The 31st Piece Turns the Tables

Chapter 9

There were about 12 hours left until noon, the time the Remaining Time would run out.

Seol had to kill at least one of the Rock Molar leaders within that time.

In the first place, ‘The 5 Good Brothers’ Adventure was difficult because it was under the premise that it would be done by a party of five.

Every single monster in this Adventure was much stronger than the monsters in a Solo Adventure. Because they were meant to be monsters for 5 people to take on.

So if normal monsters were this strong, would the bosses be easy in comparison?

Of course not.

This was the reason why Seol didn’t rush into anything despite the fact he fed everyone in the Rock Molar Tribe the Potion of Madness.

‘Not to mention the fact that it’s still not the right time for me to make my move.’

Seol’s objective wasn’t to hunt everyone in the Rock Molar Tribe, it was to kill all of its 5 leaders.

It was a ridiculous plan that anyone would think he was crazy for attempting to do, but Seol had no plans of backing down.

He had a few reasons for it.

First, Seol remembered everything about this Adventure clearly. Also, everything was progressing exactly as he planned.

This was important because there was no way everything in every Adventure would progress as he remembered it.

The World of Eternity was constantly changing because of the game pieces.

And because it changed, the Adventures in the mid to late game could be completely different from the ones he had done so far.

‘And if that happened, the advantage that I had becomes pointless.’

So that’s why Seol was trying to get as many rewards as he could from the Adventures he remembered. It was in preparation for the dangers that could potentially come.

Second, now that he was forced into a Solo Adventure, the difference in difficulty in his plans from killing one leader versus five wasn’t that big.

Third, rewards were the biggest issue.

The World of Eternity calculated the rewards from multiple aspects.

How innovative were you? How many were in your party? What was the Adventure difficulty? How many secrets were you able to use? And other various factors.

But when you considered those factors, Seol wasn’t in that bad of a situation.

If he was really able to use those various methods to kill all five of the Rock Molar Tribe leaders, he would get the best reward ever.

Every difficult thing that Seol did this Adventure was all for that reason.

Slide…

Currently, Seol had slipped away somewhere while the trolls had returned to their original places.

‘This is where the Rock Molar Tribe store their treasures…’

The reason Seol was memorizing his surroundings while climbing up was because he was looking for something.

He was looking for the Rock Molar Tribe’s treasure house. Thankfully, the treasure house was just below the top floor. Ordinary members might not have been able to enter the treasure house but the floor was open to every single member.

The Rock Molar Tribe puts every single one of their treasures into the treasure house.

‘They’re not great treasures, but…’

Even though it’s the tribe’s treasure house, it was filled with a bunch of odd things really. It was mostly the things that were historically valuable to the trolls.

It’s similar to how some questionable antiques would end up receiving an assessment of up to millions of dollars in the original world.

‘But even so, there was something in that treasure house that was the real deal.’

There is exactly one actual treasure in the treasure house.

‘Rock Fists.’

Seol thought of the Rock Molar Tribe’s settings.

The Rock Molar Tribe served Tancreed, the Earth Dragon.

And Tancreed, who favored the Rock Molar Tribe that served her, gifted the tribe something made from her scale.

There was a gauntlet called the ‘Rock Fists’. Just by equipping them, the wearer would have strength capable of breaking stones as well as a bonus to shamanic magic.

‘They might be a normal troll tribe, but…’

One would expect the Rock Molar Tribe to rapidly grow in strength after acquiring the Rock Fists but that wasn’t the case, rather, it was the opposite.

There were many tribes that wanted the Rock Fists not to mention the multiple instances of infighting that happened because of it.

‘The problem is that there are multiple factions in one tribe.’

Every generation, five shamans are born into the Rock Molar Tribe.

These trolls, who are not related by blood, are forced to become brothers to maintain the shamans of the Rock Molar Tribe.

Simply, these five, who aren’t brothers, are tied together as such.

If these trolls were banded together for the same cause, like the Oath of the Peach Garden, then it might’ve worked. But because these trolls were forced to become brothers, they only split up into factions.

T/N: Oath of the Peach Garden is a fictional event in Romance of the Three Kingdoms where three characters take an oath to become brothers.

‘I can’t believe a tribe is split up into 5 factions and is busy trying to keep each other in check… if it wasn’t for that they would’ve been a massive faction.’

This was the backstory that was set up in the game and the rulebook of The World of Eternity.

And Seol was a player who knew how to take advantage of such detailed settings.

He passed through multiple houses as he was in the middle of thought and eventually reached what he was aiming for.

Seol, after confirming the treasure house’s exact location, waited.

