Chapter 9: Guild Dungeon (2)

In a room tidied up with a bright and cheerful atmosphere, a diffuser with the scent of blackberries placed on the dresser was emitting a subtle fragrance, and a large poster of Yoo Seong-eun adorned the wall. Kim Yu-jeong was rolling around in bed, watching webtoons when she suddenly lay on her back to stare at the ceiling. With an annoyed expression on her face, she muttered to herself.

“How could he just ditch me like that? It’s bad enough that he called Mom, but when I went home, the housekeeper had gone out to meet a friend. Just you wait and see. I’ll really kill you this time.”

Knowing full well that she wasn’t good with directions, the thought of being left alone in that bustling crowd was infuriating.

“I should’ve known. He readily agreed to come to the lecture, but was it all just to screw me over?”

Suppressing her mounting anger, she punched the pillow a few times before exhaling sharply.

After calming down, Kim Yu-jeong slowly rethought Jae-hyun’s actions from that day.

‘I just can’t understand it.’

No matter how much she thought about it, there were aspects of Jae-hyun’s behavior yesterday that just didn’t make sense. He willingly attended Yoo Seong-eun’s lecture despite his dislike for crowded places, and the guy who would normally accompany her had suddenly disappeared without her.

And even…

“Transferring to the magical world… What kind of nonsense is that?”

There was no reason she could think of for him to change his path so suddenly. Jae-hyun had always been consistently practicing to become a martial world raider. If there was any motivation to change his route, it had to be significant enough to overturn all that practice and hardship.

Nodding her head, Kim Yu-jeong mused, “If he made that choice, there must definitely be a reason.”

The Jae-hyun she knew was always very cautious. His decision-making was so indecisive that at a restaurant, it could take him over ten minutes just to pick something off the menu.

And now it seemed his personality had turned upside down overnight.

“It’s like he became a different person.”

Still pondering over Jae-hyun’s actions with doubt, Kim Yu-jeong got up from the bed.

She grabbed her smartphone and started to send a text to Jae-hyun.

[You haven’t forgotten that you ditched me the other day, right? Just you wait. I’ll kill you.]

* * *

Whoooah…!

A chilling sensation for some unknown reason. Could it be simply because of the monster in front of him?

After taking a deep breath, Jae-hyun looked around the landscape that surrounded him.

Grrrr…

Black smoke began rising from the disorderly array of tombs.

Screaaaaaaam!

An eerie scream tore through the air, followed by the cries and half-decomposed moving corpses.

Jae-hyun quickly scanned the enemies before him with his eyes.

‘Four wraiths, one skeleton archer, and a draugr, is it?’

It was indeed a well-rounded party: one tank and four close-ranged dealers, plus one long-range dealer.

He couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity.

‘The organizational structure is better than an average party. And they expect me to break through all by myself?’

Of course, he could just use the [Judgment of Light] and wipe out all the enemies in one go, but relying solely on an area-of-effect skill meant no progress. If stronger enemies appeared later, he could run out of mana.

For now, Jae-hyun decided to observe the situation, gauging the enemy’s attacks.

‘At least I brought this with me, thankfully.’

He glanced at the staff in his hand and gave a slight smile.

[Equipment Item]

Name: Yeonhwa Guild’s Provisional Staff

Grade: C

A provisional staff made by the blacksmith of the Yeonhwa Guild.

The [Yeonhwa Guild’s Provisional Staff]. It was a weapon borrowed from the guild just a short while ago, but its performance was good enough for hunting these low-tier monsters without much difficulty.

Jae-hyun lightly infused mana into the gripped staff and then unfolded his magic power.

Ziiiiiiing…

The staff that received his mana started to slowly emit wisps of power.

The sharp frequency of the spreading mana; with a light smile, Jae-hyun unleashed [Chains of Lightning] towards the enemy.

Zzzzzap!

The leading wraith that was charging at Jae-hyun was pierced straight through by the chains.

―You have defeated a wraith.

―You have gained 70 experience points.

