Chapter 240: The Beginning of the Devildom War (2)

• You have failed in passing through the 17th gateway of the Test of 'Hikion', the Devil King of Rage.

• All of the members of the party have been warped to the 1st gateway.

• The number of times challenged up to now: 7 times (7/10)

• You have 3 more chances remaining. In the case that you fail all chances, you will completely fail the quest, and your Affinity with Devil King Hikion will drastically decrease.

• The Fame of all party members have been reduced by 100 thousand.

While looking at the messages that popped up one after another, Shyakran wore a dejected expression.

'Damn it, how could a quest with such a nonsensical difficulty level exist?'

Shyakran looked around at his team members once as he slightly let out a sigh.

If it was instead a quest that he could do on his own, he would have done it by any means, but the problem was that amongst the 8-member party, there were too many black holes.

It was a party that boasted the highest level users excluding the Assassin and Summoner user, but the problem was the control aspect.

'Whew, aside from Ceilron and the Black Magician kid, there are too many holes. Even the Summoner punk called Canoel is better than our guild members, but he's still a black hole...'

Currently, the number of times they had failed at challenging was a total of 7 times.

Due to them losing 100 thousand Fame each time they failed, they had even lost an enormous amount of Fame of 700 thousand.

Shyakran no longer could figure out a solution as to how to go about this.

'Whew, if this is the case, then there's no answer...'

Ceilron carefully spoke to Shyakran, who had fallen into agony.

"Master, what will you do now? We only have 3 more chances left."

"Hmm..."

"By the looks of it, don't you think we'll need to request the help of other rankers?"

"Euh..."

Shyakran agonized over this again, but with this party, there was absolutely no solution.

Shyakran opened his mouth.

"If we were to, who would we need to recruit?"

After thinking about it for a moment, Ceilron spoke.

"Firstly, I believe that the best card would be Remir, who isn't affiliated with any guild."

"Whew, alright, sure. Let's recruit Remir no matter what... Are there no other cards? I don't think this is a problem that will be solved with just Remir alone tagging along, that is. Of course, Remir is strong, but we've only barely gotten through up to the 17th gateway out of 30 gateways."

Ceilron nodded his head.

"That's right. I certainly have a feeling that it will be insufficient with just Remir."

"What class is the biggest black hole in our party?"

"Hmm... I think that the biggest hole is the Assassin. However, no matter what kind of ranker we call over for the Assassin, I don't think it will be much help. As the class itself is a class that is most disadvantageous in PVE from the beginning..."

Shyakran nodded his head.

"That's certainly true. Even if the 1st place user of the Assassin rankings was to come, there probably won't be much change."

Ceilron scratched the back of his head.

"But even so, to recruit Samuel Jin, who is 1st place in the Archer rankings, it's a little uncomfortable as he is the Master of the highest guild of the enemy nation."

"He can't. Aside from everything else, he's too full of himself."

Ceilron, who momentarily rubbed his chin as he thought about it, continued his words.

"Then, in the end, there's only one remaining card."

"..."

"Ian, it seems we'll need him."

"...!"

A bitter smile formed around Ceilron's mouth.

This was because Ian was someone he had thought of from the beginning, but he purposely strained to disregard him.

'There certainly isn't a user that is as exceptional with controlling as much as Ian and could become a solid fighting power. On top of that, since he'll fill in the spot of the Summoner, who is a black hole, while doing the work of at least two people.'

However, Ian was affiliated with the Lotus Guild, which was a guild of the Luspel Empire that was recently rocketing up to the top rankings.

If they were to recruit him, the Lotus Guild would be shared the reward of this first hidden guild quest of the Devildom, that was too much of a pain in the stomach.

'Still, it will probably be better than throwing away a hidden quest just like this.'

Shyakran slowly nodded his head.

"As expected... Can it not be helped?"

However, just then, Hoonie, who was silently listening to the two people's conversation beside them, spoke with a tearful expression.

"In the end, do you need Ian hyung?"

Hoonie wore an expression that looked as if he had lost everything.

'Ha... I thought that I was going to complete a hidden quest behind Ian hyung's back, but in the end, am I just going to be handing him another quest like this...?'

Ian seemed to be busy with something as he had not checked his list of missed messages, and thanks to that, he had not accepted the quest sharing message that Hoonie had sent.

That's why, inwardly, Hoonie was planning on finishing the quest before Ian saw it.

However, that prosperous(?) plan was foundering like this.

"Hmm, Ian hyung? It seems as though you personally know User Ian."

Ceilron asked Hoonie, and Canoel, who was next to him, responded instead.

"Yes, we are acquainted with Ian hyung."

And he continued his words with a bitter expression.

"I'm certainly lacking too much to cover the Summoner position with my abilities. If you are to request Ian for help, you will definitely be able to complete this quest."

Shyakran replied with a leery expression.

"Definitely...? We've only gotten through the 17th gateway so far. There's still 13 gateways left, but isn't it a little too much of a jump to say that we could definitely clear it just by recruiting Ian alone?"

However, Canoel's expression was unwavering.

"No, if you just have Ian hyung alone, you will be able to clear this quest without even the need to recruit Remir."

"Hmm?"

Hoonie also nodded his head weakly as he added on.

"If it's Ian hyung, a clear may be guaranteed. Although I didn't want to call that hyung again..."

Even after that, the party tried to look for all sorts of alternatives, but in the end, they couldn't find an alternative that was as good as Ian.

Shyakran, who made his decision, opened his mouth towards his party members.

"Then for now, since it seems like we have a conclusion, Ceilron, you try to contact Remir."

"Understood."

Shyakran looked at Hoonie as he spoke.

