I came into the house and looked out the window.
Hw.a.n.g Joon Yul was already gone.
He really doesn’t know what persistence means. If he really was desperate, he should have tried to grab onto the bottom of my pants or something.
That just shows he’s not completely desperate just yet.
Yes, he hasn’t been punished enough.
I should go to my house in Insadong tomorrow so that Hw.a.n.g Joon Yul cannot find me at all.
If he finds the Insadong address as well?
I just need to go to another house. I have seven officetels around Seoul. I just need to go to the one that I feel like I’m in the mood for.
Riiing- Riiiing-
‘Oh, It’s Kang Sung Ho!’
By now, he should be busy trying to learn everything in the Dandelion Foundation. But he might be in a good spot already, because he’s a sharp kid.
But why would he call me so late?
“Hey Sung Ho. Are you enjoying the job?”
– Yes, boss-nim. The people here are very nice. Thank you very much. I will be loyal to you forever.
“You punk, you have to suck up in moderation for it to be believable.”
– I am not trying to suck up. How can I not be loyal to you after receiving such grace? In addition, if I do well for you, I won’t have any problems about finances in the future. I will do my best no matter what you tell me to do.
That’s true. If he doesn’t disappoint me, his life will definitely be easy.
“I already gave you a task. Just make sure to do that one well. But, what’s up? I’m sure you wouldn’t have called me at this time just to say that.”
– I had some extra time, so I was looking through the Royal Roader draft plan. But then I remembered what you asked me to look up last time. Didn’t you tell me look for a girl named, ‘Eruni?’
Eruni. I haven’t heard that name in a while. I did see her face when I visited the Northern Mines a couple months ago, but I haven’t really thought much about her after deciding, ‘she’s just a normal slave.’
But Kang Sung Ho was talking about her again.
“I did. Why? Did you find any information on Eruni?”
– Is the name maybe, ‘Erona,’ and not, ‘Eruni,’ by chance?
“Erona?”
It sounded similar, but the feel was completely different. Erona sounded like a stripper’s name or something rated M like that.
“No. I’m sure it’s Eruni.”
– You also mentioned in pa.s.sing that she was a female slave from Avanguarde and had a sun-like tattoo on her shoulder.
Oh? Something’s definitely here.
“Yes.”
– Then it is Erona and not Eruni. The female slave named Erona meets all of the other information.
What?! Kang Sung Ho wouldn’t be making this up. It might be
best if I verified it in the draft plan myself.
“Which file is it in?”
– File 36 page 295.
Kang Sung Ho had organized the files I sent and divided them up into 100 files before sending it back to me.
It was naturally much easier to search through than the original. That was why I always used Sung Ho’s files when I browsed.
I ended the call and opened the file.
I was able to find the information on Erona as Kang Sung Ho mentioned.
But it was shocking from the beginning.
‘Woman who is supposed to be a sacrifice for the Church of the Sun?’
I could not take my eyes off the file.
The file was very long, but the important information was simple.
[It was her destiny from birth to become a sacrifice for the church. The tattoo on her shoulder is the symbol for the Church of the Sun’s sacrifice.
All of her memories were erased when she turned 16 and was about to be offered as sacrifice. However, Erona’s parents put their lives on the line to find a way for her to escape.
She ended up being caught by a slave hunter and sold to the Avanguarde Slave Trader.]
I don’t know anything before or after that, but it definitely was information about Eruni. I felt like the mysterious ident.i.ty of Eruni was finally solved.
But the information that continued was even more shocking.
[Erona’s erased memory holds the blueprints of the Church of the Sun.]
‘The blueprints of the Church of the Sun? She really was a treasure.’
I will soon finish with the Demon Cave Clearing. Not just the new cave that we entered, but there will be no need for any future Demon Cave Clearings.
It is because I am almost done collecting the map pieces. There are only two pieces left.
Then I should be able to find the location of the Church of the Sun.
I will make a move before the Ameri Kingdom will have a chance to do so. That was the secret agreement between s.h.i.+one and me.
