chapter 50
50 – Labyrinth of the Sun – 5
“Please keep this key as well.”
“What is this? When did you catch it?”
“I got it on the way. It’s a key obtained by holding a level 90 Taurus key.”
Oh my, is there a level 90? If the first guy I saw wasn’t the Pisis Key, but the Taurus Key, I would have already been to the other world?
“I caught 2 of the 12, so there are 10 left. Maybe if my prediction is correct, each key has a different ability.”
“Is the ability to use that guy over level 90 different from the fish key?”
“The Physis Key has a shield that takes almost no damage from low-level targets and ice spear magic that can be used indefinitely. The Taurus Key that I hunted before has strong physical abilities and solid durability. Apparently, each key has its own zodiac sign. You seem to have the ability to match.”
Pysis Key is the key to Pisces, so you used ice spear magic to negate physical damage?
…..Hmm? But no matter how much I think about it, there doesn’t seem to be any connection…?
“The Pisis key uses ice magic, but that has nothing to do with fish.”
“It seems that the creator created the Pisis Key based on ice magic because the characteristics of Pisces and Aquarius overlap.”
No, isn’t the producer working too roughly? Just because a concept overlaps, they roughly replace it with something similar. If the Korean game company did that, they would have been terrorized by users right away?
“But wasn’t it fortunate that it was ice magic in the end? If it was ordinary water magic, it would have been twice as cold as the whole body would have been wet.”
“If you think about it, that’s true, too. It’s a little ridiculous.”
The temperature in the ice area of the labyrinth of the sun is 20 degrees below zero.
Of course, it is a part that can be dried with the flame of Suzaku, but it is clear that the whole body trembled until it dried.
“Then, now that the mystery has been sorted out, why don’t we try to find another key?”
“Okay. Let’s go then…”
…Before… I had a sudden thought, but how do I find the remaining 10 keys?
The area of the Maze of the Sun is incredibly large. If the keys are hidden in every nook and cranny of that great labyrinth of the sun…
“If you look hard enough, you’ll find it in no time.”
“This whole maze?”
“That’s right.”
“This labyrinth larger than the entire size of the imperial capital?”
“That’s right.”
“f*ck, are you kidding me?”
Oh, inadvertently, sincere.
“It won’t take too long. Maybe…A month?”
“Damn it. What month is the name of the dog next door?”
“Even one month is the minimum date. If it takes a long time, it will take three months. Isn’t this enough soon?”
Well, I forgot. Veronica has a completely different concept of time than I do…
“Huh?!”
“You really earn your own hawk, don’t you?”
I hurt Veronica’s heart for no reason, and I hit her stomach hard with her black mist.
But I don’t know why that guy’s fog hurts so much. Did you put a stone in it?
“I am well aware of the king’s concerns. However, the first emperor’s treasure is definitely worth it.”
“What the hell is that?”
“Secret.”
No, why does he have so many secrets?
At this level, the sweet potato filled the stomach and reached the esophagus. If you don’t have cider, your esophagus will be clogged and you might rummage.
“In Korea, the hometown of kings, there is a proverb that fights with heat. Heat with heat and sweet potato with sweet potato.”
“You mean you won’t tell me in one word. It’s really petty.”
“You’ll find out someday anyway, so don’t be too impatient.”
So when is that ‘someday’?
“Hmm…Someday…?”
f*ck. I’m sick for asking
“Whoops…. If you try to learn too many things at once, your head is overloaded. Shouldn’t you take a break and study while enjoying your leisure time?”
“Haa…Yeah, that’s it, that’s it. I won’t ask anymore because it’s petty. So, are we really going to wander around this labyrinth for over a month?”
“Ah, by the way, there’s actually an easy way.”
Veronica gathered her mana around herself and flicked her fingers lightly.
Immediately after that, blurry afterimages began to appear on Veronica’s body.
The number was four in total, and each one had the same appearance as Veronica.
“This is… Naxto’s shadow clone technique?”
“Although the magic name is not a shadow clone technique, the effect itself will be similar to the king’s imagination.”
Veronica looked just like herself, but unlike her real self, she began to give her orders to her slightly translucent alter egos.
