Prologue
« You just have to go a little further. »
IDEA, which is running at number one among virtual reality games.
Idea's 31st place in Korea's official ranking, Agni, the knight of Hwaryong, looked around.
If you stumble even a little, you will melt in that hot lava.
The center of the Hamelpis Mountains.
It can be reached through a hidden path inside the volcano. An area you can never enter without a map.
The reason Agni, the knight of the Fire Dragon, came here was simple.
'If you eat the heart of the Fire Dragon, you can become a top 20 ranker!'
The heart of the fire dragon.
An item that doubles the power of fire attribute skills among dragon hearts that are superior to any other item! For the Fire Dragon Knight, whose skills are all fire attributes, there is probably no better item than this.
If only he could get it, Agni was convinced that he would be in the top 20 in Korea's official rankings.
In Korea, which is known as the world's most powerful gaming country, ranking in the top 20 is the same as being in the top 30 in the world.
Although there was no such thing as a world ranking because the servers were not yet integrated.
'This is my starting point.'
Agni has no intention of staying in only 20th place.
I started with this as a stepping stone and decided to become stronger and tried to enter the dungeon with the Fire Dragon.
By the way.
« Drop, goo, go, go, go! »
A man sleeping loudly snoring.
If that man was a fire dragon, Agni wouldn't have been embarrassed either.
This was the area of the Fire Dragon. Isn't it strange to sleep in my house? But that man is neither a monster nor an NPC. is a user
First of all, there is no way there are NPCs here.
It was a difficult place to come through the map that was barely obtained as a quest for the Knights of Fire Dragon. If there were NPCs in such a place, someone would have told them while clearing the quest.
But there was no such word.
The probability of being a monster was even greater.
'A monster can use a legendary weapon like that.
There's no way I'm going to invade the crabs.'
He was a man sleeping in earnest under a blanket, but looking at the accessories that were rarely seen, they were all legendary.
Such a being could be a monster.
Moreover, he had not even entered the dungeon yet. But, where in the world is there a monster that will hit and sleep right in front of the entrance?
surreung.
If that man was a user, he could never leave it alone.
'Can't be umbilical.'
The Fire Dragon's heart is a very important item for him.
So it was never taken away.
Furthermore.
'I hope any of those legendary items come out.'
There were also greedy reasons.
Is that why? A smile filled Agni's lips, the knight of the Fire Dragon.
It looks like you can get items before entering the dungeon, but how can you not get a laugh? However, he was not vigilant.
'If you take the first attack, you will wake up after that. After that, you must fight calmly.'
This place is nothing but lava.
As we confirmed earlier, if we stumbled even a little, we could fall into the lava and die, so we have to move carefully.
'You can't be weak, sleeping peacefully here. Besides, it has considerable fire resistance, so it must be sleeping without any damage.'
High fire resistance means that Agni is an enemy against him.
All attack skills were fire attribute.
One opponent is still asleep. If you take the first ball, you will be able to bear such a disadvantage.
'Who else is it? It's not a familiar face, but if you come here, your name should have been known.'
Agni remembers the faces of most of the rankers in the top 100.
It is natural to get used to your face because you are a competitor for your own comfort. And I couldn't lower the vigilance of whether or not someone who excelled at the bottom would come up, so I tend to remember all the faces of the top 100 rankers.
But now, I can't remember seeing the face of that man sleeping at the entrance of the dungeon.
Are you saying you're not a ranker?
I thought so, but Agni was never vigilant.
He came this far because he was proving that he was strong.
'It's an unofficial ranker. Let's not be vigilant.'
Thinking so, Agni fires the sword with flames on it.
Fire dragon, one of the fire dragon's knight secrets, appears!
A huge attack that engulfs the opponent in the form of a dragon's shape as the sword fires and red flames. This time, he had no doubts that the dragon of fire would devour that man. And a message that dazzles his eyes.
[A preemptive attack was made against the user.]
[The probability of dropping an item on death increases.]
[The karma dimension increases.]
The moment you ignore the message and watch the dragon of flame consume the man.
Pot!
The man got up in an instant, put the blanket and pillows in his inventory, and dodged the dragon of fire.
The quagga gaga river!
The dragon of flame swept the floor as it was, and the whole cave resounded at the impact.
Stones fell from the ceiling, and, to a lesser extent, lava began to fall. but it wasn't a matter of concern
'Did you avoid it? Standing asleep?'
