Translator: Hunter
Editor: RED
I had no idea why the Roulette Wheel decided to land on Predation instead of 3 Stat points, now of all times.
"Open Inventory." Curious, I opened up my inventory and took out the item in question. "Item Check."
==[One-use Scroll of Predation (No Rank)
Bound to owner.
Grants the Predation ability upon use.
Can only be used on targets of certain levels.]==
It was bound to me, meaning I couldn't sell it. It made sense, since this was the Predation that had belonged to the Predator Duke.
"But what does it mean that it can only be used on certain targets?" I knew enough about Predation because I had gone up against it, and it was pretty infamous in the past. It gave the ability to eat, basically. It wasn't like eating food; that was just a normal, biological action. It also didn't consume items, rocks or electronics.
"I'm pretty sure it gave the ability to eat monsters, mortals, devas, and deities." Predation was more about taking and absorbing the strengths and abilities of others. If there were no abilities to absorb, it would then convert the bodies into a fleshy armor that looked like fat. But either way, the only reason the Predator Duke was able to cause terror with Predation was that he could use it without any limits. If he couldn't, then I highly doubt he would have been able to get that strong.
"But this Predation Scroll has a limit, eh? Well, maybe it won't matter to me." There was no way to know for sure. The item description didn't explain in detail. "That means I'll have to learn on my own…" Unfortunately, that meant using the one scroll I had and there was a chance it wouldn't work and I would end up wasting it.
I sighed and put it back in my inventory. I couldn't use it now since there were only rock walls around me.
"I have no idea when I'll get another one, either." I could get another one tomorrow, or it might take months or years before the wheel gave me another scroll. Either way, it was a waste to use it now. "Yeah, I'll save it for now. I'm sure I'll have to use it eventually."
I didn't care about 'eating' other people at this point. Well, maybe a not mortal… unless someone paid me enough and for a very good reason. But if it were a deity, I would 'eat' them for free without hesitation. I definitely wanted to use Predation on the Dungeon Creator, if the Scroll allowed me to.
"I really want to get out of here." I was getting impatient, but I tried to calm myself as best I could. Shaman Ko's Selfish Prick was back to normal. I had no idea what caused it to break in the first place, or how it repaired itself, but the fact that it was fine now was good enough for me.
"Do I just have to wait now?"
------
"Hehehe!" Shaman Ko climbed a hill while giggling to itself. Behind it followed the mole, still attached to the rope of hair.
-Let me go!-
-Kyuu! Kyuu!-
"No! From now on, you belong to me!" Shaman Ko was the essence of greed. Once it had something, it would never let it go. This held true for the Dungeon Mole.
"Here, eat this." Shaman Ko picked up the mole and held a piece of fruit. Now that the mole belonged to it, it didn't mind sharing its food.
The mole quickly wolfed down the treat. It really couldn't do anything against sweets. It didn't care who it was; as long as anyone handed it sweets, the mole would follow that person forever, even to the depths of Hell.
Soon, the Dungeon Mole stopped asking to be set free. It didn't need to open up more spaces, and Shaman Ko stopped kicking it around, as well. It could eat as many treats as it wanted to now.
-Freeing its arms was the best decision I ever made.- The Dungeon Mole stuffed itself full and laid down on its back. It was truly comfortable here.
"Alright! Let's run!" It was comfortable except for the times when Shaman Ko played like crazy. Once Shaman Ko had its arms back, it practically flew around everywhere. It did notice that the arm that was eaten by Predation had a large, black spot on it, but it didn't care. It was still its arm.
---
Makarov, Russia…
Kazunari had done practically nothing for the past month. He couldn't, as he had nothing to do.
"Shit! Shit!" Kazunari's biggest problem was getting bigger by the day, and it drove him crazy that he couldn't do anything about it. "God damn it! It's mine! It belongs to me! I am is its owner! Do you not know what that means?!"
Just then, the message he was dreading appeared again.
==[Your ownership of the Dungeon Mole has been lowered by 1%.
Current loss: 95%]==
"Ha…" He had already lost 95% of his ownership. There was no explanation about what would happen once the counter reached 100%. Would he really lose his Dungeon Mole, and never be able to contact it or summon it ever again?
"I was an idiot. I did something stupid. I just ended up digging my own grave." He was so afraid of Lee Jiwon that he believed that he needed to tie the man down, and even got Cheng Long and Nayuta involved.
