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“Huh? Three to four?”

“Yes . ”

Kamian nodded . Soo Hyuk reopened the quest window that he had just closed and examined the current status of the quest .

Once the Koma Guild checked that there were six magic circles, their quest will be completed . But if the circles confirmed were four rather than three, then Soo Hyuk’s quest would change altogether .

“Eh?”

After checking the quest Soo Hyuk was quite shocked .

The updated quest was .

〈The Troubled Underground Waterway〉

In the underground sewers of Hadrac, chimeras suddenly began appearing in the waterways . Ian and Alex made the decision to clean up the underground waterways, but the chimeras were strong and possessed powerful poison . In the end, the expedition failed, and the most they could achieve was to prevent the chimeras from escaping . Clean the underground waterways of the chimeras and identify their source!

[Chimera Summoning Circle A: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle B: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle C: 0 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle D: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle E: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle F: 0 / 1]

[Chimera: 202 / ??? ]

[Quest reward: S-Rank Promotion, ??? ]

Kamian was right, there was a change . The summoning circle B, went from zero to one, confirming it was destroyed .

“My quest status updated too . It looks like another magic circle has been destroyed . ”

Soo Hyuk said to Kamian . That single 1 meant that the conditions were met and the Summoning circle B was destroyed, he was lost in thought .

‘What’s going on?’

How could the Summoning circle B be destroyed?

‘Is someone else with us in here?’

He thought of a possibility that someone else might have entered this place . The Underground Waterways didn’t have a limit to the entries, so it was likely others could have entered this place .

“Who else could be here beside us?”

Ketoto, who was listening to the conversation, butted in .

“I think so, too . I don’t think other than us…”

Kamian also had the same thought as Ketoto .

“Let’s get going . ”

Soo Hyuk, who had to stop because of the sudden change in the quest, began to pick up his pace for the rest of the journey . Looking at the map, he said .

“Uh, sorry . ”

Soo Hyuk said .

“I don’t know which of the remaining places was destroyed . ”

They had three other destinations to go, suddenly, one of them was destroyed without their notice . In other words, they had no reason to go to that place . But he didn’t know which of the place was destroyed .

“You’re right . ”

Kamian nodded, understanding the situation .

“But who is it?”

Kamian, in his thoughts, asked . Who could it be? Who could destroy the Magic Circle? Then suddenly just as they were moving and having such a discussion .

“Huh?”

Kamian exclaimed .

”…”

Soo Hyuk was startled at Kamian’s sudden outburst . And at that moment, he felt deja vu .

“Soo Hyuk . ”

Kamian called Soo Hyuk, pulling him out of his thoughts .

“No way…”

The same thing happened again .

“Yes . ”

Seeing Kamian’s nod, without asking any question Soo Hyuk opened his quest window and checked .

〈The Troubled Underground Waterway〉

In the underground sewers of Hadrac, chimeras suddenly began appearing in the waterways . Ian and Alex made the decision to clean up the underground waterways, but the chimeras were strong and possessed powerful poison . In the end, the expedition failed, and the most they could achieve was to prevent the chimeras from escaping . Clean the underground waterways of the chimeras and identify their source!

[Chimera Summoning Circle A: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle B: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle C: 0 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle D: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle E: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle F: 1 / 1]

[Chimera: 202 / ??? ]

[Quest reward: S-Rank Promotion, ??? ]

‘Again?’

This time the Magic circle F had gone from zero to one .

“Another one has been destroyed?”

Kamian asked at the same time that Soo Hyuk was checking the quest window .

“Yes, you are right . Looks like another one has been destroyed . ”

While answering Kamian’s question, Soo Hyuk started to think .

‘It’s good, but…’

If this went on, they wouldn’t have anything to lose . Meaning, no more wasting time while moving from one destination from the other . In other words, their time would be saved .

‘If this goes on…’

Soo Hyuk might have one problem .

‘I don’t think I’ll level up to 200 . ’

That’s what he wanted to reach . He calculated by the end of the quest; his level would shoot up to 200 . But, judging from the current situation, it would be nearly impossible to reach 200 .

Now only one spot was left…

And he didn’t think just by clearing one magic circle would level him up to 200 .

Urgh!

Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but groan a little .

‘Who the hell is this?’

Who is it? Who on earth is destroying the Magic Circles?

“Which spot?”

Soo Hyuk stopped his thinking and focused on Kamian’s words .

“Looking at the speed, they didn’t destroy just one but at least two . ”

Of course, the magic circles were not anywhere near to each other . The distance between them was quite large . However, this unknown group of people destroyed two of them consequently .

Concluding that, there has to be more than one group who were destroying the circles .

“Could they be the Rime and the Drak Guild?”

It was Garan who answered Kamian’s suspicion .

“It could be . ”

Kamian nodded and said he had a point .

“What do you think, Soo Hyuk?”

Kamian asked Soo Hyuk . With the sudden question, he was pulled out from his thoughts, opened his mouth, and said .

“I don’t think it’s either of them . ”

Soo Hyuk had a different opinion altogether . It was neither the Rime Guild nor the Drak Guild .

“They’re the ones who gave me this quest . ”

Ian and Alex, the two Guild masters of the Rime and Drak Guilds were the ones who requested Soo Hyuk with such a quest . It wouldn’t make sense for them to suddenly make a move . It doesn’t make sense . Besides, if they were the ones to make a move, they would tell him in advance .

“Oh, they were the ones who commissioned this quest . ”

Hearing Soo Hyuk’s answer, Kamian concluded .

“So, they are ruled out . ”

Kamian said .

“Well, what about…”

This time Ketoto came up with an option .

