I Gave Up Being Stronger

Fyurel despised Assassins with a passion. Most Mages felt the same way. Due to their nature, Mages couldn’t easily react to instant moves in combat. The act of calculating complex magical formulas, drawing magic circles, and combining mana in the appropriate manner to use spells did not exactly mesh well with the demands of a real-time battle.

That was why Assassins were a problem for Mages; they struck Mages at weak points without giving them any time to prepare. If Fyurel could eliminate such troublemakers now, it would only help her.

“These scoundrels are after my brother-in-law,” she said.

The Assassins from the Cyril Alliance and Samuel Maier felt threatened by Fyurel’s presence.

‘Damn it!’

‘We were too busy with each other to notice this.’

Due to their fight, they had allowed the Mad Sorceress to approach them and cast her spell. The Cyril Alliance Assassins believed this was part of Kim Chul-Soo’s trap.

‘Chul-Soo, you cunning bastard!’

‘What a terrifying scheme!’

Using an Assassin to attack other Assassins, then taking advantage of the chaos to deploy a Mage—it was brilliant. Fyurel’s flames engulfed the Assassins. As the fire raged, they sensed their life force flickering out. One of the Cyril Alliance Assassins bitterly muttered, “We should have killed Chul-Soo when we had the chance…”

Samuel’s eyes widened at those words. “You too?”

“...”

They realized too late that they had the same goal and that Chul Soo had completely fooled them. Now they could clearly see Chul-Soo’s true intentions. It seemed he was not merely interested in eliminating them.

‘He wanted to humiliate and mock us!’

‘Chul-Soo, you devious, demonic bastard!’

Suddenly, Fyurel’s flames died down. The Assassins seized the opportunity and vanished in a flash. Fyurel then turned to Kang Eun-Woo, who had been hiding behind her, and asked, “Sweetie, are you sure it’s okay to let them all go like that? Wouldn’t it be better to just kill them?”

“Chul-Soo probably wants those guys to come after him,” Eun-Woo said while shaking his head.

These Assassins were skilled professionals, and they seemed to be seething with rage. If they were to launch a surprise attack on Chul-Soo in their current state, it would benefit Chul-Soo’s livestream.

‘I might earn some praise from Chul-Soo.’ Eun-Woo contentedly smiled.

“Well, as long as you’re smiling, I’m happy.” Fyurel beamed as well.

***

Eun-Woo’s group swiftly advanced toward the Dungeon’s boss room. Eun-Woo muttered disappointedly, “Mole Woman was much faster than this…”

They were accompanied by Lessefim, supposedly one of the best Navigators around, but her skills seemed lackluster.

“Shut up!” Lessefim snapped, feeling deeply wronged.

Mole Woman’s abilities were more of a glitch than an actual Skill. However, Lessefim could not bring herself to badmouth Chul-Soo’s companion. There was an unspoken code among Navigators, after all.

“I am a traditionalist,” Lessefim explained.

“Whether you’re a traditionalist or not, isn’t being faster better?” Eun-Woo countered.

“Listen here. Speed isn’t everything. It’s just one aspect of Dungeon Play. In fact, going too fast means missing a lot. What’s more important is efficient coordination and Playing at a reasonable pace.”

“That may be true, but you’re still slower than I expected.”

“Hey!” Lessefim wanted to argue that she was not slow—Mole Woman was just abnormally fast. She wanted to challenge Eun-Woo to ask any Navigator in the world who was doing a better job. However, she had so much to say that she didn’t know where to begin. She could only express her frustration by angrily pointing fingers at Eun-Woo.

“Do not point at my sweetie like that. I might just burn your arm off,” Fyurel said.

Lessefim quickly lowered her finger and scratched her neck. “I was just… itchy.”

Despite the hiccups, Eun-Woo’s party managed to reach the Dungeon’s boss room safely. As they arrived, Fyurel took a deep breath. ‘The scent of a powerful being.’

Fyurel could smell a strong magical aura permeating the air. She rarely encountered such a smell, which typically emanated from extraordinarily powerful monsters.

“There must have been quite a formidable monster here. What on earth did you defeat?” Fyurel asked.

Jin-Hyeok’s expression fell slightly. “Didn’t you watch my livestream?”

“I only saw up to the point where you entered the Dungeon.”

“...”

The captain of the Sword Emperor Unit, Kyle, looked at Chul-Soo with disbelief.

‘Why does he look so disappointed?’ Kyle wondered. Fyurel had clearly come here as quickly as possible, even enlisting the help of Lessefim, a tracking specialist. There was no way she could have gotten the time to watch Chul-Soo’s entire livestream. ‘Surely, he doesn’t expect her to have watched the livestream while Playing, right?’

No matter how obsessed he was with his livestreams, that level of expectation seemed unreasonable.

Jin-Hyeok’s expression remained stony.

‘I guess my livestream was not compelling enough to make people want to watch it even during their own Play,’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

“With traces like this, it must have been an incredible monster. Why are there no signs of battle?” Fyurel asked.

Kyle answered on Chul-Soo’s behalf. “He took it down with a single attack.”

“Oh, really?” Flames flickered to life in Fyurel’s hands. “Sweetie, can I have a serious fight with my brother-in-law? No, I suppose not. What am I saying? A delicate lady like myself should not enjoy fighting, hohoho!”

***

Spotting Lessefim, Mole Woman began to tense up.

‘Lessefim!’

In the past, Mole Woman’s rival had been Pathfinder Han Sae-Rin. They had intensely compared for the top ranking in the Korean Region. However, Sae-Rin had shifted her path toward becoming a Ruler, and now Lessefim was Mole Woman’s competitor.

“You were much slower than I expected, moly,” Mole Woman taunted Lessefim.

Lessefim’s face, already stinging from Fyurel’s earlier comments, turned bright red.

“Speed isn’t everything, you know!” Lessefim yelled.

“But Chul-Soo wanted speed, moly.”

“Hmph! Your method was recklessly dangerous. That gli—” Lessefim caught herself before saying glitch Play and quickly changed her words. “That stupid Play of yours… Don’t you know how dangerous it is?”

“What’s so dangerous about it, moly?”

“You explored underground in that bizarre way.”

To a traditional Navigator like Lessefim, it was an absurd method. The underground space that the other party had traversed did not exist—it was an interdimensional space. With just a bit of bad luck, they could have been trapped in the dimensional rift forever.

“That kind of risk is very trivial, moly.”

“Trivial?”

Lesseifm was so dumbfounded that she looked to Jin-Hyeok, her eyes demanding support.

Jin-Hyeok tilted his head and said, “It is indeed trivial.”

In Jin-Hyeok’s mind, it was only natural. Enhancement always came with the risk of breaking the weapon, and Dungeon raids were inherently dangerous. That was obvious to Jin-Hyeok. Moreover, during livestreaming, such accidents were bound to happen. He thought it would be dishonest to aim to be a universe-level ranker without accepting at least this much risk.

However, Kyle’s face turned pale. The more Kyle heard their conversation, the more he realized how insane these people were.

‘What good would come from fighting this crazy person?’ Kyle thought. A truth he had been avoiding began to stir his heart. ‘I don’t want to fight him.’

Perhaps his desire to settle things with Chul-Soo had been born of arrogance. He had a family to protect. False madness always crumbled in the face of true insanity. Kyle began to rationalize his thoughts.

***

Jin-Hyeok’s party started discussing how to reveal the true form of the Pangea Temple. Fyurel said with a bored expression, “I’m not sure what we should do, but why not just burn it?”

Kyle brightened at those words. Although Fyurel was known as the Mad Sorceress, her suggestion seemed relatively sane compared to those of the others gathered here.

“Right, I happen to have a fragment from the coffin that Chul-Soo destroyed,” Kyle said.

The Dungeon boss, the Principal of the Magic School, had been sleeping in that coffin. Kyle had kept the fragment, thinking it could be an important artifact. Everyone’s eyes turned to Kyle. He was not expecting admiration like, ‘Wow, you are not even a Navigator, but you thought to keep such an important artifact? As expected from the captain of the Sword Emperor Unit!’

However, he certainly did not expect them to look at him as if he were an idiot.

“What are you talking about?”

“You are saying nonsense, moly.”

“...?”

Then, Chul-Soo’s voice rang out. “In that case, I will have to protect Mole Woman.”

‘Why is he trying to protect Mole Woman when burning the coffin fragment? Does this make any sense?’ Kyle thought.

Whoosh!

Red flames erupted from Fyurel.

‘Wait a minute! This is far too much mana just to burn a fragment!’ Only then did Kyle understand what Fyurel had meant.

‘She intends to burn down the entire Dungeon!’

This was madness. The Dungeon was a collection of countless variables. No one knew what would happen if it was suddenly attacked with such powerful magic. Kyle, who had followed Arvis’s elite course, thought that these people suffered from a severe lack of safety awareness. He desperately looked at Lessefim for help.

‘Lessefim is the only one I can trust!’

However, Lessefim had no time to spare a glance at Kyle. Mole Woman was busy stripping off her clothes.

“Mole Woman, you cowardly, petty girl! If you’re a Navigator, fight like one with your navigating abilities!” Lessefim said.

The place had become like a hot sauna. The surroundings were dyed red and transformed into a realm of flames.

“Ah, it’s too hot, moly.” Mole Woman’s attire was now barely decent. Thanks to Jin-Hyeok’s Absolute Barrier, she had not shed a single drop of sweat. She grinned. ‘I won, tracking specialist Lessefim!’

***

Everyone was insane. Everyone had gone mad. Realizing he was the only sane person here, Kyle desperately clung to his sanity. Even for the captain of the Sword Emperor Unit, this inferno was incredibly threatening. It was truly befitting of the unrestrained firepower of the Mad Sorceress.

‘But such a brute force method cannot work,’ Kyle thought.

Traditionally, clearing a Dungeon required multiple Navigators cooperating. No matter how powerful the Mad Sorceress’s flames were, they could not possibly bring about a positive change in this Dungeon.

‘This magical power will only create extremely dangerous situations.’

Being the only sane man among these made people, Kyle gripped his faltering mind and prepared for any unexpected variables.

‘Huh?’

Something was falling from the sky. Upon noticing it, Jin-Hyeok smiled.

‘It worked!’ Jin-Hyeok thought. Fyurel’s method had been successful.

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