Chpater 225.2 - The Tournament (25) (Part 2)
Chpater 225 – The Tournament (25) (Part 2)
Lee Jin asks me what I’ve been doing recently.
I roughly answer and turn to Lee Joon Suk.
“How do you know each other?”
Although I want to ask why Lee Jin is here, I have to be a little more tactful.
Lee Joon Suk tells me that he met Lee Jin while patrolling the streets and became friends.
I began to see how this situation was drawn after listening to him.
The spot that Lee Joon Suk is standing on makes me uncomfortable.
He ambiguously stands in the range of my attack.
I don’t know if this guy knows that his life is at the mercy of my sword.
Of course not.
Anyways, that’s how I interpreted it from my point of view, but objectively he actually quietly squeezed between me and Lee Jin..
It’s clear what this position means.
After a few pleasantries, I turn to the last person.
A Western looking man offers to shake hands with me.
“I’m John Overton.”
The man introduces himself as an American server challenger.
I notice that neither Lee Joon Suk or Lee hyung Jin knew that this man was joining us.
“I’ve gained permission from the Korean Order of Vigilance. I know it’s impolite to join you without talking to you in advance, but I wanted to join you here to witness your capabilities.
It seems more impolite to state that he wants to see my capabilities rather than to join us in silence.
Before I say something, I ponder if I should persuade him to go away or just walk away ourselves.
He shouldn’t of come here because he doesn’t believe that I’ve reached the 50th-floor of Hell Difficulty.
The system should’ve sent a message long ago authenticating my achievement..
“I’m also a challenger of Hell Difficulty.”
“Which floor?”
“6th floor.”
Ah…….
Lee Hyung Jin and I both show sympathy.
It’s a very difficult stage.
I openly accept John Overton joining us.
[The 1st round begins.]
[Please choose the difficulty of the Instance dungeon. ]
The list of dungeons are shown on the information windows.
A dungeon’s difficulty is marked by the number of stars.
No accurate value is displayed, so it is impossible to know how difficult each star represents.
“Even rankers of hard difficulty are hard pressed to pass 4 stars.”
Lee Joon Suk seems to have cleared a dungeon before.
“Yes. In addition, My best performance reached a 5.5 stars dungeon.”
It feels a little awkward to look at the proud Lee Joon Suk.
There are 10 star dungeons on the information window.
He only succeeded in clearing half of the stage.
I’m disappointed with his satisfaction at attaining a meager result with no intentions of going further .
He should attempt higher difficulty levels since he still has room for improvement.
And finally I have a chance to tackle this stage with Lee Hyung Jin.
So why bring along Lee Jin?
There is no need to evaluate Lee Jin’s strength.
She can’t be counted as a combat strength at all.
I don’t understand Lee Joon Suk’s intention to bring her, but it’s a pity.
I ask the experienced Lee Joon Suk to choose a dungeon with a moderate difficulty.
There is no need to challenge the highest difficulty immediately.
I also have to monitor Lee Joon Suk’s and Lee Hyung Jin’s fights.
Lee Joon Suk chooses a dungeon with a difficulty of 3.5 stars.
[Please wait patiently for other teams to make their choice.]
A 10 minute wait time is displayed above.
The system provides much more time for consideration than I thought.
Since there’s nothing to do, we begin to talk to pass time.
John Overton and I naturally talk about Hell Difficulty.
“Yes. Fortunately, there is a person who is close to my floor. He is on the 11th floor.”
In addition to John Overton challenging 6th floor, there is also a challenger on the 11th floor in the American server.
“He’s been bottlenecked on the 11th floor for a long time. It’s a stage where you have to find something.”
“Ah, knocking down the wall behind Ji Jeo Wang’s throne will reveal a secret space. Please tell your friend next time.” Lee hyung Jin recently passed the 11th floor so he reveals the answer.
I recall that fact after listening to him.
We soon get close to John Overtonn.
He became a precious friend who we can share and resonate stories about Hell Difficulty with.
“What is the most challenging obstacle you’ve encountered in Hell Difficulty?”
John Overton asks.
“There’s a lot, but I think the most challenging obstacle for me is the 1st floor boss room.”
“Yes. Although I have heard about it in advance, it was still speechless when I faced it. Since I didn’t have enough courage to resist Hell Difficulty so I tried to escape through the door, but it wouldn’t open..”
“Yes. Ha ha ha ha. I knocked on the door, but didn’t even budge.”
Anyone who has seen the lava pond in the 1st floor boss room will resonate with this.
Standing on a stone bridge just over shimmering lava is a completely different experience from just reading about it in a message..
“The 4th floor boss room dropped me on a mountain without saying anything. I didn’t know which way the Goblin King was so I accidentally went in the opposite direction when descending the mountain. I wandered the hillside for 4 days until I located a fortress that lead me to the other goblins.”
Lee hyung Jin and I both laugh at John Overton’s confession and comfort him.
I recall my perturbed I was since I was suddenly sent to an open mountain from a confined space.
“But I was very happy then. I was on the verge of mental collapse at that time. I was able to progress alone to 3rd floor, but I was suddenly asked to kill goblins on the 4th floor. I felt better after being able to see the moon and sunrise outside.”
“Yes, it did.”
I nod and expressed sympathy with them.
Despite the fact that I was focused on killing goblins at that time, I remembered the admiring the wonderful night sky.
“Are there absurd or quirky things on the other stages?”
“A lot. Tell your friend on the 11th floor to buy a subspace bag filled with food and toilet paper before entering the 12th floor. The Inventory cannot be opened in the 12th floor.”
“Inventory?”
“Yes. I was prepared and suffered less because of a Hyung’s warning. However, there are way too many oversized bugs.”
“I had a different problem. I went in naked of any preparations. I’ve had a lot of trouble trying to take a shit…”
Once the conversation ball started rolling, all the things I kept in my heart began pouring out.
It was fun to complain to each other about the disgusting designs of Hell Difficulty.
It’s like drinking with friends and complaining about the hardships of military service.
Lee Joon Suk and Lee Jin are a little distance from each other, but we are too immersed in the conversation to pay them any heed.