Chapter 169

Chapter 169 – King’s Tomb (2)

4 .

The corridor was so well made that it was hard to call it a tunnel within a cave . There were checkered tiles on the ground akin to go boards . There was not a single tile out of place, and the surface of the walls in the semicircular tunnel was decorated with beautiful patterns .

It was a tunnel befitting a tomb of a king .

This was the last path traveled by a king . This was why this tunnel possessed extravagance, and it gave off a feeling of stately dignity .

[The Guardians, who guard the King’s Tomb, is approaching you . ]

The King’s Tomb didn’t allow anyone to enter it except for the king . It didn’t look kindly to intruders .

Accompanying the System Announcement, soldiers made out of clay started to appear from the other side of the tunnel . They kept in formation as they marched forward .

Chu-buhk, chubuhk!

The sounds of their feet moving in sync was heard . They marched towards the intruder, who had decided to interfere with the king’s eternal sleep .

There were a lot of them . As expected of a road made for a king, the tunnel was large enough for 10 people to stand abreast of each other with their hands extended . . However, the clay soldiers made this tunnel feel cramped .

Twelves soldiers stood abreast of each other . Moreover, Hyrkan couldn’t see the end of the line .

The only thing he was sure about was the fact that they numbered in the hundreds .

It was an incredibly large army .

Just imagining such a large army marching against oneself was enough to make anyone feel faint . Moreover, it was hard to even come up with a strategy to deal with such a large army . However, in such a situation, the User decided to charge forward .

Chuh-buhk! Chuh-buhk!

One could hear steps that were out of sync with the sound of footsteps made by several hundred clay soldiers marching together .

Pah-aht, pah-aht!

The sound of nimble footsteps could be heard .

The sound of the running footsteps and the slow marching footsteps alternated with each other .

Shweek!

In the middle of the alternating sounds, the sound of the air being split was heard .

Ssssk!

Then the sound of something solid being cut was heard .

Shweek, sssssk!

These sounds were heard in succession, and afterwards, the sound of something hard being hit was heard .

Ggah-ahng!

It was the start to the battle .

The battle started out in a noble fashion . A User threw his body towards a tunnel filled with several hundred Clay Soldiers .

Wasn’t this something that couldn’t be done unless one had guts and a gallant spirit?

However, the result of such a gallant move wasn’t that great . He was like a bulldozer . He sliced through the Clay Soldiers in front of him like tofu . He cut through everything without hesitation .

However, at some point, his gallant spirit couldn’t overcome everything . He had charged straight into ranks of the endless Clay Soldiers, and now he was surrounded .

The User was surrounded, and his headlong charge had come to a stop . Sharp swords were flying towards him at all sides, and the User displayed his ability .

The User had been in a desperately dangerous situation, and he could expect no outside help . The User had to solve the problem through his own power .

Che-ehng, cheng!

The unceasing sounds of swords clashing was heard, and at that moment, the User stabbed a sword into the ground .

The sword planted into the ground melted as it fountained forth liquid steel . The amount of liquid steel was much more than the amount making up the sword . It was an incredible amount .

Kwahl, kwahl!

The liquid steel, which poured out from the sword, didn’t merely wet the floor . It started to overflow .

[Iron Golem was summoned . ]

The overflowing liquid steel quickly formed into a 4 meter tall body . It turned into an enormous Golem made out of steel .

The Iron Golem appeared, and it immediately clogged the tunnel .

“Hardening!”

The Iron Golem hardened in place as it became a wall blocking the tunnel .

Ggah-ahng, Ggah-ahng!

From the other side of the Iron Golem, one could hear the sound of swords being brought down in an attempt to destroy the Iron Golem . However, they could only attempt it . The Iron Golem didn’t even let out a cry, and it didn’t allow the monsters to wound its body easily .

The Users, who had been fighting solo, put his back against the Iron Golem .

“Hoo-ooh!”

He was finally able to let out a sigh . As the User let out a sight, the corner of Hyrkan’s mouth lifted .

