Encounter with the Unknown (2)
The word dragon came from Greek.
It came from Drakon, and originally meant a serpent.
It also carried another meaning: “to stare.”
It was interpreted as something like “a being that flashes into view for an instant” or “a creature with a murderous gaze.”
“Hah.”
Bang Su-hwan let out a long breath.
“Brother, I’ve never actually seen a dragon in my life. I feel like I might piss myself if I even make eye contact with one.”
He was a big, tough-looking guy, but he didn’t bother hiding how he really felt.
Ha Se-na was just as tense.
“The dragon went into Manjanggul after Oppa died. After that, the whole place was sealed off. I couldn’t even bring myself to go in there……”
And it wasn’t just Bang Su-hwan and Ha Se-na.
There was a famous saying on Jeju Island.
“Anyone who enters Manjanggul never comes back alive.”
In fact, countless hunters had headed for Manjanggul, hoping to reap the rewards that came with dragon hunting.
None of them survived.
Not a single one.
Bang Su-hwan spoke up.
“Brother, I know this sounds like I’m trying to kill the mood, but do we actually stand a chance?”
The dragon was a monster at the Apocalypse-class level or higher.
Even an S-class hunter couldn’t possibly wipe one out.
There was no chance at all.
Ha Se-na chimed in from the side.
“Choi Yongki, you’re not exactly the type to think things through, but you are a strategist in your own way. So you’ve got a plan, right?”
“Maybe. But I doubt killing the dragon is something we can actually do.”
“What? Jeez……”
At my answer, Ha Se-na and Bang Su-hwan both gaped at me.
Strategy and planning only improved your odds, after all.
They didn’t mean a thing against an opponent whose abilities were on a completely different level.
You couldn’t bridge a gap that wide overnight.
That didn’t mean relying on luck was smart, either.
Charging in blindly out of youthful bravado was just……
suicide, plain and simple.
What I was after was something else entirely.
Hit and Run.
“Don’t worry. If it looks impossible, I’ll run.”
I had no intention of gambling with my life.
Helping Ha Se-na mattered, sure.
But the biggest reason I’d come to Jeju Island was to catch Quarter.
“Like I said before, getting the team back safely is the top priority.”
I looked at Ha Se-na as I said it.
“Sorry. That’s okay with you, right?”
Ha Se-na gave a snort of a smile.
“Of course, Boss.”
We kept walking deeper into the cave without stopping.
Only the first kilometer or so of Manjanggul was open to tourists.
Everything beyond that was strictly controlled.
From here on out, this was the world of the unknown.
Along the way, we fought a few monsters.
Most of them were low-grade beasts.
“Everyone okay?”
“Yessir.”
Bang Su-hwan pulled a chocolate bar out of his bag.
“I’m starving. Let’s each have one and keep going.”
Ha Se-na took the chocolate bar and started chewing on it.
“See, sister? I knew it was smart to pack a bunch.”
“Tastes good. Thanks. I take back the part where I called you a pig.”
“Pigs are cute, though. If you’re going to call me something, call me a little piggy.”
The two of them, who had been bickering the whole time, had already grown close.
And after we’d gone much farther in.
“Brother.”
Bang Su-hwan stopped walking, flustered.
A structure that didn’t belong in a natural cave had appeared ahead of us.
A castle gate made of steel and wood.
It stood nearly thirty meters tall, and the bolts were locked tight.
A sinister aura leaked out from beneath it, too strong to be fully contained.
And then.
Someone was standing guard in front of the gate.
An inhuman figure clad in medieval armor, built from pure white bones.
Eldritch.
The one who had personally built the gate inside the cave.
The dragon’s sentinel.
Ha Se-na muttered under her breath.
“So you actually made it this far.”
The gate was under a powerful spell.
It would never open until Eldritch was killed.
That was the gate every challenger had to pass through to reach the dragon.
“Brother. That thing’s pretty strong.”
Eldritch was a threat somewhere between Ruin-class and Apocalypse-class.
