Chapter 132 – Tantrum (1)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Wh-What is happening?”

A NetTuber’s occupational disease.

As Park Hwi-gang muttered to himself, the chat window chimed in.

-Why, what is it, what is it???

-Hwi-gang, adjust the camera angle a bit!!!

-I think I’ll go crazy out of curiosity.

-Don’t tell me our Ho-yeol-nim appeared?! Just Homen.

“No. It’s not that Ho-yeol-nim appeared but…….”

Simultaneously with a touch, the camera angle switched.

Finally, the [Tepheran Contractors of Black] that surfaced on the viewers’ screens.

-Crazy what are there so many of them? *Shivering*

-Fr they probably would have died like sunfish without being able to do anything??

-But where are they going???

Literally a grand army.

Their shock at the sheer volume lasted only a moment, as the viewers also noticed a sense of incongruity. [Tepheran Contractor of Black], they were undoubtedly monsters explicitly stated even in the additional update details.

“Why aren’t they attacking unlike earlier?”

“If you ask me, how would I know?”

“Hyung-nims. I drank a precious potion for nothing. Could you please sponsor some potion expenses.”

Whatever happened and however it turned out…….

Phew

First of all, sighs of relief burst out from all over.

However, Park Hwi-gang did not let go of his tension yet.

Because something called an explorer’s intuition existed.

“This is not on the level of merely triggering traps.”

Rumble rumble rumble rumble!

Even at this moment, the labyrinth vibrated as if it would collapse. Even assuming someone intentionally trolled, a mechanism on a scale capable of shaking the entire labyrinth shouldn’t even exist in the first place.

“It’s certain an incident greater than that has occurred but…….”

Normally, he would have racked his brains pondering it.

However, his contemplation was not long.

There was only a single possibility that came to mind.

Because Ho-yeol was in the [Labyrinth of Tepheran] rift.

‘……Right, Ho-yeol-nim is currently undertaking a quest!’

The incident that happened in the [Tepheran Fence] rift.

The conversation between Ho-yeol and the darkness spirit.

Because that scene was broadcasted, all sorts of unending analyses regarding their conversation followed. Endless deep darkness is definitely Ho-yeol’s class, or whatever else…….

However, there was only one definite conclusion.

-“Only you can solve this labyrinth of Tepheran.”

The fact that Ho-yeol received a quest related to the Labyrinth of Tepheran.

At the end of a chain of deductions.

Park Hwi-gang opened his mouth.

“By the looks of it, it seems this is an incident Ho-yeol-nim caused.”

-What? Ho-yeol-nim did?

-Are you saying Ho-yeol-nim trolled?

-It’s blasphemy!!

“No. This isn’t trolling!”

One could tell just by looking at the actions of the [Tepheran Contractors of Black].

Just like triggering a trap.

The mobs had awakened, but they didn’t initiate attacks.

They were just moving towards somewhere.

Exactly speaking, merely moving towards the labyrinth’s deep sector.

‘Could it be a part of the quest Ho-yeol-nim is currently progressing through?’

Although a conclusion was reached, Park Hwi-gang shut his mouth.

It might be an excessive assumption.

Because it could potentially become a nuisance to Ho-yeol-nim.

However, for others to realize that fact.

No additional explanations were needed.

The [Tepheran Contractors of Black] who had been repeating the same lines since their first appearance.

Because their lines had changed.

“……After a long wait, the chance to correct our mistake has arrived.”

“!!!”

It wasn’t just one.

All the Contractors of Black were saying that.

Players, including Park Hwi-gang, exchanging glances.

Without knowing who spoke first, they opened their mouths.

“This is also part of the quest!”

“Just what kind of grand scale is this quest……?”

“Seriously, and here some people find it hard to receive even a single miscellaneous quest!”

Just what kind of quest was he progressing through.

To be able to shake the entire labyrinth and exert an influence of this magnitude?

Setting aside jealousy, their hearts pounded purely as fellow players.

At that timing, someone opened their mouth.

“How about we also try following them?”

Because the [Tepheran Contractors of Black] woke up and moved, the need to worry about traps disappeared.

Really, if they literally followed behind them…….

