Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?
Chapter 151 - 142: Tomb King’s Great Sword Dance

Chapter 151: Chapter 142: Tomb King’s Great Sword Dance

The cause of the matter was this.

[You are shuttling through chaotic space-time and inadvertently catch a glimpse of a fragment of a moment:]

[Due to the chaos of space-time, you find yourself surrounded by Abyss Creatures]

[There are two beings who can offer you help that have also stumbled into this place, but they are currently at odds with each other and require your mediation. Please make a choice]

[Choice One: Exchange a punch with Mushroom Man]

[Choice Two: Hug the Corruption Favored mutually]

[Choice Three: You all are my wings, exchange punches with Mushroom Man while hugging the Corruption Favored]

Looking at the three options before him, Gapar felt confused for the first time.

His question was—mere Abyss Creatures, couldn’t I just wipe them out myself?

But this space offered him no alternative exit, instead forcing him to make a choice. Without selecting one, he could not leave.

It was rather sickening.

Seeing this, Gapar could only mull it over.

Exchange a punch with Mushroom Man? That seemed like the simplest thing to do, and under normal circumstances, he would have definitely chosen this one.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a normal situation. Due to the effect of the "Tomb King’s Sword Envoy," he had become high in attack but low in health, and could die on the spot just by taking a punch from an Animated Corpse.

Therefore, no matter how strong or weak this Mushroom Man was, he couldn’t choose this option.

So the third option was also out. "You all are my wings"—who the hell came up with this line?

In the end, Gapar found that he had only one choice left, which was to hug the Corruption Favored.

If it was just a hug, surely nothing would go wrong, right?

The scene flashed, and he suddenly found himself in a room indistinguishable from the previous one, with a pale, bizarre creature standing in front of him.

That thing looked neither human nor insect, with a bunch of little hands flailing about in front—this would be a treat if one had entomophobia or trypophobia.

"It’s not quite what I imagined..."

He had thought the Corruption Favored would be like a rotting mass of flesh, but now it seemed a little bit better at least—his clothes wouldn’t get dirty.

After all, Gapar was a man who had seen a great deal, and even if he had to hug such a disgusting creature, he wouldn’t exhibit much panic or disgust. He hugged it openly and straightforwardly.

The Corruption Favored curled up in his arms, looking rather shy.

Well, that was better.

Gapar kept his eyes straight ahead, trying to imagine the Corruption Favored in his arms as a girl in Armor, which made him feel a little better.

He now believed he had made the right choice. If he had exchanged punches with the Mushroom Man, he surely would have died, but just hugging was harmless—after leaving, he just needed to take a bath.

[The anxious heart of the Corruption Favored has been soothed by you; he will help you defeat the Abyss Creatures]

[You have been infected by the Corruption from the Corruption Favored. Don’t worry, just a hug won’t cause a full infection]

[But the effect of "Hell’s Sword’s blessing" greatly accelerates the pace of your infection!]

[You’ve contracted Crimson Corruption!]

*Pfft, cough—*

Gapar suddenly spits out a mouthful of blood. He felt his body being invaded by something foreign, undergoing some transformation internally—and it wasn’t a good thing!

But he couldn’t control his body and watched helplessly as he fought side by side with the Corruption Favored among the Abyss Creatures, bravely slaughtering enemies.

Luckily, his strength in this simulation was still intact, and none of the Abyss Creatures could lay a hand on him.

[You have successfully defeated the Abyss Creatures, earning the friendship of the Corruption Favored. It is possible that you will meet again on your journey]

[The intense battle has deepened your Crimson Corruption, and you are feeling extremely weak]

[You have received the blessing: Crimson Corruption]

[Blessings from the Corruption Goddess are a major bother for humans. Your Life Force is rapidly depleting, and without finding a way to remove the Corruption, you won’t be able to withstand four teleportations through space-time]

Teleportation, this is the name for the method of using a Teleportation Treasure Box to switch between rooms.

While the name was somewhat cliché, it was easy to understand.

[You’ve acquired an item: Bandit’s Treasure Chest]

[After each teleportation, new treasures will appear in the Treasure Chest, which will disappear after three accumulations]

If Gapar hadn’t brought "Hell’s Sword," a blessing with a debuff, this event would have been a purely rewarding bonus stage.

Unfortunately, he did, and so he had to move on with Crimson Corruption.

He saw the Corruption Favored give him another big hug after the victory, as affectionate as if they were family.

Gapar was expressionless. He now wished he could chop up this big bugger into pieces.

The world before him refreshed again, and he was back in the empty room, as if everything he had just experienced was merely an illusion.

Crimson Corruption lingered in his body in an abnormal way, but it wasn’t the contagious type.

Each teleportation would reduce his Life Force by about a quarter, and indeed, he wouldn’t last four teleportations without using Healing Magic.

"This is a complete split," Gapar looked around, saw no one else, waited in place a bit longer to confirm that others wouldn’t come here, and then continued on to open the Teleportation Treasure Box.

