Chapter 14
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Blue Room (2)
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- Dungeon entry permitted.
- Challengers: 1
- Dungeon Difficulty: 3
- Opening the gate.
A chilling air enveloped my body.
The Blue Room.
Yoon Ji-yeon had been the first to discover it, but the government had left the dungeon untouched.
Afterward, the Yoon Family assembled an expedition team to conquer it.
That would happen three years from now, in this timeline.
This Blue Room was not to be taken lightly.
Strange noises echoed from within the dungeon.
"Kyuruk."
I picked up my bow first.
Using Fire, I lit the arrowhead ablaze.
I drew back the bowstring.
"Kyuruk."
"Kyuruk. Kyuruk."
Twang!
The flaming arrow sliced through the air, flying deep into the cave.
The path it took lit up brightly.
And there, the sources of the sounds revealed themselves.
"Kyuruuuuk."
Blue Slimes.
The floor, walls, and ceiling were all crawling with Blue Slimes.
There were an insane number of them at a glance.
'Whoa, there are a ton.'
If I had to name one thing that set them apart from regular slimes, it was their ability to freely change shape.
Squish... squish...
The Blue Slimes began merging together, forming the shape of a human.
I swallowed hard.
Normally, this was a dungeon that required an expedition of C-Rank Hunters or higher to clear.
But I had confidence, so I'd come alone.
Even if I reported it to the Association, the loot would be divided by N.
Besides, as a cadet, I wouldn't even be allowed to enter solo.
"Kyuruuk!!"
One slime approached me.
It swung a fist at me.
I countered with my own fist.
Splat!
'...'
My fist sank right into the Blue Slime.
The blue slime began slowly enveloping my hand.
This slime had the property of dissolving anything it touched.
In five minutes, my hand would melt away.
But.
Ignition
Whoosh!
The Blue Slime, shaped like a human, burst into flames.
Slimes were vulnerable to fire.
Blue Slimes were no exception.
"Kyuruiiiik!"
The Blue Slime collapsed to the floor and burned slowly.
Good thing I'd spent my entire fortune on mana potions.
The problem was how long I could last.
Fire Sword
Flames erupted along my blade.
A massive blaze enveloped the sword.
The Blue Slimes backed away slowly at the sight of the fire.
When your enemy trembles in fear, that's the perfect moment to strike.
I charged straight at them.
Roar! Whoosh!
Any slime sliced by the Fire Sword burned mercilessly away.
I had to pace my stamina.
I steadily cut them down, advancing bit by bit.
The path behind me was littered with nothing but charred slime residue.
I didn't let even the ones squishing away in retreat escape; I cleared them all.
'Where do you think you're going!'
Slash!
Monsters adapt their combat forms based on their opponent.
Especially against natural predators like me—their brains spun even faster.
"Kuruk! Kyuruk!"
Three or four slimes launched a suicide attack.
They latched onto my only weapon, my sword, temporarily paralyzing my attacks.
Then all the remaining slimes began surrounding me.
"..."
Weapon paralyzed for the time being.
No escape route.
Surrounded.
It was a truly desperate situation.
For your average hunter, anyway.
Flame Pillar
Consumes approximately 10% of mana to turn the area around the caster into a sea of fire.
Roooar!!
Flame pillars erupted from me in all directions.
The slimes clustered together had walked right into their own trap.
A seasoned hunter always leads the fight on their own terms.
Rumble...!
The power of the Flame Pillar was so immense that the entire cave shook slightly.
Blue Slimes annihilated.
Not a single survivor.
"Phew...! Haah... haah..."
I was out of breath.
I'd expended a huge amount of mana at once.
About 40% remained.
I chugged a mana potion.
These ran 300,000 won a bottle.
I drained every last drop.
'...Now, just the boss left.'
The boss was no pushover.
The Blue Room's boss lurked at the far end.
As I approached the boss room, the slimes thinned out.
Just a clean cave tunnel ahead.
The reason was simple.
The boss had absorbed all the slimes around here.
"Kyuruk... kyuruk..."
A space with faint sunlight filtering in.
A massive Blue Slime awaited me.
Blue Slime King.
Its body began to shrink slowly.
'Shrinking?'
It kept getting smaller until it finally took on my exact form.
From the sword to the body and face—it was a perfect copy of me.
The only difference was that it was entirely blue.
"Oh. This could be fun."
I gripped my sword and assumed a charging stance.
It mirrored me exactly.
I rushed forward.
I swung my sword.
Clang!
It blocked my sword.
Even though it was made of slime, it rang out with a dull thud.
'Shape change!'
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Parrying my strikes wasn't hard for it.
Because it was copying my own swordsmanship.
But the problem was... it wouldn't tire, while I inevitably would.
"Tch...!"
This was getting annoying.
Slash!
I wrapped my blade in fire and sliced its right shoulder.
No matter how well it mimicked me, a slime couldn't use fire magic.
The sliced part sloughed off as slime.
And the wound filled with fresh slime.
'...Regeneration, huh...'
This was a slime nest.
Absorbing other slimes was a breeze for it.
For the first time, worry crept in.
But I wouldn't lose.
"...We'll see who tires out first. Let's do this."
"Kyuruk. Kyuruk."
I kept swinging my sword relentlessly.
Shwick-! Shk!
...The sound of sword winds echoed through the dungeon endlessly.
Clang!
Our swords clashed again.
We traded blows countless times, but no decisive strike landed.
My body was drenched in sweat, and my mana had dipped to 10%.
No matter how much I slashed, the slime regenerated.
