Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: How the Rank 1 Hero Saves the World
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“Ah, the Hunter Store or our government-affiliated hunters—when you look at it broadly, we’re all under the ‘Hunter Industry Promotion Agency,’ so it’s not really going undercover or anything. It happens sometimes. You have to run around in the field, and afterward, you’ve got to submit paperwork on potion usage and all that. When I just want to forget about it all, I drop by another department.”
That was the first time I’d learned the Hunter Store was a government-run public corporation, thanks to Lee Seon’s explanation. Once I finish clearing this dungeon and get out, I should look into more details about Korea.
That aside, though.
Seeing a woman grinning at me with a bloodied face somehow made all the tension drain out of me.
“So…… you just happened to run into me.”
“There were tons of customers that day, and suddenly they said the newbie wasn’t picking up. I’ve got emotion skills myself, you know. So I said I’d fill in.”
Did that mean I’d run into the Rank 4 and 5 hunters on the same day?
Was this a coincidence?
I stared into empty space for a moment. The sky stayed clear blue—no system messages popped up.
“But seriously, big-shot hunter…… er, Hunter, how did you end up here? It’s weird. When I entered, it said there was a personnel limit.”
I barely managed to pull my drifting thoughts back at Lee Seon’s question.
Right, this wasn’t the time for that. There was too much to do. I nodded toward the iron-barred door she was holding onto.
“I’m here to help out. Open the door first. I’ll come in.”
“Huh, help out?”
Lee Seon looked baffled but stepped back to let me open the door.
I grabbed the handle and pulled the iron gate open.
Kiiiiiik.
It let out a creepy screech, probably rusted from years of disuse.
“I brought potions too, so here—take them. Treat your wounds first.”
“Oh, this? It’s fine, it’s nothing. I just left it like that. In a situation like this, we need to save potions.”
“Even a tiny scratch can get infected if you leave it. Treat it first, and……”
“That’s not the issue right now.”
Lee Seon nodded toward one direction, gesturing for me to look. I turned my head that way.
Beyond the high walls and barred gate, the castle interior was a garden overgrown with tall, wild grass.
It must have once been a well-kept garden, but now not even traces of that remained.
In the middle of that garden, over a dozen people lay neatly lined up in a row.
The only difference from hospital patients was that they were on the ground.
A closer look showed they weren’t directly on the bare dirt—they’d gathered scraps of cloth and leaves here and there to block the chill from the ground.
The most striking thing was the needles stuck into various parts of their bodies…… and even some with moxibustion burning on them.
What the hell…… But before I could say anything, Lee Seon waved her hands frantically.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. We used up all the potions we had, but they showed no sign of waking, so we figured we’d try this at least. Doesn’t seem to have any effect, though.”
“……Why are they like this?”
“They were fine at first, when we entered the dungeon.”
Lee Seon’s face grew bitter as she explained.
“Of course, the clear condition changed to ‘extermination,’ and the dungeon environment totally shifted, but the monsters in that initial field weren’t a big deal. I could handle them.”
No surprise there—Lee Seon was Rank 4, one of Korea’s most experienced dungeon clearers.
That explained why there were no monsters in the field. She’d already taken care of them.
“But no matter how much we searched, no more field monsters appeared, and the clear wouldn’t trigger. So we came into the castle.”
As she spoke, Lee Seon knelt beside the youngest-looking hunter and placed a hand on their forehead to check for fever.
Worry was plain on her face.
It might look ridiculous—the acupuncture, the moxibustion—but it was probably just desperate thrashing about, trying anything.
Even now, she was admitting it was useless, yet she started trickling the potion I’d given her into the unconscious hunter’s mouth.
“You probably saw it coming in too, Hunter…… Oh, what’s your name?”
“……Kang Ye-na.”
“You know this already, Ye-na, but once you enter the castle field, ghosts start appearing in the outer areas. But those ghosts……”
“Yeah, they’re not monsters. No way they all fainted from getting spooked by ghosts, right?”
“I was startled too, but I used movement magic to dodge right away.”
Why couldn’t I learn magic……
Lee Seon continued.
“But that might’ve been a mistake. Since this inner castle was visible, we headed here…… At first, we formed teams to search the castle for monsters.”
“No way—there weren’t any?”
“Anywhere.”
Hearing that, I looked up at the massive castle.
It was utterly still, like nothing alive could possibly be inside.
As if we were in some long-sealed tomb.
“So no monsters, but why are they all like this……?”
“I don’t know either.”
Lee Seon’s face darkened as she said it.
“It started with one person on night watch wandering into the castle like they were entranced. I only looked away for a second…… and found them collapsed inside. No matter how much we warned everyone, it kept happening. One even went missing, and we couldn’t find them……”
“Hold on.”
Something felt off in her explanation, so I raised a hand. Lee Seon looked at me curiously.
“What’s wrong?”
“Night watch? When exactly?”
As far as I knew, the dungeon’s anomaly had been discovered today. Kim Suk-ja had said so, and Lee Seon entering with a bunch of hunters couldn’t have been that long ago.