This time it was a battle stage. What appeared before him was a group of Monsters he was quite familiar with—Gollum.

But these Gollum looked very wrong; they had been tainted by some black substance and had become even more twisted.

"The so-called Abyss Creatures, huh," Gapar pondered.

He had heard some things about the Abyss and knew that the strange power known as "Abyss" could infect normal creatures—the information came from Maru, whose source was Dal, the young man who openly shared all the intelligence he knew on the bulletin board.

After being infected by the Abyss, Gollums become even more ferocious, fighting recklessly, even to the point of striking down companions in their way.

The fact that the Abyss made monsters dangerous was something Gapar remembered.

"But why have I never heard of such things?"

He pondered as he activated the "Circle."

So far, only the Sain Dungeon had information related to the Abyss. Was there some connection to the Abyss here? Or was the Abyss being suppressed here?

Would Abyss also appear in other Dungeons?

Thinking too much, Gapar felt he was almost losing the meaning of the word "Abyss."

"I’ll write to an old friend and ask after getting out."

The attacks from the Gollums weren’t strong against him; he could even withstand them with his body without issue.

However, there were too many debuffs; the negative statuses forced him to evade and fight unscathed.

The Gollums infected by the Abyss had strong life forces. Even after being chopped with the sword, they could counterattack, forcing the Sword Saint to be cautious, as even a single attack could be fatal.

This feeling of being forced by external factors to act was really uncomfortable, something he hadn’t experienced in many years.

To fight number-based monsters requires using mechanics.

Using negative statuses invoked by blessings is the optimal solution against powerful beings like Sword Saints, with numerical suppression being the next best choice.

Thanks to this, Gapar is continuously emanating a huge amount of spiritual power, making a killing in the Sain Dungeon.

Up to this point, the Strategy Group, divided into thirds, had completed one event level and two combat levels, and it was time to choose blessings again.

When Gapar chose the [Blessing·Skeleton Jump], which belonged to the same [Tomb King] faction as the previous two blessings, something miraculous happened!

[Successfully obtained three kinds of Tomb King’s blessings. Job unlocked: Tomb King’s Attendant]

[Hunt enemies, gather their eyes, and upon satisfying a certain amount, you can actively release the blessing·Tomb King’s Great Sword Dance]

[The chance to receive Tomb King’s blessings increased]

"Blessing?"

Gapar suddenly found a brand on his left hand, bearing the same design as the Tomb King’s blessings.

The brand emitted a crimson light, indicating that he could now use the Tomb King’s Great Sword Dance once.

He was eager to try it, so he immediately activated the Teleportation Treasure Box.

This time, the creature that appeared in front of him was no longer the previous minions, but an elite-level monster.

[Swift Dragon Eroded by the Abyss]

The once fluffy Swift Dragon was now covered in black muck like the Abyss, emanating a ferocious aura. The moment Gapar appeared, it pounced towards him.

Gapar deftly dodged the attack, looking at the brand of the Tomb King in his palm, unsure of how to use it.

Should he shout "Tomb King’s Great Sword Dance," or cast it towards the monster from a distance?

The Swift Dragon’s razor-sharp wings sliced through the air, but Gapar ducked and avoided them, placing his branded palm onto the ground.

Suddenly, information flooded his mind, and now he understood how to release the blessing.

"Tomb King’s Great Sword Dance!"

No one was around, no one would remember what Gapar did, so on a whim, he shouted the name of the move.

Wow, this mixture of shame and excitement was a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long time.

In the next instant, the scent of death surged throughout the room, its power threatening even to him.

The ground trembled, cracked open, and massive crimson sword blades suddenly burst from the ground. There were so many of them that the nearby Swift Dragon had nowhere to hide!

Its body was pierced by the swords, the hit areas covered with a rich aura of death, constantly stripping away its life force.

That attack left it with half its life gone!

The power exceeded Gapar’s expectations, but on second thought, it wasn’t strange considering this was a blessing from a being akin to a God.

Actually, Tomb King’s Great Sword Dance wasn’t normally this powerful.

The main effect of this blessing was continuous damage over time to the enemy; the sword blades’ damage was secondary and could easily miss when dealing with smaller targets.

Gapar achieved this effect because he released the blessing right beneath the Swift Dragon, almost all swords hitting their mark and his own stats enhancing the strength of the blessing.

After a while, Gapar defeated the Swift Dragon and was selecting new blessings.

He seemed to be enjoying himself, the uncertainty of acquiring blessings giving him a glimmer of anticipation for the future.

Yi, another person was about to fall into Sain’s "trap"!

In the City Lord’s room.

Gong Qiying muttered to himself while watching the Crystal Ball: "Indeed, before going live, we need to have a group come in for an internal test."

He planned to remove the setting that "an adventurer’s values can affect the power of a blessing" after the adventurers left, changing it so that the effect of using a blessing would be the same no matter who it was.

"There is still an abundance of problems,"

His notebook in front of him was full of issues to be addressed.

Flipping further, one could see his ideas for the Meat Pigeon mode.