“Why is it taking so long for them to get here?”

Martin was speaking nervously, and Chase who was right next to him comforted him.

“I’ve contacted them all, they’ll be here soon, master.”

“Huh, it’s already been over 5 minutes.”

“I’ll contact them once again.”

In the empty ground right before the gate of the 15th division of the Devildom, the party members of the DarkRuna and the Royal Guild have all gathered together.

The purpose of it was obvious, to get the Heart of the Balrog.

The reason Martin was feeling nervous was because of the tough task that they need to complete.

The biggest reason for him to feel nervous was because of the stress that Yankun had put him through.

‘Hu, I’m trembling after just thinking about seeing that muscle pig once again.’

Apart from the stress of being in the 15th division, they would soon have to deal with the Balrog.

On top of these unpleasant emotions, his guild members were late which made him much more irritated.

“When will all the members of the Royal Guild be here? We have all the members from mine. We all have gathered here within 3 to 5 minutes.”

Martin tried to respond calmly to Irahan’s sarcastic remark.

“Give me another 20 minutes. One of them suddenly had something else to do, so it’s going to take some time.”

“Cha cha…”

The two parties that were gathered in the 15th division of the Devildom were fewer than 15.

Well, it wasn’t a small number of people to be in a party, but the time required for gathering and maintaining was being wasted.

Around 30 minutes after the proposed time to meet, all the preparations for the dungeon were finally done.

“Kay, Let’s move now.”

The members of both guilds began to move upon hearing what Irahan said.

The scout was moving ahead after clearly grasping the position of the dungeon.

* * *

Ian checked his inventory.

[The Heart of Balrog (2/50)]

To make a Balrog’s heart the above-mentioned number was needed, 50 of them.

Killing one Balrog made them receive 2, then it meant that they had to kill around 25 of them to get the required item.

Thankfully Ian wasn’t alone.

“Hoonie, Noel how many did you get?”

“I got 2.”

“Same here hyung, I have 2 here.”

Though it wasn’t a completely certain thing, the number of pieces that could be obtained after killing a Junior Balrog was 2 per user. As of the moment, they had collected 6 pieces for hunting it.

Ian and his party avoided the incoming attacks from the Junior Balrogs and tried to quickly pick up the drops from their bodies.

Tring-

[You have obtained the item ‘Heart of the Balrog x2’.]

[You have obtained the item ‘Heart of the Balrog x1’.]

[You have obtained the item ‘Heart of the Balrog x2’.]

After checking the fragments of the Balrog’s heart, they managed to gather a total of 27 of them.

‘So we need around 5 more?’

They gathered around 27 pieces from 5 Junior Balrogs. If they managed to hunt down another five more, it was almost certain that they would have all that they need.

Realizing that both Ian and the members of the party started to hunt down the Junior Balrogs with all their strength and might.

“Hoonie, Provide Ly the Retribution of the Dead!”

“Okay!”

“Noel recall Yongyong now! It might die!”

“Kay Hyung!”

The reason why this field was being so difficult was because they were trying to catch the Balrogs.

Every time they managed to hunt down a Junior Balrog, the one which was getting stronger in the back would become bothersome. They were trying to find a plan that could take down the mother, but they couldn’t find an answer.

The Junior Balrogs were desperately trying to protect their mother, and killing them would make it difficult for the party, so it was a difficult situation to be in.

However, that wasn’t necessary anymore.

Rather than attacking the mother Balrog, they were now hunting down Junior Balrogs that were protecting the mother.

The Junior Balrogs that were around level 260 were easy to deal with for Ian’s party.

Kwaaa-!

[Deadly damage done to the legendary monster ‘Junior Balrog’.]

[The vitality of the monster Junior Balrog is reduced by 476090.]

[You have successfully defeated the Junior Balrog.]

The Judgement of the Spirit King went straight through the Junior Balrog.

One of the reasons why the Balrog was considered to be a tough opponent was because of the flames that were around its body. They constantly changed the position of their body so it was a bit difficult to attack as the flame changes constantly.

