Eat Spicy Jokbal bought a variety of information from top rankers in each class. It was a habit that had started since the time of Blood Carnival, and based on the enormous amount of information he had, Eat Spicy Jokbal’s strength was greater than what people imagined.
“You dog bastard! Take your hands off her right now!”
Flash! Eat Spicy Jokbal’s body was surrounded by a green glow as he rushed toward Agnus. The mithril longsword and armor reflected the lights which were installed throughout the dungeon. That’s right. Eat Spicy Jokbal had equipped items meant for facing the undead. He was fully prepared for Agnus being the identity of the intruder. Having the power of Blood Carnival meant he could reserve many types of items. He wielded the legendary-rated ‘Lua’s Blessing’ and the unique-rated mithril armor, instantly slaughtering dozens of skeletons that Agnus summoned.
The special characteristic of a Dungeon Maker was that they were stronger in a dungeon, and the synergy with his battle gear exploded against the undead.
“Kik? There are strong people everywhere,” Agnus spat out. However, the smile on his face didn’t seem to disappear. He was still relaxed.
It was an attitude that enraged Eat Spicy Jokbal. “You...!”
Eat Spicy Jokbal felt a strong desire to kill Agnus, who still hadn’t let go of his niece, and narrowed the distance between them. He hoped that shock would spread across Agnus’ leisurely face. In spite of that, the process of narrowing the distance was too difficult.
Clack! Clack clack!
The undead that emerged from the ground kept pestering him. The skeleton warriors...! For a number of rankers, these undead were tricky to face. Due to the high amount of dominance consumed and their outstanding abilities, third-advancement necromancers were limited to summoning two skeleton warriors at one time.
Yet Agnus summoned four skeletons at the same time, and Eat Spicy Jokbal was quickly isolated. The people who witnessed Eat Spicy Jokbal’s actions in the National Competition wouldn’t be able to understand how he was suffering a crisis right now. However, Agnus himself was in a crisis and released his grip on Elizabeth’s collar.
“Sprinkle Cement!” Eat Spicy Jokbal left the four skeleton warriors in a state where they couldn’t move with just one skill. Then he reached Agnus and linked it with ‘Cutting Bricks.’ If Agnus were still holding Elizabeth, he would’ve been cut by the sharp attack several times.
Instead, Agnus managed to protect his body and evaded the attack before letting out extremely pleased laughter, “Kuk! Kukukuk! Kuhahat! You are also one of them?”
“Them?” Eat Spicy Jokbal made a confused sound.
“A monster that can split the game into 0.1-second increments. Kikik!” Agnus kindly gave him the answer. He then suddenly pulled out the basic ‘Supreme Ruler’ ability of his sword, and Eat Spicy Jokbal felt a strong pressure.
‘Just like the rumors!’ Eat Spicy Jokbal’s expression hardened as he blocked Agnus’ sword. He could feel how fast and powerful Agnus was despite being a necromancer. Still, the information Eat Spicy Jokbal had obtained in advance allowed him to cope flexibly without any confusion. This information made a large difference.
The biggest part of why players were defeated by Agnus was his unpredictable nature. Even if Eat Spicy Jokbal predicted Agnus’ actions, there would still be a problem. It was that Agnus evolved.
‘What?’ Eat Spicy Jokbal’s face turned pale as he exchanged a fourth blow with Agnus.
[Lua’s Blessing has received a demon’s curse.]
[The divine power of Lua’s Blessing has temporarily disappeared.]
[The durability of Lua’s Blessing has decreased by 27.]
[The attack power of Lua’s Blessing has dropped by 50% for 20 seconds.]
Was it a skill? Or was it a curse that dwelled in the sword itself? Eat Spicy Jokbal’s eyes shook every time he blocked Agnus’ sword as he confirmed that Lua’s Blessing had lost its strength. Agnus’ voice echoed in the dungeon, “You have a divine sword to punish the villain?”
