[Quest, 'Highland Occupation Battle' completed.]
[Dungeon, 'Disease Swarming with Monsters' cleared.]
[Quest, 'Sanctuary of Swiftness' completed.]
[Quest .... ]
You must find and make a pact with the Dragon Soul within 3 hours.
There are 2 hours left until the 3-hour deadline promised by the task.
Han Yuseong tackled as many quests and dungeons as he could.
It was because he judged this to be a golden opportunity.
"Whether they're protectors or destroyers, now is the time when they'll be scrambling to survive."
One side is desperately trying to gather Dragon Souls,
The other is doing everything to absorb them and kill the guardians.
Right now is the moment when neither side can afford to care about quests or dungeons.
Han Yuseong did not let that opportunity slip by.
And the reward came back to him in a visible form.
[Leveled up to Stage 3.]
[Strength +3, Agility +3, Stamina +3.]
[Due to the effect of War God's Blessing, additional +3 Stamina granted!]
Han Yuseong leveled up,
And then—
[Bad Hatchling has reached the maximum level for its current grade.]
[The effect of the Nature of Evolution is activating...]
[Bad Hatchling (C) has evolved into a B-grade Dragon Soul!]
Through a form of Dragon Soul evolution,
From E-grade to D-grade, then from D to C,
And now to B-grade—Hatchling reached B-grade in an instant.
[Bad Hatchling (B)]
Level: 55/60
Strength: B
Agility: B+
Stamina: B
Magic Power: B
Growth Points: 15,060
Skills:
Destiny (?)
Growth Craving (S)
Nature of Evolution (S)
Blessing of the Dragon Soul (B): +30 to all stats of the contractor, +10% Strength
Wrath of the Red Dragon (B): Contractor's attack power x2, +15% to all stats, +15% attack speed, sometimes overwhelms enemies
Ancient Knowledge (B): +30% magic damage, -20% casting time, -20% mana cost, +20% spell range
Aura of Swiftness (A): +15% Agility and Movement Speed for contractor within range, reduces duration of debuffs
Dragon's Roar (A): Unleashes a dragon's roar. Reduces all stats and speed of enemies in range by 15%, briefly paralyzes enemy Dragon Souls
"Aura of Swiftness" and "Dragon's Roar" were skills acquired through quests.
"Growth Points... 15,060. That's quite a haul."
While leveling up and acquiring new skills granted some growth points, the biggest gains came from evolution—far more than he had expected.
And thanks to the effect of
It was only natural that Han Yuseong held the top rank in overall growth score.
[So, where are you going now?]
"A dungeon."
And just like that,
As the three-hour mark approached, Han Yuseong began moving quickly.
He headed toward the most dangerous place among all the dungeons he knew.
[The most dangerous place? More dangerous than that research facility?]
"It's a place I can't clear on my own. That's why I'm going."
[Uuuh…? What are you talking about?]
"Just wait. You'll find out soon enough."
[Hmph, you could just tell me already…]
Kakasha grumbled at Han Yuseong's vague answer.
She complained that he could've just said it outright instead of wasting time,
but Han Yuseong brushed off her whining and continued moving forward without hesitation.
Then, the promised time ran out.
[Three hours have passed.]
[Current number of survivors: 591,556. Among them, the number of Guardians who failed to achieve their objective: 60,390. Number of Destroyers who failed: 49,198.]
[As previously warned, these individuals will now die.]
At that moment, the ground shook.
Screams erupted from all around.
They were the dying cries of players who had failed to complete their objectives.
And among those nearby, chaos broke out.
"Ahhhhhh!"
"D-Did they die? Did they really just die? For real…!"
"I was supposed to survive! That was mine, I took it from them…!"
A vast number of people were killed in an instant—
All because they failed to meet the previously announced conditions.
The number of Dragon Souls in the Dragon's Tomb was not infinite.
Considering that the Destroyers could absorb them too, it was impossible for every Guardian to obtain one.
Many Guardians died, and just as many Destroyers followed them into death.
Yet the trials were far from over.
[From this moment, you must gain at least 6,000 Growth Points within 6 hours. Any Guardian who fails will die.]
[During this task, special quests that reward 'Growth Points' will appear.]
[Until the deadline, the Guardian with the highest Growth Points will receive a special reward.]
[Congratulations, Han Yuseong!]
[You are currently the Guardian with the highest Growth Points!]
Loud fireworks erupted.
A message that appeared to purely celebrate his efforts so far.
But Han Yuseong already knew what message would come next.
[Guardian Han Yuseong has fulfilled all conditions.]
[Therefore, a special option is being offered to you.]
[This option can be declined.]
Kakasha looked amused.
As if to say "So that's what you meant when you told me to wait and see."
[Optional Quest: The Weight of the Crown]
[You currently hold the highest Growth Score among all Guardians! But with the heavy crown comes heavy responsibility. Prove you are worthy of wearing it!]
[If you accept this quest, up to 100,000 players will be given the quest
[Reward: A choice of rewards proportional to Growth Points, Dragon Soul experience.]
The reward was incredibly tempting.
