“What’s wrong with you, owner punk? Is that thing that scary to you…?” Hamchi asked.
“What is the matter, Your Majesty? Are you alright?” Gringore asked.
They couldn’t understand what was going on with Siegfried. They were confused because Siegfried was trembling in fear in front of a… scarecrow.
“Chae Hyung-Seok, you bastard!”
On top of that, he was even calling the scarecrow Chae Hyung-Seok—the Guild Master of the Genesis Guild.
“Hey, did you eat something wrong today?”
“Please come to your senses, Your Majesty!”
Hamchi and Gringore called out to him, but he didn’t respond.
Whoosh!
The scarecrow suddenly swung its fist at Siegfried.
Thud!
Siegfried grabbed the scarecrow’s fist.
“Wait a minute…” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion after grabbing the scarecrow’s fist before muttering, “Why is Chae Hyung-Seok here? Isn’t he supposed to be in a hospital? And this guy’s items are different from Chae Hyung-Seok’s items at the time...”
Siegfried realized that the Chae Hyung-Seok he was looking at right now resembled the Chae Hyung-Seok he knew from two years ago.
In addition, the surroundings looked exactly like two years ago. The ground was littered with the corpses of the Beamer Guild members, and he was surrounded by the Genesis Guild members.
It was exactly like the day when Chae Hyung-Seok stomped on him.
“What the hell are you?” Siegfried grumbled and smashed Chae Hyung-Seok’s head with his hammer.
Pukeok! Thud!
Chae Hyung-Seok disappeared and was replaced with a scarecrow with a crushed head. The nightmarish scenery from two years ago disappeared as well.
“Hey, owner punk. Are you okay now?”
“What happened just now, Your Majesty?”
Hamchi and Gringore asked, looking extremely concerned.
“I think that thing showed me some strange hallucinations. I almost fell for it, to be honest… What the hell is this place? Is this some sort of a horror game?” Siegfried grumbled.
The scene he had seen was one of his traumas, so he was stricken with fear.
‘I was completely fooled. But how the hell did they make it so real? Is it even legal for a game to do this? Ah… those guys are really serious about making this game feel as real as possible…’ he grumbled inwardly and cursed the developer of BNW—Hive Games Entertainment.
[Nightmare Scarecrow: A]
[A scarecrow that brings forth nightmares.]
[Type: Monster]
[Level: 210]
[Attribute: N/A]
[Race: Evil Spirit]
[Skills: Materialization of Trauma]
[Materialization of Trauma: Makes the target relive their most traumatic experience.]
The Materialization of Trauma skill of the Nightmare Scarecrow managed to realistically recreate Siegfried’s traumatic experience from two years ago. It was so real that he failed to tell that he had been hypnotized by the monster.
In fact, it even made him forget that he had ever met Deus and had already become stronger than the version of him two years ago.
“Getting caught by this skill could end up with me being beaten to death without being able to put up a fight…” Siegfried was relieved.
Things could have gone really ugly for him.
After experiencing it once, Siegfried was confident that he wouldn’t be fooled anymore.
Siegfried was sure that the others who had entered this dungeon had to have gotten fooled by that scarecrow at least once.
“Hmm… It seems that we will need some protection. I shall sing us a song,” Gringore said. Then, he started singing a lively tune.
A strange warmth enveloped Siegfried.
[Alert: The Phantom Singer has sung the Song of Courage!]
[Alert: The Song of Courage has increased your status ailment resistance by 50%!]
Surprisingly, the Phantom Singer wasn’t just an area-of-effect damage dealer, but the Phantom Singer was also capable of buffing their allies.
‘This is awesome. I guess he isn’t a hidden class for nothing.’ Siegfried was impressed.
Gringore received a ton of Experience Points after massacring Gran Cabrio and his army, but he was still a meager Level 50. The fact that he could already provide such a substantial buff despite his low level proved that the Phantom Singer was indeed a hidden class with immense power and potential.
Of course, the drawback was that Gringore was totally hopeless in melee combat, which meant that he would die if an enemy managed to get close enough to him.
“Thank you, Scribe Gringore.”
“Haha! It is my pleasure to serve you, Your Majesty!”
“All right, shall we march on?”
Siegfried and his party continued their adventure after getting buffed by Gringore’s song.
However, they couldn’t find any clues regarding the whereabouts of Gaia’s Fist even after a long time of searching. The only thing they managed to find in this dungeon was a bunch of Type A, B, C, D, and E Nightmare Scarecrows, and their variety made Siegfried dub them Nightmare Scarecrow Series.
“I don’t think this is the right place…” Siegfried came to the conclusion that Gaia’s Fist wasn’t here, so he immediately headed for the Boss Room.
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“Huff… Huff…”
“Heeek… Heeek…”
“M-My throat is hoarse… Your Majesty…”
An hour later, Siegfried’s party successfully killed the boss of the City of Nightmare—the Nightmare, and Siegfried leveled up once after the battle.
[Alert: You have reached Level 201!]
Of course, he wasn’t the only one who leveled up.
[Alert: Gringore has reached Level 51!]
[Alert: Gringore has reached Level 52!]
[Alert: Gringore has reached Level 53!]
It wasn’t that surprising that Gringore leveled up, but Hamchi gave Siegfried a pleasant surprise by leveling up.
[Alert: Hamchi has reached Level 201!]
“Kyu! Hamchi has gotten stronger!” Hamchi exclaimed in joy.
“What? You can level up, too?”
“Level up? What’s that? Kyu?”
“Hmm… There’s something like that. Anyway, do you feel like you have suddenly become stronger?”
“Yes! Kyu!”
“So pets can level up, too…”
“I have no idea what that level thing is, but Hamchi can definitely become stronger! But Hamchi stopped becoming stronger after meeting his owner punk…”
“Really?”
