Of course, it wasn’t that the plague dragon was truly here.
To be more precise, the scene the child had witnessed was the one that most resembled Earth’s plague dragon.
The child, no—Seol Mae, had wandered around the area quite a bit while her mother was drunk.
During that ti, she had co across many statues of soldiers standing on the ground.
At first, I was scared and ran away, but the people didn’t move. It was just like what I saw in a video!
"So, that’s why you called it a plague dragon. Wow, you’re really smart. Right?"
The child, receiving praise, smiled shyly, and Han Jae-young ruffled her hair in encouragent.
Seeing that, Yoo Han-ul smiled.
"I’m glad Seol Mae has such a good mory. We almost wandered aimlessly without her."
I sighed.
"...I lost."
"Huh?"
"It’s nothing."
Even though I was the one wandering around the dungeon myself, I had quietly clicked my tongue at the idea of rescuing a child. I didn’t expect things to work out this way.
Quest "You’ll be blessed if you do good deeds" is in progress.
The system ssage popped up, as if mocking .
Honestly, I was speechless.
How often does the system say sothing like that, claiming you’ll be blessed for doing good deeds?
‘Is this system trying to deceive by pretending there’s a hero...?’
Yoo Han-ul, sensing my gaze, turned to look at .
"Why are you looking at like that?"
"...It’s nothing."
Although I felt a bit twisted inside, that was that.
Still, in a situation where we had no clues, we couldn’t ignore the child’s words.
We decided to head to the place Seol Mae pointed out to verify what she had said.
"Lee Pyeong-hwa Hunter, please protect Seol Mae and her mother. If anything happens, fire this flare."
"Yes, understood."
Lee Pyeong-hwa nodded firmly, clutching the flare in his hand.
The reason wasn’t just to worry about a monster’s attack, but more so to prevent any violence or escape attempts from Seol Mae’s mother.
"Actually, I’ve already passed by the place where Seol Mae claims she saw the plague dragon..."
After parting from them, as we headed towards the place Seol Mae pointed out, Yoo Han-ul spoke quietly.
"When I passed by earlier, there was nothing there."
"I figured that," Han Jae-young shrugged.
"When we found the giant statue last ti, it was hidden with illusion magic, right?"
"Was it illusion magic so intricate that you couldn’t even notice it?"
"That could be the case. There are barrier spells made with illusion magic that can’t even be detected unless specific keywords are present, and they can’t be broken either. Of course, they’d be high-level magic."
"Specific keywords... Da-on, what do you think?"
Yoo Han-ul turned to look at .
I silently kept walking, shrugging my shoulders.
"I don’t really... if Han Jae-young Hunter says so, I guess that’s how it is."
Of course, my opinion was the sa as Han Jae-young’s.
But I didn’t need to show Yoo Han-ul that I had a deep knowledge of magic.
From what he said last ti, it seed like he no longer doubted ...
‘Still, it feels off.’
At any rate, it was best not to give Yoo Han-ul any clues that could lead him to figure out my true identity.
"...Hmm, I see."
Yoo Han-ul didn’t press further on my opinion.
Soon, we arrived at the place Seol Mae had described where she saw the plague dragon.
"As expected, nothing visible with the naked eye."
"Right."
According to the child, the area should have been full of soldiers, but all I could see was an empty, desolate plain.
After kneeling down to inspect the ground for a while, Han Jae-young stood up and shook his head.
"As expected, nothing is here. Da-on, can you feel anything?"
"...Not really."
"Hmm."
Han Jae-young glanced at my expression, but then shrugged his shoulders.
"I don’t think Seol Mae is lying or imagining things."
"Kids wouldn’t lie about sothing like this."
"So... it’s likely that Seol Mae is the key to breaking the illusion magic."
And I, though not saying it aloud, agreed with Han Jae-young’s conclusion.
As we saw last ti, if it’s lower-tier illusion magic, simply hitting it with a stronger flow of magic from the outside can break it.