I drew White Revenge and lowered my stance.
“Inverse.”
At my command, Bang Su-hwan and Ha Se-na moved forward.
The full name of the tactic was Inverse Triangle.
One person stood in back while two took the front, forming an inverted triangle.
Eldritch drew a spear-staff that radiated blue energy.
“Go.”
Judgment of the Superhuman activated.
The moment I gave the order, Bang Su-hwan and Ha Se-na shot forward.
Bang Su-hwan blocked the arming sword Eldritch brought down with his shield.
Clang!
Ha Se-na’s wand flashed.
“Stun!”
Eldritch froze as if he’d been electrocuted.
“Now, brother!”
I kicked off the ground and lunged.
Gripping the white dagger backward, I unleashed the technique of Ilcheon-illyu.
“Severing Slash.”
At a glance it looked like a single swing, but it was a divine strike that cut twice in a row.
The blade that severed the skeleton’s head then stabbed straight through the area around its heart.
“Nice, brother!”
Eldritch, a hole punched through its chest, collapsed.
Bang Su-hwan and Ha Se-na hurried over to the fallen skeletal knight.
“Oh. Look at that, it’s wearing an ancient necklace and bracelet.”
“There’s a ring too! Jackpot!”
If we put Eldritch’s accessories up for auction, we could easily make several billion won.
Bang Su-hwan and Ha Se-na quickly started gathering the spoils.
And then—
……!
Eldritch’s arm moved.
“Watch out!”
“Wha—!”
As if he’d expected it, Bang Su-hwan casually blocked Eldritch’s attack.
“Back up, sister.”
“I know.”
Eldritch came back to life as if nothing had happened.
With a clattering racket, it lifted its severed head and put it back in place.
That’s right.
Even if its neck was cut and its heart pierced, Eldritch kept getting back up.
The one controlling its core was the creature behind the gate.
The dragon.
In other words, until the dragon was killed, Eldritch would never disappear.
“Hyaaaah!”
Bang Su-hwan smashed Eldritch’s torso to pieces with his Kite Shield.
It was useless.
Eldritch stood right back up again as if nothing had happened.
Bang Su-hwan clicked his tongue in disgust.
“This thing’s relentless. How many times do I have to kill it?”
“Rumor says if you kill it about a hundred times, the gate opens.”
I shut my mouth.
A hundred times would be lucky.
A thousand. Ten thousand.
There was no right answer for how many times Eldritch had to die.
And whether the gate would open at all was entirely up to the owner of this cave.
If the dragon refused to allow it……
Then we’d be fighting here forever.
It was wasteful and pointless.
The dragon rejected trespassers who invaded its territory.
And it did so by keeping an immortal guardian at the gate.
Eldritch charged again, tireless and ferocious.
“Ugh. We’ll be here all night!”
“Don’t let your guard down. That spear is coated with a powerful poison.”
Bang Su-hwan and Ha Se-na dodged the attacks and widened the distance.
“Brother. What do we do?”
Unlike Eldritch, who could keep fighting forever without eating or sleeping, human stamina and ability were limited.
At this rate, all we could do was draw a line in the sand.
I raised one finger.
“Just block it one more time.”
“Yes, sir!”
Bang Su-hwan and Ha Se-na charged at Eldritch once more.
In the meantime, I grabbed the gate.
“Hup!”
I put my full strength into it, but it was useless.
It didn’t budge at all.
A gate sealed firmly by magic couldn’t be opened by human strength.
At least, not by human strength alone.
I focused my mind and purchased a hero’s power.
Judgment of the Superhuman
Withdrawal: ₩1,000,000
Awakener's Balance: ₩456,991,370
The bolt tore free, and the gate began to shake.
Bang Su-hwan and Ha Se-na’s eyes went wide.
“……Brother.”
“N-no way……”
I gritted my teeth and forced it open.
Sand spilled down in a shower, and at last the gate swung wide.
It had only cost me a single million won to tear open the defenses of the legendary monster that stood here like a fortress.
I hurried inside through the opened gate.
