Chapter 209 – Speedy Battle (4)
Translator: Seven
Editor: Ana_Banana
It had been a month since the terrorist attack on the Esprit Guild in Paris, France.
The chaos caused by the attack didn’t subside, but instead had grown much larger than a month before.
[Will the Special Player Protection Act be pa.s.sed?]
The reason for this was the Special Player Protection Act.
-This is nonsense! Players already enjoy enough privileges!
-This is like putting a police badge on a criminal!
-They’re getting paid to indulge!
The ordinary citizens raised their opposition, saying that the bill was an excessive benefit for the players.
The same was true for the players.
They too began using any means to protect their interests.
[The Esprit Guild declares indefinite strike until the bill is pa.s.sed!]
[The French Guild Federation discuss general strike!]
Some players and guilds began pulling out the strike card.
The aftermath of this came sooner and larger than they expected.
[The number of escaped monsters soars!]
[France is in danger!]
It didn’t take that big of a crack for the dam, which had already reached its limit, to break completely.
This fact terrified the non-player citizens.
-The players are on strike so France will be destroyed.
-I think we have no choice but to listen to the players.
-Dammit, listen to the players!
And this horrific situation frustrated the French citizens as well as people all around the world.
After all, if the Special Protection act was pa.s.sed in France, it was obvious what the players in other countries would ask for.
It was around that time.
[Johann Georg successfully clears dungeon!]
[Johann Georg does what the Messiah Guild couldn’t do!]
[Johann Georg and ten new heroes appear!]
Johann Georg and the Ten revealed themselves to the world by clearing a dungeon the Messiah Guild had given up on.
It was the moment when a new hero had appeared in the turbulent world.
Moreover, the new hero didn’t stand still after appearing.
[Johann Georg and the Ten immediately start attacking another dungeon!]
[The next dungeon is an A- rank dungeon the Messiah Guild gave up on previously!]
[They only rested for one day!]
After only a day’s rest, which was actually more like travel time rather than rest, they immediately attacked another dungeon.
-What was that? They only rested for a day before challenging another dungeon?
-Are they crazy?
-It’s not just dungeons, but dungeons that the Messiah Guild couldn’t clear, right?
-Could Isaac Ivanov even do something like this?
The world was astonished because no other players had ever moved at such a ridiculous pace.
“Is this possible?”
The same was true for Lee Jin-ah.
He was currently reading an article about Johann Georg with a shocked expression on his face.
“Didn’t they say that they’d been in the previous dungeon for a month?”
Taking a break after clearing a dungeon wasn’t just for physical recovery.
Instead, it was the mental recovery that was needed the most.
The stress acc.u.mulated after spending such a long time in a dangerous place like a dungeon, wasn’t something that could be gotten rid of by just a few days’ rest.
“Are they insane?”
Lee Jin-ah turned to look at Kim Woo-jin, who was also reading the same article as him.
However, his expression wasn’t the same as Lee Jin-ah’s.
In fact, Kim Woo-jin wasn’t surprised at all.
‘Johann Georg isn’t a person who would get stressed out by a dungeon attack.’
First of all, the Johann Georg that Kim Woo-jin knew, was a madman.
Rather than getting stressed in a dungeon, it was more accurate to say he used dungeons as stress relief.
‘Nevertheless, it’s different from back then.’
However, that was only valid when Johann Georg possessed the terrifying combat power that gave him the name King of Undead.
‘I’ve already taken a lot from him.’
There was no way that Johann Georg, who had already been deprived of many things by Kim Woo-jin, could be as strong as in the past.
In fact, this was part of the reason that Johann Georg had been so silent beforehand.
‘But if he managed to take away the halo’s favoritism for a while…’
Yet in such a situation, he had managed to display a performance like this?
It was clear.
‘It looks like the Messiah Guild supplied him with a lot of items.’
The amount of items the Messiah Guild completely surpa.s.sed the other four top guilds.
Moreover, Johann Georg now had a team of ten people.
‘Enough to fill the inventories of his entire team.’
The roles of these ten was most likely that of supporters and inventory.
‘And there should be more.’
Besides that, there should be more players who would also be used as support.
If they used their inventories, then the number of items they had would certainly be enough to completely crush Isaac Ivanov.
‘They might have even opened Lee Se-jun’s vault.’
It wouldn’t be strange for them to move at such a pace if the Messiah Guild gave them an item that came directly from Lee Se-jun’s stash.
