Chapter 118

“Huh.”
Letting out a short sigh, Ming Hu turned his attention away from the palace and began to pick up the dropped items.
-You have earned the Mark of the Advanced Gargoyle Knight.
-You’ve acquired an advanced marble sculpture with life.
Ming Hu thought as he picked up the items.
‘How much will he summon.’
I was already nervous about how many of them Prominus, the boss here, would summon.
-You have earned the Intermediate Gargoyle Knight’s Mark.
-You’ve mastered a low-level marble piece with life.
After picking up all the items, Ming Hu closed his inventory and opened the quest window.
<Dark Knight Prominence
In the center of the Denva Plains lies the Black Castle, home to countless stone soldiers and knights and their supposed king, the Dark Knight Prominus. Defeat Prominus, his gargoyles, knights, and soldiers so that the upcoming siege of the Black Castle can be successful!
[Dark Knight Prominence: 0 / 1]
[Advanced Statue Article: 3 / ???]
[Intermediate Gargoyle Articles: 53 / ???]
[Lesser Gargoyle Articles: 101/???]
[Superior Gargoyle Soldier: 303 / ???]
[Intermediate Gargoyle Soldier: 357 / ???]
[Lesser Gargoyle Soldier: 404 / ???]
Difficulty Level: A
Quest Reward: ???
After checking the number of stone knights and soldiers he had captured, Ming Hu closed the quest window and began walking back toward the palace.
* * * * *
A party was hunting 3 mid-level gargoyle knights.
-Oh, my soldiers!
-Oh, my soldiers!
"Eye contact! Taunt wave! Acronym super armor!"
"Yes, to your unyielding strength, Super Armor!"
They were hunting mid-level gargoyles with such reliability that you wouldn't think they were hunting mid-level gargoyles.
"Ice Blast!"
"Ice Shot!"
"Ice Cutter!"
"AoE Taunt!"
"Goma!"
The Gargoyle Soldiers summoned by the relentless skill were quickly destroyed, and shortly afterward, the mid-level Gargoyle Knights were destroyed, ending the hunt.
"We'll take a short break."
Ramus, the party leader and tank, spoke to the party members and began collecting the dropped items.
-You have earned the Intermediate Gargoyle Knight's Mark.
-You have mastered an intermediate marble sculpture with life.
.
.
-You have mastered intermediate marble sculpting.
-You have earned the Intermediate Gargoyle Soldier's Mark.
After collecting all the items, Ramus approached the party.
"But who was that user earlier?"
"He was clearly a first-time user."
"I think it's an unofficial ranker."
"It's the same unofficial ranker, but the user is different."
The party was discussing a certain player. Their conversation reminded Ramus of the player who had passed them earlier and gone inside.
'A single shot from a mid-level gargoyle knight…'
Despite his shabby appearance, the user destroyed a mid-level Gargoyle Knight in one hit.
"I didn't even realize I used a skill…
I wasn't sure, but it didn't look like he used a skill, either; it looked like a punch, a flat hit. That's when I realized.
-Fabian: Mr. Lamoureux, we're almost there.
-Fabian to Fabian: Ah! We'll be ready then.
-Fabian: See you later.
-Dear Fabian: Yes!
At the whisper, Ramus looked at the party and said.
"Guys, the users I told you about are almost here."
"Oh, so now we're going to go get the senior gargoyle?"
"Yeah. I'll just go hunt for them and then I'll get it fixed up and be on my way."
Soon afterward, the gargoyle knight was regenerated. Ramus's party immediately hunted down the Gargoyle Knight, and at the end of the hunt, Fabian's party, who was supposed to be here, arrived.
"Welcome!"
"It's been a while!"
"Nice to meet you~"
After a quick hello, they walked inside and started talking.
"Hey, you must have switched equipment!"
"Yeah, I just switched it out, but is that armor you didn't see?"
"Haha, I only bought one this time."
As they chatted and walked back inside, they soon realized something wasn't right.
"But… that's weird."
"Yeah…"
Ramus, who was in the lead, said to Fabien. Fabian nodded his head in agreement with Ramus.
"I should be able to see the gargoyle knight by now."
"Hmmm."
Given the distance they had already traveled, they should have run into a higher-ranked Gargoyle Knight. However, they hadn't encountered a higher-ranked gargoyle knight in all their travels.
Jumbled
"That's definitely weird…"
A little further in, they realized that something was definitely wrong. Fabian scratched his head and said, "I don't know.
"Hasn't this happened before?"
"Oh, we've had this happen before, briefly."
As Fabian says, this has happened only once before, in the past.
"But…"
A choked up Ramus continued, thinking back to that time.
"I don't think anyone would go into the palace unless they were crazy…huh?"
As he said this, Ramus tilted his head slightly, as if remembering something, and looked off into the distance at the palace with a puzzled expression.
"You can't be…"
"…What's wrong?"
"Oh. That's. Um…"
Ramus stared at the palace in disbelief, then looked at Fabian and opened his mouth to speak.
"This is… Um, I don't know what to say, except that I have a hunch."