“Brother! We’re coming too.”
“Wait a second! I just need to clear the skeleton and……”
I didn’t wait for them.
Judgment of the Superhuman
Using every last ounce of strength I had, I shoved the gate shut with both hands.
The gate groaned across the floor, leaving a long scrape mark as it slammed closed with a thunderous boom.
Bang!
As the magic activated, the bolt dropped down from the inside.
Now, unless someone opened it from within, no one on the outside could ever get in.
For a while, silence swallowed everything.
On the other side, the two of them pounded on the gate.
“B-brother!”
“Hey! Choi Yongki! What the hell are you doing!”
I let out a slow breath.
Good.
This was exactly what I’d intended.
Unless they were SS-class, fighting a dragon was a foolish thing to do.
I knew that.
I knew those two had the resolve to follow me all the way to the end if I decided to press on.
And that was precisely why……
I couldn’t let them come in with me.
One life on the line was enough.
“Brother! Don’t tell me—”
“Choi Yongki, you…… from the beginning—”
Their voices faded into nothing through the gate.
I tapped the door lightly twice.
“Wait here. I’ll be back soon.”
I said it with confidence and turned around.
At that instant, goose bumps broke out across my skin.
A chill cold enough to freeze my guts seized my entire body.
Far ahead of me, I saw a life-form seated upon a throne.
Red hide that called molten lava to mind.
Sharp horns thrust from its head.
Powerful, thick muscles pulsed through its long, elegant body.
Ash and dust had settled on the underside of its enormous wings.
And above all else.
Golden eyes bored straight through me.
……
It had only looked at me.
And yet I could barely breathe.
It felt as if a massive gravity field were pressing down on me.
So this is what it feels like.
I could feel it.
The creature before me was, without question, the strongest being on the surface of the earth.
Can I win?
If I dumped every last hero ability into this.
If I burned through Awakener's Balance until there was nothing left.
I swallowed hard.
No.
My body rejected the idea instinctively.
The mana the dragon exhaled as naturally as breathing was nothing short of a storm.
If it wanted to, it might even be able to blow Manjanggul apart in one shot.
Unlike me, who was sweating cold, the dragon remained utterly calm.
Its maw, lined with countless fangs, opened wide.
“Grrrrr.”
The dragon growled low in its throat.
Before I realized it, I had taken a step back.
I drew Heoksikdo from my back and took a fighting stance.
But like a cat toying with a mouse, the dragon didn’t seem to have any real intention of fighting.
It looked amused by how terrified I was, and a thin grin twisted its face.
So you really are playing with me.
I straightened my back and slid Heoksikdo back into its sheath.
Calm down.
I forced myself to stay composed.
If I provoked it carelessly, it would only backfire.
One wrong move……
and Manjanggul could become my grave.
The trick to subduing an opponent far stronger than me was……
I opened my mouth slowly.
“Let’s talk.”
The dragon opened and closed its golden eyes.
“You’re an arrogant human.”
Because I had the Magical Circle Whisper of the Stars, I could understand the dragon’s language.
Even if I hadn’t had Whisper of the Stars, it wouldn’t have been a problem.
Dragons were monsters with high intelligence.
I had no doubt it could speak every language on earth.
“Get lost.”
The command was short and simple.
To be honest, I wanted to run.
The dragon was a monster that couldn’t even be compared to something like the Dirty Kraken.
Would I fight even though I knew I’d lose one hundred percent?
Or would I retreat for the sake of my own survival?
The path I chose was—
“I can’t do that.”
I didn’t back down. Instead, I took a step forward.
“I’ve got my own reasons.”
I forced the mana inside my body to erupt outward.
Even then, compared to the dragon, it was pitiful.
“Kukuk. Do you want to die?”
Just as the dragon began to rise……
“I don’t want to die.”
“Are you trying to joke with me?”
“No.”
The only way to defeat an enemy that had no chance of losing.
I lifted my head and looked the dragon straight in the eye.
“I’m proposing a bet.”