Chapter 57

The expedition force was created very quickly . Bern, the head of the Behengerr mercenary guild, and Xeon, the leader of the Corona mercenaries, was participating in this expedition . This was one of the biggest expeditions in the past few years of the Behengerr mercenary guild .

Although he had retired after becoming the head of the guild, Bern was an SS-rank mercenary . Although he didn’t have any breakthroughs and his power was halted where he was before, his long years of experience and skill as a mercenary wasn’t something to be ignored .

Xeon was the same . He had learned the martial arts of the Shaolin and was participating together with three S-rank mercenaries and 5 A-rank mercenaries from his own group . Other than that, there were four S-rank mercenaries and 10 A-rank mercenaries from other groups, and two A-rank mercenaries from freelancers .

And there was Sungmin .

Sungmin felt that this was definitely a lot different from his previous life . There were no participants of B-rank and below; whereas in his previous life, B-rank mercenaries were the main combatants when the black mage dungeon was broken through .

The reason such a small-scale expedition team was created was because back then, it was judged that the dungeon was not so dangerous . However, this time, it was different . The existence of the ogre chimera was spread, and the fact that the lord of that dungeon, the black mage, was a very capable one, was known to everyone . Thanks to that, weak mercenaries didn’t even apply for the expedition .

Sungmin felt that this was instead better . As long as the danger of the existence of a black mage existed, it would be better if the expedition force was stronger . What he was worried about was that Sungmin would not be able to profit as much with all the strong people gathered here .

‘No, I still remember the location of that magic armor . ’

Although Sungmin had never got his hands on the magic armor, he remembered the location where the magic armor was located . As long as he moved according to his memory, he should be able to get his hands on the magic armor first .

2 SS-rank, 8 S-rank, 17 A-rank .

A total of 27 people departed for the black mage’s dungeon .

The dungeon was discovered at a mountain nearby the village where the ogre chimera was found . Ten carriages carried mercenaries to that location . As the Corona mercenaries used their own carriages, Sungmin was not able to see Xeon or his men .

Instead, Sungmin rode together with Bern and the freelancer mercenaries . Sungmin felt that it was fortunate for him to have become close to Bern . Although it was unknown if that was due to his strange ability of his, friendship resulted in good will .

“I didn’t know I would see a famous figure of Behengerr like this . ”

One of the freelancer mercenaries sitting in front of Sungmin muttered . He had wide shoulders and rough muscles . Jung Chul . This was a name that Sungmin remembered . He was a martial artist who trained in external martial arts, and was an A-rank mercenary not belonging to any group .

“You really are younger than I thought you’d be . How old are you?”

Tang Misook . Although she was known to be from one of the famous families of the martial world, the Tang family, whether that was true or not was only known to her . However, most people presumed that she was not from the real Tang family . After all, if she was, she wouldn’t be doing dirty work like being a mercenary . It was just that she called herself as Tang Misook, called herself as from the Tang family, and that she used hidden weapons, so everyone thought ‘yeah, sure’ .

(T/N: The Korean pronunciation of ‘Tang’ is ‘Dang’, but I’ll leave it as ‘Tang’ here . I don’t know what the characters for ‘Misook’ are, so I can’t Chinese-fy that . )

“I’m 18 . ”

“I heard you were a no-class . I always thought that no-classes that surpass the peak level were freaks like Xeon . But it seems I was wrong . ”

Jung Chul giggled as he muttered . Sungmin didn’t react to Jung Chul’s words . Bern, who was meditating next to Sungmin narrowly opened his eyes .

“Why don’t you cut your useless crap and circulate your inner martial arts? We’re going to enter the dungeon as soon as we arrive . ”

“I know that . But huh, a black mage dungeon . It would be good if I could pick up an artifact or something . ”

Jung Chul grumbled and closed his eyes . Tang Misook also didn’t speak anymore and meditated . Sungmin gripped and loosened his hands repeatedly as he looked outside the window .

It was still early dawn . By the time they arrived, it would be noon, and they would immediately enter the dungeon . What Sungmin had to think about wasn’t just the black mage . Xeon – he had to be wary about Xeon as well . Although Xeon didn’t do anything for the past 3 months, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t do it here .

And also .

Something was strange – when he felt that, it had already start .

Dungeons were like natural disasters – they appear suddenly and without warning . Dungeons created like that can be considered the crystallization of non-common sense that people cannot predict at all . However, this dungeon was different . This dungeon was created by a ‘human’, and to be exact, should be considered a ‘workshop’ that the black mage created in order to hide his whereabouts and protect himself and his research .

What this meant was quite clear . This dungeon, in a human’s point of view, was created specifically to defend against the intrusion of other humans .

The first to die was Jung Chul .

As an expert of external cultivation, he was at A-rank and did not pass the wall of the peak level, but was very confident in his own arts . He stood at the front, and did not doubt for a moment that his body was sturdy .

And his body, was ripped apart to pieces .

