The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage-Chapter 382

Belhadan had long been famous for its bizarre cityscape.

Because the ninth region’s notoriety was so severe, most of the population here had thinned to mainly quasi-rankers, so the number of users wasn’t exactly large; even so, it was undeniably one of the more popular areas on the East Asia server.

It was because just going down into that pit called Mugan to hunt stirred up a bit of one’s adventurous and exploratory spirit.

Seong couldn’t help being surprised by the sight that drew admiration as he looked around.

A city shaped like a donut—no matter how you looked at it, it was impossible not to find it curious.

Should he say it was the kind of city only possible in a game?

Staring at that bottomless, abyss-like pit, Seong thought there was truly no place more fitting for the Abyss than this.

“But they said the real Abyss isn’t actually here.”

When Seong asked ahead of time just in case, he was told the Abyss was far deeper than a hole like this.

And when he heard from Helena why this hole came to be, he became certain the Abyss would indeed be deeper than this.

At any rate, Seong was now looking into how to enter that hole named Mugan.

Wearing a black robe, he meant to go in alone without summoning Helena or any other vassals.

A few users and NPCs were lined up at Mugan’s entrance to go in and out, and Seong queued up at the end of the line.

But—

“Everyone’s not alone, huh?”

He was the only one standing by himself.

He hesitated, wondering whether he should summon his vassals even now.

The line wasn’t that long, so Seong’s turn came.

“Hmm. Hey, outsider—don’t tell me you’re alone?”

“......”

He debated what to say, then nodded.

If they said no, he could just say he’d come back another time and then go in after summoning his vassals.

He simply hadn’t summoned them because he wanted to scout the entrance alone; perhaps that was a bit of a misjudgment.

As Seong held still, thinking that, one of the soldiers guarding the entrance hesitated for a moment.

“You look like you’ve got skill, but I’ll recommend a party. You can’t go in alone.”

“Pardon?”

Seong considered summoning his vassals, then paused at the gatekeeper NPC’s kindness.

“They’re all capable people; you’ll be satisfied too. How about it?”

“Mm, are they outsiders as well?”

“That’s right.”

At the gatekeeper NPC’s words, Seong scratched his cheek.

Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since he’d partied with anyone else, so he felt it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try it this time.

As the gatekeeper NPC said, they might not be quite to Seong’s taste in skill.

Even so, they’d probably be decent to some extent.

And there was something he wanted to check.

“I want to see how strong users at this level range are.”

Seong was still in the 270s.

He wanted to get a feel for how strong the level range just before 300 here was.

When Seong nodded,

the gatekeeper NPC smiled, saying he’d made the right choice.

“Smart thinking. In Mugan over there, the more you go in alone, the more monsters swarm, so we’re blocking solo entrants within our city.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“Then wait a moment and I’ll guide you; stay here.”

“Yes, thank you.”

4.

There were many parties active in Belhadan, but only a few were famous.

Michael’s party was one of them.

They had once been a second-string party in the Eclipse Order, but since the way they were treated—and the behavior they endured, like what they’d previously pulled on Seong—showed blatant discrimination against the seconds, they quit and banded together; their skill, at least, was outstanding.

Among the parties active here in Belhadan, they could be called top-tier in terms of pure ability.

But even Michael’s party had run into a fairly big problem.

Their mage—originally one of the four—suddenly quit the game due to illness.

Of course, no matter how much money Eternal World brought in, you wouldn’t force someone to keep playing when they were sick.

Michael, the party leader, wasn’t the type to be that heartless; when a teammate said they were ill, he naturally told them to rest, and he even visited them in the hospital to cheer them on to a full recovery.

But separately from that, the gap left by the mage was significant, so he couldn’t help agonizing over it.

“Hoo...”

“Leader, we’ll manage to find someone somehow, right?”

“That’s right, oppa. I told the gate guards to tip us off if they saw a mage with good skills, so we should hear soon.”

The party members tried to comfort Michael, who let out a sigh, but even though they’d been recruiting new mages, the ones showing up were all riffraff, and they were in a bind.

They’d tried recruiting on stream too, but only weirdos flocked in, and the ones with actual skills were few and far between.

So the leader, Michael, was practically in despair, eyes screwed shut.

“Of all times, we were almost done cracking Mugan’s bottom layer when a gap opened up... We’re keeping subscribers for now, but...”

“No telling when we’ll drop.”

“...It’s been a while since we last uploaded, after all.”

The reason they couldn’t upload was that their main content was the Mugan clearing, and with only three, hunting in their current area wasn’t proceeding smoothly.

A mage was practically a necessity, so the deep-layer push was difficult.

So they were taking a break from videos.

If they posted other content now, people might complain they weren’t doing clearing, and some would even try to shape public opinion that Michael’s party had fallen off in ability, so they were lying low.

Of course, there was a reason.

