Panda Novel
Chapter 32
[Translator - Prøks]
[Proofreader - Prøks]
Chapter 32
0.
A colossal, black fortress, built of ink-dark stone.
It was a magnificent structure, its beauty enough to make any art connoisseur gasp in awe.
The exterior was bathed in a somber, light-absorbing hue, each brick imbued with an extraordinary aura.
This black fortress, more formidable than any stronghold, would never allow intruders.
A mystical bird, seemingly crafted from black paper, flew towards it.
The black paper bird effortlessly passed through the gloomy black curtain surrounding the fortress, soaring deep into its heart.
It reached the grand audience chamber, the innermost sanctum where the king was met.
A lonely air pervaded the chamber, where an old man stood gazing at the empty throne.
Could he even be called an old man?
Wrinkles lined his face, giving him the appearance of an elder, yet his skin was as smooth and flawless as a youth's.
His true identity, age, and even gender remained a mystery.
The man extended his hand to the side.
As if compelled by an unseen force, the black paper bird landed there.
Just moments ago, it had been soaring towards the audience chamber.
Now, without a hint of movement, it rested in the man's hand.
He unfolded the bird, revealing the message within.
“……”
He read the words inscribed on the black paper bird.
With a hint of sorrow in his eyes, he gazed at the long-empty throne and closed his eyelids.
When he opened them again, a fiery blend of yearning, ambition, and an indescribable emotion burned within.
"Go to Sekan Village."
A single, simple command.
At his words, the shadows within the palace stirred as if raising a toast, filling the audience chamber with a sudden clamor.
The shadows chanted, their voices like a chorus, or perhaps a hymn.
- Hail!
- Worship!
- He is coming!
- The master of the palace!
- Let us offer our palace!
- We are His servants!
- A palace to offer to Him!
- Let us present it!
The chanting shadows vanished as abruptly as they appeared, like a machine powering down.
Silence descended upon the audience chamber, leaving only the man. He turned, his eyes blazing with fervor.
"The time has come to offer our palace, Over Palace, to our Lord."
Over Palace, which had long remained dormant, and its leader, one of the Nine Heroes, Black Star, finally stirred.
1.
Returning to Sekan Village and heading towards the central plaza, he found it more crowded than before.
When Seonghyun first arrived, it was much earlier in the morning than he expected.
No, it was closer to dawn than morning.
Thanks to that, he was able to talk to the former village head, Granny Gwen, without any inconvenience.
Anyway, there were quite a lot of people now.
Users occupied most of the plaza.
It was a scene reminiscent of a bustling marketplace.
And how noisy it was.
Even the stoic Seonghyun frowned slightly.
"Anyone going to Adum's Cave!! We have three people, just need two more!! Thief spot is full!!"
"Looking for people to go to the Jackal Forest!! Only one spot left!! Need a melee warrior!!"
"Looking for a party to go to Percy Hill!! I'm a Ranger with good ranged attacks!! Please!!"
"Party for the foothills of the Purba Mountains. Come if you want."
"Please!! Let me join a party!! I graduated from the Intermediate Thief Academy! Why won't anyone talk to me!!"
To have to find a party in this noisy plaza.
'Should I just go alone?'
Even in the second village, where party play is practically mandatory, there must be solo hunting grounds if he looks for them.
Should he escape this chaotic place?
As Seonghyun was lost in thought,
He felt someone approaching from behind.
Who is it?
Turning around after sensing the presence,
He saw a simple-looking user cautiously approaching.
A male user with a youthful appearance that still looked young.
Had he just become an adult?
Perhaps he was even a high school student, judging by his looks.
Seonghyun scanned the user's equipment in that brief moment.
'He seems skilled.'
Although the equipment was a bit inferior to Seonghyun's, most of it seemed to be of Rare rank.
Normally, one would think he's someone with some money, but Seonghyun thought the opposite.
Since Seonghyun also only equipped items he obtained himself,
He couldn't even imagine buying them with money.
It was a small misunderstanding, but it wasn't important.
Is he trying to find party members?
As Seonghyun turned around,
The young-looking user asked,
"Uh, are you looking for a party by any chance?"
"Yes, for now."
"For now? Ah! Then, if you don't mind, would you like to join our party? We're also missing one member."
Looking at the young-looking user,
He saw other party members who looked older than him.
One woman and two men.
The woman appeared to be an archer, one man looked like a mage, and the last one seemed to be a swordsman.
Including the young-looking male user who spoke to him, it was a party of four.
They happened to be missing one member.
This young-looking user is alright.
Even though it was a misunderstanding, Seonghyun thought he looked skilled.
This worked out well.
Just as he was about to accept,
-Eek! You murderer bastards!! You'll be punished! Yah! Yah!
The ghost of a young child was using all his might to punch and kick the three behind him.
What did he just see?
As Seonghyun blinked in confusion,
"Oh? Is something the matter? Ah!! Do you perhaps know each other!?"
"No, this is the first time I've met them."
"Ah! Those people over there are our party members."
"Oh? Is that so?"
The young child ghost called them murderers?
As Seonghyun looked puzzled,
He made eye contact with the child ghost.
And perhaps realizing that Seonghyun recognized him,
The child ghost quickly approached Seonghyun and said,
-These bastards are all bad guys!! They lure people into caves and kill them!! They deliberately make them fall into traps and don't even save them!!
"Oh?"
Seonghyun let out an exclamation and smiled.
In other words, they're targeting players.
Now that he heard that, they certainly looked suspicious.
First, they didn't seem to like the idea of recruiting Seonghyun.
The female archer had her arms crossed, though her expression was welcoming.
The male mage had a smile on his face, but his eyes were cold as he looked at Seonghyun.
