Dang Gyu-ri currently had five [Shadow Extraction] slots.
Near the end of winter break, they had received a necromancer grimoire from the Elder Council Head.
I was at least planning to register the Black Serpent Fang Lord.
A little disappointing compared to the Blood Cult collection, maybe, but still a B-rank boss, and one that could even use poison arts.
But unexpectedly, it had been annihilated in the process of exchanging final trump cards with Dang Gyu-ri.
Naturally, there hadn’t even been a shadow left to extract.
When I glanced over, Dang Gyu-ri twisted a strand of hair around their finger and started making excuses.
“That old man was just so tough~ I thought he’d hold out, you know? I even tried to control my strength~”
“It can’t be helped. That’s already in the past.”
“Right, right? We can just fill it up this time.”
“Yes. And the rank should be a little higher too.”
Strictly speaking, the boss monster of [Descent of the Feathered Serpent] was B+-rank.
Its difficulty was similar to [Assembly of Villains], the dungeon Pang Miryeong’s expedition had cleared last year.
In some ways, it was even trickier.
That actually works in our favor.
Because it meant we could bring back a higher-grade flying Gyu shadow undead.
And the higher the difficulty, the better the rewards.
Dang Gyu-ri asked the next question.
“We all going together again this time?”
“No. Just the three of us.”
“What? That’s allowed?”
“Normally, no. It recommends three to four parties.”
The orthodox strategy was for long-range attackers to pound away at the boss while the rest of the expedition handled protection and support.
In practice, only about one party’s worth of people actually fought the boss.
But if even one or two of them went down, the entire clear would start falling apart, so people had no choice but to prepare generously.
That went double if they wanted a stable clear, and if they were going that far, they would rather enter some other dungeon instead. That was why it was avoided.
So when I said we were going into that kind of avoid-at-all-costs dungeon with only three people, Dang Gyu-ri’s expression turned strange.
“You sound confident.”
“As you know, I’m not the adventurous type.”
“Right. Which is exactly why we trust you and follow you.”
Seo Ye-in, who had been quietly listening from the side, added a comment of her own.
“Complete trust.”
Just like she said, I tended to choose only dungeons I could clear for sure.
I could take on more risk and challenge something harder, but if that went wrong, the party members would get hurt.
And even with this method, I’d already collected more than enough rewards up to now.
Dang Gyu-ri asked again.
“Still, I’m curious. How are three people supposed to clear it?”
“The boss’s pattern matches well against me.”
For the most part, I could handle it by myself.
If we went in as-is, the clear rate would be around seventy to eighty percent.
And if I used the trump card that had been sleeping in my inventory, it would easily go over a hundred.
The thing sponsored by the previous Mage Tower Council head—father-in-law and mother-in-law candidate number three, in other words—
[Magic Scroll - Glacier Summon (S)]
Once I explained the rough strategy, Dang Gyu-ri jerked their chin as if it made sense.
Then they motioned at Sloth and Fast-Luckless with their eyes and asked,
“And those two are handling the ranged damage?”
“Yes. They’ll be more than enough.”
More than half of Seo Ye-in’s marksman skills and traits had already broken past the A-rank wall, and the rest had all risen to B-rank.
In sheer firepower, that put her beyond most third-years or higher.
And if some unexpected variable showed up, we could always just use the super-finisher.
Then why not bring the others?
To put it bluntly, they wouldn’t contribute that much to our combat power.
At least in this dungeon, aerial combat was the main focus.
For example, Go Hyeonwoo and Han Somi were sword-types, so until they learned something like walking through the air, the best they could do was slash away with sword energy into empty space.
Most of it probably wouldn’t even reach.
Hong Yeonhwa is a little awkward too.
As a flame mage, they specialized in area control, but most of that involved laying fields across the ground.
The burning chick could at least cover aerial combat to some extent, but unfortunately, it was closer to an area attack.
Compared to a marksman whose firepower could be concentrated into a single point, it inevitably fell short.
Bringing them might actually make the difficulty go up.
The more people you had, the more you had to protect.
And those three were already busy lately with sacred relic training and Challenge Austerity, so it would be better to give them time separately.
Dang Gyu-ri seemed convinced and jerked their chin again before asking,
“When are we heading down?”
“As soon as Hyeseong sends over the equipment support.”
“Good. I’ll be getting ready.”
“......”
“......”
“When are you planning to get down?”
That question was not about the dungeon, but about the shoulder ride they were still maintaining.
At that, Dang Gyu-ri answered in the most natural tone imaginable.
“Why would I have to get down? We’re one body now.”
And to make it clear they had no intention of separating, they tightened their legs.
*****
As expected, Hyeseong Group displayed absurd power.
The very next day, third-year scholarship students came to find us.
Then they started pulling out things that looked like large travel suitcases from their inventories and lining them up one after another.
If you tried to load them into a car, one trunk wouldn’t even begin to hold the volume.
At a glance, it looked like an absurd amount of stuff, but—
It’s actually just one thing.
All of those cases together were the new weapon.
Even the scholarship students seemed fascinated, because one of them finally couldn’t help blurting something out.
“You’re really going to use this?”
“That’s how it turned out.”
“I want to see it too. If there’s a replay left over, let us know.”
“Sure.”
Unfortunately, it was going to be a private clear.
Soon after, Seo Ye-in and I headed to the training center, where we handled the new weapon in every which way and learned how to operate it.
Then, after making our final preparations, we gathered in front of the dungeon building late at night.
Dang Gyu-ri was already there waiting, looking this way.
Noticing that Fast-Luckless was missing, they asked Seo Ye-in,
“Looks like you tucked her away for now?”
“Stealth comes first.”
“Fair enough. Shall we go?”
