CHAPTER 155 – THE HOLY EMPIRE
◀ ROUND 10 ▶ <Main Quest>
└Complete at least 1 Sub Quest within 10 hours in the fantasy world <Sub Quests>
└???? Many
[All Zones]
└Participants: 550,528
└Achievers: 0/137,632
[This Zone C3-ESKA001]
└Participants: 2,760
└Achievers: 0/690
After checking the quests, the players grew tense.
“Complete at least one Sub Quest?”
“In the same fantasy world we went to before?”
“If it says ‘at least one,’ then there must be a bunch of them, right?”
“Then doesn’t that mean we clear the quest if we complete just one out of many?”
“If that’s true, it’s way too easy.”
They thought it was easy—only for a moment.
Soon, everyone corrected their thinking.
‘There’s no way it’s that easy.’
Especially since the angel had warned them it would be hard.
“Maybe each Sub Quest is insanely difficult.”
As if she’d heard the muttering, Angel Nel let out a laugh that was almost a sneer.
[Sub Quests aren’t difficult, humans. There are differences in difficulty, but most are easy to clear solo. Don’t be such cowards.]
“Th-then what part is difficult…?”
[When I said it was difficult, I didn’t mean the quest itself. I meant it won’t be easy to pass the round. Because the Achiever slots will be filled in order of who completes the most quests.]
“Ah….”
They’d line people up by how many quests they managed to complete.
That was practically the same as stirring up competition between them.
Because no one had any idea how many you needed to complete to be safely above the line.
Of course, not everyone was clueless.
At the very least, those who had heard Ryu Min’s prophecy showed no anxiety on their faces.
Because they’d heard the cutline.
‘At minimum, you have to complete 4 Sub Quests to get into the top 25%. To place top 3 in this zone, you need to clear 7.’
To be safely confident about taking 1st place, you could say you needed to complete 10 quests.
And of course, Ryu Min planned to complete 10 this round.
[You’ve probably guessed it, but I’ll explain anyway. This round is about freely traveling the fantasy world for the 10-hour time limit, clearing Sub Quests set up all over the place. As you can see, completing at least 1 Sub Quest means you’ve succeeded at the Main Quest, and until time runs out, you’re free to complete as many more as you want.]
“Ten hours is a pretty long mission, huh?”
[You’ll have to move diligently. The time limit is 10 hours, but you’ll pass in order of who completes the most quests. At least do one. Of course, if you fail to complete even one, you’ll be erased immediately.]
“Ha…… this is gonna be brutal.”
“Guess we’ll have to grind quests like crazy.”
A time limit exists, but there’s no limit on how many quests you can achieve?
Naturally, competitive instincts would kick in.
‘They’ll be anxious because they don’t know how many they need. They’ll be impatient, exhausted. But “hard” and “difficult” aren’t the same thing.’
Ryu Min hadn’t said Round 10 was hard just because the competition would be fierce.
‘The Sub Quests themselves are genuinely difficult.’
Just like the angel said, there are easy quests.
But they’re extremely rare—maybe one out of ten.
Five out of ten are quests that are hard to clear alone.
The remaining four are more like you can barely clear them if you scrape by.
The angel’s claim that they were easy was a lie.
‘So even completing 4 within 10 hours is doing well, at the players’ current level.’
Ryu Min didn’t worry about the difficulty.
‘Compared to the Tower of Trials, this is like eating 떡 while lying down.’
Honestly, clearing the 60th floor of the Tower of Trials would probably be harder than completing 10 Sub Quests in 10 hours.
[Once you’ve completed a quest, you can’t challenge it again. Of course, other players can still challenge it. Keep that in mind while you move. If you have questions, I’ll take them.]
“Could you tell us the difficulty of each quest?”
Someone raised a hand boldly, but what came back was a scolding.
[Your first question is something this stupid? I feel like exploding your head.]
“…….”
[If I told you that, it wouldn’t be fun. Any other questions, humans?]
“If a quest is too hard while we’re doing it… can we give up midway?”
[Good question. You can give up. If you look at the quest window, there’s a button to give up midway. Press that. You can retry as well—if you haven’t succeeded at the quest.]
“Ohhh, then it’s doable.”
“If a hard quest comes up, we can just give up.”
[But I won’t refund your time. And you can only give up midway once per quest. Meaning you only get one chance to retry the same quest.]
“Ah….”
Players who’d been planning to keep trying over and over all pulled faces like their hope had fizzled out.
[All right. Explanations are done, so let’s proceed with the round immediately!]
As Nel spread her wings, the same message appeared before everyone’s eyes.
[Touch to select the starting region.]
└1. Kingdom of Albiz
└2. Kingdom of Brahm
└3. Holy Empire
└4. Elsorium
[If you do not choose within the time limit, a random selection will be made.]
[Time remaining until selection ends: 00:00:59]
Being told to choose a starting region so suddenly, the players panicked.
Those who struggled to decide fell into a frenzy, wagging their fingers back and forth in the air.
