The Game Difficulty Is Crazy
Less than one minute remained until the duration of the gray ring ended.
“Ghk!”
If everything had gone according to plan, by now Romina should have destroyed the third spirit, and Glen would be finishing off a completely weakened Perenold.
However, ever since the second spirit was destroyed, there had been no sign from Romina’s side.
Something must have gone wrong with her.
Clang! KAAANG—!
Perenold’s resistance was still fierce.
Of course, having lost two of his power sources, his combat strength had dropped significantly compared to before.
To the point that Glen, while the gray ring was still active, could defeat him without much trouble.
KRAAANG—!
A falling sharp slash.
Ainheria, imbued with dense holy power, shattered Perenold’s sword and continued on to strike his shoulder.
But the armor was restored rapidly, not even a few seconds after being destroyed.
“Damn it…”
Until all sources of power were cut off, Perenold would not die.
Glen had already destroyed his arms, legs, helmet, and even his sword several times.
But the one remaining spirit quickly restored everything.
Unless the final spirit was eliminated, this brutal fight would never end.
‘This is really bad.’
Right now, Glen was overwhelming Perenold thanks to the gray ring still being active.
But once its duration ended, the outcome would reverse in an instant.
Even with power supplied by only one spirit, Perenold would still be stronger than Glen with all rings deactivated.
Mercilessly, time continued to pass.
In thirty seconds, the gray ring would end.
‘Think. Think!’
Glen desperately searched his memories from his time as the Holy Ring Knight, wondering if there was something he had forgotten.
But the more he searched, the more a vague fear of death began to bloom in his ash-gray eyes.
Clang! Chaeng!
Twenty seconds left.
Under Glen’s desperate assault, Perenold’s armor was shattered in multiple places.
Yet the moment Perenold counterattacked, everything was restored to its original state.
“Damn it! Just—!”
Pushing back the emotionless turquoise mass charging at him, Glen cursed under his breath.
Ten seconds left.
The six holy rings that had been spinning fiercely like burning firewood slowly began to lose their white light.
At the moment when the fear of dungeon failure and death filled his mind—
KIIIIIING—!
Clatter—!
With a sharp sound, Perenold’s stance collapsed as he raised his sword.
There was no way Glen wouldn’t know what that meant.
“!”
A blazing light flared up in his fading ash-gray eyes.
Five seconds remained on the gray ring.
But—
‘That’s enough!’
Glen clenched his teeth and kicked off the ground with all his strength.
WOOOOONG—!
The six holy rings, losing their color, began to resonate as if squeezing out their final power.
Then came a single strike.
CHAENG—!
Ainheria shattered Perenold’s sword and destroyed his right arm.
Perenold hurriedly pulled back, gripping the broken sword with his left hand.
Three seconds left.
Splash—!
But Glen didn’t stop and thrust Ainheria forward.
KAGAGAGAK—!
Piercing madness.
The famous sword, wrapped in holy power and red energy, pierced through Perenold’s abdomen.
Clatter—!
Perenold also didn’t stop.
Using Ainheria lodged in his abdomen as leverage, he aimed for Glen’s head.
The broken stone sword descended.
And the final second—
KAAANG—!
SPLASH—!
Perenold’s left arm, along with the sword, fell to the bottom of the bath.
Ainheria remained embedded in his abdomen.
But in Glen’s hand was another famous sword—Impeus.
“Surprise, bastard.”
Weapon switching.
Using his inventory, Glen had executed a lightning-fast counter and stopped Perenold’s final struggle.
“……”
Clatter— THUD!
Perenold dropped to his knees.
Having lost both arms and been pierced through the abdomen, the turquoise knight could no longer move.
Glen silently looked down at him, then—
“Ahh…”
He staggered and collapsed onto the floor.
At that moment, a system message appeared before his eyes.
《You have overcome a Lunatic element.》
《Special rewards will be granted.》
It was the moment he passed the fifth Lunatic trial.
“Ughhh.”
Splash—
Spreading himself out flat in the bath, Glen brushed the hair stuck to his face back.
“I freaking cleared it!”
He thrust his fist powerfully toward the ceiling.
That was when—
RUMBLE—
The entire area shook, cracks forming in the pure white ceiling.
Then an enormous amount of water poured down toward Glen.
FWOOOOSH—!
“……Huh?”
A waterfall crashed into the bath.
And mixed within it was a red-haired woman.
“Hey!”
As Glen hurriedly tried to get up—
He was swept all the way to the edge of the bath by the pressure of the falling water.
SHAAAA—!
“Cough! Damn it…!”
He felt like he had swallowed an entire bucket of water.
Then a heavy sensation pressed against his thigh.
Looking down, he saw Romina collapsed there, unconscious.
“Hey… hey!”
An alarm rang in his head.
He urgently tapped Romina’s cheek.
“……Ngh.”
Slowly, Romina opened her eyes.
Only then did Glen let out a weak sigh of relief.
“I thought you were dead. Are you okay?”
“……Glen.”
“Yeah. I’m here.”
“The turquoise… knight?”
“I turned him into scrap metal.”
A faint smile bloomed on Romina’s lips.
“That’s a relief. I thought we failed.”
“You went quiet, so I thought you died while looking for the spirits.”
Suddenly, Romina’s slender hand rested on Glen’s shoulder.
“What’s with you… all of a sudden?”
