Chapter 191: 191

Drip, drip—

Splatter—

Su-hyeun took a step forward, trembling . He stepped on the blood that poured from his wounds . It was as if red rain had fallen on the stage .

Crack—

But Su-hyeun didn’t fall . He stuck his sword into the ground as he fell and managed to catch himself .

“Urgh—! Gasp—”

Su-hyeun covered his wound with one hand and held his sword with the other hand to stand up . He was having a hard time just standing . If his grip got too loose, he might fell to the ground immediately .

“You…,” Luslec said, like muttering as looking at Su-hyeun . “How did you…see…?”

Clank—

Rumble—

A small sphere above Luslec’s head was cut, and dark smoke rose upward . At the same time, Luslec’s body began to stagger and fall .

“Hwooo— Haaaa—”

Flop—

Su-hyeun lay on the floor at last . He didn’t have any power to hold his sword anymore . The only reason he could stand this far was that he had an incredible will . Miru flew to Su-hyeun hurriedly .

Purr—!

Whirl—

The red magic that came from Miru’s body poured into Su-hyeun’s wound . Soon, the wound began to heal, little by little . Su-hyeun came to his senses again .

“Thank you…Miru…”

Su-hyeun reached out and stroked Miru’s head as his breathing steadied . Miru, who usually rubbed his head to Su-hyeun’s hand, didn’t move at all this time . Su-hyeun looked like he would faint at just a touch .

“You win, Su-hyeun . ”

But Luslec’s voice was very calm and peaceful . Su-hyeun became nervous at that voice . Luslec sounded like he would have no problem continuing the fight .

“Don’t be nervous,” he went on, “I can only speak like this because this isn’t my real body . Luslec is dead . ”

“That means—”

“You’re the winner . ” Luslec grinned, still lying on the floor . “I can’t believe you found the real body of the Summoner in such a short time . I thought there would be no way you would win here . Oh, well . Carelessness is always a problem . ”

Carelessness . At the moment when Luslec had looked down his opponent, who was dying, this result happened . It was possible because Su-hyeun squeezed out all of his last magic power, and he had the experience that he had been accumulating in his body for a long time .

“Even if you make excuses, I’m still the winner . ”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha!” Luslec laughed at Su-hyeun’s sly comment . He laughed for a while and opened his mouth to talk again . “Yes, I lose . That’s not changing . I thought I would win when I set this up, but you totally turned the tables on me . ”

“That’s a nice word to hear . ”

“And I’m not the only one . ”

“…?”

“Many administrators are watching you . Downstairs ones and upstairs ones . All of them . Well, you might already know about that, though . ”

At Luslec’s words, Su-hyeun recalled the word of the gatekeeper of the 30th floor .

“Now hurry up and go . I’ll be watching you with great anticipation, so don’t you dare disappoint me . ”

The gatekeeper of the 30th floor had said that he had expectations for Su-hyeun and asked him to not disappoint him . Su-hyeun didn’t know what he expected and what he meant by ‘disappoint . ’ Su-hyeun began to wonder about that .

“I’m sorry,” Luslec said, “but it’s time to say good-bye . Since you won’t be able to come downstairs, I guess this will be the last time we meet . ”

[You have achieved a 100% accomplishment rate . ]

[You have attained the highest accomplishment . ]

[You have passed the 42nd-floor’s trial with perfection . ]

“Bye, Su-hyeun . I will give you one gift . Use it well . ”

“Gift…?”

Su-hyeun made a confused frown at Luslec’s words . The messages popped up .

[You have gained 2,500,000 achievement points . ]

[Your achievement will be ranked . ]

[You have ranked first . ]

[Your Strength has increased by 1 point . ]

[Your Health has increased by 1 point . ]

[Your Agility has increased by 1 point . ]

[Your Reflex has increased by 1 point . ]

[You have acquired the ‘Title- Hero . ’]

“…!”

With the message, Su-hyeun’s body disappeared from the spot . The difficult trial of the 42nd floor ended like that .

Puff, puff—

Su-hyeun and Miru appeared in the middle of the square . The square was empty . There were no inhabitants or awakeners . Su-hyeun stood there for a moment, blankly . Then soon, he checked his body .

His magic hadn’t recovered, but at least all the visible wounds were gone . It was the same with his clothes, which were torn to shreds before . It was as if all that had happened was an illusion .

He remembered the rewards list that had popped up in his head before . Four stats were raised, and one of them was Strength . At any other time, Su-hyeun would have cheered at the fact that his Strength stat went up . But there was something more important than that now .

[Title: Hero . ]

It is a glorious name given to a hero of one world .

20% correction effect on physical and magical damage against all kinds of monsters .

30% damage reduction from all types of damage .

“…”

He was sure . It was a title that Su-hyeun had had in his past life . Hero! Su-hyeun got back the title once again .

