scolded by Hae-jin for speaking up unnecessarily.
But there was no helping it.
As Hae-jin said, in the dungeons faced in the Trials' Arena, devices like the one just now were overwhelmingly likely to be traps.
Anyway, after warning Ji Su-jeong, Hae-jin checked the floating system window while picking up the dagger engraved with the Holy Flame.
[Item! You have acquired the ‘Token of the Sun-Moon Divine Cult.’]
Token of the Sun-Moon Divine Cult.
Hae-jin was the only player in this world who knew the value of this item's name.
He had no choice but to know.
Because he was now the sole Regressor among all players in this world.
Sun-Moon Divine Cult.
Also called the Ming Cult, and famously known as the 'Demonic Cult.'
In the martial world setting, 'Central Plains.'
There existed countless martial artists, among whom were the Righteous Factions who walked the path of justice and the Evil Factions who walked the path of evil.
The Righteous and Evil Factions were always at odds.
But there existed a third force belonging to neither: the 'Demonic Cult.'
Of course, the Demonic Cult members called themselves people of the Divine Cult.
After all, 'Demonic Cult' was merely a name given by the Righteous and Evil Factions. To them, they were beings who breathed under the Sun-Moon Divine Cult.
Anyway, so where was this Token of the Sun-Moon Divine Cult used?
It was the token required to claim the position of 'Heavenly Demon.'
Heavenly Demon.
One of the highest positions attainable in the martial world setting.
One who ascended to the Heavenly Demon's throne ruled over the entire Demonic Cult and became an absolute being that no one could challenge recklessly.
And the 'Token of the Sun-Moon Divine Cult' that Hae-jin's party had just obtained was an item that could make one a successor vying for that Heavenly Demon throne.
One way was to obtain it in the martial world setting, but clearing the dungeon in this eleventh Trials' Arena made it far easier to get, so if possible, it was best to acquire it here.
Anyway, Hae-jin pondered while looking at the Token of the Sun-Moon Divine Cult he'd obtained.
'Who should I give it to?'
In truth, the original owner of this item was Joo-hyuk.
Through countless regressions, he had become the strongest player of all.
However.
With Joo-hyuk gone now, it was natural for Hae-jin to take that position.
Who could challenge Hae-jin for the title of the martial world's strongest, the Heavenly Demon throne?
But even Hae-jin had no need to claim the Heavenly Demon position.
The reason was.
'Heavenly Demon Divine Art.'
[Skill! Activating ‘Heavenly Demon Divine Art.’]
[Power of Heavenly Demon martial arts increased by 100%.]
[Power of darkness attribute skills increased by 100%.]
[All stats increased by 100%.]
[Instills fear in all enemies with lower levels than the caster.]
As Hae-jin tried to use the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, an activation message appeared.
Unlike typical active skills that say 'used,' the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was an ON/OFF 'activation' skill that reinforced the caster themselves.
Moreover, various other options activated as well.
'I've already inherited all of Joo-hyuk's power.'
He already possessed everything of the Heavenly Demon without becoming one.
Thus, Hae-jin had no particular need to hold onto the Token of the Sun-Moon Divine Cult.
Anyway.
After seeing the activated options, Hae-jin quickly deactivated the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
'Heavenly Demon Divine Art.'
[Skill! Deactivating ‘Heavenly Demon Divine Art.’]
'That got inherited too. So I really need to pass it to someone...'
Hae-jin was lost in thought.
From a job perspective, it made sense to give it to those in the ally party who fought in close combat.
Among the current party members, to someone like Manager Kim or Ji Su-jeong.
Park Bo-young and Lee Sang were mages, and Kwon Na-ye was an archer.
There were also Anna and Raffaello, but.
Actually, on second thought, those two could do close combat too.
Anna could take on a Holy Knight role using the Job Addition Ticket, and Raffaello could swing his hammer or book for melee combat.
But in truth, none of that really mattered.
'Anyone can do it as long as they train diligently in martial arts, regardless of job.'
With that in mind, Hae-jin decided he'd gather everyone including Anna and Raffaello to decide on this later.
Anyway, after securing the Token of the Sun-Moon Divine Cult, Hae-jin told the party,
"Anyway, let's get out of the dungeon."
And so Hae-jin's party left the Desert Nest dungeon.
Afterward, as Hae-jin and his party survived and kept surviving, they saw an electronic billboard descending from the sky.
[You have completed the eleventh trial.]
[Your level has increased.]
With the billboard announcing the end of the eleventh Trials' Arena, a system window appeared.
The billboard revealed the results of the eleventh Trials' Arena to the players.
[Eleventh Trial Complete.]
[Settling eleventh trial results.]
[Announcing eleventh trial results.]
[Eleventh Trial Zone Ranking TOP 3]
1st: Park Hae-jin 41,400 points.
2nd: Speller 32,300 points
3rd: Crystal 29,700 points
"Hmm? Is Crystal Su-jeong?"
"Yes, oppa!"
"Good work, everyone. You know what to pick if the hidden trial achievement reward comes out, right?"
"Of course!"
Before entering the eleventh Trials' Arena, Hae-jin had told the core members what to choose for clearing the hidden trial there too, but since Park Bo-young and Ji Su-jeong had joined hastily, he'd explained it to them separately.
What to pick from this hidden trial's rewards.
Before moving on to the hidden trial, the billboard announced survival numbers.
[Number of survivors in this trial's arena: ‘5,000’.]
In the desert, with 10,000 starting, half—5,000—surviving ended the eleventh Trials' Arena, so exactly 5,000 survived this time.
After announcing the survivor count, the billboard revealed more.
[Eleventh trial's hidden trial completed.]
[Eleventh trial hidden trial.]
-Objective: Clear the ‘Desert Nest’ dungeon with 10 or fewer people.
-Achievers: Park Hae-jin, Speller, Crystal, Me, Supreme Monk, Manager Kim, Anna, Raffaello, Joker......
Clear the Desert Nest dungeon with 10 or fewer.
The conditions weren't as tough as expected, so an enormous number achieved it this time.
Hae-jin thought as he looked at it.
'Still, it's to let multiple people head to the Central Plains.'
To let multiple people head to the Central Plains.
From the eleventh Trials' Arena onward, it could be seen as the journey to the Central Plains.
Due to the continent-covering tornadoes in the setting, everyone had crossed from the Western Continent to the Eastern Continent.
In other words, the desert where the players were now was what the Central Plains people of the Eastern Continent considered an 'unknown zone.'