Chapter 707
By now, everyone had caught on to the relationship between the amount of blood inside the glass bottle and the number of sacrifices.
Of course, by the time they realized it, the losses were already painfully severe.
“You bastard… you knew all along, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. Knew what?”
“That someone had to die for that book to be obtained! And you dared choose us as the sacrifices?”
“That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think? I can get through traps, sure, but I don’t know all the fine details beyond that. And me sacrificing people? I’m the kind of person who can’t even kill an ant. Ahem!”
“Shut up! Drop that innocent act already!”
Mayer’s eyes were bloodshot.
Screeeech!
A sword gale swept past Jinhyuk’s neck.
But Jinhyuk had already vanished from that spot.
“Kyaaa. So scary. Call the police. Somebody call the police!”
Jinhyuk made a huge fuss.
As a bonus, he clung to Alice’s back like a piece of gum and trembled dramatically.
Right then.
Ding!
A red status window flashed before everyone.
[‘Pilgrim’s Path’ does not acknowledge sacrifices made by those who entered together.]
Too bad, but there was no point in players killing each other in here.
It meant the offering only recognized blood spilled by the corridor and the things inside this room.
Crunch.
After reading the status window, Mayer barely managed to steady his trembling hand.
At a glance, the blood inside the glass bottle had not even reached one-fourth full.
That meant at least 70% of the people here had to die.
In a situation where every single person had become precious just for his own survival, fighting among the players was no different from insanity.
“Endure it, Mayer-ssi.”
“There will definitely come a chance to kill that bastard.”
“Once we get the book.”
The Dreadroar Guild players desperately tried to calm Mayer down.
“Fine. We’ll let this pass for now. But the damage has been too great so this time, we’ll stand in the back.”
Mayer openly took the rear position.
Making it clear that if the next sacrifice appeared, it naturally had to come from Veteran Corporation’s side.
And watching that, Jinhyuk had to struggle to suppress the laugh bubbling up inside him.
‘Why is everything they think so predictable?’
They say humans instinctively want to hide behind another group when cornered, and not a single part of that saying was wrong.
“Sure. Fine by me.”
Jinhyuk shrugged and took the lead.
“Hmm. You’re surprisingly obedient this time for someone who calls himself a contractor. Even after hearing that, you’re still willing to take point.”
Alice muttered as if she found it unexpected and walked forward with light pats of her footsteps.
“Get ready to run.”
“What?”
“It’s starting now.”
From Jinhyuk’s fingertips, an ice shard formed through Glacial Sculpting shot out.
A chunk of ice no bigger than a thumbnail struck the section marked with a sigil similar to Anubis.
At that exact moment—
Rumbleee!
The balance collapsed, and the entire corridor began tilting sharply.
“I-is it a trap?”
“Damn it. What is it this time?”
“It’s fine. Whatever comes out, we’ll have enough time to prepare.”
“Yeah. We’ve got bastards up front to take it for us.”
But unlike before, the trap started from the very back this time.
Boom! Craaash!
The ground beneath their feet collapsed downward.
“Waaaah!”
“Run! Run forward!”
The footholds vanished at terrifying speed. If they wanted to live, they had to move forward as fast as possible, even if only by a second.
Naturally, Jinhyuk and the rest, who were positioned far ahead of the Dreadroar Guild players, were able to escape the trap with relative ease.
[Glacial Sculpting ‘Frost Field’ is activated!]
With a casual flick, Jinhyuk scattered frost powder across the floor.
He had no intention of showing mercy to trash that would stab them in the back the moment an opportunity appeared.
===
Rumbleee!
The moment they barely escaped, the corridor vanished completely into darkness.
The survivors numbered only half.
Half of the carefully selected elite forces had lost their lives. But before they had time to feel anger or grief, the next traps activated immediately.
Clank!
Rattle!
As soon as living beings were detected, the statues that had remained motionless on both sides began to move.
“Those who covet the treasure of the great Pharaoh.”
“Shall never leave this chamber for all eternity.”
Ancient soldiers holding whips in both hands stamped their feet violently.
[‘The Army of Darkness’ gazes upon the sacrifices to be offered to the Pharaoh.]
Scorpions and cobras made of obsidian attacked the raid party from all directions.
Now, there was nowhere left to retreat.
