Closed Beta That Only I Played

Chapter 257: New Hunting Ground (2)

“Hmm. It’s definitely good to have sole access to the New Hunting Ground for 30 days with the buffs, but…”

“Yeah, but the death penalty is pretty high.”

“You bet. If one player dies…”

Certainly, the death penalty was very high. As a matter of fact, the penalty had increased tremendously. Perhaps because of that, everyone except me was busy moving.

“We have only one healer, but zero enchanters.”

“Seven people can be classified as tanks, and the remaining twelve are all dealers.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Of course, healers and enchanters cannot be said to be the main players of any team.

In particular, healers and enchanters were not something that the immediate family members of the guild leaders chose unless absolutely needed for the simple reason that they could not receive any spotlight. Perhaps that’s why there was only one healer, but no enchanters.

On the other hand, there were 7 tanks and 12 dealers.

Such a composition was far from ideal. On one hand, if the party dealt with a weak monster, it would be ok to have one healer and no enchanters, but 7 tanks were simply too many in such a situation.

On the other hand, if the party encountered a powerful monster, just one healer and zero enchanters would be the worst composition.

However, the problem was that the lowest level hunting ground here had level 1300 monsters.

At that moment, all the players turned their eyes to me because I was both the strongest tank and dealer who could beat the monsters easily without the help of healers or enchanters.

I didn’t pay any attention to their reactions at first. But then I nodded slightly because this party included my father, brother, sister, Director Sok and my mother.

Even though it was inevitable for me to lose some EXP because I needed to share it with the rest of the party, I had no intention of deserting my family members.

Besides, the Myongjin players, including me, numbered 14 members out of this 20 player party.

In the end, if this party performed well, Myongjin would take away the most gains. So I decided that it was better for me to move together with them, given the obvious benefits it would have for my family and Myongjin.

And the party’s atmosphere was rejuvenated when I nodded to confirm my participation.

It’s rather awkward for me to say it, but it was natural that their morale would go up just because I was with them.

“Good. Then, exactly 10 minutes later, we’re going to enter the level 1300 hunting ground. And I will be taking command and giving orders so we have effective communication.”

“Understood”

“Okay.”

When my father said that, not only the Myongjin players but also the Mirae and Tugal guild members responded right away. They talked about various possible situations for another ten minutes after that, for there was a possibility that they would bump into a lot of monsters as soon as they stepped into the hunting ground.

In the meantime, I messaged my mother.

[Lumen: Be careful, mom. When you are in a troublesome situation, just stand behind me]

[Two Sons One Daughter: You will protect me, right, son?]

[Lumen: Of course.]

I tried to act cool in front of my mom for the second time.

I tried to show her how cool I was when I was admitted to Seoul National University as the top, but failed. So, this time I was determined not to fail again.

Ten minutes later.

“Everyone, we’re now entering level 1300 hunting ground!”

“Understood.”

First of all, my mother, the only healer, stood at the back of the party, while 11 dealers stood in front of her. There were 7 tanks standing in front of the dealers, and I alone was at the forefront in front of them because I was confident in dealing with any situation without problems.

Anyway, I set foot on the level 1300 portal first among the 20 players.

Hwaahahahahah!

At that moment, a bright light erupted, blinding me.

Since I could not see at all, I just focused my senses to the front because monsters could charge at me at any moment. But that didn’t happen.

Instead, a message greeted me, or us.

[You are the first ones to enter the level 1300 hunting ground.

-As a reward, all stat points increase by 100.]

[There is a bonus even as you are the first ones to enter the level 1300 hunting ground

-If you can inflict even the slightest damage to the boss monster, you will receive 100 remaining stat points.]

“Great!”

“Wow!”

“If I add 100 stat points, mine will be 500 in total…”

“Yeah! We get that just by entering the hunting ground!”

Of course, the stat points each of them wanted were different.

For example, melee dealers wanted stat points for strength, ranged dealers wanted them for agility, magic-types wanted them for intellect, tanks wanted them for health, and so on.

So, it would have been better if they were given the remaining 500 stat points for them to invest in the stat of their choice, but it was free anyway. So, even if they gained 100 stat points in stats that were not useful for them, they were still not at a loss.

Especially increases in stamina and willpower were hugely beneficial to them, given that there were still level 1400 and level 1500 hunting grounds waiting for them.

“Everyone, retreat from here!”

“Understood!”

“Okay!”

We didn’t have to hunt here immediately. Besides, if we could get into the higher level hunting grounds, it would help us greatly in the future.

So, when my father ordered us to retreat, all the players responded to him in unison.

After that, we entered the level 1400 hunting ground and the level 1500 hunting ground right away, where we heard the same message as the level 1300 hunting ground.

In other words, we all received an increase in all stat points by 300.

“Hahaha.”

“I didn’t do anything, but I’ve already got 1500! 1500!”

The morale and atmosphere of the players were all time high because what they obtained was already more than enough.

Then I turned my gaze to the rightmost portal.

[????]

Obviously, the numbers were written on the precious portals, but this portal only showed a question mark above it.

However, since we knew the portal would lead us straight to a safety zone from our experiences with the previous portals, one of the tanks stepped forward without any hesitation.

Puck!

The tank was bounced away from the portal without even managing to take a step inside.

And he was not the only one.

Puck! Puck! Puck!

Everyone who tried to step inside the portal was thrown out like the first tank.

A little later, the players began to whisper in confusion.

“I didn’t hear any message.”

“I felt something like a strong repulsive force as if the portal would not allow us in.”

There seemed to be some access restrictions because there was no label on it.

Tramp- Tramp-

Not caring about their anxious whispers, I began to move toward the portal labeled with question marks.

I was confident even when I tried on the Constellation Hunter’s badge, which nobody in the Siddarth Guild could equip, because if that was an item I could not equip, it meant that nobody else could do so.

So I was confident of stepping inside the portal this time too.

Moreover, I was already a little past level 1000.

In other words, my level was far from small.

Puck! Thud!

As soon as I confidently stepped into the portal area, I was thrown out helplessly like other players.

“…”

“…”

“…”

Silence fell among the players.