Chapter 236: Chapter 236

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 236

“Khehehe, shall I try to devour it now?”

The Seven Deadly Sins moved toward the fallen Zeek.

In an instant, Zeek’s body disintegrated into dust and vanished.

“Hm?”

Jeong-hoon furrowed his brow.

If someone was behind this, it could only be Baal.

That would mean he had broken the rules of their wager.

One of the terms was not to interfere during the dungeon clear.

At that moment, a rift opened, and Baal’s eye emerged.

“Then what’s the meaning of this situation?”

Jeong-hoon gestured with his chin toward the spot where Zeek had disappeared.

“I see.”

It seemed the configuration had been altered to prevent the Seven Deadly Sins from absorbing him.

Although consuming Baramuth earlier had significantly boosted their stats, the real gain had been absorbing the "Enhanced Judgment of Death."

If Zeek had been absorbed, it would not only have increased their stats further but also allowed them to gain one of his abilities.

“How annoying…”

The Seven Deadly Sins pouted, dissatisfaction written all over their face.

Zeek was one of the most prominent candidates to occupy a vacant Demon King rank.

He wasn’t someone a mere human could easily handle.

“So, how about giving me my reward?”

“It’s not over?”

With those words, Baal disappeared.

Suddenly, the floor blocks began collapsing outward.

The fallen blocks were swallowed by magma and melted away.

[Contact with the magma results in instant death.]

A smirk appeared on Jeong-hoon’s lips.

“So, escaping from here is the final mission.”

If that’s the case, there must be an exit portal somewhere.

However, no matter how hard he searched, there was no trace of a portal.

[Master! What do we do now?]

‘If we don’t escape, we all die.’

The speed at which the blocks were collapsing was alarming.

The estimated time before all the blocks were gone was less than ten minutes.

Even so, Jeong-hoon’s expression remained calm and composed.

‘I’ve cleared dungeons like this before.’

Before his regression.

Just before clearing the 88th dungeon in Episode 88.

Back then, the dungeon began to collapse after defeating the monster.

When they first entered, the dimension itself was already on the brink of destruction.

That’s why the final quest after defeating the monster was to escape the dungeon.

Naturally, no exit portal existed, leaving Jeong-hoon and his companions in a life-or-death situation.

‘Wait. I see a way.’

At that moment, Iwase Haruto, a Hidden Class Enhanced Tracker, succeeded in locating the exit.

The exit lay within one of the fragments formed as the dimension collapsed. Thanks to that discovery, they had been able to escape using the fragment.

Jeong-hoon carefully examined the floor blocks.

There had to be something different about one of them—however slight.

‘I need to find it before that block collapses.’

Jeong-hoon spread out his Sky Gaze Scroll

and began inspecting the remaining blocks one by one.

Although the blocks were crumbling, their collapse followed a consistent pattern.

In other words, stepping on a faulty block would result in instant elimination.

Naturally, this made the block search slow and tedious.

“What are you looking for? If you tell me, I’ll help you!”

The Seven Deadly Sins frantically asked Jeong-hoon.

“A block. Among all these blocks, one of them has to be different. We need to find it.”

“Got it!”

Flapping its wings, the Seven Deadly Sins began searching for the block.

Not having to step on blocks gave it a faster search speed than Jeong-hoon.

Before long, it flew back to Jeong-hoon.

“Did you find it?”

“Yeah! There’s one black block over there!”

“Really?”

Jeong-hoon followed the Seven Deadly Sins’ guidance to the block in question.

While it looked no different from the other blocks, something about it stood out to the Seven Deadly Sins.

“This is the one! I’m sure of it!”

“Is that so?”

Just then, the block began glowing red.

Jeong-hoon waited momentarily until the block reverted to its original state, then immediately reached out and touched it.

The block began to shine and unexpectedly created a portal—the dungeon's exit.

---

[You have cleared the dungeon.]

