novelraw Chapter 229 : Endless Dungeon (1)
Chapter 229 : Endless Dungeon (1)
Chapter 229: Endless Dungeon (1)
“Damn it.”
The Model Student frowned in pain as he looked at the deep gash on his left forearm.
There had been a crisis.
He had almost been captured by the Black Royal Guards who had been closing in as if surrounding him.
If one asked whether a Constellation could even be captured, the answer would make sense if one understood that those chasing the Constellation possessed power comparable to one.
A mere human could not capture a Constellation, but another existence from the Dimensional Group could.
Constellations were sacred and unreachable to humans, but within the Dimensional Group, they were merely members.
A sword that cuts through sacred power.
It was the sword held by the Black Royal Guards. In human terms, a weapon that made stopping bleeding extremely difficult.
As the wound deepened, the Constellation continued to lose his unique sacred power, making emergency treatment critical.
However, with no fellow Constellation to help, the Model Student had no way to tend to the wound.
All he could do was tear his clothes and tie them tightly as a makeshift bandage.
Even though it was tied tight enough that nothing else could get through, sacred power kept leaking through the gaps.
‘At least I managed to catch a breather.’
The one silver lining was that the Black Royal Guards had fallen into the trap he had secretly set while being pursued.
So, even though he had sacrificed one arm, he managed to buy time by drawing them into the trap.
He had now escaped the crisis of being surrounded and was quite a distance away from them.
Of course, the situation wasn’t one to feel optimistic about.
Like a hunted prey, the Model Student’s location was gradually being forced further outside the Dimensional Group.
You might ask, what's the problem with leaving the Dimensional Group? Isn’t it just “outside”?
But for a Constellation, the story was different. The moment one left the Dimensional Group, all powers as a Constellation would be lost.
Like how a human would die in space without a suit after leaving Earth.
To a Constellation, outside the Dimensional Group was a place where the life of a Constellation ceased to exist.
If that happened, communication with others like Lee Siyeon or Sanghyun would become impossible.
‘Huhu. Still, it looks like my future self wasn’t an idiot. To think I actually succeeded in reversing time and space!’
The Model Student was genuinely pleased.
Even though his current self had been researching and contemplating regression, he hadn’t found an answer.
It was only at the level of a baby learning to walk. There was still a long way to go before he could walk like an adult.
‘Which means Sanghyun, the contractor, has really grown a lot. The weight of the destiny he bears is far heavier.’
Through the Goddess of Luck, he had learned that all of Sanghyun’s contracted Constellations and Thrones were illustrious beings.
To be honest, it was unexpected. He wondered how Sanghyun could have even interacted with such great Constellations.
He was both grateful and sorry that Sanghyun had grown so well with the knowledge of regression.
Even though Sanghyun never showed it.
After all, regression and this current life had all been orchestrated by his future self. Sanghyun’s opinion had never been considered.
When Sanghyun said one day that he had suddenly returned to the past, the Model Student realized his own “rudeness.”
There must’ve been a reason.
Even just publicly mentioning regression could cause it to fail.
Especially for the one who would actually experience regression, it was essential to keep them as stable as possible.
That was the starting point in dealing with time and space—removing sensitive variables.
Handling time and space was that difficult. That’s probably why he had no choice but to remain silent.
‘Sanghyun, the fate of our entire Dimensional Group rests on you. Please understand why I had to send you to the past to set things right again.’
The Model Student clasped his hands together and lowered his head as if praying.
Entrust the Dimensional Group’s future to a mere human? No, not a mere human.
He was the only judge capable of crushing the sacred order of so-called noble Constellations and punishing the corrupted ones.
If there was just one thing weighing on his heart, it was that this was the first and last opportunity.
There was no element allowing for a second chance.
It was probably because this point in time was the inflection point of history that his future self had gone to such lengths to send Sanghyun here.
If it had been possible, he would’ve sent him even further back.
Most likely, the current time was the absolute limit of how far one could rewind through regression. That, at least, was fortunate.
There were many reasons why the Model Student was looking at the situation positively.
First, unlike the past, the current Sanghyun had experienced explosive growth based on future knowledge.
Though he couldn’t be certain, he thought Sanghyun was now at a level where he could go toe-to-toe with the contractor of the Eye of Calamity.
And unlike his past life where he was completely isolated, now he had an ally—the Goddess of Luck.
If he could just get this message to the Dimensional Group, surely a Constellation who sympathized with him would appear.
The scales of good and evil hadn’t yet tipped. There was still a chance to win.
‘The Endless Dungeon that Sanghyun mentioned is a legal training ground. The only stage where crisis can be turned into opportunity, and the impossible into possible.’
