I Gain Infinite Gold Just By Waiting-Chapter 263: Episode 52_Point Maker (4)

In a dungeon, penalties were shackles locked around a player’s ankles.

Naturally, the more shackles there were, the more the dungeon’s difficulty skyrocketed. Even without penalties, just working through the multiple clear conditions was already grueling. Now you were supposed to tackle them while chained down?

For players who enjoyed a challenge, it might be an interesting mechanic, but for the majority, it was just another reason to avoid Rare-grade dungeons and above.

It was the same for Kim Buja.

Dungeon penalties were not exactly his favorite companions either. No matter how high his level climbed or how inflated his stats became, any dungeon he challenged always brought a sense of tension and anxiety. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

As the player who had cleared more Legendary dungeons than anyone else in the world, he let out a sigh every time he stepped into one, even if it was a lower-level dungeon.

That was precisely why he had chosen a 9-star dungeon that was "only" Unique for this test run, rather than a Legendary one.

Penalties.

No matter how good the ‘Armor of the Demon God’ set was, each additional penalty could slash his combat power so drastically that it might more than cancel out the armor’s benefits.

He had gone out of his way to avoid that risk, only to find an even worse obstacle waiting.

“Unbelievable.”

Six penalties.

It didn’t take long to figure out how a Unique-grade dungeon could possibly have six.

“Don’t tell me... from 9-star onward, you get two penalties per grade?”

“That appears to be the case,” Fly replied, unable to hide the shock in his voice.

He had climbed this far by clearing countless dungeons himself. While he hadn’t faced as many Legendary dungeons as Kim Buja, he’d cleared more than enough Special and Unique ones to be thoroughly accustomed to their environments.

Even if he walked into a random dungeon with zero preparation, he had accumulated enough knowledge to analyze and clear it on the fly.

Yet even he was shaken.

He faltered, then let out a hollow laugh.

Instead of racking his brain for a solution, he could only exhale in empty laughter. It meant one thing: the situation was so hopelessly straightforward that there was no point in searching for a clever workaround.

“What do you plan to do?”

He gave up on thinking it through.

When Fly asked the question in a calm tone, Kim Buja simply shrugged.

Normally, he would have snapped back, asking why Fly was leaving it all to him and insisting they figure it out together. This time, however, he had come for one reason only: to give Fly a free carry through the dungeon.

If some freak accident occurred, the “customer” might have to step up to survive, but fundamentally, it was Kim Buja’s responsibility to create the strategy.

He mulled it over for a moment, then quickly settled on a plan.

“We do our best. What other choice is there? We can’t just give up because of six penalties. We’re already inside, so we might as well give it our all and try not to die.”

He fell silent.

What other choice did they have?

Once you stepped into a dungeon, retreat was not an option. You couldn’t plan for it, and you couldn’t even entertain the thought.

A 9-star dungeon was no exception.

Every player who entered a dungeon had only two ways out: die and get kicked out, or clear it and walk out.

That was why Fly could only laugh as well.

The only sensible thing to do was look for whatever silver lining they could find.

“At least the penalties themselves aren’t that brutal.”

1. At fixed intervals, the ‘(★★★★★) Hallucination’ effect will stack. At 5 stacks, the ‘(★★★★★★★★) Charm’ effect will be applied.

2. You are exposed to the cave’s humidity. Agility is reduced by 15%.

3. All monsters inside the dungeon have their stats increased by 22%.

4. ‘Trap Rooms’ are generated. Upon entering a ‘Trap Room,’ all stats are reduced by 2% per stack.

5. The boss monster’s attack power is increased by 44%.

6. The boss monster’s HP is periodically restored in proportion to the number of monsters remaining inside the cave.

The sheer number of them was enough to make one whistle in disbelief.

No matter how many times he read the list, a sigh escaped him.

Still, it was a twisted sort of blessing that the Agility reduction was the only penalty directly affecting the player.

“That’s true. I guess we should be grateful for that much.”

Fly acknowledged it as well.

At a glance, one might think that boosted monster stats and increased boss attack power were no different from a player’s abilities being nerfed across the board. But a closer look revealed a crucial difference. Assuming a player’s stats were higher than the dungeon monsters’ to begin with, the absolute difference between “my stats being reduced by a percentage” and “the enemy’s stats being increased by a percentage” was significant.

More than anything, the core reason Kim Buja had entered this dungeon was to test an item.

“This is actually the perfect place to run a full, proper test on the Demon God set.”

“Haah.”

Fly, one of only three people in the world who knew the Demon God set’s options in detail, let out another sigh at the excitement in Kim Buja’s voice.

His envy was greater than his fear of the immediate danger before them.

Any player would feel that way, and for a top-tier ranker, it was all but inevitable.

“Have you considered selling your Points?”

“If you’re willing to pay the right price.”

Even Fly couldn’t shake off his lingering regret, his eyes full of greed. If he were like this, how would everyone else react?

Of course, most people would probably see it as an insurmountable wall and simply marvel from afar.

But players at a certain level?

They might start getting ideas.

“I’ll farm as hard as I can.”

“Sure, I’ll be waiting. I’m buried under a mountain of debt from buying this thing anyway, so I can’t even start saving up Points for a while.”

