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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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The time limit for the adventure, noon, was twelve hours away. One of the Rock Tusk leaders had to be eliminated within that time.
The Five Fraternal Brothers was a party-based elite adventure. Naturally, all the monsters were stronger than in a solo adventure.
They were monsters meant to be faced by five people. And if the normal monsters were this strong, would the boss monster be easy to defeat? Not at all.
That was why Kang Seol hadn’t immediately gone for the boss raid, even after successfully making all the tribe members drink the Potion of Madness.
‘It’s still too early to act.’
The final objective of his plan was not to hunt the tribe members, but to defeat all five Rock Tusk leaders. It was a plan that would have been called crazy for a solo player, but Kang Seol had no intention of giving up. There were several reasons for this.
First, this was an adventure he remembered perfectly. And the events were unfolding exactly as he remembered. Not all future adventures would proceed according to his memory.
The Eternal World was a constantly changing world, due to the actions of the players themselves. Therefore, as the adventure progressed, the content of the mid-to-late game adventures could change completely.
‘If that happens, my advantage will be meaningless.’
For this reason, he had to get the best rewards from the adventures he remembered perfectly to prepare for future threats.
Second, in his current plan, which he was forced to choose because it had become a solo adventure, the difficulty of facing one leader and facing all five leaders wasn’t that different.
Third, the most important issue was the reward. The rewards in the Eternal World were calculated based on various factors.
How clever the process was, the number of people involved, the difficulty of the adventure itself, and the secret mechanics used. In that sense, the situation he was facing now wasn’t entirely bad.
If he really managed to defeat all five Rock Tusk leaders by himself using various means, the reward would be the best of the best. This was why he was struggling through this difficult path.
Rustle…
Anyway, he was now in a place where all the trolls who had gathered had returned to their own places.
‘This is the Rock Tusk treasure vault…’
The reason he had memorized the surrounding locations as he climbed the mountain was because he was looking for something. The Rock Tusk Tribe’s treasure vault.
Fortunately, the treasure vault was one floor below the top floor. He couldn’t enter the treasure vault, but ordinary tribe members could go up to that floor. The Rock Tusk Tribe stored all of their treasures in one vault.
‘Although they’re all trivial treasures…’
They were all junk, but to the trolls, they were items of high historical value. Just like how experts would recognize the value of antiques that seemed useless in reality.
‘Still, among the items in the treasure vault, one is real.’
There was one real treasure in the Rock Tusk Tribe’s treasure vault.
‘The Rock Fist.’
Kang Seol recalled the setting of the Rock Tusk Tribe. They worshipped the earth dragon Tancreed. Tancreed, who was fond of the Rock Tusk Tribe, gifted them an item made of his own scales.
It was a gauntlet called the ‘Rock Fist,’ which granted the power to crush rocks just by wearing it, and especially to shamans, it granted immense shamanistic power.
‘Up to here, it’s just like any other troll tribe…’
It seemed like the Rock Tusk Tribe would thrive after obtaining the Rock Fist, but it was the opposite. They were attacked by numerous tribes who coveted the Rock Fist, and there were even several fights within the same tribe.
‘The problem is that there are several factions within the tribe.’
In every generation of the Rock Tusk Tribe, five shamans with the shamanistic power of rock are born. The shamans of the previous era would bind them with a shamanistic spell of brotherhood to preserve the shamanistic power, even though they weren’t blood-related.
In other words, beings who weren’t brothers were bound as brothers. If they had been bound by their own will, like in the Peach Garden Oath of the Three Kingdoms, it might have been different, but the forced bond of brotherhood fueled the tribal factionalism.
‘With five factions checking each other… they would have been a great force otherwise.’
This was the setting from the official rulebook and the in-game information of the Eternal World. And Kang Seol was a player who knew how to use these detailed settings.
He continued his thoughts and passed by several residences without any hindrance, and finally found what he was looking for. After confirming the location of the treasure vault, Kang Seol waited for the right time.
Due to the special situation of the harvest festival, the security around the vault was much weaker.
