[I tried to upload at least 7 today, but the website is just way too slow. We should be upgrading it tonight, so… rip.]
Towards dreams and hope!
But there was a huge difference between our skills. How could a famous S-rank Hero be on par with an unnamed mage? I didn’t even have to fight. The Spirit of Fire artificially detonated the magician’s fireball in the air, while the Spirit of Water extinguished it to avoid victims.
Chii…
The smoking elf mage was about to flee, but the Spirit of the Wind knocked her down with a strong gust, and the Spirit of the Earth buried her hands and feet in the ground. The Spirit of Ether was the last to enter the battle. He clouded the mind of the elf mage.
“Kyaaaa- ?!”
The elf who screamed in horror could no longer use her magic. I easily jumped off the 2nd floor of the hotel room. Spreading the wings of the just Hero, I landed in front of the elf.
”I want to ask you something.”
“Hmph! You think I’ll just tell you everything…”
“Never say it.”
“Eh?”
”I’ve accumulated stress due to recent events. Not every time, there is a chance for legal self-defense. The just Hero, who was suddenly attacked, wanted to settle everything peacefully, but the evil elf refused, so there is no other choice…Huhu♪”
I grabbed the elf and covered her mouth with my hand.
“Umm?!”
“Miss elf, I wanted to settle everything peacefully. It was you who refused to speak right away.”
“Uuup?!”
Grabbing Magician E, I then went back to the room.
*
King Dragon Noebius gave me a spank, Green Cake’s upbringing was too slow, and on top of that, I had to restrain myself so as not to break the imperial princess’s neck. It was a half month full of suffering! I felt proud of myself for holding back so far.
However, because of this, I found myself under some enormous stress.
“What wonderful weather today!”
But now I was awake, thanks to the elf who agreed to cooperate with the noble Hero. This elf also kindly shared not only important information but also experience points. How could you hate her? Because of this, I calmly decided to hide it in my heart.
“This is shocking…” Healer E muttered to herself.
“That’s right. Shocking, isn’t it. I, too, could only laugh when, after ten years of my hard work, my companions decided to betray me.”
As I recalled the first playthrough, anger immediately sneaked through. My companions always had only interfered and performed hypocritical acts. I suffered while correcting the evil that they had done. However, they repaid me with betrayal! They entered into a conspiracy and decided to deal with me after I dealt with the Demon Lord.
Healer E, as if correcting me, replied. “No. Shockingly, you’re still a Hero.”
“Why?”
“Well…um…I didn’t live as long as the Fire Knight, but I’ve seen many Heroes in my life. This is the first time I’ve seen one like you.”
“I know.”
Where else could you find an S-rank Hero who knocked down the Demon Lord just one day after being summoned? As we suspected, the Fire Knight was a traitor. She planned to return to Elfheim, having dealt with all her colleagues who knew the truth. Demons kidnaped the Queen, so the only thing left to do was deal with the Five Knights, and then no one would know the truth.
“But Hero. Are you going to go there?”
“Of course.”
We quickly made our way to the place the Fire Knight had pointed out to us through the Magic Circle of Spatial Transfer. In this world, the title Hero Chosen by the God of the Fantasy World did little. You couldn’t rely on the help of residents because all they had in mind was how to exploit the Hero.
However, if you had money, everything would change immediately. Residents of cities and villages immediately became friends, and the manner of speech of beautiful girls became softer. The same happened when you crossed the border. If you gave a patrolman some money for a drink, he would believe that I was a Hero, even if I didn’t show the Holy Sword.
“Troooooog?!”
“Troooooom?!”
“Throoooox?!”
As we walked, we encountered brown trolls. It was evident from their faces that they were extremely hungry, but they decided to run away as soon as they saw my smile. This was an insult to the smiling Hero!
▷ Race: Wood Troll
▷ Level: 247
▷ Specialization: Rogue (Weak → Luck↑)
▷ Skills: Fortitude D, Tracking E, Run D, Heart D, Luck F
▷ Condition: Fear, Hunger
They were slightly stronger than normal trolls, averaging around level 150, and there were three of them. They could easily beat down new parties, but everything’s relative.
“Trook?!”
“Trooooob?!”
“Troooof!”
This time the Spirits dealt with them. As soon as the Spirits dwelling in my armpits and between my legs leaned out to give the order, the familiar spirits hovering around immediately got down to business. And these Spirits were considered innocent? Still, the inhabitants of the fantasy world had a wild way of thinking.
Anyway…
We were heading for the Holy Kingdom bordering the Sea Kingdom. In the central continent, this country had the most heroes. Unlike the Holy Empire, which was known in the central continent for its large territory and military power that deified the emperor, the Holy Kingdom worshiped the God of the fantasy world and was a religious state. It is from there that Saint A and the mermaid Aqua originally lived.
“Is this the right way?” Healer E asked carefully, having become obedient after I delivered her from the demon curse. I could only say one thing.
“What if it’s not? What are you going to do?”
“N-No, nothing…”
Although I gagged Healer E, I was also annoyed. I realized that the place the Fire Knight talked about was one of the dungeons that I had visited before. During the first playthrough, I visited the Holy Kingdom and explored this dungeon at the request of Saint A. I didn’t know there was a secret passage. If there were a simple treasure chest hidden in it, I would be okay with it. However…
“A device that moves to Earth…”
That’s what the Fire Knight said. There was mechanical equipment in the place where the escape scroll moved her. It seemed unclear where the mechanical equipment could come from in the fantasy world, but in the northern continent, they had somehow made a super robot.
