Chapter 123

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Chapter 123: Cursed Lands (2)

The three dots that had appeared at the top were getting closer and closer. It seemed like the guild members were also adjusting their direction accordingly.

As they advanced through the dark land,

“Huh?”

They encountered a group of Awakened.

Judging by their appearance, they seemed to be from the US.

“Hello.”

He greeted them.

“Kim Minwoo?!”

The three Awakened stared at him.

His exploits were well-known even overseas. This was especially true of his records so far.

He had set world records from level 1.

When he was known to be an E-rank, he cleared an A+ rank gate.

And that’s not all.

He even defeated the Ilsung Guild’s First team with just three people.

Once could be a coincidence.

But the repeated proofs were his skills.

On top of that, he had even raised his awareness by putting up large advertisements in Times Square.

It was no wonder that the eyes of the US Awakened sparkled like they were welcoming a superstar.

“Kim Minwoo?! I’m a fan of yours!”

“I’m even meeting fans in other dimensions. I guess I’m pretty big.”

“Merhen, Cedric! You too!”

Their warm conversation ended abruptly as the conversation turned professional and serious.

“……Mr. Minwoo, you must be aware of the situation we’re facing, right?”

“Yeah, I have a general idea.”

“What do you plan to do?”

“We need to make a sacrifice. Of those dark mages.”

When he said “sacrifice” his eyes sharpened, but when he added “dark mages” the atmosphere softened instantly.

“Our goals align. If you’re okay with it, Mr. Minwoo, we’d like to join forces with you……”

The eyes of the US Awakened became earnest. They hadn’t faced the dark mages yet, but they had at least a basic understanding of the situation.

From the cursed land to the monster that was said to be sleeping inside.

Judging by the atmosphere, it seemed unlikely that the dark mages who had taken over this place were anything but formidable.

If you’re not sure, it’s always best to assume the worst.

And in that situation, they met Kim Minwoo?

He was no less than a lifeline.

At least they could trust Kim Minwoo, a fellow human, far more than the dark mages who made sacrifices.

“Alright.”

He nodded readily.

He was going to have to fight the dark mages anyway. It was better to have one more ally.

‘And they all seem to have decent personalities.’

Being selected for the Tournament meant that they were among the best of the best A-rank Awakened.

Naturally, there were countless other talented individuals who would come to the forefront in the future.

Kim Minwoo also knew some of them. That’s why he readily agreed.

“Let’s go.”

For nearly half a day, they moved through the land, recruiting any Awakened they encountered.

They picked up three from the US, one from France, and even one from India.

Before they knew it, their group had swelled to five.

On top of that, they received some unpleasant news.

“……I can’t sense my teammates anymore.”

“……Me neither.”

It was the same for the French Awakened and the Indian Awakened. Why had they been wandering around alone, not looking for their teammates or maintaining vigilance?

The dots on the map representing their teammates had disappeared.

‘Have they already started moving?’

For now, the priority was to regroup.

Soon, all the members of the Money Talks Guild were gathered in one place.

Each of them was sporting a rather disgruntled expression.

Seo Yerim was the first to speak.

She had also managed to gather a group of Awakened from other countries.

There were about seven of them in total.

Park Siwoo brought along a slightly smaller group of five.

“Hyung-nim!”

Park Siwoo rushed towards him.

“As expected. I knew you’d be able to gather all the Awakened, hyung-nim. I did a good job, right?”

“Yeah, you did well. Calm down.”

“Ahem. Our guild’s reputation is really something else. When I told them I was joining up with you, they all begged to join my party.”

It seemed that his pride in his guild had grown considerably.

“Siwoo.”

“Yes, Hyung-nim.”

“What did you buy at the shop?”

“Light bombs. I kept getting strange signals from that weird teddy bear, so I just bought them.”

Park Siwoo ranked 3rd in the first exam.

With a score of over 1 million points, he must have bought 2 bombs.

Seo Yerim also bought light bombs.

She bought 3.

‘If I add my 6 to that…….’

The total number of light bombs the Korean party now possessed was 11.

Kim Minwoo nodded in satisfaction. Soon, the twenty Awakened gathered in one place.

The US, France, Japan, Canada, the Philippines, India, and more…….

Their nationalities were a complete mix.

But that didn’t matter.

‘As long as we can understand each other.’

Maybe that’s why they made language proficiency a part of the first exam.

It would have been a pain if we couldn’t communicate.

“Hello everyone. I’m Kim Minwoo.”

