The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 41

The Dungeon Break occurred, and people were attacked by monsters.

And using that as an opportunity, Cheon Yuhwa and her guild, [Wonderland], soared high and established themselves as the number one guild in Korea at once.

And naturally, other guilds did not welcome [Wonderland]'s move.

Dungeons were a business that was sure to make money, and in such a business, there was a huge difference between first and second place.

Most guilds just diligently raided dungeons in their assigned areas or recruited new guild members, but some of them, out of murky and dark jealousy, thought of ways to drag down those above them instead of climbing up themselves.

And guilds that played tricks to make [Wonderland] fail in their dungeon raids and have all their members lose their lives appeared.

Just as Cheon Yuhwa had expected.

'Hmm, are they still in the observation stage? It seems they're aiming for the day we raid the boss room and return.'

For her, that was better.

It was more convenient to wipe out the guys who kept flocking in at once without giving them a chance to prepare, rather than dealing with them and raising unnecessary vigilance.

After finishing her thoughts about the watchers, she thought about another part.

This part was not a trivial topic like the appearance of watchers, so her face naturally hardened a little.

'It seems the timing of the dungeons appearing is faster than I knew.'

Of course, this could just be her feeling.

What she remembered was the general flow of time, not the detailed dates.

Nevertheless, she couldn't shake off this nagging feeling that occupied one side of her mind.

'Anyway, what I have to do doesn't change.'

She was a player who entered dungeons, defeated monsters, and cleared boss rooms.

At the same time, she was a regressor who knew about the future to come.

'Improving the skills of all players, including myself. I've already achieved the number one guild ranking, which can create the influence for that. The rest is to solidify this position and start what I've been thinking of in earnest.'

And since she had explained that part in detail to the vice guild master, Kim Jae-hyun, there was no problem.

There was one thing she had to focus on now.

'In addition to improving my own skills, I have to raise the skills of talented people.'

She muttered, looking at Lee Shin, who was continuously stuffing food into his mouth.

"I was originally thinking of increasing the guild members' skills here, but it seems it would be better to just clear it quickly."

***

"Ah, I'm so hungry from fighting monsters in the dungeon since this morning."

"What was the side dish menu today? I hope we have meat."

"I asked before entering the dungeon, and they said we're having galbi-jjim."

When lunchtime came, the guild members who had entered the dungeon in the morning began to slowly come out.

They all looked exhausted, but still, there were no injured people or people so tired they were about to faint, like yesterday.

They had adapted to fighting the monsters in the dungeon in their own way for a day.

Watching the guild members move on their own to rest, Lee Shin, Yeonhwa, and Cheon Yuhwa, who had already filled their stomachs, stood up and entered the dungeon.

Swoosh-

Seeing that, the team leaders also received their lunch boxes from the food truck and immediately turned their steps toward the dungeon.

And among the people entering the dungeon, Eun Yeon-woo was also mixed in.

He had followed them with the reason of observing again after talking to Lee Shin.

"Should we go in a little deeper?"

"That seems better. Ah, Yeon-woo, you get on my back."

"I'll just walk."

When Lee Shin offered his back, Eun Yeon-woo took a step back as if disgusted.

Even seeing him like that, Lee Shin smiled playfully.

"Can you keep up?"

"I'll do my best."

"If you're left alone in the middle, you'll definitely die."

At that moment, the image of a Black Jaguar loitering in the dungeon came to his mind.

"...Carry me."

"Since you're asking so desperately, I can't refuse."

At his broad smile, he sighed but obediently got on his back.

After that, the three of them each raised their energy and extended their feet toward the forest.

Cheon Yuhwa, running while wrapped in a white light; Lee Shin, running with a sound like tearing lightning; and Yeonhwa, running lightly while exuding the scent of lotus flowers.

'Terrifying.'

Although their running styles were different, all of them were passing through the forest at a tremendous speed.

The distance between them and the team leaders was gradually widening, and now they were barely visible.

Watching them quietly, Eun Yeon-woo suddenly let out a chuckle.

The characteristic that his aura had blossomed into was [Acceleration].

Therefore, he was confident in his speed and thought he could somehow keep up, but seeing the three of them now, he could see how absurd that thought was.

'And from the looks of it, they don't seem to be using their full strength, judging by the look on their faces...'

As he was being newly surprised, Lee Shin smiled and spoke to him.

"But you're also strange. Usually, if someone saw that kind of appearance yesterday, they wouldn't try to get close to me, right?"

At his words, she and Yeonhwa also secretly tilted their ears toward Eun Yeon-woo without being obvious.

Their thoughts were the same as Lee Shin.

Without even knowing that Eun Yeon-woo was receiving such attention, he said lightly.

"Not really."

"Huh, why?"

"Well, what does it have to do with me if you're trying to kill someone else?"

"You don't think I might attack you?"

"I don't."

At Eun Yeon-woo's confident words, Lee Shin widened his eyes slightly.

"Why do you think so?"

So a little of the playfulness disappeared from his tone.

Feeling that, he said calmly.

"Well, you only do that when someone picks a fight with you first or when you see someone stronger than you. I have no intention of picking a fight with you, and I don't want to get stronger either."

"Hmm? Then why did you follow me here now?"

At Lee Shin's words, Eun Yeon-woo glanced at Cheon Yuhwa and said.

"Well, since I'm also an aura user, I was just interested in how the guild master would fight, so I followed. It might be useful someday if I watch carefully."

