Chapter 141: Scramble for the Holy Grail (1)

"We've arrived at the correct place, right, Ballam?"

At Hoonie's words, Death Knight Ballam slowly nodded his head.

• That's right. This gloomy atmosphere, and the bleak tremors. This is definitely the place I was looking for.

The one that had arrived at the historical grave site dungeon first was not Ian nor Shyakran, but instead Kanjihoonie.

Hoonie was the last at entering the central continent, but the Power of the Immortal and Ballam, who knew of the exact location, had made that possible. If the Power of the Immortal was used, it was possible to move three times faster on sand.

'It was the Crown of Holdream, right?'

However, the thing that Hoonie was looking for was a different item from the one Ian and Shyakran were after.

Hoonie's goal was to complete his hidden quest.

And in order to do so, he needed the 'Crown of Holdream'.

However, just then, Ballam stepped forward as he warned Hoonie.

• There's an enemy, Hoonie. Prepare yourself.

As soon as those words ended, monsters appeared along with a strange sound in front of them.

They were monsters that looked like mummies wrapped in a black smoke.

Hoonie wore a determined expression as he spread his staff forward.

"The puppet of the Forgotten Holdream, huh... Are you unable to recognize your new owner of darkness?"

No matter what kind of situation it was, Hoonie never left out his immersion in his role.

And Ballam stared at that Hoonie with a satisfied expression.

This was because from his perspective, it was a magnificent speech.

Hoonie's words continued.

"The strength of darkness, and the Power of the Immortal... Show yourself!"

As Hoonie, who diligently let out the starting words from his mouth that weren't really necessary, swung his staff around, tons of skeleton warriors appeared from the ground.

Cre-creak- Cre-cre-creak-!

Keu-haeeel-.

Along with a rough estimate of a dozen-looking Skeleton Warriors, and about half of that number of Skeleton Mages.

On top of that, Kanjihoonie, who had summoned two more Death Knights that were over lv 130, spread his staff towards the front with a smug expression.

"Punish all of the arrogant heretics!"

And like that, the battle began.

The levels of the monsters called the 'Puppet of the Forgotten Holdream' were over 150 and there were over ten of them.

However, Hoonie's army of darkness was strong, and he was able to catch all of the monsters without taking a lot of damage.

Hoonie slightly stared at the Power of the Immortal item as he ignited his will again.

'I must succeed in finishing this quest. If I want to make the power solely mine...'

Hoonie was currently at lv 129.

Even considering the fact that Black Magicians had a fast leveling-up rate, he was a high level that could be argued as the server's first or second place amongst the Black Magicians.

However, despite that, the scale of the undead that Hoonie summoned was a level that a Black Magician at that level could never summon.

Especially the fact that he could summon two Death Knights was thanks to the Power of the Immortal that continuously charged his dark magic.

Bang- Ba-bang-!

And Death Knight Ballam looked completely different from the two Death Knights that Hoonie summoned.

Ballam, who was close to a whopping lv 170, easily faced the monsters inside the dungeon.

"It seems like we're finished."

• That's right, Hoonie.

"Then shall we go inside?"

However, just then, Ballam blocked off Hoonie, who finished speaking and walked towards the inside.

• Someone came into the dungeon, Hoonie.

"Hmm...?"

At the unexpected situation, Hoonie contemplated for a moment.

'There are probably a ton of artifacts aside from the Crown of Holdream inside the ruins...'

He had no idea exactly what kind of items would be there, but it was a definite mentality of a human to not want to share even one artifact.

'And they said that there was no PK Penalty in the central continent, right?'

On top of that, if it was a situation where it wouldn't matter at all if that 'someone' that came into the dungeon was a user or an NPC...

The corners of Hoonie's mouth rolled upwards.

"Ballam."

• Why are you calling me, Hoonie?

"We have no choice. It hurts my heart, but if it's for the greater deed, then it looks like we'll have to murder them."

