Chapter 223. The Great Maze of the Ains (4)

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— It’ll be very easy. Even monkeys could do it.

‘Fucking hell…’

Ecliptic Mania made an annoyed expression at the girl’s words.

Since being entrusted with a job that even a monkey could do infuriated him.

She didn’t have to talk like this.

‘I can only ask you… Is it weird if I do it this way? Maybe it’s because I’m an NPC. Damned bastards.’

He knew that if she had said something like this then he would’ve been suspicious of her anyway.

He knew better than anyone else that there was nothing special about him.

He had shone where he had come from amongst people of 40 to 50 years old because it was quite laid back and had come here with his confidence after investing a large amount of money but he was merely the lowest of the food chain here.

‘I have to take this chance.’

Ecliptic Mania tightly held onto the mysterious gem and then mumbled.

The female’s request was actually very simple.

— If you go into the Great Maze, there’s a giant altar on the first floor. You know right?

— …Yes. But I heard there wasn’t much there.

— Heheh. Well that depends on the person right? Well anyways, we don’t ask for much.

The female continued.

She said that he just needed to pour mana into the gem inside the altar.

‘So. She’s going to allow me to play around at a decent hunting ground in the Korin Kingdom huh? As well as give me contribution points.’

It wasn’t bad.

He didn’t know how bad the things he would do here would be but it’ll probably become troublesome to move around in the Keil Kingdom from now on.

But it didn’t matter.

Since even if he died here, he could just revive in the Korin Kingdom and play there.

Though he would lose the rights to use the War Fortress, the hottest place, he had long accepted the fact.

That there was no place for him here.

Well, there would be a place for him if he played long enough but he didn’t like the idea of waiting that long.

He wanted to climb faster, he wanted to become a master player.

And he wanted to join those people in their respective battlefields and shine.

‘Yeah. This isn’t the only place in this game. I can just go to the next most famous hunting ground.’

As soon as he finished his thought.

Whooosh!

Ecliptic Mania poured mana into the gem in his hand.

***

Rumble

“Huh?”

Kameia stopped at the strange noise and the vibration that suddenly rang out.

And then spoke out.

“What did you just do?”

Ecliptic Mania chuckled.

“Why do I have to reply to that?”

He didn’t even like her, why did he have to answer?

And even if he answered her question, he didn’t know what would happen from now on anyway.

Other people were making uneasy expressions but he himself was extremely excited.

Since he was curious about the things what he had done would cause.

Kiiiiiing!

But the vibration wasn’t the end.

Light exploded out from Ecliptic Mania.

“Huh? Hey! What are you doing over there?”

“Damn! What the hell are you doing!?”

The guards were approaching in shock but then started to scream.

Though they were guards, they were strong enough to determine the amount of mana within that light.

Such a tremendous reaction.

If such a thing exploded then the surrounding area would all be erased.

And another thing.

They would all die.

‘Fucking crazy immortals.’

The guard, Moreum, made an expression of despair.

Each individual here was a beast filled with the desire to get stronger even by risking their life.

And such people had the weapon called immortality.

Immortality and desire.

These players had done things that were extremely monstrous.

And Moreum made an expression filled with despair, he would die but they wouldn’t.

For him to lose his life from their toying acts without knowing the reason.

He wanted to scream out.

‘Fucking bastards! Don’t play with us! We’re…We’re different from you guys!’

Moreum grinded his teeth.

But he knew he couldn’t.

Since there were rules which existed in this world.

A secret from the immortals.

They were merely existences who were created for those immortals.

— Hahaha! This world almost got destroyed, such a penalty is fair right? Well, try saying it out if you want.

Kiiiiiiingg!

The gem on Ecliptic Mania which was shining brightly and vibrating intensely was still even now letting out a huge roar.

And the sensation that was radiating out from it.

‘So that’s what that is. The thing which used the <Spirit Stone> to create…’

Moreum thought up to this point and then gave up his life.

Since it was impossible to escape from its vicinity.

‘This is the end. Good luck captain.’

Then.

Booooooooooooom!

A huge explosion swept through the insides of the altar.

A large amount of destructive force.

The inferno swept through the entire altar.

Rumble!

The skulls that were on the walls of the Pyramid couldn’t handle the heat as they all melted down.

“Kyaaaaak!”

“Kuuuhaak!”

The surrounding players tried to quickly use their defensive skills but it was useless.

They treated this world as a game and they could revive anyway.

The tremendous amount of energy melted down their body and caused them to log out.