This was Agnus declaring that he was prepared for divine weapons. Eat Spicy Jokbal’s temporarily weakened sword pierced Agnus’ abdomen, while Agnus’ heavy sword tore at Eat Spicy Jokbal’s shoulder. Although Eat Spicy Jokbal seemed to suffer a superficial injury, they actually suffered a similar amount of damage.
The power of the Supreme Ruler, which was imprinted on the rune, and the Sword Mastery skill weren’t enough to overcome the base difference in stats. After all, Dungeon Maker was about hard labor! Eat Spicy Jokbal’s strength and stamina were high like Grid’s stats. Therefore, his attack power was still strong despite his weapon being weakened. The set of divine armor also played a firm role.
The problem was that Agnus wasn’t alone.
“...!” Eat Spicy Jokbal got goosebumps and looked behind him, ignoring Agnus’ blow. A death knight was moving. In order to prepare for the attack of the death knight who was raising a sword with a purple aura, Eat Spicy Jokbal was beaten by Agnus’ continuous strikes and saw a painful notification window.
[Soseosan’s Mithril Armor has received a demon’s curse.]
[Soseosan’s Mithril Leggings has received a demon’s curse.]
[The divine power of Soseosan’s Mithril Armor has temporarily disappeared.]
[The divine power of Soseosan’s Mithril Leggings...]
[The durability of the Soseosan’s Mithril Armor has decreased by 47.]
[The durability of Soseosan’s Mithril Leggings...]
[The defense of the Soseosan’s Mithril Armor has decreased by 20% for 20 seconds.]
[The defense of Soseosan’s Mithril Leggings...]
“What?!”
To think that the curse could enter armor as well as weapons...? The death knight’s sword fell toward Eat Spicy Jokbal’s head.
“Kuk!”
The explosion caused by Eat Spicy Jokbal’s sword colliding with the death knight’s sword caused the dungeon to shake. Agnus and the death knight seized this winning chance and proceeded to bombard Eat Spicy Jokbal without stopping. The swords that kept pouring toward Eat Spicy Jokbal exhausted his health at a rapid pace. He tried to counterattack, but the debuffs, which had a low chance of activating, made him feel even more helpless.
“Uncle!”
This was the uncle who had raised Elizabeth on behalf of her grandparents and parents. She treated him as a friend but he was a person she looked up to from deep inside her heart. Elizabeth didn’t want to see her uncle, who was always steadfast, in such a helpless state. It might be a game, but her uncle’s pained expression caused her heart to ache. The most serious problem was the terrible death penalty.
In the end, Elizabeth shouted, “I understand! I’ll accept your request, so leave Uncle alone!”
Agnus paused at this, and Eat Spicy Jokbal took advantage of the gap.
“Looking away from me during a fight is bad because I am a coward!”
“...?”
Something unexpected started to occur. The dungeon shook like it was hit by an earthquake, and its structure started to change. Some floors floated up while some of the ceiling rotated around and around, and the walls changed their position. This was the Dungeon Remodeling skill that Eat Spicy Jokbal received when he reached level 325.
[Dungeon Remodeling Lv. 1]
[Temporarily change the internal structure of a dungeon that you created. The structure change is random, and all objects in the dungeon won’t be able to resist the ‘confused’ or ‘isolated’ state. The caster himself can’t avoid this effect.
* Locations set as critical points will be preserved and won’t be affected by the remodeling.
* The changed dungeon can be restored to its normal structure at any time.
Skill Mana consumption: 20% of the current mana.
Skill Cooldown Time: 6 hours.]
It was a skill that put even the caster in a crisis. There were too many variables, but it was worth trying out in the midst of a crisis.
“U-Uncle! Diz...zy...”
“Kuk...!”
Agnus’, Eat Spicy Jokbal’s, and Elizabeth’s sight became blurred. Although Agnus’ resistance as a legendary class was an unexpected variable, the Gel-Dena Ring gave Eat Spicy Jokbal and Elizabeth a quick recovery. It was a ring made by Elizabeth herself.
