Chapter 91
[Critical!]
[The Best Gauntlets’ option effect is activated, causing you to attack the target twice.]
[You have dealt 77,311 damage to the target.]
“Kuaaaaak! This is ridiculoussss!”
He endured the powerful attacks of several people, and finally caught the chance for a proper counterattack. He didn’t think his ankle would be caught at the last moment! Malacus thought it was unfair as he greeted his end. And…
[You have defeated the Sixth Servant Malacus, who spread fear through the world!]
[Reputation throughout the continent will rise by +3.000.]
[The Yatan Church will be forever hostile to you.]
[Affinity with the Rebecca Church has increased by +2,800. Visiting a Rebecca Temple will give you great blessings.]
[Affinity with the Dominion Church has increased by +1,500. Visiting a Dominion Temple will give you great blessings.]
[Affinity with the Judar Church has increased by +800. Visiting a Judar Temple will give you great blessings.]
[The power of the Yatan Church is extremely weakened after losing a priest. Until a new priest is elected, there will be no further expansion of its forces.]
[The party leader ‘Jishuka’ has acquired 382 gold.]
[The party leader ‘Jishuka’ has acquired 8 blessed weapon enhancement stones.]
[The party leader ‘Jishuka’ has acquired 10 blessed armor enhancement stones.]
[The party leader ‘Jishuka’ has acquired 3 high rated magic stones.]
[The party leader ‘Jishuka’ has acquired Malacus’ Cloak.]
[The party leader ‘Jishuka’ has acquired Malacus’ Mask.]
[The party leader ‘Jishuka’ has acquired the Dark Magic Orb.]
[1,531,050 experience has been acquired.]
[Your level has risen.]
“…!”
Grid gained a tremendous amount of fame and high affinity with each religion! He suddenly sat down with frustration. His face paled and he started sweating. Then after a while, he opened his mouth.
“I…”
“I?”
Grid had nicely succeeded in the quest so everyone’s attention was focused on him. They gulped as they wondered what Grid would say. Then Grid finally spoke.
“I… Items…”
“Items?”
“The party leader was set to acquire the items…! How could I make such a mistake?” Grid shivered and shouted towards Jishuka. “Hey, Jishuka! Were you lying to me? You said the items would be split in half! But what’s this? Are you trying to trick me? Eh? I never thought that top rankers would try to cheat a low-level user like me!”
“…”
He had a wild look in his eyes. Since Grid had gobbled up all the items after the two-person raid, Grid was nervous that Jishuka would act like him. Jishuka, who was amazed by Grid being able to defeat Malacus despite being only level 95, could only sigh.
‘Ugly.’
To be honest, Jishuka’s heart had palpitations at the sight of Grid. The moment she felt despair at the raid failing, Grid triggered a reversal, looking like a character from a movie. However, the raid finished and Grid’s true nature appeared again, making that pounding feeling disappear.
‘Based on first impressions, his personality is too horrible. I don’t like it.’
Grid was presumed to be a hidden class with excellent blacksmith skills and some combat capabilities. He was much bigger than the creator of the Special Jaffa Arrows they searched so long for, making her desire to get him into the guild higher. However, it was a bit hard because of his nature.
‘Does it matter if his personality is good? All we need is his ability.’
It didn’t matter if Grid was disappointing. Even if his personality is worse, she still wanted to invite him to the guild. Jishuka made a decision and reassured Grid. “Of course I will keep the promise. Don’t worry. By the way, it is great. You managed to finish off Malacus.”
The other guild members also joined in.
“You are really something! How is your attack power so high despite your low level? It is more than Toban and Vantner combined. Hahaha! G-Great!”
“If it wasn’t for Grid, this raid would’ve surely failed. I am impressed with your performance.”
“Awesome…”
The Tzedakah Guild members were busy praising Grid. Among them was the global star, Laella. She was still young and she was thrilled because Grid seemed like the main character of a movie. She looked cute with her red cheeks.
