Chapter 95: The Underground Waterways [4]

Though her defense was not very high, 30,000 health was not low. What on earth could be in the left pathway? What did Roa miss that made her health go from 30,000 to 0?

‘I don’t think it’s a monster.’

If it was a monster, Roa would know.

A trap?

Soo Hyuk was lost in his thoughts, at the same time; the Firestorm’s duration was diminished. He paused his train of thought and said to Kamian and the Koma Guild members.

“Let’s go.”

“Ok, but where are we going…”

Kamian asked, at the question, Soo Hyuk thought for a moment, then looked toward the pathway on the right.

“Let’s go towards the right, that’s where the chimera came from.”

He didn’t know what was on the left. But seeing the chimera come out of the right pathway, the summoning circle should be at the end of the path.

The whole team began to walk towards the right pathway. Although Soo Hyuk walked forward in full confidence, Kamian and the Koma Guild were being careful, unlike before when Roa wasn’t dead.

-Chwiig

-Aaoouuu!

But the sound didn’t sound like what they had heard before.

‘Normal.’

When Soo Hyuk heard the sound, he knew it was neither the boos nor the mid-boss. So, it was evident that this one was a normal chimera. Soo Hyuk stopped walking halfway and raised his hand to signal at the back. Seeing his sign, Kamian and the Koma Guild stopped moving.

-Chiiik!

-Aaoouuu!

“K?”

As soon as the chimera came into view, Soo Hyuk called K-Cross. The reason was to check the health of this chimera in front.

Knowing the reason why he was called, K-Cross activated his dragon’s eye to check the monster’s health.

“Huh?”

K-Cross, who just confirmed its health, looked a bit disturbed.

“It’s 1.8 million.”

Though it was still high, compared to the mid-boss it could only be considered normal.

And that was the problem, they thought as they go deeper, the health of the chimeras would get higher. And considering the mid-boss chimera, they thought this monster would have more than 2 million, not less than that.

“What, 1.8 million?”

Just like K-Cross, Soo Hyuk too felt strange with his health being reduced.

“Yes.”

K-Cross confirmed Soo Hyuk’s question. Then looking at the chimera, thinking.

‘That means I can’t get poisoned.’

The one Soo Hyuk killed near the entrance had 1.8 million health as well. That chimera’s poison didn’t affect him. That means if he can’t get poisoned he doesn’t need to avoid it. So, without any delay, Soo Hyuk cast a spell on the chimera in front.

-Mutated Orc Skin
-Mutated Wolf Skin

Not long after, the chimera collapsed and a window appeared.

‘I thought I’d level up.’

His Experience level had filled up to 99%, compared to 92%. But Soo Hyuk, who thought he would level up, couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed.

After acquiring the dropped items, he and the Koma Guild started to move forward.

“Oh, there’s something shiny over there?”

K-Cross, who was investigating the area with his skill, spoke out as he was moving.

Soo Hyuk looked over in the direction K-Cross was looking, but his eyes saw nothing except the darkness.

‘Is it an item?’

Since K-Cross had no reason to lie about what he could see, there was likely something shining ahead of them. Soo Hyuk thought that it could be a magical item.

As the group moved a little farther ahead, Soo Hyuk could see the item K-Cross was talking about. Though something was strange, they were certain it was a magical item.

‘But why can’t I see any chimera nearby?’

The chimera was nowhere to be seen. As the summoning/magic circle was located at the end of the pathway, there was no place to hide.

‘Are they summoned every hour?’

Soo Hyuk thought while walking towards the circle, and wondering why there were no chimeras.

“I think we have met the requirement.”

Kamian said, who was following Soo Hyuk joined him by the magic circle.

“Let me just see the magic circle.”

Feeling Kamian’s presence behind him, Soo Hyuk replied at once.

“Soo Hyuk, what’s the status of the quest?”

Just as Kamian asked the question, Soo Hyuk opened his window.

〈The Troubled Underground Waterway〉

In the underground sewers of Hadrac, chimeras suddenly began appearing in the waterways. Ian and Alex made the decision to clean up the underground waterways, but the chimeras were strong and possessed powerful poison. In the end, the expedition failed, and the most they could achieve was to prevent the chimeras from escaping. Clean the underground waterways of the chimeras and identify their source!

[Chimera Summoning Circle A: 0 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle B: 0 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle C: 0 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle D: 0 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle E: 0 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle F: 0 / 1]

[Chimera: 0 / ??? ]

[Quest reward: S-Rank Promotion, ??? ]

“No, they are just the same.”

But when the Guild checked their stats, their conditions were met.

Unlike the Guild Quest, Soo Hyuk’s quest remained unchanged.

“I think we’ll have to destroy it.”

Unless confirmed, all that remained was destruction.

“Hmm, let’s go back.”

Hearing Soo Hyuk, Kamian, and the Koma Guild members took a step back. Soo Hyuk too walked away from the magic circle and cast a spell.

“Firestorm!”

Suaak!

When the spell was cast, a huge whirlpool of fire appeared engulfing the whole magic circle, then, at that time.

[Special Situation Occurred]

[Quest ‘Destroy the Magic Circle’ has been created.]

A message appeared before him.

