Chapter 16 – Crossroads of the Scales

A cavern filled with faintly glowing phosphorescent stones.

There were two entrances leading to neatly carved tunnel-like passages.

“Indeed, there’s a scale drawn.”

On the wall between the two entrances was a drawing of a two-pan scale, with each passage positioned on either side of the scale’s arms.

Beneath the scale drawing, ancient characters from another world were inscribed.

The Tomb Raider spirit’s <Ancient Knowledge> deciphered the characters.

“The weight of blood… the collision of equal worlds… the Twelve Constellations… the tilted balance… the imitation of fall and ascension…”

Though only partially deciphered, fitting it with the dungeon rules already known made it roughly understandable.

It seemed there was more content, but with just this, further interpretation appeared difficult.

“Does it seem like you understand something?”

“It doesn’t seem much different from what we discussed before.”

While staring intently at the mural, Jin Yuseong approached and asked.

“How should we split our forces?”

“Since the balance on both sides must match. Seongcheol and I will team up. Yuseong, you go with Sehee to the opposite side.”

Judging by the practical evaluation rankings, it was the 1st and 4th place as one team, and the 2nd and 3rd place as the other.

“We’ll take the left side.”

“Okay.”

As there were no particular objections to the split teams’ combat strength, Lee Hanseong’s team chose the left passage and moved, while the other team headed to the right.

A moment later.

As the four disappeared into the passages on either side, the dungeon’s starting point fell silent.

There, two figures revealed themselves.

“Two paths…”

Kang Min confirmed the two branching passages and glanced around at both for a moment.

“They split the party into two.”

“Our primary target is Lee Hanseong.”

“Then it’s the left side.”

Kang Min activated the <Tracking> skill targeting Lee Hanseong to determine which passage he had taken.

But he didn’t immediately head into the passage.

“…? What’s the matter?”

“Wait a moment.”

As Kim Jinho urged him, who seemed rooted in place, Kang Min raised a hand to stop him.

Kang Min’s gaze was fixed on the scale drawing between the two passages.

“The most important thing in dungeon conquest is understanding that dungeon’s rules. And most dungeons hide clues to the rules at the starting point.”

“A scale means balance? The number of people entering each passage must match? Right. That’s why they split into pairs too.”

“Hoh. You can do basic deduction. That’s probably correct.”

Kang Min looked at Kim Jinho with renewed eyes at his guess.

“Then should we split up too?”

“No, that’s unnecessary. Reading the description below, it seems what needs balancing isn’t the number of entrants, but the number of monsters slain.”

“You can read that too?”

“I just know a few simple words that frequently appear in dungeons.”

Saying that, Kang Min headed towards the left passage, unfolding the <Stealth> skill to turn his body transparent.

“Avoid combat and follow them quietly.”

Kim Jinho also used <Concealment> and quietly followed behind.

With thoughts of killing Lee Hanseong, and if necessary, the promising candidates too, to seize the dungeon’s rewards and achievements.

* * *

The left passage taken by Lee Hanseong and Park Seongcheol’s team.

-Squeak squeak.

Swish swish swish.

The sounds of rat cries and something brushing past echoed continuously from inside the passage.

Srrrrng.

The sounds were gradually getting closer, and in preparation for the imminent battle, Lee Hanseong, who was leading the way, drew his demon sword.

“Get ready slowly.”

Simultaneously, he unfolded the <Black Shadow Manipulation Art> from his breastplate, spreading his consciousness into the shadows across the front area.

Thanks to the light from the phosphorescent stones embedded throughout the walls, our shadows were cast in all directions.

It was the perfect environment to unfold the Black Shadow Manipulation Art.

-Mew!

[The Nameless Constellation detects prey and awakens its hunting instinct.]

Perhaps because the opponents were rats, the excited cat’s projection leaped from his head to the ground and activated the Black Shadow Manipulation Art from the breastplate on its own.

Ooze ooze.

Black shadows dyeing the projection.

During the Awakened qualification exam, the projection had no physical force, so it could only evoke the feeling of hunting, but with the Black Shadow Manipulation Art granting physical force, the story was different.

The cat, whose body swelled to the size of a 1-Star Monster or larger using shadows as material, was nearly on par with a Three-Star Beast.

‘So this is why he told me to choose Black Shadow Manipulation Art.’

At that moment, as if it had spotted something still invisible to our eyes, the cat bared its teeth towards the front.

“Kyaow!”

“…A cat? Already capable of manifesting a living being with shadows?”

Park Seongcheol expressed surprise upon seeing the cat that had gained substance, but there was no time for explanations.

“They’re coming.”

Thudududududu!

Amidst the sound of rapidly approaching heavy footsteps and vibrations.

