Heart of a Hero (1)
In my past life, the number of ‘Scorpions’ that had appeared totaled to two.
They were slightly weaker than a Sentinel or a Raid Boss, but without proper knowledge, they were monsters more overwhelming to face than the latter two.
The dungeons where they appeared were two of the eighteen located in Cheongalgung.
Since the two that had already appeared weren’t among them, it only meant that we had to search among the remaining sixteen dungeons.
“Feels like we’re asking for trouble.”
On our way to the dungeon, Min-ah grumbled.
On the other hand, the jester’s Observer seemed thrilled, circling over our heads.
When we discussed the hidden bombs in the dungeon, the eggs of the Scorpion of Scorpius, Antares, Chang-woo and Luke, who had relatively strong senses of justice, agreed with my actions, but Min-ah just made a grimace as if it didn’t enthuse her.
She probably couldn’t understand why I would willingly invite danger by stepping up.
As for Ji-su, she was quiet, as if she’d follow me anywhere I go, no questions asked.
“But do we have to enter every dungeon to find it?”
“There’s no need for that.”
If we just confirm the appearance of the engraving stone, we can tell whether it’s an egg or a mere stone.
At the moment I equipped myself and left, I had already sent out crows to the dungeons.
It’s better to scout with crows first than going in one by one.
Who knows what might happen if a player enters.
“Ah, Luke, could you please continue to monitor the other players?”
“Sure, I’m not much of assistance anyway, so I might as well do that.”
Luke would be much more comfortable dealing with people than monsters.
However, he tended to underestimate himself too much, so I felt the need to correct him a bit.
“You’re not unhelpful. We need to be just as wary of other players’ actions as we are of monsters. Even if I talked with Genesis, there’s no guarantee that every player will act as expected.”
“Ha-ha-ha! Don’t worry. I’m not especially pessimistic. I’ll do what I can.”
“Thank you, I appreciate it.”
Min-ah had a look of wonder as I asked Luke politely.
“You’re really considerate towards Mr. Luke. With me, it’s just orders.”
“Why. Would you like me to treat you politely too?”
“Forget it~! I’m just fine with this.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at Min-ah’s response, waving her hands.
Then I suddenly remembered there was an item I needed to give to Luke.
“Oh, almost forgot, Mr. Luke. Please take this.”
“What is this?”
“It’s a bracelet. I got it as a dungeon clear reward, but it should be of help.”
Luke put the bracelet on his wrist and shook his arm.
“Hmm. It’s an item where I can’t check the effects.”
“Yes, probably because it belongs to me.”
Naturally, it wasn’t a dungeon clear reward but a cash item purchased from the DLC store.
I bought it as a precaution, hoping I wouldn’t actually need to use it.
‘That should be about it.’
I shifted my attention from Luke and focused on the view through the crows.
‘Where…’
The first crow to enter the dungeon confirmed it was just an ordinary engraving stone.
The same went for the second dungeon. There were no issues up until the fourth dungeon, but the problem arose when we checked the fifth engraving stone.
It wasn’t a normal stone but a round rock with a strange aura.
Disguised as a regular engraving stone, the power emanating from it certainly wasn’t ordinary.
It carried the power of a ‘star’.
“Found it.”
“Where?”
“Not too far from here.”
I spread out the map, checked the location, and continued sending crows to confirm if there were any in other dungeons. Eventually, I found another egg of the Scorpion in the twelfth dungeon.
‘The fifth and twelfth dungeons.’
I checked the rest of the dungeons, but no other eggs were found.
The only issue was the eighteenth dungeon that remained a gate and could not be confirmed.
‘It had to be the dungeon that would open last, where the brightest star is.’
The brightest star in Cheongalgung, Antares, shared the name with the Scorpion that claimed the palace.
While we were discussing, Chang-woo, who had been listening intently, spoke up.
“Even if it hasn’t happened yet, if we hurry to eliminate the other two and then check the last one, it should be fine.”
I agreed with his words.
