Chapter 98: Granting Freedom (5)

Walker carried out his mission swiftly and precisely. Although he looked pathetic when I was beating him up, his stealth ability was truly good enough to trick an SS ranker. In just two days, he brought us all of the data Brightman had on Hwaya.

"I destroyed or burned everything that I couldn't bring. There isn't even a single word or photo left of you."

Walker assured us. Since neither the contract nor his personality made it likely that he'd lie, Hwaya quickly burned everything in front of her and nodded.

"Alright, good."

"But he will definitely find out I was the one who did it. Simply put, I just burned the bridge connecting us."

"Good, Walker. You can now stay in the dungeon until I'm done with my business here. You can come with me when I go back to Korea."

"... Even if I use my stealth ability, Brightman will find out if I leave the country with you. He's watching you closely. You already know, right?"

"There won't be any problem... Don't worry. I don't want him to discover my identity either. He doesn't know how I came here, right?"

"No one here knew you were coming until you arrived at Windermere. Mastiford was thorough in hiding her tracks."

"Huhu, it wasn't much."

Hwaya was wearing a proud smile. Of course, as Hwaya was an SS ranker, it wasn't weird that she had allies that could hide from Brightman.

"It's fine then. When I go back, I'll be using my own method. You can come with me then, Walker."

"Your method, huh...? You must have a special skill."

"Yep, exactly. So you can just focus on the dungeon before then... Ah."

I almost forgot.

"Walker, here."

"What's... This is Serina's Guardian Bracelet!"

Walker grabbed the bracelet I held out and his eyes opened wide.

"Ah, it's a bit different. Lin said he added something to it."

"But how...? Didn't you shatter and burn it!?"

"Mm, yeah, but it seems the important parts were fine. It's a reward for doing your job well and for all the work you'll do in the future."

In truth, I took the remains of the broken bracelet to Lin at Fairy Garden, thinking maybe he could make a new item. As the important parts of it were still okay, a new bracelet was made using First Dungeon's monster drop items. The resulting guardian bracelet was even better than the old one, but unfortunately, it was still bound to Walker. Although I thought about breaking it again, since he would be in charge of protecting my sister, I decided to give it back to him.

"Ku... I thought I'd never see it again..."

Walker looked touched as he rubbed the guardian bracelet on his cheek. I tried my best to ignore the rather disgusting scene.

"Since you're the one who broke it in the first place, I won't thank you. But I can promise I will do my utmost to fulfill the contents of the contract."

"Of course."

Although we wouldn't ever come to like each other, Walker's hostility toward Hwaya and me seemed to have lessened now that he got his bracelet back. After equipping the guardian bracelet, he went back to the dungeon. According to him, he was on the 44th floor.

"By the way, Shin, what dungeon are you from? You said you weren't Gold ranked yet, right? But since you overwhelmed Walker like that, are you perhaps also in the Second Dungeon?"

Hwaya asked casually. I also responded casually.

"I'm in the First Dungeon."

"What, why are you in the First!? Even I'm in the Second!"

Yep, I knew she'd get angry.

"My father is a First Dungeon explorer. Since he appointed me as an explorer, I'd naturally be in the First Dungeon."

"Uuuk, t-that means your friend is also in the First Dungeon..."

"Right."

"Uuuguu! But I'm stronger! I want to be in the First Dungeon too!"

"No... You should give up."

"I won't! I'll become Platinum ranked and go to the First Dungeon!"

"What?"

I raised my head.

"What do you mean? You'll become Platinum ranked and go to the First Dungeon?"

"You didn't know? The way to go to a higher ranked Dungeon."

"This is the first time I've heard about it."

As I wore a dumbfounded look, Hwaya began to explain.

"I only found out after I broke through the 65th floor. In the Second Dungeon, you'll become a Platinum ranked explorer after the 80th floor, and if you complete a certain achievement on top of that, you can become a First Dungeon explorer with your level adjusted!"

"What's the achievement?"

"I don't know!"

"..."

I looked at her like she was an idiot. She seemed to have noticed what I was thinking, as she pinched my arm, then writhed in pain with her hurt fingers. However, she soon continued triumphantly.

"But you know, if it's an achievement, it's probably something like that. I already have one. Huhu, burning over half the monster in the dungeon floor at the same time! I even got a title, 'Incarnation of Agni.' Amazing, right?"

"Agni. The god of fire from Hindu mythology. T-That's amazing..."

I couldn't bring myself to tell her that I had a god's true name.

