(T/N: I’m gonna have to use the word ‘cultivation’, I can’t put it in any other way… sorry if this makes you cringe)
The expedition force was created very quickly. Bern, the head of the Behengerr mercenary guild, and Xeon, the leader of the Corona mercenaries, was participating in this expedition. This was one of the biggest expeditions in the past few years of the Behengerr mercenary guild.
Although he had retired after becoming the head of the guild, Bern was an SS-rank mercenary. Although he didn’t have any breakthroughs and his power was halted where he was before, his long years of experience and skill as a mercenary wasn’t something to be ignored.
Xeon was the same. He had learned the martial arts of the Shaolin and was participating together with three S-rank mercenaries and 5 A-rank mercenaries from his own group. Other than that, there were four S-rank mercenaries and 10 A-rank mercenaries from other groups, and two A-rank mercenaries from freelancers.
And there was Sungmin.
Sungmin felt that this was definitely a lot different from his previous life. There were no participants of B-rank and below; whereas in his previous life, B-rank mercenaries were the main combatants when the black mage dungeon was broken through.
The reason such a small-scale expedition team was created was because back then, it was judged that the dungeon was not so dangerous. However, this time, it was different. The existence of the ogre chimera was spread, and the fact that the lord of that dungeon, the black mage, was a very capable one, was known to everyone. Thanks to that, weak mercenaries didn’t even apply for the expedition.
Sungmin felt that this was instead better. As long as the danger of the existence of a black mage existed, it would be better if the expedition force was stronger. What he was worried about was that Sungmin would not be able to profit as much with all the strong people gathered here.
‘No, I still remember the location of that magic armor.’
Although Sungmin had never got his hands on the magic armor, he remembered the location where the magic armor was located. As long as he moved according to his memory, he should be able to get his hands on the magic armor first.
2 SS-rank, 8 S-rank, 17 A-rank.
A total of 27 people departed for the black mage’s dungeon.
The dungeon was discovered at a mountain nearby the village where the ogre chimera was found. Ten carriages carried mercenaries to that location. As the Corona mercenaries used their own carriages, Sungmin was not able to see Xeon or his men.
Instead, Sungmin rode together with Bern and the freelancer mercenaries. Sungmin felt that it was fortunate for him to have become close to Bern. Although it was unknown if that was due to his strange ability of his, friendship resulted in good will.
“I didn’t know I would see a famous figure of Behengerr like this.”
One of the freelancer mercenaries sitting in front of Sungmin muttered. He had wide shoulders and rough muscles. Jung Chul. This was a name that Sungmin remembered. He was a martial artist who trained in external martial arts, and was an A-rank mercenary not belonging to any group.
“You really are younger than I thought you’d be. How old are you?”
Tang Misook. Although she was known to be from one of the famous families of the martial world, the Tang family, whether that was true or not was only known to her. However, most people presumed that she was not from the real Tang family. After all, if she was, she wouldn’t be doing dirty work like being a mercenary. It was just that she called herself as Tang Misook, called herself as from the Tang family, and that she used hidden weapons, so everyone thought ‘yeah, sure’.
(T/N: The Korean pronunciation of ‘Tang’ is ‘Dang’, but I’ll leave it as ‘Tang’ here. I don’t know what the characters for ‘Misook’ are, so I can’t Chinese-fy that.)
“I’m 18.”“I heard you were a no-class. I always thought that no-classes that surpass the peak level were freaks like Xeon. But it seems I was wrong.”
Jung Chul giggled as he muttered. Sungmin didn’t react to Jung Chul’s words. Bern, who was meditating next to Sungmin narrowly opened his eyes.
“Why don’t you cut your useless crap and circulate your inner martial arts? We’re going to enter the dungeon as soon as we arrive.”“I know that. But huh, a black mage dungeon. It would be good if I could pick up an artifact or something.”
Jung Chul grumbled and closed his eyes. Tang Misook also didn’t speak anymore and meditated. Sungmin gripped and loosened his hands repeatedly as he looked outside the window.
It was still early dawn. By the time they arrived, it would be noon, and they would immediately enter the dungeon. What Sungmin had to think about wasn’t just the black mage. Xeon – he had to be wary about Xeon as well. Although Xeon didn’t do anything for the past 3 months, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t do it here.
And also.
Something was strange – when he felt that, it had already start.
Dungeons were like natural disasters – they appear suddenly and without warning. Dungeons created like that can be considered the crystallization of non-common sense that people cannot predict at all. However, this dungeon was different. This dungeon was created by a ‘human’, and to be exact, should be considered a ‘workshop’ that the black mage created in order to hide his whereabouts and protect himself and his research.
What this meant was quite clear. This dungeon, in a human’s point of view, was created specifically to defend against the intrusion of other humans.
The first to die was Jung Chul.
As an expert of external cultivation, he was at A-rank and did not pass the wall of the peak level, but was very confident in his own arts. He stood at the front, and did not doubt for a moment that his body was sturdy.
And his body, was ripped apart to pieces.