However, Grid didn’t care about them. He was afraid that all his items would be eaten if he wasn’t careful. “Are you trying to make me relax so you can take the items? Right? Dammit! Do you think I will fall for such a thing? How rotten! Don’t hold out on me! Let’s distribute the items first.”
‘Ugly.’
In the end, the atmosphere calmed down. Jishuka shared the item information to all party members after evaluating the three items.
[Malacus’ Cloak]
Rating: Unique
Durability: 35/81 Defense: 15
* Intelligence +200
* Bloody smell.
A magic cloak that Malacus liked. It was originally a cloak made of blue cloth, but it became discolored by the blood of many virgins.
User Restriction: Level 200 or higher.
Weight: 10
[Bloody Smell]
It always gives off a bloody smell. It is easy for the wearer to become a target of beasts and monsters, and makes other people offended.
[Malacus’ Mask]
Rating: Unique
Durability: 11/20 All Attributes Resistance: +5%
* Reduces magic casting time by 20%.
A black mask used by Malacus. There are no special features regarding its appearance, but Malacus treats it like a treasure.
User Restriction: Level 200 or higher.
Weight: 1
[Dark Magic Orb]
Rating: Unique
Durability: 90/130 Magic Damage: +14%
Dark magic attack power: +20%
Number of spells that can be stored: 4
A powerful orb used since before Malacus was appointed as Yatan’s servant.
User Restriction: Level 200 or higher. More than 500 intelligence.
Weight: 80
The Tzedakah Guild focused their attention on the mask and orb.
“The options of the mask is very good.”
“Yes. Just raising the resistance of all attributes by 5% and the shortening of magic casting time is great. They are rare options.”
“It is great that a mask has these options. Almost no masks have options. So people treat masks as a simple accessory.”
“The orb isn’t a joke.
“Well, the magic damage is low for a unique rating but the rise in dark magic is huge. Above all, there are four spells that can be stored…”
“Don’t orbs usually store only two or three spells?”
“Just being able to store three spells is a scam. But four spells…”
“It will be too bad to sell both items. Our guild members should use it.”
There were only two magicians in the Tzedakah Guild. The second-ranked mixed magician Laella and the first ranked wind magician Zednos. The guild wanted to distribute the mask and orb to these two people. But they promised a 5:5 distribution of items to Grid. They had to give up one of the items.
However, Grid made an unexpected demand.
“I want the cloak.”
“Eh?”
They made surprised expressions. It was because the value of the cloak was the lowest among the three items. It was good that it raised intelligence by 200, but the option of Bloody Smell was a big disadvantage.
In general, cloaks were items with good options, unlike masks. It wasn’t difficult to find one better than Malacus’ Cloak. So why did he want the cloak?
‘What? Is he yielding the good items to us on purpose? His personality doesn’t seem like that.’
Grid prompted the Tzedakah Guild members, who couldn’t respond quickly because they didn’t know Grid’s thoughts.
“What? It isn’t possible? I want the cloak. Enough though you fought him, didn’t I finish him off? Honestly, the raid would’ve failed if it wasn’t for me. But why aren’t you giving me my choice?”
“Grid…”
Regas eyed Grid unhappily. He wanted to tell Grid to choose something else because the cloak was least valuable. However, he couldn’t open his mouth because he was afraid of damaging the guild. His face turned red as his conscience warred with his responsibility.
‘I have to tell him the truth.’
After a few minutes of conflict. In the end, Regas couldn’t forsake his conscience and tried to explain to Grid.
“Among the three items, the value of the cloak is the lowest. Do you still want to choose the cloak?”
It was Jishuka. She told the truth to Grid earlier than Regas. Regas was so proud of his master that she smiled brightly.
On the other hand, Grid was puzzled.
‘Why is the value of the cloak the lowest?’
Grid had completely different thoughts from the Tzedakah Guild. The Tzedakah Guild thought the option of the cloak was good but disliked Bloody Smell. However, Grid thought that Bloody Smell was a big advantage.
