Chapter 173

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Translated by Pratt

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Lee Ji-ryeong stood with his arms folded and looked ahead.

Far in the distance, a gigantic ancient castle could be seen.

Even though it stood at an absurdly great distance, it still clearly flaunted its overwhelming presence.

Lee Ji-ryeong recognized in an instant that place was the core of this dungeon.

An ancient castle that had appeared abruptly in this dead and desolate terrain.

Anyone who looked at it could tell that that place was the dungeon’s core.

The problem was the process of getting there.

At a glance it looked near, but in reality it was absurdly far away. Naturally, the journey to the ancient castle would not be easy.

Then Jeloei approached his side.

“What do we do? Set up a base here?”

“That seems best. We also need time for the others to gather.”

Perhaps because the Pegasus Raid Force had so many people, they had been scattered far and wide.

To conduct a proper dungeon raid, everyone had to gather.

Jeloei nodded as if he understood.

“Got it. I’ll make it as flashy as possible so everyone can see it.”

He went back to the base team and started working.

One after another, he erected structures he had brought in subspace and made walls.

A giant circular wall rose on the vacant ground.

Even this alone was sufficient to serve as a temporary base. But it was not enough to satisfy Jeloei.

Jeloei shouted, “Deploy Guardian’s Wing. Everyone, get inside the wall.”

At his shout, the Awakened came inside the wall. Then Jeloei took out a huge banner from subspace and planted it in the center.

Huuung!

In an instant, an invisible membrane covered the space surrounded by the wall in the form of a half dome.

“Ha! We’ll live.”

“As expected of Guardian’s Wing.”

The Awakened let out sighs of relief.

Guardian’s Wing was an item excavated from a dungeon.

It was a kind of base item that prevented demonic beasts of B-rank and below from recognizing the space itself.

If they could not recognize it, naturally they would not attack it either.

That was not its only effect.

The half-dome membrane that demonic beasts could not perceive was seen clearly by human eyes.

Naturally, it could be seen and found even from far away.

As soon as Guardian’s Wing activated, dozens of people immediately came over. They were the scattered Awakened of the Pegasus Raid Force.

Then the mercenary Awakened also came inside. But Zeon and Cha Jin-cheol’s groups were still nowhere in sight.

Lee Ji-ryeong frowned.

“Looks like they fell far away.”

“Isn’t that common enough? Both of them have plenty of experience, so they’ll find their way here.”

Jeloei spoke with an expression that said it was no big deal. But Lee Ji-ryeong’s position was different.

“That changes the raid plan.”

The original plan had been to break through to the place where the core was in one stroke with an overwhelming offensive. But now that their forces had been scattered like this, that had to be revised.

Lee Ji-ryeong called the scouting team leader Gesling over.

“Gesling!”

“Yes! Captain.”

“Before everyone gathers, ascertain the topography of this place. Can you do it?”

“Of course, captain. It’s not as if it’ll take a day or two.”

Gesling showed confidence.

The scouting team, composed of Gesling the detector, Ichiwoo the mapmaker, Obroi the guide, and Macnine the protector, had carried out missions superbly even in environments worse than this.

“Should I attach more personnel?”

“No need. They’ll just get in the way.”

The reason the scouting team had long remained a group of only four was precisely because their teamwork was that good. If others were inserted there, it would not run smoothly, like sand caught in the gears of a cogwheel.

Lee Ji-ryeong smiled faintly and said, “All right. If you encounter any strange phenomenon or large demonic beast, return immediately.”

“Okay! Captain.”

Gesling immediately led the scouting team and left the base.

It looked somewhat unsettling to have only four people scouting inside the dungeon, but Lee Ji-ryeong still trusted them.

Up until now, the scouting team had never once betrayed his expectations.

‘Still, where did Zeon fall?’

The thought that Zeon might have been taken out by a demonic beast did not occur to him in the slightest.

Even though Zeon had consumed a lot of mana opening the dungeon entrance, he still could not picture him being taken down by some demonic beast because of that.

Once the scouting team returned and Zeon and the West District Awakened joined them, preparations would be complete.

Just then, Kwadeudeuk!

Suddenly, the whole area of ground shook.

The earth writhed as if an earthquake had struck.

Sensing the ominous atmosphere, Lee Ji-ryeong shouted, “Everyone quiet.”

In an instant, the people inside the base all shut their mouths at once. Then they too could feel the tremor of the earth.

Kwadeudeudeuk!

The ground was rising before their eyes.

‘What is that?’

‘Good heavens!’

Breaking through the ground and raising its body was a gigantic mole.

A demonic beast so huge it looked at least twenty meters long from head to tail.

Its back was made of rock, and every time it moved, pieces of it fell away. Its claws, curved like blades, were larger than an adult human and sharp enough to split one open.

The giant mole demonic beast’s eyes looked almost invisible, as if they had completely degenerated.

The giant mole that had come up out of the earth snorted as if smelling something.

The direction the giant mole’s nose was pointing was exactly the base.

Thump, thump!

It began approaching the base.

Circling around the base and snuffling, the giant mole demonic beast moved around.

Because its eyes had completely degenerated and because Guardian’s Wing interfered with its recognition, the giant mole demonic beast could not perceive the people inside. Even so, feeling something strange, it roamed around the base while sniffing.

The Awakened gripped their weapons in their hands and prepared so they could attack at any time.

They trusted Guardian’s Wing, but still prepared for any possible contingency.

Kwadeudeuk!

Then another giant mole demonic beast broke through the earth and came up. Like the other one, it too went around the base and sniffed.

‘D-rank, no, with a body this large should it be viewed as C-rank?’

It was a species of demonic beast he had never experienced even once.

