180 – Target – 5

The Leta continent, where Unique, Legendary, and even Epic-grade existences lurked.

For those active in this world, which was no different from a demon realm, it was only natural to treat the tutorial days—when they had only faced monsters that were Rare-grade at best, and even then weakened under restrictions—literally as a tutorial.

Unlike the Earthlings, who were so weak that it took them fifteen years just to hunt a weakened Demon King—and even failed at that, only to be given a second chance—the vast majority of Summoned finished the tutorial in the blink of an eye and crossed over to the Leta continent.

Biche had also told Gi-jun in the past that other civilizations took three years at the longest to finish the tutorial, but she had toned it down even then, fearing he might be shocked.

Truly strong races sometimes did not even go through the tutorial and skipped straight to Leta; even if they did not, they completed the core quests required by the tutorial in an instant and exited the tutorial in just a few months or weeks.

In fact, this was a loss for that civilization.

As could be guessed just by looking at the Earthlings who spent a total of twenty-five years in the tutorial channel—the flow of time in the tutorial channel was warped compared to the Leta continent.

Since one year on the Leta continent corresponded to ten or twenty years in the tutorial channel, rather than dropping straight into the Leta continent, it was better to adapt to the status window and train as much as possible in the tutorial channel before crossing over.

However, most Summoned did not even know that the tutorial channel had a different flow of time from the Leta continent to begin with.

If they were already strong, catching powerful monsters on the Leta continent and performing good quests would allow them to grow stronger faster than training, so even if they knew that fact, they were highly likely not to remain in the tutorial channel.

As had been said repeatedly, the monsters in the tutorial channel were only Rare-grade at best, so leaving behind the monsters overflowing on the Leta continent to gain experience by hunting these ones was not efficient either.

Putting it all together, the idea of getting stronger in the tutorial channel was an absurd notion, akin to becoming strong enough to conquer the world just by hunting slimes.

And that was obvious just by looking at the Earthlings.

They stayed in the tutorial channel for a total of twenty-five years, but with the exception of a very small number of ‘highly talented individuals who could grow stronger through training alone’ including Gi-jun, did they not end up barely reaching or even falling short of the average for Leta’s Summoned when they were summoned to Leta?

So, it was time for a conclusion.

Did the Earthlings’ twenty-five years really have no meaning at all?

That was not the case.

During those twenty-five years, there was a field where the Earthlings had surpassed other Summoned and grown overwhelmingly more than even the Letans.

As could be seen from the instigation that occurred the moment they crossed over to Leta and Ye-min, who brilliantly led the expeditionary force to achieve their goal—it was none other than smooth-talking and deception.

The Earthlings, who had rolled tenaciously with the sole determination to survive in extreme environments, had evolved a level of extreme cunning that allowed them to use any means necessary to live!

However, there was a fatal problem here: if it was caught or did not work, it meant instant death.

In fact, that was why many of the Earthlings who crossed over to Leta died without even getting a proper chance to establish themselves…

The stupid and weak ones were all killed or weeded out, and only the quick-witted and strong survived.

“We are going to lure those guys to the dungeon boss.”

“That is something we did a lot in the past.”

And here, there were also two such Earthlings who had survived.

Gi-jun wanted to live as righteously as possible as long as his own and his party members’ safety was guaranteed, but he could respond to enemies targeting him with any level of baseness.

Probably, even Teacher Nietzsche would applaud and say he was right.

“I don’t know how it will go since they are guys who have rolled around the continent for a long time… but with Shin-i here, we’ll manage somehow.”

“I will lure the monsters. Looking over the terrain roughly, if our party moves like this, the people will get cornered here…”

—Fufu, I will help you. Although I can only do things like amplifying their negative emotions to make their thoughts simpler…

If they were skilled individuals who came targeting Gi-jun, their curse resistance would be high, but at the point where she could pierce through that and inflict a curse, the evil spirit’s ability was indeed out of the ordinary.

When Gi-jun devised a plan with Eun-shin and the evil spirit in an instant, Laura and Tilla, who were watching from the side, were dumbfounded.

“So Jun-nim had this side to him as well.”

