Chapter 61 – Tahrakhan Plateau (6)

Sungjin walked up to the Treasure Hunter and tapped him on the shoulder .

“Hey . Use your Treasure Hunter active now . ”

He stared blankly back .

“What…use what?”

He who was showing off about being the Treasure Hunter all this time seemed to be clueless on what Sungjin meant .

“Treasure Hunter active skill . The one you were bragging about at the beginning . ”

He finally understood and nodded .

“Ah… ok”

It was clear that he’s never used it before . Since he earned it at the end of Kutan Desert, the only place he had a chance to try it out was at the Count Dimitri’s Castle Ruins .

But since he didn’t recognize Besgoro’s skull that Sungjin wore around his head, he had probably only been to ‘Wandering Merchant Ruff Han’ at most .

If he had found Ruff Han, he would have been able to obtain something great . But as Sungjin watched on, he stuttered as he tried to ask the Operator to activate the skill .

“O…Operator, I’ll use the Treasure Hunter Active . If there is something hidden in the Plateau, please give me a hint . ”

Once he finished, the Operator gave the verses .

[King of the Plateau]
[Sitting on a throne high above the clouds]
[Uncontested and out of reach]
[His only enemy was procrastination]
[Offer a gift to defeat his enemy]
[And the King will come]

Another strange verse . Sungjin snapped his hands like usual and said

“Replay . ”

But the cube did not respond . Sungjin looked towards the Treasure Hunter and said to him

“Hey, Replay . ”

“Excuse me?”

The Treasure Hunter was inexperienced with the usage of the Treasure Hunter active .

“I said, let me hear it again . ”

Once Sungjin explained again, he finally spoke to the cube .

“Ah… Let me hear it again . What you just said . ”

[King of the Plateau]
[Sitting on a throne high above the clouds]

The cube repeated herself, and Sungjin fell into thought .

‘Throne above the clouds…’

Sungjin looked around . The entire Plateau was above the clouds already . The only place taller than their current location was a round hill at the center of the plateau .

Even before Sungjin thought of the answer, Besgoro commented

‘It must be there, at the place above the clouds . ’

When he was running around searching for the edge of the plateau, he had been on top of that hill to survey the area . Although the rest of the plateau had a thin layer of cloud covering the ground like a low lying fog, but that area was completely clear of clouds . It was undoubtedly sitting above the clouds .

‘Well, at least we know the location…’

Sungjin pondered the latter parts of the verse .

“The only enemy is procrastination… and he wants a gift to defeat it . ”

He wasn’t sure there was enough hint in the verses as to figure out what was needed to be done . Sungjin decided to ask the Treasure Hunter .

“Do you have any idea what this could mean?”

The Treasure Hunter opened his eyes wide and shook his head . Sungjin let out a sigh and added

“Forget about being a Treasure Hunter and focus on getting stronger first . You’re not even remotely useful in any way . ”

Sungjin turned around without waiting for a reply . The other remaining hunters looked completely lost . It appeared that they were still shocked by the Operator’s hint function .

Sungjin asked Besgoro

“Besgoro, what do you think? Can you figure out what gift it wants to receive?”

‘Well, I am not sure but…’

It was ironic that the hidden boss of the previous round was working hard to try and figure out the method of revealing this chapter’s hidden boss .

‘I guess the main question is what was he procrastinating?’

“Well, then let’s check out the throne first . ”

Sungjin told Besgoro .

‘Okay . ’

To the people around him, it would have looked like Sungjin was talking to himself . After finishing his conversation with Besgoro, he turned to face the other hunters and said,

“I won’t touch the normal mobs . If you all have time and ability, try to kill as many as you can . And for the hidden boss…”

As he was speaking, he noticed that the others weren’t paying attention as they were too busy being on guard against each other; they were filled to the brim with hatred and distrust for one another .

‘They look more like sworn enemies than teammates . They’re going to have a hard time with combat . ’

“Forget about the hidden boss . Got it?”

Sungjin shrugged and walked away from the four hunters, leaving them behind . He headed towards the hill at the center of the Plateau . Besgoro commented on the hunters .

‘What do you say you step in and provide leadership to those men? A real man should be capable of rallying other men and give directions . And if you need my advice on anything, just say the word . ’

It was a word befitting of a former Knight . Once Sungjin had walked far enough to be out of earshot of the others, he replied

“No, it’s not the right time yet . Further down the line, there’ll be lots of opportunities for me to step in and take control, but it is too early for now . ”

‘Is that so?’

“Yes, the timing… I think when only 100 or so hunters remain, I will have to take leadership and actively participate . And when the time comes, I want you to help me, Sir Knight . ”

After being respected as a Knight and as a general, Besgoro laughed for the first time in a long while .

‘I look forward to it . Ka ha ha ha~!”

*

Sungjin diligently climbed the hill . Ghost Stallion, Magic Carpet, even Swift Paw were all on cooldown . So he had no choice but to go on his feet . Occasionally

‘Baa~’

A giant Mountain Goat came attacking to delay Sungjin while climbing the mountain,

“Woof Woof”

Cain called towards Sungjin .

“Hmm? What’s up, Cain? Did you find something?”

But Cain spun around once on the spot and sat down .

