58 – Themed Dungeon (4)

The second theme of the dungeon is fear. After coming out of the Black Wave, I looked around.

What am I afraid of?

I looked back as I thought about it, and Lee In-ah came in after me, followed by the closing of the black wave.

“You….”

Ignoring Lee In-ah’s dissatisfied expression, I checked the dungeon’s environment.

Unlike the first dungeon, this dungeon was quite intuitive. There is a lonely cliff road and on the other side you can see an iron gate. It looks like you can open that door by crossing the street.

Simple.

As I put my foot out along the single road, the road breaks and the fragments fall to the edge of the cliff.

Is this kind of fear?

I don’t have a fear of heights. Even if it is, it is mediocre. In the worst case, you can use the tentacles to make a lifeline, so it’s not that scary.

After a while, as I started to cross the cliff road, Lee In-ah shouted from behind.

“Hey.”

“Why?”

“… Go with me.”

“I’m scared.”

I looked at Ina Lee’s feet as she spoke. Seeing her constantly trembling like a reed, she must have a strong fear of heights.

Did this environment come about as a reflection of him?

It looks like that.

I can’t help it.

I let out a sigh inside her and threw my tentacles around her waist. Lee In-ah felt the tentacles on her waist and said,

“What is this?”

“Your lifeline.”

“A lifeline?”

“Please follow me slowly.”

Fortunately, it seems that he is not blind. Lee In-ah no longer grumbled, grabbed her tentacles like a rope and followed me.

After a while we crossed the cliff road and opened the door on the other side. The moment I thought it was simpler than the first gateway, I opened the door and a cliff road appeared again and a door appeared on the other side.

Couldn’t this be repeated?

Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be repeating itself. At first, it looked like there was a precariously single road between the cliffs, but this time, it was not a cliff, but lava flowing down on the floor.

If you fall, your body will flow into the lava.

We crossed the road again and opened the door. Then another road and a door appeared. Not lava, but thorns came out, and the road narrowed or black darkness came out.

Through that, I inferred what I was afraid of.

Are you afraid of falling?

Then, for the first time, a different kind of trap appeared. Again, there was a door on the other side, but there was no single road, only blades raining down from all sides.

“Hey, are you going to cross this?”

“I have to cross.”

We crossed the trap after twists and turns, and then we encountered a trap with a rain of flames. After encountering many traps like that, I opened the door, but this time the scenery was quite different from other traps.

A gray city and collapsing buildings. Monsters and people running away. Disaster was unfolding in the gray world.

And this time, I saw a stone statue on the other side, not a door. It is a stone statue that indicates the completion of the dungeon.

“No, why am I having such a hard time….”

As soon as Lee In-ah entered the door, the door disappeared. Then I felt a tremendous energy behind me. I looked back and was once again faced with an unforgettable sight.

“The Elder Hall.”

“The Elder Hall?”

A huge black hole that swallowed most of humanity during the Outbound Crisis was following behind. It was only then that I fully realized what I was afraid of.

Death.

And the end of the world.

Lee In-ah crumpled her eyebrows and shouted as if crying.

“No, what is this!”

“If you don’t want to die, run!”

There was a stone statue announcing the completion of the dungeon. When I estimated the distance, it seemed to be about 3 km. It takes about 15 minutes for an average person to run at normal speed.

You can try it now.

In an instant, I remembered the meteor that I had learned from Park Dae-shik, and immediately used it. As you apply strength to your leg muscles and operate your ki, you get a strange feeling as if the weight of your body is decreasing, and your foot dexterity improves.

Lee In-ah ran after me and fell on a rock. I heard a slap and looked behind her to see Lee In-ah crying and screaming.

“Me, take me too! Me too!”

I can’t leave my slaves behind. Because slaves are the property of their masters. I quickly went over to her and ran after carrying her on my back. Behind them, the Elder Hall was destroying everything with its black mouth open.

Quaaa.

When Park Dae-sik taught Meteorite, he taught me lightly, so I thought its power was normal, but it is much more powerful than expected.

The speed is very fast.

It takes between 13 and 15 minutes for an average person to run 3 km, but I arrived in front of the stone statue in almost 5 minutes. Even with Lee In-ah on his back.

“Hey hey hey….”

I ignored Lee In-ah, who cried out in fear, and threw her away. Then he approached the stone statue and stretched out her hand. Then a black wave appears and the words of light come to mind.

─────────────

You have satisfied the dungeon conditions.

─────────────

What will be the reward this time?

