episode_0053

The entrance to the dungeon itself was nothing special.

Go down the stairs, and the dark road divides into two.

Brian and his group followed hesitantly, and as soon as they got down, they hurriedly took the right path.

“Ian!”

Helena said, looking nervous yet strangely excited.

“Yes.”

“I’m worried about one thing!”

“What is it?”

“Stir… Wouldn’t it be dangerous to wear clothes made of fabric like this?”

At MacDerlin Abbey, Helena wore plate armor.

It is designed to cover only the necessary areas, such as the chest, arms, shoulders, and front of the legs.

However, now she is wearing a black nun’s uniform.

Tailor’s slightly modified version of the existing nun’s uniform design is tight-fitting but elastic, and has a long slit on the skirt to make it easy to move around.

The important thing is not just that it is easy to move.

“That was enchanted.”

“… Yes?”

“Ne?”

“Yes?”

All three people were surprised at the same time.

“… Did you really think that I would just wear that cloth and send it into battle?”

“That… yes! Honestly, I did!”

“Are you being too honest these days? I like it though.”

Vivian glanced down at her clothes.

She wore the white wizard’s robe that Taylor had tailored for her.

“The same goes for Vivian. Grade 4 hardening and environmental adaptation enchantments are applied. Both are stronger than most plate armor.”

“… … .”

Iris looked at Helena and Vivian’s clothes in turn.

“A level 4 enchantment at the temporary warrior level… . The general manager introduces himself as a great manager, but he is not ordinary.”

I guess I didn’t tell you that I was the manager before the first party.

Or maybe they didn’t know even if I told them.

“How much is level 4?”

Iris did the explanation.

The way he pushes up his glasses and makes his eyes shine seems to be a personality that likes explaining things.

“The lowest level of enchantment is level 9, and the lower the number, the higher the quality. Prices increase exponentially. Therefore, a level 4 may seem like a mid-level rank, but in reality, you have to be an official warrior, that is, a level C or higher to barely be able to think about it. Not even one, but two… It would have to be at the top of C level.”

Helena and Vivian looked down at their clothes with different eyes than before.

Helena suddenly raised her weapon and asked.

“Well, then perhaps these too… !”

What she was carrying was a kite shield and a mace.

It’s not really special.

“It’s not them.”

“I see!”

Vivian has a nice gift that Taylor happened to give her, but she has no intention of putting effort into the equipment from the beginning.

Rather, skills must be supported first.

Still, safety was my top priority, so I wore nice clothes.

“Then let’s go now.”

“Yes! Oh, sorry! It was delayed because of me! If you don’t hurry, the other person will get there first… !”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“Yes?”

“Even if we leave late, the Maseok is definitely ours.”

And artifacts too.

***

The path to this dungeon is shaped like an ‘A’.

The structure is such that each person starts off and then meets at the end of the road.

There is a large stone door at the point where the party joins, and beyond that is the space where the dungeon boss is.

The party that arrives first can open the stone door and fight the boss, but the core of this dungeon is different.

It is impossible to kill the boss if certain conditions are not met.

Ian knows the hidden condition, and on the other hand, it is almost impossible for the other person to know it.

Therefore, Ian was very leisurely, just like Vivian did in the first dungeon, and only chose Helena to adapt to the actual battle.

In line with the theory that we are strong when alone and even stronger when we are together.

“Vivian is practicing behind the scenes, trying to use magic that she doesn’t know yet.”

“Yes. I will.”

Iris politely asked various questions without disturbing Ian.

As a scholar, I had a lot of questions, and since I only lived in a lab, I found the scene in the field fascinating.

I felt like he was trying to be careful and polite, so Ian answered as best he could.

Are all heroes like this, is there a reason why only Ian is like this, what is the structure of each dungeon, etc.

Since he was the person who invented the warp portal, there was no reason to treat him badly.

In the meantime, it was all Helena’s responsibility to deal with the enemies.

In front of her stood the wooden golem that Ian had told her about in advance.

A golem that is half as tall as Helena, and fights by transforming its wooden body parts into similar human weapons.

Helena didn’t have to fight as hard as Vivian.

Just block and look for any openings.

What Ian expected from her was to utilize that miracle of protection.

However, there was one condition.

The wooden golem looking down at Helena slashed its deformed arm with its axe.

Helena held out her shield and watched the movement until the end.

Just before the ax blade touches the shield.

‘now!’

The protection was activated at the right time.

-bang!

The wooden golem blocked by the protection fell backwards with a loud noise.

Helena turned off the protection and rushed in to finish the attack.

Since Vivian had not yet mastered the new magic, Ian taught Helena a special method.

Turn on protection only when necessary, and turn it off as soon as it is no longer needed.

Although it is not a skill, it is useful to be able to freely turn protection on and off at any time, as it is good for efficient use of mana and is less likely to interfere with teammates.

Helena moved forward and stayed true to Ian’s teachings of ‘block and then attack’.

-bang!

Just by hitting the protective guard, the golem loses its balance and falls.

This is Helena’s own talent, as Ian sees it.

A miracle of innate protection.

Unreasonable rebound force that causes the attacked target to lose its posture.

‘this… .’

-bang!

‘My talent… .’

Every time I see a golem tripping over my own protection.

Every time I defeat my enemy so easily.

Every time Ian shows off his discovered talent.

A warm feeling rises in my chest.

‘This is what Ian saw in me… .’

Prove your worth and demonstrate your talent.

He further imprints what Ian recognized, and at the same time, he recognizes his own value.

Helena sighed and turned around.

Iris was writing something down as if she was curious.

Vivian was still groaning as if her magic wasn’t working well.

Ian smiles contentedly as he watches Helena, makes eye contact, and nods.

“You’re good at it. You can just continue today as you are now.”

“Yes! Thank you!”

Helena went ahead again.

Soon, two wooden golems came out at the same time.

Helena was not embarrassed and calmly watched the two.

Even I became surprisingly calm.

‘There are two targets… . The two weapons are different. One side is a relatively short sword. On the other side is a long spear.’

You should not adapt and be satisfied with the simple pattern of blocking and hitting.

We must constantly think cross-analyzing ourselves and the enemy.

I remember Ian’s advice.

‘A battle is something you fight after already winning it in your head… .’

The difference in reach between the two weapons directly leads to a time difference in attack arrival.

It will probably be a brief moment where you don’t have to worry about it.

Just turn on the protection and calmly block them one by one.

Ian also told me to just do it the same way, but I don’t like it.

I’m greedy.

I want to do more, better, better.

It’s the same today.

Working hard doesn’t work.

You have to do well.

And today, I feel confident that I can do really well.

“Hmph!”

Helena rolled her body and entered between the two golems at once.

The weapon was slightly closer to the shorter golem.

Immediately afterwards, the two golems threw down their weapons.

Helena, crouching, raised her shield and activated protection at the right time.

-Kwakwang!

The moment when the two hit the protective shield at the same time and fell.

He raised his body and struck one with his mace, then immediately struck the other with the underside of the kite shield.

– Quad deuk!

Block at the same time and finish at the same time.

The flow I organized in my head was implemented exactly in reality.

“Whoa, whoa… .”

I’m out of breath.

It’s not because it’s difficult.

I am so happy.

I feel like the excitement, confidence, and indescribable happiness that fill my heart will explode.

Helena looked back at Ian.

A slightly surprised face.

It didn’t just meet Ian’s expectations, it exceeded them.

I could tell by that expression.

“Iaaan-!”

“Why are you running again? . Breathe!”

Helena jumped in a fit and threw herself at Ian.

“Well, well, how was it! This is it! This is what Ian expected from me! Is that correct?! Right?!”

“It’s not like they’re getting it, but it’s true anyway. No, honestly, that was just… You did much better than I expected.”

“Wooo!”

Ian recalled the first time Vivian faced King Slime.

Vivian ran and lured a swarm of slimes to deal with them, but stayed still on purpose to target the core of the king slime.

In order to reduce the difference in reach between the two golems, Helena got closer and solved the problem at the same time.

Both are much stronger in practice.

Ian seriously considered whether he should retract his belief that Helena was a dunce.

It was a very pleasant thought.

On the other hand, Vivian became a little anxious.

*

“I guess we came first?”

Eileen said, standing in front of the large stone door.

By his side were Brian, Dominic, and Claudia.

I arrived at the boss room door without difficulty.

Claudia looked at the path Vivian and her group should have taken and shook her head.

“No matter how good you are, there are only two people in the end, and that’s natural.”

Two and four people.

Although there are only two in numbers, the effect when they cooperate is much greater, so in reality there will be more than two.

Brian also clicked his tongue.

“Tsk. If you look at it honestly, that strange maid overpowered us back then. Vivian, that bitch isn’t like that, is she?”

Everyone agreed.

I still feel like I’m going to wet myself when I think about that maid.

I don’t know why, but when I think of Vivian, the fear of that time comes to mind, but less so than that maid.

Everyone pretended to be stronger because they didn’t want to remember the ugly scenes from back then.

“What on earth happened to you guys?”

Even when the manager asked, no one gave a clear answer.

“Oh, I just met a guy I used to know and said hello.”

Dominic only gave a cursory answer.

“Even if you don’t know what it is, let’s not get into trouble… . That guy named Ian is a scary person.”

“Even so, the manager is just being rude… .”

“I’m sorry that the same manager is being rude. And you were the person in charge of the first party? Besides that, it is famous for its bad side… .”

“Why is such a person here? He must have been kicked out because he was useless at first glance.”

“Ahh… . Let’s stop talking.”

Still, since I was able to clear the dungeon before my opponent, the manager decided to hold on.

Brian opened the stone door without hesitation.

Soon a wide cavity was revealed, and in the middle of it was a boss monster.

A large wooden golem more than twice the height of a strong male.

“… What is it?”

The problem is, there were 5 boss monsters.

“What… Why are there so many?”

“Isn’t there usually just one boss in a golem dungeon?”

“Well, how do I know that? The order ended a few weeks before the guild dispatched investigators.”

“All you have to do is sleep with the five of them and defeat them one by one.”

Brian stepped forward confidently.

Although others were embarrassed, they felt the same way.

These were temporary warriors who were scheduled to be promoted to D grade soon.

This is an E-level dungeon, and I thought the level was different compared to Vivian, who had just become F-level.

Four people took up positions and faced five large wooden golems.

A few tens of minutes later.

“What… . These things show no signs of dying!”

“You’re not using magic properly?!”

“Don’t be a damn thing! You must be weak!”

No matter how much we fought, the five bosses didn’t even have a scratch.

*

As you can see from the A-shaped structure of this dungeon, there is a part that continues in the middle of the road.

There is nothing here so everyone passes by, but Ian knows a hidden path there.

And only by breaking the barrier stone of the hidden path can you inflict damage to the boss monster.

‘If you become a B-rank hero, you might be able to suppress him with force. Anything below that is impossible.’

Ian was in the middle, tapping his foot on the floor.

Vivian and Helena, who had heard him talk, were repeating similar actions.

Only Iris, who didn’t know the purpose, was confused and watched the rather funny sight of the three of them pounding on the floor.

“What is this… Ah, any magical ritual… .”

“It’s not like that. In this dungeon… .”

“Ah! I found it!”

Vivian shouted.

Plump, a sound echoes where she tapped her foot.

Ian approached and stamped his foot hard, causing the floor to collapse large enough for one person to fall.

“I will go down first, so follow me.”

“What is this?”

A embarrassed Iris raised her glasses and asked.

“It is a hidden path. If you don’t use this path, you won’t be able to beat this dungeon.”

Ian said indifferently and got down.

Helena, Vivian, and Iris followed.

It is a narrow street that one person can barely pass through.

“Ian, how do you know this!”

“That’s right. The guild said earlier that they don’t know yet.”

“Hmm… . I have a lot of experience exploring similar dungeons.”

I was just recalling something I had picked up through memory correction, but it wasn’t really a lie.

He’s actually solved quite a few similar hidden dungeons.

In the middle of the road, the corner widened and a round space appeared.

There was a bumpy, fist-sized jewel embedded in the bottom of it.

Iris asked.

“What is this?”

“This is the barrier stone of the dungeon boss monster. I have to take it out like this.”

When Ian lifted the jewel, the soft light that had been emitting disappeared.

“You can clear this dungeon.”

“Oh… . I wonder what kind of magical principle there is… . If you don’t mind me being rude, could I… .”

“Take it.”

This barrier stone has no particular monetary value.

I don’t want to do research, but I don’t know how to do it and I need various facilities.

In many ways, it was something Ian didn’t need.

Since Iris might invent something new, I happily handed it over.

“Thank you! We will be sure to report Ian’s achievements to our Imperial Wizards!”

“Why so much… .”

The group moved forward, and there was a stone gate at the end of the road.

I opened it and went out, leading to the side of the cavity where the boss was.

“It’s been five years?”

“And it’s huge! That’s the last enemy in this dungeon!”

And in front of the five wooden golems, there was Brian and his group who were about to fall.

Ian thought for a moment.

‘On the verge of being unable to fight. No matter what I do, they won’t be able to break this dungeon. Should I focus more on training… .’

“Ian! Can we do it like before?”

“I’m ready.”

“Hmm… . Let’s just answer one condition.”

Although the two practiced individually and became close friends, they never trained together.

At this point, Ian decided to conduct their first cooperative training in real combat.

“To put it bluntly, Vivian alone can annihilate those five units right now. But then there would be no point in them coming together.”

“That’s right!”

“So, the two of you fight together.”

“Sum… What do you mean?”

“Hmm… . I’ve never tried it… .”

Vivian and Helena made eye contact, then looked at Ian again.

“Let’s try!”

“I will.”

If Ian says to do it, do it.

There was no question.

It’s my first time, but it doesn’t mean I don’t know how to do it at all.

I often heard theories from Ian about what position the two should be in and how they should act in a real-life situation.

“I will take the lead!”

“Yes. Don’t get hurt, Helena.”

Vivian took a wide look at the cavity first.

“… It’s a bit dark.”

It’s not as bright as where King Slime was, but it’s not bright enough.

“I’ll reveal it.”

Vivian raised her wand.

*

Brian and his group were getting tired of facing an enemy that could not be defeated at all.

And when Vivian and her group came out from the side of the cave, I thought I had made a mistake.

Why is there a door in a place like that?

How do they get out of there?

After that, each person evaluated it as not being helpful.

If they had come a little earlier and cooperated, they wouldn’t have been hurt like this.

What can Vivian do in this situation?

The moment you laugh and think about running away.

Vivian raised her wand, and a large light appeared in the center of the cavity.

A light so bright and huge that it blinds one’s eyes.

Towards a battlefield where four enchanted people can barely hold out.

Helena and Vivian trudged over.