But if there’s a strong illusion magic barrier carefully laid out here?
If the magic caster has set specific keywords, it would be hard to break from the outside unless those keywords are used.
And magic built with such precision, requiring keywords to break it, is incredibly hard to detect simply by sensing the flow of magic.
For example, like the "Waterwheel Thorn" I used at the supermarket in Eunpyeong, a delicate and complex lock can only be opened with one key.
Yoo Han-ul looked around reluctantly.
"According to Han Jae-young Hunter, this ans we’ll have to bring Seol Mae here to break the barrier...?"
"I don’t want to drag the child into this, but... we have no choice. Once the dungeon is cleared, we can send Seol Mae back."
"How about transforming into the child yourself... Ah."
Han Jae-young slapped Yoo Han-ul’s back.
"Hey, I told Da-on about my identity, but transforming at random like that is a whole different matter!"
"...Well, it does make sense."
With Han Jae-young’s ability to change forms, he could transform into the child and potentially be the key to breaking the illusion.
Han Jae-young looked back and forth between and Yoo Han-ul, looking frustrated.
"Both of you... My shape-shifting doesn’t change my essence. With this level of high magic, it wouldn’t break with so cheap trick, and I can’t change the rings of age etched into my soul... Why is Da-on looking so shaken all of a sudden?"
"...It’s nothing."
"Anyway, in the end, I think Seol Mae needs to co here to break it. And if the child is the key... whoever set this barrier is probably going to feel betrayed."
That made sense.
We had wandered through this dinsion for days, and despite looking everywhere, there were no creatures—no living creatures at all, let alone young ones.
In this world, where only the cold flow of ti could be felt, there was no way the barrier would be broken.
But thanks to a holess person from New York choosing to enter the dungeon instead of suicide, by pure coincidence, the key to breaking the dungeon was created.
‘That’s gotta sting.’
Honestly, I was relieved.
And the next morning.
After explaining the situation, we set out holding Seol Mae’s hand.
I’ll guide you!
Seol Mae, fully trusting Han Jae-young by now, excitedly led the way.
She seed thrilled that she was finally able to be of help.
Of course, we, following behind her, were all tense.
anwhile, Yoo Han-ul repeatedly emphasized to Lee Pyeong-hwa.
"Seol Mae’s safety is our priority. As soon as the illusion magic breaks, we’ll take her and run."
"Yes, don’t worry about Seol Mae."
Lee Pyeong-hwa nodded firmly with a serious face.
It seed that the fools didn’t like dragging a child into this.
Once we broke the illusion magic with Seol Mae’s help, Lee Pyeong-hwa and I were planning to escape with Seol Mae far away.
"Da-on, you too. The exploration will be handled by and Han Jae-young Hunter, so don’t worry."
Of course, the monster slaying would be handled by Yoo Han-ul and Han Jae-young, both S-class hunters.
"Yeah, we’ll run without looking back, so don’t worry."
Having S-class hunters on hand was incredibly useful in situations like this.
I didn’t need to move at all. The illusion barrier, and the monsters inside it, would be handled automatically.
Yoo Han-ul smiled faintly.
"I like your straightforward answers."
With two S-class hunters, how hard could the dungeon be?
Most likely, this dinsion’s Soul Core would be in the form of a giant statue, and Han Jae-young would easily purify it.
In that case, it would actually be more beneficial if Lee Pyeong-hwa and I took Seol Mae and disappeared without drawing attention to the fairy bloodline.
As Han Jae-young walked ahead, holding Seol Mae’s hand, he gradually slowed down.
"Things really look different now... Do you see the fog?"
"Yeah."
When the three of us first ca here without Seol Mae, it was just an empty plain, but now it was completely different.
Low fog was swirling around our ankles.
Seol Mae excitedly pointed ahead.
Over there, over there!
The mont the child’s voice echoed,
Crackle!
A shock struck like a direct blow to the brain.
The keyword has been fulfilled.
