Chapter 221
Chapter 221
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 221
Chapter Title: 50. Unexpectedness (6)
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‘Whoa, what’s this? Does this mean they can even fire orbital strikes inside dungeons?’
Young-woo stared at the coordinates that had appeared before him, unable to believe his eyes.
‘Toma isn’t just any ordinary company, huh. Well, no one could just casually get into arms manufacturing.’
In any case, this revealed at least two key things.
First, Toma’s cosmic standing was on par with Dogo’s.
‘Of course, we still don’t know which one holds the edge.’
That would only be confirmed by finding a scenario where Dogo could intervene but Toma held back.
‘And second, this really is an alien planet, named….’
〔II|l||-뤼포-917-005-3102-89〕
‘…Rüpo.’
This was the location of the gambling den.
An alien planet somewhere in space.
‘This won’t be the first alien planet I’ve visited. Probably each dungeon has a different one.’
Rüpo. What kind of planet was it, and where?
Young-woo felt a strong surge of curiosity, but there was a more pressing issue at hand right now.
Namely.
「5 seconds until representatives are transported to the arenas.」
Confirming the coordinates of Arena 2, where the ‘weakling’ would be deployed before being moved to the arena.
‘To take first in betting points, I need to nail every single stage’s outcome and secure an unchallenged lead with no ties.’
This was because Young-woo wasn’t just aiming for first place—he was gunning for the codex as an overachievement reward.
Of course, he couldn’t be certain this method would net him the codex.
But experience had taught him that overachievement rewards only triggered with overwhelmingly dominant play.
‘There are 19 other betting participants besides me. This is a game that’s impossible to win with normal predictions.’
So, to claim an overwhelming first place in this game.
‘…I have no choice but to rig the outcome.’
Now, 3 seconds until arena transport.
Young-woo hurriedly checked the ends and center of Arena 2 in sequence.
〔II|l||-뤼포-917-005-3104-81〕
〔II|l||-뤼포-917-005-3108-23〕
〔II|l||-뤼포-917-005-3113-45〕
From a certain point, most participants would surely bet on ‘weakling death,’ so from Young-woo’s perspective, he needed to keep the ‘weakling’ Dragos alive as long as possible.
That’s why he’d checked those three points in Arena 2—to ensure the European wouldn’t get caught in the laser barrage range.
“If you want to live long, don’t fight in the center of the arena.”
As Young-woo gave his final advice to Dragos, the man’s eyes widened in shock.
“Huh? What do you m-mean….”
“Fight from the 6 o’clock position if possible. Whenever I can’t pinpoint your location, I’ll default to blasting 12 o’clock.”
Young-woo said this while pointing at the decorations visible in Arena 2 across the way.
Fortunately, the decorations at 12 and 6 o’clock were shaped differently, so this tip would let Dragos gauge directions.
Of course, whether Dragos grasped it sharply was another question.
Swoooosh!
Before he could even respond, both of them were transported to the arenas.
‘…It’s starting.’
His vision went pure white.
At the same time, Young-woo felt his body lighten momentarily before returning to normal.
When he opened his eyes.
Ruuuuumble…!
The massive stone walls of the enormous arena filled his view.
‘That’s a lot of doors?’
Confirming his arrival in the arena, the first thing Young-woo noticed was the large doors—two per cardinal direction.
‘Eight in total… Looks like they won’t just release ten mutants in the final stage.’
As Young-woo shuddered imagining a horrific scenario, the dungeon system displayed new text.
「Representatives’ arena transport complete.」
「All participants, please complete your bets within 5 minutes.」
This meant they’d give participants 5 minutes to read each other, deliberate, and decide.
‘Still, stage 1 bets will close fast. The answer’s pretty much set.’
Flash!
[1] Strong survives, Weak survives.
[2] Strong dies, Weak survives.
[3] Strong survives, Weak dies.
[4] Strong dies, Weak dies.
Soon, the betting options appeared before Young-woo’s eyes.
‘Everyone’s piling on 1, basically.’
Of course, there’d be a few bold gamblers picking 3 for an upset.
‘I love a good twist as much as the next guy… but 1’s still the safe bet.’
Swoosh.
Young-woo turned his head right to look toward Arena 2.
Once inside, the arena walls were far higher than expected, blocking any direct view across.
Instead.
Flaaash!
With voting underway, two massive screens materialized in the arena airspace.
“Oh….”
They were live feeds—one of the waiting room, the other of the interior of Arena 2.
This let representatives monitor the full situation while playing the game.
‘I figured we’d get zero info, but this is a nice surprise.’
However, the screens provided only visuals—no audio from over there.
