Chapter 73

The third wave came sooner than expected, and more monsters swarmed in than during the second wave.

Even for someone like Sa-yoon, dealing with over seven hundred monsters alone was too much. Geon-joo, who had grown noticeably with each wave, surprisingly managed to take down a total of one hundred monsters ranging from D-rank to A-rank. But that still left six hundred. It took a full twelve hours to handle the third wave, as Sa-yoon struggled a bit dealing with those six hundred monsters alone and rescuing Geon-joo who was repeatedly threatened by monsters.

It seems that at busy times like this, not having him around would be more helpful.

Sa-yoon glanced sideways at Geon-joo, who was treating his battered body with potions after the prolonged battle. If Geon-joo hadn’t been there, the fight would have ended within six hours. Of course, Geon-joo had grown significantly during the extended time, but it was hard not to feel that the time wasted, double the usual, was a shame.

It seemed there was a need for further growth.

Near A-rank level wasn’t enough.

Deciding that he should definitely raise Geon-joo to A-rank level before entering the dungeon, Sa-yoon changed his plans and conducted another round of special training, using the base as their residence.

In fact, this time there wasn’t much “special” about the training; it was simply a matter of throwing Geon-joo into a field of monsters until his skills improved.

“Aaaaargh!”

Geon-joo screamed at the sudden, unannounced special training.

It was only natural that over the course of about three days of training, there wasn’t a single part of his body left unscathed.

***

<The Gate Clear conditions are now revealed.>

<To clear, you must achieve all of the following conditions:>

[Survive for 15 days 15/15]

[Secure a base 1/1]

[Seize a base 1/1]

[Handle monster waves 3/3]

[Defeat monsters 1,972/1,000]

[Achieve perfect escape 88/100]

[Defeat boss-level monsters 0/3]

[Discover a dungeon 0/1]

[Conquer a dungeon 0/1]

It had already been fifteen days since entering the field. After rolling Geon-joo around for a full seventy-two hours without proper sleep and achieving satisfactory results, Sa-yoon looked down at Geon-joo, who was now sleeping like the dead after the somewhat grueling special training. He nodded as he checked the condition window he had called up.

“Not bad.”

They had fulfilled quite a few conditions over the fifteen days. Now only the most challenging ones remained, so they needed to be even more alert. Even though they had come this far without major threats, you never knew what might happen in the field.

As Sa-yoon was making detailed plans on how to fulfill the remaining conditions, the moon that had been shining brightly began to wane, and morning came again.

Sa-yoon let Geon-joo catch up on his lack of sleep until just before the sun reached its zenith, only waking him up twelve hours after he had fallen asleep.

When Sa-yoon grabbed his shoulder and shook it, Geon-joo flopped around like a corpse, following the movement of Sa-yoon’s hand. After a while, he struggled to open one eye. Sa-yoon lightly patted his cheek.

“Wake up, pretty boy. If you’re going to keep sleeping, I’ll carry you in my arms.”

As Sa-yoon spoke, leaving a red handprint on Geon-joo’s cheek, Geon-joo reacted to the mention of being carried and fluttered his toes. He stretched his stiff body and raised his upper body. Still not fully awake, he blinked his drowsy eyes a few times. Sa-yoon brought him water to wash his face. While Geon-joo was busy splashing water on his face, Sa-yoon organized the remaining luggage in the base and prepared to leave.

“…Where are we going?”

“We have to go, don’t we? I think you’re misunderstanding something. This isn’t your home, it’s just a temporary combat base.”

“Who doesn’t know that? I just asked where we’re going.”

“We need to start fulfilling the last conditions.”

“The last conditions…”

Geon-joo, still a bit dazed, repeated Sa-yoon’s words and called up the blue window. While waiting for him to check the clear conditions, Sa-yoon opened the door and dispelled the frost energy surrounding the base.

“By last conditions, do you mean the dungeon and defeating boss-level monsters?”

“Yeah, those are the most difficult conditions to fulfill, so it’ll take some time to resolve them.”

Dungeon.

The place where the main monsters that destroyed the field were stationed.

For a hunter of Sa-yoon’s caliber, conquering a dungeon wasn’t particularly difficult. The same went for defeating boss-level monsters, as it was part of conquering the dungeon.

The problem was that discovering a dungeon was tricky.

To fulfill the dungeon discovery condition, they needed to find a new, undiscovered dungeon. But with so many dungeons already uncovered in the field, the only way to find a new one was to delve deeper into the field or explore unknown territories where no one had set foot before.

That was the difficult part, so Sa-yoon urged Geon-joo to prepare quickly, saying they’d be busy from now on. Geon-joo, having finished washing up, tidied his clothes and followed behind Sa-yoon.

“How do we find a dungeon?”

“How else? We have to search around like we’re on a treasure hunt.”

