Chapter 17 – Tomb (1)

Sitting in the passenger seat of Caroline’s sports car, Sun-woo checked the window that appeared before his eyes.

[Min Sun-woo: 3 Star. Achievement Rate 25%]

[Additional Inventory 500p]

[Additional Skill Slot 700p]

[Additional Basic Recovery Potion 100p]

[Additional Basic Water 1p]

[Additional Basic Hard Bread 2p]

[Item Enhancement Stone 100p]

[100,000 won per point]

[Types increase as character level rises.]

Perhaps because he had reached 3 stars, even though he had eliminated a contamination source alone, his achievement rate didn’t increase by much.

He had already expanded his inventory to 4 slots and bought skill slots and potions, so there wasn’t anything new worth buying.

Sun-woo closed the window and took out his phone to open the skill window.

<Three Talents Qigong. 5 Star> Grade increase: 200p

<Three Talents Sword Method. 3 Star> Grade increase: 100p

<Spirit of the Earth. 3rd Class> Grade increase: 100p

<Illusion Art. 1st Class> Grade increase: 50p

The remaining points were 740. Thanks to the additional points earned from this mission, quite a few points had accumulated.

However, the skills had also become quite expensive. After pondering for a moment, Sun-woo raised Three Talents Qigong to 6 stars, Three Talents Sword Method to 5 stars, Spirit of the Earth to 5th class, and Illusion Art to 3 stars.

The total points used were 700. After raising all skills, only 40 points remained.

‘Am I now a first-class warrior?’

With the improvement in qigong and sword techniques, Sun-woo realized he had become what the martial world called a first-class warrior.

Unfortunately, the qigong side didn’t show much improvement. It seemed to be the limitation of basic martial arts.

After checking his skills, Sun-woo casually pointed his phone toward Caroline who was driving.

<Matter Disintegration> 1200p

<Combat Techniques> 100p

Combat techniques didn’t seem very meaningful to Sun-woo who had learned martial arts, so he placed his hand on the matter disintegration icon.

<Matter Disintegration. 6th Grade>

Disintegrates targets.

As grade increases, the size and speed of disintegrated objects increase.

Cannot be used on living beings.

Skill acquisition points: 1200p

Sun-woo checked the ability and clicked his tongue. It was too expensive.

“What type are you, Sun-woo? You can move earth and use martial arts, and last time you seemed to change your appearance too. I’ve never seen such a versatile summoner.”

Caroline asked Sun-woo, who was fiddling with his phone.

But upon hearing the question, Sun-woo asked her back instead.

“Rather than that, I’d like to know what’s going on with this work. I haven’t heard the story yet…”

At Sun-woo’s counterattack, Caroline made a sour expression. She sighed softly and began to speak.

“Originally, this Alpha dimension was a clean dimension with extremely little damage from contamination sources, unlike other dimensions. But recently, the occurrence of contamination sources has increased dramatically. Almost to the level of other dimensions.”

As they processed missions, the summoners discovered that there were contamination sources that weren’t naturally occurring.

“So the association issued a group mission. A mission to find out why artificial contamination sources were occurring.”

At Caroline’s words, Sun-woo tilted his head. It was a mission he had never heard of.

“It’s a mission that came down to the association’s aftermath handling team. Since it’s not a combat team, the Summoners give us many different types of missions. Plus the rewards are stingier than the combat team…”

Caroline grumbled in English.

“Summoners?”

“Ah, the beings that summon us.”

It seemed other summoners called the beings that summoned them ‘Summoners.’

“We were tracking people related to those who became contamination sources artificially. I was assigned to handle the Korean side where Sun-woo is, and thanks to that, I solved the mission. It’s thanks to you, Sun-woo.”

The points must have been considerable. Caroline’s expression was bright.

But conversely, Sun-woo’s expression was dark.

“Don’t tell me there’s an organization that artificially creates contamination sources?”

“That’s right. The association has been suspicious for a while now.”

“What?”

“Ah, you don’t know much yet. That’s why you should have contacted us! You can hear more detailed stories at the association.”

Caroline said somewhat teasingly.

At her words, Sun-woo had to keep his mouth shut.

