Vol 9 Chapter 5

ACT 5 Different World? Netherworld?

Translator Notes: Based on this chapter, it seems that once the door to the dimension is opened, it stays opened and other people can go through without the key.

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“Now there’s a little bit more money to spare.”

Raiden leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh. He had been the Lord for 3 weeks. It had been a terrible time. There was 0 gold in the castle’s public funds. In addition, Ark had given all the public funds to the residents of the castle inside of fixing the infrastructure.  Therefore the estate was already on the verge of bankruptcy when Raiden became the Lord.

‘That Ark bastard…….!’

Raiden snarled as he recalled how Ark had fooled them. However, he couldn’t go tear Ark apart. Although he wanted to chase after Ark, he was still the Lord of Silvana. If he left it as it was, the infrastructure would be inoperable and half the territory seized by the government. In the end, Raiden had to raise the taxes to prevent this from happening. Then the residents started complaining.

“The previous Lord gave us a bonus for completing the trading post. But this one raised the taxes as soon as he became the Lord! Isn’t it terrible?”

“Why are they so different when it comes to money management?”

“We’re not going to be the slaves of the Lord!”

“If he continues treating us like this then I won’t endure it anymore!”

‘God dammit, I have to raise the taxes because of the former Lord!’

Raiden inwardly screamed. How on earth was he supposed to rectify what Ark did? Because of that, Raiden needed to raise the taxes. Yet he received unfair abuse and complaints from the residents until he was almost in tears. But he didn’t dare tell the residents that. No, he knew that the NPCs didn’t consider him that highly based on Berami’s attitude.

“It’s difficult. If this continues then there really might be an uprising.”

In New World, the ‘rebellion’ system also existed. If he raised taxes too quickly or mishandled the infrastructure, his intimacy with the residents would fall. And once the intimacy fell below a certain amount, the residents would start to rebel. If he experienced a rebellion then it would be a serious issue. He couldn’t collect taxes while quelling the rebellion. But if he didn’t quell the rebellion then his estate would be in anarchy. If that happened then other guilds would be able to attack the castle without going through a formal siege. If other guilds flocked like bees towards Hermes, there was no guarantee that they could defend the castle. Eventually Raiden had no choice but to lower the taxes after a few days. But the immediate problem wasn’t the necessary funds. Raiden received information that the Grey Wings guild had bought the challenge rights and would siege the castle next.

‘Hang in there. It will be the end if I lose the castle!’

He had barely obtained the castle after paying Ark 4,000 gold and rare shoes. But was that all? In order to maintain the estate, he had to clean out all his savings and sold his car. If he lost the castle then he would vomit in a vase.  In addition, it was obvious that Hermes was having some problems. Raiden had to shake up the guild members for money to repair the castle walls and defense towers. Fortunately, he was able to repel the Grey Wings’ attack.  And after 10 days had passed, Raiden could finally take a break. The tax was lowered, the urgent funding issues solved and the Grey Wings’ power had weakened thanks to the failed siege. Of course there were numerous guilds in Silvana, but none of them were a threat except for the Grey Wings.

So after 20 days, the area finally managed to become moderately stable. But he had only barely managed to enter the safety zone.

“3 weeks! I poured a considerable amount of money into this estate during those 3 weeks!”

His anger rose again once he managed to rest. He didn’t receive any profits in those 3 weeks, only debt.

“That Ark bastard, I can’t forgive him for what he did!”

“Of course!”

Duke also exclaimed.

“When I think about how my shoes were stolen by that guy………”

Duke looked down at his leather shoes. Raiden had promised that he would buy better shoes after he became the Lord. However, Raiden was in a crisis situation where he had to sell his car to raise some money. In this situation, the guild couldn’t afford to buy Duke new shoes. Thanks to that, Duke was wearing shoes sold in shops. Although the shoes Raiden bought as an apology were still quite expensive, they couldn’t compare to his rare shoes.

“Recently the castle is operating on track. But we had to sacrifice so much to reach this point. And all this trouble was because of Ark. I can never forgive him!”

