Chapter 154
There was no time to think about what was going on. The water was rising fast, so from here on out, every second was directly tied to survival. They had no other options but to simply run.
Before Do-Jin could even tell them what to do, the others were already off in a sprint, realizing that things had gone bad. They practically tumbled down the stairs, and what greeted them at the bottom was a set of sleekly designed golems. Their light, segmented exoskeleton armor was split into parts, which gave them joint mobility no different from a human body.
Without slowing down, Do-Jin charged straight into the mob of golems that were shouting out their location. He used Psychokinetic Artistry and killed just enough to carve out a path.
“Move. Move. Move!”
Theresa followed behind him, her shield pushed forward in a full charge, and slammed her hammer into their knees and shins without holding back. Tanto swung his dagger and hatchet in sharp arcs, slicing, stabbing, and chopping into the joints that were not protected by their outer plating. Soso followed close behind them, her footsteps unusually frantic compared to her usual pace.
Of all the things... No way I’m drowning here.
Rather than pride, Soso was afraid of the kind of water where her feet couldn’t touch the bottom. After Do-Jin dragged her all the way down to the bottom of Lavre Lake that one time, she hated it even more.
Although they couldn’t see the source, the ceaseless trickle of water was already spreading in a thin layer across the floor. The dungeon was enormous, so it would take time to fill completely, but that was no comfort. Every splash beneath their feet seemed deafening, the most terrifying noise imaginable, wearing down Do-Jin’s party without pause.
They smashed their way through golems of every shape and size that lunged at them one after another, until a tightly shut door finally blocked their path.
“There. I think there is something down there!” Tanto pointed toward one direction.
There was a narrow gap with something like a staircase, and mechanical structures could be seen deeper inside. Because it dipped downward, though, that area was already completely filled with water.
“I’ll go in!” Without hesitation, Tanto dove straight down into that submerged space.
“Hey, the golems!” Theresa shouted.
They had to keep the golems occupied while Tanto investigated, and the more they ignored them and let them trail behind, the longer and denser the horde became. Do-Jin hurled a massive fireball at the advancing horde.
It was impossible to tell how long they kept fighting, but after a while, the door that had blocked the party so firmly slid open. Tanto had done it.
“Yes!” Theresa couldn’t hide her joy.
Do-Jin felt relieved as well. But when Tanto still didn’t resurface, the water remained unbroken. As more than ten seconds passed by, he thought the passage might’ve been deeper inside than they’d guessed. After fighting off the golems for over thirty seconds, then a minute, they realized that something had gone wrong.
“Anemone, hold out for me for a moment.”
Despite the bad elemental matchup, he summoned her to buy some time, then ran forward to check where Tanto had gone in.
“Fucking hell...” Do-Jin cursed the moment he saw what had happened.
The gap Tanto dove into was now closed. Whether it was a trap that activated when something was triggered inside, or some other unforeseen mechanism, the hole was now blocked by what seemed like transparent reinforced glass. Tanto was visible behind that crystal-clear wall, holding his breath.
Do-Jin fired spells in a panic, but all he did was cause useless pillars of water to rise up. The glass wall didn’t get a single scratch. He wondered if they were supposed to find something outside to unlock it. Do-Jin turned around and scanned the area, but there was nothing obvious in sight. The only thing visible was those golems and his party.
At that moment, inside the glass wall, Tanto made a gesture. He was telling them to leave him behind. Then, a party message arrived.
Tanto: You should go first.
Do-Jin: Cut the bullshit and figure out how to get out.
Do-Jin refused to accept it, but Tanto was equally as stubborn. He took something out from his pocket and swallowed it.
Tanto: Drowning’s a worse way to go, so I swallowed some poison. I’m glad I was useful to the party. It was fun.
As Tanto let out his final breath, Do-Jin turned away, not wanting to watch it happen.
Fuck... I was careless.
There must have been a way to open that glass wall, but he simply failed to discover it in time. It plagued his mind as Do-Jin led the remaining two forward, taking the path Tanto had opened.
Theresa looked noticeably depressed after hearing that Tanto had died, and Soso was terrified because drowning became a much more real possibility.
Fortunately for the rest, the direction they headed in seemed to be the right one. The decorations around them grew more extravagant, and the golems that blocked their way became even more massive. There was even a zone that looked like a factory that forged golems and weapons.
After passing through the most intense resistance, the party was greeted by the boss monster. It was a golem built with the physique of a stereotypical master blacksmith, perched on a huge anvil.
[The boss monster of Forge of the God, Eternal Blacksmith Kelluon, has awakened.]
Do-Jin reached this point after a short span of time packed with misery. Staring into Kelluon’s glowing eyes, he lit a mana cigarette.
“You fuckers never let me have one moment of relaxation.”
The mana cigarette kept burning despite the humidity. As the raging Mana Circuits in his body calmed just a little, the boss rose to his feet.