‘Lee Se-jun’s vault…’
When he thought about that, Kim Woo-jin smiled.
And with that smile, he took out his smartphone and sent a message.
Seeing this, Lee Jin-ah couldn’t help but ask with a curious look.
“Who are you texting?”
“The Lightning King.”
“The Lightning King? What for?”
“Johann Georg’s appearance has filled Isaac Ivanov with compet.i.tive spirit.”
“Compet.i.tive spirit?”
“Yes, a compet.i.tive spirit strong enough to challenge an A+ rank dungeon for free.”
Woowoong!
A text message came from the Lightning King, telling them his answer.
[I’ll prepare the stage.]
Kim Woo-jin smiled when he saw that.
“And n.o.body in this world hates free things.”
…
It was very difficult to defend dungeons in the Amazon Rainforest.
There were many monsters there that would make even the most dangerous predators a meal, as well as the Amazon’s unique environment which made even standing an arduous task.
One of the ways was to choose dungeons close to the edge.
The other was to secure the dungeon so that others wouldn’t be able to touch it.
Once a dungeon was found, the finder would leave traces so that they were able to find it, then they would set up traps around it.
“After this is the minefield.”
And among the traps, the one that was used most frequently was mines.
The installation was simple, the cost per unit was cheap, and most importantly, the effect was good.
This was one of the reasons that the Amazon Rainforest was considered h.e.l.l.
Of course, even this wasn’t perfect.
“Be careful, others might have left new mines here too.”
Sometimes, if one’s luck wasn’t good, hostile forces might interfere with their route by placing new mines down.
“Then, before we begin, I’ll give you a debriefing.”
While the Thunderbird Company’s workers secured the route to the dungeon gate, Roberto spoke to Kim Woo-jin, Lee Jin-ah, and Isaac Ivanov, who he had created using the Alter Ego skill.
“The dungeon we’re about to enter is the A+ rank 5 Floor dungeon, Burning Forest.”
Together with those words, Roberto handed them the doc.u.ments he was holding in his hands.
[Burning Forest]
– Floors: 5
– Difficulty: A+
– Maximum number of entries: 299
– Requirements: Level 159 and lower
– Conditions: Defeat the Master of the Burning Forest!
– Reward: Skill Stone(A)
Honestly, not much information could be gathered from the dungeon’s t.i.tle, but the fact that the reward was a skill stone meant that it wouldn’t be simple.
But that wasn’t bad.
“If a legendary item is found in the dungeon, then it will unconditionally belong to Thunderbird.”
After all, regardless of what they find in the dungeon, it would belong to Thunderbird.
That was the condition that Isaac Ivanov’s party had to agree to in order to join the dungeon attack.
“We have no objections.”
Had it not been for that condition, there was no way the Lightning King would have let Isaac Ivanov’s party into the dungeon unless he was stupid.
In addition, Roberto was joining the attack in order to ensure the conditions were fulfilled.
‘Dammit.’
But from Roberto’s perspective, this wasn’t a good thing.
No, this was a situation that had already surpa.s.sed ‘bad’.
The possibility of them clearing the dungeon was by no means low.
‘If it’s these guys, they could chew through a dungeon like this one.’
The power Isaac Ivanov’s party displayed far exceeded common sense.
In fact, Roberto was certain that the monsters in the dungeon would just get bullied by Isaac Ivanov’s party.
That was the reason.
‘If these guys change their att.i.tude…’
This powerful party was not something Roberto and his men could even wish to stand up against.
After all, wasn’t it a dungeon?
‘They’d chew us up too.’
No matter what happened in the dungeon, there was no way for the outside to know.
Therefore, if Kim Woo-jin was to kill Roberto and say it was an accident, there was no way to confirm or deny his statement.
Of course, the Lightning King would definitely punish them for it.
After all, the Lightning King had never let off someone who crossed him.
‘Dammit!’
But none of that would matter to the person who died.
That was why Roberto was fearful of Isaac Ivanov’s party.
“We’ve secured the route.”
At that time, the men who went to check the path to the dungeon gate, came back and reported, so Roberto nodded and stood up.
“Everyone, let’s go into the dungeon.”
No one knew what could happen in the Amazon Rainforest, so there was no break before entering the dungeon.
Then Kim Woo-jin spoke to Roberto.
“We’ll go in first.”
When Kim Woo-jin said that, Isaac Ivanov and Lee Jin-ah were standing behind him.