With that, he cut the conversation short and moved forward.

They could chat later.

Right now, it was time to put on a show.

It was time to show the countless people who would be watching the video.

It would be the first time ever to see someone clearing a 9-star Unique dungeon.

VWOOM!

A massive surge of demonic energy made the dark cave interior feel even more ominous.

FLASH!

At the same time, darkness seeped into Kim Buja.

When he emerged from within that darkness, there was nothing human left about him.

He was too stunned to speak.

His body floated in midair.

Two wings.

One horn.

Kim Buja, now in the form of a perfect demon, strode forward holding not his golden sword, but a massive, jet-black greatsword.

“Let’s go.”

Demon God Descent.

The calamity that had descended upon the 9-star Unique dungeon unleashed merciless judgment upon the monsters.

* * *

When he entered the 9-star Unique dungeon, when the 9-star dungeon’s penalties were revealed, people had said:

—They’re screwed.

—Isn’t this harder than a Legendary dungeon?

—Wow, if you get two penalties per grade, that means Specials have 8 and Legendaries have 10?

They said 9-star really was the final dungeon.

A hell where no unprepared player would dare set foot.

The mere thought was horrifying.

Every time they read through each penalty shown in the video, their faces twisted.

—They expect you to clear a dungeon with those penalties? And it’s a 9-star, on top of that?

—No, seriously. If monster stats go up by another 20%, how much does the difficulty spike?

—This looks impossible to clear.

At the same time, they worried about the two of them.

—This is going to be rough.

—This is the real deal.

—I can’t imagine the two of them dying together, but this dungeon’s difficulty is insane.

They imagined the outcome if the clear attempt failed.

A world where the rank 1 and rank 2 vanished at the same time.

They couldn’t even picture it.

And then, right before their eyes, scenes began to unfold that erased those fears.

—Huh?

—What the hell?

The overwhelming might Kim Buja displayed after transforming through Demon God Descent.

In the Demon God’s wake, there was nothing left but monster corpses.

—What is that?

—Why are the monsters just dropping dead without doing anything?

—Plot twist: it was never a 9-star Unique to begin with.

The one-sided slaughter was so extreme that no one could believe these were supposed to be 9-star dungeon monsters.

Naturally, the viewers’ thoughts turned in one direction.

—What is that transformation?

—Is that a Legendary transformation? Does stuff like that actually exist?

—Damn. That has to be the new item he just completed, right?

—Insane.

—They called it Demon God Descent or something. He really looks like a demon god.

So that was the trump card everyone had been dying to see from Kim Buja.

The first item for which he had refused to reveal the options.

Its true form.

—Jackpot.

There was no other way to describe it.

No other words fit.

It was a jackpot, plain and simple.

The massacre he maintained in that transformed state for nearly an hour eventually reached unfamiliar groups of monsters, and people began to hope that they might soon catch a glimpse of the boss monster.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last much longer.

—Huh? The transformation ended.

The form that had looked powerful enough to destroy the entire world vanished, and he reverted to his original appearance.

Because the Demon God’s impact had been so overwhelming, his normal form felt noticeably weaker by comparison.

—What now?

—Is this where it really starts?

—What’s the cooldown? He probably needs to stall for time.

How was he going to make up for that sudden drop in power?

Their anxiety faded a little, replaced by growing anticipation.

What clever trick would he use to get through this moment?

—Gold Shop?

—Is he going to use a stealth item?

Most people assumed the same thing.

They thought he would fall back to set up another shocking moment like the last one.

Even if he retreated, no one would blame him.

That was the kind of place a 9-star dungeon was.

The very fact that he could tackle such a dungeon at all, even in this way, was more than enough to earn recognition and praise.

However, what happened next was nothing like what people had expected.

He did buy an item from the Gold Shop and set it down.

“All right, from here on out, we’re really getting started.”

A single campfire.

At a glance, it looked like a stealth item.

It even resembled the one Kim Buja had used before.

However, its effect was the exact opposite.

[The monsters react to the pheromones.]

It was not a campfire that repelled monsters.

It was an item that attracted them.

—What is he doing?

—Did I see that wrong? Put it out, now!

—They’re swarming! Holy crap.

As if to prove that the monsters they had killed on the way here were only a tiny fraction of what this dungeon held, an uncountable number of monsters began to converge on them.

There was no going back.

All that remained was battle.

Fly, his expression tense, looked at Kim Buja, the man who had created this situation.

The moment he saw him, his tension melted away.

Kim Buja was watching the incoming horde with a relaxed expression, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

Where did that confidence come from?

Anyone could see that Demon God Descent was supposed to be the single most important card in this dungeon.

Yet after using that card, he was now preparing for an even bigger fight.

That could only mean there was something else, something unexpected, still hidden up his sleeve.

“What’s to think about? If we just fight, an answer will present itself.”

With those words, Kim Buja made it clear he had no backup plan.

He toyed with his earring.

’Heavenly Song.’

It was the perfect item to signal the start of a battle.

At the same time, his Legendary items began to drink in mana one by one and power up.

A head-on clash.

A textbook, straight-up fight, showcased inside a 9-star Unique dungeon.

Even Fly, who had entered with no intention of participating in combat, picked up his staff.