‘It’s been about an hour since all the trolls drank the Potion of Madness. The effects should be kicking in soon.’
When Kang Seol waited for about five more minutes, the signal he had been waiting for came.
“Aaaaargh!”
“Krrrooo…”
A monstrous scream pierced the night air. And it wasn’t just one or two. Screams of madness were heard from all over the settlement.
When the potion takes effect, the trolls will attack each other. I diluted it so it wouldn’t be discovered, so for the leaders, it will probably just have the effect of making them feel unwell.
Even that would be a great help to Kang Seol. He didn’t leave the vicinity of the treasure vault, even with the continuous screams. Since the effects had appeared on the ordinary tribe members, they would soon appear here as well.
“What! What is this sound?”
“If there’s a problem, a messenger will come… ugh…”
“Why, why the…”
“Graaaaaah!”
As I said, at midnight of the harvest festival, all tribe members would drink the blood. This was a rule that had to be absolutely followed in the harvest festival. In other words, the guards protecting the treasure vault had also drunk the blood.
Crack!
A guard swung his double-bladed axe at the guard next to him. This was exactly what Kang Seol wanted.
“Krrrr…”
The guard, excited by the smell of blood, left his post and ran towards the settlement. Kang Seol looked around and quietly entered the treasure vault. As he went inside a little, a voice came from within.
“Too late! Stay away from me! Something’s wrong with my body! Go tell Jamad and the brothers…”
The Rock Tusk Tribe appointed a troll who didn’t belong to any faction as the treasure keeper. That was their rule. The treasure keeper was an excellent warrior, but much weaker than the five brothers. His body convulsed, he foamed at the mouth, and he turned to look at Kang Seol.
“Krrrr…”
The treasure keeper had already succumbed to madness, and as soon as he saw Kang Seol, he charged at him like a thunderbolt.
“Karuna!”
Whoosh, thud!
The troll, with its spear held firmly, glared at Kang Seol’s neck with its red eyes. And then, he thrust his spear at it.
Clang!
But the attack was unsuccessful. A black shadow had parried the treasure keeper’s spear with its sword.
“Krrk… Krrrrk!”
Kang Seol said to Karuna with a dark smile, “Kill him.”
Karuna nodded and attacked the treasure keeper. A battle ensued. In conclusion, no matter how strong the treasure keeper was, he was no match for Karuna, who had been an apostle of the moon.
Karuna, a monster that could not be defeated in the early stages of the game. Even a monster meant for a party hunt was no match for Karuna’s clone in terms of stats.
‘If Karuna had been in his original body, he would have killed a troll like this with a single blow…’
At his current level, he could probably defeat one of the five brothers, except for Jamad.
Since it was a clone and not his original body, the battle lasted for a dozen or so exchanges, and the troll protecting the treasure was finally pierced in the neck by the Moonlight Sword.
“Gah… kahak…”
– Wow lol, he just took over the vault.
– He’s probably going to do something with that Rock Fist, isn’t he?
– Wow, shit; this is ridiculous; the Rock Fist isn’t some kind of Infinity Gauntlet, lol
– Right! Are you kidding me lol
– Kidding two! Number end!
– This bastard?
Kang Seol held the Rock Key and was lost in thought for a moment. After assassinating the treasure keeper and obtaining the key to the treasure vault, this was another turning point.
‘A choice will appear.’
As he approached the tightly locked stone wall with the Rock Key in his hand, a message appeared as if it had been waiting.
This time, there were almost ten choices. This Rock Key was a major turning point.
‘Taking the Rock Fist is one option.’
Open the vault and obtain the Rock Fist before anyone notices. There were definitely players who had thought of this before.
‘The result was the worst.’
As I said before, the Rock Fist was a sacred object of the Rock Tusk Tribe. The five factions had united to retrieve it, and the player who had taken the Rock Fist had been torn into five pieces.
‘This is the turning point for a solo clear. The correct answer is…’
Kang Seol acted according to option 2. He only took the Rock Key and did not open the vault or steal the Rock Fist. He finished his action and left the clearing, quickly moving to a location in the settlement where he could see the treasure vault.