A system sound signified the wraith’s death.

Jae-hyun nodded slightly as he poured more strength into the staff in his hand.

With this level, even he, with his lower level, could sufficiently hunt.

Graaaaah!

The next wave of two wraiths rushed in.

Thump!

Jae-hyun kicked the ground to close the distance, twisting his body lightly to dodge the scythe.

And then.

Zzzzzap!

He maneuvered the chains once again, taking down two more enemies.

―You have defeated two wraiths.

―You have gained 140 experience points.

However, Jae-hyun did not stop there. Immediately, his body, which had shot out, homed in on the skeleton archer that was shooting arrows from behind.

He struck down hard with the staff atop the skeleton archer’s head.

Crack!

“Huh?”

A cry of astonishment escaped Jae-hyun’s lips.

―You have defeated a skeleton soldier.

―You have gained 50 experience points.

He had indeed succeeded at defeating the skeleton soldier. But the problem lay elsewhere.

―Equipment item [Yeonhwa Guild’s Provisional Staff] has been destroyed.

Jae-hyun’s face crumpled.

Despite having swung the staff like a club, it’s not something that should break.

A bout of his old martial world reflexes had led to the unfortunate destruction of the staff.

“Dammit.”

Blindly cursing, Jae-hyun had no time to mourn as the next attack came—this time from the draugr swinging its sword at him.

From the upper left to the lower right, the sword strike fell elegantly smooth.

But Jae-hyun easily dodged the attack and then kicked the draugr away, creating some distance.

Four steps back, the draugr and two wraiths gazed back at him, preparing for combat. Jae-hyun steadied his breath as he focused strength into his legs and fingertips.

Even without the staff, his [Chains of Lightning] was potent enough on its own.

There was no way he couldn’t take down both wraiths and the draugr in one go.

Graaaaaaaaaah!

The enemies surged forward in unison. Jae-hyun waited until the last moment, carefully watching their movements before deftly evading their attacks.

The next instant.

Zzzzzzap!

Three precise chains struck the critical spots, penetrating the hearts and heads of the draugr and the wraiths.

―You have defeated a draugr.

―You have gained 100 experience points.

―You have defeated two wraiths.

―You have gained 140 experience points.

―Your level has increased by 1.

“Huff… Huff…”

After taking care of all six enemies.

Jae-hyun exhaled roughly and collapsed onto the ground.

Fortunately, leveling up restored his spent health and mana.

With the level up, all of his stats increased by 1, and he gained 3 distributable stat points, which he invested entirely into mana.

After distributing the stats, he summoned his status screen to ensure that they were allocated correctly.

[Character Information]

Name: Min Jae-hyun

Age: 16

Level: 8

[Skills]

Passive: ‘The Favored of the Gods’ Max, ‘The Eye of the Absolute God’ Max, ‘Skilled Swordsmanship’ Lv 17, ‘Agile Footsteps’ Lv 15, ‘Flexible Movement’ Lv 14, ‘Emergency First Aid’ Lv 19…

Active: ‘Absolute Calculation’, ‘Chains of Lightning’, ‘Sacrifice’

[Status]

HP: 400/400

MP: 1000/1000

Strength: 5

Agility: 6

Magic Power: 19

Stamina: 20

Distributable Points: 0

Jae-hyun slowly got to his feet and assessed his situation.

“I thought I entered an E-grade dungeon, but it turned out to be Helheim. Monsters sprang out of nowhere, and my weapon is smashed to bits.”

As he voiced the reality aloud, the absurdity of the situation became even clearer.

Jae-hyun wished to return to the dungeon entrance, but that was also impossible.

‘It’s fairly common for someone to be moved abruptly to a different location in a dungeon. Such dungeons are usually referred to by people as “Transfer Dungeons.”‘

The issue was that those who entered a [Transfer Dungeon] couldn’t leave until they cleared it.

A completely sealed space that locked them in until they reached a conclusion.

This was the very nature of a [Transfer Dungeon].

