Chapter 101

Chapter 101: The Desert (5)

Do Yeonha had a memory of once challenging an S+-rank dungeon.

Her party at the time had just cleared an S-rank dungeon and was brimming with confidence.

They thought they could win.

After all, it wasn't as if the dungeon's fundamental difficulty was different—people simply didn't know the strategy yet.

A colossal mistake born of ignorance and arrogance.

The result was devastating.

The raid stalled for an unbelievably long time with no end in sight.

A week passed, and the Gate went berserk.

Countless monsters from inside the dungeon poured out, killing people and destroying the city.

Watching that horrific spectacle, Do Yeonha and her party members despaired.

And they understood.

S-rank and S+-rank were on entirely different planes.

Knowing how to clear a dungeon and challenging one blind were two completely different things.

All this time, Do Yeonha had merely been walking comfortably down a road paved by those who came before.

Do Yeonha couldn't comprehend what was happening to the expedition right now.

This was clearly S+-rank, yet the pace was absurdly fast.

"Is it... really over?"

"How is it this easy?"

Time spent by the vanguard gathering data: forty-eight minutes.

Time to clear Stage 1: twenty-seven minutes.

In just over an hour, the expedition had passed the first stage.

"Didn't the Association project at least six hours for Stage 1?"

"Y-yeah......"

At least six hours.

Based on all the data humanity had accumulated, that was the normal pace for an expedition of their strength.

And that was assuming smooth sailing—any snags could have delayed it far longer.

Yet under Cha Eunwoo's direction, the expedition had cut that time to a fifth.

The Heroes watched his retreating figure with awe in their eyes.

"You brats. If you'd tagged along to the Pacific Dungeon, you would've fainted on the spot."

"The Pacific Dungeon?"

"Yeah. Let me tell you what that professor did during the expedition......"

When Wang Sheng began spinning tales of Cha Eunwoo's heroics, the party members' eyes sparkled and ears perked up.

Members of other guilds also focused their senses on Wang Sheng to catch every word.

Baekryeon clicked her tongue.

"What are they, children? How childish."

"And yet you're also listening to that brat's every word, are you not?"

Murakami's jab hit the mark, and Baekryeon's face cycled through shades of red and blue.

She waved both hands frantically.

"I-I'm not like them! I'm not listening because it's entertaining—I'm listening because I want to know the methods. Wondering if our guild could use them."

"Hmph. Sure you are."

"It's true! Don't tell me you're not tempted too, old man? That professor's the real deal. Recruit him and surpassing Cheongseong Guild might not be a pipe dream."

Baekryeon's words shifted something in Murakami's eyes.

Having lived a long life, he'd thought he'd accomplished everything there was to accomplish.

Murakami had become the best in Japan.

He'd believed there was nowhere higher to climb, and so ambition had largely faded.

But in this moment, something he wanted appeared.

Desire stirred.

He'd never looked at it before, thinking it an unreachable peak—but now the honor of being Asia's greatest guild shimmered before his eyes.

"Hm!"

Before either realized it, both Murakami's and Baekryeon's eyes were gleaming with naked greed.

It was Do Yeonha who broke the mood.

"That's a violation of international law. Professor Cha is officially affiliated as a Korean Hero."

International law.

In the past, before such legislation existed, powerful nations including America had aggressively poached famous Heroes from other countries into their own guilds.

Heroes with strong patriotism refused, but most were lured by sums no domestic organization could match and emigrated.

Weaker nations already struggling to defend themselves were pushed to the brink of collapse by Hero shortages, until ultimately the world established these international regulations.

Of course, since getting away with it was still possible, Hero transfers continued to happen under the table.

Guilds couldn't directly approach Heroes, but there was no stopping a Hero who chose to emigrate and then joined a guild.

Still, the legislation had at least cracked open a breathing hole for weaker nations, so it had real meaning.

Do Yeonha had thrown out the most threatening card she could play, but Baekryeon just scoffed.

"What's so funny?"

"Transfer, schmansfer. Got proof? How are you going to catch the moment I make contact?"

"...Excuse me?"

Do Yeonha was rendered speechless by the brazenness.

Not some covert backroom deal—she was openly declaring she'd snatch him away. Utterly shameless.

"I get everything I want. That man will be no different—just watch."

"Heh heh. Girl, I've never had anything I've set my sights on taken by someone else. Save yourself the trouble and sit tight."

"Old man, shut it. You've got one foot in the grave—what are you being so greedy for?"

"Having one foot in the grave is precisely the advantage."

"What?"

"For instance... making that man my successor."

"......!"

Murakami's bombshell declaration shocked both Baekryeon and Do Yeonha.

The next Guild Master.

This man was looking far beyond what either of them had imagined.

"...Old man, have you gone senile? You'd set aside your children, your subordinates, and dangle the Guild Master position before a man you met today just to recruit him?"

"What's the problem?"

"I mean... what are you basing that on?"

"Ability."

Simple, direct, and thoroughly refreshing.

Murakami gazed into the distance and spoke.

"I want to make Katanaz the best in Asia. The best in the world. I don't have to be the one to do it. Let my underlings inherit the guild? Nonsense. Katanaz has no one with the caliber for that. If anything, it's full of people who'd run it into the ground."

Baekryeon chewed her lip.

What the opponent had placed on the scale was too heavy.

To match that kind of offer, what would she have to—

"Auntie!"

What snapped her from her thoughts was Zhuge Soyon's shouted voice.

Zhuge Soyon was waving and beckoning from a distance.

