Chapter 695

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Chapter 695: Kidnapping (7)

Qira price.

Before Yenta could even be startled by the term she was hearing for the first time, the giant cyclops was slammed face-first into the ground.

Puuuuung!

It was because Yeongwoo’s lightning-fast fist had consecutively smashed into the bastard’s chest and jaw.

—Ugh, aaah…….

So this was what a Grade-3 pass holder was like after all.

But this wasn’t some tavern—it was the middle of a main street.

Once the attention of countless criminals had already been drawn, if overwhelming martial might wasn’t displayed, more than half the people here would come swarming in.

That was the kind of place the Black Zone was.

And, as expected.

Swiish.

A small silhouette approached behind Yeongwoo while he was beating down the cyclops.

—…Ah!

The opponent was a ratman holding a dagger in a reverse grip beneath his palm, clearly sneaking in while aiming for the sword Yeongwoo still hadn’t drawn.

In the end, one of the spectators had decided to take the gamble.

And finally, just as the ratman tried to thrust the dagger toward Yeongwoo’s back—

Clack!

For the first time, Yeongwoo’s Bastard was drawn from his waist, and at the same moment, the ratman’s arm fell through the air together with the dagger.

—Kyaaaaaaak!

The ratman screamed and toppled backward after seeing blood spraying from his severed arm.

And in the meantime, Yeongwoo picked up the dagger that had fallen onto the ground.

“What’s this? A bonus just rolled in on its own.”

Then, as if making sure the surrounding criminals heard him, he slowly swept his gaze over the crowd encircling the scene.

“The next bastard who jumps me loses his head. Ah, and his weapon too.”

Then, as though frozen time had begun moving again, the spectators hurriedly continued on their original paths.

The situation had settled down.

Yenta cautiously approached Yeongwoo while failing to hide the trembling in her fingertips.

—Th-thank goodness. If things had gone wrong, here……

“You mean I would’ve ended up fighting endlessly until I died?”

—You would have been in great danger.

“I’m not afraid of petty criminals like these even if hundreds come at me. But if too much of a commotion breaks out, the truly dangerous ones start catching the scent and joining in.”

Yeongwoo had already come here once before.

So he had more or less learned how one needed to act and respond in this place. In truth, it was closer to animal instinct.

“This one’s basically just for the catalog.”

Yeongwoo then inspected the dagger the ratman had been carrying.

「Blue Ambush」 - Relic Dagger

【Attack power increases by 15% when attacking from behind.】

A relic-grade weapon wasn’t exactly light armament, but to Yeongwoo—who practically kicked aside legendary equipment with his feet—it looked fairly plain.

“Then maybe this one’s a little different. If he had the confidence to block someone’s path, he must’ve trusted it at least somewhat, right?”

As Yeongwoo said this and picked up the greatsword from the ground, the cyclops—his face completely mangled—raised a hand as if to stop him, only to give up midway.

—I made a grave mistake. I apologize. So please return that sword.

“What, now that you’ve been beaten up you suddenly want to settle things through conversation?”

—Without that sword… my livelihood suffers.

“Be grateful your life isn’t the thing suffering.”

Yeongwoo lightly kicked aside the cyclops’s hesitantly extended hand with his foot and checked the greatsword’s tooltip.

「Poado’s Technique」 - Epic Two-Handed Greatsword

【When Strength is your highest stat, attack power increases by 10%.】

【When Endurance is your highest stat, gain 5% to all resistances.】

【When Durability is your highest stat, gain 10% damage reduction.】

【When Sense is your highest stat, increase discernment performance by 15%.】

“…What is this?”

For an epic-grade item, its potential was tremendous.

Wasn’t this practically the opposite version of Osmosis?

If one could make every stat equal, all four effects could be obtained simultaneously.

Of course, for Yeongwoo—whose stats constantly shifted depending on the situation—it was an extremely difficult condition to achieve.

‘The Endurance effect says all resistances… Does that mean it includes both basic and special resistances?’

This was the first time he had seen the phrase all resistances since reading the tattoo tooltip, so that was probably the case.

In other words, if he set Endurance as his highest stat, he would gain not only resistance to the four basic elements, but also 5% resistance to supernatural abilities, dragonkind, mental attacks, and so on.

‘Though turning on even two effects at the same time would be difficult for now.’

Still, it wasn’t a bad piece of equipment.

Thanks to that, Yeongwoo was able to look at the cyclops with a slightly more generous expression than before.

“Get up. Your livelihood may have problems now, but at least you didn’t die.”

Yeongwoo extended a hand as though to help him up, but instead of taking it, the cyclops pushed himself up from the ground.

—…Luck isn’t with me today.

Then, rubbing his jaw, he trudged away into the crowd of criminals passing by.

“Still, that guy’s pretty tough.”

That meant the only one left now was the ratman who had lost his wrist.

But Yeongwoo didn’t do something like tossing him a ‘Slime Core.’

“You acted appropriately for your weapon’s trait, but you should improve your judgment a bit more. Now pick up your wrist and get lost.”