"Where did it all go wrong?" Lee Jiwon wasn't his first target. He had done this to several others before, so he knew what he was doing. He was so sure this would work.
"Two days! I've only got two days left!" He received three messages a day, each telling him that he had lost 1% of his ownership. All he could do was hate the system for taking away his Dungeon Mole, and regret ever crossing Lee Jiwon.
------
Four months had passed since I was imprisoned in this dungeon. I heaved a long sigh as I lay comfortably on the floor. It was all I did these days. If I didn't, I got too caught up in my anger and frustration.
"Predation hasn't come out since then." After that time I got the Predation Scroll a month ago, I only received three Stat points every day once more. That made me even more reluctant to use the scroll.
Just then, a different message appeared before me.
==[You have cleared this dungeon's requirements.
You will now receive your rewards.]==
==[You have received a Rank 8 Random Item Chest.]==
==[You have received a Random Golden Ring Chest containing 100,000,000-300,000,000 golden rings.]==
"Huh? What the hell is this?" I stared dumbly at the messages. "What did I do now?" I really didn't do anything this time. I had nothing to do… and the messages didn't stop there.
==[You will be forcibly removed from this dungeon in one hour.]==
I read over the message, and walked over to the random chests for now. I was confused about what was going on, but there really were random chests in the middle of the boss room.
"This is some rabbit hole I fell down." I opened the golden ring random chest first, since the item chest was the main course.
==[You have received 250,000,000 golden rings.]==
"Hey! Not bad." I walked over to the other random chest.
"Four months. I spent four whole months here." I was stuck in here doing nothing for four months. If I could get a decent item here, it wouldn't be for nothing. I opened the chest without giving it another thought.
==[Glacier Gauntlets (Rank 8)
These are a pair of gauntlets made from the ice of a glacier in the deepest and coldest parts of Zonguldak. Crafted by a gifted blacksmith, these gauntlets boast considerable power.
Increase all Stats by 100 points.
Increase STR by 300
Decrease damage from Ice-type attacks by 15%.
Increase Penetration Resistance by 75 points.
Decrease CRIT damage by 110%.
When enemies successfully attack the wearer, the gauntlets have a 1% chance to inflict Bone-chilling Frostbite (Bone-chilling Frostbite: For three seconds, decrease movement and attack speed by 45%, decrease max HP by 3% per second.)
Durability: 722,500/722,500
DEF 2,050/MDEF 2,400]==
"Whoa!" It was not bad at all. I had been needing a pair of Rank 8 gauntlets, so they were perfect! I quickly equipped them and set them to invisible.
I did a quick check of my current equipment. Besides the accessories, I had a Rank 8 weapon, helm, cuirass, and gauntlets, a Rank 9 cape, and Rank 10 boots. Only my greaves were Rank 7.
"Hah…" They were all mostly Rank 8 or above. I never imagined having this many Rank 8 equips in the past. They were just too expensive, or just too difficult to find.
"I guess I've got to thank the Dungeon Creator for giving me these gloves." Since this was a created dungeon, the Dungeon Creator had to give out the rewards on his own. He probably thought I would never be able to defeat the Invincible Dungeon Mole and clear the dungeon. But the dungeon reward was one thing for wasting my time. I was still going to repay him for inviting me here in the first place.
---
Not long after, I was finally removed from the dungeon. It had been four months.
"Where am I?" All I could see around me was the sea, and I was standing on a very small island. Where I was didn't matter, though. I could use the Clan Badge to take myself to the Faroe Islands, go to London from there, and use the Teleporter to get back home.
Just as I was about to take out the Clan Badge, I got a call on my Comm Link.
"Hello?"
"Jiwon!"
"Huh… Mom?" I heard my mother scream my name from the other end, which made me realize that I had been gone for four months without a word, when I had promised her that I would call once a week.
"Where have you been? Why didn't you cal, and why couldn't I call you?" Her voice sounded hoarse from crying.
"No, about that…"
"Why couldn't I call you? Why!?"
I didn't know what to say. Telling her the truth would only cause her to worry more.
"Where… are you now?"
"I'm about to head home now."
"Hurry home. Okay?"
"I will. I'll be there soon." I finally calmed her down enough and hung up. She must have called several times a day. I felt even sorrier.
I quickly used the Clan Badge. When I arrived at the Faroe Islands, the Werewolves were in a tizzy.
"What happened to you, Jiwon? You had completely disappeared off the face of the Earth!"
"Were you somewhere that prevented your Comm Link from working? You weren't…" Lod seemed to have an inkling as to what must have happened.
