I Raided the Demon’s Treasury

Chapter 64

After leaping from the wall, Kang Han-cheol was the first to reach the battlefield. As always, his fist struck the ground, generating a massive shockwave.

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

A more powerful quake than before reverberated across the battlefield.

Se-woon, who arrived shortly after, landed gracefully like a cat and placed his hands within the cracks caused by Kang Han-cheol’s earthquake.

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

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

Rumble!

Just like before, black mana seeped into the cracked ground, filling it with dark red, glowing lava. When the lava had risen to a sufficient level, an intensely compressed gust of wind was injected.

It was a combo attack with Kang Han-cheol, who wielded the power of earthquakes.

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

Boiling Battlefield.

Fwoosh!

“Krrrk!”

“Gah, hack! Grrk—”

Previously, the attack had been used merely for ‘experimental purposes,’ but this time, it was employed thoroughly as a ‘combat-ready’ assault following the experiments.

The boiling lava, infused with the mysteries of the Black Tower, erupted in a dark crimson hue.

The bodies of the monsters that came into contact with the lava didn’t just burn; they melted away into nothingness along with the lava.

The monsters that had painstakingly breached the traps and prepared for an attack quickly vanished.

And in that brief interval…

– Player Yoo Seo-ah uses ‘Third Leg of the Tarantula’.

Yoo Seo-ah swiftly darted through.

Although the lava spurted out randomly, it never touched her body.

The monsters, barely escaping the lava, were helplessly pierced by her sword.

Slash—

The Third Leg of the Tarantula.

Se-woon wasn’t entirely sure of its exact effect, but its power was faster and more dazzling than any martial arts technique he had seen.

Even though she wielded only two swords,

Every time she swung her blades, the monsters’ bodies were slashed with six deep wounds.

One might think the wounds were shallow and wouldn’t cause much damage…

– Player Yoo Seo-ah uses ‘Tarantula’s Venom’.

The reality was entirely different.

The monsters struck by her blade either foamed at the mouth and collapsed, or their bodies began to rot from the wound, turning pitch black.

Kang Han-cheol and Yoo Seo-ah.

Even though this was just a tutorial, both displayed the formidable power befitting their ranker status.

“I’ll go ahead first.”

“Go ahead? But our objective is to defend the castle…”

“You guys can protect the castle just fine without me, can’t you?”

Se-woon locked eyes with Yoo Seo-ah. In his gaze was a trust stronger than ever before.

Unconsciously, she nodded in agreement.

“Leave it to us.”

“I’m counting on you.”

As Se-woon left, Kang Han-cheol and Yoo Seo-ah exchanged glances and charged at the monsters once more.

* * *

“Fire, fire!”

“Dammit, these monsters are endless! This wave is nothing like the first chapter!”

As the fifth chapter of the tutorial began, the shouts of battle and screams echoed from the castle in the fifth area.

Both the players who had captured the castle and the monsters who had originally occupied it struggled to fend off the new wave of foes.

Among them, one location appeared especially difficult to defend: the ill-fated castle that Se-woon had first raided, the ‘Towering Watchtower.’

“We’re out of arrows!”

“Hold on! They’ll be resupplied soon anyway!”

“We don’t have time to wait! They’re about to break down the walls!”

“Damn it…”

The leader of the clan that had taken over the Towering Watchtower bit his lip hard.

‘It seemed like a good castle…’

The two abilities of the Towering Watchtower were automatic arrow replenishment and increased reload speed, along with the extended range of archery from the high tower.

Though it was a C-rank castle, these abilities seemed quite useful since most of the clan members were archers. Moreover, the difficulty of capturing the castle was low, making it easy to conquer.

Honestly, it felt much easier compared to the third chapter.

But once they captured the castle, they faced an unexpected reality.

‘What the hell? Why is the warehouse empty?’

‘Is it supposed to be like this…?’

‘Why isn’t the lord giving out any items?’

The only things they gained from capturing the castle were the items worn by the soldiers—a bunch of so-called ‘junk items’ and a modest amount of merit points.

They weren’t at all prepared to handle the overwhelming number of monsters.

Thinking that maybe the monsters were weaker than expected turned out to be a mistake as well.

The monsters swarmed so intensely that they quickly reached the walls, rendering the castle’s ‘extended attack range’ ability useless.

Boom! Bam!

“Damn it, the walls!”

True to its name as a watchtower, the walls were not very sturdy. The massive turtle-like monster crashed into them a few times, causing the structure to shake precariously, as if it could collapse at any moment.

‘Is this the end…?’

Even worse, they had run out of arrows.

Until the arrows were automatically replenished, the archers had nothing they could do.

Just as they were about to give up attacking and lower their bowstrings, an unexpected turn of events occurred on the battlefield.

Boom!!

“An explosion?”

A dark crimson blast erupted from the outskirts of the battlefield.

The explosion was quite powerful, killing over a dozen monsters in a single strike.

But this was just the beginning of the anomaly.

Crackle!

Blackish-purple lightning zigzagged through the monsters, electrocuting many.

Rumble!

The ground cracked open, swallowing up monsters while protruding rocks skewered their bodies.

It was truly a series of natural disasters.

These anomalies kept occurring without pause, and the once-confident monsters began to retreat in fear.

Only then did the leader finally identify the source of the phenomenon.

“Who on earth is that…?”

A man clad in red armor and a gray cloak stood amidst the chaos.

Despite using the surveillance capabilities of the Towering Watchtower and the archers’ excellent eyesight, no one else was visible.

