Emperor of Solo Play Chapter 169:
Chapter 169 – King’s Tomb (2)
4 .
The corridor was so well made that it was hard to call it a tunnel within a cave . There were checkered tiles on the ground akin to go boards . There was not a single tile out of place, and the surface of the walls in the semicircular tunnel was decorated with beautiful patterns .
It was a tunnel befitting a tomb of a king .
This was the last path traveled by a king . This was why this tunnel possessed extravagance, and it gave off a feeling of stately dignity .
[The Guardians, who guard the King’s Tomb, is approaching you . ]
The King’s Tomb didn’t allow anyone to enter it except for the king . It didn’t look kindly to intruders .
Accompanying the System Announcement, soldiers made out of clay started to appear from the other side of the tunnel . They kept in formation as they marched forward .
Chu-buhk, chubuhk!
The sounds of their feet moving in sync was heard . They marched towards the intruder, who had decided to interfere with the king’s eternal sleep .
There were a lot of them . As expected of a road made for a king, the tunnel was large enough for 10 people to stand abreast of each other with their hands extended . . However, the clay soldiers made this tunnel feel cramped .
Twelves soldiers stood abreast of each other . Moreover, Hyrkan couldn’t see the end of the line .
The only thing he was sure about was the fact that they numbered in the hundreds .
It was an incredibly large army .
Just imagining such a large army marching against oneself was enough to make anyone feel faint . Moreover, it was hard to even come up with a strategy to deal with such a large army . However, in such a situation, the User decided to charge forward .
Chuh-buhk! Chuh-buhk!
One could hear steps that were out of sync with the sound of footsteps made by several hundred clay soldiers marching together .
Pah-aht, pah-aht!
The sound of nimble footsteps could be heard .
The sound of the running footsteps and the slow marching footsteps alternated with each other .
Shweek!
In the middle of the alternating sounds, the sound of the air being split was heard .
Ssssk!
Then the sound of something solid being cut was heard .
Shweek, sssssk!
These sounds were heard in succession, and afterwards, the sound of something hard being hit was heard .
Ggah-ahng!
It was the start to the battle .
The battle started out in a noble fashion . A User threw his body towards a tunnel filled with several hundred Clay Soldiers .
Wasn’t this something that couldn’t be done unless one had guts and a gallant spirit?
However, the result of such a gallant move wasn’t that great . He was like a bulldozer . He sliced through the Clay Soldiers in front of him like tofu . He cut through everything without hesitation .
However, at some point, his gallant spirit couldn’t overcome everything . He had charged straight into ranks of the endless Clay Soldiers, and now he was surrounded .
The User was surrounded, and his headlong charge had come to a stop . Sharp swords were flying towards him at all sides, and the User displayed his ability .
The User had been in a desperately dangerous situation, and he could expect no outside help . The User had to solve the problem through his own power .
Che-ehng, cheng!
The unceasing sounds of swords clashing was heard, and at that moment, the User stabbed a sword into the ground .
The sword planted into the ground melted as it fountained forth liquid steel . The amount of liquid steel was much more than the amount making up the sword . It was an incredible amount .
Kwahl, kwahl!
The liquid steel, which poured out from the sword, didn’t merely wet the floor . It started to overflow .
[Iron Golem was summoned . ]
The overflowing liquid steel quickly formed into a 4 meter tall body . It turned into an enormous Golem made out of steel .
The Iron Golem appeared, and it immediately clogged the tunnel .
“Hardening!”
The Iron Golem hardened in place as it became a wall blocking the tunnel .
Ggah-ahng, Ggah-ahng!
From the other side of the Iron Golem, one could hear the sound of swords being brought down in an attempt to destroy the Iron Golem . However, they could only attempt it . The Iron Golem didn’t even let out a cry, and it didn’t allow the monsters to wound its body easily .
The Users, who had been fighting solo, put his back against the Iron Golem .
“Hoo-ooh!”
He was finally able to let out a sigh . As the User let out a sight, the corner of Hyrkan’s mouth lifted .