“I agree!”

The guild members shouted in unison.

“He deliberately tricked us.”

“That Ark will see that he can’t just mess around with the Hermes guild.”

“If I ever encounter him, I won’t be able to sleep until I’ve killed him many times.”

“But do we know where he is hiding?”

The guild members became gloomy at those words.

“He’s not an idiot and he would’ve already ran far away.”

“What if he crossed the border and entered another kingdom?”

“You don’t have to worry.”

Then Jewel interrupted with a confident face.

“Do you think I would’ve obediently handed him Duke’s shoes?”

“What do you mean?”

“Before handing over the shoes I used ‘Mana Perfume’ on it.”

“Mana Perfume?”

Jewel grinned and explained about Mana Perfume. Mana Perfume was an exclusive skill of Jewel’s class that could detect traces of mana left by a curse engraved on the item. If she used Mana Perfume and tracked it using ‘Memory of Perfume’ then Jewel would be able to track the item no matter the location. Of course, this curse didn’t appear in the information window. Since the item didn’t change while under the curse, it wasn’t easy for a user to distinguish. Jewel’s Mana Perfume was still an unknown skill. So a user wouldn’t notice anything strange even if they checked the item again. In fact, Mana Perfume was a curse a magician created after he got robbed by a chaotic player. Jewel used the curse and then handed the shoes to Ark. Jewel had a hostile relationship with Ark and saw a chance for revenge.

“It is possible to find him wherever he is in the game.”

“………….Then it’s decided.”

A bloody smile flashed on Duke’s mouth.

“I’ll teach him what it means to antagonize a pioneer.”

“I’ll regain my shoes.”

Raiden thought of something and unfolded his arms.

“The remaining question is who will go. It won’t be safe if Jewel tracks him alone……Duke?”

“Of course. I’m going no matter what.”

Duke growled and replied. Raiden judged that he couldn’t be stopped and nodded.

“Okay. But I still can’t be relieved with just two people. He also has his colleagues in Dark Eden. The war has ended so the NPC mercenaries won’t be with him anymore. So he’ll probably have 10 users with him.”

Raiden thought for a moment before nodding again.

“But I can’t just gather an excessive crowd to hunt Ark. Although the crisis has been handled, I can’t just assume that the situation is stable yet. Therefore I’ll ask for some pioneers outside Hermes to help Jewel and Duke.”

“Will the other pioneers listen to Raiden’s command?”

Yes, the Hermes guild had 30 pioneers. Naturally they didn’t have all the pioneers. There were hundreds of users called pioneers. And a number of the pioneers had superior skills and levels compared to Duke, Jewel and Raiden. Although Jewel and Duke were pioneers, they were only in the intermediate rank of pioneers. But most of the other pioneers went around high level hunting grounds by themselves and didn’t attract any attention. However, there were several pioneers that Raiden was acquaintance with and regularly kept in contact. And if they joined Duke and Jewel than 10 opponents would be nothing. No, even 20~30 enemies wouldn’t matter. Then Jewel snorted and said.

“They’re not necessary to beat Ark. I’m not going to just sit down and wait for them. That Ark bastard won’t be a match for me and Duke.  And those other guys that he gathered are only low level. Bringing a bunch of low level members from our guild will be enough to take care of them. The lower ranking members in our guild are not that weak.”

“Gathering the lower level members……..is that okay?”

“What do you mean? They’re more than enough against Ark.”

Jewel replied with a trivial laugh. Indeed, most of the Hermes guild had recently passed level 200. Excluding the pioneers, even the lower ranked guild members had an average level of 180~190. It wasn’t a standard to be worried about.

“Okay, although it is not necessary, that Ark had made an enemy of the Hermes guild. If possible, I would like to use our strength to get revenge. Duke, Jewel. I’ll give you 8 guild members so go and destroy him.”

“I understand.”

Therefore Jewel and Duke along with their guild members started to track Ark.  After a few days, they arrived at the cabin in the red wilderness.

“The mana trail leads inside this picture.”

