Chapitre 189: Chapter 189
There was no intel whatsoever regarding the new field within the Gwanghwamun Dungeon, the 'Purified Gyeonghoeru'. That meant I had to find the clear method on my own.
The sailboat drew steadily nearer.
'The sailboat is traveling faster than I thought.'
It was extremely far away, but approached the pavilion much faster than expected. It almost felt like watching a wheel tumble faster and faster down a slope.
'And.'
I saw it.
'There's a Clear Crystal on the sailboat.'
I had already cleared the Gyeonghoeru field many times. Having observed the field every time I cleared the Polluted Lifeforms scenario, I knew where and when the sailboat would pass by.
'About one minute from now.'
In one minute, the sailboat would glide past with the closest distance to where I was standing.
'However…'
It wouldn't be a distance I could cross with Flash Step or a single leap. That left two options—I would either have to walk over the sloshing water, or somehow swim through the Snow Leaden Water to reach the sailboat.
'A long-ranged attack is impossible.'
Of course, there were long-ranged DPSes who attempted to attack the sailboat. But very few people survived the attempt. That sailboat was essentially a 'neutral monster'. If you left it alone, it wouldn't do anything, but the moment you messed with it, a rain of cannonballs would come shooting out of the sailboat to reduce the Gyeonghoeru to ashes.
It was a sailboat with a special defensive ability against long-ranged attacks.
'The only answer, then, is to go there myself.'
The course was set.
'Snow Leaden Water.'
I had to be careful. The water below me was truly heavy, and it would drag you to the depths like a sinkhole. Once you fell in, there was zero chance you would ever get back out by yourself. The moment I slipped, the water would suck me in from my ankles down, almost like a black hole.
"Hoo."
I took a deep breath. Swimming was out of the question anyway. The only option I had was to jump over the water.
'The location of the lotuses…'
They were floating so far apart from one another that the distance seemed impossible to jump. But those lotuses were definitely spaced so they could be used to ford the water, though messing up would mean death.
'I just need to not mess up.'
The sailboat was coming. I only had one chance. If I missed it, I wouldn't be able to catch up to the sailboat. If I didn't go, I would die here anyway. That was almost certain.
'Here I go.'
There wasn't much time. I couldn't think about it for too long. I fixed my eyes on my first landing point.
[Using the special skill Flash Step.]
I jumped onto a lotus with Flash Step. It instantly buckled under my weight.
'Okay.'
I grasped the feeling of it. Getting my balance atop the lotus wasn't hard.
'Over there.'
Before jumping, I drew out the trajectory of my leap in my head.
'And here.'
I jumped again, going from one impossibly distant-looking lotus to the next.
'As for this one…'
I had to choose between two lotuses.
'Here.'
I didn't stop to calculate. No, there was no time to think. The path I'd drawn in my head in advance and the one I was experiencing in the flesh were a little different.
'And here.'
Some distance away, two lotuses were floating next to each other.
'There.'
The left lotus was smaller, and the right lotus was bigger. I jumped towards the right lotus. It was a little far, but I barely managed to land safely on it. There, I paused for a moment.
'This lotus can hold my weight for three seconds.'
The length of time a lotus could hold my weight was contingent on its size. This one could hold me for three seconds. I had chosen the right lotus with that in mind.
'And.'
The sailboat felt incredibly large. It was very close. Perched atop this lotus, where a tiny misstep could send me sinking to my death, the sailboat felt larger than life.
'A little longer.'
Three seconds. It was a very short time, but right now, the seconds stretched like taffy. Time slowed, and all I could see was the sailboat. Even in that slowed moment, the sailboat raced forward.
'It'll pass there.'
It was far. A distance so far I could never reach it with a single jump. So I made a decision. I had another lotus here, a lotus without roots, one I could lift. I bent to grab the lotus on the left.
And then, I threw it.
I jumped at the same time. My feet were damp. 0.1 seconds slower, and I would have been sucked into the depths.
The lotus I had thrown landed in the water. I used Flash Step towards it. I stepped onto the small lotus and leapt high into the air.
Whap!
I just barely caught the sailboat railing.
Drawing out all my strength, I hauled myself up like I was doing a chin-up and barely managed to get on the sailboat. Once I made it on the deck, a notice sounded to tell me that the Clear Crystal had been generated.
At the same time, the Guardians rushed to send me messages.
[The 'Nameless Observer' observes.]
[The 'True Master of the Heavenly Demonic Mountain' is very content with your genius.]
[The 'White Hunter' is delighted by your astonishing sense of balance.]
[The 'Barrier of Blue Light' breathes a sigh of relief.]
[The 'Conductor of Sound' is awed by your ability to assess the battlefield.]
They were all surprised by different things. Also, the True Master of the Heavenly Demonic Mountain's message made me realize something.
'No wonder my body felt so light.'
I was focusing so hard that I forgot for a moment.
4. Amplifies all title effects when in a field pioneered by the Pioneer of Victory.
It amplified the effects of all my titles, including 'Excellent Player', which had the following effect:
2. +20% movement speed.
'No wonder my body felt lighter than usual.'
But that wasn't the important part. That wasn't why the True Master was impressed. He was impressed by my 'physical ability to freely control an abruptly lightened body'. Looking back on it, I was shocked, too.
'Was this kind of thing… really possible?'
I was the one who pulled it off, but I was surprised. My physical abilities suddenly shot up, but I wasn't flustered by the changes and moved with extreme ease, like my body had always been that way.
'It's… possible.'
It was possible. My experience proved that. I walked towards the Clear Crystal in front of me.
[Clear Crystal]
If I destroyed it, this place would be cleared.
