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A few days had passed since they last monitored that user.

Led by Team Leader Oh Jin-Soo, the real-time monitoring program was once again activated.

And before their eyes, an astonishing scene unfolded.

“Isn’t that a mana storm…?”

“What? How did he quell it?”

“No, what the hell is going on…?”

Mana storm.

A storm caused by the ‘mana surge’ of a ‘Random Gate,’ one of the types of gates that trigger Waves.

Its power was so immense that it was known to instantly tear anyone caught in it to shreds, leading to immediate death.

But that user voluntarily entered the storm and quelled it in an instant.

Moreover, the user seemed perfectly fine.

“…Rewind!”

Oh Jin-Soo hurriedly gave the order.

They had to check if the user had exploited a bug.

They had to make sure he wasn’t using the ‘Bug City’ like before!

“Now that there’s an excuse, you’re watching as you please…”

The employee operating the program muttered under his breath, just loud enough for no one to hear.

Not long ago, when Ho-Yeong’s Yeo Sunwoo personally filed a complaint, their faces turned pale, and they didn’t even dare to think about activating the monitoring program.

But after the Bug City incident, they were watching freely.

Well, thanks to that, he could enjoy the show to his heart’s content.

“Huh? Did you just say something?”

Oh Jin-Soo tilted his head.

“N-no, sir! Nothing at all!”

The employee was startled and quickly fast-forwarded the recording.

And they saw it.

The scene where the named NPC ‘Cassandra’ suddenly visited Kaiserk V and said, ‘That user will eliminate the Random Gate.’

“…Was there such a thing?”

“I don’t know… What is it? Is it new content added by the headquarters?”

“If that were the case, they would have announced it and updated it beforehand. Anyway, where did the user go now?”

“Just a moment, please.”

The employee fiddled with the program and adjusted the time.

Then the monitor screen switched to a Theme Dungeon.

“Where is this?”

“…Please wait a moment. Ah, it seems he’s connected to a Theme Dungeon, not an ordinary dungeon.”

“Wow… Of all things, a Theme Dungeon?”

Event-type Theme Dungeons ended quickly like regular dungeons, but normal Theme Dungeons took quite a long time.

Moreover, they were quite difficult as one had to receive quests from NPCs in the village and then clear the dungeon to fully complete it.

“Team Leader! It’s called Ilion Castle!”

“Ilion?”

“According to the Monster Encyclopedia, Ilion is a humanoid monster! But it has very high defense, so it’s practically impossible to clear without overwhelming damage.”

“What’s the level?”

“265.”

Even though the user had leveled up a lot in a short time, he hadn’t even reached level 200 or completed his 3rd job advancement.

There’s no way he could hunt in Ilion in that state.

“…Let’s turn it off for now.”

Even though the Collapsed City had cheat codes, there was no way a Theme Dungeon would have something like that.

Even if they kept watching, there wouldn’t be any clear results right away.

“Do you think the user will fail, Team Leader?”

“No, it’ll just take a while, but I think he’ll clear it.”

Based on the monstrous performance he had shown so far, he was confident that the user would be able to clear the Theme Dungeon.

* * *

Their special ability.

It was to cast a buff that increased their defense by 1.5 times.

Furthermore, once the buff was cast, they wouldn’t receive critical hits until the buff wore off, making them quite tricky to hunt.

This meant extremely unfavorable conditions for Jeong-Hoon, who was at a lower level.

However, with Leviathan, hunting would become much easier.

‘If it ignores defense, the damage will penetrate that much better.’

And it was a good opportunity to practice his swordsmanship, which he hadn’t used much lately.

Jeong-Hoon moved towards the village.

This Theme Dungeon consisted of a total of five areas.

The first was the path to Ilion Castle.

The second was the outer wall of Ilion Castle.

The third was the entrance to Ilion Castle.

The fourth was Ilion Castle itself.

The fifth was the heart of Ilion Castle.

The fact that there were many areas meant that the difficulty was also considerable.

‘This might take a while.’

Of course, he had no intention of giving up.

He wanted to get back at Jeong Chang-Ho, and the ‘Rune’ he would obtain here would be a great help in his future growth.

“Hey? Who are you?! Get out of here!”

As he approached the village, a little kid pointed a branch at Jeong-Hoon and shouted.

===

[NPC Information]

– Nickname: Anum

– Level: 15

– Occupation: Child

===

Anum was a very small child who looked to be about 9 years old.

He seemed to be malnourished, with no flesh on his bones, just skin and bones.

Jeong-Hoon took out bread and milk from his inventory.

He had packed them just in case after the Monster Wave ended.

“…Want one?”

“What’s that?”

Anum tilted his head, seemingly unfamiliar with bread and milk.