"Did you get an achievement yet? Ah, it's fine even if you haven't. It's just that I'm too amazing. I think you're skilled too. Plus, you'll continue to get stronger, so you'll have lots of chances to obtain an achievement."

I completely ignored her consoling words and continued.

"Hwaya, I don't know what achievement you have to make to become a First Dungeon explorer, but I'll tell you the achievements I've made so far, so you can refer to them."

"Achievements, plural!?"

"First, breaking through four floors in 7 hours."

"... Are you human?"

"Second, challenging a Floor Master alone on your first try and defeating him. The achievement is better if you're the first one in the Second Dungeon's history to do it."

"You... really?"

"Really."

"..."

"Even if you aren't the first, defeating a Floor Master alone still counts as an achievement, and beating an Event Raid with few participants also counts as an achievement. But they aren't anything big, so I doubt those will be it."

"..."

"Obtaining a god's true name can be a great achievement. Since you already have Incarnation of Agni, you might be able to obtain Agni's true name if you try harder. Like if you could burn all the monsters in a dungeon floor at the same time."

"... Huu."

Hwaya, who was listening to me silently, became dispirited. Then, she blurted out.

"I'm jealous."

"You really are honest..."

"Uuu, I hate it. I hate myself and I hate you. Why am I jealous of you...? Our dungeons are different and our battle styles are different... but still... I'm jealous!"

Seeing Hwaya play with her hair, not knowing what to do, I asked.

"So, are you just going to stay jealous?"

"Of course not! God's true name, right? Defeating a Floor Master alone? Uuu, just you watch! I'll achieve them and become a First Dungeon explorer. Prepare yourself. Now will be the only time you can talk so arrogantly! Got it, Kang Shin?"

Ooh, she's fired up! I answered her enthusiastic words with a smile. I really liked people that weren't overconfident. I liked hard-working people even more.

"Good luck, I'll be cheering for you."

"Don't cheer me on with such a kind face! My hostility is disappearing!"

"You shouldn't be hostile towards your friend..."

As I answered Hwaya with amusement, a question suddenly popped up in my head.

If there was a way to go from the Second Dungeon to the First Dungeon... Where could I go from the First Dungeon?

*

After I joined Hwaya's team, our hunting speed more than tripled. As I easily took care of the fishmen that were causing the most problems for them, it was only natural. Furthermore, every time I screamed on the ship, monsters flocked toward us, allowing us to take care of them in one go.

"Amazing. How can T.K.'s voice provoke other monsters?"

"I don't know, maybe they know I'm strong, so they're coming to fight together?"

I gave a half-hearted reply and punched a nearby fishman. Hwaya, who could surmise the reason, grinned and sent her fireballs flying without saying anything.

Just like that, four days passed. By the time I stored over ten melting tunas in my inventory, the lake had begun to change. Simply put, the monsters became stronger. The number of fishmen decreased, and the number of melting tunas and toothsaws increased. Although it was a very good thing for me, it was undoubtedly an unusually change.

Then, on the seventh day after I arrived at Windermere, while we were fighting melting tunas and toothsaws wildly, our ship came face to face with Brightman's ship. Although there were only five people on our ship, Brightman had seven people on his. Besides Tommy, who was on the ship even though he still hadn't fully recovered, Brightman was the only British ranker. I knew they had an A+ rank healer, so four other S rankers had come to aid Brightman.

"Miss Mastiford, you've been doing extremely well lately."

"We only have elites. You and I aren't close enough to be chatting like this, so why don't you turn your ship around and leave?"

"Huu, how cold, even though I'm always thinking about you."

"You're always thinking about me, you say...? That's really, really creepy."

Brightman flinched, seeming having sensed something from Hwaya's sizzling voice. Then, he continued.

"By the way, Miss Mastiford, I forgot to put a collar on my pet dog, and he ran away. I'm looking for him, but I can't seem to find him. He's a brown-haired dachshund. Have you seen him?"

"I don't know why you're asking me about your lost dog, Brightman. Ah, I don't know about a dog, but I did see a black cockroach in my house... I instantly burned it to cinders."

"... Ah, I see. My bad."

Then, Brightman glared at me for some reason. What, why are you looking at me? Hwaya seemed to have noticed who Brightman was looking at as she snorted. Then, she lowered the tone of her voice and growled at Brightman.

"Brightman, I'm warning you. If you overstep your boundaries, I'm prepared to do the same. I'm proud that you are British, but I'm disillusioned the more I interact with you. You're one of the superhumans representing our country. You should know what that means. Understood?"

