Chapter 205
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 205
Chapter Title: Baal's Wager
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Guhk!
Kuh!
The second task didnt even take five minutes.
And the third task that followed was no different.
The Whisper of the Demon.
The goal was to avoid being seduced by that whisper and escape the maze crafted by Baal.
If the first and second tasks tested physical strength, the final third one tested mental fortitude and judgment.
The Devils Deal activates.
The task difficulty increases.
Just like before, the task difficulty ramped up, and the maze had been made incredibly convoluted.
On top of that, strange noises echoed around him, his vision blurred, and his head spun so badly it felt like hed collapse at any moment.
Its designed to keep you from finding the exit.
Hed even lost his sense of direction.
But Jeong Hoon had the Demon Slayer title.
With Purifying Gaze, he could map out the mazes paths.
Thanks to that, he reached the endpoint in under two hours, and his body quickly returned to normal.
You are the first to clear Baals dungeon!
15,000 points have been awarded.
Youve gained 2,500,000,000 experience points!
Your level has increased.
All stats 1.
Bonus stat 1 awarded.
Youve acquired x5 Legendary Enhancement Stones.
Youve acquired x5 Legendary Enhancement Stones.
Heh heh, its been ages since I had this much fun.
Even though hed lost the bet, Baal showed no sign of regret.
If anything, he gazed at Jeong Hoon with eyes full of delight.
A guy like Baal wouldnt be fazed by a bet this small.
He wasnt just an apostle-level transcendenthe was a Demon King-level one.
A bet like this was mere entertainment to him.
So, shall we talk about the reward?
At Jeong Hoons mention of the reward, Baals eyes curved like crescent moons.
Jeong Hoon was the winner of this bet.
As promised, his life was spared.
The penalty set to descend on Earth was also canceled.
However, due to the avatar, an additional condition had been added to the bet.
Hmm, what reward do you want?
Baal hadnt prepared any specific reward.
Hed never dreamed of losing this bet.
Ultimate Energy.
Jeong Hoon answered without hesitation.
Ultimate Energy?
For the first time, the delight in Baals eyes wavered.
Yeah.
When New World became reality, hed gotten 0.7 Ultimate Energy for the first time after slaying Rakandra.
It was a tiny amount, but that Ultimate Energy was what allowed one to ascend to the next realm after the Heavenly.
No one has ever reached it.
Before his regression, no one had reached that realm.
So no one knew what it entailed.
They only assumed it was a state where one could crush apostle-level transcendents.
Only a handful had even set foot in the Heavenly realm to begin with.
If things continued like this, it wouldnt differ much from before his regression.
If I reach that realm, no one will be able to stop me.
The current obstacles were, of course, the transcendents.
Especially the apostle-level ones contracted with avatars.
Like Sa Jae-hyeok earlier, theyd issue various quests to disrupt the games end.
He couldnt afford to stagnate at his current level.
Amazing. A human mentioning Ultimate Energy.
Baal, you can do it, right?
NPC Ling Ling.
She could provide Heavenly Energy, but not Ultimate Energy.
It wasnt her domain.
But Baal was a Demon King-level transcendent.
Which meant he could hand over Ultimate Energy.
Nothing else?
Baal hesitated slightly.
Thats not something youd say. If Id lost, would you have shown mercy?
Baal fell silent.
Jeong Hoons words rang completely true.
If Jeong Hoon had lost, he wouldve seized his soul without mercy.
So hand it over.
The corner of Jeong Hoons mouth curled up.
Sigh, 3. Thats the most I can do.
Fine.
3.
Far from a small amount.
Hed wanted around 10, but judging by Baals demeanor, pushing for more wouldnt work.
Good.
Youve acquired 3 Ultimate Energy.
Youve reached 1 of Ultimate Power. 100,000 achievement points awarded.
Now his total Ultimate Energy stood at 3.7.
Jackpot. Before regression, James Marcus spent his whole life gathering only 7.1.
Hed surpassed half of that in an instant.
At this rate, reaching Ultimate Power wasnt impossible.
Tsk, this loss is no joke.
Baal muttered under his breath.
No joke? For just 3?
You didnt know its value and asked for it? Youd have been better off demanding a Legendary-or-higher item.
Guess you shouldve bet more carefully.
Heh heh, human. Whats your name?
Baals eyes curved like crescent moons again.
Win the bet, and Ill tell you.
This isnt an ordinary bet.
Trade works too.
Trade?
The reason transcendents are interfering in this game.
He was purely curious.
Even after regressing, he still didnt know.
Why were they siding with dimensional destruction?
Heh heh, tempting, but lets save that trade for later.
But Baal refused the deal.
Not enough just for amusement, huh.
Disappointing, but hed take it.
Hed erased the biggest penalty, after all.
Oh, how about another bet?
Another bet?
Yeah. In the dungeons that open later, if you successfully close the 10 dungeons I designate, Ill give you 4 Ultimate Energy and a Legendary-or-higher item. What do you say?
Baals follow-up offer was outrageous.
4 Ultimate Energy and a Legendary-or-higher item.
Legendary-or-higher meant he could even aim for Celestial.
