Chapter 72: Why Is He Unaware of His Endless Karma and Everlasting Infamy?
A hidden passage in an ancient iron mine that no one had ever discovered before, and the story of an underground kingdom whose traces had never once been found.
This was a first.
Yes, literally the first achievement of its kind.
Neither the NPCs living in this world nor the hardcore gamers who played as though they intended to tear the game apart atom by atom had ever discovered this place.
And I was the one who found it!
My heart wouldn’t stop pounding. Just imagining how countless players would flood this place the moment I revealed my discovery made me feel like I was about to have a heart attack!
What an incredibly game-like event!
Please, I’m begging you. Let things like this keep happening!
Please!
“What kind of writing is this? Don’t tell me goblins use letters like these too?”
We had followed the directions given to us by the goblin hiding in the unexpected secret chamber. At the end of the path, a stone covered in roughly scrawled letters blocked the way to the underground kingdom.
The moment we removed this stone, some kind of event would definitely begin.
Hehe. I couldn’t wait!
“This is a sanctuary where the blessed reside.”
“Mister? You can read this?”
“Weren’t you surprised when I understood what the goblin was saying earlier?”
“I thought you could understand each other because you were similar.”
“That’s a little harsh!”
Honestly, I was surprised too.
I had only been able to understand the goblin language when I was a tester. Since that ability hadn’t been transferred to this character, I assumed I wouldn’t be able to understand them anymore.
The goblins I encountered in the field were all mindless creatures without any proper language or writing, so I’d never had a chance to confirm it.
Who would have thought I’d rediscover my ability to understand monster languages like this?
Still, understanding spoken words was one thing, but how could I read this?
I had never learned it.
Was it because I was a Monster Commander?
How convenient.
“Should we interpret it as something like, ‘Those who aren’t blessed may not enter’?”
“Probably. There isn’t even anything like, ‘What must you do to enter?’ It only has that single sentence. Maybe the guys in this underground kingdom didn’t want outsiders coming in, and they didn’t want to leave either.”
“Ohhh, that was quite an analytical observation, son.”
“Ahem! I’m pretty smart, you know!”
Hmm.
Perhaps the time hadn’t come yet.
Maybe this area wouldn’t open because we hadn’t progressed through any related quests.
I wasn’t sure, but if that was the case, perhaps this place had a World Quest like the one involving Jamani.
But could two World Quests exist at the same time?
They were called World Quests, after all.
I had settled down in the Empire, so I knew nothing about what was currently happening elsewhere. However, the players fighting on the front lines might have discovered a few clues by now.
“Are we going back?”
“No. Wouldn’t it feel unfair to come all this way and simply turn around?”
I pulled a pickaxe out of my bag.
From this point onward, we were playing a sandbox game.
If the pickaxe didn’t work, I would use one of the specially crafted handmade bombs created with Mallang’s holy water!
“A pickaxe! Where did you get something so dangerous?!”
“Here, Ien. This one is yours.”
“Honestly, I hate traveling with you, Mister. I always end up doing backbreaking labor.”
“That’s right, In-gwang! What if you swing the pickaxe and stab yourself on one of those sharp spikes sticking out near the handle? It would hurt! Leave such dangerous work to me!”
“Ugh, just imagining that gives me chills. Let’s wear gloves.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t ignore me!”
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Ien and I rolled up our sleeves, stood side by side, and swung our pickaxes with everything we had.
Of course, the fastest method would have been ordering Modak to break through it.
But that wouldn’t be any fun!
Ah, this brought back so many memories.
Back then, I had done something stupid and tried to break rocks while holding Doldol in my hands.
And now, I was doing something stupid again.
We had already been swinging our pickaxes for several minutes, yet we hadn’t even left a scratch!
At least Ien and I were both masters of this kind of work.
One of us possessed Indomitability, while the other possessed Diligence. There couldn’t have been a pair better suited to this task.
And so, an hour passed.
No matter how patient someone was, they would start getting anxious by this point.
Behind us, Levi and Lucy had started playing a card game. Mallang kept casting magic on us so we wouldn’t become tired.
At some point, the light vanished from Ien’s eyes. She began swinging her pickaxe blankly as if she were practicing swordsmanship.
I felt as though I were gradually being pulled into some place disconnected from time itself...
It was exactly how I’d felt when I spent half a day attacking an indestructible object in another sandbox game.
“I think... I’m starting to hear voices... Magic! That’s it, magic! Levi! Use Hydro Pump!”
“Hehe! Leave it to me!”
Unable to endure it any longer, I gave Levi the order.
She stretched both hands forward. Without even performing that motion that looked like her personality was switching, her expression immediately turned serious.
An extremely threatening stream of water shot from her hands.
The roaring water was so loud that it felt like my ears would burst if I stayed nearby. I covered my ears and hurriedly backed away.
And then...
Rumbleeeee!
“H-Huh?! The magic is being absor... reflected!!”
“Aaaaargh! We’re going to die! Get down!”
“Levi-mode! Stop! Stop it! Hey! I said stop!!!”
The stone Levi had fired at reflected her stream of water!
Worse, it sent it back with even more force than the original attack!
Levi was too startled to stop, so I had to pick her up and throw her away before the attack finally ended.
Even after Levi went flying, water continued bursting from the stone for quite some time.
It seemed to be enchanted with magic that reflected spells with greater power.
“It seems magic doesn’t work on it.”
Lucy had casually blocked the water with magic without moving from her position. She held out a hand toward me as I lay flat on the ground to avoid the stream.
How kind of her.
[Modak: Then it’s my turn!]
Just as I grabbed Lucy’s hand and stood up, Modak jumped out on his own.
He splashed through the puddles Levi’s attack had created and stopped in front of the stone.
As expected of my Hero-grade summon.
The growing monster, Modak!
Only after obtaining you did I realize that spring had finally arrived!
“Wooo! You can do it, Modak! My son is the best!”
“Ehehe! Just trust me!”
He stretched his right leg far behind him and exhaled deeply.
The muscles in his extended leg suddenly expanded. Dazzling flames wrapped around it before compressing tightly.
“First Step: Waterfall!”
Booooom! Rumbleeeee!
His leg shot forward in a lightning-fast kick, creating a deafening crash.
Even after Modak stepped back, the sounds of repeated impacts and destruction continued for some time.
Like Ien’s Certain Slash, it seemed to be a skill that dealt continuous damage with a single attack.
Was this the game’s way of depicting a damage-over-time skill?
It was probably part of the martial art called Destruction that Jin had taught him.
Whatever it was, it was definitely powerful.
Scrape, scrape, scrape!
“...Am I the only one who thinks it still looks perfectly fine?”
“No. It looks perfectly fine to me too...”
“N-No! Just wait! It’ll break soon!”
“I don’t think it will.”
Pop!
With one final explosive sound, silence returned.
The stone remained intact.
Only a few shallow scratches remained, as though to prove that something had at least happened.
“Th-That’s impossible...! I gave it everything I had!”
