Chapter 132: Simultaneous Conquest (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 132: Simultaneous Conquest (2)
Even though we were in a position where we had to compete with Im Jin-ah, we entered the dungeon and checked our equipment just like any other day.
It wasn't as if the other party’s clearing speed was incredibly fast, so Black Unicorn just needed to do what we always did.
The other party members seemed to feel the same way; I liked that they didn't rush unnecessarily just for the sake of competition.
It was a good mindset.
Still, I didn't expect this to actually happen.
When the Association sent out the request for a simultaneous conquest, Black Unicorn was the first to be called.
By a stroke of luck, I was in the Clan Leader’s office being scolded by Lee Ru-da for being listed as a co-researcher in the Mana Transfer study, so I happened to be there when the Association’s request arrived.
After receiving the call, Lee Ru-da asked for my opinion.
The Association could be a nuisance, but getting on their bad side would make things even more troublesome, so it was better not to refuse such requests.
At the mention of a "simultaneous conquest," I asked if they had proposed it to Black Unicorn first.
When they mentioned they were looking for another party, I recommended Iron Wolf, where Im Jin-ah was.
Lee Ru-da knew full well that Im Jin-ah and I didn't get along. As soon as she heard my suggestion, she stared at me for a moment before offering some advice.
"In life, there are bitches who annoy you and bitches you don't even want to associate with. I don't care about that since everyone has their reasons, but making a request like this to the Association might not be a good idea."
Lee Ru-da explained that the old fogeys at the Association loved to exploit the relationships between heroes and clans.
Warning me that the place was full of old-timers who cunningly sought their own profit within these complex dynamics, she asked if I still wanted to go through with it.
"They probably already know we have a bad relationship."
"They'll frame this trivial suggestion as if it's a massive favor."
"It's fine. I have no intention of crossing the Association. As long as it's not too unreasonable, I plan to comply with most of their demands."
Lee Ru-da watched me for a moment, then nodded and contacted the Association again.
And that was how Iron Wolf and Im Jin-ah ended up in a simultaneous conquest with me.
Hey, Im Jin-ah. I just gave you some work. You should be grateful.
I sneered inwardly as I finished the equipment check and deployed the drones.
A simultaneous conquest was something that subtly pricked at a hero's pride.
No matter where you went, people loved to rank others, and the topics of "Who is stronger?" and "Who is better?" always followed.
Since you couldn't just gather busy heroes and hold a World Martial Arts Tournament, they were usually evaluated based on records alone.
However, many people refused to accept those results.
There were plenty of excuses: the situation was different, the support was different, the abilities were more advantageous, and so on.
Of course, that was often true.
That was why a simultaneous conquest—clearing identical, duplicated dungeons—tended to turn into a battle of egos unless the parties were close and respected each other.
Especially for someone like Im Jin-ah, who thought she was the center of the universe, it was like pouring gasoline on her competitive fire.
"Alright, I'll turn the stream back on after the conquest is over. I'll get in trouble if I waste clan resources."
Kwon Ye-jin spoke to her streaming smartphone with a smile.
She waved at the screen alongside Anna and Yoon A-young, then finally turned the camera toward me.
After I gave a light greeting, Kwon Ye-jin turned the camera back to herself to wrap up.
"It won't take long, so please come back soon!"
"Why didn't you let me say hi?"
"Oh? Were you here? I thought you didn't come today."
The broadcast ended with Lee Yu-na and Kwon Ye-jin bickering again.
Since the Hanseong Group loved manipulating broadcasts and the internet, I figured I should make use of it too.
Leaving it to Kwon Ye-jin, who loved talking to people, ensured everything went smoothly.
"I am the party leader from this point forward. No honorifics, and every command comes from me."
As I made the opening declaration, Kwon Ye-jin placed her smartphone on the auxiliary equipment rack at the entrance and raised her shield.
With my party members' eyes now sharp and focused, we began the dungeon conquest.
"Now! Go, my soldiers! Bring victory to this great one!"
Elly, who had been dragged out every day since the Teki incident, shouted from my front pocket.
Today was a convenient stage-type dungeon.
Moving along a single path led to wide-open spaces where we had to defeat mid-boss level monsters one by one to proceed.
The path zigzagged between islands floating in the sky, looking like a scene from a painting.
The goal was to reach the furthest island, defeat the boss, and destroy the core that appeared.
I applied buffs to the girls and we cleared one stage at a time.
Kwon Ye-jin blocked the monsters at the front while Anna went wild, tearing through them.
