Into the Creations 285

Chapter 285 – 285. God’S Atlantis

It had been a week since I returned to Korea from Japan.

Jin Se-young was away from the Yeongcheon Sword Hall due to her Class A Hunter exam. It was a shame that my sex partner was gone, but it was okay since Han Ha-rin was there.

For a week, I took on requests from the Hunter Association to build up my performance record faster.

My current skill level was that of a Class C Hunter, but my actual Hunter rank was E. I was working hard to at least reach Class D.

‘But damn it. No requests.’

Korea had a lot of Hunters compared to its small landmass, so requests were quite rare.

And of course, the requests I was talking about were the ones that I could easily handle at my level. There were quite a few requests that weren’t easy.

‘Why are there so many Class D requests that require going overseas?’

Korea, with its small land and high population density, was peaceful, but other countries overseas were different. Especially China, which was going through the worst period lately.

Dungeons that the Chinese Hunter Association had failed to discover had burst open all at once, releasing hundreds of thousands of monsters into China. Fortunately, the dungeons that burst were in remote areas outside the cities, so there weren’t many casualties.

Because of this, rumors were circulating on the internet that the Chinese government had been experimenting with dungeons and caused an accident. The idea that the Chinese government might do that was quite strong. China had no credibility.

‘Why does the world seem to be going to shit?’

I had no intention of going overseas, so I decided to just reach Class D a little later.

Overseas travel?

I had the Leisure Life app. It was better to go into the world of the game and enjoy myself than to travel overseas.

‘There are even travel documentaries among the selectable creations.’

Well, I wasn’t planning on entering a documentary world right now.

I turned on the Leisure Life app and selected a world.

[You have selected God’s Atlantis.]

[Starting the game.]

•••

Area 14, the Sand Hell.

It was a desert near Today’s City, which was in Area 2, our current base. I was walking alone in this place where desert monsters attacked every now and then.

Despite its brutal name, Sand Hell, the monsters that appeared here weren’t that strong, so it was a route often used by merchants and adventurers.

For the record, I was currently walking through the desert in my ‘Heavenly Demon’ state, wearing black clothes and a clown mask on my face.

There were two reasons why I was here.

One was because of a request from Pesica, a necromancer who controlled the back alleys of Today’s City and also a request broker.

The request was simple. To deal with the ‘Dirt Hand’ bandit group that appeared in this desert.

Originally, the Dirt Hand had maintained friendly relations with the back alleys, but this time, they had killed a dark merchant crossing the desert and looted his goods. If they had returned the goods and compensated for the dark merchant’s life, it would have been fine, but this time, the Dirt Hand had clammed up and disappeared into the desert. They had crossed the line they should have kept.

‘Damn it. Old hag. You should have told me where they are specifically.’

I took out a cold bottle of water from my inventory and gulped it down. All I could see around me was sand. I had no idea where the Dirt Hand bandits were.

The reason I accepted this annoying request was to help out Kang Myung-jin, the protagonist of this world, and also to take on the request.

‘If I handle Pesica’s request, I might be able to get into Helten… Damn it. How long do I have to keep doing these annoying requests?’

Helten.

The most famous criminal organization in Atlantis right now. I was trying to get into it. I could use my unique trait, Deception (SS), to hide my identity, and I could gain a lot of benefits through Helten.

“Kkk, kkkkkkk, kkkkkkk.”

A bizarre sound was heard. It sounded like someone was holding back tears, or maybe laughing.

I turned my body towards the sound.

Hyenas, about the size of wolves, were shuffling towards me. The hyenas with brown fur were a total of five, and they were surrounding me. They were quite smart for beasts.

“So, they were sand hyenas.”

My face was filled with boredom. This was the fourth time I had faced these guys today.

“Kkkk. Kkk. Kkk.”

The sand hyenas made strange noises and rushed towards me. There was only one thing to be careful about when dealing with these guys.

Not getting bitten.

Sand hyenas had a powerful bite force that could even chew through iron plates. Other than that, they were just fast. But that speed didn’t work on me.

Heavenly Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) – Silent Void (寂空).

My fist, wearing black gloves and the Subduing Demon Armor, struck the jaw of the charging hyena. The hyena’s body floated into the air. And a beat later, the hyena’s head exploded.

Bang!

Blood and flesh splattered onto the sand.

[You have gained 15 AP.]

They gave less than the tutorial monster, Heyder. These guys were stronger than Heyder, the tutorial monster. However, the reason Heyder gave a lot of AP was a special perk for the tutorial.

“Kkkk! Kkk! Kkk!”

The hyenas charged at me all at once. I moved my arms and legs, using the Heavenly Demon Divine Art without any emotion.

[You have gained 15 AP.]

[You have gained 15 AP.]

[You have gained 15 AP.]

The last one turned its body and ran away as fast as it could instead of charging at me.

‘Change status window.’

[Changing to Lightning Severance status window.]

Pzzzzzt.

Lightning gathered in front of my hand and turned into a swastika shape. I shot the lightning at the fleeing hyena.

Kwarurururung!

The blue lightning accurately hit the hyena’s body.

[You have gained 15 AP.]

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I changed the status window again and started walking through the desert.

•••

While walking through the desert, I found an abandoned building. It was a stone building that looked like it could collapse at any moment, but it was quite large. It was big enough to hold over 100 people.

‘This could be where the Dirt Hand bandits have set up their hideout.’

According to Pesica, the Dirt Hand bandit group had about 30 members. If I fought them head-on, even I couldn’t guarantee victory. So, I was planning to ambush and kill the strong ones first.

