Chapter 171

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Translated by Pratt

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The Pegasus Raid Force set up a temporary base near the dungeon and went into rest mode.

Just because they had arrived where the dungeon was did not mean they could raid it immediately.

First, they had to secure the entrance leading into the dungeon, repair the broken vehicles, and get enough rest to recover their exhausted stamina and wounds.

Lee Ji-ryeong shouted, “Everyone worked hard getting all the way here. We’ll begin the dungeon raid tomorrow, so let’s all rest well for today.”

“Waaaaah!”

“It’s a break.”

The Awakened let out cheers.

For the Awakened, Lee Ji-ryeong brought out precious food he had kept stored in subspace.

It was not the simple food they had been eating until now, but proper meals.

It was possible because time did not flow inside subspace. But it was not a method just anyone could use.

Subspace items were not common to begin with, and there was no reason to use such precious subspace just to pack food.

Most raid forces handled meals with simple preserved rations.

But Lee Ji-ryeong thought the more dangerous the dungeon, the better they had to feed people. It might seem trivial, but it affected the raid force’s morale.

The more grueling the journey, like this one, the more they had to eat properly.

They had already been attacked twice by demonic beasts, deserters had appeared, and even the pursuit squad sent to catch them had not returned.

Even without saying it aloud, the Awakened must have felt that this dungeon raid was different from usual.

The best way to dispel anxiety was to feed them well and give them sufficient rest.

When real meat, not cultured meat, came out, the Awakened burst into cheers.

“Wow! Meat.”

“Fuck! It’s real meat.”

“No alcohol?”

Unfortunately, no alcohol was given. Even so, the Awakened enjoyed the feast as best they could.

Zeon’s party also ate the generously served meat with appetite.

Levin chewed his meat and said, “At this rate, we won’t even need to take out the food we prepared, right?”

“We don’t know what’ll happen once we go into the dungeon, so it’d be good to save it.”

“Squirt, are you going into the dungeon too?”

“Then what, we came all the way here just to sightsee outside?”

“Heh! That would be pretty funny too.”

“I’m going in.”

“All right. But you have to be careful.”

“Worry about yourself. Don’t trust your ability too much and end up getting stabbed in the back.”

“Don’t worry. A blade won’t even leave a single wound on this body.”

Levin replied as he swallowed the last bite of meat in his mouth.

Watching Levin and Brielle bicker, Mandy cautiously asked Zeon, “Is there no way to know in advance what kind of dungeon it is?”

“I can’t know either until I go in myself.”

“Is that so? It’d be easier to prepare if we knew beforehand.”

“If that were possible, there’d be no reason for people to have such a hard time raiding dungeons.”

“It’s just my wish. I know well enough that it’s impossible.”

Mandy gave a bitter smile.

Every time a dungeon was raided, numerous casualties came out. But their deaths were forgotten all too easily.

The glory belonged to those who survived, and all the wealth and honor were enjoyed by them. Seeing that, beginners and low-rank Awakened threw themselves into dungeon raids again, only to die.

Whether it was a vicious cycle or a virtuous cycle, the wheel kept turning without end.

Mandy wanted to break that wheel, but she knew too well that it was impossible with her ability.

Zeon said, “Don’t think too hard and get some proper rest. Once we enter the dungeon, we won’t be enjoying a luxury like this.”

“Yes! You’re right.”

“Then let’s sleep early today.”

Zeon immediately found a place and lay down.

A dungeon was another world.

There was no way to know what kind of danger lurked in that world before entering it.

Rather than trying to predict the situation inside the dungeon in advance, getting sufficient rest was far more helpful to the raid.

Once he lay down, Zeon quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Watching him from a distance, Cha Jin-cheol muttered, “Lucky bastard. To think he’d decide to sleep here.”

His voice was filled with irritation.

For some reason, from the moment he arrived here, he had felt deeply uncomfortable. Cha Jin-cheol himself did not know the cause.

“Goddamn it!”

***

The dungeon raid force took sufficient rest until the next day.

Thanks to that, the Awakened’s condition had improved to some degree.

Lee Ji-ryeong decided to raid the dungeon today and announced it. Because of that, all the Awakened gathered in one place.

There, Lee Ji-ryeong said to Zeon, “There’s a dungeon underground here. As promised, go open the path leading to the dungeon.”

“It seems like a very powerful dungeon. Will that be all right?”

“You can even tell that much?”

“It’s just a feeling.”

“Is it because you’re a sand mage? That’s an ability I’d like to have.”

For an instant, Lee Ji-ryeong’s eyes gleamed darkly.

“Your ability is impressive enough already.”

“Isn’t it true that the more abilities one has, the better?”

“There’s no law saying you can have everything.”

“Why, is there some law saying I can’t?”

“Greed invites disaster.”

“You’re young, but you sure sound like an old man.”

“Is that so?”

“Looks like the small talk got long. Will you open the path to the dungeon now?”

“Of course.”

Zeon nodded and stepped forward.

“So now we’re going to see the sand mage’s ability?”

“Can he really dig out that much sand?”

All the Awakened watched Zeon with expectant eyes.

Zeon stopped at the point where he felt the dungeon’s presence most strongly.

The grains of sand were telling him there was a dungeon underground here.

“Hoo!”

Taking a deep breath, Zeon drew up his authority.

Puh-eong!

In an instant, with an explosive sound, sand surged upward from beneath Zeon’s feet.

The sand that shot up like a geyser surged all the way toward where the Awakened were gathered.

“Uwah! What the hell?”

“Get back.”

The Awakened standing near Zeon recoiled in alarm. But the sand rushed all the way to where they had retreated.

