chapter 231
231 – Raising a Princess
“Finally!”
“I survived. Haha-“
It was time for the hunters to let out cheers that they had suppressed until now and unconsciously start walking towards the stairs leading outside.
“Everyone stop! Have you forgotten that it’s dangerous to leave now!”
“Ah…!”
“There are still monsters swarming outside…”
“I don’t know how many more there are besides the Nargul that followed us. What I saw earlier may have been just the tip of the iceberg.”
“What is the difficulty level? Really…”
“Wait a minute, if you stay still, won’t they come through the passage again?”
“We’ve reduced the numbers considerably, so wouldn’t it be better to deal with them here?”
“Definitely, the terrain itself is better here. Rather than going out and getting eaten.”
Half of the hunters were lying on the ground recovering their health, and the other half were talking and discussing countermeasures.
“Those stairs… It might be better to just close them.”
In the past, I tried to close the door with those thoughts.
However, that door was a staircase with the will that it should be opened because the conditions were met. It will only close if we all go outside.
Kwaah!
“It doesn’t close. It’s really heavy.”
“Ah! Let’s just make a shelter by the stairs and hold on. That seems better than going out.”
It seems like everyone agreed and agreed to hold a sit-in protest and hold out for the remaining four days.
But.
‘If I stay here for a while, it will collapse…’
It’s been quiet since the big tremor earlier, but this place won’t be able to hold out any longer since the Skeleton Knight is gone.
‘Did you last about two hours last time? Um…’
The conditions have changed a lot, so this place will collapse within an hour at the most.
“But I beat the hidden dungeon, is there any reward?”
“Usually they give even flimsy equipment.”
“I think they’ll give us something if we all go outside.”
That’s the correct answer.
When you exit this cave, each person who participated will receive one artifact.
Of course, it is the lowest-level artifact with the lowest performance, but if you sell it, you can easily get over 2.5 billion won.
Hunters here have won the lottery.
Of course, it is a possible reward because we survived the extreme conditions.
‘The main point is somewhere else.’
After paying close attention to people’s perceptions, I activated stealth.
I touched Yeonhee with my finger to let her know that I would be leaving for a while.
“Hugh- huh, yes…”
After touching Yeonhee’s ear while she was pretending to make a scary expression and asking where she was going, I climbed the cave wall and headed toward the ceiling.
[Adsorption]
‘This is in the same location.’
Let’s pack up and go outside.
Chubby-
There is a small empty space on the ceiling that was used as a study. I don’t know why they hid it in such a hard-to-get-out place.
Is there another passage? First of all, nothing was detected.
There is no way there would be a study on a ceiling this high in the first place.
As the dungeon was created, the space became distorted…
Gwaik-
After soundproofing the ceiling with senses so other hunters wouldn’t notice, I opened the hidden door.
The door, barely wide enough for two people to enter, opened lightly, revealing a fairly wide space.
[Fire Ball]
Although it can be detected without having to turn on the light, I wanted to make sure there was anything different from before.
‘Same. There is almost no change in the place where the artifact is located.’
Let’s take a few steps along the floor, which is obviously made of high-quality material, although it’s covered in a lot of dust.
An old wardrobe that looks like it will turn to powder if you touch it and a box painted dark brown catch my eye.
‘I’m excited because it’s the first artifact I’ve acquired in a long time.’
It was even more so because the item I got this time was a bit unique.
Passasasak-
When I touched the closet with my hand, it weathered into dust and scattered, and two sets of chain mail fell onto the floor.
Both are impressively large for modern people to wear, but don’t worry because they will shrink to fit your body when you wear them anyway.
What I said was unusual was that this armor in the closet and the earrings in the box were all part of a set.
It is a unique artifact that has an effect when worn together like a couple look and is within a certain range.
Tuk Tuk-
After shaking off the dusty chain mail a few times, the chain mail was revealed, shining like new.
—-
Inamud Mail of the Forgotten Old Kingdom
– Defense +95
– Stamina +70
– Perk: When your partner’s health is below 20%, your health is immediately shared.
– Perks only take effect when they are within a certain range.
– The privilege will not be applied if one party rejects it.
—-
‘Option performance has gone up a bit?’
In my memory, this chain armor was supposed to only increase stamina by about 30, but the value had almost doubled. Are you trying to fix the broken balance even by increasing the performance of the artifact?
‘… Well, it’s fine for us.’
Bone armor’s defense is 120, but the artifact’s defense is 95. You may think it’s disappointing, but given the nature of the chain armor that can be worn on top of the armor, the defense can be considered quite decent.
With bone armor, your defense power is a whopping 215!
That would be enough defense to not take damage from most minor soldiers.
Chain Mail This is a bit bulky, so it takes some time to provide a hiding effect. It would only cause trouble if I wore it for no reason, so I put it in my inventory for now.
Clap-
Then I opened a small dark brown box. It had something like a thick lock attached to it, but when I injected it with a wave of sensation, it naturally loosened and disappeared.
Inside, there were two other small boxes placed side by side, about twice the size of the ring case.
The closet and box were old and shabby, but the case containing the earrings welcomed me shyly without losing its brilliant golden shine.
Click-
When I pressed the small square button at the bottom, the case opened with a cheerful sound.