I will, naturally, need to do it quietly. The Ameri Kingdom must absolutely not find out about it.
I will need to take care of it with a small number of elites.
So, it will, naturally, be filled with danger.
But that danger will significantly decrease if we can verify the layout of the Church of the Sun through Eruni.
The problem is that she has forgotten the information.
There is no guarantee that her forgotten memory will suddenly return to her if I take her to the Church of the Sun. It might require something special to trigger it.
But I could not find out about that. There was nothing about it in the draft plan.
‘Well, no choice but to tackle it head on.’
“Stand the s.h.i.+elds up!”
The Demon Cave Clearing Squad
Squad members clenched their teeth and lifted up their large s.h.i.+elds to stand up straight. But, it wasn’t strong enough on its own, so they also used sticks to support it as well.
Rumble rumble-
The loud noise of the Stone Cows charging toward them could be heard.
Boom- Boooom-
The Stone Cows rammed into the s.h.i.+elds with their strong skulls. The Demon Cave Clearing Squad couldn’t help but groan through their clenched teeth.
“Ugh!”
They were able to last this long thanks to the sticks they were using to help support the s.h.i.+elds. Without the help, at least half of the Demon Cave Clearing Squad members would have been flung aside.
“Hold on! Fire! Defend!”
I shouted out loudly as I jumped up.
Crackle-
Crackle-
The tens of Fire marbles that some people threw turned into Fire Pillars, and there were even multiple Fire Walls that the mages around level 330 created. s.h.i.+one was using all of her strength to put a mana s.h.i.+eld around me.
Everything happened in an instant.
I instantly jumped past the s.h.i.+elds and rushed into the herd of Stone Cows.
These Stone Cows were level 410, and there were 40+ of them. On the ground were also a ton of h.e.l.l Snakes that were at least level 300.
But there were no monsters that manage to notice me there. It was because of the Stealthy Approach on the Shadow Fox’s Leather Armor that was extremely useful.
I started to go wild in between the monsters. Each time I swung my arm, Goonto’s Twin Blades slashed through a Stone Cow’s leg.
Papapat-
Goonto’s Twin Blades randomly started to create sparks. It was because of the 30% chance of lightning damage.
In addition, damage was increased by 15% because it was a personalized weapon, making it even stun the Stone Cows and Death Snakes every so often.
That was why both the Stone Cows and Death Snakes continued to fall easily once I reached a 30-hit combo.
I didn’t even need to use Dragon Fear. I finished the hunt in less than 10 minutes. Our surroundings instantly became silent, and only the fire marbles that still had some magic left in them continued to create fire pillars for no particular reason.
“Casualty count?”
“None.”
This is pretty much a new record. We arrived outside the hall of the boss monster without losing a single person.
We just need to overcome one more obstacle.
I gave the members plenty of time to rest.
“Everybody ready?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go.”
All 100 Demon Cave Clearing Squad members ran into the hall at the same time.
The hall was large, but there were not many monsters left. I counted a maximum of 1000 monsters. This was the result after luring monsters out of the hall for the last five hours.
And, finally, the boss monster appeared.
I was full of expectation from the moment I entered this Demon Cave, because the boss monster
boss monster of this Demon Cave was a golden monster.
It is really difficult to find a golden monster. The fact that I found the Golden Alligator in the Dwarf Village could be considered hitting the jackpot.
There were extremely low chances of finding one in a Demon Cave that is created naturally, and even partic.i.p.ating in a Demon Cave Clearing Squad like this only gave less than 3% chances of finding a golden monster.
I cannot miss this rare opportunity. I need to make sure to gather some golden monster blood today.
But, it will not be an easy battle. This Demon Cave’s boss monster is a Golden Sphinx.
It is a monster that is half monster and half demon. It even has a large spear in one hand.
But, for being a boss monster, it is not that large. It is slightly smaller than an average sized elephant.
But, that is the problem. The fact that it is so small but is close to level 540 shows that it is hiding many scary surprises.