Lee Seon gave a dry laugh and pointed at the ground.
There were sword-like scratches on the floor. A tally: one, two…… three, but short one mark.
“Looks like time flows differently inside and outside the dungeon. We’ve already been here two weeks.”
I was at a loss for words.
High-rank dungeons could take a long time to clear, sure. And dungeons were separate worlds where time flowed differently—I’d experienced that a few times.
But to enter unprepared like this and shoulder the responsibility of protecting nineteen inexperienced newbie hunters alone for two weeks……
The mental strain must’ve been immense already, and then ghosts appear if you step outside the castle, and the people you’re guarding collapse for no reason with no way to wake them.
I looked at the wound on Lee Seon’s head. No monsters had appeared, no infighting among the hunters.
That left only one person who could’ve made that wound.
Herself.
Come to think of it, even with all her experience, Lee Seon hadn’t noticed the ‘personnel limit’ condition change midway.
Despite that smile, she’d probably bashed her own head to stay sharp.
How desperate must she have felt?
I didn’t know what to say……
Lacking eloquence, all I managed was one line.
“……You’ve been through a lot.”
Lee Seon grinned at that.
“It’s nothing.”
Her reply was just as short. But even so, the weight of what she’d endured came through heavy.
Lee Seon clapped once, as if to lighten the mood.
“Alright, that’s the rundown here. Now I want to hear your story, Ye-na. How’d you get in?”
I gave her a rough explanation.
She lit up at the news of the newbie who’d escaped via hidden clear, then looked surprised at how I’d entered.
“Yeoul, huh. We’d half-given up on her since she went missing, so that’s a relief. And your entry…… Professor Suk-ja must’ve really trusted you.”
“She believed what I said—that the most threatening monster to the highest-achieving entrant or strongest hunter has a high chance of spawning.”
Lee Seon nodded.
“You’re the one who first said it, Ye-na, but everyone probably sensed it vaguely. Me too. There aren’t many survivors from sudden dungeons, so we haven’t studied the data, but……”
She trailed off, tilting her head. Her gaze swept over the gloomy castle.
Two weeks trapped here, yet her eyes still burned with life. The eyes that met mine held not despair, but fierce determination to break through this.
“But this time, no proper monsters have appeared at all. After I was left alone, I explored the castle over and over for clues, but nothing……”
“No, this is enough.”
At first, with no monsters showing up right away, I’d been thrown off by the unfamiliar pattern. But hearing her out, I had a hunch.
First, a hunter who came out of the hidden clear, dazed and silent. Then, one by one, others wandering into the castle like they were charmed when eyes were off them.
They were found unconscious inside, but when Lee Seon checked, no monster traces.
The dungeon must’ve been tailored to the strongest, Lee Seon—a tricky one for a mage. Considering how dungeons form the hardest clear conditions for the player……
If Lee Woo-yeon had come instead of me, it might’ve been a total wipe.
I organized my thoughts and asked Lee Seon.
“Before that, one thing to check first. Has the system given any messages about assigning ‘positions’? Probably something like siege attackers or defenders.”
“Hm? No, haven’t seen anything like that.”
So the ‘position’ prompt only triggers if you physically attack the castle.
Makes sense—she had to protect the hunters, so she stayed cautious and didn’t move rashly.
She probably hadn’t tested damaging things inside the dungeon, not knowing what it might cause.
In this case, that ‘caution’ had chained her, leaving no clues…… but it also meant she still had a chance to pick a position. Positive, at least.
As I stayed silent, Lee Seon grew impatient.
“Um, if you’ve got a clue, could you tell me quick? They’ve been down a while—they need treatment ASAP……”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
I drew the Apex Light Sword and aimed it at one of the hunters lying on the ground.
The blade gleamed sharply.
“We need to take them out fast to save as many as possible.”
Lee Seon’s eyes widened in shock at my sword.
“W-Wait, Ye-na! What are you……?”
She scrambled for the long staff she’d tossed on the ground to stop me, then froze at what happened next.
- The Apex Light Sword reacts to your will and evolves into a holy sword!
The dazzling white blade was instantly engulfed by black energy rising from the downed hunter’s body.
Like black smoke, it surged up, wrapping the blade and creeping toward my hand on the hilt—but I shook it off, scattering the smoke.
It dispersed weakly into the air and vanished.
In the clear sunlight, the system messages I’d been waiting for appeared.
- The Apex Light Sword has detected the ‘Grievous Memory.’
- Angelus’s Blessing has defended against the ‘curse.’
Just as I thought.
I turned to Lee Seon, who stared in shock.
Our eyes met, hers trembling.
She couldn’t see my system messages, but she’d definitely seen that black energy.
“That was……”
“Yeah, a curse.”
I looked up at the massive, dilapidated, abandoned castle.
Once proud long ago, it had long crumbled into ruins.
Yet something still lingered alive inside.
“They touched something in the castle they ‘shouldn’t have.’”
Yes, like a princess pricked by a spindle and fallen asleep.
- You have until the sixth morning. Remaining time granted.
- 00:20:34