I Became a Gallery Newbie Beloved by Transcendents Chapter 22

I Became a Gallery Newbie Beloved by Transcendents

Chapter 22

The object that appeared next to the bodies of the two players was a rectangular cube-shaped item.

An object that looked just like a cube.

I knew the identity of this cube from what I had heard from senior Transcender Gallery members.

It was an object that materialized the inventory of deceased players.

I heard that you couldn’t just put this cube form directly into your inventory.

CLANK-

When I grabbed the cube and pressed the button in the center, the cube expanded like a supply box in an FPS game and spread open with a SWOOSH.

But even so, they were just items possessed by players below the 10th floor.

No particularly useful items caught my eye.

Of course, I collected all the healing potions and transferred them to my inventory.

Sun Haoran’s cube had almost nothing useful. From Baek Jin-young’s cube, I picked up the item that seemed most useful.

I organized all the items.

Now, it was time to enter the hidden boss room.

The difficulty of the hidden boss room marked on the map was five stars.

According to Laura, who was a hard difficulty player, five stars meant the maximum difficulty for a hidden boss room.

It would clearly be dangerous to enter alone, but I had no intention of changing my decision.

A strong greed arose within me.

Greed for leveling up.

Level 1 gained from killing the boss monster Kobold King.

And level 2 from killing Sun Haoran, a confirmed level increase.

From my current level of 15, if I gain 5 more, I’ll reach 20.

The stage where I can use Sword Aura.

I was very curious about that point.

SWISH-

I took out my terminal and opened the Transcender Gallery.

And wrote a post.

Title: What kind of creature will appear in the exchange meeting’s hidden boss room?

Author: Anonymous*

– The dungeon is called “Cradle of Kobolds” and only kobolds have appeared throughout. The boss room had a Kobold King.

The hidden boss room difficulty is five stars.

Oh, I just finished the boss room and killed two guys from the exchange meeting who suddenly tried to kill me.

The reason I casually added the last line about killing the two as if it was nothing was because I didn’t want to give it much importance.

Of course, the comments on the Transcender Gallery didn’t flow as I expected.

ㄴ Dragon King of Demons) Ooooh, Beltui~ The climber has become a bit tainted by darkness.

ㄴ What nonsense about darkness, he’s the type who would kill without hesitation most naturally.

ㄴ Dragon King of Demons) Beltui~ You’ve been found out.

ㄴ Archmage) Hmm, did you confirm the kill?

ㄴ Ice Queen) Freeze! Confirming kills is important!

ㄴ Heavenly Demon) Unnecessary compassion only invites trouble.

ㄴ These hard difficulty bastards, if this is his first time killing someone they should comfort him or something, instead they’re asking if he confirmed the kill or not.

ㄴ Boss) They’re all just giving comfort in a roundabout way.

ㄴ LOLOLOLOL What kind of 360-degree return to original state is that?

There were also some comments about the topic I had written about earlier.

ㄴ This crazy guy should think about not entering when it says five stars.

ㄴ But even if it says five stars, it feels awkward to discourage him since the Pandemonium difficulty might be tougher.

ㄴ LOLOLOL I’m not convinced this will be harder than the 2nd floor stage he cleared LOLOL

ㄴ Absolute Monarch) Hmm, if a Kobold King appeared in the boss room, then in the hidden boss room, a Kobold Champion might appear… or, with a low probability, the Kobold King.

ㄴ Um… it’s probably best to stop using the phrase “low probability” now. He’s suffering all those low probabilities.

ㄴ LOLOLOLOL Someone triggered Pandemonium. Did this guy sell a holy sword to the demon realm in his past life?

ㄴ Anonymous*) Is the Kobold King strong? Kobolds themselves seemed rather weak.

ㄴ Priestess) Kings should not be underestimated. The Kobold King, unlike those who are kings simply due to the nature of their group, is a true king, just like the Queen Anthransthrop whom the climber killed.

ㄴ Spear King) The Kobold King can even crush an Orc Great Warrior alone. That’s what it means to be a king of a species.

ㄴ I see you’re not talking nonsense, have you been drinking?

ㄴ Spear King) No…

ㄴ Light’s Sword) All kings of races have something extraordinary compared to their regular species. Those recognized as kings by the tower system are such beings. If it’s the Kobold King, there’s also a chance he can use Sword Aura (劍氣). You should be careful about that.

Beware of Sword Aura.

In the end, I would only know by entering the hidden boss room.

Standing in front of the black door, letters appeared before my eyes.

DING!

[Would you like to enter the hidden boss room of the dungeon ‘Cradle of Kobolds’?]

[Dungeon Difficulty – ★★★★★]

Suddenly, a point of light flickered in the air, and a piece of paper fell down.

[Exchange Meeting Return Slip]

Description: A return slip for the brave soul challenging the hidden boss room alone in a below-10th-floor exchange meeting dungeon!

Effect: Tearing the return slip allows you to return after 10 seconds. However, if you die within those 10 seconds, you die for real. 

I put the return scroll into my inventory.

I probably won’t need to use it.

The notification window that appeared next was asking whether to enter the dungeon or not.

[Yes / No]

I naturally pressed ‘Yes’.

BOOM!

The door opened.

The scenery of a vast room came into view.

