Precious Gem
Precious Gem
"Haah..."
Est swept his gaze across the front with a jaded expression.
The temporary designation for this dungeon was Clear Mirror. It was supposed to be a restricted-access dungeon, but they had certainly named it well.
The entire place was filled with mirrors.
The floor, the ceiling, the pillars connecting them, and the ground that sometimes rose like mountain ranges—much of it was made of clear mirrors.
There were sections that weren't mirrors, but with countless reflections bouncing between them, it was enough to make his eyes sting.
'Tsk.'
If only it ended with stinging eyes. Est clicked his tongue as he stared at the shapes writhing through the mirrors.
Monsters were crawling out one after another, forcing their way through the countless mirrors.
- Additional monster emergence. Estimated 3rd-wave entities: 12,813
- 5th-Rank or higher individuals: 31. 4th-Rank individuals: 6.
A voice relayed the numbers directly into his mind.
In a single moment, an estimated ten thousand monsters had crawled out. Since the spawning ground was a Grade 1 Dungeon, the average rank was high too. Among them, over thirty were 5th-Rank or higher, and six were 4th-Rank.
'If this spilled outside, it's a force that could easily wipe out several cities.'
A force of that magnitude was crawling out in the span of a few breaths. Est was newly appalled by the sheer depth of the dungeon's power.
Even dungeons had limits to their power, so they prioritized and concentrated.
Some focused on environmental traps and composition, while others deliberately increased monster spawn rates.
This place had mastered both.
- Another trap.
The moment the signal came through, Est swung his staff.
Kwagagang! The mana projectile he had prepared exploded against a mirror on the floor. Shards of flying mirror embedded themselves in the empty air.
- ──!?
An invisible hand with mirror shards stuck in it convulsed. After smashing a few more mana projectiles into it, the invisible hand crumbled.
Those invisible hands snatched intruders and dragged them into the mirrors.
A single one was easy enough to escape, but when dozens latched onto your whole body, escaping was incredibly difficult.
Their presence blended with the mirrors, making them nearly impossible to detect in this place, and the mirrors themselves were too irritatingly sturdy to simply smash them all.
Every time they set up a temporary base, smashing the surrounding mirrors was a chore in itself.
And on top of that, the things were also spawners that endlessly churned out monsters...
'Entering this kind of dungeon with only four people.'
No matter how high a superhuman's skill, there were limits to stamina. Marching through a dungeon of this scale would deplete your energy as routinely as eating meals.
It was an act of sheer recklessness.
To put it bluntly, it was a suicide squad.
"......."
Now his thoughts had shifted slightly.
Est swept his gaze forward as he channeled mana into his staff.
He saw an army of undead blocking the monsters that had been surging in like a tidal wave.
Dead bodies and half-formed souls.
Undead formed from those two typically had poor physical abilities on average, which meant they were usually easily shattered by even light attacks.
- Kirieeek!
These undead were different.
An undead that had let an attack land on its large forepaw opened its jaws wide. Letting out a roar that leaked air, it bit down on the forepaw in turn and held on.
Uncharacteristically for undead, they were tough and tenacious.
They could withstand a fair amount of attacks. Even if they were damaged, they recovered, or they patched together broken parts among themselves and continued fighting.
And a few undead, in particular, were on a different level entirely.
- Seogeok!
A monster's head dropped to the floor as it tried to pry off the undead that was biting onto its forepaw.
Chwaak! An undead with a sword grafted in place of its forearm rolled its three pairs of eyes. Moments later it found an opening and plunged into the monsters.
While most of the undead struggled to maintain the frontline, these specially crafted undead were the ones plunging into the enemy ranks and killing monsters.
The fallen monsters were swallowed by the earth, their graves dug into the ground, only to rise again as undead.
'Taesan's undead.'
A unique ability that there wasn't a single person in the world who didn't know. He knew well how terrifying Taesan-spawned undead were.
'The rumor that Lee Ha-yul wielded not only the Calamity Flame but also Taesan. Obviously I dismissed it as nonsense, and yet it was true.'
It was beyond shocking. Even now it didn't feel real.
Around the time that thought crossed his mind, the mana had gathered. Est raised his staff.
"──, ─, ─, ─"
Thanks to the secure rear line, he had enough breathing room to add a short incantation.
