Chapter 266: Game of Divine Thrones 1

Jeon-Ryun Mountain was located deep in the valley within the Lioness Kingdom.

A huge pyramid floated above the highest peak.

It was one of four epic dungeons created by the new Game of Divine Thrones quest.

At first, the martial arts people entered without knowing what it was. However, within a few days, access was strictly controlled by Marcus.

“It looks the same as the one in the snowfields of Norton Kingdom,” Leifina commented.

“Maybe the Creator likes pyramids,” Woohyuk responded.

While looking down at the epic dungeon from the flying shuttle, Woohyuk and Leifina were conversing.

In addition to them were Allen, Reina, and Irene.

The reason why he only brought a small number of his followers to these ruins, which were the highest difficulty level, was because no one had ever come out of one alive.

‘They quests must be some form of survival games where only one survives or for a very few to team up together.’

It would be too na?ve of him to be enticed by the Divine Throne seat and enter in without caution.

Before coming back to this world, he had lived 40 years without a single whiff of a Divine Throne clue. However, this time around, everyone was given a chance at a Divine Throne seat in less than 10 years.

‘Who, amongst the transported humans, could possibly be strong enough to vie for a Divine Throne seat in such a short amount of time?’

Logically, the Creator should have filled the seats with people who listened to his orders obediently, but he had another plan in mind.

‘He’s only interested in reigning in the power of the demon.’

It shouldn’t be forgotten that in the whole reason for this game in the first place was to restore the system broken by the Odyssey Plan’s irregular code and to control the power of the demon.

Of course, it would be nice if Woohyuk could seat his own vassals in the empty Divine Throne seats.

“When are we going to enter? Maybe it’s because of the high altitude, but I’m freezing out here. The winds are really strong up here,” Reina muttered.

“It seems you’ve grown weak after spending all your time in a tropical forest, Reina,” Woohyuk commented.

“Of course. Elves are originally a race that lives in the forest!” Reina grumbled as she blew into her hands.

Irene overheard their conversation and tilted her head.

“Is it cold here? I didn’t know. I don’t feel anything,” she murmured.

“Your senses are dull because you’re a chimera, Irene. Well, you may have also become stronger after consuming the Dragon and Alice’s heart.”

“Irene has definitely changed a lot from before, Your Majesty. I can feel the vigorous mana flow inside of her,” Allen commented.

Allen made a contemplative expression while holding the Arcane’s Crystal Staff.

Woohyuk patted Allen’s shoulder with a sad, commiserating face.

“Have you suffered from any desire for women these days?”

“I’m fine, really, Your Majesty. The path of the great mage was always going to be difficult and lonely. Holding a woman in one’s arms does not help in advancing one’s proficiency in magic.”

Allen was truly a natural wonder.

After shaking his head helplessly, Woohyuk asked Aris to fly the shuttle closer to the entrance of the epic dungeon.

“Don’t let anyone enter until we come out, Aris,” Woohyuk stated.

“Aing~ Okay!”

historical

Aris made a ‘V’ sign with her finger from the shuttle’s cockpit.

[Epic Dungeon: Would you like to enter the ruins of the Wind God?]

[YES / NO]

Based on the system message, it seemed that this was the dungeon where the previous Wind God was confined.

Woohyuk pressed the YES button and entered the dungeon with his party.

Before long, dazzling flashes of light covered their surroundings.

***

They were transported to the foot of a mountain range. They were placed with a fortress.

Woohyuk’s group looked around.

There were a simple tent and wood fire in the center. Various supplies, life, and work tools were scattered around it.

“This place..”

“It looks like a base camp.”

It was the place where people landed when they were first summoned to this world. It was a camp that they often saw at the beginning of the tutorial.

In the next stage of the tutorial, Adventurer’s Gorge, facilities similar to these base camps existed for each group.

“Wait, isn’t this Adventurer’s Canyon?! We’re blocked on all four corners by tall mountain ranges. We’re completely blocked off from the outside!” Reina shouted.

“Keep calm, Reina. It looks a little different,” Woohyuk muttered.

There were no facilities such as blacksmiths, auction houses, inns, or taverns. These were the basic structures that all base camps provided in the tutorial.

However, just like the tutorial base camps, there were only tents, a bonfire, and basic supplies.

In terms of their surroundings, they were surrounded by huge walls on all sides. It seemed logical that they were within a fortress.

“It seems they want us to start from the most primitive state to prove the quality of each person,” Allen said.

“Your words make sense, Allen. First off, the primary objective seems to be survival,” Woohyuk replied.

It was probably not the dungeon’s intention for them to capture animals and grill them over the campfire and sing Kumbaya.

There was a high possibility that someone like a guide would soon appear and explain the stage.

As Woohyuk predicted, a black fissure appeared in the air, and a pretty girl with blond hair wearing a red dress appeared.

“Voila~ Welcome to the epic dungeon. My name is Eve. I believe some of you have already met me several times,” she said in a cheerful voice.

Eve. She was to play the role of their guide.

When Reina saw her, she yelped out loud and took a few steps back.

“Heok.. I hate that girl.”

“What’s wrong? Oh, you’re from the elven race that lives in the forest. You must have passed the tutorial already. How surprising.”

Unlike humans who were self-weakened due to their dependence on modern civilization, elves had always lived in and with nature.

So, even in the tutorial area, which was called the First Forest, she endured well without suffering any panic disorders.

However, there were restrictions on the number of people who could survive, so the elves eventually had to kill each other off to survive.

“You always showed up and told us to fight each other! I’m tired of killing my own people!”

“There are no other elves here except you though? Anyway~ I’ll give you all the first task. First Task! Survive here for four days.”

“.. Are you kidding me? What kind of janky epic dungeon is this?!”

“Don’t be too excited, Reina of the elven race. The difficulty level is definitely high~”

Eve looked at Reina and gave her a meaningful smile.

Woohyuk looked at Eve unpleasantly and spoke up, “What about the guys who came here before us? Did they move on to the next stage?”

“Teehee.. they may have died, or they may still be alive~”

“Your answers are so insincere,” he muttered.

“I can’t help it~ Should I play the game according to the will of the Creator? I’ll give you one tip.. there’s no next stage. So, you can assume that the rest of the challenge is conducted outside this place.”

She was saying that after four days here, they would move on to a new location.

When Eve finished explaining, Woohyuk summarized the current situation in his mind.

‘I guess the Wind God is trapped somewhere here.’

First of all, the gods who rebelled against the Creator must be killed by the challengers so that they can take over their power and take over the Divine Throne seat.

In other words, the challengers were retaliating against the gods who rebelled against the Creator. The act of killing the previous gods legitimized the challenger in the Creator’s eyes, as revenge was exacted on his behalf.

Thus, in order to clear the epic dungeon, the god confined to this place must be killed.

‘Is it possible to bring more personnel?’

The initial survival game was likely a meta-mechanism to filter out ineligible or unworthy challengers.

In principle, anyone can enter an epic dungeon, which could lead to overcrowding.

It seemed unlikely that he’d be able to bring in more personnel. However, his current party members weren’t a bad choice either.

“Alright. So how does this work? Will you show up here again in four days?”

“Yes~ Oh, if new applicants come in, I may appear again. Of course, I won’t answer any of your questions.”

“That won’t happen. No one will be coming in.”

“Teehee.. You don’t know the ways of the world. Anyway, good luck~!”

Eve waved her hand and disappeared through the black fissure.

When Reina saw this, she frowned.

“Hmph! I really hate that human girl.”

“She may be a girl on the outside, but she’s probably an early ancestor of mankind.”

Of course, the originators of modern humans were Adam and Lilith, to be precise.

Those born between Adam and Eve were part of Solomon’s lineage, a sacred lineage protected by Etheria Rodinus.

However, the two lines must have mixed blood in the middle, so it was a headache for Woohyuk to go too deep into the details.

“That girl is the mother of mankind? Nonsense..”

“In fact, she must have died millions of years ago. Well, I don’t know the details, so let’s leave it at that.”

“Lord, what are we going to do now? I don’t think it would be a bad idea to search the nearby area before it gets too dark, but..”

The space was so wide that it was difficult to be cautious of all four corners, and there was also the sky.

Perhaps, like the Twilight Tower, this space itself acted as a medium, connecting to other spaces.

Therefore, they needed to find out what was in this space.

“That’s a good idea. However, there may be some survivors in here, so some of us will have to remain and defend the base camp,” Woohyuk said.

“Me, I just want to be here. I think it’ll be dangerous to go outside for some reason,” Reina said as she quickly moved to the campfire.

Woohyuk nodded his head and looked toward Allen.

“Reina may be attacked if she’s left alone. Allen, keep here company.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Allen replied as he politely bowed his head while holding his Crystal Staff in his hand.

Woohyuk took the rest of the party and headed outside. He then turned his head back as if he thought of something.

“Oh, make sure to build structures that will help us survive while we’re out. Something like a barricade to prevent intrusion from the outside.”

“Wait a minute, we need building materials to do that! Where the hell do you expect us to find those supplies?!!”

“Did you not see it? There’s enough wood over there.”

Woohyuk pointed to a pile of logs that were neatly stacked in the corner.

Reina covered her mouth in surprise.

“W-Why.. why didn’t I see that before?”

“Your elven vision is very narrow. Also, make a watchtower so you can look far into the distance.”

Woohyuk waved his hand as a sign for them to work hard.

After leaving the fortress, a forest with three trails appeared.

“Lord, what are we going to do? Should we split up and take a different path each?”

“No, we move together. We have four days anyway.”

In the survival stage, there were many cases where scattering a party for no reason caused undue waste and death.

As Woohyuk’s group was walking along the middle road, an animal popped out of the forest.

“It’s a doe.”

“.. Is this really Adventurer’s Gorge?”

“Well, the basic structure seems similar. It would probably be cumbersome for the Creator to design individually unique stages.”

Even in online games that he played when in middle and high school, game developers often only slightly changed hunting grounds or monsters in low-level zones versus high-level zones. Many just used the same template and changed a few variables around.

Of course, this thought seemed a bit irrelevant in the current situation..

When Woohyuk was thinking about his past Earth life playing video games, a huge monster appeared behind the deer.

“Qu-Oh!”

It was a wild red minotaur.

“.. The Creator must be tired of creating anything original for dungeons now.”

Perhaps the Creator also felt that he might be no different from the other gods except for his ability to control the system.

Feeling a subtle familiarity, Woohyuk rushed toward the red minotaur.