Chapter 28

Solo Clear – Chapter 28: Fourth Stage #2

Posted on September 24, 2017 by kuhaku — Leave a reply

I searched the entire village to see if anyone was here, but like I had assumed before, I was the only one here .
I sat on the lonely looking chair and observed the empty road for a moment .

“Well, this might be better for me . ”

Honestly, I didn’t have any human contact since the second stage, so this wasn’t new to me .
In fact, I was pretty happy .
However, they always had something up their sleeves, so I wasn’t entirely satisfied .
I even thought that maybe the manager might lock me up in a small room just to give me a hard time .

“No way . How many years has it been?”

Just then, an old man covered in a tattered cloak approached .
He was holding a wooden staff that magicians usually carries around, so I assumed he was a magician .
The old man looked shocked when he saw me .

“Young man, who are you?”

The old man had a warm smile and it seemed like he wanted me to introduce myself to him .
Since he was the first person I met after entering the stage, I told him my name without any hesitation .

“My name is Kang Jin Woo . ”
“I’m honored to meet you . People…call me Oracle . In simple terms, I’m a seer . ”

Oracle, seer?
Did this old man give himself a nickname as if he stepped into some sort MMORPG?
Well, I did think that the nickname, Oracle, was a pretty nice name .
He didn’t seem like a NPC .
The forum didn’t mention the stage having a NPC like him .

“It’s been a long time since a human walked through the Nightmare difficulty that I’m so touched . It’s probably been over 10 years . ”
“Nightmare difficulty…what exactly is that?”
“Unlike the other stages, this place is special . The monsters in this place are 10 times stronger . ”

It was hard to believe, but I didn’t deny it .
The Forest Trolls that I just fought were definitely stronger than the trolls that I knew of .

“You’re not surprised?”
“Yes…well . ”

Oracle sat in the empty spot next to me .

“The fact that the manager has taken interest in you means that you experienced some unusual events while going through the stages . I understand what you’re feeling . All the people that came here felt the same way . ”


“Are there other people here besides me?”
“Not now . Seeing as how the stages still exist…they probably all died . ”

“… . . ”
“Why are you here though?”

Oracle asked me the reason why I entered the stage .
The first thing I thought of was money, but .
I vaguely answered him because I thought he would be disappointed if I gave him such an obvious reason .

“The managers said that the portals will open in a couple of years and the monsters will enter through the portal . In order to survive on my own, I felt that I needed to get stronger . ”
“I see . ”

It was something I made up on the spot, but it seemed like Oracle thought I was being honest because they were nodding their head .

“How many stages has the outside world completed?”

“They…went up to the 20th stage . ”
“…That’s unfortunate . It’s too late . ”

Oracle’s emotions were displayed on his face .
The old man’s face was filled with emotion, but it was mostly mixed with anger and sadness .
He was probably a talented actor when he was younger .

“Anyways, I’m very happy to see another human here . Good luck . ”
“Th…thank you . ”
“Don’t go dying, young man . You might become the hope of this world . ”
“…Ha ha . ”
“I’m sure we’ll meet again . That’s if you continue walking down the same road . ”

I didn’t quite understand what Oracle was saying, so I just laughed sheepishly .

Hope of the world? It sounded like those heroes that appear in fairy tales and I had no interest in it .
I’m not talented enough to become a hero anyways .
Sacrificing myself for someone else was something I’ve never done in my entire life .
There were times when I got mad because society was being unreasonable .

The old man that had a mysterious and dreamy aura disappeared right in front of me .
After not being able to feel his presence, I frowned .

‘He’s not an ordinary old man . ’

Fwoosh!!

Suddenly, rain started pouring down and made the ground wet .

I used a small mana barrier as an umbrella and walked around the village .
I was the only survivor in this world and that made me feel empty .
During the third stage, in order fill the emptiness within me, I trained everyday .
Instead of doing that, I needed to hunt .

“Now, let’s go get the rest of them . ”

***

Despite of the fact that the stage was set on Nightmare difficulty, I managed to obtain some cards .
By the second day, I obtained nine of the ten cards and was in the process of obtaining the last card .
Among the rock tortoises in the sulphur zone was an elite monster .
The Sulphur Golem was my last target in the fourth stage .

As expected, physical attacks didn’t work on Golems .
It was a difficult monster since I mostly used arrows .
On top of that, since the difficulty level increased, their defense was like attacking an iron wall .

“…Whew . ”

If hunter was a class, then I would probably would’ve been a top-ranked hunter .
I was hunting a large Golem by myself instead of hunting a deer or a bear .
I couldn’t have imagined doing this three years ago .

Swoosh! Crack .

Even though I increased the amount of mana on the arrow, it didn’t really affect the Golem’s arm .
The Golem awoke from its deep sleep and turned its head towards me .

“Roaaaaaar!!”

