Chapter 162: Rune of Lightning Trial
<Soul Link Mission>
└Defeat the 7 Archangels
└Current number of defeated Archangels (1/7)
└Success ▶ ????
"A Soul Link mission? Was there such a quest?"
Until now, I had only seen main and sub-missions; this is the first time I've seen a quest like this.
"It seems to be a mission generated by killing an Archangel..."
The reward is secret, and the difficulty is high.
You have to defeat no less than 7 Archangels to succeed in this mission.
"If we interpret the term 'Soul Link,' could it be a mission that persists even after the round ends?"
Normally, mission deadlines are until the end of the round and do not continue into the next.
But considering the impossible difficulty to overcome in a single round and the term "Soul Link"...
"It seems to be a mission that continues until you die."
There was no choice but to think that way.
"Should I kill the 7 Archangels before round 20? Although there are 6 now."
It really was an absurd difficulty.
As he pondered with an ironic laugh, Yamti approached.
"Leader."
Just as Ryu Min's transformation ended, and his face was revealed.
"Is everything over?"
"Yes. Everything is done."
"The last angel you killed seemed quite strong..."
"He is the highest-ranking Archangel among the angels."
"Oh! And you, leader, killed him?"
"It's impressive. But once you face him, it's not a big deal."
Ryu Min, after a mocking laugh, spoke after clearing the corpses.
"Let's go. For the secondary mission."
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When Ryu Min left the temple, he concealed the title of Last Time Reverser.
[The Holy Empire's reputation towards the Last Time Reverser has changed from 'Hostile' to 'Neutral.']
This was due to the temple's anger, as they even killed angels until they disappeared.
"After all, the victory was caused by other angels."
Although hiding the title would avoid problems, he couldn't help but feel a certain melancholy.
"After doing something good for a long time, I only receive hatred and trouble from my own human companions."
Well, he didn't care, and indeed, he didn't care about the situation, whether considering them enemies or NPCs in a game world or perhaps beings from another world.
"Regardless of how they see my reputation, as long as I get the reward."
Anyway, there were many titles, so there were many alternatives.
"Leader, should we part ways now?"
"Yes. As I said, if we start conquering from here, we can complete at least 4 before the time limit ends. Then, we will be recognized as conquerors."
"Ugh, I don't want to part..."
"Stop acting cute and go already. I don't want you to fade away for not completing the mission due to your delay. I'll go to the end of hell to find you and scold myself."
"Oh, understood! I'll definitely survive!"
Yamti has to survive.
Her skill will be useful in the future.
After parting ways with Yamti, Ryu Min headed straight to his destination.
"I've already completed one secondary mission, and now, for the next 9 hours, I have to complete 9 more."
He had already thought about the best route to minimize time and distance, based on his previous experiences.
"First, here."
Ryu Min spoke to an NPC in an alley where merchant stalls clustered next to the square.
"I've come to buy some things."
"Welcome! What would you like?"
"From here to here, give me everything."
"Yes?"
The second secondary mission he had to do was "Flex at the sales stand."
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Finding secondary missions in round 10 was not difficult.
You could find them here and there, and there were many types.
Item delivery, errands, doing favors, monster elimination, escort missions, and more.
There were even temporary jobs like minding the store for a few hours.
"But that consumes too much time inefficiently."
It was best to quickly complete the secondary missions, apart from these two.
"Besides these two, there are missions that take at least 30 minutes."
After buying the items, Ryu Min headed to the next quick mission, the mercenary band mission.
"Welcome! Why have you come to our mercenary band, Golden Falcon, Black Scythe?"
"I want to receive an extermination mission."
The monster extermination mission took time, but if you had skill, you could also complete it in less than 30 minutes.
When the desk assistant saw Ryu Min, he spoke cheerfully.
"Oh, it looks like you're an experienced rank mercenary. We have an extermination mission suitable for you."
[Tap the monster you want to exterminate]
└ 1. Lizardman
└ 2. Wolf Were
└ 3. Skeleton
└ 4. Sand Worm
[If you wish to cancel, indicate your rejection desire.]
Ryu Min chose the Sand Worm, the strongest of the four.
"Extermination times are more or less the same, so it's better to defeat a strong one and gain experience."
Has it been a minute of waiting before something happened?
The door of the mercenary band opened, and a group approached Ryu Min.
"Are you Black Scythe, right? Nice to meet you. I'm Falcon Berman, the leader of the third squadron of the Golden Falcon mercenary band. Are you ready to leave immediately?"
"Of course."
Following the squadron leader, Ryu Min found himself in front of a huge futuristic machine.
It was called the "Transporter," a machine that instantly teleported to various locations.
"Come this way."
Ryu Min stood next to the squadron leader and his subordinates on the Transporter.
Hum...
In the blink of an eye, they arrived in a desert where sand worms appeared periodically.
"From here, we'll have to walk. Shall we?"
[Secondary mission - Extermination of Sand Worms]
└ Condition ▶ Exterminate 100 sand worms
└ Sand worms currently eliminated (0/100)
Seeing the message, Ryu Min smiled ironically.
"For others, it would take at least 2 hours, right?"
For Ryu Min, it wouldn't take more than 30 minutes.
If there were many monsters, he could even shorten that time, but given the frequent appearance of sand worms, 30 minutes was the limit.
Ryu Min moved with the extermination squadron of ten people.
They were all NPCs, and it seemed that Ryu Min was not interested in them at all.
Since, according to the setting, they didn't form a group but competed with each other, they seemed more like a group of mercenaries gathered for business.
