Chapter 227
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 227
Chapter Title: Into the Serpent's Den
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As expected, Baal revealed himself.
Jeong Hoon smirked as he met its gaze.
"So, which dungeon do I need to clear?"
I'll send you the coordinates.
With those words, a ticket fluttered down in front of Jeong Hoon.
It was a ticket to India.
"India?"
Oh, is that place called India? Just so you know, it's not on land.
"I see."
He had a good idea which dungeon it was pointing to.
Serpented.
Serpented.
A monster reminiscent of a massive moray eel.
The dungeon where that thing lurked.
It was a notoriously tricky bastard that wasn't cleared until nearly two years later.
It was infamous as a dungeon that took fourteen failed attempts before an expedition led by James Marcus finally managed to clear it.
And that was the exact place Baal was indicating.
What's wrong? Scared all of a sudden?
Baal's eyes curved like crescent moons.
Jeong Hoon snorted.
"Not a chance. I assume the reward is ready?"
Baal's eyes, which had curved in amusement at his relaxed tone, returned to normal.
Of course. But you know what happens if you fail, right?
Jeong Hoon's soul would be offered to Baal.
"Naturally."
It was obvious, but that wouldn't happen.
Jeong Hoon knew how to conquer Serpented.
At that moment.
The students who had fled from the Golden Raccoon trembled as they thought of Jeong Hoon.
"Shit!"
"That fucking bastard... Look at what he's done..."
"Ha, my stats... This is total bullshit."
They hadn't noticed while desperately trying to survive back then, but for some reason, their stats had plummeted.
The problem was that their levels remained the same.
"This'll recover, right...?"
"I-It should be temporary."
They'd never heard of stats dropping permanently.
So they assumed it was a temporary debuff.
The students used the points they'd stolen to buy dispel potions.
If it was a debuff, dispel would fix it.
But even after drinking the dispel potions, their lowered stats didn't return.
"Shit... What the hell?"
"It's not coming back...?"
"This is driving me insane. For real!"
It was enough to make them go mad and jump around.
"If things stay like this, we can't even steal anymore..."
"Ha..."
They'd barely survived, but they had no intention of stopping their theft.
A crime already committed oncewhat was one more time?
Stealing yielded far more than running their own dungeons.
So they planned to be more careful next time and avoid getting caught.
But with their stats in this state, things were different.
No matter how flashy the skill, everything was based on stats.
Low stats meant even high-damage skills couldn't output properly.
"Ha, what do we do?"
It was then that the students were pacing anxiously.
"Hey."
Someone was walking toward them.
There were four in total, and one face looked familiar.
"...Isn't that the guy we dispelled and robbed?"
That was right.
The man they'd poisoned and stolen from was among them.
"Those fuckers, right?"
"Yeah. The ones who poisoned me and stole everything."
Rage burned in the man's eyes.
"Shit..."
"We're totally screwed now..."
The students' faces drained of color.
Penalty-inflicting dungeon.
These dungeons varied greatly, and once cleared, no penalties were imposed on the surrounding area.
However, abnormal dungeons like the one where Baal had appeared earlier imposed penalties across the entire Earth if failed.
Of course, with multiple entrances, they were easy to accessbut this one was different.
One entrance. Penalty on the entire Earth.
That was why an expedition team had struggled to clear it.
If not cleared, penalties stacked every set period, growing stronger each time.
To avoid them, the dungeon needed to be closed quickly.
And that's the one Baal chose.
Baal had added one condition.
Go in alone.
No help from others.
Probably to block any tricks, even if just a little.
Heading out right away?
Jeong Hoon shook his head at Mukho's question.
"Not yet."
Hm? Something else to prepare?
Animah quickly picked up on it.
Jeong Hoon smirked and nodded.
"Yeah. I could clear it right now, but it'd take a while."
Serpented was high-level and extremely tricky.
A monster impossible to defeat without knowing its strategy.
The damn thing that had inflicted twenty-two penalties.
To take it down quickly, a few items were needed.
Indian Ocean.
One of the world's five great oceans, located below India.
Countless portals shimmered above its surface.
Portals leading to dungeons.
"We'll clear this dungeon today."
Thirteen people stood before one such portal.
They had paused their ship to prepare for entry.
They were the Pirate Guild, specialists in ocean dungeons.
Fewer dungeons spawned at sea than on land, so they overflowed with resourcessome rare ones exclusive to ocean dungeons.
Unique-grade magic stones.
Unique-grade magic stones, unseen on land, had been found over fifty times at sea.
Each was worth 100,000 points.
