Chapter 132 – Bimu and Bimu (5)

“Unit Leader. You’re a bit late today.”

“Yeah. I had something to do.”

My daily routine was so fixed that now, if anything changed even slightly, Ho-joong would notice right away.

In fact, crossing swords with Heo Jeong-ah didn’t take that long.

Because controlling the tempo and deciding the timing of the conclusion were all things I could do.

The problem was Heo Gyeong-woo.

After seeing my Haewon Sword Style, the old man’s scholarly curiosity about swordsmanship exploded.

He continuously asked me this and that.

As befitting a Sword Master, the level of his questions was profound, and a rather long discussion on swordsmanship was needed to make him fully understand.

As a result, my treatment for today was naturally delayed a bit.

“Nothing much happened today, right?”

“Yes. Nothing special happened in the Chamryongdan. However, it seems Unit Leader Seo Ji-won’s Myeongundan went on a dungeon expedition and returned empty-handed.”

“My second brother? What on earth kind of dungeon was it?”

“I’m not sure either, but it seems the dungeon’s setup was a bit unusual.”

If it was a dungeon Seo Ji-won couldn’t clear, it certainly wasn’t an ordinary one.

I couldn’t help but be curious.

“Is that dungeon still uncleared?”

“That is correct.”

“Bring me the dungeon report.”

“Yes.”

Looking at the records, it was indeed a dungeon with a peculiar setup.

Numerous diverging paths spread out within the dungeon. And a continuous series of choices.

After following that long, long path, the place Seo Ji-won’s unit eventually arrived at was said to be the exit leading to the outside world.

A whopping four times at that.

“So this is what it meant to return empty-handed.”

For the prideful Seo Ji-won to give up, the diverging paths must have been insanely numerous.

To give up on a raid like this after the family had won the bid was a matter that would damage the family’s prestige.

“Register this for our Chamryongdan to clear.”

“Us, here, sir?”

“Why?”

“Just looking at the report, it seems too luck-based. We can’t possibly check all those diverging paths ourselves.”

“You said my second brother already went through four routes, right? We can at least exclude those.”

In truth, four routes were just a tiny fraction of all possible cases, but Choi Ho-joong didn’t argue any further.

“Understood. I’ll register it right away.”

“And the entire Chamryongdan won’t be going here.”

“Only some of us will go?”

“Rather than some, I’m thinking of taking just one person.”

Ho-joong seemed to think it would naturally be him.

“Understood. I will be ready.”

“No. Not you.”

I had just the person to take.

Yoon Joo-hee.

Her basics were solidified with Stupeo, so now it was time to put it to use in a real battle.

***

Inside a damp and dark cave.

We had walked a long way.

We had faced diverging paths a total of 8 times so far.

Among the enormous number of possibilities, there was only one path we could take.

I didn’t bother turning on a lantern.

Because this kind of environment was the optimal place for sensory training.

Swaaaaak!!

A blue slime was split in half by Yoon Joo-hee’s sword.

She had not missed the one that suddenly popped up from the dark floor and had cut it down.

“You’ve improved.”

Being able to react immediately like this was not something that could be done by sight alone.

It was proof that her seventh sense through mana was working.

Well, it was still at a beginner’s level.

“It’s all thanks to you, Unit Leader!”

“Above!”

At my shout, Yoon Joo-hee hastily raised her sword.

A slime that had been stuck to the cave ceiling was falling towards us.

In that fleeting moment, Yoon Joo-hee accurately grasped the timing and direction of the falling slime.

Pooof!

The slime was impaled on the tip of her sword and burst.

Yoon Joo-hee was once again covered in slime fluid all over her body.

“Get a grip.”

“I’m sorry, Unit Leader.”

“Still, that last one was more praiseworthy.”

“Thank you…”

Pooof!

This time, a red slime burst on Yoon Joo-hee’s sword.

Perhaps due to the learning effect, Yoon Joo-hee had not let her guard down even with my praise.

Kiiiik!

Kiiiik!

Slimes appeared without warning.

Without losing her focus, she caught the slimes that popped out from all sorts of places.

‘By the way, to think it’s really only slimes.’

Slimes were a species classified as the weakest among monsters.

Seo Ji-won’s unit had given up without being able to clear a dungeon of mere slimes.

This dungeon was that abnormally vast.

In fact, I wasn’t even sure if ‘vast’ was the right expression.

Since all paths except one led to the dungeon’s exit, it was highly likely that a space-distorting magic was cast on it.

Anyway, we walked for a long while more, and Yoon Joo-hee hunted slimes to her heart’s content today.

[You have reached a three-way fork. Choose one and walk.]

We faced a diverging path once again.

I didn’t know how long this path would continue.

“Unit Leader. This time, which way…”

“The middle path.”

“Understood.”

Yoon Joo-hee began to walk ahead without a word.

In truth, I wasn’t making choices with any certainty either.

Faint footprints left in the cave. I didn’t know if this was a proper clue, but I was following those tracks.

The problem was that these tracks weren’t found continuously.

In sections where they were cut off for a long time, I had to make choices based purely on intuition.

This was one such case.

