Chapter 168 – King’s Tomb (1)

1.

The news of the the Hydra guild acquiring the Fighters guild was spread in an instant.  It also created a big ripple in Warlord.

- Why did the Hydra guild suddenly merge with the Fighters guild?

- ㄴ They made the acquisition, because they needed the forces of the Fighters guild.

- Why does the Hydra guild suddenly need the Fighters guild's forces?  What are they trying to do?

In the midst of the unrest, people started to figure out the reasons behind the merge.  They deduced the reason why the Hydra guild had purchased the Fighters guild even at the expense of overpaying for the acquisition.

- They are basically signalling their intent on entering the Black Continent.

- ㄴ The original Hydra guild had enough firepower to enter the Black Continent.  So why make this move?

- ㄴ Monsters aren't the only foes one has to face within the Black Continent.

In a short amount of time, a majority of the people came to a consensus in regards to the reasoning behind the merge.

- The Black Continent is already occupied by the Five Stars guild and the Stormhunters guild.  They are basically saying that they won't back down.

- ㄴ Will this be a start to a guild war?

- ㄴ Didn’t they already fight with the Big Smiles guild in the Frozen Lands?  They've already fought once, so there is no reason why they won't fight again.

- ㄴ However, the Big Smiles is part of the Five Stars now.  Will the Hydra guild really try to start something with the Big Smiles?

- ㄴ This is why they acquired the Fighters guild!

- ㄴ Still, would the acquisition of the Fighters guild be enough?  In my opinion, it would have been better to create an alliance with another guild.

- ㄴ The Hydra guild has a decent relationship with the Red Bulls.  If they allied with each other on top of acquiring the Fighters guild...  It might be possible.

Guild war.

This wasn't simply a fight between Users affiliated with a guild.  It was a life-and-death fight where the guild's profit was put on the line as prize.  Of course, when the Hydra guild enters the Black Continent, many predicted that it would signal the start of a guild war.  It would be a battle between 30 great guilds that'll determine each guild's fate.  Since the fate of a guild was on the line, it was predicted that it would be a battle amongst the most skilled Users, who represented the guilds.  It would be like the fight between Sohank and Sinclair at the Frozen lands.  The real pros would be fighting for their fame.

People expected it, and at the same time, they were looking forward to seeing it.

However, unlike the expectations held by the public, no full scale battles occurred.

When people realized that there wouldn't be any real clashes, everyone became disappointed.  Ahn-jaehyun was one of the people, who was disappointed.

‘There's no special news today either.’

Ahn-jaehyun busily tapped at his Tablet PC, and he had on a sullen expression on his face.

‘In the end, did they decide to work with each other?  From what I saw, the Hydra guild and the Five Stars overlapped in their area of operation...  Did they come to some kind of agreement?’

When the Hydra guild acquired the Fighters guild, Ahn-jaehyun had thought his opportunity had finally come.

From Ahn-jaehyun's perspective, it hadn't been great to share the Black Continent with the Five Stars and the Stormhunters guild.

On the other hand, if the field got messy, the story would change.  As the competition amongst the 30 great guilds intensified, he would be able to operate more freely in the Black Continent.

‘These bastards might attack me to screw me over...   Something smells off.’

If the 30 great guilds worked with each other, it wouldn't have a positive effect on the Hahoe Mask.  The Hahoe Mask wasn't some friendly and handsome oppa next door.  If the 30 great guilds had the chance to eliminate the Hahoe Mask, they would gladly get rid of him immediately.

‘Still, it is great to see a great volume of Items being released.’

One of the positives of the 30 great guilds operating in the Black Continent was the fact the Black Continent was stabilizing as each faction kept each other in check.  This had the effect of more Unique Items and Skill Books being put on the market.

Warlord had an Item Crafting system, and if one was lucky, one could produce a Unique Rank Item, while trying to make a normal Rank Item.

At the same time, the Black Continent had a lot of locations, where one could acquire Skill Books.  There was the Dungeons called Ruins, and the Dungeon Rewards frequently gave No Name Skill Books as reward.

Level 190 No Name Skill Books were being put on the market intermittently.

Ahn-jaehyun tapped his Tablet PC to go into Warlord's auction house.  There were 3 level 190 No Name Skill Book up for sale.  The price was 1 million gold.  All three of them were priced the same at 1 million gold.

‘Crazy bastards.’