It meant that this one man had caused all these natural disasters by himself.

“Unbelievable…”

“Leader, the arrows are replenished!”

“A-Alright! Everyone, aim! Support that man!”

“Shouldn’t we focus on defending the walls first?”

“Look in that direction! For some reason, that man is moving through the monsters toward us! Our priority should be to support him and ensure he reaches us!”

“Understood!”

“Fire!”

Pew—

Hope, which hadn’t existed for the players of the Towering Watchtower until now, began to emerge.

However, they had no idea that the man they were supporting was the very one who had raided their warehouse.

* * *

Flame!

Crackle!

Rumble!!

Magic kept pouring continuously from Se-woon’s hands.

While dodging countless monster attacks and focusing on his Dantian, his internal energy was being drained rapidly as well.

Initially, no matter how strong a single player was, facing such a large army alone was nearly impossible. Unlike the endlessly surging enemies, humans had limits to their stamina.

Furthermore, the rate at which mana for magic and internal energy for martial arts were consumed defied common sense.

Despite this, Se-woon did not tire.

On the contrary, the longer the battle went on, the faster his movements became and the stronger his magic grew.

What was the reason for this? It was thanks to the Power of Gluttony, the Demon God Beelzebub.

– You have designated the entire battlefield of ‘Edgecliff’ with the Power of Gluttony.

– The Fangs of Gluttony pounce on the monsters!

Crunch!

Sharp teeth appeared greedily in the path where Se-woon had passed, devouring the corpses of the monsters he had slaughtered, rapidly absorbing their stats.

– The ‘Sea Lizardman.’ has been devoured.

– Absorbing its nutrients increases Agility by 2 and Intelligence by 1

– The ‘Green Naga’.’ has been devoured.

– Absorbing its nutrients increases Stamina by 1 and Intelligence by 2

…

– Internal energy and mana are being continuously absorbed.

The internal energy and mana absorbed from a single monster were extremely meager, scattering before they could be absorbed, but when absorbing such a multitude of monsters at once, it was a different story.

After all, isn’t it said that a pile of dust can make a mountain?

The meager mana gathered and converged, filling Se-woon’s dantian and circle.

Thanks to this, Se-woon was able to use magic and martial arts continuously as if drawing energy from an inexhaustible well.

– The Constellation, ‘Hungry Prince’ has finally broken its fast, eagerly gobbling up the food without stopping.

– The Constellation, ‘Hungry Prince,’ declares that even the time to chew is a waste, and starts gulping down the food with a wide-open mouth.

However, the explosive rise in stats was only prominent initially. As the same types of monsters were repeatedly devoured, the rate of stat increases visibly diminished.

Even so, there was no loss. Se-woon’s third circle was already nearly half full.

The internal energy in his dantian was also growing rapidly, enough to be felt.

With more mana at his disposal, the range of attacks Se-woon could choose from greatly expanded.

“Rain Shower.”

Sshhhhh—

Raindrops softly spread around Se-woon.

“Kieeek!”

“Guuuuh—”

Thanks to this, the monsters around Se-woon regained some energy.

After all, they were aquatic monsters, and their combat power had significantly decreased the moment they stepped on land.

Their skin was already painfully parched, and now they received rain?

Just as the monsters sneered at Se-woon, raising their claws,

– Opened the Treasury of Greed.

[ Lightning Wave ]

– As an attack spell of the Purple Tower, it generates waves of lightning over a broad area. Capable of a wide-range attack centered on the caster.

Crackle!

A wave of lightning spread outward from Se-woon.

As a wide-area attack, ‘Lightning Wave’ would normally only be strong enough to paralyze or stiffen even if the target were aquatic monsters highly susceptible to electricity.

“Kieeek!”

“Kroooak!”

Ssssh—

However, the current monsters were drenched by Se-woon’s earlier magic.

As a result, they had to endure an intense shock as if struck by lightning underwater.

What should have merely caused paralysis or stiffening instead led them to their deaths.

The monsters, who had briefly welcomed and found joy in the water, took their last breath at this moment.

– The Constellation, ‘Hungry Prince,’ praises your cooking, stating that the variety of dishes is so diverse that it can never tire of them.

“But if you never get tired of them, why aren’t my stats increasing?”

– The Constellation, ‘Hungry Prince,’ ignores your words.

“So, I guess I don’t need to serve you the dishes you’re tired of?”

– The Constellation, ‘Hungry Prince,’ vehemently declares that if so, it would tire of other food types even faster and insists that such a thing is absolutely unacceptable!

“Alright, alright.”

Thanks to the players from the Watchtower who were desperately shooting arrows, the path was cleared more easily.

By cutting through the monsters, Se-woon eventually managed to reach the gates of the Towering Watchtower.

“Thank you!”

“Thanks to you, we were able to defend the castle!”

“Please tell us your name so we can repay you after the tutorial ends!”

The players on the wall called out to Se-woon.

However, he couldn’t share his name. There was nothing to gain by mentioning it, and more importantly, it was Se-woon who had raided the castle’s warehouse, making their defense difficult.

‘…Since it’s partly my fault, I guess I’ll focus on the castles I looted.’

Anyway, his goal was to roam the field alone and accumulate merit points until the final boss monster of the fifth chapter appeared.

By the time he had visited all five castles, the boss monster would probably show up.

‘That’s when the real challenge begins.’

After accumulating merit points and defeating the second target, the boss monster, the next step was to focus on.

‘Leviathan…’

He would have to contemplate the third objective.