"…?"
"I saw some pretty shocking users before you got here."
"Shocking users?"
Fabian questioned, and Ramus opened his mouth to speak.
"Yeah, I don't know if he used a skill, but he killed a mid-level gargoyle knight in one hit."
"What? One shot at a gargoyle knight…"
Halt.
Hearing Ramus's words, Fabian paused for a moment as a thought occurred to him.
"…No way?
Fabien opened his mouth in disbelief.
"Do you happen to remember what the user looked like?"
"Well, it was… I don't really remember the details, but it wasn't good enough to come here. The weapon was a really big knuckle. Oh, now that I think about it, OPG, OPG."
"…"
From what Rasmus said, Fabien realized that this was the user Rasmus was talking about. He hadn't seen it with his own eyes, so he couldn't be sure, but he was already convinced.
"That's ridiculous.
Fabian looked at the palace in disbelief.
* * * * *
Heading toward the palace, killing countless gargoyles and soldiers, Ming Hu stopped in his tracks when he spotted a superior gargoyle knight.
"Now… . just one or two more hunts."
Ming Hu muttered to himself as he looked at the entrance to the palace behind the senior stone knight.
Sigh
Ming Hu smiled as he turned his gaze from the entrance of the palace to the senior stone knight.
"Lunatic"
[Gain 50% attack speed for 1 minute].
[Gain 50% movement speed for 1 minute].
After using Madness to increase his attack speed and movement speed, Ming Hu began to run towards the stone knight.
-Hail, my knights!
-Hail, my knights!
The more advanced gargoyle knights began to summon gargoyle soldiers. After a while, the summoned gargoyle knights began to summon gargoyle soldiers. But unlike before, Ming Hu paid no attention to the summoned gargoyles. Ming Hu opened his mouth to speak when he saw a high-ranking gargoyle knight running toward him.
"Moving Strike."
With a moving strike, Ming Hu moved to the front of the higher-ranked gargoyle knight, who was a bit closer, and threw a punch.
Puck! Bam!
At the same time, the gargoyle knight was stunned and stopped moving, and Ming Hu opened his mouth to shout.
"Life Explosion!"
[Gain 20% increased damage for 20 seconds].
[Gain 20% attack speed for 20 seconds].
Woohoo! Bam!
The wave spread out, shattering the shield. As if he'd been waiting for it, Ming Hu threw his fist out once more.
Puck! Tsk tsk.
With that, the gargoyle began to crumble without a single attack. Ming Hu turned his attention away from the crumbling statue and swung his sword at him, but when he saw that the statue was stunned by the wave and stopped in its tracks, he quickly approached and punched the cracked shield.
Bam!
Squeak!
[10% Physical Armor reduction for 10 seconds].
The moment Ming Hu threw his punch, the unstunned gargoyle knight swung his sword, and the shield broke, allowing the gargoyle knight's sword to slam into Ming Hu's shoulder. Of course, Ming Hu didn't care, and he punched again.
-Drop…
Puck! Tsk tsk.
With the two high-level Gargoyles defeated, Ming Hu looked at the summoned Gargoyles.
-Come on, my soldiers!
.
.
-Come on, my soldiers!
The gargoyle knights began to run toward Ming Hu, leading their gargoyle soldiers. Ming Hu parried the flying rocks and arrows and steadily killed the gargoyle knights and soldiers.
Puck! Tsk tsk.
"Huh."
After defeating the last of the high-ranking stone soldiers with the staff, Ming Hu let out a short sigh and began to walk around and pick up items.
-You have earned the Mark of the Advanced Gargoyle Soldier.
-You've mastered a low-level marble piece with life.
.
.
-You've acquired an advanced marble sculpture with life.
"Huh, let's go."
After collecting the items, Ming Hu began to walk back toward the palace.
"Oh…oh…"
The palace drew nearer and nearer. Ming Hu exclaimed in admiration and looked to see if there were any gargoyles guarding the path. But when he came within sight of the palace gates, he saw no gargoyles.
"Hmph."
Realizing that the stone knight he had just captured was the last of the stone knights, Ming Hu ran over with a wide smile on his face.
"We're finally here."
Arriving in front of the palace, Ming Hu took one look at the palace and reached out to open the gate.
[Would you like to enter a palace where you are waiting for your master].
The moment I touched the doorknob, a message appeared.
"A palace waiting for its master?
Ming Hu shook his head at the message, opened the door, and stepped inside.
Pinched Jaw
As Ming Hu entered, the door closed behind him. But once inside, what he saw made him grab the doorknob again.
"Oh, no, not this one…"
After muttering that, Ming Hu furrowed his brow and looked around the palace.
"How many are there…"
Inside the palace, an enormous number of stone knights gazed out at Ming Hu, numbering in excess of 100.
"This is really too much…"
That wasn't the only problem. The huge number of stone knights looking at Ming Hu were all high-level stone knights. I looked around again, wondering if I'd made a mistake, but I hadn't. There were no intermediate or low-level gargoyles in sight. No, it looked like I was about to see them.