Taejin made a strange expression as he looked at Hansoo who had appeared in front of him while he was looking at the Demon Lord's Castle in the distance.
"That's a dagger that I haven't seen around."
Hansoo laughed as he answered.
"Oh I bought the newest product."
'A dagger and scythe…'
A shiny dagger, which wasn't seen until now, was attached on Hansoo's waist.
A sword with a 30 cm long blade, which had a rather peculiarly long shape for a dagger.
Of course he had many daggers dangling on his thighs but that weapon felt different at a glance.
'…Set artifact?'
He had seen it on the catalog.
<Justice of Dekrados>
An artifact that showed off its best effect when used in conjunction with Judgement of Dekdrados.
He thought that he was a guy who only used complex weapons just like the chain scythe.
Though there was nothing to say since he used them well.
And he also had many weird things.
'What is that pouch…'
While the people were cooking the strange plants which appeared on the road, food continued to come out from his pouch.
But they weren't really jealous because the food which came out from it was on par with the plants they cooked.
"Can we really not be together above?"
Taejin asked with a regrettable tone as he looked at the Giant Crystal which had gotten rather close to them.
Hansoo chuckled at those words.
"I said follow if you want to follow. I won't take you with me but I won't stop you either."
Taejin shook his head at those words.
He wanted to follow him but he was not alone.
They had gotten a little closer while fighting and because of this he had the opportunity to talk with him.
And he could find out after talking to him for a while.
There weren't many reasons why this guy was trying so hard to become strong.
Just one.
In order to go into more dangerous locations.
His clansmen were strong too but if they were to follow him then they would die off in stroves.
He didn't want to become strong that bad.
The reason why he wanted to become strong was for the protection of the clan but that thing had different means and aim.
'It's a good choice.'
Hansoo smiled as he looked at Taejin.
Since the road which he will be traveling from now on will be even more dangerous.
The things he needed to do in the Tutorial were two.
Clearing the Final dungeon.
And one more.
'A Dark Lord who is bound to be somewhere.'
Dark Lord.
One of the guys he needed to pull out by the roots for the safety of humanity.
Guys who were dangerous to no extent.
No, the reason why they were so infamous was because they had the potential to be so dangerous from the start.
There was one in this tutorial area too.
'I will clash with him properly… in the Tower.'
No matter where you are, you meet in the Tower.
Since clashes were inevitable according to its structure.
Hansoo muttered inwardly as he slowly walked inside the Demon Lord's Castle.
The inner parts of the Demon Lord's Castle was empty.
And a red colored crystal existed within the deep parts of the Demon Lord's Castle.
'It is not… working yet.'
The aura of the Crystal was too lacking to say it was working.
And in front of that Crystal, in the large field which was enough to accommodate for the surviving thousand people, a statue which looked intimidating at a glance stood.
'Is that the Demon Lord?'
While the Clan Lords were frowning, Guktae approached from afar.
Taejin frowned as he looked at him.
'Detestable bastard.'
But even so, he could only agree with his usefulness.
Since his clan showed off the greatest might out of the ones here.
Guktae approached the Clan Lords as he spoke:
"I have a suggestion. We have finally arrived at the final gateway together. It seems like the crystal would work if we break that statue apart."
Guktae looked at the giant statue in the distance and then spoke to the Clan Lords.
"Honestly speaking all of us have seven to eight mini crystals right? This isn't a large number but it is more than enough to preserve our powers."
Everyone nodded at those words.
The amount of mini crystals differed from each other's contributions but it was a number which could at least take 40 of them up with them.
If it was this much, it wasn't lacking to start anew in a new place.
In a place where they could be in a very advantageous situation just by gathering up 10 people, there was nothing to even say about 40 of them.
Since it was a very pressuring number to go against if they weren't Clan Lords like them.
But Guktae threw out a very straightforward talk as he looked at them.
"Let's speak really honestly. In my situation I want to kill off everyone else. It's probably the same for other friends too."
"… Isn't that too honest."
"Let's put all in the open and speak."
Everyone thought inwardly at those words.
Even if they weren't that frank, rejoicing at the reduction of power of other clans was an obvious fact.
Who would like a strong competitor in a world where the fairies were setting up tricks in order to get them to compete with each other.
They might even have to kill each other as soon as they go up.
And the other 11 clans were dangerous competitors and by the time they regret about fighting, it'll be too late.
Everyone wanted it even if they weren't saying it as straightforward as he was.
For the power of others to get reduced in the final battle.
As Guktae saw the expression of a consensus from them, he added in some more words as extra.
"But I don't think we should do that. The reason why we have gotten here together despite hating each other so much was because we were on the same boat. We need each other that much. We need to combine our strengths in order to break through the gateway to ascend."
"What do you want to say?"
Guktae laughed at Taejin's words as he spoke.
"Very simple. Let us all reduce the risk and raise the chances of winning."
"…?"
"I know that all of you have not exchanged all of your crystals into artifacts in case of emergencies. The same goes for me."
"…"
"But think about it. How lame is this. If we just change our crystals into artifacts then the power of our Clan Unions rises by a huge amount. On the other hand, the crystals are an existence which just cut down our battle power even if we have it. Because you won't be able to fight properly as you never know when the guy next to you will attack your back and run away. If this were to happen then we could all die. A massacre."
"Hmm…"
Taejin thought inwardly.
Guktae was a guy he didn't like but there was nothing wrong about what he had said.
Honestly speaking, they had to convert all the crystals in their possession in order to face the giant statue, the Demon Lord, in front of them.
Then the number of survivors would increase.
But the reason why they held onto the crystals was because they felt uneasy.
Since this crystal was a sure escape path.
Gukgtae looked at them and shouted as he suggested.
"So I have a suggestion. Let's all change the crystals we have into artifacts. Whichever artifact you change it to is however the user wants but let's use it all without a single one remaining.
"Kuhmm…"
"Hum…"
"This is a means to get rid of the escape path. Since we don't know what kind of crazily orders the Clan Lord will give after escaping if there's one left. Since there's probably somebody who thinks that it'll be a profit massacring the 1000 people here and surviving by himself.
"…"
"Oh. By the way, I'm part of those guys. Can you trust in my clan like this and fight?"
It wasn't an impossible feat.
They didn't know how strong that statue was but if 1000 of them had to fight with all their might, 100 people acting crazily would be extremely fatal.
They could bury everyone here except the five who would escape with the mini crystal.
"…too honest"
"Thank you for the complement. On the other hand, if there wasn't a single crystal left in my hands then I couldn't do such a thing. Because that just means let's just all die. I don't want to die that way. If we all set our boundaries and have our clans fight in those areas with all their might then there will be no instances of being backstabbed. You just need to do your best on your defenses."
"Can't somebody hide the crystals?"
Guktae shook his head.
"We can't hide the crystals because we know the number of each other's crystals too well.
Once we all agree let's buy and show each other. If we compare the number of crystals distributed and the cost of the items on the catalogue, you won't be able to hide the crystals even if you wanted to."
"Hmm…"
Everyone started to ponder at these words.
It's not like there were an uncountable amount of demons and because they had hunted them down employing their special forces together, the number of crystals were clear.
A situation where they knew the number of crystals on each other very well because it was impossible to sneakily move around the special forces to hunt.
According to those words then it was possible to know the total amount of crystals without a single one being left out.
Honestly speaking, it was an obvious thing to decrease factors for anxiety and reinforce their battle strength as much as possible.
Guktae added more words as he looked at these people.
"Think about it. Would the fairy have set the difficulty so that it wasn't possible to win? No matter how much fairy likes for us to die then they wouldn't have put in so much effort like this when they were going to kill us all. They could just simply kill us off and that'll be that."
"Mmm…"
"It means that that thing is possible if we all combine our strengths. Then it means a lot more can survive then you guys escaping with the mini crystals. If you all agree then I'll change first."
Everyone pondered at those words but then nodded.
And they all started to buy artifacts one by one and showed each other.
"I'm choosing the Thorn Wood Casket."
"I'm getting the Ariadnea's Essence…"
Guktae made a content expression as he checked them one by one.
"Good. I'm choosing the Wilderness Lord's Cape. This costs 8 crystals. Everyone should know I received eight… Hansoo you had exactly 59, where did you use them all?"
"… 59 of them."
Everyone thought silently.
If you include the Judgement of Dekrados he bought before then it totals to 119 crystals.
They had known this but confirming it again made them amazed.
Hansoo chuckled as he lifted and showed the dagger hanging onto his waist.
"I used it here. Justice of Dekrados."
Guktae gazed at Hansoo dagger and then nodded with a content expression.
"Though four are left over… is there anything else you're going to buy?"
Hansoo pondered for a moment and then shook his head.
Guktae chucked at that Hansoo.
"You probably don't have a reason to go up. Keep it well then."
'Well. You're probably here because you have an objective left.'
Guktae laughed inwardly.
If he was somebody who would go up for his own safety then he would've left already.
The fact that he had stayed until now meant that he had something to do left.
Anyways, if he decided to not fight and create a chaos or go up then nobody could stop him.
It was better to just tell him to hold onto the escape path and fight actively.
"Well. There's not a single crystal left between the Clan Lords. We can finally focus on the enemy in front of us."
As soon as Guktae's words ended, the giant statue squeaked as it raised its body.
No, it was not a statue.
It was like a living thing having been petrified like a statue.
'It's been a while huh.'
Demon Lord, Barbatoy.
Though it was a weaker version, old memories sprung up when he saw the thing he had fought back then to death with after a long time.
Though it wasn't a good memory.
Just the number of humans who had died by getting ripped apart by his hands was easily over ten thousand.
While Hansoo mumbled inwardly, Taejin shouted loudly at the Demon lord.
"Normal clansmen fall back and special forces, long range and those with healing skills…"
A decision that had been laid because it could be a massacre if the normal clansmen, who couldn't even fight against the gatekeepers, got swept up in the fight against the Demon Lord.
If they couldn't even fight against then they were not of help.
But Taejin, who had been shouting, realized that this wasn't necessary.
Since an enormous amount of undeads started to rise out of the ground in a crazy pace.
"Goddammit… Don't fall back and cover us instead!"
It looked like that they couldn't even get close to the Demon Lord without normal clansmen.
And soon the undead charged ferociously and chaos was created.
And at that moment the fairy appeared above their heads.
"Wow! For one thousand people to have survived! Amazing! You just need to finish it off. First of all, the arrival point, even if you chose the same island, would be different from the mini-crystal to that of the giant crystal so you don't need to worry about getting revenged. Heehee."
"…"
It sounded like that they should attack from behind and leave without feeling any pressure since they didn't need to worry about being chased after running away with the mini crystal.
But everyone snorted.
Since they didn't have any mini crystals anymore.
But the fairy's words did not end.
"By the way, it isn't that the giant crystal turns on when you kill the Demon Lord!"
"…?"
"It will turn on after 30 minutes. So you just need to survive until then right?"
The fairy disappeared with those words and everyone flinched.
It was survival and not kill.
Which meant the clan which fought the hardest would have the greatest loss.
'It's perfect. Really.'
And Guktae laughed as he looked at everyone flinching in the battlefield.
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