Naturally, he did not know its name, nor anything about its abilities. That was why he was watching it first.

It was not that he could not catch it, but he had to determine how many such demonic beasts were in this dungeon and what level they occupied among them.

Fortunately, the giant mole demonic beasts failed to locate the people inside Guardian’s Wing and went back underground.

“Hoo!”

“Goddamn!”

Only then did the Awakened release their vigilance and slump onto the ground.

The tension had finally come loose.

Lee Ji-ryeong called over assault team leader Bronson and asked, “Have you ever seen demonic beasts like that before?”

“Not even once. At least not in any dungeon we raided.”

“What rank do they look to be?”

“At least D-rank, but because they’re so huge, I think it would be safe to regard them as C-rank.”

“That matches what I thought.”

If the body was large, naturally the strength and defense rose as well.

He did not know what kind of attack skills the giant mole demonic beasts had, but their sheer size alone made them threatening enough to humans.

Lee Ji-ryeong stroked his chin and muttered, “I can’t even guess what kind of demonic beast the owner of this place is.”

“The scouting team will identify it when they return.”

“Until then, tell everyone not to let their guard down.”

“Understood.”

Bronson departed with his reply.

Left alone, Lee Ji-ryeong muttered, “Zeon, where are you?”

***

Fwoosh!

Breaking through the ground, a giant mole demonic beast revealed itself.

“A demonic beast.”

“Squad One, enter combat mode.”

Cha Jin-cheol immediately gave the order.

Wiiing!

In an instant, ten of the West District Awakened stepped forward.

They were Squad One.

The members of Squad One immediately entered combat mode.

Clank! Clank!

With the sound of machinery, their arms and legs shifted into shapes suited for battle.

Their metallic limbs exuded an eerie feeling.

“We’re going.”

The members of Squad One attacked the giant mole demonic beast at once.

Ttaang!

The squad leader punched the giant mole’s head, but it was useless.

Its head, all the way down the back to the tail, was made of rock. The hard rock did not care at all about the squad leader’s fist.

Still, it was not as if there had been no result.

“Defense exceeds C-rank. Impossible to inflict even a wound with ordinary attacks.”

The data obtained while attacking the giant mole demonic beast was being transmitted to the West District Awakened in real time.

They were sharing data through a link.

That was the frightening part of the West District Awakened.

Though clearly separate humans, by sharing data through the link they could analyze a demonic beast’s power and immediately respond.

Ttaang! Ttaang! Ttaang!

The members of Squad One ferociously attacked the giant mole demonic beast.

Each time they did, the rock forming the creature’s back broke and chipped away. Even so, plenty of rock still remained.

“It seems very strong against physical attacks. If we had a magic-type Awakened, it’d probably be easier to subdue.”

The West District Awakened were almost all mechanized Awakened.

Mechanized Awakened boasted destructive might equal to that of martial types. But they had the weakness that their offensive power was limited to physical force.

To make up for that weakness, mechanized Awakened equipped all kinds of gear.

Whoosh!

One of them was the flame currently shooting from the squad leader’s arm.

Superheated flame poured into the giant mole demonic beast’s mouth.

Kraaaah!

Overwhelmed by the tremendous heat, the giant mole demonic beast thrashed around, exposing its belly.

The members of Squad One did not miss that opening.

Pfft!

A compressed air round fired from one squad member’s arm struck the giant mole’s belly.

A huge hole was punched through the point of impact, and blood burst out.

“The belly is its weak point. Therefore, to subdue a giant mole demonic beast, we must somehow make it expose its belly and then attack there.”

The members of Squad One, having shared the data, simultaneously attacked the giant mole demonic beast’s belly.

The giant mole demonic beast thrashed around in agony. But the West District Awakened attacked only its belly with relentless persistence.

“It seems not to possess any particular offensive skill. In conclusion, as long as we are careful of its size, it is an easy opponent.”

That was Squad One leader’s judgment regarding the giant mole demonic beast.

Since they had gotten all the data they needed, there was no reason to delay further.

Squad One attacked even more fiercely, and before long the giant mole demonic beast collapsed with a scream.

Compared to its enormous size, it had been an easier fight than expected.

“It was nothing much. If this dungeon only has demonic beasts like that, the raid will be easy.”

Cha Jin-cheol let out a sneer.

Seeing one allowed him to infer ten.

Through the giant mole demonic beast, he had taken a measure of the level of the demonic beasts in this dungeon.

“Heh! At this rate we won’t even need the Pegasus Raid Force.”

“It looks like we could just proceed with the raid ourselves.”

Having gained confidence, the West District Awakened gathered around Cha Jin-cheol.

Surrounded by them, Cha Jin-cheol’s smile deepened even more.

In contrast, Zeon was watching Cha Jin-cheol and the giant mole demonic beast with a grave expression.

The giant mole that had lost its life was drying up at a terrifying speed.

Its cheeks caved in and its belly collapsed.

Unaware of that fact, Cha Jin-cheol and the West District Awakened were delighted by the fact that they had killed the giant mole demonic beast.

Brielle grabbed Zeon’s sleeve.

With the High Elf’s special senses, she had felt some ominous energy.

“Zeon!”

Holding Brielle’s hand, Zeon said to Cha Jin-cheol, “Everyone be careful.”

“Careful? About what?”

It was the instant Cha Jin-cheol made a puzzled expression.

Sssaaa!

With a chilling wind, it appeared.

A translucent human figure wearing a robe and holding a huge scythe.

It appeared like a ghost and slowly looked around its surroundings.

“What is that?”

“Is that a demonic beast too?”

The West District Awakened chattered with expressions as if seeing something marvelous.

At that instant, Zeon shouted, “It’s a grim reaper. Everyone dodge.”