For Han Yuseong, who held the top rank in Growth Points,
this was a rare opportunity to earn an exceptional reward.
But the cost was being hunted by 100,000 players.
[Will you do it? It looks incredibly dangerous. Of course, naturally, you would…]
"Is there any reason not to?"
[Hah, of course you'd say that… typical you.]
Without a moment's hesitation, Han Yuseong accepted the quest.
Truthfully, it wasn't the type of battle he preferred.
A fight where enemies kept coming endlessly—
only to eventually be overwhelmed by sheer numbers—
to him, that was just monotonous labor.
But with a reward of this caliber?
It was worth enduring.
"There are two main approaches."
One was to evade the pursuers until time ran out.
Naturally, that wasn't going to be easy.
The Dragon's Tomb was large, yes—
but not so vast that it could hide him forever.
Especially with nearly 100,000 pursuers on his trail—
breaking through their encirclement would be nearly impossible.
"Then, I'll just have to create the battlefield myself."
[Create a battlefield?]
"You'll see soon enough."
Han Yuseong walked through a maze-like path,
a route filled with traps and monsters.
And at the end of it lay a dungeon—
the one he'd been seeking—
a dungeon that held another hidden piece.
[Hidden Dungeon Discovered: Temple of the Eye Lord!]
[Once, this temple served the Eye Lord of the Stars. But now, both the worshippers and the object of worship are gone—its purpose lost to time.]
[However, the temple's functions remain intact. If you can endure the brutal 'Trial of Austerity,' you may be deemed worthy to use them.]
The Temple of the Overlord.
With a deep smile, Han Yuseong pushed open the temple doors.
"Let's gather some comrades to help with the trial."
[You really are something. Should I call you cunning? Sometimes, the way your brain works in these situations is… terrifying.]
It was reassuring to know there were comrades who would rush to his side voluntarily.
Han Yuseong stepped into the temple's dark interior.
A battlefield strewn with countless corpses.
A place saturated with the resentment of the dead and the despair of the dying.
"Hooh… now this is an interesting quest."
The Destroyer Wemmy Harmon looked at the quest before her with a strange expression.
It was both intriguing and undeniably tempting.
[Emergency Quest: Regicide]
[The Guardian with the highest Growth Score has emerged. Their location is now being shared—track them down and kill them.]
[The faster you kill the target, the greater the reward!]
[Reward 1: Absorb all the Growth Points the target has accumulated. Blessing of Destruction is strengthened.]
[Reward 2: Legendary-grade item set, and a Grade-5 Skill Book.]
Absorb a set amount of Dragon Souls. Fail, and die.
A new task had just been announced—
and immediately, an emergency quest followed.
It was sudden—too sudden.
And with it came an irresistible curiosity.
"Achieved the highest Growth Score? Who could it be? Galbeon—that bastard?"
No one else came to mind except the Golden Paladin.
But last he heard, that guy was still trying to get his hands on a grade-5 Dragon Soul.
Had he already stacked that many Growth Points too?
Was that even possible?
Truthfully, Wei Harmon didn't particularly care.
Crunch.
"I'll find out soon enough."
"Guh... Khhk—!"
Wei Harmon twisted the neck of a struggling Guardian,
absorbing the Dragon Soul that the Guardian had held.
[You have absorbed the Dragon Soul of the Tender Flame (C).]
[With sufficient Dragon Souls absorbed, the Blessing of Destruction has been strengthened.]
[All Stats +25%, +100 to Attack and Defense, +10% Attack Power, +10% Speed, +20% Skill Damage, +5% Defense Penetration.]
Wei Harmon had absorbed many Dragon Souls over the past three hours.
The Guardians were doing the same.
Thanks to that, their buffs had strengthened significantly.
But it still wasn't enough.
"Kill whoever's left alive, then follow me. Let's assess the situation—and if the so-called 'King' is within reach, let's kill him."
"Yes, Lord Wei Hao!"
Wei Harmon and the other Destroyers began to move.
And not just them—
other Destroyers, spread out across various locations, also started to converge…
And it wasn't just the Destroyers who were on the move.
"This quest… I can't afford to refuse it."
Even Galbeon, who had just acquired a Grade-5 Dragon Soul, received the same quest—
a command to hunt down the one who had achieved the highest Growth Score.
And the reward?
Utterly irresistible.
[Emergency Quest: Regicide]
[The faster you eliminate the target, the greater the reward!]
[Reward 1: Absorb the target's total Growth Points and steal all of their Dragon Soul's skills.]
[Reward 2: Legendary-grade item set, Grade-5 Skill Book.]
It was a reward that no one could turn down.
Not just the Growth Points—
but the Dragon Soul's skills too.
And this wasn't just any soul.
It belonged to the Guardian with the highest Growth Score at this moment.
'They must have some truly exceptional skills.'
If he could steal them,
he could make Golden Dragon even more powerful.
It was not a chance he could afford to miss—
and more importantly, not one he wanted to.
Galbeon rallied his subordinates and left the dungeon.
"We move. This target may become our greatest threat."
