Chapter 54: Chapter 54

As Brainwashing was activated, the Guardian of Darkness’s pupils began to waver.

Using it once was enough to shake the Guardian’s mind.

The level difference between Jeong-Hoon and the monster was a whopping 69.

However, there was no problem activating Brainwashing.

‘Brainwashing is a skill that controls the mind.’

Even though the Dark Guardian’s level was 170, not all of its stats were close to 170.

Unlike users, who had automatic stat balancing, monsters had their stats randomly assigned, and the average of those stats was their level.

Therefore, the Dark Guardian’s mental strength wasn’t that high.

That’s why Brainwashing was successfully activated.

“W-What are you doing…!”

The monster struggled with a strained face.

“Move aside. Don’t get in the way.”

With just a word, the Guardian’s face contorted.

But after a brief moment, as if nothing had happened, the contorted face smoothed out.

Brainwashing had taken complete effect.

“Understood.”

The Guardian of Darkness obediently moved aside.

“W-What…”

Isaac, who was grasping the situation through his hearing due to his blocked vision, shuddered.

With just a word, the monster obediently stepped aside?

Was this even possible?

“Now, let’s go.”

“Are we really going like this…?”

Isaac asked cautiously, looking around.

“Yes, it’s okay to go.”

“Then wait a moment… Ugh…”

Even though the troublesome Guardian of Darkness had moved aside, Isaac couldn’t move.

His whole body was broken from the battle with the monster.

“I’ll heal you. Get up.”

Jeong-Hoon used Lesser Healing on Isaac.

Isaac’s broken body began to recover quickly.

Of course, he wasn’t completely healed, but this was enough for him to stand up and walk.

“Y-You… Are you a priest?”

Isaac asked with a surprised face.

He thought Jeong-Hoon was a stranger who had trained in martial arts, judging by his aura.

“No, I’m not a priest.”

“You’re not a priest? Then how can you use divine power?”

“I’ll explain that later, so let’s hurry.”

There was no time.

If they delayed even a little, the final round would end forcibly.

Jeong-Hoon half-forced Isaac into the portal.

Then his body was sucked into the portal.

[You have completed the final task.]

[Current survivors: 4]

[The final round ends.]

[Bonus points will be awarded to the user who completed all tasks.]

[You were the first to complete all tasks. Additional bonus points will be awarded.]

‘Done.’

The corners of Jeong-Hoon’s mouth lifted slightly.

* * *

All users who participated in the event were moved to the settlement area.

All the users gathered in one place in the settlement area, and the users who were eliminated before entering the final Colosseum had already left.

“Ha…”

“The difficulty was too extreme.”

The users, relieved of the tension after the event ended, reminisced about the rounds and grumbled.

The status condition debuff blocked their vision, and the monsters’ levels were twice their own, so they couldn’t even think about completing the tasks and were only focused on survival.

It was a round where luck played a big role, regardless of class or skill.

“But I think I lasted quite a while…”

“You too? I also lasted quite a while.”

Some users sensed that they had survived for a long time.

This was because the final round ended shortly after they were eliminated.

This meant that they were close to being the last survivor.

[Calculating rankings.]

[All aspects of gameplay, including round task performance and bonus points, will be applied.]

Then, the NPC Ling Ling appeared in the center.

“Come talk to me individually to check your ranking. For reference, you don’t have to accept the reward if you don’t like the result.”

The rankings weren’t publicly disclosed.

So they could check their ranking individually and receive their reward.

A few users talked to Ling Ling first.

“…”

“Phew.”

But they went outside without receiving the reward.

There was no reason for those who had already achieved a rare class advancement to get the same rare class advancement as a reward.

They would probably try to challenge the epic class advancement again, even if it was just because they felt it was a waste of time they had spent so far.

And there were also users who ranked within the top 20 and achieved epic class advancement.

“Yes!”

“Now I can finally move on to the next village.”

The users who had achieved epic class advancement left the settlement area with satisfied faces.

It was a scene that contrasted with the users who didn’t receive rewards.

“Ah, shit…”

“This is really fucked up.”

“Ha… This can’t be. I couldn’t get to epic grade at 23rd place…”

The top-ranking users shed tears of blood, and those in 21st place cried out in agony.

“Aaaaaak! Why am I the only one getting screwed over!”

The frustration was indescribable, having missed the epic class advancement by just one rank.

‘Hmph, this is why I hate dealing with incompetent fools.’

And there was someone who was mocking them.

A level 89 Soul Guard, an epic grade paladin.

He was a user who used the nickname Handsomz.

The path of a paladin, which could be taken by giving up mana and choosing divine power, just like a priest.

He had survived the Desolate Dark Street with his overwhelming defense.

‘My vision was blocked, but the round ended while I was still alive.’

That meant he was in first place.

He was told that the first place would be given the opportunity to advance to a unique class.

‘I can become a Royal Guard…!’

The class he could obtain if he reached the unique grade as a paladin.

Royal Guard.

It was time to advance to that unique class.

[Rank: 2nd]

[Reward: Epic Class Advancement]

[Upon receiving the reward, the 2nd Class Advancement will be completed immediately.]

However, his rank was 2nd.

‘I’m not first?’

Handsomz tilted his head.

