178 – Target – 3

According to Gi-jun’s theory, growing wings—the ultimate form of spec-boosting and cosmetic vanity, as well as the symbol of true strength—before even reaching the Legendary grade was an arrogant act that invited a collective lynching from the strong.

However, just as there was an exception to every logic, there was an exception to this as well: creating wings through one’s own power!

There was such a case right near Gi-jun, so why hide it? It was none other than Unika, who had grown wings by her own power upon advancing to the Unique grade!

“As expected, growing wings makes her look like a completely different person.”

Unika’s steps, after being officially recognized by the king as Uralta’s highest-ranking administrator—the employed lord—were truly unstoppable.

Successfully driving away all the nobles who had shamelessly crawled back, coveting the administrative posts they had abandoned and fled, she rode on the coattails of the reputation of Gi-jun—who had been chosen as Ptah’s representative—and relentlessly dragged the dwarves into the territory’s development projects.

The dwarves, who could not afford to get on Gi-jun’s bad side, swallowed their tears and drifted from one construction site to another after her, having to contribute not only to rebuilding Uralta but to expanding the scale of the city altogether.

“A noble is indeed a noble. To work the dwarves like that by using her connection with Jun without any hesitation.”

“The dwarves probably follow her because they know it will ultimately benefit Uralta. Though their labor costs were likely cut down a bit…”

Thanks to this, Uralta was slated to become unrecognizable, with its roads and buildings organized as if it were a planned city, a new, decent hot spring inn built, and even the artisans’ street newly decorated.

Taking the opportunity of the city being partially destroyed, they were completely remodeling it, in the spirit of taking a break since they had already tripped.

The other residents of Uralta, excluding the dwarves, were also casting quite favorable glances at the resourcefulness and connections of the new lord, who carried out without hesitation what others would have struggled to execute even if they had resolved to do so.

“But none of this has anything to do with wings, Jun.”

“You don’t get it, Tilla. Once people get wings, they naturally become overflowing with confidence. It’s the confidence that comes from knowing that if any problem arises, they can just escape into the sky.”

“That actually sounds quite convincing.”

Those who dominated the airspace ruled the battlefield.

Under the direction of Unika, a passionate administrator who held high authority yet flew all over Uralta at all hours to supervise the sites, Uralta was developing day by day.

“Shall we start looking for a dungeon to clear soon?”

It was a point where about two weeks had already passed since they had shut themselves in their lodging and focused solely on training.

Judging that not only he but also his party members had finished adapting to the statuses changed by their rapid leveling up, Gi-jun finally brought up the topic to them.

“I have compiled the dungeon data.”

Although he had only called his party members, the fairy merchant Viv, who had naturally taken a seat at some point, fluttered her wings, approached, and handed over the documents.

Looking at her fairy wings, Gi-jun thought that the reason the fairies of the Fairygarden civilization had managed to survive without going extinct all this time was surely thanks to their wings.

‘No, I’m thinking too much about wings lately.’

This was all because of Glittertoss.

He was driven crazy wondering about the artifact he would make using the evil dragon’s wings.

Although he was equally curious about the shield, its performance was somewhat predictable, whereas he had absolutely no clue about the wings.

“What is it? It’s as if you’ve only just realized how pretty my wings are.”

Noticing his gaze, Viv blinked her eyes a couple of times, pretending to be lovely for no reason.

Gi-jun asked her, just in case.

“Do fairies’ wings all look different from one another too?”

“Of course. There is even a contest to select the fairy with the prettiest wings.”

Since Viv had a very smug expression on face, he resolved not to bother asking what rank she had achieved in that contest.

“Let’s just look at the dungeon data.”

“Tch, the dungeon I recommend is this one.”

In the vicinity of Uralta, not only were there many field monsters, but there were also numerous dungeons formed by mana mixed with volcanic heat accumulating in overflowing caves.

Although they had remained quiet for a while after overflowing completely during the recent overflow, they had now become active again as quite some time had passed.

“Among them, this is the one with the highest difficulty and the lowest popularity: a place called the Lava Worm Cave.”

It was a name that immediately made him strongly feel like he didn’t want to go inside.

“Don’t make that face. Although it has disadvantages like the appearing monsters looking disgusting, accidents being prone to happen because they suddenly pop out from the ceiling, walls, and floor to launch surprise attacks, and the loot being hard to expect much from…”

“It’s full of disadvantages.”

“Even so, there are two overwhelming advantages. First is the experience points.”

He had already easily guessed that from the moment she began listing the disadvantages one after another.

After all, they were monsters that wouldn’t be worth hunting at all if they didn’t at least provide a lot of experience.

“Anyone would admit that your growth rate is fast, Jun, but because of that, you won’t be able to get enough experience points to satisfy you even in most Unique-grade dungeons. It’s not like there are quests prepared for you all the time.”

“Is this dungeon different?”

“Lava worms are monsters that rank in the upper tier even among the Unique grade, and as long as you can detect their surprise attacks, killing them isn’t all that difficult, making it perfect for earning experience. Above all, they have a fatal weakness.”

“I think I know what it is, but let’s hear it first.”

“They absolutely detest light!”

Gi-jun felt like arguing very seriously upon hearing those words.

“You said they’re lava worms. I mean… flowing lava emits light along with heat.”

“A lava worm’s staple food is lava. Fully solidified lava, that is. They don’t consume flowing lava. That’s why they hide deep underground while a volcano erupts.”

Thus, Viv passionately argued that the cave inhabited by such lava worms was a dungeon that was rarely hot, which was unusual for Uralta.

