43. Everything Froze (4)
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[Entering the dungeon ‘Gorge of the Ice Spirit.’]
A system message invisible to everyone else appeared right in front of Baek Yuseol. Since they had only been walking between icy cliffs, perhaps the others had not even realized they had entered a dungeon at all.
“Hm. The atmosphere’s changed.”
“The density of mana has sunk.”
“Looks like something’s about to show up for real……”
But perhaps that had only been Baek Yuseol’s misconception, because even without any help from a system message, they noticed it almost immediately, just as veterans would.
“Oh, this is a little fascinating.”
“Right. First time I’ve ever gone this deep under the sea.”
In effect, they had squeezed through a gap in the ocean and were steadily heading farther into the deep, so the party members were able to properly observe the reality of the frozen seabed.
Normally, when people think of glaciers, they imagine only the surface of the sea being frozen. But this place was different. Even the waters below had been frozen solid, completely motionless.
“That’s…… a Hexa-Fin Shark.”
“I heard those went extinct seven hundred years ago, but they’ve remained here frozen all this time.”
“Well, I’ll be. It’s a living museum.”
Perhaps because the scenery itself had remained frozen exactly as it had a thousand years ago, creatures and marine life no longer seen in the present occasionally appeared here and there.
Back when he had played the game, Baek Yuseol had never paid attention to such fine details, so even to him this was a rather wondrous sight.
“Hm, something’s coming from ahead.”
“Prepare for combat!”
That was separate from the fact that he knew this dungeon’s strategy inside and out.
He had, in fact, once posted a guide series on a community site titled [★Yuseol’s Dungeon Guide #001★], and it had received quite a lot of enthusiastic response.
He had been hopeless at character analysis or story discussion, but when it came to monsters and dungeon strategy, he could safely be called a specialist, true to his nature as an RPG gamer.
Thus, most of the adventurers who had joined this expedition intending to gauge Baek Yuseol’s combat ability could not help feeling deeply disappointed when he took command from the very rear.
“Captain~ looks like the plan’s gone off track~?”
Kaen, captain of the Myeolam Unit, was no different. In the first place, if he had not been able to confirm Baek Yuseol’s martial prowess, he would never have volunteered for something like this dungeon expedition.
“Next, we’ll be entering from this direction, so please be careful not to let your footsteps make any noise.”
Still, there was one thing they could tell. His judgment was sharp and insightful—far too sharp for a seventeen-year-old student.
He sometimes made highly unusual calls, as though he had already been inside this dungeon before, yet at the same time remained cautious. At first, that only made him seem unreliable, and it even drew opposition from the adventurers.
“What? Why crawl in there of all places? It looks dangerous at a glance!”
“Look carefully at the traces of the current and the direction the footprints are heading. Also, the way mana is flowing in is far from ordinary. According to my analysis, this is……”
“Good grief. Just as expected of a student from some prestigious academy, you sure make things hard to understand. So what are you trying to say?”
“If you truly don’t trust me, then I’ll respect the opinions of you veteran adventurers and go this way instead.”
“Yeah. That’s more like it!”
Veteran adventurers had keen instincts worthy of the name. They had not studied dungeons in a specialized way like Baek Yuseol had, but they had their own battlefield experience earned through years of surviving in places like this.
So there was no way they could fully obey the bespectacled little teacher-type brat, and perhaps because Baek Yuseol understood that fact well, he readily accepted the adventurers’ opinions.
The result?
“C-Crazy! Why the hell is a Crystal Giant Golem popping out here?!”
“We need to assume at least Risk 7 and fight accordingly!”
“Fight, my ass! Fall back first! We can’t deal with that thing in a narrow gorge like this!”
If they failed to follow Baek Yuseol’s words, things always ended up like this.
Fortunately, Baek Yuseol had already secured escape routes in anticipation of such situations and showed precise command exactly when needed, so they managed to get through them without major losses. But after it happened several times, there was no longer a single adventurer left who stubbornly tried to defy him.
“Hoo, man alive. Nothing in this place works the way common sense says it should……”
“No kidding. What the hell is that brat?”
“Every time we ask, he just says, ‘I mostly studied from textbooks’……”
No matter how intensely someone had studied theory sitting behind a desk, there was no way such command and judgment should have been possible.
If anything, they had often seen commanders who relied on such knowledge panic and fumble in real combat, where unexpected situations constantly arose. By comparison, Baek Yuseol really was a peculiar case.
But for Kaen and Hyeijin, who already knew Baek Yuseol was not actually an ordinary student and that he possessed the unusual analytical ability called Deep Learning, it was not all that surprising.
Compared to the combat power he likely possessed, that level of ability was almost cute.
Baek Yuseol let the adventurers rest as long as possible, preserving their stamina. Even when they insisted they did not need to rest, he still made them take full thirty-minute breaks every single time. Left with no choice, the adventurers would doze briefly or eat snacks while grudgingly listening.
It was an extremely strange sight—veterans who had spent anywhere from ten to thirty years in this line of work obediently listening to a single student—but after experiencing his uncanny insight, they could do little except accept it.
