<690 – SHOCKING CONFESSION (8)>
In the Isolation of the Spirit’s Magical Territory, Area 2, the Golden City was bustling with the criminal organization mentioned by Guakjo the Evil Sage.
“Why are you doing this to us?!”
“Get out of the way! Please, the Golden Guard is coming after us!”
“Are you really human, acting like this?!”
The men in suits laughed mockingly.
“Don Nemuoja has commanded it. No one without proper rent can pass through the Tower exit occupied by our organization.”
“If you value your life, pay up. If you can’t, get lost. Isn’t this simple rule too much for your lowly heads to grasp?”
The desperate adventurers glared at the men blocking the Tower exit, their eyes boiling with resentment. Unlike the urgent adventurers, the men armed with spears and shotguns held their ground with sneering smiles.
“Still, asking for 1,000 gold coins is too much!”
1,000 gold coins. Converted to points, that’s 100,000 points. Equivalent to one +10 enhancement artifact, among Oknodie’s items—the [Repeater's Magical Stone Backpack] is valued at exactly 100,000 points. Considering that only the heirs of substantial high nobles could indulge in bags meant just for storing magic stones, the price is quite exorbitant.
Or, it’s also the amount that could ruin the lives of thirty people who, for thirty years, would eat the 1-point Black Bread from Gift Academy three times a day while conducting kidnapping research in a research lab. A really wicked professor would probably suggest they farm their meals or just turn into undead to save on maintenance costs.
With their lives hanging by a thread, the adventurers didn’t have the respite to ponder the value of 1,000 gold coins.
“If you don’t want to, then become an item. If it turns out useful, we’ll pick you up and use you well.”
“What’s with that expression? Are you really going to disregard our kind warning and come at us?!”
The adventurers erupted in rage.
“You devilish fiends!”
“Let’s do this. If we get wiped out here, we’re still dead when we go back. The nobles won’t save us when we return empty-handed after losing their investment.”
“Whether we die here or later—it’s the same! I’ll take at least one head before I die!!”
A desperate life-and-death battle began, but in the end, everyone standing tall was part of the organization.
BANG!
The sound of a gunshot resonated; the amount of enchanted mana equaled the treasure one of the adventurers had retrieved.
“Thank goodness the Vice Leader is an alchemist. We can pour out this quality magical ammo infinitely.”
“What’s the harvest?”
“3,200 gold coins.”
“The nobles put in some effort.”
“Effort? What effort? If they bought a couple of magical tools worthy of a relic, they’re done. If they really wanted to accomplish something, they should have brought knights instead of adventurers, and a staggering fund instead of mediocre investment.”
“That’s true.”
The Magical Territory isn’t a playground for kids. It’s not a place overflowing with dreams and hopes for adventure. It’s a battlefield, layered with despair as thick as the number of treasures that led many adventurers to fall and die.
The nobles were incompetent. The adventurers they hired were the same. Only the criminal organization [Black Gold Organization] truly understood the real danger of the Magical Territory.
They decided no one could survive by stealing treasures in the city. So, they shifted their strategy to robbing adventurers trying to steal treasures.
The strategy of the Black Gold Organization was proven through their success, flourishing, and survival. Criminals who had fled to the Magical Territory to escape from bounties were now becoming such powerful figures that even the knights who once chased them became frightened.
The gear worn by numerous adventurers, the donations from nobles, and the spoils they had unearthed were all accumulated. The chief of the organization, who had received a share of the spoils gained from killing these adventurers, glanced back at the Tower’s windowsill.
CRASH!
The attacker was a companion of the fallen adventurers. Seeing him run in with magic stone bombs strapped all over him to ensure he wouldn’t die alone startled the members of the organization who were about to shoot.
If they shot here, the entire Tower would vaporize in a chain explosion.
“That’s a disruption. Vice Leader.”
“Prepare the transformation spells!”
As the Vice Leader narrowly avoided a portion of the Tower collapsing in an explosion range, a dazzling explosion erupted from the top layer.
The many treasures adorned on the organization members plummeted to the ground with the force of the explosion, causing them to cough up blood or cry out in dizziness.
“Stop whining and keep an eye on those captives. We need them to infiltrate the next area of the city.”
After reversing the collapsed portion of the Tower and keeping it intact, the Vice Leader was astounded to see the Chief leisurely smoking a cigar.
“Today, the cigar lights up nicely.”
“Insane. To treat that explosion merely as a way to light a cigar…? Even seeing it with my own eyes, I can’t believe it. Are you really human, Chief?”
“Shut your nonsense. The organization that was once chased by knights is now strong enough to hunt knights in return. The Chief must grow stronger too.”
“Don Nemuoja. Is it the Chief’s strength, or the relic [Armor of Greed] he’s wearing that’s impressive?”
“When I see your [Golden Gloves], which can casually cast large-scale transformation spells, I still want to puke. Stop flattering me.”
Relics that could stand up to the valuable artifacts dug up by the lake knights after they had committed long excavation efforts. The Armor of Greed, which grows by absorbing sacrificed items, and the Golden Gloves, which enhance performance proportionally to the assets owned.
All members of the organization may not have relics as impressive as the Chief’s and Vice Leader’s, but every one of them had an exceptional relic to be acknowledged as worthy members of the organization.