Jewel said, pointing to a picture on one side of the cabin. Then a guild member investigated the picture and said.

“This is a gate. The gate leads to a place pretty far away. And judging by the mana pattern, it is a one-way movement. I’m slightly uncomfortable……what should we do?”

“Is it even necessary to answer?”

Duke plunged into the picture without any hesitation.

“We’re going to stab Ark to death. So we have to follow no matter what.”

“Our journey for revenge won’t end until he dies.”

“Okay, let’s go!”

Jewel and the rest of the guild entered the picture. So once again a group of foreigners headed towards the other dimension.

“What the hell, this is?”

At that moment, Ark was looking around with a stupid face. In fact, he hadn’t felt like he was in a different dimension while wandering the snowy mountains. No, he had been too busy trying not to freeze to death to question it. After he left the snowy mountains, he finally realized that the world was completely different.

“Just before it was snowing but now it is a heat wave?”

The weather was the most amazing thing in this world. After leaving the snowy mountains, he encountered a wilderness with sweltering heat.  But after a moment, the sky became dark and it started pouring with rain. Then a cold wind stating blowing and hail began falling from the sky.

“What crazy weather……”

The weather was not the only thing hard to adapt to. The surrounding terrain was also strange. The trees in the forest were all made of stone, the desert consisted of iron powder, the river seemed by dyed in multi-coloured paints and the sky kept on going round and round. He became even more confused when a flower garden started laughing. He felt like he had travelled into the mind of a person with a mental disorder. The monsters were also weird. There were monsters that would ambush from the sand and there were also ghosts wandering in broad daylight that could not be harmed by normal swords……it was all monsters he never heard of before.

Kaaaaaaa-

Now, there was a group of monsters resembling a stingray flying above his head. It was enough to make him dizzy. In addition, the monsters in this dimension were much stronger. Their abilities were quite high and they would often use unique skills that made the fight difficult. If it was in the past then he would’ve struggled. But Ark had greatly raised his abilities in the snowy mountains and passed through the wilderness without any difficulties.

“I’m finally accustomed to this landscape.”

Ark was thinking that when something interrupted.

Ssak ssak, ssak ssak ssak!

Radun’s legs that had been busy moving suddenly slowed down.

“It is already this time?  Stop Radun.”

Radun slowed its pace and stopped. Then it contracted like a balloon after Ark got off its back.

“You cutie, you must have suffered.”

Ark stroked its head and murmured as Radun’s eyes lit up. His travel speed increased dramatically thanks to Radun transforming to Radunma.  But it couldn’t be used without restriction like a normal mount. Radunma consumed 5 mana every 10 seconds until it ran out. Ark had 3000 mana so they had to take a break approximately every hour. In addition, Radunma consumed a tremendous amount of energy and needed 4~5 servings of food to recover. However, these downsides were no problem. While Ark’s bag had no empty spaces, he had gathered a lot of ingredients in the snowy mountains and had a surplus of ingredients.

“Well let’s rest here for the moment.”

Ark started building a campsite. He instantly made 5 servings of food using a variety of ingredients and spices.

“Eat, and tell me if you need more.”

Ssak ssak ssak? Ssak ssak……..

Radun swallowed its saliva and looked up at Ark. The look in its eyes indicated that Radun felt sorry for increasing the food expenses.

“It’s okay. You’ve done enough to eat as much as you like.”

Finally Radun began to wave its tail and consumed the food.

Even after growing, Radun was completely loyal to Ark. It was different from Dedric who started behaving badly as soon as he evolved. Therefore he talked to Radun like Roco talked to a puppy. Ark gave it a warm look and took out more ingredients.

“Now, are you guys eating?”

The Dedric began grumbling complaints.

“Sheesh, is this also an experimental food? Damn, you give Radun all the delicious food……this is favouritism!”

“What’s wrong with new food? It makes you stronger. What more do you want? Are you going to keep complaining about the dishes?”

After Ark shouted, Dedric became frightened and retreated. And then he swelled up like a ball before saying.

