Chapter 24 – Frozen Tears

Thud!

Jin-hyuk narrowed his eyes.

No doubt.

There was an indirect message from the boss.

“Look, did you see that? The status window…”

Teresa asked.

“Yes. I see it too.”

But there was no concern of being attacked right away.

The intelligent boss monster’s indirect message was simply an expression of its feeling. There was no physical threat.

But…

‘I don’t think this guy ever showed interest in a player…?’

The Lord of the Corrupted Corridors was always locked inside its room. In the event of an intruder, he would send out his minions, and any contact with outsiders was always cut off.

So why did he show interest now?

… interesting.

What were its reason and intent?

“The boss monster is gazing at us. What does this mean?”

“In a good way, the enemy is interested, and in a bad way, it will not let us go alive. Well, we can interpret it like that.”

“Does it acknowledge us?”

“It means it acknowledged me. Not you.”

How dare you try to sneak the attention away?

Looking at those words, he was sure that the message was an indirect message to him.

“…”

Teresa looked at him with a shocked face.

She was a player who participated as a ranker as one of the famous of Europe, while he was a porter.

If you asked 100 people, all of them would say that the boss was looking at Teresa.

Yet…

Where did this man’s confidence come from?

At this point, he seemed overly respectable in many ways. She had a lot to say, but Teresa just shook her head.

“When you first talked to me, you said you knew all the traps, right?”

“Yes. It has been a while, but my body remembers it.”

The 1st floor was easy.

But it had been more than 6 months since he last entered these ruins/

No problem, though.

It wasn’t for nothing that people said that while form can be lost, experience was eternal.

“Then, what do we do?”

“Please attract the attention of the undead monsters. I will take care of the rest.”

By dividing the roles, he could get all the items without leveling up.

Jin-hyuk held the dagger in reverse and took a stance to descend down into the pit.

“Ready.”

“Then, let’s start.”

Teresa wielded her magic.

Right.

Woong!

[Teresa activates Lv5 Song of Battle!]
Warm energy rose from her body.

[All Stats increased by +3 for 10 minutes.]
It was a wide area buff skill, something quite deceptive since it would increase all their stats.

‘Ah. This is quite usable.’

Jin-hyuk let out a small whistle.

If it wasn’t for Teresa’s unique skill, Blessing of the Star, which allowed for revival upon death, he would have gone for this skill.

Koh!

In the meantime, Teresa leaped into the middle of the undead monsters.

“Grrr…”

“Kuaaak!”

The ghouls and skeletons immediately reacted with their foul breath and ax attacks.

But…

Kakaka!

But those weapons wouldn’t even scratch Teresa’s armor. That was to be expected.

100 players.

Among them, Teresa was the most stable ranker.

Moreover, although it was a replica version, she was also equipped with the ‘Armor of Joan of Arc.’

No matter how many common mobs there were, they wouldn’t be able to reach her.

“Kuak!”

“Ackkk!”

Her shield also did work.

Bang! Kwang!

The ghouls’ heads were crushed in one blow. The shield was as strong as a hammer weapon.

Slash!

Whenever the sword flew in an arc, skeletons would be cut into pieces.

Fast and accurate.

The wall was being torn down, and the path opened.

…now was the time!

Tat!

Jin-hyuk landed on the ground lightly and moved quickly at the same time.

While maintaining speed, he moved between the monsters with minimal adjustments.

Most of the aggro was attracted to Teresa, but a few came for Jin-hyuk, too, because there were so many.

Ghouls raised their nails and aimed for his neck.

“Kiiik!”

There was no end to them.

Puak!

By aiming their joints, the center of the monster’s gravity shifted.

“Kuak?”

The ghoul’s body shook violently, and it somehow managed to look surprised. All of a sudden, its body stopped listening to it.

Jin-hyuk treated skeletons and ghouls in the same manner.

And at that moment, the fog became thicker.

Psss!

Black spears began to move like lightning.

“…”

This was bad.

Jin-hyuk instinctively knew this and changed his direction.

Pak!

A huge crater was formed in the spot where he had just been.

As expected. It was a destructive force that would kill him.

‘If it wasn’t of that level, no one would want the relic.’

Jin-hyuk’s eyes moved quickly.

Left.

Exactly between the rocks. He spotted the Lick preparing the spell.

A mage made of white bones with no trace of flesh.

However, the blue glow in its eyes indicated that it was ready to fight.

“This is no place for human beings to come.”

It was a voice that sounded like screeching iron. But those words…

So was it saying this was an excellent place for a corpse to come?

Jin-hyuk heard the threat, which was stained with territorial pride.

‘There are five durahans as escorts to it…’

He wanted to avoid a head-on fight if possible.

But he would have to deal with all of them. Like the ghoul and skeletons, there was the risk of being caught if he was ignored.

“Go back. Take one more step, and I will turn you to ashes,”

The Lich created black lightning in the palm of its hand. It was at least Fifth Circle magic.

Swish!

Jin-hyuk took a step forward.

“Oh my, it was a mistake,”

“You…”

The Lich looked at the durahans and nodded.

“Koooo!”

“Kwakk!”

The five durahans roared loudly,

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Along with their roar, the ground shook as the durahans narrowed the distance.

Despite their low intelligence, they were able to move effectively. At the same time…

The lighting in Lich’s hand vanished.

“Die in regret, human!”

It was fast.

However, the moment that it was about to reach Jin-hyuk’s heart.

Wheik!

A fierce and strong fire erupted. The lighting was blocked by a fire curtain and was shattered.

