Chapter 59: Triple Quad. Laws of the Dungeon
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 59: Triple Quad. Laws of the Dungeon
They had been running for some time when a bird of flame lunged at them from the right.
As Gi-chan pointed his staff toward the projectile, an Ice Snake shot forward, colliding with the flame bird and causing both to vanish in a hiss of steam.
This was the third time they had been harassed by the new Quad moving parallel to Seo-un’s group. Already, five Quads—including Seo-un’s team—were racing toward the same destination.
“There’s a Witch in the Quad to our right! Watch out. If you get hit with a debuff, it’ll be a real headache.”
The woman with disheveled hair, flying low on a broom while clutching a crystal ball, looked remarkably like the Witch Seo-un had encountered in a previous round, bringing back unpleasant memories.
“Hyung, wouldn’t it be better to just take that team out now?” Gi-chan suggested.
Lyle shook his head while waving his staff. A Wind Hammer flew from the tip, shattering an incoming Ice Lance. A wave of cold air washed over them, but in the sweltering desert heat, it felt more like a refreshing breeze.
“The force field is moving at an unnerving speed. It feels even faster now than when we started. At this rate, it’s going to be a close call.”
“Lyle’s right,” Seo-un added. “Besides, there’s no telling how much more that damn field will shrink. We need to conserve our strength until we figure out what’s going on.”
The various Quads continued their relentless sprint, engaged in a tedious exchange of blows while keeping a wary eye on one another. Then, the moment they crested a massive sand dune that blocked their view, everyone skidded to a halt.
Seo-un felt as if he had stepped into another world. Forgetting the danger for a moment, he stood mesmerized by the magnificent sight before him. He wasn't the only one; everyone else was staring at the unfolding scene in equal awe.
“I’ve never seen it in person, but is this what Niagara Falls looks like?” Gi-chan muttered.
Seo-un nodded instinctively. It was a massive waterfall, the kind one only saw on TV or the internet. The only difference was that instead of water, an immense volume of sand was cascading down. The sight of the sand, pushed by the wind and falling endlessly, exerted an overwhelming pressure.
After a brief moment of admiration, the first to move was the Quad with the Witch. With them in the lead, the groups began charging toward the sand waterfall. For a fleeting second, the wind weakened and the curtain of falling sand thinned, revealing a dark cave opening hidden behind the falls.
Meanwhile, the force field showed no signs of slowing down, closing in rapidly from behind. Anyone with half a brain could tell: if they didn't get inside, the force field would kill them.
As they ran, Seo-un suddenly called out to Gi-chan and Lyle, signaling them to stop. As they fell behind the other Quads, who were fiercely competing to be the second group to enter, Gi-chan looked at the approaching force field with mounting anxiety.
“Hyung!”
Ignoring the urgency, Seo-un looked at Lyle. “Get a Gold Scroll ready. No matter what happens, use it the moment we’re inside if we’re all together.”
Gi-chan’s eyes widened. “Wait, don’t tell me…”
“It doesn’t hurt to be careful.”
At those words, Gi-chan pulled up the Survivor List.
[54/400]
The moment he saw the numbers, he sensed something was wrong. If there were still this many survivors, where were they all? And why had the survivor count, which had been stagnant for so long, suddenly started dropping so rapidly?
“Run!”
With the force field now right on their heels, Seo-un took the lead and sprinted again. With grim expressions, Lyle and Gi-chan followed close behind.
‘Kaier’s Barrier.’
The moment they plunged through the sand waterfall—which crashed down with terrifying force and kicked up blinding clouds of dust—they felt a sensation of weightlessness. They were plummeting underground.
Thump!
From below, waves of Mana and sharp, aggressive auras surged upward.
“More of them!”
Before they could even adjust to the new space, magic and arrows rained down on them. Lyle and Gi-chan, who had been prepared, immediately deployed their barriers. Seo-un swung his fists to deflect the incoming attacks and moved close to Lyle.
A quick scan of the situation told him they needed to leave immediately. A dozen supply boxes and fresh bloodstains were scattered everywhere. The Quads that had raced in alongside them were struggling, already losing teammates to the ambush.
