Chapter 33 (2/2)

“It couldn’t be.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes. Haven’t I told you before? Brother…”

“Brother? You’ve got a lot closer to him now, haven’t you?’

Hak-joon could not continue further. No, he thought that he should not answer any further. Whatever his answer was, the consequences would be adverse.

Jeong Dong-yeong grinned at Hak-joon’s stiffened expression.

“Kiddo, what’s with this expression? I was only asking.”

“It’s nothing. Just…”

“Anyway, if he is the Kim Su-hyeun I know, try to entice him. Even if it fails, that’s fine, too. If you guys are close, isn’t he considered my younger brother as well?”

The Ares Guild was growing bigger as each day passed. Jeong Dong-yeong, too, was quite a capable awakener, and the guild had a lot more awakeners than before. Now, even the guild placed in the higher ranks as well.

“…Yes. I got it.”

Hak-joon nodded his head while he replied. Hak-joon was quite disturbed by the smartphone in his pocket. As the sedan’s engine started, it started heading somewhere.

It was the next dungeon’s location.

Act 6

[Kim Su-hyeun, the 15th-floor trial starts now.]

Time had passed by quite quickly.

Time did not give anyone even an inch of error. The world continued moving on like a rewound video, slowly showing the next scenes of a story.

But there were definitely differences that had occurred.

A small stone that was tossed into a gigantic lake.

And the waves that it created started rippling out.

The year was 2021, when the world had actually started to change.

Grr—

A 16-foot tall huge monster stood with its mouth open.

The monster’s two horns were broken into halves, and it had bright red-colored skin similar to that of a tiger. The monster appeared in the middle of a medieval European city. It was said that the beast was sealed in the grounds underneath the city since ancient times.

Su-hyeun frowned as he looked at the monster.

“It took me a lot of effort in finding you.”

“Please, please be careful!”

There was someone who did not run away. He was a young man who lived in the village, and Su-hyeun had come across him a few times.

Kyaa—!

The ancient monster faced the skies and cried out loud. It was laughing instead of crying. It was laughing madly.

It seemed that it was quite happy to have been freed from its seal.

“You, you must escape…”

Even if he was stammering, the young man could not make his run without Su-hyeun. Su-hyeun was not sure whether he was being nosy or had a sense of justice. Either way, Su-hyeun was thankful that he worried about him.

But…

“Hey.”

Su-hyeun ignored the young man’s words and called out to the ancient beast.

“You shouldn’t be laughing at a time like this.”

Grr—

Only then did the ancient beast look at Su-hyeun directly. It had a puzzled look. It crumpled its face after realizing that Su-hyeun wasn’t the least bit afraid of itself.

“What are you looking at?”

It turned around at Su-hyeun’s voice which came from behind.

Slide—

Squelch—!

The sword wielded from behind, blew up at the ancient beast’s body. Blood gushed out from the slash made on its back.

Stomp, stomp—

Crack, kyaaa—!

The ancient beast roared at Su-hyeun as it had almost gotten stuck to the ground.

Su-hyeun swung his sword a few times in the air as he felt a heavy feeling at the tip of his sword.

“Indeed, I can’t use this any further.”

The ancient beast’s skin being thick was a problem in itself, too. But there was also a problem with the sword that he was using as well. A year had passed since Su-hyeun had started wielding the sword. It wouldn’t be much of a problem on the lower floors, but using it at this time was an issue.

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It was time to stop talking about the sword. Even if he used a blunt sword, it would still be enough to deal with the monster which stood before Su-hyeun.

“So let’s…”

Kya, kyaa—!

The flame was set ablaze on Su-hyeun’s sword. Two birds created from the flame appeared around Su-hyeun at the same time.

They were phoenixes, which were born from the flames.

“Bite it.”

Kyaa—!

The two phoenixes flew towards the monster at Su-hyeun’s order.

Black flames that came out from the monster’s mouth swept through the phoenixes’ bodies. The phoenixes disappeared without a trace, and the monster shifted its vision on Su-hyeun.

Slash—!

Squelch—!

The two phoenixes broke through the black flames and began to bite on the monster’s body.

Kyaa—!

The monster struggled to shake off the two phoenixes that clung onto its body, but the monster had overlooked something for the moment.

It was Su-hyeun that was now over its head.