Honestly, the odds were half and half .
'No, the chances of winnings were much higher . '
Of course, as long as the Commander's Roar unique ability was in progress, there was no way for Ian to beat Mukan .
But he had a 'not going to lose' confidence .
Ignoring the attacks, the survival skills were just enough to endure anything .
And if he could have survived the duration of 'Commander's Roar' . Then he could have created plenty of odds .
'Barrier, Descend . s.p.a.ce distortion… there were plenty of things to survive . '
But Ian hadn't done those .
Woong-!
With a low voice, the darkened view slowly brightened .
And with that system messages came before Ian's eyes .
Tring-!
[Died from the attack of Mukan, the Underworld King . ]
['Soul Bound' effect has been triggered . ]
[Death Penalty (24 hours not accessible) doesn't apply . ]
[Experience points have been reduced . ]
[1 level has been reduced . ]
[You are in the state of 'dead' . ]
[* 'Dead state' penalty: become 'Undead' and get stuck in the underworld for three days (While in Undead, experience, and items cannot be obtained . )]
[Open your eyes again . ]
Was it 2 seconds since the system messages have come up?
Ian's blackened vision began to brighten once again .
'Well, is this the Underworld?'
But the place that Ian looked at seemed very familiar .
The place he had lived for the last month .
The steep spot where the Falcacio castle rose .
Ian who was fl.u.s.tered looked around immediately .
The Underworld King who had won the battle couldn't be seen anywhere, and the only group of users around him caught his eyes .
But the next moment, not knowing just took a deep breath .
And right before the eyes of Ian, was the fallen body of his .
'Ah, sh*t, scared me to death!'
Was a breakout supposed to feel like that?
Ian could feel his whole body have gooseb.u.mps .
“There was no need to implement this so realistically . ”
Ian mumbled to himself and looked at Hoonie who seemed very sad .
Surely his situation gave him creeps too, but apart from that, he was curious and playful .
'Should I have some fun with Hoonie?'
As Ian was literally a ghost, no one could actually see him .
Ian approached the back of Hoonie and moved his hands towards him .
Swoop-!
Unfortunately, the translucent hands couldn't touch Hoonie .
[Physical power cannot be done while in a state of 'dead' . ]
“Sh*t…”
Ian cursed and looked around .
Realizing that nothing could be done in the place, he was thinking of why he couldn't find a way to the underworld?
But right then, when Ian was about to turn around .
The deceased Ian of Lotus, right?
A voice of someone was ringing in the ears of Ian,
Rather than being heard with his ears, the sound felt like it was echoing all over his head .
Ian reflexively turned his head, a mysterious man wearing a huge black camp was in his sight .
As if he was walking down to the transparent stairs, the man slowly descended from the sky towards Ian .
And when he saw the figure, Ian mumbled under his breath .
“Ha, Grim Reaper!”
The reason for Ian's astonishment was simple .
It was because the behavior of the man was very familiar .
A man with a familiar appearance that appeared in oriental tales; which had black shades, and black coat .
The man was literally screaming 'I am the Grim Reaper' from every part of his body, and Ian's response surprised him .
-How do you know me?
“Uh?”
-What is your ident.i.ty?!
At the question of ident.i.ty, Ian responded with a rather silly face .
“I'm looking at you for the first time . I don't know you . ”
-Didn't you just say 'Grim Reaper'?
“Ah, that… I did right?”
-How did you know that I'm the Grim Reaper?
“That…”
“You look like the Grim Reaper . ”
The two people were looking at each other with a rather silly expression . No, a ghost .
The side whose mouth opened the first was the Grim Reaper .
-Well, is it a 'person you remember from a past life'?
“What is that?”
-Ah, not that human . But follow me for now .
He shook his head and then pointed his hand to a direction .
An empty crack began to appear at a s.p.a.ce .
Woong- Woong-!
A purple portal leading to a dimension was created by distorting the s.p.a.ce .
To Ian who was witnessing all this with a blank expression, the Grim Reaper spoke in a rather dry manner .
-Get in there .
“What is in there?”
-A haven for the dead .
“Underworld?”
The Grim Reaper once again narrowed his eyes .
But soon the Grim Reaper decided to speak with Ian and opened his mouth again .
-Just don't talk and get in there .
