Transcension Academy - Chapter 35:

C35 – Dungeon Sweeping Contest (5)

So-yeon looked at the moving monster in front of her eyes. It was a monster named slime that had a green color.

As a monster whose body was made of a viscous liquid like jelly, it was a monster that was classified as the weakest, comparable to a skeleton even at 1 star.

However, that was only in terms of combat power, and in reality, it was one of the monsters hunters were most reluctant to avoid.

First of all, its body was a viscous liquid like jelly, so it seldom took physical damage. Above all, the viscosity disappears the moment it dies and the slime becomes liquid scattered on the ground.

Getting a slime corpse is almost like picking up spilled water.

Therefore, slime was a monster that was tricky to deal with and didn’t bring any gains, that’s why it was an ideal monster for this dungeon clearing contest.

So-yeon took up her weapon, the saber, and cut through the slimes without hesitation.

A saber had a very different feeling from the sword, but it was the most suitable weapon for So-yeon who used the saber her entire life.

After several attacks, the slime soon scattered to the floor with unpleasant sounds and So-yeon just approached the other slimes without even thinking about collecting it.

After a little time So-yeon was able to take care of all the slimes in the dungeon and come out.

“You’re done already? It’s only been 15 minutes since you went in.”

So-yeon opened her eyes wide and ignored the surprised supervisor’s words. It was also a reaction that she had seen during the last contest, and there was no time to delay, responding to each of them.

So-yeon said as she boarded the car waiting for her.

“It’s over. Let’s move on quickly.”

Then he buried herself in a seat to rest even for a while as the car was moving but the car didn’t move even after some time.

“Driver?”

“…Oh! Yes. Did you call me?”

“Aren’t you leaving?”

“Oh, that’s…”

At So-yeon’s question, the driver was embarrassed and blurted out his words. It seemed as if he was thinking about how to express himself.

“In fact, all dungeons in this area are booked. So I don’t know where to go.”

“Are all the dungeons booked?”

“Yes.”

So-yeon couldn’t understand the meaning of his words for a moment.

If all dungeons in this area are reserved, shouldn’t they go to the unbooked dungeons?

However, So-yeon was soon able to understand what the driver meant and asked while straightening her posture.

“What’s the problem?”

After hearing the driver’s explanation, So-yeon nodded and said,

“It could be just a coincidence. We don’t have time, so let’s go to a dungeon first.”

“Yes, sir.”

So-yeon headed to an unbooked dungeon.

“Reserved again?”

“Yes.”

At this point, anyone could know if it wasn’t a coincidence unless one was a fool.

“Should I tell him to stop the plan instead?”

So-yeon was lost in thought for a moment at the driver’s words, then she shook her head and answered.

“No, we’ll just keep watching.”

Of course, So-yeon can’t help but suffer damage together. However, Seo-joon’s moves have allowed him to raid more than 40 dungeons a day.

On the other hand, So-yeon couldn’t get more than 30.

It seems that Seo-joon, not So-yeon, was doing this with the intention of dying together, but it was Seo-joon, who suffered a bigger loss so So-yeon headed to the next dungeon.

Despite that, Seo-joon kept following So-yeon.

As a result,

[1st place: Kim Seo-joon – 98 (+15)]

[2nd place: So-yeon – 73 (+13)]

[3rd place: Lee Ha Yeon – 40 (+9)]

[4th place: Park Jungjoo – 37 (+7)]

.

.

.

Seo-joon only raided 15 dungeons and So-yeon raided 13 dungeons.

Compared to the time when Seo-joon raided 32 and 41 in the first 2 days, 15 was a significantly lower score.

In a word, it meant that the trick was working. However, So-yeon was also suffering from the damage, and the biggest problem was that it did not narrow the gap.

Although the blow Seo-joon suffered was great, it is undeniable that the gap widened again little by little. At this rate, there would be no reversal of the ranking.

“I expected him to notice, but I didn’t expect he would respond in this way. Don’t worry I’ve already worked out another way, so do as you do.”

“…I see.”

<Day 5 of the dungeon sweep contest>

So-yeon headed to the reserved dungeon and the place where she arrived was where the two dungeons were closely attached.

It seemed to overlap by chance, but although it was rare, it was not very rare, so So-yeon headed to the dungeon she reserved.

And just then.

“That’s Lee So-yeon”.

A casual voice called her name came from somewhere. It was a voice she never heard before.

As So-yeon turned her head slowly, there was a dim-looking young man and a man with shaggy hair looking at her. They were none other than Seo-joon and Man-cheol, and the voice she just heard was Man-cheol’s.

So-yeon tilted her head and said,

“Who are you?”

“Who do you mean? We’re people who are in trouble together.”

Then Man-cheol smiled and said as Seo-joon walked slowly to So-yeon.

So-yeon couldn’t understand what the situation was now.

“Two of you. Fighting between participants is prohibited. If you violate this, you will be disqualified, so please be careful.”

