CH 160

Chomp! Champ! Chomp!

The Adventurers were helpless in front of the swarm of Black Beetles, and it wasn’t because the Adventurers were weak. The issue was with the Black Beetles’ traits.

The Adventurers couldn’t do much against the overwhelming speed and numbers of the Black Beetles. How many gamers could fight against thousands of monsters swarming toward them at once?

The Black Beetles’ Physical Damage Resistance was high enough that they were impossible to kill in a single strike, and they were so fast that they were able to avoid any magic attacks even before the caster could cast them.

It would be ideal to cast AoE fire spells, which was the weakness of all insect-type monsters, but the Black Beetles had resistance against fire. In short, the Adventurers who had entered the castle to end the war had no chance against the Black Beetles.

“Eu… Euaaaaack!”

“Argh!”

“They’re eating me alive!”

“What bullshit is this—”

The Adventurers tried their best to put up a fight, but they were devoured by the Black Beetles in the end.

Someone was eaten alive while channeling their spell. Someone was fully armed in plate mail, but the Black Beetles went into the small gaps in their armor and devoured them inside.

A magician had used an AoE skill to kill many Black Beetles, but she was eaten alive during the slight casting delay after she was done casting her spell.

It hadn’t even been five minutes since the Black Beetles caught up with the Adventurers, but two hundred of them had already died.

The Black Beetles followed the Starved King’s command and rushed at the Adventurers like a tidal wave. They would only separate to avoid any attacks directed at them, and they would even go into all sorts of different formations to attack and defend.

The Adventurers couldn’t attack the Starved King directly because he was surrounded by Black Beetles that had formed a wall around him as though they were his bodyguards.

It was the Starved King’s skill, Black Beetle Shield.

“Die, you disgusting basta—Euaaaaak!” 

An Adventurer tried to attack the Starved King, but the result was horrible as the Adventurer left behind a scream and a random item before being reduced to mere bones.

“It’s still not enough… Nothing can satiate me, but I must keep eating! I will devour everything in this world! Kekeke!” the Starved King exclaimed with a famished look.

The Starved King had no choice but to keep eating after being afflicted with the curse of insatiable hunger. Even the items and the Adventurers the Black Beetles had consumed for him were nowhere enough to satiate him.

“How are we supposed to kill that?!”

“Ah, his attack pattern is tricky…”

“This is my first time seeing such a disgusting boss monster…!”

The Adventurers were helpless. They despaired in front of the Starved King. They couldn’t find a way to fight the Starved King. The Starved King’s level wasn’t very high, but he was a tricky opponent.

In the end, the Adventurers who had entered the castle were annihilated. They didn’t manage to hold out for even five minutes against the Starved King.

Of course, with the exception of one—Siegfried was the only one who somehow survived the Black Beetles’ onslaught.

“You are the insolent fool who dared to… disrupt my plans… It’s good to see you…” the Starved King said with furrowed brows upon recognizing Siegfried.

However, Siegfried couldn’t really care less about what the Starved King was saying.

“Ah, my bad side took over today. I should repent my sins…” Siegfried grumbled.

It was a surprise how he mentioned something about repenting his sins all of a sudden.

“You insolent fool! How dare you ignore—”

“Shut up.”

“…!”

“I didn’t run away because I can’t screw someone like you, okay? Just shut up and let me repent my sins,” Siegfried sharply retorted. The reason he was suddenly reflecting was none other than because of his greed.

***

Two minutes before the Adventurers were annihilated…

‘What the hell? That guy’s easy to defeat…’ 

Siegfried was confident that he could make quick work of the Starved King.

He had run away with the Adventurers because he was caught off guard by the swarm of Black Beetles, but he soon composed himself and assessed the situation.

He then realized that the solution to this problem was much simpler than he thought.

Irradiate.

He was confident that the Level 100 Black Beetles wouldn’t be able to scratch him, even if they swarmed him.

‘I got scared for nothing.’

However, something caught his eye just as he was about to melt the Black Beetles with Irradiate.

Flicker!

His eyes darted toward the items that the late Adventurers had dropped.

‘Huh…?’ 

He felt that the items on the ground were talking to him.

“We look tasty, right?”

“How much do you think all of us will be worth if you keep us all to yourself?”

“We’re… FREE for the taking~!”

“Keep us all to yourself… keep us all to yourself… hehe…”

The items were whispering to him—tempting him. If he let the Adventurers die and killed the boss monster without them, he would be able to keep the late Adventurers’ item to himself.

However, executing the idea that he had in mind meant committing one of the worst offenses a gamer could commit in the world of gaming.

Indeed, it was a heinous crime to wait until one’s party members were dead before killing the boss monster and taking all the loot for oneself.

Siegfried thought about it hard and realized that he had no real reason to follow unwritten rules that had never been followed down to the letter in the first place.

‘They aren’t my party members, so do I really have to help them? Do I really have to care whether they lose their items or not?’ he pondered. The answer depended on which angle one would use to look at the situation.

The Adventurers were mercenaries that Stone Island had hired, and Siegfried was their indirect employer. Siegfried had paid so much money just to hire them, so why would he help and take care of their items for them?

The idea sounded weird.

Obviously, helping someone in need and distributing the loot evenly was the right thing to do, but…

Siegfried pondered over it for a bit longer before finally making up his mind

‘I need money. I need to earn as much as I can while I can. A man has to be ambitious and greedy while he’s still young, right?’

He decided to keep the hundreds of dropped items to himself.

