Chapter 180
[All players remaining on the artificial island will be notified! Please refrain from entering the dungeon as much as possible until the current situation is clarified! Let me remind you again!]
“What, Marina Bissett went into the dungeon? Now?”
“Not only that. I can’t even reach Yongseong Guild’s Lee Kang-hoo!”
“They’re the strongest players on Earth right now…God damn it! If they die, what the hell will happen to us!”
But on the artificial island, confusion was spreading for a reason completely separate from Jung Si-woo’s disturbance.
“Calm down; it hasn’t been decided that they can’t come back yet.”
“But the dungeon…that’s how the dungeon turned out!”
“Hey, I can’t get in touch with all the members of their group, not just with this storm. There wouldn’t have been a big attack party for them today!”
All the members of the artificial island, who usually remained in the sky with a considerable number of players to take a rest or recruit a party, were now running wild.
“What kind of party is this?”
“Wake up, Oppa. All we have here are those shocked and afraid thugs.”
While everyone was busy, Jung Si-woo did what he had to do first. It was to neatly break down the buildings owned by Yongseong Guild on the artificial island. It wasn’t an everyday situation enough for people to pay attention to such things, so no one knew who had destroyed the buildings. Wouldn’t it be a good thing to have no conflict with each other?
“Very persistent…”
“Now, let’s see what the hell’s going on.”
Soo Ah-rin was discouraged by the sight of Jung Si-woo, who didn’t care about anything else as he completed his original goal, but he turned around casually. At first glance, it seems like something happened to the Sky Castle Dungeon…
“Oh, Jung Si-woo!?”
However, when Jung Si-woo tried to hide again as he escaped from the crime scene, a person found him.
“You must remember! It’s me, Jin So Woon from China!”
“Oh, well, it’s been a while.”
He couldn’t remember where he saw him, but Jung Si-woo also lifted his guard because there was no sign of mana accumulating in his body.
“But didn’t you say you were an underground player? Why on the artificial island…oh, I see!”
“Hmph!?”
Was he doubtful? The man shouted with a very happy face while Jung Si-woo thought of hitting him with a memory correction punch.
“You’ve come running after finding out about the accident in the sky!”
“That’s what it is.”
Jung Si-woo naturally hid his fist and nodded with a serious face, affirming Jin So Woon’s words.
“As expected, I thought that you, with a righteous heart, would surely be! Furthermore, your lover, Miss Marina Bissett, is trapped in a dungeon…don’t worry too much. Let’s pray that she’ll come back safely.”
Instead of being silent, Soo Ah-rin, who heard nonsense that Marina was Jung Si-woo’s lover, stared at Jin So-Woon with fierce eyes. But without noticing Soo Ah-rin’s hot gaze, he continued to blabber.
“Who could have imagined that the Dungeon’s difficulty would suddenly rise! Monsters on the ground are increasing both in quantity and in quality. Fortunately, you seem to have started a power struggle between monsters somehow, but…”
Jung Si-woo’s forehead wrinkled when he heard that. What do you mean, the dungeon gets harder? As Jung Si-woo experienced, the dungeon’s difficulty only increased when God’s power was involved or when the player’s ghost exploded. There would never be a player’s ghost in the Sky Castle Dungeon, so the only remaining case was God’s power…Jung Si-woo, who had been pondering, asked after digesting Jin So-Woon’s words.
“Wait, the number of monsters on the ground is increasing?”
“Didn’t you know? In the monster colony, more than a few monsters are starting their war, and evacuation orders are falling.”
The difficulty of the dungeon wasn’t enough to increase the number of monsters on the ground? While he thought it was unlucky, when he connected the two, there was one possibility that suddenly came to mind.
‘It was Paeto. Apparently, because of the low level of the earth, he said he couldn’t properly send his power and authority. That means that the earth is growing now…?’
As soon as he thought of it, a realization struck Jung Si-woo’s head with lightning. That explained everything! What if the Heavenly Dungeon didn’t suddenly rise in difficulty, but each god could send more and stronger troops to the Dungeon? What if the density of the Earth’s mana only increased and more monsters appeared?
“If it’s a war between monsters, of course, it’s a war between El’s monster and the monsters who reject him. He must be busy with the sudden surge…”
He gave orders to the ghosts, spreading rapidly on the ground, to join El and move. It would have been of considerable help to El, as all of them had formidable mana and special forms. Jung Si-woo, taking those emergency measures, again asked Jin So-Woon for more details, but unfortunately, she didn’t know much.