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A short while later, the Rock Tusk leaders arrived at the treasure vault one after another.
While many of the tribe members were engulfed in madness and engaged in a tragic fratricide, the reason they had come here was because of the news of the treasure keeper’s death.
They had learned of his death through shamanism and had come to this place. The youngest of the five brothers, the earth shaman Makgata.
The fourth, the gravel shaman Trogo. The third, the mud shaman Miyam. The second, the rock shaman Kron. And the first, the mountain shaman Jamad.
“What is this! What is going on in the settlement!”
“The treasure keeper is dead! One of you is behind this!”
They spoke in the order they arrived. Only Jamad listened to their conversation silently. And when he realized that the Rock Key had been stolen, he said in a heavy voice, “Break it down.”
They began to break down the entrance of the vault to check the most important thing.
Crack!
Crash!
All sorts of shamanistic spells were unleashed, destroying the structure that protected the vault.
“Haaaaah!”
Jamad finally used a giant rock shamanistic spell to blow open the entrance of the vault.
Kabooooom—!
The tremor was so strong that even Kang Seol, who was far away, could feel it. The leaders left their deputies and went inside to check the vault. At that moment, Kang Seol was sneering at them.
‘No matter how much you search, you won’t find anything wrong.’
Since he hadn’t stolen anything, there was nothing missing. They wouldn’t find any stolen items.
‘That’s the flaw.’
There are no stolen items. That will now drive them mad.
“Who! Who did this despicable thing?”
“It wasn’t me! Jamad, it was you! You’re trying to cause chaos to eliminate us and establish a reign of terror, aren’t you!”
“That makes sense!”
“Oh! So you were planning to steal the Rock Fist and murder your brothers! How sacrilegious!”
“Do you really think things will go your way? Even though the ancestors bound us with the curse of brotherhood!”
The five brothers began to suspect each other. As each one vehemently denied it to avoid suspicion, the other brothers pretended to have given up on their suspicions, but they were still suspicious. And the most suspected was Jamad.
It might have been that they were using suspicion as a pretext to wield the blade of jealousy. Jamad was undeniably the strongest and noblest of the brothers. But unlike their words, they did not act rashly.
For now, the Rock Fist was still in its place, and no other stolen items were confirmed. The poison of suspicion was cast upon the brothers, along with the madness that had spread throughout the tribe.
“First, we will subdue the rioting tribe members and then seek a solution!”
The five brothers left the security of the clearing to the soldiers who were in a relatively stable state and left the place.
‘So far, it’s going according to plan.’
The Rock Key was a special item with a shamanistic spell on it. It would take several days to make a replacement.
‘And without the key, you have to break down the vault.’
The vault was destroyed. In fact, except for the guards, there was no means to protect the Rock Fist. The broken vault would continue to bother the five brothers.
What if someone steals it? What if another brother breaks the rules and takes the item by force…
They wouldn’t be able to do anything with these thoughts. Suspicion had been sown in everyone’s hearts.
The tribe members who had lost their minds and were attacking each other, and the traces of an attack found at the treasure vault. Even in this bad situation, no leader would think that the tribe would collapse.
‘Except for one…’
Kang Seol knew the progression of the Five Fraternal Brothers adventure inside and out. In this adventure, if you escalated the situation this far, someone bold would act first.
‘…He’s here.’
Swoosh.
A guard recognized someone and became wary.
“Lord Jamad?”
Jamad, the eldest of the leaders, disappeared into the vault, guided by the guard. Before his brothers could move, he had acted first.
‘He’s going to take the Rock Fist.’
The crisis of the tribe was his crisis. Taking the Rock Fist was his way of preparing for the coming threat, having confirmed the poison of suspicion that had spread among his fake brothers.
‘As expected, he’s the most dangerous leader.’
Kang Seol nodded at his disappearing back and moved for the next stage of the adventure. It was time to light the final fuse of this battle.
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