Chapter 120

“Everyone… I’m sorry I couldn’t join the battle until now. Out there. Um, I was watching the situation where Olivia and James went out.”

Shaking his arm, Capu wrung his hands.

In response, a hologram moved freely in the air.

An effect like something out of an Sci-Five movie.

However.

“Damn it, we don’t have time for that right now!”

The middle-aged man shouted with a fed-up expression.

“Whoa? Mister! Get back! It’s dangerous!”

“Vladimir! Can’t you get your skills off cooldown faster? They keep sticking to us!”

“Hey, don’t rush me. I have a cooldown too.”

It wasn’t just the middle-aged man.

All the team members confronting the soldiers were in a frenzy.

If they lost focus for even a moment.

The train to the afterlife would appear right before their eyes.

What was so important about news of Olivia or James?

But, even so.

“Hoon, you at least should watch.”

Capu was adamant.

“It’s that shocking of a scene.”

“Yeah, I get it! Just show it to us already!”

I didn’t rebuke Capu.

Rather, I viewed it positively.

Capu’s unique ability was specialized in ‘pathfinding’ anyway.

Not only would he be of little help in combat, but in a dungeon like this, every little piece of information was as precious as gold.

‘When James bolted without a word earlier, he was muttering while looking at his back because he was casting a tracking skill on him.’

I had to acknowledge Capu’s sense.

To be honest, that moment just now had been so absurd that even I was dumbfounded.

‘KABOOM! KABOOOM!’

The bolts continued to be fired.

It was painful enough to make my bones rattle.

But I didn’t take my eyes off the holographic video being broadcast.

Why?

Because I had a strange feeling.

A feeling that it might contain information about the ‘dragon’ Eldrin had speculated about?

‘Wooooong!’

At last, the video tracking device activated.

Soon, the screen and audio began to play.

It was the scene from James’s point of view.

—

‘Tatatat!’

“Haah, haah!”

Clutching the Treasure, James kept running.

Rough breaths billowed from his mouth.

‘It’s fine.’

Pangs of conscience and guilt pricked at his chest, but he paid them no mind.

Besides, Olivia, who was running ahead of him, was just another woman like him.

‘Wasn’t this the kind of game it was from the start?’

Just as killing was one of the rules in Theme 1.

Abandoning the Team leader was just a new rule for Theme 2.

[Team members may choose one ‘Treasure’ at any time to escape the giant castle.]

[Escaped team members will ‘Pass’ Theme 2.]

‘Pass!’

If he could escape the theme and become a Ranker, what wouldn’t he do?

The way James saw it, the standard for this trial wasn’t morality.

It was a game where the one who survived, the one who passed, was the winner.

The world was actually like that.

If he could just become a Ranker here.

No matter what the process was, he would be treated accordingly.

The whole world would give him the VIP treatment.

And all the hunters would look at him with eyes full of respect.

James gritted his teeth.

‘Yeah, it’ll be fine.’

He ran without rest.

He felt that if he looked back, the sharp-eyed Zhang Wei would be thrusting his spear at him.

How long had he run like that?

‘Flash!’

James threw himself toward a white ‘door.’

The door to escape the giant castle.

The door through which he would receive the notification of his ‘Pass’ as the price for his betrayal.

However.

“Huh?”

What appeared before his eyes after passing through the door.

Was not something he could have imagined.

A scene even darker than before, an even more enormous hall.

And.

“W-What is that?”

Something huge existed there.

Something unimaginably huge was glaring at him.

He had thought that after living his entire life as a high-rank hunter, he had seen plenty of monsters.

He had also imagined the worst-case scenarios.

But at least.

It was never to this extent.

“Keoheok!”

It did nothing.

He had only looked at it.

And yet, red blood poured from James’s mouth.

A truly tremendous force that left him speechless!

“Crazy…!”

Before his eyes was a massive dragon that filled the space.

Its eyes were chillingly murderous, and its claws were dozens of times larger than his own body.