Dahk dahk!
Hyrkan immediately flicked his fingers . From where Hyrkan had come from, a group suddenly appeared .
The Death Knight stood in front of the group . It was followed by two Skeleton Knights and 10 Skeleton Warriors!
When the enemies appeared in the rear, a portion of the Clay Soldiers stopped pointing their swords toward Hyrkan, and they quickly turned towards the new group .
When he saw this sight, he regripped his Deposed Prince’s Sword as he got ready to attack again .
‘I’ve been reaping only the benefits for awhile now . I guess I’ll have to cough up some of it back now . ’
King’s Tomb .
When he entered the King’s Tomb, he had waited for the guardians called the Clay Soldiers to show up .
Clay Soldiers .
It was a monster that appeared in the Ruined Kingdom episode . They were quite similar in nature to the Skeleton Warriors under his command . A fixed amount of damage was recovered as time progressed, and they didn’t have a particular weakness that could be exploited . One had to give cumulative damage to kill it . It also had a pretty good Battle AI, and most importantly, they moved in a group numbering in the hundreds .
When he saw that the Clay Soldiers were his opponents, Hyrkan immediately came up with a battle scenario .
The plan he was carrying out right now was that exact scenario .
Hyrkan had waded into the unknown number of Clay Soldiers, and he had summoned the Iron Golem to make a wall . Then the Iron Golem was used to eliminate the divided forces of his enemies!
However, it was too inefficient to leave everything to his Skeleton underlings and the Golem .
Moreover, his Skeleton underlings were too unreserved in their attacks . His Skeleton underlings resembled Hyrkan, who had charged headlong into the ranks of the enemies .
At first, the Skeleton Warriors would be able to crush their enemies . However, the problem occurred afterwards . The Clay Soldiers would regain their original form in short order just like the Skeleton underlings!
If they weren’t careful, the Skeleton underlings would be surrounded by the Clay Soldiers .
After being surrounded, his Skeleton underlings would put up a good fight . However, his magical energy would be the cost of letting such a frantic struggle occur .
He didn’t know when this battle would end . However, if his magical energy bottomed out, it would be Hyrkan’s defeat .
“Hoo-ooh!”
This was why he chose this method . He wanted a more efficient, logical and wise battle tactic .
Of course, this would be hard . The Clay Soldier’s combat ability didn’t reflect their crude appearance . The swords were swung in a powerful and an intelligent manner . They didn’t mindlessly hack and slash their opponents . When one stabbed, the others predicted how the enemy would respond . Then the other Clay Soldiers in line would stab their swords towards this predicted location with a bit of a time lag .
Usually, the prospect of being surrounded by the group of Clay Soldiers as a Striker would give one chills and nausea .
However, at that moment, Hyrkan had a smile on his face .
‘This **** game . ’
It was difficult . It was arduous . It was annoying .
‘Well, it is very Warlord-like . ’
This was why it was fun .
It had always been like this . This was the reason why Hyrkan found Warlord fun, and this was also the reason why he kept playing it . If he couldn’t feel such enjoyment from playing it, Hyrkan wouldn’t have even bothered to start playing Warlord .
“Stand tall . ”
Kahng kahng!
Hyrkan patted the Iron Golem’s body, which had become the strongest wall . Then he charged towards the Clay Soldiers .
5 .
The very extravagant and clean tunnel leading to the tomb was filled with dirt . It was quite dirty .
It was the remains leftover when one thousand Clay Soldiers were killed .
Hyrkan looked unsightly as he had just finished fighting a thousand Clay Soldiers . The Argardo’s armor named the Dark Spot set boasted incredible defense, yet there were clear scratches on the armor . Some parts were broken, and other parts were smashed . It was evidence showing how fierce this battle had been .
[You are short on magical energy . The ‘Undying’ Skill’s effect is gone . ]
When he stopped taking the consumable Items, his magic immediately bottomed out . He had been barely able to maintain his magical energy thanks to the recovery Items . This was a battle where he had reached his limit .
