That was the end of the message. 

“Did the message pop up for you too?”

“Huh? What message.”

“It says, ‘

Can you handle their rage and hatred

?’”

“Hmm. let’s see… Tomb of the Orc King… Record of the Magic tower… hatred and spite? Rage… Hatred… Uhh… Nope, I can’t see it.”

‘As expected.’

‘This time, it’s different from the quest in Laputa. This was my territory, and this was where my past self reigned supreme. It would have been the norm for me to select the Valhalla territory, but… ‘rage’ and ‘hatred’? Hmm…’

After thinking about it for a while, Kang Chul-In probably figured out what it was.

‘Rage and hatred, huh. It’s all aimed at me.’

And while Kang Chul-In was deep in thought, Dorian tried his best to not feel left out.

“Hmph… Always keeping everything to himself and not telling me anything.”

----

“Over there.”

After walking around for about 2km, Dorian pointed in front of them.

And where he pointed were… a bunch of monsters that seemed as if they were turned into stone.

It was at that moment:

[You have entered the forgotten territory, the ‘Raging Valhalla’.]

After this alarm popped up, a quest was then issued.

[Epic] The forgotten territory, Raging Valhalla

-The rage and hatred of the citizens that have been discarded by their previous Lord goes beyond anyone’s imaginations.

-Aim: Get to the end of the Lord’s hall, and defeat the Boss.

-Reward: Epic Item ‘                     ’ (Consumable)

-Difficulty: Extremely Difficult (+10% of intruder’s level)

-You cannot obtain Exp. in this Quest.

-You cannot obtain Lord Points in this Quest.

Though Kang Chul-In was unsure if this was intentionally done by the system or not, he knew why the Valhalla territory had become like this. It was a kind of ‘penalty’ placed upon him for not choosing his old territory, ‘Valhalla’.

“Dorian.”

“Yeah?”

“Get ready to fight.”

“Already? Just by looking at them, those monsters all seem very low-leveled. I’m not even sure if they’d last more than a hit from me. Well, I guess it would take around 5 minutes if they came up against me as a pack.”

Dorian’s response was a normal adventurer’s response.

For the most part, the monsters in the beginning or entrance of a dungeon were extremely low-leveled. It made sense that Dorian thought he could fight against all of them alone.

But…

“Is that so?”

Kang Chul-In disagreed with Dorian.

“Well, let’s see if you can say that after the fight is over.”

And with those words, the monsters that had turned into stone slowly started moving.

After that, another alarm popped up.

[The monsters are in an extremely angry state.]

[The rage of the monsters will head towards only 1 person.]

[The power of the monsters will increase greatly due to their rage.]

[The entire dungeon has been swept up by rage and hatred.]

“Huh?”

This time, it seemed like even Dorian had gotten the alarm.

“W-What is this…”

“Careful! They’re coming now.”

Kang Chul-In spoke, looking in front of them. A dark-slime that had just woken up tried to leap up and ambush them.

“I got this one!”

Rushing out bravely, Dorian swung his fist equipped with a gauntlet towards the slime.

CLANG!

Though the gauntlet was made of metal, it was unable to hurt the dark slime, and the collision created a huge impact.

“Ow…”

Dorian moaned, grabbing his wrist.

“W-What the hell? Why is this slime so strong?!”

“They have levels that are 10% higher than yours.”

“What?”

If it was 10% higher than their levels, that would be 40 (Kang Chul-In’s level)

+4 (the 10% increase), meaning that the monsters would be Level 44. 

“The hell?”

Cursing, Dorian prepared to clash against the slime again, but this time it ignored him and instead started hopping towards Kang Chul-In.

“Huh?”

Dorian was extremely confused.

It was strange.

It wasn’t just the dark slime, but the eyes of all the monsters were focused on Kang Chul-In, ignoring Dorian.

“Fine.”

Kang Chul-In decided to handle this situation in front of him as their former Lord.

