Chapter 67 (1/2)

Act 1

“All of these are…. really?”

Aile’s previously cold-as-ice expression finally displayed signs of agitation. There was no need to even mention Keshunirn after he tripped on the bones.

Howal, entering the dungeon the last, grew utterly pale and hurriedly spoke. “I-I bloody knew this would happen.” Perhaps he had sensed the off-kilter atmosphere because he turned around and tried to leave right away.

But then…

“Uh, uh? W-what is going on here?”

Howal’s voice as he tried to leave the dungeon through the entrance was trembling violently. He tried to wave his hands and insert his feet into the yellow gate behind them, but there was no reaction whatsoever.

“You can’t go through?”

“No, I can’t! What the hell is going on here?”

Even the comparatively calm Aile got flustered, and Howal was shouting at the top of his lungs. As for Keshunirn, he stood there wordlessly, his blank expression perhaps the result of him getting greatly shocked.

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The so-called leader Keshunirn was far too frozen to analyze this newly developing situation, and Howal was noticeably getting scared. Only Aile seemed to have maintained her cool out of the three. She was certainly doing her best to calmly analyze the situation.

Her abilities were the best among the group, and she also seemed to be more experienced in attacking dungeons as well. Even if such qualities were discounted, her disposition naturally inclined towards being level-headed. Su-hyeun thought that was a type of talent as well.

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And here he was, wondering why the difficulty seemed so low. As it turned out, that wasn’t the case at all. The companions he was supposed to attack the dungeon with were basically extra luggage, while the dungeon itself was also slightly different from the regular ones.

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According to Su-hyeun’s knowledge, this type of dungeon only appeared much later in his own world. Since the dungeons’ entrances and exits weren’t the same, events of awakeners who didn’t adequately prepare beforehand dying commonly occurred.

It seemed that the stage for the current trial was one such dungeon.

Su-hyeun spat out a long sigh and kicked away the skulls near his foot. “Since we can’t go back, let’s go in deeper for the time being. I mean, we aren’t planning to starve ourselves to death now are we?”

There was nothing to gain by staying in this spot. All Su-hyeun wanted was to hurry up and pass this trial, that was all.

“Isn’t it better to be more cautious when making our next move? The difficulty of this dungeon is—” Keshunirm began.

“Never mind the difficulty; there is practically nothing we can do by staying here.”

Su-hyeun cut off the words of deeply-scared Keshunirm. His reasoning wasn’t functioning properly after being affected by fear.

“What do you mean?” That question came from Aile, who managed to be the most level-headed out of them all.

“There are no monsters in the immediate vicinity. You can tell by there not being any reaction even after we made such a ruckus.” The rest of the group nodded their heads after hearing Su-hyeun’s words.

For sure, if there were monsters nearby, then they wouldn’t have stayed away after hearing all the panic-stricken noises made by the group.

“But, if that’s the case, it doesn’t explain all these skulls strewn about this place. I think we’re currently in a garbage dump that the monsters use,” said Su-hyeun.

“Garbage dump?”

“Yes. They could be monsters that enjoy preying on humans, but their jaws aren’t developed enough to chew through human bones, like Man-eating Starving Ghosts or Silk Mermen.”

The two creature types Su-Hyeun mentioned were monsters often found dwelling in cave-type dungeons that preyed on human beings. There was a good possibility that the monsters didn’t like having bones cluttering their territory so they dumped them in a single location like this.

“Also….” Su-hyeun stared at the skulls on the ground and continued on. “These people weren’t Awakeners.”

“They weren’t, you say?” Aile asked.

“Even before the clothing near them began rotting away, their bones started decomposing first. I’m sure the monsters’ toxicity had a hand in that, but there’s a much higher chance of these remains not belonging to awakeners.”

The companions began studying the skulls around them once more at Su-hyeun’s explanation. And sure enough, it was as he said.

Awakeners possessed a noticeably different body compared to a regular person, and their decomposition happened differently from regular people as well. As their bodies were far tougher, they also decomposed at a far slower rate.

“You… are right?” Keshunirm noted.

“How did you even notice that?” Aile asked.

“H-h-how is that even relevant? We’re all about to get killed, anyway!” Howal screamed.

The individual reactions of the three were quite different. As expected, the one stuck in the worst state of panic was Howal.

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Thankfully, Keshunirn had regained himself quickly enough. As for Aile, she was consistently the most collected figure out of the lot.

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In this type of trial, the achievement percentage would vary according to the number of survivors and the time spent conquering the dungeon itself.

“If you have calmed down sufficiently enough, let’s hurry. Whatever the case may be, we still need to find the exit, don’t we?”

When Su-hyeun said that, Aile completely regained her cool and nodded her head.

“Let us. I’ll lead from the front,” said Aile.

Su-hyeun stood side by side with her and began walking forward. Whether it was Su-hyeun remaining fearless in such a situation or Aile moving along with him, they both seemed to possess great tenacity and determination.

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The “Su-hyeun” Keshunirn remembered — or more correctly Warrick — was never a brave and smart guy. It felt as if his personality had changed a little from a while ago, but now, he came across as someone completely different.

Even Aile didn’t hold much of a favorable impression of Warrick. From the get-go, this group came together simply because their goals aligned and not because they enjoyed each other’s company or anything like that — one could say they were a motley crew.

However, it seemed that Aile started trusting Su-hyeun somewhat after what happened just now. That haughty and talented woman was doing something rather unexpected.

“What are you doing, man? We better hurry up and go after them.”

Keshunirn’s expression crumpled greatly at the voice coming from behind him. That gloomy, wispy voice always managed to ruin his mood every time he heard it. To make matters worse, Howal was still trying to hide behind him.

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It was his fault for accepting a guy like this as a part of the group, saying that he had a bit of skill. Eventually, Keshunirn began following after the quietly-walking pair of Su-hyeun and Aile up ahead.

* * *

The dungeon’s interior was damp.

Drops of water fell from the ceiling to create streams here and there, while the chilly air tickled their skin.