Chapter 142: The Third Explorer (6)

"It looks like an Event Dungeon! Let's go!"

Pointing at the mansion surrounded by thorn-covered walls, father shouted. I retorted shortly.

"Let's go back."

"No, why!?"

Walker answered in my stead.

"Kang Yungoong, this is a mansion. It belongs to one of the two other explorers Kang Shin talked about."

"What, it isn't an Event Dungeon!?"

Father shouted in shock as he touched the tightly shut iron gate. Immediately afterward, the mana flowing through the iron gate bounced his hand off. Father really was an idiot! At the same time, a voice rang in our ear again. It was the Beyond communication channel.

[Don't. Come. In.]

The cold, snapping voice belonged to a woman. I couldn't help but sigh. To think the second explorer was also staying in the mansion...

[Sorry for my companion's rudeness. He thought it was an Event Dungeon. I'll take him back with me immediately. Sorry.]

[Don't ever, come back... don't, bother me...]

Just by talking for a bit, I immediately understood. The way this woman talked easily exhausted people. We'll be living together in the Residential Area, so how could I not come back!? Even so, I told her what she wanted to hear.

[Understood. We'll be going back now. Sorry for troubling you.]

After apologizing to her, I glared at father, then brought everyone away from the mansion. Before I was about to leave, however, she asked me.

[Did your world... fall?]

[No.]

[I see...]

She continued.

[If you think you'll die, tell me... I want to buy your corpse.]

[It's not for sale! And what do you mean, when I think I'll die!?]

All these seniors are annoying!

The treasure the first explorer talked about was indeed that. Located in the west were Event Dungeons. Right, there were more than just one. They were sprawled across the field in the form of gates. There was nothing beyond them, so gates of mysterious Event Dungeons were the only things that were here. This had to be the treasure he talked about.

Looking at the Event Dungeon gates scattered about, I wondered if the other dungeons' Residential Areas also initially had gates to Event Dungeons. It would be strange if only Beyond's Residential Area had Event Dungeons, and since I had entered an Event Dungeon in Fairy Garden, I thought it was a possibility.

"Alright, we've looked around, so let's go back."

"Yeah, let's go."

"I'm hungry."

"There were food ingredients in the mansion's storehouse. I can cook something up. I wanted to treat everyone to a meal, so this is the perfect opportunity."

"Hm, the new daughter from Japan has good manners. Shin, father recommends her as the new daughter."

"H-How could I be Shin-nim's... Rather than that, I want to be Shin-nim's disciple!"

"Don't marry a girl without her consent, father."

No one objected to my decision of going back. We exchanged small talk and turned away from the gates labeled SSS rank. Just like that, our exploration of Beyond's Residential Area ended.

First Explorer bastard, I'll get my revenge one day!

As I somewhat expected it when I saw trolls on the 51st floor, large humanoid monsters seemed to appear in 51st through 55th floors. Following trolls were minotaurs.

They didn't have insane regenerative power like the trolls, but the minotaurs' bone axes were huge and powerful. After I broke through the 52nd floor in 3 hours, I challenged the 52nd floor again. It was because the minotaurs' sharp bones were perfect to be used as crossbow bolts. Although Beyond's 2nd floor could be different than the 1st floor, it was better to restock on bolts than to regret not doing so later.

"Shin-nim, your eyes are slightly different now."

"My eyes?"

When I returned to the Floor Shop to rest after spending a whole day collecting minotaur bones, Loretta suddenly spoke after staring at me intently.

"Different how?"

"Hmm, they've gotten slightly more serious. They were always serious, but now they look like they're focused on one thing. Huhu, it seems Beyond wasn't easy."

"It took 2 weeks for a reason. There were many difficulties and a lot I had to think about."

"With Shin-nim's level, 2 weeks is a miracle."

"Loretta, um..."

"Yes?"

"No, it's nothing."

When I stopped in the middle, Loretta looked shocked.

"Shi, Shin-nim is hiding something from me...!"

"Things I'm hiding from Loretta? There are lots of them."

