Chapter 88: 88

“Hey, man . Someone stop those two . ”

“And who’s gonna do that?”

“Where’s the Medical Guild’s master?”

“Didn’t show up . Besides, you think that dude can stop them even if he’s here?”

People whispered to each other and continued to observe Jordan and Chloe’s changing moods .

The truth of these two having bad blood between them was a well-known fact by now . Jordan, with his stubborn streak and old-fashioned values, and the carefree Chloe with a near-narcissistic level of self-love were polar opposites .

When the news got out that only these two were left to participate in the dungeon raid, lots of stories began doing the rounds . People wondered whether the participants needed to be wary of these two more than the monsters during the raid .

Sure enough, things were going wrong from the very beginning .

“Won’t something bad really happen at this rate?”

Step, step—

Someone’s footsteps made a noise .

Everyone was holding their breaths and whispering to each other, too scared to even take one single step . Their attention was focused on the person responsible for the noise .

It was an unfamiliar face . Not only that, he didn’t even look American, either .

“Who’s that?”

“Dunno . ”

“An Asian man… . ?”

“Wait a sec, is he actually going over there?”

Even as people murmured, Su-hyeun didn’t stop walking forward .

The distance closed soon enough, and the Arctic-level of chilly auras emitted by Jordan and Chloe began stabbing him on the skin .

Realizing that someone was approaching them, the two S-Rank Awakeners shifted their glare over to Su-hyeun next . He kept his focus on Chloe in the midst of this . She had been carrying this expression of “Who the heck is this idiot?” ever since discovering his approach .

“It’d be a lie to say I’m pleased to make your acquaintance… . After all, I’ve been hearing my name being brought up for a while now,” said Su-hyeun .

“Your name?” Chloe, still not getting it evidently, began scanning Su-hyeun from top to bottom . Meanwhile, Jordan asked a question .

“Are you Kim Su-hyeun?”

“Yes, that’s right . ”

“That Kim Su-hyeun?” Jordan asked again .

“The one that’ll join us during this assault… . . ?”

“What the heck, it was true? Hey, the Medical Guild really scored big this time, didn’t they?” Su-hyeun’s entrance caused a bit of commotion in the surroundings .

A man capable of potentially diffusing the tense stand-off between Jordan and Chloe threatening to go off at any second had made an appearance . Indeed, it should have been seen as a welcome development to all . Only one person was staring at Su-hyeun with an unwelcoming gaze, however .

“Were you listening to everything?”

At Chloe’s question, Su-hyeun nodded his head . “You did speak in a voice that everyone could hear . ”

“Okay, so what do you want, then?”

Her question implied why he still chose to show himself after hearing all of that . She really had a commendably thick skin . It seemed that she had zero interest in minding Su-hyeun’s mood at all .

“Well, let’s just say I’ll be in your care, auntie . ”

The same thing could be said for Su-hyeun, however .

“A-auntie?!”

Chloe’s brows arched in a terrifying manner .

If Su-hyeun really did hear her conversation with Jordan, then he must’ve learned about how much she hated being called an “auntie . ” Even if he missed it, there was probably no woman alive who liked being called that .

This was an open provocation, in other words .

Shuaaaaah—

Crack, craaaack—

Chloe’s aura spread out to the surroundings in an even harsher intensity . The chilly temperature now dropped below the freezing point, and the objects found in the surroundings began to really freeze up .

Awakeners possessed fairly robust resistance towards cold and hot weather, yet even they were beginning to feel the chill from her aura . Of course, Su-hyeun and Jordan felt the full brunt of the biting chill .

“You…do you really want to die?” Chloe threatened .

“Chloe . ”

Rumble—!

Right at that moment, Jordan’s own aura also flared up far stronger than before . The white-hot aura soon descended to earth, and immediately, Chloe shifted her glare back to Jordan .

“Keep it down and withdraw your aura . If you don’t, forget about the raid or whatever — I will crush an arm and a leg of yours right here, right now,” said Jordan .

“Me? You will?”

“That’s right . I will crush you . ”

“You f*cking son of a bitch, I’ll… . !”

“Enough,” said Su-hyeun .

Gu-wuuuu—

The two people’s auras clashing against each other were dragged downwards . A brand new magical energy made an entrance and began suppressing them from above . Startled by this development, both Chloe and Jordan quickly shifted their gaze over to Su-hyeun .

“Let’s not throw a tantrum around in the middle of a city filled with people, shall we? It’s unsightly to look at,” Su-hyeun said .

“You, you, you… . !”

“If you can’t hold it, why don’t we go somewhere else and finish it there? Put your contributions and your life on the line in the meantime . So, how about it? We still have some time to kill, anyway . ” Su-hyeun’s eyes narrowed to slits .

Chloe gnashed her teeth and was about to stride over to Su-hyeun . “Those words, I’m gonna… . ”

“There, there . ” It was then that Jordan stepped in between Su-hyeun and Chloe and opened his mouth . “I acknowledge it . I got too carried away . It’s the first time meeting each other, so let’s not get too red in the faces and end it here . ”

“Jordan, you… . ”

“Chloe, that’s enough from you . Let’s be real here . You can’t deal with him, now can you?”

Jordan’s question caused Chloe to bite down hard on her lip before she spun on her heels to leave .

Su-hyeun watched her back rapidly gaining distance with long strides and could only lick his lips, ruing the missed opportunity .

“It seems that you were really planning to fight her,” Jordan observed .

“Well, I couldn’t just sit back and take it lying down after hearing her say stuff like that . ”

“You’re a lot fiercer than you look, aren’t you? I like that . ”

A wide grin formed on Jordan’s lips . It seemed that he had recalled Chloe’s deeply crumpled expression as she walked away .

“Allow me to introduce myself properly . I’m Jordan, vice master of the Maximum Guild . I’d like to ask you to gloss over what that idiot Chloe has said earlier . ”

“I’m Kim Su-hyeun . ”

“I’ll be in your care . If it’s at all possible, I’d like to end today’s raid with the least amount of losses . Quite a few of my Guild family are joining me today, you see . ”

While saying that, Jordan extended his hand towards Su-hyeun .

He seemed to be a lot nicer than the initial impressions might suggest . The way he thought about his Guild members, it seemed that he really did care about his own people, and he was well-mannered towards the others he’s meeting for the first time, too .

Unfortunately…

“I see . You also seem to be thinking of that as a joke, as well,” replied Su-hyeun .

“What?”

“You shouldn’t be worried about safely ending the raid with minimum losses, but… . ”

Su-hyeun left Jordan’s hand hanging and turned around .

“…We should all worry about returning home alive, instead . ”

Jordan could only wordlessly stare at Su-hyeun’s distancing back .

Those words sounded like they came from a man well-versed in blue-colored dungeons . Despite knowing that such a thing was impossible, Jordan found himself unable to ignore what Su-hyeun had said for some reason .

More than anything, that highly-concentrated magical energy suppressing both his and Chloe’s auras…

Jordan clutched his hand still hanging in the air and muttered to himself .

“Maybe the truth has been downplayed, instead?”

* * *

Crack, craaack—

The path Chloe was walking on was frozen solid . Her sour mood caused the surrounding air to cool down rapidly .

She recalled Su-hyeun’s eyes, and her expression crumpled even further .

He was merely an awakener who had only reached the 30th floor .

That was why she had been dismissing the b*stard . His experience as an awakener was too short, and she figured his skills would be severely lacking as a result, too .

But now, it was basically the same thing as her being pushed aside by him . Sure, they hadn’t fought each other or anything like that yet, but as some things had already been said out aloud, her pride couldn’t help but be wounded from the exchange .

She tried to look at it that way, but even then, there were a few areas that still didn’t make sense .

“Please don’t scowl so much . Your make-up will crack apart like that . ”

Chloe’s head spun right next to her, in the direction of where that voice came from .

It came from a man with a bucket hat deeply pressed down — none other than the S-Rank awakener from another country who came with Chloe .

As her temper had already been stoked, those inflammatory words were answered by Chloe’s very harsh-sounding tone of voice . “Are you trying to pick a fight with me, too?”

