Chapter 24
In ‘Soden’, witches were known as vicious, cunning, and merciless beings.
A little kid who doesn’t know the ways of the world?
What did that matter?
Being young and having narrow knowledge was no reason to lower the difficulty of the riddles.
If anything, it was the opposite.
—Kikik.
—Kuhuhu.
They simply wanted to present even more bizarre riddles and watch that innocent face twist in agony.
It would surely be a spectacular sight.
They wanted to distort the child’s face into a tearful mess and carve the cruelty of the world deep into his bones.
However……
—The academic name of the fish species that inhabits the lower reaches of the Locar River and only appears in the evening is……?
“Local Poisonfish.”
—In the right hand of the one-eyed golem sleeping in the Gormon Canyon, there is a Five Commandments inscribed by an ancient archmage. The third commandment reads……?
“My lover Andern is a piece of trash. Do not forget.”
—……The total number of stone towers built across the continent is…….
“162.”
—…….
—…….
—……Um, uh.
“Why did all three of you suddenly shut your mouths? Are the riddles already over?”
What was this?
What kind of absurd situation was unfolding?
The three witches, who had been brimming with confidence, instantly became mute as if they had swallowed honey.
It was a natural reaction. The boy before them was answering every single riddle — ones that should have been impossible to solve — without the slightest hesitation.
He even spat out the correct answers before they could finish asking the questions.
As if the answer sheet was floating right in front of his eyes.
—We misjudged him. That kid…… has an insanely broad range of knowledge.
—Just how much has that child wandered across the continent?
—……No. Even so, remembering the exact number of stone towers is a bit… uh… scary, isn’t it?
The witches whispered among themselves through telepathy.
Their glances kept darting toward Ruth, and in those eyes was a fear as if they were looking at a monster.
They had ended up feeling instinctive terror before a hardcore player who had poured 9,000 hours of real life into the game.
‘Feels good.’
While maintaining a calm expression on the outside, Ruth felt a surge of pride inside.
It seemed that the years he had devoted to ‘Soden’ had not been in vain.
Completely mastering the types and names of monsters in each region, strategies, the number of objects, their characteristics, locations, and so on……
Weren’t those the basic qualifications any gamer who truly loved the game should possess?
The things that got him called a pathetic shut-in on Earth had become the foundation for solving problems here.
“I asked a question. Are the riddles over?”
—……Damn it, what kind of kid are you? Are you even a kid?
—You’re seriously insane……
They had many prepared riddles left.
But no matter what they threw at him, this kid would answer them effortlessly.
That realization completely crushed the witches’ motivation.
Clank—
The metal chains that had been restraining Ruth’s limbs released with a powerless sound.
The witches opened a path, as if telling him to proceed to the next stage.
However.
—……Why aren’t you going?
—The trial ends here. Hurry up and get lost, you unlucky brat.
—Go, quickly!
“Ah, so that was what you meant by go? I didn’t realize.”
Having regained freedom of movement, Ruth massaged his stiff neck and spoke.
“By the way, when are you going to remove the ‘mark’ you secretly engraved on my body?”
—……!
—Huk……
The witches gasped at the casually thrown question.
Their mouths hanging open beneath the dragon bone masks.
—H-How did you…….
“Do I have any obligation to explain that to you? Stop talking nonsense and remove the mark already.”
How did he know? Of course he knew.
Anyone who understood what kind of creatures witches were could naturally see through it.
Failing the trial naturally came with a price.
If he failed to solve the riddles, the witches had prepared everything so they could immediately steal Ruth’s soul.
By engraving a ‘mark’ somewhere on his body that would trigger soul theft upon meeting certain conditions, such as ‘failing the riddles.’
‘The chains were a magic tool for engraving the mark.’
Secretly tampering with someone’s body was a signature habit of witch-type monsters.
Ruth knew they weren’t the type to obediently send him off just because he solved a few riddles.
—We can’t remove that mark!
—Just go!
—Since you solved the riddles, it doesn’t have any effect anyway! So it doesn’t matter, right?
“If it has no effect, then there would be no reason for you to react so dramatically.”
Clank—.
