Chapter 29 – Dungeon Clear

“If it were a Five-Star Monster, wouldn’t it have been dangerous with our original party strength?”

“No, considering we acquired Legendary Equipment along the way, we could have barely won.”

They shared their impressions while looking at the Janus Stone Statue.

They could feel how much their combat power had changed since before entering the dungeon.

A Five-Star that they would have had to risk their lives to defeat could now be taken down with ease, thanks to the presence of the Seven-Star Chungmugong.

A Seven-Star Spirit was that much of an asymmetrical force.

“What should we do? This guy seems to be the last one. Should we finish it right away?”

As Park Seongcheol was about to order Chungmugong to attack, something felt off.

“Wait a moment.”

Simply having strong power didn’t mean they could recklessly clear the dungeon.

Even the party that had entered this place before the regression, which was stronger, had ultimately died, hadn’t they?

“If this guy dies, on which passage will the weight of its blood accumulate?”

Even the Four-Star Monster, the Stone Golem, had enough blood weight to tilt a passage three levels at once.

A Five-Star would be ten times that.

If that blood weight were to concentrate on one side, that passage would inevitably collapse.

“That part is definitely important.”

“Let’s look for clues first. It seems we haven’t triggered the trigger for Janus to move yet.”

Leaving the Janus Stone Statue for a moment, they examined the nearby walls.

Around the statue, they saw an inscription carved in the shape of an arched gate.

“Those who seek to pass through the Gate of ■■. Gaze upon the Primordial Beginning and the End, the Entrance and the Exit, the Outside and the Inside, the Past and the Future, Success and Failure, History and Space, Boundaries and Choices, and call the name of the Gatekeeper who rules over them. That name is…”

…Janus.

Since the trigger was calling Janus’s name, they only mumbled the part about the name without speaking it aloud.

Then, the Constellation’s projection, which had been dozing off, opened its eyes and suddenly spoke.

―That statue feels familiar somehow. It might be related to the memories I’ve lost.

Suddenly, he wondered what kind of existence the statue depicted.

All the statues they had defeated so far depicted the 12-Star Apostles serving the Twelve Constellations.

Then, what kind of existence was Janus, depicted at the end?

‘At the very least, it must be an existence equal to or greater than the 12-Star Apostles, right?’

The phrases about ruling over history and space, boundaries and choices somehow reminded him of the Nameless Constellation’s Historical Alteration.

A reasonable suspicion arose that Janus might have been an Apostle of the Nameless Constellation.

Although on Earth before the regression, the Devotee serving a Constellation was the only one, that didn’t mean there were no Apostles or Devotees of Constellations in other worlds.

Judging from the message about regressing time and stealing the Wheel Constellation’s wheel for him, the Constellation he served was at least not weaker than the Twelve Constellations, if not stronger.

Moreover, the fact that Janus was a gatekeeper was also significant.

‘At the end of the Crossroads of the Scales, which mimics the Crossroads of Ascension, a gatekeeper appears.’

Could it be that the Ascension the Twelve Constellations seek is to pass through Janus’s Gate and reach ‘somewhere’ represented by ‘■■’?

Even in the phrases in the left passage mentioning the possibilities of the four Apostles—Brilliance Constellation, Darkness Constellation, Golden Constellation, and Lunar Constellation—‘■■’ kept appearing.

And Lee Hanseong had seen traces of such broken records in places other than this dungeon.

‘It was the same when trying to recall the Lord of the Throne’s name before the regression.’

If all those ‘■■’ point to the same thing.

Then the Constellation he and his friends chose might be far more extraordinary than they thought.

For example, an existence beyond 12-Star, like a 13-Star.

―Chaos? Janus?

The Constellation’s projection, which had been watching the Janus Stone Statue, muttered as if something had come to mind.

Drrrrrrr…!

As Janus’s name was called, a bluish mana light swirled in the eyes of the Janus Stone Statue.

The statue, whose trigger had been stimulated, was awakening.

[Intruders. Annihilation.]

Oooooom!

The statue’s eyes turned red the moment it awoke.

A sign of the Third Awakening Skill ‘Overload Beam’.

Zwaaaaaang!!!!

Having faced Stone Golems multiple times and understood their abilities, no one was hit by the suddenly fired beam.

“The beam was fired only on this side.”

The statue on Jin Yuseong’s team’s side had also awoken, but it was maintaining a defensive posture.

Using Appraisal, he saw that the magic core of the statue that hadn’t fired the laser was supplying mana to this side’s statue, which had entered an overload state, on its behalf.

It was Janus’s Unique Skill <Dual Core>.

A skill that linked the two magic cores held by the front and back statues.

If they used the two magic cores alternately like that, the penalty of the Overload Beam was practically nonexistent.

“For now, let’s not hastily kill it and focus only on understanding.”

Until the answer about the weight of blood was found, killing it would be a bad move.

To slowly gauge its reactions, he had Chungmugong fall back and stepped forward to attack personally.

Clang! Grind.