‘This is the first time, since the Anugas Raid, where I might have died . ’
Hyrkan had several near death experiences as he faced powerful monsters . Argardo, Immoral Prince, Frost Knight, Anugas… .
These were unfathomable existences, and it wouldn’t have been strange to see Hyrkan die at any of their hands .
However, he had almost experienced death by the sheer number of his enemies right now . It had been a while since he experienced such a thing .
‘The difficulty of the game is higher than expected . ’
In truth, Hyrkan hadn’t realized the King’s Tomb had such a high difficulty setting .
“Whew . . ”
The difficulty was higher than expected, and he had bled more than expected .
‘I used up the consumable Items at twice the expected rate . ’
When Hyrkan talked about bleeding, he was referring to his consumption of the consumable Items . Moreover, he had been in constant battle was 20 days, so he had a low stock of good consumable Items .
‘No matter what, I have to go back after this . ’
With the amount of consumable Items left, he would be able to conduct one more battle such as this one .
Still, Hyrkan could calculate the use of his consumable Items as a bleed rather than a critical wound .
‘This was possible, because it was me . A decent party of 10 to 20 members would have never been able to break through this place . ’
If it was a party of normal Users, over half their numbers would have experienced Game Over .
Hyrkan was astonished by the difficulty of the game .
At the same time, he was satisfied with it .
‘Yes . It is possible, because I’m me . ’
From Hyrkan’s perspective, the King’s Tomb had been one of most difficult locations in terms of difficulty . The crux of the difficulty was the fact that this stage was meant to be overcome with the cooperation of numerous Users . On the other hand, the reward should reflect this difficulty .
Since he had cleared this place by himself, Hyrkan was well qualified to take the rewards for himself .
‘Yes . I’ll monopolize this place . ’
He was qualified to be able to reap the numerous rewards by himself .
‘This is a King’s Tomb . Of course, there will be more here . At the very least, it should have a Unique Rank Item set . Moreover, there should be two to three scrolls of Ancient Power . They are making the User go through such hardship . There is no way a single Skill Book would be given as a Quest Reward . ’
Hyrkan smiled as he put the Golden Conch to his ear . At that moment, the Golden Conch started speaking again .
– Forward······ .
The Golden Conch gave the direction, and Hyrkan moved with a Skeleton Warrior in front of him . The Death Knight followed behind Hyrkan, and the rest of the Skeleton Underlings followed the Death Knight as if it was the mother duck .
How long did they walk for?
The tunnel came to an end, and a large space was revealed . In the large space, there was a single altar . Moreover, there were 4 entrances with the altar at its center, and Hyrkan had exited from one of these entrances .
[You’ve completed ‘Trace of Bokan’ Quest . ]
At that moment, he heard the Announcement telling him he had completed the Quest .
The Quest had come to an end, and he had to go back to report what he had found . If he went back to Ahimbree, he would be able to get the reward .
However, Hyrkan wasn’t satisfied with such a result .
Wasn’t this the King’s Tomb? This incredible tomb was made for a king . The king wouldn’t have been sent to his grave empty handed . At the very least, they would have filled the tomb with gold and gems as a sign of respect .
No, he was sure of this fact .
‘This can’t be the end . There has to be something more to this . ’
Hyrkan once again put the Golden Conch to his ear .
– I’ve discovered the tomb of a king . I don’t know which king is buried here, but there are signs that indicate that this king had fought against the Dragon’s Army .
At that moment, the Golden Conch started to tell a long story unlike before .
‘Yes . There is no way this could be the end . ’
Hyrkan listened carefully .
– This was why I believed everything within this place would be of help in facing the Dragon’s Army . I sent everything within this place to the great Blacksmith Olf .
‘Uh?’
As he heard the story, Hyrkan’s expression crumpled .
– New heroes will emerge, and I tasked him to make equipments for those that will fill face the Dragon’s Army in the future . I also gave him a key I found here for safekeeping .
The story ended there .
