Episode 26
“Yeah. Pretty salty, right?”
Damian licked his lips as he looked at the items the gold coin had left behind.
It was indeed a fundamental tempo.
Equipment full of valuable and rare items, as well as < +9 Sashimi >, to the point where you don’t know if you can buy equipment with gold coins even if you combine all the equipment of all participants.
– +9 Sashimi
– +6 Tights (Damaged)
– +6 Steel Wrist Guards
– +6 Kunoichi’s Secret Garter Belt
“…What’s a Garter Belt?”
Geumhwa’s items, including < +9 Sashimi >, were all composed of equipment of the top 6 or higher, and Damian wondered if Geumhwa’s father was the owner of a major vendor or the head of a popular dermatology clinic in Gangnam, Seoul.
It felt like the youngest daughter of a typical golden spoon family.
Otherwise, it was not enough that they were plastered with such expensive items, so there was no way that most of the items were made up of high-strength items of +6 or higher.
– 00 minutes 00 seconds until the start of the next test…
– Start the test.
“Time flies.”
Charrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Damian raised his head as the iron grate went up with a familiar iron voice.
It was already step 6.
All the gold coins and test site participants were wiped out, and Damian quickly defeated the monsters at Summon Gate.
Demian’s movements, which defeated each stage of the test at an average speed of less than 3 minutes, were nothing short of unbelievable.
It was a speed that others would tell them not to cheat.
However, this crazy 10-year-old rotten person was not enough to have logged out all the participants except for himself, and was showing the extreme solo of defeating Summon Gate with his single body… “Wearrat
. ”
“Take!!”
Damian narrowed his eyes as he looked at the monster that appeared in front of him.
It was a 1.5 meter long rat that walked upright while holding a crude spear.
A cunning giant rat that can be found even in the underground waterways and sewers of the kingdom, escaping in the dark with spears and swift quadrupedal walking.
It was < Wearrat >.
[Notice: < Warrat Image 1 > has been eliminated!]
[Notice: < Wearrat Image 2 > has been eliminated!]
….
[Notice: < Wearrat Image 10 > has been eliminated!
] .urg…!!”
“It doesn’t matter.”
cooong!
As Damian emerges from the darkness, a group of wearrats spread across the floor in an instant.
It was a series of things that were difficult to understand.
After Damian paralyzed them’s sense of direction by cutting off all of Wearrat’s weak point, the tail.
It was because he used Gentle Manners’ < +5 Superior Falchan > and Gold Coin’s < +9 Sashimi > to slaughter all the Wearrats.
– End of test phase 6.
– Calculate test results.
– Calculating the test…
– Adventurer < Demian > got 10 points.
– Open the 7th stage of the test.
Charrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Eventually, a familiar voice echoed over his head, and Damian put on the < +5 Superior Falcon > and walked towards the next arched door.
In short, Damian had never used his weapon, the wind gun, and was destroying Summon Gate only with the equipment items of the test site participants.
– Welcome to the 7-step test.
– 09 minutes and 59 seconds until the start of the next test…
“Because there is no need, start.”
– Do you want to skip waiting time?
“uh. continue in the future. All the way. forever.”
Damian waved his hand when an announcement message came from the 7th level room.
There was nothing more to wait.
< +5 Superior Polechan > on one shoulder and < +9 Sashimi > held in reverse in the other hand.
At first glance, Damian looked like a gladiator wielding dual swords, and Damian did not have any problems defeating the monsters at Summon Gate without using any special skills.
「Gel gel gel…
」 Growl~!!」
「Nature… will reject you…」
「Kobe is free!!!」
「Kuruk! Quoc!”
From the Skeleton Warrior who appeared in the next arena, to the Greyhound tree spirit, Trent, the low-level fairy imp, who is synonymous with ferocity.
However, while Damian knew all the characteristics of the monsters that Summon Gate put out, he knew better than anyone else how to defeat them most easily.
Summon Gate was able to pass through the gate by quickly killing the monsters that spit out monsters.
“After these guys… what else?”
“Kyaoooooooooo!!”
The 10 < Lizardmen > who suddenly appeared were also monsters that Damian saw as nothing more than a piece of cake.
