Chapter 120
Chapter 120
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: Greedy Dragon Aranbalon (1)
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“Everyone... I’m sorry for not joining the fight until now. I was watching the situation out there. You know, where Olivia and James went.”
Kapu shook his arms, his hands twisting this way and that.
In response, the hologram danced freely in the air.
It was like watching a special effect from a sci-fi movie.
But.
“Damn it, we don’t have time for that right now!”
The middle-aged man shouted with a pale face.
“Wh-what? Mister! Fall back! It’s dangerous!”
“Vladimir! Can’t you hurry up with that skill? They keep sticking to us!”
“Hey, quit whining. I’ve got cooldowns too, you know.”
It wasn’t just the middle-aged man.
Everyone clashing with the soldiers was in a frenzy.
Take your eyes off for even a second,
And a runaway train would barrel right into your face.
Who cared about news on Olivia or James?
But even so.
“At least watch this.”
Kapu was steadfast.
“It’s that shocking.”
“Yeah, fine, whatever! Just show it already!”
I didn’t scold Kapu.
If anything, I thought positively of him.
His unique ability was specialized in ‘guidance’ anyway.
It wasn’t much help in combat.
In dungeons, every little bit of info like this was worth its weight in gold.
‘When James bolted without a word earlier, that muttering while staring at his back was a tracking skill, huh.’
I had to acknowledge Kapu’s instincts.
Honestly, what happened just moments ago had left even me dumbfounded.
Boom! Bwoom!
Bolts kept firing.
The pain rattled my bones.
But I didn’t take my eyes off the streaming hologram footage.
Why?
A strange feeling came over me.
Like it held the info on the ‘dragon’ Eldrin had guessed at?
Whirr!
Finally, the tracking device activated.
Soon, video and audio began to flow.
It was footage from James’s perspective.
* * *
Thud thud thud!
“Hah, hah!”
Clutching the treasure, James kept running.
Harsh breaths burst from his mouth.
‘It’s fine.’
Pangs of conscience and guilt poked at his chest, but he ignored them.
Olivia sprinting ahead was just another woman anyway.
‘This is how the game works, right?’
Just like killing in Theme 1 was one of the rules.
Abandoning the team leader was just a new rule for Theme 2.
[Team members may select one ‘treasure’ at any time and escape Giant Castle.]
[Escaped team members pass Theme 2.]
‘Pass!’
If he could escape the theme and become a ranker, what couldn’t he do?
In James’s mind, the trials here weren’t about morality.
It was a game where survivors,
Winners passed. That was it.
The real world worked that way too.
Become a ranker here,
And no matter the process, he’d get the rewards.
VIP treatment worldwide.
Hunters looking at him with awe and respect.
Grind!
James gritted his teeth.
‘Yeah, it’ll work out.’
He ran without stopping.
If he glanced back, he’d see the judge window’s glaring eyes thrusting a spear.
How long did he run like that?
Flash!
James hurled himself at the white ‘door’.
The door out of Giant Castle.
The door granting ‘pass’ for his betrayal.
But.
“Huh?”
What appeared beyond the door
Wasn’t anything he could have imagined.
A scene even blacker than before, an even vaster hall.
And.
“Wh-what is that?”
Something enormous existed there.
Something unimaginably huge was glaring at him.
He’d thought his life as a high-rank hunter had exposed him to plenty of monsters.
He’d even imagined worst-case scenarios.
But at least,
Not like this.
“Gah!”
It did nothing.
Just looking at it
Made red blood pour from James’s mouth.
An overwhelming pressure beyond words!
“Crazy...!”
Before his eyes loomed a massive dragon filling the space.
Eyes fierce enough to chill the spine, claws dozens of times larger than his body.
In front of such a being, everyone was mere prey.
“Kyaaah! Gaaahhh!”
Even more.
The terrifying entity was brutally crushing Olivia, who’d entered first.
“Sp-spare me! Please, spare me!”
Her, pinned under its claw, thrashing and weeping.
Crimson blood pooled around her.
And then an unfamiliar voice reached James’s ears.
- Heh heh, foolish and greedy ones.
- Did you really think you could take my treasure and leave?
The dragon rumbled low.
Its gaze shifted from Olivia to James.
“Cr-crazy? This breaks the promise!”
James bellowed, eyes bulging.
“Take the treasure and pass! Where’s the examiner? Examiner! Let me out! I said let me out!”
- Tsk tsk, fool.
The giant being clicked its tongue.
Amusement laced the dragon’s voice.
- Still haven’t grasped the basics: greed invites disaster. You lack the qualifications to pass my trial, Aranbalon’s.
Whoosh!
The dragon’s claw moved toward James.
Squelch!
Too fast to dodge, it pulverized his lower body.
“G-gaaahhh!”
James screamed in agony.
The Aranbalon treasures he’d held were already dropped on the floor.
“Gaaah! Ack!”
What the hell.
What went wrong?
If this wasn’t the answer, did he have to endure those damn soldiers’ attacks by the team leader’s side?
“You bastards! What the hell is this? If you set conditions, stick to them! Toying with lives like this—where’s that even allowed?!”
