Chapter 952. Mood (3)
I would be safer with them, and it was a fact that the people who had spent time with me would agree on.
Leaving me alone was like leaving a child close to a body of water.
The world was always cruel to me, and I was always under threat.
There were many reasons behind their malice, such as personal greed, political reasons, or they were simply evil. I was always the victim, but I was always forgiving and understanding.
There was no way Kim Hyun-Sung would give this task to a member of the Blue Guild.
Lee Chang-Ryeol and Park Lian had already made a big mistake, so I was sure that no bodyguard would satisfy him at this rate. I assumed that Jung Ha-Yan and him were thinking that no one else could take on that important task except for them, but they couldn’t stay by my side.
‘After all, who will enter the dungeon if not the continent’s best mage and swordsman?’
Kim Hyun-Sung could afford not to go, but I couldn’t imagine Jung Ha-Yan missing out on an expedition like this. Even Park Deok-Gu, who could be used as our backup plan, had to go. Even if he were forced to stay to protect me, I was sure those two would still be worried about me, as the pig was only good at being a meatshield.
‘Game over.’
'I decided to make eye contact with each and every person so that they'll think that they shouldn’t leave me alone no matter what.'
As expected, I noticed a strong resolve in Elena’s eyes.
It was the same for Jung Ha-Yan and Park Deok-Gu. I tried to focus a bit more...
‘But I should stop here...’
I felt like I’d end up being the bad guy if I were to keep this up.
It was effective, so I had to stop here.
The mood was already set as well.
“The sub guild master’s safety... is the most important,” Jo Hye-Jin said.
“We can just make you stay in your room, and then we can... seal it with spells and enhancements. No one will be able to barge into your room then,” Kim Hyun-Sung suggested.
I got worried for a second, but I smiled after hearing Jung Ha-Yan's words.
“It can’t be helped... W-W-What if I stay behind?” Jung Ha-Yan asked.
“You’re a key member of dungeon raids,” Kim Hyun-Sung said.
“...”
“I think it would be better if I stay behind,” Kim Hyun-Sung added.
'They’re all trying to stay behind.'
“If our hyung-nim is going to stay behind...” Park Deok-Gu trailed off.
Facing the Templars would become more difficult.
“But we can’t have a separate group of guards. This is no ordinary dungeon, so we need as many people to participate in the raid,” Kim Hyun-Sung said.
“How about we let the Order stay with him?” Jo Hye-Jin suggested.
“I won’t allow it,” Kim Hyun-Sung responded. We did that, and it resulted in bloodshed, so the only option they had was the Red Mercenary Guild, but it was no easy task either.
“N-N-Not that,” Jung Ha-Yan stuttered.
Ha-Yan would oppose it and...
“Miss Cha Hee-Ra has declared her participation in the expedition,” Jo Hye-Jin informed.
Hee-Ra noona wouldn’t miss out on an event like this. She was never really the type of person to just stand around, and it was time for her to start moving again, so there was no way she was going to be absent.
Without Cha Hee-Ra there, it'd be meaningless to go to the Red Mercenary Guild.
“Looks like I have no choice but to go with you,” I said. It was the only option left. No adult would want to leave me near the water. What if I ended up falling into the water?
'Are you guys just going to let me drown?'
The room became silent, and they all looked at me quietly. It was amusing how they were exchanging glances upon realizing that there was only one option.
Kim Hyun-Sung sighed deeply and said, “Your safety is more important than clearing the dungeon.”
'Really?'
“Your safety will be the top priority, so we’ll form three escort groups. I’ll be in the first group, Miss Ha-Yan will be in the second group, and I’ll ask the Red Mercenary Group’s cooperation for the third group,” Kim Hyun-Sung announced.
'So it’ll be Hee-Ra noona...'
“The members of each group will be announced later,” Kim Hyun-Sung informed.
“Okay.”
“Understood, Master.”
“Miss Sun Hee-Young,” Kim Hyun-Sung called out.
“Yes?”
“Please reconfirm the supplies,” Kim Hyun-Sung ordered.
“Okay,” Sun Hee-Young answered.
‘Looks like the guild staffers will be the ones suffering.’
