Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Pelius, the Thunder Knight
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Whooooosh—.
The dragon's form circling above Lee Soo-hyuk's head slowly began to fade.
Lee Soo-hyuk, who had pulled out the yellow gem and swallowed it, stood there with his eyes rolled back white, as if he had lost consciousness, his head tilted upward.
Even though he possessed the treasure, he was a fool who didn't know how to use it...
The dragon's form had started to fade right after Lee Soo-hyuk swallowed the Heart of Lightning.
But in the end, he realized it.
Even as the dragon's image blurred, the erased mural on the wall did not return.
It had served its purpose completely, so all that remained was its ascension.
Having swallowed the Heart of Lightning, wings would now sprout from his back.
The previous Master of Lightning failed to handle this one...
Though not as exceptional as that one, this master possessed something he lacked.
The Heart of Lightning.
An item like the natural enemy of gods, absolutely necessary for a human to wield lightning.
Though incomplete, since he was still young, the remaining pieces could be prepared step by step.
This time... it might... be... different...
The fading dragon's form vanished completely. In its place, like a mirage dispersing into golden haze, sat Lee Soo-hyuk, half-conscious after completing the trial.
And just as Lee Soo-hyuk was barely clinging to consciousness,
And at that exact moment.
Thud—.
Lee Soo-hyuk's body pitched forward and collapsed.
Schneider stepped through the door and couldn't hide his bewilderment.
'What?'
The room had changed somehow.
And he realized immediately what it was.
'It's gone. The picture.'
The yellow lines drawn on the wall.
The mural depicting the Thunder Dragon, which should have been there preparing the trial, had vanished without a trace.
What on earth had happened?
After thoroughly searching the inside of the door for a while, Schneider had no choice but to accept that the dragon was gone.
In the end, Schneider called the people waiting outside the door inside.
"It ended pretty quickly this time?"
The time Schneider spent searching the cave for the dragon was about thirty minutes.
That was plenty fast. Moreover, Schneider didn't appear to have any wounds or burns.
Don Chao thought that this time, for sure, Schneider had gritted his teeth and taken the trial.
But.
"It's gone."
"Pardon?"
"The dragon disappeared. Look."
Schneider pointed to the wall inside the door as he spoke.
A plain wall, no different from the insides of other caves.
Whether before or after taking the dragon's trial, that wall always bore the image of a dragon with an endlessly long body.
But now, what the hell.
"It's really... gone?"
Schneider had passed the dragon's trial several times before.
But never had the picture disappeared like this.
"Did you do something, Team Leader?"
"I didn't even take the trial."
"Then?"
"There's another guy who entered here besides us, right?"
"...No way?"
The Thunder Cave was connected through.
Especially, as Schneider said, the dragon mural stretched from here all the way to the door on the Conrad Kingdom side.
That meant someone on the other side could also take the dragon's trial.
"Right. From the Thunder Chamber onward, there's no distinction between Odd and Conrad anyway."
"......So you're saying he already passed through here?"
"That's probably it."
"Wasn't he challenging alone? How could he already... No, setting that aside. Why did the dragon disappear?"
As Don Chao rambled in confusion at the inexplicable situation, Paul Remen, who had been watching from the side, interjected.
"Is now the time to quibble over that?"
He strode toward Schneider.
"If Lee Soo-hyuk already passed through here, we need to hurry and go too. You want to let that guy take all the rewards from the Thunder Cave?"
"That wouldn't be so bad."
"What?"
"Do you think I'm here because I covet that puny reward?"
Paul Remen was at a loss for words at Schneider's unexpected question.
He could answer, of course.
Yes, isn't that obvious? Isn't everyone like that?
But if asked whether Schneider was included in that "everyone," Paul Remen couldn't confidently say yes.
He was someone who obsessed over this Thunder Cave to an abnormal degree. Not all players could fixate on one thing like that.
"After nothing but failures, finally something's starting to change. Another person has reached the end of the Thunder Cave besides me."
Schneider looked strangely excited.
"So I'm warning you—don't mess with me. I'm in a mood where I could fly right now."
"...Fine. That might be best."
Paul Remen took a quick step back at the sight of Schneider, who seemed ready to explode at any moment.
As if pitying Paul Remen with his tail between his legs,
Don Chao glanced at him and spoke.
"No need to worry too much."
"No need to worry?"
"I fought him once in the tournament. Got crushed, sure."
"And?"
"Even if there were two of him, the next part will be tough."
Paul Remen furrowed his brow at Don Chao's confident words.
