“Shit...!” Buckle, or Hyun-Wook in reality, spat some profanities after being forced to log out. He had dropped his weapons, armor and golds. That was not all. He even dropped the Parchment of Reward’s Choice.

The Parchment of Reward’s Choice was a very, very, very special item. It was an item that could only be obtained after going through the Fifth Trial 40 times in a row. The Parchment of Reward’s Choice could be applied to the boss monster once the Sixth Trial began. It was an item that could maximize one reward while giving up another. In addition, there would be a four-item list that would be presented to the player.

1 Gold

2 Artifact

3 Food Ingredient

4 EXP

Even if the parchment was used before the player challenged the Sixth Trial, the parchment would not disappear upon failure. It was a special privilege for the players that challenged the trials 40 times in a row.

So far, Buckle had always chosen ‘Artifact’ every time he challenged the Sixth Trial. It was in hopes of getting a ‘Legendary Artifact’ if he ever succeeded in the trial. In the end, he had lost it all. What was worse was that this was something that they had done with his party members without even informing Guild Master Crone. He had lost everything and even leveled down. To top it all off, it seemed like it was not only Buckle who was experiencing such a setback.

[Tae-Min: Shit. I dropped my Rumadol’s Wand.]

[Hae-Seok: I dropped my Caroman’s Dagger...]

[Hyun-Woo: I lost a lot of items too...  I’m doomed... I did it without my wife knowing it...]

[Ji-Min: Everyone. Please answer me seriously. Am I uglier than a Monk?]

[Tae-Min: ???]

[Hae-Seok: ???]

[Hyun-Woo: ???]

Hyun-Wook frowned. He thought, ‘Is there something wrong with Javin again?’

Hyun-Wook stopped thinking about their pitiful plight when he recalled something. He said, “Why the hell was he using a bow?” 

It did not make sense to him at all. The arrows that he shot, the hit rate as well as the damage. No matter what he thought, it still would not make sense if Minhyuk said that he was not an archer.

Then, the phone rang. It was his Guild Master, Crone.

[Buckle, you’ve been forced to log out?]

Once they had reached the Fifth Trial, it was possible for them to run out of the dungeon whenever they wanted. In addition, there was also a passage that would lead outside in the Sixth Trial. This was one of the reasons why they were able to keep on challenging the dungeon. However, only the Bachran Guild knew of this information.

“GM, we had a conflict with the Frying Pan Killer.”

[The Frying Pan Killer?]

Hyun-Wook explained the full details of what happened to his GM.

[Hooo... So he’ll try to attack it by himself?]

“That’s right. But, I don’t think he’ll ever be able to break it. It took us two months to break the Fifth Trial. And the Sixth Trial is really hard to break.”

Crone, or Kim Ju-Bin, nodded.

[You said that there will be an undead vampire coming out of the Sixth Trial?]

***

[That’s right. And the vampire is so tricky because the wounds and injuries that you have inflicted on it will be recovered once it sucks blood. I thought that we would be able to hunt him down in a little while but...]

Ju-Bin nodded. Buckle had told him that they would be able to break the Sixth Trial after some more time. After all, no matter how difficult it was, they have already attacked it 60 times. They already knew the in and outs of the final trial, so they would have definitely broken it anytime soon. He could understand things to some extent.

‘It seems like there’s a reason why there is an undead vampire at the final trial.’

There were no monsters related to the undead at all from the first to the Fifth Trial. Strangely enough, there was an undead vampire in the Sixth Trial. When he thought back on Gorac’s Legends, it seems like it had been quite a long time and his minions would definitely not have survived against time. Thinking along those lines, he believed that the undead vampire was Gorac’s servant. He estimated that the monster’s level was around Level 420.

‘If I provide Buckle and his party members with the best artifacts and support them with the most expensive potions, they’ll probably be able to break it.’

They would have to drink potions that cost a few platinums like water, however, it would still prove to be more profitable to them if they managed to pass the Sixth Trial, since they were already nearing its end. Calauhel of Black Stone had promised to give billions of won to anyone that found a disaster artifact.

‘How much money does he even have...’

