I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-73

Ch-73

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However, because the *Players* had also planted “spies” who were always stationed here, there was an unwritten rule: **never** say anything that could allow someone to deduce your identity.

* Huh? I logged out after 24 hours and it gave me a survival bonus.

* Bullsh*t. A bonus? You think Pangaenia is a joke?

* Our Goddess does not comprehend the concept of “bonuses.”

* No, seriously, it gave me one. I even got attached to the Constellation of the People’s Hall. Isn’t the whole goal here just to survive as long as possible?

* I got a survival bonus too.

* What, really? What does it give you?

* Not telling.

Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted wildly.

A survival bonus?

It meant they were giving you rewards simply for surviving 24 hours.

Judging from the way they were talking, it seemed like a fairly decent reward.

Just as many people started thinking, *“Should I try again?”*—

* Ah, f*ck, everyone get out. I just saw the Death King.

* Death King? Which one? You don’t mean the Northern Death King, right?

* You mean one of the Pillars of Cramdel?

* Yeah. So if you don’t wanna die, get out. This is not a place for random weaklings. Only Transcendents should be challenging this.

* If you saw the Death King, how are you even alive? Aren’t *you* the one bullsh*tting?

* I ran when the Death King started fighting Thunder Emperor.

* Thunder Emperor Darkstar and the Death King?

**Thunder Emperor Darkstar.**

One of the Seven Heroes, known as *“the fastest human.”*

A high-ranker said to have almost no equals besides the Master and Gracia.

Yet he was fighting the Death King?

And the Death King was infamous—a monstrous being.

A super-elite raid boss monster.

**The King of Corpses.**

The absolute ruler over all that is dead!

* Who won?

* The Death King was just toying with him.

* So is it the Six Heroes now?

* Holy sh*t lol is this real?

If the Death King had appeared in the labyrinth, this was no ordinary situation.

The Death King was famous even among players.

If Thunder Emperor Darkstar had been reduced to plaything status, then players weaker than him had no business even attempting this place.

A retry was not only impossible—it was suicidal.

* I told you the Seven Heroes are overrated. Honestly, Mint Choco’s probably stronger than the Thunder Emperor.

* Great, here come the mint-choco freaks. Get lost.

* You think Randolph will try again this time?

* This place seems too tough even for him.

* Sure, he’s posted ridiculous scores before, but wouldn’t he avoid a direct confrontation?

* Considering he’s been hiding his identity all this time, he’s probably avoiding direct fights on purpose.

* True… If he participates, his identity will be exposed instantly.
* What if we all pitch in and support him?

* Don’t be stupid. The moment you enter your name here, you’ll be assassinated within 12 hours.

* Six hours, I’d say.

* I give it three.

* Honestly? Even one hour is enough.

* Still, it’s kinda a shame. If someone’s going to take the prize, better Randolph than a guy like the Master.

Everyone believed Randolph would **not** challenge the Abyssal Labyrinth.

If he did, his identity would be revealed instantly.

With countless players gathered here, hiding oneself in this fierce battleground was impossible.

—

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*

《You have slain a Golden Goblin.》

《You gained 30 Labyrinth Points for defeating an event monster.》

《You have slain a Golden Goblin.》

《You gained 30 Labyrinth Points for defeating an event monster.》

《You have slain a Golden Goblin.》

《You gained 30 Labyrinth Points for defeating an event monster.》
…

I was currently monopolizing the Golden Goblins of the underground labyrinth.

A total of ten kills.

The points earned: **300**.

The old imperial coins alone were worth **44,000,000 gold**.

And counting the golden statues and treasures, the value easily exceeded **60 million gold**!

Occasionally, useful talismans or equipment dropped as well.

《Achievement “Golden Goblin Slayer” has been granted.》

《Honor +100.》

《By defeating ten Golden Goblins alone, you have unlocked the “Golden Abyss.”》

Immediately, a golden warp leading downward materialized before me.

Jumping in would take me to the *Golden Abyss.*

*Golden Abyss?*

I had never heard of the place.

