Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 060
Chapter Title: Dungeon Exploration (3)
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📜 EMERGENCY QUEST! 📜 A powerful pulse reaction has triggered a new erosion dungeon inside the dungeon scheduled for collapse! Due to cave-ins from the dungeon's emergence, several students are isolated! Coordinate with other security force members to safely rescue the students trapped inside!
Currently isolated students:
📍 Passage 1: Alexei Romanov, Shin Ji-gun
📍 Passage 3: Han Gyeoul, Kang Seung-hee, Ma Seok-do, Yoon Sung-won
📍 Passage 6: Park Jong-chan, Oh Do-won, Lee Ji-seok
📍 Passage 8: Kang Ha-neul
⏰ Warning: Han Gyeoul is a Green House reenrolled student and a 'major character' designated by the system. If Han Gyeoul dies, you will suffer a penalty leading to your own death!
⏰ Note: Penalties for other characters' deaths vary by their importance!
👁️ Position info for each student displayed in your field of vision!
<Rewards>
1. Guard Rate +7% (Current Guard Rate: 11%)
<Additional Rewards>
1. Cross of Cold Flames
2. Badge of the Frost Spirit
"Shit..."
I swallowed the curse that had slipped out naturally. I bit my lip as the system messages filled my vision.
'Yeah, fuck. No way that Blissful Heavenly Demon would go down quietly.'
How many times had disasters struck out of nowhere like this? My clenched fist trembled with the irritation and anger rising from below.
'Just how many are trapped? He's really out to screw me over.'
The isolated students numbered a quarter of the total group. Han Gyeoul was the only major character among them, but the others were supporting characters with their own significance. If the system's "importance" matched their weight in the original story, the penalties for their deaths couldn't be ignored.
Even elite superhuman students wouldn't drop dead easily from a cave-in, but that wasn't guaranteed. If the new dungeon was B-Rank or higher, not even first-year top-class students could relax.
'And besides...'
My eyes lingered on the bottom of the list of isolated students. Kang Ha-neul's name, alone in Passage 8.
"Damn it..."
I gazed at the passages from the dungeon entrance plaza where the students had entered. Thick dust poured from every single one without exception. In front of them sat the students who had barely escaped, while security force members rushed around frantically.
In the midst of the chaos, Special Countermeasures Team 9 Leader Marco Jackson shouted with an urgent expression.
"Enter each passage and rescue the students! Quickly identify those isolated beyond the cave-ins by group! Once done, evacuate all students safely outside, then begin full rescue operations! Move, move, move!"
"Leader Marco!"
He turned at my call. His eyes naturally scanned around me, searching for Jeong A-young, who should have been with me. She was a short distance away, urgently talking with General Division members.
"What is it, rookie? Something wrong?"
"I've identified all the isolated students. Should I report to you, sir?"
"What? How the hell did you figure that out already?"
Marco eyed me suspiciously.
It was a natural reaction. Only five minutes had passed since the incident. Students were still streaming out of the dungeon—how could anyone have identified the isolated ones so quickly without real-time tracking of every student's position?
But I had the quest list. Unless the system was lying—which it wouldn't be—the students listed were all of them, trapped beyond the blocked passages.
The key was convincing him. Fortunately, I had a plan.
"I used the ability stored in my talisman."
I removed my glove and showed him the talisman. His skeptical gaze widened in surprise.
"A talisman? This?"
"Yes. It's a talisman with detection abilities."
I lied without batting an eye. Only Min Chae-ryeong and Chae So-yeon in Special Countermeasures knew I had a talisman. Marco had no way of knowing if it held mana absorption or detection.
A nobody like me possessing an expensive talisman was odd enough, but Marco said nothing. He must have figured I had no reason to lie.
"Alright, good."
He sealed his lips, pondered briefly, then asked gravely.
"Students isolated by the cave-ins?"
"Passage 1: Alexei Romanov and Shin Ji-gun. Passage 3: Han Gyeoul, Kang Seung-hee, Ma Seok-do, Yoon Sung-won. Passage 6: Park Jong-chan, Oh Do-won, Lee Ji-seok. And Passage 8: Kang Ha-neul."
"That's all?"
"Yes. Definitely."
Marco eyed me dubiously at my confident answer. But the next moment, he chuckled, flashing white teeth against his dark skin.
"Makes sense. A subordinate of Min Chae-ryeong would have a trick or two above the rest. Fine! I'll trust you completely! Jeong A-young!!"
"Yes, sir!"
Jeong A-young came running at his call.
"The rookie's got the full list of isolated students, so we'll form rescue teams right away. Something feels off, so let's put our whole team on rescue. Leave site cleanup to the General Division."
"Sir. About that—I have something to report. From the comms liaison outside the dungeon."
Jeong A-young relayed the emergency notice from the Gate Management Bureau moments ago.
A new erosion dungeon had emerged inside, estimated A-Rank or higher. The recent earthquake was likely from its formation.
"...Holy shit."
Marco muttered under his breath as he listened.
"Got it. A real clusterfuck. One wrong move and we'll be bagging bodies today. Hey! Team 9! All hands here!"
With Team 9 assembled, Marco began forming rescue teams.
Total eight including me.
He assigned teams by passage, then glanced at me.
"Rookie. You pick your spot. Might be best that way."
His eyes flicked to the talisman on my right hand. Respecting my "detection" input, no doubt.
I hesitated. Two names burned in the corner of my vision: Han Gyeoul and Kang Ha-neul.
Which to choose?