“To be honest, we haven’t faced ‘humans’ as enemies with Jun very often…”

Although Gi-jun had confronted a large guild without hesitation in order to rescue Tilla last time, that was strictly a case where he charged head-on at the guys who had set a trap and smashed them all, so the feeling was quite different from now.

“Let us move as well. I don’t know how strong the dungeon boss will be, but if we want to sandwich the enemies between us and it, we must move diligently from now on.”

—It would be good to cast some barriers or illusions, right?

—Kii.

Eun-shin vanished from the spot, saying he would depart immediately.

Before long, a terrible impact occurred down below, and the giant roar of a monster shook the entire cave.

Eun-shin had probably succeeded in making contact with the boss monster.

Laura, who had grown quite attached to him while hunting the divine beast together, muttered with a worried expression.

“Will he be okay by himself?”

“If it’s not hunting, but just luring and escaping, Shin-i will never die. It’s okay.”

Gi-jun, who declared with firm confidence, narrowed his eyes as he picked up the size, abilities, and locations of the enemies who had entered the cave through his expanded senses shared with Lucy.

“They must have really made up their minds. It seems there are even Legendary-grades mixed in. Two of them.”

“You can read up to that level, Jun?”

Gi-jun smirked and replied to the surprised Tilla.

“No, while it’s true I can read the abilities of enemies who get close, that is only up to Unique-grade.”

“So anyone Jun cannot read is definitely Legendary-grade or higher. That makes sense.”

To add a bit of exaggeration, the number of Legendary-grade Summoned active in the Gratia Kingdom was small enough to count on one’s fingers.

Since they were doing this in the front yard of Uralta, which protected Gi-jun—unless they were fools, someone whose identity could be specified would not have stepped forward.

They were probably people who had crossed over from foreign lands.

“Just what are we for a Summoned who reached Legendary-grade to…”

“Not us, but Jun. Jun’s reputation has risen too steeply in a short period of time. Right now, not to mention the Gratia Kingdom, even the Empire is evaluating Jun favorably. The stronger they are, the more they probably do not want their competitor to appear.”

Although Gi-jun was sick of it, he quickly led the group and moved.

“This way. Ah, Lucy. Could you naturally collapse that passage over there?”

—With pleasure! And if we go around this way…

“Ah, if the monster comes from the west, we can naturally trap them!”

“Yeah, we have to trust Shin-i on that.”

At this time, the important thing was to move naturally without letting them find out that they had noticed the presence of the intruders.

The evil spirit, who headed back toward the intruders, was of great help.

—Fufu, since their numbers were too large, it was indeed an alliance after all… Well then, hup.

“Aaargh!”

“Paul!”

“Paul is dead!”

“Damn it, who is it! We agreed not to compete among ourselves until we found the target…!”

“Everyone stop right there! Whichever bastard moves is the culprit!”

The ones targeting the Lumen party this time were not a single group.

Of course, at first, many of them moved in party units, but because the evil spirit moved so elusively and hunted them all down, those who felt a sense of crisis ended up forming an alliance.

Naturally, the mutual trust of an alliance formed in such a way could not be high, and as the evil spirit played tricks, doubts toward each other immediately began to bloom.

“It’s pointless for us to be fighting among ourselves here…! It’s fine to be wary of each other, but it’s trouble if our pace slows down! Don’t make a fuss; if you are going to die, die quietly!”

“We catch up to them first. Fighting comes after that!”

Since there were also Legendary-grade powerhouses in the Summoned alliance, the evil spirit would be caught if she kept moving around as she pleased.

Having succeeded in causing a mild confusion, the evil spirit did not reveal herself openly, but instead used light black magic to make the minds of those who were attacked somewhat rushed.

Since it would be troublesome if they saw through and neutralized it, she did not cast any grand magic either.

She merely amplified emotions such as annoyance, anger, and impatience to induce thoughts that they had no time to delay like this, and that the noise they made might have caused that guy to notice them, so they had to hurry more.

A truly wise person would have first paused their progress, spoken clearly with the group to eliminate any room for internal discord, and further searched for the existence of the evil spirit—but if they were that outstanding in the first place, they would not have crawled into a cave like this to kill Gi-jun, who had hunted a divine beast followed by an evil dragon and even slaughtered a false god.

