Chapter 172  

“Damn it. Let’s just jump out the wind—what the hell?!”

“Look outside the window! Are we in a dungeon?”

Ji-Cheok heard the people next to the wall talk, and only then did he notice something disturbing. When he looked outside the window, it wasn’t the view of the city that met his eyes, but rather a distorted form of space and light. And the door of the banquet hall still wouldn’t open. Even when Hunters stepped forward and used their skills, they could not open it.

“Of course…”

Something felt wrong because something was wrong. Without realizing it, all of them were now inside a dungeon!

‘Damn it. When did this happen?’

“Hahahaha. Those guys. It looks like they turned this into a dungeon right before they died. Really, those fanatics are so troublesome!” Reable said.

“Is that possible?”

“Forced Labyrinth Creation. Dungeon Make. It doesn’t matter what you call it. It is a phenomenon in which a divine being creates a dungeon. Gods cannot do this easily, but when the stars are aligned, anything is possible, right?”

‘No way… So when that monster died…’

[A dungeon has been created.]

[You have received a quest.]

[Eight-Legged Wanderer]

[Difficulty: Four-star dungeon — Intermediate

Escape the dungeon.

Reward: Legendary Skill Exchange Voucher.

Additional Reward: ???]

[The Gods have shown interest in you.]

[The Gods have shown interest in you.]

[The Gods have shown…]

If something could be called the pinnacle of absurdity, this had to be it. Ji-Cheok knew that the Warding Stones were not perfect, but he had never expected that a thing like this would happen in this special hotel with the best security that he had ever seen.

‘It just means that the thing is very important. You know, the one that you took.’

Reable spoke through his still-active telepathy.

‘Heirloom Seal of the Realm… Is this thing really that important? Its ability is certainly great, but is it important enough for the enemy to go this far? Now that I think about it, the leader of the terrorists who turned into the spider boss was the one who wanted to take this at the beginning of the battle…’

Ji-Cheok could feel the surroundings becoming more and more ghastly. The ceiling suddenly rose and widened, and the banquet hall was visibly transforming into something completely different.

“Reable, is there any way to stop this?”

“Hm~ If another God intervenes and exerts their power, it can be stopped. But I wouldn’t count on it.”

“Damn it…”

‘You think we humans are toys for higher beings, right? Just wait… I’ll show them.’

“Whoa~ I’m liking the look in your eyes right now,” Reable said.

“So, what should we do?”

“Once it fully transforms into a dungeon, we can try and find ways to escape. Until then, the only thing we can do is wait. But I’m sure it wouldn’t take long anyway.”

As soon as Reable finished speaking, the walls shook and collapsed, and the ceiling completely disappeared. They were now standing on the damp, muddy floor. The sky was covered with darkness; nothing could be seen, and a weird stench filled the room.

‘What? Where are we?”

Just then, another thing happened that threw Ji-Cheok off even more.

Cough! Cough! Cough!

.

One of the injured people who had been lying on the floor screamed and started to foam at the mouth. A nearby Hunter quickly ran to see what was going on and noticed that the color of the foam was strange.

“It’s poison! The stench is coming from poison!”

“What?”

‘Poison?! But… I feel fine.’

?That is because you have learned cultivation and you also have passive immunity skills. You should be fine.?

‘You think so? I’m so glad that I gave Mu-Cheok the [Ring of the Poison Dragon Fang].’

“Hyung! Are you okay?” Mu-Cheok said, trying to take off the ring.

“I’m fine! Do not take off that ring. It’s for you.”

“Are you sure you’re okay? How?”

His face was full of doubts and worries, so Ji-Cheok calmed him down.

“When you learn cultivation, you develop resistance to poison.” He also had other skills besides cultivation to help him out, but he had no time to go into detail right now. Mu-Cheok gaped in amazement.

“Cultivation is really convenient… I need to train harder,” Mu-Cheok said.

“What~ I’m so sad. Aren’t you worried about me?” Reable sighed.