The dungeon led deeper and deeper toward the sea floor, and although light could no longer reach them the farther they went, it strangely was not dark at all.
From the frozen sea hemming them in on both sides like towering walls, a mysterious blue glow softly spread outward.
“There’s something in the sea.”
It was a single remark made by one adventurer in the silence. Everyone agreed, but no one wanted to think too hard about what it was.
What sort of thing could emit such a bright blue light from a sea frozen solid for a thousand years?
They could think of nothing except something inscrutable, something difficult for human common sense to understand.
Baek Yuseol knew exactly what it was.
‘The entrance to the frozen world…….’
His true destination.
A forbidden domain where giant beings of ice and spirits still lived and breathed, yet no living creature could approach.
Kiiiiiiooooo—!
“Ugh! That’ll blow my eardrums out.”
“It’s an ice spirit.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a spirit……”
“It’s strange to find a spirit in a place like this. Is there some kind of spirit totem around?”
“Well, well. Looks like it’s seriously pissed off. It must think we’ve invaded its territory.”
The existence known as a spirit was still an unknown realm even within the world of magic.
Where they lived in ordinary times, what they ate, whether they slept, why they occasionally made contracts with mages, how they were summoned.
Nothing had been properly 밝혀진 게 없다.
So when such spirits suddenly appeared inside a dungeon and openly displayed hostility, the adventurers looked deeply uneasy, though they forced out jokes to lighten the mood.
But even in that situation, Baek Yuseol could not laugh at all.
‘Why are the spirits already here?’
Originally, spirits did not appear in this dungeon at all.
Unusual monsters exposed to the power of ice spirits—such as frozen deep-sea fiends or frozen deep-sea fish—appeared frequently, but the spirits themselves were not supposed to show up at all.
‘……Something changed.’
From here on, he could no longer move forward based solely on the knowledge he had known. Places he had thought safe might in fact be dangerous now, and the opposite might be true as well.
“Let’s take a short break.”
“Fine by me. This one was a little rough.”
“Golems directly controlled by spirits, huh. That gives us one more drinking story for when we get back.”
“Hey, you idiot. The ones who say stuff like that always die first. Didn’t you know?”
“What kind of crazy bullshit are you spouting?! Don’t jinx us.”
Even while the adventurers chatted idly and relaxed, Baek Yuseol kept staring somewhere else.
‘The boss room.’
The final destination of this dungeon.
The deepest part of the sea, and the place connected to the heart of the whirlpool.
The moment they entered there…… they would be forced to fight a spirit clad in armor called the ‘Guardian of Ice Valley,’ and if they won, the entrance to the world of ice would open along with an enormous reward.
‘Should I really go in?’
Back when he had played Aether World Online, he had known the strategy perfectly, so this had been a dungeon even Character Baek Yuseol could clear alone.
But ever since the spirits had begun to intervene directly, the difficulty had risen to an entirely different dimension. There were even several moments when Baek Yuseol’s strategy no longer worked properly, forcing him to rely on the adventurers’ moment-to-moment judgment.
Baek Yuseol trusted their experience.
But relying on others’ experience and driving them toward death with it was something he could not permit himself to do.
‘……No. I can’t.’
With the dungeon’s difficulty having risen abnormally, he had no intention of bringing the adventurers into that boss room when he did not even know whether the strategy would succeed anymore.
“Everyone. Please pay attention for a moment.”
“Hm?”
“Yeah, go on, little brat party leader.”
“Let’s hear it.”
Their teasing tone remained the same, but now the party members fully respected Baek Yuseol’s judgment.
It was rather unfortunate, but the judgment that had earned him their trust relied entirely on his past experience and those thick dorky glasses…….
He would not be able to keep showing such impressive leadership from now on.
That was why Baek Yuseol had no choice but to make this decision.
“The party disbands here. I’ll go into the boss room alone.”
“What?”
“No, wait……”
“What the hell is this brat talking about now?”
“I never expected a variable like spirits appearing in the dungeon. Spirits are…… a realm that even I find impossible to fully grasp. If we continue like this, you could all fall into serious danger. In return, I promise that when I clear the dungeon and return, I’ll share every last bit of the reward with you.”
He spoke after hardening his resolve, but he had failed to properly understand the hearts of veteran adventurers.
“Hah. This brat’s got some nerve, now that I think about it.”
“So what, then? You’re disbanding the party because you’re worried about us?”
“In case one of us dies?”
“Puhahahaha!”
But when the adventurers reacted in an entirely unexpected way, it was Baek Yuseol’s expression that turned strange instead.
“Hey, brat. Being an adventurer means living with death hanging from your neck as part of the job. Nobody knows when or where they’ll croak. I admit your head works damn well. You’re smarter than us, and you’ve clearly studied a lot.”
“But…… don’t go thinking knowledge means you understand the whole world. This is a different matter.”
“From the moment we head out on an adventure each day, we already lay down our lives. The countless comrades who left without even saying goodbye and never returned were the same.”
“This dungeon’s been quite the interesting experience, in its own way. If I make it back alive as an adventurer, this’ll be a hell of a drinking story. And now you’re telling us to turn back here?”
