[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 746: Overachievement (1)
Currently, the Epic First-timer Jeong Yeongwoo had 9 white marks.
And his tokens amounted to a whopping 53.
In other words, to anyone looking, he appeared to be an opponent they should avoid fighting at all costs.
× You're absolutely overflowing with greed.
As 'Obstruction of Official Duties' spoke while raising its index finger, Yeongwoo also shifted his gaze to just above his own head.
There, he saw 5 golden tokens and 3 silver tokens floating.
Since the number of tokens had exceeded 20, the display method had changed.
However, there was no way that participants capable of entering an Epic Dungeon wouldn't realize what those golden tokens meant.
"It'll be one of two things now. Everyone will attack me first, or everyone will avoid me."
At that, Tanimu, who was running alongside him, chimed in.
— Not everyone will avoid you. There's no one here who would get scared off that easily.
At this, Yeongwoo tilted his head and stared blankly at Tanimu.
"But you."
— ……?
"Aren't you... playing the role of my token guide right now because you were scared?"
— …Scared, you say.
Tanimu put on a serious face.
Then, with a distinctly clear gaze, he continued his words.
— I am not scared of you. But I know I can't win if we fight with sheer strength, which is why I simply accepted your proposition.
"Isn't that what being scared is……?"
Meanwhile, another new intersection appeared, and two corpses could be seen sprawled on the floor.
As expected, participants were roaming around noisily on the opposite side of the dungeon as well.
"Well, I suppose Ban wasn't the only powerhouse in this dungeon."
— But that guy's level was on the considerably high side. As you saw, he even had 11 marks.
Saying this, Tanimu looked at the 9 white marks clinging to Yeongwoo.
And so, Yeongwoo naturally ended up looking at Tanimu's marks as well.
"You have 3. How many times have you been to an Epic Dungeon?"
— Six times.
"What?"
At a number far higher than expected, Yeongwoo's mouth fell wide open.
"You've been to an Epic Dungeon six times?"
— Is that something to be surprised about?
"No, it's because you only have 3 marks. The fact that you're still alive means you've cleared the dungeon every time... so why is your rank like that?"
As Yeongwoo inspected his opponent's white rank once more, Tanimu made an expression of displeasure.
— Because simply clearing the dungeon doesn't mean your rank goes up.
"What, it was like that?"
— The white ranking is ultimately a relative evaluation. If you don't achieve noticeable results, even if you clear the dungeon a hundred times, there won't be a significant change in your rank.
Then, Tanimu added a follow-up remark.
— Ah, I suppose there would be a meaningful change at around a hundred times. By that point, they would give some bonus points just for making it out alive every time.
"Then... just how many times did that trainee guy who died earlier clear the dungeon? He had as many as 11 marks."
— Either his rank jumped up all at once like yours, or he cleared the dungeon with a high standing several times.
Anyway, Ban ended up dying, and was used as nourishment to raise the rank of Planetary Ship Captain Jeong Yeongwoo.
In truth, it was only Yeongwoo himself who couldn't feel it; the Epic Dungeon was undeniably a cutthroat place.
Even Tanimu had personally witnessed the head of the incredibly strong 'Ban' being sliced off, hadn't he?
"Anyway, it's a marvel you've survived until now."
— I'm the compromising type. In places like this, if you're too strong or too brave, you die eventually.
He then stared into the empty air as if worried.
— But one day, I'll die too. The moment I face a rule where compromise is impossible, that is.
"Then stop entering dungeons. Assuming you make it out of here alive today, that is."
— …Maybe I should. I've thoroughly realized that I'm not strong.
"This is quite a depressing conversation, unbefitting of an Epic Dungeon."
Isn't everything relative, after all?
In fact, Tanimu would probably be an incredible powerhouse in lower-tier dungeons.
However, upon entering the truly big leagues, he had come to feel his limits.
"By the way, how do you... no, how do the guys who come here enter the dungeon?"
— What do you mean, how?
"Not all participants use spheres to enter, right? Do you use those tokens too?"
Dungeon Tokens.
It was a concept he had heard about through Gehika, the head of the Riga family, whom he had met previously in the 'Slaughterhouse' dungeon.
He had said that there were dungeon tokens issued by government agencies, and the majority of the scions of prestigious families used those tokens to enter dungeons.
At that, Tanimu nodded.
— I use tokens too, but... I can't use them often. We're an ethnic minority, so we aren't allocated official tokens. But getting them on the market is too expensive.
