abcnovels
Chapter 90
Chapter 90
Chapter 90
Not long after, the manager approached them.
“You ordered Moonlight Sonata?”
“Yes.”
“It’s such a precious drink that I can’t bring it here, so would you please follow me for a moment?”
Jeong-Hoon nodded.
The manager opened a door at the back of the tavern.
There was a long corridor in front of it, and at the end, a portal was shimmering.
Several guild members were waiting in the corridor.
They were talking to each other, but they were subtly watching Jeong-Hoon and Ha-Jin.
In case they were suspicious, they were ready to subdue them immediately.
Their levels were 210.
It was a level that could easily subdue most users.
[They’re staring at us. Hey, I can’t take it anymore. I’m going to poke their eyes out.]
Mukho was making a fuss, but they couldn’t hear him.
“Then, enjoy your time.”
The portal connected to the information guild.
As they stepped onto the portal, it instantly swallowed them up.
Their vision went dark and then brightened again.
“Is this a back alley…?”
Ha-Jin looked around.
It was a back alley that could be seen anywhere.
“I’ll treat you here.”
The manager led them to a three-story building.
This was the headquarters of the information guild.
Of course, they didn’t enter the building.
As Jeong-Hoon and Ha-Jin were complete outsiders, a man who had been loitering in the alley quietly approached them.
===
[NPC Information]
– Nickname: Bruno
– Level: 175
– Class: Information Guild Member
===
He was a member of the information guild.
“Huh? Bruno, what are you doing here?”
The manager greeted him.
“Oh, I have some business.”
“Is that so?”
“Are these guests? Then I’ll guide them, so you can go back.”
“Hmm? It’s okay. There’s no need for that.”
As the manager was about to say something, Jeong-Hoon cut in as if he had been waiting.
“I’m fine.”
“…Okay? Then I understand.”
Since the guest said it was okay, the manager readily stepped back.
As the manager returned to the portal, Bruno approached Jeong-Hoon.
“So, what information do you need?”
“Can you tell me where this note came from?”
Jeong-Hoon handed him the note he had received from Carmel.
“Ah, it’s this note.”
Bruno was aware of the note since it had been distributed in large quantities.
“I’ll pay you generously.”
“Then can I receive something other than money as payment?”
An exclamation mark appeared above the man’s head.
It meant that the first quest had been completed.
[Quest completed.]
[You can now proceed to the next quest.]
However, Jeong-Hoon didn’t accept the quest.
‘The end of this note quest is a dead end.’
You get nothing in return, and the only reward is that the temple lifts the entrance restriction as a thank you for helping them.
That’s why no one tries to do this quest.
But the real honey pot starts now.
Jeong-Hoon used the Underworld King’s Fist Technique to strike Bruno in the abdomen.
“Ugh!”
Then a change occurred.
[The mask is removed.]
[You have fulfilled the hidden condition.]
[You can now see the mark of the False Believer.]
Along with the message that the mask was removed, the NPC’s information began to change.
===
[NPC Information]
– Nickname: Bruno
– Level: 175
– Class: False Believer
===
The class name, which was Information Guild Member, changed to False Believer.
“What’s that?!”
Ha-Jin, who was watching from behind, was also startled.
“I had a hunch… and I was right.”
Catching the culprit who spread the notes.
Catching him was the key to this honey pot.
* * *
An old abandoned house.
In a place where there should be no trace of human warmth, there was a presence.
“What’s the current situation?”
“Yes. It seems that even the temple is feeling a sense of crisis and is focusing on searching for the culprit.”
“The effect is better than I thought?”
“Bruno said that a large number of notes are being sent to the information guild.”
“Kekeke. That’s good.”
Even though the notes contained absurd content, the temple wouldn’t be able to ignore them.
The temple was a place where they worshiped God.
They had spoken blasphemy about destroying such a sacred place, so they would try to find the culprit no matter what.
“It’s time to use this.”
The man took out a black crystal.
“This is the jewel imbued with the energy of Tenebris, right…?”
