Chapter 168

"Cough!"

The last remaining Giant Bear trembled and collapsed.

Two arrows were lodged in its neck, and one in its abdomen.

It took a total of three shots to bring it down.

"Phew, that was tough."

Despite being exhausted, Jeong-hoon had succeeded in eliminating all the Giant Bears.

And there wasn't a single scratch on his body.

"Crunch! Crunch!"

Fenrir, who was tearing into the flesh of a Giant Bear right next to him, had helped with the hunt.

At first, he tried to do it alone, but there were too many, so he had no choice but to summon Fenrir.

The creature, who had previously eaten only a small amount of meat and said it was full, leaving the rest, had returned to its original size and was now devouring all those Giant Bears as if it had never been full.

["Doesn't it ever get tired?"]

"It's not affected by the debuffs."

Unlike Jeong-hoon, who was struggling with the debuffs, Fenrir was free from them.

It was Jeong-hoon who was undergoing the training, and Fenrir was a summoned beast subordinate to him.

[You have exterminated all the Giant Bears.]

[Moving on to the final training.]

It wasn't over yet?

Jeong-hoon frowned.

While exterminating the Giant Bears, he had been afflicted with 4 additional debuffs.

Because of that, his body had long since reached its limit.

[Exterminate monsters and reach the cave at the north end.]

The final training.

It was to reach the cave in the north while avoiding the monsters scattered everywhere.

Jeong-hoon checked the scan map.

His current location was at the southern end, far from the north.

The Ultimate Training Ground itself was as vast as Yeouido, so it seemed like it would take quite a bit of effort to reach there.

["Wow... Look at how many there are."]

As Mukho said, there were over 200 visible to the naked eye.

It was impossible to exterminate those monsters in his current state.

Jeong-hoon looked at Fenrir.

The creature, munching on meat, tilted its head at his gaze.

"Fenrir, I need you to carry me."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. The destination is the cave at the north end. Can you do it?"

"Hmm..."

Fenrir frowned.

A human riding on its back.

The thought alone was horrifying.

But it couldn't ignore Jeong-hoon's command, so it obediently lowered its body.

"Thank you."

Jeong-hoon used his movement technique to climb onto its back.

It was so large that he could grab a handful of fur with his hand and still have some left over.

"Then let's depart. North, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Here we go."

Fenrir rose and dashed forward.

The swarming monsters rushed towards Fenrir.

"Attack!"

"Grrr! Die!"

Fenrir scoffed and trampled over them.

"Cough!"

"Ack!"

The trampled monsters screamed.

'This time, I'll take it.'

The guy who was next to Lee Hwa-rang when he betrayed Jeong-hoon.

William Smith.

He was the one who was supposed to clear this Ultimate Training Ground.

He had been active on the British server before New World became reality, and he was an archer who had been a comrade even before Jeong-hoon joined after the realization.

If Lee Hwa-rang was the number one archer in Korea, William was the number one archer in the world.

Of course, as time passed, Lee Hwa-rang would rise to a position comparable to him, and by supplementing his weakness with the Underworld King's Fist Technique, he would surpass him and be called the true Divine Archer.

But after the regression, Lee Hwa-rang had fallen, so that future would never come.

Anyway, as of now, William could be considered the number one archer.

He was also the bastard who constantly bothered Jeong-hoon until he blossomed into an All-Master.

'What qualifications do you have to be here?'

At that time, Jeong-hoon's level was far below that of his comrades.

Nevertheless, he was able to join as a comrade because many people, including the then-leaders James Marcus, Alessandro Bryden, and Sophia Stephanie Agaret, agreed.

Thanks to that, Jeong-hoon was able to grow into an All-Master by observing their power from the sidelines.

Later, he gained everyone's recognition, but until the mid-game, there were many who were dissatisfied with Jeong-hoon's joining.

'His level is low. And his rank isn't high either. I can't understand their thinking.'

William had already reached the rank called Celestial.

On the other hand, Jeong-hoon's rank was Epic.

