NOVPUB
Chapter 59 - 59
Squad Three. Dungeon Rules.
They had been running for a while when a flaming bird suddenly swooped in from the right and attacked the group.
Kichan pointed his staff at the bird, and an Ice Snake shot out, colliding with the flaming bird and vanishing along with it.
It was the third interference from a new squad moving in line with Seowoon's group.
Around them, five squads including Seowoon's were now racing toward the same destination.
"There's a witch in the right-side squad! Be careful. If you get hit with a debuff, it's a pain."
Perched low on a broomstick with a crystal ball in one hand and wild, unkempt hair, she looked strikingly similar to the witch they'd seen in the previous round—bringing back bad memories.
"Hyung, wouldn't it be better to just deal with that squad now?" Kichan asked.
Lyle shook his head and twirled his staff.
A Wind Hammer shot from his staff shattered an incoming Ice Lance. The burst of cold that followed felt more like a refreshing breeze in the hot desert.
"The storm field's moving abnormally fast. It's gotten even quicker than when we started. At this rate, it's going to be close."
"Lyle's right. And who knows how much more that damned magnetic field will shrink? Until we understand the situation, we need to conserve our strength."
In the tense standoff where the squads continued to run while keeping an eye on each other, everyone suddenly halted at the top of a massive sand dune blocking their view.
Seowoon couldn't help but be awestruck, forgetting the situation for a moment—it felt like stepping into another world.
And it wasn't just him. Everyone stopped to gape at the sight before them.
"I've never seen it in person, but... is that what Niagara Falls looks like?" Kichan murmured.
Everyone instinctively nodded.
A massive waterfall, like those seen on TV or online.
Except instead of water, a tremendous torrent of sand was cascading down.
The endlessly falling sand, swept by the wind, created a suffocating pressure just by being there.
As the awe faded, the squad with the witch was the first to make a move.
Leading the charge, they rushed toward the sandfall.
For a brief moment, the wind died down, and the sand fell less heavily. In that moment, all the players spotted something—a dark cave behind the waterfall.
And the storm field was now rapidly approaching from behind.
You didn't need to be a genius to realize:
If they didn't get inside, they would die in the field.
Seowoon, still running, suddenly called for Kichan and Lyle to stop.
While the other squads clashed fiercely behind them, desperate to be the second group to enter, the trio slowed down and started falling behind. Kichan glanced nervously at the fast-approaching field.
"Hyung!"
But Seowoon ignored him and looked at Lyle.
"Get the Gold Scroll ready. Whatever happens, if we're next to each other once we get in, use it immediately."
Kichan's eyes widened.
"Don't tell me..."
"It never hurts to be cautious."
At Seowoon's words, Kichan pulled up the survivor list.
54/400.
Something felt off the moment he saw that number.
Why were there still so many survivors left—and where were they?
And why, after barely dropping before, had the number plummeted so quickly now?
"Run!"
Seowoon took the lead again, eyes locked on the now-imminent field.
With tense faces, Lyle and Kichan followed closely behind.
"Kayer Barrier."
They burst through the fierce sandfall, sinking with a floating sensation as they began to drop underground.
-Boom!
From below came waves of mana and a searing sense of danger.
"New intruders!"
Before they could even get their bearings in the new space, spells and arrows flew at them.
Prepared in advance, Lyle and Kichan deployed barriers, and Seowoon deflected attacks with his fists as he stuck close to Lyle.
One glance was enough—they had to get out of there fast.
Around them were over a dozen chests and splattered blood. The other squads that had raced in with them were already losing members and struggling.
As another wave of concentrated attacks flew at Seowoon's group, Lyle tore the golden scroll.
"Damn it! We missed them!"
"Clean up the rest of them—quick!"
The remaining players, having lost much of their strength to the ambush, were now being overpowered by the rest.
"Hup!"
As they teleported, a single water droplet from the ceiling landed on Lyle's spine, making him flinch and spin around, hand raised.
"It's okay. Looks like we landed pretty far away."
No sooner had Seowoon and Kichan finished speaking than the map activated, and a new area came into view.
Except for the entrance where they had arrived and their current location, the entire map was shrouded in pitch black, stifling and unreadable.
"This is..."
"Yeah. It's a dungeon entrance."
At their words, Lyle spoke up excitedly.
"I've never heard of a sandfall like the one we saw in the Desert of the Forbidden. What's going on...?"
Since it was information about his own world, Lyle was even more confused.
But for Seowoon, who had played a fair number of games, this wasn't an unfamiliar setup.
"A dungeon that appears when certain conditions are met—it's a common cliché."
"A common setup and flow? What do you mean by that?"
It seemed the word "cliché" was a bit too difficult for the Cloyd translation system to render properly.
"Just take it like that. What matters is, as expected, there's teaming."
"Yeah. I didn't think they'd be lying in wait from the entrance... How did you know?"
"Well... If I had entered this dungeon first, I would've done the same thing. It's just too good an opportunity to pass up."
It was a classic PK (player kill—killing other players) tactic from games he used to play: waiting at a dungeon entrance to ambush unsuspecting newcomers. Whether it was ambush squads or mafia squads, they'd kill the unprepared the moment they walked in.
Even though Kichan wasn't that into games, he couldn't help but nod.
It had proven effective even in real-life combat.
Barely ten people—an alliance of three to four quads—had ganged up on the other four quads and wiped them out in an instant.
"So, what do we do now...?"
"First, we reveal the map and assess the situation. I don't know why the map suddenly changed and got restricted, but it's not just to push us into a dungeon. There has to be something more. Especially, we need to watch out for monsters. In dungeons like this, there's always something..."
—Swaaah.
—Hyaaah.
