The Martial Artist from the East

How I ended up trapped in a dungeon went something like this.

The administrator had given me one hundred thousand gold. Converted to Korean won, it came out to roughly one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠million.

"Welcome! What can I get for you today?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"How much would a suit of leather armor and a well-forged iron sword run me?"

"Hmm... Normally that'd be around a hundred thousand gold. But since you look like a beginner, I'll let it go for ninety-five thousand!"

And just like that, I blew it all on weapons and armor. With only five thousand gold left to my name, even that vanished into lodging and meals in no time flat.

Left with no other choice, I visited a construction site hoping to pick up some day labor.

"Look at you—you're an adventurer! We don't hire adventurers here! You lot think you're tough and turn the work site into a goddamn disaster zone every single time!"

"Just give me one chance, please—"

"I said beat it!"

The site was no joke. When a one-eyed brute screams in your face like that, a fragile earthling has no choice but to make a tactical retreat. Which left me with only one real option...

"Now then, allow me to give you a brief briefing on the D-rank dungeon, Labyrinthos."

"Comprising five underground floors in total, this dungeon is currently uncleared, with explored territory extending only up to the fourth floor. Should you encounter an area suspected to be the boss room, consider this an absolute warning: do not hesitate, turn back, and flee immediately."

"Ten percent of all byproducts must be surrendered to the guild, though you are free to keep any items and potions you acquire."

"That concludes the explanation. We will now divide into teams."

At the administrator's words, lots were drawn at random, forming a five-man party.

"I am Yeong So-so, a martial artist hailing from the East. Having only recently registered, my rank is F."

She was a woman clad in Eastern robes, carrying the unmistakable air of the wuxia realm.

"You folks are in luck! Ending up on the same team as me!"

Next was Colton, a C-rank shieldbearer. A former mercenary whose strengths lay in tanking and shield techniques.

"Hey there, big bros, big sis!"

"Nice to meet you all!"

The remaining two were a couple, both D-rank adventurers. Apparently, they had applied to earn some pocket money while going on a date. Was a dungeon seriously a date spot in this world?

Well, whatever. I introduced myself, taking care to mask my utter lack of qualifications.

"Pleasure to meet you. I am Seo Juhan, a swordsman also from the East."

An introduction that concealed both my identity and true skill. Just as the seasoned adventurers had told me before, the others didn't look down on me or treat me like dead weight, and the subjugation began.

Krrr—!

Ssssh—!

Awooo—!

Slash—!

With a clean, wet slice, the head of a wolf lunging with its jaws wide open tumbled to the dirt. It was a spectacle utterly impossible for an ordinary earthling.

Was it thanks to the skill? Unlike raw amateurs wildly swinging steel, a distinct trajectory of the blade carved itself before my eyes.

Shhk!

The moment I swung along the line, monster heads severed themselves as naturally as breathing. Of course, watching such grotesque viscera spill wasn't easy on the stomach, but...

"Are you alright? It is always thus in the beginning."

"Thanks. You're a lifesaver..."

"I merely lent a hand because you share my homeland... Do not misunderstand."

Was it because I had lied about coming from the East? Despite being an F-rank adventurer just like me, So-so possessed a terrifying, monstrous sword art, and she took me under her wing.

For instance:

"When swinging a blade, aim not for the fatty abdomen, but where blood vessels run thick."

"The sword primarily relies upon swiftness, alteration, and illusion."

"Rations should consist chiefly of dried meat or simple bread."

If the people I met earlier had given me tips on how to survive, she taught me how to kill. At first, I had struggled just to take down a single wolf. Yet under her tutelage, I grew rapidly enough to fend off three on my own without breaking a sweat.

And so it went. One day. Two days. Then a week.

"I did it...! I actually did it...!"

"Well done. Your talent is middling at best, but your perseverance is truly first-rate."

"Seriously, thank you!"

After badgering her relentlessly for private lessons, I had managed to acquire a skill through my own two hands, even if it was only F-rank. As she put it:

"It is merely a common sword art scattered across every marketplace, so there is no need for such excessive gratitude."

Yet she had taught it to me all the same. If before I was just a greenhorn hacking blindly with a blade, I had now stepped into the realm of a proper swordsman capable of executing genuine martial forms. In Eastern terms, she called it entering the threshold of a third-rate martial artist.

Either way, thanks to that unlocked potential, our party advanced from struggling on the second floor all the way down to the fourth.