The condition of it not being hot certainly sounded quite attractive.

“But Viv, if they hate light, won’t they just run away as soon as our party approaches?”

“Ah, rest assured, they aren’t of such a gentle nature. They are the type that pounces on light to eliminate it when they see it. They also blow wind to cool down lava that hasn’t fully solidified before eating it.”

“Instead of a vampire who wants to avoid the sun, they are more like the type of vampire who vows to defeat the sun one day.”

Having understood, Gi-jun moved on to the next question.

“You said there are two overwhelming advantages. What’s the other one?”

“Because it’s unpopular, you can have the dungeon all to yourselves without competing with other Summoned.”

“A real advantage besides that.”

“You really don’t fall for it. …It is that you can aim for a jackpot!”

Gi-jun narrowed his eyes.

“Didn’t you say earlier that the loot is poor?”

“That’s only for the general loot. But listen, Jun. There is a legend that inside the body of a worm that feeds on lava, a gem formed from the condensed essence of lava consumed over hundreds of years is created.”

That was indeed a story he seemed to have heard many times before.

“Uralta is a place where a god stayed for a long time, isn’t it? Among the lava worms that have steadily consumed lava filled with divine energy, there might be a worm that harbors a truly valuable gem…!”

“For a merchant who usually calculates money so precisely, you occasionally talk about romance.”

From the sounds of it, it was nothing but a groundless rumor that no one had ever verified.

Shaking his head at the absurdity, Gi-jun turned to ask the other party members for their opinions since he thought hunting in the Lava Worm Cave would be fine anyway, but he couldn’t help but flinch when he saw all of them with sparkling eyes.

“An essence. We had the Essence of Uralta, so there’s no guarantee that a lava worm can’t create an essence either.”

“A gem… Hmm, a gem. If it’s a red gem like lava, it would be pretty. Well, the possibility is low, though… Mmm.”

“Hyung, let’s go!”

Even without Eun-shin, who was tightly clenching both fists, saying anything, Gi-jun felt like he knew exactly what he was thinking.

If they were going to hunt anyway, it was better to have motivation.

Gi-jun shrugged his shoulders and nodded.

“Then it’s decided. Everyone check your status, and we’ll head out right away—”

“Ah, Jun.”

Just as he was about to set out for the dungeon without delay, Viv’s voice caught the back of Gi-jun’s head.

“I believe you already know… but please be careful once you leave the city. In the city, Gratia’s authority protects you, but in places where no one is watching, there is no telling who might target you.”

“I wondered what you were going to say, but I’ve been prepared for that much since the moment we left Cor, so don’t worry about it now.”

“No, it’s because your reputation has risen even higher than when we left Cor, Jun.”

Furthermore, Viv wore a worried expression, saying that the problem was that his location was now known to the whole world because he hadn’t stayed quiet in Uralta but had caused a massive incident instead.

Gi-jun ruffled Viv’s hair with his fingers and laughed.

“Don’t worry and just wait here. Didn’t you have some business with Unika too?”

“That’s true. Well, considering the abilities you’ve shown so far, Jun, I think you’ll be fine, but…”

Although Gi-jun was not someone who would be unable to go out because he was scared of the outside at this point, Viv’s concern helped all the members of the Lumen party brace themselves.

Having thoroughly prepared, the Lumen party left Uralta and headed toward the Lava Worm Cave.

Fortunately, until they entered the dungeon, they could not find any trace of anyone trailing them, ambushing them, or showing suspicious movements.

It was just that there was one minor problem.

—Contractor, the estoc has disappeared?

“…”

It seemed the evil spirit had awakened.

* * *

The Leta Continent maintained its balance in a highly disgusting manner.

Although the so-called realm of humans, ruled by the Letans who championed the Faction of Light, was so excessively massive that it seemed the Faction of Darkness would soon be pushed back and disappear.

Unfortunately, the monsters that made up the majority of the Faction of Darkness were constantly supplied from somewhere, and their leaders even commonly possessed a fatal cursing ability that dragged whoever defeated them into the Faction of Darkness.

And what of the wars between civilizations?

It would not take long for those summoned to the Leta Continent to realize the structure of a system that, rather than producing a winner, ensured that eternal competition continued.

This was the reason why there was an abundance of people who abandoned the civilization wars, despised the Faction of Light, and sought only their own prosperity.

This continent was overflowing with crowds who, upon hearing that a new hero had appeared in the Faction of Light, felt jealousy rather than relief, and fearing that the hero might pull ahead in the civilization wars, were anxious to somehow hold them back and drag them down.

Just as Glittertoss had worried and Viv had feared, people targeting Gi-jun, the greatest rookie, naturally began to stealthily emerge.

Despite Unika placing her eyes all over Uralta to monitor and ensure that no bastard targeting her beloved could roam freely, there were still those who had identified Gi-jun’s identity and grasped his movements.

They were professional hunters of the Summoned, who could move while avoiding even the eyes of Lucy, whose senses were incredibly sharp.

All of them were at least of the Unique grade, and they were individuals who dared to be confident that they could hunt even a party of the Legendary grade if they set a proper trap.

“—Ack?!”

“An ambush? No way, from where—!”

—Hehe, hehehe. I really don’t know how their methods are always so identical.

Yes, there were such people.

Now, there were none.

—Ah, I can feel a new malice from over there again.

To correct that statement.

—Hehe… it looks like it will be very delicious.

Even if new ones appeared, they soon disappeared.

Hiding in the shadows and moving at the speed of light, the drops of blood on the tip of the estoc’s blade shook and splattered into the air.

The skewer that bloomed from there pierced yet another life.