The Game of the Greatest Black Mage
Chapter 166

[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]

Chapter 166

4.

The faces of the viewers who had purchased live tickets were filled with shock, surprise, and delight.

It was only natural to be delighted by a new broadcast.

Yet, there were some who, while watching the same screen, shared the shock and surprise but wore faces filled with misery instead of joy.

They were none other than Assistant Manager Lee Wonsang and Associate Oh Jinhyeok.

The two stared at the screen with grave expressions.

A single Homunculus.

They could have accepted that number increasing to two.

‘It was possible using Carmine's corpse, after all.’

They had hoped the alchemy would fail, but it had come to this.

In the end, not only was it a great success, but he had even pulled off a bonus alchemy.

It made them wonder if even a returning Alchemist NPC could have performed so well.

The 'Creation of Death' he had just acquired played a major part.

Without its stability, the probability of a "great success" would have been significantly lower.

This was a success that even fate manipulation couldn't prevent.

They had expected it to fail.

But every element that relied on luck had sided with Seonghyun.

Both were Mythic-rank familiars.

Especially that one who looked just like Helena...

‘She's surpassed the Mythic rank…’

Considering the absurd materials he had mixed together, it was somewhat understandable.

“Measure the damage.”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

At Assistant Manager Lee Wonsang's order, Associate Oh Jinhyeok hastily began to measure the damage.

He focused on the skills Serphina was currently using, specifically the beam from the crimson moon.

“It’s over 300,000!?”

“Haaaaah.”

300,000 damage in the level 130 range.

That was damage comparable to a Legendary-rank player.

Afterward, when he measured Helena's damage:

“Whoa, this time it’s over 400,000! That final sword attack was 550,000!”

“So this one's at the near-Almighty rank.”

Assistant Manager Lee Wonsang clutched his throbbing head and hung it low.

Damage comparable to the Almighty rank.

It was no wonder Kyou had been defeated by Fiora; her damage had also easily surpassed 400,000.

But Helena's went beyond that, into the 500,000s…

Seonghyun was already strong before.

Now, it was no longer an exaggeration to call him a one-man legion.

‘At a minimum, it would take five Almighty-rank and ten Legendary-rank players swarming him just to take him down.’

It was a completely absurd figure.

And that was the minimum estimate.

If one factored in his actual capabilities...

The number could be even higher.

Not to mention his stats were anything but normal.

He couldn't fathom Seonghyun's limits.

And so, Assistant Manager Lee Wonsang finally gave up.

“I'm done. I don't get it anymore.”

It seemed like not thinking about Seonghyun anymore would be better for his mental health.

“S-Senior?”

“You should stop paying attention to player Seonghyun and focus on the other players.”

“What? Is-Is that really okay?”

Associate Oh Jinhyeok couldn't help but be like,

'But we're the User Management Team. Shouldn't we be watching the player who's skyrocketing the most right now?'

But Assistant Manager Lee Wonsang stated coolly,

“What can we even do by watching him? Our job is just to predict variables, anticipate how much faster the content will be cleared, and pass that information on to other departments.”

“W-Well, that’s true.”

“Besides, with his level of skill, he would have undoubtedly obtained an Almighty Rank class even without some unknown power or a massive number of hidden pieces.”

Even though Assistant Manager Lee Wonsang had complained while watching Seonghyun's screen all this time, he had to admit the player possessed undeniable skill.

“W-Well, it's true... player Seonghyun is the only one with a Synchronization Rate over 100%.”

“It means he can utilize his stats to their absolute limit.”

No one, including the User Management Team, doubted Seonghyun's skill.

Watching his overwhelming Synchronization Rate and his abilities, even they, the developers, couldn't help but be impressed.

So, he was telling him to give up.

Nothing would change by watching him any longer.

That was the judgment of the thoroughly exhausted Assistant Manager Lee Wonsang.

‘Couldn't we just watch him when a variable or an error pops up?’

After all, there were no more directives about Seonghyun from the higher-ups.

“We just need to check for buggy skills, performance errors, and when he discovers hidden elements.”

“Ah, I understand.”

“Right.”

After their conversation, the two decided to focus on other players and began looking around.

Giving up like this… felt peaceful.

Whether Seonghyun grew stronger through some unknown power or not, Assistant Manager Lee Wonsang planned not to worry about it too much.

After a period that didn't feel very long, player Seonghyun's screen popped up again.

‘What's this? I configured it so his screen wouldn't pop up unless something significant happened.’

As Assistant Manager Lee Wonsang stared at the screen:

[Player 『Seonghyun』 has arrived at the Hidden City, 『Ninyaru, City of the Labyrinth Troupe』.]

“Wait, how did he get there!??!”

It had become utterly impossible for him to look away from Seonghyun's screen.

0.

The main base of the Labyrinth Troupe.

Seonghyun looked at Helena, surprised.

Seonghyun looked at Helena, surprised, realizing that while her power was incredible, it was this knowledge that was her truly fearsome aspect.

Furthermore, as one of the few transcendent beings in this world's history, she was bound to know a great deal.

She was, after all, an ancient transcendent being from long before even Hindel was born.

Helena parted her lips, a playful smile on her face and a mischievous tone in her voice.

“So? Am I useful?”

“Yeah, of course you are. But…”

Seonghyun trailed off, pausing for a moment. After some thought…

“Helena… if this is knowledge you have, doesn't that make it incredibly old?”

“That's a rude thing to say!!!”

Helena snapped at Seonghyun's remark.

It seemed she was a little sensitive about her age, after all.

In any case, Seonghyun gave a slight, apologetic smile and rephrased his question.

“So, how do you know about that place?”

Since he couldn't read Helena's memories, he had no choice but to ask.

He was genuinely curious.

After all, wasn't Helena basically a living history book of Eternal World?

So he asked, but Helena just gave him a half-lidded, suspicious look.

“You weren't just thinking something rude again, were you?”

“N…o.”

“Hrmmm.”

His slight hesitation earned him a suspicious glare from Helena before she shook her head.

Anyway.

“Sigh, I can never win against you, Seonghyun.”

As a spirit who was bound to be fond of him, Helena shook her head as if to say it couldn't be helped.

Seonghyun, feeling a little awkward himself, cleared his throat.

“Ahem.”

“Anyway, I think I know the master of that place. I wasn't sure at first, but now that I've seen it, I know exactly who it is.”

“Oh, is that so.”

“It's just speculation, but I know one of those cat merchants. If my memory serves me right, then the location of their main base should be correct too.”

He considered asking Helena if the city had existed since her time, but decided against it, worried she would scold him for asking another rude question.

However, she answered anyway.

“Sigh, it was always a city you could call a sanctuary within the labyrinth, but it looks like it's become the main base for those merchants now.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Yep. So. We're going, of course, right?”

Helena looked at Seonghyun expectantly.

He just smiled slightly, as if it was an obvious question.

It practically reeked of being a hidden field.

There was no way he was going to miss out on a place like this.

And to think that the hidden field was a place full of cat merchants.

‘There must be a lot of them from the same race as Beki.’

He was rather looking forward to that.

He wasn't a huge cat lover, but few people would dislike seeing something cute.

Once Seonghyun made his decision, Helena spoke.

“Then I'll lead the way.”

“Sounds good.”

“I'll follow~”

And so, Seonghyun summoned Helena and Serphina, and just in case a front line was needed, he also brought out Fiora, Nocturnium, and Balthar.

As expected, Leonik was said to be in the middle of training.

He thought he might have seen Leonik's arm trying to pop out of the Gate of the Netherworld before being dragged back by something, but he decided to pointedly ignore it.

As the newly formed party of six began to move, Fiora, who at first seemed unsure, suddenly exclaimed as if she had just remembered something.

-Ah! We-We're going there, right? To Ninyaru?

“Oh, that's right, Fiora. You're a smart one, aren't you?”

-Hehehe.

Fiora was delighted by Helena's praise.

And at Fiora's words, Balthar fell into deep thought.

-Ninyaru? I feel like I've heard that name before…

As Balthar stroked his chin, unable to recall the memory, Nocturnium spoke from beside him in a tone suggesting he found it pathetic.

“Ninyaru. We left Nyao there, did we not?”

-Aah!! So that was the name of the place where Nyao is!!! Khahaha!!! It's a name I haven't heard in ages. I wonder if he's still alive?

-Th-The lifespan of the Labyrinth's beastkin is a thousand years, so, h-he should be alive.

Seonghyun and Serphina couldn't join in on their conversation and simply listened in silence.

A name like Nyao.

It was a very cat-like name.

Just as Seonghyun was thinking that to himself, a message appeared.

[You have acquired the keyword, 『Ninyaru』 and the keyword, 『Nyao』.]

‘So these are keywords.’

“Huh”

‘This must be the kind of route where you have to gather hints and clues to find the Labyrinth merchants' main base.’

However, Seonghyun had no need to go out of his way to find keywords and clues, as Helena was already wandering through the labyrinth, muttering to herself.

But she seemed confused, tilting her head as she thought deeply.

“Hrmmm, I thought it was around here.”

“What are you looking for?”

When Seonghyun asked, hearing her muttering, Helena scratched her cheek and answered.

“If you look closely here, there's a crack, right?”

Following Helena's words, Seonghyun looked and saw a very thin crack.

No, it wasn't so much a crack as a seam where the labyrinth's walls didn't seem to interlock perfectly.

It was like…

‘Looks like there's a misalignment.’

It felt like a piece that had been misaligned during assembly.

Something was definitely up with it.

But when he looked around, he saw nothing else.

Seonghyun wondered what they were looking for.

“There's supposed to be something that looks like a foxtail grass around here, but I can't see it…”

“Foxtail grass?”

In the labyrinth?

The thought was strange, but since there was no way Helena was wrong, he began to search the area.

Seonghyun called over Nocturnium and asked,

“Is there any foxtail grass around here?”

“Hey, I was going to find it first.”

“Please wait a moment.”

Seonghyun had asked Nocturnium since he knew he would find it quickly, prompting Helena to voice her disappointment.

It seemed she had wanted to be the one to find it.

But since they couldn't see it anywhere nearby, Nocturnium, who could sense the space itself, was the perfect choice for the job.

Nocturnium scanned the area and said,

“Hmm, I believe it is here.”

Seonghyun and Helena tilted their heads at his slightly unconfident tone.

It was rare for Nocturnium to speak with such uncertainty.

When the two of them looked where Nocturnium was pointing, they could definitely see some sort of leaf.

And it wasn't far from the misaligned wall.

However, it was cleverly hidden in a moss-filled crevice in the labyrinth wall, making it impossible to spot easily.

Finding it at all was impressive.

But…

“There's no stem?”

“Is it just the base of the plant?”

It looked like both a sprout and a stump.

Seeing its leaves spread out on the ground like a dandelion was a bit strange.

However…

“By its… composition, it is indeed foxtail grass.”

Since Nocturnium had gone that far, they figured it must be correct.

With that judgment, Seonghyun and Helena got up.

Seonghyun looked at Helena, wondering if this was the entrance.

She nodded, then lightly swept her hand across the wall's surface, from the misaligned section over to the foxtail grass.

Kugugugugugugu.

With a loud scraping sound, the labyrinth wall slid aside.

It revealed a long passage.

Torches lit up along it, and as they all entered, it wasn't long before they found a castle gate.

And guarding the front of it, a cat-like beastkin similar to Beki saw Seonghyun and cried out in alarm.

“An outsider-nyan?!”

“How in the world did you get in here-meow!!?”

[You have discovered the entrance to the Hidden City, 『Ninyaru, City of the Labyrinth Troupe』.]

It seemed they had come to the right place.

And…

-Ho-ong? It's our first time seeing an outsider-ong.

There was a cat ghost, too.

[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]