Light of Arad: The First to Walk - Chapter 75



Only Noblemtl

075

Of course, Jinseong knew that this was contamination.

Bentinck is subdued by the user in terms of gameplay, and by the user and ‘Berrick the Sandwind’ in terms of the context of the main scenario quest.

The only time he reappears is alongside Berwick, as a ‘reformed cartel member’.

That is, at this point, it is impossible for him to escape from the guards while being transferred to the Ghent prison, so we can be sure that this is part of the ‘contamination’.

So, what surprised Jinseong was not just because Bentinck was running wild.

‘Even someone who started playing DnF relatively recently… … would know. No, strictly speaking, even users who skip the story would know.’

Among the main scenario quests released so far in the game Dungeon & Fighter, there are only a handful of enemies that have tormented users.

An enemy who first appears in the Celestial story that starts at level 50, and who intervenes to block the path of not only the future flow of the scenario, but also events even further into the future.

‘Yes, in terms of the story, even in the present… … . From the present where the cartel and the Imperial Army are fighting, to the future where there will be chaos in the ‘Castle of the Dead’… … and the future but also the past, even in that timeline, he’s a guy who harasses users!’

A genius and eccentric who views adventurers as a thorn in his side, a mad scientist who is willing to sacrifice everything else for his scientific pursuits.

‘Giselle!’

He was once a member of the ‘Seven Shaz’, one of the seven scholars representing the heavenly realm, but after being forcibly expelled in what he calls a self-proclaimed resignation, he began to reveal his already twisted desires without being able to hold them back.

He doesn’t stop at the present where he has joined hands with the cartel, but goes to the demon world to conduct research on the ‘Abyss’, and later infiltrates the Castle of the Dead again to study ‘dimensions’, and tries to incorporate all of that into his own science.

Of course, there was no ethics or anything like that in the research process, and after repeated experiments in such a vicious direction, they eventually acquired knowledge that could not be obtained through theory alone… … . At this point, just as they had already joined hands with the cartel, countless evil forces will continue to approach in the future, coveting Giselle’s devilish brain!

‘But Giselle?! No, strictly speaking, it’s not Giselle. That’s Bentinck. The arsonist Bentinck! If you’re a user who recently started playing DnF, you probably haven’t even seen him a few times in-game, but he’s a monster and NPC that you probably don’t even know exists!’

Jinseong was confused, but soon found the answer.

Why did I think of Giselle when I saw Bentinck?

‘Hahaha! You idiots, that line I said… .. This tone, this voice too! That’s the line that the boss Giselle says in the ‘Meister’s Laboratory’ dungeon! But Bentinck said that-.’

And at that point, Jinseong couldn’t help but imagine something creepy, not just bewildered and surprised.

‘……no way.’

Jinseong saw Bentinck.

A calm and composed appearance even in the most unfavorable situations.

In some ways, that attitude makes me think that I don’t understand the topic and am even arrogant.

First of all, the line he said a little while ago.

Plus, his appearance with sunglasses on.

‘No, no. That can’t be. Bentinck and Giselle aren’t related by family or anything, like distant cousins. There’s no such thing. There isn’t… …!’

Jinseong himself cannot say that he knows all the background settings and character settings of the game Dungeon & Fighter.

However, if it’s information related to the main characters, then of course I know it, and therefore it’s no exaggeration to say that I know almost everything related to ‘Giselle’.

So Jinseong was moving without knowing it.

“Giselle?”

“what?”

“You don’t feel like you’ve been contaminated, do you? What are you? Bentinck, what’s your relationship with Giselle?”

“I don’t know what kind of stupid thing you’re talking about. Why are you asking me about Dr. Giselle?! Even if I knew, do you think I would answer!?”

“It would be better to tell what you know.”

Jinseong grabbed the .

Bentinck shouted, waving his flamethrower, which was like his own arm, back and forth.

“The Imperial Guard didn’t work on me, and there’s no adventurer or Zeldin or that sandy old man, and you’re going to hit me?! Hahaha, you’re going to make me regret it-.”

Before Bentinck could finish speaking, the wind blew.

It wasn’t the sandstorm he was talking about.

When the fireworks that Bentinck had set off here and there again enveloped the space like a red cloth along the wind path.

“This, this, you’re talking like Giselle again. Hey, what are you talking about?”