‘Anyway, I’ll go with 1 for now. Hope Dragos can handle up to 2-on-1.’
Then he’d watch stage 2 difficulty.
The moment lasers started firing at the weakling side, the waiting room folks would sense a shift and stop betting on weakling survival.
‘If I could just brute-force it with raw power, this’d be easy. Mind games like this are trickier.’
Young-woo selected 1 for stage 1 betting, steadied his breath, and waited.
[1] Strong survives, Weak survives.
On the overhead screen, Romania’s Brașov Second Sword, Dragos Corban, was shown sitting cross-legged in place, waiting.
‘What’s that about? His way of loosening up?’
Makes sense—no one who’d survived as a regional named and entered a dungeon could be normal.
‘Stage 1 is just two mutants… Let’s see how this guy fights.’
As Young-woo studied Arena 2 to plan future bets, stage 1 betting ended early.
「Stage 1 betting complete.」
[Stage 1]
|1 – 17 votes
|3 – 3 votes
‘Three on 3? Gambling from the jump?’
He’d half-expected it, but it was still shocking.
Pure ‘gamble’ votes—three of them.
[3] Strong survives, Weak dies.
Picking 3 meant betting Dragos couldn’t even handle two mutants.
And the results would reveal themselves soon.
「All bets complete. Stage 1 match commencing.」
At the system’s start signal, the two 12 o’clock doors in Young-woo’s Arena 1 burst open powerfully.
Boom!
Pushing aside iron gates at least over 2 meters thick emerged a massive flame golem and a heavily armored troll with a long spear.
‘Definitely not day 1 mutants.’
Felt like at least day 3 or higher.
Still, better they come here than drop on the weakling side.
Thud!
Young-woo gripped the hilt of ‘Bastard’ at his belt, then looked up to check Arena 2.
There too, two mutants were charging out with ferocious momentum.
‘Huh? That one looks day 1 or 2 level?’
Young-woo’s eyes widened at Arena 2’s feed.
One mutant barreling toward Dragos in real time was a bare-fisted orc.
The other was a beastman armed with a large shield and lance.
Build similar to the shadow with the giant’s flesh, but this one had a jaguar head.
‘Better armed than the shadow, so probably day 3 or 4 mutant.’
Anyway, not overly tough difficulty.
‘No way he loses to that.’
Young-woo sighed in relief, figuring stage 1 was clear.
Then.
Scrape.
He braced his front foot, hand on hilt, ready to draw.
The two mutants assigned here had closed to within 10 meters.
「Kyyyaaah!」
「Grraaah…!」
As copies, the arena mutants lacked the intelligence for conversation with opponents.
No name tags overhead either.
‘No mind games then—way easier.’
Young-woo considered inducing bleeding for firepower but decided it wasn’t even needed.
Instead.
Clang.
The moment their breaths became vividly audible.
Slaaaash!
He powerfully drew Bastard from his waist and slashed horizontally ahead.
Screeeeech!
「Preemptive Strike」 - Mutated One-Handed Sword
【First attack power +20%. Reactivates on sheathing.】
「Dullahan’s Sword」 - Mutated One-Handed Sword
【Blade length proportional to user’s height.】
Bastard’s blade extended to 6 meters, tracing a crimson arc that cleaved the two mutants—now lunging at Young-woo—like tofu.
Boom!
Even shredding the troll’s armor and weapon.
「Stage 1: Strong survives. Weak in progress.」
As the alert confirmed Arena 1’s end, the feed showed waiting room participants buzzing.
No one had predicted ending the fight with one swing.
Meanwhile.
“Wh-what…?”
Young-woo, glancing at Arena 2 expecting it nearly done, gaped.
Dragos was struggling hard against the bare-fisted orc and greatshield beastman.
“That make any sense? He’s a regional named, at least.”
Young-woo watched Dragos fight, incredulous for a different reason.
Sure, not an easy matchup.
The beastman pressured with shield and lance while the orc cleverly flanked.
Couldn’t talk to participants, but had plenty of smarts to smash foes.
‘But still, can’t break through that? How’d a scrub like him even enter a dungeon?’
Way to handle multi-foe fights easily: overwhelming firepower.
And in Young-woo’s view, anyone entering a day 5 night dungeon wouldn’t struggle against non-high-threat mutants.
Which meant.
‘No way he’s sandbagging as the weakling?’
Young-woo, who’d pondered using strikes in stage 1, refocused on screen-Dragos.
Then it became clear.
Defense that seemed precarious yet allowed zero clean hits.
Glints of high strength stats flicking away thrusting lance tips.
“…This bastard.”
Chills ran up his arms.
He wasn’t the only one rigging the match in this arena.