Of course, the sellers weren’t serious about selling it for gold.  If they were really going to sell it for 1 million gold, one would be better off allowing the option of trading it for an Item of similar price instead of gold.

The sellers had put it up with a YOLO mentality.  If it did sell, it would be a huge windfall for the seller.  Even if it was a very slim possibility, there was a a bit of hope behind their actions.

‘If it was a 100 thousand gold then maybe....’

Warlord had a fair number of wealthy individuals, who had too much money.

‘100,000 gold.’

Ahn-jaehyun clicked his tongue when he realized what he had just thought about.

‘I'm so far down this road.  I'm actually thinking about buying a Skill book for 100 thousand gold...’

Ahn-jaehyun shook his head from side to side, and his gaze naturally landed on the V-Gear lying on top of the mattress.  It was the most expensive V-Gear model a civilian could buy.  He felt a weight press down on his chest.

2.

There were two mountains surrounded by a red forest.  From afar, it looked as if the mountains were burning at its base.  These mountains were so tall that it was hard to even look up at the peak of the mountains.

Red Forest.

It was one of the top 5 most difficult hunting ground found on the Black Continent.

One had to be level 240 to have access to the hunting ground!

The Stormhunters guild had found this place first, but they had given up any rights to it.  It was still too difficult to claim this location as a hunting ground.  It was a hellish location for the Users.

There was a fearsome monster that had made this place into hell.

Koo-uh-uh-uhng!

It was 3 meters tall, and it had human arms and legs like a werewolf.  However, it possessed incredible offense, defense and combat ability that couldn't be compared to a humanoid monster.

The Werebear was first found by the Storm Princess Hahui, and the monster was famous for knocking her down with a single strike.

To be precise, Hahui thought the Werebear was cute, so she approached it to give it a hug.  As she attempted the hug, she hadn't been able to dodge the Werebear's attack, and she was sent flying through the air.  Hatch had recorded this scene, and he had uploaded it to his personal youtube page.

In just five days, the video received 30 million views.  It was a very popular video.

Currently, the Werebear was letting out a rough cry.

Koo-uh-uh-uhng!

To be precise, it let out a scream.

Two Skeleton Knights easily turned away the arms swung by the Werebear, and the small Mini Ogre Skeleton Warriors continuously stabbed at the Werebear's legs.  When the Werebear tried to catch the Mini Ogre Skeleton Warriors, the Skeleton Knights immediately brought down their swords to make wounds on its thick hide.

In such a situation, the cry let out by the Werebear could be interpreted as a scream.

“Ah.  It is so noisy..”

Hyrkan expressed his annoyance at hearing such a noise.  The other Users would be startled by the sight in front of him, but it was something he saw everyday.  

Moreover, Hyrkan was busy pressing the Golden Conch to his ear.

- To the east······.

The Golden Conch let out a low voice.  The voice came out at really low volume.  If one wasn't paying full attention to it, one wouldn’t be able to make out the words.  This was the reason why Hyrkan had become annoyed at the Werebear's cry.

‘Shit.’

Of course, this wasn't the real source of his annoyance.

‘I have to go east again?’

It was the 20th day.

It had been 20 days, since Hyrkan had received the Quest from the Heard Fortress Ruin town.

Hyrkan had relied on the low voice of the Golden Conch for directions.  It kept sending him towards the east, and he was once again sent towards the same direction.

‘How far does it want me to go?  Is it a bug?’

Moreover, he hadn't traveled a short distance in the past 20 days.  He had traveled a large distance.  Despite this fact, he had nothing to show for it.  He hadn’t been able to find any more traces regarding the Archmage Bokan, and he hadn’t found any Ruins either.

‘This Bokan bastard is worse than Abrahim.  What kind of a Quest has no end like this?’

In truth, it was the worst part about this Quest.

“Hoo-ooh.”

‘After the Heard Fortress Ruin, I haven't been able to earn any more Ancient Powers.’

The fastest way to gain the Ancient Power was to find the Ruins.  The other way was the Quest Rewards.  

Moreover, if one wanted to earn a Transcendent Rank Ancient Power, one needed Quests that took at least 10 days to complete them.

This was also the reason why he had thought he would at the very least find two Ruins during this Quest.

He had thought the appearance of Ruins was a given.  In the Ruined Kingdom episode, the Ruins acted as the stepping stones to progress in one’s Quest.  