"I don't have to worry about them taking my share."
The mercenaries' abilities here were nothing extraordinary.
Compared to players, they were like level 30, barely three of them capable of defeating a sand worm.
In summary, NPCs only have the role of attracting monster attention, but the actual responsibility of defeating them falls on the player, the challenger.
Well, Ryu Min doesn't need to attract attention.
Before he could do so, the sand creature would already be dead.
"It appeared!"
Upon hearing the mercenary's shout, Ryu Min directed his gaze downward in the sand, where something was moving.
Although not visible, he had already detected it with his perception skill.
It was a sand worm.
Ryu Min took out his scythe from the inventory, ready to face the enemy.
"Should I try the rune I obtained this time?"
He was curious to see the effect of the Rune of Lightning, as he had never used it before.
Besides, he needed to familiarize himself with it to use it effectively later on.
Zap, zap: Sparks flew from Ryu Min's hands.
"It's an interesting sensation. Will lightning magic be effective against the sand worm, which moves underground?"
Although magic is a powerful means of attack, it has elemental affinities that must be considered.
Lightning magic is not as effective against earth-type creatures like sand worms, as it suffers a decrease in power.
"Still, it will deal damage, so it's fine."
With his high intelligence stat, he wouldn't have trouble defeating the enemy.
"There it goes!"
"It appeared!"
As the sand worm emerged from the sand, it revealed its imposing size similar to a log.
However...
"Explosion."
The lightning cast by Ryu Min from the tip of his finger directly hit the sand worm.
Crackle: The enemy was turned into a roasted worm on the ground.
Watching the sand worm that died with a single blow, the mercenaries couldn't close their mouths in astonishment.
"Are you a wizard?"
"To kill that terrifying worm in one shot, you're amazing!"
"Indeed, a powerful wizard has really come to our extermination expedition!"
Despite the praises raining from all sides, Ryu Min didn't respond.
He was a bit surprised himself.
"As a wizard, I had my expectations due to my high intelligence, but I never expected to kill it in one shot."
The overwhelming damage completely ignored elemental affinities.
Anywhere, he could pass as a master wizard.
"If anyone doubts how a prophet fights, this should be enough."
Crackle, crackle: Smiling as he watched sparks burst from his palm, Ryu Min moved again.
The expedition was easier than he had anticipated.
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The expedition that can be carried out with the mercenary unit is limited to three times.
Ryu Min was able to complete it in a record time of thirty minutes each time, thanks to the use of the Rune of Lightning.
"No, even if I had used my scythe, it would have ended in less than thirty minutes."
However, Ryu Min only used the Rune of Lightning throughout the entire expedition.
He didn't even take out his scythe.
Although it was to familiarize himself with the rune's skills...
"Above all, it's more comfortable like this."
It was much more convenient to stand still and cast magic than to run with a scythe.
It was easy to hit thanks to his dexterity skill.
"Explosion, charge, area emission, amplification... Have I tried almost all the skills?"
Of course, he didn't even consider self-destruction.
The damage was too high, and using it incorrectly could cost him his life.
"Self-destruction should only be reserved for extreme situations. I don't know if I'll ever use it, but who knows."
"Surely, being a wizard has many area skills and makes it more comfortable to fight, but it wasn't all advantages.
'When all cooldowns are in progress, there's nothing to do.'
After trying the Rune of Lightning, he found that each skill had a cooldown time.
'Expulsion had the shortest cooldown time of 6 seconds, but...'
On the battlefield where life came and went in a matter of seconds, a 6-second interval was a huge punishment.
'Is that why professions that use magic carefully manage skills and cooldown times?'
Of course, for Ryu Min, a hybrid, there was no need to worry.
He could simply switch to his scythe when he ran out of magical skills.
"The suppression is over."
"Your performance in the mercenary band will be recorded."
"Your mercenary band's rank has risen from 'skilled' to 'expert.'"
After succeeding in consecutive suppression, the mercenary band's rank increased.
'Perhaps I can receive more challenging missions next time.'
But it was still far from catching a dragon.
"Well, the next place I'll go to is..."
Exiting the mercenary band, Ryu Min checked the time as he moved.
He could easily finish ten.
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Ten hours.
It was quite a long time, but by doing missions, time flew by without them realizing.
"Oh no. There's not much time left!"
"Ah, even if we add one more..."
The players who were shouting realized the change and raised their heads.
Unexpectedly, they were back in the colorless space that was the starting point.
"Has it already been ten hours?"
"Ah! The mission was almost finished."
Since the ranking calculation method was made public as the number of missions, people were doing missions without rest.
As a result, many reached halfway, and unfortunately, ongoing missions were considered abandoned.
"Dear humans, I am Nell. Have you completed your missions well? Well then..."
"Angel! A moment ago, I had a mission that was about to be completed in just 10 seconds. Please treat it as a success if you add just a little more..."
"This foolish human who's going to be struck by lightning!"
When Nell's gaze turned threatening, the player closed his mouth.
"Do not dare interrupt an angel's words, understood? And when did I say you could ask questions at any time? Are you asking to be killed?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
"Don't answer. I don't want to hear it."
The reason why Nell seemed more annoyed than usual was clear.
"In normal conditions, I should show you the ranking results, but before that, I will ask you a question."
The reason why Nell was in a bad mood was one.
"Is there anyone among you who has received a confidence?"
The sky turned upside down due to the death of 1 of the 7 great archangels, Remiel.
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