“Food.”

“…Liar! There’s no such food in the world!”

“Then will you believe me if I eat it?”

“Uh, yeah. I’ll believe you then!”

Anum’s stomach was concave.

He must be very hungry.

Jeong-Hoon took out another piece of bread from his inventory, put it in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.

“How about it?”

“…You can really eat that?”

“I told you, right? Want some?”

“…No, thanks.”

Anum shook his head.

[Wow, he’s smart. Yeah, you shouldn’t accept food from strangers. You could end up dead.]

‘Huh, you’re quite harsh.’

[It’s not harsh, it’s the truth, kid. There are more dirty bastards in this world than good ones.]

‘…Can’t argue with that.’

Damn…

It’s not like I’m a bad guy, though.

Jeong-Hoon smiled bitterly and put the bread and milk back into his inventory.

He couldn’t force-feed a child who didn’t want to eat.

“Then can you guide me to the village?”

“No, outsiders can’t enter the village! Go away!”

A question mark blinked above Anum’s head.

[Normal Quest: Hungry Anum]

– Restriction: Entry into Theme Dungeon: Ilion Castle

– Reward: Village entry

– Description: Hunt the Lv. 180 Owlbear near the village and fill the bellies of the Irun tribe.

[No way, you’re asking this starving child to eat meat right off the bat?]

Mukho was outraged.

‘It’s okay. Owlbear blood is very effective in nourishing the body.’

In his past life, after New World became reality, the number of orphans increased significantly.

Whenever Jeong-Hoon took care of those orphans, he would hunt Owlbears and feed them the blood and meat.

Strangely, Owlbear blood contained most of the nutrients necessary for humans, and supplementing it with meat for protein created a magical effect of revitalization after eating it.

“Then I’ll hunt an Owlbear and bring it back. Will you let me in then?”

“Oh, an Owlbear?”

“Yes.”

“…Alright then.”

Anum nodded.

“Okay. Go back to the village first. I’ll hunt an Owlbear and come back.”

“…I’ll be waiting at the entrance.”

Hunting an Owlbear was simple.

He just had to climb up the mountain, take out Anima, and draw the bowstring.

Then, he had to focus his senses and check the movements of the monsters around him one by one.

Rustle.

The slightly dull sound of footsteps on fallen leaves.

Jeong-Hoon released the drawn bowstring in that direction.

The arrow flew, accurately piercing the monster’s forehead.

“Kreeek!”

The monster, struck by the arrow, cried out in pain.

A giant bear with a bluish tinge.

[Lv. 180 Owlbear]

This was the Owlbear.

Jeong-Hoon took out Leviathan and stabbed the bear’s neck deeply, ending its life.

He then drew his sword and collected the blood in a gourd he had prepared beforehand.

“Michael.”

After collecting all the blood, Jeong-Hoon called for Michael.

“Yes, Master.”

“I’m going to take this bear to the village.”

“To the village…?”

“Yes. Help me with your necromancy.”

“I didn’t train my necromancy to be used as a porter…”

Despite grumbling, Michael carried the Owlbear.

* * *

[Quest completed.]

[Village entry restriction lifted.]

He seemed to understand why the quest required him to hunt an Owlbear.

‘This is serious.’

The village was empty.

There were only a few elderly people and eight children.

“C-can we eat this?”

Anum asked, gulping.

Jeong-Hoon smiled faintly and nodded.

“Yes. Eat as much as you want.”

“Thank you!”

After handing over the Owlbear, Anum and the children somewhat laboriously lit a fire and cooked the meat.

Even though they must have been very hungry, they first shared the meat and blood with the elderly, and then the remaining portions were shared among the children.

[The trust of the entire Irun Tribe slightly increases.]

As the meal was nearing its end, a question mark blinked above the head of an elderly woman sitting at the head of the table.

===

[NPC Information]

– Nickname: Aibator

– Level: 150

– Occupation: Chieftain

===

She was the chieftain leading the Irun Tribe.

[Normal Quest: The Path to Ilion Castle]

– Restriction: Completion of the Hungry Anum quest

– Reward: Removal of entry restriction to the outer wall of Ilion Castle

– Description: Hunt all the ‘Lv. 220 Ilion Dark Golems’ on the path to Ilion Castle.

The quest was to hunt all the Ilion Dark Golems.

As Jeong-Hoon accepted the quest, Aibator coughed dryly and began to speak.

“Cough, cough. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a young man. Thank you for filling the children’s stomachs.”

“You’re welcome.”

“So, what brings an outsider here?”

“I’ve come to eliminate the monsters in that castle.”

Jeong-Hoon said, pointing to the towering castle.

A giant gray castle in a dense forest.