“… … W, what… … .”

Jinseong was already behind Bentinck, pointing his sword at the nape of his neck.

“You’re not going to answer? Who are you? Tell me about your family relationship. Is Bentinck your first name? What’s your last name? What’s your relationship with Giselle? How did you meet her, and how much do you know about her?”

“I don’t really understand what you’re saying-.”

“Informal speech?

Sharp, black, whirring lights lightly cut Bentinck’s neck.

Blood began to drip, redder than the sparks he had scattered.

“I was going to say, ‘I don’t know,’ but I don’t know where to start or how to start-.”

“So, everything you know… … No, there’s no need to say anything here anyway. You can just lock me up in jail… … Follow me. Oh, right. That arm.”

“Huh? Why is my arm- Aaaah!?”

Crunch.

Jinseong cut off Bentinck’s arm. To be exact, he cut off the flamethrower that was connected to his arm as if it were one body.

When the flamethrower’s connection was disconnected and the surging fire died down, Jinseong carefully picked it up and spoke.

“Ah, I bought the for nothing. If I had known this would happen. If I had come and ripped off Bentinck’s arm, I would have gotten a higher level lightsaber unique.”

It was a lightsaber, .

[Knock knock knock… … Are you going to ignore something you’re used to just because it’s a little bit better?]

“You too, Black Goo. No matter how specially made the equipment is, you can’t wear it yet – you can change it into an epic later.’

[… … If you are discovered by me in the dimensional rift, you must-.]

“fizzle.”

Although it has a higher attack power than the that Jinseong bought for a whopping 8.88 million gold, it is currently close to being a ‘discontinued item’.

Since it was unavailable, no one used it, so it was inevitable that it would be forgotten for a while.

“Wh, what?! What happened? My arm, no, my baton!”

“What’s your name, Fireball? It’s so rustic. Anyway, follow me.”

“Ah, ahh, ears! Ears!”

Jinseong dragged Bentinck straight to the prison in Ghent.

The Zodiac Guardians were momentarily dumbfounded as to what was happening, but Jinseong simply continued to talk.

“While transferring Bentinck under Zeldin’s instructions, he suddenly started causing a ruckus. Fortunately, Sandstorm Berikt, who was passing by, helped me out… … I was just a passerby, but I ended up here.”

“ah…….”

“And Mr. Zeldin asked me to ask you a few questions. Since this is an official interrogation, can I just ask a few questions and leave?”

In Ghent, where the outside world was under attack by cartels and the prisons were not even properly managed, there was no one who did not believe Jinseong’s words, which were spoken so shamelessly.

* * *

Jinseong was heading towards the south gate of Ghent with a look of discontent on his face.

‘He was trying to scare me by even performing a performance where he cut off his arm on purpose, and it must have worked… . . . ‘

Arsonist Bentinck didn’t give Jinseong the kind of answer he wanted.

It would be impossible to say that Bentinck, who was in a situation where he could not move and was almost killed, was lying, so Jinseong could not help but feel uneasy.

‘Contamination was contamination. Well, even if the contamination was corrected, it was very rare for a card to just pop out. Except for the case of Skasa, most of them already had multiple contaminations overlapping… … . Usually, a card would come out only when the contamination of the most important? Most threatening? Most essential? object that had been contaminated by the was corrected.’

Bentinck had nothing to do with Giselle, to the point of being ridiculous.

What he knew about Giselle was actually less than Jinseong knew from the background setting.

Perhaps it was only natural.

‘Bentink is, well, a mid-level boss or an executive, but he’s more like a captain. That’s all I know. But fortunately… … what I heard from the cartel member earlier and the cartel operation that Bentinck was instructed to do are almost identical.’

There is no particular gain in relation to Giselle.

“You really don’t know? Is that all? If you catch Giselle later and say that you had a relationship with her-.”

“I, I’m telling you the truth! I’ve only seen you a few times from a distance! I don’t know about the mechanical arm Warjack or anyone else, but what kind of friendship would I have with Dr. Giselle, let alone a blood relationship! If I did, I would have become an executive!”

“This little shit, you talking punk- hey, are you mad?”

“That’s not it… … I told you, but you keep asking the same question… … The atmosphere is scary… … .”