“W-what are you human!?”

An all-out attack, yet the human blocked it like it was nothing?

As far as magic went, he was confident that a human could not defeat it. That pride was shattered now.

And from this moment…

Kukukuku!

The flame broke into thousands of fragments and scattered.

Tak!

“I am running out of time, so I will end this as soon as possible.”

Jin-hyuk spoke briefly and aimed at the durahan who was at the forefront.

Tuk.

He then stepped on its thigh.

Tuk!

And then the shoulder and jumped high in the air. Did he soar close to 5m above the ground?

Jin-hyuk shrugged his shoulders.

“I am not as fast as lightning, but…”

One could not predict.

“Your shield cannot stop it.”

A dagger that has been strengthened ten times over, combined with his Rift and Adaptive stats.

Just 5th circle magic was too weak to counter it.

Maybe if the shield was at least 2 circles higher, then it would be possible.

The dagger in his hand vanished. A red flash. A single ray of light flew in a straight line towards the Lich.

“… Kuam!?”

[5th circle ‘Energy Shield’ has been activated!]

A magic barrier rose up.

The shield unfolded up like a transparent curtain around the Lich’s body.

But…

Kwang!

It shattered like a glass wall and, naturally, left the Lich injured.

“Kua…. Ack…”

The Lich looked from its wound to Jin-hyuk in disbelief. That lasted only for a short moment.

The blue light in its eyes was gradually losing color. All of the magic he had accumulated was blown away.

Of course, as long as there was the life force vessel, it won’t vanish. But it wouldn’t be able to move for a while.

‘This is roughly the end of it,’

Jin-hyuk took the dagger which was lodged in the floor.

“Grrr…”

“Ku.”

The durahan, who was under the Lich’s command, stepped back. Perhaps they lost their will to fight.

Jin-hyuk didn’t pursue them. After all, his purpose wasn’t to come here and level but to secure the items.

“Phew.”

Jin-hyuk took a step back and breathed.

He should be nervous from now because he would have to get past numerous traps.

“W-what kind of porter does that?”

Teresa mumbled.

Her heart was beating wildly when she joined the fight with the undead.

It was because she wanted to show the person who was ignoring her how strong she was. However, the moment she saw him battle, her proud shoulders fell down.

‘It was true.’

He had claimed that he had handled the durahan by himself. She was skeptical, but it seemed like it was true.

It didn’t even seem like it would be difficult. Even the much higher-leveled Lich was like a toy to him.

‘He deserves to be confident.’

He was strong, so he could act arrogant/

But…

The surprise didn’t end there. The moment the trap zone was entered.

Teresa was at a loss for words.

“Ah…”

Her little lips opened up in shock.

Bang!

Jin-hyuk avoided the spears, which rose from the floor with a movement that did it with a split-second difference.

Fifteen arrows flew at once.

It was shocking, but this was the only path. And the traps were actually covered up.

‘And it is foggy, so I need to be extra careful.’

Kakaka!

As Jin-hyuk continued to slash the arrows down with his dagger, he checked where he was moving.

Right.

[Vision is distorted]
An uncomfortable sense filled his eyes.

‘From now, the gap has to be around 32cm apart.’

It meant that whenever he felt an attack coming, it would be faster than it felt. This was the biggest reason that making it past this trap zone was difficult for him.

He modified and memorized the timing by one step.

… and he moved.

Jin-hyuk headed ahead.

Swish.

The sound of something hitting the ground.

This time from behind.

The moment a snake-like rope was about to touch his ankle Jin-hyuk jumped around it.

Clack!

Each time he moved, another trap was triggered. Naturally, everything here triggered a trap.

‘Three steps from here… and two to the right.’

Keep moving and take the less risky steps and the relatively easier traps. The tricky part was the trap that would train the mind.

And he had to be focused at all times. Because if his focus ran out, he would die.

A little bit…

Just a little bit more…

He had 100 m left before reaching his goal.

[Hearing becomes dulled.]
[The sense of touch is paralyzed.]
As the distance between traps increased, his five senses were being dulled.

An environment that overshadowed the advantages of reflexes.

It was no use trying to figure out a pattern.

So…

This was the section where everything he tried had become meaningless.

Dying thousands and tens of thousands of times to learn the complete sequence was the only way to break through the trap.

Kwang!

Jin-hyuk set his dagger to his side. His five senses were being dulled, but his mind wasn’t hazy yet.

Bang!

Kick!

Bang!

And again.

Kwang! Kwang! Bang!

One more time.

Woong!

Jin-hyuk grabbed the dagger flying towards his heart with his bare hands and threw it to the ground.

[All senses return.]
[The fog on the pit is cleared.]
[The undead now enters their rest.]
Looking at the status windows that appeared, he groaned.

“I did this after a while, but my muscles turned too sore.”

For real.

Now he had pain in his right wrist and shoulder. It would have been nice if he had been three months younger.

‘I feel better after doing this, but…’

Jin-hyuk looked at the items placed on the rocks.

The first thing which caught his eye was the Latin written on a long parchment.

The Oath of Apostle Peter.

And…

‘Right. Nice to see you again.’

The crystal emitted a bright blue light that made his eyes hurt.

‘Frozen Tears.’

He finally got his hands on it.

‘First, I need to get the Subspace and the Magic Soul Pill and call Teresa to neutralize the Frozen Tears.’

If he touched it barehanded, his hands would suffer from frostbite.

But as he was going to call Teresa.

“That… put it down slowly.”

A voice said from behind him.