Upon exiting the portal, a message appeared before Jeong-hoon.

Simultaneously, a rift opened, revealing Baal’s eye.

With a displeased glare, Baal looked at the Seven Deadly Sins standing beside Jeong-hoon.

“And what do you plan to do by glaring like that?”

The Seven Deadly Sins stuck out its tongue, mocking Baal.

Baal shifted his gaze from the Seven Deadly Sins to Jeong-hoon.

“Well then, shall we settle the score?”

[You have gained 4% of Ultimate Energy.]

[You have reached 5% of Ultimate Power. Achievement Score: 200,000 points awarded.]

[You have reached 8% of Ultimate Energy. You can now undertake the quest Path to the Ultimate (1).]

In a flash, Jeong-hoon’s Ultimate Energy had reached 8%.

‘*Path to the Ultimate*?’

It was a quest he had never heard of before.

Even James Marcus, who had held the highest recorded energy, had stopped at 7.1%.

Thus, Jeong-hoon could claim the unprecedented achievement of unlocking the Path to the Ultimate both before and after his regression.

“This isn’t the end, is it?”

[You have obtained the ‘Seven Deadly Sins Chest.’]

Unlike the Evolution Stones, this came as a chest. Jeong-hoon checked the chest, which had been sent to his inventory, before turning back.

“That’s it. Our wager is officially over.”

“Sorry, I’ve got more pressing matters to attend to.”

Jeong-hoon had no intention of continuing wagers with Baal. While his Ultimate Energy was only at 8%, there were plenty of other ways to accumulate it without relying on Baal.

‘I can’t afford to keep wasting time on these wagers.’

When the potential risks outweigh the benefits, knowing when to give up the gains is critical. Now was precisely that moment.

With Jeong-hoon rejecting the wager, Baal lost any means of further interference. The rift between them began to close rapidly.

“If the opportunity arises, let’s have another wager sometime.”

Baal’s crescent-shaped eye narrowed with a sinister smile before the rift sealed completely.

***

[Seven Deadly Sins Chest]

- Type: Chest

- Grade: ?

- A chest containing one of the Seven Deadly Sins at random.

- Filled with the energy of evil .

- Opening the chest carelessly may result in a fatal curse.

It was the same type of chest Jeong-hoon had received when he acquired Sloth. Without hesitation, he opened the chest.

[You have obtained Seven Deadly Sins: Wrath.]

[The Seven Deadly Sins has been partially restored.]

[You have been cursed.]

[Your life force is rapidly decreasing!]

As expected, the curse triggered, and his life force began to drop at an alarming rate.

[Using Safeguard.]

Jeong-hoon activated Safeguard to dispel the curses completely.

[Seven Deadly Sins]

- Types: Sloth, Gluttony, Wrath

- Level: ?? (Grows by absorbing stats)

- Grade: Legendary

With the addition of Wrath, The Seven Deadly Sins advanced another step.

“Kuhaha! We’re nearly halfway there!”

The Seven Deadly Sins cackled, clenching and unclenching its fists.

Although its outward appearance remained unchanged, the aura it emitted had grown significantly more menacing. All of its stats had surged past 300 in an instant.

“You’re starting to look even more sinister.”

It wasn’t surprising; he was a demon, after all.

“Sinister? Call it reclaiming my original self.”

“Fine. So, have your memories returned?”

“Partially, yes!”

“Good. Then, who’s the one who sealed you?”

“Escanon.”

Jeong-hoon furrowed his brow.

Escanon.

A name that struck a chord.

“The Doom of Escanon.”

A transcendent being at the Celestial Lord level, surpassing monarchs and ranking just below the top five named entities.

Jeong-hoon was familiar with Escanon for a reason: a portal leading to Escanon’s shrine had appeared on Earth.

It wasn’t an episode-specific dungeon but a general dungeon—one of the culprits responsible for driving Earth to the brink of destruction.