“Yeah! But I’m getting stronger again!”
“Hmm… I see… His level is probably capped to mine…”
Siegfried immediately understood how Hamchi’s leveling system worked; he theorized that Hamchi’s growth was linked to his growth because they were soulbound.
“Anyway, great job. Let’s collect the items and get the hell out of here,” Siegfried said.
They proceeded to pick up the numerous Dimensional Fragments on the ground.
***
Two days later, Siegfried still couldn’t find any clues about Gaia’s Fist. He had cleared the dungeons: City of Nightmares, Burning Fields, Nasty Banquet, Hall of Beasts, etc…
He had cleared a total of seven dungeons, but he still couldn’t find any clues. The progress bar of the quest Search for the Mythical Weapon didn’t even budge an inch, even though all he had to do was find a clue about its whereabouts.
If there were anything he had obtained from the time he had invested in this dimensional rift, then that would be the Dimensional Fragments.
He leveled up once as well, but that was about it…
‘Hmm… Do I have to keep clearing these dungeons, or should I just stop? The NPC mentioned that they found seventeen dungeons in this dimensional rift so far, which means that I’ll have to search for at least ten more dungeons… I’d rather just save my time and…’ Siegfried thought of just throwing money to solve his problem.
‘No… Let’s hold it in. It’s possible to obtain, right? Let’s search a bit more. When will I use my stubborn grit if not right now?’
Unfortunately, Siegfried’s stubbornness was suddenly triggered, and it made his life much more difficult. His stubbornness was his greatest weapon, but…
“Shall we do our best today as well?”
A week later, Siegfried finally cleared his 31st dungeon.
He also leveled up to Level 203 with Hamchi.
“Ugh… I’m sick and tired of this place...” he groaned.
He leveled up three times in ten days after clearing dungeon after dungeon in the dimensional rift. His leveling speed was a big deal because it was extremely difficult to level up beyond Level 200.
‘Should I just buy it? I can buy it, enhance it, and use it to raid better dungeons than this to level up, right…?’ Siegfried was in a dilemma, but his stubbornness grabbed his ankle once again. ‘No, what’s the point of buying it right now when the item requires Level 210 to use it? I’ll stay here for at least a month or until I reach Level 210, and then I’ll think about it again.’
As expected, his stubbornness prevented him from leaving.
“Okay, let’s do our best today as well,” he said before entering another dimensional rift.
The name of the dungeon appeared in front of Siegfried’s eyes.
[Dimensional Rift: Temple of Purgatory]
Upon stepping into the dungeon, Siegfried was greeted by dozens of people.
“Oh!”
“F-Finally!”
“Oh my god!”
“Our savior has come!”
“Thank you, Gaia-nim! You haven’t abandoned us!”
Siegfried tilted his head in confusion. “Huh?”
Then, he checked the details of the NPCs.
The Rune of Insight informed him that they were followers of the Goddess Gaia.
More specifically, they were priests of her temple.
The eldest one among the priests, Cardinal Vergollio, walked up to Siegfried and asked, “Oh! Great Savior-nim! The Lion of Gaia-nim! What is your name?!”
“I’m just an Adventurer,” Siegfried replied.
“Adventurer? Are you talking about those beings from another world?”
“Yes...”
“Oh! Gaia-nim has sent a being from another world to rescue her distressed sheep!”
Siegfried vehemently shook his head and replied, “T-That’s not it… I’m just here in search of the weapon Gaia’s Fist.”
“Gaia’s Fist?”
“Yes.”
“Ah! This is truly the will of Gaia-nim! The fact that you were searching for Gaia’s Fist meant that the goddess had led you here! Don’t you agree?”
“Well… if you put it that way…”
“That weapon is over there!”
[Alert: You have completed the Quest – ‘Search for the Mythical Weapon’!]
The quest's clear message suddenly appeared in front of Siegfried’s eyes.
Grit and stubbornness…
He had resisted the temptation of the God of Shortcuts and continued to clear the dungeons until he found the whereabouts of Gaia’s Fist.
Siegfried’s strongest weapon had finally revealed its might.
“Is that weapon really here?” he asked.
“That is indeed correct. Do you see that tent over there? That weapon is somewhere deep inside that tent,” Cardinal Vergollio replied.
“Wow…” Siegfried smiled before muttering, “It’s a huge relief. I thought I would have to spend a lot of money…”
“A lot of money? What do you mean?”
“N-Nothing…” Siegfried immediately covered his mouth and thought. ‘That was close!’
“Anyway, thank you for coming here. Please liberate us from this cursed place! I beg of you!” Cardinal Vergollio grabbed both of his hands and pleaded.
A quest appeared in front of Siegfried’s eyes.
[Savior]
[Clear the Temple of Purgatory and save the priests of Goddess Gaia.]
[Reward: Gaia’s Fist]
[Progress: 0%]
The quest that he had been desperately searching for had finally appeared.
Siegfried smiled brightly and replied, “Don’t worry. I will definitely find a way to get all of you safely out of here.”
“Oh! Thank you! Thank you very much! We were running out of food, and we were on the brink of dying from hunger! You have truly come at the right time!”
Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!
All of a sudden, sparks flew in mid-air as space twisted and opened.
A group of Adventurers exited the rifts in space.
‘Huh?’ Siegfried doubted his eyes for a second.
He recognized the newcomers. They were Adventurers affiliated with the fifth strongest guild in the world—the Mandate of Heaven Guild.
‘Yong Tae-Pung ahjussi?’ Siegfried muttered inwardly.
Moreover, the Guild Master of the Mandate of Heaven Guild was still an active pro gamer despite his old age of fifty years old, and he was one of the Adventurers who had just emerged from the rifts in space.
