Reader - Chapter 115
Chapter 115: Writings on the wall
Soo Hyuk kept some distance from Romian and said,
“I should be asking that.”
Romian kept silent, he didn’t know what to say. What could he say in a situation like this?
‘What is he looking at?’
Staring at Romian, Soo Hyuk frowned at his actions.
Romian was cautiously searching the ground for something.
All of a sudden, Romian swung his hammer at the ground, and the ground sunk in.
‘A trap?’
Seeing the sudden movements, Soo Hyuk thought Romian activated a trap. There were no other explanations for Romian’s random behavior and the ground sinking.
Soo Hyuk was correct and reflexively looked at the ceiling. There was an ominous sound coming from above, and a crack appeared.
Soo Hyuk leaped away from the spot, and as soon as he did, the ceiling crashed down.
The stones kept falling continuously and thought while looking at the stones piling at the spot he stood.
‘I thought he’d at least come up with an excuse…I wanted to have a conversation, but it seems like he doesn’t. Then…’
“Fire Spear.”
Soo Hyuk cast Fire Spear to clear the path, and with a loud explosion, a path was made.
“…!”
Soo Hyuk saw Romian at the other side surprised, and unlike before, Soo Hyuk shot a cold gaze at him.
“I can ex…”
Was it because of the glaze? Or maybe because of what he just did. Romian was about to say something. It may have been an excuse or something else.
“Poison Spear.”
However, Soo Hyuk had no reason to listen to that. Soo Hyuk made up his mind. To avoid himself from hesitating from Romian’s words, Soo Hyuk attacked.
A Poison Spear was flying towards Romian, and with a loud thud, it exploded.
“Ahh!”
Getting hit by the spear, Romian yelled and laid dead with his head facing the ground.
[Quest ‘Romian’s True Intention’ has been completed.]
– Iron Hammer x1
– Iron Chisel x1
Along with the quest completion notification, the drop window popped up.
It seemed that killing Romian was a valid option.
‘What was he trying to do?’
After checking the quest notification, Soo Hyuk turned his head towards the drop list and saw the hammer and chisel Romian was holding. Soo Hyuk wondered why Romian was using these tools to break through the wall.
After accepting the items, Soo Hyuk stood there and stared at the wall.
‘There’s nothing special about it. But there should be something here…’
Romian wouldn’t have been hammering the wall for nothing. There was bound to be something to be found. To check further in detail, Soo Hyuk walked over to the spot Romian was standing and was surprised at what appeared.
Before he walked to the spot, Soo Hyuk saw a plain wall, but once he arrived, writings appeared on the wall.
– The door shall open for the proven one.
– The door will open with ease for one who is in the process of being proven.
– For one neither proven nor in process, no matter thy strength, the door shall not open.
– Thou who has opened the door shall taste the beauty of my treasures.
‘Door? What door?’
Other than the writings, there was a fine crack in the shape of a rectangle. That was probably the door.
In the beginning, Soo Hyuk thought it was a thin crack and didn’t realize it was a door.
Staring at the writings, Soo Hyuk moved to the right, and after a few steps, the cracks and the writing disappeared.
Soo Hyuk took a step to the left, and they reappeared.
‘It’s the same no matter where I stand.’
Since the phrases and cracks suddenly appeared, Soo Hyuk thought it was possible for a different crack or writing to appear at some other position.
Looking at the writings on the wall, Soo Hyuk opened the quest window.
<Cave Exploration>
The preparations have been finished for the exploration of the secret cave of the Great Thief Kelta. Now it’s time to explore. Reach the deepest part of the cave and figure what Kelta left behind!
Quest Reward: ???
‘I’ve figured out that it is a treasure, but seeing that the quest is not completed…’
The requirement for the quest was figuring what Kelta left behind, but even though Soo Hyuk figured it was a treasure through the writings, the quest didn’t finish. That probably meant Soo Hyuk had to see the treasures in person.
‘Will I be able to finish this quest…?’
Soo Hyuk checked another quest.
〈Special Quest – Kelta’s Legacy〉
The Great Thief Kelta, who had no blood relatives, hid her lifelong treasures at a secret location. Find the treasures!
[Quest Rewards: ???]
That quest was ‘Kelta’s Legacy’.
Soo Hyuk was currently in Kelta’s secret cave. If the secret location in the quest was this place. It would be possible to finish this quest too.