Before such a being, everyone was surely nothing more than a mere speck.

“Kyaaaak! Keuaaaaaak!”

What’s more.

That being, so tremendous it sent shivers down his spine, was brutally crushing Olivia, who had entered before him.

“H-Help me! Help me!”

Pinned under its claw, she struggled, shedding tears.

Bright red blood pooled around her.

And as James watched, an unfamiliar voice reached his ears.

– Kekeke, you foolish and greedy ones.

– Did you truly think you could leave with my Treasure?

The dragon rumbled lowly.

The dragon’s gaze, which had been on Olivia, shot toward James.

“C-Crazy? This is different from what was promised!”

James shouted, his eyes wide.

“You said I’d pass if I just took the Treasure and left! Examiner! Where’s the examiner! Let me out! I said let me out!”

– Tsk tsk, you foolish thing.

The massive being clicked its tongue.

Amusement was evident in the dragon’s voice.

– To think you still haven’t grasped the basic common sense that greed brings ruin. You are not worthy of passing my—Aranvalon’s, trial.

‘Hwoong!’

The dragon’s claw moved toward James.

‘SQUELCH!’

The claw, moving at an un-dodgeable speed, crushed James’s lower body.

“Keu, keuaaaaaaaak!”

James screamed in immense pain.

The Treasures of Aranvalon he had been holding had already fallen to the floor.

“Keuaaaak! Keuak!”

What on earth.

What had gone wrong?

If this wasn’t the right answer, did that mean he should have stayed by the Team leader’s side and endured the attacks of those damn soldiers?

“You sons of bitches! What the hell do you think you’re doing! If you set a condition, you have to stick to it! How can you play with people’s lives like this!”

– You are the one who was blinded, you foolish thing.

The dragon recited kindly.

– The condition from the start was to find the ‘Legendary Treasure.’ Not to ‘betray.’

“Legendary Treasure? What the hell is this Legendary Treasure!”

– Because you do not know, you are now crushed beneath my foot.

The corners of the dragon’s mouth lifted.

– Soon you will be in a state where you no longer need to know the truth.

‘Splat! Splat!’

Olivia’s and James’s heads burst simultaneously.

‘Wooooong!’

An unprecedented energy rose from the dragon’s body.

At the same time.

‘Sssss!’

The corpses melted away and the Treasures were retrieved.

– Kekekekek.

The dragon hummed as if amused.

– In this world, only I am allowed to be the most greedy.

—

‘Pzzt!’

The hologram turned off.

The moment James’s body melted, the video tracking device was destroyed as well.

“C-Crazy?”

One of the party members exclaimed.

Even in the midst of the chaos, everyone had been glancing at it.

“A dragon?”

“S-So it was a trap after all? A dragon that monstrous?”

“Huh? This means we have no choice but to find the ‘Legendary Treasure,’ right?”

‘Hwoooong!’

A soldier of Aranvalon swung its sword.

Zhang Wei twisted his waist to dodge it, then drove his spear into the creature’s eye.

“See? It was the destined end for betrayal.”

‘Klang!’

The spear was deflected.

“Then, then what are we supposed to do?”

Olena asked as she threw a water ball at the spot where the spear had bounced off.

“I mean, come on! There’s no escape route! And it’s not like they’re giving us time to find the ‘Legendary Treasure’! What more can we do here?!”

“……”

“Besides, honestly, does anyone even have a clue what the ‘Legendary Treasure’ is? It would take at least a year to search this entire place!”

She was right.

There wasn’t a single thing she said that was wrong.

“Shouldn’t we all split up and search instead of dealing with the soldiers here?”

Olena said.

“There’s no rule that says we have to search together. If we all split up and look, someone might find it!”

That, too, was a valid point.

However.

“No.”

I opened my mouth.

“The trial can’t be like this.”

“What?”

“If the trial were like this, everyone would have died in Delilah’s trial instead of becoming Rankers.”

I gripped my shield more tightly.