Countless lives were lost in the attempt to eliminate the guardian lurking within that shrine. And all for the sake of defeating a single guardian that had been dormant for ages.

“Why did Escanon split you into seven parts and seal you?”

“I don’t have all my memories yet... but one thing’s clear: that guy absolutely despised me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

For Escanon to personally seal him, the Seven Deadly Sins might have been a transcendent being of higher rank than Jeong-hoon had initially assumed.

Jeong-hoon nodded thoughtfully.

“Then, do you know how to bring this game to a complete end?”

The thought of Leandorf and Edenhark, glimpsed through the Memory System, lingered in his mind.

Those players had been progressing toward completing Episode 100%.

It seemed they had been on the verge of success, yet the annihilation of dimensions was proof of ultimate failure.

“If completing the episode to 100% reveals a critical clue to ending the game, then they must have discovered it... and still failed afterward.”

While Jeong-hoon didn’t know what that clue might be, it was clear it wouldn’t be easy.

“You have to eliminate the Architect. That’s the only way.”

“The Architect?”

“Yeah. See the episodes? Once you complete one to 100%, you’ll gain a chance to confront the Architect.”

“A chance...?”

“Exactly. But listen carefully—if you’re not strong enough when you hit 100%, you’ll die. Instantly.”

“...Die?”

“Yep. Once you hit 100%, you’re forcibly teleported to the Architect.”

That was news to Jeong-hoon.

“If I had blindly pushed for 100%, I could’ve been in serious trouble.”

If he had reached 100% without any information about the Architect, he would have been thrown into the confrontation unprepared.

So, the so-called critical clue referred to that very encounter.

“...I’ll have to proceed with the episodes more cautiously.”

He had intended to rush through to 100%, but his plans would need serious revision.

“This is all I can share for now. The rest of my memories haven’t returned yet...”

To gather more information about the Architect, Jeong-hoon needed to recover the remaining sins.

Of course, he couldn’t neglect his growth in the meantime.

"Alright, got it. You can head back now," Jeong-hoon said, dismissing the Seven Deadly Sins.

Once alone, he pulled out his smartphone.

Missed calls, texts, and messages from various platforms had piled up during his absence.

“Man, there’s a lot.”

He decided to call Ha-jin first.

***

Ha-jin and Bong-Goo arrived at Jeong-hoon’s place shortly after being summoned.

"You’re here?"

“Hey, why didn’t you pick up or respond even once?” Ha-jin complained, making his displeasure clear as he entered.

“Sorry, I was swamped. But I’ve discovered something incredible, so don’t stay mad.”

“Alright, spill it.”

“It’s not an item, but I found a way to level up like crazy.”

“Level up?”

“Yeah. You two need to get to the Fourth Advancement soon, right?”

“Well, yeah…”

To begin the Fourth Advancement, players needed to reach at least Level 301. However, Ha-jin and Bong-Goo were still in their mid-200s, making that milestone seem like a distant dream.

And now Jeong-hoon claimed he’d found a shortcut?

“That’s not all—you can pick up some skills along the way, too.”

“Are you serious…?”

Jeong-hoon nodded.

“That’s right.”

Bong-Goo raised his hand.

“Boss! I have a question!”

“What is it?”

“Does this mean you’re going to start streaming on HoneyTube again?”

Jeong-hoon’s HoneyTube channel had been on hiatus for some time due to his packed schedule.

“Why ask something so obvious?” Jeong-hoon replied with a sly grin.

“Got it!” Bong-Goo said, pumped up at the prospect of new content.

The HoneyTube hive is about to buzz again.

“But I won’t be doing live streams this time,” Jeong-hoon clarified.

“No live streams?”

“Yeah, I’ll record the content and upload edited videos instead.”

With the dungeon they were about to tackle, Ha-jin and Bong-Goo would shoot past Level 301 in no time.

And since there were items and skills that needed to be secured there, Jeong-hoon was determined to claim it all first.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]