Chapter 393

Chapter 393: Owner of the crystal (1)

—whoooosh!—

Just as Hansoo arrived—

—chaos occurred beneath .

“Who are you?”

—tatatatak!—

A few people quickly approached them and asked .

And Hansoo replied:

“John Stone sent us . To see the progress . ”

There was no need to fight unnecessary fights .

He only needed to figure out the situation down here .

And more than anything else…

‘Feels like I shouldn’t fight in there . ’

—sssss—

Hansoo thought as he looked at the strange darkness .

He didn’t know if it was because of the controller or because of something else, but it was hard to see inside the darkness .

He would be able to check after he went in there but causing a wreck here didn’t seem like the best option .

Hansoo decided to trust in his instincts from his years in the Abyss and just scout things out .

“Let’s hurry up and go down . We need to check on the crystal . ”

“ . . . Sure?”

The doubtful expressions on the other people remained as they started to move downwards .

“Come . ”

—whoooosh!—

Hansoo and a few other Transcendents started to make their way down .

But they didn’t go all the way down .

—tatatak!—

The Transcendents stopped part way through to tie themselves onto their original posts, cutting away at the darkness again . They said:

“We’ll remain here and finish up our job, so go down and speak to Ban Gipson . The crystal is under his jurisdiction . ”

And with those words—

—whoooosh!—

—Hansoo and Kiriel quickly descended away from the others .

While dropping down, they passed by quite a large number of Transcendents .

Every single one of them had tied themselves onto a part of the wall and were cutting away at the darkness .

—clang!—

—kacha!—

Not a single normal adventurer was among them .

All these Transcendents were using their respective reinforcements and skills to cut away the darkness .

But the darkness was so durable and strong that they barely made a dent despite the countless attacks .

“Damn…’

One Transcendent gathered his strength and slammed down onto a long strand of darkness .

—boom!—

The thin strand of darkness snapped .

—kuooooong!—

The strand of darkness made a strange sound as it squirmed violently .

Not only the snapped strand, but every single bit of darkness around it as well .

And every time that strand moved, the darkness that squirmed along with it threatened the light around them .

The expressions of the the Transcendents turned dark .

It was a sight that was hard to get used to no matter how many times they witnessed it .

These damned strands were already hard to cut off, but even after being cut, they still caused a scene like this .

But they could not stop .

Since they all knew how John Stone would treat them if they stopped .

John Stone was a good leader, but once angered, it was very hard to restrain him .

‘Ugh, I hope he doesn’t get angry . ’

A few people trembled at this thought and continued to cut away at the darkness .

And Kiriel looked at these people with an uncomfortable expression .

“This… This place feels a bit murky, right?”

The darkness around them was crying out in alarm .

The 1 and 2-Star Transcendents didn’t seem like they could feel it, but…

She, a 3-Star Transcendent, could feel it clearly .

Something that seeped out from the dark depths—something that made her feel uncomfortable .

‘I don’t really want to touch any of this . ’

Kiriel debated whether to put her hand into the darkness, but realized that they were quickly approaching the floor and prepared to land .

—tatak!—

Hansoo and Kiriel landed lightly on the floor .

And before their eyes—

—booom!—

—they saw a few people in the middle of working, all letting out an aura that was countless times stronger than that of the people they had seen on the way down .

—tonk! tonk!—

The strands of darkness that 1 and 2-Star Transcendents took countless hits to snap—the people were cutting them away with each swing of their weapons .

Of course, they weren’t cutting away multiple strands per swing but thinking about how strong the strands were, they were significantly faster .

But their eyes were clearly drawn to something else .

A tiny crystal .

The tiny crystal that was shining brightly amidst the darkness drew Kiriel’s attention .

‘The strands… They’re all attracted to this place, right?’

The strands of darkness were all gathering onto the crystal .

And this is what Clementine and Sangjin had probably seen .

The item that Hansoo was also looking for .

‘Well, this was easier than I expected . ’

He looked around at the people working calmly and then started to walk in .

He felt like he needed to check the crystal first before looking at the darkness around it .

But at that moment—

“A cockroach crawled in . ”

—a man chuckled as he looked at Kiriel and Hansoo .

Hansoo looked at the man and said:

“John Stone sent us . We’ve confirmed it above already . ”

The man continued to chuckle .

“That’s so you guys won’t run away, you dumb bastards . ”

The ones above hadn’t sent them in because they were stupid .

They already knew that these people were trespassers .

But there was a reason why they had let these two pass .

So that they wouldn’t run away .

