LS 111

We’re seriously screwed.

This was exactly the kind of moment when the phrase “we’re seriously screwed” fit perfectly. They’d already been bounced out of three different corridors. By majority vote, they’d agreed to start at the 9 o’clock passage and check each one clockwise. Some had suggested splitting into four parties to explore faster, but the torches inside the passages wouldn’t light unless all raid members had entered. Since they needed visibility to move forward, going in together was the only option.

In the first passage, they’d barely walked in when a system warning blared and dot damage started ticking.

[System] Your vision is consumed by darkness!

[System] Your HP is gradually depleting.

With no way to use potions or skills, they’d been forced to retreat to the central chamber, only to meet a miserable death inside the passage. The one small mercy was that they revived in the central room even if they died inside a corridor.

Thanks to the minimap, they at least avoided reentering the same path. But the timer wasn’t resetting, it only kept ticking down, and they still had no idea which way to go.

Afraid to waste more time, the whole raid entered the next corridor together, but the result wasn’t much better. Everyone got poisoned and died again as their HP plummeted. In the third passage, traps kept popping up, each dealing lethal damage even from a light graze. The whole raid was wiped out again.

They returned to the chamber and checked the time left: just 1 minute and 30 seconds. No one dared enter the next corridor hastily. This was clearly a waste of time. No way the devs designed this to be fully explored within five minutes.

Moonhyuk glanced at the stream’s chat window. It was full of question marks and crying emojis, no one had a better idea.

— Seriously, this is a joke.

Yeojin was the first to complain. Tando chimed in.

— How are we supposed to get through twelve paths in five minutes?

— Exactly. Fuck, we just keep dying.

Noodle’s comment ended in silence. They had only 58 seconds left now. Attempting a full clear meant every second counted. Everyone here knew that. Even if they went back to the save zone and returned, they’d just end up in the same spot. RiceCake and 4Evil were inspecting every entrance, looking for markings or patterns. No luck. Time kept slipping away.

Then Moonhyuk suddenly let out an “Ah!” and clapped his hands.

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: Holy sh*t what was that sound scared the hell outta me

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: Sounded like clapping or something?

Moonhyuk smiled sheepishly.

“I… Sorry. I just remembered something.”

“What is it?”

Dohee asked quickly. Moonhyuk turned to him. Maybe realizing time was short, he spoke faster than usual.

“Kelathus’s Token! What if we’re supposed to use that?”

“…?”

Dohee looked confused, but quickly recalled the token flashing through his mind.

“Ah.”

“Remember what the priest said back then?”

Moonhyuk continued rapidly.

“He said Kelathus’s Token would lead us down the ‘one correct path.’”

— Whoa, that’s right.

Yeohoo chimed in.

— I even said it to GoSupp back then, remember? Like, ‘Watch this come in handy later.’

They all recalled the priest’s words as he handed them the token:

[NPC] Priest of the Goddess Kelathus: No matter how treacherous the path ahead may be, Kelathus’s Token will guide you to the correct way, once. May the goddess’s grace brush your every step like the wind.

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: I just clicked it in my inventory

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: Nothing’s happeningㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ???

Yeojin exploded at that.

— Ugh, PrettyHealer, you want all ten of us to click it and turn this into a marketplace? Let the raid leader do it!

Hearing that, Dohee quickly opened his inventory. Only 17 seconds left. With shaking hands, he double-clicked “Goddess Kelathus’s Token.” Thankfully, his token reacted. It must have been set to only work for the raid leader. A system message popped up:

[System] ‘Goddess Kelathus’s Token’ is reacting!

[System] The token emits a beam of light toward the correct path.

[System] May the goddess’s grace brush your every step like the wind.

Above GoSupp’s character, the token floated into the air, spinning before shooting a beam toward the wall between the 1 o’clock and 2 o’clock passages. It looked like a dead-end wall, but the beam revealed a faint, arched doorway, an entrance hidden until now.

— Are you kidding me? Who the hell would find that?!

— Less talking, more running.

Tando was right. Grumbling, the raid team rushed in without hesitation. With just 3 seconds left, every single one of them made it into the hidden passage.

“This actually worked.”

A laugh escaped. The answer had been hidden all along. If it weren’t for Moonhyuk, who liked the story enough to pay attention, they’d have wasted who knows how much time. Sure, they might’ve figured it out eventually, but the time lost would’ve been massive.

[System] You have discovered ‘The Path to a New Place.’

[System] You have gained access to the ‘Buried Ruins of the Cult Beneath the Earth.’

“Well done, hyung.”

Moonhyuk grinned proudly at the praise. He hadn’t just pulled his weight, he’d saved the entire raid. Everyone praised him with relief.

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: Damn our IngSupp… Is this the power of a newbie??

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: [tears emoji] I thought I was just gonna keep dyingㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Raid] Oreckthat: As expected, our dazzling newbie-chan is amazing! ♬ ⋒( ˙◡˙)⋑

— You said you liked the story, and look at that. We owe you, IngSupp.

Tando laughed. Noodle whined behind him.

— God, even raiding’s hard now. Guess I gotta read the story too.

— Ugh, this is why story skippers are the worst. IngSupp is the best.

Yeojin praised Moonhyuk, then Yeohoo chimed in.

— Yeojin-ah… you skip too…

— Shut up.

Laughter broke out. The chat was flooded with clapping emotes for Moonhyuk. The raid finally caught their breath and began looking around.

The hidden path was much brighter than the others. With their vision clear, it felt refreshing, until they saw what lined the walls: skeletons. Dozens and dozens of them.

— Ugh… I seriously hate this kind of horror effect.

Yeojin grumbled. He always avoided creepy stuff. Yeohoo, on the other hand, loved horror movies. Even as twins, their tastes couldn’t be more different.

“We’ve already wasted a lot of time, so let’s hurry. Don’t touch anything.”

To snap Yeohoo out of his trance in front of the skeletons, someone slashed at him with a basic dagger attack. It didn’t deal damage, but it brought him back to his senses. The group quickly moved through, dragging a reluctant Yeohoo along. As soon as the last of them exited, the distant drumbeats they’d barely noticed began thundering louder – boom, boom.

Torches all around the map flared to life at once. The eerie setting looked like part of an ancient ruin. The cube-shaped space was surrounded on all six sides by stone walls, and in the center was a glass pyramid. Inside, wrapped in ancient bandages, was a bizarre mummy. At first glance, it looked human, but a closer look revealed grotesque limbs, revealing it was a chimera.

— Uh, excuse me? No one said this was a horror experience…

Yeojin’s voice trailed off just as black energy pooled from the mummy and formed a pulsing, shapeless blob of liquid. It looked just like a classic slime monster.

[Momba’s Echo] …pear… as…

[Momba’s Echo] Grrrk… Finally… our… grrk

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: What the hell is it saying;;; lol

Agreed. No one could tell what the boss was mumbling. The quest window popped up.

Tears of the Demon Hunter #1-2

Defeat “Momba’s Echo”! (Normal) 0/1

Phase 2: Buried Ruins of the Underground Cult

System messages flooded the chat.

[System] You have entered the ‘Buried Ruins of the Underground Cult.’

[System] Defeat ‘Momba’s Echo’ and uncover clues about the second divine relic, ‘Bante.’

[System] For cinematic quality, your monitor has been forced into 16:9 aspect ratio.

They had finally arrived at the second phase.