Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 198

“This is a dungeon that is subject to the [Trial of Choice],” the old man said.

‘Trial of Choice?’

“I’m sure you came here with some knowledge about this dungeon, but I doubt you heard anything about this. This dungeon forces you to make [Choices] throughout your journey.”

“What kind of [Choices]?”

“Remaining a human, becoming a servant of the God, or becoming a monster yourself. One of the three options must be chosen. It’s simple, isn’t it?”

The old man spoke as if it were a trifling matter, but the things that he said were anything but.

“If you die in this dungeon, you have to choose whether to survive as a [Mutant] or die as a human. I’m sure you know this much… This is where it gets interesting. It is not like we can live without food, but there isn’t much to eat around here. We cannot grow crops properly. Then, what do you think would be our best option?”

‘Ah!’

?I think he is talking about Recovery by Eating, Master.?

‘Yeah. I was wondering why they had that attribute in their description…’

“Haha. It seems everyone noticed. Yes, you’re right. We survived by eating monsters. And there are quite a lot of them here. The problem is that the more you eat monsters, the more severe the mutation becomes. Look at my body. Can you really say that I look human in this condition?”

“......”

“And then… don’t you think there would be people here who thought about eating humans?”

Ji-Cheok thought about the people he had already dealt with.

Just like the old man said, he had already lost his human form. Bernade still looked human, but the old man did not. He looked as if he belonged to the Ent race from mythology.

“We are still trying to protect the last piece of humanity in ourselves. That is why we don’t eat humans. We are just waiting for salvation.”

“Salvation…?”

“Yes. Salvation. We are all waiting for a righteous death.”

The old man’s last words made Ji-Cheok feel like someone was hitting him on the head with a hammer.

“Can you give us the salvation that we’re longing for?”

[You have received a quest.]

[Salvation desired by the Twisted and Mutated Entities]

[Difficulty: Four-star dungeon — Supreme]

Save those who belong to the [Forest of the Twisted God].

Reward: Legendary Skill Voucher

Additional Reward: ???]

Ji-Cheok had just received an unbelievable quest.

* * *

‘This is a quest I’ve never seen before.’

This was the first time in all timelines that Ji-Han had even seen this quest. This was also due to the peculiarity of this timeline’s Um Ji-Cheok.

‘Giving them salvation… Is the destruction of the dungeon not salvation? Or is there something that I don’t know about because I didn’t receive this quest in the past?’

In the past, Ji-Han entered this dungeon and retrieved the [Fragment of the Twisted God]. It was an essential item for the future of mankind.

This was the first time he was here with Reable, and the team members who came with him whenever he rewound time were always different. However, after much trial and error, he had found a way to obtain the [Fragment of the Twisted God] easily, without any casualties. Ji-Han wanted to do the same this time, but there was this new variable.

An unexpected quest had been given to them by [Tama].

[Tama] was the name of this group of survivors. Tama meant “righteous” in Filipino. People in this group didn’t eat humans, and they tried their best to live as humans. That was why their group was called “the Righteous,” or [Tama].

The quest they gave was quite ambiguous.

‘Salvation… What does that mean? Should we follow this occurrence of singularity? Or…’

Ji-Han had entered this dungeon a few times with Um Ji-Cheok. And of course, Ji-Cheok always tried to help them. However, it always ended in failure.

‘I should proceed as planned.’

Ji-Han was familiar with making new strategies. And with Reable by his side, it would be even easier.

* * *

‘My brain is about to explode~’

?If their claim is true, it makes sense that Ji-Han came here.?

‘His divination skills sure are great. The people here are the only allies in this dungeon. But I can’t help but feel sorry for them.’

The [Twisted and Mutated Entities] were basically people who had died in the dungeon. They could be seen as being resurrected after death… But since they were forcibly bound to the dungeon, they were essentially Undead—rather lively Undead, in a sense.

So now, the people of the [Tama] group in this Fortress of the Rocky Mountain wanted to die righteously.

A righteous death was very simple. They wanted the dungeon to be destroyed and their souls to be freed. Since they had already died once, it could be said that they were suffering in their afterlife.

[Tama]’s boss, Macaw of the White Charcoal, was a Nature Shaman. He had used his fortune-telling skill and learned that salvation would come to them one day. He believed in it and said that he was waiting for it in this hellish place.

They waited for salvation, one day after the other.

‘Ha… This is like something out of a dream. By the way, that Nature Shaman job seems to have a divination ability. If that’s the case, we should not have entered this dungeon…’

Ji-Cheok sighed deeply while crossing his arms. Looking around, he saw that the other team members were also worried.

They were currently in a hut on one side of the Fortress of the Rocky Mountain. The Tama people had prepared this hut for the team to stay in. It was their temporary room. However, they didn't take out the items stored in Ji-Cheok’s supply room like in the last cave because they felt uncomfortable.

.

‘Imagine pulling out things from the modern world right now… What would these people think if I did that when they are living in literal hell? They know what a TV is, they know what a radio is, and they even know how delicious a bowl of instant ramen is in the middle of the night!’

“Okay, let’s organize what is going on,” Ji-Han said.

Even though he was only wearing a formal suit, he somehow managed to maintain a neat appearance without a speck of dust on his suit. Ji-Cheok wondered how that was possible. He thought that maybe Ji-Han’s time manipulation skills also helped clean his attire.

“First of all, those who died within these dungeons respawn, but they stopped respawning for now because we are inside the dungeon,” Ji-Han said.

Stopping respawns. It meant that, since they were from the outside world, as long as they were inside the dungeon, respawns did not occur. This was understandable. If monsters continued to respawn even while they were hunting, it would have been impossible for most people to clear dungeons.

