Chapter 167

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 167: Sharing the Bed with Enemies (2)

“…Shit.”

As Yeongwoo quickly grasped the situation after checking the timer, Jeonggu, who had come chasing after him belatedly, asked.

“Why? What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing much. Since it’s the recommended number of people as my father said, it shouldn’t be impossible to proceed even if one person is missing.”

As Yeongwoo said this and pointed to the book on the table, the timer, which had just reached 3 seconds, came into view.

[00:00:03]

Then.

[00:00:01]

“Huh?”

In an instant, along with Jeonggu’s exclamation, all the numbers changed to ‘0’.

[00:00:00]

Boom!

Time expired.

Then the timer disappeared into thin air, and a sharp signal echoed somewhere in the colosseum.

Beep-beep!

This meant that the participants were confirmed.

Next, dungeon information was displayed prominently in the space above the table.

[Sanctuary of Valor]

|Dungeon Grade: Normal

|Difficulty: C

|Recommended Participants: 6

「Now that the minimum number of participants has been met, we will begin explaining the rules.」

“Oh…”

“So, there is a minimum number of participants.”

As it seemed like the dungeon was about to start in earnest, the three from China, Taiwan, and Japan, who had been distant from each other, approached the rulebook.

「In a moment, the ‘Sanctuary of Valor’ will begin.」

「To pass through this dungeon, it is recommended to have at least three Igniters.」

Three or more Igniters.

At this, the five experts looked at each other’s faces in turn.

Then suddenly, a red laser shot up from the rulebook, pointing towards the giant statue in the center of the ceiling.

「The ultimate goal of this dungeon is to defeat the Giant Gameta.」

“The Giant… Gameta?”

All eyes turned to the statue in question.

Indeed, it seemed they would have to fight it, just as they had feared.

「When you close the book on the altar, Gameta will immediately awaken and attack you.」

「But before that, by igniting the furnaces of this dungeon, you can weaken Gameta.」

“Ahh…”

Upon understanding the progress of this dungeon, Yeongwoo looked at the three giant doors that had caught his eye since earlier.

Perhaps those doors were entrances to each furnace.

‘So, the recommended number was six because there need to be three groups of two-person teams.’

Sure enough, soon, a red laser shot from the rulebook, pointing at three large iron doors lined up on the stadium wall.

「There are a total of three furnaces, and you can access them through the entrances you see now.」

Then, numbers from 1 to 3 were assigned to each entrance, with the number of people displayed below each.

[0/2]

“What’s that?”

As Jeonggu tilted his head, Yeongwoo explained,

“They didn’t make it easy to get to the furnaces. Probably, two people can enter each door.”

Upon Yeongwoo’s explanation, the experts from other countries nodded in agreement, and soon, a statement confirming this appeared.

「From now on, you need to organize Ignition Teams to attempt ignition on each furnace.”

「Ignition Teams can consist of up to two people, and each team cannot access the furnace assigned to other teams.”

“In other words, each furnace has only one team. If one fails, they cannot ignite that furnace.”

Upon hearing Yeongwoo’s words, Tomiko acknowledged them.

“At the moment, we’re short on personnel… So, we have to decide whether to fight the boss with just two furnaces lit, or to push ourselves a bit and fight with all the furnaces lit.”

Therefore, how much weakening one furnace could inflict on the Giant Gameta was crucial, but naturally, there was no further elaboration on this.

Yeongwoo continued,

“Most likely, you’ll have to ignite all furnaces to stand a chance.”

Whoosh.

As Yeongwoo pointed to Gameta stuck to the ceiling with his mythical-grade one-handed sword ‘Bastard,’ Tomiko cautiously spoke up.

“If that’s the case… does it mean that someone has to come alone to light one of the three furnaces…?”

At this point, the final instructions appeared.

「From now on, we will begin organizing Ignition Teams. Please stand in front of the entrance you desire.」

「Gameta will awaken in 30 minutes.」

Tick!

