I Raided the Demon’s Treasury

Chapter 60

Upon hearing Yoo Seo-ah’s report, Se-woon immediately headed toward the castle gate.

It seemed others had also heard the news, as people had briefly stopped working and gathered around the gate.

As he got closer, Se-woon saw a group of people through the partially destroyed gate caused by his previous attack.

The number of them was around 60. Considering those hidden behind the walls, it seemed there were even more.

“Their demands?”

“They haven’t said much yet. They just mentioned they don’t want to fight and want to speak with the clan leader.”

“Then why call me?”

“Because up until now, all of the clan’s decisions have been made by you, Se-woon. I respect that, and this is no different.”

“Thanks for thinking that way.”

Players coming to an already-claimed castle usually fall into one of two categories.

First, they find it difficult to capture the castle with their own strength and wish to negotiate for an alliance.

Second, they attempt to take advantage of a weakened clan exhausted from siege warfare to seize the castle easily.

Typically, both scenarios occur when the tutorial’s remaining time is running low.

‘But it’s too early for that now.’

This meant that the approaching clan likely had no intention of a conventional siege battle from the start.

Was it the former? Or the latter?

Honestly, neither option was appealing.

Even if they asked for a merger, it would add unstable variables rather than the advantage of increased numbers.

With these thoughts, Se-woon stepped over the broken gate.

A well-presented man stepped forward, representing the clan.

“Oh! So, you must be the clan leader! You have an impressive demeanor. Quite striking! Haha!”

“……”

Se-woon’s expression grew even colder at the representative’s cheerful greeting.

The man hadn’t made any particular mistake. Se-woon simply knew who he was.

‘Charles.’

Before the regression, when Se-woon’s clan reached the fourth chapter of the tutorial, they were nearly annihilated.

More than half of the players had died, and the survivors were in dire condition.

In such a situation, the idea of waging a siege battle to capture a castle was absurd.

Thus, Se-woon and his group opted to join another clan.

The clan they chose was led by this man, Charles.

If Se-woon were to describe Charles in one word…

‘Hypocrite.’

Yes, a hypocrite.

Initially, Charles welcomed Se-woon’s group warmly, taking pity on them. But afterward, it was hell.

Se-woon’s group had to take on all sorts of menial labor, treated like slaves.

During sieges, they were positioned at the front lines as cannon fodder.

Other clan members, influenced by Charles, also mistreated Se-woon’s group.

As soon as the tutorial ended, Se-woon had to escape from the clan and hide for a while.

Even now, it was the same.

With a sociable smile, Charles extended his hand to Se-woon.

“I’m Charles McGregor. The tutorial has just started, and you’ve already captured a castle. That’s truly remarkable!”

“……”

Although Charles continued to speak, Se-woon didn’t respond with a single word.

Se-woon didn’t shake hands either.

When he didn’t take Charles’ hand, a fleeting expression of stiffness crossed Charles’ face.

It was a momentary lapse, but Se-woon didn’t miss it.

“Haha, I understand! This tutorial, it’s hard to trust anyone, right? Not just the monsters but even other people. Especially, the third tutorial was just too much, wasn’t it?”

“What do you want?”

“…Haha. I might have talked too much. It’s just that I liked you so much, I wanted to get closer. Please understand.”

Yoo Seo-ah, standing beside Se-woon, felt uneasy because of his cold demeanor.

But Se-woon’s attitude didn’t waver.

Charles.

Even putting aside any personal grudges, Se-woon knew the true nature of the blade Charles concealed behind his mask, and thus, caution was warranted.

“We’re all tired of the player-on-player battles from the previous zone. We no longer want to engage in such meaningless fights.”

“Meaningless fights…”

“Don’t you think so? It’s already hard enough dealing with monsters, but fighting amongst ourselves? It’s cruel!”

As Charles continued to speak, memories of the past flooded back to Se-woon.

The way they treated ‘slaves’… Beating them out of boredom was just the beginning; they even fed them raw monster meat to test if it was edible.

When players refused to join them, they’d immediately draw their weapons.

And now, these same people were spewing such absurdities.

It would be laughable if it weren’t so infuriatingly hypocritical.

“So, if you’ll allow it, we’d like to merge with your clan. You must all be exhausted from capturing the castle, right? Let us handle the dirty work.”

“We’ll discuss it among ourselves first.”

“Oh, wonderful! I’ll be waiting for a positive response.”

As Se-woon remained silent, Yoo Seo-ah answered in his stead and tugged on his arm.

Se-woon understood her feelings.

While she had become accustomed to the tutorial, Yoo Seo-ah was inherently very kind-hearted. She would likely have been swayed by Charles’ talk of peace.

“Se-woon, what do you think?”

“Obviously, we decline.”

“Hmm, I know you must have your reasons, Se-woon, but still…”

“Check the merit points ranking.”

“The merit points ranking?”

Yoo Seo-ah looked puzzled for a moment but then quickly checked the ranking.

She wasn’t particularly surprised to see Se-woon’s name at the top.

Given all they had achieved, Se-woon being in first place was unsurprising to her, as he had always been number one in the clan’s internal ranking, which had now just transitioned to the overall tutorial ranking.