"Huk! W-What are they! Hurry, hurry up and tell me! I'll listen to them all, even if I have to stay up the entire night! Women? It's about women!"

"I won't tell you. I have to go back to collect more minotaur bones."

"Shin-niiiiiiim....!"

Maybe I didn't do such a good job of evading the answer, as Loretta clung to me with teary eyes, almost making me forget what I wanted to say.

Just because it was Beyond, it didn't mean that different monsters appeared on each floor. When I arrived at the 2nd floor, worrying that I might need to fight Wendigos on the 10th floor, I tilted my head when I saw more Orc Lords.

"Kuaaaang!"

"Kuaaaang!"

"Heh, their shouts are the same too."

Just like on the First Dungeon, the Orc Lords on the 2nd floor were stronger than the Orc Lords on the 1st floor. However, as the walls' amplification was also stronger, it didn't pose much of a problem. It was just annoying that Orc Lords began to throw their weapons.

Of course, as they were stronger, being hit by their weapons would instantly kill me. With their weapons' trajectories on top of the bolts' trajectories, there were more to calculate. However, once I got used to it in a couple of days, I thought of a way to kill them even quicker taking their glaives' trajectories into account. Since they threw their weapons in predictable trajectories, just by minding my position when they appeared, I could get their glaives to bounce three or four times and attack them! However, there were cases where their weapons continued to bounce around after all the Orc Lords died, threatening my life. I had to use Divine Speed to dodge these.

In the end, it only took 10 days to clear Beyond's 2nd floor. Like last time, Crimson Roar did most of the work towards the end.

"Maybe... I'm a genius...!"

[Master is talking like an arrogant young master.]

[Shin is cool!]

Around the time I cleared Beyond's 2nd floor, it was the time for college finals. After thinking for a bit, I decided to take a leave of absence. Once I got into Beyond, I wouldn't be able to leave for several days. Although I could still go to college while I was climbing the First Dungeon, it was impossible for Beyond.

Between school and dungeon, the latter was obviously more important. After all, going to college was only to satisfy mother's wishes and to give myself a proper outward identity. Even mother seemed to have changed her mind since I came back from America, as she said I could do whatever I wished about school.

However, when I told Ye-Eun about taking a leave, she pouted and took a leave as well.

"Why!?"

"I'm going to focus on the dungeon too! I'm going to obtain a god's true name and go to Beyond!"

"No, that's not something you can get so easily. You should think about it more carefully."

"I did! I carefully thought about my future and plans for making a family!"

"No, I'm certain you didn't think carefully after hearing that. There's no way we'll become family!"

"You can't say that for certain! So I'm going to do my best!"

Damn, where did the timid and unsociable girl go, and where did this straightforward and optimistic girl come from...!? Although her unyielding mindset was burdensome, it was an extremely effective mindset to have to quickly improve as an explorer.

Plus, no matter how much I tried to stop her, it was too late. Her leave had already been approved. Ye-Eun started to grind the 50th floor boss for Frozen Crystals, as elixirs finally began to drop for her.

She should have had difficulty resisting Wendigo's freezing energy, but using her uniquely high mana resistance and a bunch of anti-freezing energy items she bought from the Floor Shop, she managed to defeat the Wendigo three times every day. I would be lying if I said I wasn't proud of the effort she was putting in. If her decision to go all out in climbing the dungeon was to let me see her more favorably, it was an incredibly smart decision... No, I shouldn't fall for it!

As for Beyond, the 3rd floor was slightly different than the previous floors. The monster I had been expecting to eventually appear had appeared. It was the Wraith Queen, and of course, there were more than just one of them. These half-transparent apparitions wore dreary dresses, where spider seemed to dwell. Seeing them fly around and scream in groups was quite the spectacle. Here, I came to experience a very odd situation.

[Kyaaaaaa!]

[Kiaaaaaaaak!]

[Human, living humaaaaan!]

[Wraith Queen used Vengeful Spirit's Wail! With high magic, charm, and luck stats, you resist the confusion and fear status effects!]

[Wraith Queen used Vengeful Spirit's Wail! With high magic, charm, and luck stats, you resist the confusion and fear status effects!]

