Chapter 172: Ructo's Tomb

Minhyuk quickly dashed towards the exit.

Bang, bang, bang!

Shwaaaaaaak!

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

Countless traps would be triggered and released with every step that he took. A huge burst of flame burst out from the walls and engulfed Minhyuk’s entire body, but he did not feel it. There was even a huge iron bead that slammed into his body, but just as expected, he did not feel any impact at all. After all, he was invincible for three whole seconds. Perhaps the skill?He Who Overcomes?was the only ability that could exert the best results in this trial.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

The spears that flew straight at him all fell down uselessly on the ground after bouncing off his body. After running as fast as he could, Minhyuk was finally able to reach his destination. At the same time, the power that wrapped his body disappeared while his remaining 1 HP flashed dangerously.

“Phew~” Minhyuk breathed a sigh of relief, as he took out the bread that he was supposed to eat earlier. He munched on the bread as he listened to the notifications.

[You have set a new record for Ructo’s Tomb’s Fourth Trial.]

[There is a huge gap between the previous record breakers.]

[You have gained 50,000 EXP.]

[You have leveled up.]

[Your score will be the sum of your new record and the gap between the second place to obtain a special reward.]

[You have acquired 40 SP.]

[You have set three consecutive new records.]

[You have acquired additional rewards for setting three consecutive new records.]

[You have acquired 20 SP.]

“Yeah!” Minhyuk shouted, pumping his fists in satisfaction after hearing the SP notification. He currently had 1,621 DEX and adding the SP that he had just received would bring it to a total of 1,681. As if on cue, the notifications rang once more.

[Your HP and MP have both recovered.]

[The Fifth Trial is beginning.]

[The time limit is 30 minutes.]

[Fourth~Fifth Tier Fire Magic and Poison Magic, as well as several monsters with high defense will appear.]

Minhyuk nodded. It was Fourth~Fifth Tier Magic this time. As for the Poison Magic, he could just ignore it. For the Fire Magic… He had eaten the Phoenix’s eggs that were braised in soy sauce before. After eating that dish, his resistance against fire had increased significantly, but it still was not enough. So, he silently reached behind him. If the trial was talking about magic, then it was the frying pan’s turn to shine.

***

Ju-Bin was currently being briefed on what was happening on the phone while he was eating. The person who was currently briefing him was a player with the in-game name of Karun.

[What shall we do?]

“You’re asking me what we should do? Wipe them out.”

The report he had received earlier was about a poor village. However, just recently, there was a mine that was discovered in the vicinity of the said poor village. They still did not know what would come out of the mine, but they had to monopolize it. Therefore, Ju-Bin’s decision was simple and final.

‘Kill all the NPCs.’

The poor village of Easden was extremely remote and out of touch with society. Even if it was far and out of reach, stories might still leak if they did not take care of loose ends, so before they could take over and monopolize the mine, they had to wipe out the NPCs.

‘They’re just NPCs anyway.’

Ju-Bin smiled wickedly as Karun spoke on the receiver.

[Will it be fine? If the other guilds find out...]

“By that time, we could just say that Easden Village was cursed by the Great Mage Arfield,” Ju-Bin said, chuckling darkly.

He could just tell the world that they hunted those people because they were all undead under the curse of Great Mage Arfield. Were there any problems with such a method? True, It was an extremely shameless and dirty method. However, the only question was whether people would believe such a lie. Simply saying that would not suffice, the massacre that they would carry out had to be hidden in such deceit. Ju-Bin always took care of his best interests. It did not matter if the method was shameless or dirty. As long as his interests were protected, then that was all that it mattered.

‘The only reason why Kaistra and Lark personally went to the tomb is because they don’t trust me.’

Ju-Bin had given information to Lark so that he would be able to receive a distribution of the rewards. However, Ju-Bin’s image was truly not very good. It was obvious with how the Legendary Explorer Lark and the Envoy of Incarnation Kaistra were moving solemnly. Right now, 20 of his guild members were heading towards the tomb, just in case something unexpected were to happen. Even though they were all Black Stone members, it was clear that there was a stark difference between Crone, and Lark and Kaistra. Both Lark and Kaistra were careful and cautious about not touching any dirty money at all.

