Chapter 842

Siegfried scoured the Great Rift dungeons for days to farm Amplification Shards while looking for Mikhail’s memories.

He managed to gather quite a bit of Amplification Shards, but unfortunately, he found no traces of the elusive memories, no matter how many dungeons he cleared.

To make his search even more difficult, the Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance wasn't working on the Great Rift. To be exact, he could use Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance while he was inside the dungeon, but viewing the dungeons from the outside was impossible.

If taking into consideration the fact that the Great Rift had nearly an infinite number of dungeons forming the Great Rift, then it was truly an arduous task to look for Mikhail’s memories one by one. It was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Still, Siegfried had no other choice but to venture blindly through the dungeons, and the only thing he could do was pray that luck would be on his side.

***

Two days later...

‘

Ugh... This feels like trying to find a needle in a haystack...’

Siegfried grumbled as he stepped into the rift once again, preparing for another long day of searching and grinding.

Just then...

Flash!

A blinding light erupted from the Great Rift.

Wooong! Wooong! Wooong!

The rift began to pulse violently while glowing in ominous crimson red.

[Alert: Warning! Warning!]

Warning messages popped up in front of the Adventurers’ eyes, including Siegfried.

[Alert: The Great Rift has begun to run wild!]

[Alert: The Great Rift will fully open in 48 hours!]

[Alert: A catastrophic disaster will be unleashed if the rift fully opens!]

‘

Damn it... Why now of all times...?’

Siegfried clenched his fist and grumbled inwardly.

Unfortunately, his search for Mikhail’s memories had coincided with the Great Rift's destabilization.

“

Argh!

Come on!” Siegfried growled in frustration, unable to quell his anger.

“

Kyuuu!

You’ve got to calm down and calm the rift down, owner punk!” Hamchi shrieked.

“I know, I know,” Siegfried grumbled in response. Then, he let out a sigh and rubbed his temple.

Without wasting another second, he made his way toward the gathering place of the Adventurers, who were looking for parties to join.

“Siegfried!”

“Siegfrieeed!”

“Over here! Siegfried!”

“Look at meee!”

The Adventurers flocked to him the moment he arrived. His popularity in the Great Rift was at an all-time high, and for a good reason.

The rampaging Great Rift contained four separate dungeons. All four dungeons had to be cleared within forty-eight hours in order to prevent the rift from fully rampaging.

However, no single party could take all four dungeons in such a limited timeframe, as each dungeon could take anywhere from several hours to an entire week to clear.

Thus, the only viable solution was to form four elite parties, with each responsible for one dungeon. Naturally, everyone wanted to join the strongest party to increase their chance of success and obtain the clear rewards.

Thus, the Adventurers swarmed Siegfried.

Unfortunately for them, Siegfried had no intention of forming parties with strangers today because...

“Oppa!”

“Tae-Sung Oppa!”

“Hello, Tae-Sung.”

“Hyung-nim!”

“It’s been far too long, my nephew!”

Siegfried turned to see familiar figures approaching. They were none other than his longtime allies Yong Seol-Hwa, Gosran, Daytona, Seung-Gu, and Yong Tae-Pung.

They weren't the only ones who had gathered.

“Guild Master!”

“Hey, boss!”

The guild members of the Head Crusher Guild showed up, too, and each of them was eager to join Siegfried’s party for the upcoming dungeon raid.

Surprisingly, Siegfried was not the one who called them here. All of them came of their own accord after hearing rumors about how Siegfried was raiding the Great Rift.

This was no surprise given his fame, as word of his whereabouts would spread like wildfire whenever he went anywhere populated. Social media, G-Tube, news outlets, and even the entire world were keeping tabs on his activities.

‘

Why would I team up with strangers when my trusted comrades are already here?’

Siegfried thought with a smile while looking at the familiar faces. He could not help but be grateful once again for their unwavering support toward him time and time again.