Dahk dahk!

Hyrkan immediately flicked his fingers . From where Hyrkan had come from, a group suddenly appeared .

The Death Knight stood in front of the group . It was followed by two Skeleton Knights and 10 Skeleton Warriors!

When the enemies appeared in the rear, a portion of the Clay Soldiers stopped pointing their swords toward Hyrkan, and they quickly turned towards the new group .

When he saw this sight, he regripped his Deposed Prince’s Sword as he got ready to attack again .

‘I’ve been reaping only the benefits for awhile now . I guess I’ll have to cough up some of it back now . ’

King’s Tomb .

When he entered the King’s Tomb, he had waited for the guardians called the Clay Soldiers to show up .

Clay Soldiers .

It was a monster that appeared in the Ruined Kingdom episode . They were quite similar in nature to the Skeleton Warriors under his command . A fixed amount of damage was recovered as time progressed, and they didn’t have a particular weakness that could be exploited . One had to give cumulative damage to kill it . It also had a pretty good Battle AI, and most importantly, they moved in a group numbering in the hundreds .

When he saw that the Clay Soldiers were his opponents, Hyrkan immediately came up with a battle scenario .

The plan he was carrying out right now was that exact scenario .

Hyrkan had waded into the unknown number of Clay Soldiers, and he had summoned the Iron Golem to make a wall . Then the Iron Golem was used to eliminate the divided forces of his enemies!

However, it was too inefficient to leave everything to his Skeleton underlings and the Golem .

Moreover, his Skeleton underlings were too unreserved in their attacks . His Skeleton underlings resembled Hyrkan, who had charged headlong into the ranks of the enemies .

At first, the Skeleton Warriors would be able to crush their enemies . However, the problem occurred afterwards . The Clay Soldiers would regain their original form in short order just like the Skeleton underlings!

If they weren’t careful, the Skeleton underlings would be surrounded by the Clay Soldiers .

After being surrounded, his Skeleton underlings would put up a good fight . However, his magical energy would be the cost of letting such a frantic struggle occur .

He didn’t know when this battle would end . However, if his magical energy bottomed out, it would be Hyrkan’s defeat .

“Hoo-ooh!”

This was why he chose this method . He wanted a more efficient, logical and wise battle tactic .

Of course, this would be hard . The Clay Soldier’s combat ability didn’t reflect their crude appearance . The swords were swung in a powerful and an intelligent manner . They didn’t mindlessly hack and slash their opponents . When one stabbed, the others predicted how the enemy would respond . Then the other Clay Soldiers in line would stab their swords towards this predicted location with a bit of a time lag .

Usually, the prospect of being surrounded by the group of Clay Soldiers as a Striker would give one chills and nausea .

However, at that moment, Hyrkan had a smile on his face .

‘This fucking game . ’

It was difficult . It was arduous . It was annoying .

‘Well, it is very Warlord-like . ’

This was why it was fun .

It had always been like this . This was the reason why Hyrkan found Warlord fun, and this was also the reason why he kept playing it . If he couldn’t feel such enjoyment from playing it, Hyrkan wouldn’t have even bothered to start playing Warlord .

“Stand tall . ”

Kahng kahng!

Hyrkan patted the Iron Golem’s body, which had become the strongest wall . Then he charged towards the Clay Soldiers .

5 .

The very extravagant and clean tunnel leading to the tomb was filled with dirt . It was quite dirty .

It was the remains leftover when one thousand Clay Soldiers were killed .

Hyrkan looked unsightly as he had just finished fighting a thousand Clay Soldiers . The Argardo’s armor named the Dark Spot set boasted incredible defense, yet there were clear scratches on the armor . Some parts were broken, and other parts were smashed . It was evidence showing how fierce this battle had been .

[You are short on magical energy . The ‘Undying’ Skill’s effect is gone . ]

When he stopped taking the consumable Items, his magic immediately bottomed out . He had been barely able to maintain his magical energy thanks to the recovery Items . This was a battle where he had reached his limit .