"Then? Is there another way?"
— Usually, we use private tokens.
"Ah."
Private tokens.
This, too, was something he had heard from Gehika.
That they could mostly be obtained in the Black Zone, or something like that.
In truth, if Yeongwoo had had enough time, he would have tried to track down these private tokens as well.
Anyway, now that the golden sphere had dried up, he would need to obtain tokens by any means necessary in order to enter dungeons.
— Of course, private tokens are quite expensive too, and they have a defect rate, so it's not the best option. The best thing is belonging to a prestigious family and receiving official tokens periodically.
"Defect rate? What do you mean by that?"
— Strictly speaking, I shouldn't use the word 'defect'... but anyway, there are cases where a very bizarre dungeon is summoned. For cases like mine where the goal is gear or achievements, it's practically a 'dud'.
"A bizarre dungeon? That sparks my curiosity a bit."
No matter how much he learned about the universe, there was no end to it.
"Then how much do these tokens cost?"
— Well. The prices vary depending on the season. Still, usually, official tokens range from 7 to 10 million. If you get a private token cheaply, it's 1 million, and even at its most expensive, it won't exceed 2 million.
"It's more expensive than I thought. Then unless you get a decent reward, you're operating at a loss."
— But... usually you go in and kill other participants, so the value of the loot alone is more than enough to cover the price of the token.
"True. There is that."
— Still, official tokens are too expensive. Because of that, there aren't many cases of people buying them with money to come here. Ultimately, only the bastards from prestigious families who periodically get tokens allocated are having a field day.
"No, but defects or whatever, they're both dungeon entry tickets anyway; isn't the price difference too huge?"
To this question of Yeongwoo's, Tanimu elaborated, as if he had forgotten to mention it.
— Ah, official tokens are worth being expensive.
"Why is that?"
— Because there are no restrictions on where they can be used.
"Then don't tell me private tokens have designated locations where they can be used?"
— Of course. There's only about one place per galaxy group where a private token can summon a dungeon.
"Good lord."
Having experienced a fair bit of the universe, Yeongwoo knew what that meant.
A galaxy group referred to a cluster of dozens of galaxies.
In other words, to use a private token, it meant one had to voyage across at least ten or more galaxies from their current location.
"That would consume a considerable amount of time. You could also encounter things like robbers while traveling."
— Yeah. That's why people with special statuses wouldn't even dare to use private tokens.
"Then the sphere I was using……"
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Effectively had the exact same functions as an official token.
Perhaps this was a privilege—albeit a questionable one—granted to planets undergoing a reset.
"I've been living quite the blessed life until now."
— Ah, of course, there are other methods of entry besides tokens.
Then, Tanimu stared into space.
— For ethnic minorities like us, an opportunity to enter a dungeon is given once a day. Of course, since only a single person can enter, it doesn't hold much meaning.
"Really? Does that mean a dungeon entrance appears on the planet where you live?"
— Yeah. As far as I know, it's the same for other races too.
At this, Yeongwoo's eyes blinked rapidly.
"Then, it would be possible for me to invade a minority race's planet and use that dungeon entrance for myself."
At that, Tanimu let out a hollow laugh.
— What? Are you going to take on a whole planet by yourself?
Then, suddenly remembering that the other person's status was a Planetary Ship Captain, he quickly shut his mouth.
Come to think of it, wasn't he a 'Planetary Ship' Captain?
This guy was wandering around here all alone right now, but once he went out into the universe, he was an immense power player who dragged a whole planet around in place of a battleship.
Of course, this was also a thought that only Tanimu, who had never met a Planetary Ship Captain nor seen a Planetary Ship, could have.
"Take on an entire planet? It's not like I couldn't."
By the time Yeongwoo spoke with full confidence, their crossing of the dungeon had finally come to an end.
They could see some kind of light soaring up from the other side.
"Looks like that's where the trap is."
— Just how wide is this dungeon? Feels like we've been running for ages.
Tanimu glanced behind him with an exhausted expression, and meanwhile, Yeongwoo was already stepping forward, gripping Bastard.
It was because a certain noise was continuously echoing from the other side.
Thump! Thud!
'Sounds like something's being pounded on. Or is it?'
As Yeongwoo continued to move forward, an arched structure finally appeared, and the stone gate beneath it could be seen standing wide open.
Just as expected, someone had already opened the area where the 'trap' lay.