That was Ilion Castle, the one he had to clear in this Theme Dungeon.

Aibator’s face darkened.

“Unfortunately, that’s beyond your level.”

Aibator checked Jeong-Hoon’s level.

A low number, not even reaching 200.

It was a mystery how such a weakling could have reached this deep into the dungeon.

“Well, we’ll only know if we try.”

“…The average level of our tribe’s warriors is 190. Even they were dragged away without any resistance against those monsters.”

He seemed to understand why the village was empty.

At the time, Jeong Chang-Ho had bragged about his heroic deeds.

‘That boss, Ilion, had a cruel trait of growing stronger by sacrificing people. So he captured all the nearby tribes and killed them.’

‘Is that so?’

Jeong-Hoon had listened attentively to Jeong Chang-Ho’s words.

‘He was a real scumbag. Not just enjoying it, but practically capturing them alive and sacrificing them. It was hard to believe he was a humanoid monster.’

Victims were probably still being sacrificed at this very moment.

There was no time to waste.

Jeong-Hoon stood up.

“I’ll give it a try, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll give up.”

“…Sigh, I warned you. Then try to eliminate all the Dark Golems lurking on the path to the castle. That should automatically open the next path.”

“Yes.”

Lv. 220 Ilion Dark Golems.

The problem was that these golems, unlike ordinary golems, had a special ability constantly active.

[Super Armor]

– Defense increased by 1.5x. (No critical hits)

– Does not become incapacitated due to damage. (Disappears when the defense increase buff is removed)

It was Super Armor.

It was quite an overpowered special ability, increasing defense by 1.5 times and preventing incapacitation from damage.

‘Wouldn’t it be better to use me?’

Anima asked.

‘No, rest this time.’

Anima could deal explosive damage with each step, but that was impossible when the level difference was this significant.

Moreover, he couldn’t defeat them by targeting weak points, and even ‘Dragon Void’ wouldn’t activate due to the level difference, making it even more impossible to use Anima.

Of course, he could solve the problem with the Underworld King’s Fist Technique.

‘Underworld King’s Will,’ which could be activated with a 10% chance when using the 5th Form of the Underworld King’s Fist Technique.

However, it took quite a long time to reach the 5th Form, and it wasn’t easy to continuously use the fist technique against high-level enemies with Super Armor.

That’s why he chose Leviathan.

‘Leviathan, which activates even with a 120 level difference, should be enough.’

Holding a sword after a long time felt a bit awkward.

He had been defeating everything with the Underworld King’s Fist Technique and Anima, so he rarely had a chance to use a sword.

‘Let’s finish this quickly.’

Jeong-Hoon passed through the portal and arrived at the ‘Path to Ilion Castle.’

A dense forest in front of the castle.

Dozens of golems, about 2 meters tall, were patrolling the forest.

“Wooong! Wooong!”

The golems’ eyes suddenly changed from blue to red.

They had detected the intruder, Jeong-Hoon.

“Shall we begin?”

Jeong-Hoon used his movement technique to approach the golem in front of him and swung Leviathan.

Clang!

A heavy sound erupted as Leviathan clashed with the rock that formed the golem’s body.

The golem raised its fist and swung it at Jeong-Hoon.

It was a much stronger golem than the ones he had seen in the Ruined City.

However, Jeong-Hoon had faced golems countless times, so dodging its attacks wasn’t too difficult.

‘As expected, its patterns are simple.’

Golems were creatures that moved through internal power mechanisms.

They didn’t have free will and could only move according to their programmed instructions.

It was natural for their attacks to lack variety.

Jeong-Hoon struck the golem again with Leviathan.

Clang! Clang!

‘There’s no need to activate skills.’

The sword skills he currently possessed were Continuous Slash, Single Strike, and Vital Point Stab.

But Jeong-Hoon simply swung his sword repeatedly without activating any skills.

And then the 5% chance triggered.

[Leviathan’s Wrath is activated.]

10 seconds.

A debuff was applied, reducing the golem’s defense to 0.

And its red glowing abdomen turned gray.

The defense-boosting buff was temporarily frozen, exposing its weak point.

[Single Strike is activated.]

Jeong-Hoon immediately used Single Strike to attack the weak point.

Crack.

A hairline crack appeared on the Ilion Dark Golem’s abdomen.

[Continuous Slash is activated.]

Jeong-Hoon quickly attacked the cracked abdomen with Continuous Slash.

Smash!

The cracked abdomen shattered, revealing the internal space and the core, which was its power source.

[Vital Point Stab is activated.]

Seizing the opportunity, Jeong-Hoon shattered the core with Leviathan.

“Roar!”

The Ilion Dark Golem collapsed with a scream.

———-