‘But what does it mean by proven or proving?’
Closing the quest window, Soo Hyuk thought about the meaning of proven while looking at the writings.
‘The third probably is what Romian was trying to do.’
Romian was trying to break through the door with the hammer and chisel.
If Romian was a proven one or someone undergoing proving, then the door should have opened.
‘Am I also in the third category?’
Seeing that the door didn’t open as he approached it, Soo Hyuk was not in the first category. But it didn’t seem that he was in the second either.
‘Well…’
But Soo Hyuk couldn’t be sure. Who knows? Receiving the special quest ‘Kelta’s Legacy’ might be the undergoing proving process.
With this thought, Soo Hyuk placed his hand on the wall.
‘Will pushing it be enough?’
Although it’s called a door, it’s a wall. There wasn’t any handle to pull on, so the only thing left was pushing it.
As he pushed the wall, the door began to open.
‘…What? It’s opening?’
Soo Hyuk only pushed just in case. He did not expect it to actually open, so he was surprised.
‘So what is it that I am undergoing proving?’
According to the writings, someone in the process of being proven can open the door with ease. And the door opened with only a push.
‘Is it the quest?’
Soo Hyuk began to wonder whether a quest had anything to do with it. He assumed that receiving the quest can act as the process of being proven. But it was impossible to figure out whether it was the ‘Cave Exploration’ or the ‘Kelta’s Legacy’ quest was the key quest.
While Soo Hyuk was thinking, the door finally stopped, and a new passage appeared.
Fortunately, the passage was not long, and Soo Hyuk reached the end of the passage.
Exiting the passage, Soo Hyuk was amazed and stared in a daze at what lay before him as he walked forward.
“Wow…”
[You have discovered Kelta’s treasure.]
[The quest ‘Cave Exploration’ has been completed.]
As Soo Hyuk exited the passage, these two notifications popped up, but Soo Hyuk was too amazed to check it.
“Wooahh…”
Looking around at the view, Soo Hyuk let out another sound of amazement.
‘Is all of this the reward?’
What Soo Hyuk saw was a massive amount of treasures, ranging from jewels, swords, lances, shields, earrings, etc. There were various types of treasures lying around everywhere.
‘You can stack up a mountain with just the gold in here.’
Other than the jewels and swords, there was so much gold lying around.
‘How much is all of this? Just with the gold, it should be above a million.’
‘The amount of jewels is also massive.’
The problem was there was more than just gold.
There were so many eye-catching treasures. The jewels, earrings, rings, swords, lances, gloves, shoes, chain armors, etc. all looked very high-class.
‘Is all of this really the reward?’
At that thought, Soo Hyuk felt a shiver go down his spine.
‘The difficulty does not match the rewards…’
Soo Hyuk also felt uncomfortable. The difficulty surely rose towards the end, but it wasn’t to the point of receiving a reward like this.
‘But…’
There was something else making Soo Hyuk uncomfortable. Checking the logs, Soo Hyuk frowned.
‘The special quest hasn’t been completed.’
The only quest completed was the ‘Cave Exploration’ quest.
‘That means this isn’t the secret location.’
The condition for the completion of the ‘Kelta’s Legacy’ quest was to find the location where Kelta hid all of her treasures.
For the quest to not be completed meant that the current place was not the secret location in the quest.
‘Then, what are these?’
If the place where Kelta hid her lifelong treasures was the secret location, what were these treasures?
‘Does it mean the treasures here are only a tip of the iceberg?’
‘First of all…’
There was no point in pondering on that question now.
‘Let’s collect all of these first.’
Soo Hyuk decided to think about that later.
Staring at all the treasures, Soo Hyuk smiled and thought.
‘I’m probably gonna have to pass my logout time to pick all of these up.’
There were so many things to pick up, and it looked like it would take some time.
Soo Hyuk reached out his hand to pick up the gold, but as soon as he touched it, the gold disappeared with a bright light.
“What? What happened?”Soo Hyuk was surprised at the sudden disappearance of the gold.
“What is this? Where’d it all go?”
The problem was that it wasn’t only the gold that disappeared. All the treasures in the room were nowhere to be found. They all disappeared.
‘Wait…Did having a taste of the treasures mean this?’
Remembering the last sentence on the writings on the wall, Soo Hyuk was lost for words.
