Chapter 24 (1/2)
Max Talent Player
Chapter 24: Korean Father
It was definitely not a meaningless warning.
‘It’s dangerous to approach without any sort of defenses.’
In the initial stage of the Seoul Station Dungeon, countless Players lost their lives to that poisonous gas, not knowing the method to counter it.
“Oppa—!”
Despite having become accustomed to Goblins and relatively normal monsters like City Wolves, it seemed Sunhwa still hadn’t gotten used to these kinds of special effects.
“I’m scared,” she murmured, standing behind me.
Yoohyun didn’t show it, but he also looked tense.
“Both of you, stay back.”
The speed of the diffusion itself wasn’t fast. It was fine as long as you didn’t breathe it in. We were still okay, since we were far away.
“What about you, oppa?”
“I have to get rid of that.”
“…”
Sunhwa’s eyes were round with worry.
“It’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”
It wasn’t like I didn’t feel any nerves. Even though I knew the strategy from beginning to end, even though I knew how to get rid of that poisonous gas, I would still die if I messed up.
I strode towards the crystal.
‘Around here, I guess.’
I drew in a big breath. Having become a Player, I could now hold my breath far longer than a regular person. My eyes were fixed on the crystal exuding the poisonous smoke.
‘Here I go.’
I inspected the item one last time, the Hidden Piece item I got from Mandra.
[Mandra’s Gloves]
Mandra’s Gloves have a special effect. They have a special resistance to ‘poison’ and will protect the wearer from countless infectious diseases.
Defense: 2
Effects: Poison resistance +3
A poison resistance of +3 couldn’t block all poisons. The closer I got to the crystal, the more my skin began to sting.
[Resisting the poisonous smoke of the ‘Seoul Station Crystal’.]
[Eye of Perception detects danger.]
I sensed the danger slightly more concretely through Eye of Perception. If I kept going forward like this, I would get poisoned and die. After some time, my skin would rot and fester. ‘Poison resistance +3’ alone wasn’t enough to completely resist this crystal’s poisonous smoke.
And this was something I already knew. I continued to approach the crystal, holding my breath as best I could.
‘Senia must know.’
She had to know that I, someone who didn’t have full poison resistance, wouldn’t be unscathed from approaching the crystal simply on the merit of the ‘Mandra’s Gloves’.
‘And the Guardians must be focusing, too.’
Senia and the Guardians, both of them were likely focusing on my Playing. They wanted to see. They wanted to see if a mere level 18 Player could truly clear this place on his own. For Guardians with names like ‘Whispering Devil’, they might even want to see me die a miserable death.
‘I’ll show you.’
The Playing you guys want.
‘Inventory.’
I opened up my Inventory, then pulled out an item. It was the item we had acquired earlier, ‘Buzzing Bee’s Stinger’. It was a monster that gave little EXP and not many Coins. Despite that, we worked hard to hunt them, not missing out on a single one.
[The crystal’s poison has begun to seep into your body.]
[Resisting the poison.]
‘It’s hard to keep my eyes open.’
Thanks to my stats being far higher than the regular Player, my poison resistance was likely higher than the average Player.
‘I’m also at my limit for holding my breath.’
I had reached the crystal, but the poisonous smoke was so thick I could hardly see in front of myself. Actually, I really couldn’t see anything. The smoke was just too thick.
‘Where is it?’
Eye of Perception did me the useless favor of drawing out the future in great detail. If time went on like this, I would die.
‘Gugh…!’
I tried my best to hold my breath, but it wasn’t perfect. I felt the poison seeping up into my nostrils, and the feeling of my skin burning.
I already knew that.
‘Where is it?!’
I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. Intense pain began to hit me. Despite the pain, I desperately groped for the crystal.
‘Here!’
In the end, Eye of Perception didn’t fail me. I was able to grab the crystal.
‘Quick…!’
The very same instant I got the crystal, I crushed the ‘Buzzing Bee’s Stinger’ in my hand. A black fluid burst out of the needle-like stinger. Quite a lot of fluid flowed out from such a small stinger and fell onto the crystal.
Szzz–!
Smoke rose from the crystal.
[The toxicity of the ‘Seoul Station Crystal’ is being neutralized.]
[The toxicity of the ‘Seoul Station Crystal’ is being neutralized.]
I crushed more Buzzing Bee’s Stingers and smeared their fluid on the crystal. Every time I did so, smoke billowed up and I got notices saying the toxicity of the ‘Seoul Station Crystal’ was being weakened.
I heard Sunhwa’s voice, saying one honest and simple word.
“Holy…”
The purple smoke thinned, little by little.
“Gugh… gugh…!”
I stared at my arm. It had turned purple and looked fairly poisoned.
‘It wasn’t as easy as I thought.’
My physical sight had been rendered nearly completely unusable. As a result, I wasn’t able to find the crystal right away.
‘In any case, I did it.’