Volume 1 - CH 16

[Confirming the entrance of 'Seo Gangrim' and 'Cheon Goonam'!]

[Entered the room of Fire Hell!]

As soon as Seo Gangrim opened the door and entered, the heat immediately stuck to his face, and sweat started to stream down his back. Steam rose thickly from all directions, making it difficult to see the surroundings clearly. The Fire hell seemed to be a mixture of a wasteland and a swamp. The nearby trees were all blackened and withered, and the floor was a sticky mud. If there was a difference from ordinary mud, it was that the floor was reddish-black in color, and was boiling.

"It really looks like hell."

Cheon Goonam exclaimed in a voice mixed with admiration and horror. As he said, this place was like a scene from hell. Soon, the door closed, and a message appeared.

["The Fire Hell stage begins!"]

["Find the Ice Crystal and return to the lobby!"]

[Time limit: None]

"Ice Crystal? There is ice in a place like this?" Cheon Goonam murmured with a look of curiosity.

"Did Seo Gangrim find the Ice Crystal?"

"No, not yet."

I knew the location of the Ice Crystal and how to find it. Of course, it didn't mean I plan to clear this stage right away.

Cheon Goonam's expression turned slightly disappointed as he said, "Well, fortunately, there is no time limit."

There was indeed no time limit, but it didn't matter much in this place. Reaching the location of the Ice Crystal was already difficult but what was even more difficult was bringing it back to the lobby. After all, the Fire Hell was boiling around; hence even if the Ice Crystal was magically infused, it would still melt. Unfortunately for Cheon Goonam, he didn't need to know this information.

"Well then, let's go."

Seo Gangrim moved forward, and Cheon Goonam soon followed behind him. The heat of the the place made it difficult to move. The Fire Hell was surrounded by cliffs, and the steam obscured the view, making it hard to see.

"It's really suffocating. It was okay until a while ago."

Even for Cheon Goonam, whose element was Water, this place seemed quite overwhelming. Cheon Goonam looked at my hands and asked, "But where did you get injured? Why do you have bandages on your hands...?"

Seo Gangrim had bandages wrapped around both hands right now. In response to Cheon Goonam's question, he casually replied, "The sweat kept making my sword slip, so I wrapped them."

Of course, that wasn't the real purpose. The easiest way to prevent "Palmistry" was not to show your hands. It might not be a long-term solution, but it was effective for now.

There was no significant change in Cheon Goonam's expression after hearing my answer, but Seo Gangrim could see a faint sense of disappointment pass by his face.

He then said, diverting the topic for no reason, "By the way, it's really hot here. Don't tell me there's really Ice Crystal in this fire pot or something....... Aaahh!"

He didn’t finish his sentence; he screamed out loud and slumped down. The lava ahead bubbled, and something jumped out. It looked like a muddy lump that had melted, but it emitted a pale light, and heat was rising from it. Amidst the muddy lump, two round eyes spun around.

-Geguruk!

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[Name] Fire Toad

[Rank] Insect Third-class

[Description] A demon born in the Fire Hell. Its attack power itself is weak, but it moves in groups. It consumes things that have a lower temperature than itself.

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It was one of the main inhabitants in this place, the Fire Toad—a demon that senses prey based on temperature. When a person enters the Fire Hell, this demon immediately detects the person’s temperature and jumps out. After all, in comparison to this place, we would feel like cool ice cream to the Fire Toad.

As soon as one Fire Toad jumped out, others like it followed suit.

-Gaegul!

-Kkeguruk!

Just as one was about to rush towards Seo Gangrim, he immediately drew his sword.

‘How much trouble had I gone through because of just one of these toads in the past?’

Fortunately, he now had an ability that he didn't have back then.

[The ability 'Sword Unsheathe' is activated!]

-Seogeok!

With a sensation as if jelly was being cut, the Fire Toads was sliced in two. As soon as its companion died, the remaining Fire Toads immediately rushed towards the two. They were everywhere.

"Damn it! Just frogs like these...!"

Cheon Goonam, who had fallen in surprise, quickly scrambled to his feet, and with a face filled with anger, he activated his ability.

[The ability 'Water Bullet' is activated!]

As the ability was activated, droplets of water came out of the water jug tied to his waist, which meant that he couldn't generate water from thin air yet, so he carried a water jug around.

The water bullet pierced through the Fire Toads instantly.

-Ggurukggureuk!

In an instant, the water evaporated, and steam began to rise. As the Fire Toad hit by the water bullet cooled down, the surrounding Fire Toads rushed in and devoured it.

"It, it worked!"

Seeing that his attack was effective, he became excited and started shooting out Water Bullets. However, there were too many Fire Toads. And there were other demons besides them.

"Ah! Wh-what is this!"

He belatedly discovered the Fossil Demons that had approached behind him. In this place, in addition to the Fire Toads, there were Fossil Demons disguised as rocks around the place. They were slow, but they had high defense, making them troublesome opponents.

Too many demons were rushing in, so it was about time to retreat. Seo Gangrim ran forward, leaving Cheon Goonam behind.

"Seo Gangrim-ssi, where are you going?!"

While swinging his sword towards the approaching Fire Toads, Seo Gangrim ran towards the resting area Seo Gangrim had seen before.

Seo Gangrim could feel Cheon Goonam desperately following behind me.