Sa-yoon replied simply and opened the base’s door, grabbing Geon-joo by the waist. Now somewhat accustomed to this, Geon-joo didn’t struggle and was lifted obediently. He had accepted that riding on Sa-yoon’s flight was the only way to move smoothly to land without traps.

Sa-yoon praised him, saying how nice it was now that he’d become docile, as if washing a dog that hates water, and flew to land without traps before setting his pretty boy down.

“Now we need to search for a dungeon. Do you want to search randomly wherever our feet take us, or take the easy way?”

Given the choice, Geon-joo wrinkled his nose as if Sa-yoon was asking something obvious.

“If we have to search anyway, isn’t it obviously better to take the easy way?”

“You think so too, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then catch.”

Whoosh, Sa-yoon took something out of his inventory and threw it to Geon-joo. Suddenly receiving a metal shovel, Geon-joo made an expression that seemed to ask what this was all about. He didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding his emotions.

With the shovel in hand, his head tilted at an angle. Sa-yoon gestured with his chin towards the ground.

“Dig.”

“What?”

“Did you hurt your ears during battle? Why can’t you understand? I said dig the ground.”

“The ground?”

“Most dungeons are underground. So if we want to take the easy way, we need to dig the ground first to make a path.”

How else do you think we’ll get in if we don’t dig?

Having done this before, Sa-yoon explained nonchalantly as he stuck the shovel into the ground and started scooping out dirt. The shovel went in deep with a thud and came back out full of sand. After repeating this two or three times, a small sand tower formed next to Sa-yoon’s feet.

Sa-yoon jabbed the shovel into the ground, then stopped and frowned as he noticed Geon-joo showing no movement. Sa-yoon’s foot tapped on the shovel.

“What are you doing, pretty boy? Aren’t you going to dig?”

“Are we really digging?”

“Does it look like I’m pretending to dig to you?”

Sa-yoon added that he should stop talking nonsense and start digging, and Geon-joo, who had been silent, let out a hollow laugh. Looking alternately at the shovel and Sa-yoon in disbelief, he reluctantly picked up the shovel.

“This isn’t the military or something. Did I come here to dig…”

A voice filled with self-loathing muttered quietly. Sa-yoon, who had now piled up dirt as high as his head, pushed it aside slightly and opened his mouth.

“If you want to be buried whole in the ground I’ve dug, keep grumbling.”

“……”

“I’ve just about dug enough to bury one person. If you’re curious about what it feels like to be buried alive, just say the word anytime.”

As Sa-yoon spoke as if he’d be happy to let him experience it, the faint voice disappeared. Instead, Geon-joo wore a harsh expression as if the words “This sucks” were written on his face. Having seen this expression more than once or twice, Sa-yoon couldn’t care less about it.

After about 30 minutes of digging, the hole became quite deep. It looked like it could fit two people, so Geon-joo straightened his stiff body and patted his back. Sa-yoon put down the shovel he was holding and squatted down. He felt around the dug ground with his hands to check the foundation and slightly stretched his neck to check the depth.

“This should be about enough.”

“Is this really enough? We haven’t even dug a tunnel yet.”

To go deeper, they would need to dig a tunnel. Since they hadn’t even dug the ground deep enough, let alone a tunnel, Geon-joo asked. Sa-yoon chuckled and stood up straight.

“As you said, we didn’t come here just to dig. Why would we need to dig a tunnel? If you want to dig all day, I won’t stop you, but you don’t want to, right?”

“Of course not.”

“Then just watch quietly, pretty boy. We’re not the ones who’ll be digging the tunnel.”

“Then who?”

“We’ll have to tame it.”

Tame it? Geon-joo expressed confusion at the response that didn’t fit the context. Sa-yoon checked again that the depth of the ground was sufficient and raised his foot high.

After taking a breath, he stomped down with all his might, making a loud thud! The wide plain shook with Sa-yoon’s force, vibrating. The ground that Sa-yoon and Geon-joo had dug deep, weakening it, shook especially hard.

Sa-yoon raised the corners of his mouth as he looked at the ground that was swaying precariously, as if it might collapse downward at any moment. Geon-joo moved his feet to get away from the severely vibrating ground, moving behind Sa-yoon.

And at that moment.

Chuaaaak!

―Gueeeeek!

A giant monster, reacting to the vibrating ground, shot up from the hole Sa-yoon and Geon-joo had dug. Thud, thud. Clumps of dirt that hadn’t been shaken off fell from its body.

With a body length that seemed to exceed 10 meters, black skin, and hundreds of teeth protruding around its face.

Shadow Worm.

Sa-yoon, who had forcibly summoned the giant monster that dwells at the bottom of the field’s plains, smiled with satisfaction as he drew his sword.

Since they couldn’t use void steps underground, they needed a new means of transportation suitable for underground use. Sa-yoon intended to tame this giant Shadow Worm and make it their new mount.