Chapter 69 - Chapter 69 (1/2)

On the first light of the day, Jin-Woo headed to the Daesung Tower.

'It sure is really big.'

Trying to look up at the top of this 100-floor-tall skyscraper from nearby made his neck hurt.

'But, why are there so many people around here?'

Unlike the last time, there were way too many people coming in and out of the Tower. The difference in foot traffic between the nighttime and daytime was far too huge.

Not only the building's entrance but the streets surrounding it was packed full as well.

'It'll probably get real noisy if a person suddenly vanishes in a place with so many people in it, right?'

Not only that, the media was casting a spotlight on this mystery helper or whatever, so there wasn't any reason for him to go out of his way and draw attention to himself, was there?

'Obviously not.'

Jin-Woo wasn't someone who enjoyed the attention, to begin with.

He made his way to an area with not much foot traffic and pulled out the key to the Demon's Castle from his Inventory.

It was a long, slender, golden key. At a casual glance, it even resembled a fancy decorative item.

'No one's around me, right?'

After scanning his surroundings, Jin-Woo nodded his head.

'Let's enter from here.'

Jin-Woo activated his 'Stealth' skill.

Shururuk...

After vanishing from view, he returned to the main street and walked closer to the Tower while brushing past the countless passersby.

Tap.

Tap.

As befitting the busy street in the middle of the city – and during the daytime, no less – the distance he had to walk wasn't far but he still ended up bumping into quite a few shoulders as he blended in with the crowd.

However, not one person noticed it.

'If I were to abuse this Stealth skill, I can do pretty much anything, no?'

He even thought that this had to be the reason why high-ranking Hunters possessing the Stealth skill were closely monitored at all times.

His aimlessly wandering mind didn't stay like that for long. Just like the first time he came here, the surrounding view suddenly transformed as soon as he stepped across the invisible boundary.

Rumble....

'I can already hear the sounds of flames burning from this far away, so just how hot is it in there?'

The giant tower enveloped in flames – the Demon's Castle, replacing the Daesung Tower, filled up his entire view.

The thing was, though, humans were supposedly capable of quickly adapting to their situations.

'Well, it's not as bad as the first time.'

For sure, he didn't feel as nervous as the first time he saw the Demon's Castle.

No, maybe...

'Maybe, it's because I have levelled up sufficiently enough.'

Jin-Woo stored the key to the Demon's Castle in his Inventory, and summoned an ash-coloured key, instead.

[Item: Key to the Castle's Gate]

Rarity: A

Type: Key

The key to unlock the gates of the Demon's Castle. Can be acquired only after killing the Gatekeeper.

It was the key he got after killing the gatekeeper, the Cerberus. Back then, he didn't even dare to use it after getting almost bitten to death by the Cerberus, but now, he could use it.

Shururuk...

Next up, he summoned his weapon.

On his left hand, the key; and on his right hand, the Baruka's Dagger. Jin-Woo cautiously approached the front gate of the Tower.

He couldn't see the Cerberus.

'Could it be that monsters don't respawn in the Demon's Castle?'

He couldn't be sure, but there was some possibility that it might be, just like with the Cerberus.

'In that case....'

In that case, the layout of this dungeon could be very different from other instant dungeons where monsters always respawned.

Jin-Woo expanded his Perception to the limit.

Thump, thump, thump!

By expanding his Perception Stat that had broke past the 100 mark, he could even hear his own heart beating as loudly as thunderclaps.

'However, I'm not scared at all.'

Unlike before, he was certainly feeling a lot more confident, knowing how strong he was currently. Maintaining his vigilance and shivering from fear were two very different stories, after all.

Tti-ring.

When he stood before the castle's gate, a new message popped up.

[Will you use the Key to the Castle's Gate to enter?] (Y/N)

'….You think I'm going back home after coming this far?'

Jin-Woo snorted at this nonsensical question and chose 'Yes'.

Creeaaaak....

He didn't even do anything, yet the huge pair of doors began moving as the hinges issued loud creaks.

Slam!

'Huh....?'

Jin-Woo was flustered next.

He had had his Perception expanded to the max, yet he couldn't sense a single presence of monsters from beyond the castle gates.

'There are no monsters??'

Jin-Woo had been worried about precisely the opposite situation happening to him.

He had even thought about going through a special training by deliberately entering the penalty zone to fight against those desert centipedes or whatever, in case monsters crazily rushed out as soon as the castle gate opened up.

'But, what the hell....'

What the hell was the meaning of this?

All his effort so far seemed to be in vain.

The interior was utterly devoid of any life.

'Huh.... Well, this is...."

Feeling somewhat dumbfounded, Jin-Woo stored 'Baruka's Dagger' back to his Inventory and entered the Demon's Castle.

It happened, then.

Tti-ring.

As soon as a mechanical beep rang inside his head, he immediately summoned both of his daggers. But, that beep was nothing more than an alert to let him know that a new message had arrived.

'Uh?'

[A new quest is available.]

'A new quest, is it?'

It wasn't a Daily Quest?

Well, it'd be strange if it was, since Jin-Woo made sure to complete the Daily Quest and pocketed the rewards before coming here. Meaning, this had to be a regular quest....

And that would be his first, ever.

'Well, yeah, I've been getting only the Hidden Quests or Emergency Quests until now, so....'

Excluding the Daily Quests that showed up every day regardless of how he felt, of course.

Jin-Woo tilted his head slightly and confirmed the contents of the message.

'Confirm.'

Then, the information on the quest appeared before him.

Tti-ring.

[Normal Quest: Collect the Souls of Demons! (1)]

Demons are everywhere within the Demon's Castle. Kill the demons and collect their souls to receive special rewards.

One soul can be collected from a single demon, but on higher floors, there are demons with multiple souls.

Quest generation condition:

- Entry into the Demon's Castle

Quest clear condition:

- Collect 10,000 souls.

Rewards:

1. Any one item available in the Store

2. +20 bonus Stat points

3. An unknown reward

20 bonus Stat points!

That was the very first thing that attracted Jin-Woo's attention – the Stat points.

'I can raise my Intelligence by 20 points!'

A smile instinctively formed on his face.

He'd been feeling his lack of MP for quite some time now.

'I need lots of Mana if the shadow soldiers need to regenerate.'

And, was Mana his only problem? He had already confirmed that the number of shadows he could extract, as well as the number of soldiers he could store, increased when his Intelligence Stat also improved.

So, for him, increasing the 'Intelligence' Stat was a must.

'There always has been a limit to increasing that Stat through level-ups and Daily Quests, but now....'

If he could get his hands on that 20 points via the completion of this quest, then his problems would be solved in one fell swoop.

Gulp.

He was salivating already.

'Not only that....'

Jin-Woo's gaze landed on other rewards.

[Rewards]

1. Any one item available in the Store

2. +20 Bonus Stat points

He was feeling grateful for the bonus Stat points, but now, he could even choose one item from the Store, too?

'Can I really choose anything?'

Jin-Woo recalled those ultra-expensive items he saw in the Store's menu.

'I definitely saw....'

There were some S-rarity items that cost billions, hell, even tens of billions there. Well, those billions weren't the real-world currency but Gold that only existed within the System, though.

Still, just how amazing was this?

The 'Knight Killer' he'd been using so nicely until now cost only three million Gold.

'A three million B-rarity item already possesses this high quality and attack power, so just what will those costing billions be like?'

His curiosity had been stoked for sure.

Never mind the mystery third reward, just from looking at those two rewards alone, he knew right away that he couldn't let this quest slip through his fingers.