[00:29:59]

The 30-minute timer began to countdown without delay.

“We need to hurry. We only have 30 minutes, including the time it takes to pass through those doors and ignite the furnaces.”

As Tomiko urgently spoke, Ryu Manho from Taiwan, who had been leaning against the wall, finally stepped forward.

“Okay, I’ll take over.”

Swish.

This time, Ryu Manho took out his sword.

However, what he pointed at wasn’t Gameta but the anonymous Chinese, Sandong’s Twin Evil.

“I can’t go with that bastard.”

Sandong’s Twin Evil smirked wickedly and flashed his dagger.

“Don’t you have the confidence to fight me again?”

If he were to be paired with Taiwan, he also planned to kill his opponent on the way to the furnace.

In the end, Yeongwoo revealed his teeth.

“These idiots.”

“…!”

“What?”

“Anyway, if we can’t properly ignite the furnace, we’ll all die at that monster’s hands. Is this your first time in a dungeon?”

Of course, Yeongwoo’s anger wasn’t simply because the two foreigners were fighting.

If there were any problems with ignition due to their fight, the damage would fall squarely on Yeongwoo himself, his father, and Miyagi’s Sword Master, who were doing their best.

“I’ll take responsibility for Door 2 alone.”

Yeongwoo stood in front of the door marked ‘2’ without a hint of fear, and the status below the ignition team changed to ‘1/2’.

This surprised Gowung’s Sword Dragon and Sandong’s Twin Evil.

Of course, internally, they thought that one of the two Koreans in this position would have to sacrifice themselves, but they didn’t say it out loud.

“Then I’ll go to Door 3. Will you come with me?”

Tomiko smiled brightly and extended her hand to Sandong’s Twin Evil.

With no other choice, the middle-aged man from China obediently followed suit.

The only other option was the father of the Korean swordsman and the Taiwanese.

“…Okay. Can’t be helped.”

In the end, Sandong’s Twin Evil followed Tomiko to Door 3, and Yeongwoo felt somewhat relieved.

I didn’t like both Taiwan and China very much, but if I had to send my father with either of them, Taiwan would be better.

The Chinese side had titles like ‘Twin Evil’.

‘Shaanxi is said to be the Five Heroes, but why is Sandong the Twin Evil?’

Five Heroes and Twin Evil differed greatly in terms of numbers.

Of course, whether this reflected regional characteristics or was simply a distinction based on the final selected numbers was unknown.

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

“Well, then I’ll automatically take Door 1.”

Eventually, Jeonggu stood in front of Door 1.

Then, Gowung’s Sword Dragon Ryu Manho grumbled to himself and took his place behind Jeonggu.

Creak.

Now all five people stood in front of the doors, and then…

Beep!

Another signal sounded, and the system message appeared.

「Ignition teams have been confirmed.」

Then the three firmly closed iron doors began to slowly open.

Thud!

[00:27:42]

Now there were about 27 minutes left.

However, no one here was checking the remaining time.

Because…

– Kraaaaa!

– Hahah! I smell something delicious…!

– It’s coming! Wow! I can feel it!

Left, center, right.

From inside the three long corridors extending in different directions, eerie voices filled with monstrous instruments poured out endlessly.

Moreover, the corridors were so dark that one couldn’t see an inch ahead.

‘There are those damn bastards here too.’

Yeongwoo remembered last night when he was on the boat, swallowing heavily.

Yesterday, there were two people watching his back, but this time, he was alone.

Of course, the feelings of the foreigner and his father, who had to navigate through that darkness, wouldn’t be ordinary either.

“…”

As Yeongwoo glanced back at his father, he happened to see him turning his head this way.

Jeonggu was also worried about Yeongwoo having to break through there alone.

“Shit, shit.”

“Fuck… How many are there inside?”

As the five people expressed their anxiety in their own ways and felt the chilling atmosphere inside the corridors, the middle-aged man who had been silent until now spoke softly.

