298 Fire Evil Spirit (2)

I feel weird.

It’s not that I sympathize with you now, and I don’t regret having the mace down at that time.

It’s kind of awkward, but it’s kind of creepy.

“You don’t look good.”

“… … .”

“Did you know that kid?”

I shook my head at Amelia’s question.

And I asked one question.

“What will happen to those children when they become adults?”

“Becoming an explorer.”

“Is there no other way? Maybe work in Yeongjuseong or something like that.”

“impossible. Those children came under Seongju after making such a promise in the first place.”

“Are you a promise?”

“Instead of raising them, they do whatever they ask.”

It wasn’t funny.

“If you entrust all the chores and use it as a bait when looting, do you mean raising them?”

“Children who survive hell grow strong.”

As soon as I heard those words, the words of the chieftain suddenly flashed through my mind.

[You know it, don’t you? Only the surviving warriors become strong warriors.]

In a way, it was similar.

In order to survive, an environment with a structure that has no choice but to become strong.

Seongju deliberately put the children into such an environment.

“Nevertheless, the mortality rate is on the low side if we exclude childhood, which mainly plays the role of bait. The same is true of the treatment of children in the assigned team.”

Amelia continued.

After surviving for about three years as a bait, they will be recognized for their qualities and begin to receive weapon skills.

In addition, it is said that if an ownerless Essence comes out while hunting, you can eat the Essence… … .

“Children who have gone through such a life become power that can be used immediately as soon as they become adults.”

“What if you want to quit when you become an adult?”

“It’s not going to happen. Usually, since I was a child, I was constantly educating my thoughts. When you become an adult, you become a servant who is more loyal to the lord than anyone else.”

“But what if you still calm down and quit?”

Amelia frowned as if persistent, then opened her mouth.

“I’m going to make corrections. to be loyal again.”

“… … .”

“Don’t worry too much. There will be no children who went under the castle without knowing that.”

The conversation ended there.

But I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

What kind of time would the player have to spend in the body of ‘Jencia Naphrin’?

Well, maybe it wasn’t that bad.

Because Noark doesn’t kill them blindly because they’re evil spirits.

‘… … But I’m not going to set you free.’

From the perspective of Seongju, an evil spirit must have resided in the body of a talented person who has been fed with the essences left over for several years.

Seongju would have made anyone who inhabited the evil spirit continue to live the life of ‘Zencia’.

Even with a little stronger ‘correction’.

‘Anyway, whether the evil spirit was found out or well hidden, I should have gone to loot from the start. Then, the fact that they were all treated as NPCs and not treated as humans may have been a defense mechanism… … .’

No, why do I keep wondering about this?

‘Let’s stop thinking about it.’

I ended my thinking at this point.

It doesn’t matter to me what environment the player had to survive in.

The woman tried to kill me.

yes, so… … .

‘I just did what I had to do.’

That’s what the case is all about.

After that, it’s getting a little cramped when I put it together like this.

“Whatever, Amelia. Come on. I have to do what I have to do.”

“You… … Why are there so many ups and downs?”

“Aren’t you a barbarian?”

After I brushed off all the unpleasant feelings, I continued fishing for predators using the secret of the secret ‘naejabulseon’.

A few more days passed like that… … .

“Oh, there’s another subspace ring.”

It was a time when, as usual, the looter team’s equipment was arranged one after another.

like-

“… … yes?”

The ground shook as if there had been an earthquake as he was afraid to tilt his head.

To be honest, I was quite embarrassed.

Heh, I hadn’t even thought of this.

It’s like-!

A crack was formed on the 3rd floor.

***

A crack opens in the layer you entered.

It was a little sudden, but it wasn’t particularly surprising or surprising.

It can happen at any time while you’re exploring.

However, the problem is… … .

‘Why now?’

We did not enter the labyrinth for normal exploration.

Even in the cracks on the 3rd floor, there is no essence that I can eat.

No, the essence slot is full in the first place, so it is impossible to eat unless you delete the essence of the corpse golem.

Isn’t there a number item and a rift stone instead?

You can’t take them back 20 years anyway.

Well, if you sell it, that money will help you live here, but… … .

‘Let’s stop drinking kimchi soup and start checking.’

I quickly put an end to my worries.

Having a crack open and being able to enter a crack were another matter.

“Amelia, where are you?

A person with the talent of a guide can know the location of a rift when it is created.

If so, where did the cracks actually come from?

If the nearest is a place we have to drive for several hours, we can’t get into it no matter what we do.

So you don’t even have to worry—

“Five minutes north.”

Wow, it’s really open right in front of you.

Let me come out like this

Last time on the 5th floor, a crack was created in a different area, so I had to drink hard.

“What! Come on!”

When I shouted with the momentum to run right away, Amelia asked briefly.

“Are you going in?”

What do you mean, of course not.

It is best to enter the crack unconditionally if you can.

Essences, items, and whatnot.

There are experience points that can only be obtained from the rift… … .

‘No, wait.’

“Amelia, have you ever been to the third floor rift?”

“Once before.”

Yes, you have already eaten up all the experience points here.

Somehow, I didn’t have the motivation this time.

“I am not! So let’s go!”

“… … .”

“After all, it was almost a success to catch the eyes of the lord! Missing a few more loot won’t change anything!”

“But if you go to the rift and run into any problems… … .”

“No accidents! And aren’t we colleagues? Help me once! I’m going to quietly get public values and come out!”