‘That’s strange? I definitely survived until the end?’

The other two epic grade users felt the same way.

They were also three users who had completed the epic grade advancement and survived until just before the round ended.

Their rank was also 2nd.

The two who checked their rewards also had puzzled looks on their faces.

In the first place, it wasn’t a situation where they could complete the tasks.

So they focused on survival and successfully finished the round.

Then why were they tied for 2nd place?

“…Someone must have completed all the tasks.”

Otherwise, there couldn’t be a tie for 2nd place.

Then who in the world completed the tasks?

Handsomz looked around.

No matter how much he looked, he couldn’t see anyone better than him.

“Next.”

NPC Ling Ling shouted.

Then a lower martial artist waiting behind approached the NPC and spoke to him.

‘It can’t be this guy.’

A lower martial artist.

Even entering the final Colosseum meant he had tremendous talent to overcome the class disadvantage.

But the possibility of him completing the tasks in that street was zero.

‘Still, rare grade would be a good achievement.’

Unlike him, a normal grade martial artist.

Even if he came last in the final Colosseum, he was ranked within the top 200, so the rare grade was guaranteed.

Usually, when someone changed their class, an impact effect of light flashing above their head would be triggered.

Blue for rare grade.

Purple for epic grade.

And a whopping gold for unique grade.

However, no effect was triggered for the user who should have received the reward.

The user even left the settlement area as if he had finished his business.

“What the…?”

Handsomz looked at the martial artist NPC Ling Ling with a puzzled face.

“You’re not going to receive it?”

Ling Ling tilted her head.

“…No, what was the rank of the user who just disappeared?”

“I can’t tell you that. Anyway, hurry up and take your reward.”

“Yes…”

It was extremely difficult to obtain a unique grade in the 2nd Class Advancement.

That’s why he had tried to achieve a unique class advancement in this event.

‘I’ll have to aim for it in the 3rd class.’

In the end, Handsomz immediately completed his 2nd Class Advancement and left the settlement area.

* * *

Jeong-Hoon arrived at a new settlement area after talking to Ling Ling.

[Rank: 1st]

[Reward: Unique Class Advancement]

[Unable to receive reward.]

[Please move to another settlement area and receive a new reward.]

He had won first place, but Jeong-Hoon was already a legendary Martial Emperor.

That’s why he couldn’t receive the unique class advancement that was announced in the event.

Soon after, NPC Ling Ling appeared.

“Sorry for the wait.”

“It’s okay.”

“Now, shall we talk about the reward?”

Before the event started, Ling Ling had mentioned that if he won first place, he would be given a different reward instead.

Now it was time to find out what that reward was.

“Yes.”

“The 2nd Class Advancement will be done immediately. And a portion of Heavenly Energy will be given.”

Heavenly Energy!

Jeong-Hoon barely managed to suppress a smile.

‘Heavenly Energy’ was one of the conditions to advance to the next grade after legendary.

To obtain that condition, you had to be at least level 200 or higher in a legendary class job to have a very rare chance of obtaining a tiny amount, and they were offering him that Heavenly Energy as a reward.

“How much will you give me?”

Of course, they wouldn’t give him enough energy to satisfy 100% of the requirement at once.

Maybe 1-2% at most.

“Hmm, maybe about 2%.”

Ling Ling said as she calculated Jeong-Hoon’s reward.

2%.

As expected, it was a very small amount.

It couldn’t be helped.

Only a very small number of users could achieve the legendary grade.

The difficulty of aiming for a higher grade was bound to be extremely high.

“Let’s make a bet.”

Jeong-Hoon suddenly proposed a bet.

“Huh? A bet?”

Ling Ling tilted her head.

“If I clear the real Desolate Dark Street alone, give me double the set reward.”

He meant to increase it from 2% to 4%.

He doubled the amount of Heavenly Energy, which was hard to obtain even 1% of.

“Hmm? The Desolate Dark Street? That’s originally level 180.”

The Desolate Dark Street revealed in this event was Lv. 150.

The original Desolate Dark Street was a Lv. 180 dungeon.

It was called Lv. 180.

In reality, it was a very difficult dungeon, where even a Lv. 300 user would be confused if they hadn’t experienced a dungeon like the Desolate Dark Street before.

“So it’s a bet. If I fail, I’ll give up the Heavenly Energy.”

“…Alright. But if you can’t defeat the Guardian of Darkness, I’ll add it as a boss. How about that?”

Originally, the Desolate Dark Street didn’t have a separate boss.

Since vision was blocked, it was a kind of theme dungeon where you naturally cleared it by defeating all the monsters in the dungeon.

So the Guardian of Darkness could be considered a one-time boss that appeared due to the task.

“Alright.”

Jeong-Hoon didn’t use Brainwashing to hunt the Guardian of Darkness.

He could have hunted it with force, but the situation was a bit urgent, and he wanted to try to negotiate for a better reward later.

“And mental skills like Brainwashing will be restricted, and you won’t be able to dispel debuffs.”

Okay.

He took the bait.

“Then increase it to three times.”

Jeong-Hoon upped the ante.

He wasn’t satisfied with double because there were too many restrictions.

“Alright. I’ll give you four times, not three.”

Ling Ling countered boldly.