A three-way fork.

Here, I chose one path without any basis.

I wasn’t certain yet, but there was an aspect I wanted to believe in.

Nike’s Ring.

Since it was a reward from the Nesos hidden quest and was made by combining three items, it was a guy that had to pull its weight in situations that required luck.

“Unit Leader. It seems there are no slimes.”

Indeed, at this diverging path, I felt we had reached some kind of singularity.

The slimes that had been popping out from all directions throughout our long walk in the cave had vanished as if by magic.

Even when I spread my senses, I couldn’t feel the presence of any monsters nearby.

Although it was teeming with life forms.

“Turn on the lantern.”

“Yes. Understood.”

As Yoon Joo-hee flipped the switch on the lantern hanging around her neck, the cave’s interior became brightly lit.

And the sight that unfolded before us was quite a spectacle.

The cave floor was a sea of cockroaches. It was literally half sand, half bugs.

“We have no choice but to step on them and pass. Lead the way.”

“…Understood.”

With each step, the crunching sound of cockroaches’ backs breaking could be heard.

The musty smell of the fluid grew worse as we went on.

Yoon Joo-hee frowned.

“Unit Leader, how about we turn off the lantern and go?”

Meaning, let’s go with at least visual comfort.

“No. Keep it on. This is actually good.”

“Pardon?”

“You still react more sensitively to things you can see. It means you’re still a slave to your senses.”

Although it was also a matter of squeamishness, this was a part that required training as well.

Just as it was necessary to sharpen the senses, the opposite was also needed.

If one gets mesmerized by the surrounding environment like this, one might miss what is truly important.

“It would be even better if you wore Stupeo.”

At these words, Yoon Joo-hee shuddered.

Because when worn, the senses run wild, and if one loses focus even for a moment, they would end up rolling on the floor.

“Why? Do you regret coming to the Chamryongdan?”

“No, sir. I believe it was the best choice.”

“Even when I push you this hard?”

“I just trust you completely, Unit Leader. Because you are a genius, Unit Leader.”

“You say such cringe-worthy things so nonchalantly.”

“Ha-rin told me. She said she felt a great wall again from you recently, Unit Leader.”

It seemed she had heard the story of when I went to the Muwon Sword Family.

“Then I suppose you can think positively about going to Nekarion’s Castle with me.”

At my sudden words, Yoon Joo-hee stared blankly for a moment, then opened her mouth.

“Please give me a little more time.”

The wording was the same as before, but the atmosphere was somehow slightly different.

I nodded.

In truth, what she needed right now was not time.

Certainty about me. That was the only thing slightly lacking.

So, if I filled that, it was a problem that would naturally be solved.

“Anyway, we’re walking with Stupeo on.”

“Yes.”

In terms of the intensity of her recent sensory training alone, it was much tougher than Ho-joong’s.

The Bimu was as good as won.

***

It was a truly incomprehensible dungeon.

A long time had passed since we entered, but the condition for clearing the dungeon had not yet been given.

It was merely demanding a choice at a diverging path.

Kiiiiii!

Slimes appeared again, and we continued to walk along the cave path.

The fortunate thing was that the footprints that had been cut off had started to appear again at some point.

If this was a clue guiding us to the end of the dungeon, then we had been going the right way so far.

And finally.

[This is the last diverging path. Please choose one.]

“Unit Leader! We can finally see the end!”

Yoon Joo-hee had a look of disbelief on her face.

Considering the enormous number of possibilities we had passed at the forks, this dungeon was excessive, to say the least.

This time, there were six paths.

There was no need to check for footprints anymore.

Because there was a place among them where I could feel the presence of mana.

“Let’s take the second one.”

“Yes, Unit Leader.”

“And your training ends here. You can remove Stupeo.”

I overtook Yoon Joo-hee, who had been walking in front all this time.

She followed me closely from behind and asked.

“But Unit Leader. I have a question.”

“About how I found the way here?”

“Yes. You made choices without hesitation every time we stood at a diverging path, Unit Leader.”

“I have good intuition.”

“Intuition?”

In truth, it was luck, not intuition, but there was no need to explain it in detail.

An unidentified being had also appeared before us.

“Unit Leader! Over there!”

“I know.”

The being that had been emanating mana from a distance.

It was this very one.

About 170 centimeters tall, with two arms and two legs.

It had eyes, a nose, and a mouth, a being that truly had a human form.

“Amazing. How did you get here in one go?”

And human language.

It was a strange thing.

I had never heard of a person, not a monster, being in a dungeon.

But there was one thing that was much stranger than this.

“You are a different existence from me.”

“Huh? You noticed right away?”

“It seems physical interference between us is also impossible.”

“Wow, truly amazing! You can feel this right away?”

“And yet you are emitting mana inside the cave, so what is going on?”

An unknown being that showed no hostility towards me.

It was a situation that needed some explanation.

“I was waiting.”

“For whom?”

“For someone to clear this dungeon that I couldn’t finish.”

The being stared at me intently.

“For some reason, I feel like you can do it.”

And at that moment, a dungeon message was transmitted.

[Please clear the dungeon according to Clera’s guidance.]

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