‘Deception.’

I used my unique trait, Deception (SS), to hide my appearance and presence.

However, since this was a desert, my footprints were left on the sand. I used Deception again to hide my footprints.

‘…This is a bit inefficient, but I can’t help it. There’s no other way.’

It was better than getting caught.

I quickly approached the building. Instead of entering through the front, I entered through a small hole in the corner.

However, there were no Dirt Hand bandits inside the building. I had overreacted.

‘…It looked like a hideout, but it wasn’t.’

It did feel like it was too obvious for a bandit hideout.

‘Since I’m already here, I’ll rest a bit… Huh?’

I sensed a presence in the corner of the building. I tensed up and hid behind a pillar, looking towards the corner.

There were three camels and four men. The three camels had luggage on their backs. The four men also had heavy bags attached to them.

‘Merchants.’

[The King of the Demonic Sky is shining his eyes.]

[The King of the Demonic Sky is offering you a mission.]

[Mission Condition 1. Kill all the men and loot their luggage.]

[Mission Time Limit: 10 minutes]

[Mission Success Reward: 10,000 AP]

[Mission Failure Penalty: None]

[Do you accept the mission?]

I frowned.

The King of the Demonic Sky would offer missions whenever he had the chance. Most of them were missions to kill people. The reason for the missions? There was no special reason. The King of the Demonic Sky just liked it when I killed someone.

‘I refuse.’

[The mission is refused.]

I refused most of the King of the Demonic Sky’s missions.

It was a pretty good reward for just killing a few people, but I didn’t want to be dragged around by the King of the Demonic Sky.

[The King of the Demonic Sky is disappointed.]

‘I’ll just leave those guys alone and rest here… No. Wait a minute.’

I looked at the merchants again.

Only two of them had swords on their waists. Their skills seemed to be worse than mine. If I stepped in, I was confident I could subdue them in 30 seconds.

‘They’re perfect to use as bait?’

Three camels. The luggage was a lot for just four people. And they didn’t look like they were dangerous, so they were a target that the Dirt Hand bandits would drool over.

‘Okay. Let’s secretly follow these guys.’

It was a better method than wandering around the desert aimlessly looking for the Dirt Hand bandits’ hideout.

“But is that rumor true?”

“What rumor?”

The merchants sitting on the ground were talking while taking a break. From eavesdropping on their conversation, it seemed like they had met by chance during their travels and were moving together just for this time.

“About the Yustia Empire. They say they’re opening up the empire this time… Do you think it’s true?”

“Ah… that rumor. Well, it must be true. Even the Yustia Empire must be feeling the limits now.”

The Yustia Empire.

The only empire that existed on the Atlantis continent.

The Yustia Empire controlled over 700 areas.

“The reason they’re opening up the empire this time is… a plan by the princes to take the throne…? Or so they say.”

“A plan to gather forces and take the throne? Well, it’s a pretty plausible rumor. But what does that have to do with us?”

“No. No. Think about it. The fact that the empire is open means that entry is more free than before. If we don’t miss this opportunity and invest all our money in trade, it’s guaranteed that we’ll become rich if that trade is successful!”

“Well… it would be like that if we succeeded about 7 times. If we succeed. But do you think people like us can do it? Do you know how far it is from here to the empire? It would take at least a month, and we don’t know which route is safe. The chance of failure is greater than success.”

“Hey, man. Why are you so negative? Of course, we can’t succeed alone. But what if we’re not alone, but with several people? If we gather dozens of merchants and move to the empire together, the chance of success will naturally increase.”

“But the profit we can get will be smaller if we do that?”

“Aha. Of course, we have to think about the next step. We have to stick with one of the three princes. If not, we have to stick with one of the Empire’s Five Dukes.”

The Empire’s Five Dukes (帝國五公).

The five pillars that supported the empire. Even the emperor of the empire couldn’t oppose the five dukes. That’s how powerful the Empire’s Five Dukes were.

“Well. What would they see in us to trust us?”

“We have to make them trust us.”

“You’re too good, but you seem to underestimate the world. My advice might sound presumptuous, but knowing your place is the secret to living long.”

“Don’t you have the ambition to become the best merchant?”

“Of course, I want to. But I know myself well. I’m not that kind of material.”

“…How boring.”

“I quite like this boring life.”

I was lost in thought while listening to the merchants’ conversation.

The opening of the Yustia Empire.

It meant that the empire would actively interact with people from outside the empire. It also meant that people other than the empire’s citizens would be given the opportunity to become nobles of the empire.

‘It’s just like the original story.’

But it was not a story that was relevant to me right now.

The merchants continued to talk for a while, then soon closed their mouths and began to focus on resting. They checked the condition of the camels, looked at the condition of their luggage, and took naps.

About 30 minutes later.

“Hahaha. Who gave you permission to rest here?”

More than 10 bandits appeared. The bandits’ clothes had a picture of a hand with only three fingers. It was the symbol of the Dirt Hand bandit group.

A smile appeared on my face as I hid behind the pillar.

‘Lucky! I can catch a few of these bastards and interrogate them to find out where their hideout is.’

And if I went to their hideout and dealt with the remaining Dirt Hand bandits, the request would be over.

“B, bandits?!”

The merchants stood up. The two who had swords drew their swords, and the other two took out daggers from their pockets and held them in their hands. The three camels stood there blankly, not understanding what was going on.

“Hahaha. That’s right! We are the Dirt Hand bandits who rule this desert!”

I shined my eyes at the voice of the bandit who was acting like the leader. It was a rather hoarse voice, but it was definitely a woman’s voice.