Chapter 169

[Blech . ]

Please refrain from making such nauseating sounds . I feel like I'm going to vomit again .

I endured it without saying anything out loud, and instead muttered inwardly .

The holy sword was sufficiently tormented in the process of extracting the dragon's heart .

The holy sword, retching a few more times, said .

[I'll go inside and rest a little bit . ]

"Where are you going?"

[My room . ]

The holy sword turned silent towards the end of his reply .

There's a room inside of the sword?

Is there by any chance a bathroom inside as well?

It wasn't just the holy sword, Seregia was also grumbling and making sounds .

"Were you really that nauseous?"

[No, it's not that . I'm just . . . I’m feeling a bit strange . I think it's because of the battle before . I feel as though my feelings and eccentricities have been enhanced after becoming a sword . ]

The feeling of becoming a sword .

Seregia's already a sword .

Seregia probably calmed down as she returned to her calm voice and said .

[Warrior, is that it?]

After she said that, I looked directly at the dragon's heart .

It was a red shade overall, but I could see numerous black spots on the heart .

The heart seemed to be as big as an armful, had an intense foul stench, and radiated with an ominous energy .

The cause of the dragon corpse’s foul smell seemed to be this heart .

Just being close to the heart would give you a feeling of disgust .

That's why I was standing pretty far away from the heart right now .

However, the clear condition definitely stated that I had to acquire the earth dragon's treasure .

If that heart is the earth dragon's treasure, I have to obtain it .

However, what's the criteria for acquiring it?

Do I have to put that dirty, unpleasant, and foul-smelling heart into my arms?

I really don't want to .

At that time, a message appeared .

[Tutorial, Hell Difficulty, 27th floor, cleared . ]

[All status effects and injuries are healed . ]

[You have received 5000 points for clearing the floor . ]

[You have received 5000 points for being the first to clear the floor . ]

[Many gods react positively to you . You have received 6000 points . ]

[Many gods react negatively to you . 3300 points have been deducted . ]

[All the gods of the Temple of a Hundred Gods are watching you . ]

[You have received an additional 2200 points . ]

What a relief .

If that dragon heart wasn't the earth dragon's treasure, I would've had to search every nook and cranny of the dungeon .

"It seems like that's the right one . "

[Then what do we do now?]

"We've done everything we needed to do . We just need to take this and return," I said, as I looked at the magic circle beneath my feet .

Seregia summed up this phenomenon simply .

[That's convenient . ]

I was glad she accepted it so easily so I wouldn't have to explain the tutorial system to her .

If she became curious, this would've become much more troublesome .

I can't truthfully explain it to her due to the system’s restraints, so I would've had to make something up .

And I would've had to continue to play along with my lie .

[Warrior, then what are you going to do with that?]

Seregia spoke without hands or even a face, but I could easily tell what she was referring to .

She was referring to the female kid guide who was crawling through the hole in the stone gate .

I had cleaned up all the monsters on the way here from the middle floor, opening a safe path for that kid .

[Let's kill her before going . ]

"Do we really need to?"

[I don't feel like that child will trouble us in the future . However, you don't really have a reasonnot to kill her . She can also be a stain on your reputation in the future . Please finish this up and then go . ]

"It's fine . Let's just go . "

I cleaned the bloodstains on the holy sword and stood atop the portal .

I was about to transport, but then I heard Seregia .

[That child is lucky . ]

"What?"

[There's the dragon's corpse . If she takes just a few of those scales, she'll be able to make a fortune . If she somehow gets out, she'll be able to live without ever worrying about money ever again . ]

Or on the contrary, she may be met with disaster because of those scales .

Well, whatever .

Whether that kid leads a wealthy life from now on .

Or dies without being able to escape the dungeon .

Or is killed by other people outside .

Regardless of what this kid's story is henceforth .

It didn't matter .

I reaffirmed my indifference towards that kid once more, and teleported through the portal .

* * * * * *

"Blech . The smell . "

I was transported to the field, and Kiri Kiri covered her nose as soon as I encountered her .

Kiri Kiri had been scribbling something on the floor, and stretched her hand in front of me .

A cozy warm wind blew from her palm .

I felt the lingering foul stench and the ominous energy vanish .

"Thanks . It if it had remained any longer, I was going to vomit again . "

"Heng . I hate this stage . It's always like this," Kiri Kiri said, pouting .

It seems like I had cleared the stage through a tried and true method .

The words "it's always like this" meant that the other challengers had also extracted the dead dragon's heart .

"But it's actually not like that . "

"Could you explain it to me in more detail?"

"In how much detail?" Kiri Kiri said, sitting down in her spot .

I followed suit and sat down as well .

As I sat down, I felt a certain emptiness at my waist; the holy sword and the soul sword which were strapped to my belt had disappeared .

They should be inside my inventory .

The holy sword is probably going to complain about something again .