As she continued reading down the list, she soon realized why Se-woon had asked her to check the rankings.

[ 10th Place: Charles McGregor 365,120 points ]

“Tenth place…?”

“Yeah. How do you think he managed to score that many points?”

“By finding something special like you did, or… Ah, the third chapter of the tutorial.”

“Right. Player hunting.”

Charles.

He had actively hunted players in the third zone, targeting only those weaker than himself.

“But, Se-woon, what if…?”

“The starving ogres were mostly taken down by Kang Han-cheol and me. Do you think a so-called pacifist would wander around seeking hidden pieces like I did?”

“…”

Se-woon could be wrong. Just like with Park Jung-pil, something might have changed due to his regression.

Maybe, just maybe, Charles had genuinely changed his ways and got lucky finding hidden pieces to rack up high merit points.

But Se-woon wasn’t willing to take any chances based on ‘what ifs.’

After some contemplation, Yoo Seo-ah nodded, agreeing with Se-woon’s judgment.

“Alright. You’re right, Se-woon. There’s no need to carry unnecessary risks.”

Finishing their conversation, they faced Charles again.

The man stood there, beaming, clearly convinced his proposal would be accepted.

“Have you decided? Trust me, you won’t regret it! After all, the more, the merrier, right?”

“We decline.”

“…What?”

Se-woon could see it. Charles’ smile subtly cracking at Yoo Seo-ah’s rejection.

Though his face was obscured by his hair, the veins in his temples seemed about to burst from the way his face was reddening.

“We can’t trust you. We won’t take the risk of endangering our people with unnecessary variables.”

“…Haha. That’s not the response I was hoping for. Are you sure you won’t regret this?”

“Yes, there’s still plenty of time left in the tutorial, so you should look for other opportunities.”

“It’s unfortunate, but we have no intention of looking for other options.”

“What?”

Se-woon stepped forward, blocking Yoo Seo-ah.

In contrast, Charles took a step back, and his people moved forward, surrounding him.

“Attacking players already tired from battle is much easier than conducting a proper siege.”

“You mean you planned this from the start?”

“Of course! Initially, we thought to kill everyone after getting inside the castle. But, well, this works too.”

Schling—

Charles’ subordinates drew their weapons, each weapon stained with blotchy blood. This wasn’t the green blood typical of monsters.

Red blood. The blood of players they had hunted.

“The gate is already broken, and it seems everyone is busy dealing with repairs. We’ll gladly take the castle off your hands.”

“…As expected, Se-woon was right.”

“Se-woon, huh? You’re talking about that man over there? The name sounds familiar… Hmm, probably not.”

After a brief moment of contemplation, Charles pointed a hand at Se-woon.

“Crush them.”

“Let’s do this!”

“I was itching for a fight!”

“Let’s feast tonight!”

Charles’ subordinates began to move. With the gate already down, nothing seemed to stop them.

At that moment, Se-woon shouted a name.

“Kang Han-cheol!”

Thud!

Someone leaped down from the top of the castle wall.

Due to his massive build, a wide shadow was cast below, causing Charles and his subordinates to instinctively look up.

Just as they sensed the imminent danger,

– Player Kang Han-cheol uses ‘Commence Battle (開戰).’

Boom-!!!

Kang Han-cheol’s fist had already struck the ground.

“Kraah!”

“Wh-What is that?!”

“What kind of skill is that strong?!”

Kang Han-cheol’s ability, ‘Commence Battle,’ scales in power and range based on the user’s strength.

Kang Han-cheol’s strength was already comparable to that of an ogre, and with the added force from gravity and acceleration, as he jumped from the wall, the ground shook as if hit by an earthquake.

The ground split and sharp rocks jutted up from below.

Of course, the opponents were not monsters but players.

Thanks to their quick reactions, not many suffered injuries, but this alone was enough to disrupt their movement.

“Clearly a one-time attack! No follow-up! Move now!”

“A bit bothersome, but no big deal!”

Charles’ subordinates shouted as they began to navigate over the broken and jagged ground.

One meter, two meters, three meters.

Having grown through numerous battles with monsters and players, they were able to cross the shattered terrain quickly, and as they neared the end…

Smirk—

Se-woon, hands on the ground with a smile, awaited them.

– Opened the Treasury of Greed.

[ Lava ]

– One of the secret spells of the Fire Tower, capable of creating boiling lava. However, since it only generates lava without any physical force, its practical use in combat is very limited.

Bubbling—

Thick lava oozed from Se-woon’s hand, slowly seeping into the cracks in the earth created by Kang Han-cheol.

A coordinated attack.

As his clan members grew stronger, Se-woon often thought of various methods to coordinate attacks with them.

If they could execute a proper joint attack, the resulting power would far surpass anything Se-woon could produce on his own.

The current attack being showcased was one of those techniques.

After the lava flowed into the cracks in the broken ground created by Kang Han-cheol…

– According to the mysteries of the Black Tower, the power of ‘Breeze’ is enhanced.

Whhooosh!!

He blew air into the cracks.

– A coordinated technique with player Kang Han-cheol, ‘Boiling Battlefield’ is activated!

KABOOM!

It was like recreating the volcanic disaster known as Fissure Eruption (裂隙噴出).