“… … Alright, follow me.”

After being silent for a moment, Amelia sighed and quickly began to guide the way.

He probably didn’t change his mind to the word ‘colleague’.

I would have decided that it would be better to just endure the hassle for a few days if the relationship with the ‘collaborator’ is going to go wrong.

Because she is a woman who seeks rationality in many ways.

‘Surprisingly, it has good compatibility with barbarians.’

Since she’s not emotional, Amelia’s Bavarian ignorance ‘Do It’ works well for her. It would be more reasonable for this woman to be bothered all the time.

Tadat.

Anyway, as soon as I was running, I could see the portal within the visible range.

“Yandel, one last thought… … .”

Think what you think.

“Behel—la ah ah ah!”

Without hesitation, I threw myself over it.

and… … .

flash-!

When we woke up, we were in a pure white temple.

***

The floor height is high enough that you can [jump] to your heart’s content.

White marble pillars.

And a hundred stone statues hanging along the edge of the wall.

‘Seeing no one was there, we must have been the first to enter.’

Once I made sure that no other explorers were in sight, I slowly looked around.

It was pure curiosity rather than the process of confirming where this place was.

That’s because there’s only one crack on the third floor.

The White Temple.

Not white, but a temple with a hundred colors.

By the way, it was also a place that I had to visit at least once during the game.

The supply of experience points is huge.

“Yandel, do you know about this place?”

“To some extent.”

“Then I don’t need to explain.”

There are three characteristics of the White Temple.

1. Elite mobs that do not appear in normal fields like corpse golems pour out.

No matter what you catch, if you’re new to it, you can get the first kill experience… … .

2. It is not a cooperative raid like normal rifts, but rather a competition between the explorers who entered.

Only one team can enter the boss room.

If the team that enters first fails to attack, then the other team gets a chance.

Oh, and that doesn’t mean that Amelia and I have to compete against other teams.

3. When a crack is created, a total of 5 portals are opened on the floor, and those who enter through the same portal become a team.

In the game, this was the most difficult.

that’s natural

I discovered a crack while working as a team of five, but what if two people went inside first?

Two fellow characters who were traveling together are left behind.

Like this team of explorers who just came in.

“… … uh?”

“Damn it, there must have been a shipper already.”

A portal floating in the air closed, spitting out the three explorers.

It looks like you left your teammates outside… … .

“It’s a big deal! Remude and Hans couldn’t come in!!”

Uh, Nice.

“… … Calm down! Although we are separated, Remude and Hans should be able to survive on the 3rd floor just the two of us!”

Shortly thereafter, a human swordsman wearing a sword came to us after soothing his confused colleagues.

“Nice to meet you. Did you two come here?”

“By the way.”

Despite Amelia’s cut-off style, the man smiled kindly.

“Haha, we won’t be together for a while. It’s a relationship that we met like this, but let’s start with a common name. I am Carlton Drek.”

“Emily.”

“It’s Bjorn.”

As Amelia and I revealed our pseudonyms, Carlton cautiously asked me.

“Bjorn, are you a barbarian?”

It was a natural question.

Right now, I am fully equipped with sheet metal equipment.

It is impossible to check whether or not there is a tattoo because everything from the face to the toes is covered with an iron plate.

so that… … .

“What does that matter?”

When I asked the question crookedly, Carlton offered an apology as if he had missed it.

“I’m sorry. It was just curiosity, I think it might have been disrespectful to you.”

From the looks of it, it seemed that he thought I was a large human being.

After all, most of the people who react sensitively to such trivial questions are narrow-minded people.

“Carlton, would you like to come?”

Anyway, after we said our names, the fairy man who was watching the situation from behind called Carlton.

and… … .

‘I can’t hear you.’

We whispered and talked about something.

It looks like we’re discussing something… … .

“You say we are suspicious.”

“yes?”

“I can only hear the words spoken from this distance. Unless you use magic.”

“… … Right?”

He had a high level of hearing.

I never knew

Even later, you shouldn’t secretly whisper in front of him.

“So what are you talking about? His expression is serious.”

Since then, the conversations eavesdropped using Amelia were as follows.

‘They’re just casually revealing their names. The two of them on the 3rd floor on the 13th day, maybe they’re looters. One even covered his face.’

The Fairy man said something strange, and Carlton heard it.

‘But there is no other way. I can’t be the first to follow suit because it’s suspicious. Let’s go together and find out what kind of people they are.’

Is the discussion over like that?

“ah! Sorry! Because the co-workers this friend left behind say they are worried.”

Carlton came over to us with a big smile.

And two others gave their names and gave them time to introduce themselves.

“Now, this friend from the fairies… … .”

“Stop it, I will. Aimbourne Bertha Garcia. As you can see, his bow is his specialty.”

Aimbourne ended the introduction briefly by revealing only the main weapon and the name. It seems they don’t want to give us more information.

Anyway, the next barbarian warrior.

“Hah ha ha! Nice to meet you all!”

Like a barbarian, the warrior who couldn’t even wear a whisper jacket between the two colleagues came to us with a bright smile.

And without the slightest restraint, he introduced himself.

“I am Jandel, the third son of Jarku!”

“… … … … What?”

As soon as I heard it, my mind went blank.

Now if I’m not wrong… … .

“Oh, is it a little difficult for humans? Just feel free to call me Yandel Jarkura!”

It meant biological father.