Chapter 128 – The Problem (４)

“Hold on!”

The moment the call connected and Gijun’s voice rang out, Woo Jimin shouted.

“What’s going on?”

Ha Taehyeong and White Wood stepped up beside Woo Jimin and asked.

“I heard Mr. Gijun’s voice.”

“…?!”

zzzhht— zzhzzzk!

It was real.

Woo Jimin’s smartwatch crackled with static again.

Then a voice cut through.

[Guild Master!]

It was unmistakably Gijun’s voice.

The people nearby crowded in, pressing close.

For one moment, at least, it was certain: Gijun was still alive.

Someone let out a sigh of relief.

Woo Jimin, Ha Taehyeong, and White Wood did the same.

“Please, tell us. What’s the situation? And your location. We’re coming in now.”

After a brief pause, Gijun’s voice came through again.

[I think I’ve found a way out.]

“… Is that true?”

[Yes. But…]

The sentence trailed off, and the connection with Gijun went dead again.

Still, their expressions had eased noticeably.

“… It’s cut off.”

“At least Mr. Gijun seems safe. That’s a relief.”

For them, it was a moment they could finally exhale.

Because they had confirmed that Gijun was unharmed.

What’s more, he said he’d even found some kind of way out.

But nothing had actually changed yet.

Gijun was still trapped inside the Dungeon.

The communication cut out again.

That meant Gijun wasn’t completely out of danger yet.

“We need to enter quickly.”

They quickened their pace.

Toward the Dungeon.

*

[Destroy the Crystals]

– Destroy the red crystals, catalysts of malice (1/20)

– Reward: Destroy the massive red catalyst

This was the Quest that had appeared moments ago.

A Quest ordering the destruction of crystal bodies.

The instant he saw it, Gijun knew.

‘It’s certain. I can get out.’

That Quest was the key to escape from this Dungeon.

So the ancient malice needed a medium.

A medium to speak with Gijun directly.

It had hidden those mediums throughout the Dungeon, and each time one was destroyed, the malevolent energy filling the place thinned.

And if he destroyed all twenty of those crystals, the reward would be the destruction of the giant crystal itself.

That massive crystal had to be the ‘main body’—the anchor linking ancient evil into this dungeon.

‘Now I can see it.’

What stunned him more was that the moment the Quest appeared, the crystal became visible to his eyes.

Not that its full form had revealed itself yet.

It was just a vague, red shimmer rippling in the air—a hazy outline.

‘Still, this is something.’

He was right.

Going from not even knowing it existed to knowing it was there—and being able to glimpse its trace, however faintly—was a world of difference.

Jun thrust out his hand and unleashed a torrent of Fireballs.

The Fireballs shot through the air, colliding with something unseen.

Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom! Crash!

With a thunderous roar, pieces of something shattered from the empty air and rained down.

Red shards.

‘That makes two.’

After destroying the first crystal, the connection had flickered back to life for a moment.

And now he’d destroyed two.

‘The monsters seem a bit weaker, too.’

Ever since he’d smashed that first crystal, he’d felt it—the monsters were noticeably less formidable than before.

But it wasn’t just a drop in strength.

Every time a red shard broke apart, a few monsters would freeze in place.

As if something had been controlling them.

‘It controls and strengthens them through the red crystals.’

He didn’t even need to attack the monsters directly—if he just destroyed the crystals, he could slip out of their reach.

Of course, that alone hadn’t shown him a way outside.

If this was all there was to it, he could only call it a brief reprieve.

‘If I can destroy that giant one too…’

Destroy that, and the monsters’ threat would vanish entirely.

If that happened, escaping this dungeon would be anything but hard.

‘Let’s move.’

Jun started forward.

Scattering his Mana, he focused every nerve on locating another red crystal.

*

“Haah… haah…”

More time slipped by.

He’d already destroyed quite a few crystals.

“It really never ends.”

Still, monsters were piled up like a mountain, relentlessly attacking him.

Jun had already shattered eighteen crystals.

Only two remained.

But the fewer crystals left, the fiercer the monsters’ resistance became.

‘Other Superhumans are on their way here, but…’

Jun had broadcast his location through the comms.

He’d stayed in contact with them, but they still needed time to arrive.

They’d just entered the latter half of the First Gate.

If they sprinted at full speed, they’d get here in about ten minutes—but he couldn’t afford to rest that long.

If he so much as paused, the monsters wouldn’t leave him alone.

“It’s like they’ve got a tracker on me.”

They locked onto Gijun’s position with uncanny precision, and they never, ever let him slip away.

“And now they’re even shielding the crystal with their own bodies.”

The monsters had clearly caught on that Gijun knew where the crystal was.

If he so much as moved toward it, they’d block his path.

And if he somehow broke through their encirclement and tried to strike the crystal, they’d throw themselves in front of it, using their flesh as a shield.

“It’s right in front of me, though…”

Now, with the goal so close, he’d hit a wall.

He fell back into thought, sinking into a brief stillness.

As always, it was his instinct kicking in.

An instinct honed to find the one clue that could unravel any situation, no matter how dire.

“…Yeah. Now’s the time.”

In that moment, Gijun’s eyes flashed.

“I can make this work.”

Gijun’s final card was, quite simply, an all-out brawl.

“I have to push in.”