- Casting spell. Guiding toward indicated direction.
Following the sound transmission that slotted into his mind as if it already knew, he turned his gaze to the side. The undead weren't the only things holding the frontline.
- Boom! Boom! Boom!
A massive frame densely filled his vision. A house-sized golem drew its arm back. Kwareureu! Mana jetted from between its armor plates, accelerating its fist.
- Kwagang!
The ground heaved. The monsters caught between the ground and the fist were gruesomely crumpled. The golem threw another punch.
A monster with its upper body grotesquely caved in toppled backward. Other monsters lunged. Claws dripping with murderous menace slashed at its throat.
- Kkigigiik...!
The claws wreathed in mana were worn down. Against the armor crafted from 'Taesan', all they managed to carve was a faint scratch, and even that was restored in an instant.
The golem opened its fist.
A formula for a mana strike had appeared in its palm and manifested.
- Chajajajak!
Pure-white slashes scattered wildly. The monsters ahead were diced into dozens of pieces. The shower of fragments was swallowed by mounds of earth.
The ground heaved briefly, and then pillars of rock shot up from another battlefield.
From within the crumbling pillars, undead haphazardly pieced together rose to their feet.
"......."
Kwaggagang! After casting a spell to assist the faltering frontline, Est's expression became profoundly sour.
The frontline was holding. No, they were pressing forward and advancing.
Even this alone was astonishing, but this wasn't the full extent of it.
- Kreuk?
The undead and the golems halted their advance. Then, as a single body, they pulled the line back slightly.
The surging momentum stopped.
At that opening, the monsters that had been staggering kindled fierce mana, and in that moment the world sparkled with vivid colors.
"......."
Est, who had been slowly preparing a spell, broke out in a cold sweat at the outrageous amount of attribute power spreading from the rear.
The firepower division of this legion.
- One volley, fire!
Terramor, clad in rock armor, stamped its legs. Boom! In time with the signal, attribute power left the spirits' mouths and hands.
The world flashed with gaudy color. Since this place was already filled with mirrors, the colors spread wider and deeper.
- Kwaaaa—ang!
In contrast to that description, the aftermath was murderous.
A dizzying explosion that overturned the earth and ripped at the eardrums. Nothing remained where the five-colored light had scattered.
The monsters, the mirrors, had all been obliterated; it was hard to even find fragments.
At that tremendous output, the corners of Est's mouth twitched.
'If that had been aimed this way...'
It wouldn't have ended with mere injuries. Even if he stacked magical defenses, he had no confidence he could block it.
Est steadied his trembling legs and subtly shifted his gaze.
The hundreds of spirits arrayed in the rear. His eyes met one of them.
Its vertical, menacing mana gleam flashed. Its closed muzzle parted slightly. Thick, protruding fangs were visible.
- Kereureu...
At the reaction that clearly conveyed displeasure, he hastily turned his head back.
'How ferocious...'
Distinctly, at the beginning, most of them had been animals of a modest size. But once they had entered combat, they had transformed into house-sized beasts.
"Est."
"What is it?"
Yang Yi-hwa approached his side. When Est gave him his attention, Yang Yi-hwa, with a sour expression, subtly indicated behind them with his spear shaft.
"Are all those things upper spirits?"
"...Wouldn't they have to be?"
"Then what about that humanoid spirit?"
Seubata, who had joined them at some point, asked.
One earth spirit, stuck right beside Lee Ha-yul, leading the other spirits.
The difference was that, amidst house-sized beasts, it was maintaining a human form.
"What's that one, some kind of highest-ranking spirit?"
"There's no such thing as a highest-ranking spirit... not as far as I know..."
Est had no talent for spirit arts.
Nor did the sword-fighter Seubata or spear-wielder Yang Yi-hwa. Est, who had at least studied magic, had a bit of knowledge about spirit arts, but...
"I don't know either. So stop asking."
He didn't understand the spirits Lee Ha-yul commanded.
It was a well-known fact that upper spirits were humanoid.
So was only the earth spirit an upper one, while the rest were mid-level?
But the power they displayed was too strong for them to be called mid-level. They were vastly stronger than any mid-level spirit 'trash' he had ever encountered.
And the upper earth spirit was even more extreme.
It was now their second day since entering the dungeon. So far they had faced a 3rd-Rank monster twice.