“What about the mages at the entrance? I think I saw them when I was with Soo Hyuk . ”

Those mages Ketoto mentioned were the ones that belonged to the Hadrac branch of Tower of Poison . Rhino and his group of mages, Ketoto reminded them .

Just as they were all engrossed in the discussion of who could it be, K-Cross stopped walking and raised his hand to signal them . Soo Hyuk stopped in his steps, watching K-Cross .

“There’s a chimera ahead . Looks like this magic circle hasn’t been destroyed yet . ”

That was the reason why K-Cross alerted them as he saw a chimera ahead of him .

‘Thank god, I’m glad to hear that . ’

Soo Hyuk inwardly sighed at K-Cross’s confirmation thinking . He didn’t know if he should feel relieved or ashamed at such thoughts .

This seems to be the magic circle C, which has yet to be destroyed .

“Gomblin’s (1) uses sting as their form of poison . But, unlike Foblins, their poison attacks are not their main focus, rather they focus on their strength . The one who attacks is the bear . ”

Kamian said .

The chimeras summoned from the Summoning circle were the combination of Bears and Goblins .

As the summoning circle D was destroyed, the Gomblins from circle D were met with the Foblins of magic circle C .

In other words, they would have had to fight one kind at a time, but now, they had to fight both the Foblins and the Gomblins together, as they were being summoned by the same circle .

“Is there anything we need to be extra careful about?”

Kamian nodded his head, saying yes . When Soo Hyuk saw the nod, he moved towards K-Cross saying .

“I’ll take the lead from here . ”

Saying that, he took the lead and continued from the spot where they stopped walking forward .

‘Two of them . ’

He didn’t need to walk far before he saw the Foblin and the Gomblin in front . There were two of them, one of each kind .

“Flame Wall!”

Soo Hyuk was the one to first initiate the attack, and cast ‘Flame Wall’ towards them . Not being able to dodge the massive flame, both the Foblin and the Gomblin screamed in pain .

-Argh! It’s hot!

-It hurts!

-Aaoouh!

Soo Hyuk, who attacked first, heard the scream and thought .

‘So this is a Gomblin . ’

If what Kamian said was right, then the one who attacks would be the bear, not the goblin . So, he was wondering if this chimera could narrow the distance between them like the Worc .

Contrary to what he thought, however, the Gomblin, like the Foblin, didn’t have any resistance to his attacks .

Soon, the drop window appeared, making Soo Hyuk stop his attacks .

They resumed their walk with Soo Hyuk leading the way, followed by K-Cross, then by Kamian, Garan, and Ketoto . They maintained this 1:1:3 formation .

With that formation, they headed towards the Summoning circle .

[Level Up!]

A notification popped up .

Seeing the notification, Soo Hyuk couldn’t contain his smile and looked forward .

-Argh! It hurts!

-It stings!!

In front of them were the Foblins and the Gomblins who were screaming in fear as they were stung with poison .

‘There’s a lot of them . ’

Is it because two different types of chimeras came out of the same summoning circle? There were a lot more Chimeras in front than when they attacked after destroying the magic circle .

‘If I could kill them…’

Thinking Soo Hyuk smiled .

‘I don’t have to worry anymore . ’

A large number of chimeras meant there would be a lot of experience he could gain . Previously, when he learned the two magic circles were destroyed by someone else, he was quite disappointed . Now, looking at the current situation, he was no longer disappointed .

It was just then .

“W-Wait a minute!”

Ketoto, who was at the back, shouted .

“…”

With his sudden shout, not only Soo Hyuk but also the other members of the Koma Guild were startled .

“Uh…”

Ketoto, who suddenly attracted four different pairs of eyes, was slightly worried .

“I think there is someone behind us . ”

“What?”

Kamian was the first to respond .

“Behind us?”

“Yes . ”

Ketoto nodded at Kamian’s question .

“As the other magic circles were destroyed, I installed a tracking stone behind us, just in case they might come here . ”

Silence followed Ketoto’s answer .

Breaking the silence, Soo Hyuk suggested .

“Should we take a rest here for a while?”

“Okay! Let’s stay in our position and be ready . ”

Kamian agreed with Soo Hyuk . They didn’t know if the other party was their friend or foe .

What if they were an enemy? Perhaps as they continued forward, they would be caught up while dealing with the chimeras . The possibilities were endless .

Even if they had to wait, it would be better for them to figure out who was behind them and they were at a good spot to wait .

Didn’t they have enough to spare as they were destroying the magic circles?

Soo Hyuk and the Koma Guild members patiently watched the path where they might come out from .

“Oh, I can see them . ”

K-Cross updated .

“There are five of them . One of them is arriving really fast, but I don’t think he is a monster, given that I can’t observe him through my ‘Hawk’s Eye’ . ”

The skill was diverse, however, that was only when dealing with monsters . If the target wasn’t a monster, then the skill wouldn’t be capable of finding anything .

As soon as K-Cross finished his sentence, they heard hurried footsteps in front of them and after a while .

“Soo Hyuk!”

”…”

As soon as a familiar voice was heard, Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but be embarrassed .

“I think he knows you . ”

Kamian said . Of course, the shout wasn’t just heard by Soo Hyuk; it was heard by the Koma Guild too .

“Yes, I think so . ”

Embarrassed, Soo Hyuk wondered .

‘Who is it?’

He knew the voice sounded familiar, however, he couldn’t figure out who’s it was, he didn’t even have a guess for someone he could bet on .

No one came to his mind . Who could this person be?

Seeing the man, Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but be surprised .

‘…Pavian?’

The man was none other than Pavian, the Spiremaster of Poison .

Translator and Editor Notes:

1: Gomgoblin is a mix between a bear and a goblin . The Gom comes from the Korean translation of bear meaning, bear=Gom, it is the same thing, just sounds better than Beargoblin .