I was joining the expedition, so more supplies were necessary. They’d have to carry glamping items instead of simple tents and Mirror Salmon instead of combat ration. I'd expect nothing less than that.
'Carry a lot of supplies, guys. I don’t like being hungry.'
“Miss Hye-Jin,” Kim Hyun-Sung called out.
“Yes?”
“Please select a trustworthy guild,” Kim Hyun-Sung requested.
“Yes, sir,” Jo Hye-Jin replied.
It seemed that some of the people who were supposed to join the raid would end up scoring me instead. It wasn’t that bad, but they seemed to be focusing less and less on clearing the dungeon, which made me think that my absence would be more helpful to the dungeon conquest.
Everyone immediately got busy with their own tasks.
At this point, I had to say something because I had to let them know what was important.
“Now that things have been decided, I should invite the guest.”
“What?”
“Come in,” I said.
‘They've been waiting for quite a while outside.’
The Outer God children entered the hall.
“Oh my,” Hwang Jung-Yeon exclaimed.
They were the top contributors and were the ones who found the dungeon inside the Vatican.
They looked pretty cute when they came in, but they didn’t look so good.
I was sure they knew what had been going on through word of mouth.
Actually, there was a chance that they had no idea, but it didn't seem to be the case, as they looked really relieved upon seeing that I was safe. Cheru and Sera, who had yet to be punished, looked kind of nervous.
I saw Jung Ha-Yan waving at Sera.
Unlike them, Kim Hyun-Sung and Thro didn’t even look at each other.
‘I think there’s some kind of issue between them.’
“C-Can we start, Father?” Domi asked.
‘Go ahead, cute Domi.’
“Okay, then I’ll go straight to the point and explain briefly about the dungeon,” Domi said.
“...”
“The location of the dungeon was discovered fourteen hours ago. Using the energy signature of the unique energy that Mr. Rafael's party has been investigating, we managed to find another place emitting the same type of energy. It's coming from an abandoned temple, and the door leading to its basement was discovered in a public library within five hundred meters of the temple," Domi said.
‘Dominions is good at talking.’
“The trick to opening the door was quite simple—one just has to remove a certain book, but the door only opens to those possessing the holy power of the Order, so... we couldn't continue our investigation.
"We discovered that the basement has a total of 148 floors, and the entrance to the dungeon is located approximately 2,430 meters below ground. What you’re seeing right now is the dungeon entrance,” she explained.
An extremely large door appeared on the Goddess’ Mirror.
The massive door was bigger than the doors to any temple, and I saw several religious carvings on the door. The carvings depicted angels, gods, and demons, which made it hard to identify. One thing I was sure of was that it gave off a really negative energy.
I could see war, greed, murder, people pointing their swords at each other, and demons devouring humans.
‘Who are they?’
Perhaps I could find Belial among the carvings. I looked around, but I couldn't see him.
However, the figure carved at the very bottom of the door was unmistakable.
‘It’s Benigoa.’
Benigoa seemed to be praying with her eyes closed and hands clasped together.
The carvings above her depicted chaos, so it seemed like she was praying for them.
It was like she was praying to stop the war, to stop the famine, and to stop the demon invasion. She seemed like she was praying for the denizens of the continent.
I had no idea what happened, but it wasn't that hard for me to come up with many assumptions. It was cliched, after all. I assumed she was locked up underground and was being used as a factory of holy power.
Of course, there was also a high chance that she was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
‘Still, locking her up 184 floors underground is a bit harsh.’
'Shit, maybe I shouldn’t have offered to go. How am I going to climb down all those stairs? Maybe Deok-Gu will carry me, or Ha-Yan will make me weightless.'
Anyway, walking wasn’t a good choice.
While I was getting worried about how I was going to traverse so many steps, Sera started talking to the others.
I was kind of puzzled, but...
‘He’s trying to be the top contributor of this presentation.’
I instantly understood what these children were trying to do here.
They knew that I disliked him, so they were trying to gather all of their achievements and give them to him. This wasn’t just a presentation. They also wanted to show us Sera's contributions.
Domi did the first presentation, as she made the biggest contribution.
