Chapter 171
Chapter 171
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 171
Chapter Title: 39. Sleeping with the Enemy (6)
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“An alien? Me? Don’t be ridiculous.”
Youngwoo laughed it off casually, but inside, cold sweat dripped down his back.
He was already equipped with the otherworldly disguise and the spine implant.
Strictly speaking, he wasn’t fully human anymore.
“But anyway.”
Youngwoo shifted the topic by glancing at Tomiko, the Miyagi Sword Emperor who survived Brazier 3, and Zhang Zaham of the Shandong Twin Evils.
“How are you two holding up? You look pretty rough.”
Just as Youngwoo said, the pair waiting for him in the arena were little more than walking corpses.
The relentless “herding” had forced them into a battle with the asuras that dragged on too long, leaving no part of their bodies unscathed.
Zhang Zaham, who had already been slashed up outside the brazier zone, was now drenched in blood even on his face.
His gruesome state was enough to wash away Ryu Man-ho’s killing intent—the same man who had been gnashing his teeth to kill him just moments ago.
‘Even if I hate the guy, attacking someone who’s basically combat-ineffective isn’t all that honorable.’
Besides, he’d already gotten some revenge by dumping those asuras on them.
And above all, this Korean named Jeong Youngwoo made him wary of causing more trouble.
“I’d be lying if I said I was fine. But nothing’s broken, so a little rest should do the trick.”
Tomiko from Miyagi Prefecture hugged her blood-soaked arm and spoke up.
“Yeah. At least you’re both conscious... that’s something.”
Youngwoo alternated glances between the two, who didn’t look okay at all, then shifted his gaze to the timer floating in midair.
Whoosh.
Sorry for the injured folks, but rest time was already almost up.
[00:00:19]
Nineteen seconds left.
The others followed Youngwoo’s gaze to the timer, their faces darkening.
“W-what? Time’s already up?”
“We only got thirty minutes to begin with.”
“So we dive straight into the boss fight?”
The five, including Youngwoo, looked up at the arena ceiling.
There loomed the massive statue they’d seen when they first arrived.
An unidentified entity crouched upside down on the ceiling like a bat.
‘Colossus Gameta, was it?’
Youngwoo recalled the dungeon boss’s name.
Even from this far distance, it looked enormous—its actual size must be downright colossal.
And finally.
[00:00:01]
Beep...!
The timer expired, and a piercing alarm blared across the arena.
Then.
Crunch.
A sound like a building collapsing echoed from the ceiling.
“...!”
It was the awakening of Colossus Gameta.
Grind!
Gameta, dangling and curled on the ceiling, began to unfurl its upper body.
“Good lord.”
“I-it’s that big...?”
The experts from various nations widened their eyes at a size beyond imagination.
Crack!
Gameta’s body, made entirely of rock, towered at least eight meters tall—a true giant.
A pair of enormous, hand-like wings protruded from its back. Hanging upside down, it resembled massive forearms pressed together with palms spread wide open.
An eerie form that instilled bizarre terror and disgust.
The real problem: everyone here was trapped in the same space with this revolting thing.
“...So now we have to fight that?”
Zhang Zaham muttered in a voice thick with fear.
Just minutes ago, he’d been struggling amid thousands of asuras.
His fighting spirit was already half-broken.
“B-but... we lit all the braziers, so it should be manageable, right?”
Tomiko chimed in, equally lacking confidence.
Right as her words ended, three dim lights flickered on sequentially somewhere on the ceiling.
Pop, pop, pop!
Likely one for each successfully lit brazier.
“W-what’s this now?”
“Boss fight starting, I guess.”
As everyone anxiously scanned their surroundings, a new message appeared in their vision.
「Activated Braziers: 3/3」
「Colossus Gameta’s combat power decreases by 3 stages.」
A massive blue circular line then etched itself onto the arena floor.
Swoosh!
「The boundary line you see is the ‘deadline.’」
“Deadline?”
“W-what kind of deadline?”
The term carried an ominous ring.
And it meant exactly that, literally.
「From now on, you will be assigned numbers based on the order you enter inside the deadline.」
“Numbers?”
As someone echoed the word, huge holographic digits from 1 to 5 materialized in the arena center.
Flash, flash!
「These numbers determine Gameta’s attack priority.」
“Ah...”
Youngwoo instantly grasped the rule and checked the ‘deadline’ at his feet.
“Tanking in entry order, huh.”
No sooner had Youngwoo spoken than the system elaborated.
「Once combat begins, Gameta will target the #1 entrant first. If #1 dies or exits the deadline, #2 becomes the next target.」
“What the hell does that mean...?”
Zhang Zaham furrowed his brow at the complex explanation, so Youngwoo summed it up simply.
