Chapter 23. Record of a Thousand Lives
The 3rd Floor of Chimera Dimension.
The s.p.a.ce changed to an expansive area.
“Summon salamander Sally. Summon the White Beast.”
Kang Yoonsoo took out an adrenaline potion from his knapsack.
After drinking some of it, he shared the remaining potion with Sally and White.
“Daddy, what is this?”
“A potion.”
“Is it delicious?”
“Yeah.”
“Whoa!”
After drinking the potion, Sally was about to cry.
“Ewww. Not good! It"s bitter!”
“Bitter is delicious.”
It was a strange answer.
Roaring, White refused to drink the potion, displaying the pride of a boss monster.
It had no intention of drinking something that a mere human was giving it.
“Korunock! Urenokra!”
“Rimakruel.”
When Kang Yoonsoo spoke, White s.h.i.+vered.
Then White grabbed the gla.s.s bottle Kang Yoonsoo offered, gulping down its contents.
Shannette asked with a curious look on her face.
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him it was good for mating.”
They began their hunt.
“Krreeeeeuk-!”
The chimeras grew more annoying since they could spew out tree vines.
They began to use binding skills from the 3rd floor on.
Kang Yoonsoo quickly dodged the tree vines, and swung his great sword.
Puuck-!
His sword split open a chimera"s head.
The huge chimera shuddered and fell to the ground, throwing up blue blood.
“Whooo-!”
Sally fought by spewing out spirit fire.
The salamander was no longer in the form of a girl, and had transformed into a fire lizard.
[Sally, the salamander, transformed into a lizard.
Her fire breath grows stronger.
Her movements become faster on flat surfaces.
Her flame energy grows stronger in the desert.
However, she is unable to use fire magic.]
After transforming into a lizard, her spirit fire grew much stronger.
Shannette also wielded her scythe lightly as she blocked the chimeras" path of retreat.
White, on the other hand, was fighting as if there was no tomorrow.
As appropriate for the boss monster of the Ultica Ruins, White ferociously slaughtered the chimeras.
The group hunted the chimeras at an unusually quick pace, even though there were other hunters around.
“Who are they?”
s.h.i.+n Hanyul and his team members, who were fighting nearby, were impressed.
At that moment, an extraordinary event took place.
Buzzz-!
Suddenly, everyone"s terminal vibrated.
When they looked at their terminals, they found a terrifying message written in red.
[A mysterious flow of magic changes the attributes of the s.p.a.ce.
The sealed, level area, the Chimera Dimension, has been locked down.
Your access in and out of the s.p.a.ce is now limited.]
Everyone looked fl.u.s.tered.
One of the men quickly moved towards the exit.
Up until now, it was possible to exit from the Chimera Dimension by walking on a s.h.i.+ning, Milky Way like path.
However, the s.h.i.+ning light vanished into the darkness, causing the exit to disappear.
The man shouted in fear.
“What, what"s going on! We were just about to leave!”
Everyone panicked.
The chimeras did not miss this opportunity.
“Kreeeeuk-!”
“Aaahk-!”
Two men were immediately clawed to death.
Kang Yoonsoo calmly observed the scene.
"It has begun."
Everyone began to fight differently, impacted by the despair that no one could get out of the s.p.a.ce.
However, that wasn"t something which applied to Kang Yoonsoo.
He knew the way to escape from the Chimera Dimension.
Kang Yoonsoo shouted in a loud voice.
“Everyone, calm down. You can get out of here by killing the boss monster on the top floor.”
“What?”
“How do you know that?”
Unexpectedly, everyone replied angrily.
However, Kang Yoonsoo did not go out of his way to convince them.
“It"s up to you whether to believe it or not. However, remember, that is the only way out of here. You have to fight if you want to live.”
That was the extent of his explanation.
After all, these people would normally have been killed here, unaware of how to escape this place.
Kang Yoonsoo had given them more than enough information to allow them to escape from the Chimera Dimension.
Showing them any additional goodwill would not benefit him.
“I trust you. We just have to fight with all we"ve got, right?”
Kang Yoonsoo nodded in response to Shannette"s voice.