“I’m not trying to fight. I also booked a dungeon over there.”

However, So-yeon was able to understand the situation quickly from the supervisor and Seo-joon’s words.

So-yeon said to Seo-joon, who was approaching.

“Are you Kim Seo-joon?”

“Are you Lee So-yeon?”

Seo-joon and So-yeon looked at each other without a word but in the end Seo-joon slowly opened his mouth.

“No matter who wins, we compete fairly. Although it is a competition, it is a contest that started with a good purpose.”

“That sounds like you’re saying I’m not fair.”

“Haha, I didn’t mean that.”

Seo-joon didn’t seem to be here to argue, but after saying that, he walked slowly.

So-yeon also looked at Seo-joon’s back once and turned her head.

‘It’s a contest that started with a good purpose.’

At that moment, Seo-joon words come to mind like an echo.

“That’s funny.”

So-yeon muttered with an expressionless face.

‘There is no such thing as a good purpose. No, there can be no good purpose in this world.’

The man is inherently selfish and judges based on ‘benefit’ when he acts.

You act if it benefits you, and you don’t act if it doesn’t. In the process, there were no good intentions or goodwill.

Making friends had the benefit of relieving loneliness and meeting a lover had the advantage of expressing the inherent desires to each other.

Having a family had the advantage of being able to easily protect oneself against external threats. In that sense, friends, lovers, and family were the ultimate representations created by interests.

Apart from everything, the Dungeon sweep contest itself was a competition that revealed such interests without fail to begin with.

If someone raids a dungeon without thinking of gains, if the government hired professional hunters without considering the benefits, if only there was someone who didn’t think of the benefits the dungeon sweep contest was a contest that didn’t need to be held.

Good intentions?

‘Don’t make me laugh. Winners have everything and losers lose everything.’

Therefore, if it is beneficial, it will only be won by any means.

‘Let’s finish it quickly and leave.’

So-yeon worked harder than usual and raided the dungeon as quickly as possible and maybe because of that she finished the raid in less than 10 minutes.

It was not a tricky dungeon, but even considering that, it was a new record. Therefore, So-yeon quickly came out of the dungeon, thinking that she would not run into Seo-joon.

“One!”

A strange sound was heard as soon as she left the dungeon.

“Wow, I’ve only heard about it, but it’s amazing to see it in person. It’s incredible.”

The supervisor’s admiring expression caught So-yeon’s eyes so she slowly turned her head to where the employee was looking.

“Two!”

And encountered a grotesque sight.

“…?”

So-yeon couldn’t explain the situation in front of her eyes.

Seo-joon shouted when he saw So-yeon.

“Oh, are you done with the raid? I thought it would take longer, but it ended quickly.”

So-yeon felt dumbfounded.

Does that mean he waited until she came out?

Seo-joon then spoke again to So-yeon, who was absent-minded.

“Hmm… If you’re just going to throw away the bodies, can we take them?”

“The bodies?”

“Yes.”

Seo-joon pointed his finger at the dungeon So-yeon exited.

So-yeon looked at Seo-joon and the dungeon several times alternately and nodded in surprise.

“…do as you please.”

“Ah! Thank you.”

With So-yeon’s permission, Seo-joon pushed himself into the dungeon that So-yeon had just come out from.

Seo-joon, who appeared after a while, was carrying a load of goblin bodies that So-yeon killed.

Then he took a step out of the dungeon.

“Three!”

Squat!

“…”

So-yeon was speechless.

Then So-yeon asked Seo-joon just in case.

“…Why are you doing that?”

“What?”

In response to So-yeon’s sudden question, Seo-joon stopped walking for a while and said,

“This exercise?”

So-yeon shook her head and Seo-joon quickly understood her question and answered it right away.

“Oh, dismantling the bodies? Haha, why would I do that? Of course I’m doing this to make money.”

“…”

So-yeon turned coldly as if she didn’t need to listen to him anymore.

There is no good purpose in the world, either. Therefore, there are no hunters with good intentions either.

‘You’ll see. I’ll be a professional hunter who makes people’s hearts race.’

A professional hunter is just a job.

A forest of unknown trees that soared as if to pierce the sky and grass that grew to their waist blocked their view, but the two people walking in the forest were walking without hesitation as if it were no problem.

One of the two was Calia, a shoulder-length white-haired and neat armor-clad Saint Knight.

The other was an unknown beauty with long reddish brown hair.

“How far has this grandfather gone? Calia, can you see anything?”

“I can’t see him. Jimin, do you feel anything?”

The woman called Jimin shook her head when Calia asked again but the two women continued to move and suddenly there was a roaring sound in the forest.

Calia and Jimin headed in the direction where the sound came from almost running.

After a while, what the two faced was a huge monster lying covered in blood and an old man who trudged along as if it was no big deal.

Jimin burst into genuine admiration at the scene in front of her.

“Woah…Grandpa Sword Saint is amazing.”