But there were also people who weren’t flustered at all—calm, collected.
That was Ryu Min’s group, who’d already gotten a heads-up through prophecy.
‘Options 1, 2, and 3 are human areas. Option 4 is the elves’ city.’
Since Ryu Min had a good reputation with the elves, if he went to Elsorium, he’d likely receive an extremely warm welcome.
But he excluded option 4.
‘It’s not time yet. I’ll have plenty of chances to meet the elves later.’
More than anything, Ryu Min’s interest this round was somewhere else.
Not Sub Quests.
‘Option 3. I’m going to the Holy Empire.’
Before selecting, Ryu Min looked at Min Juri.
He wanted buffs—and she was already hurrying around, spreading them to people.
“Get your buffs before we go! Black Scythe-nim too!”
“Much appreciated.”
“I don’t know what you’ll choose, but everyone, let’s do our best!”
Since she’d gotten somewhat familiar with them, Min Juri was buffing people and cheering them on.
‘Then shall we go?’
Tap—
Ryu Min’s finger pressed the air.
On the fantasy continent, there are five kingdoms and one empire.
Among them, two kingdoms were the ones shown in the choices: Albiz and Brahm.
The other three are minor kingdoms, too weak to even be selected as a starting point.
And then there’s the empire—true to the name—a massive city: the Holy Empire.
A religious faction that serves a god, the Holy Empire boasts such enormous scale that neighboring kingdoms practically cower before it.
‘There’s a reason it’s called an empire.’
As if to prove it wasn’t “not an empire,” there were towering walls high enough to make your head ache, countless buildings and temples packed inside, and people moving busily everywhere.
It all felt so vivid you couldn’t even tell whether it was real or not.
‘My reputation turned hostile after I killed the archbishop in Round 8, but there’s nothing to worry about. I just can’t reveal my title.’
With no title displayed, Ryu Min quietly took in the scenery.
If he revealed it carelessly, the guards would spot him and try to arrest him.
‘If I’m lucky, they’ll try to arrest me. More likely they’ll try to kill me on the spot.’
Of course, Ryu Min wouldn’t die, but he hated it when gnats got annoying.
That was why he wasn’t revealing his title.
As Ryu Min looked around, he noticed people dressed in familiar clothing.
Players.
As expected—probably due to the nature of arriving in the fantasy world—their nicknames still weren’t visible.
‘It’s better if nicknames don’t show. Makes it easier to move alone.’
In a place where no one’s gaze reached, Ryu Min transformed into Lost Yak.
If he ran into someone he knew, it would get annoying.
[Starting Location: Holy Empire]
[Sub Quests in Progress: None]
[Sub Quests Completed: None]
[Time Remaining Until Round Ends: 09:58:21]
Looking at the quest window, the time limit was already ticking down.
The true start of the round.
Normally, you’d have to sprint around everywhere to find quests, but Ryu Min was relaxed.
Even taking it slow, he was confident he could easily complete around ten.
‘Right now, what matters isn’t the Sub Quests.’
Ryu Min’s steps headed toward the Holy Empire’s central plaza.
Waiting in front of a statue engraved with an angel, he soon came face-to-face with a familiar figure.
“Master!”
Yamtte—who recognized Lost Yak’s face—ran over with a delighted expression.
“You’re a bit late.”
“I’m sorry. It’s so huge—you have to know where the central plaza is, you know.”
“That’s something you can easily ask a guard.”
“Ah! If I ask, will they answer?”
“They will. If your reputation isn’t hostile.”
Ryu Min had arranged in advance to meet Yamtte in the Holy Empire.
Because he needed her Charm to enter the temple.
“Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?”
“The temple.”
“Why the temple?”
“You ask a lot of questions.”
“I’m sorry.”
Yamtte drooped her head, looking sullen.
She was a slave who executed orders without question, so he’d never felt a need to explain—but thinking about it, telling her the basic reason wouldn’t hurt.
“There’s only one reason I’m moving with you.”
“Because you need someone to charm, right?”
“Right. Inside the Holy Empire’s largest temple is an altar that receives an oracle. Naturally, it’s not somewhere just anyone can enter. But with the Rune of Charm, the story changes.”
“Ah—so you need me because you’re trying to reach the altar where the oracle descends.”
“Exactly.”
“But will Charm work on NPCs too? I’ve never used it even once, so……”
“It works.”
Not only that—
‘Their thoughts can be read too. Like they’re real people.’
They might be real people.
People like us, living in another dimension.
But he couldn’t completely discard the assumption that they were NPCs.
‘What if each individual is AI programmed so well it even has thoughts?’
Then they could also be virtual humans created for the survival game—NPCs.
‘They can transfer and revive the souls of 1.8 billion humans. There’s no way they don’t have that level of technology.’
So Ryu Min stopped trying to judge.
He would move solely for growth and survival up to Round 20.
This moment was a stepping stone for that.
“But why are we going to the altar with the oracle?”
“Why?”
Ryu Min’s mouth twisted into a crooked smile.
“To kill an angel.”