Chapter 30 …
Thud—
Kiiiik! Kiiik!
It was a giant centipede.
The massive creature that had been waiting for an opportunity behind a rock lunged, trying to sink its venomous fangs into Dohyun’s neck.
Grabbing the monster by the head, Dohyun frowned.
“Damn insects. No matter where you go, they’re always cowards.”
Whether in Demrock or God of Ascension, they never changed.
In Demrock, every insect-type monster fought in dirty, underhanded ways. They looked disgusting, and their behavior was just as bad.
And since this hunting ground was crawling with insects like that, Dohyun had anticipated their ambush patterns from the start.
They always waited for players to let their guard down.
Crack—
Even after crushing its head with force, the creature still writhed, trying to escape.
Typical of insect-types, its vitality was tenacious.
Thud, thud—
After stabbing it a couple of times with his greatsword, a cheerful notification finally appeared.
[You have defeated a Forest Giant Centipede.]
[Swordsmanship proficiency has increased to LV10.]
[You have leveled up.]
Only then did the battle truly end.
After gathering the junk items dropped during the hunt, Dohyun checked his status window.
‘I didn’t expect my proficiency to increase too.’
Earlier, his axe proficiency had also gone up. Weapon Master really was a great trait. His proficiency levels were rising at an incredible speed.
With this, his sword-related damage had already increased by 10%.
If things continued like this, he’d be ridiculously overpowered—but unfortunately, God of Ascension wasn’t such an easy game.
‘After level 10, damage doesn’t go up easily.’
Weapon proficiency increased damage by 1% per level only up to level 10.
From level 10 onward, it rose by just 1% every two levels, and the proficiency required to level up increased drastically.
Worse, the required amount skyrocketed with every level.
Most players considered reaching the 20s in proficiency a serious long-term goal. That alone showed how absurd the difficulty was.
‘Still a long way to go.’
The experience required would only grow higher and higher. The road ahead was steep.
Anyway, that was a problem for later.
Flicking his sword clean, Dohyun opened his status window.
[Player: Kaiser]
[Level: 19]
HP: 2,110 / 2,450
MP: 320 / 600
Stamina: 170 / 350
Class: The Last Adventurer <Apostle of Kashiyar>
Titles (3):
Max Affinity From the Start?
First Slayer
Throne of the Time Attack
Stats:
Strength: 35 (+38)
Agility: 35 (+37)
Vitality: 5 (+37)
Perception: 22 (+36)
Magic: 5 (+34)
Remaining Points: 49
“I’ve already gained two levels.”
He had heard that leveling became difficult starting in the Western Forest, yet he had gained two levels in less than an hour.
Other players wouldn’t believe that speed.
From level 17 onward, the required experience increased significantly, and party play was the norm at the Western Gate. Gaining even one level per hour was considered good.
And that was for a well-coordinated party.
If the party’s teamwork was lacking, it could take two hours to gain a single level.
Dohyun had gained two levels in just one hour.
It was insane growth speed.
“It’s a bit annoying, but it really is a sweet hunting ground. They keep attacking even under Intimidation.”
Whether they relied on terrain or not, they came to him without him needing to seek them out.
For someone like Dohyun, who could kill one in a single strike, it was ideal.
For ordinary players, the constant ambushes would have driven them crazy.
Their attempts to flee?
With Backstab and Charging Slash, that wasn’t a problem for Dohyun. As long as they were in sight, he could catch them anytime.
‘Backstab really is a broken skill.’
A combo-type instant skill that dealt high damage, doubled as a movement ability, and had incredible utility—and it was only Hero-grade?
And the cooldown was just 50 seconds?
With some skill acceleration gear later on, it could drop to 40 seconds. At that point, escape would be impossible.
It was only balanced because it belonged to an Assassin. Judged purely as a skill, it was ridiculously overpowered.
‘And if I add the Mage’s “that one” or the Swordsman’s “that one” to it?’
Every class had at least one skill like that.
The kind of skill that would be absurdly broken if another class had it.
Whether they were as broken as Backstab was debatable, but depending on perspective, some could be even better.
Just combining a few of the ones that came to mind with Backstab painted quite the picture.
‘Yeah… I can see it. A balance-shattering nightmare.’
Well, that was only possible if he could actually obtain them.
But with Eye of Truth, it was only a matter of time.
And his second chance was right around the corner.
‘Just one more level until it’s gacha time.’
At level 20, he would receive his second Random Skill Draw Ticket.
In the past, he had never expected much from this moment. Why hope when you’d only pull trash?
He had been more obsessed with guaranteed-grade tickets instead.
That was why he never had a Legendary-grade skill.
‘Legendary skills only come from Random Draw Tickets.’
In other words, even after ten draws up to level 100, plus countless random tickets from quests and hidden pieces, Dohyun had never once obtained a Legendary skill.
A truly astonishing level of bad luck.
His draw luck had been so terrible it was practically divine punishment.