“You know what? Honestly, even a low-rank Ranker would have a hard time enduring this trial. And we’re supposed to endure it together? And then find the ‘Legendary Treasure’ on top of that? It’s absurd.”

“Then, what is it?”

“Hmm, this is just my guess.”

“So, just say it.”

“Perhaps. We’ve already found the Legendary Treasure?”

It was an idea that came to me from the dragon’s words.

– The condition from the start was to find the ‘Legendary Treasure.’ Not to ‘betray.’

– In this world, only I am allowed to be the most greedy.

The Dragon of Greed, Aranvalon.

It doesn’t let the greedy live.

It tramples them to death, like Olivia and James.

Because it is greedy itself.

It must hate it when others are greedy.

“We found the Legendary Treasure? What is it?!” (T/N: Power of friendship? LOL)

Vladimir shouted.

“Um, well.”

I scratched my head with the back of my hand.

“The dragon hates greed, right? No, rather than hating greed, it hates it when someone steals the treasure it has hoarded in its lair.”

“Hmm?”

“Therefore, finding the ‘Legendary Treasure’ isn’t about finding a physical ‘Treasure.’ It’s a more conceptual idea, don’t you think?”

“What? What the hell are you talking about? Explain it so I can understand!”

Vladimir pounded his chest in frustration.

“Ah, do you perhaps remember the mission that appeared when we first started Theme 2?”

“The mission? I have it displayed on one side.”

“Take another look at it.”

Vladimir furrowed his brow and looked up.

The other members, as if mesmerized, also fumbled to look.

[A mission has arrived.]

[Stage: Treasure Hunt!]

[The 10 chosen team members must ‘cooperate’ with each other to find the ‘Legendary Treasure’ hidden in the central giant castle.]

“What about it! This is all stuff we already know!”

“Don’t you see the highlighted words?”

‘Cooperate.’

And ‘Legendary Treasure.’

I said.

“The system told us from the very beginning. The Legendary Treasure is cooperation itself. The dragon also said it. What we had to do was find the Legendary Treasure, not betray each other. What if that is this very act of fighting together, right now?”

“…So you’re saying the Legendary Treasure was the act of not running away? Team leader, are you saying the Legendary Treasure is loyalty?”

“If my guess is correct.”

If all the Rankers who passed through here had experienced the same trial.

The Five Stars of Seoul must have become complete comrades here.

In a moment of crisis.

Because they didn’t abandon or betray each other.

That strong bond of camaraderie must have continued even after they got out.

‘Squeeze!’

I clenched my fist.

My guess could be wrong.

But I trusted my intuition.

My own intuition, which had been 100% successful so far.

‘Thud!’

It was then.

As if in answer to my words.

The bolts that had been flying at us stopped coming.

“W-What! What’s wrong with them?”

“They suddenly froze?”

The soldiers who had been swinging their swords also froze like statues again.

At the same time.

[Congratulations!]

[The Team leader has interpreted the meaning of the ‘Legendary Treasure’!]

[The Dragon of Greed, Aranvalon, smiles with satisfaction.]

A message so accurate it gave me goosebumps appeared.

My prediction had been exactly right.

“Wow!”

“I-It was real?”

“T-Team leader? Is this for real?”

“Waaaaaah! We’re saved! We’re saved!”

The team members’ cheers erupted in an instant.

However.

“Eldrin.”

It wouldn’t be me if I was satisfied here.

“Yes, Master.”

“Come here for a moment.”

At my command, Eldrin creaked over to me.

For about 5 minutes.

As I was whispering something with her.

“Hey, Team leader! Are you a real genius? How in the world did you know? This is really amazing. Hmm? By the way, why do you look so serious? Is something wrong?”

Vladimir approached.

I nodded my head.

“Yes. Everyone, please wait here for a moment.”

“Huh? Why? Isn’t it all over?”

“It is over, but. My spirit of challenge is suddenly fired up again.”

“Spirit of challenge?”

“I saw a dragon over there. How can I just let that pass?”