It felt like it would take at least another two days for the gate to open, and I didn’t want to wait around aimlessly. The gate wasn’t even fully formed yet.
“We’ll clear the first two, and then deal with the last one separately.”
“Yes.”
We quickly moved towards the location of the two dungeons, excluding Luke.
Guild-affiliated players guarded the entrance to the dungeon.
There were roughly ten of them.
Seeing the strict security, Min-ah whispered.
“I can transform to enter, but what about the rest?”
“We’ll handle it.”
“Eh? Handle, as in?”
Min-ah was visibly shocked by my indifferent answer. She definitely had something strange in mind.
Before I could correct her assumption, Ji-su, who had been quiet, suddenly stepped forward.
“Shall I do it?”
Somehow, his pupils seemed to have a slight pink tint.
“…You said you only deal with bad guys.”
“Up until now, yes. But it seems urgent right now.”
Urgent it was.
But it wasn’t so urgent as to justify harming innocent players.
Even if I were driven into a situation where it was necessary, I wouldn’t want to do it.
I didn’t want to repeat the regrets I had in my past life.
“Han Ji-su.”
“Yes?”
“I respect your judgment, but refrain from senseless slaughter at least. Even if there’s a reason, think it over several times.”
Ji-su may be suppressing and hiding the power of Cheonsalseong due to a certain characteristic, but it wasn’t entirely without influence.
At the start of the game compared to now, Ji-su’s tendencies had changed remarkably.
Perhaps the tendencies he had were coming into play due to Cheonsalseong.
To put it simply, Ji-su was in as precarious a state as walking a tightrope.
He claims he hasn’t laid hands on anyone but bad guys, but it’s a very fine line.
“…Okay.”
Ji-su looked dejected as he lowered his head.
Min-ah, who had been listening to our conversation, sighed in relief.
Perhaps she realized from the content of our conversation that we weren’t planning to harm the players.
“What! I thought when you said ‘handle,’ you meant killing them.”
“Why would that be the case?”
A simple takedown would suffice.
I picked up a pebble from the ground.
I willed a bit of mana into it and flicked it with my finger.
The pebble turned into a magic bullet, striking one of the patrolling players in the back of the neck.
“Ugh!”
As the player grunted and collapsed, I proceeded to flick my finger continuously. Pebbles flew faster than the other players could notice their comrade going down.
“Wow.”
The whole situation was resolved in less than 10 seconds.
“It was over in a flash. But are they really just knocked out?”
“Yes.”
A player’s body is quite robust, so there wouldn’t be any aftermath from something like this.
After moving the players to a safe place, we returned to the entrance of the dungeon.
“It looks like a normal dungeon from outside.”
“On the surface, maybe.”
Ji-su muttered, eyeing the entrance that looked no different from other dungeons.
But since it was not any different from other dungeons, that’s why the incident happened.
If an ominous aura was seeping from the entrance, what happened in the past life wouldn’t have occurred.
The three top guilds are not fools.
“Then, let’s get the gas masks out.”
“Now?”
“We don’t know what might happen inside the dungeon.”
There might be a chance that eggs could hatch as soon as we enter the dungeon, so it’s better to minimize the variables. Chang-woo nodded at my words, slowly fitting his gas mask.
“Having to wear gas masks just to go in… It must be no ordinary monster.”
“Right. It’s not ordinary.”
I couldn’t elaborate with so many Observers around, but this was no mere monster.
The scorpions hatched from Antares’ eggs couldn’t just be ordinary.
“Then, let’s go in.”
After making sure everyone was wearing a gas mask, I took a step into the dungeon, hoping for a trouble-free completion this time around.
***
As Se-han was about to step into the dungeon, Luke stood by the yet-to-form eighteenth dungeon.
He was supposed to be guarding another dungeon where the eggs were located, but since Genesis guild members were watching it, and even Vice Guild Master Hong Ga-eun was there, it seemed unnecessary.
Luke had his own gods’ request to attend to.