As Ji-Cheok was relieved that Mu-Cheok was fine, Reable tried to insert himself into the conversation by making a joke.

‘There is no way a guy like you could die from something like this.’

Looking around, some of the wounded were having seizures. No one seemed to die from the poison yet, but the situation was dire.

“Does anyone have a detox item?”

“Someone please help me here!”

Everyone’s attitude was completely different from before. After the terrorists had been dealt with, people were helping each other out, but that was now nowhere to be seen. People were helping within their own group, but they were not willing to help other groups.

“It is in human instinct to put their guard up in the face of a threat to one’s life,” Reable said.

He was right. Ji-Cheok himself had many potions, but he couldn’t just give them away at random. There could always come a situation where he had to use his mana to the limit. When the time came for them to escape, a single drop of Stamina and Mana could mean the difference between life and death for everyone. This was a natural thing.

“When you watch these kinds of disaster movies, they always kill each other at the end,” Ji-Cheok said.

“Usually, Gods love those kinds of movies. They especially look forward to the killings at the end,” Reable said.

‘That’s not gonna happen. No… I will never let that happen. Should I buy a skill with my Likes to create a safe zone?’

?Currently, you have 3.74 million Likes.?

His number of Likes had been mostly restored from back when he had last binge-purchased skills. Likes were piling up like some kind of pension due to his previous videos.

‘Then…’

“Hyung, I’ll do it.”

“What?”

“I can do it.”

Mu-Cheok shouted at the crowd.

“I can give you guys a poison resistance buff! Gather all the injured in one place! Hurry!”

“Let’s go! Move quickly!”

“That way!”

Prodded by his yelling, people started to group up. In the meantime, Mu-Cheok approached the injured nearby and used his skill on each one. With his ability as a Chronicler, he wrote the words [Poison resistance], and the injured people’s seizures subsided.

“It’s working!”

“Wow!!”

In the midst of everyone’s cheering, Mu-Cheok applied the poison resistance buff to everyone. The number of survivors was now fifty-two, including the wounded.

After taking care of them, Ji-Cheok looked around. Except for the soft and damp floor, he couldn’t see anything else. Even the floor was only visible because of the spheres of light that people created with their skills.

It was bizarre. The floor felt like it was made of damp flesh, as if… they were standing on someone’s tongue.

‘Wow~ That’s a bold move. I know the Gods can make anything into a dungeon, but this is something else. This is going to be fun.’ Reable said telepathically.

‘Do you know where we are?’

‘Try and remember the quest when we entered this dungeon.’

‘It said [Eight-Legged Wand—wait… No shit…are we inside a God’s mouth?!’

‘Bingo! As a prize, I’ll take good care of you when you train your mana later~’

They were inside the mouth of the God!

Ji-Cheok was stunned for a moment by the shocking revelation. This meant that the spider boss had dragged them into the mouth of the God that he served!

‘How is this a dungeon? It’s just telling us to die!’

—The original theme for this dungeon was ‘infiltration’.

—Infiltration?

—Yes. Did you know that some of the special dungeons have specific themes? For example, the dungeon of the Scale Demon that Mr. Um Ji-Cheok experienced in the past was like that.

Ji-Cheok remembered the conversation he had with Jung Ji-Han in the past.

‘Theme… Theme… That means there’s a theme for this dungeon too. That’s the key.’

This was a four-star dungeon of intermediate difficulty. It was a comparatively high-level dungeon, the likes of which he had never entered before… However, one thing was clear, even under these circumstances. If this was a dungeon, then there was a way to leave.

[Hear me.]

Woong~

The entire space echoed, and a strange voice of unknown gender and age was heard. It didn’t even sound like it was the voice of a human. [You insignificant humans have interfered with my plans. However, I am generous, so I will give you a chance to live.]

This was the will of the God! It was the voice of the [Eight_legged_wanderer]!

