Endless Evolution As A Skeleton In A Game-Like World
Chapter 26: [26] Hell Mode Difficult, The Secret Of The Top Guilds

Chapter 26: [26] Hell Mode Difficult, The Secret Of The Top Guilds

"Are we really going to continue the conversation like this?" Ark asked, glancing at her tail.

Soo-jin cocked her head to the side. "Why? Are you uncomfortable?"

On the contrary, he was extremely comfortable!

The only problem was their audience...

Although Isabella was doing her best to hide her killing intent, probably out of appreciation for his help, it was very obvious from the way she stole glances at them.

The firewood in her hand split into two halves due to the amount of pressure she had put on them, the snapping sound nearly causing Olivia to jump out of her skin.

Ark turned his attention back to Soo-jin. "Actually, this is great. Let’s continue."

"Hmm, alright." She pulled out her fan and began slowly fanning herself. It was strange to say, but even the way she did it was somehow elegant.

"The entirety of Eden is basically one extremely large VMMORPG, but this is more fully expressed in the dungeons and towers, with mission objectives, quests and rules."

"Like I said the last time we spoke, it is only natural that in this game, there would be different difficulty levels, varying from tower to tower."

She paused for a bit, making sure Olivia was out of ear shot before she continued.

"Hell level difficulty is just one of these levels. It is a level so difficult that the top guilds began calling these towers death zones."

Ark absorbed every single word she said, it was not everyday a first generation was willing to spill family secrets.

As he listened, multiple theories were already forming in his mind.

They were not taught anything about this in the academy, yet it seemed the top families had been privy to this information for a long time.

"How much does the five guilds know about hell level difficulty?"

Soo-jin smiled. "They have nearly every single recorded event of hell level difficulty written down, from the most isolated events, to the more public accounts..."

Her eyes narrowed slightly, and the area seemed to drop by a few degrees. "Top rated parties that were slaughtered in the tower, or entire classes that were wiped out during tutorials..."

"Of course..." She gestured with her fan. "There is no way to guarantee it was hell level and not just a really difficult tower, but there are always signs, often relating to irregular patterns..."

"Like how we encountered a second boss in a newbie tutorial..." Ark muttered.

Not only had their tutorial been hell from the onset, the large grave keeper that they had no idea of its location now was undoubtedly a boss.

But it was not the tutorial boss, which did not make sense.

Soo-jin nodded and pointed her fan at him. "Bingo."

Ark would have furrowed his brows if he had one.

"I understand the part about irregular patterns. But you said entire classes were wiped out? Something like that should have made the news, we should have heard about it by now at the very least." Then his voice trailed off. "Unless..."

"You catch up pretty quickly." Soo-jin closed her fan and tapped her palm with it.

"News like that was buried wasn’t it?" Ark asked, more for confirmation, he already knew that it was the case.

"Who would allow their children to participate in the awakening ceremony if they knew that there was a chance all of them would die?"

"What would players do if they knew that their next dungeon or tower could be so difficult that their efforts would be reduced to zero?"

"The guilds decided that it was information best hidden from them."

"Well, I think that is enough to pay for my medical bill." Soo-jin chuckled and began standing.

Regrettably, she removed her soft tail from his back, pain flashing through her features as she got to her feet.

Although sealed, her wound was not yet fully healed. She still needed a few hours to rest.

Soo-jin was about to walk away, when Ark held her hand, causing her to turn towards him and raise a brow.

"One last question."

She nodded. "Alright. What do you want to know?"

"You said the guilds keep a record of nearly all events related to hell mode right? If that is the case, what are our chances of survival?"

Soo-jin’s eyes darkened slightly, then a bitter smile formed on her lips.

"Out of over two hundred recorded cases, there has only been two successful clears. One was a dungeon, and the other a tower. But as for tutorials—"

"No one has survived."

"I see..."

"Be alert, the boss monster might attack us at any time."

<••>

The boss monster had disappeared at some point, vanishing as though it had never been there.

But Ark would have been foolish to think it was gone. A monster would not leave their party that easily... he stared at the dark forest around him, peering into the darkness with an uneasy look in his eyes.

’It is out there, waiting...’

Bosses were not like regular monsters, they were smarter and a lot more cunning. This was the reason they were extremely dangerous.

Although they needed to move forward, the mountain was the only refuge they had against that large monster.

There was no telling what would happen the moment they stepped down, so they decided to play the waiting game.

It turned out Olivia was rather talented when it came to wilderness survival.

With Isabella assisting her, they had set up a camp fire, and were now roasting worm meat over it.

In Eden, eating food increased HP and stamina by a small amount. Since they were out of potions, it was the next best thing, with the only disadvantage being that you could get full.

[Campfire effect active! Resistance to mental attacks has been increased, players will continuously restore stamina]

Although worn meat sounded disgusting, it was actually delicious, at least that was what he deduced from the pleased sighs and mmmms~ he had been hearing so far.

But while they ate, Ark sat by the side watching them in silence.

As a skeleton, he could not eat regular food. Olivia had brought him his share a few minutes ago, only to blush with embarrassment when she realised his unique situation.

To distract himself from the sounds of chewing, Ark pulled out his dagger and a length of rope he had gotten from the goblins.

Back in the academy, he had been a weapons master, meaning he specialized in using all weapon types. But there were two weapons he favored.

The scythe, and the Kusarigami.

He wrapped the rope around the hilt of the dagger in a steady knot. Although this was a far cry from what a kusarigami was, it gave him more range, and was far better than fighting monsters with a short dagger.

Shortly after he finished, lightning flashed in the sky, followed by the booming sound of thunder.

Everyone stared up as the skies turned grey, and rain began to pelt the floor, the winds howling wildly.

In an instant, the weather had changed. But that wasn’t strange, the weather in Eden was known for its erratic nature.

What wasn’t natural was the large monster that loomed up above them.

Its body was so huge that it resembled a slender tower, its skin was as black as the night, and the entirety of its body was covered with sleek, diamond-shaped scales.

Just like the smaller worms, the body of this monster was covered with corpses that hung on it like rags, only that this time, each corpse was that of a dreadful beast.

Ark was not sure he could beat any of them in a one on one battle, talk more of the creature that wore them like clothes...

The monster stared down at their party with its large, milky white eyes, and then at the meat that had been roasting on the now quenched fire.

Olivia dropped the meat to the floor, her face as pale as a sheet of paper.

Screeeeee—!!

Its voice thundered over them, causing the very mountain to tremble.

[Threat detected! Grave Keeper, Level 10 x 1!]

The boss had arrived, and it seemed very, very pissed.