With materialization in effect, points were incredibly valuable currency.
That was why so many ventured to the sea.
The Pirate Guild was no different.
Even during New World, they'd operated mainly at sea, specializing in ocean dungeons.
They prided themselves on knowing maritime dungeons better than anyone.
"Is this one okay...? It feels a bit..."
But today's dungeon was no joke.
Immense mana leaked from the portal.
The entrance showed no level indicator.
Still, guild master Vikram was confident.
No danger detected.
He possessed a dungeon-specific detection skill.
A Legendary one, at that. Heh heh.
There were many detection types, but Vikram's applied only to dungeons.
It let him pick low-risk ones, and he'd snagged six Unique magic stones that way.
"It's fine. This isn't that dangerous."
Vikram reassured his guildmates.
Knowing he had a Legendary detection skill, they nodded in relief.
"Sigh... Even so."
But mage Aditya remained conflicted.
His senses, keen as a mage's, screamed one thing.
If we go in, we die.
That's why he couldn't relax despite Vikram's words.
"Act like a maknae, you punk."
"You doubting the guild master's detection skill?"
"Punk's ignoring a Legendary grade."
The guildmates mocked Aditya.
He'd joined just over a year ago, still the maknae.
A maknae defying the master didn't sit well.
But Vikram raised a hand, scolding the mockers.
"You lot! Ignoring Aditya just 'cause he's maknae?"
"No, it's not that..."
"Quiet. Enough."
The guildmates shut up at his command.
Vikram approached Aditya.
Aditya waved his hands in bewilderment.
"I'm not disrespecting you, Guild Master! I just think going in there is dangerous..."
"I get it."
Vikram patted his shoulder.
"Guild Master..."
"It's okay. These things happen. But trust me just this once. That's definitely a trap."
"A trap...?"
"Yeah. I've seen similar ones before. And I've broken them all with this detection skill."
"...I see."
Aditya was several tiers below Vikram.
With a Legendary skill backing his persuasion, Aditya slowly came around.
"Alright. Let's go in."
Thus began the raid led by Vikram.
Using the ticket to reach India, Jeong Hoon immediately downed a Fly Potion.
Fly Potion
-Type: Consumable
-Grade: Epic
-Allows use of flight skill for about 1 hour after consumption.
-However, side effects may occur.
Better to borrow a ship, but it wasn't too far, so flight magic it was.
Hm? A ship's here?
After flying some distance, he arrived at Serpented's dungeonwhere a ship was anchored.
Jeong Hoon descended slowly, landing on the deck.
Someone burst out from inside, sword drawn.
The guard keeping the ship from drifting.
"Who the hell are you!"
No language barrier issues, thankfully.
"Here to clear this dungeon."
"Bullshit! This is Pirate Guild territory. Get lost if you know what's good for you."
"Or what?"
Jeong Hoon smirked.
"You little shit?!"
Veins bulged on the man's forehead.
Level 220.
A third-job Crusader.
He charged, sword aimed at Jeong Hoon.
"Ha, what a pain."
Jeong Hoon scratched his head, casually dodging the slash.
Then punched his solar plexus.
"Gahk!"
Hitting the vital spot, the man curled up, unable to move for a while.
Gasping in agony.
"Quit exaggerating. Anyway, I'll head in and back, so just guard the ship quietly."
It was a light tap.
Full force would've knocked him outor worse.
Jeong Hoon left the Crusader and entered the portal.
Enter Serpented's Lair?
Underwater breathing enabled upon entry.
A dungeon with no level shown.
What the hell were they thinking, going in first?
Jeong Hoon couldn't comprehend the ones ahead.
Anyone could see it was dangeroushow stupid did you have to be?
Entering.
Accepting, his body was sucked into the portal.
The hellish sight before him left him speechless.
"Wiped out..."
No one intact.
Necks torn off, bodies bisected with only torsos or legs left.
Others reduced to trunks, limbs and heads devoured.
Ahead, Serpenteda giant moray eel lookalikechewed furiously on something.
Obviously one of them.
"P-Please... spare me..."
Then, a voice reached Jeong Hoon's ears.
Underwater breathing allowed communication too.
His head turned sideways.
A survivor.
One arm gone, but conscious.
Jeong Hoon swam over quickly.
Using Supreme Healing.
The severed part healed in seconds.
"A-A priest...?"
Shadow crossed the man's face.
A priest couldn't handle that monster.
"Stay back."
But his healer spoke calmly.
"Yes...?"
"You're in the way of dealing with it."
As said, Serpented charged toward them.