“I’ll be delighted to eat that dish!”

“So now you’re happy about eating new dishes?”

“Ey, stop talking.”

Dedric turned his head with a sulky look. In fact, there was a good reason from Dedric’s complaints. While crossing the wilderness in a different dimension, he had seen many ingredients for the first time. Ark cheered because of that but Dedric and Deimos screamed instead. Besides, now the situation was different from before. In the old days, he had to look for a chance before making them eat new dishes. But now there was no free space in his bag. If he wanted to gather new ingredients, Ark had to make space by cooking a dish and forcing them to eat it. Dedric had been hit with bad penalties a few times. But he didn’t dare resist violently now.

There were 3 reasons.  The discipline he engrained in them at Lancel Village still hadn’t fallen. And Dedric finally knew how precious food was after starving on the snowy mountains. Even eating spoiled food that could cause diarrhoea was better than starving to death.  Ark made two different types of dishes and held them out to his summons.

“These are new dishes. Eat them with gratitude.

“Okay, I get it. I’ll eat.”

Dedric licked the dish and looked relieved before pouring it down his mouth. The last reason Dedric didn’t complain severely was because of this. When using ingredients from this dimension, there was a high probability that dishes with good effects would be cooked. Thanks to that, his summons were able to raise their stats to level 130. However, there wasn’t a guarantee that there would be a good result. As always, survival cooking was a system that relied on luck!

Clack-! Clack clack clack, clack clack clack clack.

Deimos swallowed the food without thinking and trembled.

-Deimos has been struck by a headache!

You have made a ‘Rancid Soup’ using Survival Cooking. The terrible headache will last for 10 minutes and no action will be able to be performed.

It also gave these types of dishes.

“Hahaha, stupid, you just blindly ate that dish!”

Dedric rolled around laughing. He was acting spiteful.

”Soon it will be his turn and he won’t be able to act so spiteful.’

Ark shook his head and laughed.

‘But how long will it be until I find a town? No, does this place even have a town?’

Radun had been crossing the huge wilderness for 6 hours. With the 500% movement speed taken into consideration, it was more like 30 hours. But he still hadn’t seen a person or a village. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem if there were no towns in this dimension. He wanted to dispose of his items, but his main goal was to obtain a clue about Magaro. He didn’t want to just blindly walk around the whole dimension.

‘The gate on the snowy mountain has closed so I have no choice but to continue.’

“Now the break is finished. Let’s prepare to leave.”

Ark got up and shook off the dust. Suddenly the ground started vibrating before something burst out of the earth and sand in front of him. And a huge monster that looked like a slug emerged. It was nearly 20 meters in size!

“Predator!”

Ark drew his sword and shouted. He had met this monster several times in the wilderness. They were monsters that would hide underground and then emerge to swallow their prey. Level 300. Furthermore, their body emitting acid poison with hundreds of maggots sticking to it. Without the darkness attribute bonus, there was a 70 level difference! But Ark’s face was confident.

“It is good to exercise after a meal.”

Ark had been frightened when he first met a Predator. But after the fight started, it didn’t feel that difficult. The Predator looked like it was moving in slow motion. But he had raised his abilities in the ice cave so much that even a 70 level difference wasn’t that hard.

“Wasn’t this guy weak to fire? Elemental sword, Fire attribute!”

Ark used the skill and flames wrapped around his sword. The black sword spewing flames looked truly spectacular! The penalty occurred at the same his and his fire resistance fell to -75%, but he didn’t have to worry because the monster had an acid attribute.

“Okay, let’s see how fast it can be caught. Go, Dedric, Deimos!”

“Yes, leave it to me!”

Clack clack clack clack!

Dedric and Deimos split up and besieged the Predator from both sides. While the Predator faltered for a moment, Ark quickly approached and swung his sword.

Peng, peng, peng, peng!

After the flames exploded outwards, the Predator flinched and was pushed backwards.

-You have dealt a critical hit with Elemental Sword (Fire).-The Predator is ‘Burned.’