Not surprising—no one could possibly hunt ten Golden Goblins alone.

Golden Goblins only appeared in the so-called “yolk zones,” and even there, more than ten appearing in one place was rare.

And finding all of them yourself and killing them solo? Impossible.

If not for the Hel(Celestial Spirit) and the Abyssal Knight, I wouldn’t have managed it, either.

《You have entered the “Golden Abyss.”》

There was no hesitation.

I jumped right in.

And when I saw the enormous mountain of gold spread out before me—

*… Jackpot.*

So this was how a ginseng hunter must feel when stumbling on a mound of wild ginseng.

The treasure piled before me made me involuntarily gasp.

And among the treasures were items whose value couldn’t simply be measured in gold.

*The Essence of Gold, the Jar of Greed…!*

Those two in particular drew my eyes.

Of course they would—they were materials for **unique-grade** equipment.

While everyone else was clawing at each other in the main labyrinth, I was here alone, harvesting treasure.

Rumble—!

Something buried within the golden mountain rose to its feet.

《The ruler of the Golden Abyss, *Greed*, has awakened!》

…A Golden Goblin the size of a giant.

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### The Abyss within the Abyss.

A nested abyss, or what some call a lower abyss.

Occasionally, such patterns occurred, but this was my first time seeing the “Golden Abyss.”

But being an abyss, the rule was the same: to exit, one must kill the **Ruler**.
Or be allowed to leave by the Ruler.

The latter was nearly impossible—so a confrontation was inevitable.

【Lv.12】

The problem was the goblin’s level.

This one was outright named “Greed.”

Its level matched its name—monstrously high.

A head-on one-on-one fight was impossible.

However—

—*It has been a while since such a bold intruder entered my treasury.*

The titanic Golden Goblin, Greed, spoke.

Unlike other Golden Goblins, it was intelligent enough to talk.

Compared to typical abyssal rulers, who attacked intruders without a word, Greed’s personality was almost refined.

—*Battle or gamble. Choose.*

It even offered choices.

Greed loomed before me, stroking its chin, observing me with interest.

Whatever I chose, he believed he could win.

“Gamble.”

—*Hahaha! Good. From this moment, everything you and I possess shall be assigned value. We will wager that “value” in our game.*

Splash—

Suddenly my vision shook violently.

Greed rearranged the space.

All the treasures in my sight were assigned numerical values.

A rough bundle worth 10,000 gold equaled a value of 1.

The Essence of Gold and the Jar of Greed were each worth **30,000**.

Adding up all the gold and treasure here, the total value must have easily exceeded **200,000.**

Meanwhile, the total value of my belongings reached only **7,000.**

*Crush me with overwhelming value?*

He had good reason to be confident.

The sheer disparity in value was absurd.

Even if I went all-in repeatedly, Greed would only be wagering the equivalent of dirt under its nails.

A game I could never win from the start.

Whether by battle or gamble.

This was where the Golden Goblin lured in those riding high from slaying ten of its kin, only to strip them clean.

—*Kahahaha! Let us begin. First game: odd or even.*

Ruuumble!

A colossal tide of gold coins surged up like a tsunami.

Split into two sides, tens of thousands—hundreds of thousands—of coins mixed chaotically.

It was a spectacle.

Just watching it was overwhelming.

Greed bared his golden teeth in a laugh.

—*Now. Odd or even?*

—

—

*

Gracia clicked his tongue softly.

*Finally, found the path.*

So the surface labyrinth had been bait from the start.

The real clue was breaking through the wall using a labyrinth ticket to descend underground.

《You are the 8th current participant to enter the underground labyrinth.》

《Achievement “Eighth Challenger to Discover the Underground Labyrinth” acquired.》

…Eighth?

Gracia frowned.

So others had figured out the trick earlier than he had.

But it was puzzling.

The Labyrinth Merchant should be monopolized by the other heroes.
So when did they obtain labyrinth tickets?

When had they entered?

Seven people had entered before him.

*If not for the Death King, I would’ve entered sooner.*

Thunder Emperor Darkstar.

