Chapter 138
Delilah’s hologram room.
The atmosphere there was completely different from before.
First of all, the headcount was different.
Originally, it had only been Delilah and Luka, but now…
“No, Delilah-nim! My god, you named the team [Dragon Slayer]? Back in our class, you named us [Mudskippers]!”
“Mudskippers? Little mudfish, huh? Hahaha. Come to think of it, your face does kind of look like a mudskipper! Do your classmates look the same?”
“What did you say?!”
The room was loud.
Nine examiners besides Luka had practically sprawled out and made themselves comfortable.
“Ooh, still, this team name sounds pretty solid. It’s cool, and it makes sense.”
“Tsk, this class is definitely breaking records, huh?”
“I’m voting ‘they will.’”
“I’m voting ‘they won’t.’ I admit this class is special, but Theme 3 is a completely different concept from everything so far.”
Some threw jokes back and forth.
Others guessed what would happen next.
One thing was certain.
They were all so excited they could barely contain themselves.
They were thrilled that they’d get to watch the ‘Dragon Slayer’ team’s path unfold with their own eyes.
“Delilah-nim.”
Luka walked up to Delilah, who stood in the center with her arms crossed, watching the massive hologram.
“Yes, Luka. Go on.”
“Are you all right?”
The examiners had gotten excited now that it had turned into a spectacle, but the truth was, the person who’d been most excited during the dragon hunt was Delilah.
– They’re really going to kill a dragon? With that?
– That’s impossible. Summoning a dragon is strange enough, but they’re actually going to kill it? Who is that person?
– Luka… did you see it? He implanted dragon bones into his own skeletons! That’s possible?
– My god! The dragon fell! And what is that fire?!
Mouth hanging open, she hadn’t taken her eyes off a single moment.
In truth, even a senior examiner was usually just someone who’d participated in a few trials and watched.
But Delilah had been raising hunters for over ten years, ever since the old days in the shadows.
‘I don’t know why she’s trying to raise hunters through sacrifice, but…’
Luka watched her quietly.
Her cheeks were still flushed, as if the aftereffects of excitement lingered.
That was how absurd this class had been.
“Am I all right? Yes, I’m fine.”
Delilah chuckled softly, clearly pleased.
“I can say this with certainty, Luka. In my entire life as a hunter, this has been the most fun and exhilarating moment.”
“Is that so?”
“Look.”
When she pointed to the hologram on the right—
Woo-oong!
It immediately enlarged.
And there, listed in order, were the team names and scores of the classes that had undergone the trials so far.
[1st ‘Crazy’, 73:05:32 (Stage 4)]
[2nd ‘Rider’, 70:45:05 (Stage 3)]
[3rd ‘Lions’, 68:50:40 (Stage 3)]
[4th ‘Mudskippers’, 66:23:10 (Stage 3)]
[5th ‘Magic Swordsman’, 65:23:10 (Stage 3)]
……
The all-time first place was Team ‘Crazy.’
They endured Theme 3 for over 73 hours.
And they were the only team to ever experience Stage 4.
“Did you know? When the Berserker, Jang Daewoong, broke that record… do you know how excited I was?”
Delilah stroked her chin.
“But this is beyond that. Hmm, how should I put it? It’s just… now, I feel like I’m a spectator too. And that makes me even more excited.”
“Do you think Joo Donghoon can reach Stage 4…?”
Luka had experienced Theme 3 himself.
His record was fifth all-time.
Unlike other teams, he’d been alone, so his team name had simply been Magic Swordsman.
“For me, even Stage 3 was so brutally hard that the mere fact Stage 4 exists is shocking.”
Stage 3 alone was enough to earn excellent rewards.
That was how difficult it was.
“That’s why I’m even more excited.”
Delilah smiled as she stared at the hologram records again.
“Because he’s not someone you can predict.”
Even Delilah, the host of the trials, didn’t look any different from the other examiners who were simply watching.
—
Swish, swish!
I kept scanning all directions.
I even changed my dedicated weapon into a simple bracelet and focused.
Thung! Thung! Twoo-ung!
There was no need to duck or twist my waist.
I just predicted the direction and avoided it with my steps.
One step at a time.
I loosened my body and moved smoothly.
There was no reason to waste strength on something that could last who knew how long.
“Damn it.”
Vladimir shouted.
“How long do we have to keep doing this? Dodging these damn spheres is nothing, sure, but—”
Maybe because it was still Stage 1, the ‘spheres’ were extremely slow.
The problem was boredom.
It felt like over an hour had passed already, but nothing changed. It was just simple repetition.
“Honestly, this eats up a ridiculous amount of focus. If you space out for even a second, you’re eliminated, right?”
He was right.
Dodging wasn’t the hard part.
Maintaining concentration was.
If you nodded off for even a moment, the ‘sphere’ would touch your body.
“Mm.”
I looked around.
With me at the center, on my right were Zhang Wei, Vladimir, and Maximilian.
On my left were Capu, Olena, and Myoi Hana.
When my eyes met Olena’s—
“We’re still okay!”
she shouted.
The women, whose physical abilities were comparatively weaker, had lowered their staffs entirely and were sweating as they dodged.
‘Honestly.’
It felt unfair.
Everyone’s abilities were different.
Some were specialized in physical combat, while others were specialized in skills.
A ‘bullet-dodging’ game like this was obviously advantageous for people with strong physical ability.
“Don’t push yourselves too hard,”
I murmured.
“Anyway, it seems like even if only one person survives, the whole team still gets rewarded.”
Would this end up being a carry by Zhang Wei, Maximilian, and me?