“Kyrrrrrrr!!”
“Uh huh.”
Shyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
As one Lizardman rushed in, Damian bent down and swung a < +5 Superior Polechan >.
It was a slash that he swung with his shoulder as a lever.
In his previous life, when he reigned as a god of death, Damian had cleared < Gladiator Mode >, one of the arena modes.
Gladiator mode, in which you have to break through the 100-level gateway using only the given equipment, has not produced users who have easily cleared it since then.
This was the reason why Damian was the first user to receive the title of < Grand Weapon Master >.
Although he had a job as a witch doctor now, and as the gold coin said after logging out, there weren’t many things to do with the sword.
The level that he achieved in the past when he bumped into his body was not a level that could be forgotten overnight.
It was a fact so clear that even a passing dog knew that the Grand Weapon Master, who had mastered all weapons, was not at a level that could be stopped by mere Summon Gate monsters.
For example…
“Did you do this?”
“…!”
Let’s go!
Damian, who cut off the Lizardmen who rushed in first, was shot at a terrifying speed and cut through five or six Lizardmen as if casting < Barbarian >‘s skill, < Wheel Wind >.
It could be said to be the weapon proficiency of Damian, the first clear user of Gladiator Mode and the Grand Weapon Master.
[Notice: Killed < Lizardman Welcome 3 >!]
[Notice: Killed < Lizardman Welcome 4 >!]
[Notice: Killed < Lizardman Welcome 5 >!]
….
[Notice: < Lizardman Illusion 10 > has been eliminated!]
“Ki…ik…”
Dig!
When Damian lifted his upper body, the Lizardmen instantly turned into light.
It was cool enough that I didn’t have to use skills like < Blood Impulse > and < Corruption Potion >.
Of course, considering that the exit took place in just a few tens of seconds, even for the seventh test phase, it was a futile exit that would make Summon Gate’s prestige fade.
“next.”
Charrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Before long, eight levels of iron bars began to rise in front of Damian’s eyes.
* * *
“Maria? How is the exam room?”
Hassan said, looking at Maria who was looking into the crystal ball.
It was a magical tool that could examine the situation of each test site.
Summon Gate was also a place to evaluate the level of adventurers who want to acquire licenses, but on the contrary, it also supports the function of looking at the trends of participants.
So, Maria was doing her job to see if the participants didn’t cause unnecessary trouble or if they didn’t move against the adventurer’s guild’s intention.
Of course, Hassan was well aware that he only saw the contestants he wanted to see.
“Nothing. All fledglings are like that.”
“is it?”
“Most of them are arrogant, don’t know my subject matter, and don’t even know what I’m talking about.”
“It’s still the same.”
Hassan stroked her chin at Maria’s continued words.
There was nothing more to see.
It is much better to lie down on a rocking chair in the corner than to look at the crystal balls in the monitoring room.
The strength of the adventurers was a very important measure for the guild, which prioritized the completion of the request, but it was better not to use it if it was a type of person that the guild could not control, or an indecisive type of adventurer.
This was the reason why no certificate was issued or the tier was not given a high rank, no matter how much I passed the test with excellent grades.
In that respect, it should be said that this jockey is practically eliminated.
“Are there any good kids? It would be better if it was someone who could be sent to the front line immediately.”
“What? If there were, I would have already told you.”
“Aren’t your eyes too high?”
“Well, I need some things to use as a meat shield right now. It won’t be long before you die again.”
So, Hassan nodded again at Maria’s words and had no choice but to lick his lips as if regretting it.
It was unavoidable.
The number of people who come every year to obtain a license has reached 1,000 people from the continent alone, and the number of adventurers who descend every moment exceeds tens of thousands.
Among them, it was because there were many cases where the level of talent the guild wanted sprouted like beans in a drought, and continental ones were more useful.
“It’s better than before, though. If you think of those who acted as if they came from another world, they are nobles. Isn’t that Hassan?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“We’re choosing a fighting machine, not a person. A doll that moves and follows the input well. In fact, wanting a member of the opposite sex for a doll like that must be greedy.”
“That’s what we do. I can’t help it.”
Maria’s words broke Hassan into a yawn.
