Chapter 49

Chapter 49 – Forest of Benandi (3)

Right after entering the dungeon.

Park Ho-yeon led the Fire Dragon Guild and came to find Kang Hyeon.

“Kang Hyeon.”

“What is it?”

The Fire Dragon Guild participated in this raid with the largest number of members.

That number was as many as 80 people.

Perhaps believing in the solid number standing behind him, Park Ho-yeon looked even more confident.

“You’re still as insolent as ever.”

“And you’re still as unpleasant as ever.”

“You and those thugs of yours. What do you think you can do with just the three of you?”

As Park Ho-yeon’s provocation continued, Kang Hyeon’s expression gradually became grim.

Nevertheless, Park Ho-yeon openly looked down on Kang Hyeon and smiled coldly.

“You guys are of no help at all in this dungeon raid.”

“How would you know that?”

“I know well. I know what kind of ideology insignificant specimens like you live by.”

“You bastard, did you come here to pick a fight?”

Finally, harsh words burst out of Kang Hyeon’s mouth.

“Being of low birth, your language is crude too.”

“Shut up! What do you want?!”

As Kang Hyeon got excited, Park Ho-yeon gestured for him to calm down while keeping his distance.

“Whoa, whoa, calm down.”

“If you wanted me to calm down, you shouldn’t have come to find me suddenly and acted like a jerk.”

“If you’re so upset, how about making a bet with me?”

“What...?”

“Let’s compete to see who can make a bigger contribution to clearing the dungeon.”

Kang Hyeon fell into thought at the sudden proposition of a bet.

“What kind of bet is it?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

All the raid parties had gathered around Kang Hyeon and Park Ho-yeon by now.

Looking around at them, Park Ho-yeon continued speaking.

“Who can defeat the boss and clear the dungeon first.”

It was truly an arrogant statement.

A dungeon clearing bet.

In other words, it meant that he would clear the dungeon ahead of the other guilds here.

At this blatant disregard for others, the expressions of the people gathered there twisted.

‘It’s the Fire Dragon Guild that I’ve built. There’s no way we can’t do it.’

But Park Ho-yeon didn’t care.

‘Did you think you’d be so great forever?’

In fact, Park Ho-yeon harbored an inferiority complex towards the other guild leaders.

‘Just passing the tutorial with a high score is nothing.’

Park Ho-yeon had only cleared up to the 4th level of the tutorial.

Although he was known as the ‘Flame Emperor’ and was a renowned flame ability user, that inferiority complex never disappeared.

What he chose to overcome this complex was to grow his guild.

‘I am the guild, and the guild is me.’

Finally, he had grown the Fire Dragon Guild to be the best in South Korea. Now the guild was just like himself.

“Hey.”

Park Ho-yeon snapped out of his thoughts at Kang Hyeon’s sudden call.

“You’ve got some nerve. You come here with a mob and all you have to say is you want to have a dungeon clearing bet with just three people?”

“It’s a guild versus guild fight.”

“...”

“The number of guild members is ultimately the strength of the guild. Is there a problem?”

Park Ho-yeon looked as if he really didn’t see what the problem was.

‘Is he serious? This guy’s a nutcase.’

Swallowing a derisive laugh, Kang Hyeon continued.

“Ha! Interesting. So what will you give me if I win?”

“It won’t happen, but if by chance you win, I’ll give you this.”

Name: Easter Egg

Grade: ?

Durability: 10/10

Description: An Easter egg created by someone who likes pranks. Activates when destroyed.

Ability: ?

“You should know what this is, right?”

“What is this...?”

Despite his calm words, Kang Hyeon’s eyes shook slightly.

‘This is definitely an item related to the Administrator.’

A heavy sphere about the size of a fist.

‘Someone who likes pranks’ was clearly referring to the Administrator who created this dungeon and system.

‘But Park Ho-yeon didn’t graduate from the tutorial... How does he know about this?’

Kang Hyeon’s concerns were resolved by Park Ho-yeon’s following words.

“Don’t play dumb. I know that you’ve already joined the Special Ability User Management Team.”

Special Ability User Management Team.

Team Leader Shin Tae-gil had explained about the Administrator there.

Kang Hyeon already knew about the Administrator, but he pretended not to know and listened for a while.

‘So this guy was also part of that...’

Having grasped the situation, Kang Hyeon nodded.

“Wow! You! You’re quite sharp, aren’t you!? Hahaha...”

“Hmph.”

And then came some bad acting.

“Anyway, you’re betting that. Good. Then what should I bet?”

“If you lose, join the Fire Dragon Guild for a day.”

“Hmm... And?”

