The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage - Chapter 170

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 170
170
5.
The Sewers beneath Ninyaru – Hidden City of the Labyrinth Merchants came in two varieties.
The Old Sewers, which had existed since the city’s distant founding.
And the New Sewers, which emerged after the renovation project.
The New Sewers were currently in use, while the Old Sewers had fallen into disrepair, their passages now rarely traversed.
With no one maintaining them, they had become the most desolate corner of the otherwise resplendent Ninyaru.
This was precisely where Yoo Sung-hyun had arrived.
A colossal sewer entrance, its diameter easily ten meters across.
Yoo Sung-hyun smiled upon seeing it.
‘Here it is.’
I’d found it perfectly.
From my memories, I’d only seen the sewer’s exterior, so I’d braced myself for foul odors and unsanitary conditions.
Fortunately, since it hadn’t been used in ages, that wasn’t the case.
And Serpina was relieved by that fact.
In any case, after surveying the surroundings, Yoo Sung-hyun moved to advance ahead.
Helena regarded him with suspicion and spoke.
“What master leads while his servants follow?”
“Hmm, is that so?”
“Indeed, Master. We shall take the lead.”
“Ah, yes. Positioning the vanguard ahead is more efficient, isn’t it?”
-Kahahaha! I shall lead the way!
-I-I will too.
All of my servants urged the arrangement upon me.
Had I insisted otherwise, they would have acquiesced reluctantly, understanding my stubbornness.
But I saw no reason to be difficult.
I nodded in agreement.
Baltar, who could serve as the current tank, took the lead, with the versatile Fiora positioned at his side.
Behind them came Nocturnium, and at the very rear stood those capable of ranged combat—myself, Helena, and Serpina.
A perfect formation established.
Satisfied, we all entered the Old Sewers.
The structure echoed like a vast cavern.
Yet oddly, our footsteps produced no sound at all.
I found this curious.
“It is my skill, Master.”
Serpina explained.
From her description, it seemed
to be a skill that blocked sound using wind?
Quite useful indeed.
As Yoo Sung-hyun walked forward with such thoughts, he came to an abrupt halt.
All of his subordinates stopped in their tracks, following his lead and turning their gaze toward him.
The reason for his sudden stop?
[Hidden Chain Quest, ‘The Basilica’s Spy’, has been cleared!]
[You have acquired an enormous amount of experience points!]
[Level Up!]×2
[You have reached Level 139.]
[An event scene will play before the next chain quest is generated.]
The event scene had triggered so suddenly that
I had no choice but to pause momentarily.
Like any other event scene, I couldn’t move a single finger.
However, something was different this time.
My vision gradually rose higher and higher,
until I was looking down from near the ceiling itself.
‘Interesting.’
This was an event scene I had experienced before.
Unlike the typical raid boss event scenes, this one seemed to be showing the past that had unfolded in this very place.
Wasn’t it the same with Fiora and Nocturnium?
Yoo Sung-hyun thought as much and waited patiently.
The sound of footsteps echoing through the sewers reached my ears.
Though I could hear them, the sound was quite faint.
Should I call them an assassin, then?
Someone appeared along with the barely audible sound.
Ssshhhhh, ssshhh.
Had they decided there was no longer any need to hide?
A snake-headed humanoid was dragging the bleeding Paul along, walking forward.
Perhaps thinking I wouldn’t be able to find my way to these sewers, the creature acted boldly.
The snake humanoid dragged Paul to a corner of the sewers, sat him down, and began interrogating him about various things.
All while torturing him.
It was quite a gruesome scene.
But I had already witnessed such horrors before.
So I watched the scene unflinchingly.
There might be clues I couldn’t afford to miss.
As I examined everything carefully,
I was able to discern the snake humanoid’s true purpose.
“How strong are the Knights Order that protect the city?”
“Cough, hack… h-how… could I possibly… tell you…”
Despite the repeated torture, Paul refused to answer until the very end.
The snake humanoid should have grown impatient,
yet it continued its work with the dry efficiency of an emotionless machine.
Torture first, then interrogate.