Roberto was startled by their appearance.
Usually, in cases like this, the watcher was the one who entered the dungeon first, and Roberto was the watcher in this case.
However, it was clear that Roberto did not even want to enter the dungeon in the first place, and was hesitant to go first.
Then Kim Woo-jin spoke as though he was warning him.
“If we hit you in the back of the head after following you into the dungeon, we’ll be punished anyway.”
Even when saying such words, there wasn’t a change to Kim Woo-jin’s tone.
Possibly as a reaction to the threat, Roberto no longer cared about what would happen afterward.
“Do whatever you want.”
In any case, if Isaac Ivanov’s party had malicious intentions, there was nothing he could do about it in the dungeon.
“Then we’ll go ahead.”
Thus Kim Woo-jin, Isaac Ivanov and Lee Jin-ah began moving along the path designated by the Thunderbird staff.
Before long, a dungeon gate dug into a huge tree greeted them.
They didn’t hesitate.
Lee Jin-ah then Isaac Ivanov entered the dungeon one after another.
And just as Kim Woo-jin reached the dungeon gate.
Boom!
Suddenly, an explosion rang out, causing everyone to turn to the direction it came from.
Boom!
Boom!
Immediately afterwards, two more explosions rang out.
It was the sound of mines exploding one after the other.
“Something is coming!”
In other words, it was an announcement that something was moving through the minefield.
Roar!
Before long, a terrifying roar swept through the Thunderbird Company’s team.
“It’s an Ogre!”
Ogre!
As this wounded beast rushed through the minefield, it roared.
“Ugh!”
“Ahh!”
This roar caused the non-players to stumble.
Boom!
They were instantly incapacitated by its tremendous power.
Roberto was also shocked at its appearance.
‘Why is an Ogre here?’
It was harder to see an Ogre in the Amazon Rainforest than it was to see a jaguar.
Of course, it wasn’t the Ogre’s appearance itself that was strange.
‘Why didn’t I sense it?’
However, it was definitely strange for an Ogre to suddenly appear without any warning whatsoever.
In particular, there had never been an incident where an Ogre had ignored its injuries to charge through a minefield.
Although they were slow creatures, an Ogre was still smart enough to know that after stepping on a mine, it should not continue in the same direction.
Of course, he didn’t have that long to question it.
‘Dammit.’
Once an Ogre began to run wild, it was hard even for high level players to kill it.
Furthermore, the ordinary soldiers would be virtually useless against it.
‘We have to kill it.’
At that moment, only Roberto and his men were capable of dealing with the Ogre, so Roberto immediately grabbed an a.s.sault rifle from his side.
This was proof that he was adequately prepared for whatever might happen in the Amazon Rainforest.
In other words, it couldn’t be helped.
‘Ah!’
Only then did he remember the dungeon gate.
…
[Find the Red Tree to move on to the next floor]
The notification showed that no more players were allowed to enter the dungeon.
“What’s going on?”
Lee Jin-ah was shocked to see the notification.
“What happened? Why did the notification suddenly appear?”
Then Isaac Ivanov and Kim Woo-jin appeared.
The two of them spoke at the same time.
“It looks like there was an accident.”
“It looks like there was an accident.”
The same words.
However, their actions were different.
The real Kim Woo-jin removed a ring from his finger and put it in his inventory.
“Solomon’s Ring?”
Upon seeing this, Lee Jin-ah shouted.
“Did you use a monster to cause an accident?”
When Kim Woo-jin shrugged instead of responding, Lee Jin-ah spoke with a ridiculous expression.
“Hey! Please tell me about stuff like that in advance!”
“It was an accident.”
“It doesn’t sound like an accident! This is why you don’t have friends!”
Kim Woo-jin stretched out his hand to the angry Lee Jin-ah.
“Aegis s.h.i.+eld and Nemean Lion’s Skin.”
“Huh?”
Lee Jin-ah, whose expression was just filled with anger, became stiff when Kim Woo-jin asked for the two items in his possession.
After a while, Lee Jin-ah spoke fearfully.
“N-, no matter how wrong I was, it’s still a bit much to make me go naked in an A+ rank dungeon…”
He felt that Kim Woo-jin was going to make him do something ridiculous to increase his skill rank.
Kim Woo-jin spoke simply.
“You don’t have to do anything in this dungeon.”
Then his gaze deepened as he continued.
“Because I will clear this dungeon alone.”