"I'm sorry, guys. It just happened that way." I promised Lod and Kylie that I would explain later, and left for London. They didn't ask any more questions and let me go.
------
Back at my house in Seoul…
The moment I stepped off the Teleporter, I used both Blinks and headed home at the speed of light. My mother, grandfather, and the three hundred vassals were waiting for me outside.
"What happened to you?! Where have you been?" My mother ran up to me as soon as she saw me.
"I'm sorry, Mom. Some stuff happened." It was all I could say for now as I held my mother in my arms. I could also feel that she had lost considerable weight; she felt bony, like when I first met her.
My mother finally calmed herself enough to wipe away her tears and looked up at me. "Have you eaten yet?"
"No. I'm hungry."
"Then let's head inside."
"Okay." I followed my mother as she tightly held my hand and led me to the house. It was then my grandfather and everyone else could finally say something.
"You're late."
"I'm sorry."
"You've really worried us, young master!"
"It's good to see you're alright!"
I also saw Song Haechang and Song Haein behind them, standing with the liaisons of the other three factions. I bowed my head at them. They looked very worried as well.
---
Around the same time Lee Jiwon reunited with his family…
Kazunari stood alone on Benten-jima. "He's gone." Once a created dungeon was cleared, it disappeared for good. The energy that kept it alive was then returned to the original dungeon. Kazunari stared at the spot where the dungeon entrance once stood, and remembered the message that brought him here in the first place.
==[You have lost all ownership over the Dungeon Mole. You will lose all abilities related to the Dungeon Mole.]==
That was it. It was the end. No matter how many dungeons he could make, they were useless without the Dungeon Mole.
"Contact Dungeon Mole. Summon: Dungeon Mole."
He didn't even get the messages that told him he couldn't connect with or summon the Dungeon Mole any more. It no longer belonged to him.
"Ha…haha...hahaha." All he could do was laugh in disbelief, but that laughter quickly disappeared and he bit his lip. He couldn't just let it go like this. He was the Dungeon Creator. He had to make dungeons! It was his best and only skill.
"I'll go to the Troll Market, buy that item, and meet Lee Jiwon once more. I have to do everything it takes to get my Dungeon Mole back!"
Translator: Hunter
Editor: RED
I had no idea why the Roulette Wheel decided to land on Predation instead of 3 Stat points, now of all times.
"Open Inventory." Curious, I opened up my inventory and took out the item in question. "Item Check."
==[One-use Scroll of Predation (No Rank)
Bound to owner.
Grants the Predation ability upon use.
Can only be used on targets of certain levels.]==
It was bound to me, meaning I couldn't sell it. It made sense, since this was the Predation that had belonged to the Predator Duke.
"But what does it mean that it can only be used on certain targets?" I knew enough about Predation because I had gone up against it, and it was pretty infamous in the past. It gave the ability to eat, basically. It wasn't like eating food; that was just a normal, biological action. It also didn't consume items, rocks or electronics.
"I'm pretty sure it gave the ability to eat monsters, mortals, devas, and deities." Predation was more about taking and absorbing the strengths and abilities of others. If there were no abilities to absorb, it would then convert the bodies into a fleshy armor that looked like fat. But either way, the only reason the Predator Duke was able to cause terror with Predation was that he could use it without any limits. If he couldn't, then I highly doubt he would have been able to get that strong.
"But this Predation Scroll has a limit, eh? Well, maybe it won't matter to me." There was no way to know for sure. The item description didn't explain in detail. "That means I'll have to learn on my own…" Unfortunately, that meant using the one scroll I had and there was a chance it wouldn't work and I would end up wasting it.
I sighed and put it back in my inventory. I couldn't use it now since there were only rock walls around me.
"I have no idea when I'll get another one, either." I could get another one tomorrow, or it might take months or years before the wheel gave me another scroll. Either way, it was a waste to use it now. "Yeah, I'll save it for now. I'm sure I'll have to use it eventually."
I didn't care about 'eating' other people at this point. Well, maybe a not mortal… unless someone paid me enough and for a very good reason. But if it were a deity, I would 'eat' them for free without hesitation. I definitely wanted to use Predation on the Dungeon Creator, if the Scroll allowed me to.
"I really want to get out of here." I was getting impatient, but I tried to calm myself as best I could. Shaman Ko's Selfish Prick was back to normal. I had no idea what caused it to break in the first place, or how it repaired itself, but the fact that it was fine now was good enough for me.