The scariest thing about the Golden Sphinx is that spear, as it can release extremely strong lightning magic.
Thankfully, the range of the lightning magic is only 50 meters. Which means, we are safe as long as we do not approach closer than 50 meters.
The other scary thing is its extremely fast speed. The lower half of the Golden Sphinx’s body looks like a horse, so, once it starts moving, it speeds up very quickly.
Even if we maintain a 50 meter distance from the Golden Sphinx, it can instantly reduce the distance and use the lightning magic.
That was why I did some extra research on the Golden Sphinx. I looked up every single piece of information in the draft plan regarding it.
Thanks to that, I was a bit more confident.
The rest of the members did not enter further and only stayed around the entrance of the hall. This was so that they could quickly retreat if the Golden Sphinx seemed to head their way.
“Oowaaaaaaaa!”
Bang Bang Bang-
Boom Boom-
The members were shouting and bas.h.i.+ng their s.h.i.+elds with their weapons. It was to draw the monsters over to them.
The monsters looked ready to attack and started to growl.
But none of them rushed toward the shouting Demon Cave Clearing Squad members. Just like in the other Demon Caves, they just remained around the boss monster to protect it.
While that was going on, I was moving closer to the Golden Sphinx while sticking closely to the wall.
Stealthy Approach made it so that none of the monsters could notice me. Even the Golden Sphinx was only staring at the Demon Cave Clearing Squad members at the entrance. It looked prepared to start darting forward at any moment.
Shhhhhh-
I moved quickly to move to the other side of the hall. I then hall. I then started to approach the Golden Sphinx.
Stealthily.
Every time I did something like this, my heart started to beat faster. I could end up in a seriously dangerous situation if I was noticed by the monsters too early on.
Of course, I could use the Unicorn’s Horn Flute, but then the rest of the Demon Cave Clearing Squad members will end up decimated.
But I was worried for no reason. None of the monsters, including the Golden Sphinx, noticed me until I was about 10 meters away.
This is enough. It’s better to start my attack here, rather than trying to get even closer and getting noticed.
I kicked off the ground and pushed myself forward as I used Goonto’s Twin Blades to perform Drake’s TBSA. At the same time, I used the skill I had been saving up until now.
[Dragon Fear: Intermediate 3%]
Rooooooooooar-
Once the Dragon Fear was released, the monsters nearby cowered in fear. They couldn’t react even though I revealed myself and swung my blades.
It was the same for the Golden Sphinx. It subconsciously crouched down and could only turn its head toward me.
The Golden Sphinx’s biggest weakness was it’s fear of dragons. It was not as bad as the dwarves, but it still had a significant amount of fear for the Dragon Fear, to the point that its body would freeze for a moment.
This was my opportunity!
The distance between the Golden Sphinx and I was only 10 meters.
I instantly decreased that distance and used the combo that was already past 30 hits to attack the Golden Sphinx’s left rear leg.
[Special Skill: Ignore 30% of Enemy Defense]
It is a skill that uses 50 mana per usage.
But it was definitely worth it. The large amount of damage was directly transferred to the leg, causing a significant injury on the ankle that was as thick as a giant tree.
The ankle was cut off after just three attacks.
I did not stop my combo, instead,I used the monsters that were still cowering in fear from the Dragon Fear as stepping stones to move around and cut off the left front ankle as well.
My combo was now up to 50 hits, making the ankle cut off with a single attack.
Swing-boom!
The Golden Sphinx lost its balance and fell over to the left.
But it was not done yet. The Golden Sphinx had a recovery rate that was almost as fast as the trolls. If I don’t utilize this opportunity, it will become a really difficult battle.
I quickly ran to the front of the Golden Sphinx. I then used Goonto’s Twin Blades to stab toward its chest.
[Special Skill: Ignore 30% of Enemy Defense]
The twin blades pierced through the ribs that were as strong as metal, and the 70-hit + combo damage landed directly onto the Golden Sphinx’s heart.
Rooooooar-
‘Oh! A necklace!’