“I’ve been told that it was a stage 34 small dungeon that quickly turned into a stage 38 large dungeon. I’ve heard that Marina Bissett, Seria Wilson, and Lee Seo-hee, and John Smith are the dream team, but even if they’re together, will they be able to get through it well? Moreover, there is a rumor that Lee Kang-hoo can’t be reached. I’m so worried.”
“I see. Thank you.”
Of course, the safety of Kang-hoo was of no concern, but he also seemed to be in a dungeon-like Marina and Seria. One positive thing was that at least the dungeon’s difficulty had increased, greatly reducing the chance that he would make a fool of Jung Si-woo’s friends.
“I made a mistake. I asked you to protect John Smith so that I could handle it as naturally as possible. I shouldn’t have worried about that; I should have just forced him out…”
“As expected, you must be very worried. I don’t know if I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No, it’s not. I’ll try to move around. Be careful, too.”
He moderately said goodbye to Jin So-Woon and stepped down. At that time, the same message was heard in his ears and around the ears of other players.
[Earth is evolving into Crescent.]
[Dungeon management error occurred. Players can’t be released arbitrarily. Further entry into the dungeon is prohibited.]
As expected, Jung Si-woo’s prediction was right. He also felt the concentration of mana around him growing darker little by little. As the monsters strengthened, so would the players!
“Crescent, do they ready to compare this to the moon?”
“It was the New Age. New Moon followed by Crescent, I’m sure. Then I think it’ll be half-age next time.”
[The evolution of the world is taking place too rapidly. I’ve heard that the period is sometimes advanced by developing the world’s individuals, but it’s still too fast.]
Yes, only Caina knew about the post-New Age world. Jung Si-woo asked her just in case.
“Maybe it’s because of me? I grew up so fast as an underground player…”
[Of course, I acknowledge that a master is a man of comparable potential to God, but you aren’t alone in supporting the world. You’d better leave it at that. The master is a tiny creature compared to the world.]
“As expected…?”
It sounded sarcastic at first glance, but he was a little relieved that it wasn’t his fault after all. Jung Si-woo laughed at her words, but soon he sighed again.
“The world has turned upside down like this, and now it’s only the crescent moon…”
If there was a full moon, would the gods descend directly to the earth? Since Luta had previously used the expression “It’s the Full Age,” there seemed to be a world that survived from the gods until then…
Jung sighed and looked around the artificial island more, but no meaningful information was obtained. The players were also blocked from entering the dungeon, left unable to organize a rescue team.
“Sky Castle…”
He gritted his teeth as he looked at the huge castle floating beyond. Sky Castle, a place where his hands hadn’t been allowed since its inception. Even if he wanted to save Marina and her group who entered the dungeon at his request, all he could do now was pray for her safety, as Jin So-Woon said.
“Ha.”
“Oppa….”
No matter how many Ant Cave dungeons he cleared out, it didn’t change what he could do about the Sky Castle. His anger boiled out of control over the situation in which he was already annoyed by Lee Kang-hoo.
“Huh?”
At that time, Soo Ah-rin, who was looking at him anxiously, said in surprise.
“Oppa, I think the Chaos scale is working by itself….”
It wasn’t just him. The dragon’s armor, which naturally appeared together as the Chaos scale, covering his whole body, was sprinkling dark light. Having looked at its information, Jung Si-woo now realized that hysterical gauge was increasing with ridiculous momentum. Normally, the gauge didn’t rise at all, so he had never tested the special option, Acid Strike, but now that he checked, the gauge was lightly surpassing 50. In other words, Jung Si-woo was under a lot of stress right now.
It wasn’t just that.
[Dragon’s Sense skill has become Lv7.]
[Chaos Tail skill has become Lv6]
[Course Scale Skill has become Lv7]
Since Jung Si-woo became an underground player, he was easily awakened from anger, as he was sure after he learned that he could use the hysterical gauge to guess the options of Dragon’s Vambraces. But now that the dragon’s power was awakened, what would he do? Even so, the scales and tail became tighter, and his senses became more sensitive.
Jung Si-woo, who thought so, suddenly stopped moving.
“Wait, this…”
As the Dragon’s Sense had grown twice in a short period, Jung Si-woo’s sense of mana had developed beyond comparison. As a result, he was able to do what had never been possible, which was that he could easily discern the power contained in him even if it was a fragment of a god he didn’t know.
“Ha.”
So, what turned into that fact was…
“Oppa?”
“…Maybe.”
Jung Si-woo took out the only fragment of God he now had, Pruta’s fragment, and held it in one hand. It was impossible before, but now he could feel the chilly wind inside it vividly.
[It enables the evolution of the combat sprint skill.]
Jung Si-woo’s eyes began to sparkle fiercely, recalling the message he had achieved and seen in the previous dungeon.
The moment had come when a dragon on the ground soared.