It was a boring story.
An adventurer’s guild that accepts people regardless of where they came from, past or even different races.
The guilds did everything they could within the limits of the laws of each kingdom and empire, and due to the nature of such guilds, it was natural for them to suffer from human resources shortages.
In other words, supply could not keep up with demand.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the guild would do anything that could make money, and the scale was so wide that it spread across the entire continent.
Not to mention, most of the real ‘talents’, not just rookies, entered the Kingdom Academy or belonged to the Mage Tower to rise in status (?), so the guild had no choice but to taste it.
It was better to wear a title that was only a shell than to sell one’s life for a certain price.
“After all, I have no choice but to raise it from scratch. If you think about the request, it’s not enough even if you put it in right away. I’m going to be pretty busy this month too.”
Chick! profit!
Hassan pulled a cigar from his pocket and lit it with a matchstick.
It was a bonus that his eyes were bored as he looked over the crystal ball.
Adventurers from the other world, who have little common sense, most of which are like newborn babies, and take a lot of time to master.
Even if he had an immortal body that would descend again even after death, the fact that it took several days to descend again was not a great advantage.
In fact, it was a ruse.
After filtering out the cotyledons and other elites, and filtering out the other usable continents, would it be better to use a meat shield with infinite lives at least?
Of course, it would be perfect if an excellent military school came out of them, as if it were sprouting in a drought.
“Ah, there is one case that is rather unusual.”
“A peculiar case?”
“yes.”
Maria looked away from the crystal ball and turned to Hassan.
It was rare.
< Black Rose > Maria Yones, the general manager of Summon Gate and a notorious nickname as a war mercenary for many years.
Her selection criteria were so strict that even Hassan stuck out her tongue, and she had never given a generous evaluation while testing countless adventurers.
That was why Hassan raised one eyebrow.
The fact that Maria said there was a group of participants that could be called a < special case > was by no means an ordinary class, either for good or for bad.
“What is special about it?”
Whoa!
Eventually, Hassan deeply sucked on his flickering cigar while narrowing his eyes at Maria, who had the crystal ball behind him, and asked…
“Test 1st stage 9 deaths. 0 deaths after stage 1. Currently testing phase 9 in progress.”
“…what?”
“how is it? Isn’t this a bit unusual?”
Soon, Hassan couldn’t help but tilt his head as he saw Maria with a fresh smile that didn’t match the nickname of black rose.
“Nine people died in the first stage… and no one died after the second stage? How could that be?”
According to Maria, it was a story that the participant party of < Unusual Case > survived the first stage of the test alone and was conducting the test alone.
“No matter how much I am an adventurer in the other world with no knowledge of monsters… Goblins are monsters at a level that even an adult male can defeat. 9 adventurers were wiped out there? Didn’t anyone come out shouting to give up?”
“Not only that.”
As Hassan pondered, Maria added:
It looked like he found something interesting.
It must be something unusual to attract attention from her who has been active for a long time.
And Hassan had no choice but to raise the question mark in his head again at Maria’s words.
“Average test time of 2 minutes and 58 seconds. It’s not the fastest party, but the average stage clear time is within three fingers of the parties I participated in today. As if you know all the monsters in Summon Gate. Besides…”
“…besides?”
“This party. They weren’t wiped out by the goblins.”
“what?”
“I didn’t get annihilated by the monsters.”
It was a word that was omitted a lot to simply accept the text as it is.
“You weren’t wiped out by monsters? What exactly do you mean by that?”
“What are you talking about?”
When Hassan asked, Maria shrugged.
Needless to say, there was already only one possibility.
Summon Gate is designed so that no one other than the general manager can operate it, which means there can be no outside interference.
Unless there was something wrong with Maria, the person in charge, or she killed the participants herself, words like now couldn’t come out.
It was said to be impossible.
Except for one non-external interference.
“No way…”
“That’s right. I hope so.”
Then, as Hassan blurted out in disbelief, Maria turned her head and her eyes sparkled at the crystal ball.
“Everyone in stage 1 died. And the shortest time test. It was all done by one person. That one person is currently conducting the 9th stage of the test…!”
flash!
I don’t know, but his eyes were full of excitement.