Chapter 159 – Dragon Slayer (1)
Translator: Seven
Editor: Ana_Banana
When a dungeon attack begins, of course, it is the players who are trying to clear the dungeon that are the most desperate.
But it wasn’t just the players who were desperate.
The managers who managed the dungeons were sometimes desperate, even if they were not as desperate as the players.
The same was true for Oh Se-chan and his subordinates.
“A drone has appeared within the vicinity of the dungeon. Looking at the frequency, it should be a new guy.”
“They flock like a bunch of dogs who smelled meat.”
After Kim Woo-jin and Lee Jin-ah entered the Hatchling Dungeon, the team had to work harder than ordinary people could imagine to ensure the safety and security of their dungeon attack.
Of course, under normal circ.u.mstances, there would not be such consistent surveillance.
“It would be strange if they didn’t gather around after all that bait was released.”
“Right, the bait we released was too hot.”
The problem was that Oh Se-chan had released the bait not just for the media, but to catch a big fish.
‘The information that Isaac Ivanov’s new teammate is from the Phoenix Guild and Kim Woo-jin has vanished, it was impossible for those two pieces of information, when mixed, to not get a lot of attention.
If they were quick witted, then they would have no choice but to think of the possibility that Kim Woo-jin was Isaac Ivanov’s new teammate.
‘And if it’s the G.o.d of Bows, he will definitely try to do something.’
It was bait aimed at one of the strongest men in j.a.pan, the G.o.d of Bows, Noda Heijiro, one of the main axes of the Messiah Guild. (TL: I’ll just call him ‘Bow G.o.d’ from now on, as odd as it sounds)
Kim Woo-jin was sure that he would definitely try something after learning about such an unexpected situation.
‘If he reacts too extremely, he might use a sniper or a terrorist.’
In the most extreme cases, he would attempt to use a sniper or a bomb the moment Kim Woo-jin exited the dungeon.
‘It’s incredibly dangerous.’
Naturally, Oh Se-chan, who was aware of all the dangers, would never even mention such a plan.
Nevertheless, the plan was still implemented following Kim Woo-jin’s orders.
He’d spoken quite firmly.
They would use this opportunity to shake the Bow G.o.d firmly.
‘I’m sure it has its merits.’
In truth, this plan had just as much merit as it had risk.
If it was as Kim Woo-jin and Oh Se-can thought and the Bow G.o.d had rebelled against Lee Se-jun because of the incident with Kim Woo-jin, then that meant that, if given the chance, he would definitely use all of his power to eliminate Kim Woo-jin.
‘Because the time that the Bow G.o.d was given could not be long.’
However, even if he was given the chance it was not like he had an infinite number of attempts.
‘No matter what happens, the Messiah Guild has to attack the 7 Floor Dungeon in February, so he could only have a month at most.’
Oh Se-chan calculated that the Bow G.o.d would only have a month to plan and carry out the a.s.sa.s.sination attempt on Kim Woo-jin.
But then his target entered a dungeon with Isaac Ivanov?
He was sure to get hurried and anxious with that news.
‘If he gets anxious and hurries, he will leave a trace.’
From the Messiah Guild’s perspective, this was the perfect opportunity for them to see what secret cards the Bow G.o.d had hidden.
“Anyway, trace it. Trace anything suspicious.”
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t matter how much it costs.”
“Huh?”
“I told you. Don’t save money.”
That was why Oh Se-chan was more nervous than ever.
In other words, Oh Se-chan did not doubt the plan’s success.
“But what if Kim Woo-jin and Lee Jin-ah fail?”
“Then I’ll just give up and go shopping at a luxury store with the money we have left. I’ll buy you a bag too. For 100 million.”
Kim Woo-jin and Lee Jin-ah would definitely succeed in their attack on the dungeon.
It was then.
“Is this drone from the Self Defense Forces?”
“What?”
