The 31st Piece Turns the Tables
chapter-58

Crack! Crackle…

It was Seol’s first time seeing cracks suddenly appear in the clear sky and on the ground he had been treading. After all, taking a glimpse into someone else’s memory was rare in itself.

“Why… WHY?!” screamed the ashen knight in rage.

Like a burnt candle on a lone child’s birthday cake, the ashen knight poured out her sorrow and regret.

“Krgh…”

Seol held onto Karuna despite it being a difficult situation where even Seol couldn’t guarantee his own safety.

Even though Karuna should be the one holding onto Seol to protect him, Karuna was not normal right now.

“I… I… didn’t go.”

Was it because he realized that the ashen knight was waiting for the blue-eyed knight until her last breath?

Karuna was mentally shocked and couldn’t snap out of it.

‘Damn it! We won’t be able to leave here alive like this!’

Seol couldn’t let him die here. It could’ve been fine if this mental world belonged to someone who had no relation to Karuna, but unfortunately, she had a close connection to one of Seol’s important forces.

Until Karuna could straighten up, Seol had to take the reins.

“Jamad!”

“The lump of steel is causing trouble, got it!”

Glow…

Fwirl!

Seol summoned Jamad and he instantly carried both Karuna and Seol over his shoulders.

Seol, now being carried, started to look around him.

[Eyes of Perception activates.]

[You detect movements of foreign mana.]

Eyes of Perception activated at the perfect timing.

It detected a powerful flow of mana in a world that was being destroyed.

And the mana was being continuously drained into one location.

‘The crystal’s power is about to run out!’

Seol had no clue what would happen to him if he remained here after the crystal’s power gave out.

“We have to get out. Over there! Over there, Jamad!”

“Got it! I’m going to run, hang on tight!”

Jamad could be rough in his treatment of Karuna, but not Seol. If Seol was injured because of him, it would be a huge problem.

Seol held onto Jamad’s shoulders tightly and did his best to not lose that flow.

Poooooour!

“Damn it! Water!”

Waves suddenly surged out of nowhere, like a flood had broken out. The waves pushed the party back.

Splash!

“Krgh…”

“Pwah! Hrgh…”

Jamad realized that they had no chance at this rate and dove underwater, carrying both Seol and Karuna.

Thanks to that, the harsh waves were a bit easier to handle, and they were steadily able to make progress forward.

‘Please… just a little bit more…’

It seemed like they were close to the exit.

But because of their incredible experience, Seol couldn’t really tell if time was flowing quickly or slowly.

“Pwah!”

Splash!

In the end, Seol’s party was able to make it outside.

“So the crystal was submerged in rainwater… god damn it.”

“Cough… Cough…”

Jamad found out why Karen’s mental world was submerged in water.

Crash!

Pour…

Because in the real world, it was raining.

‘I guess I wasn’t transported because we were in the mental world?’

Seol should have been safely transported, surrounded by a familiar radiant glow like what normally happened.

Seol felt a bit dizzy about the dangerous escape that he just had to do.

‘Fuu… I’m just glad that we were able to make it out alive.’

If one only looked at the result, it was a good thing, as Seol was able to safely finish the Adventure.

[You begin your next Adventure.]

[Your 10th Adventure is starting.]

[Adventure 10. The Scorched One.]

[ Adventure 10. ‘The Scorched One’

You have investigated the corpse that was scheduled to be revived as an undead in the Great Forest.

Surprisingly, the corpse turned out to be one of the guardians of the Montra Empire, a name known widely throughout the continent long ago, Karen. And as you were investigating Karen’s identity, you also realized that your summon, Karuna, was also one of the guardians of the Montra Empire.

Using your wits, you have luckily escaped from the dangerous mental world of the corpse. Unfortunately, though, you still have yet to find Chao.

And now, you are in such a dangerous situation that your prior problems almost seem trivial compared to it. Karen is now free of her mental restraints and is about to wake up.

Karen currently might only have her instincts left, but she is estimated to be extremely powerful. Furthermore, something unpredictable may happen if she was somehow able to recover her intellect.

You must make a decision.

Will you fight or will you run away?

Objective: Kill Karen.

You will be given the ‘defeated’ status upon failure. Your honor and fame will also decrease upon failure.

In addition, you will not get the rewards you've accumulated from your previous Adventures.

Remaining Time [719:59]]

As Seol quickly turned around to glimpse at Karen, his Eyes of Perception activated.

[[Karen: Red Lotus Knight]

Rank: Heroic

Estimated Level: 35~40

One of the guardians of Montra, an ancient empire.

Using her powers of combustion, she was able to reach a successful position in a short amount of time.

She is supremely powerful on her own, but she is at her strongest when she is with her twin brother, Karuna.

Basic Skills: [Montra Swordsmanship 5], [Ignite 3], [Fire Flower 4], [Flame Grasp 4], [Advanced Martial Arts 3], [Final Comeback 2], [Red Lotus Slash 1], [Burn Resistance 3], [Pride 2], [Chivalry 1], [Shred 1], [Matchless Warrior 2], [Mind Control Resistance 4]

Unique Skills: [Connected Soul 5], [Equilibrium 5]]

‘We’re running away.’

Seol thought the ‘Will you fight or will you run away?’ section of the Adventure description was ridiculous.

- That’s insane… Level 40? She’s level 40?

- She could also just be Level 35 :)

- You’re so annoying LMFAO

- She’s the highest level thing we’ve seen so Farquaad.

- Stop messing around LOL But how is there going to be a level 40 character in an Adventure meant for people who aren’t even level 10 yet?

- Uh… is this even clearable?