In the mean time, s.h.i.+n Hanyul"s team was as fl.u.s.tered as all the other travelers.
“What, what should we do? Hanyul!”
“I"m not sure, but right now, our best bet is to trust him.”
s.h.i.+n Hanyul calmly began reciting spells.
“Ice bringer! Fire strike!”
As soon as he cast the spell, powerful magic pummeled the chimeras.
Sharp pieces of ice dropped down on the chimeras, and powerful flames burned their flesh.
When the chimeras were on the verge of death, four swordsmen rushed towards them and swung their swords.
Lee Kanghyun was surprised to see that s.h.i.+n Hanyul could remain focused under these circ.u.mstances.
"Indeed, he"s worthy of being a White Lion Clan member."
Lee Kanghyun looked at s.h.i.+n Hanyul"s cape.
The cape, emblazoned with a white lion, was only given to members of the White Lion Clan.
Made out of wyvern hide, which would not lose its durability even if it was burnt, the cape looked powerful and majestic.
s.h.i.+n Hanyul was the only White Lion Clan member among his team members.
The four swordsmen wanted to get on s.h.i.+n Hanyul"s good side, in hopes of joining the White Lion Clan.
As time pa.s.sed, more and more people began to die.
The travelers, who had been fighting against the chimeras by maintaining a defensive line, began to fall faster as the people around them died.
“Ah, Aaaahk!”
“Help, help me!”
However, s.h.i.+n Hanyul"s team fought with all they had and survived.
[You have destroyed 100 alchemical chimeras.
Do you wish to move up to the next floor?]
In no time, they had cleared the 3rd floor.
His team members looked exhausted, but s.h.i.+n Hanyul shook his head with determination.
“I understand that the situation has changed. But, acting leisurely now will only allow that man to take possession of the sword.”
That sword was the reason s.h.i.+n Hanyul"s team wanted to reach the top floor of the Chimera Dimension.
s.h.i.+n Hanyul had gained a piece of information as he was completing the alchemist clan"s secret mission.
The boss monster on the 5th floor of the Chimera Dimension possessed a very rare sword.
A sword that was rated rare or above was valuable just for its grade, and that meant it could be sold at a very high price.
That price would jump by many folds if the sword had either strong offensive power, or some special capability.
s.h.i.+n Hanyul calmly said.
“Standing around dumbfounded will only result in our death, anyway. We"ll stick to our original plan and go after the boss monster on the top floor. Before they do.”
In the mean time, Kang Yoonsoo used his necromancer skill after finis.h.i.+ng his hunt.
“Ma.s.s resurrection.”
100 chimeras were reborn as undead, causing his ma.s.s resurrection skill level to grow.
[Ma.s.s Resurrection skill level has risen.
You can now store up to 700 undead in your summoning s.p.a.ce.]
Despite the fact that they had started later, Kang Yoonsoo"s team went up to the 4th floor faster than the other travelers.
There was no time for them to delay.
s.h.i.+n Hanyul"s team also went up to the 4th floor of the Chimera Dimension.
Only those two groups had made it to the 4th floor so far.
All the others were either still struggling on the floor below, or had already been killed.
The chimeras on the 4th floor were big and powerful.
They tied people up with tree vines, then pierced them with long spines that grew out of their bodies.
Their usual short, dagger-length claws were also longer and sharper, more like swords.
With White and Kang Yoonsoo taking the lead, the group fought fiercely against the chimeras.
When the tree vines approached, Sally spewed out flames to burn them.
Shannette, too, wielded her scythe bravely.
“Kerrreeeeuhk-!”
Several tens of chimeras had gathered at once.
It was not easy to kill monsters when they were in a large group.
In fact, that situation was something that could cause a hunter to become the hunted.
Kang Yoonsoo took out the small bombs from his knapsack.
The bombs exploded powerfully after colliding with a chimera"s pressure point or mouth.
Kwaaang-!
“Krrreeeeuk-!”
The chimeras shrieked painfully due to the explosion.
When a chimera faltered due to an explosion, Sally and Shannette took away their lives with flames or scythe.