“Was I… helpful?”
“Huh? Helpful? Why are you asking that? If you weren’t helpful, would I have brought you here?”
“Was I helpful or not?”
Romina frowned slightly.
Glen stared at the ceiling for a moment, thinking—
Then smiled.
“Yeah. You were insanely helpful.”
If he hadn’t counted on Romina, he wouldn’t have come to the party dungeon at all.
“Then that’s enough.”
Smiling brightly, Romina quietly held onto Glen’s hand.
As demonic energy was drawn out through his fingertips, Glen smiled and clenched his fist.
Even though one of the trials—the Turquoise Knight—had been upgraded to Lunatic difficulty,
In the end, after many twists and turns, Glen successfully cleared the party dungeon, the Turquoise Bath, together with Romina.
“So what did you get?”
Romina asked, lying face-down on Glen’s bed and swinging her feet.
Her complexion looked much better than when she had looked half-dead after exhausting her demonic energy in the dungeon.
“Didn’t you see it too?”
“I tried to, but you stuffed it into that subspace thing—your inventory or whatever.”
“Ah.”
Glen chuckled and pulled out a cloak from his inventory.
Aside from the clasp at the neck being made of a turquoise gem, it was a plain dark-blue cloak you could see anywhere.
“This is the dungeon clear reward.”
“That’s it?”
Romina frowned.
Glen shrugged.
“It looks like just a cloak, but when you equip it, you get insane abilities.”
Information about the cloak appeared in Glen’s vision—something Romina couldn’t see.
《Blessing of Lawern》
《Grade》 : Legendary
《Type》 : Cloak
《Options》
: 『Assimilation』 – You can blend into nature such as grass, trees, rocks, and water, hiding your appearance and presence. If the wearer possesses a Spirit Ring, the effect is greatly enhanced.
: 『Turquoise Step』 – Increases the wearer’s Agility by 10. If the wearer possesses a Spirit Ring, this effect is doubled.
《Story》
: Lawern, the Turquoise Fairy King, is known as the most elusive and carefree among all fairy kings. Even other fairy kings struggle to find him.
Commonly known as the Chameleon Cloak.
A simple effect: blending into nature to hide one’s presence and appearance.
Some might question how this could be a legendary artifact.
But this cloak had another nickname—
“The Emperor of Field Battles.”
A sly smile crossed Glen’s face.
The Assimilation skill was a complete superior version of the Demonic Veil used by four-star demons.
Demonic Veil only hid presence and demonic energy—it couldn’t hide the user’s appearance.
Assimilation, on the other hand, perfectly concealed not only power and presence, but even appearance.
‘Even during combat.’
Imagine fighting an enemy you can neither see nor sense.
From the enemy’s perspective, it would be nothing short of a horror movie.
And while it was described as usable only in nature, most of the world of Gray Eden—aside from a few settlements—was made up of natural terrain.
Since the game was based on a medieval European setting, there was far more uncharted land than developed areas.
Which meant that unless you were fighting inside a building or in the middle of a city, there was almost no situation where Lawern’s Blessing couldn’t be used.
Of course, that didn’t mean the cloak was a completely broken item.
Hiding presence and appearance didn’t guarantee it would work on every enemy.
‘Once their level gets high enough, they’ll be able to sense opponents without relying on sight or presence.’
Some monsters tracked enemies by smell, and some individuals sensed subtle killing intent or sound.
Against such enemies, Assimilation wouldn’t be very effective.
‘Unless its effect is amplified with a Spirit Ring, it has clear limits despite being strong.’
Still, with holy wars ahead and frequent battles in fields, plains, and forests, obtaining Lawern’s Blessing was an enormous gain.
‘And it boosts Agility by ten, too.’
Romina, of course, couldn’t see any of this.
She simply narrowed her eyes and stared at the cloak suspiciously.
“I’ll show you later when there’s a chance.”
“I mean, I know it’s good. We suffered together to get it.”
“Then why that reaction?”
“What about my share?”
“Oh.”
So when she said “That’s it?” she wasn’t talking about the cloak itself, but the number of rewards.
“I was wondering what you meant.”
It was true that Glen had led the dungeon clear, but Romina had also risked her life and contributed greatly.
‘Even if she said she’d serve me as her master, it’d still feel bad if she got nothing after all that.’
Seeing Romina looking at him with cold eyes, Glen smirked.
“What if I said there isn’t one?”
“I’d be pretty disappointed.”
“Relax. I was joking. You have a share too.”
Grinning mischievously, Glen pulled another item from his inventory.
Romina stared at it, then looked up at Glen with doubtful eyes.
“You’re messing with me, right?”
“No. I’m serious.”
“……This is my share?”
Romina frowned.
What lay in Glen’s hand was a heart.
A heart still dripping with thick black blood, as if it had just been ripped out.
“You don’t like it?”
Glen watched her expression.
“Well… I mean, it’s better than getting nothing, so I’ll take it… but if this was it, you could’ve at least praised me properly.”
Lowering her amber eyes, she looked clearly disappointed.
Watching her, Glen slightly raised the corner of his mouth.
“It looks like this, but if you know what it’s used for, it’s actually a great reward.”
“……What’s it used for?”
“For your sixth demonic ring.”
A brief silence followed.
Romina’s amber eyes slowly widened.
“……Huh?”
