Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Level 23
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Level 23.
Without a word, I opened the dungeon door—half of Kim Tae-hyun's level.
The reactions afterward were obvious without even looking.
"You're insane! We need time to prepare mentally!"
"Causing trouble right from the start, Level 23 friend."
"Crazy."
Everyone scowled and scolded me.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The massive door parted to either side with a heavy groan, revealing a passageway tinged faintly gray.
"This is my answer. Let's go in quickly."
I ignored them and crossed the threshold.
A long, wide corridor stretched out.
Unlike the plaza, it was made of plain gray stone rather than gold—whatever the material, it emitted a subtle glow.
"As expected of Lee Han. So decisive. Still, please hold back a bit. We don't know what might happen inside."
Kim Tae-hyun followed behind me with a warning, crossing immediately after.
"Still, leaving all this gold behind feels like such a waste."
"Uncle, the rewards we'll get make this gold look like nothing. Focus on surviving to the end. If you're that desperate, come back out and mine it later."
"That works. Haha!"
Next came Cha Si-won and Park Sun-oh, passing through the door.
"This is gonna be fun!"
And finally, Lee Eun-joo.
With everyone now in the passageway...
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ You have entered 'King's Resting Place'. Thud! The massive door behind us slammed shut.
King's Resting Place.
Just as Kim Tae-hyun had said, it seemed like a tomb-themed dungeon.
The moment we entered, Kim Tae-hyun summoned various skeletons made from monsters on the floor.
Roughly fifty of them.
'The composition is noticeably stronger than what I saw in the Land of the Dead.'
He had leveled up quite a bit and wore what looked like high-grade robes, giving him reason to be confident.
A true undead legion. Yet the passageway was wide enough to accommodate them with room to spare.
"Si-won and my skeletons up front. Lee Han in the rear. The other two, stay in the middle with me. And hand your backpacks to my skeletons—they'll just get in the way of moving."
At Kim Tae-hyun's words—the unspoken leader—everyone formed up.
"Level 23 friend, your skeleton is unusual."
Park Sun-oh eyed my summoned Kkaebi with curiosity.
"Yes. It's a skeleton that can use skills."
They'd find out soon enough anyway—no need to hide it.
"Oh ho? Skills? How many of those can you summon?"
"Just this one, actually..."
Who is this guy to talk down to me like we're buddies?
Just like with Kim Tae-hyun, I kept Sia hidden.
"Just one? Tae-hyun has so many."
Is he begging me to make him into a skeleton? Sorry, no spots available for uncles.
I narrowed my eyes slightly.
"So, what's the problem?"
"Obviously there is one. How do you expect to fight with just a single summon? You're not even planning to fight yourself at Level 23."
Hadn't Kim Tae-hyun and I already settled the level talk before entering?
"You brought me along to lower the average level anyway. Do I really need to fight?"
I put on my thickest skin and pushed forward.
"What? You're openly admitting you want to bus?"
"You're the ones who put me on the bus."
"Huh? What kind of..."
Not liking my response, Park Sun-oh scowled.
"Enough, both of you. We're about to risk our lives here."
Kim Tae-hyun, standing next to Park Sun-oh, spoke up. Probably stepping in quick to prevent early division.
This wasn't an ordinary dungeon—it was a hidden one.
Even if I was just meat shielding, causing issues would endanger everyone, and he knew it.
"Hmph... Fine. Gotta listen to our leader. And Level 23 friend, just don't cause any trouble."
"Then let's get moving."
With things roughly settled, Kim Tae-hyun advanced his skeletons.
Ten minutes into the march.
No one spoke.
Not knowing what monsters might appear or how strong they'd be, everyone was tense.
"Something up ahead."
Cha Si-won at the front halted. All eyes turned to the darkness down the passage.
A figure slowly emerged.
"Just like the Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang."
Park Sun-oh was right.
Four of them.
Mud-formed humanoid monsters gripping iron swords, identical to the terracotta soldiers guarding the emperor's tomb.
"They look like they'd shatter with a poke. I'll take the first one."
Cha Si-won reached toward the empty air on her right.
Shockingly, her hand vanished from the elbow down in an instant.
'Subspace?'
Definitely a subspace.
A pocket dimension for storing items.
When she pulled her arm back, a massive greatsword with a silver blade gleamed in her grip.
"Wait. Si-won. Let my skeletons test them first."
Kim Tae-hyun grabbed Cha Si-won just as she was about to charge.
"Why? They seem like pushovers."
"We don't know how many more there are. Conserve your stamina."
Kim Tae-hyun was cautious.
"Fine. I'll watch, and jump in if they start losing."
Cha Si-won stepped back, and Kim Tae-hyun moved his skeletons forward.
Four clay terracotta soldiers versus fifty skeletons.
No idea how strong the soldiers were, but numerically overwhelming.
Like a white wave crashing in, the skeletons charged—each clutching bone weapons.
From massive skeletons to humanoid ones riding animal-form skeletons with bone spears.
A diverse array.
Bone weapons clashed against iron ones.
Clang! Boom! Clank!
Just how tough were these clay terracotta soldiers?
"They're ridiculously weak. Guess I got spooked for nothing."
Not made of mud for show, apparently.
As Cha Si-won said, the soldiers crumbled to dust the instant a skeleton weapon touched them.
"Probably Level 30s monsters. At this rate, my skeletons can push all the way to the boss."
Kim Tae-hyun nodded, a hint of confidence showing.
A conversation between Levels 41 and 45.
