I Raided the Demon’s Treasury

Chapter 70

– The ‘Enraged Tyrant of the Sea, Drakan’ has been devoured.

– Absorbing its nutrients increases all stats by 10.

Before jumping off the cliff, Se-woon didn’t forget to use the Power of Gluttony on Drakan.

Although Drakan, being a drake, couldn’t wield mana, meaning Se-woon couldn’t absorb any mana, he still managed to increase all of his stats by 10, a total of 40 stat points.

‘No matter how you look at it, this is a cheat.’

In terms of pure levels, it was like gaining the equivalent of 13 levels worth of stat increases in one go.

Granting such stat increases in this manner was truly befitting of the power of a Demon God.

Moreover, thanks to the Power of Greed, his combat power surged, making it easier to hunt monsters as well.

Because of the synergy between the two powers, Se-woon was now far stronger than any lower-tier denizen of the tower.

He would likely ascend through the lower floors of the tower without any difficulty.

– The Constellation, ‘Hungry Prince,’ savors the meal, commenting that while the flavor is somewhat lacking, the chewy texture is excellent

It seemed Beelzebub was pleased with the drake meat.

Recently, he had been full of complaints since Se-woon hadn’t properly used his powers in a while, but providing a feast through the fifth chapter had likely appeased him for the time being.

Splash!

Whether due to the height of the cliff or the length of his thoughts, the fall felt longer than expected, but it finally ended, and cold waves washed over his skin.

The heat from fighting Drakan cooled down, bringing chills to his body.

More pressing than the chill was the need to breathe.

Having fallen from a high cliff, Se-woon sank deep into the ocean, quickly drifting away from the surface.

As the water pressure increased, his lungs felt crushed, and the air he was holding wanted to escape.

‘Even with the Guidepost of the Journey, I wouldn’t have survived this.’

Recalling his pre-regression self, Se-woon smiled briefly and activated the Power of Greed.

– Opened the Treasury of Greed.

[ Mermaid’s Gills ]

– A half-human, half-fish monster with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a fish’s tail. Many legends have been born from its strikingly beautiful appearance.

Crack!

Snap.

Cracks formed around Se-woon’s neck. Three lines appeared on each side, gradually widened into openings.

“Hoo…”

After feeling the presence of gills with his fingers, Se-woon cautiously took a breath.

Water flowed through the now fully opened gills, bringing a refreshing sense of fulfillment to his chest.

“Phew…”

Success.

As soon as he confirmed that gills existed in Mammon’s treasury, he thought this might be possible.

Indeed, Mammon’s treasury.

Breathing underwater with a human body—unbelievable.

It was a power that was on par with, if not superior to, the Power of Gluttony.

– The Constellation ‘Bowed Raven,’ feels displeased at having their treasure compared to a pig.

– The Constellation ‘Hungry Prince,’ wonders where the pig is, drooling and asking to share some.

– The Constellation ‘Bowed Raven,’ shakes their head in disapproval.

– The Constellation ‘Hungry Prince,’ wearing a dignified expression, demands to be given a share of the delicious pig, accusing you of wanting to eat it all alone.

Ignoring the conversation of the two Constellations, Se-woon surveyed the vast ocean around him.

‘I need to determine a direction first…’

In his pre-regression life, he could have just followed the ‘Guidepost of the Journey,’ but unfortunately, the current Se-woon didn’t have such a skill.

He had rummaged through Mammon’s treasury but found no convenient treasure to guide him to the Demon God.

Meanwhile,

Swish—

“Guruk, gururuk.”

“Hiss—”

Hundreds of monsters swam past the motionless Se-woon, moving forward.

Normally, most of these monsters would have been defeated before the boss monster fell.

Thanks to Se-woon hunting the boss monster down to the cliff, more monsters than expected had survived.

Yet, they didn’t attack Se-woon.

They treated him as if he were mere air. No, more like water, simply focusing on their own path as if there was an invisible ‘trail’ that only they could see.

‘In that case, I should follow.’

Instinctively, Se-woon knew that there had to be something in the direction the monsters were moving.

* * *

“Lord Shax, I have news. The tutorial has just ended.”

“Already? It hasn’t even been a few hours since Drakan ascended.”

“Some players managed to hunt Drakan successfully even before he reached the castle.”

“Interesting. Even though it lost its sanity from not being able to handle his power, he still inherited the essence of the deep sea.”

At the outskirts of the Tower.

Far beyond the newly formed sea from the collapse of the tutorial’s land.

Deep within the ocean, two mermen were conversing.

The one kneeling wore a hard exoskeleton, resembling that of a lobster, covering his entire body. The one called Shax, who stood towering above, had sleek shark fins on his back and wrists, along with sharp, saw-like teeth that made a strong impression.

“So, quite a number of survivors then.”

“Nearly half of them, it seems.”

“Half, huh… That could be troublesome.”

“If left unchecked, their reproduction rate will become overwhelming. It would be best to cull them within a few days.”

“I understand.”

The shark-like merman fell into thought.

