Chapter 232. The Great Seal (2)

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‘Anyways…Will I be able to enter at this rate?’

Flame Warrior-V had to get inside the maze first in order to accomplish the Clan Leader’s orders.

But Krancheska’s aura was too fierce.

As if he would burn him and his entire group alive if they tried to go in.

‘What is it for him to be so cautious…’

As Flame Warrior-V was in a daze.

Somebody stomped out from behind him.

Flame Warrior-V looked at the woman who had walked out with eyes full of jealousy and envy.

‘Mmm…Scarlet Demons.’

Flame Warrior-V thought of the blacklist he had activated as he watched the woman.

Even if he did activate the blacklist, it didn’t always work.

Even with the blacklist, there were a few players who didn’t die.

Since the bug players who had reached the max level were extremely powerful.

And since these guys roamed around the places where normal players couldn’t get into, they were even harder to catch.

So there was a special group created for them.

<Scarlet Demons>.

The hunting group located at the top of the six grades which existed in the <Ant Eaters>.

And the group he lead previously, <Azure Demons> was merely the third out of the six.

But Scarlet Demons was incomparable to his own group in terms of power.

Since the Scarlet Demon was a super elite hunting group created from 15 master players.

‘These guys were nearby huh.’

Flame Warrior-V gulped back his saliva as he looked at their weapons which shone with a strange red light.

These were probably the items enhanced with the Spirit Stones that he had heard about.

And the Scarlet Demons, consisting of master players, wouldn’t have used bad spirit stones either.

They at least used ones that were A grades or even S grades that were rumored to be extremely hard to find.

‘…I heard the clan leader poured a lot of effort into this group.’

Flame Warrior-V mumbled as he looked at the artifacts of these people which shone brightly.

These were the ones who kept the pride of the bug killer clan <Anteaters>.

Once a bug player was found, they were not allowed to live.

They could not allow the bug players to escape their hands to laugh at them.

This was how the hunting group <Scarlet Demons> had been created.

Though it wasn’t as efficient as it could be, it was created to defend their pride.

Of course their might was nothing to scoff at.

None of the prey that the normal players had missed escaped the hands of these guys.

The Scarlet Demons had come here.

And the second grade hunting troop who had the average level 230, the 3 groups of <Golden Demons>, was here as well.

And the woman who had walked out was the leader of the Scarlet Demons who was in charge of the 15 people in the Scarlet Demons and the 150 from the Golden Demons.

As Flame Warrior-V looked towards the female.

The leader of the Scarlet Demons, <Sharon Stiller>, spoke towards Flame Warrior-V.

“It’ll be hard for you to persuade these NPCs by yourself. I’ll talk from here onwards. I’ve already spoken to the clan leader.”

“Mmm…”

‘This is too much.’

A game where countless players existed.

Of course there was a lot of interest with this game and the higher level clans were similar to companies.

Of course there were secrets the normal clansmen did not know of.

Flame Warrior-V was curious about what it was so he looked towards Sharon Stiller with a curious expression but soon realized he wouldn’t get an answer and quietly moved away.

Sharon Stiller thanked Flame Warrior-V slightly and then walked towards Arthus Krancheska.

Soon.

“Fucking hell…”

Arthus Krancheska made an extremely dissatisfied expression and handed over a bright blue pouch over after speaking to Sharon Stiller for a bit.

The moment Sharon Stiller received the pouch.

Arthus Krancheska pointed towards Flame Warrior-V’s group and the Scarlet, Golden demons.

“…Only you guys come in. I allow you guys to move in.”

Then.

“What? Why not us!”

“Are you being biased!?”

“Give us quests too!”

Dissatisfied voices of surrounding players rang throughout the area.

They were going crazy because they wanted to go in but they had suddenly been enraged since only some were allowed in.

But the one who had been shocked the most was Flame Warrior-V.

‘Woah. He really allowed us to go in. What the hell did she say.’

She didn’t even do much.

She merely spoke for a short moment.

But for Arthus to allow them in so easily.

Sharon Stiller walked towards Flame Warrior-V and the Scarlet Demons who were watching her with confused expressions and then spoke out.

“Let’s go in! To catch one fly!”

Flame Warrior-V, who had been standing in a daze, woke up from those words and quickly followed after her.

As everybody was heading into the maze.

Arthus Krancheska’s mumbles could be heard next to Sharon Stiller.

“Fuck…If it wasn’t for the curse then I would’ve gone in.”

“…?”

As Flame Warrior-V watched Arthus Krancheska who was glaring at him in dissatisfaction.

Sharon Stiller laughed towards Arthus Krancheska.

“Isn’t it nice. We’re dirtying our hands instead of you. It’s a win-win situation for both of us. If we fail then come in instead of us.”

“…”

Arthus Krancheska made an annoyed expression while watching Sharon Stiller and then turned around.

Sharon Stiller laughed in a strange manner as she watched Arthus Krancheska walk away and took Flame Warrior-V and other team members into the maze.

***

Rumble!

The Forked Lightning in Hansoo’s hand exploded out as it flew towards the people who were charging towards him.

Kwaagagagaaak!

The players turned into golden lights as their vital spots were pierced by the spear and disappeared into thin air.

Only leaving behind curses.

“Fucking bastard! Isn’t he too strong even for somebody in the blacklist!?”

“Waaaak! Fuck!”

Whooosh.

Hansoo frowned as he looked at these players.

‘…I can’t drain any health from these players. Is it because they’re avatars and not real bodies?’

He should be able to drain energy from his enemies once he hit them with the Nurmaha’s ring for vampiric effects but the players were merely disappearing into golden light without giving him anything.