Honestly, I wasn't convinced that Seraphim had done well, so his siblings were definitely being considerate here.
“I-I’ll explain the n-next part. While Mr. Rafael’s party was heading toward the dungeon, seven skirmishes erupted, and their opponents were all humans. T-the H-H-Holy Knights of the Vatican have occupied the p-path that leads to the dungeon entrance,” Sera explained.
Jung Ha-Yan was smiling at the sight. She seemed proud of his contribution and the fact that he was in the middle of a public presentation. I couldn’t really hear him because he spoke quietly and was stuttering, I understood what he was trying to say.
“T-t-the name of the dungeon is the Mole Saint’s Cozy Sanctuary. A-as all of you have heard by now, this dungeon is unranked, but experts have determined this is at least a Legendary dungeon,” Sera added.
I wanted to throw a pen at him so that he'd speak properly, but I had to hold it in.
“Mr. Rafael’s party has entered the dungeon, and we’re receiving news through the rangers. H-His party believes this dungeon is the largest dungeon to have ever existed, and we confirmed that t-there’s no limit to the number of people who can enter the dungeon. W-We’re planning on dispatching up to ten thousand people—”
“Ten thousand p-people?” Jung Ha-Yan interrupted.
“Y-Yes, Moth—I mean, Mot—I mean, Miss Jung Ha-Yan. We confirmed that there are at least three floors below the dungeon entrance,” Sera replied.
“I-I see. T-Thank you for that information, Investigator S-Sera,” Jung Ha-Yan said.
“S-Sure. Thank you, Moth—I mean, Miss Jung Ha-Yan,” he stuttered.
I knew the dungeon was going to be massive, as the Vatican itself was as big as a city.
If I assumed that the Mole Saint had been digging beneath such a vast space, a small party would be useless in the dungeon. It seemed like Rafael’s party had explored up to the third basement level, but there was no way they’d be able to do a proper investigation.
We needed a lot more people to do a proper investigation.
The dungeon was absolutely massive, after all.
'A war event might erupt.’
There was no guarantee that a huge battle would occur just because the dungeon was big, but...
‘It’s worth considering for this expedition.’
“The first strike squad includes the Black Swan Guild, along with a few powerful guilds from the Republic. T-these are the monsters that we found so far... a-and their samples—”
“Let’s do that later,” I interrupted.
“Ah, o-okay,” Sera replied.
Thro looked kind of disappointed, so I assumed the monsters were part of his presentation. I felt kind of bad for him now.
“T-That’s all,” Sera said.
Jung Ha-Yan was already clapping before Sera could conclude his presentation. Once the presentation was over, everyone clapped, including Han Sora.
“You did well,” Jung Ha-Yan told him.
Sera looked really nervous.
‘He annoys me for some reason.’
Sera looked relieved upon seeing Jung Ha-Yan's nod.
‘He really annoys me.’
Still, I needed to be nice to him because Ha-Yan was watching.
“You've improved, Sera. I’m proud of you,” I said.
‘Gosh, I really want to beat him up. One mistake and you’re dead.’
Jung Ha-Yan looked relieved upon seeing my reaction
“We’ll leave in three hours. Until then, prepare for the expedition and be on standby afterward. I’ll personally take the lead on behalf of the busy guild master,” I said.
“Ki-Young...”
‘Shut up, Kim Hyun-Sung. I’m going to do it, damn it. I need to do this to feel satisfied.’
“Please tell all the groups and adventurers participating in the expedition that I’ll personally form the groups except for the first strike squad,” I instructed.
No one argued.
‘Yeah, now you guys know that three hours is enough.’
“Additionally, I’m going to add basic siege weapons, including magic cannons, to the list of supplies. Miss Ah-Young, please join the supply group along with the dwarf engineers,” I ordered.
“Yes, sir,” Yoo Ah-Young answered. She didn’t even ask why we were taking a siege weapon with us.
‘I like this.’
Their pitying gaze became full of faith, as they knew that listening to me would only be advantageous to them.
I actually didn't have to give them the look of "please don't abandon me..."
‘Stop staring at me.’
After all, these baby chicks of the Blue Guild still needed me.
“What are you guys doing? Move,” I ordered.