“Second of all, the number of those who turned into monsters and were bound to this place is about four hundred people. About eighty of them belong to the [Tama] group of the Fortress of the Rocky Mountain.”

Ji-Han stopped talking and looked around to see if others were paying attention. Then he continued.

“The [Tama] group has a rather defensive strategy, but the other two groups are said to be very vicious and aggressive. One group is aggressive because they are looking for human sacrifice, and the other group is aggressive purely for the sake of [Recovery by Eating].”

The Cultists Ji-Cheok met while climbing this rocky mountain had to be the faction looking for human sacrifices. As for the ones that had attacked them when they were hunting in the forest, those were probably the ones using [Recovery by Eating]. Both of the groups were crazy bastards, at any rate.

‘Maybe the [Recovery by Eating] group is not quite as bad…’

“The purpose of the human sacrifice group is to revive the [Fragment of the Twisted God] to get out of this dungeon and return to the present world. And it is said that the sacrificed humans cannot be respawned.”

“Is that even possible?”

“Yes. Of course, judging how their God wants human sacrifice, their God is probably not a proper one, but an evil God. “

Ji-Han glanced at Reable. Reable, who was also an evil God, seemed to be ignoring Ji-Han and was just doing his own thing. Ji-Han continued to talk.

“As for the other group that is primarily using [Recovery by Eating], they are trying to use the attribute of [Recovery by Eating] to strengthen their level and power, and eventually eat the [Fragment of the Twisted God] itself with [Recovery by Eating] to get out of the dungeon.”

‘Holy… Both of them are messed up.’

“For this group, even if you get eaten by the [Recovery by Eating], you will respawn, but it has been discovered that your abilities and strength will decrease when you respawn,” Ji-Han said.

‘At least in terms of not dying, it might be better for me to be eaten by the [Recovery by Eating] guys.’

“I do not know if the goals of these two groups are actually achievable, but it’s safe to assume that all of them are filled with exceptional madness.”

‘Of course, they are. There is no room for civil discussion when they’re trying to eat or use you as a human sacrifice.’

Everyone remained silent at Ji-Han’s explanation.

“If we wanted to go with the standard plan, we would have to deal with both groups, challenge the dungeon boss monster, and then destroy the dungeon Core… However, under the circumstances, that seems difficult.”

“Is it because the number of enemies is much greater than we thought?” Ha-Na interrupted.

The team all had similar thoughts.

“Yes. So… I am thinking of trying another plan.”

“What is it?”

“Reable is an excellent Necromancer. We are going to challenge the boss monster while Reable mass-produces Undead mobs and makes them engage in guerrilla warfare against the monsters.”

?I think this plan was made based on Ji-Han’s abilities. It is very similar to the Seongdonggyeokseo stratagem. I think the success probability for the plan is high.?

Seongdonggyeokseo, literally “make noise in the east and strike from the west,” was a deceptive tactic that involved starting a ruckus somewhere and then attacking from the opposite direction. But Ji-Cheok was not satisfied with this alone.

‘Besides, if this dungeon is destroyed, can the people of [Tama] really die the righteous way? They are good people. They’re the ones that don’t want to harm others even in this situation, so to protect their dignity as human beings, they shut themselves up in this rocky mountain and are constantly fighting in this hellish place. Should I just let them die?’

For some reason, it felt as if a thorn was stuck in Ji-Cheok’s throat. However, whatever his feelings were, that didn’t mean there was a way for him to save the [Tama] people.

Even Ji-Han didn’t seem to know the answer. If he had known, he wouldn’t have used Reable in his plan. Ji-Han’s plan was focused on speed—he just wanted to destroy the dungeon in the quickest way.

“Hold on.”

Ji-Cheok raised his hand and caught everyone’s attention.

“So you’re saying that we have very little information on the current situation of the dungeon, right? And we’re not in immediate danger yet.”

“That’s right.”

“Then I would like to explore the dungeon as much as possible, find whatever hidden information I can, and only then destroy the dungeon.”

“Is there any reason for us to do that?”

“Because I want to save the people of [Tama] if I can.”

These were just ordinary people. They were not clinging to some God and making human sacrifices like those fanatic Cultists, and they were not crazy like those who ate others to become stronger themselves. Ji-Cheok felt that if he didn’t try to do something for these people, it would haunt him forever.

“Let’s try our best to save them.”

“I agree.”

Seong Kwang raised his hand first.

‘I expected this from the Zealot. I guess Seong Kwang’s conscience as a Priest probably wouldn’t allow him to look the other way.’

Mu-Cheok looked like he was deep in thought.

“Help those in need. That is what my God commanded. Nothing has been revealed yet, so I agree with Brother Ji-Cheok,” Seong Kwang said.

“I am also in favor. I heard that the larger the dungeon, the more things are hidden everywhere. These people aside, I don’t think we need to rush anyway. We will not have logistics issues thanks to Ji-Cheok, so I think it’s possible.”

“Hm~ I’m neutral! I think both of you have good arguments.”

Ji-Byeok had agreed and Ha-Na was neutral. What about Mu-Cheok?

Mu-Cheok opened his mouth as if he felt his brother’s gaze.

“Yes, I agree too.”

He didn’t state any particular reason and just said yes.

‘I hope he’s not just following what I’m saying.’

Four of them had agreed, which was more than half of the team.

“So four people agreed and two abstained from voting.”

Reable also abstained. Ji-Han calmly summarized the situation.

“Okay. We will attack according to our established plan, but we will also try to save the people of [Tama].”

The small meeting finally came to an end.

1. Seongdonggyeokseo (original Chinese 聲東擊西— shēng dōng jī xī) is the sixth of Wang Jinze’s Thirty-Six Stratagems mentioned in chapter 180.

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