Become Overpowered CEO of Hero Clan

Become Overpowered CEO of Hero Clan – 066

– Ding.

–

When I touched the star-shaped icon, a single message appeared.

[The seed wriggles.]

“What’s this?”

A seed, huh. Let’s see quietly. What does this mean… Ah! If it’s a seed, then it’s not here. I took out an item from the inventory and examined it.

【Damaged Ifrit Ember】

▶ Category: Material Seed

▶ Grade: Legendary

▶ Description: A seed containing Ifrit’s flame. Damaged and lost its value, but it might still be useful somewhere.

▶ Effect: Explodes upon receiving physical impact or heat.

A seed that I found while browsing the herb district instead of paying the owner’s medical expenses. Although it’s legendary grade, I was disappointed to learn it had lost its value.

But what does it mean for this seed to wriggle? Is a fire fairy going to be born from it? Even if I look at it countless times, it doesn’t seem likely. Why would the adjective ‘damaged’ be attached before a noun for no reason?

– Shaaa –

First, I sprinkled some water on the seed. Nothing happened. Then let’s try igniting it with fire. A torch for direct flame cooking… It’s here.

– Whoosh.

–

As if mocking me, once again, nothing happened.

[The seed wriggles.]

The star-shaped icon is still flashing. Besides this seed, what else could there be? Even if I keep thinking about it, it seems like there’s nothing else.

‘Ifrit’s Ember, it must be something related to fire.’

Is there some special magic around emitting the aura that the fire fairy would respond to? Although the only thing hot here is the red sunlight… Wouldn’t it have to be as hot as lava to be considered hot?

‘No, maybe not.’

The artificial sun on the third floor floats above the skyhole leading to the fourth floor. No matter how wide this place is, an artificial sun is still an artificial sun. It means that the position of the sun changes constantly every time the position is changed.

And when viewed from the skyhole, the position of the artificial sun was close to vertical.

This is the place where the artificial sun’s red light could be the strongest from the ground.

‘Indeed.’

I went outside the lever and held the seed up high. Then, as if waiting, the seed began to glow red. My heart pounded. Isn’t it legendary grade?

– Poom! –

As the seed turned red, it began to pulsate as if it were about to swell and burst. Something is about to happen at this rate.

– Huk.

–

I threw the seed onto a rock. The trembling seed transformed into a bright red strawberry-like thing and suddenly emitted a intense flash, whitening the area.

– Paaah –

I almost went blind. After a while, the light slowly faded, and I could barely open my eyes.

‘Is it over?’

I hope it doesn’t suddenly explode when I go to pick it up. Anxiously, I waited quietly for 5 minutes. The vibration of the seed completely stopped, and it seemed as if nothing had happened.

Upon closer inspection, the charred seed was so white that it had lost its color.

I quickly picked up the seed and put it in the inventory. It shouldn’t explode while it’s in the inventory.

Upon checking the information, there was a definite change.

【Refined Ifrit Ember】

▶ Category: Material Seed

▶ Grade: Legendary

▶ Description: A seed containing Ifrit’s flame. It was forged by the legendary ‘Corona Spiritus’ and enveloped in white flames.

▶ Effect: Explodes upon receiving physical impact or heat.

The adjective attached to the noun changed from ‘damaged’ to ‘refined.’ This was a definite piece of good news. It could be used as a valuable elixir or material for weapons that even a million gold coins couldn’t buy if used properly.

‘I think the Flame Emperor would know.’

As an S-rank hero who handles fire, he should know its usage, but it was ambiguous to ask casually. What if someone sees it and insists on buying it right away? Even if it’s for sale, you should know its value before selling it.

‘More importantly, that sun is called ‘Corona Spiritus,’ right?’

It emitted a sacred light that could discard special materials, making it a rare treasure even in the vast Rift. But that artificial sun just looked ominous no matter how you looked at it. Moreover, if I remember correctly, corona Spiritus emits a white light. On the other hand, isn’t that one somewhat reddish? It even seems to be filled with negative energy, turning the land red, making it desolate.

‘Perhaps this seed is a special case.’

Even if it were Corona Spiritus, it would have been contaminated and lost its original function a long time ago. It means that it couldn’t be used to refine legendary ores like mithril or orichalcum.