Fighting like this, the way he had been, there was zero chance of winning.

Monsters far stronger than Gijun himself were guarding that crystal; tossing spells at it now would be like pouring water into a broken jar — pointless.

“I need to bet on what I do best.”

Speed.

And physicality.

Weren’t those the most formidable weapons he had right now?

“It’s definitely going to be risky.”

Until now, he’d kept his distance, destroying the crystals from a safe position.

Gijun knew it, too.

He knew that charging in head-on against those things was a losing battle from the start.

That was the reason.

But not anymore.

Sticking to safe methods alone wouldn’t give him a chance now.

Charging in head-on was the only answer left.

So he had to take the plunge.

Sure, he could just run and buy time.

About ten minutes left.

If he gave it everything he had just running, he could probably scrape by for those ten minutes.

Of course, by then, Gijun would be completely drained.

But with White Wood, Woo Jimin, and Ha Taehyeong’s help, they could still destroy the remaining two crystals well enough.

Gijun’s mind, however, was made up differently.

“I don’t want to.”

If his stamina was already this low, he’d rather just go all in.

That was it.

Because if he took someone else’s help here, he might start wanting to lean on others for every brutal fight ahead.

“Here I go.”

Gijun steeled himself.

Then he activated his skills.

Flame Unity.

And Orca’s Footsteps, and Strong Wind, too.

He wrapped every skill that could maximize his movement speed around his entire body.

Then he began casting Fireball.

Through combination and shape transformation, he warped the Fireball’s form.

Into the shape of a sword.

A roar erupted!

Soon, two blazing swords were gripped in Gijun’s hands.

“I have to break through in one shot.”

Gijun moved swiftly around the crystal.

Countless monsters struggled to surround him.

But Gijun never let himself get encircled.

Instead, he read their movements a step or two ahead, slipping through the gaps in an instant.

‘Getting closer.’

Now, slowly but surely, he was drawing near the crystal.

KRA-A-A-AH!

GROOOA-A-AH!

Dozens of monsters swarmed to block Gijun.

And around a full ten of them had locked the crystal in a tight ring.

SHWIIIIICK!

He swung his sword at the monster blocking his path to the crystal.

Blood erupted from its body.

But that was it.

The thing didn’t even flinch.

No matter.

He’d seen this coming.

All he had to do was carve out a sliver of an opening.

He kept moving at full speed, hammering the monsters relentlessly.

He’d never planned to take them down in the first place.

His goal was simple: make them a nuisance for each other.

His strikes couldn’t cut them down in a single blow, but they hurt — they definitely hurt.

Especially now, with White Wood’s Mana Booster under his belt, his attacks had reached a level even these brutes couldn’t shrug off.

SHWACK! SHWIIICK!

He kept swinging, layering wound upon wound across the monsters’ bodies, when—

‘…!’

Gijun’s eyes went wide.

The one he’d been harassing relentlessly finally lost its temper — it stepped forward a single, impulsive stride.

‘Now.’

Gijun planted his foot.

He twisted his body, adding torque to his speed.

SHWIIII-AH!

The blade, blazing midair, sprayed a red flash as it dove into the fleeting gap.

SWIIIIIISH!

Another monster lunged to seal the breach, but Gijun was already faster.

And in the end—

KRA-A-A-AH-ANG!

His strike, spinning with crushing velocity, carved straight through the crystal.

KWO-A-A-AH-ANG!

‘Got it.’

A heavy thrum touched his fingertips.

And now—

CHAE-A-A-A-EHNG!

The crystal finally shattered.

GROOOA-AH!

KRA-A-A-AH!

The monsters around it began to freeze.

The same pattern as before.

The moment a crystal broke, every monster in the area locked up, unable to move.

‘Just one left.’

Gijun moved without hesitation.

Toward the last crystal, to destroy it.

‘No time.’

He couldn’t afford to slow down.

Once Flame Unity’s duration ran out, he’d have no more cards to play.

He sprinted for the final crystal at full speed, but—

‘…Damn it.’

Even in his own head, the curse slipped out.

‘They already read me.’

The monsters had figured out his strategy.

And now, dead set on giving him no second opening, they were wrapping the crystal in a defense far tighter than before.

‘Fine. Let’s dance.’

But giving up never crossed Gijun’s mind.

It didn’t matter how thoroughly those bastards were defending the Crystal. None of it mattered.

‘Let’s go.’

The moment Gijun was about to kick off again, surging forward—

‘…!’

Fire bloomed across his chest, a sudden, searing heat.

‘Out of nowhere….’

It was the same sensation he’d felt when his mind had synced with Libre not long ago.

And then, in that instant—

Fwoooosh!

The swords in Gijun’s hands roared alight, blazing with a savage flame.

The wild fire banked, collapsing inward, and what remained was a blade honed to a perfect, razor edge.

‘…What is this.’

Gijun knew the shape. He knew it well.

The Aura Blade—the jealously guarded monopoly of Sword Masters.

But this wasn’t quite that.

‘It’s more perfect.’

This blade was forged into a form even more complete than an Aura Blade.

‘I don’t know how this happened….’

Gijun ran.

Straight at the monster.

And the moment he thrust his sword—

SHHRRIIIP!

“…!!”

The monster’s body split in two, sails of flesh tumbling through the air.