A note instructed him to keep an eye on the eighteenth dungeon. Luke had no hesitations about ambushing near the eighteenth dungeon as the note directed.
Though lacking compared to Se-han’s skill in concealment, Luke was adept at hiding.
‘If the goddess herself says something’s up, maybe there’s something to it.’
Se-han mentioned it would take about two days, but this game was fickle.
If the GMs or the publisher got involved, everything could change in an instant.
“Hey! Something seems off with this gate?”
“Off?”
“Doesn’t it look… like it’s moving?”
Sure enough.
About two hours into Luke’s ambush, the situation changed.
The dungeon, which was supposed to take days to form, began to waver significantly.
‘Se-han’s words were incorrect then?’
No, that couldn’t be.
When Luke had first visited, there was no gate at all.
Considering the time it took for the dungeon to form after the gate appeared, it seemed too fast.
‘Maybe the GMs or the publisher are meddling.’
Se-han had briefed Luke on possible interventions by GMs and the publisher.
The gate was supposed to form in two days, but with external influence, that could change.
The three main indicators were GM intervention, publisher intervention, or a system anomaly.
However, system anomalies usually resulted in major changes, not minor ones like this.
Luke was unsure how Se-han knew all this, but he had memorized every word.
After notifying Se-han about the dungeon’s appearance via a note, he chose to keep watch.
The gate that was fluctuating wildly soon opened wide, creating a splendid entrance.
It was evidently different from any ordinary dungeon.
“What the heck is this? It’s not like the dungeons we’ve seen before.”
“It must be a top-tier dungeon! Otherwise, it wouldn’t look so majestic.”
“…Maybe you’re right.”
The players murmured to each other while gazing at the dungeon’s entrance.
It was clearly different from other dungeons.
Even top-tier dungeons had similar entrances to others, but this one brimmed with dignity.
“Let’s report this to the guild master.”
“But even if we do, what would change? Isn’t claiming dungeons off-limits?”
“Hey, no one knows yet.”
Their murmuring didn’t reach Luke.
Unlike Se-han and Ji-su, Luke wasn’t capable of catching distant sounds.
He merely observed the players chatting and then watched one of them head somewhere.
He felt secretly relieved that no one had entered the dungeon. But that feeling was short-lived.
“Is this the new dungeon?”
The Guild Master of Outrising, Kang Tae-seong, showed up.
“Huh.”
Since the Vice Guild Master wasn’t present, it was clear that his interest was piqued by the newly formed dungeon.
‘I’ve never seen such a dungeon before. Could it be a trap?’
Usually, the more vividly colored a mushroom, the more likely it is to be toxic.
Perhaps for that reason, this dungeon also displayed a splendid exterior.
“I should check it out myself.”
“M-Master. Won’t that be violating our agreement with the other guilds?”
“If it’s just one dungeon, they won’t say anything. Besides, Genesis jerks already have their eyes on one. They haven’t claimed it, but I know someone saw them enter.”
So if they enter this dungeon, they’ll have no place to complain.
‘If it’s a poisoned mushroom, just spit it out.’
Kang Tae-seong was supremely confident in his abilities.
He was the strongest of the three top guild masters, and never inferior to other players.
Instead, he was always at the forefront.
The Avatar of the God of War, Ares, was he not?
He never doubted that he would become the strongest player one day.
A dungeon like this would hardly be worth a mention in his chronicles; it was too trivial to bother him.
If it turned out to be poisonous, he’d simply spit it out. If it held something truly great, as it appeared, Outrising could easily become the top guild.
Even if Pianhwa was currently the strongest guild, they were only a step ahead.
“Go in. Half of you stay here; the rest follow me.”
“B-But…”
“Do you doubt my ability?”
“N-No, not at all!”
Even though the players hesitated and wore uncertain faces, they shook their heads when Kang Tae-seong scowled.
True to the Avatar of the God of War, his temper was fiery.
“Then stop the chatter and come with me.”
Kang Tae-seong was overflowing with confidence.
It didn’t matter what was in the dungeon; he was certain he could conquer it.
