Usually, there wouldn’t be much else to do in a Dungeon after getting all the rewards. But before Seo Jun-Ho left, he went back to the maze.
“I have to erase my traces.”
Though Dungeons and Gates were similar, they still had their differences. While Gates disappeared completely after they were cleared, Dungeons were different.
“There are actually people who work as Dungeon cleaners,” he said.
“Dungeon cleaners…? Why would they clean up such a place? Do they make it into a tourist attraction?” the Frost Queen asked.
“They’re not actually cleaning it up. It’s slang.”
Once the Dungeons were cleared by the main force, they would go around and “clean” them by picking up the spoils. After all, Dungeons would sometimes have hidden rewards and items.
“They do actual cleaning, too. Sometimes, the Dungeon team misses a few monsters, so the Dungeon cleaners take them out,” he added.
If the Dungeon monsters weren’t completely annihilated after the first sweep, they would reproduce and create a new pack, effectively re-creating the Dungeon. Of course, the second time around, the Dungeons would become open-types rather than door-types.
“I see. So that is why you are erasing your traces.”
“Yeah. Not only the Dungeon cleaners, but fiends could also come here.”
Like he had done in Las Vegas when he killed Arma, Seo Jun-Ho used the techniques that Skaya had once taught him. He started to erase all signs that he had ever been here.
‘My skills, my magic, the size and direction of my footprints, even my hairs…’
He started to erase anything that could identify him. It took four whole hours until he was done.
“Phew, I’m finally done,” he muttered.
“Zzzz.”The work must have been quite boring because the Frost Queen had fallen asleep on his shoulder.
‘Yup. Perfect. Now I just need to leave,’
Seo Jun-Ho thought. Leaving the Dungeon wasn’t hard, as there was a portal in the corner of the Boss Room that led to the front entrance.
[You have cleared Blackwall Maze.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[2 speed stats received from Limit Breaker’s effects.]
[14 magic stats have been recovered.]
“It gave me a decent amount of EXP too.”
Seo Jun-Ho had killed a total of thirty fiends inside the Dungeon, but he had only received EXP from four of them.
‘If I knew this would happen, I would’ve hunted them myself instead of leaving them to the wall mantises.’
27 of them had been killed by the monsters, not by his own hand.
He had gained three levels from killing four fiends, a few wall mantises, and the Wall Mantis Queen. He had also gained two more levels as a Dungeon clear reward.
“Status window.”
[Seo Jun-Ho]
Level: 70
t.i.tle: Bringer of Spring (2+)
Strength: 220 Stamina: 218
Speed: 219 Magic: 188
Fame: 2,720
Thanks to that, he reached a round level 70.
‘I recovered a good amount of magic stats too.’
Seo Jun-Ho nodded and started to step toward the Dungeon entrance.
Rrrrrr!
A roaring construction noise came from the door. He opened it with a creak and stepped out.
“...What are you doing?” he said flatly.
Skaya was wearing a welding helmet and drilling the wall with a mysterious device. She looked up.
“Oh, Jun-Ho.” She stopped the device and lifted the helmet, grinning. “Hey~ Seems like it went well?”
“I told you that you don’t need to worry about me.” He got an overwhelming sense of deja-vu. The same thing happened only a few days ago. “Didn’t you do this when I killed Gouf and the other fiends too?”
“Yup. I really tried not to worry… But the spells I put on you had been forcefully removed, so I was worried you were in danger,” she explained.
“It was Dispel. It’s an annoying skill. What is that, anyway?”
“Oh~ This?” She held up the drill-shaped object and giggled. “This is a Gate Driller! I made a prototype a long~ time ago to try and enter closed Gates, so I was trying to open the Dungeon with this.”
“...Looks like it’s going well,” he said sarcastically. Was it even possible for a human to open a Gate or Dungeon when it was sealed by the System? Still, he was impressed that she even came up with such a bizarre device to attempt it. Skaya really was on another level.
“Yeah… It wasn’t working…” She wilted.
“Were you able to use monitoring magic to hear what was happening inside?” he asked. This was important. If she could do it, that means the fiends' mages could do it as well.
“Unfortunately, no. The channel changed as soon as you entered the Dungeon, so I only heard static.”
“Good…”
“But it’s too early to let our guard down,” she spoke as she knocked on the thick Dungeon door. “If I had more time, I could have developed a spell to automatically tune into the channel of the Dungeon. If the fiends have a genius like me, they’ll be able to do the same thing.”
This was the first time an independent Dungeon raid of the Fiend a.s.sociation had failed.
“So they’ll be suspicious. They had more than enough manpower to clear the Dungeon, so they’ll suspect that there was some kind of interference,” Skaya warned.
“...And they’ll start preparing against the intruder.”
“That’s right. You probably won’t be able to do this again, but if you ever have to enter a Dungeon with fiends again, you should be more careful.”
“I’ll do that.” Seo Jun-Ho nodded.
Skaya started to look around. “Where’s the Frost Queen? Did she go to the Spirit World again?” she asked.
“No, she’s sleeping on my shoulder and using my head as a pillow,” Seo Jun-Ho replied.
“...She’s sleeping? Even though she’s a Spirit?”
“I know, right? She’s a really strange Spirit.”
Skaya’s eyes sparkled. “Interesting. She was a human before she became a Spirit, right? Oh, I want to hurry up and study her.”
“Ugh…” Was she having a nightmare? The Frost Queen’s face scrunched as she gripped Seo Jun-Ho’s hair tightly.
“Were there any useful memories out of the 31 fiends you killed?” Skaya asked.
“Yeah. Let’s talk about the details somewhere else.”
“Wait, before that.” She pointed out. “Did you clean up properly?”
