Chapter 185

Chapter 185

[The Condition for the Hidden Achievement ?Impossible Condition? has been satisfied.]

[A boss monster is about to be spawned.]

The clear sky turned overcast with dark clouds. The clouds completely obscured the warm sunlight, and the river water quickly overflowed, threatening to engulf the rainbow bridge, which had now turned black.

Seo Ji-Soo quickly moved to pull her sister into her arms and went back down the bridge. “Unnie! Snap out of it! What are you doing?”

“Rock... paper... scissors.” Seo Ji-Ah was half out of her senses.

Gollum felt an instinctive fear.

‘That ghost is undergoing demonization.’

He wanted to stop the process, but it was too late.

‘It’s at least a mid-tier Demon.’

It could even possess power comparable to that of a high-tier Demon. Gollum had already felt that something was hidden in this Dungeon. New novel chapters are published on

‘But I had suspected there would be another Dungeon within the Dungeon...’

However, it was an Irregular boss monster instead.

‘What kind of crazy bastard put such a powerful boss monster here?’

Although such a monster spawning naturally wasn’t impossible, Gollum’s intuition told him otherwise. This Demon had forcibly been inserted in this Dungeon by the GMs of this area, along with all sorts of difficult conditions.

‘This is not something one or two GMs could do.’

It seemed all of the GMs from the city had worked on this.

‘That monster is at least Level 180, in the worst case, around 220.’

They had almost no way to confront it with their current strength. A direct fight would naturally lead to annihilation, but Gollum had confidence in his abilities.

‘Even though I came here as an alternative character... I can’t let my party members die like this.’

He had to show Kim Chul-Soo the power of a Great Navigator. A party led by a Great Navigator would survive even in the most dangerous places.

A Great Navigator was a Navigator who created miracles.

“Activate Agony for the Best Choice.”

[You have activated the Skill ?Agony for the Best Choice?.]

[The appearance of the boss monster is delayed for 7 minutes.]

The stream that had now become like a river due to the rapids became still. It was as if time in the Dungeon had frozen. The world was dyed in shades of ash, and only the Players retained their colors.

Gollum stood in front of Jin-Hyeok with a serious expression. “Listen, I have paused time with my Skill. Now, we have about six minutes and thirty seconds left.”

“...”

“We either fight or run. There is an exit over there, so running away is possible.”

“Did you use such a grand skill just to tell me something so obvious?”

“That monster is at minimum Level 180. It could even be a high-tier Demon over Level 200. There is no chance in a direct confrontation.”

“What about a method other than a direct confrontation?” Jin-Hyeok replied.

“Have you ever killed a Demon before?”

Jin-Hyeok nodded. Fortunately, he had encountered and killed a Demon in the Tutorial Field.

“Was it a Named Demon?”

“It sure was.” Jin-Hyeok opened his Achievement window to check.

[Exorcism]

[You have defeated the Demon Iblis Kecil.]

[Your resistance to Demonic power has increased by 55%.]

“You defeated a Named Demon?” Gollum asked.

“I was lucky back then.”

Jin-Hyeok had not expected the Tutorial Field to have a Named Demon either. At that time, he had not placed much importance on the Achievement he had gained from defeating the demon, Exorcism. The Achievement was not that important in itself; rather, it was significant as the start of the Hidden Job Great Hero.

“Then that’s good news. We might actually be able to defeat this Demon. The Exorcism Achievement has a Hidden Trait. It gives you much greater power when facing a Demon far superior to yourself. The System understates it as an increase in Demonic power resistance,” Gollum said.

The bulletin board was filled with comments saying that the birth of a monster like Chul-Soo was the fault of the Seodaemun-gu GMs, who had failed at balancing the Play. Someone had to take the blame, and it had long been the GMs of Seodaemun-gu.

“Why are you guys in a hurry? Are there some Server-Grade Items hidden there?”

“I cannot disclose that as it is confidential departmental information. Kihael, we must stop Chul-Soo. Wouldn’t the failure in balance adjustment be enough just for the Korean Region?”

‘Why the hell are they keep saying that we’ve failed at balancing the Play? It’s not my fault that Chul-Soo is a monster!’

Kihael almost shouted that, but he felt pleased.

‘Yeah, I’m just going to let them sweat it out.’

“Once Chul-Soo goes on a rampage, no one can stop him. You said there is a high-tier Demon there, right? Even Chul-Soo can’t beat a high-tier Demon. Why worry when he will just end up buried there?” Kihael said with a feigned look of regret.

The faces of the Giethoorn GMs brightened.

‘I see. So that’s what they wanted to hear.’

In other words, they needed Kihael’s confirmation on whether Chul-Soo had any more hidden cards up his sleeves.

“Even so, Chul-Soo always exceeds my expectations and imagination. As a GM, I think it is best to use the maximum authority to ensure the strongest Demon comes out. Every time I think it’s enough, Chul-Soo always overcomes it.”

Of course, this would require a significant budget, but that was not Kihael’s concern.

After parting with the Giethoorn GMs, Kihael immediately went to Wang Yu-Mi. “Can you send a secret message to Chul-Soo?”

“Of course, I can. He is not livestreaming right now, so there is a limit on how many words per message and how many times I can send it.”

“Send a message saying that the difficulty of the Dungeon has been raised to the highest.”

“They increased the difficulty? Why?”

“Since they increased the difficulty, they have to put something in return.” Kihael smiled. The higher the difficulty, the greater the reward. The more the GMs forcibly intervened, the greater the reward would be.

“Also, tell him there is a strange code on the exit Gate. It’s something that was not noticed before. I don’t know what the code is, but it will be helpful either way.

***

Jin-Hyeok checked Yu-Mi’s messages while talking with Gollum. Due to the character limit, the content was heavily simplified.

[1. Giethoorn GMs → Difficulty Adjustment → Big Rewards!?]

[2. Exit Gate Strange Code → Not Normal!]

Jin-Hyeok made up his mind. Gollum had been rambling on, but Jin-Hyeok had not really listened to him. Jin-Hyeok gestured to Ji-Ah and Ji-Soo to stay put.

‘How absorbed in his own talk can he be not to notice me signaling the Seo sisters?’

This was a disqualification for a Navigator. Jin-Hyeok could not understand why Gollum was so distracted, talking so pretentiously and for so long.

“What are you doing?”

Gollum was in a hurry. Against all odds, a high-tier Demon of over Level 200 had appeared. Moreover, Jin-Hyeok, who should have been focused on defending against the Demon, had left his position.

“You idiots! Did you even listen to anything I’ve told you?” Gollum shouted.

Everything seemed to be falling apart. There was no chance of winning now.

‘I can’t die here,’ Gollum thought.

He planned to escape alone. Even an outstanding Navigator could not save party members who would not listen.

Jin-Hyeok smiled. “What’s important about Dungeon constants and equations? Killing it is what matters.”

Meanwhile, the Demon Dermiane Metodum smirked as it walked over the water. “Welcome. You all look quite tasty. Allow me to offer a simple greeting.”

Flash!

A purple lightning bolt struck down from the sky. Jin-Hyeok used his Broadcaster’s Barrier to block the lightning. Thanks to his resistance to Demonic power, he managed to fend it off. Jin-Hyeok smirked too.

‘Twenty-one critical hits? That’s not important.’

“Why do you think twenty-one attacks are necessary? It’s because those are weak attacks,” he said.

“...What?”

“One strong attack can finish it.”

“What the hell are you talking about? How can that be true?” asked Gollum.

Jin-Hyeok took out an item from his inventory.

‘I’ve won again, Gollum!’