Chapter 255 – Knight of Death (4)
Translator: Seven
Editor: Ana_Banana
It was December 1, 2024.
The atmosphere of the world, which was slowly reaching the end of 2024 was not good.
[Winter begins and monster alerts are issued!]
In the winter, the monsters in the wild who were experiencing winter for the first time started appearing one after another, consuming the world.
This happened every year.
[A h.e.l.lhound has appeared in Mongolia!]
[A monster wave starts in Russia!]
[China declares a state of emergency in the Sichuan area!]
But 2024 was much more serious than the world expected.
In a way, this was natural.
Since more dungeons with higher floors had appeared when compared to the year before, the quality and quant.i.ty of the monsters had risen proportionately.
In order to hunt these monsters, fighter jets were launched, and wars.h.i.+ps on the coastline fired their rockets, fighting as if they were at war.
The entire world was covered in screams and fear.
[The situation next year will be even more severe!]
[A large number of 7 and 8 Floor dungeons are expected to appear in 2025.]
[Will the first 9 Floor dungeon appear in 2025?]
However, the thing that terrified the world the most was the fact that the situation was bound to get worse, rather than better.
[The only way to save the world is to end the game!]
Their only hope was to end the game.
Therefore, many people in the world were looking forward to the game ending as soon as possible and being saved.
Of course, not everyone was like that.
“It wouldn’t end just because the game ended.”
Oh Se-chan was one of those who wasn’t.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Let’s say the game ended right this second. What do you think would happen next?”
“The dungeons and monsters would disappear. And the players’ abilities would also disappear.”
“Right, with terrorists overflowing, constant protests, and the social infrastructure almost completely destroyed.”
After saying that, Oh Se-chan smiled bitterly.
“That wouldn’t be a great world to live in, would it?”
When he said those words, his subordinate could only look at him with a stiff expression.
Instead of waiting for an answer, Oh Se-chan spoke again.
“Well, it’s not too late to think about this stuff after Kim Woo-jin clears the dungeon.”
This was the truth.
In the end, all of these discussions could only be based on Kim Woo-jin’s success.
If there were any problems and the attack failed, then all of these worries were meaningless.
“So pray for Kim Woo-jin to return safely. Oh, Lee Jin-ah too.”
After saying this, Oh Se-chan smiled again.
“It won’t be easy, but…”
…
‘It’s not as easy as I expected.’
It had been one month since they’d entered the dungeon.
They were currently on the fifth floor, and Kim Woo-jin and the other players were currently struggling against the Guardians.
This wasn’t particularly strange.
However, it was also strange to say that when they had only taken a month to reach the fifth floor of the dungeon.
Naturally, this meant that Kim Woo-jin was talking about something else.
[The current number of monsters that the Skeleton Knight has killed is 44,319.]
‘It’s harder to make a Death Knight than I expected.’
Kim Woo-jin was actually talking about none other than the basic condition to create the Death Knight, which was to make a Skeleton Knight kill 44,444 monsters.
‘I didn’t think it’d take this long.’
In truth, Kim Woo-jin thought that he’d be able to summon the Death Knight by the time they cleared the fourth floor.
However, Kim Woo-jin’s expectations had deviated far more than he expected.
The reason for this was simple.
“Well, the Skeleton Knight doesn’t have the chance to put on a one man show.”
As Lee Jin-ah’d said, the other Skeleton Soldiers and Knights were not giving the Skeleton Knight the chance to fight on its own.
A simple a.n.a.logy for this would be, ‘the supporting roles are s.h.i.+ning so brightly that the main character can’t perform well’.
The reason why this wasn’t amusing was also simple.
“A Skeleton Knight wielding Mjolnir…”
“Isaac Ivanov is strong enough to clear this 7 Floor dungeon on his own.”
This was because it was unbelievable no matter which perspective you looked at it from.
In any case, it wasn’t ‘good news for Kim Woo-jin.
‘I have to get a Death Knight before going to the sixth floor…’
According to his plan, he should be able to summon the Death Knight before they entered the sixth floor of the dungeon.
In other words, this meant that there was something special on the sixth floor.
It was then.
[All the monsters have been slain.]
[Advance to the next floor.]
Everyone received a notification signalling the completion of the fifth floor.
“Huh? Why?”
