Chapter 238
Backup team?
Seonghyun and Yoo Mina both tilted their heads in the same way.
However, their reactions had different meanings.
"Backup team?"
"They?"
Seonghyun’s reaction was that he had no idea about the existence of a backup team.
Whereas Yoo Mina’s was more about how the backup team would operate.
It was understandable for Seonghyun, but seeing Yoo Mina’s reaction, Ahn Yoojin narrowed her eyes and glared at Yoo Mina.
Yoo Mina flinched, and Ahn Yoojin turned to explain to Seonghyun.
"Yeah, the Luna team we met before? They’re one of your backup teams."
"One of them?"
That meant there were several backup teams.
Seonghyun scratched his cheek, feeling a bit puzzled.
Until now, there hadn’t been much need for backup teams.
He hadn’t really felt it.
Need a team?
He thought it would be easy to turn into an army of death, so there was no need to form a team.
He was practically an army himself.
Reading his thoughts, Ahn Yoojin said to Seonghyun:
"Even so, backup teams are necessary. You may do raids solo, but for hunting, it’s important to be in parties and party dungeons."
"Ah, I see."
Though he had followers, they weren’t recognized as party members.
So, in those cases, backup teams might be needed.
And,
"In events like this, having backup teams helps."
"Hmm."
"They prevent other players from interfering. That way, you can focus all your power, right?"
"Ah, that makes sense."
"Backup teams definitely help."
After Ahn Yoojin explained this, Seonghyun nodded as if he understood.
However,
Yoo Mina, who continued to think negatively, said:
"Only if they can keep up with leveling."
"Ah."
Seonghyun nodded as if agreeing with that.
Surely, Seonghyun’s current leveling was abnormal.
He pushed an overwhelming army to rapidly collect experience.
Keeping up with him could be more difficult than expected.
But,
At Yoo Mina’s reaction, Ahn Yoojin chuckled softly and said,
"Our backup team is amazing. We’re already about to enter the sixth region."
"……?"
"......Sigh."
Seonghyun looked at Ahn Yoojin with a puzzled expression.
And Yoo Mina sighed looking at Ahn Yoojin.
"Why, why are you two like this?"
Ahn Yoojin asked again, sensing their unusual reactions.
Yoo Mina shook her head and replied,
"Seonghyun, what level are you going to reach for the event?"
"I heard I need to hit level 200, so I’m aiming for that."
"......W-What?! Wh-What level are you at now...?"
"188."
Hearing Seonghyun’s level, Ahn Yoojin stiffened noticeably, and Yoo Mina smiled lightly.
"According to the info Seonghyun brought, players will be grouped in increments of 50 levels. They said Apophis will appear in about a week to ten days, right? Do you think they can reach level 200 by then?"
Swallowing nervously, Ahn Yoojin said,
"......I’ll have them try."
Somehow, it felt like she could already hear the backup team's groans.
About two days after meeting Ahn Yoojin,
Seonghyun was hunting alone, as the Over Palace Hexia Branch said preparations weren’t ready yet.
Though not very fast,
He completed some quests in Hexia and leveled up.
[Level Up!] x2
[Reached level 190.]
[Upon reaching level 10 increments, Almighty-rank items, 『Overlord's Old Book』 are activated.]
[Upon reaching level 10 increments, Almighty-rank items, 『Tome of Blood』 are activated.]
[Reached level 190, unlocking new skills for 『Overlord』.]
[Acquired legendary-rank skill, 『Hellfire』.]
‘That took quite a while.’
Despite completing quests, he only gained two levels.
Well, unless it was a major quest like Ragna Ecrion, this was normal.
Though a bit disappointing, he accepted it.
However, he did worry whether he could reach 200 in time.
‘They’ll somehow manage it, right?’
Since Over Palace promised to help, he wasn’t too worried.
They’re the kind who make sure you accomplish what you set out to do.
So, no need to stress.
Still,
‘I wonder how the backup team is doing?’
Though they said they’d help, it seemed difficult to hit 200.
Seonghyun thought that and dismissed the worry.
No point in overthinking what couldn’t be changed.
For now,
He only checked his newly acquired skills.
『Hellfire』
→《Legendary》
→[Lv 1][Growth-type]
[Persistent Effect][Active]
[Cooldown: 10 minutes]
[Duration: 5 minutes]
The flames that burned in eternal darkness devour the earth. There is nowhere left to run.
→Overlord-exclusive skill.
→Summons hellfire.
→Hellfire gradually spreads around and never extinguishes.
'Oh?'
A fire-element skill.
At first, he thought hellfire would be a darkness-element skill.
Previously, Evil Thunder was classified and integrated as a darkness-element skill despite being a lightning skill.
He thought this would be the same, but it wasn't.
However, it was a somewhat disappointing skill.
It only had the effect of summoning fire and making it spread.
It was just a simple DoT damage skill.
Using this alone would be rather bland.