The worst part was that even though they needed to unite their strength to fight, they couldn’t even do that.
It was the worst possible structure, where only if someone died could another survive. So instead of cooperating, they had to hope the companion beside them would die first.
Naturally, the tanks hesitated and refused to take the lead. The healers also conserved their mana, casting healing only on their own injuries.
“You idiots! What the hell are you doing? Make those bastards over there collapse, not us!”
“B-but… even if they all die, the numbers still won’t be enough.”
“I’m not interested in dying while tanking for someone else!”
“I don’t want to waste mana either.”
Their cohesion crumbled rapidly in the face of survival.
If this had been Dreadroar Guild’s main assault force, things might have been different, but expecting ironclad loyalty and unity from these second-string elites was impossible.
[The first person to obtain the ‘Book of Darkness’ will be granted an additional item capable of creating a gate that allows teleportation to a designated space.]
Because of that status window, confidence had spread that if they just held out, they could survive.
“You fools! When a stronger person dies, more blood fills it. That means we still have a chan—”
Mayer tried somehow to stop the raid party from collapsing, but it was already far too late.
Crunch!
Smash!
Crack! Snap!
As time passed, the number of players shrank rapidly.
Meanwhile, Veteran Corporation’s side had taken no damage whatsoever.
“Guardians of the royal house…. Hm?”
The warriors blessed by the Pharaoh hesitated in front of Jinhyuk.
[‘Sanctuary of the Sun’ is currently active in this area.]
[Player Kang Jinhyuk is under the protection of the higher power ‘Egypt’s Protection’.]
A thick scent of kinship.
No, it was beyond that. They could sense overwhelming trust from an existence of astonishingly high rank.
And on top of that—
Tingle…!
They were merely beings who silently carried out their duties for a purpose, but the aura flowing from the man before them was enough to make them stop.
Even if all of them attacked together, they would have no chance.
It didn’t even take them a full second to reach that conclusion.
In the end, the soldiers targeted the weaker side that was easier to deal with.
“Kieeeek!”
“Croooaaar!”
“Aaaagh!”
“Damn it! When does this end?”
Screams and shouts all blended together in one place.
How much time had passed like that?
At last, the glass bottle filled all the way to the top.
“We did it!”
“Now!”
The tiny handful of players who had barely survived hurled themselves toward where the book had been placed.
It was the tank who had been hiding behind his shield the entire time, defending only himself.
The man who reached the book first stretched out his hand like a diving swallow.
“Kuhahaha! I’m first!”
And without even taking a breath, he started reading the words.
“I finally caught Poppy, who bit me and ran away. Her dog chews are confiscated for the next year… huh?”
The man reading the book tilted his head.
No matter how he looked at it, the contents were far too far removed from the ‘Book of Darkness’ they had been seeking.
When he checked the cover a beat later, he saw an old title written on it.
Chun Yoosung’s Diary, Grade 5 Class 2.
At some point, Jinhyuk had switched the books.
While everyone else had been desperately struggling to survive, he had more than enough time to make a fake altar and a fake book.
Jinhyuk waved the black-painted book around for everyone to see.
“Did you want it that badly?”
As companion items, he had also secured Alice’s childhood diary and Teresa’s private kindergarten diary.
Of course, the owners themselves had no idea their diaries had vanished.
Right then—
“I knew you’d pull a cheap trick like that.”
Mayer, who had been watching for a chance the entire time, moved like lightning.
Kwarararak!
The blade swept precisely across the back of Jinhyuk’s hand.
“Ack!”
Jinhyuk winced and dropped the book he had been holding.
Mayer shot forward at extreme speed and snatched the book just before it hit the floor.
===
Thump! Thump! Thump!
His heart pounded rapidly.
Mayer widened the distance from everyone as much as possible and retreated all the way to the wall.
Only after his back touched it and a safe distance had been secured could he finally release the breath he had been holding in.
How hard had he struggled to find a way out among a bunch of idiots?
How much trouble had he gone through laying trap upon trap, expecting that bastard Kang Jinhyuk to have another trick waiting?
At long last, all that waiting had borne fruit.
Mayer’s hand touched the cover of the book.
Just like something that had devoured countless raid members, the book exuded a sinister and alien aura.