If they announced the mage’s illness, public opinion could change.

But they didn’t want to stoop to selling out their sick teammate.

On stream they’d wrapped it up in a heartwarming way, saying they’d be back later due to personal circumstances, so they needed to find a new mage quickly; but how easy is it to recruit a teammate at this level range?

It’s not like they hadn’t considered mercenary NPCs.

But they were too often disobedient, and their skills were bad.

If one happened to have good skills, the bigger problem was that they listened even less.

So Michael was sitting in {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} their party base, letting out sighs.

Just then—

Knock, knock.

“Who is it?”

Hearing a knock, Lowell, the party’s archer, went to open the door, wondering who it was.

Seeing it was the gatekeeper NPC they’d asked before, Lowell greeted him happily.

“Oh! Mr. Hans!”

“Haha, good to see you, Mr. Lowell.”

A very common name for a guard.

The gatekeeper NPC beamed, greeting Lowell.

And when Lowell tilted his head, asking what brought him here,

the guard NPC called Hans got straight to the point.

“I’ve brought you an outsider mage who looks quite skilled—the kind you’ve been looking for.”

“Ah!?”

At Lowell’s startled exclamation,

Noar, who had been pricking up his ears to the conversation at the door, came up behind him, and Michael, the party leader, turned his body slightly while remaining seated at the table.

Then the gatekeeper NPC called Hans revealed the user standing behind him, and the user greeted them.

“Hello. I came on a recommendation.”

Seeing a user in a black robe who looked like a very handsome mage, the two of them got all worked up.

“Oh!? Welcome!!!”

“P-please, come in!!!”

Given the circumstances, Lowell and Noar urgently and enthusiastically welcomed the black-robed user, and Hans, pleased by the sight, nodded; then he touched his index and middle fingers to his forehead, lifted them off with a wink, and went off to his duties.

Watching Hans go, Lowell shouted his thanks.

“Mr. Hans! Thank you!!!”

Even at Lowell’s words, Hans didn’t coolly look back; he just raised a hand and waved it—quite a cool look indeed.

At any rate, bringing in a new mage user had Michael quite excited on the inside, even if he didn’t show it.

For Michael, party members’ skill was of course important, but right now they needed even a cat’s paw.

Besides, anyone who had reached the ninth region tended to be at least somewhat capable, so he figured the basics would be there, and his expectations were high.

“Welcome. I’m Michael, the party leader.”

“Nice to meet you. I go by Yuseong.”

The black-robed user—no, Seong—once again gave a false nickname, but no one was the type to care.

Who cared about nicknames when a new recruit had arrived!

They calmed themselves and asked Seong:

“Pardon, but you came because you want to enter Mugan and were thinking of collaborating with our party, correct?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Whew, thank goodness. The thing is, we...”

Seong had worried it might turn into an interview vibe at first.

Unexpectedly, Michael spoke frankly and briefly explained his party’s situation.

That their original mage had quit for personal reasons, that it hadn’t ended badly, but that they were challenging the deep layers and thus definitely needed a mage.

Since they were pouring out their whole story, Seong listened for the time being.

Seong actually liked listening to other people’s stories more than expected, so he stayed quiet.

Perhaps Michael had had a rough time; he talked at length, and after hearing everything, Seong scratched his cheek.

“So, to summarize—you’re asking whether I’m willing to challenge the deep layers, right?”

“Yes. Usually, folks here want to hit ranker quickly and rush to level 300, so they prefer efficient hunting over the deep layers; that’s why I asked.”

Seong smiled as if he liked that question better.

Because Seong’s target right now was also the deep layers.

So it seemed like they might actually be a good party.

Of course, he couldn’t fight the Lord of the Pit, the Lord of Destruction, and the Lord of Despair with them.

But if they could open the way together as far as the deep layers, wouldn’t that be great?

He was planning to attempt it as reconnaissance this time anyway.

Thinking that, Seong nodded to them.

“As it happens, I wanted to go to the deep layers too, but I was worried since I didn’t have a party—this works out well. I think it’d be good if we at least work together up to the deep layers.”

“Ah!”

“Nice!”

“We did it!”

Hearing that, Michael’s expression completely brightened, and seeing Lowell and Noar throw their hands up and bounce with joy, Seong felt they really had had a tough time.

Even so, Seong thought it was good when a party was harmonious, and he nodded.

When Seong then stood up to get ready to go in right away,

Michael seemed to catch on and got up with a bright smile, shouting:

“Then let’s sync up right now!”

“It’s been a while, Mugan!”

“As for the stream, since Mr. Yuseong hasn’t officially joined yet, how about we sync up a little first and then talk about it?”

“I don’t mind streaming right away.”

“Oh!?”

Seong was used to streaming too, so he said as much.

All three members of Michael’s party lit up.

It was time to go live again after a long while.