Inside was a pair of drop-shaped earrings that showed off a dazzling gold like the case. From what I had used in the past, if one person wore them on the left, the other person had to wear them on the right for them to be effective.
—-
Enchanted Drops of a Forgotten Ancient Kingdom
– Magic attribute +250
– Perk: Instantly transport your partner to the safest location you can think of. Your partner becomes [Invincible] For one hour. Your partner will be in a [Statue] State for a day.
– Number of times perk can be used: 5
– Perks only take effect when they are within a certain range.
– The preference of the person who first wears the privilege takes precedence.
—-
‘It’s definitely… A different level.’
It has good performance that goes beyond the numbers shown by the artifacts we have seen so far. But the key is still the perks.
A crazy option that allows you to avoid dangerous places at once.
You are even granted [Invincibility] For an hour and are given the [Stone] Status that reduces damage from physical and magic attacks by 90% for a day.
Of course, the [Stone Statue] Has the disadvantage of reducing its movement speed by 95% and turning it into a slug… But if you were in a situation where you had to use this ring, you would be glad that it saved your life.
I could only use it five times, but if I used it more than twice, I would have to deeply reflect on myself.
The earrings were immediately hidden.
I gently placed one earring on the right side of my head, and the earring appeared like a pattern on the side of my head.
‘It’s fascinating.’
It was truly a mystery.
I put the other one in my inventory and immediately got up to leave this place.
At that time, several sheets of parchment placed on one side of the bookshelf caught my eye. I hadn’t paid any attention to it when I came in before.
‘Hmm…’
It was filled with expressions of earnest affection and love for the woman named Adrinne. However, at some point, writings containing hatred toward Adrine began to be written, and in the end, it almost reached the level of hatred.
From what’s written, it seems like Adrine dumped her Skull Knight and married Nar Gul. And the Skeleton Knight transferred his revenge for Adrine to Nargul and fought a fierce battle, eventually losing and fleeing here…
Perhaps she ordered her chain mail and earrings to be used with Adeline before that happened.
‘…You worked hard.’
That was exactly the impression I had.
However, my conditions were not so conducive to just dismissing it as someone else’s problem. With her slightly bitter heart in her chest, she ran out.
Kugugung─!
‘Hmm?!’
As soon as I got out, the cave started shaking again. It was shaking so violently that it seemed as if it would collapse at any moment, but there was no disagreement that anyone should get out of this place immediately.
“Damn it! Everyone get out! If this continues, it’s going to collapse!”
“Haha! Still, the guys in the cave will be stuck!”
“I think those guys will somehow come after me even if the cave collapses.”
When we came out, we paused for a moment at the reward message that appeared in our heads, but we all had no choice but to shake our heads at the same time and look in the same direction.
– Bwwwww”
The sight of dozens of giant skeletons and thousands of undead rushing towards us was truly…
“Fuck…”
“Please, leave us alone! You bastards—!!”
“Just jump out!”
I had no choice but to say something like that.
I immediately carried Yeonhee around.
“Kya-!”
‘Let’s jump. There are too many.’
And everyone was so tired.
As if they had made a promise, the hunters started running after me as I took off with Yeonhee in my arms.
The party members climbed on top of the Lizardman and moved together as they had always done.
“Rock wall!”
“Ice field!”
Of course, I didn’t just comfortably carry it on my back.
Bae Joo-ah and Noh Hayun used magic to target the timing so that it would be inconvenient for the monsters to follow.
It was also of great help that Lizard No. 2 and No. 3 took the time with provocations in the last row.
Thanks to this, I was able to completely escape from them.
They ran without stopping for a whopping 30 minutes, and it seemed like the hunters didn’t even have the strength left to lift a finger.
There were many hunters who had consumed all of Irmana’s lake water up to three times in the cave, so there was really no answer other than natural recovery.
We found a spot beyond the broken stone bridge, which had heavy burn marks left in various places, and took a short break.
The only reason I chose this spot was because under the bridge, it goes deep underground. This is because the bridge was long and the enemy could only come over through the bridge.
If anything happens, it’s wide enough for me and the summons to block it, so we’ll just have to suffer a little.
When people were resting, only Yeonhee was called aside.
Bae Joo-ah, Baek A-rin, Ham Eun-young, and even Noh Hayun all fell asleep as soon as they sat down, so no one thought it was strange.
Since I rarely call her out, Yeonhee looked at me with little anticipation.
“Why, why? What… Do you have something to say?”
What do you expect from me who can’t even speak?
I took out her earrings and handed them to her.
Yeonhee, who had a puzzled expression for a moment, looked at her earrings that had come off the moment she touched them, and asked in surprise, covering her mouth with her hand.
(What is this?)
Yeonhee’s expression her her her, whispering softly but asking urgently, was so cute.
Without her saying anything, I took her her earring her her her back her and put it on her her left ear her her her.
“Ah… Ugh… Again… Where did I get this…”
As soon as she put it on her ear her her her, the earring that stuck to her her earlobe her her her shrunk slightly in size, and because it was a very pretty design, it made Yeonhee’s appearance her her her stand out even more.
Of course, there was no one to see it but me, but I was very satisfied.
“Crack, crack, crack!”
“Ugh. Thank you…”
Does Yeonhee have a taste for decorating things one by one?
I wondered if a game about raising a princess would be this much fun.