BXBX NOVEL Chapter 9
[Welcome Kang Hyeon to the tutorial]
[You have completed the tutorial up to stage 3 so far]
[Would you like to enter stage 4?]
“Let’s go!”
After clearing stage 3, the confident Kang Hyeon forcefully entered the tutorial’s 4th stage.
[May your courage save the world]
As his eyes opened, he saw a dark, brick-walled corridor. The corridor was evenly lit by torches, giving it the feeling of an old castle in a game.
[Fourth Stage (Stage 4)]
[Prove your leadership that can guide everyone]
[Clear condition: Destroy the dungeon’s core]
[Failure condition: Death]
[When the dungeon’s core is destroyed, a portal to exit the dungeon will automatically appear]
[Tip. It’s best if not a single party member is left behind]
[Tip. The objective is not far away]
As the message was confirmed, four unfamiliar men and women appeared before Kang Hyeon’s eyes. Witnessing their quarrel, Kang Hyeon grasped the situation.
‘So I have to clear the dungeon with these guys.’
Kang Hyeon first examined the party members one by one. Above their heads were their names.
[Lee Jin-mo]
A man wearing heavy plate armor, holding a sword and a large shield.
‘He’s definitely the tank here.’
[Yoon Ae-sun]
A woman holding a staff with a huge crystal, wearing a shabby robe.
‘She must be the mage.’
[Han Tae-rim]
A man wearing a dignified-looking blue robe, holding a wooden staff.
‘He looks more like a priest, a healer.’
[Kim Yeon-ji]
A woman wearing short leather armor that reveals her muscular body, wielding daggers.
‘Not a typical damage dealer class… She must be the rogue.’
After briefly observing the party members, Kang Hyeon checked his own equipment.
‘A longsword, leather armor, even a backpack – all completely new to me.’
Kang Hyeon examined the unfamiliar leather armor set he was wearing.
Name: Basic Leather Armor Set
Rank: E
Durability: 457/500
Description: This set includes a helmet, gloves, boots, chest armor, and leggings, all made of basic leather.
‘They could have made it a bit more decent.’
Kang Hyeon was slightly offended by the generic message, but he thought it was better than having nothing.
‘Anyway, the key thing now is the party members.’
The four quarreling in front of him were not real people, but NPCs created by the system.
‘If I guide them along the predetermined scenario, I should be able to clear this stage naturally.’
With his decision made, Kang Hyeon listened in on the party’s conversation.
“Lee Jin-mo! What are we going to do? This is the place we came to yesterday!”
The excited Kim Yeon-ji pointed to scratch marks on the wall.
“See this? I marked it when I passed by yesterday.”
Before them were two branching corridors, and the group had already passed through the left one.
“In the end, we came back to the same spot after going around in circles for two days!”
“Then we should go right.”
Kim Yeon-ji’s shout was answered by the shield-wielding man, Lee Jin-mo.
“What if we get lost there too? Are you going to take responsibility?”
“But…”
“We’re almost out of food too. This undead dungeon doesn’t have anything edible. If we get lost again, that’ll be the end of us!”
The highly agitated Kim Yeon-ji exclaimed.
“So what? Now you want to go back? We can get out in a day if we go back? But we’ve already been here for over 10 days. The food will run out before we even reach the entrance.”
Listening to their argument, Kang Hyeon silently nodded.
‘Food is running out, and they’re lost… A typical situation.’
The quarrel between the two showed no signs of ending.
“If we just carefully choose the traps-free path we came from, we can make it in 3 days, maybe even 2. We just need to ration the food.”
“…”
“That’s my plan. What do you think?”
“That’s just your opinion!”
The voices of Kim Yeon-ji and Lee Jin-mo kept escalating, and they even started pointing fingers at each other.
“If you, Lee Jin-mo, hadn’t insisted on coming to this dungeon in the first place, none of this would have happened.”
“Hey! We all agreed to come here together, and now you’re saying this?”
“I don’t know, but I’m going back. I can’t die like this. You guys figure it out on your own.”
Unable to hold back, Kim Yeon-ji suddenly turned around and started walking away.
“Lee Jin-mo, I think Kim Yeon-ji has a point. Turning back might be the safer option.”
“Han Tae-rim, are you siding with Kim Yeon-ji just because you’re dating her? Think about this rationally. This is a matter of life and death!”
“What does dating have to do with this?!”
As the priest, Han Tae-rim, joined the conversation, the situation only worsened.