Deceiving the Mana Reactive Armor, he attacked, and the statue was pushed back slightly.

“Could it be…?”

“It’s pushed back by the amount of impact given!”

If this was the case, the location where Janus died became important.

If Chungmugong had attacked to destroy Janus, Janus would surely have been pushed toward Jin Yuseong’s team’s side and died.

The two people and Lycan on the opposite side would have been in danger.

Thud! Grind.

Realizing the situation, the opposite side also attacked Janus, pushing the statue back to its original position.

Thanks to being connected through Colonization, they were able to apply exactly the same amount of impact as the attack from this side.

Through this series of events, he realized how to defeat Janus.

‘We must simultaneously attack both sides of Janus with exactly the same level of force while whittling down its durability.’

Checking the durability bar that appeared through the Appraisal Skill, he continued to attack.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Zwaaaang!

Occasionally, the faces of the Janus Stone Statue alternated and fired Overload Beams, but since they knew the signs, evasion wasn’t too difficult.

Moreover, unlike the Stone Golem, which had emerged from the wall and moved freely, the Janus Stone Statue, with both front and back facing forward, didn’t detach from the wall, limiting its means of attack.

Still, they couldn’t let their guard down completely.

The Chaos Stone Golem’s Fourth Awakening Skill hadn’t appeared yet.

In terms of sequence, it would be an Awakening Skill derived from <Physical Damage Halving> and <Durability Major Enhancement>.

‘It’s likely a defensive Awakening Skill, but since a single Awakening Skill can change the situation, we can’t be careless.’

It didn’t take long to see the awaited Fourth Awakening Skill.

Clack!

No resistance came back from the blade that struck the statue.

Thwack! Ssssss!

Feeling something ominous, he flung his body sideways, and a familiar dark blade shot toward the spot where he had just been.

Jin Yuseong’s Hidden Blade was unleashed from the Chaos Stone Golem’s hand.

Conversely, from the face Jin Yuseong was dealing with, a Slash enhanced with <Gluttony: Gluttony> was unfolding.

It was the exact same attack method they had used against the golem.

“This is… physical damage reflection!”

It was a moment that reaffirmed the correctness of pulling Chungmugong out of the battle.

What if Chungmugong had made a powerful attack to take it down in one blow, and physical damage reflection had been activated?

Of course, if Chungmugong’s attack was meant to kill a 5-Star Rank opponent, most of it would be magic damage, so the golem wouldn’t have been unscathed either.

But the amount of physical damage included in the attack would have been reflected toward the other party members.

“How do we break through that?”

However, even knowing about the physical damage reflection, countering it wasn’t easy.

If they held back their attacks to avoid reflected damage, breaking through the golem’s defense would be difficult.

If they increased their attack power, the danger when reflected would be greater.

Then, Jin Yuseong suggested a new strategy.

“What if we push it into a completely different place and gather in one spot? Since Janus’s location is the gate itself.”

They had already confirmed that the Janus Stone Statue could be pushed.

If they pushed it completely outside the wall, the spot where the Janus Stone Statue had been would become a passage connecting the divided chambers.

If they gathered the split party on one side and sent only Chungmugong to catch the golem from the opposite side.

Even if the passage where Chungmugong was collapsed, since the Spirit could be reverse-summoned, they could catch it without damage.

“If that’s the case, I could use Shrinking Earth to bring you all connected through the Swarm here, and we could push the Janus Stone Statue out with Chungmugong’s attack from here.”

“Oh. That would be more stable.”

Everyone agreed to the new plan, and just as Lee Hanseong was about to activate Shrinking Earth.

Suddenly, the Constellation stopped them.

―Do not do that.

Zzzzing.

[The Nameless Constellation is viewing the history that will arrive shortly.]

The Constellation’s eyes looked not at the present but somewhere else.

This time, it wasn’t the past but the near future.

The scene unfolding before their eyes.

Pop!

There, they gathered in one spot as planned and pushed the Chaos Stone Golem to the opposite side to kill it.

Then, the balance rapidly tilted due to the weight of its blood.

The side where the golem died fell and collapsed, while those gathered on the opposite side rose.

However, the degree of that rise was abnormal.

Kugugugugugu!

Even though they rose as much as those who had cleared this place in the rewound timeline, the vibrations didn’t stop.

The scale, which had been horizontal, rotated 90 degrees to become vertical, and the rotational force didn’t decrease, continuing to spin.

They rose to the highest point and then began to fall toward this passage as well.

Eventually, the passage fell and collapsed, just like the passage that had fallen and collapsed first.

Thud.

There, the scene ended.

Cold sweat dripped down their backs.

“Ha, we almost died.”

“Thanks to the Lord of the Throne, we survived.”

Since they were connected through Colonization and all were Devotees of the Constellation, everyone had seen the future shown by the Constellation.

The new plan was immediately discarded.

In the end, they had no choice but to stick to the original plan: keep the Janus Stone Statue fixed in the middle of the wall and gradually whittle down its durability with minor attacks.