"And to Ian, Hoonie, why don't you send him a message?"

Hoonie let out a deep sigh as he replied.

"Whew... Understood."

* * *

In front of Ian, who woke up from his sleep(?), Kaka was floating.

"Whew, owner. If you had woken up even a little earlier, we would have been in big trouble."

Ian tilted his head as he asked.

"Hmm? What are you saying now? You have to explain it to me and not cut out the context."

At those words, Kaka wore a proud expression as he began his explanation.

"Huhu, to explain it from the beginning, I succeeded in awakening."

"What?"

"I'm talking about awakening the ability of the night hag. I've also become useful now, owner."

A burst of laughter came out of Ian's mouth.

'No, has the fact that I nagged him, saying he was a useless punk, become that much of a scar?'

To be honest, Kaka was not useless.

Ian nagged at him all the time, but in the meantime, he was magnificently playing the role of a scout even in battle, and the part that Kaka was the most help in was his knowledge.

To Ian, who thought that 'information', was incredibly important while playing a game, Kaka's knowledge was more amazing than any other kind of assistance.

However, he didn't show his feelings as he retorted.

"Alright, so how did that ability awaken?"

Kaka was pleased as he answered.

"Now I can go into the dreams of other people. So just now, I went in and came out of your dream, owner, Kya-ha-hat."

Ian was puzzled.

'Huh? I haven't slept, though, so what's he saying?'

Kaka added on/

"Owner, you dreamt of quite a spectacular dream. I didn't think that the dimensional war that happened a thousand years ago would be reproduced exactly like how it was."

At those words, Ian immediately understood what the situation was right now.

'Ah-ha, he understands it as me having dreamt when I was watching the video just now.'

Ian, who completed his thoughts to that point, instantly opened Kaka's information window and checked his inherent ability.

• Greedy Night Hag (Rare Ability)(Awoken)

The night hag is a demon that has the ability to materialize the events that happened in the dream.

Kaka, who is a night hag with a lot of greed, will appear with one rare item from within a dream whenever he has one.

*This skill has succeeded in awakening. From now on, slave 'Kaka' will be able to use the ability of the night hag even in the dreams of others.

In the information window of Kaka, next to the title of the inherent ability 'Greedy Night Hag', the word 'awoken' was additionally attached, and below that, the additional effect for awakening it was explained.

Ian's expression brightened up to the point it was evident.

'Ooh, if this is the case, then even if Kaka doesn't fall asleep, it's possible for the skill to be used, right?'

Ian's mind began to race quickly.

'And if he had just went in and came out of the world of a thousand years ago just now, then by any chance...!'

The brilliant cintamani that the Abyss Dragon was holding in its mouth.

Ian immediately thought of that.

'Kaka, please!'

Ian asked Kaka.

"So, did you go into my dream and fish something out?"

Kaka nodded his head as if he had been waiting as he boasted.

"Of course!"

Kaka shot his hand up high and shoved the parchment that he was holding in his hand up to Ian's face.

"Huhu, how about this, owner."

And in front of Ian's eyes, the item information popped up.

• An Unknown Ancient Record/Rank: Legendary

Just like what was written in the title of the item, it was unknown, but the rank of 'Legendary' immediately caught Ian's eyes.

However, Ian's expression became sullen.

"You punk, why did you bring that?"

Kaka, who was anticipating praise, asked back as he was so flustered.

"What's the matter, owner?"

"If you've come in and left my dream, you should have come out carrying the cintamani!"

Kaka, who only then realized the reason for why Ian was disappointed, grinned as he replied.

"You idiot-like owner dude! How could I have come out of there with the cintamani?"

"Why not?"

"The cintamani that existed during that time was already being held in the mouth of the Abyss Dragon, so with what talent do I steal that?"

Ian's face became sullen.

"Is there just that one cintamani?"

"That I don't exactly know either, but if in the case, a cintamani was somewhere, with what method would I have looked for it in this short amount of time?"

"Well, that's true..."

While Ian was licking his lips with an expression that seemed like he was disappointed, Kaka continued his words.

"However, it's too early to be disappointed, owner."

"Huh...?"

While Ian asked back with a quizzical expression, Kaka responded with a triumphant expression.

"Since this item exactly is the map where the place that the cintamani is hidden is marked!"

"Ooh!"

At those words, Ian quickly took the parchment and opened his item information.

However, just one message was up in his information window.

• This is an item that has not been appraised yet.

Ian instantly tried to appraise the item.

"Appraise!"

However, an unexpected message popped up.

• This is a high-ranking relic that cannot be appraised with the basic appraisal skill.

Ian looked at Kaka with a flustered expression.

"Yo, how do I appraise this?"

"Can it not be appraised with the appraisal skill?"

"Yeah, it can't be appraised. It says that it's a high-ranking relic."

At that, Kaka, who momentarily thought about it, slowly opened his mouth.

"Hmm... By the looks of it, I think you'll have to ask a high-level Explorer."

"Hmm?"

"People who have the Explorer class have a special appraisal skill, owner."

At that, there was one thing that flashed through Ian's mind like lightning.

'Then, by any chance, wouldn't the user named Lilson, who excavated that Devildom War Record, be able to appraise this map?'

The fact that the class that excavated relics was the Explorer class was basic information that Ian also knew about.

And if he was an Explorer that excavated that legendary relic, he felt he would definitely be an Explorer that achieved the highest level possible.

Ian's face slightly brightened up.

'That's right, I'll have to look for him!'

Just when Ian's mental plan was calmly being organized, an unexpected friend message flew over.

• Kanjihoonie: Ian hyuuung... By any chance, are you busy?