"Stage 2 strategy's done, so come listen and get ready to move!"

"...Fine."

Murakami, apparently confident that Cha Eunwoo would never refuse his offer, wore an infuriatingly relaxed expression.

There was still plenty of time—no need to rush.

Baekryeon wracked her brain as she moved to tackle the next stage.

***

Half a day had passed.

The expedition's pace was unbelievably fast.

Already Stage 6. They'd reached the boss room.

"Hmm, this dungeon's surprisingly shallow."

"I know. The difficulty wasn't that hard, so I figured there'd be more stages at least—and we're already at the boss room."

This put it at slightly below average for an S-rank dungeon.

The raid was going so smoothly it lacked excitement.

Up to now, at least.

But there was no guarantee the same would hold beyond this point.

─UWAAAAH—!

A thunderous scream from the Communication Stone.

It was Wang Sheng, who'd gone in as the vanguard.

Reconnaissance via Monster Taming was great, but it couldn't be used in the boss room.

The boss stage was, needless to say, the highest-ranked territory.

No boss was going to sit idly while subordinates waltzed into its domain.

─Professor! Professor! Aren't we done yet? Let me out!

"Just a bit more. There might still be patterns we haven't seen."

─Bullshit! This is more than enough! That bastard's used everything it's got!

No wonder the earlier stages had felt easy.

The real problem was this bastard.

A colossal lion-shaped statue sculpted from golden bricks—the Sphinx.

Wang Sheng might be weak by S-rank standards, but he was still an S-rank Hero.

That his vanguard team was barely managing to run and dodge was proof this wasn't a boss befitting a standard S+-rank dungeon.

─HUWAAAAH! I'm dying! I'm going to die!

Good grief. An S-rank Hero, making this much of a fuss.

Wang Sheng still had plenty of reserves to hold out.

The Sphinx had already displayed close to twenty different attack patterns.

That put it well beyond the average S-rank boss—a freak bastard of the highest order.

Normally, that many patterns meant it had shown everything it had to show, but one was still missing.

A boss monster of that caliber should have had at least one long-range AoE skill.

Yet the Sphinx hadn't displayed anything of the sort.

"Wang Sheng, try pulling back further."

─Are you insane?! I'm already running at top speed!

"Just do it."

─AAAARGH!

Wang Sheng—for all his whining, the guy had surprisingly solid grit.

Well, he'd been at Lie Xiao's side for ages. It'd be troublesome if he didn't have at least that much going for him.

After Wang Sheng ran for dear life, we finally witnessed the last pattern.

FLUTTER—!

─Huh? Huh?

The Sphinx took flight.

The ceiling was quite high, yet it reached it in a single wingbeat.

But this was a stone statue—what purpose did wings serve?

Just visual flair, probably?

FLASH!

The Sphinx's eyes began glowing crimson.

Even Wang Sheng must have sensed it instinctively by now.

This was genuinely dangerous.

Something big was coming.

─All of you, run! Get out of the boss room!

Just before the Sphinx's attack landed, Wang Sheng urgently evacuated his party from the boss room.

Since Wang Sheng currently held aggro, the Sphinx let the party members go without issue.

Wang Sheng, alone in the boss stage.

From the Sphinx's crimson eyes, a laser fired downward.

ZEEEEEN—!

─UWAAAAAAAH!

Everywhere the red death beam passed was mangled beyond recognition.

A compressed blast of enormous mana—even an S-rank Hero would take a critical hit from a single shot.

"So it was hiding something like that. If we'd gone in blind, it could've been disastrous."

─Disastrous is right here right now! Help! Help me!

Wang Sheng whined up a storm but managed to dodge his way out and escape alive.

Rotten though he may be, S-rank was still S-rank.

That he'd made it out alive was truly a sha— no, a relief.

"Hah, hah......"

"Good work. Time to get ready."

"R-ready? For what?"

"We're going to kill the boss."

"Wh-what? You're saying that to a guy who just got done rolling around in there? N-no! Let me rest a bit first—!"

Based on the data just collected, Wang Sheng talked big but had the grit to deliver when pushed. The right approach was to push him into even more extreme situations and work him harder.

That was the proper way to use him.

"Alright, everyone—move out."

"N-nooooo!"

Thanks to Wang Sheng running around collecting data with everything he had, Zhuge Soyon and I put together a solid strategy.

Even with the strategy, the Sphinx's raw specs were formidable enough to give the expedition trouble, but they successfully slew it.

That was it. Done.

The pyramid interior dungeon—raid complete.

...Or so I thought.

─Hey, look over there!
─What is that?

Commotion filtered through the Communication Stone.

Checking what was going on, the expedition had encountered something unusual.

─Professor, you should probably come see this.

At the deepest part of the boss room, a Gate emitting a violet glow had been discovered.

A type of Gate I'd seen countless times in the game.

A Double Dungeon.

"This just got annoying."

Double Dungeons had several infuriating properties.

One: the difficulty was far higher than the original dungeon.

My first instinct was to pull the expedition back, but another problem blocked that option.

Two: if no one entered the Double Dungeon within a set time after clearing the original dungeon, the Gate went berserk.

The exact time limit varied by Gate, so I couldn't say precisely—but if we called for reinforcements, they'd definitely arrive too late.

Three: the damn dungeon was one-way. Entering was voluntary, but the only way out was to clear it.

And finally.

There were very few beings in this world capable of creating something like this.

Evil Gods.

Those bastards were on the move again.