But Jeong Hoon didnt accept blindly.
Time limit?
Even outrageous rewards wouldnt matter if the time limit was too tight, making failure inevitable.
Six months Earth time.
Six months
Heh heh, good deal, right?
Jeong Hoon pondered.
Ten dungeons opening within six months.
If his memory served, each one boasted hellish difficulty.
Even for top players, clearing them in six months was 99 impossible.
What to do.
No separate penalty for those dungeons, so no need to take it.
But the reward was too tempting to pass up.
4 Ultimate Energy.
Winning Baals bet would let him surpass the pre-regression James Marcuss total in one go.
I need conditions.
Conditions?
First, no direct interference in those dungeons. Second, ensure transcendents dont sabotage them.
No interference?
Baals red eyes narrowed.
Jeong Hoon smirked.
Yeah. Who knows what tricks youd pull in another bet like this?
I didnt do anything.
You didnt. But your underling transcendents did.
Thats
Promise those two things, and Ill take the bet.
Baal went silent for a long while.
Jeong Hoon, waiting for his answer, added,
If you accept, itll be plenty of entertainment for you.
Baals eyes slowly curved at the confident words.
Good. I accept. But if you fail to clear them, your soul is mine.
Call.
Jeong Hoon nodded.
This would make it no different from the dungeons before his regression.
Then the bet is on.
Once more, the Devils Deal between Jeong Hoon and Baal began.
The abnormal dungeon has been cleared.
With the dungeons destruction, its location is now hidden.
Rewards for the clear are being distributed.
For the next month, no penalties apply to dungeon clears.
That message went out to the entire worlds population.
Cleared?
It got cleared before it even went public?
It was absurd.
The abnormal dungeon appearance message had dropped just five hours ago.
Someone had found it and cleared it in that time.
Who the hell could it be?
Yeo Min-ji asked with a stunned look.
There was one hour left until it went public.
Theyd finished prepping ages ago and were just waiting.
No idea.
Yeo Sun-woo shook his head.
At the same time, he felt a bit relieved inside.
Abnormal dungeon.
They had to raid it without proper intel.
Failure was possible, and even success might cost lives.
He hated to imagine it, but in the worst case, he couldve lost his daughter.
Who is it?
Who could pull off something like this?
One name came to mind.
No way its Hoon, right?
Yeo Min-ji voiced the same thought, mentioning Jeong Hoon.
I thought so too, but its not certain.
He couldnt confirm it was Jeong Hoon.
No matter how amazing he was, finding and closing a dungeon that fast was near impossible.
One month of penalty cancellation.
Thanks to that, players relaxed and dove back into normal dungeons.
Dungeon clears were essential for earning points, after all.
Uwaaak!
Min-gyu! You bastard!
Of course, normal dungeons werent safe either.
People still died from a single mistake, nonstop.
Must bring a healer into dungeons.
-My close friend died in a dungeon Youll hear stories like this all the time, so you absolutely must hire a healer.
True Back in the capsule days, death just meant logout, but now its real death
Thats why Im going to church from now on. Heading to heaven.
Crazy bastard, figure out how to survive.
Healers are insanely rare now lol. Damn, shouldve gone healer.
Fr real, healers are nobility now.
If picking a job, go priest for sure.
Gotta pick mage and convert to priestcheck the separate tip post for how.
Reality had flipped the meta 180 degrees.
Flashy skills and high-damage jobs used to dominate popularity, but now healers who could treat wounds were top dog.
It had to be that wayone life per person.
Preserving it made healing essential.
Yeah, healers are necessary.
After clearing the dungeon and heading home, Jeong Hoon scrolled through the Welcom posts one by one.
No penalty this time, unlike before regression.
He needed to keep tabs on how things were unfolding.
Post-reality, Welcom had been chaotic but had settled down, with New World tips flooding in.
Every tip post had over 100k viewsnon-players visiting for advice.
But newbies flocking to healer is absolutely bad.
Blindly picking healer based on these tips was a mistake.
All jobs needed balance, but for fast growth, pick something that could fight.
Priests focused on support over growth, making them tough for beginners.
Meager combat skills and healing alonewhen would they level up?
High-levels couldnt carry them anymore, so for the future, combat jobs were far better.
In reality, heaps of them rushed to healer, failed to grow, and died en masse.
They couldve survived by picking other jobs and growing.
Knowing the future, Jeong Hoon quickly wrote a post.
To steer as many as possible to other jobs.
Reinforcement requests had also spiked.
Already plentiful before, now even more so.
Life-or-death stakes, so everyones frantic with enhancements.
The biggest reason: supply.
Before, stones were scarce; now, points enabled bulk buys.
Master Enhancer
-Normal (Full ) 3,11210,000
-Rare (Full ) 2,30310,000
-Epic (Full ) 1,73410,000
-Unique (Full ) 721,000
-Legendary (Full ) 1100
Still far from Master Enhancer, but insanely fast for early post-reality.
Supply would grow, speeding it up further.
Jeong Hoon started processing the incoming requests swiftly.