Chapter 173

Chapter 173

Lee Ji-ryeong stood with his arms crossed, looking ahead.

Far in the distance, he could see a gigantic ancient castle.

Even though it was at an endlessly far distance, the huge ancient castle clearly flaunted its presence.

Lee Ji-ryeong realized at once that the place was the core of this dungeon.

An ancient castle that had appeared out of nowhere in this lifeless, desolate terrain.

Anyone could tell that place was the dungeon’s core.

The problem was the path to get there.

At a glance, it looked close, but in reality, it was impossibly far away. Naturally, reaching the ancient castle would not be easy.

At that moment, Jeloei approached his side.

“What should we do? Should we build a base here?”

“That seems best. The others will need time to gather as well.”

Perhaps because the Pegasus Raid Team had so many people, they had been scattered in every direction.

To proceed with a proper dungeon clearing, everyone had to gather.

Jeloei nodded as if he understood.

“Got it. I’ll make it as flashy as possible so everyone can see it.”

He returned to the base team and began working.

He took out the structures brought in subspace one after another and built a wall.

A gigantic wall rose in a circle across the open ground.

This alone was enough for it to function as a temporary base. But it was not enough to satisfy Jeloei.

Jeloei shouted,

“We’re installing the Guardian’s Wing. Everyone, get inside the wall.”

At his shout, the Awakened entered the wall. Then Jeloei took a gigantic flag out of subspace and planted it in the center.

Whooom!

At that instant, an invisible membrane covered the space enclosed by the wall in a hemispherical shape.

“Hah! Now I can breathe.”

“As expected of the Guardian’s Wing.”

The Awakened let out sighs of relief.

The Guardian’s Wing was an item excavated from a dungeon.

It was a kind of base item that made monsters below Grade B unable to recognize the space itself.

Since they could not recognize it, naturally, there was no chance of being attacked.

That was not its only effect.

The hemispherical membrane that monsters could not recognize was clearly visible to human eyes.

Naturally, people could see it from far away and come here.

As soon as the Guardian’s Wing activated, a group of dozens arrived. They were Awakened of the scattered Pegasus Raid Team.

After that, mercenary Awakened also entered. But there was still no news from Zeon or Cha Jin-cheol’s groups.

Lee Ji-ryeong frowned.

“It seems they were dropped far away.”

“Doesn’t that happen often? Both of them have plenty of experience, so they’ll find their way here.”

Jeloei spoke as if it was nothing serious. But Lee Ji-ryeong’s position was different.

“This changes the clearing method.”

The original plan had been to use wave tactics and break through to the core in one breath.
But now that their forces had been scattered in every direction, he had no choice but to revise it.

Lee Ji-ryeong called the exploration team leader, Gesling.

“Gesling!”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Before everyone gathers, map out the terrain around this place. You can do it, right?”

“Of course, Captain. It’s not like this is our first time.”

Gesling showed confidence.

The exploration team, made up of Gesling the detector, Lee Chi-woo the cartographer, Obroy the guide, and McNine the protector, had performed their duties superbly even in harsher environments than this.

“Should I attach more people to you?”

“No need. They’ll only get in the way.”

The reason the exploration team had remained four people for so long was because their teamwork was that good.

If anyone else joined them, they would not run smoothly, like foreign matter stuck in a gear.

Lee Ji-ryeong smiled faintly and said,

“Understood. If you encounter an abnormal phenomenon or a large monster, return immediately.”

“Okay, Captain.”

Gesling immediately led the exploration team out of the base.

It did look uneasy to explore the inside of a dungeon with only four people, but even so, Lee Ji-ryeong trusted them.

Until now, the exploration team had never once betrayed his expectations.

‘By the way, where did Zeon fall?’

He did not think for even a moment that Zeon had been killed by a monster.

No matter how much mana Zeon had consumed opening the dungeon entrance, Lee Ji-ryeong could not picture him being killed by a monster because of that.

As long as Zeon and the West District Awakened joined up before the exploration team returned, all preparations would be complete.

It was then.

CRRRAAACK!

Suddenly, the ground in the area heaved.

The earth writhed as if an earthquake had occurred.

At the ominous atmosphere, Lee Ji-ryeong shouted,

“Everyone, silence.”

At that instant, everyone inside the base closed their mouths. Then they too felt the vibration of the earth.

CRRRAAACK!

The ground was rising before their eyes.

‘What is that?’

‘Good heavens!’

What rose after breaking through the earth was a gigantic mole.

A tremendous monster that looked to be at least twenty meters long from head to tail.

Its back was made of rock, and fragments fell little by little each time it moved. Its claws, curved like blades, were taller than an adult and terrifyingly sharp.

The eyes of the giant mole monster were almost invisible, as if they had fully degenerated.

The giant mole that had dug through the earth and emerged to the surface sniffed with its nose as though smelling something.

The giant mole’s nose was pointed directly toward the base.

THUD! THUD!

It approached the base.

The giant mole monster wandered around the base, sniffing.

Its eyes had completely degenerated, and the Guardian’s Wing obstructed recognition, so the giant mole monster could not recognize the people.

Even so, as if something felt strange, the giant mole walked around the base and sniffed the area.

The Awakened each held their weapons, ready to attack at any moment.

They trusted the Guardian’s Wing, but they still prepared for the worst.

CRRRAAACK!

At that moment, another giant mole monster broke through the earth and rose. Like the other one, it wandered around the base and sniffed.

‘Grade D? No, at this size, should I consider it Grade C?’

It was a type of monster he had never experienced before.