"Doesn't that mean even two Schneiders would struggle?"
"Uh... well......"
As Don Chao sneaked a glance at Schneider,
"Right. That's what it means."
Schneider answered for the cornered Don Chao, downplaying his own worth.
"Even if there were two of me—or maybe three—it'd still be tough."
Step—.
With that, Schneider started walking again.
"So everyone, stay sharp. To claim the glory of conquering the Thunder Cave, you have to survive first."
"Y-Yeah."
Paul Remen replied with a trembling voice.
Schneider's atmosphere had changed. It was different even when they first arrived at the Thunder Cave, but for some reason, it felt even more so now.
'Finally, we've made it this far.'
Step, step—.
From the moment he confirmed with his own eyes that the dragon was gone, Schneider had been feeling an unprecedented elation.
'It's a shame I couldn't resolve it all with my own hands, but......'
Step—.
His footsteps quickened.
'Letting that guy try it wasn't a bad choice.'
Schneider walked with the group for a long while.
Over thirty minutes, through the long-extending cave.
A right-angle turn.
There, another door appeared.
"Turning here leads to the Conrad Kingdom side. Beyond this door is the end of the Thunder Cave we've confirmed."
"Lee Soo-hyuk must have come from over there."
Paul Remen, who seemed quite conscious of Lee Soo-hyuk, looked not at the door before them but toward the Conrad Kingdom direction.
And soon, his gaze shifted to a massive iron door covered in dust.
"He's probably beyond this door now."
"Likely."
It had to be that way.
Because the key to this conquest was in his hands.
Thinking that, Schneider reached out toward the door.
Creeeeak—.
With the rusty screech of unoiled metal, the door opened. As the players entered with Schneider in the lead, what came into view was a solitary staircase rising high.
"...A throne?"
A staircase towering over a thousand steps high. The cave ceiling rose artificially high following the stairs.
From the structure, the stairs, and the jade throne at the top.
The Thunder Cave was no naturally formed dungeon.
It was closer to an artificial one, deliberately created by someone.
The trial in Room 2 was quite straightforward.
Simply sit on the jade throne right before your eyes. Even if the stairs were high enough to make your legs ache, it was something even a normal person, not a player, could do.
"......This feels ominous."
And that's precisely why Paul Remen felt greater unease.
The trials players preferred most weren't the ones that seemed trivially easy. They much preferred ones that were moderately difficult, passable with effort.
Trials that appeared excessively easy on the surface usually fell into one of two categories.
The rewards were equally meager.
Or there was some hidden variable lurking.
In this case, it was obviously the latter.
Because.
'There's no way this guy couldn't climb those mere stairs and advance all this time.'
Glance—.
Paul Remen thought that as he looked at Schneider's back.
Schneider stood frozen, unmoving.
A moment later, he muttered an elliptical phrase with the subject omitted.
"......He's not here."
"What? What's not here?"
"Lee Soo-hyuk."
He had apparently been searching for Lee Soo-hyuk.
On the other hand, Paul Remen didn't think much of it.
"That guy probably already sat on the chair and moved on."
Just because Lee Soo-hyuk was ahead didn't mean he was only one step ahead.
He might be two, three, four steps further.
'This must be another path Lee Soo-hyuk passed through earlier, like before.'
But that was a thought Paul Remen could have because he didn't know the Thunder Cave well.
"He couldn't have."
"How can you be so sure?"
"To claim that jade throne, you have to......"
Step—.
The moment Schneider, who was leading, took a single step toward the throne.
Flash—!
Boom—!
A yellow light and thunderclap crashed down from the cave ceiling.
"......surpass that guy first."
Crackle, crackle—.
Descending from the cave ceiling amid the thunderclap was a knight in full plate mail, remnants of electricity still crackling over his body.
His face hidden by a helmet, gripping a sword with teeth worn down to nubs, he appeared at the base of the stairs.
As if declaring that no one could climb these stairs without overcoming him.
"Thunder Knight?"
"Boss mob?"
"Why is a human the boss......"
Humanoid monsters were rare. Especially in these lower sections, it was an unusual case.
The bewildered players hesitated. The Thunder Knight menaced them with golden light emanating from his eyes.
"That was the guy."
Facing the knight, Schneider continued in a voice laced with despair.
"The unbreakable wall I faced here."
Not ten years, but twenty.
No, perhaps a lifetime wouldn't be enough—he had come to doubt whether he could ever surpass this great knight.
The guardian protecting this Thunder Cave.
A few months ago, Schneider had heard his name directly from his own mouth.
"Pelius."