Chapter 73
He went down into the basement and opened the old iron door, and the dungeon finally revealed itself. The lighting was dim, but not so dim that they needed drones, and both the walls and floor were built of stone. It felt like a secret underground chamber hidden beneath a medieval castle.
“So this is where it really begins?”
Siyeon, who had been leading the way, suddenly stopped and called out to him.
“Before we get serious, why don’t we make one thing clear?”
The A-Class hunters from the Night Sky Guild gathered around Siyeon. It looked like they were trying to stage a show of force to seize the initiative. Sensing the dangerous shift in the atmosphere, Hanseok and Gyuhwan came over. Hanseok’s move was expected, but Gyuhwan was a surprise. Jina and Seokhyun had already been told to hide their strength, so they stayed where they were.
“So what exactly do you want to say?”
“My, my. You’re slower on the uptake than I expected. Take a look around. This is a dungeon, and I brought more people than you did.”
Siyeon’s confidence poured out through every word and gesture. From the perspective of someone who did not know about Jina and Seokhyun, the Night Sky Guild did have the stronger force.
Unlike the Wraith Guild, which was officially made up of only one S-Class hunter and four A-Class hunters, the Night Sky Guild had one S-Class hunter, eight A-Class hunters, and four B-Class porters, all of them from the enforcement division and specialized in direct combat. It was not strange that Siyeon was acting so smug.
“I’d like you to hand over the party leader authority to me.”
Hyun-jun, who officially held the claim to the site, also held the party leader authority. That authority meant command over the raid.
So she wants to take the party and do whatever she likes with it?
Hyun-jun frowned. Siyeon’s intent was not hard to read. She meant to send the Wraith Guild members ahead into dangerous ground, wear them down, and then finish them off, but Hyun-jun had no intention of being played so easily.
“And if I refuse?”
“Are you slow on the uptake, or just proud?”
Siyeon quietly drew up her mana. A shimmer rose over the spear in her right hand. One by one, the hunters behind her lifted their weapons as well.
“Guild Leader. Not yet.”
Hanmin stopped Siyeon. His voice was very quiet, but Hyun-jun had strengthened his hearing with mana a moment earlier, so he caught it clearly.
“Let’s postpone teaching my foolish little brother some manners.”
Siyeon withdrew her mana.
Not yet...? Interesting.
Hyun-jun’s mouth curled upward. The urge to crush that overflowing confidence was rising in him, but if a battle broke out here, then even if they won, the dungeon raid would likely fail.
“The Wraith Guild will move separately. As for the mana stones, we’ll only claim ownership over what we loot ourselves. No objections, I trust?”
“R-right. Do as you please.”
Siyeon was flustered by the unexpected proposal, but after a moment she nodded.
It doesn’t matter. I can kill them all later anyway.
She accepted the proposal for now, but she was already thinking of ambushing Hyun-jun in secret. More than half the people she had brought belonged to the enforcement division, so she was confident in a surprise attack.
We just follow them from a distance, and once we find the boss room, we kill them all.
Siyeon finished her cruel plan and let out a stifled laugh. She intended to use Hyun-jun and the Wraith Guild members as meat shields, then kill them once the boss room was found and clear the dungeon afterward. She knew perfectly well that starting a knife fight right now would bring her no benefit.
“We’ll take a short break to reorganize, so go on ahead.”
It was obvious what she was thinking. If they moved first, she would undoubtedly send someone to tail them, but Hyun-jun still ordered the party to advance.
“It seems like we’re being followed. What are you going to do?”
Jina, her hood pulled low over her black robe, came up beside him and asked in a low voice. As expected of an S-Class hunter, she had quickly detected the shadowing presence. Of course, Hyun-jun had known from the start.
“For now, I’m going to leave them alone.”
“Is that all right?”
“They won’t attack us so easily either. Still, just in case, Jina, don’t focus on the raid too much. Hide your strength and watch the rear.”
“I suppose I have no choice.”
With that brief answer, Jina stepped back.
“We’ll continue.”
At Hyun-jun’s order, the hunters kept moving without pause. It was just as the first sign of monsters was about to appear. Hyun-jun, who was walking in front with Hansu, sensed the monsters’ mana and spoke up.
“Monster sighted!”
He raised his shield and warned them of the danger. Hansu, who was assigned as the support tank, also tightened his grip and readjusted his spear and shield with a tense expression. Since this was his first S-Class dungeon raid, his nerves were running high.
