Chapter 20 . Deal (1)
Now that he had no reason to stay in the dungeon any longer, Yeon-woo left the dungeon accompanied by Kahn and Doyle.
“Well, here comes the god damn Heavyweight Water again.”
Kahn had disgusted expression as he glanced towards the pond. Like Yeon-woo, he had also chosen the Black Route and had experienced difficulties when crossing through it.
High in density, devoid of buoyancy, strong water pressure that restrained the body’s movements, and the pond was also filled with of aquatic monsters. Just by thinking of passing through the pond got his back up.
At the same time, Kahn was curious about how Yeon-woo would pass this ordeal. Inside the dungeon, he had only seen hints of Yeon-woo’s skills. So this was the first time he would actually see his abilities. He would decide whether to seek additional members or not, based on Yeon-woo’s capability or potential growth.
But then,
‘Huh?’
Yeon-woo was walking towards the pond without any preparation.
“Hey, dude!”
“What is it?”
Yeon-woo glanced over Kahn asking what was wrong.
“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of jumping straight in. I mean, you haven’t made any preparation.”
“Do you have a problem with that?”
“Bro, you’re gonna get yourself into a big tro…!”
But Yeon-woo jumped into the pond before even Kahn could finish speaking.
Kahn was about to rush in thinking that Yeon-woo might be sinking down in excruciating pain.
“I suppose we didn’t have to worry, did we?”
“...Yeah.”
Yeon-woo was swimming with complete ease, like a fish in water.
While Doyle was smiling, Kahn was looking a bit abashed. He had confirmed in the dungeon that Yeon-woo was somewhat skilled, but this was just a whole different level. He started thinking that he might have snatched someone greater than he had anticipated.
‘This guy has grown so much even before clearing Section B. How much more can he grow by venturing through the rest of the sections?’
Kahn smiled at Yeon-woo who was currently cleaving through the water.
‘Maybe.’
A thought occurred to him, that Yeon-woo might be someone who will set the whole tutorial on fire, just like him.
He would always welcome another expert.
* ??*?? *
Not caring about Kahn’s surprise, Yeon-woo analyzed his new body as he clove through the Heavyweight Water.
‘So this is what Flame Heart and Frost Crest does. It’s so good.’
If a normal person were to jump in this water, their body would be crushed by the pressure. But thanks to Reinforced Physique, his body didn’t hurt a bit.
The Flame Heart was constantly pumping an enormous amount of vitality throughout his body, and the Frost Crest had hardened his skeleton enough to withstand the pressure from the Heavyweight Water. For Yeonwoo, this was no different from an ordinary bath on Earth.
Then, Yeon-woo began to wonder how would Kahn and Doyle cross the pond, so he turned back and watched.
Kahn, who was physically fit, took another piece of cloth out of his pocket and tied his sword next to his waist before jumping into the water. He was a good swimmer. Doyle, on the other hand,
“What is that? Is that his skill?”
As Doyle made a subtle gesture in the air. From the walls, a swarm of flies suddenly flocked above the pond. The flies were forming some kind of cloud.
Doyle moved forward as he stepped on the dark cloud made out of flies. With every step he took, the bugs moved along and made a bridge beneath his feet. It was truly a peculiar sight.
Many flies were trampled to death, but more flies came and filled their spot, making it easy to move.
‘He belongs to the tamer class, maybe entomopathy?’
Tamers, especially those with zoopathy, were often accompanied by specific animals because they valued communion with their animals.
But entomopathists had to deal with bugs that possessed low levels intelligence, so it was harder and more complicated. He didn’t expect to see one with his own eyes in the tutorial.
It also made some sense now as to why the 11th ranker couldn’t react to his attack. He relied on his skills and entomopathy, so his physical ability fell short.
‘That reminds me, didn’t he say Black Skull was also good at entomopathy?’
For a second, he recalled a ranker in The Tower. But Yeon-woo shook his head and erased the name from his mind. They were going to meet one day, but he didn’t have to worry about it now.
After confirming that Kahn and Doyle were following him, Yeon-woo took a deep breath and dived into the water. Inside the pond was pitch black, as if he had dived deep into the sea. So he had to strengthen his senses to the fullest extent.
*Kwang*
Yeon-woo gave a powerful kick and glided through the water.
The water felt cool and fresh against his skin, maybe it was because it had been a while since had experienced such fast movement.
* ??* ? *
Bild, the executive of Arangdan, was frowning at the report. It was about the villain who had destroyed Kaen’s party and disappeared into the Black Route. Bild had finally discovered his whereabouts, he was at the Heavyweight Water pond in Section B. It seemed he hadn’t made any progress because of its high difficulty.
But when he was about to take off, he was caught by the following report.
“Sir, we have a problem.”
“What problem?”
“Kahn and Doyle were also spotted next to him.”
“What? Why are they with him? They are supposed to be at Section E, aren’t they?”
Khan and Doyle, along with the siblings from the Cheong-lam family, were also taking the spotlight. Even Cheonghwado, the force behind Arangdan, paid close attention to their every move. And now all of a sudden they had appeared here.
Bild thought that the villain they were looking for didn’t have any connection to people in The Tower.
“We don’t have accurate information yet, so we’re still investigating. However, we have some reports saying that those two haven’t been seen in Section E recently, and some people witnessed two men that fit their description.”
