365. Raiding the Demon God’s Warehouse
Trial of the 51st Floor, Resting Place of the Dead.
This place has as many wave points as a vast field.
Every wave originates from these points, and players usually secure their positions there.
The criteria for player placement are completely random.
There’s no assigning guilds together just because they applied together.
As evidenced by the place where Se-un was summoned…
“Oh, a person has arrived!”
“That’s a relief. We were short on people and were about to give up on this trial.”
“It’s still ambiguous, but it’s worth a try. We can always tear up the return scroll if it doesn’t work out.”
“Tearing it now would be a loss, not even breaking even… ahem, let’s do our best.”
“Let’s do our best. This is my last wave too.”
They were all strangers.
Since the entire Diablo Guild had moved, there was a chance of running into at least one of them, but…
‘Well, even if we had landed in the same place, we probably would have separated anyway.’
Frankly, considering the current power of the Diablo Guild, it was most efficient to have only one guild member at each point. Having more than two together would only mean splitting the experience.
Especially for Yoo Seo-ah, Kang Han-cheol, and Baek Hyeon, it seemed like they could handle being alone at a point without any problems.
“Hey, what weapon do you use? We need to decide on positions, so could you at least tell us your class?”
“But you’re not carrying any weapon? All your other equipment looks good, though.”
“Are you a martial artist or something? No, even martial artists usually use gauntlets or claws. And you’re not that big.”
The number of players at the same point as Se-un was three in total. It seemed difficult to form a proper party.
Moreover, judging by the weapons they had, there wasn’t a single warrior suitable for the front line.
One priest, one archer, and one…
‘Doesn’t seem like an alchemist either. I don’t even know what that is.’
It was difficult to determine the class just by looking at their appearance.
Thanks to their slender bodies with hardly any muscles, the only thing he could tell was that they weren’t melee players.
If an ordinary vanguard had come instead of Se-un, they would have been sweating blood trying to withstand all the waves in front of them.
Even so, they were hoping that Se-un was a vanguard, trying to push the idea towards a martial artist.
How should he deal with these people, or should he just leave?
As he was thinking that.
“Gweeeeeeeck-!!”
A bizarre howl was heard from somewhere far away.
The signal flare for the wave.
The three players in front of Se-un flinched momentarily at the eerie voice.
The moment Se-un perked up his ears, the compass of journey pointed to the exact direction from which the voice was coming.
“Oh, it’s coming!”
“Damn it, hurry up and tell us what position you are!”
“You! Just be the vanguard! If you just hold out in the front, we’ll take care of the rest!”
“I’m a priest! I can attack and heal, so just stop the monsters from getting to the back. Your armor looks good, so you can do it, right?”
As they said that, they were visibly checking their return scrolls.
Probably, if the situation got bad, they would pass all the monsters to the vanguard and tear up the return scrolls themselves.
Well, honestly, he didn’t feel much about it. Before his regression, he had seen enough of such selfish players while climbing the tower.
Before he could even think about what to do with them, the undead began to appear.
“Gweeeeeeeck-”
“Geooo-”
Zombies rising from the ground.
The trial of the 51st floor has various undead due to the large field, but this place seems to be mainly composed of zombie-related monsters.
The number of those that started to rise one by one already easily exceeded a hundred.
Indeed, the 51st floor.
The trial of the tower seemed to prove that the difficulty increased sharply from the 51st floor.
“Block them quickly! Go forward a bit! I’ll cast a defensive spell, so don’t be afraid!”
The voices of the anxious players were heard.
Regardless, Se-un stood still and extended one hand towards the undead horde.
Among the many spells in the White Tower, the most suitable representative spell for defeating the undead.
– The Vault of Greed has been opened.
[Turn Undead]
– A unique attack magic of the White Tower, created solely to deal with undead monsters.
Turn Undead.
The moment the light escaping from Se-un’s hand enveloped over a hundred zombies.
“Geoo-”
Crumbles-
The zombies turned to dust and scattered in the wind.
Except for the brief flash of light at the beginning, it was not a flashy magic, but the effect was surprisingly certain.
The eerie sounds of the zombies swarming around had stopped as if it were a lie.
Se-un remained indifferent, but the players behind him were different.
“W-what is that!”
“Turn Undead! That’s a magic that only the highest-ranking priests can learn, right?”
“T-thank you! I didn’t know you were so skilled!”
“I almost made someone like you the vanguard, I made a mistake! You’re really strong!”
The sight of them clinging to Se-un as soon as they understood the situation was quite a spectacle.
However, Se-un was already walking forward. Towards the front that had been emptied thanks to Turn Undead.
Naturally, the three players did not follow Se-un because it was outside the point.
The point was not only the starting point for monsters to gather, but also a place with various advantages such as terrain that blocked monsters and rest.
And the wave was not over yet.
“Gweeeeeeeck-”
“W-where are you going! If you go that way, you’ll be completely surrounded by these guys!”
“I guess you don’t know yet, but this isn’t the end! The stronger monsters swarm as you get further away from the point! Come back here quickly!”