‘Dammit. Should I use the warp stone?’

As Jae-hyun stomped around in annoyance, he felt an eerie presence from somewhere.

His brows furrowed.

“…What is this ominous mana?”

Almost without warning, the ground of the tomb’s underground began to vibrate.

An uncontrollable ill omen.

Jae-hyun quickly readied himself for battle, surveying his surroundings.

Grrrrrrrr…

The surroundings briefly turned monochrome before a dark blue mana seeping with malevolence began to escape from somewhere nearby.

A look of horror washed over Jae-hyun’s face.

‘Something is… coming!’

Sssssss…

From the ground below, a surge of magical power could be felt. Simultaneously, Jae-hyun’s body was forcibly thrown forward.

‘Damn it! I can’t… breathe!’

What was approaching?

Desperate for air, he reached for a broken piece of the staff shattered on the ground.

Jae-hyun shoved the shard into his own thigh with force.

“Guh!”

A groan almost escaped his lips, but he managed to muffle it with his hand.

He realized that making any noise here, against whatever was approaching, would be foolish.

“Heugh…”

Jae-hyun finally cleared his throat, and his vision began to return.

And then.

His pupils narrowed.

‘Is this… a shadow?’

Startled, Jae-hyun quickly straightened his waist and shifted his gaze.

“Ah…”

A pained exclamation left his lips.

In front of him was a giant shadowy monster.

Slowly, an exasperated word trickled from Jae-hyun’s mouth.

“…Nightshade.”

―The boss of the dungeon [Nightshade] has revealed itself.

―The level difference with the user is [Dangerous].

―Warning! Quickly exit the dungeon.

―Warning! Quickly exit the dungeon.

Continuous warnings echoed.

Jae-hyun scoffed helplessly as he faced the nightshade’s dark miasma.

He could feel his entire body shaking as he bit his lip.

‘Dammit… why is a Nightshade in an E-grade dungeon field! It’s a monster that should appear in at least a C-grade dungeon. I need to run away now.’

“Inventory!”

Jae-hyun hastily accessed his inventory to use the warp stone.

But at that moment.

His pupils violently shook. His eyes darted about in disarray.

In an instant, the form of Nightshade disappeared.

“Huh?”

A startled sound erupted from Jae-hyun’s mouth.

And then.

Boom!

Suddenly, Nightshade’s fist landed a precise blow to Jae-hyun’s abdomen.

“Kugh!”

Thump!

His body was flung across the distance, crashing into a wall behind him.

“Cough!”

Blood spurted from Jae-hyun’s mouth as the warp stone he was holding rolled away.

‘Dammit.’

―Attention! HP is critically low.

―Immediately use a recovery item!

One strike had drained nearly all his health. What little HP remained was a mere 40.

Thud! Thud!

The oppressive footsteps grew louder. Jae-hyun, struggling to stabilize his blurry vision, saw his approaching enemy.

The purple-flames of the monstrous eyes stirred a tremor in him.

What should I do?

How can I survive this?

As strength drained from him, rendering movement almost impossible.

Plod. Plod. Plod.

At the pivotal moment of crisis, Nightshade finally stood before him.

Raising its massive fist slowly, it swung down forcefully.

Whoosh!

‘I can’t avoid it.’

Jae-hyun stared at the rapidly incoming fist and clenched his own.

With an unavoidable speed, he thought Nightshade’s attack would hit his head squarely.

“Huh?”

Or so he thought.

‘…What? Nightshade’s movement… stopped?’

“No, that won’t do. That won’t do at all. He is a precious guest I personally brought here.”

Then, he heard an enigmatic, enchanting female voice.

With the last of his strength, Jae-hyun turned towards the source of the voice.

There.

He saw a woman smiling with only her eyes visible, the rest of her body obscured.

Her half-body was so beautiful that one could hardly meet her gaze, yet the other half was so grotesque it was impossible to behold.

She smiled at Jae-hyun.

“You’re the one. The child born with the destiny of ‘the Adversary’.”