The Awakened nodded.

There was no one else here who could be considered the leader, either in terms of fame or ability.

Well, except for the mysterious person who got 15 million points…….

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Sophia, the American mage, raised her hand.

Then, with sparkling eyes, she asked.

“Are you by any chance the first place holder?”

Everyone’s eyes were filled with intense curiosity.

It was something they had been wondering about themselves.

They didn’t want to ask him outright, but she opened the door for them.

All that was left was for him to answer.

Everyone stared intently at Kim Minwoo’s lips.

“Yes, I am.”

He answered more bluntly than they had expected.

Kim Minwoo admitted to it.

“……Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“……How did you do it?”

“I guess I did well?”

Sophia’s cheeks puffed out at his vague answer.

But she didn’t ask any more questions.

She was curious, but she was also an experienced Awakened. She knew the basic rules of this game.

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She knew that asking any more questions would be more than rude, it would be disrespectful.

In fact, just by admitting that he was number one was an unexpected harvest.

Her eyes sparkled.

‘So he really did score 15 million points?’

Of course, there was always a chance he was lying. But if he was lying, then who was number one?

The only possibility was that it was someone unknown.

Seeing as there was no rebuttal, it seemed unlikely that it was someone unknown.

A third Awakened from a country other than Korea?

It was much more believable that Kim Minwoo had simply been hiding his strength and had actually come in first place.

‘Whatever the case may be…’

15 million points is an extraordinary score.

Intriguing.

Very intriguing.

And Sophia wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Most of the Awakened gathered here shared her sentiment.

‘Is it real?’

‘If it’s real… he’s a true anomaly…’

Those were the general thoughts running through their minds.

Just then.

Smack!

The sound of a palm meeting a palm echoed through the room. Kim Minwoo, who noticed the attention, beamed and said,

“I’d like to outline our plan.”

“A plan, you say…”

“To rescue as many Awakened as possible, defeat the dark mages, and offer them up as sacrifices. Not a bad plan, I’d say. But wouldn’t it be a bit anticlimactic if that’s all we did?”

“….”

“Easy tasks only lead to easy rewards, that’s how it goes.”

…Easy?

Defeating the dark mages who were presumed to have abducted their comrades?

Ordinarily, even Kim Minwoo would have been considered arrogant for suggesting such a thing.

But the score of 15 million points stood in the way of that thought.

Could he have genuinely achieved such a score?

No.

That Awakened was hiding something else.

And it was a lot more than they thought.

“Do you guys know this? If you score over a million points, a special shop opens up.”

“Oh…”

“Ah, yes. I see…”

The Awakened who had never even gotten close to a million points, let alone over it, responded awkwardly.

Kim Minwoo continued unfazed.

“I bought some pretty good bombs there. They explode with a flash of light when you throw them, and they’re pretty powerful. My guild members bought some too, so I have quite a few.”

The Awakened’s eyes grew serious.

They had initially thought he was going to use them on the dark mages, but it had been a while since he had called those guys weaklings.

“So you’re saying we should attack the monster that’s sleeping here?”

“I’m glad you guys understand quickly.”

“……You heard the monster’s roar, didn’t you?…….”

“Of course I did, that’s why I’m saying this.”

He felt it was worth a shot.

Of course, it would be much stronger than the Vampire Castle’s Boss.

But they had 11 light bombs.

Duke Timorn was destroyed in just two shots, so couldn’t the same be done with the monster down there?

11 light bombs + 2 guild members + the Awakened gathered here.

That was enough firepower.

‘Even if there’s a variable… .’

He also had the variable of a nuclear bomb.

It wasn’t a structure that would harm allies, so if it didn’t work, they could just detonate it and

be done with it.

‘I’ll try to save it if I can.’

Because it was a bit of a waste to use it here.

In any case.

The best course of action was to convince the Awakened to catch the monster.

Everyone knew it would be dangerous to break the seal, and if he did it without permission, he’d likely get chewed out.

That’s why he revealed his score.

He had earned 15 million points.

Surely he must have received some kind of benefit.

Wouldn’t that kind of benefit make it worth trying to catch the monster?

To remind them that this was a game worth playing.

“Hmm…”

The Awakened fell into contemplation.

‘Kim Minwoo isn’t wrong.’

What if they hunted not only the dark mages but also the monster sealed underground?

‘We could get a huge reward.’

Of course, the biggest reward would go to the Korean party.

They had already prepared the tools to attack the monster.