"Kuruk... kuruk..."
The Slime King showed no signs of fatigue.
If anything, it was starting to read my movements.
Even mustering all my mana wouldn't finish it off completely.
The flames were dying down.
Then, another slime clone appeared.
It held a sword too.
Two Slime Kings now tried to encircle me.
The slime's plan to finish me off for sure.
And the clone was smaller than the main body.
The main body Slime leered grotesquely.
"Kkiruk-kkuruk-kkiruk!"
The slime's mouth corners twitched.
That creepy grin looked just like a cat cornering a mouse.
"Haha..."
...I couldn't help but burst out laughing at the sight.
"Pfft!!"
"Kyuruk?"
I had to laugh.
This was beyond stupid.
"You... looking down on me, huh."
It must have thought it had me cornered.
That complacent thinking cracked me up.
Twenty years.
Twenty years.
I'd honed a single craft for twenty straight years.
No slime could mimic my swordsmanship in a single day.
I unleashed my mana.
My dulled blade smoked before the flames flickered out.
At that moment, the second one charged at me.
I raised my blade.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
Four Limbs Severance (5th Sword Art)
In an instant, the slime's limbs were severed.
"Kyuruk?!!"
The slime panicked and began regenerating frantically.
I wouldn't miss.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
Full Body Dismemberment (6th Sword Art)
So fast it was invisible—a diced-up frenzy.
The slime was chopped into dozens of pieces and scattered.
The clone vanished before it could even regenerate.
Using sword arts while burning mana naturally drained more strength.
Even if magic was weaker right now, I used it with the future in mind.
But a monster mocking me?
That I couldn't tolerate.
"What? Laugh again, why don't you."
"Kkirik-kyuruuk!!!"
The Slime King, utterly terrified, began to flee.
I caught up in a flash.
Speed and swordsmanship—neither was on a level this slime could match.
I'd cleared a Level 6 dungeon solo without mana before.
Lack of mana didn't make me a laughingstock for some slime.
Water Slash (4th Sword Art)
Slash!
I cleaved down on the slime's head.
"Kkiri...riiik...!"
The Slime King split perfectly in two.
The severed cross-section fell silent, no longer regenerating.
- Dungeon clear complete.
- Conquest time: 03:43:50
- Congratulations! Ranked unofficial No. 2 on dungeon rankings.
"I'd slashed at that waterfall thousands of times to master Water Slash..."
I said, kicking the thing's lower body.
My swordsmanship wasn't something trash like you could imitate after a day.
"Hoo..."
In my excitement, I'd gone all out.
I'd planned to hold back and impose a handicap on myself to get stronger.
...Well, I'd achieved my goal, so that was fine.
A rhombus-shaped blue crystal emerged from the main body.
Headquarters couldn't figure out its purpose and just labeled it 'spoils.'
But this crystal was no mere 'spoils.'
It was the key to another room in the dungeon.
I recalled from memory.
It was around here, for sure.
I remembered sighing heavily when I first heard about it in the news, wondering how anyone could find such a thing.
I felt along the wall, spinning in circles.
There had to be a rock hole that perfectly fit this rhombus shape.
Knowing it was a key made the hole easy to spot.
Click.
I inserted the crystal into the hole.
The adjacent wall crumbled with a roar, revealing a narrow passage.
Narrow enough that even a child would have to stoop to walk it.
I bent at the waist and trudged through with difficulty.
...It wasn't long before I reached the spoils room.
"...Haha. Finally found it."
There it was, proudly displaying its beauty atop a flat rock.
My first S-Rank gear.
I stepped slowly into the room and picked up the equipment.
It was squishy and about the size of a baseball.
At first, I couldn't fathom why something like this was S-Rank.
But once I learned its purpose, I was stunned.
"Switch."
This was no ordinary baseball.
It could transform into any weapon I desired.
The ball shifted into a sword shape, becoming a gleaming silver blade.
And it matched the blade length and design I'd envisioned perfectly.
No worries about it breaking, and it could morph into anything I wanted.
The fifth S-Rank gear in Asia.
And my first.
King Slime Weapon.
I morphed the sword into a bracelet form.
Normally, wearing it as a bracelet like this would make it convenient to carry.
The perfect weapon for me.
"Alright."
Everything was falling into place like a perfectly solved puzzle.
I left the dulled sword behind there.
...By the time I exited the dungeon, the sun had set and the moon was up.
A glance at my watch showed it was past 11 p.m.
'Ah... I'm starving.'
Irina's offer to use her villa suddenly came to mind.
I logged into the Hunter Network and searched for the villa's location she'd told me.
'Huh...? What the hell.'
Irina had left over 300 unread messages.
What kind of lunatic...
I descended the mountain.
At the base, men in black suits were waiting for me.
A helicopter sat behind them.
"We're here on Ms. Irina's orders to escort you. Hop on."
"Pardon?"
The bodyguards bundled me into the helicopter in a flash, and we lifted off into the sky.
I had no idea what was happening as the chopper carried me off somewhere.
About 30 minutes later.
A massive villa came into view.
It was enormous at a glance.
'...This is just a villa...?'
How ridiculously rich was she?
Just then, as the helicopter descended toward the ground.
Below, Irina waited in pajamas, her blonde hair tied into pigtails, looking utterly pissed.
Anyone could tell she'd just rolled out of bed.
'What's this about?'
Irina shouted.
"Why are you so late!!"
"...?"
I couldn't believe she was spewing such nonsense with such sincerity.
(To be continued)