“The timing is a bit wrong.”
Usually, if the number of monsters fell below 1,000 it was normal to slow down or even stop hunting directly in order to take a rest before entering the next floor.
But everything didn’t go according to plan.
Furthermore, the players in the dungeons had completely different hunting speeds.
The players from the other guilds were unable to keep up with the pace displayed by the Isaac Ivanov led Saviour Guild.
Of course, this wasn’t a fatal problem or anything like that.
It wasn’t often, but it was possible to adjust the speed to some extent when there were about 10,000 or so monsters remaining.
No one sprinted to the point that they couldn’t catch their breaths.
“We couldn’t get the timing right because of the poison someone sprayed everywhere.”
So Lee Jin-ah didn’t think too much of it either.
“Well, we don’t usually rest anyway. It doesn’t matter whether we take a break here or not, does it?”
Furthermore, it was no exaggeration to say that the ones who were clearing the dungeon were really the Saviour Guild and Isaac Ivanov.
But Kim Woo-jin was different this time.
“Don’t let your guard down.”
He warned Lee Jin-ah.
“No one can tell what strange things might happen in a dungeon.”
“What?”
Lee Jin-ah tilted his head slightly at the warning.
In the meantime, the players who were on the fifth floor were forced to enter the sixth floor of the dungeon.
Enter the sixth floor!
With the seventh floor just a step away, they received the notification on the sixth floor telling them the conditions to reach the very top of the dungeon.
[Defeat the Red Dragon to clear the sixth floor of the dungeon.]
There was a Dragon on the sixth floor.
“Red Dragon?”
“Isn’t this the sixth floor?”
“Why did a Dragon appear on the sixth floor?”
Everyone was extremely surprised by this fact and couldn’t help but shout out in shock.
It was certainly shocking.
Wasn’t it natural to panic when a Dragon, which they expected to encounter on the seventh floor suddenly appeared on the sixth?
Unfortunately, the sixth floor didn’t give the players the chance to gather their bearings.
Roaaar!
[Dragon’s Fear approaches.]
The Red Dragon had moved to hunt the intruders that came to its territory.
…
Before entering the dungeon, everyone was briefed on what type of dungeon they were going to attack.
And the t.i.tle for this dungeon.
There was no one present who didn’t know it.
[Land of Dragons]
– Floors: 7
– Difficulty: A+ rank
– Maximum number of Entries: 500
– Requirement: Level 240 and below
– Challenge Conditions: Defeat the ruler of the Land!
– Reward: Skill Stone(S)
It had been reviewed countless times, and numerous scenarios were created based on the name of the dungeon.
Therefore, it could be said that the players were prepared enough so as to not be shocked no matter what situation they faced.
‘Why is a Dragon here?’
‘Isn’t this the sixth floor?’
However, there was no one who could’ve guessed that there would be a Dragon on the sixth floor of the dungeon.
Wasn’t this natural?
The appearance of a Dragon on the sixth floor of a dungeon when it was guaranteed to be the boss of the dungeon was no different from having the owner of a house greet you at the front door.
Naturally, this wasn’t something the players would have ever expected to encounter.
“Dammit, what the h.e.l.l is this nonsense? Why is a Dragon appearing here?”
“It’s not ridiculous.”
“What?”
“Dragons can turn any monster into their Guardians, there’s no reason why they couldn’t transform another Dragon.”
It was just as Kim Woo-jin said to a surprised Lee Jin-ah.
Anything could happen in a dungeon.
Furthermore, there had never been a rule in the world that stated that Dragons, who could transform other monsters into their Guardians, couldn’t do the same to another Dragon.
Even if there was no way to know for certain if it was or wasn’t, that wasn’t important.
“So it’s a Guardian?”
“Even if we’re not sure, we still have to keep it in mind. After all, all the monsters that we’ve encountered in this dungeon so far were Guardians.”
“…oh my G.o.d.”
If the Red Dragon that had just appeared was actually a Guardian, then it would be the worst weapon to face.
A weapon that would willingly sacrifice itself to complete the orders it had been given!
Roar!
And that weapon was now beginning to cast a shadow over the players’ heads with its enormous wings.
All the players shouted out at the sight.
“It’s using Dragon Breath!”
“Retreat!”
On the sixth floor of the dungeon, the escape had begun.
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