He was on the verge of reaching the threshold and was aiming for Unique, but William consistently ignored him.

Is that why?

A smile formed on his face at the thought of snatching that bastard's reward.

* * *

[Arrived at the destination.]

[All debuffs are automatically removed.]

[The temperature of the Ultimate Training Ground is normalized.]

Upon arriving at the cave, all debuffs were removed.

The headache that had been constantly tormenting Jeong-hoon disappeared, and his mind cleared.

His stats also recovered and returned to normal.

[Using Advanced Healing.]

Jeong-hoon used healing to recover his decreased health.

Due to the debuffs, his health kept dropping even when he used healing, but with the debuffs removed, his recovered health was maintained without decreasing.

However, Jeong-hoon's expression wasn't good.

He was very dissatisfied with this training.

It was because the restrictions prevented him from using the skills that could remove the stacked debuffs.

Even before the regression, he had felt like he was being played by them, and this was exactly one of those cases.

He agreed that he couldn't escape the control of the operators since it was a game, but he couldn't help but feel angry.

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

Jeong-hoon checked Fenrir's body just in case.

It had been attacked countless times on the way here.

"No."

Fenrir shook its head.

Its body had only minor scratches; overall, it was fine.

Jeong-hoon used Advanced Healing on Fenrir to treat the scratches.

"You've worked hard."

"Yes."

As he unsummoned Fenrir, its body disappeared instantly.

The final training was also over, so it was time to get the reward.

["Is it in here?"]

"Yes."

Jeong-hoon slowly walked forward.

The inside of the cave was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything.

['It seems like there's nothing here...']

Anima, who had been watching quietly, also spoke up.

Jeong-hoon just smiled silently.

['The skill I use?']

['Yes. What is it that gives it such tremendous power?']

He had once overheard a conversation between William and Lee Hwa-rang before the regression.

['This is the ability used by the Divine Archer, Richard.']

['Richard?']

['Yes. It's a skill obtained from the archer's city training hall in Rease.']

['That's strange... I also went through the training hall, but I didn't get anything like that.']

['Of course. You need to meet certain conditions to get this.']

William proudly boasted about how he acquired the skill.

That's why Jeong-hoon knew the whereabouts of the skill.

Ting!

At that moment.

With a sound of something clicking, the dark interior brightened.

The torch artifact attached to the wall had automatically activated.

"There it is."

Jeong-hoon's gaze stopped at one spot.

There, an old bow was embedded in the ground.

It was the longbow used by Richard 600 years ago.

It was a Legendary-grade weapon called Ancient.

[Ancient]

- Type: Longbow

- Grade: Legendary

- A weapon that has lost its power due to age.

- The weapon is filled with mysterious power.

* This weapon cannot be restored.

However, it had lost its power and had no options at all.

It couldn't even be restored.

Well, it didn't matter.

He hadn't come to take the weapon itself, but the power contained within it.

Jeong-hoon approached the Ancient.

A red exclamation mark blinked above the Ancient.

It meant he was qualified to receive the reward.

"As expected."

Jeong-hoon grabbed the bow with his hand.

The Ancient glowed brightly and flowed into Jeong-hoon's hand.

[You have completed the hidden quest.]

[Acquired 'Ultimate Arrow'.]

[Acquired 'Heavenly Strike'.]

Jeong-hoon's eyes widened.

'What? Why did I acquire two?'

The only skill William Smith had boasted about was 'Ultimate Arrow'.

He hadn't even imagined that he would acquire 'Heavenly Strike' here as well.

He hadn't even thought about Heavenly Strike because it wasn't mentioned separately.

'This is crazy... I took both of the wide-range skills he had.'

With this, William wouldn't be able to acquire not only Ultimate Arrow but also Heavenly Strike.

A wide smile spread across Jeong-hoon's face.

["What is it? What kind of skills are they?"]

['Can't you open them and show us?']

It seemed Mukho and Anima were also curious.