This was the Quest to find the Archmage Bokan, so shouldn't this Quest have more extraordinary stepping stones?

However, for the past 20 days, Hyrkan had been busily fighting monsters.

‘If the Quest Reward wasn't a Skill Book, I would have given up on this much earlier.’

Hyrkan shook his head from side to side as he once again looked at the battlefield.  The Skeleton Knights and Skeleton Warriors made up a group of seven, and they were facing a Werebear.  The monster was riddled with wounds.

However, it wasn't as if the Werebear was the only one to take wounds.  The Skeleton Knights and Skeleton Warriors had taken significant damage at the Werebear's counterattacks.  In fact, three Skeleton Warriors had already reverted themselves to Skeleton Fragments.  The Werebear had been fighting 10 foes, and it had taken down three.

‘I can understand why the Storm Princess was sent flying by this monster.’

The Werebears were really strong.

From Hyrkan's perspective, it was one of the strongest mid-sized normal monster he had encountered.

Moreover, the Werebears were absent from his memories.

“Tsk!”

Hyrkan clicked his tongue.  At that moment, the Werebear suddenly looked at Hyrkan.  When it met Hyrkan's eyes, the light within its eyes changed.  It used to have a black gleam in its eyes, but now it had turned red.

Hyrkan wasn't taken aback.  This was the first time he had seen the monster do this, and when the monster stared at him with those eyes, Hyrkan knew something was up.  

Hyrkan was already running at that point.

The Werebear threw its body towards Hyrkan.  The Skeleton Knights raised their shields in front of them to block it, but the Werebear was much stronger than before.  The Skeleton Knights were thrown to the ground by the Body Slam.  

Koo-uh-uhng!

The Wearbear let out a roar, and it got onto all four feet for the first time.  It started running after Hyrkan.

The Skeleton Knights rolled across the ground before they immediately righted themselves.

The Skeleton Knights looked at the Werebear's rear with a blue light in their eyes.

Dduhl-goo-ruhk, dduhl-goo-ruhk!

The Mini Ogre Skeleton Warriors were geniuses at tracking down foes, so they quickly followed right behind the Werebear.  In a single breath, a single Mini Ogre Skeleton Warrior climbed atop the Werebear, and it started to stab down at the Werebear.

Hyrkan, who had been running, suddenly changed direction, and he started to run in a circuitous route.  After a brief moment, he came to a stop.  When Hyrkan stopped running, the Werebear rushed towards Hyrkan.

Koo-uhng!

The Werebear was about to pounce on him when Hyrkan lowered his body.  the Werebear flew over Hyrkan as if it was jumping over an obstacle.  After landing on the floor, the Werebear quickly turned its body.

Chul-kuhk, chul-kuhk, chul-kuhk!

In a flash, the Skeleton Knights and Skeleton Warriors surrounded the Werebear.  They maintained the perimeter as they charged towards the monster.

He had run away using the Whirlpool escape plan.  He had run away in the shape of a whirlpool, and in the end, the bait would become surrounded.

Hyrkan looked at the sight in a calm manner, and he once again put the Golden Conch to his ear.

- To the north....

‘Uh?’

At that moment, a new word appeared for the first time.

Hyrkan turned his head towards the north.

3.

Hyrkan raised his head.

It was a large mountain, and everything about it was grand.  Within this mountain, there was a cave that had a slightly different grandeur than a naturally made cave.  On the exterior walls, there were realistic large knights carved into it, and it looked as if they would come to life at any moment.  However, the sight that stole Hyrkan's gaze wasn't the knight sculptures.

‘No way.’

There was a 10 meter tall cave entrance located between the large knight sculptures.  On top of the cave entrance, the image of a crown was carved into it.

‘Can it be?’

Moreover, there were gems embedded into the crown.  The gems were massive.  Each of the gems decorating the crown was easily bigger than a man's fist.

Hyrkan looked at the cave entrance, and he put his treasured Golden Conch to his ear.

- Go in······.

Hyrkan followed the Golden Conch's words, and he entered the cave.  Darkness greeted him.

There was no way anyone would smile happily when looking at this darkness.  It was as if all the ills of the world was gathered within this darkness.

However, a smile formed on Hyrkan's lips as he looked at the darkness.

‘Thank you, my teacher's teacher.’

Hyrkan finally found his first stepping stone on the 20th day.

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