[Offer the item of your insignificant tribal chieftain called Heirloom Seal of the Realm, and half of you as sacrifice. Then, you will be able to survive.]

As soon as the God finished talking, a black crystal around three meters tall appeared in front of them. The crystal seemed strangely distorted, and its shape somewhat resembled a spider.

‘Is this guy also asking us for a sacrifice? Seriously?’

[Eight-Legged Wanderer]

[Difficulty: Four-star dungeon — Intermediate

Escape the dungeon.

Escape condition 1: Heirloom Seal of the Realm, human sacrifice of half of the participants in the dungeon.

Reward: Legendary Skill Exchange Voucher.

Additional Reward: ???]

The quest was updated.

“What the hell…”

“Human sacrifice?! You evil God! Do you think we will yield to your demands?”

“We should offer those groups as a sacrifice and survive by ourselves. How about it?”

Responses varied widely. In an instant, people who were even a little familiar with each other formed alliances. Eventually, they were divided into five groups. Among them, Ji-Cheok could only recognize the group that Shin Ju-Ran belonged to.

“Hyung, what are you gonna do?” Mu-Cheok asked.

“I’m not going to join any groups. I just need to find the solution… That is my top priority.”

?You are wise as usual, Master.?

“What about you?” Ji-Cheok asked his brother.

Mu-Cheok subconsciously touched his pistol holder.

“Wherever you go, I go. I have no intention of sacrificing anyone, much less getting sacrificed myself.”

“Good.”

There was no dungeon in this world that could not be cleared. Some were very, very, very difficult, but in the end, they all had a way out. It was the absolute law enforced by the System, so Ji-Cheok decided to take the chance and believe that this was the case even after a God’s interference.

“Everyone! Human sacrifice? Are you all insane?”

“How are you going to beat a God? Do you have any other plans? Aren’t we just provoking the God by stalling?”

“AHHH!! Let me out! Get me out of here! I have kids waiting for me at home!”

Of course, Hunters were also human beings. People started to panic one by one. In the meantime, Ji-Cheok kept doing his thing.

“Activate [Eye of Insight].”

[Statue of the Eight_legged_wanderer]

[Class: ?

Type: Relic

A black crystal resembling the image of a certain God, created naturally by accident.

The one who discovered this crystal offered it to the God, and it became a sacred object and a statue of a God. Now, it functions as the Core of the dungeon.

Function: Indestructible.

Function: Core of the dungeon.

Function: Crushing Power.

*Crushing Power: When someone enters the active range of the skill, its power is activated and crushes the target.]

[It is worthless, you insignificant mortal. Even if you see its essence, nothing changes. Offer the Heirloom Seal of the Realm to me. Then, I will make you higher and nobler.]

“Mu-Cheok, did you just hear that?”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. I guess it was only me who could hear that.”

?It seems that the God is tempting you because you are the only one who did not choose a group.?

‘Cheok-Liang, you heard that?’

?Yes, Master. I belong to you.?

“Oh? That is an interesting proposal!” Reable said.

‘Scratch that. How did the Demon hear that too? He has a lot of abilities, really.’

“Proposal?”

Of course, Mu-Cheok asked Reable what he was talking about, since he couldn’t hear anything.

‘That God just suggested something to me. Be quiet.’?Ji-Cheok said to his brother telepathically.

‘What? What kind of proposal?’

‘The God wants me to be his apostle. It’s bullshit. Not worth listening to.’

Telling Mu-Cheok to keep quiet, he continued to think while looking at the new statue.

‘Anyway, if that thing is the core of the dungeon… All I have to do is destroy that thing.’

However, the statue had the ’Indestructible’ feature. And Ji-Cheok knew all too well that the System was absolute. If the System said something was indestructible, then it was indestructible. Damaging something like that would require a similar skill, something like ‘Absolute Destruction’. Trying to do anything about it was like trying to win an argument with kids who would always say ‘no, you’ to every sentence.

‘Then, what should I do…’