I Raided the Demon’s Treasury

Chapter 61

In front of the Golden Castle.

A scene befitting the name of hell was unfolding.

“Crazy, what is this?!”

“Aarggh! It’s so hot!”

“S-Save me! My, my body! My body is burning!”

Blazing hot lava, capable of melting even rocks, was erupting from the cracked ground.

Even trying to escape was difficult, as protruding rocks obstructed any movement.

Armor? In the face of such intense heat, it was utterly useless.

Leather armor and iron armor alike would heat up red-hot or burst into flames upon contact with the lava.

The range of the attack was so wide that it engulfed most of the clan members, making everyone except Charles scream in agony atop the searing lava.

“What in the world is happening…?”

Charles muttered in a daze from outside the lava-filled ground. He couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing.

Surely, his opponents must have been exhausted from capturing the castle.

Moreover, that castle was rated at an absurd A+ difficulty. It was obvious the level of challenge had been extreme.

While he anticipated them to be strong, he never expected them to be this powerful—strong enough to decimate his subordinates in a single strike without even showing signs of fatigue.

“Is this the power of the Rankers?”

There was no one to hear him, but Charles repeated his questions out of habit.

He, too, was a Ranker, holding the 10th place in the rankings.

Even though he hunted only weaker players, he had wandered the third tutorial zone, encountering players who were supposedly Rankers.

However, whenever he realized his opponent was a Ranker, he would lower his stance and preach peace to avoid battle.

Would such a scene have unfolded if he had clashed with those Rankers?

No. It couldn’t have. No matter how strong a Ranker is, this level of power felt unfair.

At that moment, the name of the opposing clan leader surfaced in Charles’ mind.

‘Se-woon. Se-woon… Jung Se-woon?’

There had been something familiar about the name ever since he heard it.

He brushed it off, thinking it was nothing, but now he understood.

“The top-ranked player in the merit points!”

That name—those three characters at the very top of the rankings—was unmistakable.

And he realized. He hadn’t just picked the wrong opponent; he had picked disastrously wrong.

“Wa-Wait! Please stop! We surrender! We surrender! We have lost!”

“Leader!”

“Everyone, put your weapons away!”

At Charles’ desperate cry, his subordinates bit their lips and reluctantly put away their weapons.

With lava erupting all around, and instead of counterattacking, being asked to sheathe their weapons—what was he thinking?

But they had never suffered from following Charles’ words before, so they complied.

Buuubble—

Was it because of Charles’ desperate plea? Or was it simply that the magic’s duration had ended?

Once his subordinates sheathed their weapons, the erupting lava began to subside.

Where the lava had settled, more than half of his subordinates lay collapsed.

Of those remaining, half were critically injured and unable to fight, while the rest were clutching burns and injuries.

Had the lava not stopped, they would surely have faced total annihilation.

“Thank you for stopping! I couldn’t recognize the number one ranked player and made a terrible mistake. I am truly sorry!”

Charles urgently ran to Se-woon and knelt before him.

Pride was a luxury he couldn’t afford—survival was the priority here.

In fact, if he played his cards right…

‘I could join forces with the number one ranked player.’

He didn’t know much about this world—what happens if you finish first in the tutorial, what benefits await, or even what the distant tower signified.

But, as someone raised in a highly competitive environment back on Earth, Charles could easily guess that the rewards for being number one were immense.

Even if the true rewards came after the tutorial, for now, he would at least gain the most powerful ally possible

“I-I’ll do anything. My name is Charles. You’ve seen my rank, right? I’m ranked 10th! I’m sure I can be a great asset to you, Se-woon!”

Charles tried every trick he had.

His subordinates, the items he currently possessed, and their strength.

Even while pleading, his mind was racing, calculating various scenarios.

However,

“…”

No matter how enticing his proposals were, Se-woon didn’t respond. Just as before, he looked at Charles with a frown.

It was at that moment that Charles realized negotiations meant nothing to this man.

Yet, he couldn’t give up.

Charles quickly shifted, bowing his head to the ground in front of Yoo Seo-ah, who stood beside Se-woon.

“Please spare us! If you can’t trust me, you can bind my arms and legs until the tutorial ends!”

There was a reason he turned his attention to her.

‘She seemed more soft-hearted.’

In the initial encounter, when Se-woon didn’t speak, Yoo Seo-ah had engaged in a conversation, trying to persuade Se-woon.

Charles had noticed that scene, which led to his current desperate plea.

“Aren’t we both humans? I deeply apologize for what happened earlier! I was only thinking of my clan members. It was a decision made to minimize harm.”

Reason.

“You understand, don’t you? As someone who leads a clan, you know more than anyone how precious your clan members are!”

Mixing emotions appropriately.

Before arriving here, he had swayed countless people to tears and laughter with his words alone.

