Chapter 231 : The Great Seal (1)

Hansoo watched the man standing up while dusting himself off.

He could sense anybody within the red powder.

So he knew.

That this man was not a player.

Since there was no a player would’ve trembled from head to toe from the deathly aura.

One’s deathly aura was created for survival and to threaten others.

One who hadn’t been in life threatening situations couldn’t squeeze out proper a deadly aura.

This was why the players had a hard time distinguishing adventurers but adventurers could figure each other out quite quickly.

Since they just needed to know if somebody had a deadly aura or reacted to one.

The man in front of his eyes spoke with an uncomfortable expression.

“…What are you going to do with me?”

He had seen a lot of people in his life.

And he was clear about one thing.

That even other adventurers did not guarantee his safety.

There were a lot of ways to survive in this world.

And the ones who are confident in surviving will only face more hardships.

Which increased the weaker they were compared to the other party.

The man who had been staring at Christopher and Hansoo, Abanoph, clenched his teeth and spoke.

“Please just let me go. I was merely pretending to be a player within the other players.”

It was different for other places but one thing was clear for those who were at the Green Zone.

Respect each other’s territory.

Because they had to hide from the players, there was nothing good for them if they interacted or fought with each other.

Of course grouping up wasn’t good as well.

Since it was easier to get caught if they stuck together.

Pretending to not have seen each other.

Pretending to not notice each other.

They survived until the next zone like this.

Until they reached the logout zone.

‘Or calmly stay trapped in here like me forever.’

Abanoph sighed as he looked at the man in front of his eyes.

This much strength was more than enough to become a formidable force in their village.

But for him to be with people on the blacklist.

Even if these guys had multiple tens of lives, it wouldn’t be enough.

Nobody in this world wanted to interact with somebody on the blacklist.

Since it was not something they could live through even if they fought together.

They would just die together.

It would be for the better for them to mind their own business and to just go the way they were going.

Christopher raised his short sword towards Abanoph.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

This man was suspicious.

Everything from the fact that he was hiding within the players as an adventurer to roaming around this Great Maze.

‘This guy’s up to something.’

As Christopher aimed his short sword at Abanoph, his surviving underlings surrounded Abanaoph as well.

And Abanoph sighed as he looked at Christopher.

‘It’s always the weaker ones.’

Abanoph looked at Christopher with an expression telling Christopher that he was being insolent.

For him to raise his weapon against himself while being hurt like that.

It had been over a year and a half since he had broken through the Green Road and arrived at this place.

These guys were just about level 200.

To him, who was at level 215, they were merely cute.

Even more so because hints of being an adventurer came out from each of their movements.

He would win against such a group of weak people any day.

The issue was the other guy.

Abanoph cautiously spoke towards Hansoo.

“Please deal with these guys. Speak quickly if you want something. Stop watching from the side please.”

Hansoo spoke out.

“Are you from the Ant Tunnel?”

The moment Abanoph heard the words Ant Tunnel.

He flinched and then his expression turned into one of rage.

“…You bastard. You knew already huh…”

Ant Tunnel.

Its existence alone shouldn’t be known.

Since it was the final sanctuary for adventurers who could not run away anymore.

Christopher watched the reaction of Abanoph and Hansoo, figured out the reason and then made a shocked face.

‘…That was real?’

He had heard the rumors.

That there was a place here where bug players lived together.

He had thought it was a fake rumor since nobody had found it yet but for it to be true.

Christopher spoke towards Abanoph who was glaring at them with a tremendous amount of animosity.

“Why are you so angry? We’re being chased around like you as well. Aren’t we comrades?”

“Comrades huh.”

Abanoph smirked.

Though there may be rumors, the members of Ant Tunnel were extremely careful about their existence.

Even with other adventurers.

Since it was not an oasis for all adventurers.

The only ones who could come into the Ant Tunnel were those who were strong and whom people like Abanoph himself, the , judged worthy.

Of course not having been caught by the Bug Killers was obvious.

But for people on the blacklist to know the existence of his village.

He could not go to the village with these people.

‘Shit. Where did we leak the intel?’

Abanoph clenched his hands, gulped down his saliva and then glared at Hansoo.

If they even knew the name then it was pointless trying to fake it.

Abanoph suddenly started to breathe in a rough manner while looking for an opportunity to leave.

“Phew. Fuck.”

‘There are no open spots. Fuck.’

He had thought he might be able to leave with his movement artifact, .

Since he had thought that the powerful man had used quite a lot of mana from the previous skill.

But it was a huge miscalculation.

The moment he tried to run away, a part of his body would’ve been pierced.

Abanoph continued to breath roughly as he carefully asked Hansoo.

“…What do you want?”

Abanoph was ready to commit suicide.

The Players treated this as a game so they didn’t do anything harsh such as torture.

But adventurers were different.

Since his opponent treated him as a human, they could be much more vicious to him.

But Hansoo merely shook his head towards the man.