“That’s all. But during that time, you must thoroughly act as a guild member and follow my orders. I’ll treat you as a guild member too.”

The conditions were not as bad as expected.

“Mr. Kang Hyeon. Wouldn’t it be better to move a little faster, just in case?”

“It’s fine, don’t worry.”

Kang Hyeon shook his head at Shin Seong-a’s question.

“There’s almost no chance that the fire dragon, who doesn’t know the core’s location, will arrive faster than us anyway.”

“...”

“It’s right to move as carefully as possible, even if we’re a bit late. Shouldn’t we have some energy left when we reach the core for what we need to do?”

“I understand.”

Shin Seong-a nodded, convinced by Kang Hyeon’s explanation.

“So, let’s do some reconnaissance.”

“Pardon?”

“You’re the expert in that area, right? I plan to move while avoiding monsters as much as possible, but just in case.”

“...”

“Let’s go with you quickly scouting our direction of progress and us following behind.”

“Understood.”

“I’m sorry. It’ll be tiring, but it’s better than continuous combat.”

“It’s fine.”

Shin Seong-a was specialized in stealth, reconnaissance, mobility, and sniping.

As such, she had often taken on roles like this, so she didn’t particularly mind.

“Let’s move slowly.”

Kang Hyeon and An Yu-seong slowly walked along the path Shin Seong-a had passed.

“Brother.”

“What?”

“Are you planning to go all the way to the core like this?”

“That would be best.”

“Tsk. It’s going to be boring.”

“Even so, it’s not that far in a straight course. We’ll probably arrive in about 3 or 4 days.”

“You’re saying we just keep walking the whole time.”

“What, do you want the three of us to fight an army of monsters instead?”

“That doesn’t sound bad either.”

Kang Hyeon frowned at An Yu-seong’s response.

“You crazy bastard. If you want to die, die alone.”

After that, it was a repetition of the same pattern.

Kang Hyeon detects the monsters’ magical energy in advance to determine a safe route.

Shin Seong-a checks that route to see if Kang Hyeon missed anything.

They walk like this all day, then sleep, and start walking again the next morning.

“Phew... Another day of mountain climbing. Climbing. Climbing!”

“What’s wrong with mountain climbing? Enjoy it, man.”

“Usually, at times like this, something suddenly happens with a bang!”

“Are you trying to jinx us?”

It was when Kang Hyeon and An Yu-seong were exchanging jokes to alleviate the tedious mountain journey.

“Kekeke. It’s here.”

Suddenly, An Yu-seong let out a laugh.

“What?”

Kang Hyeon looked around, feeling a sudden rush of anxiety.

‘I can’t really sense any magical energy...’

“Mr. Kang Hyeon!”

“What is it?”

Shin Seong-a, who had been out scouting ahead, came running back breathlessly.

“Huff, huff! Enemies!”

At the same time, unfamiliar monsters appeared between them.

“Sigh... This is because of you.”

“What did I do?”

“This situation is happening because you kept spouting unlucky words!”

An Yu-seong ignored Kang Hyeon’s irritation with a slight smile.

[Benandi Scout]

Kang Hyeon suppressed a groan as he saw the name floating above their heads.

“To think Benandi was actually a species name.”

Everyone’s guess that it might have been a boss monster or place name was spectacularly wrong.

‘For now, are they bipedal monsters? Long limbs... And they don’t seem to have particularly developed muscles.’

Their impressive height of over 2m and skin blending forest green and brown colors were striking.

“Haak!”

“Hyaak!”

The creatures that appeared kept making ‘haak’ sounds at Kang Hyeon.

“Brother. It seems like they’re trying to say something.”

“Haaak!”

“To me, it just sounds like growling?”

But on closer inspection, as An Yu-seong said, it did seem like they were trying to communicate something.

The fact that they weren’t approaching and kept going ‘Haak! Haak!’ clearly indicated they were attempting some form of communication.

“My intuition tells me they’re saying – ‘If you come any further, we won’t leave you alone.’”

“What kind of intuition has telepathy? That’s nonsense.”

“It’s true though.”

An Yu-seong’s expression was serious.

“Well, that’s a convenient ability...”

In truth, it didn’t matter what they were saying. Kang Hyeon had to pass through this path to advance towards the core anyway.

“Don’t let your guard down, we’ll strike simultaneously when I count to three.”

“Yes.”

An Yu-seong and Shin Seong-a nodded at Kang Hyeon’s words.

“One, two, three!”

-Swoosh!

The group, launching from their positions exactly on three, rushed towards the creatures at full speed.

“Haaak!”

Then the creatures turned their backs and started to flee.

With tremendous speed and agile movements, they climbed up the trees and quickly disappeared from sight.

“What the...?”