A black arrow that flew out of nowhere pierced through his heart . To a martial artist at a level of Jung Chul, the Self-Protection Force (T/N: A common defensive martial arts skill name in Korean Wuxia (護身強氣)) was not something he could use . His body trained through external cultivation was pierced by that pitch-black arrow, and his body swayed .

“What the!”

Someone voiced out in surprise . It was before Jung Chul had even fallen on the ground . The shadow under the torch flickered as though dancing . Something came out of that shadow and flew towards Jung Chul, it was before Jung Chul, pierced by the arrow, could say something about it .

His body, trained in external cultivation was torn apart like tofu . His inner organs poured out and blood splattered everywhere . Sungmin hurriedly took out his spear in accordance to the warnings that his sixth sense had given him . His spear, made of mithril and black iron emitted light in this darkness .

“Jung Chul!”

Bern shouted . He swung his staff and his staff shot light . The white light swallowed the light of the torch and shone the inside of the cave .

A monster clad in pitch-black scales was on top of Jung Chul’s corpse . Although it looked like a mantis, its form was incomparably more hideous .

“A chimera… . ?”

Xeon frowned as he muttered . Although there were a lot of monsters that looked similar to a mantis, a monster that looked like what was in front of him didn’t exist in his memories . Bern stiffly nodded .

“The fact that a chimera is protecting this place means that the black mage is still here… . ”

Spoke Xeon as he raised both of his hands . As an expert in the Hundred-steps Divine Fist, Xeon did not use weapons . His fists, as well as his entire body, was his weapon .

The sphere of light that Bern had created floated high in the air and shone deeply inside the cave . Chimeras in various hideous forms were everywhere .

“This is just the entrance and it’s already so tough . ”

Although Xeon said that, he didn’t look threatened to his life at all . Sungmin held his spear next to Bern and watched the situation . The chimera that killed Jung Chul swung its scythes towards Xeon . It was as though it was trying to threaten Xeon .

“Damn bug . ”

Muttering that, Xeon walked forward . Xeon’s left fist flashed gold, and he punched forward .

Poof, and the chimera that threatened Xeon was pushed back quite a distance . An invisible punch shrank the distance and shot towards the mantis . This was Shaolin’s Hundred-steps Divine fist . It was called that because one who trained in it would be able to punch an enemy a hundred steps away .

Although it was pushed back, the chimera did not die . It quickly regained its posture and jumped towars Xeon, and Xeon punched forward with his right fist again . Psh! A definitely hitting sound became Chimera’s last words as it crumbled down .

“Let’s go . ”

Said Xeon . The mercenaries, who were panicked by Jung Chul’s sudden death, regained their confidence when Xeon said that . S-rank mercenaries walked up forward and A-rank mercenaries followed suit . Bern readied his magic from the back, and Sungmin also moved forward .

When he moved .

Sungmin felt a gaze . This was a warning from his sixth sense . He looked towards the direction he felt the gaze from, and at the end of it was Xeon . Xeon was looking at Sungmin while gripping and loosening his fists . Sungmin was about to use the Shadowless Phantom, but stopped .

Instead, he used Lightning Steps to rush forward .

He couldn’t show everything he had to Xeon – that was what he thought . Although he used Lightning Steps after such a long time, the speed was incomparable to the last time he used it thanks to increase in his cultivation .

Having walked to the front, Sungmin swung his spear widely . He didn’t plan to show everything . Like how he hid the Shadowless Phantom, he was planning to hide the Nine Skies Infinity Spear as well . However, hiding too much wouldn’t do him good . There was no good to tell Xeon that he was hiding something . Sungmin decided to mix Nine Skies Infinity Spear with the Autumn Soul Spear (Chu-hon spear technique(???)) and showed more of his basics rather than his techniques .

Pierce – his spear shot out straight ahead and penetrated the head of a chimera . Although he felt some resistance, it was nothing compared to the ogre chimera . When he looked around . The other S-rank and A-rank mercenaries were fighting chimeras as well . This was just the entrance of the dungeon . The chimeras that protected this place were just the gatekeepers .

“Get low!”

Bern shouted from the back . It seemed as though he had finished casting . Sungmin immediately pulled back and lowered his head, and the other mercenaries did the same . Dying from an ally magic would be a laughable, vain death .

A pitch-red fire shot forward . That fire covered the walls of the cave as it swallowed up the chimeras . The chimeras trembled in that fire . When the flames had disappeared, there were no chimeras remaining . A mage that was close to the archmages in power had instantly killed dozens of chimeras at once .

“Pushing yourself, eh . ”

Xeon laughed at him, but Bern didn’t say anything to that . Bern took a deep breath and took off the hood on his robe .

“It seems that the black mage is still here, but there’s nothing big to worry about! Let’s go!”

At Bern’s shout, Xeon shrugged his shoulders and took the Corona mercenaries forward . The other mercenary groups also gathered around, and Sungmin stayed next to Bern . As a freelancer, Tang Misook also went with Sungmin and Bern .

“What do we do about the corpse?”

“…We’ll handle it later . ”

Bern answered without looking at Jung Chul’s corpse . Jung Chul was unlucky . That was why he died .

Deaths were mostly like that .