After repeating this cycle endlessly, Paul’s mind finally shattered, and he died.
“…Another failure, it seems.”
He spoke as though disappointed.
Yet his voice carried no such emotion whatsoever.
Then he muttered to himself.
“I’ll need to find a new source of information.”
With those words, the serpent-human slipped away.
The replayed event scene ended there.
From what I witnessed, I could discern quite a few things.
First, the enemy’s objective was information.
They wanted to assess the full military strength of the Black Knight Order that guards this city.
Were they perhaps planning an invasion?
And another crucial detail: the spy had already left this place and hadn’t returned yet.
In other words.
‘I can launch a surprise attack.’
I could seize an extremely advantageous position.
Since I’d erased all traces and sound when I entered alongside Yoo Sung-hyun.
A surprise attack was naturally possible.
With this setup, I could capture them quite easily.
As Yoo Sung-hyun entertained such thoughts.
A system message appeared.
[You stand at a crossroads of choice.]
[You may now decide!]
[1. Wait here until the Basilica’s spy returns, then ambush them.]
[2. Call upon the Black Knight Order before they return.]
[Quest direction, content, and rewards will vary based on your choice.]
*Warning*
-The Basilica’s spy is a Hidden Raid Boss.
-The difficulty is extremely challenging to clear solo.
‘Interesting.’
So the spy was a Hidden Raid Boss.
Yoo Sung-hyun smiled at the revelation.
Extremely challenging to clear alone, they said.
Throughout my time playing this game, I’d come to understand several truths.
One of them was that the higher the difficulty, the more generous the rewards.
Didn’t the system message itself hint at this?
It said that direction, content, and ‘rewards’ would all vary based on the choice.
Wasn’t it obvious that choosing the harder path and clearing it would yield greater rewards?
For me, there was only one choice to make.
“I choose option 1.”
The system responded immediately to Yoo Sung-hyun’s choice.
[You have selected option 1.]
[The next Quest, ‘The Basilica’s Spy, Sibren’, has been generated.]
The quest that followed was straightforward.
The Basilica’s Spy, Sibren—the objective was simple.
→Drag the Hidden Raid Boss Sibren to his second phase, then subdue him without killing him.
Defeating a Hidden Raid Boss is easy enough.
But subduing him without killing him—that’s another matter entirely.
Certainly more challenging.
Yet wasn’t that precisely what made it interesting?
Yoo Sung-hyun nodded and spoke to his subordinates.
“Can you subdue him without killing him?”
A rather difficult question.
Yet the subordinates gathered here tilted their heads in confusion.
-Kkhahaha!!! Capturing is harder than killing, they say, but fear not, Lord. It’s absurdly simple.
-Huh? E-easy.
“If you command it, my Lord, we shall accomplish anything.”
“Hmm~ Capturing might actually be easier~”
“Isn’t Yoo Sung-hyun underestimating us a bit?”
All of them responded with unwavering confidence.
Yoo Sung-hyun nodded as if he’d expected nothing less.
Indeed, with this level of power, failing to subdue him would be absurd.
Contrary to Black Puma’s expectations.
Yoo Sung-hyun accepted it far too readily.
But then.
Helena blinked and spoke.
“Yoo Sung-hyun?”
“Hmm?”
Did she have something to say?
Yoo Sung-hyun listened to Helena’s words.
Helena explained her skill.
Upon hearing it, Yoo Sung-hyun.
“You can do something like that?”
The composed Yoo Sung-hyun from moments before was now visibly surprised.
Helena had spoken of it as if it were nothing special.
‘This is incredible.’
With this, subduing him would be far too simple.
Yoo Sung-hyun made his assessment and waited for him in the Sewers.
Not much time had passed before.
Ssshhhhk, ssshhhhk.
Thud, thud.
The sound of something being dragged across the ground mingled faintly with the footsteps echoing through this place.
And hearing it, Yoo Sung-hyun smiled slightly to himself.
‘Well then, shall we begin?’
While I’m at it, I might as well test that skill Helena mentioned.
6.
Sibren, the Basilica’s spy.