As I was thinking about it, a bright beam of light emanated from the stone statue, and beads of iridescent colors came out.

And again, there were two marbles, Lee In-ah and mine. I swallowed the marbles that belonged to me and the marbles that belonged to Lee In-ah, and soon gained the ability.

[You have consumed an orb with the same attribute.]

[Attribute: Resilience increases.]

[You have consumed an orb with the same attribute.]

[Attribute: Resilience increases.]

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It seems that the part I was feeling fear was related to survival. That’s why beads related to survival, such as resilience, appear.

Gulp.

When the orb was swallowed, the corresponding attribute grew, just like when the essence of the same attribute was swallowed.

[Resilience] F rank → E rank

[Resilience] Rank E → Rank D

Feeling my ability grow, I took Lee In-ah and entered her black wave.

* * *

Seol Gyu-geon gathered all the Mine cadets in the academy. The academy is up to the 3rd year, but Seol Gyu-geon, a 2nd year student, held the authority as a representative of the Mine’s gathering. The reason was because he was the strongest.

“Everyone knows, right? Jeon Hoon-seung is dead.”

At his words, some of the demon cadets sighed and some of the cadets questioned.

“Who killed you?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? If you’re not seeking revenge, why did you bring us together?”

There are many cadets who have lower abilities than normal cadets among mechanized cadets. Of course, there are many cadets with low intelligence, and many are short-tempered or hot-tempered. Seol Kyu-geon was suddenly annoyed, but he swallowed it and calmly explained.

“Soon, an investigation will come from the academy centering on people who were related to Jeon Hun-seung. If you’re unlucky, the association may come out with an investigation. So we need to kiss each other beforehand.”

“Do I really have to kiss that?”

“A small slip of the tongue can damage us all.”

Seol Kyu-geon explained the detailed situation, while gathering information from the demons, and kissed things that could be problematic in advance.

At that time, a demon raised his hand.

“I have a question. Seol Gyu-gun.”

“What is it?”

“Has he not said anything yet?”

At that question, Seol Kyu-geon frowned.

“Not yet. Wait.”

“Until when?”

“You will let me know when the time is right.”

“I can’t just believe that and keep hiding like this. It’s a limit.”

At his words, the nearby Mine Cadets nodded.

“Right.”

“I don’t like wasting time on trivial things like now.”

“Right, right.”

Seol Kyu-geon sighed and said.

“Okay. Then ask him too.”

“We need to properly convey our opinion.”

“I got it.”

“And there is no Inah Lee among the demons.”

Seol Kyu-geon pondered.

Who is Lee In-ah?

Then he remembered that he was the sub-circle leader of the inquiry circle.

“So?”

“There is no one among us who is acquainted with Lee In-ah. Don’t just crack down on us, crack down on him too.”

I was annoyed at the way he gave orders, but Seol Kyu-geon swallowed his anger.

“Okay, I will.”

After a while, all the demons gathered disappeared.

Seol Kyu-geon clenched his fists.

The day will surely come when you will be rewarded for your efforts.

* * *

The last theme of the theme dungeon is desire. Desire is simple. It gives trials related to things encountered in fear. Perhaps it is because desire and fear are often in contact with one another.

As she came out of the wave with Lee In-ah, she saw Choi Ji-sung, Ko Soo-young, and Han Cheol-woo right in front of her. Looking at them, it seems that they have just arrived.

Choi Ji-seong said with a smile.

“Hey. Mir. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“I’m glad.”

I felt a strange displeasure at the appearance that I thought was really fortunate, not empty words.

I don’t feel good when a guy pays attention to me.

I ignored the discomfort and checked the condition of the children.

All of them have some torn clothes or shallow scratches, but they are generally fine.

Not bad.

The third dungeon was more intuitive than the second dungeon. The demon-like stone statues seen so far formed a gigantic body and stood like a monster.

Go Soo-young said.

“This, this one is simple.”

“Is it okay to defeat that thing?”

I nodded my head at Choi Ji-sung’s question.

“Uh.”

We moved in cooperation with each other and battled the demon statue. In the meantime, I used Meteor Strike to create a gap and used Meteor Infinity.

After fighting for a while, I managed to defeat the demon stone statue.

After a while, a black wave and a reward for exiting came out. This time, it was not in the form of a bead, but a reward given directly to the participant’s body, so they couldn’t even steal Lee In-ah’s. Unfortunately.

I checked my rewards.

[You have obtained the Void Arm.]