Chapter 199. Second Season (2)
Of course, I didn’t just march straight into the dungeon. I had to see the guild members, and more importantly, I had to hold a funeral for Ren’s father, whose corpse was in my inventory. Daisy drooled after hearing that I had a Hero’s corpse, but there was no way I could let her use a friend’s father as an undead. However, I still promised her that I’d get her a similar corpse one day.
“Previous Hero… Strong, warrior…”
Even as we cremated Ren’s father, Daisy murmured with regret. It was slightly scary.
As Lebuik and the children had to be at the funeral, it couldn’t be held at the dungeon’s Residential Area or the resort area. In the end, we gathered others who wanted to come and held the funeral at a nearby mountain. As it would be hard to explain if an ordinary person saw us, I had Hwaya cast magic to prevent people from approaching the mountain. Naturally, Hwaya became the first to hear about what happened.
“I didn’t think you’d defeat a world’s enemy.”
“The conditions were favorable. That’s it.”
Hwaya lightly smiled.
“I’m extremely curious. Who knows, maybe it’ll help us deal with the danger Earth is facing. Tell me about it in detail when we’re alone later. Along with a drink, of course.”
“It wasn’t anything special… but sure.”
Although only people unrelated to Panan continent didn’t have to come, all of Revival’s members attended the funeral. It was partly to meet Ren, who was the newest member. When the female members saw the little children, they were all extremely elated.
“Look at those rabbit ears.”
“She’s shaking. I want to hug her…”
“So cute!”
Of course, with their overwhelming affection, the children got scared and hid behind Ren, Lebuik, and me. Though there was a little accident where Ina who came running toward me almost froze Elfa accidentally, everything else went smoothly. Ren could send his father off, which I was sure would serve as a good way to affirm his resolve.
Going back to Ina, as she was about the same age as the children from the Panan continent, she had a little conflict with them.
“Daddy, who are they? Daddy’s Ina’s!”
“Daddy isn’t Ina’s. Also, they’re friends from the Panan continent.”
“Daddy? Shin oppa is a daddy?”
“That’s a lie!”
“It has to be a lie! They don’t have the same hair color!”
Hearing how Ina called me Daddy, Elfa perked up her rabbit ears and asked, while the other children stared at Ina and me surprised. Ina puffed her cheeks and put her arms around mu neck.
“Ina is Daddy’s daughter!”
“Y-Yeah… Ina is my daughter.”
It felt a bit weird saying it, but there was no other choice. I didn’t want to provoke Ina’s trauma. I patted Ina, who was stuck to me like a Koala, and announced to the others that I was her father. Seeing the surprised children jumping up and down while flapping their ears, I wanted to die.
After that, the funeral ended. I did catch Daisy trying to put her hands on the ashes, but we managed to clean everything up. After that, the problem was where Ren and the children would stay. As they couldn’t all live in my house, we decided to simply buy a house near ours.
When Lebuik realized that Ren and the eight children would live by themselves in a house, she came up to me with a look of determination.
“I want to enter your guild.”
“You want to live with Ren?”
“Huk!”
“It’s written all over your face!”
Although her motives were impure, it wasn’t a bad idea to have a woman in the house, especially with Ren being insensitive about certain things. Like they say, the more the merrier. Furthermore, she was a skilled First Dungeon explorer on the 69th floor. After a bit of talking, Lebuik left the Demonic Girls guild and joined mine.
Only after that did I feel like everything was taken care of. I had to spoil Ludia and Ina as I hadn’t seen them for a while, but that was it.
“So, you came to climb the dungeon right away?”
“Yes.”
After listening to my short reply, Loretta made a serious expression. Then, she said something that really didn’t match her expression.
“First, congratulations on defeating the world’s enemy of Panan continent. That is truly a great achievement. It’s not something you can disclose carelessly, but at least the dungeon’s administrators all know about it. Especially the ol… Lord.”
“Thanks. So… when will you let go of me?”
At my question, Loretta strengthened her grip on my wrists and continued.
“But Shin-nim, you have to be careful. Not all world’s enemies are the same. Don’t think that Earth’s problems can be solved as easily as the Panan continent’s.”
“I know. I’ll stay with Loretta for an hour before I go. Happy?”
It was a complete non-sequitur, but it seemed to have been the correct answer. Loretta immediately let go of my wrists and smiled brightly. She dragged me along to a table, sat down, and tapped on the seat next to her.
“Then sit here and tell everything that happened!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Ehehe, hurry!”
From then, I had to wait 3 hours before I could go up to the 59th floor. Since I ended up getting the Queen Elf’s Blessing, I wasn’t particularly unsatisfied. Of course, I didn’t do any other strange things. Yup.
After breaking through the 59th floor, which only had an increased number of golems, in 2 hours, I immediately entered Beyond’s 9th floor. Each floor of Beyond was bigger than the previous. Without Mana Detection, it was practically impossible to advance onward. Of course, Mana Detection was something one naturally learned the first time one entered Beyond.