“We’re ready.”
“Good. Follow me.”
Dang Gyu-ri immediately took the lead and started down the circular staircase.
If there was one small advantage to the party shrinking to three people, it was that the guide’s burden became lighter.
Two were easier to manage than five, easier to keep hidden, too.
And there was no need to make multiple trips back and forth.
Thanks to that, we were able to break through Floors F and E quickly and descend all the way to the bottom of Floor D.
As we continued walking at that pace, Dang Gyu-ri spotted something familiar and whispered softly.
She’s here again today.
She is.
The “she” in question was, of course, the haunting spirit of Floor D and second-year representative weakling Song Cheonhye.
Before, she had waited near the elevators, but now she was patrolling like the other Discipline Committee members.
So she finally figured it out.
The flaw in the elevator-marking strategy.
Or maybe she had simply assumed we wouldn’t come down anymore after clearing Black Serpent Fang.
Apparently that prediction had missed too.
Just as we were about to pass by at our leisure—
“!”
Song Cheonhye seemed to sense something. She flinched, then activated every movement skill she had and rushed over.
She stopped amid crackling sparks, then carefully scanned all around the area.
“......”
But it looked like she still couldn’t see through full concealment.
Even with a deeply uneasy expression on her face, she returned to her original position.
Dang Gyu-ri looked at her with fresh interest.
......She’s gotten a lot better, hasn’t she?
Looks like she practiced over winter break.
If this had been Byeongcheol, he would’ve gotten caught. At this rate, maybe even I would have, if I slipped up.
Of course, even if they said that, there was still a wide gap in actual skill.
But that wasn’t the only unexpected thing.
A message flew in a moment later.
[Song Cheonhye: Hey.]
[Song Cheonhye: (Rolling chestnut-burr emoji)]
[Song Cheonhye: (Chestnut-burr hedgehog emoji)]
It wasn’t as though she had actually found anything just now, and it had even less to do with me specifically, but apparently some kind of instinct had kicked in.
She was probably probing, just in case.
There was no reason for me to reply right now, so regrettably, I ignored it.
We passed through Floor C quickly as well, then entered the deep layers—Floor B.
As usual, Dang Gyu-ri swallowed us up with [Shadow Pouch].
Then they carried us all the way to the final destination and spat us out.
[No.93] [Descent of the Feathered Serpent]
If we delayed for even a moment, the odds of getting caught would go up sharply, so the instant we confirmed the dungeon, we jumped straight into the portal.
The next moment, a tropical rainforest thick with vegetation unfolded before our eyes.
A wide road cut through it, almost brazenly obvious, as though telling us to follow it straight ahead.
And far off in the distance, an ominous golden radiance filled the horizon.
It looked as if not only a massive stone structure, but the entire surrounding area, had fallen under its influence.
Then, with a FWAAASH—!, Fast-Luckless appeared, saw the same thing we did, and offered a short review.
— Doesn’t look normal.
“Agreed. Let’s move immediately.”
It already felt too late, but better late than later.
We hurried along the main road.
The closer we got to our destination, the stronger that ominous golden light became, and the drumming and instrument sounds that had only been faint before gradually sharpened as well.
DUM, DUM, DUM,
We kept moving forward, enduring the way our eyes began to sting and our ears started to feel muffled, until at last the road ended and a temple came into view.
Just as expected, the ritual was already in full swing.
Countless barbarians danced, shouted, and stabbed and swung their weapons through the air as though they were one body.
DUM, DUM, DUM,
Golden energy was flowing out from their chests.
It was close enough to call it a kind of life force.
Those who had lost too much of it had already collapsed into corpses, strewn across the area.
And yet the rest paid them no mind whatsoever, remaining wholly absorbed in dancing as if bewitched by something.
DUM, DUM, DUM,
Those streams of golden energy cut through the air and converged on a single point.
The old man presiding over the ritual in front of the altar.
The Feathered Serpent Priest.
He had been the boss of No.388, [Feathered Serpent Altar], and No.353, [Feathered Serpent Temple].
Even after being killed multiple times, he had stubbornly revived again and again, gathered even more living sacrifices, and at last crawled his way all the way here.
The priest, too, seemed to recognize my face, because he opened his mouth with a benevolent smile.
“So you have come.”
“It’s good to see you again.”
It had been about a year.
Though from this old man’s perspective, the flow of time would probably feel very different.
“I thought I would never see you again, but it seems the gods’ blessing has guided us together.”
“You keep doing bad things, so I have to come stop you.”
And while I’m at it, I’ll pick up a flying Gyu shadow undead and a B+-rank random box too.
At that, the priest’s benevolent smile deepened even further.
Then, half imposing and half ecstatic, he declared,
“I fear it is too late for that. The ritual has already concluded, and soon He shall arrive!”
Then he raised one hand—
and plunged it straight into his own chest.
It slid in smoothly, not like a human body at all, but as if he were thrusting it into a mound of wet clay.
What he pulled out was his own heart.
Apparently it had absorbed an enormous amount of energy through the ritual, because it was blazing with a golden radiance bright enough to blind.
“O Great Feathered Serpent—! Accept this sacrifice, descend upon us, bring glory to the tribe, and merciless punishment to these foolish wretches—!”
Then the priest’s own body scattered apart as if evaporating and was absorbed completely into the golden heart.
The heart kept rising into the air, and at some point, it began to swell and lengthen with terrifying speed.
The next moment, a gigantic serpent floated in the sky.
A reptile, yet one whose entire body was covered not in scales, but in feathers.
The Feathered Serpent, Quetzalcohuātl.
At last, we had come to fight it head-on.
A cry that mixed a reptile’s roar with a bird’s shriek shook the entire area.
KEEEEEEERRR—!