There was no doubt . The effects that this title could give were very simple, but they were all very effective . It could reduce 20% of the damage from all kinds of monsters . Also, it could reduce physical and magical damage . This effect didn’t apply to humans, but Su-hyeun’s enemies were monsters, not humans, anyway . It was the title that he had thought he would need to get someday .

The title wasn’t an item to equip, but a power that was subject to the body like a skill or trait . A person could only use one title . Also, the title wasn’t easy to obtain . If traits were ten times more difficult to obtain than ordinary skills, then a title was ten times more challenging to get than a trait . And, among the titles, ‘Hero’ was the best title, as far as Su-hyeun knew . It wasn’t something he could get from a trial on just the 42nd floor .

It was something to rejoice in, but he didn’t like the name of the title .

There was so much to think about after he had met the gatekeeper, no, the administrator .

Also, Su-hyeun was wondering about the relationship between the administrators and the monsters that appeared in his world and why they had an interest in him .

Su-hyeun had met many heroes in the trial on the 42nd floor . He wondered why they were called heroes and why the administrator wanted to compare him to them . He was curious about everything . But there was nothing he could figure out right away . Above all, he had no power left at the moment .

It was been a long time since he had felt such a basic desire .

A short time later, Su-hyeun went back to his home . He threw himself into bed immediately . He didn’t even wash first . He slept for a long time .

[You have passed the 74th floor’s trial . ]

[You have gained 700,000 achievement points . ]

[Your Strength has increased by 1 point . ]

[Your Agility…]

[…]

[Your magic factor has increased by 1 point . ]

“Huaaaa—”

Hak-joon, having passed the trial of the 74th floor, arrived at the plaza on the 75th floor . He took a long breath . He had been holding his breath for a long time . His whole body was soaking wet, and water dripped from his hair .

The purpose of his trial was to find a Kraken in the sea and regain the treasure from a ship that had been extorted . Hak-joon had heard about Krakens from Su-hyeun before . So, he knew how big and strong the monster was . But it was stronger than the boss of a green-colored dungeon because Hak-joon had had to deal with it in the sea, not on the land .

>

Mermaid’s Water Drop . It was a pill-type item that could change the body to half-human and half-mermaid for a certain period of time . If he hadn’t had it, he wouldn’t have been able to even find the Kraken, let alone hunt it .

He had found the Kraken . He could have easily defeated it without much effort . Even though it was underwater, Hak-joon’s abilities were quite good . But the problem was that the Mermaid’s Water Drop expired during the fight against the Kraken .

Hak-joon thought .

He sighed with relief . He arrived on the 75th floor and the 100th floor wasn’t too far away . He had been climbing the tower faster than ever . Also, he realized that he was getting stronger than ever, too .

It was ironic . Su-hyeun was much stronger than him, but he was on a higher floor . Hak-joon was trying to go higher place to not let Su-hyeun catch up to him .

And he also realized that it had been a long since he had spent time with Yun-seon . He thought he might take a little break at this floor and head toward the trial, but he changed his plan . He took a breath and rose up .

“Let’s go back for now . ”

When Su-hyeun woke up, he found many text messages from many people .

-Brother! I heard you passed the 42nd floor .

-Are you sleeping? Wait . Are you on the 43rd floor already?

-When wiiill yoooou comeee?

Each message was from Hak-joon, Lee Ju-ho, and Thomas . Also, there were messages from Shin Su-yeong . She asked after Su-hyeun . Su-hyeun realized he didn’t have a large network of relationships . There were many text messages, but it was all about similar things .

Lee Ju-ho and Thomas weren’t climbing the tower these days . Thomas had been spending time adjusting to Korea and new people for a while . Also, he was working as a mercenary for the Paragon Guild . And Lee Ju-ho followed Thomas around to make sure he didn’t cause trouble . For Thomas, learning how to get along with people was the most important thing .

There was another text . It was from Bak Yun-gyu . He had sent the message about the news and information about dungeons from across the country and around the world . Most of the information wasn’t significant . Su-hyeun read more carefully about the dungeons above the green-colored level . But those weren’t that important, either . But, then, he found a unique accident .

He read a list of special phenomena . As soon as he finished reading, Su-hyeun called Bak Yun-gyu without hesitation .

Ring, ring, ring—

After a few rings, Bak Yun-gyu picked up the call .

-Hello . Mr . Su-hyeun . I heard that you’re back .

“Is the news spreading around Abyss Online already?”

-Yes . So many people are paying attention to your movements…it’s rather convenient for me, actually .

“I saw your text . Can you give me more details?”

It was an incident that seemed like nothing to most people . But Su-hyeun cared about this incident much more than other green or blue-colored dungeons in other countries . Because he knew; it was a sign of coming disaster .