Penalties for death pointed to Passage 3 with Han Gyeoul. If she faced mortal danger without me, I'd be helpless.
'But...'
Still, sending her alone worried me less than Kang Ha-neul, isolated solo. Her weakened specs from the original couldn't fend off A-Rank dungeon monsters.
"...Sir. Mind if I make a suggestion?"
After agonizing, I proposed a compromise: Send powerhouse Marco to Passage 8 for Kang Ha-neul, while I head to Passage 3. Best option available.
...Best option. I repeated it to myself.
Marco adjusted teams accordingly, and we entered our passages.
Mine: Jeong A-young, another Team 9 member, and three General Division guards. Navigating the collapsed labyrinth, we soon spotted a cave-in blocking the way.
"...That's too blocked to dig through. We should detour via that side path we passed a hundred meters back."
Jeong A-young checked the map. I stepped in front.
"Why?"
"That side path's blocked too. Detour's that way."
I pointed opposite. Jeong A-young tilted her head puzzled.
"That's a dead end. Map says so. How do you know the other detour's blocked?"
"Faint air flow from that side path. None from the one we passed. The quake probably collapsed the original detour and opened that dead-end wall."
"What? How...?"
Jeong A-young looked baffled. Natural—air barely moves in sealed dungeons. Only sensory superhumans could detect it.
Me, no sensory powers, claiming that? Of course suspicious.
Of course.
"Trust me. It's certain."
She pondered my conviction, then nodded.
"...Alright. Check that side path first."
We took the opposite side path, barely wide enough for two or three abreast—fifth the main passage.
Five minutes in, a collapsed wall revealed the main passage beyond.
Jeong A-young stared in shock. The others too.
"...It really was. How, without sensory powers...?"
I shrugged, rechecking the corner of my vision—the system's real-time isolated student positions.
Yes. My vision showed an updating dungeon map, matching the original but with cave-ins and new paths revised.
That let me find the precise route. Couldn't explain the system, so I fudged with "senses." Talisman excuse worked for Marco, but overexposing it wasn't wise.
"Out to the passage, straight to the depths—you'll find the students. Movement there."
Pretending to listen, we exited via the collapse.
That instant.
-Kwaaaaaang...
An explosion echoed from the passage ahead.
Next, the dark ahead lit sulfur-yellow. Eyes drawn, we gasped "Huh? Wha?"
-Roarrrrr!
The yellow was flame. A storm of fire devouring empty space, charging us, filling the passage.
"Everyone, back to the side path!"
Lead Jeong A-young yelled urgently. We dove in just as crimson flames swept our spot.
-Roarrr!
"Aaaagh!"
"Fuck!"
"Run!"
But the flames didn't stop. Overflowing into our side path, the heat chased us.
How far did we run? Near the entrance, the flames slowed, filling space. Heat persisted, forcing retreat to the side path mouth.
Stunned guards began murmuring.
"What the hell? Trap? Monster attack?"
"Scale's near dragon breath."
"Wait. You don't mean..."
Faces paled. A General Division woman stammered,
"N-no way the new dungeon's boss is a dragon...?"
"Hold on. Erosion dungeons keep bosses beyond the gate at the core, right? So why'd we just get breathed on?"
"A regular monster at dragon level? No way the dungeon's just A-Rank."
"Who knows. A dungeon in a dungeon's unprecedented. Maybe the Bureau misjudged the rank..."
"No. Probably not a dragon."
All eyes turned to me.
What now? Their stares said. I swallowed dryly.
"That flame's power mimicked dragon breath, sure. But no guarantee it was."
"Then what monster spits that without being a dragon? Hundreds of salamanders couldn't match it."
"No. Probably a student."
"A student?"
"...Ah."
Jeong A-young caught on with a gasp.
"Han Gyeoul's ability."
I nodded slightly.
Han Gyeoul's ignition was unrivaled in fire-element. Her max output rivaled dragon breath literally.
As one guard said, unless a regular monster was dragon-tier—impossible for A-Rank—it had to be her attack.
'Problem is, she used max power in this sealed space.'
High-output fire in confinement was near-suicide. Her doing so meant dire straits. Even for Han Gyeoul, A-Rank monsters weren't pushovers.
'If she's struggling, Kang Ha-neul must be worse...'
Regret hit late. Should've gone to her? But Han Gyeoul's life tied to mine. Yet Kang Ha-neul...
I shook my head to clear the chaos.
'Too late for regrets. Rescue Han Gyeoul fast, then Ha-neul.'
Staring at the scorching side path, I muttered low.
"...We need to hurry the rescue."
My clenched fists oozed sticky sweat amid the blaze's heat.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"What a mess..."
Meanwhile, Kang Ha-neul sighed at the cave-in. Her gear spared her serious injury, but it sealed the passage, stranding her alone.
'Worst luck. If only with Tae-hyun...'
Trembling at being tossed solo into the dungeon, she glanced behind. Unlike the blocked front, the path to the depths remained open.
All passages linked at the core. Through it, she could escape via another.
'Can I do it alone?'
Monsters en route were the issue.
Objectively, Kang Ha-neul wasn't weak. Lagging top first-years, but she'd handle D-Rank like Living Armor 1v1 easily.
But packs of five or six?
'I'd die for sure.'
Chills from the yawning dark maze.
"Su-ho oppa..."
She hugged her arms, calling Ahn Su-ho. No reply.
Only her breaths echoed in the silent passage.
Wait here? Or push forward for escape?
Gazing down the straight maze, Kang Ha-neul steeled herself and stepped into the darkness.
Blind to what lay ahead.