“That’s a pretty difficult book, you know. Are you sure you can read it? I strongly recommend leaving dangerous items to an expert. Then we use the gate that leads outside and escape this hell together.”
Jinhyuk called out advice from afar.
Naturally, it was nothing more than the pathetic whining of a loser. Mayer even had a special skill for interpreting ancient relics like this, so there was no reason to listen to such nonsense.
Snorting, Mayer began reading the letters written in the book.
“Itsuredal Ramion…? What the hell is this?”
But then.
Before he had even finished reading a few letters, he realized something had gone wrong.
[You have read the Necronomicon.]
[The target’s mind is collapsing.]
A blood-red status window tinged with violet flashed.
A book was still a book.
It was just that the kind was completely different.
“Guh… Aaaaargh!”
Mayer screamed at the top of his lungs.
He had read the darkest and most incomprehensible Necronomicon without any preparation, so of course the backlash was bound to be horrific.
“You really are unlucky. The only part you can read with [Interpretation] is the very front part.”
And of all things, he had to read that part?
If he had opened it to the section written in the language of the Primordials, he wouldn’t have been able to read it at all.
As expected, people don’t say for nothing that blessings come to those who live kindly.
‘Though from my perspective, I’m just grateful.’
Thanks to this little supporting-actor performance, he had even gained an additional reward.
[Copy Condition: In order to copy the abilities of Mayer, a mid-level Dreadroar Guild executive, you must subdue him after making him read a completely different kind of book rather than the ‘Book of Darkness’ he was aiming for.]
[Spatial Draw]
Acquisition Difficulty: A
Description: The fastest slash is, paradoxically, the sword being drawn from its sheath. In particular, when using Spatial Draw, which has a range several times wider than a normal slash, a 300% advantage is applied to both the original speed and distance.
[The copied ability is stored in ‘Memory of the World’.]
‘It’s a decent enough ability. I should fuse it later and make a higher-tier one.’
Humming to himself, Jinhyuk walked over to Mayer.
Then he retrieved the Necronomicon.
After storing the book safely in his subspace, Jinhyuk turned to look at the real altar behind the fake one.
[Remaining number of sacrifices: 0.8]
It was still slightly short.
He had destroyed the snakes too quickly and too cleanly while trying to fool Mayer and the others.
“Ugh….”
“Cough! Guhhh….”
Most of them had either lost consciousness or were so badly injured they could barely even hold themselves up. Finishing off people in that state would obviously leave a bad taste in the mouth.
In that case—
[The Subspace Inventory has been opened.]
“Master!”
“You called?”
“Mogiii!”
“Miyooo!”
At Jinhyuk’s summons, numerous familiars poured out from the subspace.
Since he’d called them less often after coming to the modern era, all of them were overflowing with affection. Whether they liked it or not, they were bound to him by a deep bond, so instinctively they couldn’t help but follow their master.
Looking at them, Jinhyuk’s eyes reddened.
“Yeah. I’m glad to see you too after so long.”
“What made you call even us? Looks like everything’s already cleaned up.”
Usually, Jinhyuk summoned them for battle.
But this time, the fact that he had called them only after everything was already over made no sense.
No.
Shiver….
A few of them who had suffered enough before instinctively sensed something ominous.
A kind of déjà vu.
After similar situations piled up again and again, they had learned to read what kind of future was coming.
Goguma and Undine were the first to step backward.
They had to run.
As far away as possible.
But before they could even take more than a few steps, they slammed into an invisible wall.
“You know, society’s been pretty cold and rough these days, right?”
Jinhyuk smiled softly.
At the same time, he idly rolled the skewer Alice had given him between his fingers.
The blood of divine beasts and mythical beasts normally held far greater value than that of ordinary players. If a single person had to be wholly sacrificed, the seals probably wouldn’t be undone with these guys’ blood alone, but…
…with only an awkward little amount remaining at this point, there was a high chance a suitable irregular method would work.
Which meant there was no need to increase the number of sacrifices.
“Don’t worry too much. It’ll only sting a little.”
“I’ll heal you.”
Teresa clenched both fists.
Right. With such a reliable healer here, there was no need to worry about them dying from blood loss.
“R-run!”
“Save me!”
“Master, I’m dirt! I don’t have blood, just dust!”
Soon after, pitiful and desperate screams echoed through the chamber.