Chapter 67: Scorching Land (4)

TL: Haku

Editor: Hungry Panda

'What, What the h.e.l.l?! What would you call this? A lava fall?'

Just as described, in front of Ian's eyes, there was an enormous lava fall that was pouring down.

It was such a magnificent sight that it reminded him of Niagara Falls, the gigantic waterfall that was in between the Canadian and American border.

'Err, but the heat is seriously awful. It's even hard to breathe.'

It was already a hot dungeon to begin with, so it was obvious how hard it would be to breathe when he had the lava fall right in front of his nose.

While Ian was standing in front of the fall, thinking of this and that, a system message popped up in front of his eyes out of the blue.

Ring-.

The system messages that rang out one after another.

'What the h.e.l.l, I've never heard of a situation like this ever happening before…'

Ian was puzzled, but he felt good.

'On top of that, for me to be the first. Even if it was a map that newly appeared after the update, I thought that there would have been quite a lot of users that visited here… Hmm…'

However, that wasn't the end.

Chwaah-!

Suddenly, something in the corner of the enormous fall that was watching Ian squirmed and began to take some sort of form.

"Huh?"

Ian gawked at the sight, and the lava slowly changed into some sort of gigantic form and began to approach Ian.

'This… What, what is this? Should I be running away right now?'

Ian was suddenly conflicted as to whether he should run at the image of the lava monster that was not only was gigantic in size, but also oozed an unbelievable overpowering feeling, yet his feet did not move.

This was because, rather than feeling curious as to what would happen, he felt he would get caught anyways if he was to run.

And the thing that had reached right in front of Ian shortly after slowly opened its mouth.

Ian, who was momentarily frightened that it would abruptly attack, let out a sigh of relief as soon as he heard its first words.

'As expected, is it a quest?'

And as he heard its words, one of his questions was answered.

'Ah, so this was a hidden map that you can only enter if you are a Summoner!'

If that was the case, it made sense as to why Ian was the first to discover the Source of Lava. Since a Summoner that was currently a higher level than Ian probably didn't exist.

The lava monster that had reached its completed form before Ian realized, gave off a feeling similar to a Grim Reaper as it was floating in the air and held a weapon that looked like a gigantic scythe.

'It seems like a ghost, but it also seems like a devil…'

With a nervous expression, Ian spoke to the NPC that appeared. As he had encountered so many NPCs now, it wasn't awkward for him to talk to them.

"Excuse me… Is this place the Source of Lava?"

And the enormous lava lump NPC continued his words.

The one who introduced himself as Helian continued to speak again.

"I'm Ian."

After momentarily taking a breath, he opened his mouth slowly.

There was no reason to reject a situation that obviously led to an unknown hidden quest.

'Why reject when you don't even know what kind of quest will appear?'

Ian immediately responded.

"Yes, Helian. If it is possible with my abilities, I will gladly help."

At Ian's polite words, Helian wore a satisfied expression as he nodded his head.

And a story related to the quest flowed out of Helian's mouth.

It was a long story that took around 5 minutes, but to summarize it in one sentence, he was asking Ian for help in purifying the Source of Lava that was being contaminated.

Ian, who heard the whole story, asked.

"Then, Helian, what must I do in order to purify the Source of Lava?"

As Ian asked, Helian slightly let out a breath instead of a response.

Hoo-!

At the incredible heat, Ian was surprised.

'Whew, I thought he was shooting a flame thrower.'

And Helian continued his words towards Ian, who was breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Please continue."

From the spot where Helian's breath was spurted out, a fist-sized stone s.h.i.+ning a red light was floating around.

And as he slightly lifted his hand, the bright red object moved towards Ian.

Along with the end of Helian's words, a quest window popped up in front of Ian's eyes.

Ring-.

Helian, the Guardian of Lava, has requested that you capture over 20 contaminated lava monsters in order to purify the Source of Lava.

Receive the Sealing Stone of Lava from him and return after capturing as many lava monsters as possible.

(The Sealing Stone of Lava can be used in the same way as using a Sealing Order Sheet, and with one Sealing Stone, many contaminated monsters can be captured.)

Quest Difficulty Level: B

Quest Condition: Over lv 50 Summoner.

Time Limit: 3 hours.

Reward - 42,500 EXP for each contaminated monster captured.

Ian's two eyes widened.

'42,500 EXP for each monster?'

The EXP that you gained from quests was different from the EXP you gained from hunting as it wasn't divided between the Summoner and their Familiars. Ian and all of his Familiars would be granted exactly 42,500 EXP.

42,500 EXP was equivalent to the EXP you gained when hunting around 12 monsters in a dungeon.

Ian remembered when he captured his Clopia, which was a Rare-rank monster that was a similar level.