"Do I just have to wait now?"
------
"Hehehe!" Shaman Ko climbed a hill while giggling to itself. Behind it followed the mole, still attached to the rope of hair.
-Let me go!-
-Kyuu! Kyuu!-
"No! From now on, you belong to me!" Shaman Ko was the essence of greed. Once it had something, it would never let it go. This held true for the Dungeon Mole.
"Here, eat this." Shaman Ko picked up the mole and held a piece of fruit. Now that the mole belonged to it, it didn't mind sharing its food.
The mole quickly wolfed down the treat. It really couldn't do anything against sweets. It didn't care who it was; as long as anyone handed it sweets, the mole would follow that person forever, even to the depths of Hell.
Soon, the Dungeon Mole stopped asking to be set free. It didn't need to open up more spaces, and Shaman Ko stopped kicking it around, as well. It could eat as many treats as it wanted to now.
-Freeing its arms was the best decision I ever made.- The Dungeon Mole stuffed itself full and laid down on its back. It was truly comfortable here.
"Alright! Let's run!" It was comfortable except for the times when Shaman Ko played like crazy. Once Shaman Ko had its arms back, it practically flew around everywhere. It did notice that the arm that was eaten by Predation had a large, black spot on it, but it didn't care. It was still its arm.
---
Makarov, Russia…
Kazunari had done practically nothing for the past month. He couldn't, as he had nothing to do.
"Shit! Shit!" Kazunari's biggest problem was getting bigger by the day, and it drove him crazy that he couldn't do anything about it. "God damn it! It's mine! It belongs to me! I am is its owner! Do you not know what that means?!"
Just then, the message he was dreading appeared again.
==[Your ownership of the Dungeon Mole has been lowered by 1%.
Current loss: 95%]==
"Ha…" He had already lost 95% of his ownership. There was no explanation about what would happen once the counter reached 100%. Would he really lose his Dungeon Mole, and never be able to contact it or summon it ever again?
"I was an idiot. I did something stupid. I just ended up digging my own grave." He was so afraid of Lee Jiwon that he believed that he needed to tie the man down, and even got Cheng Long and Nayuta involved.
"Where did it all go wrong?" Lee Jiwon wasn't his first target. He had done this to several others before, so he knew what he was doing. He was so sure this would work.
"Two days! I've only got two days left!" He received three messages a day, each telling him that he had lost 1% of his ownership. All he could do was hate the system for taking away his Dungeon Mole, and regret ever crossing Lee Jiwon.
------
Four months had passed since I was imprisoned in this dungeon. I heaved a long sigh as I lay comfortably on the floor. It was all I did these days. If I didn't, I got too caught up in my anger and frustration.
"Predation hasn't come out since then." After that time I got the Predation Scroll a month ago, I only received three Stat points every day once more. That made me even more reluctant to use the scroll.
Just then, a different message appeared before me.
==[You have cleared this dungeon's requirements.
You will now receive your rewards.]==
==[You have received a Rank 8 Random Item Chest.]==
==[You have received a Random Golden Ring Chest containing 100,000,000-300,000,000 golden rings.]==
"Huh? What the hell is this?" I stared dumbly at the messages. "What did I do now?" I really didn't do anything this time. I had nothing to do… and the messages didn't stop there.
==[You will be forcibly removed from this dungeon in one hour.]==
I read over the message, and walked over to the random chests for now. I was confused about what was going on, but there really were random chests in the middle of the boss room.
"This is some rabbit hole I fell down." I opened the golden ring random chest first, since the item chest was the main course.
==[You have received 250,000,000 golden rings.]==
"Hey! Not bad." I walked over to the other random chest.
"Four months. I spent four whole months here." I was stuck in here doing nothing for four months. If I could get a decent item here, it wouldn't be for nothing. I opened the chest without giving it another thought.
==[Glacier Gauntlets (Rank 8)
These are a pair of gauntlets made from the ice of a glacier in the deepest and coldest parts of Zonguldak. Crafted by a gifted blacksmith, these gauntlets boast considerable power.
Increase all Stats by 100 points.
Increase STR by 300
Decrease damage from Ice-type attacks by 15%.
Increase Penetration Resistance by 75 points.
Decrease CRIT damage by 110%.
When enemies successfully attack the wearer, the gauntlets have a 1% chance to inflict Bone-chilling Frostbite (Bone-chilling Frostbite: For three seconds, decrease movement and attack speed by 45%, decrease max HP by 3% per second.)