“Found them!”

“You fool, don’t make a sound. We apply debuffs first, and snipe the others first.”

“We can spare that bitch in the nun outfit, right?”

“If she survives the chaos.”

The intruders who broke through the cave in such a frenzy finally succeeded in catching the tail end of the Lumen party.

The attackers saw the back of the head of the man leading the Lumen party, who seemed to be heading straight for the boss room as he bustled around unsightly while carrying two shields.

They only wished to pierce the back of his head right then, but according to the information obtained in advance, Jun was the tanker who protected the party, and all the other members were attackers.

In the current situation where they had approached stealthily without being noticed by that tanker, clearing out all the attackers first would be the sure-win method.

The attackers were all aided by a barrier-type magic tool that helped them act stealthily and prevented the target from detecting them, but since it would be deactivated the moment they attacked, they all held their breath and moved cautiously upon discovering the Lumen party.

“The silence barrier is deactivated the moment we attack. We must attack at the same time.”

“I will apply the debuffs.”

“I will bind him so he cannot move.”

“Heh, shall we look forward to the skill of a real divine beast hunter?”

“Then I’ll take the woman on the left. She looks strong… a few more of you stick to this side.”

“Already preparing.”

“*Sssip*, that nun, she will survive even if her chest is pierced, right? It’s too much of a waste to kill her just like that.”

Those who had been impatient until now instantly boiled over upon discovering their target.

Yet, even in the midst of that, it was impressive how they fit together like hand in glove to divide their roles in an instant, fitting for villains who hunted Summoned.

First, those who possessed all kinds of debuff abilities, such as curses and weakening, caught their breath at a distance where the entire party came within range.

Despite having suspected each other just a moment ago over who killed whom, the way they exchanged signals with their eyes and timed their surprise attack now was truly marvelous.

The evil spirit, who scoffed while watching them from behind, asked Gi-jun whether she should attack them first, but the answer that returned was negative.

The reason was revealed immediately.

“Now!”

“Flame Human, you were too cocky——!”

Along with the signal, debuffs flew toward the Lumen party all at once!

There was even a race-specific unique ability cast by a Legendary-grade ability user included among them, so the moment they were hit by this, no matter how much the members of the Lumen party flew and crawled, they would not be able to overcome the attackers.

Indeed, if only they were hit by it.

“Jun!”

“Good, the position is perfect.”

“…Huh?”

The moment the debuffs flew in, the hero of the Flame Humans raised a single shield as if he had predicted all of it.

The light rising from it wrapped around him and the party, forming a kind of barrier—and all the debuffs bounced off of it.

As expected of a Legendary-grade, the Summoned who had cast the debuffs recognized its true nature immediately and let out a low groan.

“No way… a Unique Territory? Do you have a Holy Relic or something?!”

—Correct!

The evil spirit’s magic exploded at the back of the heads of the momentarily dazed attackers.

The next moment, as a splendid flower of blood bloomed, what appeared in the eyes of those who turned back while gritting their teeth was not the evil spirit.

—Kuwaaaaaaaaah!

“Hyung, this is no joke! It’s grinding up everything, walls and all, so what do we do!”

It was the appearance of a lava earthworm, infinitely massive, charging forward while grinding down the entire passage.

* * *

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): There is such a legend.]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): A legend that among earthworm monsters, there is a beast that endlessly swallows treasures to store inside its body and strengthens itself with the power of those treasures.]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): Actually, the monsters that appear in the battlefields where I usually fight all look annoyingly like earthworms, but since they all happen to be strong, I suspect that story might have been distorted.]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): But why did you suddenly ask about earthworms?]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): …Hey, it’s not, right?]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): Tell me it’s not. Ah, there’s no way a servant of an outer god would suddenly appear in a place like that.]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): It’s not like you are going to handle all the legends on the Leta continent anyway.]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): A different species? A lava earthworm?]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): Right, then that’s a relief. It seems these earthworms turn strange from the moment they absorb a god’s power.]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): …Hm?]