A black arrow that flew out of nowhere pierced through his heart. To a martial artist at a level of Jung Chul, the Self-Protection Force (T/N: A common defensive martial arts skill name in Korean Wuxia (護身强氣)) was not something he could use. His body trained through external cultivation was pierced by that pitch-black arrow, and his body swayed.
“What the!”
Someone voiced out in surprise. It was before Jung Chul had even fallen on the ground. The shadow under the torch flickered as though dancing. Something came out of that shadow and flew towards Jung Chul, it was before Jung Chul, pierced by the arrow, could say something about it.
His body, trained in external cultivation was torn apart like tofu. His inner organs poured out and blood splattered everywhere. Sungmin hurriedly took out his spear in accordance to the warnings that his sixth sense had given him. His spear, made of mithril and black iron emitted light in this darkness.
“Jung Chul!”
Bern shouted. He swung his staff and his staff shot light. The white light swallowed the light of the torch and shone the inside of the cave.
A monster clad in pitch-black scales was on top of Jung Chul’s corpse. Although it looked like a mantis, its form was incomparably more hideous.
“A chimera….?”
Xeon frowned as he muttered. Although there were a lot of monsters that looked similar to a mantis, a monster that looked like what was in front of him didn’t exist in his memories. Bern stiffly nodded.
“The fact that a chimera is protecting this place means that the black mage is still here….”
Spoke Xeon as he raised both of his hands. As an expert in the Hundred-steps Divine Fist, Xeon did not use weapons. His fists, as well as his entire body, was his weapon.
The sphere of light that Bern had created floated high in the air and shone deeply inside the cave. Chimeras in various hideous forms were everywhere.
“This is just the entrance and it’s already so tough.”
Although Xeon said that, he didn’t look threatened to his life at all. Sungmin held his spear next to Bern and watched the situation. The chimera that killed Jung Chul swung its scythes towards Xeon. It was as though it was trying to threaten Xeon.
“Damn bug.”
Muttering that, Xeon walked forward. Xeon’s left fist flashed gold, and he punched forward.
Poof, and the chimera that threatened Xeon was pushed back quite a distance. An invisible punch shrank the distance and shot towards the mantis. This was Shaolin’s Hundred-steps Divine fist. It was called that because one who trained in it would be able to punch an enemy a hundred steps away.
Although it was pushed back, the chimera did not die. It quickly regained its posture and jumped towars Xeon, and Xeon punched forward with his right fist again. Psh! A definitely hitting sound became Chimera’s last words as it crumbled down.
“Let’s go.”
Said Xeon. The mercenaries, who were panicked by Jung Chul’s sudden death, regained their confidence when Xeon said that. S-rank mercenaries walked up forward and A-rank mercenaries followed suit. Bern readied his magic from the back, and Sungmin also moved forward.
When he moved.
Sungmin felt a gaze. This was a warning from his sixth sense. He looked towards the direction he felt the gaze from, and at the end of it was Xeon. Xeon was looking at Sungmin while gripping and loosening his fists. Sungmin was about to use the Shadowless Phantom, but stopped.
Instead, he used Lightning Steps to rush forward.
He couldn’t show everything he had to Xeon – that was what he thought. Although he used Lightning Steps after such a long time, the speed was incomparable to the last time he used it thanks to increase in his cultivation.
Having walked to the front, Sungmin swung his spear widely. He didn’t plan to show everything. Like how he hid the Shadowless Phantom, he was planning to hide the Nine Skies Infinity Spear as well. However, hiding too much wouldn’t do him good. There was no good to tell Xeon that he was hiding something. Sungmin decided to mix Nine Skies Infinity Spear with the Autumn Soul Spear (Chu-hon spear technique(???)) and showed more of his basics rather than his techniques.
Pierce – his spear shot out straight ahead and penetrated the head of a chimera. Although he felt some resistance, it was nothing compared to the ogre chimera. When he looked around. The other S-rank and A-rank mercenaries were fighting chimeras as well. This was just the entrance of the dungeon. The chimeras that protected this place were just the gatekeepers.
“Get low!”
Bern shouted from the back. It seemed as though he had finished casting. Sungmin immediately pulled back and lowered his head, and the other mercenaries did the same. Dying from an ally magic would be a laughable, vain death.
A pitch-red fire shot forward. That fire covered the walls of the cave as it swallowed up the chimeras. The chimeras trembled in that fire. When the flames had disappeared, there were no chimeras remaining. A mage that was close to the archmages in power had instantly killed dozens of chimeras at once.
“Pushing yourself, eh.”
Xeon laughed at him, but Bern didn’t say anything to that. Bern took a deep breath and took off the hood on his robe.
“It seems that the black mage is still here, but there’s nothing big to worry about! Let’s go!”
At Bern’s shout, Xeon shrugged his shoulders and took the Corona mercenaries forward. The other mercenary groups also gathered around, and Sungmin stayed next to Bern. As a freelancer, Tang Misook also went with Sungmin and Bern.
“What do we do about the corpse?”“…We’ll handle it later.”
Bern answered without looking at Jung Chul’s corpse. Jung Chul was unlucky. That was why he died.
Deaths were mostly like that.