"Whoa! Look at this beauty!"

"You're not kidding!"

"Totally!"

A B+ item found in a dungeon! At auction, it would fetch at least ten million gold! Split among the five of us, that was two million gold per person. I couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear.

Everything was going so smoothly that running for my life just days ago felt like a distant nightmare. I turned toward Yeong So-so, ready to boast, when—

Thwack—shhk!

"Huh...? What in the world... why you two...?"

Colton, the C-rank adventurer, had been impaled clean through by the couple's blades. With a strangled death rattle, he collapsed, dead on the spot.

It was the very first murder I had ever witnessed in my life.

"Kekeke! Once we take care of the other two, the ten million is all ours!"

"I know, right? Waiting patiently for a whole week was definitely the right call!"

As I learned later, those two were members of the Murderer Guild. Their objective in infiltrating the dungeon was singular:

An utterly absurd motive. Colton was butchered just for that?

Every instinct urged me to unleash the sword art I had learned, but my body moved in the exact opposite direction, my lungs tearing out a frantic shriek.

"So-so! So-so! These bastards are goddamn psycho killers!"

"......?"

"Help me! So-so, I'm gonna die! These lunatics are swinging their blades at me!"

Glancing back, the two butchers were closing in fast. The dripping blood on their swords, the cold familiarity in their eyes... Yet my sprint was faster, and just as I felt certain I'd make it—

Crack—!

"Huh...?"

"...Fool."

The ground caved in entirely. As So-so lunged forward to grab me, both of us plummeted straight down into the gaping chasm.

I'm dead. I'm a hundred percent dead! From this height, a human body would splatter into paste on impact!

As the sickening sensation of weightlessness stretched on, my life began flashing before my eyes.

Grab!

Dazed and half out of my mind, I looked up. Flowing obsidian hair. Bewitching crimson eyes that drew you into their depths. Add to that the sheer romance of being caught midair...

"Are you unhurt?"

"...I think I just fell in love at first sight. What do I do?"

"Silence yourself before I gouge out your eyes."

"Understood..."

I had no idea what kind of martial arts So-so had used, but she had reached the floor first and caught me clean.

Splat! Crunch!

Looking back, the two killers who had tumbled into the hole alongside us had struck the stone with sickening impacts, mashed into unrecognizable lumps of meat. Not a pretty sight by any means, but they were murderers, after all. Putting them out of mind, I surveyed our surroundings.

Unlike the third floor, which had felt relatively charted, this place felt like virgin, unexcavated territory—and the monsters crawling out radiated suffocating murderous intent.

Before, I would have been slaughtered the second I crossed paths with them. But things were different now. A blade imbued with the principle of Thrust, stripped of swiftness, illusion, and alteration. As the sword drew a straight line exactly as So-so had instructed—

The level that hadn't budged an inch had finally ticked upward. Yet before I could drown in euphoria, So-so's voice drifted from behind.

"I will not lift a finger to aid you in this battle. Steel yourself with the knowledge that failure means death. If you truly perish, I will ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at least see to your burial."

No help. In other ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠words: slip up, and die. Backed by the sturdy shield named Yeong So-so, I hadn't trembled before, but now my hands shook violently.

Death. A sensation I had never once tasted on Earth. It constricted around my heart, clamping down like iron shackles across my entire body.

How long did the standoff against the beasts last?

"AWAKEN—!"

At So-so's thunderous disciplinarian roar, the paralysis seizing my limbs shattered, and the forms she had drilled into me unfurled purely on instinct. From the first form to the final tenth form. Naturally, compared to the sublime sword art she wielded, mine was the clumsy flailing of a fledgling. Yet I executed every single movement.

By the time the number of severed monster heads crossed ten:

"Holy sweet mother of... I came within an inch of biting the dust, didn't I...?"

I stood panting atop a mound of monster corpses. A jump in skill rank meant this desperate struggle of mere dozens of minutes had yielded an enormous bounty of experience. Approaching So-so, who had been observing the carnage from a distance:

"Master, I offer you my deepest, most humble gratitude!"

"......Very well."

I dropped straight to my knees in front of her without missing a beat. I didn't know who she truly was, but hey, she was kind-hearted and drop-dead gorgeous—what more could a guy ask for?

Through a bizarre tangle of coincidence and rotten luck, we had arrived at the fourth floor of Labyrinthos.