‘Geez.’
Deciding to intervene before the situation became irreversible, Kang Hyeon shouted.
“Hold on!”
All eyes turned to Kang Hyeon.
“Let’s just calm down a bit.”
“We’re calm enough, thank you very much.”
Kim Yeon-ji rolled her eyes and responded to Kang Hyeon’s words.
“How long has it been since we entered the dungeon?”
“Without the sun, I can’t be sure, but it’s been over 10 days, I think.”
The tip had clearly stated that the objective was not far away.
Kang Hyeon didn’t blindly trust the tips, but at least they didn’t provide false information.
“Then, generally, how long does it take to clear a dungeon?”
“At this rate, it’ll be 10 days at most.”
Lee Jin-mo nodded in response.
“Right. We may have already reached our goal. We’ve been moving forward so far, haven’t we?”
“But…”
“Hear me out. We’ve been moving without any problems for 8 days, haven’t we?”
“That’s true…”
Kang Hyeon’s words made Kim Yeon-ji reluctantly agree.
“That’s right! We must be very close to the goal now. If we go through the unexplored right passageway, the core will surely come out in a day or two.”
Kang Hyeon persuasively argued based on the given information.
“And do you think it makes sense to go back the same way we came in a day? If we happen to take a wrong turn somewhere, we’ll starve to death for real. At times like this, we should move forward together.”
As Kang Hyeon spoke, he was filled with confidence. The atmosphere had completely shifted to his favor.
‘Alright. I think that was a great speech.’
“If we go that way and the core doesn’t show up in a day, will you take responsibility?”
“Huh?”
However, Kim Yeon-ji’s sudden mention of responsibility caught Kang Hyeon off guard.
“Take responsibility? I can’t take responsibility. That’s why I’ll do as I please.”
“Hey, if there’s no one to disable the traps, what are we supposed to do!”
Listening to the conversation between Kim Yeon-ji and Lee Jin-mo, Kang Hyeon thought.
‘So there are traps in the dungeon? Kim Yeon-ji has the skill to disable them… Then, even if the others don’t know, Kim Yeon-ji is a must-have.’
The calculation was quickly completed.
“I’ll take responsibility.”
“What?”
“I’ll take responsibility.”
“Uh, how are you going to take responsibility?”
Kang Hyeon’s confident words flustered Kim Yeon-ji.
“I’ll give you all the food I have.”
“…”
“So you’ll have more time to find the core.”
“Sigh…”
After pondering for a moment, Kim Yeon-ji extended her hand to Kang Hyeon.
“Then give it to me right now.”
‘This girl…’
Grinding his teeth, Kang Hyeon opened his backpack.
It contained a bottle of water, a small piece of dried meat, and a slice of bread.
After showing the contents to everyone, Kang Hyeon immediately handed the backpack to Kim Yeon-ji.
“Here, take the whole bag.”
“Hmph! Just give me the food, I don’t need the bag. You carry it.”
“…”
Kang Hyeon’s forced smile started to tremble.
“Uh, alright…”
Kim Yeon-ji received Kang Hyeon’s food, and the party began to move forward through the right passageway.
-Creak, click-
Kim Yeon-ji led the way, disabling all the traps. Whenever she manipulated something, classic traps like flying arrows or spikes emerging from the floor were triggered.
‘Bringing Kim Yeon-ji was indeed a wise decision.’
“Stop!”
They were continuing on their way when suddenly Kim Yeon-ji called out in a small voice, halting the group.
“There are enemies. Four skeleton soldiers and one skeleton knight.”
“Okay. Let’s just go as usual.”
At Kim Yeon-ji’s words, Lee Jin-mo took a defensive stance, shield in hand.
“Wait, let’s get some buffs first. Haste’s Blessing, India’s Blessing, Sacred Strength!”
[Agility increases by 1 stat for 10 minutes]
[Vitality increases by 3 stats for 10 minutes]
[Your weapon is imbued with holy power. Deals additional damage to undead monsters for 10 minutes]
‘The priest’s role seems more significant than I thought. Especially in an undead dungeon.’
Due to the buffs, Kang Hyeon’s stats increased, and a pure white aura formed around the sword he was holding.
“I’ll land the first blow.”
Finally, Yoon Ae-sun, wearing a shabby robe, stepped forward.
“Exploding Flames!”
As she extended her staff and chanted, a ball of fire began to form. The growing fireball soon shot forward at high speed, exploding among the enemies.