[Entered the resting area!]

Seo Gangrim entered the inner part of the resting area, which was a cave.

As Seo Gangrim sat down to rest, he heard a commotion and saw Cheon Goonam running towards him.

"Seo Gangrim-ssi, please help me!" He said as he rolled into the cave.

He had suffered quite a bit, and his body was covered in wounds. With burns and gash marks everywhere, Cheon Goonam crawled to his knees, frightened.

"Why did you just stand there and watched?! We need to chase them away!"

"We just need to wait."

"What? What do you mean...?"

Seo Gangrim didn't answer and waited for a moment. It seemed like the Fire Toads that were relentlessly chasing after Cheon Goonam had arrived at the entrance of the cave.  Just as Cheon Goonam was about to panic and run away…

-Gaegul?

-Gegureuk.

The Fire Toads wiggled their heads and retreated.

Cheon Goonam looked bewildered and asked, "Did they give up?"

"Yes. This is the space I found last time, and the demons don't come in here," Seo Gangrim said and pointed to the small stone tablet placed inside the cave.

Caves with stone tablets were inaccessible to demons. The temperature inside the place was quite cool, and it felt refreshing, relieving fatigue.

"I didn't expect the demons to pour out from the entrance like that... It's more difficult than the first stage, isn't it?" Cheon Goonam said, his face turned tired in that short time.

He was right, the second stage was more difficult than the first one. However, the demons didn't pour out to this extent before. There was an increased number of demons compared to Seo Gangrim’s previous life. And the safe areas were also fewer in number.

‘Did I clear the first stage too quickly, so the Destiny Protection Bureau increased the difficulty?’

Even with the increased difficulty, however, the monsters didn't pose a significant threat to Seo Gangrim. After all, he had raised his abilities considerably in the first stage. But Cheon Goonam seemed to be having a harder time than in his previous life.

"Ugh... It hurts so much, I could die."

Seeing Cheon Goonam, covered in wounds and suffering, Seo Gangrim felt a sense of satisfaction. But Seo Gangrim couldn't end it like this.

As Seo Gangrim sat calmly, Cheon Goonam looked at him and asked, "You seem to know a lot about this place. You even know about the safe zones..."

"When I was here alone last time, I came up to this area. I failed, though."

"I see. Well, it's not surprising that you failed."

Cheon Goonam seemed quite pleased with the fact that Seo Gangrim failed. Truly, Cheon Goonam was a person with a rotten personality.

Cheon Goonam then smiled and said, "By the way, Seo Gangrim-ssi, you survived earlier thanks to me, right? I killed the Fire Toad that was targeting you."

Did he think Seo Gangrim wouldn't realize he was lying? He didn't want to help me, he wanted to kill the toad that was attacking him.

Cheon Goonam continued to babble, seemingly wanting to receive compliments from Seo Gangrim.

"My Water Bullets is working quite well here. I noticed that there is a spring inside this place. And we can keep replenishing the water, so this stage should be easy to clear."

'Easy to clear'. Seo Gangrim remembered the sight of Cheon Goonam freezing in surprise when the Fire Toads appeared. When Seo Gangrim ignored him, Goonam made an unpleasant face.

"Seo Gangrim-ssi, I understand that you're strong, but don't you need my help here? I helped you several times with my ability."

There was no value in engaging with him, so Seo Gangrim instead took a sip of water and went out of the cave, and said, "Cheon Goonam, I don't particularly need your help."

"Why are you saying that..."

"If you don't feel like it, you can go back. I can clear this stage on my own."

The short rest time came to an end with that. Seo Gangrim felt Cheon Goonam about to say something and sensed him following him.

* * *

***

‘What a bastard.’ Cheon Goonam glared at Seo Gangrim's back while panting.

How much time had passed? In reality, only about two hours had passed, but for Cheon Goonam, it felt like a whole day of him being here.

‘I feel like I'm going to die from exhaustion.’

Cheon Goonam glanced at the corpses of the Fire Toad they had piled up around them. As soon as they left the safe zone, the Fire Toads had swarmed them, leaving them no time to rest. Meanwhile, Seo Gangrim was relentlessly defeating the demons without a trace of expression on his face.

‘It's frustrating to suggest going back, but..."’

It was starting to seem like a reasonable time to suggest going back, but Seo Gangrim just silently moved forward.

In the beginning, Cheon Goonam thought he was stronger than Seo Gangrim. After all, his Water Bullets was more effective in this place. But as time passed, the situation changed. Water Bullets was an effective ability, but he wasted it too much. To make matters worse, the recovery potion could only restore stamina and heal injuries. Before he knew it, his mana was depleted, and he suffered from severe mana deficiency, leaving him no choice but to fight with his sword.

Having killed Fire Toads with his sword, Seo Gangrim was clearly superior.

'This bastard can't be a rookie, he's at least a Divine-rank.'

Cheon Goonam eyed Seo Gangrim's hand. The bandages were still wrapped around them, so he couldn't read his destiny.

‘Why did he bring bandages again...’ Initially, he was curious about Seo Gangrim breaking through Sword Mountain alone and wanted to read his Destiny. In fact, it didn't matter if he gave up here. Even if he couldn't read his fortune, he could gauge Seo Gangrim's level through his skills.

‘But this bastard seems to be hiding something.’