My Way Skill Book - Chapter 29
Chapter 29
"What is going on? Why is there a portal that appears during raids inside the dungeon......"
Hyeri spoke, unable to take her eyes off the portal. The older man was also looking at the purple portal with a fascinated expression.
"We will need to look into it further, but perhaps this is related to the sudden increase in Overflow figures."
The Vice Guild Leader approached the portal.
"Wait a moment."
I stopped the Vice Guild Leader.
"Are you trying to enter?"
"We won't know anything just standing here. I'll go in just to check and come right back out. Everyone, wait here."
The Vice Guild Leader said that and entered the portal.
However, the Vice Guild Leader who had said he would check and come right back had not returned even after several minutes.
"Shouldn't we go in too?"
The older man spoke, sounding worried.
I was worried too.
'I absolutely don't want to go in if I can help it.......'
But we couldn't just abandon the Vice Guild Leader and leave the dungeon.
"You two wait here. I'll go and come back."
"Wait a moment."
As I was raising my spear to enter the portal, Hyeri called out to me.
"I know you're strong, Hwajin, but if you go in alone, you might not be able to come back out like the Vice Guild Leader."
"That's right."
The older man agreed with Hyeri.
"I may be an unremarkable, ordinary A-rank Hunter, but I'm better than nothing. And we're all guild members."
"......Got it. Let's go together."
I took the two of them and entered the purple portal.
'Where on earth is this?'
The place connected to the portal was outdoors.
But it was definitely not the world we lived in.
The sky was blood-red, and the ground was pitch-black as if drenched in ink.
It felt as if we had entered a painting.
"What the....... My body feels heavy......"
The older man grimaced. Hyeri's expression wasn't good either.
"Hwajin, are you okay?"
"Yes. Nothing wrong with me."
My body felt the same whether I was in the dungeon or here.
"Will you be okay? As expected, maybe I should go alone......."
"No. I'm just a bit nauseous. I can move."
"Me too."
The two straightened their posture and looked at me.
"Got it. Let's find the Vice Guild Leader quickly and get out of here."
It was right then.
Kwa-ah-ah-ang!
An enormous sound echoed, as if a lump of metal had fallen from a skyscraper.
I had a premonition that the Vice Guild Leader would be where the sound came from.
We ran toward where the sound came from.
"Good heavens."
The older man stopped and froze, looking down from the cliff.
There was something like a giant robot below.
It was a giant metal robot that seemed like it would appear in a cartoon I had watched as a child.
"Hwajin! Over there!"
Hyeri pointed in front of the robot.
In front of the robot, a small purple figure could be seen.
'Vice Guild Leader!'
It was the Vice Guild Leader wearing purple armor.
The Vice Guild Leader was fighting the robot.
Compared to the robot that stomped its feet and slammed its fists into the ground, the Vice Guild Leader could only dodge.
We found a path leading down and ran toward the Vice Guild Leader. But the cliff was high, and the distance was too far.
"I'll go first! Charge!"
I used a skill to descend the path. Even so, I only came into view of the Vice Guild Leader after running for quite a while.
Seen up close, the robot looked much larger. It seemed to be about 20 meters tall.
"Vice Guild Leader!"
When I shouted, the Vice Guild Leader looked this way.
"Hwajin!?"
Kugugugung......
With a sound of metal scraping, the robot's right leg lifted up.
"Hwajin! Left leg!"
The Vice Guild Leader shouted briefly.
Understanding his intent, I used [Lightning Spear] and then [Charge], approaching the robot's left leg that was planted on the ground.
"Critical strike!"
The spear dyed in golden lightning stabbed the robot's giant leg, and cracks created there spread across the entire leg.
Kkiiiiik!
The robot, which had been lifting one foot, fell backward with a loud noise.
Kwa-ah-ah-ang!
I pushed through the black dirt and ran to the Vice Guild Leader, who was kneeling.
The Vice Guild Leader looked utterly exhausted.
There were small cracks in the Vice Guild Leader's armor and shield, which hadn't flinched no matter how much the monsters attacked.
"Are you alright?"
When I supported him, the Vice Guild Leader rose with difficulty.
"Thank you. You saved my life."
"What happened?"
"I'll explain later. For now, we have to do something about that Giant Golem. That thing is the cause of the Overflow."
"The cause of the Overflow?"
Then, centered around the robot, countless red circles appeared on the black ground.
What appeared from the circles were the monsters we had seen while descending the cave. Among the monsters was the golem that had been the dungeon's boss.
"Did that thing summon them?"
The Vice Guild Leader nodded.
"It seems to have been sending monsters to the dungeon through that purple portal. The sudden spike in the Overflow figures must be because of that."
The Vice Guild Leader gripped his shield and stood alone.
"Hwajin. The Giant Golem's core is in its head. To defeat it, now while it's fallen is our chance. Stick behind me and follow. I'll leave destroying the core to you."
He raised his shield and ran forward quickly. He didn't look like the same person who had shown an exhausted expression just moments ago.
Each time the Vice Guild Leader's shield struck, the small monsters flew into the sky, and golems had their legs shattered and fell.
Neither the monsters' nor the golems' attacks could pierce the Vice Guild Leader's shield.
I stuck close behind him and ran safely.
Breaking through the horde of monsters in a straight line and reaching beside the Giant Golem's head, the Vice Guild Leader moved to the rear.
"I'll block the monsters. Hwajin, take care of the Giant Golem!"
"Got it."
I stood facing the Giant Golem's head. It was so large that even just its head was several meters across.
'The Lightning Spear effect should still be active.'
I raised my spear surging with golden electricity and leaped.
'One Flash!'
A large amount of mana drained away, and the surroundings were dyed in light.
Kwa-ah-ah-ang!
Just when I thought I had definitely destroyed the core, the Giant Golem tried to raise its body, pressing its hand against the ground.
'Why!?'
I quickly used [Charge] to climb onto its shoulder and examined the hole in its head.
'Damn it.'
Below the head, or rather at what should be called its neck, the yellow-glowing core remained half-broken.
The core was moving downward. As if trying to evade the attack.
I immediately leaped toward the core.
"Haaah!"
As I brought the sparking spear down on the half-broken core, cracks formed.
'Break! Break!'
I didn't have the MP to use One Flash. Sweat poured down as I struck the core repeatedly with Lightning Spear.
Kwajik!
Finally seeing a long fissure in the core, I brought down the Giant's Halberd emitting golden light with all my might.
Pua-ang!
The yellow-glowing core split in half and lost its light.
The Giant Golem struck by the core turned black and disappeared as if being absorbed into the ground. At the same time, the monsters it had summoned turned to black ash and flew away.
"Huu......."
As I was catching my breath, a voice was heard.
[You have repelled the Field Boss.]
[Your personal raid contribution has exceeded 50%!]
[A portion of the Field Boss's soul is bound to you.]
Blue light swirled around my hand and transformed into a metal bracelet emitting a soft light.
------------------
[Hesto's Bracelet] (Bound to: Lee Hwajin)
A mana storage device created by the Machine King, Hesto. It absorbs mana existing in the world and recharges the user's mana.
Its capacity can be increased using mana-increasing magic stones (Max 1200).
Capacity: 300/300(MP)
Recharge Rate: 50/1h
(Restrictions)
None
------------------
'Good heavens.'
I instantly covered my wrist.
Hecil's Blessing, which reduced physical damage by 70%, was a cheat-like effect, but this item was even more than that.
It was no different from my MP instantly increasing by 300. It was enough to use my ultimate move, One Flash, ten times.
I tested recharging mana. The method had entered my mind the moment I equipped the bracelet.
When I used the bracelet, a cool energy circulated through my body. Checking by summoning the book, the mana that had nearly bottomed out from using skills was fully recharged.