“Kugyaaaaa!”
“Human, see the power of Lizard Knight!”
“Yeah, I’m happy to see you guys too.”
After fighting annoying enemies like the Mana Eater and El Patiz, seeing Dark Ratmen and Lizard Knights gave me a sense of comfort. Feeling such things in Beyond, I felt depressed like I’d taken the wrong road somewhere. Now, even if two hundred Orc Lords appeared at the same time, I felt like I could deal with them without a change in my facial expression.
[You cleared Beyond’s 1st floor. You obtained the qualification to challenge the dungeon’s 60th floor.]
[Your maximum HP and MP increase by 2%. You obtained 5 bonus stats.]
[Experience has been added to skills you frequently used to progress through Beyond’s 9th floor.]
[High-rank Provoke became level 7! Your existence itself is a provocation. Perhaps, even lifeless objects might get angry and attack you.]
[Wind King’s Rage became level 3! Damage increase per monster increases to 15%, and the maximum amplification increases to 200%.]
“Hu…”
After decimating hundreds of Dark Ratmen and Lizard Knight with Crimson Roar, I let out a satisfied sigh and checked the message window. It was now time for the 60th floor. After I defeat the Floor Master, Ren’s thrashing phase would begin. Thinking about how much Ren will grow, a smile bloomed on my face.
At that moment, someone sent me a message. Though I flinched, thinking Ren somehow found out what I was thinking and messaged me about it, it wasn’t Ren. The message was from someone I couldn’t remember when I had added him to my friend list.
[Oi, the armor’s finished.]
[I’ll come right away!]
The moment I saw Lin’s message, I left Beyond through the gate and rushed to the Residential Area. I felt like someone was off while I was breaking through the 59th floor and Beyond’s 9th floor. I didn’t have my armor! I was wondering why it hurt so much when I got hit!
When I arrived at Fairy Garden, instead of going to Loretta’s cabin like I usually did, I asked around and headed to Lin’s workshop. As expected of a vice-guild master’s workshop, although it looked like it ruined Fairy Garden’s natural beauty, no one paid any attention to it.
In Fairy Garden, where everything looked natural, Lin’s workshop was the lone modern building that ruined the environment. A chimney that spewed out black smoke and extreme heat that could be felt all around the building, only after seeing Lin’s workshop did I picture Lin as a blacksmith.
“Oh, you came here quickly.”
Lin greeted me with a loose well-ventilating clothing and a cigarette in his mouth. Next to him was a new armor in a bracelet-form like the Crimson Dragon Scale Armor. Interestingly, this one was jet-black.
“It’s made out of the materials you brought me. Just because I’m a descendant of a red dragon, it doesn’t mean everything I make has to be red.”
“Ah, that makes sense… Well, thanks, Lin. You did all this for me.”
“It’s not for you. It’s for noonim, tsk.”
Lin flicked away the cigarette ashes and murmured curses. However, he seemed to be making a satisfactory smile.
“Do you like Loretta?”
“Shut up and take the armor. Thanks to my outstanding skills, it turned out better than what’s possible from the materials.”
Did I hit the mark? But he plays around with other women too freely for that to be true… Maybe, it’s something like respect and admiration rather than pa.s.sion. Though Fairy Garden’s inner workings seemed to be complicated, since it wasn’t any of my business, I just took the black bracelet and examined it.
[Pure Black Desire (Legend)
Durability – Indestructible
Defense – 7,500
Equipment Requirement – Kang Shin
Option – All stats +30. Decreases damage taken from all basic attacks by 50%. Decreases damage taken from all attack skills from 30%. Chance of receiving a critical hit increases by 50%, but chance of dealing a critical hit increases by 200%. When using a charge type attack, ‘Desire Thorn’ activates. When using any attack skills, ‘Sacrifice’ can be used. When HP falls below 10%, ‘Devourer’ activates once per day.
Desire Thorn – Can be activated once per day while using a charge type attack. Countless number of thorns shoots out from the armor, absorbing the HP from enemies. .h.i.t by the thorns. The amount of HP absorbed is half the damage dealt. As such, the targets will end up receiving 50% more damage.
Sacrifice – Usable with any attack skill. Receives half of the skill’s damage, but doubles the skill’s effect. The damage received by Sacrifice cannot drop your HP under 10%.
Devourer – After choosing a target, all attacks done absorbs a portion of the target’s HP to recover your own. However, overabsorbing the target’s HP may cause mutations to your body. This change can be purified by highest-grade holy magic or Elixir.]
“Legend!?”
“What, I upgraded your cape to Legend too. Do you not want it?”
“I want it! Give it to me now!”
Two Legend-grade equipment! I feel like I can conquer the dungeon’s 100th floor right now!