“I-I was wrong! Please come back!”
Monsters began to pour in from the front that Se-un had cleared and one line excluding the two rock walls at the point.
Naturally, it was difficult for the three players to deal with without a vanguard.
One of the players gritted his teeth and tried to follow Se-un, leaving the point behind.
“W-what, so fast…”
Se-un had already disappeared into the zombie-filled horizon.
* * *
– The constellation, ‘The Bowing Crow,’ chuckles and asks if you’re not curious about what happened to those left behind.
“I’m not interested.”
From the beginning, Se-un’s goal was not to quietly pass the five waves.
Of the two conditions for passing the trial, the latter, destroying the source of the waves.
It was more profitable to choose the latter condition for the sake of contribution points and rewards.
‘And I have something to practice.’
The ‘Panacea Hamper’ obtained from Heath Rabbit’s mansion.
He also wanted to test the combat method using it.
Arcana sometimes sparred with him, but in the first place, sparring with her was not very interesting.
Throughout the sparring, it was obvious that she was trying to figure out Se-un’s strength, so he was reluctant to exert his full power.
He didn’t want to use it on the zombies in front of him either.
“Turn Undead.”
– According to the mysteries of the Red Tower, the range of ‘Turn Undead’ is expanded.
– According to the mysteries of the White Tower, the attribute power of ‘Turn Undead’ is increased.
Crumbles-
The reason why the 51st trial was difficult was because of the undead’s unique tenacious vitality and the endless quantity even when killed.
The combat power of each one was not high enough to be worth wielding a weapon.
Ah, it might be inappropriate to call it vitality since they are undead.
– The constellation, ‘Hungry Prince,’ rejoices at the proper meal after a long time.
– The constellation, ‘Hungry Prince,’ cautiously asks if you could stop using that magic, saying that it’s a feast after a long time, but it lacks the taste of chewing.
Se-un shook his head.
He tries to take care of them when he can, but if he follows their wishes, they will definitely ask for more without end.
Even during the tutorial, Beelzebub was the one who insisted on using only fire magic, saying that the monsters attacked with fire magic tasted good.
Even if it were other constellations, it was necessary to deal strictly with Beelzebub.
“Gweeeeeeeck-”
“Gweeeee-”
Zombies are pouring in from all directions.
He hadn’t been away from the point for long, but there were so many zombies that he felt like he had fallen into a sea of zombies.
‘Before the regression, I couldn’t even explore properly because of this.’
No, it’s not that he couldn’t do it at all. He made the most of the compass of journey during the short gaps between waves, wandering around.
Of course, he had to return after only looking at the place he had found because he didn’t have the power to challenge the source he had found.
As he moved forward faster and faster.
“Gweeeeeeeck-!!”
The sound that was heard when the first wave started was heard once again.
It was so loud that his head was ringing, so it seemed like he had almost arrived at the source.
‘Is it here?’
The ground begins to get muddy. Every time he puts his foot forward, it grabs his ankle as if he had entered a swamp.
Using the lightness skill of Dengping Crossing the Water [a skill that allows one to move lightly over water or other surfaces], which he had previously taught to Yoo Seo-ah, he walked lightly over it, and he could feel the surrounding scenery changing.
‘I don’t think I’ve seen this place before the regression.’
Not only various kinds of monsters, but also corpses that seemed to belong to players were scattered everywhere.
No, to be precise, they were things presumed to be corpses.
What he was seeing now was so rotten and melted that it was difficult to distinguish their original form.
Splat!
The moment he tried to move forward a little more, dozens of hands popped out from under the ground and aimed for Se-un.
Using the Turn Undead that he had already been preparing, they disappeared into dust, just like the zombies he had seen so far.
However, the problem was after that.
“Could it be, did they learn?”
The ones that appeared this time were covered in a lot of dark red mud.
He tried using Turn Undead, but it was blocked by the mud and didn’t work.
As a magic that only works purely on the undead, it is blocked even by such a poor barrier.
However, it was not only white magic that was strong against the undead.
– According to the mysteries of the Black Tower, the power of ‘Inferno’ is strengthened.
Whoosh!
The hot flames baked the things that popped out with the mud, along with the mud.
The guys who were baked like pottery in an instant collapsed on the spot and fell into the ground.
– The constellation, ‘Hungry Prince,’ admires the new texture!
– The constellation, ‘Hungry Prince,’ says that it’s like eating well-aged fermented food that’s grilled to a golden brown…
Beelzebub’s reaction was heard, but he ignored it lightly.
After that, zombies attacked in various ways as if trying to test Se-un’s skills.
Naturally, none of the attacks reached Se-un.
Could it be that the owner of this place also noticed that?
Thud.
Finally, the monster that seemed to be the owner of the source reached out its first hand from under the ground.
An arm much thicker than the zombies.
From that arm, the same dark red mud that the zombies who had attacked a little while ago was dripping down.
The sight of it was reminiscent of an outer coat, and Se-un’s expression was naturally distorted.
“Gweeeeeeeck-!!”
The appearance of the owner of the source, ‘Melted Grudge.’