“Chief, we have a big player coming.”
The lens of omniscience signaled to a scout specialized in detecting the speed, location, and value of high-value targets approaching from afar.
“Two big catches today. Our graduation from this business will be soon. Yes, how long until our guest arrives? If they just entered our detection range, maybe in 30 minutes?”
“3 minutes. No, 30 seconds is enough.”
“…Are you serious? In a city where Golden Guards are roaming to arrest anything moving at excessive speeds, there’s something that can shrink 30 minutes to 30 seconds?”
“It’s outside the norm.”
The faces of the Chief, Vice Leader, Observer, and organization members stiffened.
The observer, who had spent ten years in the Cheonryeong Mountain Range Ranger Unit, where powerful high-level boss monsters swarmed, wouldn’t be spouting nonsense.
“Determine its value. No matter how great it is, it won’t stand up against my combat power. Didn’t you say it yourself? My combat power is worth 530,000 gold.”
The value calculated by the omniscient lenses for Chief Don Nemuoja was 530,000 gold.
The combat power of a wandering knight ranges from 100 to 1,000 gold, and a single Golden Guard’s combat power lies between 10,000 and 20,000 gold. Thus, the Chief’s combat power was overwhelmingly extraordinary.
Even facing a collective charge of thirty knights, the combat power couldn’t exceed 300,000 gold, so the Chief already exceeded the knights’ force considerably.
“Beyond measurement.”
“…Are you serious? You claim unmeasurable when you’ve measured the continent’s top ten spearmen?”
Exploring the Magical Territory occasionally attracts big players. Among them was [Sinchang], believed to be the world’s top spearman listed on the Empire’s ranking board.
Sinchang’s combat power is rated at 3 million gold. In the outside world, he is seen as a heavyweight in the Gift Academy.
But unmeasurable combat power, even surpassing that?
“The member of the top ten thieves of the continent, the Life Thief Jeto, who appeared most recently, was only rated at 1.95 million gold. Are you saying that thing is stronger than such monsters?”
If even the omniscient lens, capable of measuring up to a million, can’t quantify it, then its combat power must exceed at least 10 million gold.
Such strength is more than three times that of Sinchang.
Before Chief Don Nemuoja could recover from the shocking presence of the [Black Gold Organization], THUD accompanied it.
By the time they realized it, it shot through their territory, passing far beyond.
The sound, sharp enough to tear through their hearing, echoed late.
The menacing wind blew, creating pressure so strong it was hard to maintain balance.
A shockwave knocked the organization members around like rubbish in the street.
Only the Vice Leader, propped up with the [Golden Gloves] to brace against the wall, and the Chief, empowered by the enhancement of the [Armor of Greed], managed to hold on.
“Non-fair flight…? Chief, is that a non-fair flight?”
“That is not non-fair flight.”
The Chief’s expression stiffened.
“No matter how small and high-speed, that has to be a non-fair flight. If it’s not, it means there’s a new kind of weapon in this world that we don’t know about!”
“That’s not it. The real danger is that the person on top of that is not a non-fair flight.”
The Chief confirmed with clarity.
What truly was frightening wasn’t that airborne magical device, the ultra-small high-speed latest non-fair flight, but rather the figure clad in a robe, arms crossed, riding atop, giggling while slapping the non-fair flight with their palm.
Especially one of them.
The figure in the robe locked eyes with him, making him feel they recognized each other.
“I know without the omniscient lenses.”
A tremendous powerhouse not to be overshadowed, even compared to Sinchang.
A monster he couldn’t handle soared above him.
And it wasn’t alone.
“Guakjo?”
The name mentioned by the Observer, who saw ‘that thing’ above alongside the Chief.
“Guakjo. That cunning strategist from the East, the evil sage Guakjo who was taken to Gift Academy, has appeared with a new party?”
With the appearance of the ‘Guakjo Party’, the Chief felt an intense impulse.
He coveted the future where he would seize a territory and cultivate a dream of becoming a grand lord with his subordinates, and he felt a compelling urge to shove all the treasures and powers possessed by his subordinates into the [Armor of Greed] and enhance his strength immediately.
At this point, with such abnormally powerful monsters appearing, it would be impossible to survive any longer in this city.
“Vice Leader. Observer. Considering your loyalty, I’ll let you both off this time.”
A shadow rapidly wriggled beneath the Chief’s feet as he looked up to the sky where the Guakjo Party had disappeared, reaching out toward his organization members.
[Area Boss [Don Nemuoja] is activating the devouring pattern.]
[Don Nemuoja’s rank has increased by one level.]
Feeling the threat merely from the appearance of the Guakjo Party, Don Nemuoja ultimately sacrificed all but the two he had nurtured with his own hands.
“Tell me. How much is my current combat power?”
“…5.24 million gold.”
“I see. I’ve finally surpassed Sinchang’s level. My time spent in this city hasn’t been in vain.”
A being stronger than him, over 10 million gold worth.
Was that the combined result of ‘all’? Or was it singularly the result of the robed giant?
“I’ll have to test it. Follow me.”
The region-restricted field boss [Don Nemuoja] chased after the flying Battle Air Golem Rosinante.