Of course it wasn’t like he was meeting players so strong or so numerous for it to become a problem but it was still saddening for him.

And even more so since it would become harder the deeper he went in and the more skilled players would appear.

Christopher, who had been leading the group with the arrow, suddenly shouted towards the orb in the distance.

“It’s over there! That’s the entrance to the third floor!”

Then.

Whooosh!

Hansoo charged forward and jumped into the marble and Christopher, Elenoia and the other members followed in.

Then.

“Haha! They came in!”

“Get them!”

Booooom!

The players who had been waiting below poured in attacks from all directions.

“Is there something you need down here or something?”

“Why are you rushing like this? Are you guys retarded?”

If Hansoo decided to hide then even if he was on the blacklist, it would be annoying to find him in this large and complex maze.

But if they continued to climb down with an objective, things would change.

Since there weren’t that many portals that lead to the floors below even in the wide Great Maze.

The hundreds of players who had been waiting by the entrance rushed in towards Hansoo and Christopher.

Oooong.

Hansoo pondered if he should squeeze the Mana Jade once more but felt the pressure the Mana Jade was in and then shook his head.

Since it hadn’t been long since he used the red powder, he didn’t have enough mana for it.

Hansoo decided to save some stamina and mana as he started to swing his spear.

And soon a clash between Hansoo and the surrounding players occurred.

Booom!

Crunch!

“Holy shit this bastard!”

“What the hell! Did he use the Spirit Stone? Why is his attack power so high!?”

The players, who were generally weaker, died off constantly but they still charged towards Hansoo like a swarm of ants.

This was why the players were fearsome.

Those who feared death would be scared even if a few were killed.

But since these guys didn’t fear death, they charged in like moths to a flame.

Even if it was incredibly inefficient, the players made sure to leave behind a tiny damage onto Hansoo’s body before they died.’

Hansoo frowned as he sensed the injuries that were stacking onto his body.

‘This isn’t good.’

If he really decided to hide around and break through the groups of players while recovering then he would be able to break through them with ease.

No, he would be able to massacre everyone within the Great Maze.

But if he dragged on like that then something from above might come down.

‘This much magic suppression…They are very strong.’

He needed to deal with it before those guys didn’t come down because of the <Curse of the Ains> applied onto the entire Great Maze finally came.

Crunch!

“Fuck! He’s really strong. Shit!”

“Ugh! Should I have not come?”

Despite countless players dying, they were charging in while laughing.

Hansoo mumbled towards these guys.

‘Enjoy it for now.’

While Hansoo was reducing the player’s numbers while thinking of the infected soldiers above.

A leg of the adventurer who had been fighting behind Hansoo flew off.

He had accidentally let go of an open spot in his defense because he couldn’t handle the countless attacks.

There was a limit to how much fatigue they could handle from the battle since their bodies were weaker than Hansoo’s.

And the player’s eyes shone as they charged in.

“Hahaha! One down!”

Even if they killed that one person and picked up their artifacts before dying it would be a profit.

But they could not accomplish their goals.

Ssssssss!

“Huh? What the hell is this?!”

The players were shocked as they saw their bodies turning into golden lights from the red powder.

Hansoo couldn’t watch it any longer and had released the red powder in a small area by squeezing out some mana.

As all the players around them disappeared.

Crunch!

The players who had been holding onto Hansoo also disappeared into golden lights and the area near the portal was cleared.

The surviving adventurer made a worried expression towards Hansoo despite clutching onto his own leg.

“Ugh… Thank you. But your mana…”

Because of Hansoo had used the red powder in such a short amount of time again, his expression was extremely pale.

A sign of mana depletion.

Christopher frowned as he watched from the side.

‘Fuck…We would all die at this rate.’

Hansoo would be able to safely reach the goal below.

But it was different for them.

Like a boulder slowly being cut away by the approaching waves, they would get cut off one by one.

The power of the remaining players inside the maze was stronger than they had expected.

At that moment.

A familiar voice was heard from the darkness of the maze.

“You’re working hard.”

“…!”

Christopher looked into the darkness with a shocked expression.

He didn’t expect to see that face again.

And it was the same for the man as well.

The Watchman of the Ant Tunnel group, Abanoph, made a bitter smile as he spoke.

“You guys don’t look good.”

“…You didn’t come here to joke with us, what do you want?”

Christopher judged that he needed to buy some time while Hansoo recovered some mana and spoke out.

And Abanoph nodded at his words.

“I’m here to invite you to the Ant Tunnel.”

“…Why so suddenly?”

That man was clearly wary of inviting them to the Ant Tunnel.

Abanoph sighed as he replied.

“Our leader wants to see you.”

“…?”

Abanoph continued to speak towards Christopher who was making a confused expression.

“Whether you come or not is your choice but it doesn’t seem like you guys have much room to decide. It won’t be that bad for you don’t worry. I don’t know why you guys are trying to go down but… We know every secret portal that players don’t know about.”

“Hmm…”

It didn’t seem bad but Christopher was being wary because he was suspicious.

As Christopher was frowning from Abanoph’s words.

Hansoo, who had recovered a bit of mana, spoke towards Abanoph.

“Let’s go then.”

If it was a shortcut then there was no reason to deny him.

He was a bit curious too.

‘…If they hid this well then they might’ve been able to survive until the Great Unification of the Abyss… Why have I not heard about any survivors?”

He would need to meet them in order to figure it out.

Abanoph made a bitter expression at Hansoo’s reply and then spoke.

“…Follow me.”

Abanoph disappeared into the shadows and Hansoo and the others quickly followed him.