The Game Difficulty Is Crazy
Clear water sounds echoed from all directions.
Glen slowly opened his eyes.
The darkness clouding his vision faded, and the scenery before him came into view.
And the moment he saw what lay ahead, Glen forgot how to speak.
“Oooh…”
The world was a calm sea.
No—there wasn’t a single wave, so it was closer to a massive lake than a sea.
Beautiful ripples occasionally spread across the green-tinted surface.
Throughout the silent world, pure white floating stones drifted leisurely through the air.
The Turquoise Bath.
A place where water and stone spirits played together in harmony—this was the true form of the party dungeon Glen had to clear.
“This is the Turquoise Bath.”
“……”
Romina’s reaction was no different from Glen’s.
Her amber eyes were wide open as she simply took in everything reflected in her vision, without a single thought.
“Keep the sightseeing short.”
Glen chuckled softly, tapped Romina on the shoulder, and moved forward.
“Even if it looks like this, it’s a dangerous place.”
“Huh? Ah, yeah. Got it.”
Romina quickly corrected her expression and followed right behind him.
The two walked across pure white rocks.
After several minutes of walking along the stone path floating above the lake—
Splash—
Splaash—
The glass-like water surface trembled.
At the same time, the once-quiet world began to stir.
“They’re coming.”
Glen spoke softly, opened his inventory, and took out Ainheria.
At that moment, something broke through the water and climbed onto the rocks.
Fwoooaah— gurgle—
Bluish Slimes.
They looked as if they were scooped straight out of the lake itself. Their viscous bodies wobbled as they slowly surrounded Glen and Romina.
“Unstable form, slow movement… so these are bluish slimes?”
“That’s right. You memorized it well.”
Glen smiled in satisfaction at Romina’s words.
“Then you know how to deal with them too, right?”
“Of course I remember.”
Romina raised the corner of her lips.
Before anyone noticed, a pair of horns—symbolizing a high-ranking demon—had grown out from between her red hair.
Black demonic energy particles began to rise above her head.
Gooooooo—
From Romina’s waist, crimson wings spread outward to both sides.
When the mass of demonic energy above her head swelled enough, her amber eyes flashed sharply.
Kiiiiing—
The energy mass exploded and split into dozens of spikes.
The scattered crimson spikes shot outward, flying toward the bluish slimes surrounding her.
Sluuush—!
The bodies of the bluish slimes were torn apart by the raining red spikes.
Amid the shredded bodies, transparent cores were revealed.
‘Now!’
As if he had been waiting, Glen kicked off the ground and swiftly began finishing off the slimes whose cores were exposed.
Shraaaash—
Ainheria, infused with holy power, cleanly sliced through the exposed cores.
While dealing with the bluish slimes endlessly emerging from the lake, Glen and Romina moved forward.
Throughout the fight, the slimes couldn’t land a single hit on them, collapsing and returning to lake water.
The fierce, water-soaked battle finally came to an end when the two arrived before a door standing at the end of the stone path.
“That was easy.”
Romina casually rolled the demonic energy flickering at her fingertips and smirked.
“That’s because we know the strategy. And this is just the dungeon entrance.”
The bluish slimes here had a unique trait—each of them required at least one hit from both party members to be defeated.
That was why their cores only appeared after Romina attacked first.
If only one person attacked continuously, the bluish slime would never fall.
In terms of the original game, it was like their HP never dropped below 1.
In any case, since Glen and Romina knew this, dealing with the slimes wasn’t difficult.
“Hmmm… then there’s nothing to worry about from here on, right? As long as I do exactly what you taught me.”
With a mischievous look, Romina poked Glen’s cheek repeatedly with her finger.
Glen swatted her hand away with a stiff expression.
“That’s enough. Just manage your demonic energy properly. If you overuse it, you’ll be in trouble.”
Due to her innate ability, Romina shared her demonic energy and life force.
In other words, whenever she used magic, she consumed her own life as well.
If she went too far, there could come a moment when her life was at risk and she wouldn’t be able to use her abilities at all.
“Don’t worry. If something happens, I’ll just absorb your demonic energy.”
“No. You won’t.”
Glen answered firmly and looked at the stone gate ahead.
Once they passed this door, the real trials of the party dungeon would begin.
To reach the deepest part, they had to clear three randomly chosen trials out of thirty-six.
“You didn’t forget anything from the strategy, right?”
“Glen… I don’t remember a single thing.”
“Good. Then let’s go.”
“Could you at least pretend to believe me?”
Glen and Romina placed their hands on the stone gate at the same time.
Soon, the gate opened, and pure white light swallowed them whole.
The first trial was above water and below water.
Half the party had to search for a hidden key at the bottom of the lake, while the other half fought a giant crocodile monster on the stone path.
‘It was insanely hard.’
But they somehow cleared it.
The second trial was two doors.
The party had to split in half and pass through two doors at opposite ends at exactly the same time.
Since each person had to fend off waves of bluish slimes alone…
‘This one was insanely hard too.’
Romina got surrounded by slimes once, but they cleared the second trial without major issues.
Then came the third and final trial.
Wisdom and time.