“Nothing. Just go.”

“….!”

Abanoph flinched at that unexpected answer.

He had thought that this man would’ve tried to gain some intel out of him.

Even more so since he was an adventurer who had gotten onto the blacklist and needed a place to hide.

But that was for somebody who needed to hide and not for Hansoo who was going to cause even greater problems.

Ant Tunnel.

Those who hid in the corners of this Great Maze in order to survive.

He didn’t know where they hid or how strong they were.

People who were stronger than his expectation might be hiding there or a small elite group might be there.

This was why they weren’t a part of his plan.

He couldn’t plan something out with such an unstable factor.

‘Well. It doesn’t seem like he would take us to the village… He wouldn’t fight for us even if we drag him in.’

Hansoo thought up to this point and emptied his thoughts about Ant Tunnel.

He didn’t have time for this.

“We’ll leave so be careful.”

Hansoo, as he was about to walk away, whispered to the man Abanoph.

“It seems like you’re a watchman so go back to the village and report this. Increase the number of watchmen, it’ll become more dangerous from now on.”

“…!”

Abanoph first made a shocked expression at Hansoo’s words and then made a helpless expression.

Knowing the name of the village was one thing but for him to even know the social structure.

‘…What the hell.’

Abanoph pondered for a moment and then started to run away towards a direction.

Christopher carefully asked Hansoo while watching Abanoph running away.

“Aren’t we going to chase?”

As long as one had a home, they would return to it.

And though he didn’t know what that ‘home’ was, it would be a useful place for them to hide temporarily at.

Since it was clear how good they were at hiding from the fact that they hadn’t been caught up until now.

Hansoo shook his head at those words.

“He won’t go back to the village right away. He would take a tremendous detour. Or use a different method of communication.”

“True…”

“We’re going down.”

Christopher saw Hansoo stand up as he created the arrow in his hand again.

This arrow would easily allow him to find the way down to the next floor.

Elenoia whispered to Christopher with an expression of reassurance.

“It seems like things won’t be that dangerous at least. He’s really crazy. It seems like…It seems like the players won’t be an issue.”

Elenoia spoke while stealing a glance at Hansoo.

A man who had destroyed hundreds of players in just an instant while they had a hard time with merely a dozen or so.

Of course Hansoo looked tired from that feat as well but with this, there wouldn’t be collisions from players for a while.

And the fact that the maze’s 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors were easy, from what they heard at least, reassured her even more.

‘The players above won’t be able to come down that easily as well.’

Even if players rushed in because of him being in the blacklist, there was no way of them figuring out where they would be since this place was a maze.

And if they came in small groups, Hansoo would just deal with them.

Hansoo shook his head as he head Elenoia’s whispers.

“Only the players inside this place.”

“…Huh?”

The ones who caused a threat were never the weaklings.

It was always the small amount of elites.

Ooooong.

Hansoo clutched the reverberating skull and then looked upwards to the ceiling of the maze.

…………………………………………………

“What! Why won’t you let us in!”

“No entry! Go to other areas!”

“Fuck!”

Flame Warrior-V made a helpless expression as he was leading an entire group of bug killers.

“…What the hell.”

All the NPC forces who managed the War Fortress had surrounded the Great Maze.

Though they couldn’t go in because they feared something but they were vigilant in keeping the entrance closed.

And the small magic brigades that came over from the capital over the Warp Gates were setting up countless suspicious looking magic seals all over the entrance of the maze.

And the players were in daze as they saw this.

“Woah. Horn of the Ainos. Such an expensive item…They’re just grinding it and throwing it around…Should I just cause a bit of trouble and deal with it for those items?”

“You’re crazy. Damn. When is the level limit going to be released? We can just do anything as long as we are caught up in level.”

The players joked around as they saw the countless artifacts and materials the magic brigade had brought but nobody could jump in.

And the mumbles of the crowd got louder.

“What the hell is in there for them to not allow us to pass through?”

“I know right.”

The NPCs were using such expensive materials to reinforce the seal covering the maze.

They were trying to completely seal the inside.

As the people looked at the entrance of the Great Maze in question.

Flame Warrior-V watched the NPCs creating the strange formation around the Great Maze and made an expression of disbelief.

Level 330.

Arthus Krancheska.

An NPC who had been titled the greatest genius of the Kingdom and had risen to the position of the vice general of the magic bridge merely at the age of 35.

That guy was somebody who was rare to see unless something happened with other countries or kingdoms.

Flame Warrior-V wouldn’t have known if he hadn’t participated in the 3rd Great Kingdom War of the past.

He was the man who had burned away hundreds of players who had participated in the Kingdom quest with merely a wave of his hand.

If somebody like him went in then a problem will occur with the mission he had been given.

‘Even he came? What the hell is in there for somebody like him to go in…’

Flame Warrior-V mumbled quietly as he looked at Krancheska who was watching the surrounding players as if they were bugs and at the maze with rage.

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