"Hahaha, you're funny, Miss Mastiford. Of course I understand what that means. Miss Mastiford is also a superhuman representing our country. Don't you think we're perfect for each other?"

"I'm telling you to shut up before the number of superhumans representing our country is reduced to one."

Brightman was the one who ordered Walker to observe Hwaya and even take pictures of her secretly.

Just like I thought when I first obtained the evidence of Brightman's wrongdoing, the British government would most likely refuse to do anything that would harm Brightman. It didn't matter what crimes he committed. Although I didn't know it at first, Brightman supposedly had an overwhelming influence over the British government and Guardian. Since he had political power, monetary power, and military power, it was understandable.

In other words, although they were both SS rankers, Brightman had a higher standing in Britain. There were undoubtedly many supporters of Hwaya, but it was probably only to the extent that they didn't get in the way of Brightman.

No matter how much Hwaya loved her country, if Britain continued to ignore Brightman's overbearing actions, Hwaya might lose her patience. That was what Hwaya was warning him about.

"Miss Mastiford... How can you say that? As fellow British nobles, aren't you embarrassed?"

"Embarrassed? Would someone who knows what embarrassment is do what you've been doing?"

"Tsk... Miss Mastiford, you weren't like this before. As I thought, you shouldn't hang out with people outside of your class."

Hwaya made a huge flame and threw it. It hit the water between our ship and Brightman's ship, exploding with a thundering roar and making an enormous amount of steam rise up.

"Don't. Insult. My. Friend."

Although her voice wasn't loud, her voice reached my ears clearly.

"At the very least, they're better than a piece of trash like you. Brightman, if you really are a noble, if you really think about Britain and its future, you should screw the hell off and not involve yourself with me. Dig open those filthy earholes and let my words stick in your mind! I won't ever like a scumbag like you! I never did and I never will! So turn your ship around and screw off, you oldie!"

"What a beautiful speech... If I do say so myself, her speech from just now should be placed above Churchill's commencement speech. She managed to pack her spirit and intentions into such a short speech."

"No, Mike, that's too much. I'd say it's about on the same level as Steve Jobs' commencement speech."

"You guys shouldn't make fun of commencement speeches like that. You'll get arrested."

As I clapped, I warned Mike and Paul who were saying some nonsense drivel. When they both gave me a thumbs up, I got the strong urge to break them, but I restrained myself.

However, rather than making Brightman turn his ship and leave, her shouting and flame seemed to have first called something.

Oooooong. For a moment, something created a strong vibration in the water.

"Whoa."

"Mike!"

The moment something popped out of the water, Paul quickly pushed Mike away and blocked that something with his shield. Thanks to Paul's timely defense, we were able to see the thing that was vibrating so strongly.

"It's a saw!"

"A really big one too!"

As the words left my mouth, I created a specially large Thunder Arrow in my hand and threw it forward. When it hit the eye of the giant toothsaw, which was about to break through Paul's shield with its sharp saw-snout, the giant toothsaw screamed and fell back.

"So you could use lightning outside of just your fists!"

"Before that, take care of him! He has to be the Field Dungeon's boss!"

Although normal toothsaws were large too, just this guy's body was over 20 meters long. Naturally, his saw-snout was several meters long too. With that huge saw and its unnaturally strong vibration, it was possible that the ship would be cut in half. Hwaya gritted her teeth and created flames in both her hands.

"Looks like you'll need my help!"

"Just don't bother us, Brighman!"

Although Hwaya shot down Brightman's offer immediately, as the boss of an A+ rank Field Dungeon could easily kill a ranker, refusing his offer wasn't necessarily the best idea. Hwaya naturally became quieter, and knowing that, Brightman moved his ship forward towards us.

[Master, careful.]

"About what?"

[I can hear a singing voice. Other people will hear it soon too.]

"Singing voice...?"

[Protect your mind!]

Hearing Peika's warning, I circulated Peruta Circuit, when a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

That giant toothsaw charging at us to cut our ship probably wasn't the one singing. In that case...

"There are... two bosses?"

The moment I murmured...

[Lala~ Lalala~]

I began to hear a beautiful female singing voice. It was the kind of heavenly singing voice that charmed whoever heard it and made even the most tearless person cry.

It was the singing voice that gave this Field Dungeon the name, 'Graveyard Over the Lake.'

Author's Note:

Upping Walker's goodwill with a carrot and a stick method! And a slight foreshadowing to go with it!