Durability: 722,500/722,500
DEF 2,050/MDEF 2,400]==
"Whoa!" It was not bad at all. I had been needing a pair of Rank 8 gauntlets, so they were perfect! I quickly equipped them and set them to invisible.
I did a quick check of my current equipment. Besides the accessories, I had a Rank 8 weapon, helm, cuirass, and gauntlets, a Rank 9 cape, and Rank 10 boots. Only my greaves were Rank 7.
"Hah…" They were all mostly Rank 8 or above. I never imagined having this many Rank 8 equips in the past. They were just too expensive, or just too difficult to find.
"I guess I've got to thank the Dungeon Creator for giving me these gloves." Since this was a created dungeon, the Dungeon Creator had to give out the rewards on his own. He probably thought I would never be able to defeat the Invincible Dungeon Mole and clear the dungeon. But the dungeon reward was one thing for wasting my time. I was still going to repay him for inviting me here in the first place.
---
Not long after, I was finally removed from the dungeon. It had been four months.
"Where am I?" All I could see around me was the sea, and I was standing on a very small island. Where I was didn't matter, though. I could use the Clan Badge to take myself to the Faroe Islands, go to London from there, and use the Teleporter to get back home.
Just as I was about to take out the Clan Badge, I got a call on my Comm Link.
"Hello?"
"Jiwon!"
"Huh… Mom?" I heard my mother scream my name from the other end, which made me realize that I had been gone for four months without a word, when I had promised her that I would call once a week.
"Where have you been? Why didn't you cal, and why couldn't I call you?" Her voice sounded hoarse from crying.
"No, about that…"
"Why couldn't I call you? Why!?"
I didn't know what to say. Telling her the truth would only cause her to worry more.
"Where… are you now?"
"I'm about to head home now."
"Hurry home. Okay?"
"I will. I'll be there soon." I finally calmed her down enough and hung up. She must have called several times a day. I felt even sorrier.
I quickly used the Clan Badge. When I arrived at the Faroe Islands, the Werewolves were in a tizzy.
"What happened to you, Jiwon? You had completely disappeared off the face of the Earth!"
"Were you somewhere that prevented your Comm Link from working? You weren't…" Lod seemed to have an inkling as to what must have happened.
"I'm sorry, guys. It just happened that way." I promised Lod and Kylie that I would explain later, and left for London. They didn't ask any more questions and let me go.
------
Back at my house in Seoul…
The moment I stepped off the Teleporter, I used both Blinks and headed home at the speed of light. My mother, grandfather, and the three hundred vassals were waiting for me outside.
"What happened to you?! Where have you been?" My mother ran up to me as soon as she saw me.
"I'm sorry, Mom. Some stuff happened." It was all I could say for now as I held my mother in my arms. I could also feel that she had lost considerable weight; she felt bony, like when I first met her.
My mother finally calmed herself enough to wipe away her tears and looked up at me. "Have you eaten yet?"
"No. I'm hungry."
"Then let's head inside."
"Okay." I followed my mother as she tightly held my hand and led me to the house. It was then my grandfather and everyone else could finally say something.
"You're late."
"I'm sorry."
"You've really worried us, young master!"
"It's good to see you're alright!"
I also saw Song Haechang and Song Haein behind them, standing with the liaisons of the other three factions. I bowed my head at them. They looked very worried as well.
---
Around the same time Lee Jiwon reunited with his family…
Kazunari stood alone on Benten-jima. "He's gone." Once a created dungeon was cleared, it disappeared for good. The energy that kept it alive was then returned to the original dungeon. Kazunari stared at the spot where the dungeon entrance once stood, and remembered the message that brought him here in the first place.
==[You have lost all ownership over the Dungeon Mole. You will lose all abilities related to the Dungeon Mole.]==
That was it. It was the end. No matter how many dungeons he could make, they were useless without the Dungeon Mole.
"Contact Dungeon Mole. Summon: Dungeon Mole."
He didn't even get the messages that told him he couldn't connect with or summon the Dungeon Mole any more. It no longer belonged to him.
"Ha…haha...hahaha." All he could do was laugh in disbelief, but that laughter quickly disappeared and he bit his lip. He couldn't just let it go like this. He was the Dungeon Creator. He had to make dungeons! It was his best and only skill.
"I'll go to the Troll Market, buy that item, and meet Lee Jiwon once more. I have to do everything it takes to get my Dungeon Mole back!"