Heart of a Hero (1)
In my past life, the number of ‘Scorpions’ that had appeared totaled to two.
They were slightly weaker than a Sentinel or a Raid Boss, but without proper knowledge, they were monsters more overwhelming to face than the latter two.
The dungeons where they appeared were two of the eighteen located in Cheongalgung.
Since the two that had already appeared weren’t among them, it only meant that we had to search among the remaining sixteen dungeons.
“Feels like we’re asking for trouble.”
On our way to the dungeon, Min-ah grumbled.
On the other hand, the jester’s Observer seemed thrilled, circling over our heads.
When we discussed the hidden bombs in the dungeon, the eggs of the Scorpion of Scorpius, Antares, Chang-woo and Luke, who had relatively strong senses of justice, agreed with my actions, but Min-ah just made a grimace as if it didn’t enthuse her.
She probably couldn’t understand why I would willingly invite danger by stepping up.
As for Ji-su, she was quiet, as if she’d follow me anywhere I go, no questions asked.
“But do we have to enter every dungeon to find it?”
“There’s no need for that.”
If we just confirm the appearance of the engraving stone, we can tell whether it’s an egg or a mere stone.
At the moment I equipped myself and left, I had already sent out crows to the dungeons.
It’s better to scout with crows first than going in one by one.
Who knows what might happen if a player enters.
“Ah, Luke, could you please continue to monitor the other players?”
“Sure, I’m not much of assistance anyway, so I might as well do that.”
Luke would be much more comfortable dealing with people than monsters.
However, he tended to underestimate himself too much, so I felt the need to correct him a bit.
“You’re not unhelpful. We need to be just as wary of other players’ actions as we are of monsters. Even if I talked with Genesis, there’s no guarantee that every player will act as expected.”
“Ha-ha-ha! Don’t worry. I’m not especially pessimistic. I’ll do what I can.”
“Thank you, I appreciate it.”
Min-ah had a look of wonder as I asked Luke politely.
“You’re really considerate towards Mr. Luke. With me, it’s just orders.”
“Why. Would you like me to treat you politely too?”
“Forget it~! I’m just fine with this.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at Min-ah’s response, waving her hands.
Then I suddenly remembered there was an item I needed to give to Luke.
“Oh, almost forgot, Mr. Luke. Please take this.”
“What is this?”
“It’s a bracelet. I got it as a dungeon clear reward, but it should be of help.”
Luke put the bracelet on his wrist and shook his arm.
“Hmm. It’s an item where I can’t check the effects.”
“Yes, probably because it belongs to me.”
Naturally, it wasn’t a dungeon clear reward but a cash item purchased from the DLC store.
I bought it as a precaution, hoping I wouldn’t actually need to use it.
‘That should be about it.’
I shifted my attention from Luke and focused on the view through the crows.
‘Where…’
The first crow to enter the dungeon confirmed it was just an ordinary engraving stone.
The same went for the second dungeon. There were no issues up until the fourth dungeon, but the problem arose when we checked the fifth engraving stone.
It wasn’t a normal stone but a round rock with a strange aura.
Disguised as a regular engraving stone, the power emanating from it certainly wasn’t ordinary.
It carried the power of a ‘star’.
“Found it.”
“Where?”
“Not too far from here.”
I spread out the map, checked the location, and continued sending crows to confirm if there were any in other dungeons. Eventually, I found another egg of the Scorpion in the twelfth dungeon.
‘The fifth and twelfth dungeons.’
I checked the rest of the dungeons, but no other eggs were found.
The only issue was the eighteenth dungeon that remained a gate and could not be confirmed.
‘It had to be the dungeon that would open last, where the brightest star is.’
The brightest star in Cheongalgung, Antares, shared the name with the Scorpion that claimed the palace.
While we were discussing, Chang-woo, who had been listening intently, spoke up.
“Even if it hasn’t happened yet, if we hurry to eliminate the other two and then check the last one, it should be fine.”
I agreed with his words.
