◈ 122. [Free Exploration] Bitter taste
After a long corridor, we returned to the base camp in a few hours.
The curse of the vertical passage had also been lifted. When I opened the manhole cover and came up, it was a familiar safe base.
I let out an egogo sigh.
“I came back alive… … .”
I didn’t know that I would be surprised by the stage boss in a place like this, so my head was complicated.
The mental fatigue was as great as the physical fatigue.
‘Since dungeons are the base of monsters, of course they can be attacked. However, it was beyond normal for the stage boss to come in person.’
The taste of the game had gone and the difficulty was fluctuating again.
measures must be taken As soon as we get back to Crossroads, I’m going to grab the director by the collar and do some jogging.
At that time, the party members, who were also clearly tired, passed through the vertical passage one by one and climbed up.
I tried to smile at the party members.
“Everyone had a hard time.”
All four of them stood in front of me. Everyone still has a gloomy face.
“Hey, don’t make that face! It’s only natural to lose to him now.”
No, it’s weird if you win. That’s more conscienceless.
“Because I’m lacking… … .”
Lucas lowered his head and muttered in a low voice.
“I exposed my master in front of the enemy. As an escort, you are disqualified.”
“Hey. Because you are not lacking.”
If the SSR grade is not enough, what about me, who has a maggot stat lower than N grade? Do I have to go to a corner and bang my head? huh?
But Lucas seems unwilling to stop blaming himself.
Lucas pursed his lips and bowed his head.
next to it. Damian was looking down at the shattered crossbow in his hand.
“… … With her eyes, she could chase the vampire. But, her body wasn’t responding.”
I was chasing you with my eyes That’s huge too.
“Just by looking at it… … There must be something wrong.”
Kwak.
Damian clenched his fists and looked at me with a determined face.
“I will train my body. Prince. Even in order to use these eyes more properly… … !”
“… … .”
I was amazed inside. Because I didn’t know if Damian would say this first.
Evangeline next to him gnashed his teeth and raised his shield.
“I can block it next time.”
“A bastard’s attack? really?”
“sure. I couldn’t read the trajectory of the attack with my eyes like the sniper, but I could intuitively tell which direction the attack was coming from.”
Evangeline’s pointy green eyes shot up fiercely.
“My hesitation, trusting my intuition and not acting accordingly, led to my defeat.”
intuition.
Could it be related to the activation of Evangeline’s exclusive attribute [Crossroads]?
This time, I couldn’t activate it because I didn’t have the special equipment.
“Next time, I’m not just going to block it, I’m going to blow that vampire’s jaw off with my shield.”
Evangeline growled ferociously.
“Let’s see. Next time, by all means.”
Finally, Junior shrugged.
“It seemed to be completely over my head in terms of magic.”
It seems that the Vampire King was at a much higher level than the SSR-class genius wizard.
“I’ve never seen such a concise magic formula inverse calculation. To nullify my magic in an instant… … I don’t think he’s sitting in the monarch’s seat for nothing.”
Right after that, Junior laughed bashfully.
“But thanks, I got a hint.”
“hint?”
“yes. I wonder if there is a way to use it… … Thanks to that vampire. It gave her valuable knowledge.”
Did you learn anything while being beaten by Celendion?
I looked around the party members. Everyone seems to have come to some realization.
Selendion only came to ask me a question, and in the process, he must have subdued my party members without much thought.
Rather, it may have provided an opportunity to make my party members stronger.
“At any cost.”
Lucas gritted his teeth.
“Next time I see him, by all means… … I will stand guard in front of the lord. by any means.”
I tried to stop it, but just nodded.
“Don’t believe me. Lucas.”
I decided not to temper my escort knight’s resolve for nothing.
Instead, I decided to hope that the resolution would be sharpened even more.
No matter how you pack it, defeat is defeat.
After chewing on the bitterness, examining and reflecting on it, you will be able to become stronger.
“Hey, new chicks!”
It was then. I saw a dwarf blacksmith stomping toward us. It was Kelly Bay.
“These assholes! I heard that he went on the path of a loser and left for the Colosseum! How did you come back alive!”
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Kelly Bay, who ran up to us with a giggle, soon noticed that our complexions were not very bright.
His voice became cautious.
“What, what happened? Did you fail?”
“The Colosseum has been conquered. Master craftsman.”
I shrugged.
“It was a problem after that.”
“After that?”
“The Vampire King came directly. We were beaten one by one.”
Kelly Bay’s eyes widened.
“What, what?! Selendion, himself?!”
I handed the entire pouch of dark crystals to Kelly Bay, who was about to ask for more.
Kelly Bey took it in bewilderment.
“Kelly Bay. Castle is a weapon, please take good care of me.”
I said in a serious voice.
“We must take that monster’s head. But the reality is that it lacks power. That’s why the weapon that the craftsman will make is more important than anything else.”
“Hehehe.”
Kelly Bay smiled lowly as she opened her pockets and winked at me.
“All the ingredients are gathered. good. let me start right away What kind of weapon would you like me to make?”
“The long sword. cavalry spear. and.”
I glanced back at Damian and said forcefully.
“arrow.”
Kelly Bay, startled, jumped up from her seat.
“what? fire, arrow? Such a rich family’s son-in-law! Are you saying you’re going to consume that precious silver with arrows?!”
“sure.”
I didn’t hesitate.
“If it could be used to kill the vampire king, would it be only surname? I would gladly give away anything more precious than that.”
“… … .”
“So, stop talking and make it the best quality.”
Kelly Bay, who was looking at me with her mouth slightly open, burst out laughing soon.
“Good good! As you said. As long as I can kill Selendion, I don’t have to spare the castle.”
Kelly Bay took something out of her bosom and showed it.