‘This is the first time, since the Anugas Raid, where I might have died . ’

Hyrkan had several near death experiences as he faced powerful monsters . Argardo, Immoral Prince, Frost Knight, Anugas… .

These were unfathomable existences, and it wouldn’t have been strange to see Hyrkan die at any of their hands .

However, he had almost experienced death by the sheer number of his enemies right now . It had been a while since he experienced such a thing .

‘The difficulty of the game is higher than expected . ’

In truth, Hyrkan hadn’t realized the King’s Tomb had such a high difficulty setting .

“Whew . . ”

The difficulty was higher than expected, and he had bled more than expected .

‘I used up the consumable Items at twice the expected rate . ’

When Hyrkan talked about bleeding, he was referring to his consumption of the consumable Items . Moreover, he had been in constant battle was 20 days, so he had a low stock of good consumable Items .

‘No matter what, I have to go back after this . ’

With the amount of consumable Items left, he would be able to conduct one more battle such as this one .

Still, Hyrkan could calculate the use of his consumable Items as a bleed rather than a critical wound .

‘This was possible, because it was me . A decent party of 10 to 20 members would have never been able to break through this place . ’

If it was a party of normal Users, over half their numbers would have experienced Game Over .

Hyrkan was astonished by the difficulty of the game .

At the same time, he was satisfied with it .

‘Yes . It is possible, because I’m me . ’

From Hyrkan’s perspective, the King’s Tomb had been one of most difficult locations in terms of difficulty . The crux of the difficulty was the fact that this stage was meant to be overcome with the cooperation of numerous Users . On the other hand, the reward should reflect this difficulty .

Since he had cleared this place by himself, Hyrkan was well qualified to take the rewards for himself .

‘Yes . I’ll monopolize this place . ’

He was qualified to be able to reap the numerous rewards by himself .

‘This is a King’s Tomb . Of course, there will be more here . At the very least, it should have a Unique Rank Item set . Moreover, there should be two to three scrolls of Ancient Power . They are making the User go through such hardship . There is no way a single Skill Book would be given as a Quest Reward . ’

Hyrkan smiled as he put the Golden Conch to his ear . At that moment, the Golden Conch started speaking again .

– Forward······ .

The Golden Conch gave the direction, and Hyrkan moved with a Skeleton Warrior in front of him . The Death Knight followed behind Hyrkan, and the rest of the Skeleton Underlings followed the Death Knight as if it was the mother duck .

How long did they walk for?

The tunnel came to an end, and a large space was revealed . In the large space, there was a single altar . Moreover, there were 4 entrances with the altar at its center, and Hyrkan had exited from one of these entrances .

[You’ve completed ‘Trace of Bokan’ Quest . ]

At that moment, he heard the Announcement telling him he had completed the Quest .

The Quest had come to an end, and he had to go back to report what he had found . If he went back to Ahimbree, he would be able to get the reward .

However, Hyrkan wasn’t satisfied with such a result .

Wasn’t this the King’s Tomb? This incredible tomb was made for a king . The king wouldn’t have been sent to his grave empty handed . At the very least, they would have filled the tomb with gold and gems as a sign of respect .

No, he was sure of this fact .

‘This can’t be the end . There has to be something more to this . ’

Hyrkan once again put the Golden Conch to his ear .

– I’ve discovered the tomb of a king . I don’t know which king is buried here, but there are signs that indicate that this king had fought against the Dragon’s Army .

At that moment, the Golden Conch started to tell a long story unlike before .

‘Yes . There is no way this could be the end . ’

Hyrkan listened carefully .

– This was why I believed everything within this place would be of help in facing the Dragon’s Army . I sent everything within this place to the great Blacksmith Olf .

‘Uh?’

As he heard the story, Hyrkan’s expression crumpled .

– New heroes will emerge, and I tasked him to make equipments for those that will fill face the Dragon’s Army in the future . I also gave him a key I found here for safekeeping .

The story ended there .