"Wait a moment."

Jeong-hoon opened the skills he received as rewards.

[Ultimate Arrow]

- Type: Active

- Level: 1

- Grade: Legendary

- The strongest arrow containing the archer's soul.

- Creates one arrow with 1,300% damage.

- Ignores 30% of the enemy's defense.

- Maximum range increased to 1km.

- (Additional effect) Penetration: When the arrow penetrates an enemy, a shockwave that deals 150% of basic attack power damage explodes, affecting all enemies within 10m.

- Cooldown: 300 seconds

It was truly a skill with unbelievable power.

["That's insane..."]

['Not only 1,300% damage, but it also ignores defense and even triggers a shockwave that deals with surrounding enemies...']

Mukho and Anima also clicked their tongues.

[Heavenly Strike]

- Type: Active

- Level: 1

- Grade: Legendary

- A rain of arrows that annihilates everything.

- When an arrow is shot, a shower of arrows with 80% damage per arrow falls (up to 100 arrows).

- Ignores 20% of the enemy's defense.

- (Additional effect) Holy Explosion: When an arrow hits the target, an explosion occurs, dealing 150% of basic attack power damage to all enemies within 10m.

- (Additional effect) Blindness: Enemies hit by the explosion are blinded for 3 seconds.

- Cooldown: 300 seconds

Similarly, Heavenly Strike was also a skill specialized in dealing with multiple enemies.

["Wow... is this also a wide-range skill?"]

['With a maximum of 100 arrows... you could turn the opponent into a honeycomb.']

"Something like that."

Ultimate Arrow.

Heavenly Strike.

These two skills would be of great help to Jeong-hoon.

They were Legendary-grade skills, after all.

[The final training is complete.]

[Exit the training ground through the portal created next to you.]

A portal appeared next to Jeong-hoon.

It was a portal leading back to the advanced training ground.

'Let's go back now.'

He had acquired the skills he had planned for, so it was time to return.

* * *

At the same time.

Kyle and the instructors, who were watching from outside, were shocked to see the color of the door change.

"It's back to normal...?"

"Th-then, doesn't that mean he endured the ultimate training...?"

The instructors all looked at Kyle at once.

Kyle wiped the tears streaming down his cheeks with his sleeve and smiled broadly.

"That's right. It means he completed the ultimate training..."

Seeing his reaction, the instructors also realized that someone had cleared the ultimate training for the first time in 600 years.

"Then that means he's the first since Lord Richard...?"

"No. There's no proof that Lord Richard cleared it. So officially, this outsider is the first to clear it!"

"That's true..."

"Haha... This isn't a dream, is it?"

The instructors, unable to believe the reality in front of them, pinched their own cheeks.

"Ouch! I-it's real...?"

At that moment, the door to the training ground slowly opened, and Jeong-hoon walked out.

Kyle hurriedly approached him.

"You did really well! Thank you so much for crushing my pride!"

"Were you crying...?"

Jeong-hoon looked at Kyle with a dumbfounded expression.

"How could I not cry? I just witnessed a legend right before my eyes!"

Kyle, perhaps feeling a bit embarrassed, shouted.

"The ultimate training was definitely difficult. But I'm satisfied because I gained a lot."

"It wouldn't have been something you could finish just because it was difficult...?"

The instructors, who were listening to their conversation, nodded.

They had all experienced challenging the ultimate training.

But they couldn't even last an hour in the Ultimate Training Ground before giving up.

It wasn't just difficult; it was at a level where clearing it was impossible.

How did he endure such ultimate training?

It was truly amazing.

"It was incredibly difficult. The environment was harsh, and the debuffs were applied to an absurd degree..."

The instructors nodded again in agreement.

"You mean you passed all the trials even in those harsh conditions?"

"Yes."

"...Thank you. Thank you so much!"

Kyle, overwhelmed with emotion, embraced Jeong-hoon tightly.

It had been his dream to see someone complete the ultimate training in his lifetime.

And now that dream had come true.