Into the Dungeon (5)
There were countless kinds of dungeons.
Jungles, of course.
Deserts, beaches, caverns, crystal palaces—you name it. Once you passed through a Gate, all manner of unknown spaces spread out before you.
This world, chaotic as it was, still had its own rules. It had gravity and oxygen, just like Earth. Living creatures, monsters among them, roamed its lands. And if you satisfied certain conditions, a door would open that let you leave.
Moving from one dungeon to another was impossible.
Which meant that Chinnun and the Superior Guild could not enter the place I was standing in now.
There were exceptions, though.
For instance...
Here?
I pushed through the brush and stopped beside a colossal old tree with roots dug deep into the earth.
The giant trunk, looking as though it had stood for thousands of years, rose straight up toward the sky.
If I had to climb that, it would take half a day.
I loosened my body, then crouched low. Drawing on Judgment of the Superhuman, I channeled mana into both legs and kicked off the ground.
In the blink of an eye, I reached the upper branches of the tree. When I climbed onto a thick limb, I could see a Dio Guild member far below, gathering loot.
Let’s hurry.
I reached out and felt around near the leaves.
At a glance, they seemed no different from any ordinary leaf.
Rustle.
A peculiar texture brushed my fingertips.
It was as smooth as silk and as slick as a snake.
I concentrated mana into my fingertips.
Then, little by little, something transparent began to reveal itself. Silver scales caught the sunlight and glittered brilliantly.
Silver-white dragon hide.
Silver Knight.
“Found it.”
Seeing a dragon in a dungeon was extremely rare.
But traces of them were often found.
Only dragons could move freely between dungeons, and sometimes they shed their skins high up in the branches of tall trees.
Curiously, that habit only showed up in low-tier Crisis-class dungeons.
Some scholars explained that in Apocalypse-class dungeons, monsters on par with dragons roamed there, leaving them no leisure for something as peaceful as molting.
The reason this legendary item had remained so elusive until now was simple: polymorph.
Dragons wielded high-level magic that let them alter their forms at will.
That included the skin they shed.
Who would ever have imagined it?
That a transparent piece of a dragon’s body was hidden at the top of a tree.
Shrrk.
I held the Silver Knight out in both hands and looked it over.
It was exactly what Karki had wanted so badly, a precious thing you couldn’t even buy if you had the money.
I’d gotten my hands on a dragon’s hide.
This should be more than enough to make the Purple Devil suit.
I pulled out a bag made of Dvergr Cloth. It was the magic wrap I’d found useful when I looted Boss Cha Chi-do’s vault last time.
The huge hide slid neatly into the sack.
One down!
I climbed down the tree in a hurry.
The next task was already decided.
I stood before a tree larger than my own body, took a deep breath, and straightened up.
All right, let’s do this.
I grabbed the massive trunk with both hands and poured mana into it. A moment later, a round blue sigil appeared before my eyes.
There it is.
I already knew what it was, but even so, I couldn’t help marveling at the strange phenomenon.
The so-called Magical Circle.
It was a mysterious force so powerful it practically defied the laws of physics.
Whoever obtained one could wield wondrous power for the rest of their life, without needing mana in the usual way.
Normally, Magical Circles appeared in all kinds of places unreachable by human hands.
In the deepest part of the Abyss beneath the sea.
Deep inside volcanoes where lava poured and erupted.
In the heavens floating above the clouds.
But if the right conditions were met, they could sometimes be born in surprisingly ordinary places.
For example.
Divine energy leaks out of the dragon scale and gathers in the tree.
It was a hidden piece that only appeared in low-level dungeons.
I reached for the Magical Circle.
Judging by this pattern...
Whoosh.
Instantly, the circle’s power seeped through my entire body.
“Ghk!”
My back felt stiff and sore, as though someone were carving mana-made seals into every joint of my spine one by one.
I let out a rough breath and waited for my body to settle.
When the pain finally faded, I straightened my back and clenched and unclenched my fist.
The Magical Circle I had absorbed would later come to be known as Blessing of Effort.
It was a miraculous thing that multiplied the results of training dozens, even hundreds of times over.
To put it simply: if you did one bench press at the gym, it had the effect of one hundred strength-training reps.
For someone like me, an Awakened one who had been cursed with a complete lack of talent...
This was a necessary stroke of fate.
I took a deep breath.
The fresh air of the great outdoors filled my lungs.
“Feels like I’ve been born again.”
I had indirectly met a dragon and gotten my hands on a cheat-level piece of fortune. Now only one thing remained.
I knelt down in that spot and pulled out a small field shovel.
After digging around the base of the tree for a short while, something caught the edge of the shovel.
A square vault decorated with gold fittings.
The rusted iron in places made it look anything but ordinary.
An item handed down from ancient times.
Jackpot.
How terrifying was future knowledge, really?
Everything unfolded exactly as I remembered.
Once again I infused the box with mana, and with a small click, the lid opened without resistance.
I shut my eyes for a moment against the flash of light leaking from inside, then opened them again.
The box contained all sorts of accessories.
Earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings.
Everything was made from special metals impossible to obtain on Earth.
These were the possessions worn by the ancestor of the orc I had just killed.
If I took them out of the Gate and put them up for auction...
The price would be whatever I asked for.
If my memory was right, this Orc's Box had been sold at Sotheby’s in London for about sixteen million dollars.
In won, that was...
Over twenty billion.
Reality was starting to feel thin.
I had spent my whole life scraping by through backbreaking labor, saving every penny on food and clothes, and had only just managed to put together one billion won. Yet now, with a single step into a dungeon, I had earned a sum so absurd it would have been impossible to dream of.
I tucked the Orc's Box into my pocket.
