Chapter 223: Last Limited Quest (6)A few hours later I was gasping for breath after a long fight.
“Gasp! Gasp!”
In the past, I had never felt tired even if I hunted for several hours or almost ten hours.
This time, however, I had to breathe heavily because I had never hunted so desperately except for the 3rd Closed Beta, which had a limited period of only two weeks.
So, I was only occupied with thinking that I had to go back because I was completely exhausted by now.
In other words, I realized how stupid and complacent it was for me to a.s.sume that it would take me 12 hours on the way up and 12 hours on the way down. Of course, I was conscious of it, but I found myself constantly moving on despite that.
“Whew! Yeah, I can easily return within 12 hours.”
I kept rea.s.suring myself with such complacency.
A little later I checked my status.
“Whew! Whew! Check status!”
Gasping for breath, I checked my status.
[Lumen, Asirante"s current status.
-Current achievement rate: 79.05%
-Remaining time: 11: 59: 54]
I had finally crossed the Maginot line of 12 o"clock I had set. So, I had to turn around and return now.
If I spent a little more time here, it would be impossible for me to return to the starting point within the remaining time.
Nonetheless, I didn"t stop moving forward, nor did I change direction and turn. It was because of the 79.05% achievement rate.
“Yeah, let me achieve 80% since I am so close. What the heck is this 79.05%! Since I got rid of all the monsters on the way up, all I have to do on the way down is just avoid the traps.”
Obviously, I summed up the situation in an advantageous way, and I really thought I could achieve 80%.
[You have killed Golem Monster 1.
-You have obtained 500,000 EXP.
-They"re stored temporarily…]
[You have obtained 15 coins from opening a random box.
-They"re stored temporarily…]
There were still plenty of things for me to covet.
A little later I checked the status again.
“Check status.”
[Lumen, Asirante"s current status.
-Current achievement rate: 80.00%
-Remaining time: 11: 48: 54]
Finally, I achieved 80% as I intended.
But I could not turn back because of my greed.
“I"ve come so far. Yeah, I should achieve 100%. My original goal was 100% anyway.”
At that moment, I was more concerned about achieving 100% than returning.
So, I kept moving forward without checking the achievement rate anymore.
I didn"t know how long I ran, but at some point, a message suddenly rang.
[Congratulations! You have achieved 100% achievement.
-If you return to the starting point during the remaining time, your achievement rate will be confirmed.]
“…”
I was now at the end of the desert, where there was an endless meadow.
I clenched my fists, and swung towards my head.
Thud!
It didn"t hurt a lot, but it was painful enough for me to come to my senses.
“Stupid!”
I blamed myself.
“Check status.”
[Lumen, Asirante"s current status.
-Current achievement rate: 100.00%
-Remaining time: 09: 48: 54]
I had less than 10 hours left. No matter how much I racked my brains, it was impossible for me to go back to the starting point within the remaining time unless I had access to Blink with zero cooldown.
Just blaming myself was not the solution, so I turned immediately and started running through the sand.
I also went over the gra.s.sland area bordering with the sand with some hopes that it could speed up my journey, but there was nothing like a message or change in my status.
“d.a.m.n it! You idiot!”
Of course, I knew I deceived myself because the greed debuff dominated me, but I had no choice but to vent anger at myself, for I ended up repeating the same mistake as others when I thought I would be different from them.
“d.a.m.n it! Ice Field!”
Nonetheless, I kept trying my best, using Ice Field and Thin Ice on cooldown, for I could not sit idle even if the chance of failing was basically 100%.
A few hours later I checked the status.
[Lumen, Asirante"s status.
-Current achievement rate: 100.00%
-Time remaining: 03: 21: 33]
As soon as I checked it, I ran and ran desperately, and I was a bit surprised by how fast I was.
I thought I ran as fast as I could to achieve 100% in the morning, but it seemed that I could still run faster.
“d.a.m.n it! I"m only halfway there now!”
There was too little time left for me to return to the starting point.
I often shouted eagerly for Blink because I was so anxious, but nothing happened.
Anyway, although I knew what would happen, I kept running toward the starting point,
regretting my rea.s.surances to my dad, brother, and sister, who had already suffered a setback, that I would be different from them.
[60 minutes left.]
[50 minutes left.]
[40 minutes left.]
As the remaining time fell below an hour, the message kindly informed me of the remaining time as if to scorn my excessive greed.
When the remaining time fell down to ten minutes, the message rang every one minute.
Perhaps it was wiser for me to give up and stop running.
Nonetheless, I did not stop.
When the message rang announcing that there was only one minute left, I finally stopped running and collapsed on the sand.
. I could not see the starting point, and there was no way for me to get to the starting point in 60 seconds. Of course, I knew this was the case from early on.
Nevertheless, I kept moving, hoping against hope I could make it.
But I was left with no such hope now.
“Oh my G.o.d…”
I smiled bitterly because my last limited quest was over with me achieving nothing.
So, I lay on my back on the sand helplessly.
“Good. I can accept one failure.”
But I still felt very bitter.
But I let bygones be bygones, so I kept repeating myself that it was not a big deal while closing my eyes.
While Juyoung Hong, or Asirante, lay on his back on the sand, something revealed itself from his sole. It was the root. It dug into the soft sand.
Since the sand was so light and soft, the root kept moving endlessly.
As it gradually gained distance from him, the thick root became thinner and thinner until it was almost as thin as a thread. It looked like it would be cut off if something went wrong.
Nevertheless, the root kept moving. But at some point, it had to stop because it could not get any thinner..
At that moment, there was the sound of something breaking.
Then the root moved again at great speed. Of course, there were some changes.
In fact, the root began to dry out and shatter, starting off with the part closest to Juyoung"s body.
Like the flames chasing the motorcycle or a car in the movie, it moved forward ferociously.
The root gradually shrank and broke down, but it still continued to move forward.
“Gasp! Gasp!”
I laid my back on the sand and took a rough breath because I had only a few seconds left.
But then, an unexpected message rang even though I didn"t move at all with my back on the sand.
[You have arrived at the starting point.
You have cleared the level 900 limited quest with 100% achievement rate.]