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Chapter 745: This is My Fire (3)
White rank readjustment.
It wasn't a good thing for Yeongwoo.
If his rank went up already, wouldn't every enemy he meets from now on be even more wary of him?
'In a dungeon like this, it's more advantageous the weaker you look.'
Should this also be considered a given since it was an Epic Dungeon?
'They won't let me get away with a free ride at all.'
The moment Yeongwoo wrinkled his nose and muttered this inwardly, a system message outputted the details of the rank adjustment.
[High-Risk Competitor Eliminated +6]
[Consecutive Kill Bonus +2]
Then, on top of Yeongwoo's single white mark, a whopping 8 marks were piled on.
Peeee-eeng!
In other words, even though it was his first time in an Epic Dungeon, his white marks had been adjusted to 9.
"No, if it's like this... every bastard I meet from now on is going to see me as a veteran."
But in reality, wasn't he just a rookie who didn't even know the basic rules of an Epic Dungeon?
"I think I'm screwed in the short-to-mid term."
Following that, as Yeongwoo finished the adjustment and stood up, the tall participant swallowed a heavy gulp of saliva while looking at Obstruction of Justice, who was aiming its index finger toward him.
—...What happens to me now?
The only being in this dungeon who had seen Yeongwoo fight the Kaujo trainee earlier, and even knew that Yeongwoo's true identity was a Planetary Fleet Commander.
Furthermore, he even knew the fact that Obstruction of Justice, which looked like a mechanical hand, was actually a gun.
"Hmm."
At this, Yeongwoo stared intently at the opponent who was well over 3 meters tall.
"What do you mean, what happens. Like I said earlier, I have no intention of killing you."
Then, he lightly swung the Bastard and nonchalantly examined the blade.
"Of course, that doesn't mean I'll just let you live for nothing. Guide me now."
—Guide...? To the treasure chest?
"Is there anything else? You bought the treasure chest [location]. So you should guide me to where the token chest is."
As Yeongwoo spoke like this, Obstruction of Justice threateningly extended its index finger and chimed in.
× Seeing how you keep feigning ignorance about something so obvious, it seems you have a death wish?
At that, the tall participant shook his head frantically and waved both his hands.
—T-That can't be... I just asked to confirm.
"Then move. If I reach the number of tokens I want, I'll let you have everything that's left over."
At Yeongwoo's words, the tall participant's face, which had been dark the whole time, brightened slightly.
—The number of tokens you want? How many is that?
"200. Now I just need to gather 177 more."
—......?
The journey to find 177 tokens.
Perhaps because so many participants had died at that intersection earlier, for a while, there were no opponents blocking the path, nor were there any sounds of clashing metal ringing out from afar.
So, Yeongwoo left the perimeter watch to Obstruction of Justice and interrogated the "tall guy" about his personal information.
"Now that I think about it, we haven't even exchanged names."
—Unintentionally, I heard your name earlier.
"No, never mind that. I still don't know who you are."
As Yeongwoo scrunched his forehead along with those words, the tall participant made a terrified expression unfitting for his huge build.
—I am Tanimu Monra from the Jewel Tower, Selgir. I am also the third of the eight descendants of the Woven Sea.
"Jewel... what?"
Because it was the most complicated structure of a self-introduction he had heard so far, Yeongwoo blinked for a moment.
Then, he went over it step by step, starting from the front.
"Jewel Tower?"
It was the first word that intuitively entered his head.
Thereupon, seeing his opponent's eyes glint, Tanimu made an awkward expression.
—It's not a tower built out of real jewels. Don't get any weird ideas.
"Then why is it a Jewel Tower?"
—That's... because when you look at the defensive barrier from the outside, it gives off a jewel-like feeling.
"Then, can I just understand it as Tanimu of the Monra family, which possesses the Jewel Tower Selgir? But what is the Woven Sea?"
At Yeongwoo's question, Tanimu scratched his forehead.
—I don't know where to start explaining. There is the Woven Sea, which birthed eight classifications of races, including us.
"No, so what exactly is that Woven Sea? Where is it?"
—They say it existed in the Goldoro Galaxy a very long time ago. But now it has vanished without a trace, and finding that sea again has become our task.
