Chapter 356 – Part 2 – S-rank Hidden Dungeon

[Spring of the Sun (Hidden)]

-Difficulty: S

-Personnel Limit: 1 person

-Entry Restriction: S-rank or higher

-Conquest Objective: Offer tributes to the altar

-Failure Penalty: None

-Time Limit: 6 hours

-Dungeon Break Possibility: None

-Remaining Entry Count: 1 time

Hidden dungeons are literally hidden in location, making them difficult to find.

However, this law didn’t apply to Choi Seong-min, who had received help from God.

‘To think I’d already be entering the dungeon I had my eye on once I became S-rank.’

The criterion for S-rank was combat power of 1 million or higher.

Choi Seong-min had 800,000, which was below that, but it was still increasing.

There would be no reason to fall short compared to S-rank.

‘If worst comes to worst, I can use invincibility, so there shouldn’t be any problems conquering it.’

Soon, Choi Seong-min stepped into the portal.

Brilliant light enveloped his body.

* * *

Hidden dungeons, being as difficult to find as they are, offer greater rewards than other dungeons.

The monsters are also weaker than their rank would suggest.

The Spring of the Sun was particularly like this.

S-rank could conquer it without much difficulty while receiving top-tier rewards.

It wasn’t for nothing that he had marked this dungeon even before possession.

‘That said, I shouldn’t be too complacent. Since this is my first time entering this dungeon…’

Even in his previous life, Choi Seong-min had never entered an S-rank hidden dungeon.

‘Even though I’ve entered lower-rank ones, S-rank is a first for me too.’

That’s how difficult S-rank hidden dungeons were to find and how precious they were.

However, he had heard information about them.

‘In my previous life, I threatened a hunter named Lee Min-ji to hear about it. She said there was a special dungeon that appeared in Istanbul during a total solar eclipse.’

That was the only information he had heard about S-rank hidden dungeons, but he never went looking for it.

The reason was simple.

It was bothersome.

‘The condition of a total solar eclipse was so demanding.’

A total solar eclipse occurring in a specific location wasn’t easy.

Sometimes you had to wait at least several years, at most over a hundred years.

With such harsh conditions, it was understandable that Choi Seong-min, who had achieved enviable growth at the time, would give up.

‘It was too bothersome to move based on unconfirmed information just to enter a mere S-rank hidden dungeon.’

It would be more beneficial in many ways to go through other S-rank dungeons instead.

The information that had almost been erased from memory only recently came to mind, leading him to ask God.

-God, I heard there’s a dungeon discovered when a total solar eclipse occurs. Is this true?

[Ah, you mean the Spring of the Sun?]

-The Spring of the Sun?

[It’s the only hidden dungeon among S-rank. To think there was a dungeon that even the great Min Do-jun didn’t know about.]

-The conditions are demanding. Why did you make it so difficult to find?

[I had to make it that way because the rewards were set so generously. The design was flawed from the beginning.]

-So it wasn’t like this before?

[In the prototype world, it could be discovered and entered without the condition of a total solar eclipse. Fortunately, no one has found it yet.]

-Where… is its location?

‘And so I entered the Spring of the Sun, but…’

The atmosphere of the dungeon was gloomier than expected.

A night without moonlight.

Ruined temples everywhere.

A chill that made one’s body shiver.

At this point, perhaps the dungeon’s name should be changed.

‘Well, I’m more familiar with darkness than light anyway, so it’s not bad.’

Since he could see like daylight even in darkness, objects appeared clearly.

He was confident he wouldn’t panic even if there was a sudden ambush.

‘According to the conquest method God told me, there would be ambushes from the beginning…’

Whoosh-!

As expected.

While passing through a path, hooks suddenly shot out from nowhere.

Of course, there was no way they could hit Choi Seong-min with his agility of 15,000.

[Hook Executioner]

-Current combat power is 490,293.

A monster appeared.

It was an undead-type monster with hooks pierced all over its body.

‘Its combat power is pathetic.’

Around the time he was thinking this.

Whoosh-

Hooks shot out again, aiming for his life.

After lightly dodging.

Swoosh-

He immediately threw a dagger after using stealth.

Thud-!

Its head split like a cookie and it collapsed.

First Strike combined with an additional 100% damage from stealth.

A total of 4x damage was dealt.

He still didn’t use the assassin’s mark.

‘Yet it’s a one-shot kill. It’s weak.’

This was the result even using Dagger Throw, the weakest of his skills.

‘Well, this is just the beginning.’

Hoping for stronger enemies to appear, he advanced along the path.

Thud- Thud-!

Krrrr-!

Kerrk-!

The quiet night street was filled with monsters’ screams.

[One-Eyed Butcher]

-Current combat power is 571,098.

[One-Armed Slaughterer]

-Current combat power is 650,211.

As he walked down the night street, stronger enemies did appear, but that was all.

‘They’re all boring weaklings.’

Their ambush attacks couldn’t even graze the hem of Choi Seong-min’s clothes.

Having concentrated all his stats on agility, he could leisurely dodge any attack.

He could even dodge a sword swung from behind without looking and kill them with one dagger strike.

This was thanks to his Combat Sense trait that could detect killing intent.

‘Well, even if they’re boring, the rewards are solid.’

The number of monsters Choi Seong-min had defeated in 1 hour was 160.

16 of them, which was 10%, had dropped runes.

And they were runes that increased all stats.

[You have obtained an All Stats Rune.]

[All stats increase by 1.]

[The Rune Affinity trait activates.]

[The All Stats Rune effect has been enhanced to all stats +2.]

Usually, you might get one rune if you killed 200 monsters, if you were lucky.

‘But this place drops them at the high probability of 10%…’

It was a perfect place for rune farming.

Moreover, it was even better because they were All Stats runes, not ordinary runes.

‘When health increases, strength also increases, and strength can be transferred to agility.’

Furthermore, when agility increased, the other stats also increased.

All things considered, each All Stats rune effectively increased agility by 4.

‘I’m already strong enough, but I can become even stronger.’

However, the disappointing thing was that he wished the monsters were a bit stronger…

‘I just need to collect the Sun Fragments anyway.’

When you kill monsters, miscellaneous items called Sun Fragments enter your inventory.

They were event items that disappeared when you left the dungeon, but in this place, they were essentially currency.

‘You kill monsters to collect Sun Fragments and put them into the spring at the altar to receive the dungeon’s rewards.’

However, you only get one chance to climb to the altar where the spring is located.

‘The level of rewards varies depending on how many fragments you bring.’

Therefore, it was necessary to collect as many fragments as possible.

‘According to God, you need to collect 2,000 to get the best rewards…’

[Sun Fragment x160]

It was still far from collecting 2,000.

‘I’ll have to kill everything I can.’

Choi Seong-min’s eyes turned menacing in the darkness.

* * *

Three hours had passed since Choi Seong-min entered the dungeon.

Thud-

Krrrr-!

[Sun Fragment x500]

“Phew. I’ve only collected 500 now.”

He had used half the time limit, but it was still far from reaching 2,000.

‘At least tell me that collecting 2,000 fragments is difficult.’

The conquest method he heard from God was simply: be careful as there are many monsters ambushing from everywhere.

And collect 2,000 fragments to climb to the altar.

Defeat the mid-boss and final boss as their rewards are good.

And the bosses’ weaknesses and other miscellaneous information.

He hadn’t heard that collecting fragments was difficult.

‘Ah, he did say monster combat power could go up to 1.5 million maximum.’

But all the monsters Choi Seong-min had encountered so far were below 700,000.

Since they were weaker than him, he received 100% additional damage after stealth.

‘That’s why most are one-shot kills.’

Just as he was getting bored with the monsters’ weakness.

Grrrrrr-

Karrrrr-

A house-sized monster blocked Choi Seong-min’s path.

[Six-Headed Hound]

-Current combat power is 1,202,881.

Six heads simultaneously bared their teeth at Choi Seong-min.

“So there was a monster like this.”

Seeing a 1.2 million combat power monster suddenly appear, he could tell it was a boss.

“But it seems to be a mid-boss level? Since it’s not 1.5 million.”

Hoping it would entertain him a little, Choi Seong-min gripped his dagger properly.

Swoosh-!

His figure disappeared. His body sank into the ground.

After stealth, he instantly moved behind using Shadow Step.

A perfect ambush.

However, one of the six heads spotted Choi Seong-min.

Woof woof woof-!

Clang-! Clang-!

After deflecting its teeth with his dagger, he retreated.

“Can it see me because its combat power is high?”

It didn’t matter either way.

Whether it could see him or not, he just had to crush it with force.

‘At least it won’t die in one hit?’

Choi Seong-min smiled and charged again.

Although its combat power was higher than his.

But his combat sense was telling him.

‘This guy is just a dog with six heads.’

He could instinctively feel that 1.2 million wasn’t much.

Stab stab stab stab stab-

Woof! Woof!

Being large meant there was more area to stab.

While his basic attack damage wasn’t particularly high, his attack speed was fast enough to compensate.

‘With the Fierce Attack trait and the Ring of Aeolus, I can stab at four times the usual speed.’

When he used his main S-rank skill here.

‘Slash.’

Whoooosh-!

Grooooan-!

The Six-Headed Hound’s flank split open like gills.

‘He said to aim for the body rather than the heads. Because the pain receptors are connected to the entire body.’

He systematically cut it down according to the conquest method.

The Six-Headed Hound’s movements became sluggish and its screams grew louder.

Thud-!

[You have defeated the Six-Headed Hound!]

[You have obtained an S-rank Magic Stone.]

[You have obtained an S-rank Magic Stone.]

[You have obtained a Slaughterer’s Beheading Sword.]

[You have obtained a Six-Headed Hound’s Fang Necklace.]

[You have obtained a Supreme All Stats Rune.]

[You have obtained 500 Sun Fragments.]

‘500 fragments came out!’

Among the rewards for killing the Six-Headed Hound, this was what pleased him most.

‘If the mid-boss gave this many fragments, then the boss should give at least 500 too, right?’

S-rank Magic Stones and S-rank equipment also came out, but they didn’t catch Choi Seong-min’s eye.

‘They’re not equipment I can use.’

What he liked most was the rune.

[You have obtained a Supreme All Stats Rune.]

[All stats increase by 30.]

[The Rune Affinity trait activates.]

[The Supreme All Stats Rune effect has been enhanced to all stats +60.]

‘Good. Now let’s process the mobs while looking for the final boss.’

He had thought he might not be able to collect 2,000 fragments within the time limit, but he could see hope.

However, with 30 minutes left on the time limit, Choi Seong-min was inwardly cursing God.

‘Damn it. He should have at least told me where the boss is!’

He had devoted 5 hours and 30 minutes out of the 6-hour time limit to hunting.

However, the number of fragments he had collected was only 1,400.

The location of the altar wasn’t a problem since he had discovered it while wandering around the dungeon.

‘The problem is that I can’t find the boss.’

If he couldn’t find the boss like this, he would have to climb to the altar with less than 2,000 fragments.

‘There’s no time either, so I have no choice.’

Having no choice, he was heading to the altar he had spotted earlier with only 1,400 fragments.

‘Huh?’

Someone was standing in front of the altar.

No, to call it a person, it was tall and had wings.

[Demon Balzark]

-Current combat power is 1,501,027.

‘That’s the one? The boss.’

And it was a named monster.

A deep smile crossed Choi Seong-min’s lips.

“Bingo.”