Chapter 1: Prologue

“Finally… I found it.”

Deep within a forest packed tightly with trees.

Piercing through the deep, settled shade, a massive stone structure finally revealed itself.

[For real, how long has it been?]
[Wow, f*ck, finally free from this damn forest. ㅠㅠ]
[The atmosphere is epic, though lol.]

The stone walls, so finely hewn they might as well have been iron, exuded a mystical aura.
Perhaps that’s why no moss or vines could find a home on them.

“It’s… tall.”

Even with my head tilted all the way back, it was hard to gauge its top.

To think something so tall could be invisible unless you were right up close was truly marvelous.

If the information the guide gave me wasn’t wrong, if the guy I met wasn’t a world-class con artist.

Then this massive building before my eyes was probably the dungeon.

-OO-nim has donated 10,000 won!-
《Ah, I’m already so tense. Upvote if you’re in the ‘don’t-wanna-go-in’ squad lol.》

[Upvote lol.]
[BS.]
[Yeah, get lost~]

“I’m going in no matter what, so everyone, brace yourselves.”

At my declaration, the chat began to scroll rapidly.

Half the reactions were scared.
The other half were excited.

Ah, and there was a very small, but definite, group that was worried about me.

-Thud! Thud!

I knocked on the wall with my fist.
I could feel its solid, packed density.

“Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to be some kind of illusion magic like last time.”

[Something big is coming for real.]
[Let’s goooo!]

I immediately started moving.
It was to circle the perimeter and find the dungeon’s entrance.

-Clank! Clank!

Every time I moved, the sound of my armor plates clashing against each other rang in my ears, making my excitement boil over.

I especially liked the sabatons.
They were custom-made to fit my feet before this adventure.

-Clank! Clank!

Every time the metal hit the ground, a cheerful vibration traveled up my shins, and I couldn’t contain my excitement.

However.

That feeling died out faster than I expected.

“…It’s not here?”

Nowhere on the wall could I find an entrance to the dungeon.

There was only one thing that caught my eye.

“I’m supposed to… put something in here, right?”

There was a round, sunken hollow.

The intricately carved hole was tempting me to insert a key.

[For real, that’s so obvious lol.]
[If she can’t get in from here, that’d be so lame.]
[Nice, nice, nice, nice, let’s just go back, yeah?]

I tried putting my hand in it.
But even with both my fists together, the hole was much wider.

[You don’t have a key?]

Of course I didn’t.
I hadn’t even considered that a key would be needed to enter a dungeon in the first place.

“Hmm….”

On the off chance, I pressed my ear against the hole.

In that moment.

Qualification……

“Huh? Did you guys just hear that?”

[?]
[?]
[Hear what?]

Was it an auditory hallucination?
Or was it something only I could hear?

To check, I pressed my ear against it once more.

Do you have… the qualification?

It wasn’t a voice.

It was more like a grand echo implanting its will into my brain.

Do you have the qualification?

When the unknown voice asked me for the third time, I understood its intent and tapped my chest as I answered.

“Of course.”

The unknown entity responded to that.

Prove it……

“What?”

—RUMBLE.

The ground began to shake.

Small pebbles bounced from the violent vibrations, and soon, a huge crack formed in the earth.

“Crazy….”

Then, from behind the dust that rose like a fog, a colossal being revealed itself.

As it straightened its knees, the ground that supported its body split apart.

As it straightened its back, its shoulders seemed to reach the sky.

A Stone Golem?

No, those were nothing but common monsters.

What had appeared before me was.

A device created for the sole purpose of a single command, ‘Guard the gate,’ for a truly long time.

Prove it!

It was the dungeon’s gatekeeper.

-OO-nim has donated 10,000 won!-
《Uh… seriously, aren’t we f*cked?》

[Fck, you’re right.]
[Why aren’t you running?]
[You crazy btch, you’re gonna get yourself killed!]

The chatters were all freaking out in their own ways.

What they showed was fear.
In truth, it wasn’t so much an overreaction as it was how any normal human should react.

Yes, a normal human, that is.

–Shing.

The sound of my sword being drawn was short and sharp.

At the same time, a fighting spirit took over my body, and my heart raced to match it.

[She’s gonna fight that??]

I could feel a very mechanical killing intent.

Slowly, the gatekeeper’s elbow turned.
Its fist then rose to the sky, stopping with a crunch.

Before I knew it, I was eye-to-eye with its fist.

“Bring it on!!!”

Before my shout could even end, the gatekeeper threw its punch.

-KABOOOM!

I took the attack with my whole body.

The intense impact sent my body flying, and I was thrown several dozen meters.

-CRASH!

-CRASH!

-BAM!

I broke through all the trees that were in the way, but—

-THWACK!

I couldn’t do the same to the rock.
Thanks to hitting a rather thick boulder, my flight came to a stop.

[Is… she dead?]
[fckfckfckfck]
[Seriously, I think we’re f*cked…]

Certainly, there were few beings in the world who could withstand such a blow.

And luckily for me, I was one of those few.

“Pwahahahaha! Wow… you guys, I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”

[She survived THAT????]
[She’s a real crazy b*tch lol.]

“No, seriously, how many meters did I just fly after getting hit? This is something you only see in movies. You know, that one old movie, The Avengers? Tony Stark gets hit by an alien and flies off just like this…”

-LesaFan-nim has donated 10,000 won!-
《Newbies, you snapped out of it? This is Rea lol.》

[For real, this is a hell of a way to weed out the newbies.]
[What kind of ancient-a*s movie is that lol.]
[Ah, for a second I really thought she was dead.]
[Honestly, this one was a little scary. Admit it?]

I took a hit, so now it was my turn.

I stood up nonchalantly and dusted the dirt off my armor.

It seemed my new purchase was worth it; there wasn’t a single scratch on the steel plates.

“Shall we get started then?”

The gatekeeper stood still, glaring at me.

The majestic aura it radiated seemed to be asking me.

If I had the confidence.
If I had the qualification to enter the dungeon.

I decided to answer its question.

-Tatatatatak!

I ran towards the gatekeeper.
With each step, I gained momentum and my speed increased.

When it reached its peak, the gatekeeper’s giant form filled my vision.

—RUMBLE.

It slammed its fist into the ground with all its might.

“Not a chance.”

I used my speed to cleanly dodge the attack.

A deafening roar assaulted my eardrums, and a large crater had formed in the ground that took the impact instead of me.

“Hah!”

With a battle cry, I swung my sword.

My target was its arm.
It was a perfect sword strike, fully empowered.

-TANG!

However, the gatekeeper’s body was harder than I could have imagined.
Cutting it was a pipe dream; the most I could do was leave a scratch.

A stinging vibration traveled up the blade, through the hilt, and into my body.

I couldn’t help but smile at the tingling sensation I hadn’t felt in a long time.

[This just looks hopeless.]
[Honestly, I don’t think she can beat it. Let’s run, now. It’s not too late…]

But it seemed what the viewers were feeling was a little different from me.

We had only exchanged one blow, yet the chat was already urging me to give up.

What an absurd notion.

Showing my back was a knight’s disgrace.
I would rather die.

—RUMBLE.

As the gatekeeper tried to lift its arm, I stepped on it and jumped.

I ran up its arm, stepped on its shoulder, and leaped high into the air.
For the first time, I could look down on it.

As I let my body hang in the air, I thought about how to bring down that massive frame.

‘I guess… that’s its weak point, right?’

No matter how I looked at it, there was only one way.

It was the core in its chest that had captured my attention from the moment I first saw it.

Whirrr, the azure gem pulsed, shooting out blue light.

‘Maybe I just need to shatter that?’
That thought struck me strongly.

As I began to fall, it spread both its hands wide.

As if trying to catch a mosquito, the gatekeeper tried to crush me.

The distance between its palms closed in rapidly.

“Nice try.”

I twisted my body gracefully.
It was a maneuver I had perfected by falling off cliffs.

Thump, I placed my hand on its thumb and evaded the attack.

—KABOOOM!

The gatekeeper’s palms created a massive clap of sound, but I wasn’t in it.

Instead, I had landed cleanly on its chest.

I raised my sword high.
Its tip was aimed not at the sky, but at its core.

“Let’s see just how hard you are.”

-CRACK!

I plunged my sword straight down.

The core felt quite hard, but it was nothing compared to the rest of its body.

I grit my teeth and poured all my strength and will into the sword.

With a crack, the sword slowly began to dig into the core.

Proof……!

It seemed to be working, as the gatekeeper let out a painful groan.

“Yeah, I’ll prove it to you right now.”

I didn’t stop.

-CRACK!

The sensation of something shattering was transmitted through my fingertips.

Pro…

The blue light in the core, and in the gatekeeper’s eyes, faded away.

Following that, with a rumble, the mountain-like body fell backward.

“Phew… That was not an easy opponent.”

[She’s not human.]
[How’d you do it, you crazy b*tch.]

With this, the proof was complete.

After dusting off the newly risen dust, something caught my eye.

It was a red orb, a stark contrast to the core.

Strangely enough, it looked like it would fit perfectly into that hole from before.

“Let’s see….”

Just as I thought, the orb fit perfectly into the hole.
So perfectly it gave me goosebumps.

–Rumble…

Then, with a majestic sound, the stone wall slowly began to open, creating an entrance for the one who was qualified.

Beyond it, a pitch-black, unknown space was welcoming me.

“Alright, everyone. Shall we head inside?”

[Alright, let’s go~]
[Fck, I’m so fcking nervous lol.]

One step, and then another.

I finally set foot into a strange, new world.