I Gain Infinite Gold Just By Waiting-Chapter 247: Episode 50_The Demons’ Banquet (3)

3.

He had never planned to clear this dungeon the "fair" way.

In fact, even using the word "fair" here was a joke.

A dungeon was a place where any and all means were permitted. When thousands, even tens of thousands of demons were swarming a single person, who would dare speak of fairness?

He had simply been waiting for the right moment.

He had wanted to see how far he could go using only the Heavenly Earrings.

And he had endured, holding out to create the perfect conditions to use ’that’.

[Light of Purification]

▶ Grade: Legendary

▶ Level: ★★★★★★★

▶ When used, purifies and erases all Dark-attribute entities within a 5 km radius. If a certain number of Dark-attribute entities are erased, a “Purifying Storm” will occur.

▷ “Light of Purification” does not apply to living entities. “Purifying Storm” deals an additional 1,000% damage to living Dark-attribute entities.

’At some point, the item descriptions started getting a lot shorter. Probably just my imagination, right?’

He brushed aside the minor annoyance and savored the miracle the Purifying Storm had wrought.

He hadn’t been able to use it at the start because the area had been full of living demons.

He had needed to kill as many as possible to create corpses. As those corpses were purified, they generated a massive Purifying Storm that then affected the countless living demons in the vicinity.

That was why he had waited.

To create a more dramatic scene in a single shot.

"Five hundred thousand gold just went up in smoke!"

And to minimize the painful expense.

Thanks to that, the spectacle had been perfect.

—What the hell? What just happened?

—What skill is that?

—Looks like he used an item.

Many people thought Kim Buja’s power came from his Legendary items, starting with the Heavenly Earrings, and that his overwhelming control was another indispensable pillar of his strength. In his own mind, however, his greatest power from the very beginning had always been his class: Gold Maker.

Those ridiculous items, and even the opportunity to develop his godlike control, were all the result of absolute luck that no one else could hope to match.

In truth, Legendary items were obtainable if you really went after them.

It would take time, but once the right items hit the market, Fly would eventually be able to gear himself up in Legendary items on par with Kim Buja’s. And while his control might not reach the same level, his talent had already pushed him beyond human limits, showcasing the pinnacle of what a mage could be.

Classes, however, were different.

Elemental Wizard, Gold Maker—Legendary classes were something no one could challenge.

Out of tens of millions of players worldwide, only a handful of the luckiest—barely enough to count on two hands—had ever been given the chance.

With the number of players increasing exponentially and still no news of any new Legendary classes appearing, rumors were even spreading that their numbers were strictly limited.

For a player, the most important spec was their class.

Just as Fly had reached the pinnacle of magic as an Elemental Wizard, Kim Buja had climbed this far as a Gold Maker.

For someone like him, there was no reason to hide or ignore the power of Gold Maker.

He should use it and show it off to his heart’s content.

Unfortunately, he didn’t yet have enough gold to throw around like water, but he could at least make the finale flashy.

Of course, the problem was that this "finale" wasn’t actually the end of the dungeon.

"Now the real work begins."

That was why he had used Light of Purification, then secretly downed a stealth potion and slipped away.

Even after wiping out an enormous number of demons, there were still too many flocking to the banquet to count.

[You have fulfilled ☆.]

☆ Kill 2,000 demons

Despite all that fighting and what was practically a massacre, he had only just barely passed two thousand.

To reach ten thousand, he would need to repeat battles like that at least two or three more times.

And there was no way each round would be the same difficulty.

It would only get harder.

If the monsters and demons had any intelligence, they would devise countermeasures so they wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice.

More importantly, fighting outside the banquet hall might no longer be feasible.

Some monsters—though "some" was still a lot—were roaming around searching for him, but most of the demons were hurrying inside the castle.

And to clear the dungeon, he would have to participate in the banquet eventually.

So he hid.

"I should rest a bit before I go."

He had come in with a "charge straight through" mentality, but there was nothing more foolish than fighting nonstop until he dropped dead.

He needed to rest.

He needed to eat.

Even if his body had surpassed human limits, he couldn’t produce infinite strength when he was low on energy.

On top of that, the monsters here were not the kind he could take down easily, and he could feel himself tiring faster than expected.

He needed to be more cautious.

Cautious and thorough.

"I’ll take a short break before moving on."

He said, showing no sign of his true exhaustion.

* * *

The second phase of the dungeon run began after about five hours of sleep.

"I’m sick of watching them party by themselves. I think I’ll go join them."

A few magical beasts rushed him when they spotted him calmly dropping his stealth and heading toward the castle, but they were cut down helplessly by a few casual swings of his sword.

Kim Buja displayed the kind of undeniable strength that made you think, ’So this is what it takes to solo a dungeon.’

However, as the towering castle walls drew closer, the viewers’ confidence began to waver.

—This is where the real fight starts, right?

—I heard there are demon commanders inside, too. If they jump him along with the Demon King, can he win?