“From now on, go around the labyrinth of the sun and bring all the keys to the 12 signs of the zodiac.”
When orders were given to Veronica, her alter egos instantly turned into black mist and scattered in all directions.
She went looking for her key to fulfill her orders.
“Is that your unique ability too?”
“No, this is one of the traditional magics passed down to vampires, a clan of the night. Normal humans cannot learn it.”
“Sheesh.”
In the case of a unique ability, it was just a matter of purchasing it through the [Point Shop], But in the case of a normal ability, Veronica had no choice but to give up on her alter ego because there were racial restrictions, just like normal humans.
But if you look around the [Point Shop], Wouldn’t there be at least one ability related to your alter ego?
Since it’s a [Point Shop] With all sorts of specialties, it wouldn’t be strange to have one ability related to an alter ego.
Honestly, personally, I think that as a man, you must learn the trickiest skills like cloning.
Because that is romance.
“I am full of greed, my king.”
“I’m just hoping for a light clone ability, so what?”
“Other humans don’t care about any ability, let alone clone ability, so they want to get at least one more.”
That’s because of those people.
“Anyway, since I released four clones, I should be able to collect all the keys within a month. It’s a method I don’t usually use, but now there’s no other way than this…”
“How not to use it well? Is there something wrong with the alter ego?”
“Actually, summoning this alter ego weakens the main body’s power that much. Actually, in the current state of summoning four alter egos, I can only use 20% of the original power.”
If it is 40%, it is said that 20% of each alter ego is cut off… But isn’t it too inefficient?
Some might think that 20% per clone isn’t bad, but a 20% reduction in stats is a huge penalty beyond imagination.
It would be convenient to think that the efficacy obtained from the doll’s tongue is 1.2 Times that of all stats, so the power of one doll’s tongue is reduced for each alter ego.
“By the way, can you collect keys as an alter ego? I heard there are keys over level 90.”
“You can kill a level 90 monster with an alter ego, so don’t worry too much.”
‘If you can catch a level 90 monster with only 20%, how strong is it at 100%?’
I already knew that Veronica was strong, but was it enough to kill a level 90 monster with only 20% of her strength?
Of course, seeing that he killed the level 93 mixed flame like an insect, it made some sense, but isn’t it surprising?
“Once the orders are given to the clones, why don’t we go back? No matter how quickly we collect the keys, it will take two weeks.”
“I’m going back, but…Before that, let’s eat this first.”
I grabbed the leaf of the ginseng doll that Veronica had given me and shook it wildly.
Whether you go to eat or eat here, I just wanted to eat it quickly because the efficacy of the doll’s tongue ginseng is the same.
“But are you just eating this? You don’t need to cook anything else, right?”
“That’s right. Cooking the elixir weakens its effectiveness, so it’s best to eat it raw.”
“Then you just eat it?”
I licked my lips and began to stuff the doll tongue ginseng all at once into my mouth, starting at the root.
Thanks to the size of the doll’s tongue ginseng, I was able to swallow the whole doll’s tongue ginseng in one bite, and I savored the taste as I chewed the doll’s tongue ginseng.
…But it doesn’t taste like anything?
[Baal Zebub is activated.]
[Ingested doll tongue ginseng.]
[Mana doubles.]
[All stats increase by 1.2 Times.]
First of all, the mana doubled and all stats increased by 1.2 Times, just as the effect I saw with [Item Research].
But I suddenly wondered why [Baal Zebub] Was activated. Wasn’t [Baal Zebub] Activated only when monsters or things that humans couldn’t eat?
While I was chewing on the doll’s tongue ginseng with my doubts, Veronica muttered intriguedly.
“Oh…Is that the activation mechanism of [Baal Zebub]…”
“Ugjeok ugjeok…What…?”
“Swallow them all and tell me.”
Gulp-!
“I ate it all. So, what is the activation mechanism of [Baal Zebub]?”
“In fact, I was able to understand the activation mechanism of [Baal Zebub] To some extent by seeing that [Baal Zebub] Was activated when the king took the doll seolsam.”
[Baal Zebub] Activation mechanism?
