After Ten Millennia in Hell

"What should we do? Should we try to hunt it?"

"Are you crazy? How could we possibly kill the Troll Chief?"

The Players in front of the Gate muttered among themselves when the soldiers stopped them and told them a boss monster had appeared. They were discussing whether they should still enter the Gate.

'The standard of Players is totally different at the C-rank Gate.'

Oh Kang-Woo nodded while looking around at the people gathered at the Gate.

At first glance, the biggest difference between the Players here and the ones at the D-rank and E-rank Gates was their equipment.

'Should I also get some equipment?'

Kang-Woo hadn't faced a monster strong enough to warrant it, but it was inefficient to hunt solo without any gear.

"Hmm… I'll have to think about it."

Kang-Woo looked around and thought that if he were to buy some equipment, he should also buy some for Kang Tae-Soo and Han Seol-Ah too.

"Let's go!!"

"Let's hunt the Troll Chief!!"

"Let's get some extra rewards!"

One party entered the Gate while shouting excitedly.

Kang-Woo looked at the party entering the gate.

'The security here is definitely tighter.'

It seemed that it wasn't a lie that inspection was done more thoroughly at C-rank Gates and above. Each soldier was checking each Player's licenses closely and even checked for the mana stone in the license card with a strange machine.

'It shot up from ID checks at a bar to a full-on examination at airport security.'

Kang-Woo now understood why the Andras Guild members searched for Players in D-rank Gates to use as sacrifices for their ritual. Security was tighter at C-rank Gates and above, so the Andras Guild couldn't hunt for prey comfortably in those Gates.

"Let's see…"

Kang-Woo pulled away from the crowd in front of the Gate and looked at the soldiers inspecting the Player licenses.

Was it because a boss monster had appeared? They were checking every Player's license thoroughly.

'This is a good opportunity.'

Kang-Woo looked at the parties of Players that were gathered around the entrance. His attention centered on a Player who was shouting about the extra reward that could be acquired from hunting the boss.

'I believe he said that the mana stone of the boss monster could be sold for 100 million won.'

Moreover, many other by-products could be sold for a very high price. A few hundred million won could be gained just by killing one Troll Chief.

"Ah… Should we give it a shot?"

"But I'm honestly not confident…"

The other Players looked at each other in doubt.

Hunting a Troll Chief was harder than hunting a Hobgoblin, which was the boss monster of the E-rank Gate and a C-rank boss monster. The difference in strength between the C and B ranks was greater than the difference between the E and C ranks.

'Good.'

Kang-Woo's eyes lit up upon seeing that doubt was spreading among the Players.

He walked up to them and yelled, "Let's take this chance to hunt the boss monster together! It won't be a match for our combined strength!"

Hearing that, the Player who had insisted on hunting the boss monster from the beginning got excited and shouted, "Yeah! If we're just gonna stay trembling in fear outside the Gate like this, let's all just join forces instead!"

His shout stirred up the greed of the Players, but there was one decisive problem.

"Urgh, but wouldn't the shared reward be too little?"

"True."

The more Players there were, the fewer rewards each one would get. Even though a few hundred million won could be acquired from hunting the boss monster, each person would get only a tiny amount of money if they divided it among that many party members.

Kang-Woo shouted again, "Even so, think about the EXP that killing a boss monster would give us! Even if we hunt as a big party, there isn't a big difference in the EXP gained!"

The eyes of the Players lit up after hearing Kang-Woo's words.

Money wasn't the only thing they could obtain by killing the boss monster… They could also gain a massive amount of EXP. This was a very tempting proposal for Players who were desperate to level up.

'Everyone probably knows that even if you kill a boss monster as a group, the EXP you gain isn't that different from doing it alone.'

It was the same for elite monsters. Of course, when there were more members in a party, each member would get fewer experience points, but the loss in experience points was negligible because the number of experience points gained from hunting a boss monster was incomparable to that of a normal monster.

"All right!"

"Let's use this opportunity to take a look at the boss monster!"

Once the fire was lit, there was no way to stop it. The crowd bonded with each other and burned their desire even further.

'Now I only have to wait.'

Kang-Woo, who had ignited the fire, pulled away from the crowd and looked at the Players from a distance. He had no intentions of hunting the boss with them as a party.

'It'll reduce the rewards that I'll receive.'

Leaving the experience points aside, the main issue was the distribution of the corpse and mana stone. Corpses and mana stones were important elements for his growth since he could use his Authority of Predation. So, he had no intention of sharing his resources for growth with the other Players.

'The rewards are all mine.'

Moreover, they weren't Players whom Kang-Woo was planning to help grow like Tae-Soo or Seol-Ah. He had no reason at all to share the rewards with them.

"If we also kill the chief's guards that are always beside him, we'll be able to sell a pair of them for about ten million won!" the Player that proposed fighting the boss monster together added.