Agni's surprise wasn't simply that he escaped.
Avoid while sleeping.
And.
« Drop, kuul~ »
Even now, the man was still sleeping. But look at that. Don't you draw your sword while standing still?
What kind of case is it?
If Agni hadn't seen him sleeping, he would have thought that he was just a user with his eyes closed.
'crazy. Are you really sleeping?'
I thought about it, but I couldn't do it for too long.
visor!
Agni tried to use the skill again after holding up the sword as it was and blocking it, but the man disappeared in an instant.
'It's Blink!'
Usually, the place to move to Blink is behind the opponent's back or overhead.
Agni quickly turned around and attacked with his sword, convinced that the man had also moved like that. But
whistle.
It cut through the black air.
If so, is it above?
I quickly looked up and checked, but it wasn't there either.
And then.
An eerie sound of chains rang out, and Agni reacted quickly and activated the strongest of his defense skills.
« The Fire Dragon's Scale Shield! »
As soon as a shield full of red scales appeared in the air, Agni raised the shield to the place where the sound of the chain was heard and tried to block it.
But.
« Gagging! »
The chain pierced Agni's shield like a ghost and then pierced Agni's heart.
and incoming damage.
'Wow, what a third is black.' With just one shot, his vitality, which was ranked 31st in the official Korean ranking, was cut by a third.
Who the hell is the author?
But now is not the time to think like that.
You must recover your health as quickly as possible and avoid attacks. And then the message appears.
[You have taken significant damage. You will be stunned for 1 second.]
'damn.'
You cannot do anything while stunned.
It can be said that it is only one second, but in the battle of rankers, one second is equivalent to one minute.
While they were so disassembled, the man quickly closed the distance and stabbed the sword in his neck. and the message that appears.
[You allowed a critical hit.]
[I am afflicted with a nightmare with a status abnormality. I feel hallucinations and pain for 5 seconds.]
« Hey, what is this? Aww! »
A terrible sight you don't want to see even in your dreams.
Agni, he sees cockroaches that he fears the most covering his body. It was even more terrifying because even the sensations were real.
At that moment, another message appeared in Agni's eyes.
[He died. You will be forced to log out.]
[You cannot log in 24 hours in real time as a penalty.]
After that message, Agni turned gray and disappeared.
And there were a lot of gold and a hero grade sword that Agni loved.
The man went back to the entrance of the dungeon without even looking at it, laid a blanket and went to sleep. No, he was sleeping in the first place.
so after a few hours.
« This damn skill. It's fortunate that I can set the time, but it's random, and it's triggered before entering the dungeon every time. »
The man groaned and got up from his seat.
He was stretching as if he was really tired, as if he had really slept.
And then.
« Yes? »
He tilted his head as he looked at the item that had fallen on the floor over there.
It was definitely an item that didn't exist before I went to bed.
Plus, that purple light is definitely a hero grade item.
How could such an item roll around on the floor? As the man approached the item, thinking it was strange, he frowned and muttered.
« It seems that the sleepwalking skill has been activated. »
A man scratching his head and talking as if he was in trouble.
However, he quickly filled with a happy smile and swept away the hero grade swords and gold.
It looked like it wasn't normal for him to smile and laugh.
« Well, I'm sorry, but it must have been triggered because it was preempted. You can't just throw away the item because you're sorry, can you? »
There is no such rationalization.
Of course, there was nothing wrong with that.
Who is going to throw away the items that came out at the most because they were sorry? That too is a hero-grade sword.
In this case, it was better to just be grateful.
« My living has improved with this. Is it really a fucking job? When you wake up from a good night's sleep, you get a good item. Heh heh. » The man murmured as if he was in a good mood and headed to the dungeon without hesitation.
Even Agni went to the dungeon when he was nervous.
It was an opportunity that only the strong could enjoy. There was another reason Agni did not know such a strong man.
It's been 1 year and 4 months since Idea was released.
However, it was only 4 months ago that the man started IDEA. Of course, Agni didn't know about the current level because he didn't even belong to the top 100 rankers yet.
No, I'd rather not know.
It must be shocking to know that you have been attacked by someone with a lower level.
« If you catch a fire dragon, will you do some work? Ha, when are you going to become a ranker? »
Hyunseong, the man who sighed while voicing his complaints, shook his head.
A word on the subject that caught a ranker while sleeping