"Ah."
The 'Woven Sea' that supposedly existed spanning an entire galaxy.
Yeongwoo could finally understand a little after hearing this explanation.
"I guess it's something like the Golden Nebula. That also actually exists somewhere in the universe."
—Golden Nebula?
"You don't know about the Golden Nebula either, do you? It's in the same vein as me hearing about that sea for the first time. This universe is vast."
Thus, the event of the eight races known as the descendants of the Woven Sea finding their true homeland again would definitely not be easy.
"That Woven Sea thing, could it possibly be some kind of life force, so it birthed you guys and was entirely exhausted?"
—That sounds bordering on a curse.
"No, but otherwise, how could a sea that existed in the Goldoro Galaxy while molding all of you suddenly disappear overnight?"
—.......
At a claim that was difficult to refute, Tanimu's complexion darkened again, and Yeongwoo finally felt like he had gotten a bit closer to his opponent.
"Anyway, you guys live with a rather grand purpose. Good, I'll let you live if possible."
—If possible...? Then what was it until now?
"Are we not at the token chest yet? Feels like we've been walking for a while... You're not deceiving me by any chance, right? For a traitor, there is only death."
Hwaet!
Because Yeongwoo abruptly thrust out the Bastard, Tanimu made a fed-up face.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
—We're almost there. I think it's probably beyond that door.
In the place Tanimu pointed at, a giant iron gate was erected.
And to the left and right of that iron gate, equally solid-looking iron walls towered high.
Considering that this dungeon was mostly made up of stone buildings, it clearly seemed to be a different kind of space.
"They made it so blatantly suspicious like that? In this case, it wouldn't just be you who could find the treasure chest, would it?"
As Yeongwoo cast doubt on his partner's value, Tanimu desperately protested.
—Just like you said, you couldn't find a chest while walking for a long time, right? This is proof that the dungeon is just that vast. Right?
"Yeah. I said that myself, so I can't deny it."
—The treasure chests must be scattered across this vast dungeon, and without knowing their exact locations, you wouldn't be able to find all of them. Even if you were luckily able to find one, it would probably just be one.
Tanimu's steps became even faster.
So Yeongwoo also quickened his pace to follow him and asked.
"How many treasure chests are there?"
—Three.
"Three? So that's one of those three?"
If there were only three treasure chests, then Tanimu's ability was indeed irreplaceable.
"We should hurry. Either way, if someone luckily finds another chest, it means we're being robbed of 1/3 of the total hidden tokens."
—But would the chests really contain that many tokens? You said you needed 177.
If there were only 3 chests in total, each one would need to contain at least 59 tokens in order to gather 177.
And Yeongwoo also knew very well that this didn't make logical sense.
"Well... we'll know once we open it."
It would be a lie to say he wasn't worried.
But was there any other way?
And even if he failed to achieve 200 tokens, it wasn't like a massive problem would occur.
Regardless, he would only be missing out on the hidden reward, and his actual score would still finish in 1st place.
'You can't get full on the first bite. But since I'm eating anyway, it's better if I can get completely stuffed all at once.'
Before long, Yeongwoo and Tanimu arrived in front of the iron gate in question, and Obstruction of Justice twitched its index finger and looked around.
× I'm not getting the feeling of any machines here.
Meaning there probably weren't any special mechanisms.
At this, when Yeongwoo kicked the iron door as if pushing it with his foot, the door he thought would be locked from the inside swung wide open, and a huge shadow was cast.
"......?"
Because the surroundings darkened in an instant, Yeongwoo raised his head, and he saw a golem standing tall, spewing pitch-black energy in all directions.
"Is this... that monster?"
Wasn't there an 'Explorer' among the purchasable guide features?
[Explorer]
| All obstacles within the dungeon, including monsters and traps, will not activate against the purchaser.
The monster mentioned here had meant something like this.
"It's a little different from the monster I had in mind."
The moment Yeongwoo said this, the golem in question, which had been standing like a massive mountain, threw a punch at incredible speed.
"Ghk!"
At the sudden commencement of battle, Yeongwoo habitually raised the Aratubank, and Blazeflow gave a piece of advice once again.
