Chapter 23 - Jewel Plains (3)
The game structure of Conqueror was very simple and intuitive.
What that meant was, if something was explicitly named a ‘Main Quest’, it was guaranteed that something big would happen.
Usually, along with a boss battle, an event that would bring about a cataclysm in the world would occur.
In that respect, the progression of this first main quest, ‘Opening Act’, was simple.
“…So.”
Seo Ah-in opened her mouth, her body trembling.
“If we don’t deal with the Area Guardian right now, a huge explosion will occur and we’ll all die…?”
“No.”
I let out a smirk and corrected her.
“Taking down the Area Guardian is a given, and if we don’t take a few additional measures, we’ll all die.”
“…”
“And it’s not just us who will die. All the Climbers currently inside the Tower and the humans nearby will all be wiped out.”
“…”
“Yeah. No pressure, let’s do our best.”
“Are you even saying that as a…?”
I smirked at Seo Ah-in, who answered with a pale face.
“The prophecy was all… real?”
Of course, Darien’s state, who was muttering next to me as if her mind had completely broken, was no better than hers.
No, but what was a Saintess of a church doing saying something like that.
Well, since she must have had a rough time once or twice while diligently trying to stop the Climbers according to her doctrine, it was understandable for her to think that way.
“P-prophecy? Was it all written there that it would be like this?”
“Mankind’s greed will bring about a great disaster… and the first will begin with a great explosion for purification, according to the prophecy…”
“…That wasn’t just a scam?”
“It’s usually treated as such. As I said before, I believe it.”
As I cut off Seo Ah-in’s words, both Seo Ah-in and Darien turned to me with wide, rabbit-like eyes.
Well, when everyone was losing their minds, whatever the obviously rational one said was bound to be persuasive.
So, I rode the momentum and approached Darien.
She still seemed to want to keep her distance from me, not wanting to use her ability, but I broke through the three-step boundary she had drawn without hesitation.
“You know what you have to do, right? It’s your father’s prophecy.”
“Y-yes?”
I moved closer to the flustered girl and handed her something.
It was a map of the inside of the Tower that I had prepared in advance.
She would know what to do just by looking at this.
“The doctrine also teaches what to do to prevent such a disaster from happening, doesn't it? Remember?”
“…Ah, th-that… if you control the mana crystal in the sacred place… you can minimize the damage…”
As she continued to speak, she suddenly stopped as if she had realized something.
Then she looked at me with an expression as if she had seen the end of the world.
It was the face of someone who had discovered a creature that shouldn't exist.
“I can’t… hear anything…? What on earth are you…?”
“…?”
What’s wrong with her all of a sudden.
Darien’s strange condition bothered me, but now was not the time to focus on that.
I firmly placed the map in her trembling hand.
“I’m counting on you.”
“…”
I sent Darien, with her ghost-like expression, off with her followers.
“Saintess? Why the long face?”
“No. It’s nothing. For now, let’s just… focus on the task.”
Seeing Darien speak in a deeply confused voice, Seo Ah-in tilted her head and asked.
“…What’s wrong with her all of a sudden?”
“Who knows…?”
There was no situation in the game where she showed such a reaction.
But it clearly wasn’t a big enough variable to mess things up, so let’s leave it for now.
“We have our own work to do.”
I said, looking up at the structure that Im Jae-hwan and his subordinates had just climbed.
We planned to enter inside.
“…Honestly, I don’t want to cooperate with them.”
“Hmm?”
“We can’t take on the Area Guardian with just the two of us. So we should quickly join up with those annoying people now…”
Seo Ah-in’s words trailed off.
Hmm.
It seemed this girl could now tell what I was thinking just by looking at my expression.
“…We’re taking it on, just the two of us?”
“Yup.”
“…”
The fact that she just sighed and didn’t even protest made it even more certain.
It seemed she was entering the stage of doing what I told her to do.
Well, but that was based on the trust that there would be no failure in what I did.
In fact, anyone other than me and this girl would likely just get in the way.
“Uh, but the Area Guardian will be up there. We’ll meet them on the way there anyway-”
Seo Ah-in, who was about to continue, shut her mouth again.
It was because she saw a path leading to the basement open with a rumble after I kicked a wall of the spire a few times.
“This is the boss room.”
“…Then what’s the path the survey team went up?”
“If you go that way, you can get hints that this is the boss room.”
I added another word to the dumbfounded Seo Ah-in.
“In a case like now, they can draw the attention of the Demonic Beasts and become ‘bait’ for us.”
Seo Ah-in, who was listening to me, asked back blankly.
“…How on earth do you know things like that?”
“It’s the prophecy of Gusegyo.”
“No, I mean, why do you know the doctrine of an unknown cult like that…”
Seo Ah-in whined with a voice that sounded like her head hurt.
“Are you a human Wikipedia... Gyu-sikpedia? Something like that?”
Seeing her talk nonsense, it seemed she had quite a bit of composure.
I chuckled and walked into the boss room, and the sound of a fierce battle came from above.
Normally, the passage I was walking in should also be teeming with Demonic Beasts.
But thanks to the guys who went up making a lot of noise, the inside was empty.
Which meant a hellish battle was unfolding for the survey team in real time.
Seo Ah-in swallowed dryly and looked up.
“…Th-they won’t die, right? Those people?”
Hmm.
Who knows.
I answered with a big smile.
“Maybe?”
“…”
***
I might have caught it too quickly when I conquered the Mysterious Forest, but an Area Guardian was fundamentally an incredibly powerful being.
Even the Mysterious Forest, the tutorial area in the game, had a Dryad, a Demonic Beast that required a B-grade Climber to take on.