A deep purple blood orb appeared above Ruth’s palm.
It was the moment the skill <Blood Poison Creation> activated.
“If you don’t want to remove it, then forget it. If I kill you, the mark will disappear on its own.”
—Such arrogance!
—You should have left when we spared you!
—Die!
The witches flew into a rage and began gathering black mana while gripping their staves.
But before they could take further action,
Kwa-ga-ga-gak—!!
The blood orb exploded, and fragments of blood poison swirled in all directions.
—Ke, kek……
—Kugh……
A poisonous mist soon spread, but the witches were already in tatters from the explosion.
Their dragon bone masks were crushed, and more than half of their bodies had been blown away in a gruesome sight.
It was then that the trial completion message appeared.
[You have passed the ‘Torso’ trial!]
[Reward will be given!]
Crack—!!
Along with the reward message, the stone chamber collapsed and a bone staircase unfolded.
Normally, the moment one expressed the intention to climb the staircase and proceed to the next trial, the reward would disappear.
But right now, no message about reward forfeiture appeared for Ruth.
Because of the promise he had extracted from Entur.
The promise to let him continue the trials as normal while claiming all the rewards.
Hwaaaak—.
Small white light particles fluttered down from the air like dandelion seeds.
The rewards for <Trial of Entur> were always the same regardless of how the trial content changed.
That was why Ruth already knew what these light particles were.
However.
Thump, thump, thump—.
Even though he knew, his heart would not stop racing.
[You have acquired ‘Essence of Enlightenment’ as a reward!]
When he grasped the light particles, a hard texture filled his palm.
It was a small, white stone that looked so plain that no one would spare it a glance if left on the roadside.
But considering the true value of this item, calling it a gold nugget would not be enough.
[‘Essence of Enlightenment’ is taking root in your body.]
[You have acquired the skill <Blood Mark>!]
As the radiance flowing from the stone permeated his body, a new skill was automatically created.
Blood Mark.
As far as Ruth remembered, this was a skill that required quite a large amount of BP to purchase.
Moreover, it was a skill that only activated at level 40.
Yet he had obtained such a skill now, when he was not even level 30 yet.
‘The Essence of Enlightenment is an item that allows you to learn one of the higher-level skills in advance.’
How could he not call this a gold nugget?
If not for the promise with Entur, he would have had to swallow his tears and give it up.
Thinking how truly fortunate this was, Ruth checked the information on his newly acquired skill, <Blood Mark>.
‘Even though it’s a level 40 skill, the BP requirement was enormous. More than most late-game skills.’
He wondered why.
When he read the skill description to find out……
‘……I’m really glad this is reality and not a game.’
That was Ruth’s first impression after realizing the true nature of the <Blood Mark> skill.
It was fortunate that this was reality.
If it had been a game?
It was the kind of skill that would have been deleted long ago, with players cursing that the planner must have had udon noodles instead of a brain in their head.
***
‘Too easy?’
Drip…… drip……
The blood flowing from the woman’s forearm soaked a small, pitch-black ‘bell.’
Each time blood seeped into the hard surface, a chilling aura that made one’s hairs stand on end surged from the black bell.
The bleeding was so severe that a red pool of blood had formed around the woman and her complexion had turned as pale as a corpse.
However, the woman — Mirati — was not in pain. Instead, she trembled with ecstasy.
‘It’s easy. Way too easy. It almost feels like a trap.’
The place where she currently stood was Entur’s Foot.
Even though she had not yet passed the first trial, Mirati could not contain her joy.
That was because from the very beginning, she had zero interest in the trial itself.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Dragonfang Soldiers rampaged wildly, pounding on the magical barrier Mirati had set up.
It was a high-grade barrier created by pouring a considerable amount of mana into it.
It was not something mere bone puppets could break.
Of course.
‘If Entur’s thought form steps in personally, the story would be different.’
But for some reason.
Even though a fairly long time had passed since she began the ‘ritual,’ Entur had not imposed any interference.
This was why Mirati described it as too easy.
She had even installed talismans all over the area to reduce the thought form’s spiritual power in preparation for interference.
‘Has that dragon bitch still not noticed what I’m doing right now? Well, that works for me.’