However, if one could manage to attack it properly, then it would work since the physical defense of the Balrog had always been relatively week.

“Ian hyung! It’s done! We have the 50 pieces, right?”

Ian nodded in response to Hoonie after checking the information.

“Yeah, to be precise, Let’s clear the quest first…”

Canoel who came in from the other side was anxious and said.

“Well then, let’s get out of the dungeon then. The mother Balrog is now a dangerous monster for us to deal with. It already has around 10 buffs.”

Just as Canoel said.

With the 20% attack power buff that it received, the level 350 Balrog was really a hellish monster to deal with now.

Which meant that the tanker Bbakbbak would lose around 40% of its vitality with just a single strike from the level 350 Balrog, that was how terrifying its power was.

Even Hoonie was shocked.

“Okay then hyung, let’s get out of here and then get those Shadow Feathers. The longer we stay here, the more danger we’ll get ourselves in.”

It was time to run away once again.

[Keu! Trivial human beings! I will kill you all!]

[Unique ability of the Balrog ‘Wrath of Wisdom’ has been activated.]

[The Balrog’s magic rate has increased by 15% for 30 minutes.]

[Adding up all the buffs, its duration is 120 minutes.]

[The Balrog’s vitality increases by 20% for the next 30 minutes.]

One of the unique abilities of the Balrog was the ‘Wrath of Wisdom’.

The mentioned unique ability wasn’t as unique as the original ability of the ‘Soul Encroachment’.

However, the current situation made it a special case.

For the Balrog, all the buffs that were gathered after the death of the Junior Balrogs were still in effect for the battle.

The duration of the buff had gone over 2 hours, so it literally meant ‘Don’t bother trying to catch it for the next two hours’.

Hoonie urged Ian.

“Ah hyung, what are you doing? I want to get out of here.”

But Ian’s thought seemed to be different from the other two.

“No, I’ll feel bad if I leave now.”

“Huh? You? Feel sad!? We made the heart of Balrog. We need to save time and get the other stuff!”

Ian replied while avoiding the Balrog’s attack.

“We still have 36 hours left, and we already managed to get our hands on the Orb of Darkness. The Feather is easy to get, so don’t worry.”

Before Hoonie could say anything else, Ian spoke again.

“Change of plans, we’ll hunt down all the remaining Junior Balrogs.”

“…?!”

Canoel was wondering if it was the right decision, but Ian quickly moved and attacked a Junior Balrog without a heads-up.

Kwa- kwa-!

Hoonie forced himself to follow Ian while grumbling.

“Ah, shit! Why does that hyung have to make me do this!”

Canoel was the one who responded after a smile instead of Ian.

“What are you thinking? He isn’t a person who does things without any reason. Let’s do as we are told. Who knows? Maybe we can manage to make a legendary monster fall down?”

Ian who was entering the battle muttered to himself.

“Well, maybe Noel is right? It doesn’t look like the Balrog will fall for now.”

“What is that supposed mean?”

Though he was nervous as hell, once the battle resumed Hoonie got into his position.

They all moved at the same time.

The number of monsters they dealt with had been reduced, but ironically, the difficulty of the combat had been increasing steadily.

* * *

Ian and his party were attacking the Junior Balrogs with all their might, but there was something else happening in a different place.

“This… is so creepy…?”

“Yeah. It feels a little like the cemetery?”

The union party of the Royal Guild and the DarkRuna guild were on the ‘Pathway to Death’ towards the direction of the Tomb of the Forgotten Soul.

Martin called to the ones who were ahead of him.

“Hey Scout! Is this road supposed to be this long?”

“Huh, yes master.”

“Did you surely check the entrance of the dungeon?”

“Certainly, I have checked and made sure that we’re in ‘The Tomb of the Forgotten Soul’.”

“Hmm… okay then…”

Martin was looking around with a strange expression.

His reason for doing so was justifiable.

They had been walking around the road of the Pathway of Death for more than 20 minutes, and they still haven’t seen the entrance of the dungeon which was why they couldn’t help but wonder if it was the right path.