『Every stance is meant to prepare for an attack.』
"Ah, right!"
Then, along with a sense of heat, the Bastard was lifted diagonally, and at the same time, his body swung low as if weaving.
However, if there was a difference from what Yeongwoo expected, it was the fact that his body's direction of movement was forward, not backward.
Hwaaaaet!
Yeongwoo, who barely deflected the opponent's fist using the blade of the Bastard, advanced straight forward and sliced open the golem from its elbow to its armpit with the tip of his sword.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwak!
The sensation of tremendously tough flesh was transmitted all the way to the hilt of the sword.
And in the meantime, Obstruction of Justice was shooting at the grooves near the head, which were presumed to be the golem's eyes.
Taaaang!
Thereupon, from the side of the golem's head that was struck by the bullet, an actual token...
"Huh?"
Chwa-rrrr-rrrt!
...scattered in all directions, just like when coins poured out of the currency exchange office during the reset.
"This guy himself is the token chest?"
It was also at this moment that he realized no objects could be seen in the inner space where the golem had been staying.
Rather than opening a separate chest, it was a system where tokens poured out every time they inflicted damage on this golem.
—Kwaaaaaaaa!
Finally, the golem must have gotten enraged, as it let out a bizarre scream loud enough for everyone in the dungeon to hear.
"This, it's calling the other guys on purpose."
Thinking about this in reverse, it would also mean that the other 'chests' had not been opened yet.
Since the other chests would also trigger an area-wide provocation in some way, and he hadn't encountered a signal of that magnitude until now.
× Hurry up and make that bastard shut its mouth!
Ta-ta-tang!
In the meantime, Obstruction of Justice shot one of the golem's knees, causing its lower body's center of gravity to collapse, and Yeongwoo, along with Blazeflow, who would never miss this opportunity, immediately swung the Bastard and severed the golem's neck.
Kwa-aaaa-aak!
Along with a gruesome severing sound, as the pitch-black head fell to the ground, the darkness that enveloped the surroundings cleared at once, accompanied by a loud clanging of metal.
Chwa-rrrr-rrrt!
Tokens had begun to pour down once again.
"Ooh, that's quite a lot."
At this, with his eyes wide open, Yeongwoo touched the tokens and absorbed them, and the total sum of tokens obtained in this way was...
"Thirty......?"
It was close to a realistic maximum, but considering that there were 2 token chests left, it was also an entirely insufficient amount.
"How am I supposed to fill up the rest of the tokens like this? The probability of the other chests also containing 30 is very high."
2 chests remaining.
And the number of tokens he needed to secure further was 147.
When he couldn't come up with an answer no matter how much he racked his brain, Obstruction of Justice, who had been staying silent, raised its index finger.
× Isn't there another way to get tokens besides the chests? A guy who stirs up everything while rummaging through the entire dungeon and still doesn't die is the one who gets to obtain the hidden reward.
"A way besides the chests?"
× That's what it said in 'Explorer'. All obstacles within the dungeon, including monsters and traps.
And what that meant was.
× Now that we've encountered a monster, there must be a trap somewhere too.
"And you're saying there will be more tokens where that trap is."
× If it wasn't that, there's no way the condition of 200 tokens would have been placed.
True enough, no matter how much of a hidden reward it was, there had never been a case where an unachievable condition was set.
It meant that it would be possible to resolve it within the dungeon in some way or another.
"Then the location of that trap is again......"
Do I have to find another vending machine and purchase a feature? he was about to ask, but it seemed there was no need to go that far.
Dooooo-oong!
Because this time, something like the sound of a bell echoed from very far away.
Since it wasn't the cry of a creature, that was probably one of the 'traps.'
A team on the opposite side of the dungeon had found something.
At this, Yeongwoo muttered while turning his head toward the direction of the sound.
"I thought it was a game where the goal was to kill a lot of participants, but in reality, it was a game about not dying and going around finding tokens."
Thereupon, Obstruction of Justice made a gesture of reloading and added a remark.
× So let's hurry up and go kill them. If we steal the tokens those bastards gathered, it ultimately means we beat the trap, doesn't it?
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