“Of course. If you don’t believe me, check for yourself.”
“...It’s better to be sure. I’ll just double-check.”
Skaya re-entered the Dungeon and returned about five minutes later. She looked at Seo Jun-Ho proudly. “You did well, child. Your master is moved.”
“I had always been a quick learner—that’s the key to being powerful.”
“As your reward, I’ll clean up here.” She clapped lightly, perfectly erasing their traces from the Dungeon’s entrance.
Slam.
As the Dungeon door closed one last time, the two of them arrived at their guestroom in Denver.
“Now, talk,” Skaya said in a low voice, taking a seat.
“Well… Let me begin with the Seven Squadrons.” Seo Jun-Ho began to explain. After about ten minutes, Skaya finished sorting through the information and eventually spoke.
“In other words, each Squadron has a different goal?”
“Yeah. w.a.n.g-Heon was part of the Pride Squadron, but he didn’t know much about the demon jade,” he said.
“Then, which Squadron is experimenting with it?” Skaya asked.
“I don’t know. We won’t know until we interrogate a fiend from another Squadron.”
“Do you know where they are?”
Seo Jun-Ho unfurled a map of the Frontier continent and pointed at a spot.
“Port Lane? It’s a coastal city.”
“Yeah. In two months’ time, the entire Pride Squadron will meet here for a combined mission.”
“...A combined mission?” Skaya’s eyes sparkled. If they were working as a group, this had to be big.
Seo Jun-Ho nodded, reading her mind. “It’s gonna be ma.s.sive. I heard that they’ll be working with the other Squadrons as well.”
“Wow, the scale is much bigger if they’re all working together,” she noted.
“We’re not gonna be hunting a small number of fiends.” There would at least be dozens of Squadron-affiliated fiends. “And if we’re lucky… We might even get to see a Squadron Leader.”
“...But will you be alright?” Skaya asked carefully, not wanting to offend him. “You lost 70 magic stats because of me. Will you be able to handle them?”
“I’ll have to recover by then. So, it’s probably gonna be a while until I free another one of our teammates,” he said.
Seo Jun-Ho still yearned to free his friends, but they were getting closer to the fiends, and he needed to get stronger to keep up.
‘Even if I free one of them, they’ll need at least a month to be of immediate help in battle.’
Even though the Curse of Bitter Cold would disappear after a month, he would still have to permanently sacrifice his magic stat, so Seo Jun-Ho himself wouldn’t be of much help in the near future afterward.
Thus, he made a decision...
“I’ll have to reach at least 250 for my magic stat if I want to free one of them. This way, both of us can be of help.”
“...That doesn’t seem too far off,” Skaya commented.
“Yeah. I’m at 188 right now. And Frontier is still full of opportunities.” Based on how fast he was currently raising his magic stat, three months was more than enough time for him to reach 250 points in the stat. “Aren’t you starting to get restless too? I’m always the one fighting fiends.”
“...To be honest, yeah. You’re like the protagonist of a superhero movie, while I’m more like the lead policeman.” She was like the police crew who would only come to deal with the aftermath of a disaster. Seo Jun-Ho could sense that she was a little annoyed by that. Well, it made sense, considering that she was much stronger than him, yet she couldn’t do as much.
“Don’t worry. That’s why this mission is for you. The battle at Port Lane will be more intense than you expect.”
“My my, how did you know that’s what I wanted?”
Woosh. Bzzt. Shwoo. Crack.
Skaya created flame, electricity, wind, and rock with her fingers and moved them around, playing with them. “I’ll show them the power of an Archmage. I’ll post a bunch of pictures on the community too.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“Oh, I also had something to tell you.” She dispelled the magic. “I was contacted by the Guildmaster of Goblin.”
“...You mean Shin Sung-Hyun of the Nine Heavens?” he asked.
“Yeah. He said there was something he wanted to check and wanted to meet up.”
“Hmmm. Are you gonna go?”
“I plan to. You told me that the Sword Saint is strong, but you don’t know anything about the other Nine Heavens, right?” Skaya asked.
“I don’t...” Seo Jun-Ho nodded.
“So, I’ll go check. To see if they’re strong, I mean. And if they are… I’ll see if they’re stronger than me.”
“Hmmm.” It made Seo Jun-Ho a little nervous. Shin Sung-Hyun was a powerful Player, but he had heard from many people that the man acted like a businessman.
‘And so does Skaya. People with similar personalities usually end up having really intense psychological battles.’
It would be a meeting of an old hero and one of the Nine Heavens, a present-day hero. Things would probably get heated.
“Do you want me to come with you?” he asked carefully.
Skaya instantly rejected him. “Nah. If I bring you with me, it’ll be more suspicious.”
“True…”
“I’m not a musclehead like Rahmadat, so why are you even worried? We’re just gonna talk. That’s all.” She stood and spoke again, “In two months’ time… I better get ready, too. I’ll text you if I find out anything from Shin Sung-Hyun,” she said.
“Sounds good. Stay safe.”
Ring.
At that moment, a community notification sound rang in Seo Jun-Ho’s ears. He quickly checked it, finding a message.
‘Who would send me a message…?’
Was it iluvac, Captain Gong Ju-Ha?
His eyes went wide when he opened the message. “Huh?”
It was from someone he had never expected, someone he couldn’t have expected.
[Swordpoint: h.e.l.lo. This is Kim Woo-Joong.][1]
[Swordpoint: If possible, could I borrow a bit of your time?]
[Swordpoint: I need your help, Player Seo Jun-Ho.]
“...The Sword Saint?”
Why did he contact him?
1. T/N: The literal translation is ‘I want to see the end of a sword,’ which likely refers to a duel. It’s common for Korean online usernames to be made up of short sentences/phrases. ☜