Chapter 193
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 193
Chapter Title: The Imperial Guard
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Shrieeeek! Shrieeek!!!
The distant cries of harpies announced the dawn at Garai's forward base. Moments later, Garai, who had been resting on his throne, cracked open his heavy-lidded eyes.
"Another quiet night, huh."
His voice dripped with boredom as he fully opened his eyes.
With the number of worker monsters under his command steadily increasing, his forward base was coming together rapidly. But today, like the days before, there had been no provocations from the humans. In fact, no one had entered the dungeon since that incident.
Considering the decades-long war with humans, this was a somewhat unexpected turn for Garai.
'Guess those human heroes we crushed a few days ago held pretty high positions.'
The women bearing the tricolor flag of blue, white, and red on their chests had undoubtedly possessed exceptional skills.
Moreover, the rampage of Bycon, allied with the Garuda he served, seemed to be putting significant pressure on the humans. Otherwise, the dungeon wouldn't be this eerily silent.
Without a doubt, skilled humans would have stormed his dungeon daily.
"Well, aside from the boredom..."
Things were progressing smoothly enough.
Once his forward base was complete and the magic circle activated, Garuda's loyal minions could break through this prison-like world and emerge into the human realm.
Their goal was to expand the Void Lands into the human world and activate more provisional dungeon magic circles.
In other words, to corrupt the mana in the human realm to match the quality of the Void world. Then, he and the other Twelve Calamities, including Garuda, could manifest in the human world with their full power, unbound by the dungeon prison.
'That should finally end this long war.'
And the glory of victory would undoubtedly go to Garuda and the birdfolk.
"Still, I'd love a taste of action. Should've taken a hostage back then."
Garai recalled the human hero he had violated a few days ago.
Among mana users, they were a skilled bunch. And the one he'd claimed was their leader.
Watching their leader get defiled had been amusing—their faces twisted in a mix of panic and despair.
"Hnn..."
Remembering the human hero's corruption by the Void's mana sent a familiar heat surging through his loins. She was probably out wandering, hunting monsters by now.
"Wish she'd come to my dungeon."
But cut off from the human world, he had no way of knowing what his corrupted human was up to.
Either way, there was nothing in this forward base for Garai to sate himself with.
There were female harpies, but regular monsters without names couldn't handle his power. They'd die the instant he thrust into them, overwhelmed by the mana.
Tsk.
To suppress his urges, Garai clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly.
He wouldn't be trapped in this dungeon much longer anyway. In five days, when Baranoras's forward base was complete and the Void Lands spread into the human world, he'd be free to emerge as well.
"Hope another human raid shows up before then."
This time, he wouldn't let them escape so easily.
He'd fuck them senseless until he could manifest in their world. And as Garuda's right-hand man, he had the ability to do just that.
But Garai couldn't even imagine that there were those targeting him specifically.
"Finally...!"
Staring at the blue-grade Mental Crystal before him, Minguk clenched his fist tight.
His Hero Pad vibrated intensely. Absorbing this mana crystal would push him to 7-stars, it announced. Not just the pad's alert—Minguk could feel it too.
The moment he absorbed the Mental Crystal, sparks of mana erupted across his body, signaling the start of his star-rank ascension.
"Whoa... You actually did it."
"Isn't this a new record? How many days did it take to go from 6-stars to 7-stars?"
The Imperial Guard members watched in awe, unable to hide their surprise.
Even they, who had promised to bus him, had been half-doubting. Especially since the passenger was the raid leader. They weren't sure they could even pull it off properly.
But as expected of the century's genius hero, Minguk's leadership showed no shortcomings. If anything, he seemed to lead better than their former raid leader, Celes.
"Took exactly six days. Even with us busing you..."
"Honestly, considering the raid leader was Han Minguk, it was like a bus with three wheels missing. The driver had to follow the passenger's orders, right?"
"Either way, his leading skills are insane. How is that guy only a second-year hero?"
"Didn't you hear the dealer leader muttering? Said he might be on his second life?"
"...That actually makes sense."
As Minguk's star-rank ascension began, the Imperial Guard heroes chatted among themselves.
Regardless of how it happened, they now had hope of avenging Celes, whom their former raid leader had been corrupted by that bird-headed monster.
The mana lightning crackled loudly before suddenly going still. Minguk's ascension was complete.
"Congrats—you're a 7-star hero now."
Chloe smiled at him.
His appearance hadn't changed, but to her eyes, Minguk radiated an overwhelmingly fiercer aura.