—We should probably think of them as being around the Ice Lord’s level, right?

—He already took down the Ice Lord once.

—He didn’t do that alone.

—Still, his specs are higher now than they were back then, so it might be possible.

—But now the Demon King’s got other demons with him, so who knows.

The chat window overflowed with heated debate.

Even inside a dungeon, Gold Maker’s unique feature allowed him to communicate with viewers in real time, and Kim Buja chuckled, relaxing a little as he read.

Nothing changed because of it.

Reading the chat didn’t suddenly lower the dungeon’s difficulty or weaken the monsters.

But it did help him remember.

’This is a game.’

A reality that felt like a game.

He had always thought that way, but seeing the familiar chat window made the feeling come naturally.

The moment he shed even a sliver of his burden about death, Kim Buja’s movements became completely free of wasted motion.

"Let’s go big."

"Kyuu!"

And so, phase two began.

Hwangdo, who had stayed hidden during the first battle, released his polymorph and fully displayed the majesty of a massive dragon.

"Kyuuuuuuuu—!"

His roar wasn’t particularly threatening, but his body was that of a fully grown dragon, and his breath attack—

ROAAAAAR!

A golden breath slammed into the towering castle walls.

Hwangdo’s level was lower than Kim Buja’s, but the racial traits of a dragon and his absurd mana stat made his level almost meaningless. Melting a single castle wall was a trivial task for him.

"AAAAAH!"

Screams echoed from beyond the wall.

They were different from the screams of the demons dying in the Purifying Storm.

At the same time, attacks flew out from the breach.

The real war had begun: a clash between those trying to protect the banquet and the one determined to ruin it.

With Hwangdo, now out of polymorph, added to his side, this battle was in no way worse than the first.

[You have achieved ☆☆.]

☆ Enter the Demons’ Banquet

The moment he crossed the wall, the banquet had begun.

4.

It was an endless battle after endless battle.

The spray of blood and the spectacle of magic could, in theory, get boring.

Especially when there was no real sense of danger.

The overwhelming number of demons should have been enough to crush the intruder and tear the wings from the dragon in the sky, but in reality, their attacks couldn’t even scratch Kim Buja. Only the piles of demon corpses continued to grow.

And once those corpses had piled up enough, Kim Buja didn’t hesitate to tear another sheet of parchment.

BOOOOOM!

A Purifying Storm erupted inside the castle.

Countless demons were purified by the light and died.

It was a tedious raid, with the same kind of attack layered on top again and again.

Amidst it all, what people found interesting was the puzzle presented to the player.

"Surviving twenty days is just a matter of killing everything and then sightseeing around the Demon Realm for a bit. The ten thousand monster condition will probably be done soon, too. So how do I get the banquet MVP?"

There was the fun of ticking off clear conditions one by one.

And the annoyance of the dungeon penalties that came with them.

Crackle!

"Whew. That almost hit me."

Despite all the tension the dungeon tried to build, he himself was casually plotting the shortest route to clear an otherwise ordinary dungeon, which made it all the more fascinating for viewers.

How could he be so relaxed?

That composure, backed up by his movements and strength, was the very definition of vicarious satisfaction.

So even if the patterns repeated, it could never be boring.

In a dungeon where combat was the main focus yet somehow not the main attraction, the repeated battles were just a flashy process that made people curious about how he would avoid repetition this time.

As things progressed, new content naturally emerged.

[You have entered the “Demons’ Banquet Hall.” A banquet to birth the “Demon King” is underway. The MVP will be awarded to the one who contributes the most.]

It was the inner keep, located deep within the massive castle.

The moment he stepped inside, a hologram appeared, and the metallic scent of blood washed over him.

The instant he realized that the demons and magical beasts that had been chasing him were nowhere to be seen, he understood.

"Wow."

The Demons’ Banquet was not for drinking and partying, but a banquet to birth the Demon King.

This was where the real dungeon began.

He stepped in carefully.

He had expected it, but the smell of blood grew thicker the deeper he went, turning his suspicion into certainty.

He found the source of the smell.

When he stepped into a space overflowing with killing intent, he saw it.

Kieeee!

Kraaaah!

A castle within the castle.

But instead of a castle, it was more like a vast plain where countless demons were waging war.

The demons outside had just been extras.

The sight of armies, even larger than—or at least comparable to—the ones outside, clashing against each other sent a momentary chill down his spine.

At the same time, a smile tugged at his lips.

"A fight like this is perfect."

His pride had almost been wounded. He had been picturing a scene where they all gathered to attack a single target, but instead, they were busy fighting each other.

Buja had used the accumulating corpses to wipe out demons. These demons, in contrast, were using the bloodshed of their brutal war to manifest the Demon King. And now, he wanted to be the one to bring that war to an end.

Vwwm—!

Devouring Soul responded to its master’s will.

With his points now overflowing, he casually applied the 7th-stage unlock effect.

Then he used it.

"Heavenly Song."

It was the best opening move a latecomer could make.