Lifting a short-handled hammer that had been resting against the anvil, Kelluon spoke, “This is the temple for those who will become blades to be offered to God. Filthy creatures like you have no right to stain this place with your footprints.”
Do-Jin dropped the half-burned mana cigarette onto the floor. The flame died out the moment it touched the rising water, and as he watched it fade, Do-Jin had only one thought running through his mind.
I don’t give a fuck about your lore bullshit. Whatever this is, let’s just finish this quickly.
***
After finishing work and coming home to her apartment for the first time in several days, Cecilia received a notification. The screen flashed brightly as if it had been waiting for her return, announcing a new video uploaded on Do-Jin’s channel. She tapped the thumbnail and saw it was another clear video titled “Hidden Dungeon Forge of the God Clear.”
“He cleared it already?”
Her disbelief slipped out before she could stop it. She tossed her smartphone toward the sofa with a careless flick of her wrist and the device landed on the cushion with a light bounce.
“I was literally about to shower first,” she mumbled while walking toward the capsule room.
Cecilia peeled off her clothes piece by piece as she moved, not bothering to fold anything or set anything aside neatly. At the capsule, she pulled on light pajamas, tossed the rest of her clothes in a small heap, and lay back inside the VR unit.
She let out a long breath. “This always feels amazing.”
Her real body faded from her awareness, and her fresh virtual avatar body took its place. Her eyes brightened as if she had been reborn.
Cecilia spoke into the air. “Why are you quiet? That man cleared the hidden dungeon using the exact map I sent him.”
A voice responded directly in her head, a whisper that bypassed the air entirely. “I was about to say something. Yes, it seems he successfully interrupted the dangerous work of that blacksmith.”
“Your tone is different again... Did they assign me to another handler?”
“That is not important. What matters is how you managed to deliver the map without making direct contact with him. How did you arrange that?”
“There is always a way if you know where to look.”
Cecilia had been the person who sponsored the map for Do-Jin, but she hadn’t done it of her own free will. As their conversation implied, it was her contract counterpart that wanted the map delivered to him. Though, rather than a single entity, it was more like a collective group.
“Anyway, I delivered the map properly, and he cleared the dungeon successfully. So the quest is complete, right?”
“That’s correct. You performed well.”
A hidden quest completion message appeared in front of her the moment those words were spoken. Her stagnant level surged upward with a burst of light.
After confirming her level, she asked with genuine curiosity, “It couldn’t have been anyone else?”
“He is one of the very few who still carries the slight potential to alter fate.”
“This is disappointing. You made everything sound so grand when you called me ‘Contractor’ and spoke in a dramatic tone. I honestly thought I might have become something like the hero of this game.”
“I do not understand what you mean. You were never meant to change fate. You were simply prepared as a backup for possible cleanup.”
“This is unbelievable. You tell me to be careful about not revealing my identity, yet you never tell me to perform this cleanup you keep implying.”
“He prevented disaster from expanding before it grew beyond control. From our perspective, that result was practically a miracle we never even expected.”
When Cecilia first received the hidden class, Contractor, she had been thrilled. Unknown personalities contacted her like telepathic voices, and she was able to stay at a top-tier level simply by completing the quests they assigned.
Although Cecilia believed she had stepped into the role of a protagonist, reality begged to differ. Rather than becoming the actual hero, she functioned more like background personnel in a hero cultivation simulator.
It makes sense though. Someone like him fits the role far more than someone like me who logs in only every few days.
Do-Jin played like his life revolved around this world, and he was a monster in terms of pure skill. She knew that it was pointless to compete head-on with someone like that. It felt more realistic to collect the indirect benefits that happened to fall her way because of his actions.
“Do you have anything else for me now?”
“Not at this moment. Because of this intervention, there is nothing more we can act on for a while.”
That meant she could take her time, travel, and enjoy herself inside the game until something new appeared.
But first, I want to watch that video.
Cecilia had logged in to collect her quest reward immediately, yet curiosity pushed her to watch how Do-Jin cleared that dungeon step by step.
People must be losing their minds again.
She disconnected without any polite farewell and stepped out of the capsule to prepare for her viewing session. She took leftover fried chicken from the refrigerator, heated it in the microwave, grabbed a cold beer, and opened MeTube. Before pressing play, she scrolled down to check the comments under the video first.
└ Honestly, I don’t even know what to say anymore. At this point, the dungeon monsters seem like the ones who deserve sympathy, since they are basically being invaded by Do-Jin.
└ The monsters did everything they possibly could. They were simply nowhere near strong enough to stop him.
└ If I were a monster living in Lostania, I would sleep with a shotgun right next to my pillow. I would never know when he might show up. Even then, I don’t think that would be enough to protect me.
Seeing how wild the comments were made Cecilia even more excited. She took a sip of beer and finally pressed play.
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