That was when the Tool Trio had finally earned their keep.
While Lee Ha-yul's army mopped up the monsters, they had handled the 3rd-Rank monsters.
In that process, that upper earth spirit... Terramor had also contributed its strength.
'Where else is there a spirit that trades blows with a 3rd-Rank monster?'
Right here.
It wasn't to the point of crushing them one-on-one, but how much had he suppressed his shock when he saw it meaningfully suppress and bind a 3rd-Rank monster?
'Monsters.'
He wasn't referring to the Taesan undead.
He wasn't referring to the golems with abnormal performance.
He wasn't referring to the strangely powerful spirits.
The one who newly held their leash, Lee Ha-yul, was the preposterous monster.
Necromancy. Spirit arts. Mass operation of magic and familiars.
'Is this possible for a single person?'
It wasn't at some measly level.
Each individual one was a skill that lightly surpassed mastery and was incomprehensible.
And on top of that, even while operating such a massive army for over a day, he showed no sign of mana exhaustion.
'He's absorbing the dungeon's mana...'
Impossible.
Or so said common sense.
Lee Ha-yul was calmly fluttering his wings, claiming the mana of the entire region—saturated with the dungeon's innate talent—as his own.
It was a belated realization.
Est already knew what kind of monster Lee Ha-yul was from the Reverse Side.
A monster equal to the one coiled around Hong Yeon-jun, or perhaps even more dangerous.
'That should have been his personal martial force though...'
His anti-army combat capabilities were unbelievable too.
Lee Ha-yul didn't even need to step forward personally.
Just by unleashing the army he was currently operating, even if they fought an all-out war against most factions who carried themselves with their heads held high, he could mop them up.
An act of sheer recklessness. It hadn't been a suicide squad.
This was a march that Lee Ha-yul could naturally pull off.
In reality, even though the man himself had barely stepped forward, he was smoothly marching through a Grade 1 Dungeon with only his subordinate forces.
Est swallowed his saliva and nodded his head.
"We really did well not to pick a fight."
"......"
It was a sudden statement, but the nearby Seubata and Yang Yi-hwa inwardly agreed.
- Advancing 3rd-Rank individual confirmed approaching.
- Prepare for battle.
"Ah, fuck."
Even so, grappling with 3rd-Rank monsters one after another was exhausting work.
* * *
- King, how are your mana levels?
The three tools had begun their brawl with the newly appeared 3rd-Rank monster.
Terramor, who had been observing them by my side, asked.
- Mm, I'm fine.
- Perhaps it is time you took a rest...
- It's not at the worrying stage yet.
Even while never taking its attention off commanding the spirits, the gaze it always directed toward me was full of worry.
It was probably because we'd continued the march nonstop since yesterday.
'A day or so is nothing.'
I shrugged. Chwaak! The Sky Wing Feather equipped on the clone and the Wheel of Foolish Righteousness shot upward.
Mana clung to the fully spread wings and the branches.
Mana saturated with the dungeon's innate talent. A type of mana that wasn't my own.
Normally, forcibly sucking this in would twist your circuits and ruin your core... but I could simply filter out the impurities and accumulate the rest.
'I'd graduated from mana problems long ago, so this is nice.'
It's nice not having to worry about mana exhaustion, even while leading a huge army alone like now.
And in places abundant with mana, like a Grade 1 Dungeon, there's even less worry about my mana running dry.
- Even so...
- Thanks for worrying. I'm regulating it, and it's better to finish this quickly, right?
I smiled at Terramor, who still couldn't shake off its worry, and tapped the floor with my purification weapon.
The observation that spread out from the clone swept across the vast dungeon.
Discarding unnecessary information and gathering what I needed, I found the way.
- Zzirit!
The signal my head sent. Interpreting the observed information, I smiled faintly.
'We'll arrive in just a few more days.'
A place far away. The heart of a crystal as huge as a mountain.
A jewel scattering blue light had been observed.
- Kwang! Kwaggagang! Boom! Kwadeudeuk...! Kuguugung!
The ground heaved. I caressed the purification weapon as I observed the 3rd-Rank monster that was still alive and rampaging.
- ...You're taking too long to subjugate it.
"I'm giving it! My all...! Damn it!"
Est, who had at least been pouring out arrows from the rear, shouted through gritted teeth.