“We might be able to reach the deep sector of the labyrinth safely, a chance you never know.”

The deep sector of the labyrinth.

There, they should be able to reunite with the players they got separated from upon entering the rift.

Ho-yeol would undoubtedly be among them. Setting aside the spoils of the labyrinth, their pure curiosity couldn’t help but surge for this moment alone.

“I, I want to see it directly with my own eyes. Just what he is doing!”

They wanted to witness Ho-yeol’s active performance.

It wasn’t just Park Hwi-gang’s party.

Every player who had entered the labyrinth.

Their respective starting points where they had dropped.

“So you’re saying we can reach the deep sector of the labyrinth if we follow those things?”

“And Lee Ho-yeol will be there.”

“Then we’ll also be able to visually check what on earth Lee Ho-yeol is doing?”

The moment a judgment was made.

There was no ‘who went first’.

Rush!

At each starting point, players trailed behind the procession of the [Tepheran Contractors of Black].

Indeed, just as inferred.

Traps did not trigger anymore.

“By the way, just why is this damn labyrinth so deep?”

“This rift definitely didn’t surface for us to actually clear it.”

“If it was at a normal pace, we wouldn’t have even reached the deep sector, let alone clearing it, before the rift collapsed, right?”

While clicking their tongues, downwards to the underground, and even deeper underground.

At the end of hurrying their steps, the players arrived.

At the deep sector of the Tepheran Labyrinth.

And they witnessed it.

“……Wh-What is that?”

The rock wall of the labyrinth.

A massive ‘something’ completely filling the wall surface.

“……Is it a jewel? But it also looks like it’s moving?”

“Hyung-nims, didn’t that thing just twitch right now?”

“Wait. Don’t tell me, is that a pupil?”

“Hey man. Stop sprouting nonsense. What kind of pupil is that big?!”

It was so excessively massive that they couldn’t recognize it at a glance.

A size to the extent they wanted to deny it.

A pupil that easily seems to exceed ten meters.

Someone stuttered out words.

“……If that’s just a pupil, just how big is its main body?”

Flash!

The moment they realized it, goosebumps erupted all over their bodies.

For an instant, the boss mobs of Arcana flashed through their heads. Was there a monster that boasted such a massive physique? Even retracing their memories, no specific guy came to mind.

Noisy noisy

Players arriving from other starting points.

“See. I told you we were late.”

“True. Seems like the situation on the other sides was the same as ours too?”

“Wow man. Why are there so many?”

“……Hey, wait a minute.”

They too encountered the massive pupil one by one.

Even though a status abnormality message hadn’t surfaced yet.

If they were players, they could tell right away.

“I said it was weird from the labyrinth entrance!!”

“What, recommended level 500? Bullshit!”

“I already recognized it from the moment Lee Ho-yeol entered in the first place. Me!”

It was not an enemy they could face at their level.

They realized it instinctively.

Therefore, their gazes naturally had no choice but to turn towards Ho-yeol.

“……Not that I doubt it but. Will it be possible?”

Lee Ho-yeol.

Estimated level, minimum Level 900.

However, no matter how much it was Ho-yeol.

Could he face that guy?

Because they were overwhelmed by the guy’s size the moment they encountered it.

The witnesses, including the players, felt anxiety.

“Boss mobs are on a different dimension. Even if there’s an advantage in levels, their stats themselves are on a different dimension compared to ordinary monsters. And there’s no law stating that thing is a lower level than Lee Ho-yeol either…….”

Moreover, Ho-yeol’s current combat power wasn’t at one hundred percent right now.

Ho-yeol, though his individual combat power wouldn’t have changed.

The forces following Ho-yeol.

Mage Tower.

Lionheart Knights.

Shadow Mercenaries.

Even the Goddess Religion Holy Knights.

Because those overwhelming forces were not together with him this time.

“The ones accompanying Lee Ho-yeol are merely three explorers.”

Of course, including the legendary explorer Fabian, all three weren’t ordinary explorers.

However, an explorer was strictly a non-combat class.

It meant they couldn’t expect significant help when it came to combat.

A few players with fast-spinning brains opened their mouths.

“Then shouldn’t we just join them? Ho-yeol-nim.”