‘Heheheh . ’

He didn’t know everyone under John Stone .

But he knew one thing .

The people who could come down here were a limited few .

John Stone made it hard for anyone he didn’t trust to even approach that precious item .

This had caused this project to slow down quite a bit, but it did have a lot of advantages as well .

Since they would know the moment someone tried to trespass .

“There’s always people like you . Curious for what’s going on inside and crawling inside… Well, it’s good for us . ”

He was used to this .

There were always countless cockroaches around .

They actually liked those kinds of people .

This was one of the few methods of stress relief for those who spent all day digging these mysterious strands of darkness .

“Let's start by… beating you halfway to death first . ”

As the man mumbled—

—boooom!—

—countless skills started flying towards the two from the darkness .

………………………………………

—boooom!—

—boom!—

The darkness started to brighten up from the countless skills .

And Kiriel frowned as she blocked away the attacks with her fang .

‘Easy . ’

Every single one of them were Transcendents .

Most were 1-Stars or 2-Stars, but there were some who stood out more than the others .

They were either slightly weaker than her or even on the same level as her .

Meaning that they were at the 3-Star level .

—rumble!—

Although they aimed most of their attacks at Hansoo, there were a few flying her way as well .

‘Look at that bastard . ’

—tonk!—

Kiriel deflected an attack that flung her back, grasping her injured wrist as she looked at the man sending skills flying her way .

A man who smiled maniacally as he focused all his attacks on her .

He was only aiming for her, all while scanning her face and body .

Ignoring Hansoo completely .

Kiriel frowned as she swung her fang .

—whooosh!—

Red clouds started pouring out from Hansoo’s body .

‘End this quickly . ’

The red clouds covered the dark area and expanded at a tremendous speed .

“Ahh… uaaaahhh! What is this?!”

“Kuaaaap!”

Screams echoed out from all directions .

‘Wha—what the hell is this!?’

The man, Ban Gipson, screamed inwardly as he looked at the red clouds that was gnawing away at his body .

Reinforcement, mana, and weapon .

The red smoke devoured everything .

And the ones who rolled around the floor screaming only lasted for a bit before they fell silent .

The only ones remaining were himself and four other 3-Star Transcendents .

And towards them—

—whoooosh!—

—the terrifying sound of something approaching echoed forth .

‘F***!’

Even before Ban Gipson could fully respond—

—boooom!—

—a large hammer flew and slammed into Ban Gipson .

“Kuaa…aaaap!”

—boom!—

The Transcendents looked at Ban Gipson who had been sent flying and flinched .

Ban Gipson was their leader .

Although there was only a tiny gap of difference in terms of strength, he was still the strongest out of all of them .

And for such a person to be sent away from a single strike .

‘Even John Stone isn’t that strong…’

But one of the men looked at Hansoo as his expression turned into one of disbelief .

A very familiar face was visible between the blue armor .

“What the… Kang Hansoo!”

And everyone else flinched as they heard the man’s shout .

Why bring up that name here?

Hansoo ignored them as he continued to walk forwards, saying to Kiriel .

“This doesn’t feel quite right . I’ll deal with them so read the memories here . ”

Kiriel nodded .

As they started fighting, the darkness started to tremble .

As if something was trying to wake up from the external stimulus they were causing .

“Dammit… Arrgh!”

“Haa!”

Leaving the three Transcendents and Hansoo behind, she quickly started to read the memories .

And soon—

—the memories of the area around the crystal swiftly entered her mind .

From the moment Clementine’s forces found the crystal .

To when Sangjin had entered here .

And from when John Stone started to work on this place and reached this point .

Soon—

“Damn…”

—Kiriel gulped as she looked around .

At the darkness surrounding her .

‘It’s not that they chose not to take it, it’s just that… they couldn’t . ’

It was weird indeed .

If people like Sangjin and John Stone were to create their own forces .

Then Clementine’s forces, who should’ve been waiting for such people, should be extremely busy instead .

Since that was the only way for them to become stronger while being hidden from the eyes of Clementine .

Which meant that there was something that could distract Clementine’s forces .

She had been confused because the land above looked way too peaceful, but it seems the answer was here .

‘They’re all… sleeping here . ’

The darkness around her .

It was an Abyssal race .

The real culprit that had forced Clementine’s forces to leave this place and go up .

‘Crazy bastards… They’re waking up a monster that’s sleeping in peace . ’

Kiriel thought of John Stone’s forces that were cutting away the sleeping monster’s tentacles, her expression utterly horrified .