The color was similar, but the shape was definitely different.
A gate that rarely appeared in level 23 dungeons.
There is no official name for the gate.
But between the Awakened, it is called Hell’s Gate or the Fisherman’s Needle.
Most experienced Awakeneds know the gate very well.
But it was rare for anyone to come back alive after going into it.
For certain dungeons that have hidden bosses such as the level 23 dungeon that can have any one of the 7 different ranks of the Lich Kings appear. In that gate, all 7 Lich Kings would be there.
Of course, the reward for clearing the portal would be amazing.
But the number of people heading into the gate was few at best.
A sweet temptation.
But that would be too much!
They would stare at the gate as if a fish looking at a fat juicy worm on a hook.
Unless they were real fish, they wouldn’t bite into bait like that.
The exemption would be Rankers hunting for the Lich King’s Armor set.
“I’m even happier seeing this more than seeing a mimic.”
For any regular Awakened, this would be too much.
But I was going to enter the gate.
With many level ups, I had obtained a decent amount of stamina.
Even if the red eyed rank 1 Lich King used a skill beyond ranking, my 5 shields would protect me.
And even after casting my shield, I had two free hands.
An exit and a gate to hell.
Looking at each of them back and forth, I moved my feet towards the gate of hell.
* * * *
Inside the gate was another world.
A desolate land filled with igneous rocks as far as one can see.
The lost souls embedded in the ground howled at the skies.
Without eyes or tongues, struggling as if falling deeper into a swamp.
I felt relieved that the dungeon was large.
If the dungeon was small, all 7 of them would aggro at the same time.
Looking at the different colors of their eyes, I planned to pair two a time to take them out according to their ranking.
I had obtained the quick single spells Explosion and Holy Missile — A ranking skills that will perfectly fill the gap between my main attack skills as both skills did not have cast time or cool downs.
Explosion was a fire type magic, shooting a fireball the size of a basketball.
It was similar to the F ranking Fire Orb, but the difference in damage dealt was incomparable.
Once Explosion hits its target, it didn’t disappear until there was nothing left to consume.
So unless healing skills or remove status effect skills were used, the flames would not extinguish until the target turned to ashes.
The next skill I obtained was the Holy Missile.
Magicians, Shamans, and Priests use this skill.
Causing holy type damage, it boasted massive amounts of damage against the undead.
A skill perfect for Ghouls or Lich Kings.
* * * *
Casting Meteor and Iceberg towards my right, I ran at full speed ahead.
From afar, I could see 2 Lich Kings.
It was important to determine the glow of their eyes, so I stayed out of their aggro range and stared.
Green and purple.
Both were low ranking bosses.
“Yah!”
With one fluid motion, I struck one on each of them.
Almost like a welcoming tackle?
Receiving heavy amount of damage, they tried to condense their mana to heal themselves, but I casted Fire Shock, which does more damage the closer you are to the target.
“GWOAHHHH!”
“KURURUK”
They howled and flailed about in pain, unable to even attack once.
Just in case any Lich Kings were nearby, I adjusted the range on the Gravity Laser.
With my continuous attack, I was slowly blowing through the Lich King.
After that I used about 10 Explosions and rained down Holy Missile.
It looked as if light bulbs shattered across the floor.
The holy attribute of the attack, when met with the undead, begins to eat away at their form.
It didn’t take long.
“Ku… uuu…..”
The rank 7 Lich King, now just a ball of flame, had the life from his eyes snuffed out.
Then.
[5,000,000 experience obtained.]
Now there was only one target left.
I stopped using Gravity Laser and began to pour away the new skills that I’ve learned.
Since I did not have a limit on mana, I could spam away without a care.
If I had brought Banwol Jincheon with me, I could’ve made quite the scene.
Soon, eyes that glowed green from the rank 4 Lich King were snuffed out.
[8,000,000 experience obtained.]
“Oh?”
The difference between ranks were made obvious.
You could obtain more experience from the higher ranking ones.
The more you learn about them, the more I find them amusing.
There were 30 minutes left before the level 23 dungeon closed.
But it’s been 5 minutes since I entered the gates of hell.
I didn’t know which the 1 hour limit for the dungeons will apply to.
To be on the safe side though, I considered as if I had 30 minutes left and hurried.
Tossing the loot into the bag, I quickly moved on.
I had arrived at the furthest I could go towards the east, and now headed towards the north end.
The bag became heavier with the drops, but my footsteps only became lighter.
* * * *
“Ha… Ha…”
After taking down the Lich Kings in pairs, only the rank 1 with the red glowing eyes remained.
Trying to catch my breath, I used heal to regain my HP.
Most attacks I absorbed with my shield.
However, any attacks I didn’t recognized I did my best to avoid.