Because the enemies’ forms were gradually beginning to enter our field of vision.

-Zzzzzt!

A 2-Star Monster, a giant rat with a height reaching the waist—a Big Rat—was charging like a hunting dog.

Zzzzing-

Then, from behind, the sound of Park Seongcheol activating Three-Feet Sworn to Heaven, along with a pure white Aura spreading out.

His shadow, elongated further by the Aura’s light, reached all the way to where the Big Rat was.

Srrrt- Pat!

The moment it was confirmed that the Big Rat’s front paw touched the shadow, the shadow cat shot out like a black light arrow.

Crash!

The rat, which had been charging with momentum, was struck by the cat’s swung front paw and sent flying, rendered meaningless.

The cat biting into the neck of the momentarily defenseless Big Rat.

While the cat was preoccupied with ending the prey’s life, a newly appeared Big Rat pounced on the cat from behind.

-Squeak!

Not missing that scene, Lee Hanseong threw the Gluttonous Demon Sword.

He had connected the Black Shadow Manipulation Art’s shadow to the demon sword like a rope.

Thanks to the buff from Three-Feet Sworn to Heaven’s Aura, he could time it right.

Screeeech- Thud!

The viscous Killing Intent flowing from the demon sword accelerated on its own to seek life force and embedded itself in the Big Rat’s forehead.

It was a throw mimicking the principle of Jin Yuseong’s First Awakening Skill, Hidden Blade.

Crunch crunch- Crunch-!

Immediately after, the demon sword’s <Gluttony: Gluttony> activated.

Wounds appeared consecutively as if bitten by an invisible giant mouth, then disappeared without a trace—the Big Rat.

Confirming its Annihilation, he pulled the shadow attached to the sword’s hilt back to retrieve the demon sword.

“Meow-“

Through the inner connection, the feeling of the Constellation being satisfied, as if it had trusted him, was conveyed.

But this was only the beginning.

Thudududududu…!

The vibrations were still getting closer.

‘Where?’

No approaching opponents were visible in the passage.

Even trying to gauge the opponent’s location through the vibrations was difficult because they were felt from all directions.

Keeeeng.

He sharpened his five senses and the consciousness spread through the shadows as much as possible, preparing to respond wherever the enemy appeared.

Then, the cat pricked up its ears and looked at the wall.

Thanks to that, he could discern where the opponent would appear.

‘Beyond the wall…!’

The moment Lee Hanseong realized that, countless holes suddenly appeared in the passage walls, and.

-Zzzzzt!

Innumerable Big Rats rushed towards us.

They had utilized the passages of the Awakening Skill 《Rat Hole》, which connects spaces, to launch a surprise attack.

“Seongcheol! Get on the cat!”

“Got it!”

Immediately after the rat swarm appeared, he mounted the cat that had returned to our side and activated the Mounting Skill.

Reaching out towards Park Seongcheol to grab him, then lifting him onto the cat’s back.

“If we fight in one place like this, it’ll only disadvantage us. Let’s move away first!”

The number of enemies was too many.

Swishswishswishswishswishswish!!!

He wildly swung the Gluttonous Demon Sword towards the creatures blocking the front to open a path.

Naturally, some creatures that avoided the sword’s trajectory and reached us were bound to appear little by little.

Thud- Kreek! Crunch!

“…Are you okay?”

“Not a problem!”

But it was bearable.

Because he had brought defensive gear in preparation for times like this.

Thud! Thud!

The <Dragon Scale> of the Dragon Scale Armor. It manifested dragon-scale-like armor on Park Seongcheol’s body, deflecting the rats’ physical charges. As if barely feeling the force from the charging speed and weight, Park Seongcheol, colliding with the rats, was stable without shaking.

‘If he’s like that while mounted on the cat, when stationary, he’d be almost a fortress.’

Thanks to the Dragon Scale absorbing 99% of the impact.

As for the cat, which collided the most with the rat swarm, since its body was composed of the Black Shadow Manipulation Art’s shadows, even if wounded, it repaired instantly, so defense was unnecessary.

In contrast, Lee Hanseong lacked both defense and regeneration, so he had to move more actively.

Sway.

The basic defense of wrapping his body with the Black Shadow Manipulation Art’s shadows was just insurance.

Avoiding hits without getting hit was the top priority.

Applying movements blended from <Stealth Walk>, <Acrobatics>, <Pathfinding>, and <High-Speed Dash> to the cat through <Mounting>, using walls, ceilings, and even Big Rats as footholds.

Truly three-dimensional mobility.

The distinction between front, back, left, right, up, and down became ambiguous.

Even amidst the dizzying movement, he continued swinging the sword.

Swishswishswishswishswishswish!

<Slash> differentiated into numerous forms beyond its basic shape, adapting to the needed form at each moment.