‘Do they really have to shout the skill names like that?’
Lost in other thoughts, Kang Hyeon snapped back to attention at the sound.
-Clatter, clatter!-
Four bare-boned skeletons.
One skeleton in armor.
A total of five enemies wielding swords charged towards them.
Judging by the charred bones and broken parts, the magic attack seemed quite effective.
“Warrior’s Cry!”
As the skeletons approached,Lee Jin-mo unleashed a skill, and all the skeletons rushed towards him.
In the opening, Kim Yeon-ji swung her dagger.
“Kang Hyeon, what are you doing? Attack too!”
At Kim Yeon-ji’s urgent call, Kang Hyeon quickly rushed in and swung his sword.
-Crack!-
Swinging his sword mindlessly, Kang Hyeon knocked off one of the skeleton’s arms, which flew and hit Lee Jin-mo on the head.
“Can’t you focus?”
“Sorry!”
‘This is my first time party-playing, so I don’t know what to do!’
The skeleton soldiers were much stronger than the goblins or kurkas he had fought before. Especially the skeleton knight, which seemed unbeatable in a one-on-one fight.
Despite Kang Hyeon’s mistake in the middle, the hunt ended more smoothly than expected.
‘The party members are all fighting so well.’
Kang Hyeon was once again convinced that the key to this stage relied on the party, not his own abilities.
“Whew… Everyone did a great job.”
As Lee Jin-mo put down his shield, everyone sat down.
“There’s nothing special in the loot. The swords the enemies used aren’t worth much, and the knight’s armor is too damaged to be used.”
“No unique drops?”
“No, let’s just take out the magestones.”
In addition to the items the enemies held, there seemed to be separate unique drop items.
-Creak, click!-
The party members each picked up a skull. After briefly stabbing them with a dagger, a small gemstone-like object came out.
“Here, this one is for you, Kang Hyeon.”
Receiving the item, Kang Hyeon checked the description.
Name: Magic Stone
Rank: F
Description: A magic stone from a skeleton soldier.
‘What do I use this for?’
It was an item he had not seen when he defeated goblins or kurka. Apparently, you had to rummage through the bodies to find them.
‘Since they’re dividing it up, it must be important. I’ll just put it in my inventory for now.’
After taking a brief rest, the party resumed their journey forward.
***
Ippotranslation
***
“Kang Hyeon! While we’re grabbing them, just draw their aggro! Just hold out and we’ll win!”
The monsters appeared at intervals of a few hours.
This time, the number that appeared was as many as six.
There were four skeleton soldiers and two knights.
Since there were quite a few enemies, Lee Jin-mo, who couldn’t draw the aggro of all of them, entrusted one of the skeleton knights to Kang Hyeon.
-Clang!
Kang Hyeon almost dropped the sword he was holding when he received the descending sword.
‘What’s so strong about this?’
The grip that caught the skeleton knight’s sword was slightly torn.
Fortunately, thanks to the newly acquired ‘Intermediate Body Regeneration’, he could feel it recovering quickly.
-Clang! Clang!
“Ugh…!”
The shock transmitted through the sword made it feel like he was about to drop it right away.
Kang Hyeon gritted his teeth and endured.
‘I can’t run away from here!’
From a few battles, he had learned that if he ran away without engaging in combat, the aggro would be lost.
One way or another, to survive, he had to hold on and grab the enemy.
“Aaaargh! Is it still far?!”
“I’m going now!”
Kang Hyeon endured for 5 minutes like that.
And thanks to the other party members who had finished off the other monsters, they were able to take down the last skeleton knight.
“Phew… This time it was close. But everyone did well.”
Lee Jin-mo said with a smile.
“Let’s just stop here for today and set up camp.”
At Lee Jin-mo’s words, the party members silently nodded their heads. Fatigue was evident on everyone’s faces.
“Setting up camp is simple enough.”
Preparing the camp was just a matter of each of them taking their sleeping bags out of their backpacks and lying down.
Since the interior of the dungeon was enclosed and the temperature was moderate, this was possible.
“As usual, let’s decide the night watch by drawing lots, and let’s sleep for 6 hours. The first night watch will be for 2 hours.”
“Okay.”
As a result of the draw, Kang Hyeon became the first night watch.
“Each watch is one hour, so wake up the next one after two.”
With Lee Jin-mo’s words, the party all went into their sleeping bags.
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