Typically, only a few hundred monsters survived the tutorial.

Facing sea monsters was that challenging for the players.

But for nearly half of the monsters to survive?

‘Has there ever been such an instance in the history of the tutorial?’

There had been times when the tutorial ended swiftly. Among the players, there were always a few monsters who were leagues above the rest from the start.

But, even among those, it was exceedingly rare to conclude the tutorial this quickly.

‘Not since that woman.’

The shark-like merman recalled an image of a woman.

Though she appeared human, she wielded the power of a dragon.

It had been decades since he met her, so by now, she must have ascended quite high in the tower.

As he reminisced, several sardine-like fish swam rapidly from behind, bringing a report to the exoskeleton-clad merman.

Upon hearing the report, the merman’s expression briefly twisted.

“What is it?”

“A human has mingled in with the monsters.”

“A human? What’s the issue? They likely got mixed in while escaping along with the other fish.”

“That’s what I thought at first, but… the human is actively following the monsters.”

“A human? It’s impossible for a human to breathe underwater.”

“The report states that the human has gills on his neck.”

“Gills? Impossible.”

Humans are a remarkably weak and fragile race. They possess lower physical abilities than orcs, cannot fly in the sky, and cannot breathe underwater.

Moreover, their lifespan reportedly doesn’t even reach a hundred years.

Yet, perhaps it was for this very reason that humans have left numerous achievements surpassing any other race.

Like a matchstick that burns fiercely and fades out in an instant.

As evidence, almost half of the tower’s top rankers were said to be human.

“Could it be… that this person knows her true identity?”

“That’s unlikely. …However, we should confirm it.”

“Indeed. We need to clean up those monsters anyway, so let’s move out now.”

“Understood.”

At the exoskeleton-clad merman’s command, those kneeling below quickly prepared for battle.

For their safety and for the next tutorial, it was essential to control the monster population.

The expressions of the preparing mermen looked more determined than usual.

In the past few decades, there had rarely been such a large number of enemies.

After arming themselves and forming a battle formation, the shark-like merman stood at the front, raising his two-pronged spear high into the air.

“Advance.”

Swoosh!

The underwater army began to move.

Meanwhile.

‘A human. It’s been quite a while since I’ve encountered a land-dwelling sentient being.’

The shark-like merman, Shax, suppressed his uneasy feelings at the thought of Se-woon.

* * *

‘Where on earth are they going?’

Tutorial monsters.

He thought they were simply creations of the tower’s administrators, but that didn’t seem to be the case. If they were, it would be natural for them to disappear upon the tutorial’s conclusion.

The place these creatures were heading was likely…

‘A nest.’

Their birthplace and home, where they were raised.

A nest large enough to accommodate so many monsters—it sparked Se-woon’s curiosity about its size.

‘Might as well check the items.’

The items acquired from the boss monster, Drakan.

Most were material-type items, but there was one in particular—a piece of equipment in the form of an accessory.

Se-woon pulled out a necklace made of a blue gemstone named ‘Wrath of the Sea’ from hisbelongings.

[ Wrath of the Sea ]

Type: Necklace

Rank: A

Description: A gemstone created by the absorption and condensation of the deep sea’s essence by a low-grade dragon species.

Abilities:

1. Blessing of the Deep Sea – Increases all stats by 10%.

2. Waves of the Deep Sea – Enhances water affinity and resistance, greatly reducing constraints underwater.

3. Flow of the Deep Sea – Reduces damage received from enemies by 10%.

4. Terror of the Deep Sea – Greatly increases resistance to fear and significantly enhances the efficiency of all abilities that utilize fear.

It was indeed a piece of equipment that lived up to its reputation even within the tower.

While some might think the stat increases were modest for an A-rank item, this was a piece of ‘accessory.’

Unlike basic weapons and armor, which have limitations on how many can be worn at once, there’s potential for multiple accessory items to be worn simultaneously.

Thus, an accessory item that increases a single stat by just 5% is incredibly valuable.

Such situations are rare, but for example, wearing rings with such abilities on all ten fingers would yield immense efficiency.

More importantly.

‘Fear…’

The equipment made by Go Chang-seok, the Stigma of the Satyr, and now the Terror of the Deep Sea attached to the Wrath of the Sea.

Somehow, he seemed to be accumulating abilities related to fear.

While he’s utilizing these fear-related abilities to their fullest now, it was quite the opposite for Se-woon before his regression.

A prey to fear.

Having no particular combat skills, Se-woon was constantly struggling to overcome fear.

Having conquered numerous fears, handling fear in this life came naturally to him.

After verifying the details, he wore the ‘Wrath of the Sea’ and looked ahead. The monsters were descending rapidly around a massive coral reef.

The water currents felt through his skin also seemed to be pulling the monsters downwards, drawing them in.

Cautiously moving his legs, Se-woon swam forward.

– Discovered the hidden dungeon, ‘Breeding Grounds of the Deep Sea.’

– Earned an extraordinary achievement.

– Earned 10,000 points as a reward.

Finally, he found the destination of the monsters.