"A male hero hitting 7-stars... Guinness Book material."
"Haha, still a long way to go. Just 7-stars now. Road's ahead."
"True... You're the only male hero who'd say that. Anyway, gear's all set. Not 999 score, but we've hit 970."
Three pieces were sponsored by the Vietnamese government and Hero Association.
They'd shelled out a fortune for hero gear, but from their perspective, it was unavoidable. Failing to contain Hoa Binh's spread meant the end of their nation.
"Straight to Hoa Binh, then. Time's tight, right?"
"About four days. Not short, but no room for slacking."
Excluding Garai, the dungeon's monsters were 8-grade level, comparable to those in 【A-1】 to 【A-4】 dungeons.
Considering the Imperial Guard's raid was about a week ago, those monsters had surely respawned via the dungeon's power.
Minguk nodded at Chloe, then turned to the Imperial Guard heroes.
"Alright, let's go avenge our former raid leader. Hit 'em hard and fast."
"Former raid leader? So Han Minguk's taking command of the Imperial Guard from now on?"
Bridget teased, and cheers erupted from all around.
"Hey, that doesn't sound bad."
"Bridget, Celes-unnie's gonna chew you out. You know she's in Hoa Binh right now, right?"
Everyone was buzzing with excitement at the prospect of retaking the dungeon from the bird-headed monster that had defeated them before.
"If you can just take down the monster... Vietnam will never forget this debt."
Word of Minguk and the Imperial Guard's readiness reached the Vietnamese government and Hero Association immediately. Escort fighters and planes were already at the airport, ready to depart once the heroes boarded.
'Not bad specs.'
The gear from the Vietnamese government was solid mid-to-high tier.
Not soulbound, but still decent quality—they must've gone through hell sourcing it.
As Minguk soulbound his gear, the Imperial Guard heroes bustled about.
Repairing equipment broken in the Thai dungeon raid, while briefing Minguk on Garai based on their memories of the fight.
"One thing's for sure—watch out for the dive attacks."
"Yeah, even Celes got hit by that. It closed the distance in an instant from pretty far away."
"Unavoidable?"
Minguk asked Bridget. If so, he'd have to save his shield skill. But she shook her head.
"Nah, not quite. Chloe-senior and I dodged it."
"Still, prep for worst-case. Other patterns?"
"Oh! The feather barrage all around?"
"Damn... That was pure trash."
Dian, the sub-tank, grimaced at the memory, clearly not wanting to relive it.
It had evidently given the Imperial Guard hell. And her next words were a shock.
"Couldn't break through it, kept wiping. No class could get close to the monster."
"Couldn't approach?"
Minguk blinked.
So ranged dealers attack while others endure? Thoughts raced through his mind.
"Yeah. Tank or dealer, approach and feathers rained down. Even with hero bursts and healers spamming, couldn't survive."
"Hmm..."
Minguk nodded thoughtfully.
Given the Guard's specs, tanks and melee dealers couldn't approach during the feather rain.
"What about Garai? Did it move?"
"Not really. But it'd hurl the scattered feathers at the main tank holding aggro."
"Damage?"
"Manageable."
"But if main tank approaches, feathers swarm and kill it?"
"Pretty much."
Listening to the Imperial Guard, Minguk pieced together tactics against Garai.
Normally learned through trial-and-error deaths, but luckily, they'd attempted it enough times to recall plenty of patterns. They even knew some solutions already.
This saved Minguk tons of planning time. Real fights would still have errors, though...
"Key point: Garai might dig pits like last time."
"We know. Won't fall for it again."
"If grabbed, we'll end ourselves. Don't worry."
It sounded brutal, but a quick death beat corruption by the darkness.
If anyone fell here, Vietnam was done. No time left to prepare. With final checks complete, Minguk and the Imperial Guard headed for Garai's dungeon.
"Oh, and like I said—class stones from loot boxes are mine, right?"
"Don't sweat it. Kill that thing, and the whole box is yours."
Chloe playfully smacked his back at the random comment. With lives on the line, loot was trivial.
'Checking that box'll sting a bit.'
Of course, Chloe had no clue Garai's box held a Legendary class stone Yggdrasil and a Diamond Ticket for gear choice.
"And after the clear, set up a meet with Celes-raider leader. Don't forget."
To restore her from Garai's corruption, he'd need to connect with Celes too.
Come to think of it...
An ominous feeling hit him—this job would leave him drained.