Red eyes gleamed at the end of the corridor. There were dozens of them at a glance. Even the number of mana signatures alone exceeded twenty.
With this much mana, are we looking at around twenty B-Class units and one A-Class?
Hyun-jun let his gaze run down the front and sorted his thoughts. The dungeon lighting was brighter than expected, but the end of the corridor was still dark. Twenty B-Class units and one A-Class were not a formidable force, so a frontal breakthrough would not be difficult, but this was an S-Class dungeon called the Hideout of the Mage Scholar. They had to be careful of magical traps.
“Should I send the drone forward?”
Gyuhwan asked. Hyun-jun answered by nodding. A small drone flew ahead and lit up the darkness. Soon, more than twenty Living Armors came into view. One of them wore a distinctive, ornate suit of armor, clearly the commander of the Living Armors and an A-Class monster.
Crack!
One of the Living Armors in the lead swung its spear and smashed the drone. Normally, dungeon monsters rarely attacked drones, but in dungeons of A-Class difficulty and above, monster intelligence was highly developed, so they often launched preemptive strikes against them.
“Should we send another one?”
“No. I’ve got the formation figured out.”
To Gyuhwan’s question, Hyun-jun shook his head. Then his gaze shifted to Hanseok.
“Hanseok. I need an attack spell.”
“It won’t be enough to wipe them all out.”
“Just enough to provoke them and lure them over here.”
“Understood.”
Hanseok drew up his mana. A high-tier attack spell crashed into the Living Armors’ formation. With a thunderous boom, several of the Living Armors were destroyed.
Clatter.
Shaken by the sudden magic assault, the Living Armors that had been holding their positions in silence began to move, dragging their heavy bodies forward. The one closing the distance fastest of all was the A-Class monster, the Living Armor Commander. With surprisingly nimble movements that did not suit its iron shell, it charged at Hansu.
“Sidenmiller. Carthago.”
- Sidenmiller’s valiant sword stands with you. So long as righteous courage does not break, the blade shall never shatter.
- Carthago’s righteous shield protects you. So long as great guardianship stands beside you, nothing may threaten you.
Aura infused Jiokchammado and the shield.
- Heh. Strength is surging through me!
Bathed in the thick aura rising from the blade, Jiokchammado muttered like a blood-drunk berserker.
Whoosh.
The swung Jiokchammado split open the Living Armor Commander’s breastplate in a single stroke and destroyed its core. Hansu then rushed forward to deal with the other Living Armors. He, too, was an A-Class hunter and an aura user. The spear he wielded with dazzling speed pierced the Living Armors’ cores in one blow after another.
“Wind Cutter.”
At last, Hanseok’s magic finished off the remaining Living Armors.
“Report casualties!”
“No injuries!”
“We’ll keep moving.”
After exchanging a few words with Gyuhwan and confirming that no one was injured, Hyun-jun moved on. Then, at some point, he stopped again.
“Guild Leader?”
“I think there’s a magical trap ahead.”
When Hansu asked carefully, Hyun-jun warned him of the trap’s presence.
“I don’t see anything.”
“It’s hidden very cleverly.”
Jina, the S-Class magic hunter, shook her head in denial, but Hyun-jun was certain. He stirred his mana and swept the surroundings with both his senses and his eyes.
- Gilles de Rais’s sinister gaze has found the mana hidden in the shadows.
As Gilles de Rais’s blessing activated, the concealed magical trap’s formula was revealed. Hyun-jun pointed the tip of Jiokchammado at the trap and drew mana once more.
- Gilles de Rais’s dark knowledge assists you. Beginning analysis of the magical formula.
The result flowed into his mind. It was a fire-element trap. Had they triggered it properly, high-level flames would have erupted across the entire corridor.
Was there any need to dismantle it?
That thought occurred to him just as he was about to gather mana to destroy the formula. It might be better to leave it there for the guests following behind them.
“Move slowly. Follow me.”
As Hyun-jun took the lead, the other hunters followed cautiously. By then, the flow of the formula was plainly visible to him, and thanks to that, they were able to leave the trap zone safely. The Night Sky Guild, however, was not so fortunate.
“Aaaaargh!”
When terrible screams burst from behind them, Hyun-jun had to barely keep his laughter from spilling out.
“Looks like they triggered one of the traps behind us.”
“We’ll keep going.”