That Player gathered some Players, and they ended up with a party of twenty. There were so many people that it looked as if a guild had come to the Gate to hunt together.

"Let's go!"

"Let's level up to get our Fourth Awakening!"

A huge party was formed to hunt the boss monster.

After confirming each of their positions, the large party of Players approached the Gate inspection zone.

'Now.'

Kang-Woo slowly made his move as the party reached the Gate's entrance. Each Player had to be inspected individually, so all the soldiers guarding the entrance came to help check the Player licenses of the party's members.

"Everyone, please get in a line!"

"Just a moment, please!"

While the soldiers tried to keep the Players in check by making them line up in a single file, Kang-Woo used the Authority of the Sky and crossed the fence surrounding the gate.

'Authority of Blindness.'

Kang-Woo used the Authority of Blindness on the few soldiers who hadn't gotten swept into the chaos and then quickly moved to the entrance of the C-rank Gate.

Whoom.

"Alright."

After entering the Gate, Kang-Woo smiled with satisfaction and looked around.

'It looks similar to the Gate with the Goblins.'

This Gate reminded him of the dense forest that he'd seen when he first returned to Earth.

Kang-Woo pushed through the thickets and walked deep into the forest.

'Now, where would the boss be?'

The forest was too dense to search through from the sky. Then Kang-Woo remembered there was a certain Authority that he could use.

'Wouldn't I be able to use it now?'

It was the Authority of the demon Astaroth, the Authority of the Beholder. He couldn't use it before because it consumed a lot of demonic energy, but he thought that he could give it a shot now.

"Let's see…"

Kang-Woo checked his Demonic Energy stat. Thanks to Jo Deok-Hyun's ritual, Kang-Woo's Demonic Energy stat had surpassed 50.

'Although, in reality, it's higher than 50.'

The demonic energy that flowed out from the weakening seal of the Ten Thousand Demon Core wasn't added to the Demonic Energy stat, so his actual Demonic Energy stat was probably a lot higher than 50.

"I think that I can pull it off."

Kang-Woo nodded and walked deeper into the forest. He placed his hand on the ground and used the Authority of the Beholder.

Fwoom!

Demonic energy came out of his hand and spread out through the ground like spider webs.

"Kurgh."

Kang-Woo grimaced because of the wave of information he was receiving.

The Authority of the Beholder had one flaw…

'It's way too high-performance.'

It was that it absorbed all the information from its surroundings and consequently sent too much information for Kang-Woo's brain to process. In Hell, he'd used an Authority that accelerated his mental processing speed, but he still didn't have enough demonic energy to use two Authorities simultaneously.

"Argh, urgh."

He had a headache. Every single piece of information entering his head stabbed his brain.

Kang-Woo felt nauseous and started to think he wouldn't be able to keep using the Authority of the Beholder. However, the information of a very strong entity suddenly entered his mind.

'I've found you.'

Kang-Woo's eyes lit up.

The energy of the strong entity was completely different from that of the other monsters surrounding it.

'Is it because it's the chief? Why are there so many monsters?'

There were dozens of Trolls and Orcs surrounding the Troll Chief, and unlike the Hobgoblin, the Troll Chief didn't seem to have the intention of going somewhere by itself.

"Hmm." Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes while thinking about this.

Then he heard the murmur of Players from afar. It was the big party that had formed because of him.

'I should use those guys.'

Thinking that those Players should be able to deal with the small fry, Kang-Woo approached the Troll Chief.

'First, I should troll the chief to get his attention.'

He would then hide, and the party would naturally end up fighting the other monsters. He just had to slip out when they were fighting and go eliminate the boss monster by himself.

"Then, should I try to grab his attention?"

Kang-Woo raised his hand as he stared at the Troll Chief, who was holding a massive cane and being protected by the Trolls.

'Authority of Dark Spears.'

It was the Authority of the demon Raum.

A spear of demonic energy that was around two meters long manifested in Kang-Woo's hand. With one hand, he threw the spear at the Troll Chief.

Stab!

"GRAAAAHHHH!!"

The demonic energy spear pierced the Troll Chief's chest.

'Good. Now, I'll drag the attention of the Orcs and Trolls toward the other Players…'

Kang-Woo turned toward where the other Players were.

Riiing.

[You have successfully defeated the B-rank boss monster Troll Chief!]

[Additional EXP has been awarded due to the boss monster's defeat.]

[You have placed first in the level of contribution to defeat the boss monster. Additional EXP has risen threefold.]

[Your Level has risen by 4.]

"Eh?" Kang-Woo turned confusedly to where the Troll Chief was.

The Troll Chief was convulsing on the ground with the demonic energy spear pierced into his chest.

"The hell? It died in just one blow?"