“That’s okay for someone like you. You’re a member of the cartel at heart, and when you think about the damage you’ve caused by setting fires and all that! There must have been people who lost their lives in the fires you set! Should I just stab you?”

“That can’t be, right? I, I’m a criminal now. The court’s verdict? Something like that-.”

“Mr. Park, where was the court for the cartel? Anyway… … . I’ll let it slide just because you cooperated with my questions, so live a good life from now on. Got it?”

“Yes. I will remain quiet and not even mention the disturbance in the middle.”

“That’s because you’re trying to take advantage of it… … Okay, I understand. I’ll be watching from now on. And are you sure that the cartel operation is all correct?”

“Yes! If it’s a lie, I’ll hang myself!”

“Do well in the future. Let’s go.”

“… … I should convert or something, there’s such a scary person in heaven-.”

“what?”

“Oh, it’s nothing!”

If there was anything that could be of any help to Jinseong, who was feeling empty after his speculations about Giselle were false, it would be the Kartel’s plans currently taking place in the dungeon area: Antwerp Canyon.

In fact, since the cross-check has been completed, Jinseong is heading towards the Ghent East Gate without hesitation.

‘For now, it would be best to proceed under the assumption that the person with the highest probability of getting a card from this contamination is Giselle. While remembering well the inventions used in the current heavens… … .’

While Jinseong was having a blast with Bentinck, the user was also finishing up various conversations.

Jinseong also secretly followed after the female gunner user he had seen earlier as he entered the dungeon of the Ghent alumni.

‘Anyway, seeing as Bentinck is causing a ruckus, it seems like that female user is the target of this contamination. There’s probably nothing special about this dungeon. No named characters will appear either.’

The cartel’s plan was to calculate and transmit the exact coordinates of the Ghent East Gate, and then bombard the gate and the walls.

The plan was to use the gap to advance the cartel members en masse and capture the imperial capital Ghent in one fell swoop, and wasn’t it the confession of the cartel members and Bentinck that the current fighting around Ghent was in fact a deception for this bombing?

‘TMH Signalman… … Okay.’

The female gunner user skillfully killed the signalmen.

For her, was it a system-based decision to clear the dungeon?

Jinseong looked at her as she stood still for a moment.

‘This is also one of the regrettable things. Why can’t I see Delilah? No, even if that’s true, I wish I could see Gabriel… … . It could be helpful to me, who can’t use the auction house.’

An NPC in charge of repairing weapons or selling ‘junk items’.

If you clear a dungeon, no matter how difficult the dungeon is, and the NPCs that appear at the user’s campsite appear, how great would it be if you could see them with your own eyes?

‘There’s even talk among users that the strongest player in DnF is Delilah… … If I could just meet her and talk to her, I’d be able to get a lot of information.’

While Jinseong was thinking like this.

The female gunner user turned around at the Ghent East Gate and started heading towards downtown Ghent.

‘Okay, so it’s all over now… … huh?’

It was so nothing special that I guess we could say Jinseong let his guard down.

As Jinseong was moving towards downtown Ghent following the user, something caught his eye.

Hidden behind a wall, not visible from the user’s angle.

That is, a signalman who is not visible on the user’s ‘monitor’.

Jinseong saw him frantically operating the large radio he was carrying on his back and picking up the receiver.

‘Oh my god, this is crazy, this is polluted-.’

I quickly grabbed and tried to activate the skill, but the communicator was already activated.

The moment Jinseong frowns at the sight of the signalman’s mouth mumbling, he is about to use the skill!

Taaaaaaaang… … !

A gunshot rang out.

The signalman fell forward straight away.

“uh?”

What was embarrassing was the truth.

Even if there are no users, the Zodiac Guard and the Cartels are fighting in various places.

But isn’t it normal that there should be no one here right now?

Since it’s an ‘inside the dungeon’ judgment, there shouldn’t be anyone else?

Thud, thud, thud… … .

The person believed to have pulled the trigger revealed himself and walked towards Jinseong.

Jinseong was surprised at first by the sight.

“A female gunner? Huh?

This is because her appearance is exactly like that of the user’s playable character and occupation, the ‘Female Gunner’.

But if the reason he was surprised was because of his appearance, the reason he was so surprised that he couldn’t even react was because of what he said next.

“… … Are you also a possessed person?”

The female gunner said.