Translator: Seven
Editor: Ana_Banana
The first floor of the dungeon was swept by frigid winds.
[Proceed to the Second Floor.]
The players who had moved into the new stage after spending 5 days on the first floor were faced with an entirely white world. A colder world, with snow as far as the eye could see.
Lee Jin-ah and Kim Woo-jin were moving through a snow field.
“Ah.”
Suddenly Lee Jin-ah stopped walking, and Kim Woo-jin who was beside him, stopped as well, looking around cautiously.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, this snow.”
Lee Jin-ah caught some flakes in his hand.
“Isn’t it possible to make patbingsu1 with it?”
The words he spoke was something that no one would imagine. However, Kim Woo-jin didn’t express any surprise.
“It wouldn’t taste as good as you expect.”
Rather, he responded without hesitation.
“Huh?”
Instead it was Lee Jin-ah who was amazed.
“Have you ever eaten it?”
When he heard this accusation, Kim Woo-jin remembered a few bitter memories. As he’d said, Kim Woo-jin had indeed eaten snow, a lot of it.
“I didn’t eat it because it tasted good.”
Of course, he’d never eaten snow as food. In harsh situations where drinking water is unavailable, if there was snow then it could be swallowed to save your life, he had only done it in such cases. (TL: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!)
“So why did you eat it then?”
It was a rather desperate option and some might say it was better to die.
“It can only be done when there is a goal you need to accomplish before you die.”
Of course, there had to be a reason why he fiercely wanted to survive.
“Like them.”
The place where Kim Woo-jin was looking was a pile of snow that looked like a tombstone.
As he said those words, Woo-jin approached the pile of snow.
Then he saw a body. The body was almost completely intact except for a large hole from an unknown source. The fist of the body was clenched tightly, holding something.
Opening the hand, Kim Woo-jin discovered a note.
[Characteristics of the Horned Fox]
‘You endured till the end.’
It was a note with the information on Horned Foxes that the player managed to write before they died.
After he read it, Kim Woo-jin passed the note to Lee Jin-ah who also gave a bitter smile as he read it’s contents.
“To leave information instead of a will and testament.”
To write a note before you died with your eyes closed and your neck bleeding, just to leave as much information as possible for those who would come after you.
“It’s like the Messiah Guild.”
That was the Messiah Guild. Where there are many sublime players willing to give their lives to save the world.
“Yeah it’s like the Messiah Guild.”
This made the anger buried within Kim Woo-jin burn hotter.
‘So I can’t forgive them even more.’
Lee Se-jun. He treated the sacrifices of these noble people, and treated it as firewood to maintain the flames of his ambition.
‘Lee Se-jun, you should’ve been a villain.’
“But I don’t think there’s any useful information here.”
At that time, Lee Jin-ah was done looking over the contents of the note and handed it back to Kim Woo-jin.
He wasn’t wrong.
Obviously the player had risked their lives to get this information, but the information they gained was only on the appearance of the Horned Fox and even then a lot of the information was subjective.
Kim Woo-jin also didn’t expect much.
“The information left before death is usually like this.”
Usually the information that was written before death was done while in a panicked state so there was nothing wrong with it. It wasn’t easy to write legible text in such a situation. It could be said that they wrote a note, but in the end it wasn’t that much.
“It doesn’t matter since we didn’t come here to get information in the first place.”
In the end Kim Woo-jin hadn’t gone there intending to look for information in the first place.
“You’re not trying to get information? Then why..?”
Instead of answering, Kim Woo-jin asked a question to Lee Jin-ah in return.
“What would you do if someone touched a snack you’d saved to eat later.”
“That son of a bitch better watch his back…”
It was then.
Grrr…
“…you would smash them.”
The Horned Fox battle had begun.
The Horned Fox’s appearance didn’t differ too much from that of a regular fox with silver fur.
However with a body 5 meters long, musculature(size) similar to a siberian tiger and two 50cm horns on its head made it clear that this was no ordinary fox.
However, the thing that really stood out, was the beautiful silver fur that flowed in the wind, as sharp as needles.
Grrr!
The sound was so sharp it stung the faces of those before it.
“Kuh!”
Lee Jin-ah coughed lightly.
“It’s a monster…”
At the same moment that Lee Jin-ah began to speak, the fox suddenly charged toward him.
Paat!
The Horned Fox’s charge was so fast that it could remind you of a cheetah. Not only was it big, but it was also very fast.
These two elements, combined with the pair of lethal horns on its head, made the Horned Fox much more lethal than the Needle Snake.
In addition, with the fox’s speed, it was almost impossible to see or dodge it’s attacks. Before you could react, the Horned Fox would already be in front of your nose.
This was the situation Lee Jin-ah faced right now.
When he’d started talking, the distance between him and the fox was about 20 meters. For the fox, such a distance was something that could be quickly crossed even at a leisure speed and Lee Jin-ah couldn’t avoid it.
Puk!
The fox’s horns pierced through Lee Jin-ah’s stomach, the force of the charge pushing them away from Kim Woo-jin.
Grrr!
After 100 meters, the momentum behind the charge finally dissipated.
“I got you, bitch.”
As blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, Lee Jin-ah looked at the fox with a smile and grabbed it as an arrow flew in from a distance.
Puk!
The thick arrowhead, which was as black as obsidian, pierced the body of the Horned Fox.
Kriee!
The fox screamed in pain, but Kim Woo-jin’s attention was instead grabbed by a group of notifications.
[The Horned Fox has been poisoned by the Black Blood.]
[The health of the Horned Fox has been greatly reduced.]
[The attack power of the Horned Fox has been greatly reduced.]
[The defense of the Horned Fox has been greatly reduced.]
It was a notification which let him know of the horrifying effects of his skill.
“First, grab the leg.”
Of course, Kim Woo-jin didn’t give too much attention to the notification.
“Then, grab the body.”
Instead, he immediately shot another arrow from his bow.
Boom!
And the Skeleton Soldiers also began to move.
(Note:
1: Patbingsu is a Korean dessert made with shaved ice and has sweet toppings like chopped fruit, condensed milk, syrup, and red beans)