Because it was a special circumstance, the harvest festival, the security near the treasure house was much lighter than how it is normally.

‘It’s been about an hour since all of the trolls drank the Potion of Madness. It’s about time for it to show its effects.’

Seol waited for about five more minutes before the signal that he had been waiting for showed itself.

Guaaaaargh!

Kuargrgh…

Screams filled the cool night air. And it wasn’t just a couple of screams.

He heard screams of madness from throughout the village.

- The trolls will start fighting each other when the potion takes its effect. Because I diluted it so that it wouldn’t be caught, it will probably only have a minor, negative effect on the leaders rather than full-on madness.

Even that was a huge help to Seol.

Seol kept standing near the treasure house even though more and more screams could be heard.

Since the ordinary members of the tribe were affected by it, it should be taking effect soon around here as well.

“What?! What is that sound?!”

“If there were issues, a messenger wourhg—”

“Wh-why arhofahio—”

Guaaaaaargh!

As it was stated earlier, all members drank blood at midnight for the harvest festival.

It was an absolute rule for the harvest festival that had to be kept.

This also meant that the guards at the treasure house also drank that same blood.

CRUSH!

One of the guards struck the other guard’s head with a two-handed axe.

It was exactly the picture Seol was drawing in his head.

Grrrr…

The guard, excited by the scent of blood, deserted his post and ran toward the village.

Seol, after checking the surroundings once more, quietly entered the treasure house.

And as he went deeper into the treasure house, he heard a voice from within.

“It’s too late! Get away from me! My body’s feeling strange! Hurry up and notify Jamad and the other brot—”

The Rock Molar Tribe appointed a troll who wasn’t a part of any faction keeper of the treasure house.

That too was one of the Rock Molar Tribe’s rules.

The treasure house keeper was a great warrior but he was still weaker than the other 5 brothers.

The keeper’s body started trembling and froth started forming in his mouth. He quickly flicked his head, eyes locked in on Seol.

Grrrr…

The keeper had lost his body to madness and bolted toward Seol.

“Karuna!”

Swirl, fft!

The troll’s eyes were glowing red as his spear aimed for Seol’s neck.

He then thrust his spear with all his strength.

Clang!

But his attack was unsuccessful.

The black shadow had blocked the treasure house keeper’s spear with his sword.

“Grrr… Grrrar!”

Seol smiled as he gave an order to Karuna.

“Kill him.”

Karuna nodded then attacked the keeper. The battle between the two began.

To summarize the battle, no matter how powerful the treasure house keeper was, there was no way he would be a match for Karuna who used to be an apostle of the moon.

Because Karuna wasn’t supposed to be a monster you could defeat in combat in the first place.

Even if the monster was supposed to be hunted in a party, their stats paled in comparison to even Karuna’s clone.

‘If it was the actual Karuna, this troll would’ve died in one hit…’

Karuna, at his current strength, could definitely defeat any of the 5 brothers, excluding Jamad, in a one versus one easily.

After around ten or so different moves, the Moonlight Sword inevitably pierced through the treasure house keeper’s neck.

“Karg… Karrhghg…”

[You have defeated Rock Molar Tribe’s Treasure House Keeper.]

[You have acquired a ‘Rock Key’.]

- Sheesh kekeke I can’t believe he just forced his way into the treasure house like that.

- I heard the Rock Fists were here? Is he trying to do something with that?

- Fuck no that’s impossible lol it’s not like the Rock Fists is the infinity gauntlet or something lol

- That’s right! Were you joking or something? Lol

- or something!

- This dude.

Seol thought for a second while holding the Rock Key.

There was another crossroads after acquiring the key by killing the keeper.

‘It’s about time for the options to come up.’

Seol approached a wall while holding the key and the options appeared before him like it was waiting for him.

[[You have acquired the Rock Molar Tribe’s Treasure House key. What do you do?]

1. Use the Rock Key to Open the House’s Door.

2. Take the Rock Key.

3. [Required: Shaman] Deduce the Shamanic Spell Inscribed on the Rock Key.

4. [Required: Rogue] Check if You Can Copy the Key.

5. [Required: Stealth] Hide Here.

……]

There were close to 10 possible options here.

That was how important the decision you made after acquiring the Rock Key was.

‘One of those options is to take the Rock Fists.’

It was to open the treasure house’s door before anyone noticed and to then acquire the Rock Fists.

There were players before who thought about doing this.

‘The results were awful though.’

Once again, the Rock Fists was the Rock Molar Tribe’s divine weapon.

The 5 factions of the Rock Molar Tribe ended up working together to find the player that had stolen it and ripped them to five separate pieces.