‘Still, you never know.’

For novice magic engineers, handling legendary flames like Corona Spiritus is out of reach, but I had a feeling that someday I would visit this underground Rift again.

====

***

====

Four hours later, when the battle gauge had just reached 100%, another peculiar incident occurred.

Unidentified flying objects were captured on the radar network of the Nexus Jet. Fortunately, the members had returned, otherwise, it would have almost revealed our location.

– Shoong.

–

– Whew! –

The flying objects were both humanoids and monsters, flying side by side towards the sinkhole leading to the fourth floor.

As if the combination wasn’t peculiar enough, one of them was someone I had seen before.

‘Wendia Lord?’

Why would they appear here? Do real monsters leave their habitats at will?

Wendia Lord was clinging to the foreleg of a giant lizard monster and descended into the sinkhole. The distance was too far, so I couldn’t see the faces of the people, but weren’t they unlikely to be heroes? Would a hero join forces with monsters? No, even if it were a villain, only ‘that guy’ would be capable of such a thing. Curious.

“Oh! I remembered something.”

At that moment, Gil-seong, who was staring at the glass window, jumped up and clapped her hands. It seems like Gil-seong recognized Wendia Lord. It’s strange that she couldn’t recognize the big one.

“There’s the hero I saw the other day!”

“……who?”

“At the Silent Primitive Jungle Rift. There was a clan that came before us, right?! I just saw the leader there.”

Recognising a human face from this distance, it must be Damage Dealer. I think it’s the magic circuit [Watcher’s Eye].

‘Then the system was accurate.’

Even with the follow-up investigation, I couldn’t be sure of the identity, but in the end, it turned out that it was indeed a villain. Anyway, if there’s a villain there, it means that a certain villain organization has teamed up with Lord-class monsters. If the squads of the other six clans deployed to the Rift clash with them, it’ll be a bloodbath.

“But why would a hero go with monsters…?”

“He must be a villain. That’s why we felt such a strong aura back then.”

“Oh…? Ahh! Right, the leader said something like that!”

Don’t look at me with an embarrassed expression that says, ‘You should have captured him back then!’ I wasn’t sure of myself at the time. I thought the information window was just labeling a hero who broke the law as a villain.

‘That aside, how did they get in here?’

I watched with my own eyes as the seal of the ancient underground Rift was broken. The investment cost wasn’t a joke. It’s said to be a large-scale project possible only at the association level.

‘They must have planned it.’

Both the villain party and the monster party must have paid a tremendous price to enter this Rift. The association chairman must be holding back, so there’s no way they entered through the same passage as us.

‘They’re definitely aiming for the royal tomb.’

Even without seeing their destination, I could guess it. They must have obtained information about the ancient monster guarding the royal tomb. If it’s a treasure like the ‘unique magic stone,’ it’s understandable that such a powerful force would gather to move it.

‘We’ll clash with them soon.’

It seemed like in Clan of Heroes, nPC heroes, villains, and monsters made a mess and got the unique magic stone. But if you wish for such luck in reality, you won’t live up to your name. So far, there have been times when I didn’t follow a normal storyline.

“Let’s go.”

After roughly reassuring the anxious members, I sat in the pilot’s seat.

– Vroom, rumble! –

With a powerful engine sound, the Nexus Jet began to descend at almost the speed of sound. The sinkhole was a huge hole with a radius of tens of kilometers.

Even though it was a sinkhole, it wasn’t as dark as the underground first and second floors below, thanks to the artificial sun shining dimly through the sinkhole to the underground fourth floor.

‘For now, let’s assess the situation from the outside.’

It felt like having fire under my feet, but I needed to stay calm even more. There would undoubtedly be a fierce clash of power within the royal tomb, so let’s enter cautiously afterward and aim for maximum profit with minimal investment.

After all, that’s why we came here in the first place.

====

***

====

We descended along the huge sinkhole and arrived at the long-awaited underground fourth floor. The bright redness subsided, and a faint glow seeped in from the abyss in the sky.

This place was also a vast and majestic Rift. Ironically, although the red light from the artificial sun, which had made the ecosystem decrepit, had made the ecosystem of the fourth floor abundant, there were countless large insect monsters below.

