Kim Song-cheol opened the lid of the box. Inside was a single book with a red cover.
“A magic book?”
Park Joo-hyun looked back and forth between Kim Song-cheol and the book.
The others also seemed curious about the book’s identity, as it had no title on the cover.
Kim Song-cheol picked up the book. As he did, the box crumbled into dust and piled up on the altar.
“Just a moment.”
After asking his teammates for their patience, Kim Song-cheol began to skim through the book.
The first two pages contained a preface. From that introduction, he was able to grasp the general content.
It was definitely a magic book. However, rather than containing a single spell, it was a magic book containing a single formula.
The name of the formula was “Fulmen Rubrum.”
It meant “Red Lightning.”
This formula could be applied to all lightning-type magic. Usually, lightning magic emitted blue electricity, but when this formula was used, the lightning turned red.
Of course, the color wasn’t the only thing that changed.
Its cohesive force became significantly stronger.
It was a formula that condensed lightning magic, which usually manifested by scattering stalks of electricity, into a powerful, single beam of light.
If applied to the 3rd Circle Thunder Strike, it would produce power similar to the “Heavenly Thunder” he had used in the Wave-type Dungeon—and this would be without the intervention of his “will.”
In fact, the formula itself used a mechanism similar to Heavenly Thunder.
“It’s more of a formula book than a magic book. It can be applied to any lightning magic, but…”
Kim Song-cheol’s voice trailed off. This was after he confirmed the content written at the end of the preface.
‘It’s customized. Is that it?’
It felt as if the reward hadn’t been predetermined, but was instead tailored to the Hunter after observing them.
“It can be applied, but…?” Park Joo-hyun repeated, prompting him to continue.
“It’s Second Tier,” Kim Song-cheol replied.
“Huh?”
The teammates’ eyes widened. A Second-Tier magic book was an incredibly expensive item.
Even if the difficulty had been “Very Hard,” the reward would have been considered excellent.
However…
“That’s a bit of a shame.”
“Yeah. There’s no one who can use it, right?”
Park Joo-hyun and Kim Su-jin expressed their regret. As far as they knew, no one on Earth had studied 2nd-Tier Circle Theory yet.
“Well… that’s true.”
Kim Song-cheol packed the book into his bag for now. He would be able to achieve Il-won within two weeks at the earliest, or three weeks at the latest.
He had been worried about not having any Second-Tier magic to use even after reaching Il-won, but Fulmen Rubrum would play that role perfectly.
It was a reward perfectly suited only for Kim Song-cheol. Perhaps it was because he was the one who cleared it.
“Everyone still alive? Let’s get out of here.”
Kim Jong-won said, pointing to the right. There was a passage there.
It had been a wall before, but it had turned into a passage at some point.
Entering the passage, they soon found stairs leading to the surface. Sunlight was streaming in from above.
The Haetae Team climbed the stairs and came out through the exit. Surprisingly, the exit was the same as the entrance.
Although they had clearly moved only in a straight line inside the Dungeon, the exit was connected to the entrance.
Of course, no one mentioned it. In a Dungeon, it was better in many ways to just accept things and move on rather than questioning every single detail.
“The world looks so beautiful…”
Park Joo-hyun said, rubbing his eyes in the bright sunlight.
“A pine caterpillar should stick to eating pine needles,” Song Young-jin added.
A Dungeon with a difficulty that was “Normal only to Kim Song-cheol.”
It was a place they never wanted to enter again.
“…From now on, we will not enter any Dungeons regardless of the difficulty level,” Kim Jong-won stated firmly.
“Yes, it can’t be helped.”
Kim Song-cheol nodded. He felt a little regretful. If the difficulty was “Normal,” he could easily clear it alone.
However, he couldn’t ignore the opinions of his teammates.
Furthermore, Kim Song-cheol wasn’t even the leader of the Haetae Team.
As the Haetae Team moved with lighter hearts, a pack of monsters appeared. It was the usual pack of Unicorns they hunted.
“Good to see you, you bastards.”
Kim Su-jin immediately fired a Fire Lance. It was as if she were venting her pent-up frustration.
The Fire Lance, flying with intense flames, passed right through a Unicorn.
This was because she had cast it while loading it with a massive amount of Mana.
“These are monsters we can actually catch!”
“Let’s go!”
Kim Jong-won and Song Young-jin also drew their swords and rushed forward.
The Swordsmen, jumping into the middle of the Unicorn pack, leisurely avoided the horns while aiming for vital spots.
Their expressions were also quite bright.
Before Kim Song-cheol could even step in, four of the six Unicorns had fallen.
The remaining two would fall soon as well. Instead of joining the hunt, Kim Song-cheol kept watch on the surroundings. He believed this was his current duty.
Turning his back on the hunting Hunters, Kim Song-cheol looked behind them.
A regular jungle stretched out. Then, a group of Hunters appeared from the left and moved quickly to the right.
Both groups spotted each other but didn’t specifically react. It meant they would just go their own way.
Kim Song-cheol watched the group of Hunters closely. Only their upper bodies were visible to him.
They were moving at a very high speed, yet there was no up-and-down movement of their torsos. This meant they weren’t running.
‘What is that?’
It was just as Kim Song-cheol stood on his tiptoes to watch them.
“What are you looking at?”
Park Joo-hyun approached his side. It seemed the hunt was already over.
“Over there.”
Kim Song-cheol pointed to the group of Hunters passing through the trees.
At that moment, one of the Hunters suddenly increased their altitude and soared upward. He was riding some kind of board.
It looked like a skateboard but had no wheels, and only a faint blue light spread out from under the board.
He cleared a large rock and instantly disappeared among the trees.
“Ah, there are Hunters who ride things like that sometimes. There are many other things besides boards. I heard that you can even see things like airships in higher-level Dungeons… I guess they have points to spare.”
“That board thing must be expensive, right?”
“I don’t know. Probably? I’ve never even thought about being able to buy one…”
Not only in the Republic of Korea, but most countries were suffering from a point famine.
They didn’t have the luxury to buy such vanity items.
‘Should I ask him to buy me that…?’
Kim Song-cheol still hadn’t finalized his graduation gift. Kim Myung-joo had originally increased the allocation from 30,000 points to 100,000 points.
Nevertheless, Kim Song-cheol had put it on hold because there were no items that really caught his eye.
Even 100,000 points weren’t enough to significantly increase his magical stats.
In that case, he thought it might be okay to secure mobility with an item like that.
‘If I can float in the air, I can ignore the terrain, hmmm… the problem is the price.’
Kim Song-cheol shrugged his shoulders once and rejoined the team, following Park Joo-hyun.
The Haetae Team passed through the jungle, crossed the wilderness, and entered a rocky mountain terrain.
The daily life of a wanderer roaming the Dungeon in search of a Portal Tablet was quite grueling.
If they were lucky, they could leave in a day or two, but if they were unlucky, it could take three or four days.
The longer they stayed, the more points they earned. However, the problem was that the risk of accidents increased as fatigue accumulated.
The Haetae Team had currently been drifting through the Dungeon for 27 hours.
They slept in shifts, standing guard. Park Joo-hyun’s image of being happy that their sleep time had increased since they were now five people was still vivid.
“Oh, my legs…”
Kim Su-jin, who was climbing the rocky mountain, groaned in pain.
Although her thigh muscles had been quite trained through long Dungeon experience, she was helpless against such an uphill climb.
Kim Song-cheol also climbed the rocky mountain while sweating profusely. When he lifted his head, he saw Kim Jong-won striding ahead.
‘Maybe I should have learned swordsmanship…?’
It was then.
Kim Jong-won, who had reached the summit, lowered his posture and gave a hand signal.
It meant there was something ahead. The Haetae Team approached behind Kim Jong-won, being careful not to make any footsteps.
Below the mountain, there was a fairly wide plain. There were three tents on the plain, and Hunters were moving around them.
Most of them were wearing iron armor. They looked like medieval knights.
There were approximately fifteen of them. If you added the people inside the tents, there would probably be twenty.
“There must be a Spot nearby.”
Song Young-jin whispered softly. “Spot” was Hunter slang. It meant a good place for hunting.
It referred to a place where you could acquire monsters without having to move around, such as a path where monster packs frequently passed or a cave where monsters strangely kept crawling out.
If there was even a Portal Tablet nearby, it was the icing on the cake. This was because the movement route was drastically reduced.
Seeing that they had even built tents, a Portal Tablet might be hidden under one of them.
“Let’s go back. There’s no point in approaching them.”
Kim Jong-won said. Hunters guarding a Spot tended to be a bit sensitive. When one obtained a good position, it was instinct to want to protect it.
There was no need to cause friction by lingering around.
Just as Kim Jong-won was about to turn around.
*Beeeeeeeep!*
The high-pitched sound of a whistle was heard.
“What’s going on!?”
“Move quickly!”
The area around the tents became noisy. The members of the Haetae Team, including Kim Jong-won, stayed low and watched the plain below.
This was because they thought they might have been discovered.
The knights, who had been resting leisurely, rushed somewhere.
Fortunately, it was in the opposite direction of the rocky mountain, toward the empty space in front of the tents.
There, a single knight was confronting three men and women.
The wooden whistle was visible in the knight’s hand. Other knights who had rushed out drew their swords and surrounded the three people.
The atmosphere was grim, as if they would thrust their swords at any moment.
However, the three people didn’t seem intimidated at all. Kim Song-cheol also examined the trio. They all appeared to be in their early twenties.
The two men were wearing the same clothes. They were ordinary tracksuits.
They had sturdy builds even at a glance, and the tracksuits zipped up to their chins gave them the feel of physical education students.
The woman standing in front was also dressed in a tracksuit. She wore tight pants and a half-open jersey. Inside, a comfortable tank top was visible.
The woman had her jet-black hair tied high and was standing tall with her hands in her pockets, looking straight ahead.
“I told you to move.”
The woman said. It was a pleasant voice, but threatening at the same time.
What was even more surprising was that her low voice was audible to Kim Song-cheol. Even though it was a distance at which it shouldn’t have been heard.
“Go back! This is the territory of the Priam Empire!”
A man who looked like the Knight Commander shouted.
“Let me ask you. Is there such a thing as territory in this Dowongyeong?”
“Can’t you see the flag!?”
The Knight Commander pointed his sword at the flag planted in the center of the tents.
“It’s not even funny. That piece of cloth means nothing to me. I’m telling you for the last time. I’m just passing through. Open the way.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
“Even though I gave you three chances… tsk.”
It was then.
A storm-like momentum erupted from the woman’s entire body. A pitch-black energy spread in all directions, drawing concentric circles, and her hair rose toward the sky as if it were alive.
*Boom!*
She stomped on the ground. Her foot sank a handspan deep into the solid stone floor. The impact spread in all directions, causing the ground to shake violently.
“Whoa!?”
“Ah!?”
In the next moment, the knights surrounding her simultaneously lost their balance and floated into the air.
That was also when she began to move. She appeared in front of a knight, her long-tied hair fluttering behind her.
*Crash!*
As she thrust her black-stained fist, a large mass of energy was fired, swallowing three knights at once.
The knights’ armor was too weak to protect its owners. The armor crumpled and broke all their ribs; not stopping there, the knights flew backward like fired cannonballs.
Her form blurred, then she appeared somewhere else and performed a spinning kick.
The black energy gathered around her foot was fired like a blade, slashing through four or five knights.
This was before the knights who had floated into the air even hit the ground.
She wasn’t even the only one moving. The two men standing behind her also joined the battle.
However, they didn’t possess the overwhelming prowess she did.
They were stronger than Kim Jong-won or Song Young-jin, but they were far lacking compared to her.
*Thump, crash!*
The sound of the knights belatedly hitting the ground was heard.
Half of them had already been swept away by the woman, and the men in tracksuits were slaughtering the few remaining knights with their bare hands.
From the start, they weren’t opponents that could be handled with numbers.
‘There are people that strong…’
Kim Song-cheol was amazed. They were incomparable to the swordsmen he had met so far.
Of course, Kim Song-cheol himself occupied a spot among “those strong people,” but his field was completely different from that woman’s.
Because of that, he couldn’t easily estimate how strong she was.
‘…?’
It was then.
The woman, who had been looking down indifferently at the fallen knights, slowly turned around.
Her gaze was directed exactly toward the rocky mountain.
It was the place where the Haetae Team was hiding. She then began walking toward the mountain.
Neither fast nor slow, she was approaching them.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.