“I’ve been looking for this to make your weapons more special.”
“This… … ?”
It was a branch.
Red energy overflows all over the branches… … A tree branch that emits strange waves.
“It’s the ‘Devil’s Mistletoe’ that grows only in the deepest layer of the dungeon here. Also called Mistiltein.”
“The Cursed Twig… … !”
It’s a rare material item that can only be obtained in the second half. I swallowed dry saliva.
“If I make an item using that branch… … .”
“Hoo. I guess you know, Prince Ssaksu.”
Kelly Bay explained with a grin.
“If you give me a weapon using this tree branch as a material… … It becomes a cursed blade that drastically reduces the healing ability of the enemy it hits.”
This old blacksmith has a face like Santa Claus.
“There can be no better present for vampires.”
In other words, what Kelly Bay said was that the castle would add a healing reduction effect to the weapon as an additional effect.
In this way, it really becomes a vampire’s extremely hard counter weapon.
Surprised by the unexpected windfall, I stayed still and glanced at Kelly Bay’s shoulder.
“Did you get hurt while getting it?”
A bloody bandage is wrapped around Kelly Bay’s shoulder.
How come there was no vacancy? It looks like he went to get it. Then you got hurt
“Hey, don’t say anything strange! It’s just that I fell in front of you and got a little bruised. This tree branch, well, I just picked it up on the way back from going out there for a while.”
Kelly Bay, grumbling for no reason, eventually came out with a heavy gaze and looked around at the party members.
“The only thing I can help with is this.”
The face of the blacksmith who had lost all his brothers to Selendion was unusually sincere.
“Be sure to kill that monster bastard.”
***
[End of Free Exploration!]
[Level up character]
– Ash (EX) Lv.34 (↑10)
– Lucas (SSR) Lv.40 (↑2)
– Evangeline (SSR) Lv.40 (↑1)
– Jupiter Junior (SSR) Lv.37 (↑1)
– Damien (N) Lv.35 (↑2) (2nd job advancement possible!)
[dead and injured characters]
– doesn’t exist
[Acquisition item]
– Dark Crystal: 20
– Summon Scroll: Chimera Origin <Player Skill>
– Colosseum Victory Box: 6
***
Upon returning to Crossroads, the party disbanded.
Everyone was sent back to their homes.
“Everyone, don’t think about anything and get some rest! Lucas, you too, get some rest before dinner!”
2 days and 1 night schedule, beaten in battle, scratched pride, tired legs from walking for a long time, everyone must be dying.
“All right. I will rest for a bit and resume my escort duties, lord.”
“I’m going to sleep. See you later at dinner, senior. Whoaaam… … .”
Lucas and Evangeline went inside the manor house,
“Call me whenever you need me, Prince!”
“I have to review today’s battle. So, Your Highness? I will wait for you to call me.”
Damian and Junior went back to the temple and inn respectively.
I waved my hand at the party members as they trudged away toward their respective lodgings. Get some rest, guys.
“Ugh, it’s hard… … .”
As soon as I returned to the mansion, I went back to my room and collapsed on the bed. fluff.
It seems that facing the Vampire King alone is more mentally exhausting than I thought.
My head is dizzy and my stomach is nauseous.
‘… … .’
As soon as I remembered him, my consciousness became clearer, apart from my physical condition.
those red eyes.
The gaze of a predator that despises humans like insects.
‘To beg for death from a human while looking so insignificant. It’s ridiculous.’
I gritted my teeth and got up from the bed.
Fatigue ran through my body, but I felt like I couldn’t rest comfortably.
‘Let’s start with the items we ate this time.’
Sitting right on the bed, I opened my inventory.
The items obtained in this free exploration are by no means bad.
Once Summon Scroll: Chimera Origin.
It is a one-time use skill that allows you to summon and command boss-level monsters.
Like the giant steam golem that was useful in the last stage 3, you can summon the Chimera Origin.
‘It’s a monster that has been turned into dust in one shot by the Black Queen, so it feels a bit weak.’
In reality, Chimera is a strong enough monster.
It’s not as big as a giant steam golem, but it’ll run pretty well against vampires.
‘Above all, the blood of a chimera is poisonous. It’s like being resistant to vampires.’
… … Even if you know theoretically, it’s still a big thing to be blown away with a single shot. I feel so weak Awesome.
Anyway, where did the number of cards that can be used increase? I gratefully registered the skill using the summoning scroll.
‘Next is the Colosseum Victory Box.’
The Colosseum dungeon does not have a separate box route, but rewards are paid by calculating boxes in the inventory according to the number of waves won.
If he had beaten the wave 7 Jackal, he would have received the ‘Colosseum Victory Box’, but maybe because Jackal skipped it as an event, these 6 were all. I want something like this
‘There are other boxes that I didn’t open until recently.’
I took out the boxes I kept in my inventory.
The boxes received as rewards for clearing Stage 4.
5 R-rank reward chests. 2 SR grade reward boxes.
There were some that I left because I didn’t have the items I needed right away, but in fact, there was one reason I didn’t open these boxes.
It was because of superstition when playing games.
‘If I collect 10 and open them, I feel like a better item appears!’
In fact, the probability of an item appearing is the same whether it is a single difference or an annual difference.
Somehow, when I gathered them in groups of 10 and opened them all at once, I felt like the golden color would appear more often.
I know this is just a matter of mood, but when you do this box cracker, you can’t help but fall into shamanism and totemism!
Anyway, a total of 13 boxes that I collected.
I decided to open it generously. I slowly opened the boxes at once.
‘God of drawing, please! Help! What kind of relationship do we have!’
Flash! Flash!
Light emanating from the boxes filled my room.
I shouted with all my might.
“Did you wake up?!”