Bild glared at the subordinate.
“And why is it just now that I am hearing about this?”
The subordinate gave an excuse with his shoulders hunched.
“The reports came from an earlier section, so we thought it was unimportant.”
*Kwang*
Bild slammed the table with his fist.
“So what does that suppose to mean? Did they team up with each other?”
The subordinate lowered his head as he lost face.
“I’m afraid that’s our assumption.”
“So he’s got somebody behind him. Khan, Doyle. You dirty pieces of shit.”
Bild gritted his teeth as he recalled the images of the dumbass duo’s faces. He took this situation as none other than a declaration of a war.
They must have recruited the masked guy even though they knew he had stirred trouble with Arangdan. This was clearly treating Arangdan, or even Cheonghwado, with disdain.
“Let’s head to where he is now. Assemble the members.”
“They are all currently waiting outside.”
Just as Bild nodded and was about to move to the gathering place, another subordinate suddenly hurried into the room.
“A new report just arrived! They’ve cleared Section B and have arrived at Section C!”
“Then we’ll go that...”
But before Bild could even finish his sentence, more subordinates kept barging in with their reports over and over.
“We have another report! They’ve broken through Section C!”
“Currently found in the enterance of Section D...”
“No! They’ve cleared Section D and entered Section E!”
“They are in...”
“Kahn and Doyle are following behind...”
He couldn’t comprehend the situation due to the continuous stream of reports.
The network Arangdan had in the tutorial was very tight, there were usually no errors. Judging by this sudden flood of reports, it could only mean one thing.
‘A speedrun’
But even if he got help from Kahn and Doyle, the speed of their progress was beyond comprehension.
“What the hell is going on?”
The look on his face hardened.
*?? *?? *
[269:36:55_41]
[You have successfully cleared the Black Route of Section B as a solo player.]
[You have made an achievement that is not easily accomplished. Additional Karma will be provided.]
[You have acquired 2,000 Karma.]
[You have acquired 1,000 additional Karma.]
[Your health and mana will be restored]
[All status effects will be removed]
···
[You have successfully cleared Section C as a solo player.]
[You have made an achievement….]
···
[You have successfully cleared Section D….]
···
‘What am I looking at right now? Is he the same guy who was in Section B a while ago? How can he grow so fast?’
Kahn was so stunned that he couldn’t help but laugh.
He had to admit that he had been wrong. He had once believed that this guy might actually grow into one of the strongest, and that one day he would become a dark horse that might threaten the rankers position.
The reality, however, was much different from what he thought.
‘He was already one!’
When they first crossed through the Heavyweight Water with Yeon-woo, Kahn thought he had found something good. But as soon as they entered Section C, he had to completely change his evaluation of him.
*Kwang*
*Swish*
“Human! Human’s here... *Gurgle*”
“Human, too strong! Chief, need... Kuk!”
Yeon-woo cleared Section C too easily, as he literally ‘swept’ past the monsters that stood in his way.
Unlike previous sections that consisted of a straight path, Section C was a labyrinth formed by dozens of caves connected like a cobweb. Of course there was only one exit, and the way was complex.
In addition, at the end of the maze was the den of a Hobgoblin and hordes of Goblins.
The monsters regarded players in Section C as intruders who were invading their den, so they continuously sent scouts to prevent players from advancing.
Then the player had to advance by either avoiding the scouts or exterminating them. If they were caught, the worst case scenario would be that they might have to face the whole tribe of Goblins. No matter how skilled players were, they couldn’t match such an overwhelming number of monsters.
In brief, the whole challenge Section C offered was finding a way out of the maze while playing hide-and-seek with Goblins, and that was how most players cleared Section C. Whereas Yeon-woo, he ignored all of the rules.
He pushed forward as if he didn’t care about whoever came to fight him. Naturally, his method caused a huge disturbance throughout the whole den.
Hearing the news of this massacre, Goblins swarmed at Yeon-woo, but he achieved victory by simply clashing head-on with them. And soon after that, he also took the Hobgoblin’s life.
The same thing happened in Section D. Even the Trolls that were guarding the stone chamber were slain with a single strike.
*Spurt*
When it came to the physical power and resilience, Trolls were said to be one of the hardest monsters to beat even with a party of five or more players. And those Trolls were now getting ripped into pieces.
Doyle wasn’t confident if he himself could produce such an overwhelming scene, so he only watched Yeon-woo with a stern look. No words came out of his mouth.
Despite displaying such a spectacle, Yeon-woo calmly started to dissect the carcasses of the Trolls without showing any sign of fatigue.
When Kahn and Doyle finally opened their mouth, they asked what was he doing with the dead monster.
“Their blood is an important ingredient for brewing health potions. Their tendons and leather are also great materials for other items.”
“....”
He even answered back with a question asking if there was something wrong with it.
Ranging from raiding to looting, Yeon-woo was squeezing out everything he could from the tutorial.
* ??*?? *
[Your ranking in the tutorial has been updated.]
[Tutorial Ranking]
1. Edora (57,987 Points)
2. Phante (56,342 Points)
3. Kahn (50,475 Points)
···
192[1]. Unknown (15,700 Points) (You)
···
From 281st to 192th place.
Yeon-woo jumped nearly 90 steps at once.
[1]In the original says 150 in this line, but 192th in the next one.