Vertical slash, horizontal slash, diagonal slash.

From top to bottom, from bottom to top. From left to right, from right to left.

As he had previously linked drawing the sword and slashing, he applied the <Slash> skill to sword strikes in all directions.

Swissssssssssh!

It reached a point where he couldn’t distinguish whether he was swinging the sword or the sword was swinging him.

Swinging the sword in such a state of selflessness, the hexagonal swordsmanship of Gobhan absorbed during the Historical Alteration naturally blended into Duren’s slash-specialized swordsmanship, honing the level of <Slash>.

Ssssssssssssh!

The resistance felt each time cutting through the Big Rats’ flesh gradually decreased.

The demon sword was growing stronger by devouring the Big Rats’ lives, but more important than that was the change in the swordsmanship itself.

The grain between bone and bone, flesh and flesh, muscle and muscle.

The sword naturally passed along that grain.

[Conditions met. General Skill <Slash> evolves into Rare Skill <Grain Cut>.]

Lee Hanseong’s <Slash> skill evolved.

Since it was a change in the skill engraved on Lee Hanseong’s body, not a change in the spirit Duren’s skill, no separate spirit Promotion occurred.

But this change would remain without disappearing during Duren’s future Historical Alteration, helping to change history.

That was when.

Oooooong.

The now crimson-dyed Aura indicated that the conditions for Park Seongcheol’s Second Awakening Skill had been met.

When he connected the party members’ consciousness with Overmind, raising their Heroic Spirit Synchronization Rate to their limit of 20% like during the Sudden Rift Incident, all promising candidates had unlocked their Second Awakening Skills.

“Duck for a moment.”

Along with Park Seongcheol’s low mutter.

《”One Swing Sweeps”》.

Crashhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

A blood-red blood dragon shot towards the front of the passage.

The blood dragon that ground not only the Big Rats that had filled the passage but also the Big Rats beyond the walls along with the walls themselves into flesh and blood!

The path was blasted open.

The passage, which had a constant width, widened significantly from where the blood dragon had passed.

The momentum of the rats that had been constantly charging was momentarily dampened by the blood dragon’s power.

“Whew… Whew.”

Only then could the two breathe easily as they gained room to move.

Suddenly worried about the team that went to the opposite passage, Lee Hanseong checked on them through Overmind.

‘They’re also under attack by Big Rats…’

It seemed there was no particular need for worry.

Because Yu Sehee’s 《Light of Purification》 had an unexpected effect.

‘The creation speed of Rat Holes is significantly lower than ours. Did purification have this function too?’

Well, rats are symbols of filth and unhygienic conditions, so it wasn’t strange for them to be affected by purification.

Thanks to that, Jin Yuseong’s team could face the rats two or three at a time, not all at once like us.

Still, the rate of rats increasing was faster than the rate of killing them, so as time passed, the increasing number of rats couldn’t be prevented.

When the number had increased to some extent, Jin Yuseong activated 《Assassination Directive》.

Crunch! Crunch!

A feast of betrayal as the rats’ shadows gained substance and bit their masters from behind.

-Keeeeek!

It seemed Jin Yuseong was disappointed that when the shadow rats’ original bodies died, the shadow rats also disappeared.

But the shadows had killed dozens in the brief moment they were active, and wanting more from that was greed.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

Because the rat swarm that had been targeting them was already on the verge of annihilation after just one Assassination Directive.

“Ah, this.”

The problem was that the number of dead Big Rats in Lee Hanseong’s team’s passage increased too much in an instant, breaking the death balance between the two passages.

No matter how many rats the Assassination Directive killed, it couldn’t match the number slain by the blood dragon of “One Swing Sweeps.”

Thudthudthudthudthudthud! Clunk! Clunk!

With two vibrations and a sense of falling, the passage where Lee Hanseong and Park Seongcheol were gradually sank.

From the opposite passage, Jin Yuseong and Yu Sehee also did their best in hunting Big Rats, trying to match the number of dead monsters as much as possible, but catching up to the number swept away by “One Swing Sweeps” was difficult.

“More are coming.”

Moreover, as if misfortunes come in pairs, the sensation of the rat swarm approaching again was felt in this passage, which had entered a brief lull.

“If we kill more here, won’t the balance break further?”

“Until the balance is restored, we shouldn’t kill but run and endure. Run!”

Before the passage was blocked by rats, with the thought of moving as much as possible, he galloped on the cat.

But not long after, the cat stopped its steps.

“Huh? Why did it stop…”

But soon he could understand why the cat had stopped.

Because the Tomb Raider’s <Trap Detection> had captured a trap installed perfectly blocking the middle of the passage in a form.

To pass through here, one had to either fall for the trap or disarm it one by one.