Occasionally, champion-level large insect species would appear, which even A-rank heroes would find challenging to face alone, indicating that even mid- to late-level 60 monsters inhabited here.

– Vroom.

–

The Nexus Jet descended along the rugged stone wall, drawing a thin shadow, and stretched out into the vast underground Rift.

‘Who knew it would be like this here.’

The hole in the sky and the colorful sunset. The vast plains and bushes spread out like a beautiful painting.

It was refreshing every time. I never expected the terrains I used to pass with a click of the ‘Next Stage’ button to be so abundant. The combat backgrounds used to consist of just a few trees and patches of grass.

Basically, everything here is ridiculously huge, like mountains, meadows, and rocks. It feels like something out of a Chinese landscape painting.

– Vroom.

–

Regardless of the scenery around us, the Nexus Jet swiftly moved through the sky of the underground Rift.

After the landscape lost its appeal after a while, I opened my book again. I hadn’t even read 200 pages yet, as I read it almost by heart. I also marked things I was curious about or didn’t understand. Magic Engineering was a mysterious and complex discipline.

I wonder how much time passed as I alternated between reading and enjoying the scenery.

– Goooh…

–

At the edge of the plain, a blue ripple surged.

The lake at the center of the underground Rift, the ‘Abyssal Mirror’, began to come into view.

Even the drowsy members blinked their eyes in amazement at the new scenery. It was fascinating to see something different than the same old terrain we were used to.

The lake was as vast as the sea, with no end in sight. Underneath the surface, it felt like unknown sea monsters were lurking.

It’s not just a feeling, the report mentioned that the energy concentration below the lake was so dense that no one who ventured deep returned alive.

The only known fact was that as you searched deeper into the shallow waters, the energy concentration increased exponentially.

The most dangerous area in the entire ancient underground Rift was right below this lake, the ‘Abyssal Mirror’.

‘Well, if we don’t go in, that’s the end of it.’

Of course, flying at an altitude of a thousand meters, what does it matter?

– Vroom.

–

Time passed once again without direction. The lake was vast beyond measure, and after flying for two hours, there was still no end in sight. No, now I couldn’t even see the land itself. Checking the hologram map, I realized we were now passing through the center of the newly formed lake. We still had a long way to go.

– Whoosh…

–

It wasn’t until ten minutes had passed since the calm waves were engulfed by violent waves that the sound came.

‘What’s that sound?’

Suddenly, the sound of waves could be heard, and the wind intensified as the cockpit screen switched to an external camera. A large whirlpool was forming on the surface of the lake, violently sucking in water.

After such whirlpools appeared all over the lake, the entire lake became chaotic.

‘It’s unsettling.’

With such phenomena, there’s nothing safe. If something goes wrong under a lake like the sea, it could be a big problem. High-level sea monsters might be fighting for territory down there. Of course, it could also be a simple natural occurrence.

– Whoosh…

–

About ten minutes later, fortunately, the whirlpools that emerged in the lake disappeared, and everything calmed down as if nothing had happened.

It’s been less than a day since we were engulfed in the black fog. I even had a slight headache from worrying about what might happen.

‘Phew.’

I sighed in relief and wiped the sweat from my hands with a tissue. Being a hero isn’t something anyone can do. Even though I came completely prepared, there was no answer to the mysterious phenomena.

“L-Leader. That thing…!”

At that moment, seo Eun-ha’s trembling voice jolted my ears. She was pointing at the hologram screen illuminating the surface. It looked like a water spirit.

“Why is that?”

“Is… is it snow?”

Snow all of a sudden?

Even I, feeling uneasy, turned the cockpit screen to the external camera…

‘What’s that’

A chill ran down my spine.

Underneath the lake, a colossal eyeball was glaring. You could only recognize it as a monster’s eye. Underneath the blue waves of the lake, a long, torn yellow iris wriggled, as if it were staring at the Nexus Jet.

Considering the size of the eye, it was unimaginable how large the body might be.

‘Is it targeting us from below?’

Even though we were flying at over 1,000 km/h, the giant eyeball didn’t move away. It seemed to keep following us from beneath the water.