While the Dio Guild combat team collected goblin blood and divided up the orc corpses...
I had secured a reward beyond imagination.
I brushed the dirt off my hands and stood up.
We had lost some time, but if I hurried back, there was still no problem.
Once we’re out, I should treat everyone to a proper feast.
I made my way back to where we had been with light steps.
And then...
I stopped.
The air had changed.
A sharp, blade-like sensation skimmed across my skin.
This was killing intent.
Beside the collapsed body of the orc, someone else was lying on the ground.
Given the blood soaking the earth beneath them, it looked like their life had already been cut short.
Who is it?
When I moved in closer, I saw that it was one of the six interns.
He hadn’t talked much, so we’d never had a deep conversation, but he’d been the sort to endure grueling training without complaint.
The moment I recognized his face, a few possibilities flashed through my mind.
Did he inhale gas leaking from the orc’s body?
Or did some other kind of monster suddenly ambush us?
Neither made much sense.
Then I saw Instructor Nike in the distance, taking a sword-drawing stance.
Swish.
When he swung his blade, another intern nearby went down.
It happened in an instant.
That left four of us.
Me, Bang Su-hwan, Lee Ji-jun, and Ha Se-na.
When Instructor Nike took the sword-drawing stance again, the remaining survivors finally seemed to understand what was happening and stiffened all at once.
Instructor Nike is slaughtering them!
His targets were the Dio Guild’s intern hunters.
Bang Su-hwan, who was closest to Nike, staggered back.
“I-Instructor. Why are you doing this?”
Nike met my eyes.
“Where have you been, Hunter Choi?”
“...”
His voice was as gentle as ever.
Only now, there was something murky mixed into his vacant stare.
“Your teammates are dying, and you should have come running. Then again, even if you had come sooner, it wouldn’t have changed anything.”
He wasn’t wrong.
If I had known something like this was coming...
I never would have left the group so carelessly.
“Why?”
Nike slowly shifted his stance.
“Why? Since you’re all going to die anyway, I might as well tell you.”
Meanwhile, Lee Ji-jun quietly slipped the Blood Knife he was holding back into place.
He wasn’t planning to fight.
He’s going to run.
Nike continued, “It was the order of the Cult Leader of Cheonyang-ji.”
At those words, Bang Su-hwan, Lee Ji-jun, Ha Se-na, and I all stood frozen as if struck by lightning.
Who?
Only belatedly did I realize who he was talking about.
Cheonyang-ji.
A heretical cult that dreamed of a world where dead souls gathered.
It was the largest sham religion in South Korea.
“The Cult Leader predicted today’s events. By now, the outside world must be in shambles.”
As it happened, his words were true.
The Gangnam Station multi-Gate incident.
The dungeon we were in had been safely closed, but the same couldn’t be said for the others.
Monsters must be pouring out of the Gates that didn’t get sealed in time and running wild.
Nike gripped the hilt of his sword and lowered his center of gravity.
“I believe in the Cult Leader. That’s why I simply obey his commands.”
Judging by his resolute demeanor, there was no room for negotiation.
No—who could possibly stop a puppet whose soul had been brainwashed to the roots?
I’d heard before that the faithful of Cheonyang-ji were so devoted they would kill themselves on the Cult Leader’s word alone.
Lee Ji-jun shouted at the top of his lungs, “Scatter!”
With animal-like speed, he disappeared first into the brush.
Half a beat later, Bang Su-hwan also ran toward me.
“Hyung! Run!!”
According to the escape method written in the manual, we were supposed to scatter in the four directions.
But Bang Su-hwan had come toward me because he was worried about my safety.
Nike didn’t look flustered.
“There’s no point hiding. I can tell where all of you are.”
Suddenly, I remembered the potion he had given us.
The fluorescent liquid allowed a target to be tracked and watched for twenty-four hours.
Nike had probably made every intern drink it.
At first, I’d thought there was a spy among the team.
It wasn’t unusual for someone to disguise themselves and infiltrate a group in order to leak information to a major guild.
I thought this was an operation to root out a mole.
It was a complete misread.
And because I still didn’t know Nike’s true objective...
This is dangerous.
Bang Su-hwan and I changed direction together.
As we leaped away, I turned my head back toward Nike. I wanted to confirm his position before making a full retreat.
Nike had barely moved at all.
Ha Se-na had already been attacked and was bleeding beneath his feet.
“Ugh.”
Clutching her stomach, Ha Se-na looked up at Nike.
“Hunter Ha Se-na. The Cult Leader wants you. He said that if you resist, taking off one arm would be fine.”
“Don’t talk shit! You psycho!”
Ha Se-na forced mana into both hands.
With one hand she healed her own stomach, and with the other she aimed straight at Nike.
“I have no choice. I’ll sever you cleanly from the shoulder.”
At those words, Bang Su-hwan and I both stopped in our tracks.
It was the moment our thoughts aligned.
“Hyung...”
I can’t just watch this.
If it went on like this, we’d be annihilated.
The only one who could stop Nike’s rampage was...
“Don’t move.”
His blade lifted toward the sky.
Ding.
I kicked off the ground and activated Speeder’s Infinite Acceleration.
Clang!
Nike’s sword was blocked by White Revenge, the Purple Devil’s main weapon.
“Hunter Choi?”
Nike tilted his head.
Then I remembered something he’d said before.
He had claimed that the most important thing in a dungeon was trust.
Only the object of that trust wasn’t a teammate at all, but some cheap fake cult.
Nike looked genuinely unable to understand the force stopping him.
“How are you...”
“Shut your mouth, you traitorous bastard.”
The snow-white blade danced through the air as it swept across the space between us.