“It’s a Self Defense Force drone that was disguised as one for civilian use. I’m sure. It was made by Pandora.”
“Why would the Self Defense Forces have to disguise a drone as one for civilian use in their own country?”
“Because they don’t want to get caught.”
“Is that so? Alright, I’ll handle this one. Give me the keyboard.”
The prey that Oh Se-chan was hunting had finally taken the bait.
“It’s been a while since I had a good hunt.”
…
‘It’s been a while since I had a good hunt.’
In a vast field with nowhere to hide.
Kim Woo-jin had satisfaction in his eyes as he looked at the skeleton army standing above a pile of corpses, clearly showing the winner of the great battle.
This was a special scene for Kim Woo-jin.
Kim Woo-jin thought that battles where his power was overwhelming enough that he did not have to act personally, gave a different sense of accomplishment.
Of course, Kim Woo-jin was still satisfied with the battle that had just occurred.
‘It’s been a long time since I had such a satisfying battle.’
In fact, considering Kim Woo-jin’s current situation, it was inevitable that he would experience such things.
Before returning to the past, Kim Woo-jin, who had joined the Messiah Guild, had had to give up on many things.
Not to mention after returning to the past.
The Savior of mankind had become his prey and Kim Woo-jin had been racing at his fastest speed to catch his prey.
So it was natural for him to be impressive.
However, this time was different.
‘It’s more than I expected.’
The scene created by the Skeleton Soldiers had both exceeded his expectations and brought him satisfaction.
‘The synergy of close to one hundred troops using the Berserker skill is much higher than I expected.’
This was thanks to the synergy created by the skeleton army and the Berserker skill.
‘The new skill I got this time is also good.’
There was even another unexpected harvest.
‘I never thought I’d get Speed Casting.’
Speed Casting, also known as Rapid Casting.
It was a skill that he had gained from the catalogue his halo had given him, and like the name suggested, it was a skill that increased the casting speed of his magical summons like Skeleton Mages and Liches.
‘It’s an extremely difficult skill to get.’
It was a unique skill that he had gotten from his halo’s special gift.
‘The skill rank is still low so the effect is not that noticeable…’
At the moment, the effect of the skill had only a slight impact.
‘That can be solved by raising the rank.’
However, it would be an incredibly strong skill in the future after its rank had been raised a few times.
Above all, Kim Woo-jin was feeling satisfaction with the situation itself.
[There are 1,000 monsters remaining.]
[The Emissary of the Underworld is satisfied with your actions.]
‘There’s only a thousand left.’
The task to clear the second floor was to hunt 20,000 monsters and while he was fighting, he didn’t realise that he’d already hunted 19,000 of them.
Of course, this was because of Kim Woo-jin’s standards.
“This is really ridiculous.”
All the sights that he’d seen so far had been deeply imprinted in Lee Jin-ah’s mind.
“I’m sure the chicken factory isn’t like this. You’re just slaughtering the monsters, slaughtering them.”
The sight of monsters, the vicious creatures which threatened and frightened the entire world being treated like chickens or pigs in a slaughterhouse was something that defied common sense.
It wouldn’t be strange for someone to throw up the contents of their stomach after witnessing such a sight.
“Ugh, I lost my appet.i.te.”
If even Lee Jin-ah could say that he lost his appet.i.te, what more explanation was needed?
As if to mock Lee Jin-ah, who had lost his appet.i.te, Kim Woo-jin began eating a chocolate bar.
He was prepared to face the worst monster that could appear in a 3 Floor dungeon, the Hatchling.
Lee Jin-ah walked up to him and said.
“I’m just curious about one thing, do we need to hunt the Hatchling now?”
Kim Woo-jin looked at Lee Jin-ah with a strange gaze when he heard this question.
He wondered why he was asking this question now.
Lee Jin-ah explained when he saw his gaze.
“What? Honestly, no one else is here to attack the dungeon anyway. The entry requirement is level 95 and below. There’s nothing bad about reaching level 90 here, is there?”