Coming to think of it, I had never thought deeply about the activation conditions for [Baal Zebub].
I’ve been using [Baal Zebub] Only with the understanding that it applies to monsters and inedible objects, but it doesn’t activate when eating normal food…
But why did the [Baal Zebub] Activate when I ingested ginseng dolls that belonged to the food class, even though they were elixirs?
“[Baal Zebub] Apparently applies to things that are not edible, like monsters, but also incredibly tasteless food.”
“…So, in a word, the [Baal Zebub] Was triggered because the doll’s tongue was filthy and tasteless? Isn’t that pure nonsense?”
“It’s a story that’s quite possible. In fact, doll snow ginseng has a much bitter taste compared to normal ginseng. In other words, [Baal Zebub], An ability that protects the user’s taste, forcibly extinguished the bitter taste of human blood snow ginseng. Yes.”
Veronica claims that Inhyeonseolsam is so tasteless that [Baal Zebub] Seems to have been activated to protect my taste buds.
If true, it’s a bit absurd. It’s so tasteless that the system doesn’t treat it as food. How much do you use it to say something like that?
“From the point of view of taking doll seol ginseng in the past, I can say it is the worst taste. The bitter taste in my mouth hasn’t gone away for a month.”
“..That much?”
“I was expecting seven kings who took doll tongue ginseng and struggled in pain, but it turned out to be a bit disappointing.”
“How cool.”
Actually, you didn’t want to see me in pain, so you wanted to go find the doll, right?
“Actually, I had a little bit of that feeling, but it did exist.”
Yeah, I knew it, b*tch.
“In conclusion, thanks to [Baal Zebub], It’s okay to take the doll’s tongue ginseng very comfortably, isn’t it?”
“In conclusion.”
“Don’t take it to heart too much. Considering the efficacy of the doll’s tongue ginseng, that much is trivial.”
That’s right.
Instead of suffering from the bitter taste for a month, you can get ridiculously excellent passive effects such as double mana and 1.2X increase in all stats.
Of course, fortunately I was able to avoid the bitter taste thanks to the effect of [Baal Zebub], But I was a little embarrassed that Veronica seemed to be trying to trick me.
Of course, I’m not in a position to do anything just because I’m offended…
“Anyway, let’s go back now.”
“Haa..Okay, let’s go back.”
Whether it’s porridge or rice, I got the goal, doll snow ginseng.
There is a treasure trove of the first emperor or something, but since Veronica’s alter ego said she was going to take care of it, there was no reason for me to remain in this cold labyrinth anymore.
“Then I will return to the shadow of the king.”
Veronica finished with those words and turned into her black mist and entered my shadow.
But is it more comfortable in the shadows than you thought? I’d like to go in there sometime later too.
-You can think of the king as floating in the air using [Psychokinesis]. Instead, there is no wind, so it is very comfortable.
‘What is that feeling? Then it’s convenient.’
By the way, if you use [Psychokinesis] To float in the air, you will feel as if you are flying around in a weightless state on a space station.
Of course, I haven’t been to the space station myself, so I don’t know the exact feeling, but I thought there wouldn’t be much difference in reality.
“Then let’s go…”
-Wait a minute, King.
At that moment, Veronica’s tone changed.
Just a moment ago, his tone was full of playfulness, but now his voice was full of hostility, as if he was wary of something.
“What happened all of a sudden?”
-…Someone’s coming.
I listened to Veronica’s words and looked closely at the front. From a distance, a man with a strong physique was walking towards me.
I couldn’t see her face because I was so far away, so I strained my eyes to take a closer look, but Veronica sounded an urgent warning to me.
-Avoid, King!
“What?!”
Shhhhh-!
At that moment, a sword strike filled with tremendous energy swept past me.
Fortunately, the sword attack was not directly aimed at me, but was used as a threat, so I was not injured.
“Hmm… To be unable to respond to this attack… Is a bit different from what I expected.”
The person who used the sword was a man in his early 40s, wearing a full-plate armor decorated in platinum.
[LV 91 Hubert Petra]
Stamina: ?/?
Mana: ?/?
Status: None
“At this level, it would be all right to use a little force as His Majesty commanded.”