'Hmm.'
No matter how he looked at it, this wasn't a skill meant to be used alone.
It was a skill that would bloom only when combined with other build-oriented skills.
Blood Poison was that type of skill too, wasn't it?
It showed even more powerful effects when combined with other blood-element skills.
Hellfire was the same.
Fortunately, he still had a pile of unused skills.
He could choose compatible skills through the Overlord's Old Book.
Most importantly,
'I should prepare myself too.'
For now, he might be fine with Lord of Darkness and other skills, but who knew?
There was no guarantee there wouldn't be strong opponents at his level.
The level range Seonghyun had to fight was from 200 to 249.
He might be strongest in the 200s, but what about opponents with nearly 50 levels difference?
Having his followers with him was fortunate, but it was more useful to acquire build-oriented skills rather than holding onto skills he couldn't utilize.
'Let's choose after a long time.'
The number of skills he had saved using the Overlord's Old Book was seven, including this time.
He might get more skills of this type, so it seemed wise to save some.
Anyway, once he decided to use it, no one would stop Seonghyun.
Not that anyone would try to stop him in the first place.
As Seonghyun used the Overlord's Old Book,
[You can acquire build-oriented fire-element dark magic.]
[Searching for skills that best match your current skills.]
[Found compatible Unique-rank skills.]
[Listing the skills:]
『Judgment of Hell』
『Burning Desire』
『Ray of Alkarsus』
『Spreading Black Flames』
『Summon Flame Demon』
…….
…….
(Continued)
[Would you like to select?]
[Persistent Effect][Active]
[Cooldown: 1 hour]
[Summon Duration: 5 minutes]
→Exclusive to dark magic class.
→Combines all surrounding flames to summon a powerful flame demon proportional to flame power and range.
→This summoned demon is not a familiar but treated as a monster.
→The summoned flame demon is stronger than typical demons.
There weren't many ways to chain these together, but it was a satisfactory level.
Seonghyun smiled slightly and looked around.
Since he was in a hunting ground,
He wanted to see how useful these skills were.
At a distance in the field, he spotted quite a few monsters.
Seonghyun saw the gathering undead and thought it was a perfect chance, so he used flight to head toward them.
As he got closer, Seonghyun extended his hand and summoned 『Hellfire』.
The hellfire that rose into the air glowed a deep, dark red, radiating heat like a small sun as it burned in the air.
At that moment, Seonghyun pointed his index finger and used 『Ray of Alkarsus』 on the dark-red hellfire.
Piiiii——!!!
A high-speed metallic whirring sounded, sharply spreading around.
Simultaneously, the energy of the dark-red hellfire was drawn into and absorbed before Seonghyun's index finger.
As the energy condensed fiercely, forming a dark-red energy orb before his finger,
A sinister dark-red beam shot down toward the undead.
Pshuuuung——!!!
Kwaaaaaa——!!!
The beam, armed with devastating penetration power, emitted fiercer heat than any flame as it fell into the heart of the undead.
Then,
Kwaaaaaaang——!!!
The moment the dark-red beam touched the ground,
Seonghyun activated 『Spreading Black Flames』.
Normally, the beam would have merely pierced through and disappeared, but instead it caused a massive explosion as the dark-red orb expanded in a hemisphere.
Everything around looked like hell.
Waves of dark-red hellfire surged in all directions, and the undead, engulfed in these flames, writhed in agony and melted.
Watching the undead struggling in pain,
It truly felt like this was hell.
But Seonghyun didn't stop there and used his final skill.
First summoning hellfire, absorbing it with 『Ray of Alkarsus』, attacking with the beam, then spreading the ignited hellfire with 『Spreading Black Flames』 for a wide-area attack.
Finally,
Fwooshhhhh——!!!
The flames of hell spread wide and were sucked into the center.
The undead caught in the blaze were completely incinerated into ashes.
Those undead who gazed at the center began trembling violently.
As if sensing something about to burst forth,
The undead trembled and froze, as if worshipping the center.
At that moment, the dark-red hellfires merged to form a shape.
The hellfire rippled as if coming alive, forming a body roughly 3 meters tall.
A powerful and muscular flame demon, seeming to command the hellfire as its own.
“Who dares summon me, the foolish one?”
The demon, as if bursting through the gates of hell, looked up to the sky with burning eyes and faced Seonghyun.
Watching the demon, Seonghyun muttered to himself,
“Is this a raid boss level?”
As he smiled at this interesting sight,
The flame demon burst into a wild laugh.
“Kuhahaha!!! In this short time, I'll burn this whole place down!!!”
The flame demon spoke thus,
Seonghyun thought to himself while observing,
“If it’s raid boss level, will it drop experience?”
Looking at the demon with some hopeful expectation,
The demon suddenly felt a chill down its spine and swallowed nervously.
“Something feels off?”
But by the time the demon sensed the oddity, it was already too late.