After the Golem roared, it started chasing after me faster than I had expected .
I continued shooting the arrows while maintaining a safe distance from the Golem .
After being chased for five minutes, I succeeded in luring the monster to the desired location .

“Roaaaar!!”

The Golem fell into the pool of water that I made before and it started flailing around .
But that only lasted for a moment .

I dug it so deep that their entire body would fall into the water .
The Golem would slowly be buried under the water since it’s unable escape from the trap .
As time passes, their tough skin will loosen up and will eventually peel off .
The smell of sulphur started rising and covering my mouth and nose didn’t help .

After 30 minutes, the Golem’s body disappeared completely and traces of them couldn’t be found within the water .


Other Golems are weak against water, but the Sulphur Golem was extremely weak against it .
Thanks to that weakness, I was able to take them down without much effort .

“Have I obtained all the cards?”

After inserting the last card into the book, I fulfilled the requirement of the fourth stage .

A smile appeared on my face because of how proud I felt about the achievement .

“I’ll rest at home and come back later . ”

Starting from the fourth stage, survivors are given the choice of either returning to the real world or going on to the next stage .
Because of this, the survivors that are still alive are able to continue exploring the stages .
I thought that I would be given a choice as well .

“You have successfully cleared the fourth stage . You will now be moved to the fifth stage . ”

I got mad at the manager’s sudden decision to move me onto the next stage .
“Hey!! Why are you deciding this on your own? I want to go home first and rest . ”
“Don’t worry . The fifth stage will be at normal difficulty, just like the other survivors . ”
“What…do you mean?”

***
“We have to resolve the unbalanced nature of the fifth stage no matter what . ”

The Managers were having a meeting about the fifth stage .
In this stage, the war between the Orcs and Elves continued and the survivors were sent in to help and in return, help them grow .

“When comparing the ratio between the two, the Elves have more support . 95% of them support them, so instead of giving them a choice, how about sending them to help the Orcs?”

The Fourth Manager expressed their concern about maintaining a balance between the two sides .

“Even if we send all the survivors to support the Orcs, they won’t be able to defeat the Elves . Out of the 20 bases, 16 of them have already been destroyed . On top of that, their strategy is useless . It’s unfortunate for the Orcs, but…”

The Fifth Manager carefully expressed their opinion .

“This all happened because of that strange rumor about how they’ll be given the chance to sleep with female Elves . I can’t just stand by and watch the Orcs get killed . ”

During the meeting, the Fourth Manager hit the desk and aggressively supported the Orcs .
But a couple of the Managers remained quiet .
The Managers that observed the stage knew of this fact, but knew it was honesty .

There are cases of female Elves sleeping with the survivors they make a strong connection with .
But, this was something they couldn’t just stand by and watch .
They were currently in this situation because the rumor started spreading more .
Female Elves are known to be disoriented, so there has been survivors that lost their lives after showing interest in them .

“From the survivor’s perspective, they’ll want to work with good-looking and beautiful Elves, rather than terrifying Orcs . ”

The human’s image of Orcs and Elves were unbalanced as well .
They imaged Orcs as being violent and brutal .
They believe that Elves that gathers together, seek harmony within nature .
This was the image that most humans had .
However, when they actually meet them, they find out that their image of them is wrong .
Despite this, it’s difficult for them to change their idea of them because that’s what they’ve known all their lives and because of their physical appearance .

“I…do have an idea . ”

The 13th Manager, who was sitting at the end of the table, quietly raised their hand .

“How about sending him?”
“Are you talking about the survivor that’s in Nightmare difficulty?”
“Yes . ”
“I approve . The Orcs needs a hero-like figure right now!!!”

The Fourth Manager flailed in excitement and instantly agreed to their offer .
The other Managers were discussing with the people that were next to them .

“But, you all know what the Nightmare difficulty means, right? Sending someone that’s currently growing to a normal difficulty stage in order to resolve the issue is a bit…”
“Changing the game through one person isn’t going to be easy . The survivors may not know, but there are one or two strong soldiers among the Elves . ”
“Hm, has there been a case where a survivor that was in Nightmare difficulty was sent to a stage with normal difficulty?”
“There has been . The Ninth Manager handled it, but isn’t this a totally opposite situation?”

The Managers were discussing whether to send him or not .
The First Manager intercepted .

“Let’s vote . Including myself, all 13 Managers will vote . ”

The result was 8:5 and they decided to send Kang Jin Woo to the fifth stage .
And the First Manager spoke again .

“The atmosphere of the overall stage isn’t going the way that we expected . Either humans buy or sell items or, they come into the stages thinking that this is all a joke . Because of this, I’ll be adding another rule to the fifth stage . ”

The other Managers listened carefully .

“…During the fifth stage, all the survivors that lose the war will be permanently exiled . Whether it’s hundreds or thousands, it doesn’t matter . All of them . ”

<Fourth Stage #2> End .

Staff :
Jen (TL)
Kuhaku (PR)