He was an exceptional assassin and spy, cultivated by the Basilica over long years.
A high-ranking assassin who had eliminated Cat Merchants, foreigners, and various residents throughout the Labyrinth for ages.
Yet even for someone like him, espionage in Ninyaru was no simple task.
He would have thought assassination far easier by comparison.
Infiltrating this place was difficult enough, and kidnapping the merchant administrators while erasing his traces afterward was no trivial matter.
But Sibren carried out his work without hesitation regardless.
It was the very purpose of his existence, after all.
This time was no different.
“B-Basilica….”
The merchant administrator, barely regaining consciousness after being knocked out, muttered deliriously.
But Sibren said nothing, dragging the merchant administrator along with cold indifference as he was about to take him to the interrogation chamber.
Just as he was dragging him along.
He sensed something amiss in the Sewers and looked around.
“….”
Immaculate.
Pristine, with not a trace left behind.
Yet a single clue remained.
‘The temperature is elevated.’
Perhaps only a difference of about one degree?
Or perhaps the variance was even smaller than that.
But as a cold-blooded serpent-human, he could sense discomfort in even such minute changes.
Had someone entered?
Or was there some other environmental factor at play?
With no traces left behind, there was no reason to suspect an intruder.
Yet Sibren, trained to be a perfect spy and assassin, could not afford to overlook even such minor details.
The moment he raised his guard.
Ssshhhhh!
Darkness consumed the ground beneath Sibren’s feet.
“….”
A darkness deeper than ordinary shadow, more profound than darkness itself, blacker than pitch.
An abyss materialized there, reaching out its hand.
He tried to evade, but evasion was impossible.
Sibren was trapped in the grip of the Abyss Hand, unable to move an inch.
In that instant, a small girl who resembled a slime burst forth like an arrow.
An enemy?
Sibren made that judgment and attempted to escape from the Abyss Hand’s grasp, but—
[Abyss Hand seals movement for 3 seconds.]
[Hidden Raid Boss, ‘Sibren, the Basilica’s Spy’ attempts to resist.]
[This is a skill that cannot be resisted.]
I could not resist.
With my body immobilized, the small girl Fiora appeared and carried away another merchant administrator that Sibren had brought, escaping the area.
Simultaneously, the crimson demon Baltar burst forth, wielding his greatsword with a devastating swing.
Kwaaaaaaaaaa———!!!
With a strike that tore rather than cut, Sibren found it difficult to avoid taking damage.
His entire body was restrained.
The direct hit connected, but—
Sibren’s hard scales blocked it. However, his dark robe was shredded to pieces, exposing his upper body.
Some of the scales packed densely like armor tore, scattering to the ground in fragments.
—Hoh? Quite durable, aren’t you?
Baltar remarked with slight admiration.
Sibren quickly assessed their appearance, which was distinctly different from the inhabitants here.
‘They are not inhabitants of this place.’
Their identity remained unknown.
A demon and a slime.
Weren’t these beings difficult to involve together?
But precisely because of that, I could discern the presence of enemies.
‘Outsiders.’
My mind raced quickly—the enemies were outsiders.
Or entities summoned by outsiders. I surveyed my surroundings.
Whether they had achieved perfect concealment or not.
Even in Sibren’s vision, where heat could be seen with the eyes, nothing appeared.
Watching Sibren survey the area and think quickly,
Baltar charged forward once more.
Kwaaang!!!
Baltar’s foot strike created deep footprints and cracks across the Old Sewers’ floor.
Vibrations that could have brought the entire place down reverberated as Baltar shot forward like a projectile.
Leaving a crimson afterimage in the air like a line, Baltar added his speed and channeled a crimson aura into his greatsword, unleashing a sword strike toward Sibren.
Shing.
Sibren drew two short blades from his waist and blocked Baltar’s sword strike.
Gakakakakaka——!!!
The greatsword and two short blades collided, crumbling the surrounding terrain and sending fierce sparks flying.
Seeing this, Baltar drew a long smile across his lips and spoke.
-This fellow is more useful than I thought!

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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