Who else would receive their hatred and rage if it wasn’t him, their former Lord?

Betrayal, sadness, rage, hatred, etc. This was the shared feeling of all those in the Valhalla territory that had been discarded by their Lord.

Kang Chul-In had a ‘responsibility’ to take care of those that were within this Valhalla Dungeon. He knew this was something that only he could do, and instead of running away from it, he decided to fight against it head-on. Kang Chul-In wasn’t a cowardly man that only knew how to hide behind his allies.

“Come.”

Kang Chul-In grabbed onto the hilt of Kaiforce with more strength than ever.

----

It took over an hour to ‘tidy-up’ all the monsters that were waiting near the entrance of the Secret Passage.

“Huuk… Huuk…”

Panting, Dorian shook his head.

“What the hell is this… It’s just a slime. I’d bet that not even an ogre would be a match for that thing…”

“Yeah, it’s Level 44 after all.”

“Don’t you feel angry? The monsters are only aiming for you.”

Dorian’s eyes gleamed.

“I know you’re hiding something from me, Kang Chul-In. Am I right? Like the fact that only you’re receiving these hidden messages, or the fact that only you were targeted during that dog of a fight... “

“I won’t say you’re wrong about that.”

“It’s just a little bit difficult to say, isn’t it? Well, I won’t ask if you won’t tell. But…”

“But?”

“What’s the reward for this quest?”

“Oh, that? It’s an Epic Item.”“Huh?”

“The name of the item is covered in black so I don’t know what it is, but it’s an Epic Item, as well as a consumable.”

“Hmmm... After the quest is finished, can I put the details of that item into my Encyclopedia of Pangaea? I’m not asking for it. I just want to sketch it, and know it’s options.”

“That’s fine.”

“Great! Let’s go.”

Dorian seemed extremely happy that he could have an Epic Item as a sample to use in his encyclopedia. It made sense for someone as ‘weird’ as him to be happy about this, as he was making an encyclopedia about items, animals, and plants in Pangaea.

----

It took a total of 3 days to get to the end of the Secret Passage. That was how long the passage was, and that also showed how many monsters were fighting against them.

As they ended the ‘trek’ through the passage, they finally arrived in the main Square of Valhalla.

“Woah…!”

Dorian gasped in awe.

“Are we really underground? Why is it so bright in here? Wait… Even the sun is up. What’s the difference between here and outside?”

Dorian pointed at the top of the Valhalla Square towards the “sun”.

“That’s a ‘Sun Crystal.’”

Kang Chul-In replied.

“T-There’s something like that, too? It seems expensive…”

While Dorian was busy looking at his surroundings…

Kang Chul-In was busy recalling the past.

The Sun Crystal… Was an item that he personally stole from another territory in order to help his civilians. In the past, Kang Chul-In had just gone and stolen from other Lords if he wanted something.

-Milord...

At that moment, white, gassy Ghosts started appearing.

-Milord… Milord…

-Why did you discard us… Milord…

Hundreds, no, thousands of ghosts started appearing, and rushed towards Kang Chul-In.

However, Kang Chul-In was focused on something else entirely.

“Do you hear that?”

“Huh? Hear what?”

“Something that sounds like a tornado.”

“Huh?”

Stepping away from the ghosts, Kang Chul-in closed his eyes and focused.

Howl~

It sounded as if there was wind.

HOWL~

The sound was getting even closer.

“DODGE IT!”

Kang Chul-In suddenly pushed Dorian out of the way.

BANG!

With a huge explosion, the floor of the Square flipped over revealing a small tornado that was heading towards Kang Chul-In and Dorian at frightening speeds.

“W-What is that?”

Dorian shouted, caught completely off guard and surprised.

Vortex…

Kang Chul-In was also surprised, but for a completely different reason.

Kang Chul-In knew the attack that was flying towards them.

How could he not?

….He was the one who taught it after all.

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