However, when Kim Woo-jin kept looking at him with the same gaze, Lee Jin-ah frowned before asking.
“It’s not like I’m asking a question that I can’t, is my question strange?”
Only then did Kim Woo-jin respond.
“Your question is valid.”
There was nothing wrong with Lee Jin-ah’s question.
“The thing that I’m curious about is the fact that you’re asking the question so naturally now, instead of before we entered the dungeon.”
Kim Woo-jin had looked at him with a strange expression because it was weird for him to ask that question now.
Only then did Lee Jin-ah understand the reason for Kim Woo-jin’s look, and gave an awkward smile.
“Haha! Of course, it was because I wanted to be considerate to you. Not because I was scared or anything. I’m a man after all. So why can’t we do it?”
“It’s because we have no time.”
Lee Jin-ah tilted his head at the immediate response.
“Time? What time?”
“How would the world view us when we clear this dungeon?”
When asked this, Lee Jin-ah responded easily.
“They will see us as terrifying, amazingly awesome superheroes.”
What made the answer more ridiculous was the fact that Lee Jin-ah posed with his biceps flexed like a bodybuilder.
However, strangely enough, Kim Woo-jin nodded instead of laughing at his response.
“Yes, that’s why we don’t have time.”
“Huh, what does being superheroes have to do with time?”
“When a superhero is born, the ordinary heroes that are already there are bound to have some losses.”
“Ordinary heroes? Who?”
“That’s what the players are now.”
Hearing this, it was Lee Jin-ah’s turn to make a strange expression.
“What heroes are they? They’re all people who are attacking dungeons for their own benefits!”
“Yes but from the general public’s perspective, they feel grateful to the players for attacking the dungeons, even if they do it for money and fame. That’s why, although the public might condemn and scold players to change, they would never tell them to stop or wish for their deaths.”
Lee Jin-ah sighed as he finally understood Kim Woo-jin’s meaning.
“In such a situation, if superheroes like us appear, they will be exposed as fakes, would they want to screw us over? We didn’t hurt them did we?”
And the more he understood, the angrier he became.
“It’s not like we won’t hurt them.”
“Huh?”
However, Kim Woo-jin’s thoughts were different.
“Even if they don’t lose money now, they would in the future. And it would be a huge loss.”
“What are you talking about?”
“4 Floor dungeons are the main stages for players above level 100. For the large guilds, it’s where their key players are active and for the medium and small guilds, it’s where their strongest players are active.”
When considering the total number of players, the number of players active in 4 Floor dungeons was not small.
Moreover, reaching level 100 meant that these players had already acc.u.mulated a large amount of experience, achievements, reputation, capital and influence.
“If 3 Floor dungeons are the places for normal employees, then 4 Floor dungeons could be said to be the places for the company executives.”
Of course, the weight was very different from 3 Floor dungeons.
“That means the compet.i.tion is even fiercer. At that point, it was not like 3 Floor dungeons where only the dungeon’s rank mattered, instead, 4 Floor dungeons had great influence on the guild’s ranking. And their guild rank changed everything from sponsors.h.i.+ps to donations.”
So, naturally, the weight would be different.
“They all have their close Cartels. It’s a structure in which every party benefits as much as possible, and avoids zero-sum games as much as possible, even if a win-win is not possible.”
As such, those who were active in 4 Floor dungeons had all formed close partners.h.i.+ps.
Even if one person wanted to be greedy, they could ignore it, and in the event that someone broke the rules they set, then everyone would attack them like a pack of dogs.
Of course, Kim Woo-jin had no intention of sympathizing with their collusion.
“Now imagine how devastating we would be in that stage.”
He intended to take the best things he could get his hands on
“Simply put, it’s robbery and theft, so would we be able to do that slowly?”
Lee Jin-ah no longer had any questions, and Kim Woo-jin shut his mouth when he saw that.