"Foolish Honor" has been released.
The veil that had been obscuring our vision lifted.
"My God."
Once the veil lifted, Lee Pyeong-hwa gasped and covered her mouth in shock.
Even Han Jae-young and Yoo Han-ul couldn’t help but take a sharp breath, stunned by the unexpected sight.
Seol Mae wasn’t wrong when she called this a plague dragon.
The intricately layered illusion magic shattered, and what had once seed like an endless, empty plain was now filled with people.
Just as Seol Mae had described, it was indistinguishable from a "plague dragon."
Soldiers in armor, holding weapons, stood in formation across the plain.
But the difference from the plague dragon was...
Lee Pyeong-hwa’s trembling voice echoed.
"T-they’re not alive, right? They’re corpses, right?"
Seol Mae must have thought they were statues since they didn’t move.
But unlike the soldiers made from the clay of the plague dragon, the soldiers standing in formation, weapons in hand, were clearly...
"Are your legs sore? I’ll carry you."
Han Jae-young naturally picked Seol Mae up to shield her from the sight.
No wonder. To the adults used to death, this scene looked like a graveyard of hundreds, maybe even a thousand corpses.
And this was exactly like the sight we saw in the dungeon on Yeongjong Island.
The bodies that had beco mummies after being drained of their magic by the giant statue.
The soldiers now before us looked just the sa.
And behind these mummified soldiers, a towering wall could be seen, a symbol of power.
But now, it was crumbling, on the verge of collapse—a ruined fortress.
"Lee Pyeong-hwa Hunter, please take Seol Mae out of here... Yoo Han-ul?!"
Han Jae-young, about to leave Seol Mae with Lee Pyeong-hwa, froze in surprise.
"Ugh!"
Of course, Yoo Han-ul had suddenly collapsed to his knees without a sound.
"Yoo Han-ul, what’s going on? What’s happening?! Get a hold of yourself!"
But there was no response.
"...Ugh!"
Thud!
Finally, Yoo Han-ul collapsed, kneeling on the spot.
In this unprecedented situation, both Lee Pyeong-hwa and Han Jae-young’s faces turned pale.
"What on earth is going on... Yoo Han-ul, wake up!"
"Can’t we use healing magic or sothing? No, we need to evacuate Seol Mae first..."
"Right. Da-on Hunter and I should... Da-on?"
And then, I heard Han Jae-young and Lee Pyeong-hwa’s voices from a distance.
It felt like soone was shaking my shoulder, but I didn’t pay much attention.
The flag, fluttering in the wind atop the fortress, quietly fell to the ground.
The once glorious family crest vanished without a trace among the corpses.
The scene before now wasn’t a fake created by my past life’s brother.
"...Hah."
A bitter laugh escaped.
The doubts I had carried with were instantly pieced together like a puzzle.
"Now it all makes sense."
Ever since the first dungeon break after awakening, I had been wondering sothing.
With the power to sacrifice a life in this modern world, why choose the tedious thod of a dungeon break?
If the goal was to kill , there was no need to go through such a complicated process.
Now, I understand.
My relentless brother’s goal wasn’t to kill .
His goal was to bring into the dungeon.
‘The soul has a gravitational pull.’
Just like Leo was drawn to .
Both spirit and flesh have a tendency to return to their original places.
Of course, Jeong Da-on’s body was newly given on Earth, but my soul was born and raised in another world.
Thus, my soul has a force driving it to return to the world I lived in during my past life.
‘This wasn’t a random dinsional stranding from the start.’
It wasn’t an accident that randomly sent to any dinsion.
The one who caused this incident was certain of one thing.
My soul would definitely return to the world of my past life.
Now, I finally understood the enemy’s objective.
Dear my sibling. Welco back to your holand.
‘The enemy of mankind’ had been trying to use my soul to connect the world of my past life with Earth.
Boom!
Boom!
At that mont, from within the fortress, a trendous drumbeat echoed.
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