Shortly after, the car arrived at a nearby subway station. Passersby widened their eyes seeing the fancy foreign car and blonde beauty.

“Thank you for the ride. See you next time.”

At Sun-woo’s greeting, Caroline extended her hand.

“I’d appreciate it if you could give me the pills you picked up earlier. The association needs to investigate the contents.”

She was talking about the pills Sun-woo had knocked down with his earth pillar.

At her words, Sun-woo took out small pills from his pocket and looked at Caroline with a smile.

“You should have prepared for that in advance. It seems like a trade will be necessary.”

At Sun-woo’s retort, Caroline looked dejected.

***

Three days later, Dimension Delta (commonly called Central Plains).

Dark Cloud Valley.

A gorge located in the Qingdao area at the border between Xizang and Sichuan. It was a gorge famous as a forbidden zone where black fog flowed all year round.

Normally, not only ordinary people but also martial artists didn’t approach the area, but now many martial artists were gathered at the entrance of the gorge, glaring at each other.

“I understand this place is not within the territory of the Bright Cult.”

“Hehehe. Why are you properly calling our cult’s name for once? And anyway, we of the Bright Cult were the ones who created this Dark Cloud Valley.”

“But that was hundreds of years ago.”

The gathered martial artists were divided into three groups.

Taoists wearing blue robes and sharp-featured young men wearing green gloves. These were the Taoists from Qingcheng in Sichuan and the Tang Clan.

On the opposite side stood several rough-looking martial artists exuding killing intent.

They were masters from the Demon Cult, no, the Bright Cult in Xizang.

And at some distance from them, wandering warriors and martial artists who had gathered after hearing rumors were watching the situation.

“Whether it was hundreds of years ago or yesterday, the Bright Cult will handle matters here ourselves, so mind your own business.”

The most genteel-looking middle-aged man among the three masters on the Demon Cult side spoke in a low voice. But his words carried heavy qi, making the listeners’ expressions unpleasant.

“That cannot be. This is an anomaly that occurred right next to Sichuan. Our sects cannot just stand by and watch.”

Fortunately, the Qingcheng Taoist facing the Demon Cult master seemed to be quite skilled. At his response, the approaching killing intent dispersed into the air.

“Ridiculous. You came running after smelling treasure, but now you’re acting all high and mighty. That’s what’s most disgusting about you guys.”

At the Demon Cult master’s words, the Taoist had to keep his mouth shut. His words were true.

It started a week ago with a faint beam of light that shot up to the sky from the center of Dark Cloud Valley.

Dark Cloud Valley was a place that had been designated as forbidden for some reason when the Demon Cult was powerful long ago, prohibiting people’s entry until now.

After being designated as forbidden, everyone who entered Dark Cloud Valley, whether martial artists or ordinary people, disappeared without exception.

Ordinary people were terrified and told stories of monsters and ghosts, but martial artists knew this was due to a formation that surrounded the entire Dark Cloud Valley.

The light that appeared a week ago indicated that the formation in Dark Cloud Valley had weakened, meaning there was a spiritual creature, treasure, or divine sword inside the formation that could emit such light.

Eventually, the rumor spread throughout Sichuan and Xizang in no time.

Soon all the sects in Sichuan and Xizang were stirred, but the Xizang sects sat back down due to the Demon Cult’s movements, while the Sichuan sects did the same due to Qingcheng and Tang Clan’s movements.

Now at this place were warriors from the Demon Cult, Qingcheng, and Tang Clan, along with wandering warriors and drifting swordsmen who had gathered hoping for a share.

They had gathered at the entrance of the gorge, keeping each other in check while waiting for the formation to open.

When the Qingcheng elder closed his mouth, tense silence began to flow through the gorge, which was dark with black fog even during the day.

That’s when it happened.

Rumble!

A low vibration echoed throughout the gorge. At the same time, the beam of light that had been faintly visible through the black fog brightened. No, the fog began to gradually thin.

“The formation is dissolving!”

Someone’s voice was heard from among the wandering warriors, and the Demon Cult masters were the first to launch themselves into the gorge.

“Let’s go!”

Seeing this, the Qingcheng elder shouted, and following the Demon Cult masters, disciples from Qingcheng and Tang Clan began running into the gorge.