‘Goddamn African bastards, so what if they almost died from hunger. Why do they have to nitpick about those kinds of things?’

Ju-Bin believed that it was because Kaistra had never really touched or felt the taste of money yet, so he was being too rigid and nitpicky. After finishing his meal, Ju-Bin went back and accessed Athenae.

‘The Frying Pan Killer must be dead by now.’

Once Buckle and his party members’ penalty was lifted, he would immediately invest in them and make them work. It was unfortunate, but he still had to give some face to Kaistra and Lark. After all, he could not afford to make two big shots as his enemies. The moment Crone accessed the game, he couldn’t help but tilt his head in confusion.

“Huh?”

The whispers from Lark came in waves.

[Lark: The Frying Pan Killer completed the Second Trial.]

[Lark: The Frying Pan Killer completed the Third Trial. Was the team that your Bachran Guild sent really the best of the best? The Frying Pan Killer broke through the Second Trial in just 4 minutes and 1 second, and he broke through the Third Trial in just 1 minute and 32 seconds.]

“What the hell is he talking about?” Crone asked loudly, frowning at the whisper.

‘What did he mean by 4 minutes 1 second? No, more than that, he defeated the Mithril Ogre in 1 minute and 32 seconds? The Mithril Ogre’s defense is three times higher than a regular ogre. And he’s telling me that the Frying Pan Killer killed that Mithril Ogre in less than two minutes?’

Ogres were monsters with tough and hard skins, which made hunting them quite difficult. This particular ogre had a defense that was three times higher than those of regular ogres. Buckle and his party could only finish the trial after countless failures. Even their occasional success was wrought with plenty of minor injuries, yet they could only complete it after more than 10 minutes. Yet the Frying Pan Killer broke through in 1 minute and 32 seconds? Impossible. The whispers continued to come in.

[Lark: The Fourth Trial… He completed it in 4 minutes and 56 seconds.]

The Fourth Trial was filled with enormous traps. Anyone that challenged the trial needed to find the device that would turn off the traps. That was extremely difficult to do with all the traps that could be triggered and released from all directions.

‘But 4 minutes and 56 seconds?’

Crone’s eyes narrowed sharply. He thought,?‘These bastards...’

Lark and Kaistra, were they lying to him? Were they trying to pretend that the Frying Pan Killer took the millstone? The changes that could possibly happen once all of the trials were completed and broken were still unknown to them. This was also the reason why he lied about the attack patterns, so that he could still gather players at Level 380 just to get the millstone.

At that moment, a whisper came in.

[Haurin: GM, we’re all gathered in front of the Tomb.]

[Crone: Haurin! Check the numbers in front of the Tomb right now! How many trials have been cleared?!]

The Frying Pan Killer might have died already was what he thought. Then, another whisper from Haurin came through.

[Haurin: It’s been 3 minutes and 36 seconds since the Fifth trial started.]

Crone’s eyes widened in shock. He thought,?‘Th…then did he really break the five trials all by himself?’

***

Haurin’s brows furrowed as he thought,?‘What’s going on here?’

Buckle and his party members had focused and given their all to Ructo’s Tomb. The members of the guild all heard from them about how difficult this dungeon was. However, right now, someone was challenging the Fifth Trial already. After Haurin sent her reply, Crone remained quiet in the guild chat. Then, he sent her his orders.

[Crone: Haurin. Listen to me carefully.]

[Haurin: Yes, GM.]

[Crone: If the Frying Pan Killer completes all the trials and comes out, attack him with everything you’ve got.]

[Haurin: The Frying Pan Killer? But… isn’t the Frying Pan Killer part of Legend Guild?]

[Crone: Don’t make me say it twice. Just make sure to kill him then pick up whatever he drops and report to me about what you have acquired.]

[Haurin: I understand.]

Haurin started sending whispers with the orders that she had received to the guild members with her. Then, their eyes began sending out signals toward each other.

Lark turned to look at Kaistra and said, “Kaistra.”

“...Yeah.”

“Things seem to be going the way we thought.”