“Crazy! Nothing could be more horrible than that!”
“One of the proud stories I’d carry through life would instantly turn into a lifelong embarrassment. Even if death’s waiting for me, I’m absolutely going into that boss room.”
“We know you’ve got some other objective of your own too, but even so, this is one thing we can’t grant.”
The adventurers’ appeal…… was still full of words Baek Yuseol could not understand at all.
To him, living itself mattered more than anything in the world, and the act of staking one’s life for something was still far too distant a concept.
So, he had failed to respect adventurers.
But if he still could not respect them after they had spoken this far, then he would be little more than a creature devoid of emotion.
“……Understood. Then we’ll all go in together.”
“Haha! That’s more like it!”
“If everyone’s rested enough, then get up already!”
As the adventurers rose with eager expressions, Hyeijin, who had been hiding at the back and watching the conversation, made a tearful face.
“Hiiing. I thought we were going back……”
Just as adventurers were the type to risk their lives on adventure, Hyeijin was the type to risk her life hunting dark magicians.
But this case was not dark-magician hunting, so from her perspective it might very well amount to a pointless death.
“Captaaain… can’t we go back?”
“No. We’re going in too.”
Kaen wanted to see Baek Yuseol’s real skill with his own eyes until the very end. If the boss room was dangerous, then all the better. If variables arose there, Baek Yuseol would have no choice but to reveal his true power.
“All right. Then let’s go in!”
And so, the dungeon’s final gate.
The boss room opened.
With the adventurers’ burning passion and loyalty having forged the mood like this, the next sequence should have been obvious.
A desperate battle against an unimaginably powerful boss! Amid it all, blazing camaraderie and unbreakable bonds! An impossible enemy, so difficult it seemed no one could ever overcome it, yet in the end a heart-stirring victory!
That was the sort of story everyone had expected. Baek Yuseol, the adventurers, and Kaen alike.
But……
The moment the entrance to the dungeon opened, a horrifying blizzard rushed out so violently that they could not even keep their eyes open.
“Ghk, what the hell is this?!”
—Kwooooooo…!!!
Something was roaring.
The adventurers instinctively judged that it was the monster guarding this boss room.
And so, what happened next was truly abnormal.
“The boss is…… coming out of the boss room!”
“W-What?! Crazy!”
A boss never left the boss room. That was common sense.
But sometimes that common sense broke, and that phenomenon was known as a Dungeon Break.
A horrific event in which a dungeon was left unattended too long, causing internal abnormalities and monsters to burst outside.
“……Damn it, we have to stop it!”
“At this point, there’s no turning back!”
The adventurers quickly retreated and raised an enormous barrier against the blizzard, then lifted their staffs.
Boom! Boom!
As an enormous ice fiend at least fifty meters tall stepped out one thunderous step at a time, everyone swallowed nervously. But not a single one of them thought of running.
“If anything…… this is thrilling as hell, damn it.”
“Yeah, exactly the kind of situation I was hoping for!”
“What kind of situation were you hoping for?! Think straight! We can’t properly fight that thing here with this blizzard!”
“Falling back is impossible! Behind us is a gorge that’s far too narrow. We’ll have to endure the blizzard and fight it here somehow!”
“We’re dead for sure!”
Kaen too subtly stepped backward so he could act the same way as the adventurers while surveying the surroundings.
Then, by chance…… his gaze reached the inside of the boss room.
‘That is……?’
Inside the boss room, there was something strange. The space was rippling and writhing like a vortex…….
‘A portal?’
Why would something like that exist in a boss room?
One thing was certain: that mysterious blizzard was pouring out from that portal.
If only they could block the portal—but approaching it while enduring this blizzard was nothing short of madness.
By now, the adventurers must have noticed that portal as well.
But not one of them said they would head toward it.
‘You’ll die.’
That was a completely different matter from staking your life on a fight. The moment one tried to advance there, death was certain.
That was why everyone had no choice but to hesitate.
‘……It can’t be helped.’
Kaen decided he would have to step in personally here. If he truly used his power properly, then a blizzard or some ice fiend like this would be no issue at all.
[Blink]
But someone shot out ahead even before him.
“U-Uh?”
“What the hell is that crazy brat doing?!”
It was Baek Yuseol.
Without even looking back once, he sprinted toward the portal. The adventurers tried to stop him too late, but he had already gone too far for them to stop.
Kaen knew at once. That was Baek Yuseol’s real objective.
“Hyeijin, we’re following him!”
“Huh? Huh?! Captain, I can’t endure this kind of—gwaaah?!”
Tucking Hyeijin under his arm, he used Super Jump and pushed through the blizzard.
Flash!
Chasing after Baek Yuseol’s back as he vanished through the portal, Kaen also threw himself toward it.
Whiooo……
And then, immediately afterward, the blizzard stopped.
Silence descended.
“C-Crazy……”
Even with the ice fiend right in front of them, the adventurers were too stunned to speak for a long while.
“To stop the blizzard……?”
“That brat jumped in there……?”
The question flung out by one adventurer gently shook the valley……
But no one answered. It only echoed back, filled with countless emotions.
