Chapter 72 (1/2)
Chapter 72 – Dark Elven City (5)
Sungjin returned to the darkness. Soldamyr didn’t have much time left, but he was still curious about the earring he had obtained as a hidden piece.
Taking it out, he held it up and read through the information screen.
Trite – Eye of Jeremiah
Heroic Earring
Passive Skill
Legilimency(I) – Read the surface level thoughts of the person you are conversing with.
Activated by touching the earring. 10 seconds duration once the conversation begins. Cooldown 10 minutes.
Fate is determined by the mind.
Change the mind to alter the fate.
‘Legilimency? Mind reading?’
It was a skill he wanted to have from time to time. But it wasn’t necessarily helpful during combat.
‘It might be useful in sniffing out a potential troll but…’
He wasn’t quite sure where it would come in handy. He would have to try it out once or twice. Sungjin went ahead and equipped it for now.
“Equip”
“Master, I have 1 minute remaining until summon ends.”
Soldamyr let him know the time.
“Got it”
Sungjin resumed running from shadow to shadow as he made his way through the city towards the city limit; Towards the hidden boss’s tent. Once he was exactly on the other side of the raid’s starting point in the middle of a residential area, Soldamyr said
“It is time Master.”
“Ok, thanks for your hard work.”
Soldamyr returned to the lamp after time over. The magic was undone, and both Sungjin and Cain reemerged from invisibility. Sungjin did a quick mental calculation.
‘Since I summoned Soldamyr at the same time as the Raid start, it has taken me only 15 minutes for the Raid boss and the hidden piece… Even if it takes me 10 minutes to kill the Hidden boss… I have plenty of time remaining.’
The most typical timing a for a troll to appear is after the main raid boss is defeated. A talented group of Hunters would take minimum 30 minutes to beat the Raid boss.
‘Starting with the next raid… I might be able to make use of one or two additional Marbles on top of what I’ve got.’
It wasn’t over yet, but more than half of his plan was already completed.
‘Even if that’s the case… I should still see how fast I can finish everything. Since I still have to get a feel for how long troll hunting will take in the other chapters.’
Once Sungjin was done making plans, he snuck his way towards the ‘black tent’ where the hidden boss was hiding.
He tried to keep to the dark and sneak by the elves without the help of magic. And he successfully passed a few.
It reminded him of playing hide and seek as a child, avoiding the line of sight of the elves, dodging in and out of the shade.
But when he was almost upon the ‘black tent’ towards the edge of the residential area, his eyes met with that of a patrol.
“Human!”
The patrol yelled immediately.
‘Haa… oh my…’
Infiltration without the help of magic was difficult. And this was his first time trying to be discreet.
Sungjin drew his blades as he watched the elves come charging towards him with swords, daggers, and spears.
*
Behind him, countless Elven corpses littered the ground. Sungjin grumbled as he put away his swords.
“If you just ignored me, it would have been better for everyone.”
It took additional three minutes to kill the normal Dark Elves. He intentionally didn’t use any magic.
Sungjin felt that using Magic might attract even more mobs, and he didn’t want to make the effort of managing his mana. Although it took more time, foregoing spells had a positive side effect.
The cooldown for ‘Ghastly Wail’ was almost over. Sungjin asked the Operator.
“Operator, is Ghastly Wail available to use now?”
[Cooldown will be over in 12 seconds.]
It was as good as ready for use. Sungjin glanced at the Black Tent. The Hidden boss awaited.
Initially, there used to be two Elves standing guard at the entrance, but they were gone now.
He didn’t remember killing them, but they must have gotten involved in the fight earlier and died.
Sungjin took a deep breath before going in to fight the boss.
Sungjin opened up the black cloth and stepped inside. On the inside of the tent was a small entrance to a cave. Sungjin recalled the memory of the first time he had stepped into the cave.
*
The last time he was here, he had succeeded in hunting the ‘Priestess Kerenis’ with the cooperation of four other hunters, and the group left the Temple of the Snake together. The consensus of the group was
“There is still time left, so let’s go hunt the remaining monsters.”
So the hunters left to search for mobs. Then and now, the importance of coins was indisputable. Sungjin at the time had no idea that Hidden bosses existed.
Thanks to the abnormal amount of luck Sungjin had been able to collect higher than average contribution from chapter to chapter. And when someone pointed out the black tent and said
“That black tent looks suspicious. Do you think it’s hiding a hidden boss?”
He was surprised.
“Hidden boss? There are hidden bosses too?”
Someone else replied
“What? You haven’t heard of them yet?”
Of the five hunters, three were aware of the Hidden boss’s existence. And among them, one or two had even fought and won against one. Emboldened by their previous success, one of the hunters had suggested
“Should we go get the hidden boss this round?”
All five hunters were of high skill. They sustained no significant damage against the main boss and exhibited great teamwork.
So they slowly made their way towards the black tent while killing the Dark Elves. And once they killed the final two guards at the entrance, they entered the tent.
Behind the tent was a round cave. Sungjin and his teammates entered within. Soon, the cave led to a place where the light was intense.
At the end of the cave, they saw bright sunlight and green leaves. The tent was actually the exit of the cavern. On suddenly coming out into the sun, their eyes were blinded.
While they were adjusting to the light, they discovered that a single Dark Elf was standing alone to the east. When they hastily prepared for battle, the Dark Elf began a conversation with them.
“… Did you guys come to run away too?”
One of the hunters replied.
“What are you? Are you the Hidden Boss?”