I responded to Kiri Kiri's question .

"Just what's necessary for the person behind me to tackle the stage . "

"Honestly, you can just leave that kind of thing to me . Because that's my role . Hooooujae, you don't really need the advice . I'm not giving you much information, but I'll give the person after you, Hooooujae, as much advice as I can . "

That's true . Giving people advice about the stages is Kiri Kiri's role .

She was also happy to do her job .

But she may have thought of it as me overstepping my authority here .

"Nope . It's nothing like that . "

"It's because I want to prepare for my growth in the stages ahead . Also, the more advice, the better . ”

After Kiri Kiri listened to me, she placed her finger at her cheek with a thoughtful look . .

"First, you have to pick the right guide . There are several guides in the town . In order to request a guide, you have to improve your reputation within the town by doing this and that in order to gain the guide's trust . "

"But there wasn't anything like that for me?"

"That's because you frightened the first guide, Hooooujae . "

I think I understand what she's talking about .

The old lady that I met in the town said that I was a monster and she had no interest in taking a stroll with me before running away .

"The guide that accompanied you was honestly the worst, Hooooujae . "

She was the worst?

I had thought that she was lacking in various ways .

"Then… The other guides won't threaten you in the dungeon or be covetous of the challenger's possessions?"

"They will . "

Then they're no different from the worst .

"The degree at which they do is different though . They're a bit smarter and you can talk to them . When you've passed the upper floor and upper-middle floor, they're also more useful . You have to win over the guide in the town that way . In the middle floor, you have to convince the guide once more . The guide is quite finicky so they won't go down to the lowest floor . You have to offer them the right price, or threaten them with force . "

So it wasn't easy after all .

If the challenger doesn't figure out how to find the right path in the dungeon, then the guide obtains the position of power .

It shouldn't be easy to convince them .

As the kid guide was fine with us both dying together if she were in a pinch .

"Then what about when you're in the lowest floor?"

"If you go all the way there with your guide, everything's pretty much been taken care of, so I don't think I really need to explain that . "

I see .

That's because you can just progress the same way I did if you reached the lowest floor on your own without a guide .

"In return, if you progress without a guide like you did, Hooooujae, you'd have to find the right path yourself, defeat the dragon, have a high poison resistance and paralysis resistance, as well as a fear resistance skill . "

If it's possible, you should go together with a guide .

I could advise the next challenger, Lee Hyung Jin to raise his resistance skills, but I don't think he'd actually be able to raise his resistances .

It’s hard for people to raise their resistance skills .

Even more than I had thought .

I had roughly sated my curiosity for the 27th floor .

Now it was time to ask about other things .

"Heng . You can't, though . "

I ignored Kiri Kiri and asked my question .

"Tell me a method of increasing the difficulty of progression in the next floor stage . "

I want an even higher difficulty .

I want an even more dangerous and more difficult trial .

I want more death and more danger .

I had felt that danger from encountering the dragon and it may have been because the fight had ended so hollowly, but I felt a greater sense of yearning than before .

In order to run up against difficulty like that, I needed specific conditions .

For example, like how I had provoked the summoned Demon King on the 26th floor, inducing him into using his full strength .

Kiri Kiri sighed rather than reply .

"You can't . There'll be an accident that way . You're not supposed to recklessly use those methods . For example, if you made a mistake on the 27th floor, the dungeon could end up collapsing on top of you . If that happens, even you would be helplessly crushed to death, Hooooujae . "

"The stage's setting, the dungeon, can also collapse?"

"It can . Don't think about randomly raising the difficulty level . If you go up the floors, clearing will naturally become tougher . Be patient . "

It was disappointing, but I decided to accept it .

Aside from the difficulty, there could actually be an accident that I can't avoid .

More importantly, this was the first time that Kiri Kiri refused to give me any information .

I didn't have to endure danger to the point that I ignored her advice .

"Don't worry . The next stage will be difficult even for you, Hooooujae . "

I wonder .

That's because I've heard that more than once or twice and I've been disappointed with the stage's difficulty .

* * * * * *

After I had listened to all her advice regarding the stage, I decided to take a nap in the field; it was something I hadn't done in a long time .

Kiri Kiri had continuously advised me to rest and it had been a really long time since I'd had proper sleep .

I laid a mat onto the floor and laid down .

The instant I was about to close my eyes, messages appeared .

[Kim Min Hyuk, 30th floor: What are up to? Are you busy?]

I was about to sleep .

Though I wasn't busy .

[Lee Ho Jae, 28th floor: I'm not busy . ]

[Kim Min Hyuk, 30th floor: So you've already gotten to the 28th floor . I remember a few days ago that you were on the 25th floor, though . ]

[Lee Ho Jae, 28th floor: Yeah . What? Is something wrong?]

I responded curtly .

In response, Kim Min Hyuk said that there were no problems, but there were things he wanted to talk to me about .