His golden eyes gleamed as he advanced swiftly.
"We take them down now—
and claim everything they own."
And so, Guardians and Destroyers began to converge on a single location—
the Temple of the Eye Lord, where Han Yuseong awaited.
The group of Destroyers, led by Wei Harmon, arrived at their destination:
the place where the Guardian with the highest Growth Score resided.
After pushing through treacherous paths and stepping over countless corpses,
they finally reached the scene—
"L-Lord Wei Harmon..."
"This is… total chaos."
Before them stood a massive temple built on an open plain.
Wei Harmon's subordinates looked on, stunned.
It wasn't the size or structure of the temple that impressed them.
"There's a Guardian with a Dragon Soul—kill them all!"
"Clear the way! We have to get inside the temple too!"
"KRAAAAAAGH!"
What shocked them was the battle unfolding before it.
A frenzied clash raged in front of the temple—
countless Guardians and Destroyers mixed in bloody conflict.
Some tried to push through the chaos and enter the temple.
Corpses, from every faction, littered the battlefield—no one could tell friend from foe.
"Whoever they are… they made a smart decision."
"Sir? I couldn't hear you over all the noise."
"The one we're chasing. The one who caused all this."
Galbeon had already figured out who it was—
Han Yuseong had chosen the temple on purpose.
The reason behind it all wasn't complicated.
'The goal is simple: make the Guardians and Destroyers fight each other.'
Everyone who gathered here had one goal—
to kill Han Yuseong
and claim the immense reward promised by the quest.
But before that, players had a fundamental obligation to fulfill.
Guardians had to grow their Dragon Souls.
Destroyers had to absorb Dragon Souls and kill Guardians.
"If you throw them all together like this, of course they'll fight."
Destroyers would die if they didn't absorb a sufficient number of Dragon Souls.
To them, this place was a hunting ground overflowing with prey—
Guardians who had formed pacts with Dragon Souls.
Sure, killing Han Yuseong was important—
but absorbing Dragon Souls and avoiding death took priority.
That was the safer path.
"Just a little more! I just need to absorb a little more!"
"If I don't want to end up like those guys, I need to kill them first!"
"Hah! Forget the emergency quest—this is what matters!"
"Retreat! Fall back! There are too many Destroyers!"
And so, the battlefield devolved into utter chaos.
The Destroyers forgot all about the emergency quest,
consumed by the frenzy of hunting down Guardians.
Conversely, the Guardians who had come here for the emergency quest
started to abandon the temple, giving up on entering.
They judged the risk was simply too high.
'Pit them against each other to reduce the number of pursuers as much as possible.
Then fight the survivors inside the temple—a confined, limited space.
Since the temple is a dungeon, there'll likely be monsters inside too.'
As players pushed through the temple, more pursuers would inevitably fall.
A cold smile curled on Wei Harmon's lips.
Whoever orchestrated this—it was a brilliant move.
"Lord Wei Hao! Reports say Galbeon is among the players who entered the temple. He's American, and it seems he's a Guardian."
"What should we do? Should we enter the temple as well?"
"No—we're not going in."
Given how cunning the target seemed,
there was bound to be something lying in wait inside the temple.
'There's no reason for us to walk into a trap.'
Unlike Galbeon—who had to compete for the top Growth Score—
Wei Harmon, as a Destroyer, had no reason to gamble everything on the emergency quest.
After all, sooner or later, someone would come out of the temple.
Until then, it made more sense to stay here and keep hunting Guardians.
"Let's wait and see. Will the one with the top Growth Score survive and emerge? Or will Galbeon be the one who walks out?"
No matter who survived...
"We'll just kill them afterward."
It would be a feast, saved just for him.
The one being chased by countless Guardians and Destroyers—
Han Yuseong was currently deep in the process of tearing through the vast temple.
But there was one major difference from his usual dungeon runs…
[Relentless bastard… Is he seriously trying to avoid fighting the monsters?]
Just as it sounded—
Han Yuseong was deliberately avoiding engaging monsters as much as possible.
The inside of the temple was quite dark,
with shadows blanketing every corner.
And the path to the inner sanctum was swarming with monsters.
Yet Han Yuseong only took down those he absolutely had to.
KUUUONG!
—Kkhhk, kuh—!
Only monsters that blocked the way forward,
those that had to be eliminated to proceed—
those were the ones he dealt with.
In truth, this was not the recommended strategy.
Once a player reached the temple's deepest chamber,
they would be forced to undergo the "Trial of Austerity."
During the Trial,
all monsters that hadn't been cleared would rush in at once.
To avoid being overwhelmed, the typical strategy was to thin their numbers beforehand.
'But right now, that doesn't matter.'
[Indeed it does not—for soon enough…]
The players chasing him would take care of that for him.
In the process, they would weaken themselves, bleeding strength.
And once they finally managed to reach the heart of the temple—
"It'll be nice to have extra allies for the Trial."
[Oathbound one… you truly are something else…]
They would end up facing the Trial meant for Han Yuseong—
whether they liked it or not.
Because now, they had no choice.