‘There could be more to it, but…’
For now, that was my assumption. So we just had to dodge.
Thung! Twoo-ung! Thung!
The ‘spheres’ kept firing.
We kept dodging.
Even with Capu’s item, we could only confirm it was a device. We couldn’t extract any more information.
Time passed like that.
Thung! Twoo-ung!
One hour. Two hours. Three hours.
It kept going.
“Huff… huff!”
The once-quiet room slowly filled with damp air.
Heavy breathing echoed.
Endless cardio was draining our stamina.
Twoo-ung! Thung!
“Ah, fuck.”
Vladimir spat out a curse.
“I’m starting to get tired. Someone tell an interesting story or something.”
Thung! Twoo-ung!
“The women over there look like they’re struggling, so stay focused. But since we’re colleagues now, how about we do deeper introductions? Anyone disagree?”
Thung! Thung! Thung!
Everyone kept moving in silence.
When Vladimir glanced at me, I nodded.
No reason not to.
It would cut the boredom and let us learn more about each other.
“Good. Then I’ll take that as unanimous.”
Vladimir smiled in satisfaction and continued.
“Like I said before, I’m from the Russian mafia. Yeah, the word ‘mafia’ has dogshit associations, but you don’t have to look at it like that. That Zhang Wei over there who says he’ll judge all evil is staying quiet, isn’t he?”
“That’s right.”
Judgement Spear nodded.
“You don’t feel like other murderers. You haven’t committed senseless killings recently, either.”
“Of course.”
Vladimir grinned.
“Honestly, I was a mafia who beat up other mafia. When I was a kid, those bastards killed my parents. After that, it became my life’s goal.”
“……”
“But you know what’s funny? The deeper you dig, the weirder it gets. Like the mafia is the motherland, and the motherland is the mafia. Turns out it was all connected to high-ranking officials. It was disgusting. Anyway, they’re like garbage, society’s waste. When I become a Ranker, I’ll clean them up first.”
Vladimir’s introduction time began like that.
Past incidents.
How he grew using spatial arts.
How he came to build connections with Rankers.
“Oh, and sometimes people ask me if I’m from an elite family. It’s always foreigners. They hear ‘Vladimir’ and assume I’m upper-class. But fuck, Vladimir is a super common name in my country. I’ve even seen some bastard dog in the next neighborhood named Vladimir.”
Hm.
Like “Chulsoo” and “Younghee” back home?
His mouth didn’t stop.
He kept talking nonstop, mixing profanity and side chatter.
“My group’s name is ‘Outlaws.’ Outlaws. Ever heard of it? Of course not. I’m not even a Ranker yet, and I’m the leader. But just wait. We’ll become a group that makes a name for itself worldwide.”
Thung! Twoo-ung! Thung!
Thanks to that, dodging became easier.
His talk wasn’t as boring as I expected.
There was something about it that pulled your attention in.
‘That’s a skill too.’
In this world, who could talk about their own life for ten hours straight?
Thung! Thung!
Time flowed and flowed—
and we were nearing a full day.
My muscles began to tighten slightly, and for the first time, beads of sweat formed on my forehead.
Even so, I wasn’t sleepy.
Even while moving, I kept running the Supreme Azure Mind Method to shake off fatigue.
‘Honestly.’
Compared to when I was making weapons, this was still manageable.
Then, at some point—
“Huh?”
Something strange began to stand out.
I’d been watching only the ‘spheres’ in silence for a while now.
“What is it, Team leader? Something there?”
“Just a moment.”
I focused my eyes.
Then I closely watched each sphere’s movement.
‘They’re definitely faster.’
The speed wasn’t the same as at the start.
It wasn’t obvious at a glance, but it felt like it had been increasing so slowly we didn’t notice.
‘And.’
The speed of the ‘spheres’ flying toward each person was different.
In other words—the ‘spheres’ flying toward me were faster than the ones flying toward Myoi Hana.
Every time.
It was always like that.
‘What is this?’
Why would it be different?
I examined the other spheres as well.
It was the same.
The spheres flying toward Olena, Capu, and Myoi Hana were slower than ours.
The ones flying toward me and Zhang Wei were above average, and they were getting faster.
“Don’t tell me…”
I murmured.
“Are these spheres… moving at different speeds depending on the person?”
“What are you talking about? Huh?”
“Mm?”
Only then did the others’ brows lift.
Something you can’t see until you know to look—
but once you know, you can’t unsee it.
“It’s real.”
“It is. The ones coming at me are faster.”
Ah.
So that’s what it was.
If the sphere speed was relative to each hunter…
“Yeah. If you think about it, that makes sense.”
When I nodded, Vladimir tilted his head.
“What makes sense?”
“This dungeon. Luka said it, didn’t he? From now on, the dungeon will train us.”
– If the Themes so far were the process of selecting Ranker candidates, then from now on, it will be a full-fledged process of becoming a Ranker.
“Could this dungeon be training us right now? Raising the speed as much as each person can handle.”
If Delilah was serious about raising Rankers, she wouldn’t go through the trouble of building a dungeon just to make us play a bullet-dodging game.
That would be a waste of time. Nonsense.
“As much as each person can handle?”
“Yes. If it’s set up so anyone can endure if they try, and anyone can find an answer—”
If Olena found the answer, she’d endure longer than Zhang Wei.
If Myoi Hana found the answer, she’d endure longer than me.
Then what was the answer?
Evasion? Reaction speed? Endurance? Concentration?
Just as my brow furrowed—
Clack!
All the walls began to rotate at once.
[24 hours have passed.]
[Transitioning to Stage 2.]