Gyuhwan reported it, but Hyun-jun merely kept advancing, a faint smile on his lips. In the chamber that soon appeared, more than fifty Living Armors and four Living Armor Commanders were waiting for the raid team.
“Fire Cannon!”
The battle began with Hanseok’s completed spell sweeping through the leading Living Armors. Hyun-jun was unable to participate properly in the fighting because he was busy dismantling the magical traps installed in the room, but the Living Armors were only around the level of B-Class elites to begin with, so the hunters of the raid team could deal with them without much trouble.
“I thought I was going to die.”
When another battle ended, Hyun-jun finally let the thought he had been suppressing escape his mouth. The monsters themselves were not especially strong, but the magical traps laid out everywhere were more than enough to wear down the mind. If he had not met Gilles de Rais in the domain of his past life, the raid team would not have escaped annihilation.
Was this all part of Deus’s design too...?
If so, it was terrifying beyond reason. It meant he had anticipated all of this.
The magical traps grew increasingly devious, until progressing without dismantling them became impossible. By the time the raid had advanced a fair distance, half of Hyun-jun’s mana was gone. Jiokchammado had an option that absorbed blood and converted it into mana, but unfortunately the Living Armors they had mostly encountered until now did not bleed.
“Monster sighted!”
The moment they entered a cavern the size of half a soccer field, Hyun-jun sensed mana reactions from all directions and hurriedly warned them of the danger as he activated aura.
- Heh. Let it be dyed red.
He heard Jiokchammado murmur its line and stared ahead. Monsters with grotesque forms, as if human and beast had been stitched together, came charging toward them.
“Chimeras!”
Hansu shouted. They were a type with wide variance, ranging from the lowest end of A-Class to the highest, and there were quite a few of them, but Hyun-jun was glad to see them appear.
“B-blood!”
A new source of mana had arrived.
- Heh. So the master has finally realized it too! You’ve been stained by bloodlust!
Then came the collision. Hyun-jun swung Jiokchammado. Every time he cut down a chimera, his mana recovered. By the time the battle ended, he had regained a significant amount. Thanks to that, he could easily handle the Iron Golems in the next room. And after roughly two hours of pushing through battles large and small, the boss room finally appeared.
Hyun-jun was using Gilles de Rais’s blessing to count the number of magical traps beyond the iron door when he sensed a presence.
“Wait a moment. Could you not open the door and just stand there for a second?”
As expected, Siyeon and the Night Sky Guild members appeared. Despite the sudden arrival, Jina, Seokhyun, and the Wraith Guild members were not surprised, because Hyun-jun had already explained the rough situation to them.
Once all of them were in view, Hyun-jun quickly moved his eyes to count them. It seemed a few of the magical traps left behind at the beginning had claimed their share, because one A-Class hunter and three B-Class porters were nowhere to be seen.
“How many mana stones did you loot?”
Siyeon asked. Hyun-jun shrugged and spoke.
“If you intend to raid the boss room, I’ll yield it to you. We’re all exhausted, so a final push would be impossible. If you handle the boss for us, we’ll give you half of the mana stones we’ve looted.”
“R-really?”
Hyun-jun’s proposal shook Siyeon badly. At first, she had planned to kill Hyun-jun and the Wraith Guild members outright and take the mana stones, but losing part of her force had made a direct clash feel burdensome.
“I’ve already dismantled the magical traps. You only need to open the door and go in.”
It was a lie.
“T-thank you. I won’t forget this kindness.”
And Yi Siyeon was an idiot. It was hard to believe she had even devised a murder plan. Only then did Hyun-jun notice that Hanhanmin was missing from her side.
So the hunter named Hanhanmin was effectively the brains of Yi Siyeon’s operation.
Hyun-jun shook his head. With him dead, it was over now.
“Please go in without worrying. Given the state of the monsters so far, the boss should be weak as well. I’ve removed the magical traps, so the raid shouldn’t be difficult. Of course, we’re too exhausted to handle it ourselves.”
He emphasized once more that the magical traps had been removed.
“I can’t sense any magical traps.”
The A-Class magic hunter Siyeon had brought confirmed it. Of course he couldn’t sense them. Hyun-jun had layered concealment formulas over the existing trap formulas. Naturally, the man who had done it was Hyun-jun himself.
“Let’s go!”
Siyeon did not waste another word. She opened the iron door and went inside with her guild members.
And then.
“Aaagh!”
“Guhk!”
Screams exploded from within.
- The master is a devil.
Jiokchammado spoke.
---