These people were believers of Tenebris, not Psyche.
In other words, they were a cult.
These people believed that Tenebris was the only god, but Psyche had waged war and taken his place, forcing Tenebris to be expelled. They were the ones who cried out that Tenebris should reclaim his rightful place.
They had no scriptures, and it had only been 11 years since they started proselytizing, so the Psyche Temple labeled them as a cult.
“Let’s move when Bruno gives us the signal.”
Bruno was also a member of the information guild and a believer of Tenebris.
He had even tested the plan with notes a few months ago to carry out this plan.
A plan that had to succeed.
“Th-This is the place…”
While they were waiting for Bruno’s signal, Bruno’s voice came from outside.
“Really?”
But Bruno wasn’t alone.
“Damn it, we’ve been caught!”
“Hide!”
They hurriedly hid, but Bruno had already betrayed them completely.
“There’s a hiding place here.”
Following his kind guidance, all the remnants hiding in the cabin were caught.
* * *
“Wow… What kind of situation is this?”
Ha-Jin clicked his tongue.
It was the first time he had seen someone assault an NPC.
Even the class name and quest had changed.
“With this, the reward should be pretty awesome, don’t you think?”
“You don’t even need to ask.”
It wasn’t even a normal quest, it had been upgraded to an Epic quest.
There were no more trash rewards that people talked about.
Whatever the reward was, it would be beyond imagination.
[Epic Quest: Eradicate a Part of the Cult (1/2)]
– Restriction: False Believer condition unlocked
– Reward: ??
– Description: Hand over the remaining cult members to the temple.
There were only six remnants in front of them.
It was too small a number to have distributed so many notes.
“Where are the rest? Six people couldn’t have distributed all those notes, could they?”
Jeong-Hoon asked Bruno, who was tied up.
“I-I don’t know…”
“You don’t know? You’re an information guild member, right? How can you not know?”
Bruno was an Apostle of Darkness, but he was a guild member who worked at the information guild, hiding his true identity.
How could he, who dealt with information, not know something?
“I-It’s true! The followers here only acted on the orders to attack the temple.”
At Bruno’s words, trying to cut ties, the six people who were tied up together had a seizure.
“Bruno!”
“How could you tell them the truth?!”
“The wrath of Tenebris will descend upon you!”
Jeong-Hoon’s gaze turned to the black crystal.
[Explosive Stone]
– After mana is injected and a certain amount of time passes, an explosion occurs within a 10-meter radius.
– Ignores divine power.
The power of Tenebris was nothing but a mere bomb.
As Bruno had said, these people were just an example to the temple.
‘Tenebris…’
When New World became reality, Jeong-Hoon had visited several temples during his growth.
And he had never heard the name Tenebris.
In other words, everything they were saying was a lie.
That’s why you shouldn’t deal with cults.
Jeong-Hoon dragged them to the temple.
“What are these people? They look terrible.”
Carmel, who was guarding the temple, asked, glancing at the battered group.
“They’re the culprits who spread the notes.”
“The culprits?”
Carmel’s eyes narrowed at the word ‘culprits’.
“Yes. And they also had this.”
Jeong-Hoon handed over the Explosive Stone, and Carmel’s face contorted fiercely.
An Explosive Stone that ignored divine power.
It was obvious that it was an Explosive Stone intended to harm the temple.
“Huh? Isn’t that Bruno?”
Carmel recognized Bruno.
He was a member of the information guild, but he had been frequenting the temple recently, so Carmel knew him.
“Yes. He’s also one of the people who spread the notes.”
“Huh… Is that true?”
Carmel couldn’t believe it.
This was because Bruno, as a member of the information guild, had often asked for information that could be helpful to the temple, and he had even visited the temple to pray.
“Yes. We even have a video here.”
Ha-Jin even brought the camera that was automatically recording and showed it to him.
In the video, Jeong-Hoon removed his mask, and his class name changed, so in Carmel’s eyes, Bruno no longer looked like a good person.
“I see…”
Bruno couldn’t raise his head.