In the center of the hidden boss room, there was a gold-plated chair.

And sitting on it was a monster that didn’t seem to belong there.

[The Kobold King]

The Kobold King.

Black fur covered its entire body like a lion.

Its golden eyes were closer to those of a beast.

In the giant Kobold’s right hand was a sword bigger than its body.

GRRRR-

A growl unlike a Kobold’s echoed throughout the space.

KWAAAAAAAK!!

The roar shook my eardrums.

It was a proper sense of intimidation that I hadn’t felt in a while.

My body froze stiff for a moment, pressed down by the killing intent.

[Mana Body Enhancement Lv.4 – Activating skill.]

Endure it.

[Concentration Enhancement Lv.4 – Activating skill.]

The Kobold King charged at me with a fierce glint in its eyes.

Right before collision.

It completely cut off the killing intent that had been binding me.

[Mental Barrier Lv.1 – Skill acquired.]

I barely deflected the horizontal sword strike by leaning against the flat of my blade.

CLANG!

The rebound from deflecting the great sword sent my body flying backward.

I carefully observed the Kobold King’s movements.

Its knees bent forward. I could see its thighs swelling extensively.

SWOOSH!

Its large body shot up like a spring.

It raised both arms high. A blue current flashed on the great sword.

A blue sword aura.

After hearing about it from the Light’s Sword, I had somewhat expected it. If I was to face the Kobold King, I thought it would definitely use sword aura.

If I had known this, instead of overwhelmingly neutralizing that 3rd tier knight I faced at the 2nd floor stage, I should have gotten a taste of sword aura.

The Kobold King’s body fell like lightning.

Dust spread thickly from the ground.

Dragon Slaying Sword, Sword Defense Art, Form 1 Libra.

The blade of the opposing sword Karnavalt, which blocked the great sword swung down vertically, shook violently.

Kobold King.

Emperor of a species.

Its raw strength wasn’t much different from the Orc Commander. But its combat sense felt vastly superior.

Vertical, horizontal.

Half of the sword strikes were swung according to the Dragon Slaying Sword style. Half were swung unconsciously.

CLANG CLANG CLANG!

The Kobold King’s sword path and my sword path became entangled.

Sword strikes extending in all directions were completely blocked.

[Skill ‘Fighter’s Movement’ level increases. Lv.4]

Countless frictions of the blade.

The Kobold King’s instinctive swordsmanship gave me deep enlightenment.

Along with extremely intense pain.

SKREECH!

A diagonal blade slash moving from left shoulder to right waist pierced through my armor.

After swinging my sword strongly once, I distanced myself from the Kobold King.

From the pouch tightly fastened at my waist, I took out a small object shaped like a syringe.

It was the [Pain Suppression Doping Agent] I had purchased in the 3rd floor stairway waiting room.

Without hesitation, I jabbed the doping agent into my right waist.

I also roughly poured a low-grade health potion on the wound.

The painful sensation that was shaking my mind gradually began to disappear.

KWAAAAAAAK!!

The Kobold closed the distance again like a sprinter.

I drew another sword that had been kept quietly at my waist.

SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH!

A blue sword aura rising like flames on both sword blades.

The trajectory containing that sword aura approached like a wave.

Evasion isn’t always the answer.

I chose to face the wave.

I lowered my body and concentrated the mana in my body into both feet.

The muscles in my thighs swelled extensively.

Like the Kobold King did, I bent my knees and then extended them, exploding forward.

The best charge.

With a split second difference, I twisted my body to the right to deflect the blue trajectory approaching first.

CLANG!

One was a horizontal slash, blocked with Mana heart.

Lightning struck in my vision.

I had allowed another diagonal slash.

Red blood dropped with a splat.

[Abnormal Status – Due to ‘Critical’ bleeding, Doombringer is activated.]

[Skill ‘Doombringer’ level increases. Lv.2]

[Body temporarily breaks through its limits.]

The world looked clearer in proportion to the blood I shed.

The opportunity is momentary.

SLASH!

With the opposing sword Karnavalt in my right hand, I slashed the Kobold King’s shoulder.

KAAAAAAK─!!   
   I swung the Bloody Dagger in my left hand toward the neck.

CRUNCH!

The Kobold King opened its lizard-like mouth wide and bit the blade of the dagger with its teeth.

I could feel the intent to kill me from its golden eyes.

My body moved according to instinct.

I threw the opposing sword Karnavalt to the ground and took the Black Javelin in my hand.

THWACK!

Once in the Kobold King’s heart, I immediately  retrieved it and stabbed once more in the neck.

CLANK-

Its mouth gaped open. The Bloody Dagger it had been desperately biting rolled on the floor.

Soon after, the Kobold King’s body went limp.

[You have defeated the hidden boss monster!]

[Level has increased!]

[Lv.15 → Lv.17]

[‘Strength’ increases by 12.]

[‘Agility’ increases by 10.]

[‘Health’ increases by 10.]

[‘Mana’ increases by 9.]

[Achievement accomplished!]

[Achievement – Fall of a Species]

: Achieved when eliminating the apex of a species

[You have eliminated the king of the Kobold species!]

[Achievement experience points are given!]

[Lv.17 → Lv.19]

Just one step away from level 20.