“That Gameta bastard’s gonna kill us off one by one, in the order we enter.”
“...”
But the rules didn’t end there.
「Entrants who exit the deadline drop to lower priority but cause Gameta’s combat power to rise by 1 stage per defector.」
This was the core mechanic of the boss fight.
“What?”
“That’s insane!”
“Why even light the braziers then?”
As protests erupted at the absurd rule, Youngwoo donned his breastplate, ‘Golden Oath,’ and spoke.
“Thank the braziers for starting us at -3. Without them, it’d climb from 0 upward.”
“What...?”
“Rising combat power doesn’t just mean recovering to baseline from negative—it can surpass the original strength.”
Clank!
Now fully armored, Youngwoo stared at Gameta with calm eyes.
“And calling us ‘runners’ suggests it’s not meant to be fought head-on from the start. It means the others attack while #1 dodges until death.”
Come to think of it, yeah.
Why label them ‘runners’ instead of warriors or fighters? It literally meant people who run.
“Huh...”
The plausible interpretation earned nods all around. Jeong Gu swallowed hard and asked.
“So, what now? If runners are for evasion, should the fastest take #1?”
If so, the barely mobile Tomiko and Zhang Zaham were out for early slots.
In other words, they were short on both runners and attackers.
“Yeah, that’d be ideal.”
The nimblest takes #1 to draw aggro, others go all-out DPS.
Standard boss strategy.
“But we’ve got injuries, and without me, you wouldn’t have cleared the braziers either, right? Weak team.”
“...?”
Youngwoo’s sudden arrogance startled them, but no one objected outright.
It was true, after all.
“So what’s your plan?”
Jeong Gu asked again, mood soured. Youngwoo pointed at himself.
“I’ll take #1.”
Then at Jeong Gu.
“Dad’s #2, Taiwan guy #3. China and Japan split 4 and 5.”
Youngwoo’s strategy was straightforward.
“No way you lot can handle a monster positioned to chase outright. I’ll keep the numbers from advancing.”
“So you’ll hold #1 the whole time?”
“Yeah. But once it starts, nobody bolts outside the deadline. If it powers up, even I can’t guarantee victory.”
He wanted to say dying in place for the team was better than fleeing, but held back.
No one would follow that advice anyway.
“You’re really volunteering for #1...?”
The bold proposal shocked Zhang Zaham, whose heavy injuries meant high death risk without a tank.
If this ‘Joseon Supreme Sword’ truly felled Gameta, they’d owe him their lives.
“Assuming you handle #1... what do we do? Just take down Gameta however we can?”
Tomiko showed willingness to fight despite wounds. Youngwoo shook his head.
“You two stay as far from Gameta as possible. Even brief exposure could make it chase you—headache we don’t need.”
Youngwoo’s biggest worry was allies fleeing.
Each defector boosted Gameta by 1 stage.
“But with us out, it’s three against that thing? Recommended party’s six.”
Tomiko reminded him. Youngwoo hadn’t forgotten—he had a plan.
“Headcount won’t be short. We’ll fill all six.”
“Huh...? What do you mean?”
As Tomiko questioned, Jeong Gu realized.
‘Ah, this punk’s got his alternate squad.’
The three ‘friends’ still waiting in the Returner’s Room for a summons.
Youngwoo planned to call them to complete the six.
Youngwoo, Jeong Gu, Ryu Man-ho.
Add Youngtae, Taejun, and General Kim Young-heum: exactly six.
“No objections? Let’s start.”
Youngwoo fiddled with the whistle around his neck and stepped into the blue ‘deadline.’
Clank.
Light gathered above his head, forming a huge number.
「1」
Runner #1: Jeong Youngwoo.
Colossus Gameta’s top priority target.
Right on cue, Gameta dropped vertically from the ceiling like a falling icicle.
Swoosh, boom!
The dramatic entrance—like a mutant emerging—made everyone flinch. Jeong Gu squeezed into the deadline, claiming #2.
Flash!
「2」
He asked #1 in a somewhat proud tone.
“Youngwoo, what do I do? As #2, if you get pushed...”
Before he finished, Youngwoo tossed two swords at his feet.
“What’s this?”
“My weapons. We’ll swap between bow and sword, so hold those and toss ’em when I call.”
“...Huh?”
“Pick up quick if I drop one on the ground. Got it? No goblin means short hands—perfect.”
“What the—? You want me to be your sword shuttle?”
Jeong Gu fumed in protest, but Youngwoo didn’t hear the end.
—Five...? Bold of you.
Gameta, now grounded, had counted the humans in the arena.
Youngwoo gripped his whistle, staring at Gameta.
“Then what about eight...?”
—...?