‘I’m ridiculously excited.’
But this time was different.
In this life of God of Ascension, Dohyun possessed the strongest unique trait: Eye of Truth.
He was so excited he could barely contain himself.
Something that had never been permitted to Kaiser in the past—
Demrock… no, the only drug God of Ascension allowed.
He was imagining that moment when—
Ding—
[You have completed the exploration of the Western Forest.]
[Report the situation of the Western Forest to Linda.]
“Huh?”
Checking his quest window, he saw that the condition had indeed been fulfilled.
He had already killed twenty giant insects, leaving only one quest remaining.
[Lost Pendant]
Grade: Normal+
Description: A request from a girl named Camilla, whose cherished pendant was stolen by a cat. Find the pendant somewhere outside the Western Gate and return it for her.
Lost Pendant (0 / 1)
Reward: 1 Gold, a certain amount of EXP, Camilla’s small gift
Failure Risk: Emily’s affinity may decrease
Time Limit: 28 hours
The only Normal+ quest among the Western Gate quests.
That didn’t mean it was difficult.
Quite the opposite.
‘The location is already well known.’
You just had to go to the spot listed in the guidebook and pick up the pendant.
He could retrieve it anytime, which was why he had prioritized other quests first.
Step, step—
Clearing his thoughts, Dohyun followed the guidebook.
After walking for about ten minutes, he spotted a group of people gathered ahead.
As he got closer, he heard murmuring.
“Alright, everyone, line up.”
“We all made time to come here, so no cutting.”
It was a line.
Players were queuing up to retrieve the pendant hanging from a tree branch.
It was an easy quest, so it was popular—but since only one item spawned at a time, this situation was inevitable.
‘If I remember correctly, it respawns 10 seconds after someone takes it.’
Ten seconds didn’t seem like much, but with enough people, it added up.
If ten people were in line, that meant 100 seconds.
If you came at the wrong time of day, you could waste precious playtime.
That was why Dohyun hadn’t rushed over earlier.
Before, the line had been ridiculously long.
‘This time, it’s manageable.’
Fortunately, there were only about six people ahead.
One minute of waiting wasn’t bad.
As he stood absentmindedly in line, he overheard the people in front talking.
Then he caught some familiar words.
“Hey, did you hear? An execution order’s been issued against those serial PKers.”
“AssassinBoy, that bastard? Yeah. Serves him right.”
“It’s officially guild-level. They’re getting crushed and can’t even fight back.”
“Tch. They should’ve lived more decently. Watching them bully low-level players was disgusting.”
AssassinBoy. Serial PKers.
Names Dohyun knew very well.
‘Those PK criminals? An execution order already?’
After all, he was the one who had taught them a harsh lesson.
Still, it was surprising.
‘A guild wouldn’t go through that trouble unless… did they mess with the wrong people?’
Even without playing many RPGs outside Demrock, he knew this much:
Guilds only issued execution orders if there was profit in it—or for revenge.
It made sense.
Execution meant tracking someone down wherever they were and killing them endlessly.
That required manpower, resources, and time.
‘And all of that costs money.’
There was no reason to invest that over something trivial.
Unless it benefited the guild—or was retaliation to avoid looking weak.
As expected, his guess was correct.
“I’m not thrilled with people praising the Hero Guild either. Like they haven’t done shady stuff before.”
“True. Dungeon monopolies, quest control… If they don’t like someone, they just crush them. They’re called Heroes, but they’re basically villains.”
“I don’t get why they’re so popular.”
“They’ve got a huge fanbase. The guild master’s fanbase rivals celebrities. I heard two-thirds are female fans.”
“They can’t even squeak in front of the Enforcement Guild. Typical—when the tiger’s gone, the fox becomes king.”
“Shh. Lower your voice.”
The two glanced around cautiously.
Dohyun pretended not to hear.
Fortunately, they didn’t stop talking—just lowered their voices.
‘The Hero Guild, huh… Demrock had something similar.’
Was it called the Hero Guild there too?
They had started with ideals—claiming they would protect the weak and stand tall before the strong.
‘Yeah. At first.’
But once they tasted money, they changed.
Pretending to be righteous in public, while doing every dirty thing imaginable in private.
They had even sent assassins after him.
They’d never even directly clashed with him—he had simply been an annoyance by standing firm.
He had once thought of crushing them properly.
But in the end, it hadn’t been necessary.
‘When the game shut down, they disappeared without looking back.’
The Hero Guild of Demrock.
The Hero Guild here.
Was it just his imagination that they overlapped?
“They’ve pulled this PR stunt of hunting PKers plenty of times… Tch. Trash taking out trash—why do people cheer for it?”
“People are just sick of PK.”
“Did you see AssassinX’s forum post? Absolute psycho. Acting like the victim.”
“Right? And apparently he was ranting about someone named Kaiser?”
Dohyun, who had been quietly listening, involuntarily flinched.
Why on earth was his name coming up here?