With the help of the adrenaline potion, Kang Yoonsoo and his team members destroyed the chimeras without exhaustion, and made their way forward.
However, s.h.i.+n Hanyul"s team struggled.
“Aaaahk! Help me!”
One of the swordsmen on the front line screamed.
Unable to dodge or break the tree vines, he became completely entangled.
As s.h.i.+n Hanyul was in the middle of a large scale ice magic, he could not simultaneously cast fire magic.
The others were also too busy fighting and had no time to look after someone else.
Ultimately, that swordsman was bitten by the chimera that entangled him.
“Aaaahk!”
“I, I"ll help you!”
When Lee Kanghyun was about to rush to his aid, s.h.i.+n Hanyul shouted in a sharp tone of voice.
“Lee Kanghyun! You fool! Maintain your position! Leaving the line will make the situation worse!”
“But, but…..!”
“You cannot sacrifice the many for the one. That is the foundation of battle! If you want to join the White Lion Clan, just maintain your position!”
Clenching his teeth, Lee Kanghyun held his position.
The swordsman succ.u.mbed to death after getting bitten by the chimera.
After many hours, the battle finally ended.
[You have destroyed 100 alchemical chimeras.
Do you wish to move up to the next floor?]
After the battle, only Kang Yoonsoo and s.h.i.+n Hanyul"s teams remained.
The battle was just that fierce.
Kang Yoonsoo"s level had risen to 57.
Once again, he resurrected the slaughtered chimeras.
There were now over 400 undead chimeras in the summoning s.p.a.ce.
Everyone was exhausted after having gone through the battle, and they were all injured.
“Let"s treat ourselves before we move up to the next floor.”
s.h.i.+n Hanyul took out a healing potion from his backpack.
The potion was a high quality item, costing 10 gold coins per bottle.
It was also a part of the supplies provided by the Clan.
s.h.i.+n Hanyul cautiously treated his team"s wounds by conservatively applying the potion.
The b.l.o.o.d.y wounds began to slowly heal.
At the same time, s.h.i.+n Hanyul looked over in Kang Yoonsoo"s direction.
Although they weren"t as badly injured as s.h.i.+n Hanyul"s team, Kang Yoonsoo"s team had also suffered quite a bit of damage.
s.h.i.+n Hanyul had been saving the healing potion up until this point due to the fight against the boss monster.
Even a small injury could impact them greatly in the next battle.
Recuperation and healing were as important as the fight itself.
"Everyone is injured and exhausted. However, we are healing and recovering quicker. After only 30 minutes of rest, we should be able to go up to the next floor."
So long as they went up first, it would be possible for them to overpower the boss monster before Kang Yoonsoo even arrived.
However, s.h.i.+n Hanyul"s estimation was completely off.
Kang Yoonsoo nonchalantly took out a healing potion from his bag.
He applied it to Shannette and Sally"s wounds.
White roared as if he didn"t like it, but he ultimately gave in at Kang Yoonsoo"s insistence.
Kang Yoonsoo liberally applied the precious healing potion as though it was water.
If he saw that the wounds weren"t healing fast enough, he simply took out another potion and poured it on them.
Sally, having returned to the form of a girl, played in the puddle of liquid formed by the potions.
“Whoa! Sally does not like water, but this feels great!”
s.h.i.+n Hanyul"s team, who were applying a single potion in a very conservative manner, looked at them dumbfounded.
On top of that, Kang Yoonsoo"s healing potion was much more effective than s.h.i.+n Hanyul"s.
The wounds his team had suffered healed instantly.
"What, what is that, anyway?"
s.h.i.+n Hanyul doubted what he had seen.
Unless it was concocted by a great alchemist, the a healing potion wouldn"t take effect that fast.
What was more astounding to s.h.i.+n Hanyul was the fact that Kang Yoonsoo did not have to use a single drop of the potion on himself.
He was not injured at all during that fierce battle?
s.h.i.+n Hanyul wanted to look closer, but Kang Yoonsoo"s team had already vanished.
They have gone up to the 5th floor, long before s.h.i.+n Hanyul"s team.