Chapter 171: Star, The First Station (3)

Chapter 171: Star, The First Station (3)

“Wh-what...?”The roots of this story extend from novell bìn origin.

“What happened?”

“Did he just... get another mission?”

The French volunteer Players were also watching when Chang-Sun and Jarapgu exchanged a few words and left, perplexing them. They had never seen or heard about Jarapgu exiting its store and guiding a Player to another place.

“Who’s going to give us quests now?”

“... Huh? Oh, yeah.”

“Shit! What the hell is going on?”

They were planning to earn Hounds by completing Jarapgu’s quests, so the current situation baffled them and left them unsure of what to do. Their original plan was to watch Chang-Sun and Woo Hye-Bin panicking in front of the store because they couldn’t earn Hounds, but the French Players were the ones who ran into trouble instead.

The desert train was only going to be in this station for a day, and there was a very limited number of quests that the Players could complete within that timeframe. They would be suffering a loss if Jarapgu was away from the store for a long time.

‘What if...’

‘Should I tail Lee Chang-Sun?’

‘He definitely found a Hidden Piece...’

The eyes of Nicolas Pouquet and several French Players started to gleam coldly. If Jarapgu was guiding a Player somewhere, then that would mean the Player was doing a very important Hidden Quest. Hence, they thought it might not be a bad idea to tail Chang-Sun.

Chang-Sun would likely have trouble solving that kind of Hidden Quest on his own anyway, so the French Players could freely interfere, saying they were going to help him. Above all, this Dungeon was part of France. They couldn’t let a smug foreign Player run around in their land.

Some of the French Players exchanged glances and were about to secretly follow Chang-Sun when the rabbit man who joined the Chang-Sun and Jarapgu’s conversation, suddenly sat in Jarapgu’s seat. The French Players initially put up their guard since they didn’t know who he was, but their eyes soon widened in surprise.

[The Administrator ‘Herald’ will temporarily take charge of the ‘Boiling Hell’ station store.]

“...!”

“...!”

“...!”

An Administrator—one of the people who managed countless Dungeons on Earth and controlled the system to ensure the Players were rewarded—suddenly showed up in the store. They read the message again, thinking they were seeing things or there was something wrong with the system, but that was definitely not the case.

‘Wh-what is going on?’

‘Lee Chang-Sun definitely called that rabbit.’

‘Does that mean Lee Chang-Sun also has connections to the <Management Bureau>...?’

While the Players busily pondered about various things...

Tap. Tap.

... Herald rested his chin on his hand and crookedly leaned against the stall, revealing how bored to death he was. While tapping the stall several times, Herald quickly scanned the nearby Players with his red rabbit eyes.

[The Administrator ‘Herald’ is swiftly locating the nearby Players!]

The Players froze up.

“I have nothing personal against you all, but being stuck here despite already being busy as hell frankly deeply annoys me. As an Administrator, I’ll be as neutral and fair as possible, but I’m a being with emotions, which I can’t help being swayed by... You all know what I mean, right?” Herald elegantly enunciated every word.

Although his voice was quiet, the Players heard him as clear as day, and there was no way they didn’t understand what Herald meant: They shouldn’t get on his nerves and should just listen to him. Otherwise, things could get ugly.

Since it also sounded as if Herald wasn’t going to let it slide if he caught the Players who didn’t know their places following Chang-Sun, the French Players had no choice but to just quietly nod, causing deep silence to fall around the store.

* * *

Not every Player took the Administrator’s warning seriously, though. After all, not only did greed often blind people, but these Players were also filled with grudges.

‘They’ll catch up on their own,’ Chang-Sun thought

Ever since Chang-Sun beat up every French volunteer Player in the desert train, an ‘invisible wall’ had been formed between the French Players and Team L members. However, the same kind of wall also existed among the French Players, dividing them into two groups.

Shin Eun-Seo came up with cool bird names to name the groups. Led by Henri Bosque and Nicolas, the hawk group mainly consisted of the Revenant Clan Players whom Chang-Sun had beaten up. On the other hand, the dove group was led by the ‘Iron Mask’ Grizman, who managed to calm Chang-Sun down, albeit barely, and was composed of his colleagues from the Youth Fountain Clan.

The hawk group didn’t hide how hostile they were to Chang-Sun, while the dove group sat on their hands or pretended they didn’t see what Chang-Sun was doing. Right now, Chang-Sun knew part of the hawk group was secretly tailing him as he followed Jarapgu deep underground.

[The Authority ‘Monster Excursion’ has been activated, sharply detecting footsteps of people who are coming after you!]

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ snorts, saying there are too many flies that do not know their places.]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ wonders why you’re not getting rid of those flies.]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ believes that you have already designed a trap for them.]

“There are too many flies... Hmm!” Jarapgu frowned and scowled at the area behind them.

With only a flashlight to rely on, Chang-Sun and Jarapgu walked down the spiral staircase in the pitch-black space. The underground floor was filled with obstacles so dangerous that even Jarapgu was reluctant to go down, so he couldn’t help but be on edge and worry about what could jump out at any moment. Having uninvited guests tailing him and Chang-Sun didn’t help. Rather, they only made him really frustrated.

“Don’t mind them and just go down.” Chang-Sun gestured at Jarapgu.

Chang-Sun didn’t seem to care, so Jarapgu just stayed quiet. Still, Jarapgu clearly planned to crush them if they did something.

‘I don’t have to get rid of them now since they’ll naturally be busy surviving once we get down there anyway,’ Chang-Sun thought.

If he didn’t expect this outcome, he wouldn’t have bothered provoking Jarapgu and getting the Hidden Quests in front of that many people. Moreover, Chang-Sun also had another goal in his mind.

[The Title ‘Jigwi’s Demonic Incarnation’ has been applied!]

Spreading the Jigwi’s wings wide, Chang-Sun buffed himself up several times by drawing up <Darkness> from his [Stigma].

Splash!

Right after, Chang-Sun dove into the blood. Meanwhile, Jarapgu could only blankly watch Chang-Sun, having witnessed something none of the sentries would have expected would actually happen. ~

[You have entered ‘Surtr’s Main Artery’!]

[The durability of the ‘Fire-Avoiding Bead’ is quickly decreasing.]

[The intense heat prevents you from thinking straight. You have fallen into the ‘Dizzy’ state.]

[You have fallen into the ‘Panicking’ state.]

[You have fallen into the ‘Confused’ state.]

...

[Warning! The intense heat is weakening the Eon Fire. You are advised to quickly get out of the area.]

[Warning! The strong pressure is making you tremble. You are advised to quickly get out of the area...]

...

[The Skill ‘Kalokagathia’ has been activated, temporarily increasing the stat points you lack!]

‘... Hup!’ After diving deep into Surtr’s blood, Chang-Sun had to try really hard not to lose consciousness. The blood was so hot that Chang-Sun’s Eon Fire was rendered ineffective, but the pressure it applied on him was far more enormous. ‘I thought it’ll be a little easier since I have the Eon Wind, but it’s not helpful at all.’

It was impossible to swim toward Surtr’s heart in this state.

Badump! Badump!

Feeling his heart racing, Chang-Sun began to ‘pull’ Surtr’s blood instead of pushing it away.

‘Since I can’t resist it anyway,’ Navy-blue fires started in Chang-Sun’s eyes. ‘I’ll just absorb it!’

[The Authority ‘Soul Exploitation’ has been activated, absorbing the remaining energy in the corpse!]

Although he was in a Dungeon, it was also Surtr’s corpse, so depending on how Chang-Sun handled it, absorbing the energy of Surtr’s corpse could be possible.

[The Authority activation has been canceled.]

[The deceased’s Class is too high.]

[The Authority activation has been canceled.]

[The deceased’s Class is too high.]

...

[The Authority ‘Soul Exploitation’ has been activated, attempting to absorb only the energy you require!]

...

[Successfully absorbed the energy.]

[The process to absorb the energy of the ‘Destruction-Calling Fire Giant’ has begun.]

[The Effect ‘Single Eon Fire’ has been activated, absorbing the nearby fire energy!]

[Absorbing the Giant’s blood.]

[Absorbing the Giant’s blood.]

...

Woosh!

The slow-flowing river of fire started to swirl around Chang-Sun, turning into a fierce whirlpool that held the strong tenacity and energy of the great Celestial Surtr. As he absorbed the blood that was coursing toward him like a flowing tide, Chang-Sun quickly recalled the conversation he had with Thanatos.

“Okay, I get that I have to get to the ‘Rhaegaren,’ but didn’t you say ‘Laevaeteinn’ chooses its own master? How am I supposed to prove myself to that sword? More importantly, only a Giant can pull it, right?” Chang-Sun asked.

“Well, you can make yourself qualified enough.” Thanatos chuckled.

“Like I said, I don’t have the qualifica...” Chang-Sun growled.

When Thanatos replied as if the answer was obvious, Chang-Sun frowned and was about to snap back at him, telling him to stop being absurd, but he changed his mind halfway through, having realized what Thanatos meant.

“Wait, you mean...” Chang-Sun narrowed his eyes.

“That’s right.” Thanatos nodded.

“... That’s crazy,” Chang-Sun muttered to himself.

Thanatos just chuckled.

“You can just become a Giant.’

[You have acquired the Giant factor.]

[The Modification process has begun!]