The Model Student was grateful for the existence of the Endless Dungeon. He was also grateful that Sanghyun could challenge it.
God created the Constellations, created humans, and then created a system to make those humans strong.
If that system didn’t include mechanisms for rapid growth like the Endless Dungeon?
Then the growth Sanghyun could hope for now would have been far more limited.
Did God foresee even this? So the Dimensional Group wouldn’t fall victim to the ambition of a corrupted Throne?
It was a question with no answer. The Model Student simply hoped Sanghyun would grow endlessly in the Endless Dungeon.
If he could just defeat the contractor bound to the Eye of Calamity, he could forcibly nullify the Eye of Calamity’s contract.
And if that happened, they could pinpoint the location of the corrupted Throne—the Eye of Calamity—hidden somewhere within the Dimensional Group.
Capture that one, and everything would return to normal, flowing as it should, as if nothing had happened.
“Ugh.”
His whole body felt like it was breaking apart, and he wanted to collapse and sleep right then and there, but the Model Student steeled himself again.
The more time he bought, the more time Sanghyun would have to grow.
As long as his life wasn’t cut short, he had the duty to hold out for even a minute, even a second longer.
“So this is where the Endless Dungeon begins… the entrance to the first floor, huh.”
What greeted Sanghyun as he entered the dungeon was a colossal tower soaring endlessly high.
Its scale was far beyond what one would typically imagine of a tower.
It was so vast that it couldn’t even be fully seen with a wide field of vision.
It looked like one floor could fit an entire city and still have room to spare.
Only because he saw the curved outline of the tower at the horizon did he realize it was a tower.
Had he not seen that, he would’ve thought it was just an endlessly sprawling massive structure.
Frederick had explained the structure of the Endless Dungeon once more on the way here.
First, its structure was that of a tower.
As seen, it was divided by floors, and naturally, one started from the first.
Only by killing the boss monster on a floor would the dimensional gate to the next one activate.
From the moment of entry, one had a maximum of one day—24 hours—to stay on a floor.
If that time was exceeded? It was considered a failure, and the player would be instantly expelled from the dungeon.
Then.
A message from a Constellation was delivered to Sanghyun.
It was a one-way message, which, it was said, wouldn’t be recorded in the order of the Dimensional Group.
[Contractor Sanghyun. I’ll try to buy you as much time as I can, so please do your best to grow.]
[Thank you so much. Every moment, I’m reminded of why my future self trusted you.]
“That really hits me in the feels.”
Sanghyun smiled.
The Model Student, a Late Bloomer type Constellation, had grown on him deeply during their past life.
The many deep conversations they’d had remained vividly in his mind. They had shared a lot of personal thoughts.
Even then, the Model Student never revealed that he was being hunted.
The loneliness he must have endured alone… That sorrow was something Sanghyun couldn’t help but feel.
Of course, now it was different.
Sanghyun neither resented the Model Student who had sent him back in time nor blamed his current self.
In fact, he wanted to go all out. The path of a hero who would save the world! How exhilarating was that?
Step. Step. Step.
Sanghyun walked toward the entrance without hesitation.
Clutching the Nameless Sword, ready to jump into battle at any moment.
In this endless dungeon.
He wanted to transcend his limits and see beyond. The opportunity was finally before him.
What greeted Sanghyun upon entry was a system message revealing the floor’s concept.
Each concept was completely different, so the first floor he experienced might be different next time.
Meaning, every time a new player entered or the round changed, everything was randomly assigned.
That’s why there was no real strategy. The first floor one person experienced wouldn’t be the same for another.
The message that appeared for Sanghyun was clearly different from the one Frederick had seen.
“Frederick said the ground started collapsing from behind the moment he entered, making it a time attack.”
Frederick had said he had to run without looking back to the safe zone, a forced extreme sprint.
For players with poor mobility, it was practically an instant elimination setup.
But the concept Sanghyun encountered on the first floor was even worse than what Frederick had experienced.
[Endless Dungeon – 1st Floor]
[Attribute: Full Physical Resistance]
[Note: All monsters possess 100% physical resistance. All physical damage is nullified.]
“This is insane.”
He cursed without thinking.
That basically meant normal sword attacks wouldn’t work at all.
Even stabbing for days wouldn’t leave a scratch.
If Sanghyun were a pure swordsman, he would’ve been eliminated on the spot. There was no way to clear it.
But most of Sanghyun’s skills also dealt magical damage, so it wasn’t a perfect counter.
Moreover, while physical damage didn’t work, status effects could still be inflicted.
That meant even without dealing physical damage, there could still be creative ways to kill.
“I really do think luck’s involved here…”
Today, he especially missed the Goddess of Luck. He wanted to see her again.