Hyrkan detached the Golden Conch from his ear, then he shook it couple times before putting it next to his ear again .
– I’ve discovered the tomb… .
When the same message started to flow out, Hyrkan let out a shout .
“For real? Fuck!”
According to Bokan’s story, the King’s Tomb had been filled with incredible Items as expected of a resting place for a king . However, Archmage Bokan had decided to send all the Items here, so it could be converted into Items that’ll be used to fight the Dragon’s Army . It was all sent to the Blacksmith Olf . This was the gist of the story .
Basically, there was nothing to be gained here . Everything worth having here had been given to the care of the Blacksmith Olf .
“Wow! Wow!”
At that moment, Hyrkan was so mad that he was having a hard time expressing his anger .
At that moment, Hyrkan heard a new System Announcement in his ears .
[Quest ‘Ancient King’s Artifact’ is starting . ]
[Quest ‘Ancient King’s Test’ has started . ]
[The king’s Guardian Knights are starting to move . ]
Koo-koo-koo!
As if it had been waiting for the Announcement, the King’s Tomb rumbled as if it was about to collapse . At that moment, Hyrkan remembered the large statue of knights decorating the entrance of cave .
“Shit!”
Moreover, the scene of him fighting these enormous sculptures of knights popped up within his head .
‘It seems all my bad imaginations comes to pass . ’
Hyrkan’s instinct regarding this point was quite good .
6 .
“Thank you for your hard work . . ”
“Thank you for your hard work . !”
“Good job, everyone!”
The words of encouragement was heard coming out from various sources . These messages were also the signal that notified the battle had come to an end . It also told the other Users that they could relax and they could take a break .
However, not all members could relax and rest . It was the opposite . Some Users ramped up their activities .
“Did you see the mural?”
“We’ve recorded everything . ”
“What about the hidden room?”
“We are exhausting all methods to research it . ”
“Don’t miss a single clue . Even if you have to work overtime, I want you to be thorough . ”
“Yes . ”
Natal had participated in the battle, and he had performed very well . It wouldn’t be shocking if he fell over from exhaustion, yet he was also bustling into action .
This place was a ruin called the Tomb of the Heroes, and he was looking over the footage regarding the mural .
‘We’ve finally found a clue that’ll give us the big picture regarding this Main Scenario Quest . ’
Usually, the Hydra guild moved faster through the Main Scenario Quest compared to the other guilds .
However, this wasn’t true in the third Main Scenario Quest . They had a very late start . This was why they didn’t have the time to rest, and they couldn’t afford any mistakes .
‘We need to see the big picture . That’s important . ’
Most Users would have ignored the murals, but Natal would put his brain to work to find clues .
– Natal-nim! There is a mural on the ceiling . You should have a look at it .
One of the Users investigating the Ruin called out to Natal . Natal immediately headed towards the User . Natal arrived at a room .
There was a memorial stone in the middle of the room .
“Over there . ”
The User, who called Natal over, pointed towards the ceiling over the memorial stone .
As he had indicated, there was a mural on the ceiling .
The mural’s content was quite simple .
The mural was divided in half .
On one side, there was an enormous Dragon, and there were all kinds of monsters in front of the Dragon .
The monsters were staring towards the other half of the mural where a castle was present . There were numerous humans gathered in front of the castle with their weapons raised . Moreover, five warriors, who were letting out various Aurae, stood in front of the army .
When he saw the content of the mural, Natal spoke in a low voice .
“I’m not sure on anything else, but I’m sure our final enemy will be the Dragon’s Army . ”
“What?”
“Nothing . I was talking to myself . First, let’s take footage of the mural then the memorial stone… Could you try lifting it?”
“Ah . I’m a Priest . My Strength stat is… . ”
“Hurry up and call in a Striker . After we finish our work… . Let’s destroy all the murals as a precaution . ”
“Yes . Understood . ”
After the conversation, a bitter laugh came out of Natal .
‘It seems it won’t be long before Warlord reverts into being a normal game like all the other games on the market . ’