3: Hell Training
ACT 3 Hell Training
-Suspicious Cave
A dark and suspicious cave in the swamps. The moss and mildew coats its outside, causing a bad smell and eerie noises also can be heard from the cave.
Countless voices of the dead can be heard in the swamp. There is the root of the corruption and evil souls. If possible, it is recommended that you pretend not to see the cave and pass on by.
“There is a dungeon here.”
Ark gazed at the cave opening with a bemused look. Underneath the rotten wood and moss, there was a dark opening. The cave had surprisingly appeared when he followed the flow of the swamp.
‘Anyway, it is certain that the Monkfish mushrooms came from here.’
A viscous liquid flowed from the cave. The Monkfish mushrooms probably grew in the cave because of the viscous liquid. In other words, the Monkfish mushrooms were growing in large quantities somewhere in the cave.
“It’s been a while since I’ve entered a dungeon.”
Ark looked at the cave and laughed. Then the eyeball sat inside Ark’s collar and muttered.
“Ark-nim, isn’t the atmosphere unusual?”
“You idiot, that makes it better.”
There was no user who would pay attention to the various warnings present in the information window. A dungeon was the staple of RPG games. Monsters hunted in dungeons gave better experience and items. In addition, the higher reward meant higher compensation. Who would avoid that just because of a creepy atmosphere? Of course, Ark wasn’t going to carelessly run in.
‘Now what kind of monsters will I see in this dungeon?’ Ark used Eyes of the Cat at the entrance to look inside the cave.
His pupils turned green and he could see the inside of the cave. Just like the entrance, the interior was filled with rotted wood and moss. And he could occasionally see rotten dead bodies.
“Mould Zombies, level 400 Mould Zombies!”
Ark shouted with joy after confirming the monsters that lived in the dungeon. He had just been having trouble with the level of the Mould Zombies within the swamp. But now he found zombies that were 100 levels higher! All of a sudden he had encountered monsters 100 levels higher so he didn’t have a problem anymore. After calculating the dark attribute bonus, Ark was level 523. So he was in fact 123 levels higher. But his actual level was 349 and he was fighting a level 400 monster, so he would receive 100% experience and a bonus 10% for every 5 levels that the monster was higher than him.
‘Even if I level up, I won’t have to worry about items and materials not dropping.
Ark was fortunate about that.
‘There are 20 Mould Zombies at the entrance. They won’t be a problem even if they’re level 400.’
Ark had a lot of experience fighting Mould Zombies and he was already tired of it. So there was no need to think of a plan using ‘Stealth.’ The zombies were empty headed so it was impossible for them to lay traps and they would just run forward haphazardly.
“I don’t need to see anything else. There aren’t that many so I’ll finish it quickly!”
“Hehehe, come on Mould Zombies.”
Clack clack, clack clack clack clack!
Ark, Razak and Racard held their weapons and entered the cave. But a message window he never imagined appeared as soon as he entered.
-You have entered an area with a special property!
‘What, what the? My mana is drained?’
Ark’s mouth dropped at the information window. 50 mana every second! Then he would lose 3000 mana in 1 minute? Currently Ark had 6,495 mana. Even if he did nothing, his mana would be depleted in 2 minutes.
‘Damn, what will I do without my mana?’
Special effects when entering a cave wasn’t uncommon. However, this effect was considered one of the worst. If his mana was drained so quickly then didn’t it mean he wouldn’t be able to use skills?
“Master, what do we do?”
Racard hesitated while flying towards the zombies and asked.
“Don’t worry about it. I just won’t use skills.”
Certainly not being able to use mana was a considerable penalty. However Ark didn’t take it too seriously. If he was a magician then being unable to use mana was definitely deadly. However, Dark Soul was closer to a warrior than a magician. He also had his passive skills which didn’t require mana so he wasn’t too worried.
“Bah, if it’s going to be drained anyway then I might as well use it all. Flash!”
Ark ran at full speed and used Flash. His sword sliced through the 20 Mould Zombies and decreased their health. Next Razak and Racard also attacked, decreasing the health until two or three zombies collapsed.
“Okay, let’s do it like that. Flash!”
Ark steadily used Flash with excitement until the fourth time he tried to use it.
-You are unable to use the skill because you don’t have enough mana.
“Sheesh, my mana is already depleted? It can’t be helped.”Flash consumed 500 mana with every use and he also lost 50 mana every second, so his 6,000 mana had already reached the bottom.
Although his mana had run out completely, he wasn’t willing to stop. So far, he had killed thousands of zombies in the swamp. Even without his skills, there was no reason to worry about 20 zombies. No, if he could hit it then he would easily defeat them. But Ark miscalculated. Kuaaah! Because he randomly fired Flash, Ark had stopped right in the middle of a horde of zombies. Ark had defeated two or three zombies but there were 20 of them. In other words, he had to block approximately 40 attacks. No matter how quickly Ark swung his sword, he couldn’t block that many arms. Tutututung, he felt a serious pain in his shoulder and lost some health.
“Damn, it is hard to avoid these guys in the cave. Racard, attract as many of them as possible!”
“I understand. Hey, you messy corpses. Your opponent is me!”
Racard yelled and quickly flew the opposite way. However, only one Mould Zombie chased after Racard.
‘Whoops!’
Ark started to realize the situation was more serious than he thought. Yes, until now Racard had been able to lure 10~20 zombies thanks to the Taunt skill. Although Taunt only consumed 30 mana, it was still a skill. When his pet used an active skill, it drained Ark’s mana. Thanks to Ark lacking mana, Racard’s Taunt skill was also disabled.
‘Oh my god, then I need to deal with those guys one by one?’
All the strategies he thought of were blocked so he instantly became gloomy. This was a narrow cave so he had no room to avoid the attacks of 20 Mould Zombies. It was fortunate that Razak’s Shield Stroke was a passive skill but he still wouldn’t be able to handle 20 zombies. If he blocked the front then he would be attacked from behind, if he blocked the right then he would be attacked from the left. Since he was under consecutive attacks, it was different to catch the timing to counterattack. It was one of the difficult parts when fighting 1 against 20. The laws of physics still applied to New World. That also applied to this battle. When Ark was hit by the opponent’s attack, his body turned rigid for a bit. It only lasted for 1 second but Ark was unable to swing his sword during that time. In addition, his posture was also unsteady so he was unable to draw out 100% of his power. So he was unable to counterattack properly while surrounded. Unlike reality, New World had a variety of skills for this situation. Magicians had the ‘Warp’ skill while thieves had ‘Crossing’ skill. Ark’s main evasion skill was Dark Dance. But he didn’t have any mana…..
Pepeng, pepeng, pepeng, pepeng!
A red light flashed in front of Ark. It was the first time he was being hit so one-sidedly.
“D-Dark Dance! Flash!”
In a situation where Ark couldn’t hit back, his health quickly decreased. He even forgot the fact that his skills were sealed. He became even more irritated at the severe beating he received from the Mould Zombies. After being hit, a yellow message window floated in front of him.
-You have received a serious blow and have become ‘Dizzy.’
He became ‘Dizzy’ after being hit a certain number of times in a row! It was the first time he