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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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Chapter 33
"What happened here that's affecting you like this? No, never mind. Let's get into the shade first."
Ryu Haneul helped Baekya towards the shade of a sand dune.
Ryu Haneul tried to sit Baekya down, but...
Thump.
"...."
Baekya collapsed onto the sand.
His unfocused black eyes looked dazed and decadent.
Objectively, it was a situation where Ryu Haneul could resent Baekya.
He had followed him into the Tower to help, but Baekya, who was supposed to lead the raid, had collapsed.
However, Ryu Haneul smiled mischievously.
'This is the first time I've seen Senior so helpless.'
It was a sight that even Cheong Siyeol hadn't witnessed.
'Whether Senior saves the world or destroys it, I want to be by your side. I wish I could be with you from the beginning, through the middle, and until the very end.'
It was as if he had found a different kind of heaven.
Unaware of these feelings, Baekya mumbled softly—
"Finding a needle…."
"What?"
"Finding a needle in a desert."
"What do you mean?"
"That's the Epilogue Story here."
Ryu Haneul checked his status window.
'There wasn't even a notification.'
An Aitel quest had appeared.
【Epilogue Story: Finding a Needle in a Desert】
Just reading the contents made him feel suffocated.
【Al Chiron, the wealthy merchant leading the Comet Merchant Group, yearns to enter heaven. Yet, the path for the wealthy is fraught with challenges, as the scriptures say it's harder for them to reach paradise than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Undeterred, Al Chiron has spent years meticulously breeding a camel small enough to achieve this feat. Now, his quest hinges on finding the perfect needle for his diminutive camel to traverse.】
【Legend whispers of countless treasure needles concealed within the tombs of pagan kings, and Al Chiron has journeyed to this very site. However, his devout faith prevents him from entering the resting places of those who did not share his beliefs. Should you brave the tombs and retrieve a needle for Al Chiron, he promises a generous reward.】
【Scenario Reward: Genie's Lamp (Mythical)】
Ryu Haneul reread it several times, a frown creasing his brow.
'But it can't be...'
After reading it three times, Ryu Haneul had to admit that this was indeed an Epilogue Story about finding a needle in the desert.
"How did you proceed with this story before?"
Ryu Haneul asked.
Baekya weakly raised his hand and pointed in one direction.
Between two massive sand dunes, he could hear something like the roar of a beast.
"Go and see. Wait... put me down..."
Ryu Haneul helped Baekya up and walked between the dunes.
'Wow.'
Beyond the dunes, there was a procession that seemed straight out of Arabian Nights.
"Pay your respects to Lord Al Chiron!"
A line of elephants and camels, much larger than those on Earth, stretched to the horizon.
Countless handsome men and beautiful women, along with heavily armed guards, bustled about.
The Merchant Leader, Al Chiron, was at the head of the procession.
He was riding on the back of an elephant adorned with gold and purple silk, but slowly dismounted as if to meet someone.
Ryu Haneul checked who Al Chiron was going to meet.
'Lee Baejeong?'
A handsome man with flowing, bright yellowish-green medium-length hair and a well-tailored black suit.
It was Lee Baejeong.
He was translucent like a ghost, but he didn't seem to notice anything.
Ryu Haneul lowered his head beneath the dune and then carefully peeked back up.
They weren't too far away.
With an Awakened's senses, it was easy to notice them.
But Lee Baejeong didn't seem to be aware of their presence at all.
Ryu Haneul thought that they couldn't actually be in the same place.
'Originally, each person should have been dropped into a different space.'
It seemed like Lee Baejeong had just received the quest, judging by his dismayed expression.
He looked back at the desert and shrugged broadly.
Ryu Haneul spoke to Baekya, who was still lying on the sand.
"Senior, Lee Baejeong also received the quest."
"I see."
"Shouldn't we clear it first?"
"Leave him be. Let him suffer a bit like I did."
"What?"
"The tomb's scale is no joke."
Ryu Haneul didn't understand Baekya's words.
Lee Baejeong used some kind of skill and walked away.
* * *
The tomb was a massive underground structure.
They had to dig into the sandy desert to find the entrance and then explore the interior.
Lee Baejeong managed to do that without much difficulty.
He was an Awakened specialized in sealing and exploration.
Since Baekya was still out of it, Ryu Haneul followed Lee Baejeong inside alone.
The tomb grew wider and wider as they descended.
The walls were covered in hieroglyphs, but even Ryu Haneul, with his 'Decryption' skill, couldn't decipher them.
[TL/N: Hieroglyphs — a system of pictorial writing used by the ancient Egyptians, and the word means "sacred carving".]
Ryu Haneul would occasionally come back out and tell Baekya what he had seen.
'Senior's strong will is the only thing keeping him going, but he must be incredibly disoriented right now. I need to keep talking to him, to remind him that this isn't the same as before.'
"Senior, there are hieroglyphs inside, but I can't decipher them. How was it back then?"
"The same. I couldn't read them either. None of us could. We just wasted time."
While searching for the path, they often entered the wrong rooms.
Inside were large and small mummies and swarms of flesh-eating scarab beetles that attacked them.
"Damn it!"
Every time Lee Baejeong threw a tantrum, Ryu Haneul would laugh triumphantly.
Mummies were no match for his Dark Heaven Sword Qi and the True Samadhi Fire technique, and the flesh-eating scarab beetles couldn't even scratch Ryu Haneul, protected by his mastery of the Black Maitreya Divine Art.
"How did you deal with them, Senior?"
"I burned them all. Surprisingly, the ventilation system was well-maintained, so I didn't suffocate."
There were also traps where spikes, maces, or spiked maces would shoot out from the floor or walls.
Beyond those traps were treasure rooms.
The moment Lee Baejeong opened one of those doors, he collapsed on the spot.
"Oh my god."
Even Ryu Haneul had to agree with Lee Baejeong at that moment.
"Whoa."
The treasure room was larger than six soccer fields combined and filled with all sorts of jewels.
A significant portion of it was occupied by treasure needles.
Large and small needles, carved from various gems like gold, silver, crystal, and turquoise, were piled up, reaching the high ceiling.
Lee Baejeong tried to use countless skills like 'Search,' 'Appraisal,' and 'Tracking,' but within the tomb, protected by the aura of the dead king, he couldn't identify which needle was the story artifact.
"So in the end, we just grabbed a bunch and got out of there."
"Well, there's no other way but to check them individually."
"Even getting them out was a pain. The mummies chased us all the way back to the desert."
"Yeah, they were relentless."
At first, Lee Baejeong took out a large number of needles.
But the journey back to Al Chiron from the tomb wasn't easy either.
["You dare steal the king's treasure!"]
Crocodile and jackal mummies, probably around B+ Rank, attacked them.
Lee Baejeong eventually subdued them, but he dropped a considerable number of needles during the fight.
In a situation where he couldn't tell which needle was the story artifact, it was a fatal mistake.
And so, with the 315 needles he managed to bring back...
"No."
"That's not it either."
"This one isn't it either."
Al Chiron shook his head at every single one.
Lee Baejeong shrugged as if he had expected this.
Ryu Haneul and Baekya watched Lee Baejeong enter the tomb once more.
"It seems like around 200 is the safe number to carry without dropping any."
"Yeah, I could manage up to 250."
"And one round trip takes about 40 minutes."
Suddenly, focus returned to Baekya's eyes.
"It took 9 years and 7 months to empty that entire pyramid."
It wasn't a mumble like before, but his usual powerful voice.
"Senior?!"
Ryu Haneul was shocked by both his tone and the content of his words.
Before they knew it, the sun was setting over the desert.
Baekya sneered.
"Let's see how long it takes Lee Baejeong."
* * *
The time Baekya remained conscious each day was gradually getting longer.
From then on, instead of following Lee Baejeong, Ryu Haneul would bring useful items from the tomb.
Good artifacts often appeared inside the coffins.
Of course, there were guardian mummies, flesh-eating scarab beetles, and giant scorpions, but...
"Heavenly Demon's Reign!"
Nothing could stop the 'Heavenly Demon' Ryu Haneul.
"Senior, I'm back."
"You're back?"
In the shade of a sand dune under the blue sky.
Baekya, who had been lying with his eyes closed as if dead, opened them at the sound of his voice.
Ryu Haneul crossed the desert sand without leaving a single footprint, using his movement technique.
"Are you good now?"
"I don't think so. My head feels like it's splitting. They say medicine made from mummies is good for the body, don't you have any?"
"The mummies I saw here didn't seem like they'd be good for that. But I did find this medicine."
"The elixir's name is... 3,000-Year-Old Honey? Is this even edible? Wait, it's B-Rank?!"
Ryu Haneul rummaged through his Eastern-style robe, adorned with the sun and moon, and pulled out various artifacts.
"This is a mummy's bandage, a healing item."
"Not bad."
"This is the Eye of Thoth amulet, mages would love it."
[TL/N: Thoth — The God of Moon, of reckoning, of learning, and of writing— in Egyptian religion.]
"I like this too. It's a mana item. It would be good to attach it to the Winter Vanguard's Standard. Can I borrow it?"
"I'll just give it to you. It's not really my style. Oh, and this is a fragment of the Emerald Tablet. It's just a fragment, but it says it's Legendary-grade."
"Keep it safe. I have a few too. They say if you collect all 81, it becomes Mythical-grade."
"Oh?!"
"You still look like you have more to show me."
"This is what I got today."
He handed Baekya a scarab amulet made of gold and lapis lazuli.
【Solar Scarab (Heroic)】
【Effect: Battle Continuation. Nullifies fatal injuries once.】
Baekya stared at it for a moment, then returned it to Ryu Haneul.
"Shouldn't you keep this?"
But Ryu Haneul forcefully pushed it into Baekya's inner pocket.
"I haven't died yet. You've already died once, Senior, so you're more likely to die again. Please take it."
Baekya accepted it, pretending to be reluctant.
"I feel a bit annoyed, but I can't really say anything. Thank you."
"And I already have a similar skill. Have you heard of Returning Light?"
"As far as I know, they aren't similar at all."
"The effects are similar, though."
"Alright then. What about Lee Baejeong?"
Ryu Haneul grinned at Baekya's question.
"He's currently grabbing a merchant by the collar."
"How long has it been?"
"Three weeks. Almost four weeks now."
"He's not as good as us. We endured it for three months without complaining."
And then, as if he had never smiled, his expression changed 180 degrees, and he asked seriously—
"Senior, how long did it take you to get out of here?"
How long did it take to get out?
It was a question that reminded him that he had indeed left this place before.
Baekya was slowly regaining his senses throughout the day.
Maybe he could overcome the nightmare now.
As if lost in memories, Baekya's eyes glazed over.
Finally, he spoke.
"It was different for each person. The shortest was 10 years, and the one who endured with me until the end lasted 400 years."
It was a time Ryu Haneul couldn't even imagine.
"What?! 400 years?!"
Baekya nodded.
"It was that kind of time."
"What kind of time?"
"A time when I was busy, but could finally take a breather?"
"Ah."
"Up to the 9th floor, there weren't enough Hunters outside to close the Gates... and I needed some time alone. I don't know if you saw them, but my real family..."
"Yes, I saw them. You don't have to say anything."
"Right. But around this time, I had come to terms with things, and the country had stabilized a bit. So, for the 10th-floor raid, I brought teammates with me for the first time."
Distant memories flashed before his eyes.
Baekya slowly recounted the events of the past.
'It's safe near the merchants. Leave if you can't take it anymore.'
'You should be the one to leave. You'll go crazy at this rate.'
'I'm already crazy.'
'Don't be so self-deprecating.'
'It's okay. I'm really okay. I can leave anytime, so I just have to fight myself.'
'Do you know how many years have passed?'
'Do I need to know?'
'....'
'You said time is just a way to divide change into regular units.'
'You're talking in riddles.'
'Since we're doing the same thing every day, no time has passed.'
'Which pyramid is this?'
'The 43rd, or maybe the 44th.'
Baekya finished his long reminiscence.
"...It took a long time."
The night sky, devoid of even the sunset, was filled with stars.
Ryu Haneul, with a mix of emotions from pity to shock, asked—
"So, Senior, how many years did it take you to clear this place?"
Baekya looked into the distance and answered—
"3,000 years."
Ryu Haneul squeezed his eyes shut.
It was an unimaginable amount of time.
Baekya replied, slightly embarrassed—
"And I didn't even clear it properly. I erased the entire desert with Law of Light."
His voice had regained its usual confidence.
"What do you mean by..."
"I'm back to my senses now. Let's go finish this."
"Huh?"
"I found the needle."
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Hestia
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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