At the same time, all of Entur’s attention was focused solely on Ruth.
There was no way Mirati could have known that fact.
Ding…… Ding…….
“Ah……!”
At that moment, the bell that had been absorbing Mirati’s blood began to tremble faintly.
It was a signal that the grand ritual was nearing its monumental completion.
Soon after.
<Being on the other side…… the vessel…… have you prepared a vessel for descent…… and dare to summon me, Belgious……?>
A gloomy voice that seemed to echo from the depths of the abyss flowed out from the black bell.
Belgious.
The moment the evil god Constellation lurking in the abyss finally began to respond to the ‘ritual,’
Mirati became certain.
‘With this, I too can become an apostle of the <Dark Blood Society>……!’
Unable to contain her joy at the thought of repaying the organization’s trust, Mirati shouted.
“It is here! This lowly woman has prepared a vessel for Belgious-nim’s descent!”
A truly magnificent vessel — the body of an ancient dragon.
***
“……!”
Zzt.
At the summit of the snow-covered mountain overlooking Entur’s remains, Wolfgang Demiorck frowned at the sudden throbbing headache.
A guardian knight beside him was startled by the cold sweat breaking out on his lord and asked urgently.
“Lord? Are you alright?”
“……It seems something has gone wrong. Why am I sensing turbid energy from the remains?”
“Turbid energy, my lord?”
The knights looked at each other upon hearing those words.
However, they remained silent with confused expressions, as if they could not feel any such energy.
That was only natural.
The turbid energy was not leaking outside the remains but was only swirling within.
It was something only a human who had formed a spiritual bond with Entur, like Wolfgang, could detect.
‘Feeling corrupted energy means there is a black mage among the challengers.’
Gulp.
Wolfgang unknowingly swallowed dryly.
‘Ruth Fried. It was just as he said.’
Yesterday, during their private meeting.
The two had shared this conversation.
—“Do you have anything more to say?”—
—“Yes. There is one thing Lord should know.”—
—“……Something I should know? What is it?”—
—“Please keep a close eye on the challenger named Mirati. It is merely a hunch, but I have a very bad feeling about her.”—
—“Merely a hunch……”—
He offered no concrete evidence, just a hunch.
If anyone else had said that, Wolfgang would have told them to stop talking nonsense and leave.
But in Wolfgang’s mind, the boy named Ruth was no ordinary person.
A genius who had defeated a 7-star knight at a young age and was now challenging <Trial of Entur>.
If such a prodigy spoke based on a ‘hunch,’ it was worth listening to, at least the content.
—“When you say keep an eye on her, exactly what do you want me to do? Get to the point.”—
—“I heard that Lord is the only human who can enter Entur-nim’s remains even while the trial is in progress.”—
—“The Ancient Dragon has graciously acknowledged me and granted me that authority.”—
—“Yes. Therefore, I hope you do not leave your position tomorrow during the trial and continue watching over Entur-nim’s remains. So that you can respond immediately if any unexpected situation arises.”—
Normally, once the trial began, Wolfgang would return to the citadel.
He would only receive the results from his subordinates after the trial ended.
<Trial of Entur> could end in as short as half a day or as long as a full day depending on the circumstances.
Staying there the entire time instead of returning to the castle would be nothing but a waste of time.
That was why Wolfgang found Ruth’s earnest request absurd.
But.
—“……I understand what you mean.”—
Wolfgang was also a martial artist who had reached a high realm.
He had faintly felt that ‘very bad feeling’ Ruth mentioned as well.
And now.
“What a monstrous sense you have, Ruth Fried…… It really sends shivers down my spine.”
Just as Ruth had said, a very unpleasant energy was swirling inside Entur’s remains.
Goosebumps rose on his skin.
Not because of the turbid energy, but because Ruth’s hunch had been proven correct.
“I did well to stay and keep watch instead of leaving, just as he said. I nearly lost the horse and then tried to fix the stable.”
Clang—!!
The moment Wolfgang suddenly drew his sword, the guardian knights flinched and looked at him in confusion.
“I’ll be back shortly.”
It was time to go check what kind of dogshit situation was unfolding inside.