Translator: Seven
Editor: Ana_Banana
250 players, gathered from all over the world, were greeted by the sight of a desert-like sand field that had trees growing above it, as soon as they entered the dungeon.
“A forest on a desert…”
It was an environment that was naturally impossible to see in reality.
However none of the players there were very surprised by this unrealistic sight before them.
“This will be a pain in the ass.”
Because no matter what the environment was, this was still a dungeon.
“It won’t be easy to fight.”
“Right, and it would be even more troublesome if there are monsters who live in the trees.”
Instead, the players began looking around the environment, not to admire the scenery, but to figure out a way for them to fight in such an environment.
It was at that moment.
The moment the last person entered the dungeon gate, the expected notification sounded in their ears.
[Hunt the Red Eyed Orangutan to advance to the next level.]
Everyone made a face as they heard the conditions to clear the first floor from the notification.
“An Orangutan? That’s a headache.”
“Hunt a monkey in this place, isn’t that the worst scenario?”
“We’re going to have a hard time.”
Everyone expressed their thoughts as they saw the notification.
Only one player, the last one to enter, didn’t react to the notification.
It wasn’t because he couldn’t understand the situation, but because he had noticed something.
‘As expected.’
If one thought that this situation was enough to frustrate him, then it would be an insult to Kim Woo-jin.
‘There are some people aiming for me.’
The moment he had entered the dungeon, Kim Woo-jin had noticed that there were a few gazes on him that were similar to hunters looking at their prey, this was why he paid no attention to the notification.
‘According to my memories, the first floor wasn’t really difficult.’
Also the fact that he already had a certain level of information about the dungeon meant that he really didn’t need to pay much attention to the notifications.
Without knowing his thoughts, Lee Jin-ah walked up to Kim Woo-jin and spoke carefully in Russian.
“What’s the plan?”
As he said those words, Lee Jin-ah’s voice was filled with the lust for battle.
He had felt the gazes too.
There were some people here who saw them as prey instead of players.
‘It seems the training was well worth it.’
It was thanks to the training that Kim Woo-jin had given him that made Lee Jin-ah slightly upset at being treated like prey.
Of course, if Lee Jin-ah had heard Kim Woo-jin’s thought then he would have probably disagreed strongly.
‘I don’t know who they are but…’
Regardless, Kim Woo-jin had to make a decision.
He had to decide what he would do about those who were aiming at him like prey.
Kim Woo-jin didn’t worry about it for long.
‘I’ll make them pay for treating me like prey.’
…
The best thing that the players could do in a dungeon was to unite together.
There was no dungeon that couldn’t be cleared if the players were given their roles and commands like a bee.
However the players were unable to do that.
After all, humans were not capable of committing to fulfilling the duties of their roles like bees.
Under these circumstances, there was only one path they could take.
“It’s only the first floor, so let’s not make it too hard.”
“Let’s just do our best.”
They didn’t need to create a command center and structure, they would all just use their own ability and tricks to clear the first floor.
“If there is a rescue signal, let’s all try to help each other.”
It was much better for them to agree to help each other in emergency situations rather than cling together clumsily.
At least the players who were experienced with 3 Floor dungeons knew that. Therefore the 250 people soon broke into their own smaller parties.
Of course, Kim Woo-jin moved with Lee Jin-ah.
As they were moving away, Lee Jin-ah made a proposal to Kim Woo-jin.
“I think there are some guys aiming for us. How about we strike first before they come?”
He wanted them to figure out those who were targeting them and then getting rid of them before they made a move.
This was Lee Jin-ah’s style.
“That’s your style isn’t it?”
And it was a style that suited Kim Woo-jin more than anyone else. Wasn’t Kim Woo-jin the one who achieved his goals by eliminating all variables with overwhelming forces?
Kim Woo-jin couldn’t help but laugh at Lee Jin-ah’s words.
‘I guess I’ve been acting too hard.’
Kim Woo-jin’s style had never been as violent and overwhelming as Lee Jin-ah thought it was.
If it had been, then Kim Woo-jin’s nickname probably wouldn’t have been ‘Hunting Dog’.
He was called a ‘Hunting Dog’ because his ability to hunt a prey was far greater than anyone else.
“I’ll show you what my style is really like.”
“Huh?”
Kim Woo-jin wanted to show Lee Jin-ah his true ability.
The Hunting Dog started tracking.
…
Dungeons could only be cleared by completing quests, and there were three main types of quests.
Quests to survive a certain amount of time, quests to hunt down and kill a certain number and/or type of monster(s), and quests which required the tracking and killing of a single specific monster.
In carrying out these three types of quests, there was one factor that was commonly required was to have wide knowledge of monsters.
Whether it was hunting or surviving, if you knew what kind of monster you were dealing with, wouldn’t it be easier to handle?