“What does that…?”

Sungjin wanted to ask, but he was interrupted when Cain returned to the form of a wooden figurine .

“Ahh…”

He must have wanted to tell Sungjin that his time was over .

‘Okay okay, I’ll understand you next time . ’

Sungjin thought as he put the wooden figurine away into the cube . He called the Operator .

“Operator, how much time do I have left?”

[You will return to the Black Market in 48 minutes and 12 seconds . ]

“Hmm…”

Sungjin decided to ask another thing of the Operator .

“Operator, give me the Trollseeker Marble . ”

A perfectly spherical marble emerged from within . There was a strange array of light contained within the marble . Sungjin held it up

Tribyre – Trollseeker Marble
Heroic Marble

Active Skill
Pursuit of Justice (I) – Teleport to the realm a troll is residing in . 1 charge stored .

Wrath is one of the strongest motivator available to man .

And then he placed it in his pocket . There was still plenty of time since all the dimensions proceeded at the same rate .

If this dimension had 48 minutes remaining, then all the other dimensions should still have 48 minutes remaining on the clock . It should be nearly impossible for another party to have beaten the Harpy Queen by this time anyway .

And as long as the Harpy Queen was still alive, the chances that a Troll had appeared by now was extremely slim .

After confirming his remaining time, Sungjin leisurely strolled up the rest of the way up the hill .

The ‘Tahrakhan Plateau’ had a better view than any other chapter so far . If there were no monsters, Sungjin would have loved to be able to stay a few days for vacation .

While having these thoughts, Sungjin continued to climb until he finally reached the apex .

‘This must be the King’s Throne . ’

Besgoro commented before Sungjin could . Right under the top of the hill, there was a cave opening .

Sungjin jumped and took ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ out of his chest and cautiously entered the cave . The cave was dark, but he could see well enough with the ‘Ghost Vision’ . But

“It’s empty . ”

‘I see that . ’

Sungjin walked deeper into the cave . The cave was smaller than he had thought . It was about the size of an average apartment unit . It was large for a human standard, but lacking in terms of a throne befitting that of a king .

‘Procrastinate… what is he procrastinating?’

Sungjin snooped around the cave . Within this ‘Throne Room’ there was nothing but skeletons strewn about . Sungjin picked one up .

‘Hmm…’

It was the only clue . Besgoro said

‘Do you think he’s procrastinating obtaining food?’

“Probably . ”

Sungjin examined the bone closely . There were many small bones, but a few were quite large .

“Could it be…”

Sungjin dug through the bone pile and discovered a crucial evidence; It was a large skull with short horns growing out of it .

“This bone… it’s neither a Harpy’s nor a Mountain Goat’s . ”

‘What is it then?’

“It’s a Giant Buffalo’s skull”

Sungjin checked around for other bones as well . There were no bones the size of Human skulls that could belong to a Harpy, nor a skull with a comparably large and spiraled horn .

The only skull he could find were two additional Giant Buffalo’s skull .

“I think… I figured out what the gift is . ”

Sungjin emerged from the cave and slowly climbed back down the mountain .

“Besgoro, please let me know if you see any Giant Buffalos anywhere .

At his request, Besgoro immediately responded .

‘Over there to the right . ’

Sungjin turned his head slightly to the right . In the distance was a buffalo of an enormous size . It looked tough and difficult to kill, even if the person killing it was a king .

Sungjin was about to cast magic when he changed his mind .

‘What if I accidentally fry it too much and the King wants nothing to do with it?’

Sungjin pulled out his blade and said

“Ah yes . The offering will be thinly sliced steak . ”

Once the Buffalo became aware of Sungjin, it bellowed

“Mooo~”

It bellowed mightily as it charged towards Sungjin . Sungjin nimbly dodged to the left and slashed his sword against the right side of its neck, like a Spanish matador . However, a monster was a monster .

Despite a cut that sunk a third of the way through, the Buffalo turned around unfazed and came charging again . Sungjin dodged to the other side and cut at the neck again .

Once the Buffalo’s neck was cut twice, he began to fall; no one could take two of Sungjin’s attack to the neck, no matter how tough the creature was . It ran ahead a bit more until it collapsed . Sungjin returned the sword to the sheath and walked up to the Buffalo .

The Buffalo was unbelievably large .

‘A large cow weighs about a ton, right?’

And as he thought as much, he picked up the Buffalo straight up with his bare hands . It was a deadlift that was utterly impossible without status increases done by the Operator .

Sungjin carried the Buffalo over his shoulder and walked back up to the Throne of the King . It wasn’t too far from where he had killed the buffalo .

Sungjin laid the corpse down in front of the cave entrance . Now that he was done, he suddenly had doubts .

“Do you think… this is the answer?”

‘You don’t really have other clues, do you?’

“IF there’s no response after a little while…”

But the Operator gave an announcement .

[Warning! Hidden Boss]
[Manticore has appeared!]

‘Where…?’

Sungjin scanned his immediate surroundings . Then Besgoro said,

‘Up . ’

Sungjin looked up into the sky . From the distance, he could see an old man’s head on top of a Lion’s body, and the tail of a scorpion . It was flying through the air with its wings . Sungjin prepared his ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms . ’