3
The reason Jonghyeon was surprised was simpler than expected.
A vast garden.
It was a beautiful garden one might expect to see in Europe—or truly, only in fantasy.
A garden impossible to manicure by human hands, yet absolutely impossible to create through nature alone.
It was to the point where words failed to describe it.
The garden continued into a lush forest path centered around a stream, and what made Jonghyeon doubt his own ears and eyes among it all was,
“Oink?”
“Moooo~”
Pigs, cows, chickens, dogs, ducks, and quite a variety of other animals were mixing together and frolicking about.
Truthfully, them frolicking together wasn’t the important part.
*Why are Earth animals inside a dungeon…?*
While looking at such an absurd sight, he suddenly grew curious about where he had been until just moments ago.
Jonghyeon quickly ran forward and turned around, unable to help but be shocked once more.
Where he had been was like a pyramid.
A place shaped like an Egyptian tomb.
Of course, the material didn’t seem to be sand.
*I’ve never seen or even heard of a dungeon like this!*
What comes to mind when one thinks of a dungeon?
Monsters, battles, blood, rewards…
Those kinds of things.
And this garden looked especially far removed from such things.
As Jonghyeon was lost in thought, that voice from earlier pierced his ears once more.
—Ding!
—Survive here for three days!
*Three days? No, more importantly, survive?*
Struck by a sudden craving, Jonghyeon lit a cigarette and began organizing his thoughts again.
As expected, nothing came for free, but there was absolutely no way those cute animals *(food?)* would attack him.
Moreover, this place was on a completely different level from that narrow space where he had struggled earlier.
He could properly execute his own fighting style.
*The difficulty isn’t that high yet.*
Of course, it was difficult to properly assess since he had come alone, but taking down a single stone statue monster was something any C-rank could do.
Besides, the hound mentioned in the dungeon overview was nowhere to be seen.
—Ding!
—I almost forgot! Monsters come out at night, so survive carefully!
“Keugh!”
Though it was sudden, Jonghyeon was needlessly startled by the voice that seemed to be teasing him.
And having swallowed cigarette smoke down the wrong pipe, he coughed repeatedly!
* * *
That night.
When a rather beautiful moon rose round in the sky, the animals vanished without a trace.
*If even the moon is an image created by the dungeon, I’d like to give the dungeon’s creator an award.*
Earlier in the day, Jonghyeon had examined the trees near the forest entrance.
Among the trees he found that way, he had hidden himself in one that was quite tall and offered a good view of the surroundings.
*So when do the monsters come out?*
With a strange tension, Jonghyeon focused more intently and looked around.
Judging by the difficulty so far, there was no telling how much more this dungeon would try to screw him over.
Right below the tree Jonghyeon had climbed was a stream, and trees of similar height grew all around.
A location optimized for hiding and for combat.
It was then.
—Ding!
—The hunt begins!
That previous voice announced the start as if joking, but Jonghyeon stretched his wrists and ankles with some tension and looked around.
Because regardless of whether it was joking, he felt a presence.
Then, in Jonghyeon’s line of sight, he saw about twenty stone statue monsters walking from the direction of the tomb he had come from.
*The number is around twenty-two or twenty-three.*
Thankfully, thanks to the skill he had acquired during the day, his vision was clear even without concentrating qi in his eyes.
Being able to divert qi elsewhere was a considerable advantage.
The consumption of concentrating it in his eyes wasn’t large, but maintaining it during battle was quite a headache.
*I don’t know what kind of vision the statues have, but clearly, scouting from the treetops and assassinating them one by one puts me at an advantage.*
The stone statue monsters seemed to be searching for Jonghyeon, and eventually began to scatter and scour the forest.
Fortunately, it seemed the statues had not realized Jonghyeon was watching from above!
*First, one down.*
Jonghyeon descended toward a statue approaching below his tree, suppressing his footsteps as much as possible.
*Rustle.*
The statue seemed sensitive to sound.
*Damn.*
Intense eye contact between Jonghyeon and the statue. Of course, the statue wouldn’t know what eye contact was.
It was only a fleeting moment, but countless thoughts flooded Jonghyeon’s mind.
And among them, like a roulette, his thoughts stopped at exactly one.
*The first strike wins.*
In the brief moment their eyes met, the statue had not yet taken its stance.
Jonghyeon rushed in as fast as he could and thrust his short sword, but unfortunately, the statue dodged its chest and quickly stepped back, taking its stance.
A few exchanges passed.
*A frontal fight is difficult. Just what is that sword made of?*
This statue was wielding a sword, so it was easier to deflect than the spear-wielding one from daytime.
But the problem was that the statue’s sword was harder than expected.
Jonghyeon’s short sword was a top-grade item.
Originally, he had thought that if he utilized the edge properly, he could cut through the statue’s sword.
And he actually applied that thought, attempting to slice through it several times.
But that thought had completely missed the mark.
While the sharpness of Jonghyeon’s sword was on a completely different level, causing the statue’s blade to chip, the statue moved as if it were a sword master, deflecting Jonghyeon’s short sword like a parry and counterattacking.
*In this situation, even with space, I’m at a disadvantage.*
Of course, at this pace he was confident he wouldn’t lose, but another statue might ambush him mid-fight.
He was alone, while his opponents were many!
Reaching this conclusion, Jonghyeon urgently hid behind the tree.
Then the statue slowly approached the tree where Jonghyeon was.
*Klang!*
As if annoyed, the statue cut down the entire tree Jonghyeon was hiding behind.