As Yeongwoo nudged the severed hand on the ground with the tip of Bastard, the ratman bared his teeth and twitched his whiskers.

—A Thousand Pits shall watch you! Await the crimson-black revenge……!

Then he glanced back once before frantically fleeing into the distance.

“A Thousand Pits?”

Yeongwoo tilted his head at the ratman’s words, and Yenta adjusted her goggles before explaining.

—In the giant waterways beneath the Black Zone, there is a ratman society called A Thousand Pits. That is what he meant.

“What…? There’s an underground world beneath the Black Zone?”

—Of course. The black market is in the underground layer as well. That is where I planned to put out the request for the Liberation District you mentioned.”

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Yeongwoo’s eyes rapidly blinked.

“What do you mean black market? The Black Zone itself is already a black market. And there’s another black market inside the black market?”

—Yes. It is extremely dangerous, so we do not recommend it to customers, but when searching for rare stolen goods, there are times when one must visit it.

And the ratman they had just seen was one of the underground residents who had briefly come up to the surface.

“That’s unbelievable.”

Yeongwoo finally nodded as things slowly began to make sense.

Now he could understand why that ratman had attacked his blind spot so casually.

In the underground world, stabbing someone in the back when an opportunity arose was simply common sense.

“So even the Black Zone has its sunny side and shady side. How large is the underground layer?”

When Yeongwoo asked that, Yenta looked down beneath her feet.

—It is almost identical to this surface layer.

Meaning that for a first-timer, wandering around the underground layer was practically impossible.

“So what I’m seeing now is basically only half of the Black Zone?”

—…In a sense, yes. But there is no need for you to concern yourself with it. You are already a Grade-3 pass holder, are you not?

“But there must be goods that circulate only through the black market. Maybe they even sell bizarre naval cannons there.”

Imagining himself placing a warship cannon with absurd specifications in front of Mantero, Yeongwoo felt his heart oddly race.

It was the unique curiosity of a certified achievement-system-recognized lunatic.

“How do you get to the underground layer? Do I need to hire some kind of Guide of Darkness or something to move around there?”

For some reason, Yenta could not answer immediately.

—…That is.

“What? What’s the problem?”

As Yeongwoo lightly furrowed his brow and pressed for an answer, Yenta finally spoke.

—Actually, I am from the underground layer as well.

“What?”

—My mother still lives underground. So if you truly wish it, I can guide you to the black market.

* * *

The exchange station was not far from the place where Yeongwoo had severed the underground ratman’s wrist.

The exchange itself was also extremely simple; once they arrived before the silver-gray cylindrical exchange station, the process proceeded automatically.

「Please insert the currency to be exchanged into the slot.」

「Improper currency will be returned.」

At this, Yeongwoo took out thirteen Palsi notes from his chest and inserted them into the slot, causing Yenta’s mouth to twitch.

—In the underground, something like this would be unimaginable. There is no such thing as an infrastructure system there. Nothing can be trusted.

“But your mother… why is she still living there?”

—Well, my mother is someone who built quite a large business there already.

“Then what about you? If your mother’s an underground-layer businesswoman, shouldn’t you have been able to live comfortably too?”

At that, Yenta unexpectedly put on a serious expression.

—I do not wish to live in such a place. Nor can I.

“…I see.”

The gray-horned orc who had left behind the underground layer that could, in a sense, be called her hometown.

Meanwhile, the result of the Black Zone’s trust-based system emerged from inside the exchange station.

Srrrk.

A short rod-shaped currency placed atop a gray disc slid outward.

It was a rod containing a whopping 5.85 billion Karma.

–Usable Karma: 82,561,982,416

As a result, his current cash holdings had become an astounding 82.5 billion, and Yeongwoo could only think this:

‘Since I can make more cash by selling that one-armed bastard later too, spending a few tens of billions in the Black Zone won’t really be a problem.’

Then where would spending that money have the greatest effect?

“Do they sell warships or naval cannons in the underground layer too? In that black market, I mean.”

—O-of course.

“And the quality of the merchandise? How does it compare to the surface layer here?”

Yenta then made an awkward expression.

—That is difficult to compare, because the stolen goods traded in the black market are all things that even the Black Zone’s own system finds troublesome to handle.

“In what sense?”

—Even high-grade entry passes are traded in the black market.

“Entry passes? You mean Black Zone entry passes?”

—Yes. Occasionally there are those possessing passes unworthy of their strength, and in most cases, they purchased them from the underground layer.

“Then the warships sold there probably aren’t ordinary warships either.”

—They would be closer to monstrous vessels. Might they not actually bring harm to you instead, customer?

“No. I like the sound of that even more.”

As though there was no need to delay further, Yeongwoo urged Yenta onward.

“Lead the way. Let’s handle the rest of the schedule in the underground layer.”

—B-but… the streets of the underground layer are on a completely different level from this place.

At that, Yeongwoo pointed Bastard toward Yenta’s small horn.

“Don’t worry. The bastards living underground will also think I’m on a completely different level once they see me.”

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