Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Defeating the Island's Master
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"Come out."
Those were Hae-jin's words.
The moment he sensed goblins approaching his dwelling after midnight on the first day, Hae-jin had wiped out the entire group.
Right after, he moved.
To the center of the island.
The reason was simple.
To achieve the hidden trial in this Trials' Arena.
'The island's master should have respawned by now.'
The ninth Trials' Arena.
The survival objective here was to stay alive on the island.
Until 50 people remained in each zone.
Before that, Hae-jin had told his party members.
To achieve the hidden trial, they needed to take down the island's master.
He was no different.
Which was why Hae-jin had headed to the island's center, and upon arrival, he spotted a cave.
That cave was where the 'island's master'—the condition for completing the hidden trial—resided.
The island's master.
Hae-jin stood before the cave where it lurked, staring silently inside.
A cave shrouded in darkness.
But Hae-jin knew exactly who ruled these woods.
'Merman. A mage could take it down easily by blasting lightning magic from outside the cave.'
Merman.
There were merfolk with human upper bodies and fleshy lower halves.
They were called mermaids, and their counterparts were the opposite.
Beings with human forms that looked unmistakably like fish.
That was the 'merman' Hae-jin had just recalled.
Normally, taking down a merman solo in this section wasn't easy.
'Still, the one here barely survived a fight with the mermaids and hid away, so it's manageable.'
Even without that, as Hae-jin had just thought, lightning magic made it simple.
Being water-attributed, as mentioned earlier, unleashing lethal lightning from outside the cave could kill it outright or at least leave it critically wounded for the fight.
That's why Hae-jin wasn't worried about Lee Sang, Raffaello, or Anna at all.
He and Lee Sang, Raffaello could cast pure magic, and as a priestess, Anna could wield holy lightning magic.
The concerns were Na-ye and Manager Kim.
'Well, those two hold their own pretty well. An injured merman shouldn't be too tough.'
With that in mind, Hae-jin pondered.
'What should I do?'
Truth be told, Hae-jin could take a merman without any fancy tricks.
Even the strongest, the merman king, wouldn't be a problem.
His dilemma was simply choosing from the many methods available.
After mulling it over, Hae-jin decided.
"Yeah, screw it. Let's just zap it right now."
Having made up his mind, Hae-jin extended his hand toward the cave.
He then invoked the spell that had become a skill.
"Thunder Storm."
[Skill! 'Thunder Storm' used.]
Crackle!
Lightning infused with chaotic energy burst from Hae-jin's hand.
The bolt vanished.
One might wonder where it went, but it soon became clear.
The cave filled with a massive surge of lightning.
Rumble-crackle!
So immense was the thunder storm that it burst out the entrance, swirling wildly.
Then Hae-jin heard it.
"Kieeeek!"
A scream of agony echoed from the cave.
Naturally, the source was the merman.
Hae-jin confirmed the merman had fallen.
[Experience gained.]
[Level up.]
"Merman experience pays pretty well."
Hae-jin, already far ahead in levels compared to others, had leveled up from a single merman.
No wonder the experience felt generous.
Anyway, confirming the merman's death, Hae-jin entered the cave.
And saw this.
"Oh, it dropped something."
Hae-jin eyed the items left where the merman had vanished and deemed them decent.
A spear, a pauldron, and a necklace.
Sometimes only one or two pieces of armor dropped, but getting a weapon spear plus armor was good luck.
The necklace was a fixed quest item drop, so nothing exciting there.
Regardless, Hae-jin picked up the merman's drops.
[Item! 'Merman Spear' acquired.]
[Item! 'Merman Shoulder Armor' acquired.]
[Item! 'Pendant of the Mermaid Royal Family' acquired.]
'Pendant of the Mermaid Royal Family... This is for the next Trials' Arena.'
It wasn't usable in this one.
Anyway, having pocketed them, Hae-jin said,
"Now we just wait it out. Bored already—better hang with the kids."
Hang with the kids.
Other players were too busy surviving to feel bored, but for Hae-jin, enduring on the island from here on meant nothing.
One skill could topple everything.
So the remaining time would drag; he figured he'd summon Q, Kiyo, and Terry Prisoner—now his summons—and chill.
"Come out, kids."
Summoning them all at once.
Before him appeared Q, Kiyo, and Terry Prisoner, transformed into chaos soldiers.
[You called, meow!]
