A room covered in deep darkness.
Various kinds of wine are displayed in the room like a collection.
From rare wines that ordinary people cannot buy…
To cheap wines that can be found at convenience stores.
Even someone who doesn’t know anything about wines could tell at first glance that the owner of this room is a wine collector.
The owner of this dark room.
Cha Soo-yeon slowly savored the wine while looking out of the window.
Her life had become bleak and filled with loss…
But whenever she drank wine and looked at the people in the outside world…
She felt like she was alive.“Director, it seems there’s a problem.”
A voice interrupted her tranquility.
A man was kneeling with one knee and bowing his head.
He was a new student who had entered the Seoul Holder Academy as an assassin clan member, and a member of the <Villain> Clan Academy branch, Ji Yoon-jae.
Annoyance surged through her upon his unexpected visit.
However, Cha Soo-yeon forced a smile and asked, “Hmm, what seems to be the problem?”
The plans that the <Villain> Clan had for the Seoul Holder Academy had not even begun yet.
If one had to pick one thing…
They used a special item called [Odd Bait] to summon B-grade monsters inside the academy. But even that was not a full-scale attack. It was just to demonstrate that the [Magic Barrier] could be broken.
At this stage of preparation…
There shouldn’t be any problems.
However, Yoon-jae’s words conveyed something that could be a real problem.
“The underground dungeon of the academy seems to have been attacked.”
“Hmm?”
Cha Soo-yeon’s pupils slightly widened, indicating that she heard something unusual. After taking a sip of wine, she raised Yoon-jae’s head with her slender hand.
“What does that mean?”
“The artifact we had linked to the entrance of the underground dungeon reacted. It seems to have been discovered and cleared by someone else. Considering the artifact’s performance, they must have been quite…”
“Yoon-jae.”
“Yes, Director.”
Magical power started to gather around Cha Soo-yeon.
Although she was smiling, her eyes were icy cold.
“That means?”
“Guh… Director… it hurts…”
Cha Soo-yeon’s trademark rune, [Unbearable Gravity], poured down on him.
An overwhelming force of gravity, threatening and suffocating.
[Unbearable Gravity] was a highly dangerous rune.
Cha Soo-yeon put down her wine glass and sat down, bending her knee in front of where Yoon-jae had fallen.
“Umm… Yoon-jae, are you in pain?”
“Cough… no… I’m… not.”
“Liar. You are in pain.”
Cha Soo-yeon lightly flicked her finger.
The pressure on him eased slightly.
Yoon-jae gasped for breath, struggling.
“Ugh… Ugh…”
“Yoon-jae.”
“Yes, Director.”
“Do you know the value of an undiscovered dungeon?”
“Yes, I do.”
An undiscovered dungeon, or an unexplored dungeon. When it’s first cleared, Holders receive rewards related to the dungeon and their information is registered in the system. Additionally, the rewards in the last room, the Boss Room, can be enjoyed exclusively by the one who clears it.
Any Holder would want to find it, and if they do, they would attempt to clear it.
The <Villain> Clan Academy branch was currently preparing for such an exploration.
Cha Soo-yeon smiled and asked again, “You know that the clan requested support, and that it could have been cleared in a week, right?”
“Yes, I am well aware.”
“Yoon-jae, I trusted you to be the first to find it… What on earth happened? No one was supposed to find it.”
“I’m sorry. It seems that I overlooked something…”
“Ugh- It can’t be helped, after all.”
She received an unwanted answer.
Cha Soo-yeon cast another spell with that logic.
“Yoon-jae needs to lose his mind a bit.”
“Kugh- Please… save me…”
Once again, [Unbearable Gravity] surged through Yoon-jae’s body.
…Was there even an answer she wanted in the first place?
Such questions were meaningless.
After all, the <Villain> Clan was not a place of common sense.
It was a gathering of bizarre and cold-blooded psychos.
***
ippotranslations
***
When I opened my eyes, I saw the familiar ceiling.
The ceiling of the dungeon I had been raiding for the past few days.
It was a dungeon built with a cave-like structure.
I tried to get up immediately, but I felt intense pain all over my body.
The injury on my left shoulder was excruciatingly painful.
I had no choice but to bend my body again involuntarily.
“Ah! Ahh….”
“Do Jae-hyun, are you okay? It’s still hard for you to get up.”
Was she taking care of me while I was lying down?
Moon Ga-eun hurriedly supported me from the side.
It was sudden, but her hand felt quite warm.
Her playful personality and something that didn’t quite match…
Moon Ga-eun seemed to have many sides that were different from her appearance.
I looked around while holding my left shoulder.
“What about the others?”
“They’re in the boss room, organizing the magic stones and rewards. They’ll distribute them when you get up.”
“When I get up?”
Come to think of it, how long was I lying here?
I remember catching that dreadful nasty lizard.
Moon Ga-eun nodded and said, “Yes, your role was crucial in finishing the raid. It’s only right that you have the choice.”
“Oh, that was only during the boss fight. The other party members did all the damage against the regular monsters.”
“Don’t say that. We all survived because of you.”
“…It’s embarrassing.”
The boss room was the most dangerous part of this dungeon raid.
We all felt the danger of death here.
Did everyone share the same thoughts?
Moon Ga-eun’s words of gratitude felt sincere.
For a moment, she looked at my physical condition and asked, “How’s your body? The shoulder seems serious.”
“I poured all the potions I had on it, so I should be okay. As for the shoulder… I can get treatment from the Recovery Holders outside.”
Buying potions in bulk from Choi Arin was a godsend.
I used most of them, but they saved my life.
I should thank Choi Yoo-min and Choi Arin later.
As for the serious shoulder injury, I could get treatment from the Recovery Holders.
This world was where Holders turned their abilities into professions.
Here, visiting the ‘Recovery Clinic’ run by Recovery Holders was more effective than going to regular hospitals.
If you paid a reasonable amount of money, they would treat any trauma.
“But I still don’t have the strength to get up.”
“Shall I help you?”
“Then I’ll be thankful.”
With Moon Ga-eun’s support, I slowly got up.
She put one of my arms over her shoulder and held my waist with her other hand.
A proper support position.
But perhaps because our bodies were too close…
Unexpectedly, some parts of our bodies were touching each other.
I immediately became flustered and averted my gaze.
‘…This is embarrassing.’
Moon Ga-eun… she really had many sides to her.
As I received her support and walked out of the rest room towards the boss room, information windows suddenly appeared and confused me.
[You won the duel! Your significant contributions in the battle lead to the victory. With the miraculous power of the Rune Hunter, you can replicate one of the opponent’s runes. Please choose the rune to replicate.]
[1. Oppression 2. Lizard’s Scales (not selectable) 3. Agile Agility (not selectable) 4. Strength (not selectable) 5. Quadruped combat (not selectable)]
[You chose Oppression. Since it’s an Epic level 3 rune, the level will be reduced to 1.]
[You gained a new rune.]
[You gain 1 point of Willpower based on the rune’s attributes.]
<Rune Information>
◎Name: Oppression
◎Grade: Epic
◎Level: 1
◎Engraved Location: Cheek
◎Special Effect:
: When in combat against opponents with lower stats than oneself, receive a 5% (Lv.1) boost of the respective stat.
: Willpower +1
◎Derived Skill: –
◎ [Declaration of Domination]
◎Detailed Information: The stronger one becomes, the more intimidating they appear. They demonstrate even more power against weaker opponents.
Information about the rune I gained from hunting Grizzly Drake appeared.
As expected…
Grizzly Drake was a boss monster that sometimes appeared in reptile infested dungeon, and it held all the runes of those monsters.
[Lizard’s Scales], [Agile Agility], [Strength], and [Quadruped Combat] were ‘body-related runes’ possessed by the monsters we encountered in the early and middle stages.
Grizzly Drake had maximized the growth of these runes, which was why it demonstrated such overwhelming duel power.
Especially considering the incredible power of its defense.
I thought that [Lizard’s Scales] might have reached nearly the maximum level.
Since I already possessed all those runes, Oppression was automatically selected and registered as a rune.
After becoming a [Rune Hunter] and achieving [Effort of the Seeker], this was the first Epic-level rune I gained.
‘It has an amazing performance….’
I clicked my tongue as I read the information about [Oppression].
Every detail shown on the information window had a charming effect.
First of all, it was a rune related to Willpower.
Willpower was a significant stat for holders, but my spirit attribute was relatively low compared to other stats.
Gaining a rune that bolstered Willpower was valuable to me.
Then, there was the special effect.
When in duel against opponents with lower stats than oneself, this rune provides a 5% boost to the respective stat.
If my strength was higher than the opponent’s strength, I could duel with the boosted strength by 5%.
I thought the percentage might vary depending on the level.
It was a special effect that truly lived up to the name [Oppression].
‘So that’s why Grizzly Drake was so powerful.’
Even though it was the boss of the dungeon and an A-grade monster, our party was by no means weak.
Kang Juyeon was a B-grade Holder, and the rest of the party members were all C-grade Holders, with some of them showing superior skills even within the same grade.
Though Park Jin-woo and I were just reaching C-grade, we had various special abilities that made us competitive.
We were a party of B-grade holders following the standard strategy to hunt an A-grade monster, so we were not weak by any means.
However, the dungeon gimmick completely nullified magic attacks, and the combination of [Oppression] and other enhanced runes made Grizzly Drake even more formidable.
Because of all these factors…
Grizzly Drake had no choice but to be even stronger.
‘Declaration of Domination is also quite useful.’
When Grizzly Drake first encountered us, it used a skill called [Declaration of Domination], which inflicted the ‘Fear’ status ailment.
Being able to inflict temporary status ailments in duels was quite attractive.
Especially since status ailment skills were difficult to acquire, and related runes were also considered rare.
The only drawback was the long 1-hour cooldown, but there were still plenty of ways to use it.
“Jae-hyun! Are you okay?”
“Wow, you’re up.”
When I left the rest room and returned to the boss room, Kim Chae-eun and Park Jin-woo greeted me.
Kang Juyeon was also looking at me with a relieved expression.
…It felt like a warm welcome with some pressure.
Undoubtedly, surviving a raid that risked our lives creates camaraderie.
There was hardly any awkwardness when we first entered the dungeon. Instead, there seemed to be an inexplicable bond within the party.
I awkwardly smiled and raised my hand.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting. I was checking the rewards.”
“Yep! Everything’s organized. Come and take a look.”
With Kim Chae-eun’s guidance, I walked over to the center of the boss room.
There, various magic stones and items were neatly displayed.
The true flower of unexplored dungeons and dungeons yet to be discovered.
It was time to check the rewards gained from clearing the rest room.
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