"Hwajin!"
"Vice Guild Leader!"
Turning around, the older man and Hyeri were running over.
"Are you both okay? Ah, you're hurt......."
Hyeri took out medicine and applied it to the Vice Guild Leader's wounds.
"Since the problem seems to be resolved, let's head back now."
The recovered Vice Guild Leader spoke, and we moved.
We headed back to where the portal was, listening to the Vice Guild Leader's explanation.
Exiting the purple portal led to this strange world, and the Field Boss, the Giant Golem, had been summoning monsters.
Unable to handle the Field Boss alone, he tried to return, but was attacked by the Giant Golem.
He fell off the cliff, somehow eliminated the regular monsters, and was holding out against the Giant Golem when I arrived.
"As a Tank, I had no way to defeat the Giant Golem. I thought I'd die when my mana ran out, but you came, Hwajin. Thank you so much."
The Vice Guild Leader said so, then muttered in a small voice.
"It seems I was worried for no reason after all."
'Hm?'
I couldn't understand what he was saying.
The Vice Guild Leader thanked the older man and Hyeri as well for coming with him.
"But where on earth is this world?"
At Hyeri's words, no one could answer.
The blood-red sky like paint had been spilled, and the pitch-black ground without a single blade of grass.
Earlier there had been monsters, but now there was nothing aside from us.
"At least we know it's not the world we live in."
No one argued with the older man's words.
"Ah, I see the portal...... Huh?"
"Hwajin?"
Hyeri called, but I couldn't take my eyes off the portal.
Someone was standing in front of the portal.
The distance was too far to see details, but they seemed to have their hair tied up and were holding a long sword.
'A weapon? A Hunter?'
The moment I tried to look at the figure more closely, a strange sensation seized my entire body.
"Hwajin, what's wrong?"
Feeling the older man's hand on my shoulder, I came to my senses, and the figure that had been in front of the portal was gone.
"Wasn't there someone in front of the portal?"
I asked the three of them, but they all said they hadn't seen anyone.
'Did I see a ghost.......'
Though I felt uneasy, at Hyeri's words that she wanted to get out of this space quickly, I headed for the portal.
[Objective achieved.]
[You have acquired 2000 Exp.]
Coming out through the portal into the dungeon, a familiar voice was heard.
'Come to think of it, he told me to explore inside the portal.'
In the end, I did as told, but it was fine since I returned safely.
Above all, if I hadn't gone in, I wouldn't have obtained this mana bracelet.
The purple portal disappeared once we had all exited, and instead, the familiar blue portal appeared.
"Then let's return. We need to report to the government officials as well."
Following the Vice Guild Leader's words, we exited the dungeon.
***
A world with a blood-red sky and pitch-black ground.
After Gangil exited the portal last, the portal connecting the dungeon and that world disappeared.
Hundreds of meters away from that spot.
On a high hill stood a woman holding a long sword as tall as herself.
"Listener......."
The woman stared at the spot where the portal had been, as if Hwajin and his party were still there.
Shortly after, her body flickered as if she were a hologram and disappeared in an instant.
***
Half a month after we investigated the Dongdaemun No. 2 Dungeon and returned from the strange world.
The Overflow rampage incident that had turned Korea upside down had completely subsided.
Including ours, the results of investigation quests conducted here and there revealed that the dungeons where Overflow occurred were all 4-5 star dungeons, and that one could enter a strange world from the core dungeon.
Once it was learned that defeating the Field Boss there stopped the Overflow rampage, the government commissioned quests mainly to large-scale guilds with multiple S-rank Hunters belonging to them.
Unfortunately, Atlas Guild, which I belonged to, was excluded from those quests due to being too small in scale.
"Hwajin."
It likely wasn't solely because of that matter, but some time later, the Vice Guild Leader said this to me.
"Let's take the S-rank Hunter exam."