That’s because if Jimin’s eyes were right, the monster that fell in front of her was none other than a 10-star monster, Durac.

It had a huge body over 20 meters packed with muscles and even S-class hunters had difficulties in dealing with them but the Sword Saint looked like he did it easily.

“I think grandpa gets stronger as he gets older. Isn’t it about time you start becoming weaker?”

“You’re still making a lot of noise. Then why are you here? Where’s the Demon Star?”

“Grandpa knows that master’s health is not good. Maybe this year at the earliest but I think it will be hard to pass next year.”

Sword Saint briefly looked at Jimin, who answered with a shrug.

Jung Jimin is a student of the Demon Star.

Now that the Demon Star health has deteriorated his disciple was an existence that played the role of the Demon Star.

At first, there was a lot of talk in terms of skills, but after Demon Star admitted that Jimin had already surpassed him in terms of ability, she was called the next generation Demon Star.

And since the Sword Saint knew better than anyone else that those words weren’t lies, he didn’t say anything.

The Sword Saint brushed off the blood of Durac on his sword and spat out his words.

“Going when the time is right is providence.”

“Then why doesn’t Grandpa go? Grandpa is the only one who corrected it until he got older. How long are you planning to stay all by yourself?”

“Noisy. And what do you mean grandpa, as far as I know you’re four….”

“Hey! Even though you’re old, you still talk like that!”

When Jimin shouted, the Sword Saint kicked his tongue.

Jimin is in her late teens and early 20s at most. However, that was only a mask to hide her age since her actual age is probably twice as old as her appearance.

The Sword Saint made a displeased expression and uttered a word to Calia.

“More than that, Calia, didn’t you say it was a six-star dungeon? So why is there a 10-star monster here?”

“At the time of the measurement, it was definitely six stars. I think the reason Durac is probably because of the distortion.”

However, Sword Saint shook his head firmly.

“Ridiculous. Distortions don’t happen this way. It sounds more reasonable to me that the Order of Truth is up to something. Just like then, 30 years ago.”

Calia shook her head and replied.

“I fully understand the feelings of the Sword Saint. But I swear in the name of the truth, we didn’t plan anything.”

“You bastards are always like that.”

The Sword Saint glared at Calia several times before gaining momentum but Calia’s words continued.

“Of all of us, only the Sword Saint has personally experienced the distortion, so that’s probably true. But, isn’t it strange, too?”

Sword Saint and Calia’s eyes naturally turned to Jimin.

“Okay. I know. I’m afraid you won’t investigate.”

Jimin shook his head and approached Durac’s body, which was slaughtered by the Sword Saint.

Jimin closed his eyes gently in front of the body of Durac. After a while, a strange mana wave broke out and soon permeated Durac’s body.

Jimin opened his eyes and said,

“Well, there’s definitely an abnormal flow of mana.”

“That means…”

“But as grandfather said, it’s hard to link it to a distortion.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Jimin raised her index finger and said,

“To put it simply, the first time this dungeon was measured as a six-star dungeon was because of the 10-star monster here, Durac. In a word, you misunderstood the measurement figures. This happens sometimes.”

Six-star dungeon meant a dungeon with a large number of six-star monsters. Therefore, the total amount of mana of the six-star dungeon was the same as the mana of all six-star monsters present in the dungeon.

Therefore, this dungeon, where only one 10-star monster exists, means that there was a mistake in measurement because the total amount of mana is similar to that of the 6-star dungeon.

It was rare, but it was seen before and it used to lead to dungeon accidents and even death.

“But there is a problem.”

“What is it?”

Jimin immediately went on.

“It can’t be six stars.”

“It might make sense to you since you’re Demon Star disciple but explain it to us.”

Jimin looked at Durac and answered the following questions of the Sword Saint.

“If it’s a 10-star monster like Durac, it should be measured at least 7 or 8 stars, not 6. But it’s a little problematic that it was measured as a six-star dungeon. Grandpa, was there anything strange about it?”

“There wasn’t. It was only a 10-star monster, but there’s nothing strange about it.”

“You know you’re very annoying, right?”

Sword Saint said as if he didn’t care what Jimin said at all.

“Anyway, didn’t you say it wasn’t a distortion?”

“That’s true… but this isn’t such a simple matter. There’s never been anything like this since the Great Monster Berserk fell.”

Then Calia, who was still listening to the conversation, asked.

“What is the possibility that a similar situation will happen in another dungeon?”

“It’s low, but I can’t say it doesn’t exist. Umm…Calia, don’t the apostles say anything?”

“This is entirely my responsibility.”

“Okay.”

Jimin nodded without much doubt.

It was a fairly important matter, but it was because the successor to the Apostle of Purity had the right to do so, especially now that the Apostle of Purity position is vacant.

“I guess we need to investigate this a bit more.”

Jimin murmured after thinking for a moment.

“I should ask the president of the association to review the low-grade dungeons among the dungeons currently measured.”