Naturally, he did not know its name, nor did he know its abilities. That was why he watched.

If they wanted to catch it, they could do so, but they had to first determine how many monsters like this existed inside the dungeon and what level they held among the monsters here.

Fortunately, the giant mole monsters failed to find the people inside the Guardian’s Wing and returned underground.

“Phew!”

“Damn it!”

Only then did the Awakened release their vigilance and sink to the ground.

The tension had drained away.

Lee Ji-ryeong called Bronson, the clearing team leader, and asked,

“Have you ever seen monsters like that?”

“Never. At least, they were not monsters we saw in any dungeon we cleared.”

“What grade do they appear to be?”

“At minimum, Grade D, but given their size, it would not be unreasonable to consider them Grade C.”

“That matches my thoughts.”

If a creature was large, naturally, its strength and defensive power increased as well.

He did not know what attack Skills the giant mole monsters possessed, but their enormous size alone was threatening enough to humans.

Lee Ji-ryeong stroked the tip of his chin with his hand and muttered,

“I cannot even guess what kind of monster the master of this place is.”

“The exploration team will find out.”

“Tell everyone not to let down their guard until then.”

“Understood.”

Bronson left after answering.

Left alone, Lee Ji-ryeong muttered,

“Zeon, where are you?”

---

A giant mole monster suddenly appeared after breaking through the ground.

“Monster.”

“Squad One, enter combat mode.”

Cha Jin-cheol gave the order without delay.

Whirr!

At that instant, ten of the West District Awakened stepped forward.

They were Squad One.

The Awakened of Squad One immediately entered combat mode.

Clank! Clank!

With mechanical sounds, their arms and legs transformed into forms suited for battle.

Their metallic limbs gave off a somehow eerie feeling.

“We’re going in.”

The members of Squad One attacked the giant mole monster at the same time.

CRASH—!

The Squad Leader struck the giant mole monster’s head with his fist, but it was useless.

That was because everything from its head to its tail along its back was made of rock. The hard rock did not budge even under the Squad Leader’s fist.

But that did not mean there was no gain.

“Defensive power is Grade C or higher. Ordinary attacks cannot even wound it.”

The data gained from attacking the giant mole monster was being transmitted to the West District Awakened in real time.

They were sharing data through a link.

This was what made the West District Awakened frightening.

They were clearly separate humans, but through data sharing by link, they could grasp a monster’s combat strength and respond immediately.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

The members of Squad One fiercely attacked the giant mole monster.

Each time, the rock forming its back broke and was shaved away. Even so, plenty of rock still remained.

“It is extremely strong against physical attacks. If we had a magic-type Awakened, it would likely be easier to subdue.”

The West District Awakened were almost all mechanized Awakened.

Mechanized Awakened boasted destructive power comparable to martial-type Awakened. However, they had the weakness that their attack power was limited to physical force.

To compensate for that weakness, mechanized Awakened attached various equipment.

FLARE!

One of them was the flame currently being released from the Squad Leader’s arm.

Ultra-high-heat flames poured into the giant mole monster’s mouth.

GRAAAAR!

The giant mole monster suffered under the tremendous heat and rampaged. Then its belly appeared.

The members of Squad One did not miss that opening.

CRASH—!

A compressed air shot fired from one member’s forearm and struck the giant mole monster’s belly.

A large hole opened where the compressed air shot struck, and blood burst out.

“The belly is a weak point. Therefore, to clear a giant mole monster, we must somehow make it reveal its belly and attack that area.”

The members of Squad One, who received the shared data, attacked the giant mole monster’s belly all at once.

The giant mole monster, overwhelmed by pain, rampaged in every direction. But the West District Awakened persistently attacked only its belly.

“It appears to have no special attack Skills. Conclusion: as long as we are careful of its size, it is an easy opponent.”

That was the Squad Leader’s judgment of the giant mole monster.

Since they had obtained all the data, there was no reason to waste any more time.

The members of Squad One attacked even more fiercely, and before long, the giant mole monster collapsed with a scream.

Compared to its enormous size, it had been a surprisingly anticlimactic fight.

“It was nothing special. If this dungeon only has monsters like this, clearing it will be easy.”

Cha Jin-cheol sneered.

Seeing one thing allowed one to know ten.

Through the giant mole monster, he had measured the level of the monsters in this dungeon.

“Hehe! At this level, we don’t even need the Pegasus Raid Team.”

“It seems we could proceed with the clearing by ourselves.”

The confident West District Awakened gathered around Cha Jin-cheol.

Surrounded by them, Cha Jin-cheol’s smile deepened.

On the other hand, Zeon was looking at Cha Jin-cheol and the giant mole monster with a grave expression.

The giant mole that had lost its life was drying out at terrifying speed.

Its cheeks hollowed, and its belly sank inward.

Cha Jin-cheol and the West District Awakened did not know that, and they were rejoicing over the fact that they had killed the giant mole monster.

Briel grabbed Zeon’s sleeve.

With the unique instinct of a High Elf, she had sensed something ominous.

“Zeon!”

Zeon held Briel’s hand and said to Cha Jin-cheol,

“Everyone, be careful.”

“Careful? Of what?”

The moment Cha Jin-cheol made a puzzled expression, it happened.

Shaaah!

It appeared along with a bleak wind.

A translucent human wearing a robe pulled low and carrying a large scythe.

It appeared like a ghost and slowly looked around.

“What is that?”

“Is that a monster too?”

The West District Awakened chattered with expressions as if they had seen something strange.

At that moment, Zeon shouted,

“It’s a Grim Reaper. Everyone, dodge!”