“Right, of course we should join. We’re on the same boat anyway.”

“That’s right. Because we have to defeat that guy anyway. But…….”

……Honestly, will we be of any help?

Though they didn’t know much, could it perhaps not see ahead?

There was no focus in the massive pupil.

It was just keeping its eye open.

Nevertheless, they couldn’t be certain.

The guy’s skin tissue slightly revealed beneath the labyrinth’s bedrock.

“At my level, honestly I don’t think I can even leave a scratch, though?”

The players imagined the worst.

If focus returned to the guy’s pupil.

And if that gaze turned towards them…….

“Damn it, I’m already feeling jittery. This.”

Is this what it feels like when the body and mind act separately?

Drop by drop

Sweat began to form on the hands that painstakingly grasped their equipment again.

However, the players were overlooking one thing.

Right here.

The presence of the [Tepheran Contractors of Black] that gathered towards the deep sector of the labyrinth.

The Contractors of Black, the flickering black figures began to move.

“!”

Due to the narrow passages of the labyrinth, they couldn’t accurately count the numbers.

Upon entering the expansive deep sector, their numbers entered their view at a glance.

No, to be exact, it was a headcount to the extent it couldn’t be captured at a glance.

“Thousands, no, doesn’t it seem to be ten thousand?!”

Perhaps due to the anxiety already wrapping around their bodies.

Someone muttered quietly.

“……What if those things suddenly turn hostile?”

“What do you mean what do we do, we’d all just die.”

“It’s too late to run away now anyway. Get a grip, everyone.”

Gulp

Dry saliva swallowing down naturally.

However, the concern was merely needless fear.

“?”

Perhaps because they poured out from respectively different crossroads, the Contractors of Black who were chaotically mixed began to move.

They formed a formation, aligning their ranks and files.

“……What is it, all of a sudden?”

Actions as if faithful to ‘formality’ and ‘procedure’.

The first one to notice it was, as expected.

Park Hwi-gang, who was quick-witted, yet whose faith did not waver.

‘Ho-yeol-nim. Where is Ho-yeol-nim?’

Indeed, it is certain Ho-yeol moved the Contractors of Black!

Park Hwi-gang looked around the deep sector.

The labyrinth deep sector chaotic with Contractors of Black and players.

To try and find Ho-yeol within it.

It should have been no different from finding a needle in a sandy beach, but.

“……Found him.”

Park Hwi-gang found Ho-yeol at once.

With the power of faith?

No, it wasn’t something like that.

The dark deep sector of the labyrinth.

A figure exuding a radiant halo from there.

[Outer Wings of a Hundred Colors].

It was thanks to the outer wings imbibed with a hundred attribute magics fluttering and radiating their presence. And even the silver hair reflecting that light.

“Ho-yeol-nim!”

Ho-yeol’s presence was radiant even in the labyrinth plunged into despair.

That figure was like an endlessly deep darkness.

A single ray of light shining from within it.

In order to examine such a figure of Ho-yeol closely, Park Hwi-gang activated a skill, [Explorer’s Gaze], and then flinched. Thinking ‘Did I see wrong’, he even blinked his eyes, but.

That thing held in Ho-yeol’s hand, no matter how he looked at it was…….

“……A teacup?”

Steam rising

And it was a teacup with steam rising from it at that.

*

Clatter

The unwavering angle of my neck and arm.

Tilting the teacup with a restrained posture.

……A sudden teatime out of nowhere.

How would it look in the eyes of others.

Forget it, I don’t even want to think about it anymore.

Right, thinking about it only makes me suffer. Ho-yeol…….

[Magic power regeneration rate slightly increases for 6 hours.]

So-called eating elixirs while crying.

I looked at the massive pupil.

That guy was precisely the ‘existence that must not be awakened’.

Indeed, the reputation of a legendary explorer doesn’t just go anywhere.

Fabian pinpointed its identity the moment he saw the guy’s pupil.

“Judging by the hide, a snake or a lizard. However, if it’s of this size…….”

Gulp

The great Fabian wiped off his cold sweat and continued.

“As expected, I believe it’s a guy related to a dragon.”

Fabian’s erudition sometimes becomes a wound to me.