***

Upon making his decision to keep the dropped items to himself, Siegfried had to wait until the last remaining Adventurer was dead. This was the reason why he was repenting.

“Haa… I am a greedy bastard. I sincerely repent my love for materialistic wealth, so please forgive me just this once I will not do this again, so—hold on… what if another opportunity presents itself? Hmm…” Siegfried prayed in repentance only to stop halfway when he couldn’t bring himself to promise not to do this again if an opportunity to do the same appeared once more.

Technically, his part was to hunt down the boss monster while the Adventurers were still alive, so he definitely had to repent no matter what.

“I will give some gold as a bonus to those who died, so please forgive me,” Siegfried prayed. He repented by promising to give out bonuses to those who died in hopes of reducing his crimes.

Afterward, he turned toward the Starved King.

Ssseeeuuu!

A powerful green mist emerged from Siegfried.

“This crazy bastard actually dares to—hehe… I will not grant you an easy death. I will not kill you no matter how hungry I am! kekeke!” the Starved King said. He swung the incense burner in his hand and commanded the Black Beetles. “Go, my minions! Go and devour that bastard’s flesh, but don’t kill him! I will inflict as much… pain on him as possible… kekeke!”

However, none of the Black Beetles could even touch Siegfried’s body.

Forget about touching him, they couldn’t even approach him.

Shiver…!

The Black Beetles convulsed before dying and crashing to the floor.

“W-What is this?!” the Starved King couldn’t believe his eyes.

The Black Beetles that stripped hundreds of Adventurers down to their bones in a matter of seconds couldn’t even approach the young man. Who could have known that these monsters with enhanced stats and abilities would die before even getting anywhere near their target?

This meant that the Starved King couldn’t fight Siegfried at all. After all, he had no special abilities aside from his control over the Black Beetles. The only thing left for him to do was to offer himself as a punching bag for Siegfried.

“I’m pretty busy, so let’s start with you, shall we? Come over here,” Siegfried said as he started walking toward the boss monster while his Irradiate was active.

He had to finish the battle as soon as possible since it would take him a long time to pick up the items that the late Adventurers had dropped.

Debuff?

It was unnecessary this time.

Irradiate was more than enough to kill the Black Beetles, and the Starved King ended up being an opponent that was easier to handle than Siegfried had expected.

Ssseuuu!

Siegfried unleashed his radioactive energy and killed every Black Bettle that dared to approach him. The Black Beetles didn’t really give a lot of Experience Points. In fact, the experience gained was negligible. However, their sheer numbers made up for the ridiculously negligible amount of Experience Points they gave, and Siegfried managed to amass quite a bit of Experience Points.

[You have gained Experience Points!]

[You have reached Level 181!]

[You have gained Experience Points!]

[You have reached Level 182!]

[You have gained Experience Points!]

[You have reached Level 183!]

He massacred thousands of Black Beetles with every step he took toward the Starved King, and the Black Beetles all turned into Experience Points.

[You have reached Level 184!]

[You have reached Level 185!]

[You have reached Level 186!]

[You have reached Level 187!]

[You have reached Level 188!]

[You have reached Level 188!]

[You have reached Level 190!]

He leveled up ten times in the blink of an eye and reached Level 190.

A new set of messages popped up in front of his eyes.

[Alert: You are now able to learn a new skill!]

[Alert: You may check the new attainable skills on the ‘My Skill’ page on your status screen.]

There was only a handful of Black Beetles left by the time Siegfried had leveled up enough to unlock the next skill of the Debuff Master. The insects scurried as far away as possible from Siegfried and even hid behind the walls.

“H-How can… this be…? This is… impossible…!” the Starved King muttered in disbelief.

He staggered backward as he stared wide-eyed at Siegfried.

“Hey, quit whining and just die. I still have to pick those items up,” Siegfried grumbled in annoyance while walking toward the boss monster.

Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak

He repeatedly smashed the boss monster’s head with his hammer, and the fourth blow was the final blow.

“T-This is… unfair…!” the Starved King uttered his last words. There was no way he would survive after his head was cracked open by Siegfried’s hammer.

He was once a king who dreamt of conquering Stone Island and using its enormous wealth to catapult his kingdom to the position of a powerhouse. However, his grand ambition was foiled by a lone corrupt general.

Ding!

A message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

[Alert: You have cleared the Quest – ‘Danger! Stone Island!’]

[Alert: Visit Lord Angele to collect your quest rewards!]

Now, he just had to collect his quest rewards and an Entropy Stone. Afterward, he could visit the Autonika Workshop once more. Of course, he still had a few things to do before that.

***

Right after the Starved King died.

[Starving Incense Burner]

[An incense burner infused with a tremendous amount of dark energy.]

[After lighting the incense burner, the user will be able to take command of the creatures of darkness, Black Beetles. However, the user will be afflicted with the curse of insatiable hunger for eternity.]

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[Type: Weapon]

[Rating: Legendary]

[Durability: 98/100]

[Special Abilities: Command Black Beetle, Black Beetle Wave, Black Beetle Shield.]

Siegfried placed the item that the Starved King had dropped into his Inventory.

‘I should bring this incense burner to the Bavarian Workshop and strike a deal.’

He would fetch a much more handsome price if he sold the dark artifact of mass destruction to the Bavarian Workshop rather than to the Autonika Workshop. There was also a very good chance that everything would go according to his plan.

‘I should keep it hidden before anyone sees it…’ 

He decided not to say a word about the dark artifact until he was done selling it to the Bavarian Workshop. Afterward, he went around the castle grounds to pick up the items that the Adventurers had dropped upon dying.