"Puhup! Puhahahaha!!!"

At the honest answer without any pretense, Lee Shin burst out laughing for a long time.

Eun Yeon-woo, who had become accustomed to his eccentricities, just let it be and swung his dagger to cut down the branches that were flying toward his face.

"Ah, I laughed for the first time in a long time. You're a much more interesting guy than I thought. I thought you were just a guy who was fun to tease, but it seems you have a talent for fighting too."

"Even if you praise me like that, I won't go into a fight. I'm fine with just enough strength to escape with my own body."

"Right, I don't have any intention of forcing you either. You seem to be as stubborn as they come."

Yeonhwa looked at their conversation with fascination.

The image of him swinging his spear while emitting killing intent was too strongly embedded in his mind.

But on the contrary, Cheon Yuhwa looked at him with eyes mixed with pity.

Through her memories of the future, she knew that everyone he liked like that would be rolled around by his whims and go through all sorts of hardships.

Thwack-

"It seems it's enough if we've come this far."

"I guess so."

Lee Shin replied, putting Eun Yeon-woo down.

"Should I give you some time to recover your internal energy?"

"That would be great."

"Oh, you're not refusing?"

"I may be a fool who likes the thrill of risking my life, but I'm not stupid enough to be arrogant in front of a stronger opponent."

Lightly deflecting her provocation, he sat down on the spot and operated his cultivation method.

And when his dantian was full of internal energy and he stood up, the team leaders arrived, panting.

"Now then, shall we get started?"

He took out his spear from his inventory and swung it lightly.

Seeing that, she smiled, happy that the moment to vent her anger for the various things she had suffered from the future him had come.

That smile was a smile of burning joy, far from her usual languid smile.

She made a gun shape with her thumb and index finger and pointed it at him.

It was a sight that anyone who didn't know would have thought was just a joke.

But everyone, including him, knew that it was not a simple joke.

That playful gesture was the trademark that symbolized her in Pantheon, Alice.

Ping-

The moment her finger pointed at him, a bullet of light like a white bead shot out from her fingertip at a tremendous speed.

But he didn't just stand there either.

Pajijik-!

He unfolded the Lightning Flash Step, escaped from that spot, and at the same time, rushed toward her.

A rain of white light bullets poured down on him, but he identified the location and trajectory of the bullets through his senses and dodged her attacks.

'Hmm, [Light]...'

Just as Eun Yeon-woo’s aura had blossomed into the characteristic of [Acceleration], hers had blossomed into the characteristic of [Light].

Lee Shin thought it was an annoying power, but at the same time, he slowly raised the corners of his mouth.

Because he also thought it was that much fun.

'That guy is smiling like that again.'

Seeing him smile, on the contrary, she frowned slightly.

His speed and spear were threatening, but not enough to make her nervous.

There was compatibility in battle, and she was superior to him in that compatibility.

Their speeds were similar.

But unlike him, who could only do close-range attacks, she could do long-range attacks.

'And that guy can only dodge my attacks.'

A sword cannot cut water, and it cannot cut fire.

That was common sense, but a weapon in the hands of a master martial artist could cut not only fire and water, but even light.

Sword ki, a technique that could be called the symbol of a master martial artist, made that miracle possible.

But on the contrary, a third-rate (LV.1) or second-rate (LV.2) martial artist who could not handle sword ki had difficulty resisting magic.

Because it was a master martial artist (LV.4) who finally began to handle sword ki, and a first-rate martial artist (LV.3) who was called a genius or who had faced a wall could only imperfectly create sword ki.

'Yeonhwa was a super-master martial artist (LV.7) in the first place, so he's an exception.'

In other words, this spar was a stage that was too advantageous for her from the start.

As long as he couldn't handle sword ki, he couldn't even counterattack her attacks.

'The problem is the possibility that that guy hid his sword ki until the very end in yesterday's spar... but that's probably not possible.'

The him she knew had a strong impromptu side, so it didn't seem like he would make the choice to hide another move in preparation for the future.

A situation that was perfectly advantageous for her, but her face lacked the sense of victory that a winning person should naturally have.

"Stop hiding and bring it out."

"Oh? Was it obvious?"

The him she knew was not a person so easy to predict that he would be defeated so obediently.

"Ah, but I wasn't particularly hiding it."

Tadadadang-!!

Saying so, he deflected all the light bullets that were shot at him.

She, who understood what that phenomenon meant, made a dumbfounded expression, and Yeonhwa clicked his tongue in displeasure.

"I just finally got the hang of imbuing my weapon with ki."

"Was that what you were practicing at night?"

"Well, you could say that."

What she had been aiming for by making him and Yeonhwa face each other was to give him a stimulus.

Since the two were famous for their cat-and-dog relationship even in the future, she thought the plan wouldn't go wrong.

But by making the two face each other, it wasn't just Yeonhwa who was stimulated.

"Now, if the check is over, I'd like you to really come at me."

The monster that would have just been sleeping, waiting for a chaotic future, was smiling at the existence of the two.

"You really are an annoying guy."

She said, lightly correcting her stance and clenching her fists.

A faint white light gathered on her lightly clenched fists, and the rings on both her hands shone brightly as if in resonance.

At the same time, a white light gathered toward her forehead and formed a shape like an eye.

Eye Opening

Like the sword ki used by a master martial artist, the technique that symbolized an aura user who had reached a certain level (LV.4) appeared before him.

(End of Chapter)