Yoon A-young, handling both offense and support in the vanguard, froze monsters as she struck them down, simultaneously erecting ice walls to prevent any from leaking through.
When the demonized Anna shattered the ice walls, Yoon A-young controlled the shards to perform wide-range attacks.
Arrows flew swiftly between the three in the vanguard, picking off monsters one by one. Lee Yu-na used the recoil from her shots to quickly switch her weapon to a staff, providing support magic to the front line.
Since buffs were usually area-of-effect or required contact, Yu-na’s ranged support could accidentally buff the monsters if she didn't manage the distance perfectly.
As if her practice hadn't been in vain, Yu-na calculated the distance accurately to buff Anna and Yoon A-young, prompting a shout from Kwon Ye-jin asking why she wasn't getting any.
It wasn't that Yu-na would ever skip a buff as a joke during combat; it was just difficult to include Kwon Ye-jin in the range since she was glued to the monsters.
Matching Yu-na’s timing, who had informed me before casting, I planted a bullet right in Kwon Ye-jin’s backside.
In this manner, we cleared the dungeon with teamwork as precise as a well-oiled war machine.
"Kaaaaaaagh!!"
The boss collapsed with a piercing scream as the angelic Anna drove her sword into the crown of its head.
As the giant, which looked like it was covered in jagged stones, fell, Yoon A-young struck its neck to deliver the finishing blow.
The boss's high defense meant Lee Yu-na’s arrows weren't of much help, but she used her Guardian Spirit skill to reinforce Kwon Ye-jin, allowing the attackers to go all out.
"Whew—somehow this felt easier than the Teki."
"The first Teki we fought was a special individual. All the ones we faced after that were pretty underwhelming."
Lee Yu-na replied to Kwon Ye-jin while gathering materials.
"Send in the Wagon and check how far Iron Wolf has progressed."
I saw the Wagon, which had been waiting at the previous stage, moving toward us. A moment later, Ryu Ji-hye answered.
"Iron Wolf is currently at 40% progress."
"Did you inform them that we finished our conquest?"
"No. I haven't told them yet."
Ryu Ji-hye replied with a hint of amusement in her voice.
It really was great to have a team that moved as one.
Knowing that I didn't get along with Im Jin-ah, all the Black Unicorn members were keeping her in check.
"What should we do?"
I looked at the floating dungeon core and then back toward the distant dungeon entrance.
"How much time is left until the dungeon resets?"
"Twelve hours."
Since it was a linked dungeon, it seemed the reset time was halved.
"Then let's go outside and wait. Situation over. Tell them our status once we've exited the dungeon."
"Understood."
Whirrrr—
The Wagon approached with a small mechanical hum.
"Poppy’s here! Come here, Poppy!"
Kwon Ye-jin approached the Wagon, treating it like a puppy, clapping her hands and cooing at it.
It had a large, square body for carrying items, but its large camera lens for scouting gave its small, rectangular head—attached to a thin pipe—a cute appearance.
Anna also went over to pat its head. The party members each gave the Wagon a name and doted on it.
Once all the materials were collected, we returned to the entrance and moved all our equipment out of the dungeon.
"Are we... withdrawing?"
Even if we were going to wait, removing all the auxiliary equipment made it look like a full withdrawal, causing Lee Yu-na to question it.
"We have time, so I figured we’d wait outside."
After thinking for a moment, Lee Yu-na gave a small laugh, walked over to Kwon Ye-jin, and told her to turn the stream back on.
Man, a team that moves as one really is a scary thing.
I led Kwon Ye-jin, who was broadcasting that the conquest was over, outside.
We set up a spot right in front of the entrance, resting and chatting with the viewers.
Elly, perched on Anna’s head, was busy snacking with her, while Lee Yu-na and Kwon Ye-jin bickered back and forth for the stream.
As the staff members sat nearby enjoying a cozy picnic, a thudding sound came from behind us.
"... ..."
The Jewel of Life was a precious tool that saved heroes' lives, but the sight of it resurrecting someone was a bit... much.
Since a hero was kicked out as if the dungeon were spitting them out, it was hard to expect someone who had lost consciousness from death to look cool.
That was why mats were usually laid out in front of dungeon entrances to prevent them from hitting the hard ground.
Though, once you reached a high rank, you’d regain consciousness immediately and land in a cool pose.
One of the Iron Wolf party members stood up and stared blankly at us.
I suppose seeing us having a picnic would look strange.
Soon after, another party member was "spat" out and landed face-down on the mat.
The woman stood up with a scowl, turned her head, and locked eyes with us, wearing the same blank expression as the first.