Hyrkan detached the Golden Conch from his ear, then he shook it couple times before putting it next to his ear again .

– I’ve discovered the tomb… .

When the same message started to flow out, Hyrkan let out a shout .

“For real? Fuck!”

According to Bokan’s story, the King’s Tomb had been filled with incredible Items as expected of a resting place for a king . However, Archmage Bokan had decided to send all the Items here, so it could be converted into Items that’ll be used to fight the Dragon’s Army . It was all sent to the Blacksmith Olf . This was the gist of the story .

Basically, there was nothing to be gained here . Everything worth having here had been given to the care of the Blacksmith Olf .

“Wow! Wow!”

At that moment, Hyrkan was so mad that he was having a hard time expressing his anger .

At that moment, Hyrkan heard a new System Announcement in his ears .

[Quest ‘Ancient King’s Artifact’ is starting . ]

[Quest ‘Ancient King’s Test’ has started . ]

[The king’s Guardian Knights are starting to move . ]

Koo-koo-koo!

As if it had been waiting for the Announcement, the King’s Tomb rumbled as if it was about to collapse . At that moment, Hyrkan remembered the large statue of knights decorating the entrance of cave .

“Shit!”

Moreover, the scene of him fighting these enormous sculptures of knights popped up within his head .

‘It seems all my bad imaginations comes to pass . ’

Hyrkan’s instinct regarding this point was quite good .

6 .

“Thank you for your hard work . . ”

“Thank you for your hard work . !”

“Good job, everyone!”

The words of encouragement was heard coming out from various sources . These messages were also the signal that notified the battle had come to an end . It also told the other Users that they could relax and they could take a break .

However, not all members could relax and rest . It was the opposite . Some Users ramped up their activities .

“Did you see the mural?”

“We’ve recorded everything . ”

“What about the hidden room?”

“We are exhausting all methods to research it . ”

“Don’t miss a single clue . Even if you have to work overtime, I want you to be thorough . ”

“Yes . ”

Natal had participated in the battle, and he had performed very well . It wouldn’t be shocking if he fell over from exhaustion, yet he was also bustling into action .

This place was a ruin called the Tomb of the Heroes, and he was looking over the footage regarding the mural .

‘We’ve finally found a clue that’ll give us the big picture regarding this Main Scenario Quest . ’

Usually, the Hydra guild moved faster through the Main Scenario Quest compared to the other guilds .

However, this wasn’t true in the third Main Scenario Quest . They had a very late start . This was why they didn’t have the time to rest, and they couldn’t afford any mistakes .

‘We need to see the big picture . That’s important . ’

Most Users would have ignored the murals, but Natal would put his brain to work to find clues .

– Natal-nim! There is a mural on the ceiling . You should have a look at it .

One of the Users investigating the Ruin called out to Natal . Natal immediately headed towards the User . Natal arrived at a room .

There was a memorial stone in the middle of the room .

“Over there . ”

The User, who called Natal over, pointed towards the ceiling over the memorial stone .

As he had indicated, there was a mural on the ceiling .

The mural’s content was quite simple .

The mural was divided in half .

On one side, there was an enormous Dragon, and there were all kinds of monsters in front of the Dragon .

The monsters were staring towards the other half of the mural where a castle was present . There were numerous humans gathered in front of the castle with their weapons raised . Moreover, five warriors, who were letting out various Aurae, stood in front of the army .

When he saw the content of the mural, Natal spoke in a low voice .

“I’m not sure on anything else, but I’m sure our final enemy will be the Dragon’s Army . ”

“What?”

“Nothing . I was talking to myself . First, let’s take footage of the mural then the memorial stone… Could you try lifting it?”

“Ah . I’m a Priest . My Strength stat is… . ”

“Hurry up and call in a Striker . After we finish our work… . Let’s destroy all the murals as a precaution . ”

“Yes . Understood . ”

After the conversation, a bitter laugh came out of Natal .

‘It seems it won’t be long before Warlord reverts into being a normal game like all the other games on the market . ’