He wanted to refute, but he was afraid that if he said anything, Jeong-Hoon would hit him again.
‘Shit… I got caught, and I got caught badly.’
Bruno had originally planned to just deliver the situation and get out.
Since he belonged to the information guild, he was a necessary talent for those who served Tenebris.
But he never expected that his identity would be exposed by this outsider.
This was something he hadn’t anticipated.
“…I’m very disappointed in you.”
Carmel left those words and called the paladins to take the cultists to the underground prison.
[Quest completed.]
[Temple entrance restriction has been lifted.]
[You can now proceed to the next quest.]
He had completed the first quest by handing over the remnants, including Bruno.
“As they say, the darkest place is under the candlestick… Thank you very much.”
A new question mark blinked above Carmel’s head.
[Epic Quest: Eradicate a Part of the Cult (2/2)]
– Restriction: Epic Quest: Eradicate a Part of the Cult (1/2) completed
– Reward: ??
– Description: Find the 5 cultists hiding in the Märchen capital.
The number of cultists would be beyond imagination.
So finding five of them was a very simple task.
Jeong-Hoon immediately accepted the quest.
“We’re continuing to search for the suspects, but it’s not easy. I’d like to ask you one more favor. Could you find five people who are suspected to be cultists?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you!”
[Cultists 0/5]
As they moved away from the temple, Ha-Jin asked Jeong-Hoon.
“Is there a special way to find them?”
“Yes. When you receive the quest, a mark appears on the NPCs. The system guides you to find them.”
In other words, it was a quest that was practically handed to them.
“There’s a mark over there!”
As they passed by a weapon shop after leaving the temple, a mark of a cultist appeared above the head of a resident who was looking at weapons.
===
[NPC Information]
– Nickname: Payrun
– Level: 104
– Class: Resident
===
However, his class name was Resident.
If it weren’t for the mark, they would have just passed him by.
“Let’s go catch him.”
Jeong-Hoon approached him.
And then he quickly subdued him with the Underworld King’s Fist Technique.
“Ugh!”
Then his class name changed.
===
[NPC Information]
– Nickname: Payrun
– Level: 104
– Class: False Believer
===
It was the same as with Bruno.
“Wow, so it’s not just about touching them?”
“Yes. You have to bring them to the temple like this.”
“…How do you know all this?”
“It’s on World Com. It says that if a mark appears like this, you have to subdue them yourself.”
There was no need to hide it.
This kind of quest method was already common.
“Ah, that’s right.”
Ha-Jin scratched his head with an embarrassed expression.
After that, it was a breeze.
They subdued one more person at the weapon shop, and then succeeded in subduing three more cultists wandering the streets.
[Cultists 5/5]
They had exactly five people, and they handed them over to the temple.
“Damn it! I was hiding my identity perfectly, how did you know?!”
“This can’t be happening…!”
“This is outrageous…!”
The captured cultists were dragged to the underground prison, expressing their feelings of injustice.
[Quest completed.]
[Level Up!]
[All stats have increased by +1.]
[Bonus stat +1 has been granted.]
Upon completing the quest, they received enough experience points to level up.
“Wow! I leveled up by 3!”
And it wasn’t just 1, but a whopping 3 levels.
With this, Ha-Jin became level 164, and Jeong-Hoon became level 159.
It was a hidden quest for a reason.
“This is definitely a honey pot, right?”
“Definitely! It’s going to be crazy!”
If they edited the video and uploaded it to YouTube right away, everyone would flock to the temple in Märchen Kingdom to do the quest.
This was because it was that difficult to level up.
“But it doesn’t seem like it’s over yet?”
Jeong-Hoon pointed to Carmel.
A red question mark was blinking above Carmel’s head.
“Huh? You’re right? And it’s even hidden…”
“…Hey, let’s not film from here on.”
“Why?”
“Something doesn’t feel right. Let’s keep this between us.”
“…Okay.”
Ha-Jin put away the camera as Jeong-Hoon wished.
———–