Honestly, what would Kim Min Hyuk have to talk to me about?

He would just tell me about this and that and how they're progressing .

In any case, it's because I also hold a key position in the Order of Vigilance .

Kim Min Hyuk told me about how they were communicating with the Korean government .

Whatever the Order of Vigilance or challengers wanted to say could be communicated through the challengers that had cleared the tutorial and gotten outside .

However, relaying what the outside wanted to say to the inside was extremely difficult .

The sole method was relaying messages to the newly entering challengers, but these new challengers would be selected randomly .

Ultimately, they would have to broadcast those messages nationwide .

In order for all the people in Korea to know .

However, in this scenario, there's no way to relay the type of information that the public cannot know .

[Kim Min Hyuk, 30th floor: Therefore, we're making secret codes . But we also can't have someone who doesn't know the secret codes figuring them out . It's quite tricky . ]

Even so, it wasn't an area I could help them with .

I just continued to listen to Kim Min Hyuk's complaints .

[Kim Min Hyuk, 30th floor: We also thought of a way to send messages to a small amount of people . ]

[Lee Ho Jae, 28th floor: How? You never know who or when they'll be summoned . ]

[Kim Min Hyuk, 30th floor: We'll send the message to a few people, and pray that they'll be summoned . ]

You should really pray diligently then .

Amongst the population of 50 million Koreans, only 100 people are summoned per round .

Even if you roughly think about it, the chances of the designated individual being summoned are 500,000:1 .

Adding a few more people won't change the odds much .

I yawned while thinking that .

Since I had suffered insomnia on the stage, I hadn't been able to sleep properly, but I could get a good night's sleep for at least a few hours on this field .

Right when I closed my eyes, I felt tired .

As soon as I felt drowsy, I couldn't see the messages properly .

No, even though I saw them with my eyes, I couldn't comprehend the contents of the messages .

[Kim Min Hyuk, 30th floor: . . . This round is almost over too . First, if we gather more information from the next round newbies, we should be able to hear about the supermen that appeared in China . . . ]

I suppressed my sleepiness, and saw the messages, but then I had a thought .

That this had become a conversation that didn't really concern me .

The latest in the community were noisy regarding this subject .

They wanted to know about their lives following their clear and going outside .

They predicted that they'd be used as test subjects in labs, or be used as human weapons in the army, or that they'd become heroes in a world where monsters were causing chaos, or that they'd become the hope of humanity, or they even thought that they'd become a new race of mankind .

There were truly countless stories .

That's because whenever the challengers had time to spare, they would talk about that subject .

However, I had felt like it had nothing to do with me .

I had secretly wanted the Tutorial to go on forever .

Even if I did go outside, I didn't want to be labeled a monster and live in solitude .

I wouldn't have any goals or any stimulation, and I didn't want to live a dry life until the day I died of old age .

Of course, my thoughts had changed now and I had a goal I wanted to achieve once I got out of the Tutorial .

However, that goal wasn't limited to just outside the Tutorial, Korea, or even the Earth .

I thought I was a little strange when I thought that .

"Kiri Kiri . "

" . . . Uh, yeah?"

I called Kiri Kiri, who was sitting atop the mat .

It seemed as though Kiri Kiri was thinking of something else, as she responded a bit late to my voice .

"Kiri Kiri, you can press the message window, right?"

"Yeah . I can, why?"

"Then could you talk to him a little bit for me?"

"How?"

"Just say 'I see' . Yeah . Oh . Right . I understand . Do as you please . It's fine if you just respond like that . "

" . . . Is that ok?"

Kiri Kiri's round eyes rolled around here and there, speaking with a anxious expression .

"It's fine . I usually respond like that anyway . Then, I'm counting on you . "

Towards the end, I closed my eyes .

As soon as I closed my eyes, I quickly fell asleep from the surging deluge of exhaustion .

* * * * * *

Whenever I woke up from a nap in Kiri Kiri's field, I would usually awaken due to her head; she would be sleeping with her head on my stomach, using it as a pillow .

However, it was a little different today .

I heard a strange laughter and woke up .

"Hehehe . "

Hehehe?

It felt strange and as soon as I opened my eyes, I saw Kiri Kiri .

My hand had been raised in the air, and Kiri Kiri was about to press the "confirm" button on the message in the air .

And the message window, no . I also saw the reason for the cake set floating in the auction window .

"Kiri Kiri . "

The beaming Kiri Kiri stopped immediately .

Kiri Kiri briefly stiffened like a stone statue, quietly closed the auction window, and put my hand down to the floor .

And she sat down like nothing had happened .

She briefly stayed still like that .

Then she scampered away and started to run away somewhere .

I sighed as I saw Kiri Kiri quickly get far away and stood up .

I had at least rested for a bit, so it was now time for me to get a move on .

[22nd round, 26th day . 2:20]