Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: The First Trial
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A picture was carved into the stone tablet.
It depicted a woman raising a hand that held a spear.
Countless soldiers knelt before her, and around them, the corpses of monsters formed mountains.
The woman wore a strange mask, one with a sharp beak reminiscent of a hawk.
And on that mask…
‘Holes?’
Do-jae moved closer to get a better look.
Above the beak, in the eye area, were holes.
Four in total.
Every other part was flat, but the eye section was deeply pierced with holes.
‘Aha.’
From the various clues, Do-jae deduced what the holes meant.
The quest and the trials the voice mentioned.
The four holes and the four doors visible nearby.
The answer was clear.
There must be something inside those entrances that fits into the holes.
‘Weak? Foolish? I’ll clear this in no time.’
Until now, he had believed there were no gods.
And yet, he had lived more diligently than anyone.
It seemed the self-proclaimed god who had just appeared disapproved of him, but it didn't matter.
No, in fact, it sparked a sense of defiance.
The past days he had endured and persevered to gain recognition.
The target had merely changed from humans to a god; his resolve remained the same.
‘I’ll clear this quest and make you *my* god.’
Thinking that his thoughts might be heard somewhere, Do-jae clenched his fist and entered one of the four doors.
***
Had it been about ten minutes since he opened the door and entered?
No matter what kind of temple this was, despite walking at a brisk pace, only a one-way passage appeared.
‘What is this? Was I wrong?’
From his vast experience clearing dungeons, there were usually two possibilities in such situations.
The first was a situation where monsters appeared.
That was easy.
If the monsters were manageable, he would clear the dungeon by repeating a cycle of combat and rest. If not, he could just run for it.
Since he knew the dungeon's rank before entering, the latter case was quite rare.
The second was a situation with traps.
This was a troublesome situation in many ways.
The path could be a maze, or various traps could be installed.
In such cases, even someone with Do-jae's sharp instincts couldn't rely on luck; he would need to use hunters specialized in this area.
‘No monsters, no traps. What kind of trial is this?’
But since this place had neither, Do-jae felt something was off.
He considered turning back, but he had already come quite far, and the path continued, so he decided to walk to the end.
As he did, his mind kept wandering.
‘Now that my brother’s living with me, maybe we should get an ice water dispenser? But Mr. Choi said they were expensive. Renting might be a bit cheaper…’
Do-jae suddenly stopped.
An enormous hole had appeared before him.
It was a rectangular hole, clearly artificial.
‘I think I’m supposed to cross this.’
Do-jae sat on the edge of the hole and looked across.
The other side was visible far in the distance.
The chasm was wide, too wide.
It looked to be at least 500 meters across.
Furthermore, the width of the passage itself was about 10 meters.
‘I don’t think I can jump across.’
Even for a hunter with physical abilities that defied common sense, one who could cross 500 meters in a single leap would be hard to find.
If any existed, they'd be hunters with spatial movement skills or perhaps ones who could fly.
An S-rank hunter might be able to cross with their special skills, but for the current Do-jae, even crossing 50 meters with a jump alone was impossible, let alone 500.
‘There must be a way.’
No matter that it was a trial from a god, there surely had to be a solution.
Otherwise, surely they wouldn't do something as irresponsible as asking him to make the impossible possible.
‘First, let’s see how deep it is. Subspace.’
At Do-jae's call, the subspace appeared.
Do-jae took out a water bottle from within.
He tossed it into the hole.
One second, two seconds, three seconds…
Fifteen seconds, sixteen seconds, seventeen seconds.
*Ting-!*
The sound of the water bottle hitting the bottom echoed up from the hole.
‘It’s deep.’
Do-jae was no scientist, but a sound that took 17 seconds to return told him the hole was incredibly deep.
Deep enough that simply jumping down would cost more than one life.
‘Even if I somehow get down, getting back up is the problem.’
Let's say he wore his Golem Armor, fell, and by some luck, landed safely.
After that, climbing back up would be the issue.
He had checked a moment ago; the stones of the walls and floor were not ordinary rock.
A normal stone would have dented with a light press, but this material only showed a thin crack even when he punched it with all his might.
He considered punching his way down and back up the wall, but he felt his hand would break before the wall did.
"Hmm."
After some thought, Do-jae rummaged through his subspace.
This time, he pulled out a glass bottle containing the slime mucus he had obtained before.
And a rope he had packed during his last raid.
Usually, ropes were used to tie down spoils so they wouldn't collapse, but with his subspace, Do-jae had no need for that, so the rope was as good as new.
"Will this work…"
He uncoiled the rope and made a loop.
Then he tied the rope to the bottle of slime mucus—specifically, mucus from a silver slime, said to have the best viscosity.
Its viscosity was so exceptional that getting it on his hands would be a nightmare to clean, so he handled it with care.
It was usually stored in oiled jars and, characteristic of slimes, was weak to fire.
Anyway, Do-jae wrapped the rope tightly around the bottle several times.
This way, when the bottle shattered, the mucus, glass shards, and rope would mix together, creating an even stronger anchor.
"Alright."
Do-jae stood up, stretching his arms.
He took a few steps back.