With his mouth shut, Kim Woo-jin swallowed the main reason why they didn’t have time.
‘The Messiah Guild is the biggest problem.’
What he’d told Lee Jin-ah was not a lie.
However, the thing that Kim Woo-jin was paying the most attention to was in fact the Messiah Guild.
‘From now on, it’ll be a completely different future from what I remember.’
Before he returned to the past, the Messiah Guild was, in a sense, the most modest guild.
They simply concentrated their efforts to clear dungeons and the other guilds also never considered them to be a threat to their interests.
It was only when Park Yong-wan sold the country did the Messiah Guild’s actions begin to change.
In response to Park Yong-wan’s actions, the Messiah Guild began judging the players instead of the monsters.
Of course, there was a high possibility that it was actually the Messiah Guild’s plan all along.
Using Park Yong-wan as their justification, the Messiah Guild began killing players in order to ‘save the world’.
‘But now there’s no Park Yong-wan.’
However this time, there was no Park Yong-wan for them to use.
‘Then I’ll create a new cause.’
If so, then the Messiah Guild would find another cause, and the future would become completely different from what Kim Woo-jin knew.
‘Either way, at least the chaos would start.’
What wouldn’t change was that when the Messiah Guild began judging things other than monsters, the world would descend into chaos.
And the Messiah Guild which changed in such a way, would begin to do whatever it wanted.
‘So before that, I need to secure enough power to defend myself from them.’
From Kim Woo-jin’s perspective, he needed to be as strong as he could, as soon as possible, and organize his power.
That was why he didn’t have much time.
“When we’re finished eating, we’ll prepare for the third floor.”
That was why he had no intentions of wasting time in this dungeon.
“Ah, wait a minute.”
Lee Jin-ah quickly ate a chocolate bar while calling out to Kim Woo-jin. (TL: he got his appet.i.te back really quickly)
“How are we going to hunt the Hatchling? You don’t just intend to fight him head on do you? You have a plan right?”
“Of course I do.”
“You do?”
Lee Jin-ah let out a sigh of relief when he heard those words.
“What’s the plan?”
“The most troublesome part about hunting a Dragon is when it starts flying.”
“That’s right.”
“That’s why it’s important to stop them from flying. The problem is that Dragons usually have their wings folded. Cutting off its wings when they’re like that is extremely difficult and dangerous.”
“So what will we do?”
“Someone has to stick to its body and the moment it spreads its wings to fly away, cut them off.”
After saying that, Kim Woo-jin turned to look at Lee Jin-ah.
“Did you have a good rest on the second floor?”
“W-, wait a second!”
Only then did Lee Jin-ah, who had finally understood his situation, let out a shout.
“S-, so you want me to hold onto the Dragon’s body and cut off its wings after it starts flying? And fall together with it after that?”
Kim Woo-jin nodded with a satisfied expression at Lee Jin-ah, who’d understood his role perfectly.
“Hey! Why are you only saying this now?!”
As Lee Jin-ah shouted this question, Kim Woo-jin raised an eyebrow and responded simply.
“If I told you in advance, would you be able to practice?”
“T-, that…”
“You’ve grown stronger.”
With those words, Kim Woo-jin patted Lee Jin-ah on the shoulder.
Rattle!
At the same time, the army of skeletons once again moved to hunt the remaining 1,000 monsters.
‘You should rest a little longer.’
Lee Jin-ah’s expression crumpled.
“f.u.c.k…”
Kim Woo-jin smiled when he saw his expression.
‘Lee Jin-ah’s skills have already increased to a suitable level. Now, the only thing he needs is some more experience. So I’ll give Lee Jin-ah as many opportunities to get experience as possible.’
An hour later, a notification was heard.
[All the monsters have been slain.]
[Move to the next floor.]
It was the notification that reminded them that they were about to face the strongest boss monster in 3 Floor dungeons.