'But…'
Where in the world was this sailboat going? It was surging along even with me on it. If I stayed on it, where would it go? Where was the far off destination this sailboat was skidding towards like a sled?
'Maybe I should wait a little?'
I intentionally didn't break the Clear Crystal. I could just immediately break it if something dangerous happened.
Some time passed.
Crash!
The sailboat crashed into something with a reverberating thud.
What it collided into was an invisible wall.
[The 'Sailing Sailboat' has reached the 'End of the Gyeonghoeru'.]
[The 'End of the Gyeonghoeru' does not permit further approach.]
The sailboat's hull began to quiver, and the ship began to very slowly sink into the water.
'That's…'
I could see them.
The things past the End of the Gyeonghoeru, past the invisible wall.
* * *
I went back home to rest a little, exhausted. The Gyeonghoeru field had consumed too much stamina, and I needed rest. In the meantime, I got a progress report from Song Kiyeol, who told me that Song Junghye was using 'gate Players' she had gathered to play a little trick.
'That's good.'
The Gran Seoul Dungeon clear would be even more delayed now.
'And there's still a long time before the dungeon breaks.'
The Gran Seoul Dungeon break occurred fairly late. There was plenty of leeway, time-wise. I really had to thank Song Junghye. She delivered the Tomb-Pilfering Shovel to me at the Guardian Tower on a silver platter, and her sloppy Playing helped me slot in a puzzle piece.
'At this point, isn't she kind of a tsundere?'
She seemed to think she was acting for her benefit, but it sure felt like she was working for mine.
'In any case.'
I couldn't shake off the bad feeling that lingered after clearing the Gyeonghoeru field.
'Did the Great Explorer Jackson really not know about the Purified Gyeonghoeru field?'
I believed there was a very high chance that he knew about the Purified Gyeonghoeru field. In ten years, Players were far more capable than they were now. There was no way the Jackson from back then didn't know.
'That would be ridiculous.'
He knew; I was sure of it. He just didn't tell the other Players about its existence.
'The problem is…'
Then what about other explorers?
'There were a lot of outstanding explorers in Korea, too.'
Jackson was the most famous explorer, but he wasn't the only one. Countless explorer Players had to have gone into the Gwanghwamun Dungeon. At least one of them would have known about this Purified Gyeonghoeru field, because there was a seemingly unnecessary 'sailboat' in the field. An explorer would have found it curious.
'It's definitely weird.'
There was no way none of those explorers knew about it. But no one had ever mentioned anything about a 'Purified Gyeonghoeru'.
'Someone intentionally covered it up.'
That was the only conclusion I could reach.
'Come to think of it… what did I see?'
At the end of the Gyeonghoeru field, I remembered colliding into a transparent barrier. And I remembered seeing 'something' past that barrier. But I didn't remember what that 'something' was. I definitely saw it, but it was like someone had tampered with my memories.
'This feeling…'
It felt similar to what happened when I was talking with the Demon King.
"Did you hunt —'s toys?"
"—. Can't understand me?"
It was like that. It felt like the System, or possibly some kind of 'force' that wasn't the System, was forcibly acting on me.
'In the Gwanghwamun Dungeon… there are secrets I don't know.'
I happened to catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror across from my bed.
'Huh?'
I didn't realize it, but I was smiling. I was smiling like someone who had found a fun game to play.
'This is gonna be fun.'
* * *
After taking a short break, I headed to the Tutorial Building.
"The D-Tower, please."
It sure was nice. This ultra-luxury sedan, complete with a veteran chauffeur. This environment where I could focus solely on Playing was truly a blessing to me.
I ran into Choi Sung-gu on the 1st floor.
"Hey! Hyukjin!" he called, so loudly his voice could be heard throughout the D-Tower. He waved enthusiastically. "The hell is with you, man?"
"What?"
"You can't feel it? The air around you is hot af."
"Really? I can't feel a thing."
Some people could feel the 'fire ki' I possessed, and some couldn't.
"Hey. Just what the hell happened to you? Fuck. It's so hot I can't even get close."
That was probably because of the Millenium Lava in my Inventory.
"Urgh, so blinding."
Sung-gu wasn't able to get close to me.
"You're like a pillar of fire or something. Fuck. What the hell are you going around doing?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your body looks like it's gonna explode, dude." Sung-gu peered at me from a distance. "Like… an energy of opposing nature is tamping down the fire ki coming out of you, keeping you alive."
Sung-gu looked tearfully at me. "Dude, you can't leave me and die. If you go, we have to go together."
"..."
"How am I supposed to Play without you? Playing these days is really so suffocating I could die."
Apparently, it was really, really frustrating to work in conjunction with other Players. I could imagine that Players with low basic defense like Choi Sung-gu felt particularly endangered.
So I gave him a little reassurance.
"Yeah, you'll be fine. You won't die."
"Hey, hey! Have a heart, man! I seriously feel like I'm gonna die here!"
"But you're alive."
"Th-That's true, but—"
"That's enough."
I bypassed the loudly complaining Sung-gu and got onto the Teleport Gateway. I teleported back to Italy.
Pedro was waiting for me.
"Welcome back!"
State: Excited / Happy / Having Fun / Anticipation for Giving Something
'Anticipation for giving something?'
Giving something? What was he planning on giving, and why did he feel anticipation when he was giving it? Was he the type of person who liked being generous?
"Vela's taking care of a personal matter in another dungeon right now. As for me, I've been waiting here a long time to give you this."
He came up to me and handed me something without notice.
"Why… are you giving me this?"
That item was a 'bow', and not just any bow, but the starting weapon of the Divine Archer, Hyun Junghwa.
____
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