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＜ 11. How to overcome fear (4) ＞ In
‘ Dungeon of Infinity’, there are not many spellbooks that can be made. The few orders were also extremely poor in cost performance compared to the ingredients used, perhaps because of the balance. The spell to summon Arpan was unique among them .
The probability of occurrence was extremely low from the event that informs the combination formula. Quite rare materials were required, and the combination success rate was not very high. Crucially, when I made a difficult order and called Arpan, he only complained about why he bothered to summon him, and he couldn’t make him do anything he wanted .
So, general users didn’t even know that there was an ‘Arpan Summoning Scroll’, or skipped it without making it even if they knew .
But couldn’t dog poop also be used for medicine? Jeong-hyeon believed that it would be useful somewhere and would always make this order book whenever the opportunity arose. That trust was rewarded when confronted with the black dealer who stole the reward .
Arpan, who would tremble if it was a clan of black traders, gave the black merchant a harpoon without saying anything. Just like now .
‘The enemy of the enemy can be used as my ally .’
The plan worked. The black trader, who acted brazenly by believing in only one altered rule, perished without being able to resist even once in front of the guide who coordinated the dungeon .
It would have been better if he had gone that far and just left, but Arpan didn’t seem to think so. He took out a subspace pocket and dragged the items on the seat .
“ We will return the rewards you originally had to obtain, including gold. I will confiscate the rest, as they are all illegally acquired items .”
“… you can just leave it there .”
Arpan pretended not to hear Andrea. It wasn’t really what Andrea hoped would come true .
“ I don’t mind summoning you for trivial matters, but if it’s something like this time, it doesn’t matter. In the future, whenever you meet black dealers, please call me. Because those tribes have to dry the seed .”
” Well… if you’re going to ask for something like that, shouldn’t you pay for the order form ?”
Arpan spilled the cards in Andrea’s hand. As if it wasn’t enough because I got the reward back .
“ I will look at the transaction with the black dealer this time. But next time you will have to call me right away without a deal .”
After finishing his words, Arpan created a magic circle that looked exactly like the one he had when he was summoned and disappeared. Somehow, I felt like watching a policeman who reported a criminal and disappeared after giving an admonition instead of a bounty .
Andrea had no intention of reporting it again. This time, he just called him a thief, because ordinary black marketers were quite useful trading partners .
‘ If you report it, you’re not giving a bounty, but what kind of black dealers are you trying to stop the seeds of ?’
Shaking his head, looking back at his companions
Andrea. However, Tricia and Marco were still in shock .
Trisha stuttered and opened her mouth with difficulty .
“ My God, the f*cker…. Holy sh*t, my God. Did I hit that guy in the head with a bow …?”
“… It was a bit dangerous back then. Still, it’s only the dark merchants who kill people like that without thinking back and forth. It’s not easy to inflict harm on challengers unless you really fight against them with real hostility .”
Hearing that, Marco intervened. Even though he tried hard to hide it, fear spilled over his face .
“… am I not a challenger? If that goat-headed devil gets even a little twisted… wouldn’t I end up like that too ?”
“ No need to worry, Marco. Even if you’re not a challenger, you’re my colleague right now, right? Arpan can’t do anything carelessly .”
An overwhelmingly strong person, even if it is not an enemy, intimidates those around him. Even more, Arpan is a mysterious NPC whose intentions are difficult to guess even though he helps them. It wasn’t that Trisha and Marco’s anxiety was incomprehensible .
‘ I’ll have to hide the fact that I might have to face Arpan later .’
Andrea waited until the party calmed down a bit. After some time, he approached Trisha and handed her the recovered card .
“ This card is the key card of the ‘Infinite Shooting Cycle Deck’ mentioned last time. It won’t be of much use right now, but put it in your deck for now .”
Trisha took the ‘Continuous Load’ card and looked it over. The effect didn’t look so good, so I had to tilt my head. It wasn’t until after the reinforcement was completed and the deck was completed that even Trisha would be able to appreciate the true value of this card .
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Now the next floor was the 40th floor .
Considering that speedrunning usually aims to reach the 100th floor, it means that it has come quite a bit. Of course, it is difficult to guess where the end of the dungeon is, but Andrea predicted that there would definitely be a turning point when reaching the 100th floor .
‘ All the other characters have reached the 100th floor, so that ridiculous boss monster… No, can you call it a boss monster? Anyway, if you defeat them, a special event will occur. I’m sure Andrea will too .’
Andrea repeated as if hinting at herself. In fact, I couldn’t stand it without thinking like that .
As the name suggests, this dungeon is infinite, and if you think that the end will not come out even if you go down hundreds or thousands of floors, your heart will be full and all your will will be broken .
With a new heart, Andrea called the party together .
“ Already, the next floor is the room where the boss comes out. I will explain the pattern step by step again, so gather here .”
As if they were used to it, Tricia and Marco approached Andrea and listened. After taking a deep breath, Andrea slowly retraced her memory and told me the boss monsters that appeared and the patterns she knew .
At the same time, Andrea objectively reviewed the current party’s strength and useful strategies .