“Jang Jaham.”

“…?”

“Among Sandong’s Twin Evil, one of the Twin Evils is Jang Jaham.”

Perhaps feeling that he might die in there, he finally revealed his name.

Then Tomiko smiled warmly and greeted Jang Jaham.

“Nice to meet you, Jang Jaham. Let’s do well inside. It won’t be easy, but let’s try our best.”

While everyone hesitated under the pretext of a new greeting, the remaining time was in the mid-25s.

[00:25:13]

Confirming this, Yeongwoo changed his tone and recited a tragic line.

“If we hesitate any longer, that thing will awaken before we can ignite the furnace. Let’s go now.”

With that, Yeongwoo stepped straight into the second corridor.

Clank!

Then, as if they had made a pact, everyone turned their heads toward Door 2.

Clank!

However, Yeongwoo, who had already ventured deep into the door, was nowhere to be seen.

“We should go too.”

“…We have no other choice.”

The remaining four people also began to step forward, each eyeing their respective corridors.

* * *

Swoosh!

As Yeongwoo started running unabatedly into Door 2, he had to pass through a very dark corridor for a while.

However, contrary to what was expected from outside, there were no attacks from the monsters.

There was just a vast, empty space for a while.

‘It’s literally just a corridor. Perhaps this is to prevent ‘cheating’ from outside?’

Since there was no timer in this space, Yeongwoo just kept running forward blindly.

And then…

“…!”

He began to see the front of the corridor gradually brightening.

Of course, it was still pitch black to the point where it was difficult to see, but there was a slight glow.

The problem was that…

– Kraaaa!

– It’s coming! They’re all here!

– Run!

The voices of the monsters heard from outside began to echo again.

‘Crazy.’

As Yeongwoo continued forward, listening to the terrifying sounds, he soon felt the corridor narrowing in one direction.

And in the distance, the exit of this corridor… no, the proper entrance to the furnace appeared.

It was a rectangular opening the size of a medium-sized building, filled with those gray monsters they had seen on the dungeon floor last night.

Moreover, not a single one was missing; they were all staring greedily in Yeongwoo’s direction.

Perhaps that huge entrance served as some kind of boundary.

And this meant that the moment they crossed it, hundreds of monsters would rush at them all at once.

However, there was something that caught Yeongwoo’s eye.

‘What is that?’

Beyond the rectangular entrance, the large space filled with monsters resembled a cosmic void.

There was no ground, just empty space with large chunks of stone debris floating around.

One of the stone debris pieces on which the waiting monsters stood was right in front of the rectangular entrance.

So, here was a place where participants had to navigate through obstacles, a kind of obstacle course.

Moreover, the furnace Yeongwoo had to reach was located high above.

‘It means finding a way to get up there while pushing away the monsters that are running at you.’

Yeongwoo finally understood why the difficulty level of this dungeon was higher than last night.

And they didn’t have much time left.

‘How much time has passed? About 10 minutes?’

As Yeongwoo glanced at his wristwatch to estimate the time, he was surprised to see that the time display was completely scrambled.

Participants couldn’t check the time at will inside.

‘But I should still be able to use equipment.’

Standing in front of the rectangular entrance, Yeongwoo activated his “Clairvoyance” skill and looked at the furnace in the distance.

「Clairvoyance」 – Mutant Earring

【Visibility is amplified up to 5 times.】

Zoom!

Then…

“These bastards, what have they done now?”

He saw a structure resembling a furnace placed on a large rock floating in midair, and on the opposite side of this furnace.

「1」 – 「3」

Another structure with buttons labelled 1 and 3 respectively came into view.

Their purpose was unclear, but they seemed to be separate devices unrelated to the furnace.

And Yeongwoo’s thought on this was…

‘Surely it’s not group 1 or group 3? If that’s the case, there’s no way it’s a button that gives blessings to that person.’

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]