[Wraith Queen used Vengeful Spirit's Wail! 'Succubus' Pupil' reflects the status effect.]

[Kyak! Humans, too many humans! There are too many humans! Save me, save me!]

"Wow..."

Once they fell and trembled, the Wraith Queens were rather cute... I mean, easy to take care of. As my magic, charm, and luck stats were high and I had raised my Soul Guard to level 5, I could easily cancel Wraith Queens' Vengeful Spirit's Wails.

Since I had also had an earring specializing in mental status effect defense, Beyond's 3rd floor became extremely easy for me. Although Wraith Queens could also summon wraiths and shoot ectoplasm arrows, the wraiths died from a single swing of my spear and ectoplasm arrows only helped me kill them quicker, as they bounced off the walls like the Orc Lords' glaives.

However, if I didn't have Soul Guard or if its level was low, I would have had to use Orc Lord's Warcry every day, running around for 5 minutes, then hiding for the other 23 hours and 55 minutes. Beyond's 3rd floor was undoubtedly a place to test one's mental or status effect defense. Though, since there were still sleeping gases, poisonous swamps, poisonous arrows, dark areas, and ice and lightning traps, it did a fine job tormenting the explorer in multiple other ways.

Considering the First Dungeon's structure, I expected Orc Lords to appear on the 3rd floor, but only Wraith Queens appeared on the 3rd floor.

I realized then. Even in the First Dungeon, there were multiple occasions where the monsters that appeared on the 1st and 2nd floors were separate from monsters that appeared on the 3rd floors. The 4th floors would then have a combination from both, and the 5th floors would have strengthened versions of them.

If Beyond worked similarly, I would have to fight both Orc Lords and Wraith Queens on the 4th floor, and 5th floor could have monsters that took the strengths of Orc Lords and Wraith Queens. Monsters that could use both mental and physical attacks... What kind of hellish monster would that be? Thankfully, my mental defense was extremely solid.

However... I couldn't keep following the dungeon. Now that I somewhat knew what I would have to face, I wanted to smack the dungeon on the back of its head.

As such, I sent a message using the guild communication channel.

[Everyone, I won't be able to see you for a while.]

[N-No, Shin, don't. It's my fault. I'm sorry, please come back. I won't be selfish anymore. I won't secretly crawl into your bed either.]

As expected, Ludia started by apologizing.

[Why? Did something happen? Can I help somehow? ... Also, Palludia, who did you say crawled into Shin's bed?]

[That's great. I won't have to see your face, how fortu... Kuhuk!]

Hwaya and Walker also responded as I expected. However, father's response was surprising.

[Are you training?]

[Father...]

He found out instantly.

[I knew you were troubled because your spearmanship wouldn't improve recently... Do you need father's help?]

[No, I'm trying to do it by myself, father.]

[Hmm, I see. Right, you are a proper martial artist now.]

[I want to help Shin-nim too... but my attainment in spearmanship is still too low ...]

Whenever Sumire had time, she was learning spearmanship from me.

[Shin, did I do something wrong?]

[Like father said, I'm just going to train. It's not because of you, so don't worry.]

[How long will you be gone for?]

[I don't know. It might be a while though.]

[... Un, I'll be patient. But if it's too long...]

[Then I'll obtain a god's true name before you come back!]

[G-Good luck, Shin-nim!]

Ye-Eun interrupted Ludia and shouted with spirit. Shuna also chimed in to cheer me on. With a grin, I replied.

[I'll leave the communication channel open, so we can always talk. Don't worry too much.]

[If you obtain what you want, let's have a spar when you come back.]

[Sure, father.]

After responding confidently, I got up from the place I was resting. The Wraith Queens that were flying around screamed and charged toward me the moment they saw me. I raised my spear and aimed it towards them. I planned on only using my spear to fight the Wraith Queens. Ah, and Peruta Circuit as well.

The reason was simple. Against the Wraith queens, I could freely use my spear without worrying about dying, and in here... in here...!

Sorry father, but it seems skill experience goes up twice as much in here! I'll come visit with Peruta's spear techniques!