***

Roa, who had been sent to investigate the left pathway, moved forward looking around.

‘Dark. It’s very dark.’

Unlike the pathways she passed earlier, this particular left pathway had no torches to guide her inside, making the tunnel dark.

‘It’s a good thing I learned ‘Night Vision’.’

So, even in the absence of light, her view wasn’t affected very much in the darkness. Roa, who was a Rouge, could use her skill thanks to this situation. ‘Night Vision’ allowed her to see in the darkness to a certain extent, though not enough as complete daylight.

‘It’s blocked.’

Roa moved while checking her surroundings, and soon reached the end of the pathway. But there was nothing at the end.

‘Is that why it wasn’t on the map?’

She was wondering if the passage being blocked was the reason why the crossroad wasn’t drawn on the map.

-Roa: I’m at the end.

Roa contacted Kamian.

-Kamian: What’s going on? Did you find anything?

-Roa: No, absolutely nothing. I’m at the end and there is nothing.

-Kamian: Yeah? Are you sure that you didn’t miss anything because of the darkness?

-ROA: Well, I used my skill ‘Night Vision’ and found nothing. I’m coming back.

Kamian: Copy that!

After the conversation with Kamian, Roa looked around. She was wondering whether or not she had missed something.
‘There’s nothing.’

Even with her Vision, she found nothing.

‘Is there something hidden?’

As she looked around, nothing stood out in particular but she couldn’t be completely sure because there was nothing in sight.

She had a nudging feeling that something might be hidden here.

But Roa was neither a treasure hunter nor a thief. She was just an assassin who preferred to pursue extreme attacks, especially on Rouge-affiliated tasks. She had no unique skills to find hidden objects. In other words, she couldn’t find anything.

‘I’ll just go.’

Even if something was hidden, she couldn’t find it. So Roa, who had no intention to waste any more time, turned back. Then started to proceed towards the entrance.

It was just then.

[You Have Died.]

The moment she turned her back, a message appeared.

“…Huh?”

Looking at the message in front of her, Roa was forced to panic.

‘Dead?’

What, dead? She wanted to check what killed her, but she couldn’t, she had lost control of her body. Soon, her view became dark and she was logged out. Roa, Kim Young-Chun came out of the capsule.

Kim Young-Chun, who was just logged out, was unable to say anything.

‘What killed me?’

She couldn’t help but ponder on what had previously happened.

‘But there was nothing.’

She was sure there was nothing in the pathway, then what on earth killed her?

Ring! Ring!

Kim Young-Chun, lost in thoughts, checked her cell phone which was blaring at the incoming call. It was Kamian.

***

“Is it there? Would it be over there?”

“Well, I’ll have to check.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to go with you?”

“No, I don’t think it’s safe. And to be honest, I don’t know what’s in there.”

Soo Hyuk declined Kamian’s offer. He didn’t want to rush into a situation where everything was filled with uncertainty. Rather, he wanted to go at his pace and figure it all out.

“Ok, I’ll be waiting here. Call me right away if you need me!”

“Sure, I’ll be back.”

Answering Kamian’s words, Soo Hyuk walked towards the left aisle while looking at his quest.

[Congratulations, you have found the Chimera Summoning Circle. Just a warning, even if you destroy the circle, it’s of no use. There is still the recovery circle nearby. To destroy this circle completely, you’ll have to find the Recovery circle and destroy it, to completely destroy the summoning circle.] [1]

[Destroy the Recovery circle, hiding somewhere near the Summoning Circle!]

[Recovery Magic Circle: 0 / 1]

[Quest Rewards: Chimera Summoning Magic Circle will get weakened.]

I didn’t know there was a Recovery circle.’

He thought destroying the Magic circle was the end of the quest, but it wasn’t. There was another magic circle that could restore the destroyed summoning circle. To destroy the circle, he first had to destroy the Recovery Circle.

But there was a problem, the Recovery Circle didn’t have an accurate location. The only clue that was given was that they were somewhere nearby.

‘It’s a high possibility that he is over here.’

The only place Soo Hyuk hadn’t checked out yet. The left pathway. Though Roa said there was nothing, her mysterious death spoke a lot. There must be something down that path.

As soon as Soo Hyuk arrived at the left pathway, he opened his inventory. Then he took out a crystal ball, it was no ordinary crystal. The crystal ball was imprinted with light magic.

[Every 10 seconds, 100 mana is consumed.]

Suaak!

As he activated the crystal, it began to emit light fending off the darkness that pervaded the pathway previously, now everything was visible.

Soo Hyuk carefully examined his surroundings while moving along the path. He was being careful because he didn’t know what killed Roa.

There!

Being as alert as he could, Soo Hyuk soon reached the end of the pathway.

Then looking at the floor he thought.

‘You said there was nothing.’

He thought of Roa, who said there was nothing at the end.

Suaak!

But on the floor, there it was, a magic circle emitting bright lights. He was sure it was the Recovery magic circle. [2]

Translator and Editor Notes:

1: During the translation of this part there was both the use of mage and the use of formation/circle so, this bit is a little confusing.
2: With some more context about what is mentioned in [1], it is looking like it is another magic circle that was set in place.