“The, well . ”
Ian just nodded and stepped into the portal without any hesitation .
The purple energy sucked Ian inside .
The Grim Reaper, after watching it from behind, took slow strides with a frown still on his face .
– Suspicious guy .
As the Grim Reaper entered the portal, the whole portal vanished like it never existed .
Tring-!
[You have entered the 'Underworld' for the first time . ]
[Since you are dead, the initial discovery reward doesn't apply . ]
[You have discovered the 'Underworld' for the first time . ]
[Acquired fame of 100,000 . ]
[In 'Underworld' physical power can be exerted even in the state of 'dead' . ]
[You have entered the dimensional type, 'Middle-Earth' . ]
[All the stats from the Earth are rebuilt . ]
[Transcendence level will be applied . ]
A whole new dimension, an entirely new dimension type called the 'Middle-Earth', a lot of system messages came up for Ian .
'Huhu, I'm going to be the first intermediate . '
For Ian to purposely die in the hands of the Underworld King, a well enough reason was present .
And it was extremely intense and computational .
'It wasn't default on the contract of the t.i.tan Guild… so I didn't do anything wrong . '
The 'dead state' that allowed him to enter the Underworld .
It was in fact a penalty with quite a risk .
The death penalty, that didn't allow a login for 24 hours, didn't apply, and the 1st level down penalty applied .
In addition, three days of being trapped in the Underworld without gaining experience or rewards were actually worse than the average death penalty .
But that was all 'only in general' .
'Since I have the Dimensional Beads…'
Ian had the Dimensional Beads that would open the path to anywhere if he had been there .
If the map was known; the coordinates could be opened, and the door could be opened at any time, which meant Ian could come to the place after the 3 days death penalty .
'The Underworld King's necklace cooldown time was 15 days . Even if Shakran manages to win over the Underworld King, I will be able to enter 12 days early, and first . '
And that didn't break the contract with Shakran .
And the opportunity he was offered was the entry to the Underworld .
As he was feeling a bit sorry, he just did method acting .
He did his very best and then died trying, it would hurt Shakran to pursue it .
'I'm glad that the King was strong, if he was weak, I wouldn't have been able to enter anyway . '
Ian smiled while he remembered the Underworld King and put his hand through his hair .
Even the time that he has to do a penalty in a 'dead state', he had things he had thought of .
Ian was going to go through the underworld for three days and then figure out as much content as he possibly could .
'Highest efficiency hunting ground, pre-emptive items . I need to know everything that I can possibly get . I need to find the best location to open the dimensional portal…'
Ian came up with these and other numerous plans in his head, he started to look around .
And the first sight to enter was a large river with no end, and a small ferry .
“That can be rode?”
Mumbled Ian as he slowly approached the small ferry .
But after a while, in the plan of Ian's, came in a huge disruption .
The person who disrupted his thoughts had appeared .
-Uh, human . Where are you moving in that direction?
Ian reflexively looked in the direction of the sound, and there was the Grim Reaper looking at Ian with a ridiculous look .
“Uh? Uncle, why are you here?”
-Huh?
“Isn't this h.e.l.l?”
-Right .
“Doesn't your job finishes when bringing me to the next place?”
At the logical question from Ian, the Grim Reaper seemed a little stunned .
-That… that so…?
Ian spoke to him again,
“You must be busy, right?”
-Me?
“Yeah . There are many people who have died apart from me . You need to bring them too . ”
At the question from Ian, the Grim Reaper pulled out a yellow paper into his hands .
-Yeah well . I do have a lot of work to do today .
“Don't bother with me anymore, and go on and take care of the next job . ”
-That, that so?
“Yeah . I'll find out and take that s.h.i.+p . Okay?”
Ian was persuading the Grim Reaper to prevent any disruption in his plan, he moved over and got on the ferry boat .
Waving his hands to the Grim Reaper, he spoke loudly,
“You did great work uncle . I'll buy you a meal next time!”
The Grim Reaper couldn't help but feel confused at the conversation he had with Ian, he was in a dazzled state .
Ian got onto the boat and began to paddle across the river .
-Something, something is strange…?
The Grim Reaper looked over at the ferry boat with a dull expression .
His mumbling was the only thing that could be heard in the empty Underworld .