[You called, kyow!]
[You called, sir?]
The trio immediately asked why they'd been summoned.
To them, Hae-jin replied,
"Just bored. Let's take a stroll around the island together."
[Meow!]
[Kyow!]
[Yes, sir!]
Afterward, Hae-jin waited out the end of the Trials' Arena with his summons.
About half a month passed.
Hunting respawned monsters on the island with his summons to pass the time, Hae-jin finally saw it.
An electronic board descending from the sky.
[Ninth trial completed.]
[Level up.]
The ninth Trials' Arena was over.
Immediately after, Hae-jin saw the following system window.
[Ninth trial completed.]
[Settling ninth trial results.]
[Announcing ninth trial results.]
[Ninth Trial Zone Ranking TOP 3]
1st: Park Hae-jin - 121,400 points.
2nd: Supreme Monk - 112,700 points
3rd: Kang Jung-gu - 10,300 points
Seeing the top three points from the ninth Trials' Arena, Hae-jin remarked,
"Those two must've hustled hunting. But this'll be the last time they make zone rankings. And Supreme Monk got the merman too."
Hae-jin noted that Supreme Monk had succeeded in the hidden trial condition of hunting the merman.
Simple reason.
Unlike Kang Jung-gu, Supreme Monk had racked up 100,000 points like Hae-jin.
Those 100,000 points were exclusive to merman kills.
Anyway, merman aside.
Supreme Monk and Kang Jung-gu, who always took 2nd and 3rd whenever Hae-jin cleared a Trials' Arena—they weren't slouches.
It was just that Joo-hyuk's ideal roster was too exceptional; by normal player standards, they were quite skilled.
But he couldn't take everyone.
The Trials' Arena limited survivor numbers.
Of course, with fine tuning, he could save more than six.
'But these are the ones for the top spots—right now's the time.'
Thus, Hae-jin figured this was the last zone ranking for Supreme Monk and Kang Jung-gu.
The next, tenth Trials' Arena would merge the 50 survivors from this one into a single zone.
Anyway, recalling that, Hae-jin checked the continuing board.
[Number of survivors in this Trials' Arena: '50'.]
Had no one died in reality, 100 would have advanced to the ninth.
Thus, exactly half—50—survived this ninth Trials' Arena.
The board then revealed the hidden trial.
[Ninth trial's hidden trial completed.]
[Ninth trial's hidden trial.]
- Goal: Hunt the 'island's master'.
- Achieved by: Park Hae-jin, Manager Kim, Raffaello, Speller, Anna, Na-ye, Joker, Supreme Monk.
Seeing the hidden trial achievers, Hae-jin said,
"Joker's starting to scheme for hidden trials now."
He already knew Supreme Monk got it from the points, but Joker had achieved it too.
With the hidden trial cleared, reward options appeared.
[Hidden trial reward granted.]
[Choose one of the following three rewards:]
1. Water attribute enhancement scroll.
2. Contribution points 2x scroll.
3. Experience 2x scroll.
Hae-jin picked without hesitation.
[Selected 'Experience 2x Scroll' as hidden trial reward.]
Hae-jin knew what each reward meant.
The 'water attribute enhancement scroll' eased fights in the next Trials' Arena, and the 'contribution points 2x scroll' aided survival there.
But that didn't matter to him.
'Even if they kill the merman king and grind contribution points 2x scrolls like mad, it won't beat me.'
That's why he'd told his party to just take the experience 2x scrolls.
Simple reason.
He'd take 1st anyway, so contribution 2x was pointless.
Better to surge ahead in levels.
Plus, someone needed the contribution 2x for the next arena—but excluding party, Koreans only had Supreme Monk.
Joker otherwise.
'But he won't overlap nations, so same zone's a ways off.'
The Trials' Arenas had awakened many players worldwide, splitting into numerous zones.
Typically divided by Earth blocks, so merges first grouped same-nation folks.
Thus, Hae-jin said he and party wouldn't meet Joker next zone.
No Americans in their starting groups.
'Well, Anna and Raffaello might meet.'
They started nearby, so high chance next.
Anyway.
With matters settled, the Trials' Arena sent players back to reality.
Returning, Hae-jin said,
"Just one more survival, and we're a third done."
With 30 total Trials' Arenas, the tenth marked exactly one-third.
And so Hae-jin awaited the tenth Trials' Arena with his party.