The felled tree was collapsing near the statue.
*Thud.*
*Now!*
The moment he hid behind the tree, Jonghyeon had concentrated as much qi as possible into his legs and climbed it.
Praying that the statue would cut the tree down.
Actually, even if it didn’t, he had other plans, but as Jonghyeon predicted, the statue stupidly cut through the whole tree.
Jonghyeon didn’t miss that opening, and exactly as the tree was falling, he used the momentum from the treetop to leap behind the statue.
And as if performing an acrobatic feat, he landed mid-air and stabbed the statue in the heart.
The statue ceased moving without ever being able to resist.
Jonghyeon’s fighting style was calculated behavior—rapidly analyzing the statue’s patterns and behavior, then executing.
*This sword will be useful.*
The sword the statue held was a sharp stone sword, and quite long.
He could have used it as a substitute for his short sword, but Jonghyeon already had another use in mind.
“Huh?”
But a problem arose. No matter how much strength he exerted, the sword would not come free from the statue’s hand.
*This… did the sword harden along with the statue?*
When the statue’s clenched hand refused to open, Jonghyeon cut off the statue’s hand with his short sword and took the sword.
And Jonghyeon climbed back up a nearby tree.
He intended to wait until another statue approached, hearing the sound of the falling tree.
After all, he just had to endure until the night passed.
Thinking he could slowly take them down and endure, Jonghyeon was slowly finding his composure.
And perhaps having heard the sound of the falling tree, he saw another statue walking this way.
But there was one thing that Jonghyeon’s prediction had greatly missed.
—Ding!
—The remaining number of statues is 22, and if you do not catch them within 4 hours and 38 minutes, you will receive a penalty.
—The remaining number is marked on the moon.
Simultaneously with the voice, the moon flashed brightly once.
*I… have to go find them?*
As if mocking Jonghyeon’s thoughts, it was a system that even informed him of the exact remaining number.
Saying a penalty would be imposed, Jonghyeon grew impatient.
At the same time, no matter how he looked at it, this dungeon seemed to be teasing him.
The round moon that had only looked beautiful now kindly began displaying the remaining time.
“Hoo…”
The thought that this was a crazy dungeon dominated his mind, but what choice did he have?
Jonghyeon began focusing on the enemy before him again.
*Swish.*
The statue that approached nearby was blankly staring at the fallen tree and its armless comrade.
A knife flew toward the statue that looked stupid, and the statue knocked it aside with reaction speed quite fast for its size.
But Jonghyeon aimed for that gap and, just like when he had first fought the stone statue monster inside the pyramid, stabbed its heart from behind.
Before it could react to anything.
Having acquired two swords, Jonghyeon leaped up a tree with both feet as if he had become a ninja.
*It’ll be easier to find them from above, right?*
And so Jonghyeon began frantically leaping between trees throughout the night, taking down statues.
* * *
Gasping for breath after removing all the remaining statues down to the last one, he looked at the moon and saw the remaining time had stopped at 22 minutes.
Tremendous hard labor!
*This definitely ranks in the top three of all dungeons I’ve experienced.*
Truthfully, he could have finished faster, but there was one thing he had wanted to experiment with, so it had taken a bit longer.
But setting all that aside, hard labor was still hard labor.
*Thud!*
Completely exhausted, Jonghyeon collapsed into a sitting position in the shade of a large tree before him.
—Ding!
—Congratulations. You have cleared the Stage 1 Mission.
—You have acquired the skill 《Eye of Detection》.
Day had broken.
Sleepiness and fatigue assaulted Jonghyeon’s body.
At the same time, having run around all night, he was on the verge of starving to death.
The animals appeared from somewhere and began mingling and playing again.
“Huh!? Why can I see this?”
Jonghyeon was so surprised he exclaimed aloud. Clearly, before his eyes was a tree even larger than himself.
But wasn’t the pig behind it faintly visible?
Jonghyeon blinked his eyes several times.
Looking again, of course the tree was visible.
But as if a pig had been stamped onto the wood, the brown tree bulged out in the shape of a pig.
He could even see its movement.
Though too blurry to be called X-ray vision, it was clearly quite an advantageous skill.
*So this is a skill.*
The skill’s effect was beyond imagination.
But Jonghyeon quickly regained his composure.
He was surprised by the skill’s effect itself, but he thought this dungeon was not easy enough to be amazed at obtaining such a thing.
Gaining a skill was a good thing, but he must not let his guard down easily.
Because nothing is free!
“Oink?”
A pig came out from behind the tree and stared at Jonghyeon.
Feeling hungry and thinking this was perfect timing, Jonghyeon kindly greeted the pig before him.
“Hello? My meal?”
Having filled his stomach and caught some sleep in the shade, Jonghyeon began searching for the stone statues’ remains before the afternoon.
If it was like this on the second day too, especially if a greater number of statues appeared, it would be quite difficult.
Because there was a time limit.
*Of course, now that I’ve gained the Eye of Detection skill, I can find the statues easily, but…*
He had to prepare for other types appearing as well.
Until now, only identical statues had appeared, but was it not strange to think this dungeon would kindly send out only one type of statue?
Given the nature of this dungeon, there was no telling what might happen.
Thorough preparation!
Even if it weren’t this dungeon, this was what he considered most important, since he always cleared dungeons alone.
Jonghyeon began fiddling with something.
And when the second night arrived.
Jonghyeon smiled faintly.
---------= Author's Afterword ---------=
Oink? Poor pig…