The man replied with a laughing voice . “The way it looks to me, it was you who started this whole thing, so what do you mean ‘too?’”

“You better shut your… . ”

“That man Kim Su-heyun…” The man changed the topic and cocked his head in the direction where Su-hyeun had disappeared to . “Won’t he prove to be an unexpected variable?”

“A variable? What variable?” Chloe shot back as if to imply, “don’t say something nonsensical . ”

She didn’t look like she’d be a good conversation partner in her current state . The man lightly tutted and shook his head .

“No, it’s nothing . ”

The man then pulled the hat even lower and hid his eyes . Soon, the man turned around and walked away as well . Chloe watched him and began gnashing her teeth again .

It was as if she could see those two’s faces right before her eyes . As flames burned in her eyes, Chloe muttered loudly .

“I’ll definitely kill both of you . ”

* * *

The blue-colored dungeon raid party was comprised of four Guilds .

It took quite a long time for every single member of each guild to gather and also to check their food and items . The waiting time included the interview period for the awakeners of the raid party, however .

Jordan met up with the newly-joining S-Rank awakener and had a chat . The man wearing the bucket hat was rather polite, which was quite different from Chloe .

As if she decided to unload the stress she got just now on the interview, she gathered up the reporters and wasted a ton of time yapping away .

Jordan, waiting for her to finish, kept glancing at his wristwatch several times before finally saying something . “Chloe, get ready . We’ll be heading out . ”

Unable to sit back anymore, Jordan finally intervened . Chloe must’ve realized that the proceedings had been delayed by her time-wasting because she didn’t retort back other than furrowing her brows .

“I guess this really is it . ”

Gulp—

Perhaps he was nervous — Hak-joon patted down his chest and muttered to himself .

It made sense, however .

Being first of anything held a deep meaning, and it’d be normal to shiver from the prospect . On top of this, the subject of his challenge this time was a dungeon, where it’d be like stepping across the death’s doorstep at all times .

The world’s first blue-colored dungeon . Hak-joon’s anticipation, nervousness, and excitement slid down his palms as sweat drops .

“You still remember what I told you before coming here, right?” Su-hyeun asked .

“Of course . ”

With Jordan and Chloe in the lead, numerous awakeners began piling into the blue-colored dungeon .

Hak-joon following after them began muttering out what Su-hyeun told him a few days ago word by word . “A dungeon will always throw an unexpected curveball in our direction . And also… . ”

Squeeze—

He gripped the hilt of the sword mounted on his hips hard and continued on . “The moment you step inside the dungeon is when the battle starts . ”

“Just remember those two things,” said Su-hyeun .

“I will . ”

“Well, then…”

Before long, the two of them following the leaders were standing only a step before the dungeon’s entrance .

“Let’s go . ”

The moment they stepped into the dungeon, the view before their eyes transformed in an instant .

* * *

[Trial will now commence . ]

[In order to escape from the dungeon, you must locate the designated escape gate or survive for ten days . ]

A pair of simple but concise messages popped up inside the head of everyone entering the blue-colored dungeon .

“It’s impossible to escape?”

“Dammit, I guess I won’t get to run away at this rate . ”

Just like how it was with high-difficulty trials, it would get harder and harder to find a normal type of dungeon as the color approached closer to the purple hue . Several variables, such as unique types of trials or rule sets would start to appear .

“Don’t get your panties in a twist over a variable like this . You’re all ruining the party’s atmosphere . ” Jordan went on to pacify the panicking raid party members . His composed appearance managed to gradually pull back the fear spreading within the party like an infection .

Jordan then surveyed the backdrop of the dungeon . It was a massive jungle with no end in sight .

He had occasionally come across dungeons with such backdrops before . As he was familiar with it, any thoughts of it being difficult didn’t even enter his head .

He then started confirming his vicinity, only for his eyes to tremble greatly .

“Hold up . ” He counted the number of people and raised his voice . “The headcount is off . ”

Exactly two people were missing .

“That man with the bucket hat, and…”

Jordan then looked at Hak-joon and asked, “Where is Kim Su-hyeun?”