Guilds around the world spent a lot of money to buy information on monsters and then they would spend even more to hire professionals to use the information to show their players the information in the most realistic way, for example CG.
Knowledge was after all, the best weapon and the guild that accumulated the most knowledge was the best guild.
This was why the Messiah Guild was the best.
The Messiah Guild was able to accumulate information by even attacking dungeons that had been abandoned by other guilds, based on that information, they were able to raise the best players.
Eventually, using the great amount of accumulation that they had, they were able to create a monster named Kim Woo-jin.
In other words, in Kim Woo-jin’s head was the accumulated information on monsters that the Messiah Guild had gathered for many years.
‘Red Eyed Orangutan.’
It was no exaggeration to say that at this point there wasn’t a monster that Kim Woo-jin didn’t know about.
‘It must have eaten its own kind.’
The same was true for the Red Eyed Orangutan.
Kim Woo-jin used the knowledge in his head to figure out the characteristics of the monster.
‘Orangutans live in groups of ten or more. It’s strong enough to eat its own kind but it will still hide in the shadows and it’ll be much more dangerous than normal. When it encounters the players for the first time it’ll probably move from its territory. So the most important thing would be to map out the area.’
As soon as he finished his characterization, he began making his move.
“Book of the Dead.”
After Kim Woo-jin brought out the book of the dead, he took out the slab that was the first page and broke it.
Pat!
The crushed slab slowly turned into a small goblin skeleton.
It was a Goblin Skeleton Soldier which reminded one of an assassin as it was dressed in a tight fighting outfit that was a similar color to the sandy floor.
Kim Woo-jin inspected the skeleton for a moment before he put the Grim Reaper’s Mask on his face.
[You have connected to the skeleton.]
Then after he connected to the skeleton, he began to see the world through the Skeleton Soldier’s eyes.
At the same time, the Skeleton Soldier began moving away silently.
…
Chun Dao-ming.
China was the country that had the most players in the world and among the players who were under level 100, his fame could be counted in the top 10 easily. Which was a noteworthy achievement.
There were two reasons why he was so famous.
One was that he was not a member of any guild.
The other was that even though he wasn’t in a guild he was still hard working and crazy enough to do whatever he wanted.
In fact, even within all the players in china it was almost impossible to find any players who would behave in such a way without first being a member of an influential guild.
Therefore he was given the nickname ‘Crazy Dog.’
“Does he really have something like that brother?”
And now he had found a target.
“Yeah it seems like it’s the Kunlun Guild’s Van Gogh Bracelet and it’s an item he picked up in the last dungeon.”
“By last dungeon, you mean the one in Taiwan?”
“Yeah, the Gates of Hell.”
“He’s a pretty amazing guy.”
The target was Isaac Ivanov.
“He’s not that big of a deal, you’re just grateful. Aren’t you glad that he brought a treasure to us from where we couldn’t get it? Isn’t that all it is?”
The reason he was the target was simple.
“But this could be a trap right? It couldn’t be that they just came and told us what items he has out of goodwill.”
A week ago, someone had requested to talk to Chun Dao-ming.
On a normal occasion he would have ignored it, but even Chun Dao-ming didn’t dare to ignore a call from the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.
In that meeting he had learned that Isaac Ivanov had a valuable treasure known as Van Gogh’s Bracelet.
“Right, they want us to kill him and take it.”
Of course, no matter how you looked at it, it was obvious that they were trying to get rid of Isaac Ivanov using Chun Dao-ming’s hands.
“You think I don’t know that? Huh?”
Chun Dao-ming knew this as well.
Nevertheless, he did not care.
“Isn’t the important thing whether it’s worth it or not to kill him and take it? And as far as I can see, Van Gogh’s Bracelet is the perfect thing to kill him and take. You can use more than 4 ring effects.”
Instead he welcomed this situation.
“With four top tier rings. No one, not even the Messiah Guild would be able to touch me in a dungeon.”
In his eyes, it was the perfect opportunity for him to become the best.
“So when will we make our move? It’s not just you is it? Wouldn’t it be better to handle it before those other guys make their move?”
“I haven’t even checked to confirm whether he’s wearing the bracelet yet, what’s the use in making a move? I’ll make my move after I’ve confirmed that he has the bracelet on him.”
“Ah.”
Therefore he was more careful.
“It’ll take at least four days to hunt down the monkey anyway. Let’s take the time to figure out the situation.”
He was prepared for a slow hunt.
“Slowly, with composure. It’s not like the dungeon will suddenly get cleared or something like that.” (TL: totally jinxed it…)
It was at that moment.
The moment his men nodded their heads in agreement.
[The Red Eyed Orangutan has been hunted.]
[Proceed to the next floor.]
“Huh?”
“What the hell?”
Eight hours after entering the dungeon, the notification that the first floor had been cleared was heard by all the participants.