‘This is the option that’s necessary to clear this Adventure solo. The answer is to…’

Seol acted as Option 2 told him to.

He had taken the Rock Key and only that. He didn’t attempt to open the door or to try and steal the Rock Fists.

Seol, after taking the key, moved out of the open to a place in the village where he could see the treasure house.

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

A few moments later, the leaders of the Rock Molar tribe arrived at the treasure house in a scramble.

The reason that the leaders ran here, despite the tribe being engulfed by madness and killing each other, was because they heard that the treasure house’s keeper had died.

They found out that he had died through their shamanic spells and came here as fast as they could.

The youngest, Magata, the Dirt Shaman.

The 2nd youngest, Trogo, the Gravel Shaman.

The 3rd youngest, Myam, the Mud Shaman.

The 2nd oldest, Kron, the Rock Shaman

And the oldest, Jamad, the Mountain Shaman.

“What is going on?! And what is happening to the village?!”

“The Treasure House Keeper is dead! I’m sure one of you must’ve done it!”

They opened their mouths in the order that they had arrived.

Jamad was the exception. He was quietly listening to their conversation.

And once Jamad realized that the Rock Key had been stolen, he spoke in a deep voice.

“I’m breaking it.”

The brothers started to break the entrance of the Treasure House to check if their most prized possession was still there.

Crush!

Baam!

They casted all sorts of spells to break the structures that protected the storage.

“Haaaah!”

And with Jamad’s final spell that threw a massive rock, the entrance to the storage opened.

BOOOOM!

Even Seol, who was far away, could feel the shaking.

They stationed their aides to the side and entered the storage to check.

Seol was ridiculing the trolls as he watched them.

‘There aren’t going to be any problems at all no matter how hard you look.’

Because he hadn’t stolen it, nothing should be missing.

And because there were no stolen goods, they won’t be able to find the stolen goods.

‘That’s the opening.’

There was nothing stolen.

And that was going to drive them insane.

“Who was it?! Who did something as evil as this?!”

“It wasn’t me! Jamad! It must be Jamad! I bet you were trying to use this commotion to kill us and rule with an iron fist!”

“That’s possible!”

“I see! So you planned on stealing the Rock Fists to kill your brothers! How ungodly!”

“Did you think it would go according to your plans? The former generation already tied us together with a curse!”

The 5 brothers had started to doubt each other.

They only pretended to not doubt each other as vehemently denying suspicions from one person would only lead to earning the suspicions from another brother.

The person who had the most suspicions placed on them was Jamad.

They were likely using suspicion as an excuse to justify their jealousy. That was because Jamad, the oldest, was the strongest and most noble of the brothers.

But, even though such suspicions were being thrown around, no one acted rashly.

That was because the Rock Fists were still there and the stolen goods weren’t confirmed yet.

But still, the madness that had taken over the village and the growing suspicions in each other was starting to poison their minds with doubt.

“Let’s first restrain the tribe members who are causing trouble and decide on a solution later!”

The 5 brothers picked some soldiers who were in good condition to watch the treasure house together then left.

‘It’s going as planned for now.’

The Rock Key was a special item that had shamanic magic inscribed in it. It would take at least a couple days to make a replacement.

‘That’s why, if they don’t have the key, they’d obviously break the treasure house’s storage.’

The storage was broken and now, other than the guards that had been stationed there, there was nothing left to protect the Rock Fists.

The 5 brothers obviously had the broken treasure house in their minds.

What if someone steals it?

Or what if one of the brothers breaks the rules and forcibly takes it… There was no way they would be able to take care of the situation properly with that on their minds.

All of them had doubts.

The tribe members went mad and were attacking each other. There were traces of an ambush in the treasure house.

But even though the situation seemed dire, there was none among the tribe leaders who thought that the tribe was in danger of coming to an end.

‘Except for one of them…’

Seol knew how ‘The 5 Good Brothers’ Adventure would progress from one situation after another. He also knew that once the troll’s situation within the Adventure becomes dire, a certain decisive someone takes action first.

‘...He’s here.’

Slide.

The guard was alert after recognizing someone.

“Jamad?”

Jamad, the oldest, was guided by the guard into the treasure house and disappeared.

He, before his brothers, made the first move.

‘I’m going to take the Rock Fists.’

The tribe being in danger meant he too was in danger.

Taking the Rock Fists was his step of preparing for the dangers to come. He had already realized the poison of doubt had spread to his fake brothers.

‘As expected from the most dangerous leader.’

Seol nodded to himself after seeing Jamad disappear and prepared his next move for the Adventure.

It was time to light the fuse for the final fight.

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