* * *

After a battle lasting several hours, finally, the Chaos Stone Golem’s durability bar was nearing its end.

“Ah, that was long…”

“…….”

Dodging the occasional beams and reflected attacks, deceiving the Mana Reactive Armor.

It had been tough, but now they were in a state where one final blow would be enough to finish it.

“It’s over!”

The moment Jin Yuseong and Park Seongcheol’s finishing attacks landed simultaneously.

An anomaly occurred.

Oooom!

At first, they thought it was simply the Chaos Stone Golem’s second Unique Skill <Magic Core Resonance>.

A skill that amplifies the efficiency threefold or fourfold when both Dual Cores are intact.

But something was different.

Tzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

Red sparks flashing around the statue.

A body glowing red with overheating.

‘…Self-destruction?’

Could it be, a Vocation Awakening Skill?

The Chaos Stone Golem’s Fifth Awakening Skill 《Mana Nuclear Fusion》, which consumes its life.

The two magic cores were fusing, about to unleash a thermonuclear reaction that would release immense energy.

“Crazy!”

“Seek Death and Live, Seek Life and Die!”

Chungmugong quickly activated “Seek Death and Live, Seek Life and Die” to provide insurance.

Even if the entire party died, the Law of “Seek Death and Live” was spread throughout the chamber so they could revive.

However, even facing the impending explosion, the Constellation’s projection seemed to feel no particular sense of crisis and was peacefully asleep.

Whoosh!

A pure white light erupted first.

────!!!!

Belatedly, immense heat and a deafening roar swept through the chamber.

A massive explosion!

As the light was erased by an even more intense light, even the light of prolonging life couldn’t have an effect here.

In an explosion where, despite the Resistance from the overlapping “Still as Water” cast by Chungmugong and Park Seongcheol, it was uncertain whether their physical forms would remain.

…….

We felt no pain.

Oooooom!

A protective barrier created by the Resonance of the six Legendary Equipment obtained at the midway point. That was protecting us.

And it was the same for Jin Yuseong’s team.

Lee Hanseong used the <Aerial View> Skill to observe what was happening in the chamber where the explosion occurred, through a viewpoint in the air.

Immediately after the explosion, the two passages connected to the chamber separated, and the boss room became independent.

As the heat from the explosion filled it, the chamber itself rose like a hot air balloon.

Floating, floating.

Even after reaching the topmost point where the party from the rewound timeline had escaped, the chamber continued to rise without stopping.

The moment he saw that, he understood the Constellation’s intention in not warning about the golem’s self-destruction.

‘Was this the intended procedure from the start?’

Seeing that the Legendary Equipment acquired in the dungeon automatically formed a protective barrier, that possibility seemed high.

…Clunk.

And finally, as soon as the chamber’s ascent stopped.

[You have cleared the dungeon, ‘Crossroads of the Scales’.]

[Settlement begins.]

[You have achieved the Feat, ‘Giant Rat Slayer’.]

[You have achieved the Feat, ‘Shadow Spider Slayer’.]

[You have achieved the Feat, ‘Trap Dismantler’.]

[You have achieved the Feat, ‘Stone Doll Destroyer’.]

[You have achieved the Feat, ‘Master of Legendary Equipment’.]

[You have achieved the Feat, ‘Two-Faced Stone Doll Destroyer’.]

Messages about the Feats achieved during the dungeon conquest appeared one after another.

The ‘Trap Dismantler’ Feat was obtained only by Lee Hanseong and Jin Yuseong, and the ‘Master of Legendary Equipment’ Feat hadn’t been obtained yet only by Yu Sehee.

But the rest of the Feats were all commonly achieved.

Fwaaat!

Naturally, it was more than enough for a 1-Star Awakened to Awaken to 2-Star.

The Grades of the three people besides Lee Hanseong and Lycan were all Promoted to 2-Star.

However, for Lee Hanseong, who had already been Promoted to 2-Star inside the dungeon, it was insufficient to reach 3-Star.

Well, thanks to that, while others were adapting to the changes from Awakening, he could be the first to discover the final reward.

The spot where the Janus Stone Statue had been, a newly appeared treasure chest.

He opened the already unlocked lid wide.

Whoooosh—!

A stone fragment emitting a rainbow light signifying the myth grade.

[You have appraised <Fragment of ■■>.]

It was the same name attached to the Legendary Equipment obtained from the third midway point of the left passage, but this was on a different Grade.

Unlike the Legendary Equipment, which already had defined forms, it felt like an infinite possibility that could become anything.

Perhaps the Constellation felt it too, as the sleeping Constellation’s projection suddenly awoke.

Without a moment to spare, it jumped down from his shoulder and grabbed the stone fragment.

Smoothly.

The stone fragment naturally turned into light and melted into the Constellation’s projection.

To be precise, the power contained in the fragment was being Transferred to the Constellation who had descended into Lee Hanseong’s inner self.

As if it had been the Constellation’s possession from the very beginning.