***

Siegfried had to stop the Great Rift from rampaging at all costs.

Why?

It was all because the Proatine Kingdom was situated in the northwestern region of the continent.

The Great Rift was located in the western region of the continent, and it was only about two hundred fifty kilometers away from the Proatine Kingdom.

In other words, if the Great Rift were allowed to keep rampaging, it would unleash wave after wave of monsters or, worse, trigger a catastrophic disaster. If that happened, the Proatine Kingdom would not escape unscathed.

“Thank you all for coming,” Siegfried said, expressing his gratitude to his comrades.

The rampaging Great Rift spawned four dungeons this time, and these dungeons were the Endless Descent, Sanctuary of the Colossus, Corrupted Ancient City, and Deep Swamp.

Each dungeon had a maximum limit of one hundred fifty participants.

As the leader of his party, Siegfried met with the leaders of the other three parties to discuss their strategy.

Well, they called it a discussion, but it was really just the four party leaders picking lots to see which dungeon each party would tackle.

“

Hmm...

”

Siegfried drew the slip labeled "Sanctuary of the Colossus."

“Let’s agree that whichever party finishes first will be on standby to assist any group struggling with their dungeon,” he proposed to the other party leaders.

“Yeah.”

“That sounds fair.”

“Got it.”

The other party leaders easily agreed with his suggestion, and the discussion concluded without any issues.

“Let’s move out!”

Thus, Siegfried and his trusted companions embarked on their raid of the Sanctuary of the Colossus.

The moment they entered the dungeon—

[Great Rift: Sanctuary of the Colossus]

—A message popped up before the eyes of Siegfried and his party members.

“

Hmm...

What is this place?”

Siegfried scanned his surroundings the moment he entered the dungeon. There was not that much around him aside from a stone floor and towering columns scattered about.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“Let me use my map hack and take a look around,” he told his party members.

But then—

‘Huh? What the hell...?’

He was baffled after seeing that there were monsters near the entrance from where they had just come. Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance was showing him that there were three monsters called Cyclops lurking nearby.

‘

Could it be... invisibility?’

Siegfried suspected that the Cyclops possessed advanced stealth abilities that could evade his and everyone else’s senses.

Siegfried turned to warn his comrades, “Every, stay alert. There are enemies nearby—”

BOOM!

A massive boulder dropped from above, crashing down on Siegfried’s party members.

“...!”

“...!”

“...!”

Everyone froze in shock at the terrible impact that came from out of nowhere.

Around ten people were crushed beneath the enormous boulder, which was as large as a basketball court.

However, this was not a boulder. It was a giant’s foot.

Boom! Thud!

The giant took a step forward, shaking the ground with each movement.

And it was not alone...

Boom! Boom!

Two other giants began moving, too.

What had initially appeared to be towering columns had turned out to be the legs of these massive giants.

‘

This is insane!’

Siegfried was paralyzed with shock after realizing that the giants were as tall as the 63 Building, a landmark skyscraper in Seoul[1]">

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/63_Building

[/ref].

He hadn't realized how tall the

columns

were when he first entered, as he hadn't thought much of them. Upon seeing that they were the legs of gigantic monsters, he was stunned beyond belief by their sheer size.

‘

How the hell are we supposed to fight those?!’

Siegfried could not think of a way to contend with these Cyclops towering at least more than two hundred meters tall. Even if they managed to land a hit, would it amount to anything more than giving them a scratch or a nosebleed at most?

‘

For now...’

Siegfried brought a finger to his lips, gesturing for his team to stay silent.

But it was too late...

“

Hmm?

”

One of the Cyclops turned its massive eye toward Siegfried’s group.

“Insects! How dare you trespass here!”

The Cyclops raised its colossal foot high into the air.

Whoosh!

And what followed next was obvious...

“RUN FOR YOUR LIVEEES!” Siegfried screamed at the top of his lungs.

His panicked shout echoed throughout the dungeon.