The moment the concentrated fire shifted toward Seo-un’s group, Lyle tore the Gold Scroll.
“Damn it! We missed them!”
“Focus on finishing off the ones who are left, fast!”
The dozen or so players began to focus their efforts on the remaining survivors, who had already lost much of their strength in the initial ambush.
*
“Whoa!”
The moment they finished teleporting, a drop of water fell from the ceiling and slid down Lyle’s spine. Startled, he reached out into the air and looked around.
“It’s okay. Fortunately, it looks like we were sent quite a distance away,” Seo-un said.
As soon as he finished speaking, Seo-un activated the map. A new interface appeared before his eyes—a frustrating map where everything was blacked out except for the entrance they had arrived at and their current location.
“This is…”
“Yeah. We’ve entered a dungeon.”
Lyle spoke up, sounding agitated. “I’ve never heard of a sand waterfall like that existing in the Forbidden Desert. I don’t understand what’s happening…”
Because it concerned information about his own world, Lyle was even more confused. However, for Seo-un, who had played his fair share of games, this wasn't an unfamiliar setup.
“Dungeons that appear when specific conditions are met are a common cliché.”
“Pardon? A common setup? What does that mean?”
It seemed the word 'cliché' was too much for the Cloyd Translation System to convey easily.
“Just take my word for it. The important thing is that there’s definitely teaming going on.”
“You’re right. I can’t believe they were waiting to ambush us at the entrance… Hyung, how did you know?”
“Well… if I had entered this dungeon first, I would have done the exact same thing. It’s too good an opportunity to pass up.”
It was a PK (Player Killing) tactic he had often used in the games he used to play. Whether it was an Archery PK Group or a Magic PK Group, they would camp at a dungeon entrance and instantly kill enemies who wandered in off-guard.
Gi-chan wasn't much of a gamer, but he had to nod in agreement. It had just been proven that the tactic worked quite well in reality. A mere dozen or so players—an alliance of three or four Quads—had overwhelmed and killed four other Quads in an instant.
“What do we do now…?”
“First… we need to reveal the map and assess the situation. I don’t know why the map was suddenly restricted and changed, but they wouldn’t have forced us into a dungeon for no reason. There’s bound to be something more. Especially watch out for monsters. In a dungeon like this, there’s always something like—”
Sssssss.
Hiaaaaa.
The sound that cut him off made young Lyle’s face turn pale. It was eerie, sounding like the wailing or laughing of the dead. Seeing Gi-chan raise his staff, Seo-un held up a hand to stop him.
“Unless it’s absolutely necessary, refrain from using magic. There’s no need to reveal our position when we don’t know what’s around us. Lyle, you calm down too. I know it’s scary, but…”
“I-It’s a Specter!”
Terrified, Lyle’s eyes widened as he stared over Seo-un’s shoulder. Rather than turning his head, Seo-un reflexively lashed out with his hand, which was twisted into a bizarre shape.
Hiaaaaaa!
A translucent Specter, glowing with a faint white light, passed through his Blood Bone Claw, which was infused with Internal Power. It was an unpleasant creature, flying high and letting out an eerie, mournful cry.
—It is a monster with significant resistance to physical attacks. It is difficult to destroy unless you use magic or a weapon coated in Holy Water.—
Seo-un frowned at Hamit’s words. Using magic carried the risk of revealing their location to any nearby enemies, and they hadn't prepared items like Holy Water.
‘Any other way?’
—The Specter itself is not a particularly strong monster. But there is no other way.—
As Seo-un gritted his teeth, the Specter’s translucent sword suddenly solidified as it lunged past him, aiming for his flank. The moment the creature’s hand became solid along with the sword, Seo-un’s Blood Bone Claw tore into it.
Kiaaaaaaa!!
The moment its hand was ripped away, the creature let out a shriek and flew upward. The hand holding the sword, which had fallen to the ground, evaporated into nothingness.
—Doing that will only provoke it.—
“We can’t get Holy Water here. In that case, Gi-chan, use your magic to finish it quickly so we can move.”
“Yes!”
Gi-chan answered energetically and raised his staff, but both men paused at Lyle’s innocent remark.
“If it’s Holy Water… I have some right here?”