Kaistra’s expression hardened as he turned to look at his surroundings. When the members of the Bachran Guild made eye contact with him, they all looked away. However, they still held on to their weapons tightly.

‘They have no reason to attack us...’

It seemed like they were after the Frying Pan Killer. Kaistra turned his head to look at the words in front of the Tomb, but the words made his pupils shake.

‘The Sixth Trial is beginning...’

***

Minhyuk had also set a new record for the Fifth Trial. As a special reward for the huge gap between the previous record holder and him, he received an Attack Skill Point. Attack Skill Points were SPs that could only be added to attack skills. He had also received 50 SP for breaking four consecutive records.

‘So does it mean that the more records I break consecutively, the higher the rewards I get?’

Just like what he had previously done, Minhyuk added his SP to his DEX. At this point, his DEX had already surpassed the 1,700 benchmark.

‘It’s already at 1,700, but there’s still no notification about a special reward...’

Nonetheless, it was fine. What mattered the most was that the taste of Minhyuk’s food would increase and improve as his DEX increased. Then, Minhyuk invested his one Attack Skill Point on Ellie’s Swordsmanship.

[Chapter 1. Sword of Fury: An additional 4% attack power has been added to the attack power of stabs and lunges.]

[Chapter 2. Rampant Sword: Duration has increased from 7 seconds to 8 seconds.]

[Chapter 3. Scattering?Sword: Consecutive attacks have increased from six to eight.]

[Chapter 4. Ellie’s Swordsmanship: All stats has received an additional +2% increasing it to 22%. The duration has also increased from 8 minutes to 9 minutes.]

[Chapter 5. Step: Evolved into ‘Like the Wind’.]

[Like the Wind allows you to take three steps. Each step lets you travel a one meter distance while attacking. Like the Wind also allows you to take one step and travel a three meter distance in one go.]

[Chapter 6.?Blooming?Sword: Radius has increased to nine meters.]

[Chapter 7. Splitting Sword: Additional 5% attack power.]

“Oh...”

Skills with chapters usually needed different levels to increase each chapter. It seemed like this level up had allowed ‘Step’ to reach MAX making it evolve in the process. The skill ‘Like the Wind’ looked much more useful than the previous ‘Step’. This was because ‘Step’ only allowed him to travel a distance of one meter with every step. He would have to stop for a brief period to take another one-meter step. However, with ‘Like the Wind’ he had the ability to travel a three-meter distance at one go.

Then, Minhyuk proceeded with the Sixth Trial.

[Your HP and MP have recovered.]

[The Sixth Trial is beginning.]

[Please hunt the Undead Monster, Vampire Loon.]

“Oh...?”

‘Undead.’?Minhyuk’s mouth widened into a grin. Then, he quickly tore the parchment that he had received earlier.

‘I wonder what kind of delicious food it will give me!’

It was the Parchment of Rewards’ Choice. The item that Buckle had dropped before. A hologram popped out in front of him.

[#1. Gold]

[#2. Artifact]

[#3. Food Ingredient]

[#4. EXP]

And of course, Minhyuk decisively selected #3.

[You have selected #3 from the Parchment of Rewards’ Choice.]

Then, the notifications ended. Just as he was about to finish his pizza bread…

Shwaaaaaaak!

…a powerful force came straight at him. Minhyuk’s body reacted instinctively and twisted away from his spot, just as a sharp blade made of blood passed through. Suddenly, a man with long silver hair and pale white skin walked in front of Minhyuk. It was a sudden attack that came through, just as he was checking the contents of the notification window.

Minhyuk looked at the man, before looking down at his pizza bread to finish it, only to stop in his tracks.

‘...!’

Minhyuk’s body trembled.

‘Oh, oh my god...!’

The part where the sausage was located in his pizza bread was completely cut off. He had tried to eat his final pizza bread, while leaving the two remaining sausages for the finale. The most important part of the pizza bread was the sausage, but that sausage was now lying on the ground. Minhyuk’s body trembled in rage. He grabbed his sword tightly as he glared at Vampire Loon. At that moment, a notification rang.

[Successfully hunting Vampire Loon will let you obtain the Blood of a Noble Vampire.]