The servers all around the world were still not integrated yet. Yet, he was willing to give billions of cash to anyone who found disaster artifacts in this situation? He was a truly amazing man. 

Right now, the Frying Pan Killer was starting to challenge the dungeon. However...

‘There’s no problem at all.’

From what Ju-Bin heard, he was able to kill four of his guild members alone. However, each and every trial was difficult, and Buckle was quite confident that Minhyuk would not be able to hunt the vampire in the Sixth Trial.

Just in time, a whisper came from Lark.

[Lark: We’ve already arrived at the tomb. It says that someone just finished the first trial and is currently going through the second one.]

Other players were not allowed to enter when someone else was challenging the trials. This was because the dungeon itself was almost like an event. The number of minutes and seconds that one stayed and challenged the dungeon would be displayed to boost the motivation of the next challenger. However, the dungeon was so difficult to break that most of the players had given up. Eventually, the dungeon ended up being occupied by Bachran Guild.

Crone looked at the table in front of him. There laid a chart that Buckle had sent to him two days prior. The chart had the time table for each trial, as well as what each trial consisted of. He started explaining the details to Lark.

***

“Kaistra.”

“Huh?”

Kaistra was looking at the text that was floating in front of the tomb.

[Currently challenging the Second Trial. 3 minutes 31 seconds.]

The numbers kept on increasing while Lark explained to him what he had heard from Crone.

“...The Frying Pan Killer?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm...”

Kaistra frowned slightly. Meanwhile, Lark took out a pen and a paper and wrote something as Kaistra continued to watch the numbers. The first trial had already been cleared. And the Second Trial… Lark continued to write on his paper.

[Second Trial. Poison spews out of the wall. Bachran Guild: 13 minutes 26 seconds.]

[Third Trial. Mythril Ogre has a 3x higher defense than a regular Ogre. Bachran Guild: 17 minutes 38 seconds.]

[Fourth Trial...  Omitted]

“What’s this?”

“Bachran Guild’s almost at the end of the Sixth Trial. The total number of times that they challenged the trials is almost at 70. In other words, no one else can break these trials aside from these people. It also means that we don’t need to worry about the Frying Pan Killer at all.”

Kaistra agreed with his words. Those people had already challenged the dungeon for almost 70 times, so it meant that they must be veterans when it came to dealing with the dungeon. In the case of the Frying Pan Killer, this was his first time challenging the dungeon. Furthermore, he was even challenging it alone. He would not be able to break the trials at all. No, that was what he had thought. However, not a minute later, Kaistra was already frowning.

“La…Lark...” Kaistra called out, voice trembling.

“Huh?” Lark asked, following his gaze.

“What the hell?!”

Lark’s eyebrows crumpled in shock when he saw the words floating in front of the tomb.

“I…is it a bug?”

He thought that the words were so ridiculous that there must have been an error in the system.

[Second Trial, Completed. 4 minutes 1 second.]

Lark turned to look at the chart that he received from Bachran Guild. He looked at the fastest time of the guild to break the Second Trial.

[Second Trial. Poison spews out of the wall. Bachran Guild: 13 minutes 26 seconds.]

“...!”

“...!”

The two of them made eye contact. It seemed like they realized the situation.

“C…crazy...!”

“What the hell. Th…this... This doesn’t even make sense!”

The Frying Pan Killer had killed and hunted four players all by himself, so they were fully aware that he was strong. However, the timer that was flashing in front of them did not make any sense at all.

Then...

[The Third Trial will now begin. 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds.]

…the Third Trial began. The two of them stared blankly at the words that were floating in front of them. Without realizing it, both of them were holding their breath in trepidation.

***

Minhyuk was waiting for the Third Trial. During the Second Trial, various poisons were fired from the walls. He had seen on the website that there was a device that would turn off the poison from firing off of the walls. However, it also said that even if one found it, they would still be poisoned no matter what. Instead of finding the device, Minhyuk just leisurely walked to the exit.

Shwaaaaaaa━

Green poison spewed out of the walls and sprayed on Minhyuk’s face. He felt like it was a cool mist on a hot summer day. Minhyuk even thought, ‘No drinking. Just leave it on my skin.’

Its taste was something that he did not enjoy at all. Finally, the Third Trial began.