Unable to do anything else, the Awakened withdrew even farther. Even so, they could not escape the sand’s sphere of influence.

If this kept up, they were going to be buried in sand before they even raided the dungeon.

Lee Ji-ryeong shouted, “Everyone fall back three hundred meters.”

“Uwaah!”

“Goddamn it!”

The Awakened hurriedly retreated to beyond the distance Lee Ji-ryeong had ordered.

Fortunately, the sand did not rush all the way there.

“This is insane.”

“To move that much sand. Is this really what a sand mage is?”

A miracle was unfolding before their eyes.

Sand from deep underground shot upward like a geyser, and the sand that came up to the surface spread outward, creating a huge pit.

Ten meters, twenty meters, the pit kept getting deeper and wider.

Kukukuku!

The vibrations caused by the massive volume of sand moving made even the Awakened’s bodies tremble.

“Does this even make sense?”

“No matter how much of a sand mage he is… wow, fuck!”

Like a volcano spewing lava, an enormous amount of sand was gushing up from underground.

Zeon stood in the air above the place where the sand was erupting.

Standing in midair on a foothold of sand, Zeon looked like a god of the desert.

Beads of sweat gathered densely on Zeon’s forehead.

No matter what, drawing out this much sand was bound to be burdensome.

Kukukukuku!

The sand continued to be vomited out endlessly, and the pit grew deeper and wider.

Ordinarily, even if sand was pushed aside, it had the trait of flowing back down again. But the pit under Zeon’s control was different.

The displaced sand did not flow back down again, but remained fixed in place.

Lee Ji-ryeong bit his lip hard as he watched Zeon.

‘As expected, in the desert that ability is practically cheating.’

In terms of destructive power alone, Lee Ji-ryeong was superior. But when it came to versatility and usefulness in the desert, no Awakened ability could compare to Zeon’s.

Even with hundreds of Awakened mobilized, they could not have dug out this tremendous volume of sand. Zeon alone was moving it.

It was a scene so extraordinary it was almost like a miracle.

By the time Zeon had dug down nearly one hundred fifty meters, Kwaaaa!

Suddenly, black light burst out from beneath the sand, and a huge oval crack revealed itself.

“It’s the dungeon.”

“There really is a dungeon.”

“Wow!”

The Awakened burst into cheers.

Judging from the size of the crack and the density of the mana, this was no ordinary dungeon.

The more powerful and dangerous the dungeon, the greater the reward, so the Awakened cheered.

“Hoo!”

Once the dungeon entrance revealed itself, Zeon withdrew his authority.

Zeon came down lightly in front of the dungeon entrance like a feather.

The Awakened, including Lee Ji-ryeong, gathered around him.

Looking at the huge crack, Lee Ji-ryeong said, “Incredible. If it’s a dungeon of this level, it’s at least A-rank, maybe even S-rank.”

“Hoo! That also means it’ll be that dangerous.”

“The more dangerous it is, the greater the reward.”

“It seems my role is over now.”

Zeon shrugged and stepped back.

At that, Lee Ji-ryeong nodded.

“Finding the entrance is enough. From here on, our Pegasus Raid Force will take responsibility.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Step back and recover your mana. You look so drained from moving all that sand that you can barely walk.”

Zeon’s face was pale, without a trace of color.

No matter how much mana Zeon had, moving this much sand inevitably exhausted him.

In reality, Zeon’s mana was scraping the bottom.

If he had dug a little more sand, he would have been completely spent.

As Zeon staggered backward, Levin and Brielle approached.

“Are you all right, hyung?”

“Zeon!”

“Hoo! I’m fine. I just won’t be able to use my power for a while.”

Zeon answered between heavy breaths.

That sight of him was pitiful enough to watch.

It was the first time Levin and Brielle had seen Zeon struggling this much, so both of them were flustered.

Zeon smiled at them and said, “Hoo! I’m really fine, so you two just focus on the dungeon.”

“Understood.”

“It’s big and strong. The moment you let your guard down, you’ll suffer an irreparable disaster. So all of you, be very careful.”

“Don’t worry. From now on, I’ll protect everyone.”

Levin replied with a solemn expression.

He thought that protecting the group until Zeon recovered his mana was now his duty.

At that moment, Lee Ji-ryeong issued an order to the Pegasus Raid Force.

“I and the assault team will go in first. Five minutes later, the base team comes in. After that, the West District Awakened and the scouting team follow. Does everyone understand?”

“Yes!”

“Then from this moment, the dungeon raid begins. Each of you is responsible for your own life.”

“Yes!”

The Awakened’s powerful voices rang through the desert.

Lee Ji-ryeong turned his gaze toward the dungeon entrance in front.

Of all the dungeons he had raided so far, this one felt the largest and the most powerful.

Goosebumps rose all over his body, and his heart pounded more violently than ever before.

It had been a very long time since he had felt tension like this.

Lee Ji-ryeong said to Bronson, the assault team leader, “Let’s go.”

“Yes! Captain.”

Bronson bared his white teeth and grinned.

There was no fear visible on his face.

The assault team was the core of the Pegasus Raid Force and the breakthrough unit.

They had always opened new dungeons from the very front. To them, a new dungeon was not an object of fear.

It was prey to be trampled and conquered, nothing more and nothing less.

That was why Bronson and the assault team stared at the dungeon entrance with faces brimming with excitement.

Lee Ji-ryeong pulled the trigger.

“We’re going in.”

“Uwaaa!”

With a shout, they entered the dungeon.

It was the first step toward conquering the unknown dungeon.