……A dragon!

After struggling with all my might to barely defeat the Demon King, now I’ve ended up facing a dragon.

Now I can be certain. This is all because I didn’t invest stat points into [Luck], seriously……!

‘It’s end-game content, a dragon.’

Dragon.

To explain its strength in one word, it was simple.

『The lesson from the Dragon Demon War, which left behind uncontrollable damage, was clear. The fact that even the Mage Tower cannot stand against an immortal existence, a dragon…….』

It was because exactly that was written in a book I had read in no other place but the Mage Tower.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration. So it’s understandable that Fabian is breaking into cold sweats.

“Sir, now I understand. The reason why the ancient city that boasted this magnitude of scale, Tepheran, tried to seal that guy even while sacrificing everything.”

It’s an obvious statement, but a dragon is not a demon.

Meaning [Natural Enemy] will never be activated.

No, even if it activated, it wasn’t an opponent I could defeat.

I’m telling you it’s an existence you couldn’t defeat even if the entire Mage Tower charged at it?

To the point that the Mage Tower, one of the parties involved, took the defeat as a lesson.

And left it behind in books.

……It seems I am deeply screwed.

If it were the past me, I might have spat that out.

But, you see.

Even I’ve gotten somewhat used to it enough to render my hiatus meaningless now.

Meaning I developed tact.

‘That isn’t a dragon.’

The reason I could be certain?

Because I knew that quests also had ranks.

[10 Great Mysteries Quest: Labyrinth of Tepheran]

The Arcana continent’s 10 Great Mysteries, Tepheran.

Solve the labyrinth of Tepheran.

And reveal the truth of Tepheran to the world.

Mysteries uncovered to date: 0 / 10

─Witness the labyrinth of Tepheran. (Success)

─Reach the labyrinth’s deep sector. (Pending)

─Eliminate the ‘existence that must not be awakened’ sleeping in the deep sector. (In Progress)

If it really was a quest related to a dragon.

This wouldn’t have been classified as a 10 Great Mysteries quest.

It wouldn’t be World-class, but really would have surfaced as a World Quest.

[World Quest: Seed of the World Tree]

Like the World Tree quest.

Therefore, I was inwardly thinking it was doable.

That’s why I’m making thorough preparations like this, no?

From equipping items down to elixir doping.

If it were up to my heart, I wanted to take care of Fabian’s party too.

“It is a pity that I have no tea to offer you.”

Fortunately, Fabian laughed it off sheepishly.

“No. Please do not worry. Actually, even if you offered, I don’t have the peace of mind to consume something.”

“It’s the same for me too.”

“I concur.”

Since they all say that, it makes me feel less apologetic.

Moreover, it wasn’t just me and Fabian’s party here.

Why, as you can see, there are players who entered the rift together with me.

And for the peace of the Arcana continent. The citizens of Tepheran overflowing with pride who voluntarily sacrificed themselves.

[Tepheran’s 10,890 Contractors of Black]

[Current Status: Awaiting orders]

And I know.

The existence that must not be awakened.

Whether that thing is a real dragon or what, even if I can’t be sure, anyway, that guy is not in a normal state. That was thanks to the 『Black Coffin』 being maintained by the sacrifice of Tepheran’s citizens.

‘That guy is in a state where its five senses are deprived.’

[Blindness], [Silence], [Paralysis], etc…….

Meaning it’s inflicted with all sorts of status abnormalities.

At this moment, its unblinking, unfocused pupil was the proof.

And within me, ‘suitable magic power’, capable of strengthening the effects of the 『Black Coffin』 even more, is surging. Therefore, I could open my mouth confidently as always.

“Existence that must not be awakened.”

Simultaneously with that, drawing up suitable magic power.

Though it probably wouldn’t even be able to hear it since its sense of hearing is deprived.

I continued my words.

“Since I will accept your sleep-tantrum. Have a go, run rampant to your heart’s content.”

……Anyway, this loose mouth.

Though I said that, what is it if not anything else.

I can’t just let a guy related to a dragon run rampant quietly……!

Such desperate will of mine surfaced as a message.

[Fear is generated in the ‘existence that must not be awakened’.]