Along with Kameia who was next to them.

The moment Kameia and all other players melted down from the light.

‘They’re all dead.’

Hansoo realized that everyone else died and his body started to move.

Churrrrrrrk.

Of course Hansoo’s body was also melting down since he was the closest to the flame.

But the durability of his body, the mana he had and his skills were different from those of the others.

Whooooosh!

The Demonic Dragon’s Essence fired up from Hansoo’s body and started to resist the light that was smashing into him.

Chiiijijijiiik.

The melting body restructured again and started to resist the energy.

At the same time Hansoo’s brain started to work quickly.

An ability born from his battle experience.

Once he used it then everything around him would look as if it had stopped.

‘Phew, So I need to use at least this amount of mana to use this huh.’

Hansoo mumbled as he felt the Mana Jade that was rotating intensely.

Of course it wasn’t like he could move quickly in this stopped world but the fact that he could think and judge clearly at normal speed was a tremendous bonus.

First he saw the skulls melting down.

They were resisting the flame because they had some special mana inside of them but they would soon melt.

And the one Hansoo targeted was resisting more but would also soon melt down.

Maybe about a second in real-life time.

And there were three guards below the explosion who had instinctively rolled up.

Residents of this world.

They would die at this rate.

Of course he didn’t really have any thoughts of saving them but he was feeling responsible now.

Since he had left the guy in front of him alone and let him cause the explosion.

He didn’t have a reason to stop him from causing the explosion and he probably could’ve if he tried but he did not.

Since it was a chance for him.

‘I’ll take the skull with this chance.’

Hansoo’s judgement, which was clear in the stopped world, made a decision.

It would’ve been very annoying originally.

Since they would’ve been being chasing him if he stole the skull at night.

But the story would change with this explosion.

Since it would be even weirder if a skull remained after this explosion.

Even if he took a single skull from all this, nothing would change.

In an instant.

Boooooom!

The stopped world started to move again at the original speed.

The explosion swept through the surroundings and headed towards the guards.

Hansoo quickly moved his body, blocked the explosion and smashed his foot down into the ground.

Kwaaagagagagaaak!

The ground was forcibly ripped up.

And Hansoo kicked the raised land towards the three guards.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The broken floor of the pyramid smashed onto the guards and then pushed them out of the tunnel.

At a speed which they wouldn’t have been able to by running.

‘That’s good.’

Since they had been in front of the tunnel which headed outside and were far away from the explosion, it acted as fortune for them.

Though they would get burned, they would be able to escape the explosion radius.

Since the force of the explosion and the impact of the floor piece would push them back.

Like a tsunami pushing back a surfboard.

Hansoo, after smashing away the floor piece, then jumped towards the ceiling.

Booooom!

He then plucked the skull that was embedded in the ceiling and then shoved it down near his waist.

He then started to resist the flame with all his mana.

Kuooooooo!

Kuuuguguguguuungg!

The bomb Ecliptic Mania brought was powerful but it wasn’t strong enough to get through Hansoo’s Demonic Dragon’s Reinforcement.

If the others were higher-level players then they might’ve been able to block it.

Rumble.

As the flames quieted down, Hansoo released his hand which he had smashed into the ceiling and then landed down on the ground.

All his surroundings had turned into ashes.

The players and the skulls in the walls had all melted down and then turned black.

A tremendous might.

‘For them to use the Spirit Stones already to create this amount of force.’

As Hansoo was mumbling.

Piiiiiing!

The red gem, which had maintained its shape through the explosion, started to make a ringing noise.

‘So their objective was to release the seal of that thing.’

Hansoo mumbled as he looked at the sealed red gem, the <Dead Man’s Remark>.

***

Rumble.

A red flame exploded out from the pyramid as a strange vibration rang throughout the Level 1 Supply Zone.

The man who was swinging his blade, Flame Warrior-V, flinched at this vibration.

Of course his blade didn’t stop because of this.

Crunch!

“God damn. It’s annoying as hell to kill them one by one. Why are they so loyal to each other.”

“Ugh…”

Flame Warrior-V cut apart the neck of the woman who had held him down until the end a few more times and then watched the bug players running towards the pyramid as he smiled.

He didn’t know what was going on but one thing was clear.

‘Try a bit more heheh.’

He could catch them.

But his experience told him.

That bug players would look for other bug players when they fell into danger.

‘Dumbasses. It’s not like they really die.’

“Chase them!”

The other players plucked away the artifacts from the corpse and then ran after the bug players while laughing.