Naturally, the wandering warriors and other martial artists also tried to follow them, but they first had to draw their swords.

Slash!

“It’s an ambush!”

“Crazy! Who’s swinging swords here!”

A group of masked men in red clothes were sweeping through the wandering warriors and martial artists from behind.

“Blood! It’s the Blood Cult!”

“Everyone avoid them! They’re blood-crazed maniacs!”

The wandering warriors and martial artists retreated with pale expressions.

The masked men in red called the ‘Blood Cult’ mostly appeared to be first-class. There were quite a few first-class warriors among the wandering warriors and martial artists too, but it was impossible to withstand the Blood Cult’s momentum as they charged with mutual destruction in mind.

Countless wandering warriors lost their lives, and the remaining martial artists and wandering warriors jumped into the gorge to avoid the Blood Cult warriors. Following them, the Blood Cult members also entered the gorge.

In an instant, the entrance of the gorge became a sea of blood with dozens of corpses scattered about.

Shortly after, two warriors appeared from the direction where the Blood Cult members had emerged.

“Ugh, this is getting complicated.”

Among them, a middle-aged man with a goatee frowned.

“Still, it looks like a place with lots of treasure. It should be your taste, old man?”

The warrior with a bushy beard, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom, interjected at his words.

“Hey, I quit thievery long ago. How long have I been working as a tracker now? The right answer is not to go in here. It’s not forbidden for nothing. The formation isn’t the problem.”

“But since the Blood Cult guys went inside, we can’t just go back.”

“Hmph, I only received a request from the Righteous Alliance to track the Blood Cult guys. Entering a forbidden zone is out of the question.”

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom, who belonged to the special team of the Righteous Alliance, and Wang Mun-pung, a master tracker, were tracking the Blood Cult moving from Sichuan under the alliance’s orders.

However, the two who hadn’t expected this famous forbidden zone to be the Blood Cult’s destination couldn’t help but look troubled at the situation before them.

“Let’s go back first and gather people. We should at least collect the bodies.”

But then Hwangbo Ja-gyeom, who had been looking at the sky, opposed Wang Munpung’s words.

“It seems we’ll have to go in.”

“Damn!”

Wang Mun-pung also ground his teeth while looking at the sky.

[Contamination source detected. The contamination source’s grade is Grade 3. Additional personnel will be summoned.]

“Don’t tell me the formation broke because of a contamination source?”

“Damn it, we’re complete slaves! To think that I, who used to run around as a divine thief, would suffer like this in my old age.”

Wang Mun-pung frowned deeply.

“But thanks to that, you got to work for the Righteous Alliance and received quite a lot of compensation.”

“That’s thanks to my abilities. How many times have I almost died because of it? Anyway, some useful guys need to come.”

The two who were talking quickly turned around at the sound of people approaching. There, two men and women were looking ahead with frowning expressions. They were Sun-woo and Nan-seol.

“What is this? What am I supposed to do with such greenhorns!”

Seeing the two young people, Wang Mun-pung shouted angrily, but Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s expression brightened.

“Good to see you!”

At his words, Wang Mun-pung seemed to realize something.

“Huh? Don’t tell me these are the two people you mentioned before? The Twin Flowers of Mount Hua and the sorcerer?”

The people who met after a long time greeted each other, and Hwangbo Ja-gyeom introduced Wang Mun-pung to the two.

“This is Wang Mun-pung of the Righteous Alliance. A master of tracking arts and former divine thief.”

“I told you I quit. You keep adding it to the end.”

Wang Mun-pung clicked his tongue at Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s introduction. But Hwangbo Ja-gyeom didn’t care and told the two about what had happened so far.

“The Demon Cult?”

Upon hearing about the Demon Cult, Nan-seol’s expression darkened. At her more serious expression than expected, Sun-woo tilted his head.

“Let’s just eliminate the contamination source and get out quickly. We just need to avoid running into the treasure hunters.”

At her darkened expression, Wang Mun-pung said something, but soon heard Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s retort.

“It would be fine if the old man doesn’t get his eyes rolled back by treasure.”

“This guy really treats his senior like rat droppings. No respect for hierarchy.”

The two grumbled a few more words, and shortly after, the four people entered the gorge following those who had gone before.