- You blinded yourself, fool.
The dragon recited kindly.
- The condition was to find the ‘national treasure’ from the start. Not to ‘betray’.
“National treasure? What the hell is that?!”
- That’s why you’re crushed under my foot now.
The dragon’s lip curled.
- Soon, you won’t need to know the truth.
Crackle! Crackle!
Olivia and James’s heads burst simultaneously.
Whirr!
Unprecedented energy rose from the dragon’s body.
At the same time.
Ssssh!
Melting corpses and retrieved treasures.
- Heh heh heh.
The dragon hummed in delight.
- In this world, I alone must be the greediest.
* * *
Fizzle!
The hologram winked out.
James’s body melted, destroying the tracking device too.
“C-crazy?”
One companion shouted.
They’d all peeked amid the chaos.
“A dragon?”
“Y-yeah! It was a trap? A monster like that?”
“Huh? Then we really can’t leave without finding the ‘national treasure’?”
Whoosh!
An Aranbalon soldier swung its sword.
The judge window twisted its waist to dodge, then jammed a spear into its eye.
“See? Betrayal was the dead end.”
Clang!
The spear bounced off.
“So, what then?”
Olena asked, hurling a water ball at the rebound spot.
“There’s no exit! No time to find the ‘national treasure’! What more can we do?!”
“......”
“And honestly, no one even knows what the ‘national treasure’ is? Searching everywhere would take at least a year!”
She was right.
Not a word wrong.
“Shouldn’t we stop fighting soldiers and scatter to search?”
Olena said.
“No rule says we have to stick together. Someone might find it!”
Right again.
But.
“No.”
I spoke up.
“The trial can’t be like that.”
“Huh?”
“If it was, no one would’ve become rankers in Delaila’s trial—they’d all be dead.”
I gripped my shield tighter.
“Think about it. Objectively, even low-tier rankers would struggle here. Expect participants to endure that together? Then find the ‘national treasure’? Ridiculous.”
“So, what is it?”
“Hmm, just my guess.”
“Spit it out.”
“What if... we already found the national treasure?”
It hit me from the dragon’s words.
- The condition was to find the ‘national treasure’ from the start. Not to ‘betray’.
- In this world, I alone must be the greediest.
Greedy dragon, Aranbalon.
He doesn’t let greedy ones live.
Crushes them like Olivia and James.
Because he’s greedy himself.
He hates others being greedy.
“The national treasure’s already found? What is it?!”
Vladimir yelled.
“Well, you see.”
I scratched my head with my knuckles.
“Dragons hate greed, right? Or more like, they hate someone stealing the treasure they’ve hoarded in their lair.”
“Hm?”
“So the ‘national treasure’ isn’t a physical ‘treasure’. Maybe something more abstract?”
“What? Explain it plainly!”
Vladimir thumped his chest in frustration.
“Ah, remember the mission when Theme 2 started?”
“Mission? Yeah, it’s pinned.”
“Check it again.”
Vladimir frowned, rolling his eyes up.
The others followed suit, digging through menus like zombies.
[Mission arrives.]
[Stage: Treasure Hunt!]
[The 10 selected team members must ‘cooperate’ to find the ‘national treasure’ hidden in the central Giant Castle.]
“What’s this? We all know it!”
“Don’t you see the highlighted words?”
‘Cooperate’.
And ‘national treasure’.
I said it.
“The system said it from the start. The national treasure is cooperation itself. The dragon said it too. Our task is finding the national treasure, not betrayal. What if it’s this—fighting together right now?”
“......So the national treasure is us not running, loyalty or something?”
“If I’m right.”
If every ranker who passed here faced the same trial.
Seoul’s Five Stars must’ve bonded completely here too.
In the crisis moment.
Not abandoning, not betraying each other.
That camaraderie lasted after.
Clench!
I balled my fist.
I might be wrong.
But I trusted my gut.
My instinct, 100% right so far.
Halt!
Then.
As if answering me.
The bolts stopped flying.
“Wh-what? Why’d they freeze?”
“Suddenly stiff as statues?”
The sword-swinging soldiers froze like statues too.
And then.
[Congratulations!]
[The team leader has interpreted the meaning of the ‘national treasure’!]
[The Greedy Dragon, Aranbalon, smiles in satisfaction.]
The message was so spot-on it gave me chills.
My prediction was correct.
“Wow!”
“R-real?!”
“T-team leader? This real life?”
“Woooo! We lived! We lived!”
The team exploded in cheers.
But.
“Eldrin.”
Settling here wasn’t me.
“Yes, Master.”
“Come here a sec.”
At my call, Eldrin clacked over.
About five minutes.
I whispered something to her.
“Hey, team leader! You a real genius? How’d you figure it? Amazing. Hm? Why the serious face? Something wrong?”
Vladimir approached.
I nodded.
“Yeah. Everyone, wait here a bit.”
“Huh? Why? Isn’t it over?”
“It is, but... my challenge spirit just surged.”
“Challenge spirit?”
“I saw the dragon beyond. Can I just let it go?”