Out of respect for the heroes' dignity, we didn't point the camera at them, but the viewers would know exactly what was happening from the sounds and our gazes.
Since two of them had already been taken out, the rest would probably come flying out soon, whether they committed suicide or were killed by monsters.
Before long, the rest of the party members tumbled out in a heap, and finally, Im Jin-ah came rolling across the mat in a pathetic display.
"Dammit! Get your heads in the game! You couldn't even dodge that one—"
Im Jin-ah, who had been screaming, locked eyes with me as I was eating a snack.
Munch, munch—
"... ..."
Smack, smack—
"What are you doing...?"
"Waiting for you to finish? We sent word that our conquest was over."
Ryu Ji-hye had confirmed the message was delivered, so Im Jin-ah must have heard it.
Had she thought we were waiting in front of the core? She stared at me with a dazed expression—uncharacteristic of her—before her face contorted into a scowl.
"You finished a little early and decided to wait outside? Are you out of your mind?"
It probably wasn't just "a little."
Stage-type dungeons got significantly harder as you progressed; just because they were at 40% didn't mean they could reach 80% in the same amount of time.
We had to wait over an hour, and waiting in an empty void wasn't exactly ideal.
A donation message on the stream said exactly what I wanted to say.
Hearing the irritating mechanical voice, Im Jin-ah’s face crumpled. She glared at me as if she wanted to kill me before storming back into the dungeon.
The last party member to enter replaced their broken Jewel of Life before following her.
A short while later, the party members were spat out of the dungeon again.
It seemed she was pushing too hard because the blood had rushed to her head.
What did those poor party members do to deserve that?
After the party members tumbled out in a heap again, Im Jin-ah, knowing we were broadcasting, entered the dungeon again without a word, grinding her teeth.
Comparing us like this allowed people to see just how incredible it was not to use the Jewel of Life.
The jewels were difficult to manufacture and weren't cheap.
When you considered that parties all over the world consumed two or three of them a day, the cost was astronomical.
The viewers were discussing this topic, and Lee Yu-na sensibly pointed out that using the jewels wasn't a bad thing.
If we acted arrogant here, we’d be insulting heroes as a whole, so it was a brilliant move on her part.
Sitting and resting for over an hour made my backside ache and left me feeling drained.
Anna had fallen asleep in Yoon A-young’s arms, and the viewers were chuckling at the sight of the sleeping Anna.
They weren't mocking her; the chat was full of people complaining about how long Im Jin-ah was taking.
But she really was taking too long.
Just as I was thinking that, the dungeon entrance Im Jin-ah had entered began to shake.
It was the omen that occurred when a dungeon core was destroyed and the dungeon was about to vanish.
"Situation room."
"There was no contact."
Ryu Ji-hye also sounded flustered, telling the nearby staff to contact them immediately.
As we stood up in confusion, Im Jin-ah emerged from the dungeon.
"Oh? Didn't you get the message? We're finished."
Im Jin-ah sneered with a despicable smile.
"That's what happens when you get too complacent. Aww—a simultaneous conquest requires both to be destroyed at the same time, but now you have to clear it all over again because of your mistake."
She probably thought that entering now and reaching the core at the very end would be impossible due to the time constraint.
I stood up and took a massive sniper rifle handed to me by two staff members.
It was hard to tell whether it should be called a sniper rifle or a bazooka, but it was classified as a long-range sniper rifle that fired bullets the size of artillery shells.
It was a custom piece made for me by Poltsmith.
Having "Poltsmith" plastered across the side for promotion was a bit much, but the gun itself was excellent.
Im Jin-ah’s eyes widened when she saw the massive rifle.
As I moved toward the dungeon entrance, Kwon Ye-jin followed me in, saying something to her smartphone.
The empty dungeon was perfectly peaceful.
Though it was in the sky, there were no air currents since it was a dungeon, and the visibility was perfect for sniping.
I set the sniper rifle on a pre-installed bipod, lay down, and aimed at the dungeon core.
"Whoa... whoa... no, no. I'll get banned."
Kwon Ye-jin, where the hell are you filming?
Ignoring her as she talked to the viewers, I fired at the dungeon core.
BOOM—!
With a sound like a cannon firing, the bullet flew and slammed into the dungeon core.
The stored magic triggered an explosion, and as the core crumbled, the world began to shake.
I nonchalantly slung the sniper rifle and walked back out.
I looked at the dungeon entrance, which hadn't even begun to show signs of vanishing yet, and locked eyes with the stunned Im Jin-ah.
"Good work on the conquest."
I gave her a smile and headed toward the van with my party members, who had finished packing up.