Not only were they skilled, but the dwarves from the southern continent, home of magical engineering, had the best technology in all of Fantasy. So, anything was possible. One of the older Heroes could have gotten bored of the motherland and created a device that embodied the magic of dimensional transfer. I don’t know if he managed to return to his homeland, but maybe I would find out when I got there.
“I don’t understand,” Healer E, who followed me, broke the silence.
”What?”
”The Kingdom of Elfheim is west of the continent, and the Holy Kingdom is in the east. Between them is a land of people and a lake where mermaids live, so it’s difficult to walk there. Why did the queen choose such a place to escape? Besides, there is also a dungeon…”
“Ask her yourself later,” I shrugged and walked on.
You could ask her when I go to the Demon Lord’s fortress; I don’t want to waste time on unnecessary guesswork. The dungeon we’re heading to is located in the very center of the forest, known in the Holy Kingdom for being full of monsters. If you look from afar, it would seem that there was only white stone, but if you look closely, you could understand that this was a temple buried in the ground due to a landslide or earthquake.
There were two ways to enter this dungeon: dig at random to find a normal entrance or, using the clock tower peeping out of the ground, go down there like chimney sweeps. I chose the second one.
“Healer E, have you never been here?”
“No, this is my first time here.”
A little suspicious, but I don’t think she’s lying. Healer E didn’t need to lie.
“Follow me.”
In the 1st attempt, I went down the rope. But now I had the wings of a just Hero, thanks to which I descended without even lifting a finger.
”How can I get down?” Healer E asked a stupid question from the top of the clock tower.
“That’s your problem, so why are you asking me?”
“Um…I thought you would take me in your arms, and we would go down together.”
“Was our relationship close enough to face each other chest-to-chest?”
More precisely, we have a relationship between a master and a slave.
“I’m sorry, I must be confused.”
“Well, but now you know.”
After I landed, Healer E jumped down from the tower without a rope. But she didn’t die. One of the innate qualities of the elves was lightweight, thanks to which Healer E zigzagged down the walls of the tower. Such mastery was possible thanks to her body being above level 999.
I clicked my tongue at the calm Healer E. Not because I didn’t like her solution, but because I remembered how hard it was climbing the rope in the first attempt. At that time, it was really…
►Suggestion: Doesn’t that show how much stronger you have become, Kang Han Soo?
Wow, Miss Trainee, are you interested?
► Indifference: I just do what I have to, as an intern. And not because I’m interested in the device with which it will be possible to return to Earth without the help of the God of the fantasy world.
Well, so be it. I brushed off cobwebs and dust. If tomb robbers and adventurers hadn’t come here, it would have been full of cobwebs and dust, but thanks to them, my clothes didn’t get very dirty. They washed it with their clothes first.
There were a few proud heroes of the Holy Kingdom among the robbers.
“Hero, isn’t it dark for you?”
“It doesn’t bother me.”
Even without the help of the Sight and Secret Murder skills, I could see well in the dark, thanks to the race Natural Man. Receiving the protection of nature, I saw this world differently. I don’t look at things with my eyes and with the help of the information received, but instead, I distinguish objects by whether they were filled with nature or not.
“Oh…apparently, it only worries me. I will light a fire.”
Healer E used the Spirit of Fire. A girl with hair burning like a torch appeared and whirled around me, not Healer E.
“Hmm…I’m too popular…”
“Ah?! My friendliness with spirits is falling! ”
Healer E screamed in horror when the Spirit of Fire left her.
“Hush. This is a dungeon.”
“So-sorry…”
We moved quickly forward. One had to be careful not to step on the trap, but I’d already been here, so it was nothing to me. Bloody Lanuvel…I remembered how much I suffered because she deliberately stepped on the traps.
Healer E whispered. “You seem to have been here before. You step forward without fear.”
“I have. Was it twenty years ago? Or twenty-two?”
I no longer remember how many years it had been. But I remembered the exact structure of the dungeon. And soon…
“Guoooo…”
“Guoooo…”
Shivering voices were heard. And in the darkness, eyes appeared, glowing green, like wandering lights. In the 1st playthrough, this also happened around here. It was time to appear to the fools who had fallen into the traps here.
▷ Race: Ghoul
▷ Level: 475
▷ Specialization: Hero (Experience 200%)
▷ Skills: Composure A, Steadfastness A, Unbreakable Body B, Javelin Throw B, Roar B …
▷ Condition: Hunger, Void
No matter how high their levels were, the trapped adventurers died of hunger. And then they wandered around here, trying to turn the rest of the losers into the same monsters.
“Hmm…I came early.”
The beautiful face of the ghoul, which I had seen for the first time, appeared in front of me. Level 475! If we met in my 1st playthrough, it would be a tough fight. But in front of me now, this was nothing.
I simply cut and proceeded… And after a while, we arrived at our destination. If you walk a little more, you will find yourself in the center, where the treasury is located, but I wasn’t interested in those antiques. There was a trap in the form of a deep pit, and at the bottom, there were steel spikes. Who knew there was a secret passage in such a place?
“That’s why dungeons are interesting.”
Clinging to the wall with my wings and going down, I smiled.
It was easy to miss in such a place, but down there in the blind spot of the cliff that could be inadvertently passed; there was indeed the passage that the Fire Knight spoke of.
Pitapat ~
For the first time in a long time, my heart pounded. A dungeon that a Hero with twenty-five years of experience didn’t know about? I had a suspicion that my dreams and hopes would come true here.