The viewers were pretty much saying what Seol was thinking.

‘The level difference is too large.’

Normally, the boss monsters in Solo Adventures and Party Adventures were at best rare rank.

Karuna and Jamad’s Adventures only had them at heroic rank for special reasons.

And because they were heroic ranks, they ended up becoming Seol’s confidence.

Seol was able to get two heroic rank summons that didn’t appear in the early game often, and he knew how important they were because of it.

‘But even if I have two heroic rank summons, it’s impossible when the level difference is this high.’

Seol believed that if he continued to raise Karuna and Jamad, they would likely end up like what Karen looked like right now.

Of course, leveling them up to that point was a success in and of itself already, though…

“Damn it…”

Seol lamented as he just accepted the rain falling on his body.

This Adventure was already a failure.

But then, Jamad called him.

“Hey, I don’t know what you’re planning, but you need to make a decision soon.”

“What?”

“Look over there.”

Rumble Rumble Rumble…

Jamad was pointing at the post that Karen was tied down to, and as expected, she was completely wrapped in iron chains and restraints.

But now, the chains were starting to break one by one with huge rumblings.

‘She’s trying to wake up!’

When a powerful undead is being reanimated, they need just as much vitality. That was the reason why The Church of Death's Truth chose the Great Forest as their location for their revival ceremony.

And now, the post that Karen was tied down to was absorbing the Great Forest’s vitality.

Absorb…

The plants surrounding her started to turn black.

“We’re running away!”

Seol quickly returned Karuna and Jamad into his Shadow Space and kicked the back of his right foot with his left foot. It was to use the Boots of Narrow Escape he received from Griz’s Secret Laboratory as an additional reward.

Kick!

Boom!

[Escape From Danger activates.]

[Your movement speed massively increases for a short period of time.]

Seol sprinted without looking back.

Even Seol wasn’t sure if he would turn into a mummy or dust if his vitality was absorbed.

‘Faster! Faster!’

Sprint…

Flames continued to erupt out of the heels of the scorching boots, making Seol leave a trail of fire behind. And just as Seol thought he had traveled a long way away from Karen, a massive explosion and brilliant light shot out.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Riiiiiiing…

Seol lost his hearing for a second after the explosion. He then fell flat from the shockwave.

“AAARGH!”

Thanks to Seol running away at extreme speeds, he didn’t receive too much damage.

‘My entire body hurts. For now, though… Was I able to make it away?’

Seol turned around and could do nothing but blink when he saw the epicenter of the colossal explosion. It was a sight he couldn’t believe.

Crumble…

Crumble…

All of the trees that he had passed through were destroyed. It was extremely shocking, as he had traveled rather far from the epicenter.

‘If the explosion spread out in all directions…’

The trees in the Great Forest would have died en masse.

Obviously, the Great Forest was massive, and this much wouldn’t even make a dent in it, but it wasn’t like it did no damage at all.

Fwirl!

Seol resummoned both Karuna and Jamad just in case.

Karuna looked to have slightly recovered from his panic. Seol, judging that he had the energy to respond, asked him a question.

“What happened?”

“...Karen is my twin sister.”

“And what is Montra?”

“I don’t know either. I don’t know how much time has passed since then either, the time discrepancy…”

Jamad criticized Karuna’s behavior.

“I thought you were broken for a second, you lump of iron.”

“Watch your words.”

“Hmph. And which of us became a headache for our master because the only thing they could do was mumble their words?”

“...I apologize, Master.”

Seol was just thankful that Karuna was able to return to his senses.

But now, he couldn’t give attention to something so trivial.

‘Do I just accept the penalty and give up on the Adventure?’

The penalty for giving up on the Adventure was the ‘defeated’ status, a decrease in honor and fame, and being unable to get the rewards.

‘Each and every one of them were awful penalties.’

Seol could confidently say that it was not worth risking his life over, but Seol was also a player who was aiming to become the strongest.

Creating a gap in his Adventures and giving up all of the rewards he had accumulated up to now was something that was contradictory to his objective.

As Seol thought to himself, Karuna broke the silence.

“Master.”

“Karuna?”

“I have a request.”

Seol could already tell what Karuna was going to ask for.

“I have to go back to Karen.”

“...We can’t defeat her right now.”

“I’m not trying to go back to defeat her. I’m going back to save her.”

Karuna was right.

Seol bit his lips, not knowing what to do. He then started reflecting on what he had said so far.

‘Can’t defeat her right now… right now… right… right now?’

Throughout the countless Adventures that Seol had cleared before, he had experienced ridiculous difficulties like this multiple times.

And while clearing those Adventures, Seol established a theory.

‘It’s almost impossible to be assigned an Adventure that you can’t clear immediately!’

That was also the reason why Adventures were split into the early game, the mid game, and the late game.

The system always gave players a trial that they could overcome, like fate.

And if Seol applied that theory here too…

‘Then it also means that I can only clear the Adventure because it’s right now. Think! Think, Seol!’

It was nearly a 30-level difference.

A difference large enough for a single, light punch to result in death. There had to be a way to overcome this difference.

‘I have to find it… What could it be? What can I use right now, at this moment…’

Seol thought about everything that he could use right now. More accurately, he thought about everything that he could use because it was right now.

‘The Church of Death's Truth!’

At first, Seol thought they were a villainous group that he had to prevent. And because of it, he thought of them as his enemies.

‘Yeah, they are my enemies. But…’

There’s a saying that goes something like this,

The enemy of my enemy is also my friend.

‘I have to use them!’

The issue was how he was going to use them.

Most people would waste a lot of time coming up with a plan, but Seol was different.

Because that… was what Seol was most confident in.