He had sent a distress signal.

Claiming he had encountered one of Cramdel’s Four Lords.

That the Death King’s undead army had pinned him down.

So Gracia carved a path for him.

He didn’t like it, but he considered it a loaned favor.

Besides, he wanted to know why someone like the Death King would enter the Abyssal Labyrinth.

*Are the northern monsters trying to expand their territory?*

He never got to ask.

He didn’t meet him directly.

But he could infer.

He had received intel that Cramdel’s power had been growing dramatically.

Powerful monsters were gathering there—

Too many for Cramdel and its four Lords to handle alone.

It was possible they had set their sights on this Abyssal Labyrinth.

*If even the Death King covets this land… I have even more reason to claim it.*

What kind of land could draw the greed of the Death King and so many of Pangaenia’s strongest?

One thing was certain—it was no ordinary land.

*If the underground labyrinth is the true game, then somewhere here must be Sword Saint Riley.*

He would yield anything but that.

Sword Saint Riley was **his prey.**

Gracia’s eyes gleamed coldly.

But only for a moment.

“You…?”

He spotted a woman walking past and stared in disbelief.

At first, he thought he was mistaken—or seeing a ghost.

But the woman who had just breezed past him was unmistakably—

“Saint Seia?”

Stop—

The woman halted, turned her head, and smiled brightly.

“Oh my, do you know me?”

—

—

*

Isaac and Isabella crossed paths as they leapt into the air.

A tactic meant to disorient the opponent’s sight and throw them into confusion.

The rabbit with golden eyes surrendered its life in vain.

“Our coordination’s pretty good, isn’t it?”

When Isaac held out his hand, Isabella ignored it and retrieved the rabbit’s corpse.

Awkwardly clearing his throat, Isaac lowered the hand he’d extended.

*What a prickly one.*

Their teamwork had improved considerably thanks to training and fighting together, but Isabella was still difficult for Isaac to deal with.

Rather than sit still and wait for Randolph, who had disappeared with a golden warp, the two decided it was better to make use of the time and keep moving.

After a moment, when Isabella finished retrieving the ticket from the rabbit’s corpse, Isaac spoke.

“So these event-type monsters drop tickets when we kill them.”

“If we gather these tickets, it seems the path leading to Sword Saint Riley opens.”

“Tch, going by the description, don’t we need to collect a thousand of these?”

Event-type monsters were hard enough to find.

Not to mention that the drop rate for tickets was random.

It seemed far more likely that they would run out of the Golden Scale Fragments they possessed long before reaching a thousand.

Still, for now, they had no other choice.

After spending quite a while roaming through the underground labyrinth hunting event monsters—

Isaac and Isabella, upon entering a certain area, froze at the exact same moment.

“Did a war break out here or something?”

“······!”

The entire space looked as though a battlefield had raged through it and left it in ruin.

The terrain had been altered, proving a fierce struggle had taken place, and everywhere the smell of fire and burnt remains lingered in the air.

And at the very center, a woman lay collapsed.

Srrng.

Isabella drew her dagger.

Everyone they had met in the labyrinth so far had been an enemy.

If the woman was alive, she intended to sever her breath.

“Wait. Don’t kill her. This woman······!”

“······?”

Isaac approached and checked the woman’s face—then recoiled in shock.

Isabella, who had lived only in the desert, naturally wouldn’t know her.

“That’s Saint Seia! Wasn’t she supposed to be dead?”

Just in case, he checked her heartbeat.

Thankfully, she was breathing, and her heart was beating.

She was alive.

But something was off.

Saint Seia had officially been announced dead during the Grand Expedition.

Even if he had been in Cramdel, Isaac still knew that much—because the Grand Expedition had been a major topic even among monsters.

So why was Saint Seia alone in the underground labyrinth, collapsed and on the verge of death?

Who on earth had she been fighting?

“We need to get out of here first. This place doesn’t look safe.”

Isaac hoisted Saint Seia onto his back.

Whoever had fought her might come back.

Before that happened, they had to get out of here.

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