But even considering that, it was attractive.

‘He must be confident to say that, right?’

After all, the bigger the crumbs, the more filling they are.

“Okay! I agree.”

Sophia was the first to agree.

Soon, all the Awakened agreed to the plan.

“Let’s go then, to catch the dark mages.”

It would be much faster to just beat up the dark mages than to find the scattered Awakened.

If they caught them all, they wouldn’t be able to sacrifice the Awakened, so their safety would be guaranteed.

They had a general idea of their location based on the lights above.

Right before the lights went out, they were all dragged in one direction and then extinguished.

‘Then they’re likely to be in that direction.’

The group of Awakened began to move.

* * *

The Chinese Awakened who had been captured by Mortan.

A day later, their faces were filled with unconcealable joy.

After being branded on their hearts, their abilities had skyrocketed.

They were now capable of easily defeating groups of Awakened who would have previously given them a hard time.

“Brother, this is truly amazing, isn’t it?”

“…Don’t get too excited. Who knows what those dark mages have done to us.”

Even Liu Wei, who said this, couldn’t completely hide his excitement.

‘How is this even possible?’

It felt like they had already caught ten of them, yet their bodies were still full of energy.

The more they fought, the more dopamine seemed to be released in their brains.

Their whole bodies were itching.

‘I want to fight.’

They wanted to release the overflowing power in their bodies.

Excessive excitement was forbidden, but…

‘This much should be okay.’

It was actually better this way.

To prove their worth, they had to keep fighting and carrying out orders anyway.

In that case, it was better to have overflowing fighting spirit than none at all.

Just then.

Liu Wei’s pupils narrowed.

His hawk-like eyes caught sight of a group of Awakened approaching in the distance.

The one leading the way had a very familiar appearance.

‘…Kim Minwoo.’

Liu Wei gritted his teeth.

He still vividly remembered Kim Minwoo’s smug attitude from their encounter in the first exam.

If it weren’t for that damn teddy bear that suddenly intervened, he would have taught him a lesson.

If Kim Minwoo had been moving alone, he would have jumped at him without hesitation.

But unlike the Awakened they had previously captured, Kim Minwoo was leading a proper group.

At a glance, there were well over twenty of them.

No matter how much power the brand gave them, rushing in with just three of them would be suicidal.

‘Be patient. It’s not too late to inform the dark mages and then move.’

Morton and the other powerful dark mages.

If they moved together with them, there was nothing they couldn’t hunt.

No, they had to hunt them down.

If any of them survived and went back out into the world, there might be all sorts of accusations of betrayal of humanity and whatnot.

‘This is good. If we just take care of this group…’

They had already captured about ten Awakened.

If they defeated Kim Minwoo’s group, the rest would be nothing but small fry.

The hunt would become much easier.

“Let’s go.”

Liu Wei turned around.

Soon after arriving at the temple, he bowed deeply to Mortan and spoke.

“We have found them. However, their numbers exceed twenty…”

Mortan’s eyes sparkled.

He had already been informed about the intruders.

He had heard that a total of fifty had come.

Twenty of them would be the largest group.

‘It seems they will be dealt with faster than expected.’

A group of that size was worth his personal attention.

He rose from his seat.

“Let’s go.”

The group of dark mages and the Chinese Awakened began to move.

“I have found them. Everyone, come as you are.”

Mortan, speaking calmly, suddenly became transparent.

Seeing this, Liu Wei shuddered.

‘That old man, what is he?’

Even using ‘Eagle Eye,’ one of the druid’s abilities, he couldn’t see Mortan at all.

‘Can he really become this perfectly transparent?’

It was a terrifyingly powerful magic. With that kind of ability, wouldn’t the success rate of a sneak attack be 100%?

Once again, he felt that he had taken the right path.

It was a hundred times better to bow down to such a monstrous old man than to oppose him.

‘By now, they must be closing the distance.’

Sure enough.

Suddenly appearing in front of Kim Minwoo, Mortan swiftly extended his hand.

It was a speed that ordinary Awakened wouldn’t even be able to react to.

His hand was imbued with dark black magic power.

Seeing this, Liu Wei’s eyes gleamed.

‘Kim Minwoo, you’re no exception…’

It was then.

Just before Mortan’s black magic could be unleashed, the mana condensed on his hand vanished without a trace.

Slice!

In an instant, a head severed by a sword flew through the air.

“What is this?”

— I don’t know. Are you stupid?

Merhen shrugged and said.

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