‘Doesn’t Bloody Smell make it easier to hunt monsters? If so, isn’t the value of the cloak as good as the mask?’
That’s right. Grid had a rare excellent idea. This was evidence that Grid was growing.
Then why didn’t the Tzedakah Guild have the same thought as Grid? It wasn’t really the case. The Tzedakah Guild didn’t care about the concept of hunting itself.
Unlike Grid, they were so high in level so it was less efficient to hunt mobs. In order to enhance their combat skills and teamwork, they enjoyed hunting powerful monsters in a party.
However, as Grid’s life centered around being a blacksmith, he didn’t feel the need to increase his combat skills and just wanted to level up quickly. Moreover, his hunting efficiency was very high.
Due to this difference in position, Grid and the Tzedakah Guild had different mindsets. Thus, they were able to make a transaction that satisfied both sides.
“I still want the cloak.”
“Then we will choose the mask first. What about the orb? If possible, we would like to have it as well.”
“Only if you give me money.”
“Okay. We’ll give you gold equivalent to half the value of the orb.”
Malacus was different from general boss monsters who periodically respawned: he was a special boss monster who didn’t resurrect upon death, so an exact quote for his items didn’t exist.
“In this case, we have to use the auction house. We will register it for 48 hours then cancel it at 47 hours and 59 minutes.”
Grid felt unwilling as he listened to Jishuka’s explanation, “Don’t you have to pay a fine if you cancel the registration of an auction item right before it is over? The fine… Do I have to pay it?”
“We are willing to pay that much.”
“Um… Then the division of the enhancement stones and magic stones…”
The blessed enhancement stones were 1,200 gold per stone. The high rated magic stones were 4,000 gold each.
“There is a total of 18 enhancement stones and 3 magic stones, so the estimated value is 33,600 gold… Divide this…”
Grid was busy calculating the money when Jishuka did something that amazed him. She handed all the enhancement stones and magic stones to Grid.
“… Eh?”
Jishuka grinned at the stunned Grid. “The raid would’ve failed if it wasn’t for you. Shouldn’t this belong to you?”
Jishuka’s smiling face was so beautiful that Grid stared with a stunned expression for a while. Then Jishuka said goodbye to him, “Let’s split up and meet again in three days, where I will hand you the prepared gold.”
“Y-Yes… Okay, I understand.”
“Grid, I have a lot of things to do today, so let’s take a break and look for your stolen item tomorrow.”
“Regas, you’ll still help me?”
“Of course! I promised to help, so I should see it through to the end! Then I’m going!”
Jishuka, Regas, and the other Tzedakah Guild members left Grid.
“Hrmm.”
Then Grid stopped in front of the cave where Malacus had been.
‘What was he doing in here?’
Were there any hidden treasures?
“Heh… This cave stimulates the instincts of a treasure hunter.”
Grid had a history of finding Pagma’s Rare Book in the Northern End Cave, so he had a desire to explore this cave.
‘Surely there isn’t anything dangerous after Malacus is gone?’
Grid sneaked into the cave. The cave was quite small. The cave was lit up with flaming torches.
“Eh?”
It happened after walking around 10 steps. Grid entered the cave and found a silver-haired beauty who was restrained. She was Irene, lady of Winston.
“Ah, this is what happened.”
He made the Divine Shield and it was robbed by Malacus’ subordinate. When he appeared, many soldiers in Winston Castle were killed. In the midst of this chaos, Irene had been captured.
“Um…m?”
Perhaps she heard Grid talking? Irene regained consciousness and slowly opened her eyes. She found Grid and smiled with relief, before starting to sob.
“It was you… The one who helped Doran and saved me… Now you saved me again…”
‘Doran? Was the one Doran wanted to save Irene?’
As soon as Grid learned about Irene’s identity, a very familiar notification window popped up.
[A quest has been created.]