It felt like it would take at least another two days for the gate to open, and I didn’t want to wait around aimlessly. The gate wasn’t even fully formed yet.
“We’ll clear the first two, and then deal with the last one separately.”
“Yes.”
We quickly moved towards the location of the two dungeons, excluding Luke.
Guild-affiliated players guarded the entrance to the dungeon.
There were roughly ten of them.
Seeing the strict security, Min-ah whispered.
“I can transform to enter, but what about the rest?”
“We’ll handle it.”
“Eh? Handle, as in?”
Min-ah was visibly shocked by my indifferent answer. She definitely had something strange in mind.
Before I could correct her assumption, Ji-su, who had been quiet, suddenly stepped forward.
“Shall I do it?”
Somehow, his pupils seemed to have a slight pink tint.
“…You said you only deal with bad guys.”
“Up until now, yes. But it seems urgent right now.”
Urgent it was.
But it wasn’t so urgent as to justify harming innocent players.
Even if I were driven into a situation where it was necessary, I wouldn’t want to do it.
I didn’t want to repeat the regrets I had in my past life.
“Han Ji-su.”
“Yes?”
“I respect your judgment, but refrain from senseless slaughter at least. Even if there’s a reason, think it over several times.”
Ji-su may be suppressing and hiding the power of Cheonsalseong due to a certain characteristic, but it wasn’t entirely without influence.
At the start of the game compared to now, Ji-su’s tendencies had changed remarkably.
Perhaps the tendencies he had were coming into play due to Cheonsalseong.
To put it simply, Ji-su was in as precarious a state as walking a tightrope.
He claims he hasn’t laid hands on anyone but bad guys, but it’s a very fine line.
“…Okay.”
Ji-su looked dejected as he lowered his head.
Min-ah, who had been listening to our conversation, sighed in relief.
Perhaps she realized from the content of our conversation that we weren’t planning to harm the players.
“What! I thought when you said ‘handle,’ you meant killing them.”
“Why would that be the case?”
A simple takedown would suffice.
I picked up a pebble from the ground.
I willed a bit of mana into it and flicked it with my finger.
The pebble turned into a magic bullet, striking one of the patrolling players in the back of the neck.
“Ugh!”
As the player grunted and collapsed, I proceeded to flick my finger continuously. Pebbles flew faster than the other players could notice their comrade going down.
“Wow.”
The whole situation was resolved in less than 10 seconds.
“It was over in a flash. But are they really just knocked out?”
“Yes.”
A player’s body is quite robust, so there wouldn’t be any aftermath from something like this.
After moving the players to a safe place, we returned to the entrance of the dungeon.
“It looks like a normal dungeon from outside.”
“On the surface, maybe.”
Ji-su muttered, eyeing the entrance that looked no different from other dungeons.
But since it was not any different from other dungeons, that’s why the incident happened.
If an ominous aura was seeping from the entrance, what happened in the past life wouldn’t have occurred.
The three top guilds are not fools.
“Then, let’s get the gas masks out.”
“Now?”
“We don’t know what might happen inside the dungeon.”
There might be a chance that eggs could hatch as soon as we enter the dungeon, so it’s better to minimize the variables. Chang-woo nodded at my words, slowly fitting his gas mask.
“Having to wear gas masks just to go in… It must be no ordinary monster.”
“Right. It’s not ordinary.”
I couldn’t elaborate with so many Observers around, but this was no mere monster.
The scorpions hatched from Antares’ eggs couldn’t just be ordinary.
“Then, let’s go in.”
After making sure everyone was wearing a gas mask, I took a step into the dungeon, hoping for a trouble-free completion this time around.
***
As Se-han was about to step into the dungeon, Luke stood by the yet-to-form eighteenth dungeon.
He was supposed to be guarding another dungeon where the eggs were located, but since Genesis guild members were watching it, and even Vice Guild Master Hong Ga-eun was there, it seemed unnecessary.
Luke had his own gods’ request to attend to.