"Yeah. This seems easy. Is it because that guy's low level? Guess he's useful after all. Haha!"
Why are you, a Level 37 healer, butting in?
Park Sun-oh couldn't resist taking a jab at me, even in that brief gap.
Their words are all bullshit anyway.
"Just the beginning, idiots."
Unexpected.
Lee Eun-joo, who seemed a bit dim, was thinking the same as me.
"Idiots? You talking to me?"
Park Sun-oh furrowed his brow at being called an idiot by someone half his age.
"No."
"Good. Thought my ears were playing tricks."
"You're all idiots."
I like this girl, Lee Eun-joo.
"What! How dare a kid talk like that to an adult?!"
Regardless of Park Sun-oh's outburst, she just stared blankly at him.
Making him even madder.
As the mood soured...
"Eun-joo, calling strangers idiots is rude. And Park Sun-oh, please understand. As you can see, Eun-joo has a hard time with conversation."
Kim Tae-hyun hurriedly mediated.
But Lee Eun-joo tilted her head, puzzled.
"Why is it rude?"
"Because Park Sun-oh and the rest of us aren't idiots."
"Everyone except that guy is."
Unexpected again.
Her fingertip pointed at me—mere Level 23. Kim Tae-hyun glanced at me, then back at her.
"You mean Lee Han isn't an idiot?"
"What's the difference between us and him?"
"That guy wasn't happy."
What is with this girl?
Has she been observing me the whole time?
All eyes turned to me now, as if asking if I knew what she meant.
It was nothing special.
Just that hidden dungeon info hadn't spread much yet—they simply didn't know.
"Hidden dungeons don't have just one monster type. And there are traps."
Hidden dungeons combined boss and trap dungeons. The key difference: unlike others, monsters varied wildly.
"What do you mean? So besides clay terracotta soldiers, other monsters appear?"
Kim Tae-hyun's eyes widened slightly in surprise. Level 45 might make him superior to most, but new info threw him off.
"Yes. Stronger ones too."
Cha Si-won scowled at my words.
"Where'd you get that info? We had no idea."
At this point in time, hidden dungeon knowledge was scarce.
Simple reason.
Not that no one cleared them, but those who did withheld info on purpose.
'Human selfishness like this is why we fell to the Demon Realm faster.'
They wanted others to die first, hoping a hidden dungeon chance would come their way eventually.
So rumors floated like urban legends: strong monsters, matching rewards.
"Someone I know cleared a hidden dungeon."
The safest answer. Of course, that someone was me.
"Someone you know?"
"Then why speak up now? You should've said before we entered."
Cha Si-won glared.
As if I'd tricked them into this.
"Even if you knew, you still would've come in, right?"
"Th-that's..."
She stuttered at my blunt fact.
"And isn't it weird you charged in blind? Even Eun-joo seems to know."
The three instantly looked inferior to Eun-joo, faces flushing red.
They'd clearly been subtly dismissing her.
Otherwise, no reason for embarrassment.
"Yeah. Idiots."
Eun-joo chimed in obliviously.
And spilled even more info I hadn't planned to share.
"I know everything! Hidden dungeon bosses talk! Didn't know that, huh?"
Hidden dungeon bosses had intelligence. They could converse with humans.
"They talk?"
Kim Tae-hyun stared at Eun-joo in shock.
"Yeah! Cool, right!"
Did she have someone around who'd cleared a hidden dungeon?
Otherwise, how'd she know such obscure stuff?
"Amazing. Who knew hidden dungeons were like this. Si-won, you'll need to conserve even more stamina."
Kim Tae-hyun quickly adapted.
"Guess so. Stronger monsters ahead."
"Yes. Let's advance again."
Thanks to Eun-joo, we had a minor hiccup but pressed on.
Clay terracotta soldiers greeted us steadily along the way.
But overwhelmed by skeleton numbers and their low levels, they vanished without harming us.
How much time passed?
"This can't be real."
Amid endless clay soldiers, Park Sun-oh voiced doubt.
"Just clay terracotta soldiers over and over?"
He whipped around, glaring at me in the rear.
This guy. Why always picking on me?
"They'll come soon enough."
What would I gain from lying?
"Soon enough? That's awfully casual of you."
Park Sun-oh halted abruptly.
"You're being casual too. Don't you realize how you're talking?"
His face flushed beet red in an instant.
Personally, I'd love to swing a fist or two.
He's grating—needs some education.
"You little brat."
Park Sun-oh glared murderously and stepped toward me.
Good.
Come closer.
But my hopes were dashed.
"Enough already!"
Boom!
Cha Si-won, fed up, slammed her greatsword into the ground.
"What's your problem?!"
What's our problem? You really asking?
"That uncle started picking fights first."
It always began with Park Sun-oh.
"That's 'cause you're not doing jack!"
He yelled back.
"Only me? Everyone except Tae-hyun's skeletons is just walking."
"We're conserving stamina and mana for strong monsters!"
"What about me? Shouldn't I conserve too?"
"A measly Level 23 conserving what? Can you even kill one terracotta soldier? They're Level 30s, yeah?"
Eventually, for the boss fight and reward split, I'd need to show some power.
'How much?'
"What if I do kill one?"
I asked boldly. He blinked, flustered.
"Huh? What do you mean? A terracotta soldier?"
"Ha? If you actually kill one..."
"Then?"
"Uh, fine. I won't say a word to you ever again."
'Unbelievable.'
So brazen, I almost nodded along.
Treating silence like a grand favor, after constant jabs as baseline.
This world had far too many useless things for the war against the Demon Realm.