At the eerie sounds cutting through his sentence, young Lyle's face turned pale.
The sound was chilling—somewhere between the wailing and laughter of the dead.
Rather than tensing up, Kichan lifted his staff, but Seowoon raised a hand to stop him.
"Unless we absolutely have to, we shouldn't use magic. There's no need to reveal our position when we don't even know what's around. Lyle, calm down. I know you're scared, but..."
"It—it's a Specter!"
Terrified, Lyle's eyes widened as he pointed over Seowoon's shoulder.
Before Seowoon could even turn, a grotesquely twisted hand lashed out.
—Hyaaaah!
The ghostly Specter, faintly glowing white, passed right through them, its body phasing through with a chilling screech.
It let out that bizarre, echoing cry as it soared through the air, unsettling to the core.
–It's a monster with high resistance to physical attacks. Unless you're using a weapon soaked in holy water or magic, it's difficult to make it vanish.–
At Hamit's voice, Seowoon's expression darkened.
Magic would expose their position to potential enemies nearby. And they didn't have any holy water items prepared.
"Any other options...?"
–Specters themselves aren't that strong. But there's no other way.–
As Seowoon gritted his teeth, the Specter flew by and its once-translucent sword suddenly solidified, aiming for his side.
At the same moment the blade came into view, his reinforced bones (hyulgoljo) grabbed the Specter's hand and tore it off.
–Kyaaaaah!!
The Specter let out a terrible shriek as it soared into the air, its dismembered hand and sword disintegrating mid-air.
–All you've done is enrage it further.–
"We don't have any holy water. At this point, Kichan, just use magic and take it out fast so we can move."
"Yes!"
As Kichan raised his staff with determination, Lyle's innocent voice made the two freeze.
"If it's holy water... I have some right here?"
The two were momentarily speechless as Lyle, with a naïve expression, pulled a glass vial out of his subspace inventory.
'Why...'
'Would that even be in there?'
As if he had read the looks on their faces, Lyle lowered his head bashfully and said,
"We were scavenging items in the cathedral with my teammates... I figured it might come in handy, so I kept some. Holy water's valuable, right?"
Seeing that, Kichan lowered his dramatically raised staff and sprinkled the holy water on both his fists. Seowoon also applied some to his hands and glared at the incoming Specter clad in rusty armor.
As it rushed toward them again, sword and limbs restored, Seowoon thrust his hand straight toward its head.
With a sickening crack, the Specter's head split, its form dispersing into smoke.
–Kyaaahhh!
With a piercing scream, more Specters began rushing in from all directions.
–Clang!
–Clang!
After swiftly defeating over a dozen Specters wielding swords and spears, their attention turned to the glowing items that occasionally dropped with a clink.
"A soul crystal?"
"They're items known to occasionally drop from Specters. You can sell them to alchemists for around 500."
Hearing that, Seowoon quickly gathered the dropped crystals and stashed them in his subspace.
Watching him, Kichan added,
"If you put them in a leather pouch, you can exchange 10 for 1 coin."
One coin was worth 50 million won.
"Phew. Shall we start hunting, then?"
Kichan couldn't shake the feeling that Seowoon's now-relaxed eyes were turning into dollar signs.
[Ding! 24 hours remain until the Resurrection of the Wraith. Remaining players, please do your best!]
At the alert sound that rang simultaneously in the minds of the three, the mischievous expression on Seowoon's face disappeared.
"Hyung... I think something's about to happen, just like you said."
"The resurrection of the Wraith. Time remaining. I can roughly guess what's going on... but I don't know if this will be an opportunity or a disaster."
At those words, Kichan's expression hardened.
"First, let's get out of here. We need to check the terrain."
Even though they were in an underground dungeon, their visibility was softly lit, as if under a full moon.
They couldn't see far, but the area nearby wasn't obscured.
It felt like a massive cavern, or sometimes like a giant cave as they moved around.
There were artificial walls blocking their path and narrow corridors as well.
While wandering and lighting up the map to grasp the overall terrain, they heard the sound of battle and a wave of mana not far away.
The sound, which hadn't been there just a moment ago, suddenly rang out, causing everyone to glance at each other and instinctively step back.
"This isn't a spell cast by a player."
"There must be terrain that blocks or distorts sound."
Nodding, Seowoon's eyes gleamed as he pulled out the bow strapped to his back.
"Are we getting involved?"
"Depends on the situation. Survivors."
48/400
The number of players, which had remained steady for some time, had suddenly dropped dramatically today due to a strange anomaly.
Only 8 left until reward eligibility. If they could reduce the number of players, it was worth taking action.
With a major variable expected in 24 hours, ending the game before it appeared would be the best outcome.
Frequent appearances of monsters called Specters, an unusually vast map for a dungeon, and now only a few players remaining.
There were too many variables—if there was a clear shot at victory, they didn't want to miss it.
– Kagak!
Sparks flew as a heavy single-edged sword scraped against a shield, and magic flew in from all directions.
A mage and a knight were throwing themselves at each other with full force, heating up the battlefield with their fierce struggle.
With the others behind him, Seowoon watched the battlefield quietly from beneath his cloak of concealment.
"Eight people... is this a three-way fight?"
Judging from the situation, it was clearly a three-way battle.
He recognized the mage, the warrior, and the knight.
"So they're still alive. Looks like they lost the alchemist somewhere along the way."
Watching the fighters struggle under the pressure of both sides, Seowoon took out the special arrows he had stored in his subspace.
He hung three of them on his belt and raised his bow.
"Hamit."
– Got it, master. –
As Hamit, who was wrapped around his hand, transformed into a tong-a (Korean thumb ring used for archery), Seowoon nocked one of the arrows and pulled back the bowstring.
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