'It took around 15 minutes for me to catch one Clopia, right? Since the Clopia is a Rare-rank monster, a.s.suming I only capture Common-rank Lava Sp.a.w.ns, it's going to take a little bit more time…'

With the cooldown time for his Potential Capacity Explosion skill, it would take at least about 20 minutes in order for Ian to hunt around 12 Lava Sp.a.w.ns.

Ian's head began to quickly spin.

'I should be able to catch three Lava Sp.a.w.ns in 20 minutes.'

Even if he captured three, he would receive the same amount of EXP from the quest as he would be hunting almost 40 of them.

It was a very average reward despite being a hidden quest, but the huge EXP was the sweetest reward for Ian right now.

"I'll capture as many as I can and return!"

At Ian's brave response, Helian wore a slightly distrustful expression.

It was normal for an average Summoner to take over 10 minutes to capture a Familiar that was 3-5 levels higher than themselves.

If calculated with those numbers, capturing 20 monsters within three hours was close to impossible.

However, Ian's Affinity stat was at least 1.5 times higher than the average Summoner.

This was because, basically, the 'Taming Master' hidden cla.s.s was granted more of the Affinity stat in comparison to the average Summoner, and Ian also obtained Affinity little by little as a reward for being the very first achiever.

Ian, who finished calculating, nodded his head.

"I can do it. Don't worry."

As Helian responded, a system message rang out.

Ring-.

As soon as the remaining time popped up, Ian hurriedly packed the Sealing Stone that Helian set afloat in the air.

This was because every minute and every second was valuable right now when he needed to capture as many monsters as he could.

"Then, I'll be back!"

While Helian watched Ian, who quickly ran out before even hearing his reply, he quietly mumbled to himself.

Helian's eyes momentarily remained fixated on the spot where Ian disappeared from.

With exactly about 2 minutes remaining, Ian returned to Helian.

As soon as Helian saw Ian, who ran over gasping for air, he narrowed his eyes and asked.

"Huff… huff…"

Ian, who arrived right in front of Helian, momentarily gathered his breath before responding.

"Yes, Helian. I've caught a total of 31 monsters."

And Ian pulled out the Sealing Stone with the contaminated monsters sealed inside of it from his inventory and handed it to Helian.

As he did so, Helian's two eyes widened.

He wore an expression of disbelief.

This was because three hours was not enough time to capture 20 monsters to begin with.

"Haha, I told you I was confident, didn't I?"

Ian wore a triumphant expression, and Helian pa.s.sively acknowledged him.

And a notification saying that Ian completed the quest popped up.

Ring-.

As Ian saw the 1.3 million EXP, his jaw dropped wide open.

This was because this amount of EXP could only be obtained if you solely focused on hunting like crazy for a quarter of a day.

Looking at the EXP bar, he hadn't even realized that he had 10% EXP left until he reached lv 71.

'Alright, good.'

Helian opened his mouth again towards a satisfied Ian.

"Thank you, Helian. Is there nothing left to do now?"

Ian was having fun, so he asked Helian.

If it was a honey-like quest like this, he felt he could do it ten times more.

And Helian's words continued.

Along with Helian's words that continued shortly after, a connected quest began to go on.

And Ian was unable to realize this time that it was the literal beginning of the h.e.l.l of fire.

The Capital of Luspel Empire.

And the master of the empire, King Celias, wore a serious expression as he had a conversation with one man.

The man's name was h.e.l.laim, the captain of the Luspel imperial family's royal knights.

"h.e.l.laim, is there no report from that prophet of Summoners yet?"

h.e.l.laim bowed deeply while responding.

"That's right, Your Majesty. Should I ask around and find him to have him present himself to you?"

Celias shook his head.

"No, this was something that the imperial family's great scholars couldn't find a solution to even with over a half a year's worth of time. I wasn't even expecting him to have already found an answer when it's only been around a month."

The understanding king, Celias.

However, if he found out that Ian wasn't giving a b.l.o.o.d.y care about the Empire quest and was only leveling up, he would become infuriated.

"But, Your Majesty. Aren't you trusting him too much."

At h.e.l.laim's words, Celias smiled and momentarily sipped his tea before opening his mouth.

"How much time is there left until the Empire Commemoration Day, h.e.l.laim?"

"There are about four months left, Your Majesty."

"I see, four months…"

Celias, who briefly thought of something, opened his mouth again.

"I want to see the Griffin's egg hatch before the Empire Commemoration Day. If we exposed the Empire's symbol, the Griffin, on the Empire Commemoration Day, it would raise the imperial family's dignity even higher." Celias, who was imagining a Griffin protecting the imperial family's blue sky, wore a satisfied expression.

"What do you think, h.e.l.laim. Do you think it's possible?"

h.e.l.laim bowed his head down.

"I will do as commanded."

Celias gazed at h.e.l.laim as he added another word.

"If there is no report from him within the next two months, go and find him."