Lastly, the other male swordsman was stroking his chin and smiling, but he seemed to be calculating something as he tapped his chin.
Even without the memories and experiences of the hunter Apik, he could tell.
Something fishy was going on.
Hadn't he already learned this once with Bejiron?
'They're hunting users.'
He could tell just by the child ghost's testimony and their behavior.
The memories and experiences of the hunter Apik also told him that they were suspicious.
He was already familiar with those kinds of looks.
The look in their eyes was something he had seen countless times in the memories of the former instructor Eddie, the hunter Apik, and other Ghosts.
He knew well the look of greed in their eyes.
Their eyes were the same.
Then there's something he needs to confirm.
"You said you were missing one member, right? Then, are those people you originally knew?"
"Huh? Ah! No! We just formed this party. Those three know each other, and I just met them while looking for a party."
"I see."
He understood immediately.
They were targeting this young-looking user.
Realizing this, Seonghyun made up his mind.
"Where are you planning to go?"
"To Adum's Cave! It's a 5-person party dungeon!"
"Alright. Let's go."
He found the perfect place to use the Wraith.
As Seonghyun expressed his intention to join,
The man who seemed to be doing the final calculations, tapping his chin, smiled with greed in his narrowed eyes.
And next to him,
-You guys are in big trouble now!! A noble person will punish you!!
The child ghost's scolding echoed.
Of course, they couldn't hear it.
2.
The party that Seonghyun decided to join.
The party leader of the party heading to Adum's Cave was none other than the young-looking user.
His nickname was Jinwoo.
His level was 23, slightly lower than Seonghyun's.
As a bit of TMI, he had just become an adult at 20 years old.
Seonghyun also introduced his level and nickname, and the suspicious three users greeted him warmly.
"Oh my. Nice to meet you. I'm an archer, Amir, and I'm level 26."
"Ahem, ahem, I am the mage Nuel. Level 27."
"Ahahaha, it's fate that we've formed a party like this, so it's good to get to know each other. I'm Manhu. As you can see, I'm a swordsman, and I'm level 29! The three of us already know each other."
There was nothing suspicious about the way they introduced themselves.
It meant they were used to it.
At least to others.
To Seonghyun, who had the discerning eye of a hunter, it was nothing more than a ridiculous farce.
[Amir - So, are we really going to do it?]
[Nuel - It's better to do it since we have more people.]
[Manhu - Look at that Seonghyun kid's equipment before you say anything, you idiots. If you have eyes, use them to think and at least try to observe!]
[Amir - Sorry...]
[Nuel - He has Epic gear?]
[Amir - Wow... Manhu saw that already? He's amazing.]
[Manhu - If you get it, shut up and follow me.]
The three were scheming through messages.
As Seonghyun expected, they approached him with the intention of stealing his items.
[Amir - He doesn't seem to have noticed, right?]
[Nuel - No way he knows, have we ever been caught?]
As the two were chatting,
Manhu checked the party window with irritated eyes.
『Jinwoo - Lv.23 - (Sword and Shield Warrior)』
『Seonghyun - Lv.25 - (????)』
『Amir - Lv.26 - (Archer)』
『Nuel - Lv.27 - (Elemental Mage)』
『Manhu - Lv.29 - (Swordsman)』
Seonghyun not revealing his class was a bit concerning, but
He didn't think it would be a problem.
It was easy to tell just by looking at the equipment he was wearing.
Manhu sent a message to the two who were chatting.
[Manhu - You guys better act properly and not get caught like idiots. Jinwoo is a Sword and Shield Warrior, and that Seonghyun guy is a swordsman like me, but seeing that he's wearing dual swords, he seems to be a Dual Swordsman, so don't let your guard down. When I give the signal, Nuel and Amir, you two attack first.]
[Amir - The signal is the same as always, right? When we leave the party and form our own?]
[Manhu - Don't ask obvious questions.]
[Nuel - Got it.]
[Amir - Got it...]
They couldn't even imagine that Seonghyun already knew.
Who would imagine that?
That a user who joined a party would suddenly turn into an enemy.
Especially since the icon above his head is perfectly fine.
It's natural not to be suspicious.
It was all Manhu's scheme.
If you attack another user first, you accumulate infamy.
It's fine at first, but if it keeps accumulating, you won't be able to enter villages, and you might even get caught by the guards at the entrance and end up in jail.
But it's not like there's no way around it.
'This is truly a god game. Keuh huh.'
All he has to do is not kill them directly.
Make them fall into a dungeon trap and leave them to die?
It's not like he's attacking first.
There's no way to accumulate infamy.
Those guys with flashy items and arrogant attitudes?
He's already dealt with 5 or 6 of them using this method.
The items he obtained through this were substantial.
There was a reason why he couldn't stop doing this even though he had obtained a pretty good class.
And this is the last time.
'Once I join the guild, this is over.'
Because there was a guild he was about to join.
He can't do this after joining the guild.
He can't do such petty things after joining a mid-sized guild.
'I was planning to make a big score this time, but what a windfall this is.'
Manhu chuckled inwardly as he looked at Seonghyun and Jinwoo standing in front of the cave.
All the items Jinwoo was wearing were Rare rank.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Seonghyun was even better.
He had Epic rank items equipped.
Plus, the unusual sword on his left hip.
That's at least Epic rank or higher.
'I'll take that no matter what.'
Confident in his skills, Manhu didn't even consider the possibility of losing.
He was a talent who proudly passed the Advanced Swordsman Academy.
There's no way he would lose to Seonghyun, whose level was only 4 lower than his.
Entering Adum's Cave,
Manhu couldn't help but question the situation that seemed to be going wrong.
"Huh, huh?"
[Translator - Prøks]
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