“Bokja!”
“Uncle!”
Eat Spicy Jokbal and Elizabeth grabbed each other as they recovered from the abnormal state more quickly than Agnus did. They ran away from Agnus, who was isolated by the moving walls, and headed toward the dungeon’s exit. Elizabeth no longer insisted on keeping her workshop. The loss of throwing away her workshop was serious, but it was nothing compared to losing her uncle’s life. The two of them were confident they had escaped from Agnus, but it was an unproven confidence.
“Kik! Kikikik!” Agnus barely recovered from his confusion. Seeing Eat Spicy Jokbal and Elizabeth run away, Agnus shouted, “Demon Summoning!”
As the name, Baal’s Contractor, suggested, he was the contractor of the 1st great demon.
“Dyulebul.”
In fact, the true power of Baal’s Contractor was in summoning and controlling demons, rather than the summoning and control of the undead. However, this ability only emerged after his class was promoted to the legendary rating. The demon opened its mouth and shot out a ray, hitting Eat Spicy Jokbal and Elizabeth.
“Bokja!”
His niece was hurt, and Eat Spicy Jokbal’s clothes were turned into rags as he wrapped himself around her small body.
***
‘Does Youngwoo know?’
Yura wondered as she barely escaped from hell.
It was likely that the Grid NPC in hell had a close relationship with Grid, but she judged that Grid probably wasn’t even aware of the existence of the NPC. Otherwise, Grid would’ve told Yura in advance if he had known that his NPC was in hell. However, Yura hadn’t heard anything about it.
‘First, I should inform Youngwoo-ssi about this.’
She had no intention of asking for answers, but there was no reason not to tell Grid about how there was an NPC in hell that was exactly the same as Grid when he used Blackening.
‘Then I will rest for a few days.’
Yura’s fatigue was considerable after being stuck in hell for several months. One’s body could be restored through rest, but one’s spirit wouldn’t recover as easily. The barren landscapes and the harsh atmosphere of hell made her spirit desolate.
The biggest problem was that the Demon Slayer class didn’t shine despite her level reaching 320. Yura felt increasingly disappointed with her class which was unable to exert a satisfactory power, and her mental state kept falling. She felt shameful when she was compared to other legends.
‘In hell, I’m not lacking when I’m compared to the Sword Saint and Pagma's Descendant, but...’
Hell wasn’t the only stage of the game. Yura couldn’t be locked in hell for the rest of her life. This made her feel that she was lacking in comparison to the other legendary classes which could be powerful anytime and anywhere.
‘Will it be different once I complete all my class quests? But I know that Youngwoo-ssi hasn’t finished his class quests yet... Perhaps I missed a hidden quest?’
Yura’s steps were heavy and her face was dark as she headed toward Reinhardt. Her undiminished beauty attracted the gazes of passersby, but this was an obstacle for Yura. She didn’t want to dazzle others with her outward appearance but to be recognized for her pure abilities. Then she received a chance.
[A demon has emerged in the human world! It is a high-level demon dependent on dark and powerful magic.]
[The new skill Demon Tracking has been opened.]
[The fourth class quest ‘Old Enemy’ has been created.]
[Defeat Baal’s Contractor!]
“Gerad Mountain!”
Was this luck from the sky? The demon’s location was very close to where Yura was. Feeling joyful, she ran as fast as possible. Agnus was a figure comparable to Grid, but as a Demon Slayer, Yura knew that she was the counter to Agnus. She had a good chance of winning.
Simultaneously...
“Is this place right?”
“You have asked three times already. Rest assured. We will soon arrive safe and sound.”
“...”
“I apologize again for wasting your time. I’m really sorry.”
“...I would curse if you weren’t ashamed.”
“...”
Grid and Bullet were still wandering on the road. Unexpectedly, Grid wasn’t feeling particularly irritated. He could utilize the time by making underwear, and after talking to Bullet for a few hours, he felt that their relationship had become better.