The two were momentarily speechless as they watched him pull a glass bottle out of his subspace with an innocent expression.
‘Why would that…’
‘…come out of there?’
Perhaps reading the thoughts in their eyes, Lyle lowered his head bashfully. “While I was looking for items in a cathedral with my teammates… I filled it up just in case. I thought Holy Water might come in handy.”
Watching him, Gi-chan lowered the staff he had been grandiosely raising and poured Holy Water over his fists. Seo-un also applied Holy Water to his hands and glared at the Specter, which was wearing tattered armor as it flew toward them.
The moment he lunged at the creature’s head as it charged with its regenerated hand and sword, its head split open and its form dissipated.
Kiaaaaaaa.
With a sharp shriek, Specters began to swarm in from all directions.
Clink!
Clink!
After quickly dispatching a dozen Specters armed with swords and spears, Seo-un’s gaze fell on the items that occasionally dropped to the floor with a metallic sound.
“Soul Crystals?”
“They’re items known to drop occasionally when you kill a Specter. You can sell them to Alchemists for about 500,” Lyle explained.
At those words, Seo-un hurriedly gathered the fallen crystals and put them in his subspace. Seeing this, Gi-chan added his own knowledge.
“If you put them in a leather pouch, you can take them out at a rate of 1 Coin per 10 crystals.”
One Coin was worth 50 million won.
“Whew. Shall we start the hunt, then?”
It might not have been Gi-chan’s imagination that Seo-un’s eyes, now looking refreshed and devoid of any tension, seemed to have turned into dollar signs.
[Ding! 24 hours remain until the Resurrection of the Wraith. Remaining players, please do your best!]
The notification that appeared in all three of their minds simultaneously wiped the playful expression from Seo-un’s face.
“Hyung… just like you said, it looks like something’s about to happen.”
“Resurrection of the Wraith. Time remaining. I have a rough idea of what’s going on… but I don’t know if this will be an opportunity or a disaster.”
Gi-chan’s expression hardened.
“Let’s move for now. We need to scout the terrain.”
Despite being in an underground dungeon, their surroundings were illuminated by a faint light, as if it were a night with a full moon. They couldn't see far, but their immediate vicinity was clear. It felt like a massive cavern in some places and a winding cave in others.
As they moved around, revealing the map to get a sense of the overall layout, they suddenly heard the sounds of battle along with a surge of Mana from not far away. The sounds, which hadn't been audible just a step ago, suddenly became clear. They looked at each other and took a step back.
“This isn’t magic cast by a player.”
“It seems there’s terrain that blocks or distorts sound.”
Nodding, Seo-un’s eyes gleamed as he drew the bow slung across his back.
“Are we intervening?”
“Depends on the situation. Survivors.”
[48/400]
The number of players, which hadn't decreased for a while, had plummeted today due to the sudden turn of events. Only eight more until the next reward. If he could reduce the player count, he needed to be proactive. Since a powerful variable was expected in 24 hours, it was best to end the game before that variable appeared if possible.
The Specter monsters that appeared constantly, a map that was far too large for a dungeon, and the few remaining players—there were too many variables. If there was a certain chance of victory, he didn't want to miss out on the profit.
Clang!
A thick, single-edged saber grazed a shield, sending sparks flying as magic rained down in all directions. The heat of battle was intense as a Mage, a Knight, and a Martial Artist fought with all their might, lunging and parrying.
Leaving his companions behind, Seo-un, draped in his Cloak of Stealth, watched the battlefield quietly.
‘There are eight of them… is it a three-way fight?’
From the looks of it, it was definitely a three-way battle. The Mage, the Martial Artist, and the Knight looked familiar.
‘So they’re still alive. Looks like they lost their Alchemist along the way.’
Watching them struggle under heavy pressure from both opposing teams, Seo-un pulled out all the Pyeonjeon he had scavenged and stored in his subspace. After hooking a total of three Pyeonjeon to his belt, Seo-un raised his bow.
‘Hamit.’
—I know, Master.—
The moment Hamit, who had been wrapped around his hand, transformed into a Tonga, Seo-un set a Pyeonjeon into the guide tube and drew back the bowstring.