A note instructed him to keep an eye on the eighteenth dungeon. Luke had no hesitations about ambushing near the eighteenth dungeon as the note directed.
Though lacking compared to Se-han’s skill in concealment, Luke was adept at hiding.
‘If the goddess herself says something’s up, maybe there’s something to it.’
Se-han mentioned it would take about two days, but this game was fickle.
If the GMs or the publisher got involved, everything could change in an instant.
“Hey! Something seems off with this gate?”
“Off?”
“Doesn’t it look… like it’s moving?”
Sure enough.
About two hours into Luke’s ambush, the situation changed.
The dungeon, which was supposed to take days to form, began to waver significantly.
‘Se-han’s words were incorrect then?’
No, that couldn’t be.
When Luke had first visited, there was no gate at all.
Considering the time it took for the dungeon to form after the gate appeared, it seemed too fast.
‘Maybe the GMs or the publisher are meddling.’
Se-han had briefed Luke on possible interventions by GMs and the publisher.
The gate was supposed to form in two days, but with external influence, that could change.
The three main indicators were GM intervention, publisher intervention, or a system anomaly.
However, system anomalies usually resulted in major changes, not minor ones like this.
Luke was unsure how Se-han knew all this, but he had memorized every word.
After notifying Se-han about the dungeon’s appearance via a note, he chose to keep watch.
The gate that was fluctuating wildly soon opened wide, creating a splendid entrance.
It was evidently different from any ordinary dungeon.
“What the heck is this? It’s not like the dungeons we’ve seen before.”
“It must be a top-tier dungeon! Otherwise, it wouldn’t look so majestic.”
“…Maybe you’re right.”
The players murmured to each other while gazing at the dungeon’s entrance.
It was clearly different from other dungeons.
Even top-tier dungeons had similar entrances to others, but this one brimmed with dignity.
“Let’s report this to the guild master.”
“But even if we do, what would change? Isn’t claiming dungeons off-limits?”
“Hey, no one knows yet.”
Their murmuring didn’t reach Luke.
Unlike Se-han and Ji-su, Luke wasn’t capable of catching distant sounds.
He merely observed the players chatting and then watched one of them head somewhere.
He felt secretly relieved that no one had entered the dungeon. But that feeling was short-lived.
“Is this the new dungeon?”
The Guild Master of Outrising, Kang Tae-seong, showed up.
“Huh.”
Since the Vice Guild Master wasn’t present, it was clear that his interest was piqued by the newly formed dungeon.
‘I’ve never seen such a dungeon before. Could it be a trap?’
Usually, the more vividly colored a mushroom, the more likely it is to be toxic.
Perhaps for that reason, this dungeon also displayed a splendid exterior.
“I should check it out myself.”
“M-Master. Won’t that be violating our agreement with the other guilds?”
“If it’s just one dungeon, they won’t say anything. Besides, Genesis jerks already have their eyes on one. They haven’t claimed it, but I know someone saw them enter.”
So if they enter this dungeon, they’ll have no place to complain.
‘If it’s a poisoned mushroom, just spit it out.’
Kang Tae-seong was supremely confident in his abilities.
He was the strongest of the three top guild masters, and never inferior to other players.
Instead, he was always at the forefront.
The Avatar of the God of War, Ares, was he not?
He never doubted that he would become the strongest player one day.
A dungeon like this would hardly be worth a mention in his chronicles; it was too trivial to bother him.
If it turned out to be poisonous, he’d simply spit it out. If it held something truly great, as it appeared, Outrising could easily become the top guild.
Even if Pianhwa was currently the strongest guild, they were only a step ahead.
“Go in. Half of you stay here; the rest follow me.”
“B-But…”
“Do you doubt my ability?”
“N-No, not at all!”
Even though the players hesitated and wore uncertain faces, they shook their heads when Kang Tae-seong scowled.
True to the Avatar of the God of War, his temper was fiery.
“Then stop the chatter and come with me.”
Kang Tae-seong was overflowing with confidence.
It didn’t matter what was in the dungeon; he was certain he could conquer it.