*Fwip-*
He threw the bottle of silver slime mucus toward the other side of the chasm.
*Whoosh-!*
*Crash-*
The first attempt was a failure.
He had thrown it too high, and it shattered against the ceiling before it got far.
‘Again.’
Do-jae took out a new bottle of slime mucus and tied the rope to it.
He still had plenty of bottles and rope.
With a few more tries, he felt he could shatter it in the desired spot.
‘A lower angle than before.’
This time, he threw it almost level with the ground.
The second attempt also failed.
The glass bottle, flying powerfully, lost speed and fell into the chasm.
It wasn't a matter of strength; the glass bottle was too light.
‘A little higher.’
Somewhere between the angles of the first and second attempts.
Do-jae began his third try.
*Fwang-!*
The glass bottle flew at an angle of about 30 degrees.
It flew in a gentle arc, just barely missing the ceiling.
And as it gradually lost speed, it began to fall.
*Smash-!*
"Success!"
With a satisfied expression, Do-jae pulled on the rope he was holding.
Seeing that it didn't budge even when he tugged hard, it seemed it could easily support his weight.
*Ting-*
He anchored the taut rope to the floor with mucus.
Do-jae grabbed the rope and began to cross over the chasm.
‘This is… a little scary…’
Now that he was actually crossing, a subtle fear began to creep in.
The pitch-black chasm, where not even light reached, felt like a mire leading to hell.
‘Hell and a god. How amusing.’
Focusing only on what was ahead, he diligently moved hand over hand and finally reached the other side.
To his dismay, the passage ended in a solid wall just three meters ahead.
‘That’s it.’
Do-jae approached the wall.
A mural was painted there, too, featuring the same masked woman from the stone tablet.
This time, it depicted her wearing the mask and fighting a giant monster he had never seen before.
The scene of her spear tip piercing the monster's chest was depicted with great dynamism.
In particular, one of the mask's four eyes was inlaid with a piece that gave off a faint jade-colored light, making it feel even more vivid.
*Plink-*
Do-jae pried out the embedded piece.
The eye-shaped piece that fit in his palm was a perfect sphere of a gem, encased in bronze.
‘It reminds me of the eye of an Egyptian god.’
The Eye of Horus, which often appears in movies and comics.
Horus was also a hawk-headed god, and the woman's mask in the painting was a hawk mask, which was likely why he felt the similarity.
‘I should take a good look.’
Do-jae once again seared the image into his memory.
With the piece gone, it felt somewhat empty, but this painting…
It seemed to hold some kind of story.
‘First trial, cleared.’
Whatever the purpose of the chasm was, he had succeeded in obtaining the piece.
The end result was what mattered; Do-jae believed getting the right answer was more important than figuring out the test-giver's intention.
***
Do-jae returned the same way he came.
He placed the piece into the hole in the stone tablet.
The perfect fit, in both size and depth, was strangely satisfying.
*Rumble-*
The stone tablet vibrated slightly.
Light flowed from the piece and spread across the entire tablet, like blood through veins.
‘I wasn’t expecting congratulations, but there’s not a word.’
Despite obtaining the first piece, no voice was heard.
Did this mean it was nothing special?
"Tsk, so aloof."
Do-jae shot a remark at the tablet before heading to the next door.
For some reason, he felt that the woman in the tablet was the owner of the voice.
‘Let’s try this one this time.’
Just like the first, he chose the next entrance without much thought.
There was no mention or hint about the order of the doors, and he could always turn back if needed, so he entered without thinking too deeply.
*Rumble-!*
He had taken maybe ten steps inside.
When a door suddenly descended from above, sealing the entrance.
Then, in an instant, his surroundings plunged into darkness.
Not just dim, but complete and utter blackness.
*Shhh-*
He sensed something moving in the darkness.
Do-jae quickly activated his Golem Armor.
*Rumble-!*
There were no stones inside the temple.
So where did they come from?
From his subspace, of course.
Not knowing when or where he might need his Golem Armor, he always kept a sufficient amount of rock in his subspace.
*Thwack-*
Something unseen suddenly attacked Do-jae.
Thanks to the Golem Armor, there was no significant damage, but it was a sharp attack.
‘Where are you!’
Do-jae instinctively took a defensive stance and strained his ears.
With nothing visible, he couldn't rashly attack.
Fortunately, when Do-jae didn't move, his opponent didn't either.
‘A monster? A person? No, is it not alive? What is it?’
Do-jae considered that the enemy might not be a living creature.
It was too quiet to be a living thing like a monster or a person.
There was no sound of breathing, none of the subtle noises created by slight movements that should have been there.
And there was something he knew that moved but wasn't alive.
A golem came to mind.
‘This could go on forever.’
Whatever it was, a stalemate would only waste time.
The best course of action now was to charge forward, break through the enemy's attacks, and find the piece.
*Swoosh-*
*Thump-!*
Do-jae leaped forward to catch the enemy off guard.
*Crash-*
"Ugh."
But the enemy appeared from nowhere and knocked him down.
And in the brief spark created as their bodies collided, the enemy's identity was revealed.
‘Me?’
A golem in the exact same form as himself.
Do-jae gritted his teeth.