Hoonie became serious as he turned around, and at his words, Ballam nodded his head as he agreed.

• Good idea. As expected of the heir of darkness.

Hoonie turned around as he prepared to face the unwelcome guest, and Ballam pulled out his sword and got into a fighting stance as well.

And shortly after, Hoonie, who encountered a familiar face, wore a flustered expression.

"You, you're...?"

Of course, that 'familiar face' was Ian.

"Oh my, who is this, hey kid, long time, no see?"

For a moment, Hoonie, who remembered the nightmare at the arena rookie league, clenched his fist tightly.

It was an unexpected encounter, but Hoonie was yelling in delight instead.

'This is a chance given by God to take revenge for that time! To meet this dude in a PK zone!'

"This is great, Ian! I had no idea I would have met you here, but since the situation is like this anyways, I will pay back the humiliation from last time!"

"..."

At Hoonie's lengthy words, Ian was momentarily speechless.

And Kaizar, who entered late, asked Ian.

"That weird kid, is it someone you know?"

Ian nodded his head.

"Yeah, it is someone I know, but..."

Ian took a step forward as he opened his mouth towards Hoonie.

"How come there's nothing that's changed about you?"

Hoonie was not outdone and came with a comeback.

"You coward! I'm not as bad as you!"

Following that, Hoonie raised his staff as he shouted.

"Exterminate them all!"

Ian didn't think that Hoonie would risk attacking without reason, but despite that, it wasn't like him to just stand there and get hit.

Ian quickly fell back as he put Ddukdae in the front and began his counterattack.

"Ddukdae, Abyss Hole!"

Kuoooh-!

The spiral air currents that rode down Ddukdae's crossed arms and poured out.

And Ian momentarily stopped Kaizar, who was about to charge towards Hoonie.

"Kaizar, one second."

"Why?"

"Hoonie, don't kill that guy."

"...?"

Ian grinned.

"There's stuff that I need to get out of him."

* * *

15 minutes later.

"Hoonie, boy. I understand that you're happy to see me after so long, but why did you mess around with hyung[1]?"

Ian walked up with big strides to Hoonie, who was wearing a resentful expression as he was surrounded by the empire knights and Ian's Familiars.

"Don, don't come any closer!"

"What if I don't want to?"

Ian, who approached Hoonie with a sly expression, suddenly held out his staff.

"You, I think if you get hit just once more, then you'll die."

While looking at Ian, who openly threatened him, both of Hoonie's pupils shook.

"Ah, no... Don't be like that!"

There was a separate reason why Hoonie convulsed(?) to this point.

This was because the moment Hoonie died while proceeding with the hidden quest, he would have to return as a fail.

Of course, the penalty for dying itself was quite big, but if it was a situation where it would end just with death, he wouldn't have been this afraid.

'It's a quest I worked so hard to obtain!'

To be honest, Hoonie didn't even imagine in his dreams that he would be overpowered this easily by Ian.

Ian himself was stronger than he expected, but that white-haired swordsman holding the black greatsword was truly a catastrophe.

Even Ballam, who he was trusting in, helplessly suffered by that white-haired swordsman.

'For Ballam, who is over lv 170, to have suffered in an instant...'

Collapsed onto the floor, Hoonie let out a deep sigh as he looked at his Vitality gauge bar that was blinking.

"Whew..."

And secretly seeing that Hoonie wore a resigned expression, Ian secretly started.

"Yo, should I let you live?"

"...!"

At Ian's tempting proposal, Hoonie momentarily flinched.

'Should I let you live, he says... How humiliating!'

However, there was too much for him to lose through death right now to stand on pride.

Hoonie was a little sad, but he set aside his pride a little and asked Ian.

"There are conditions, right?"

At his counter-question, Ian grinned as he nodded his head.

"Man, you're smart. Of course, there are conditions."

Ian, who took a moment to breath, continued his words.