***

Thud! Boom! Boom! Kaboom!

The stomping of the Cyclops was utterly devastating. It was as if Siegfried’s most powerful area of effect skill, Splitting Heaven and Earth, was being used repeatedly in rapid succession.

“

Argh!”

Siegfried leaped and dodged desperately to avoid being crushed, and he experienced firsthand what it felt like to be an ant trampled by the feet of humans casually walking down the streets.

The other party members were no exception.

The Cyclops that towered far above the party had feet with an enormous surface area. To avoid being squashed, everyone had to jump distances from several dozen to hundreds of meters every single time.

What about attacking or defending? It was out of the question.

Their survival depended entirely on how far they could jump out of the way and whether their stamina could handle doing it over and over again or not.

If there was any silver lining for Siegfried, then it was that he possessed the ability to fly.

“Hamchi! Get on!”

“

Kyuuu!”

Siegfried spread out his +10 Black Crow Wingsuit and flew between the legs of the Cyclops.

Despite the chaos, his teammates also found a way to adapt to the dire situation.

Most of them were seasoned veterans, so they were not about to falter just because their enemies were literal giants.

“Climb on!”

“Just get up there! Don’t get crushed!”

“Climb up their legs and fight back!”

The party members started scaling the massive legs of the Cyclops and counterattacked as they climbed.

But that was not the end of it.

“I’ll provide cover!”

Gosran used her teleportation skill to leap close to the faces of the Cyclops and unleashed arrows at them with pinpoint precision.

Siegfried used his flight ability to soar toward the Cyclops’ faces, too. He conjured ice shurikens from the Blood Frost Orb and hurled them in rapid succession at the eyes of the giants.

The party members with the ability to fly followed Siegfried and Gosran’s lead as they soared hundreds of meters and focused their attacks on the faces of the giants.

“

Gaaah!”

“These wretched pests!”

Annoyed by the concentrated assault on their eyes, the giants began swiping at the air with their enormous hands. The sheer size of their hands and arms caused a powerful gust of wind to blow every time they swung it.

Whoosh! Fwoom! Fwoom!

The winds were so strong that Siegfried was forced to stop attacking. Instead, he had to focus on avoiding both the gigantic hands and the powerful gusts of wind.

It was then.

Smack!

A guild member of the Head Crusher Guild tried to dodge an attack but was struck midair by one of the massive hands, sending him plummeting toward the ground.

“...!”

Siegfried was unable to help him, as it was simply too late. The moment the guild member was struck, his body had exploded into pieces, killing him instantly before he even hit the ground.

A chill ran down Siegfried’s spine.

The Cyclops’ sheer strength was absolutely horrifying. One swipe of their hands was more than enough to kill a high-level Adventurer instantly.

‘

There’s no point even if we keep attacking them,’

Siegfried thought. Gosran’s arrows couldn't pierce the thick skin of the giants.

He could place down Blaze Field and try to shred their Defense, but that would be futile, as they were so gigantic that they could step out of the debuff field’s range with just a couple of steps.

If external attacks were not effective, then...

“Hamchi! We’re going for their ears!”

“

Kyu?!”

“Let’s go!”

Siegfried flew toward a giant’s ear and landed on the outer rim with Hamchi.

“Hrmmm?!”

The giant grimaced and started poking its ear with its massive finger, looking visibly irritated by the sudden itch.

“We need to get inside! Hurry!”

“

Kyuuu!”

Realizing they would be squashed like a bug if they stayed still, Siegfried and Hamchi darted deeper into the ear canal.

This was indeed a wise move.

Given the size disadvantage they faced, attacking the Cyclops from the outside was no different from throwing eggs at a boulder.

‘

We will have to attack it from the inside,’

Siegfried thought.

He planned to destroy the giant’s eardrum and, if possible, go all the way to its brain and crush it. With that resolve, he charged deeper into the massive ear canal.

1. More info here: ☜