‘ It has a high critical hit rate and a lot of useful cards, so if it’s not a hard boss, Trisha will have a lot of room to play. Well, I’m going to try to hide in the shadows and ambush when I get a chance .’
‘ Advent Possession’ was a strategy that was difficult to use again. There was no potion of extinction, and somehow it could not be activated even if the shadow was engraved 7 times .
Instead, he obtained a similar trump card, so he might not have to worry so much .
’ If I summoned the Hell Hounds and attacked with a pincer, I would easily catch any boss, but it bothers me that it costs 3. I just have to hope that the mana amplification comes first .’
After a long explanation, Andrea and the others headed for the exit. Even though a faint uneasiness remained, their faces were determined to fight against the enemy .
The scariest enemy is the one you have no idea how to fight. In that respect, Andrea owes a lot to them being able to suppress their fear and move forward. Andrea and the others were gradually getting used to fighting enemies that seemed too daunting .
The passageway leading to the 40th floor gave off a very heterogeneous feeling. A wall made of huge yellow bricks, a picture of prostrate people filled with grains, and dead vines covering it like a grip .
It was like an ancient temple that had been neglected for a long time. Andrea immediately noticed which boss monster would appear .
‘ Fortunately, he’s not that picky. It won’t be easy, but it’s worth doing .’
At the end of the passage, like the previous boss room, there was a huge door. However, the door that appeared this time was distinctly different from the ones I had seen before. Instead of wavy patterns, straight lines were carved, and instead of the faces of people and monsters, only gigantic figures were carved .
Andrea explained to the party what kind of boss is behind this door. After meticulously familiarizing myself with the pattern, I reverse summoned Marco. I made eye contact with Tricia for a moment, and she nodded resolutely .
Andrea opened the huge door .
What appeared was a space with a somewhat quiet and sacred atmosphere. A forgotten temple that has not been visited by anyone for a very long time. Countless holes in the ceiling, old dust floating in the air following the leaked sunlight .
The walls on both sides and near the ceiling were scattered with detailed relief figures of groups of people. But who can stop the passing of time? It was not easy to imagine the original appearance because the pieces fell off entirely or were covered with moss .
This large site was a space for offering sacrifices. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been such a huge altar in the middle of the room. However, what was sitting on it now was not a sacrifice, but a giant made of stone .
Golem .
However, the golem was not the only one waiting for guests in this room. That golem was nothing more than a weapon controlled by the true master of this temple .
“ Wow, an intruder! It’s been a long time !”
A youthful-looking boy riding on the head of the golem looked down at Andrea and the others and said. Immediately after that, the narration began to be heard .
‘ Kwarutai, an ancient golem master favored by the Earth God. The time before the founding of the five nations named after God. After the death of the previous king, Kwarutai, who became king at a young age, built a huge temple and sacrificed 10,000 cows to the Earth God. In return, Qarutai was given the grace to deal with golems, giants made of stone ..’
‘ However, that was too much power. The boy king, who was swayed by the treacherous gods, led the golem army to a harsh tyranny. The poorer Earth God eventually took away most of the Qarutai’s power, leaving him with only the strength to handle the single golem in the temple .’
‘ Kwarutai abdicated the throne and secluded himself in a temple to ask for forgiveness from the Earth God. The kingdom of the boy king, who lost a powerful army and a king, perished in vain, and foreign tribes invaded to plunder the temple, but they did not have the power to defeat the golem. After that, no one will set foot in the temple .’
‘ Kwarutai and Golems have been forgotten. However, as the years pass, sometimes unlucky explorers accidentally set foot in this temple and pay a heavy price .’
“ Did you hear? Don’t even think about getting out alive! Now that you’re here, you’re all dead !”
Tanned skin contrasted with flashy jewelry in bright colors. Qarutai was running amok on top of the golem .
As soon as Andrea saw it, she couldn’t help but think of the nickname the community used to call this boss monster .
‘ The nicknames Jammin and Golem go well together .’
1 turn. Andrea moved her hand to the deck. When I saw the card I drew, the corner of my mouth rose slightly. It’s been quite a while since I saw this card from turn 1 .
Andrea used a defensive strike first. A card was used twice due to the effect of ‘Ring of Beginning’. It would have been nice if Indomitable Will came out from the first turn, but I couldn’t help it because it wasn’t picked .
After that, I used Marco Summon, a card that came out in the first turn I hadn’t seen in a long time. The second reason I used it was because summon cards are like an ON/OFF switch, so if you use them consecutively, the summoned summons are reverse summoned instead of 2 objects .
A green magic circle drawn on the floor. The summoned Marco looked back at Andrea and said .
“ Is that stone the enemy ?”
“ Yes. Get your hammer here, Mr. Marco .”
“ Good. Since ancient times, there has been nothing like a hammer to smash a block of stone .”
Andrea nodded and handed Marco the Earthshatter’s hammer. From that action, the golem jumped down from the altar, and Marco shouted and rushed at the golem .
Andrea tried to ignore the fact that Marco’s body was shaking slightly .
＜ 11. How to overcome fear (4) ＞ End