"Firstly, you need to come into our party."

If he joined the party, the dungeon's first discoverer's reward would become shared.

Because Hoonie also knew what Ian's condition meant, he meekly nodded his head.

Up to this point, there wasn't much for him to lose.

"And?"

Ian's words continued.

"All artifacts that appear in the dungeon, including the Holdream's Holy Grail, are mine."

At those words, Hoonie slightly flinched.

"I can't do that."

This was because, if he couldn't obtain the Crown of Holdream, there was no point in surviving and helping them with the dungeon.

Ian wore a puzzled expression.

"Why? On top of you not dying, you'll even gain an incredible amount of EXP if you party hunt with us, but you can't even do that much?"

Hoonie continued his words with a timid expression.

"The Crown of Holdream. Just give me that."

At Hoonie's words, Ian's two eyes shone.

While looking at Hoonie, who pointed out a particular artifact that he didn't even know existed, Ian nodded his head.

'As expected, this guy, it's positive that he knows information about this dungeon.'

Ian, who thought that he did a good job letting Hoonie survive, opened his two eyes blearily.

"Why do you need that?"

Hoonie spoke honestly.

"I need it for my quest. If you just give me that, I'll give up all of the rest."

Ian who answered with an apathetic expression.

"How can I believe you?"

However, as even Hoonie couldn't give up any more than that, he replied without losing.

"If I'm greedier than that, then you can just kill me, no? Are you going to just stand there when I've taken an item and was carrying it around?"

"That's not true..."

Ian, who thought momentarily, finally nodded his head.

"Alright. Then, in return, find us Holdream's Holy Grail first. And cooperate in finding the other artifacts excluding the crown. Then I will also help you find your crown."

Because there was no other choice no matter how much he scratched his head, Hoonie let out a deep sigh as he slowly nodded his head.

"Whew... Alright, understood."

* * *

Meanwhile, the eastern part of the central continent.

The Titan Guild expedition, who had succeeded in killing the flooding monsters at a fast speed and making it to the central continent, were having trouble finding the historical site easily.

"No, where exactly is the historical site?"

Ceilron, who had killed the charging monks and mummies one after another, complained towards Emily, who was casting magic next to him.

"If I knew that, do you think I would be like this?"

In a sense, because they had entered the central continent blindly without any thorough preparations, no matter if the Titan Guild boasted the strongest fighting power, their health was depleting over time.

The only consolation was probably the large amount of EXP that couldn't even be compared with any other hunting ground.

And the commodity, 'Specialty Points', which they didn't know about yet, also comforted them.

"It should be around here somewhere. Everyone, stay strong just a little bit more."

Shyakran, who encouraged his guild members, began to slaughter the monsters in the front line.

Bang-ba-ba-bang-!

The large explosive sound made from three clones crossing mid-air was heard.

And the incredible wave of energy that arose for a moment scattered the front.

Chwa-ra-rak-.

Emily, who saw that, shook her head.

"Shyakran seems to have gotten stronger again."

Ceilron nodded his head as well.

"I think he's definitely gotten stronger than before. Has he gotten a new item or something?"

While sharing a conversation on this and that, it was right then while they were facing monsters.

A Titan Guild member that was in the back of the line yelled towards Ceilron.

"Ceilron, there's something over there!"

At that sound, the eyes of all of the people, including Ceilron, turned towards the direction that they pointed at.

And Emily, who saw that, shouted with a happy voice.

"Shyakran, it seems we've found the ruins!"

A tall spire that shot up in the middle of the desert, as well as glittering structures that wrapped around it...

However, Shyakran, who saw that, shook his head.

"No, Emily. That is not the historical site."

"Huh?"

However, different from Emily's expression of disappointment, Shyakran wore an exited expression.

'If the information I have is right, then that is the Tower of War. Since the situation is like this anyways, instead of the Holy Grail...!'

[1] Hyung = what a younger male calls a close and/or related, older male