So, he was confident.

“That’s true. You’re right.”

“Yes! I knew you would understand!”

Charles inwardly rejoiced at Yoo Seo-ah’s response.

If he could somehow survive and get inside the castle, he could once again use his words to manipulate everyone.

With the number one ranked player of the tutorial as his support, no, as his puppet to control freely, he could effectively become the true number one.

“In that case, you’re right. My clan is the most precious to me.”

Sching—

‘…What?’

What did she just say? More importantly, why was the world tilting?

He wanted to quickly persuade her further, but no sound came out even as he opened his mouth.

By the time he realized he was dying, his head had already hit the ground.

Thud.

And thus, Charles’ clan met their end without taking a single step inside the Golden Castle.

* * *

‘I didn’t expect this.’

Yoo Seo-ah’s hand struck Charles’ neck, severing it.

Although I thought I had adapted well to this cruel world as the tutorial progressed, I never anticipated it would come to this.

However, it wasn’t a problem. If Yoo Seo-ah hadn’t done it, Se-woon would have beheaded Charles anyway.

“Ugh!”

“Run away!”

I didn’t bother to chase those who fled.

Even if I defeated them, it wouldn’t matter. Just like in the third tutorial, I wouldn’t gain the full contribution points, and thanks to Kang Han-cheol’s linked skill, ‘Boiling Battlefield,’ their state was already terrible.

Leaving them be would only bring their chances of passing this tutorial closer to zero.

“… I did well, right?”

“If you hadn’t done it, I would have.”

However, Yoo Seo-ah’s state wasn’t normal.

She was barely restraining herself, and her hand was trembling slightly.

This time, it wasn’t like the third zone, where she had attacked players wielding weapons. She had cut down a pleading person’s neck.

Well, the order may have been reversed, but it was a fact that Charles had attacked them.

“Let’s go inside. Take a rest.”

“Thanks.”

“Unnie, are you okay?”

“You did great! It’s refreshing to see!”

“Let’s get inside quickly!”

Luckily, the twin sisters ran over and took Yoo Seo-ah away.

None of the people inside the castle, who had been watching, said anything to Yoo Seo-ah.

Everyone understood that what she had done was to prevent them from being put in further danger.

Meanwhile, Se-woon turned to look at the bodies of Charles and his subordinates lying on the ground.

‘I didn’t expect this bad blood to be settled so quickly.’

Well, it was bad blood only from before the regression.

Moreover, it was merely a filthy memory before he cut ties with them upon reaching the tower in the past.

Compared to the long and lengthy memories of the tower, his bad blood with Charles was just a fleeting moment.

That didn’t mean he had any intention of seeing Charles in a better light.

“I’ll make good use of your gear.”

Se-woon scavenged the equipment Charles was carrying.

Since Charles had been hunting players, his gear was quite useful.

He thought about cleaning up the bodies of Charles and his subordinates.

‘Leaving them as a warning might be better.’

Before the fifth tutorial starts, similar things might happen again.

It was just bad luck that Charles encountered Se-woon. His strategy was practical, albeit flawed in execution.

However, there was one more thing to settle.

– Opened the (True) Treasury of Greed.

[ Sap of the Mineral Tree ]

– The sap from the Mineral Tree, said to grow only on solid rocks, is a substance as hard as ore. It possesses excellent adhesive properties.

Slip—

He spread the substance, more akin to powdered minerals than sap, along the severed edge of the gate.

Even though the sap of the mineral tree would typically struggle to hold such a massive structure together, the clean cut of the gate made it easier than expected to reattach the severed parts.

“Fascinating.”

“This place doesn’t follow Earth’s rules.”

“I’ll help, too.”

“That’d be a big help.”

Creaaak—Thunk!

With Kang Han-cheol’s assistance, they lifted the perfectly reattached gate back into its original position.

The joints were damaged, but the twin sisters could likely fix that without much trouble.

“Oh, and here’s a gift.”

“…Armor?”

“Just get the size adjusted by Go Chang-seok.”

“It looks uncomfortable.”

“It’ll suit your combat style perfectly. It’s better to get used to it even if it’s uncomfortable.”

“Understood.”

As expected of Kang Han-cheol. Without questioning further, he nodded immediately at Se-woon’s words.

This was what made Se-woon find it easy to interact with Kang Han-cheol. Unlike with others, there was no need to concoct elaborate stories to hide his regression.

‘Now then…’

– Time remaining until ‘Tutorial Chapter Five – Defense’: 60 hours 02 minutes

There were roughly two and a half days left until the final chapter of the tutorial.

Plenty of time.

Enough time to prepare for the defense against the monster attack…

‘And to investigate something.’

Time to search for the hidden piece within the tutorial, something even Se-woon was uncertain about.