[Your HP and MP have both recovered.]

[The Third Trial is beginning.]

[The time limit is 25 minutes.]

[We hope that you will be able to hunt the Mithril Ogre within the allotted time frame.]

‘Didn’t they say that there’s a super defensive ogre that will come out here?’

Along with the notifications, a huge ogre appeared with its body showing off a sheen that was akin to iron.

“Graaaaaaaa!” The ogre roared as it ran to where Minhyuk was.

“Splitting Sword.”

Minhyuk dashed forward as his greatsword started to glow with a red light.

Shwaaaaaaaak!

Then, the crescent sword light of the Splitting Sword flew out. However, the ogre just ran forward. It looked like it was confident that it would not be able to cut through its thick skin. At that moment, the welcoming sound of a notification rang in Minhyuk’s ears.

[Intangible Sword.]

[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy’s defenses.]

Shwaaaaaaaaaak!

The Splitting Sword’s sword light sliced through the ogre’s body, leaving a crescent shaped mark on the wall behind it.

“Greuoooo?” The ogre groaned in confusion, its body split in half while still running forward.

Thud!

[You have set a new record for Ructo’s Tomb's Third Trial.]

[There is a huge gap between the previous record breakers.]

[You have gained 40,000 EXP.]

[You have leveled up.]

[Your score will be the sum of your new record and the gap between the second place to obtain a special reward.]

[You have acquired 30 SP.]

[You can invest your SP on stats that couldn’t be raised with normal bonus points.]

‘Oh...’

On the Second Trial, Minhyuk received a double EXP Acquisition Rate. It seemed like the rewards truly depended on the new record and the large gap with the previous players’ records.

‘The other players must be really bad at playing games...’ Minhyuk thought. The others were doing it together in a five-man party, while he was doing it all alone, so he believed that they must have really been bad at playing games. Minhyuk placed all of his SP on his DEX. Then, he passed through the third gate and entered the fourth gate.

[Your HP and MP have both recovered.]

[The Fourth Trial is beginning.]

[The time limit is 10 minutes.]

[Various traps will attack your body fiercely.]

[Please head on to the exit in front of you.]

Just as Minhyuk stepped foot inside...

Click━

…a trip wire on the floor was triggered and a huge ax swung down on him.

“Step.” 

Minhyuk took two steps forward, moving as quickly as he could. When he stopped for a moment, a cannon with a dragon’s head shot out a burst of powerful flame towards his face.

Baaaaaang!

“Kghhk!” Minhyuk groaned, his body flying backwards from the impact. Just one shot had cut down his HP by 30%. Not long after, he could feel a huge tremor from the ground. He quickly jumped up as dozens of spears sprang up from the ground.

Stab!

Even though Minhyuk jumped up, his ankle was still pierced by one of the spears.

[You have received a huge shock on your right foot.]

[You will be restricted from using your right foot until you heal it.]

Minhyuk frowned. He knew that the higher the stage he went to, the more difficult the trial would become. However, the millstone was the goal. He needed to get that millstone. He limped and moved forward at the thought of eating those fresh, bouncy, and steaming hot tofu. The moment that he was about to eat the bread in his arms…

Baaang!

…another trap was triggered as huge flames sprang up engulfing his whole body. The first thing that he did was to quickly hide his bread in the inventory. Then he heard the notifications.

[Your HP has fallen below 50%.]

[Your HP has fallen below 30%.]

[Your HP has fallen below 10%.]

The explosion of flames had dealt his body a considerate amount of damage. Minhyuk frowned at his HP that was closely approaching zero. At that moment, the skill attached to Ellie’s Kitchen Knife, which he had equipped back to his greatsword earlier, was triggered. In other words, the broken skill ‘He Who Overcomes’ had been triggered.

[He Who Overcomes.] 

[Your HP has increased to 1. You are now invincible for 3 seconds.] 

[All of your abilities will increase by 30% for 3 seconds.]

Minhyuk looked forward. He could see that the exit was not too far from him. He thought, ‘If I’m invincible for 3 seconds...’

The remaining distance between him and the exit was 40 meters. If Minhyuk did it well, then he would be able to pass through this place easily.