In that respect, the Area Guardian of the next area, the Jewel Plains, was also a fitting opponent.
“…”
“Don’t faint.”
I grabbed Seo Ah-in, who was about to lose consciousness as soon as she saw what was inside the boss room.
I think this happened before.
“Th-that thing… just the two of us are supposed to catch it…”
She pointed at the huge stone statue in front with a trembling finger.
Well, strictly speaking, it wasn't just a stone statue.
That was a combat golem operated by a Mana Core.
In terms of grade, would it be around B-?
‘…It does look like a crazy thing to do.’
A B- rank was a Demonic Beast that could only be subjugated by a team of 3-4 B-grade Climbers of Mr. Kim Jae-han’s level.
And that was a composition close to a dream team that could only be found in a special unit like a large guild’s kill team.
In short, it was a monster of a level that two F-grade chicks like me and Seo Ah-in would die without even being able to run away if we encountered it.
‘Especially if it’s a combat golem…’
It was a boss monster notorious as a newbie-crusher even in the original game.
Its patterns weren’t diverse, but it was a representative of a raw-spec boss.
An attack power that emanated from its huge body, which could bring you to the brink of death with just a graze.
A defense power, thanks to the force field surrounding its entire body, that showed no signs of hitting the bottom even after being beaten for over half a day.
It was one of the most hopeless bosses for a character who hadn't grown enough.
“…”
A smirk escaped me.
Right.
That would have been the story if I hadn't been able to cheat and get the ability of a renowned A-grade Climber for free.
[Seo Hye-in]
<Skill List>
[ Swordsmanship Lv.7]
[ Martial Arts Lv.8]
[ Insight Lv.5]
.
.
.
A skill set that seemed to prove this person wasn't famous for nothing was laid out before my eyes.
But, even in that dazzling skill set, what I would take was set.
That thing in her hand.
[ Do you want to share the ‘Mana Vacuum’ skill?]
[ Y/N ]
[Skill sharing is complete. Modifications will be made to fit the player’s condition. ]
[ Netherworld's Grasp / NPC-Seo Hye-in's Unique Ability ]
[ Permanently blocks the flow of mana where directly touched. ]
“…”
Hmm.
I knew that thanks to the shared skill, a better effect than the original would come in.
But this was an effect that made even me, who acquired it, laugh in disbelief.
‘…Just by touching it, it’s permanently blocked?’
As Seo Hye-in had shown to Jeong Min-woo before, blocking mana meant that even a superman could be demoted to the level of an ordinary person.
The original ‘Mana Vacuum’ also had the same effect, but that would only last for a day or two at most.
I, on the other hand, could permanently neutralize the opponent just by touching them.
The only drawback was that I had to physically go up and touch them, which wasn't difficult for an A-grade front-liner like Seo Hye-in, but it was quite a tough job for me.
If only there wasn't a cheat key that found a way to do that ‘for me’.
[ Observation ]
I sighed, watching the entire world coming into my view split into dots and lines.
I never get used to this, no matter how many times I see it.
“Hey. Snap out of it.”
I said, tapping Seo Ah-in.
She was still in a dazed state, unable to come to her senses.
“What are you going to do in the future if you’re like this every time we fight…”
“N-no! That’s a golem! A combat golem! How on earth are we supposed to catch that with just blades when it’s not enough even with rear-liners with heavy firearms…!”
“If we just remove the force field, we can do it too.”
“How do we do that!”
“With this.”
I muttered, clenching and unclenching my hand.
[ Netherworld's Grasp ]
And from it, a darkish light bloomed.
Hmm.
I had guessed from the ominous name like Netherworld, but having this attached to my hand wasn't aesthetically pleasing.
Of course, Seo Ah-in was just staring at it blankly, almost having stopped breathing.
“That’s… my sister’s…? No, what on earth are you…?”
“Golems move with mana. You know that, right?”
I said, waving my hand in front of her.
She would know what this was, so there was no need to explain.
Golems were protected by a force field made of mana, and even their operation relied on mana.
So, if I could just get close and touch it, that thing would be neutralized in an instant.
“I’ll handle the force field removal and neutralization. When the core opens, we’ll smash it in one go.”
“…What?”
Seo Ah-in, who seemed to have snapped back to her senses at those words, looked at me in startlement.
“A-are you sane? You’re going to face that alone?”
“You already saw me do something similar in the dungeon. Why are you so surprised.”
“That was a D-grade Demonic Beast at best! That’s a B-! A B-grade! Something that only an elite kill team from a large guild can handle, how can you do it alone…!”
“Starting now.”
I answered, cutting off Seo Ah-in’s frantic shout.
And before she could answer, I stepped into the boss room.
“M-Mr. Kim Gyu-sik? This crazy person really-!”
Then Seo Ah-in followed me in, with tears hanging from the corners of her eyes.
“…”
She makes such a fuss, but she follows right away.
She’s a strange kid.
“Then should I just let you die?! Ah, I should have just done that. Why did I follow? Why on earth did I do that?”
“Calm down, and get ready.”
I looked ahead while calming the girl who was on the verge of having a split personality.
As I stepped into the boss room, the golem, with blue mana supplied from its core flowing through its entire body, was rising.
And just that movement alone felt like the earth was rumbling.
Soon, the red iris on its face turned this way.
It clearly wasn't an atmosphere to invite us for tea time.
“…I’m asking for the very last time. Are you sure? We can catch that, right?”
Seo Ah-in asked, drawing White Edge.
Hmm.
Asking if I’ve caught a golem before.
“Well.”
I answered with a smirk.
What kind of question are you asking a veteran?
“So… a screwdriver and a crowbar.”
“…What?”
“I think that’s what I used the last time I caught one.”
“…”