Moreover, the reason why they were feeling more anxious was because there was a chance that monsters might pop out the more they walked around.

The scout of the DarkRuna Guild said something to Irahan.

“Master, we’ll find the entrance to the dungeon right behind that rock wall.”

Irahan nodded and replied.

“Okay. Everyone get ready for battle! Check for the Cooldown times, the quantity of the potions you’ve got. Mistakes are not acceptable. I have explained everything beforehand to you guys about the Balrog, so be aware of it understand?”

“Okay, Master!”

Irahan knew the exact information that Ian knew regarding the Balrog.

Its unique abilities and attacks were all explained beforehand to the party members.

After a couple of minutes of maintenance, the scout moved back to make way for Irahan and Martin.

Martin turned back and said.

“I understand that everyone is nervous. You realize that we need to get in and get out as quick as possible.”

And Irahan added a few words to it.

“To put it bluntly, we just need to acquire the ‘Heart of the Balrog’. We need to get two of them… since we have many people, even if we hunt one Balrog, it will drop around two or more.”

Irahan and Martin walked towards the entrance of the dungeon after giving their reminders.

And with them, all members of the party moved into the dungeon.

* * *

Thud- thud- thud-!

An unfamiliar sound was resonating in the dungeon.

The sound was so fierce that it seemed to creep out everyone.

Martin was mumbling under his breath.

“The foot of Balrog? It seems to be a large sized monster.”

Irahan once again gave out orders.

“Be careful once we enter further, and don’t attack until we say so. If there are many gathered here, we won’t be able to attack them.”

With that, Irahan and the other members of the party moved cautiously into the dungeon.

In less than 5 minutes they managed to come across a Balrog.

Irahan checked the Balrog’s information.

[Balrog/ Lv: 355]

Irahan rechecked the information.

‘A level 355 Balrog. If we manage to work well, we could probably finish this quest much quicker than we thought?’

The average level of the party was around 250.

Since they were all top rankers, they had the best control, which was why its level of 350 didn’t scare them much.

With a very bright expression, Martin spoke to Irahan.

“If this is the case, then we might be able to target it right away… what do you think Irahan?”

Irahan nodded.

“Surely. If it is level 350, we’ll be able to deal with them without using our full power.”

Irahan instructed the two scouts to confirm that there weren’t any more objects or creatures around the Balrog.

And about a minute later, the scouts came back to report.

“Within 100 meters radius, there’s only one.”

“Understood. Nice work.”

Irahan smirked.

“He is all alone. Focus as much firepower as you can and kill it off quickly!”

The members of both DarkRuna and Royal Guild nodded their heads in response to Irahan’s orders.

It was because the orders were from Irahan.

“Wizards start casting spells and knights move ahead!”

Woong-!

The wizards were casting spells all over the field, and their attacks started to resonate through the dungeon.

The Balrog who noticed the presence of the Humans started to emit its energy.

[Human…! I will kill you all! Kue!]

The moment they heard it, the wizards started to cast their magic as discreetly as possible.

It was natural for the battle to start once magic was used.

However, it was just a single Balrog, and they just had to be alert of it.

They were under the impression that the Balrog could be killed in an instant.

Swoosh-!

Irahan made sure the tankers were in the front and pulled out his sword from his waist.

The Guilds were now ready to show off their strength.

‘Huhu, I’m not the 1st ranked ranker in the Devildom… this is the opportunity to show my strength.’

However, the ambitious thoughts of Irahan didn’t continue for long.

[Will be Ashes and disappear!]

Ack-!

[The legendary monster ‘Balrog’ unique ability ‘Storm’]

Kwang- Kwakwang-!

As the Balrog opened its arms, strong flames started to spring out from it.

However, they didn’t have issues with that.

The storm was a unique ability that they already know, and it was a skill that the tankers could withstand.

But.

“Ah Ah!”

“What is this!?”

“What is happening?!”

It was a problem that no one had even imagined, the tankers at the front trying to withstand the ‘Storm’ were being wiped out.