"Seems we have guests who arrived first."
Right around the time Yeongwoo said this while looking at the entrance, that loud noise rang out again.
Thump! Th-thump!
— Don't know what it is, but it seems like it's still ongoing.
Tanimu also wore an expression piqued with curiosity, and Yeongwoo, who was effectively the decision-maker of this new group, passed through the arched entrance without even looking back.
Then, a passageway curving to the left appeared, and as they moved along the path, a new, spacious area stretching out straight ahead came into view.
It was a bizarre space where dozens of stone blocks carved into cube shapes were moving wildly in straight lines from all directions.
“…What is this?”
The place where Yeongwoo and Tanimu were standing was effectively the edge of the safe zone, and beyond it, a pitch-black precipice with an unfathomable bottom stretched out.
"Just looking at it, falling down there means a confirmed death."
As Yeongwoo muttered this, Tanimu, who had been observing the mysterious space, raised his finger and pointed at a spot up ahead.
— Looks like that's the next safe zone over there.
The place he pointed to was about 20 meters away from the floor where Yeongwoo and Tanimu currently stood.
A platform roughly the size of 3 pyeong was floating there, and upon closer inspection, the stone cubes were rapidly moving while cleverly avoiding only that platform.
And at a spot approximately 30 meters away from that platform.
"Oh."
The group in question, who had likely triggered this trap, was huddled together on top of a platform.
And there were as many as three of them.
"Three……? It's two people per group. Then where did the other one go?"
Even as Yeongwoo said this, he was already shifting his gaze to the precipice below his feet.
Because there was a high probability that the single person missing from this spot had fallen down there.
Thus, wouldn't that be the reason why the three participants gathered there were stranded, not daring to move to the next platform?
Thump! Thooom!
That same loud noise echoed out again.
Looking at it now, this sound was being produced whenever the stone cubes collided with each other in midair.
And every time they did, an ominous-looking translucent wave rippled out from between the cubes.
— I've seen something similar in another dungeon. If you touch that wave, you'll probably plunge straight to the bottom immediately, and if you get hit by those stone blocks, a similar thing will happen.
Just as Tanimu said, the movements of the cubes were extremely fast, and the impact of being struck by one seemed like it would be immense.
Furthermore, not all cubes merely moved left and right; they also moved irregularly up and down, making it blatantly obvious that if one were hit by a cube even once, they would plummet straight to the bottom.
"The first platform is 20 meters from here... the next is 30 meters. Then the next platform must be 40 meters away."
They had to cross this vast distance while simultaneously dodging the cubes rushing in from all directions, all while stepping on aptly positioned cubes to use as stepping stones to move forward.
'Those guys managed to reach the second platform somehow, but it looks like they completely lost their confidence after that.'
As Yeongwoo, having grasped the situation to some extent, leaned his head out to observe the participants gathered on the second platform, one of the participants who had been looking toward the entrance similarly shouted loudly.
— You... You bastard!
That was none other than the Fly Man.
The participant with four white rank marks who had done the first interview with Yeongwoo during the group formations.
"Oh, Fly. You're still alive."
When Yeongwoo waved his hand in the air to acknowledge him, the Fly Man extended his snout and shouted urgently.
— Th-the promise! That's why you came, right?
"Promise? What are you talking about?"
— You clearly said it! That if we ran into each other in the dungeon, you'd spare my life once! So please, help me……!
Seeing the Fly Man even rubbing his hands together in supplication, Yeongwoo's heart couldn't help but soften just a little.
"How am I supposed to help you from here?"
At that, the Fly Man pointed with his hand at the third platform visible far in the distance.
— If you go to the end of this trap, there's bound to be a power button. Can't you just press that?
"Hmm."
To this, Yeongwoo scratched his chin with the tip of Bastard and pretended to contemplate for a moment.
"Then, what do the rest of the guys there think? Are they willing to pay whatever it takes?"
— …What?
Since the Fly Man made a blank expression, failing to understand his words, Yeongwoo kindly added an explanation.
"I would win even if we just fought, so why should I have to pass through that crazy trap to save you guys? So, there ought to be some kind of compensation, right?"
Then, the three participants, including the Fly Man, whispered amongst themselves, before the Fly Man spoke up once again.
— H-how much do you want……?
"First, put every piece of gear you're wearing right now down on the floor. If even one of you tries anything funny, I'll leave this place immediately."
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter