Chapter 145 – Dullahan (5)
Translator: Seven
Editor: Ana_Banana
“Isaac Ivanov has completed his 5,000.”
Kane Jung, a player from the Messiah Guild who confirmed the fallen monster’s death, looked at the scene in front of him.
In fact, there wasn’t much to see because of the thick fog.
However, there were hundreds of monster corpses strewn on the ground.
What could be seen, was the blazing eyes of the skeletons who stood among these monster corpses.
More than 100 such eyes turned to stare at Kane.
At that moment, Kane Jung couldn’t help but recall the battle that had just taken place.
The memories of the monsters giving up the fight, try to flee, and eventually being annihilated flashed by.
Gulp!
Kane Jung swallowed down his saliva unconsciously.
It was because of what he’d seen from the Skeleton Soldiers.
In fact, it was enough to make everyone in the 3 Floor Dungeon, including those from the Messiah Guild, swallow their saliva.
No, he had stopped at the level of swallowing saliva only because he was a pretty talented player and a member of the Messiah Guild who had partaken in many fierce battles.
‘To finish hunting 5,000 monsters in three days.’
If he was an ordinary player then he would have already peed himself after witnessing just what these skeletons were capable of for three days,
‘I never thought that it would end so perfectly.’
The Skeleton Soldiers were completely overwhelming in the fights that he was unable to find any flaws.
‘The numbers, tactics and strategies are all perfect. They’re better than us.’
In Kane Jung’s eyes, the battles that he’d witnessed with Isaac Ivanov controlling his skeletons wasn’t a sprint like speed skating, instead, it was like a figure skating routine that received a perfect score.
Of course, this was all subjective and because of the dense fog, there was a possibility that it was exaggerated.
‘Isaac could probably clear a low rank 3 Floor Dungeon single handedly.’
But even while taking that into account, Isaac Ivanov was already overwhelming enough on his own to be completely incomparable to other players of the same level.
This fact was proved by none other than Ellis Highton.
After receiving and confirming the results, she simply said one thing.
“…I recognize you as number one.”
Even she, who was filled with self confidence and pride, had no choice but to bow her head toward the results shown by Isaac Ivanov.
“Then Isaac Ivanov will be the first to challenge.”
“Well, if he shows this level of skill, there’s no reason for us to disagree.”
No one was dissatisfied by Isaac Ivanov taking the first spot when even she had been forced to agree.
Of course, no one would have any complaints.
‘Isaac Ivanov is first so we should change our plans.’
‘It’s an unexpected situation…but we can’t just let him have it. Now that four legendary items are up for grabs.’
‘It’s still the first floor. There will be plenty of opportunities.’
The players still looked on with their hyena like eyes, waiting for an opportunity to come to them.
And so the dungeon attack continued.
…
[Hunt the Earth Turtle to move onto the next floor.]
After clearing the first floor and heading to the second, the first things that greeted the players were a notification and an even thicker fog than on the first floor.
“This fog is even thicker than on the first floor.”
“Damn we can’t see anything like this.”
Noticing this, the players immediately began to complain.
This dissatisfaction was actually proof that they were all talented and experienced.
“Hunt an Earth Turtle in a place like this…”
“Let’s all do this right. We might get stuck here for a ridiculous amount of time.”
The fog was so dense that they were unable to easily see even the person in front of them.
Rather than searching for a turtle, it was hard for the players to even find each other.
Even if players secretly contacted each other to plot something, there was no way of knowing.
‘Not bad.’
‘We can contact each other here without need to pay too much attention to our surroundings.’
Naturally, the players made use of that fact.
“Then let’s split up and find the Earth Turtle.”
“The Earth Turtle will hide deep into the ground when it feels threatened, so if you find it, send the signal to everyone!”
“Don’t forget to gather once a day in the designated spot.”
As the players agreed in advance, they scattered to find the Earth Turtle.
And conversations immediately began everywhere.
They started plotting.
Jay Jackson, a member of the Frontier Guild, was the same.
“Ellis.”
On the second day after entering the second floor of the dungeon, Jay Jackson, who was short and dark skinned, came to the Great One Guild’s team by himself.
When he appeared, Ellis Highton beckoned to her team, who immediately moved to secure the perimeter.
Only after they were alone, did Ellis Highton open her mouth.
“I’m in a very bad mood right now so you better not be here to talk about some random bullshit.”
Ellis Highton’s sharp glare was quite intimidating.
If a normal player saw it, they would probably get cold sweat.
“Right, I’m here alone because I know how you’re feeling. If I wanted to tickle your temper then I would have put a note on an arrow and shot it at you.”
But Jay Jackson was also an above average player.
He was one of the top five players in the Frontier Guild below level 100.
This was proved by the fact that he had come to discuss on his own.
He also had the experience of clearing several dungeons with Ellis Highton.
“So what do you want to say?”
That’s why the conversation wasn’t prolonged.
“I will help you clear this dungeon.”
Ellis lifted her chin, signalling him to continue talking.
“I don’t want to see some Russian guy take away the precious legendary items from the United States.”
Jay Jackson continued explaining at the signal.
“First if he really manages to clear this dungeon then you are not the only ones who will be cursed. I’m sure that I’ll be called by those at the top and blamed. The worst will be the public opinion. The Forest of the Dead is not just an A+ rank Dungeon.”
“What’s your plan?”
Jay Jackson shrugged at Ellis Highton’s words.
“Is there any other way? If Isaac fails, then you’re next.”
“You’re going to interfere with his hunt?”
Jay Jackson waved at those words.
“That’s such a stretch to call it ‘interference’, why don’t you call it an inevitable accident instead? You know? How is it interference if Isaac Ivanov is fighting the boss monster on the third floor and a roaming monster suddenly appears? It’s an inevitable accident.”
After hearing Jay Jackson’s words, Ellis Highton let out a short sigh before deciding what to do.
‘Fuck it.’
Honestly, it was not a very pleasant offer for her.
Since the very first time she entered a dungeon, she had never lost.
When it came to poker, it was like she received a straight flush every time.
That was why she was not afraid of betting.
But what could she do when her opponent had a royal flush in their hand?
‘I didn’t think it would come to this.’
The bigger problem was that she didn’t know that and made even more bets.
‘If even Merlin’s Staff is lost then it won’t end in just an interrogation.”
It was a situation where they might not be able to survive if they truly lost that item because of bets.
Of course, all of this was dependent on Isaac Ivanov’s successful clearance of the dungeon.
“What do you want?”
That was why she couldn’t dare to reject Jay Jackson’s offer.
“Wilhelm Tell’s Crossbow.”
Jay Jackson also knew that, so without any hesitation, he asked for a legendary item.
The conversation ended with Ellis Highton reaching out to grab Jay Jackson’s hand.
It was at that moment.
[The Earth Turtle has been hunted.]
[Move on to the next floor.]
“Huh?”
“What?”
Suddenly the situation became shaky.
…
Earth Turtle.
Its body was about 3 meters long and it was almost impossible to distinguish from a large boulder.
They were also known to excel in digging, being able to bury their large bodies, which were never small, deep into the grounds.
They were even turtles who were able to run at 40 kilometers per hour.
Such running ability was normally used to run away.
At the same time, it was effective for crushing their enemies.
That was why Earth Turtles were fairly difficult to hunt among monsters around the same level.
Therefore, there was a rule to avoid approaching it unless you have a reason to.
Kiuu…
Such a turtle was now groaning while covered in wounds.
“Kuuh!”
And Lee Jin-ah, who was in front of it, was also covered in wounds.
Lee Jin-ah’s injuries were quite severe.
His entire body was covered in wounds and even his right rib was cracked.
“Are you okay?”
Kim Woo-jin, who usually wouldn’t waste his saliva to ask, came up to him and about his condition.
Of course, his wounds were severe but the situation was not serious.
“My rib is broken, could I be okay? Damn, if it wasn’t for the Blessing of River Styx, I would’ve died a hundred times!”
In front of the Blessing of the River Styx, the skill that gave near immortality, these wounds could not be considered fatal.
Of course, although the wounds weren’t fatal, the pain wouldn’t disappear.
“Ugh!”
After Lee Jin-ah groaned and took out a chocolate bar from his inventory and started eating it.
“Since I’ve known you, Blessing of River Styx has gone up by three ranks. Three ranks!”
While eating, he complained to Kim Woo-jin.
“And before I reach level 100, Blessing of the River Styx will probably reach the transcendent rank!”
He was dissatisfied with Kim Woo-jin’s performance.
“Huh?”
However, Kim Woo-jin smiled at the complaint.
“You’re laughing now?”
Following Lee Jin-ah’s question, Kim Woo-jin’s smile came off of his face.
“No.”
“No, what no? I saw you smile.”
Instead of answering, Kim Woo-jin simply covered his face with the Grim Reaper’s Mask.
“You didn’t treat me like this to purposely raise the rank of the Blessing of the River Styx did you?”
After a moment of silence, Kim Woo-jin finally responded.
“Of course not.”
“No? Then why were you so happy?”
“You’re mistaken.”
“I don’t think I’m mistaken…”
That was the end of the conversation for him.
“Is it fine that we caught it this fast?”
In fact, what was important now was that they’d hunted the turtle.
“Won’t those other guilds complain?”
Without notifying the other guilds.
It was a violation of what they’d agreed to before.
Of course, there was a reason why Kim Woo-jin hunted the turtle without notifying them.
“There’s no reason to give time and space to those who try to screw us over.”
Kim Woo-jin knew that the other guilds were plotting to hinder him.
It was impossible for him to not know.
This was because if Kim Woo-jin had not gotten first place, he would have conspired to get an opportunity by interfering with the first place.
In any case, Kim Woo-jin needed to move on to the third floor of the dungeon as soon as possible.
“Then what will we do on the third floor?”
Of course, the only thing that Kim Woo-jin could do was reduce the amount of time for those who wanted to interfere.
“They’ll obviously bother us anyway, right?”
It was impossible to block their intentions.
They would use any means available to hinder Kim Woo-jin’s hunt.
Kim Woo-jin’s response to that was simple.
“They will bother us, but they still have to follow at least one rule.”
“Rule?”
“It’s that we have the first priority. The others can’t attack the boss until we die or officially give up the hunt.”
“What does that mean?”
“In other words, as long as we stay alive and don’t officially give up the hunt, they can’t do anything, the boss monster.”
Along with those words, Kim Woo-jin remembered the information he learned about the Forest of the Dead dungeon before he returned to the past.
‘And on the third floor of the dungeon, there will be black fog which consumes stamina.’
As soon as he recalled that bit of information, Kim Woo-jin smiled.
‘They will beg us to hunt the Dullahan.’