Chapter 21: So Much For The Rational Plan

Jin-yeop shouted in a sharp voice.

Then, suddenly realizing something, he turned his head and stared at Eun-ru.

Contrary to his expectation that he would be flustered or terrified, Eun-ru was looking at Jin-yeop with a hardened face.

It was a gaze that evoked a strange sensation.

Lee Eun-ru, showing no agitation in this absurd situation, seemed almost bizarre.

But Jin-yeop urged Eun-ru, who remained silent.

“No time to argue.

If you don’t actually want to see me die, do as I say.”

“You said by yourself, honestly, it’s impossible.

Yet you’re telling me, the only Guide here, to escape…

Does that make any sense?”

“Practical guiding inside a dungeon is completely different from what you hear in training.

You can’t participate in combat right now, so frankly, Guide Lee Eun-ru, you’re a burden to me.”

At that, Eun-ru narrowed his brow.

Even seeing his face contort in real-time, Jin-yeop was completely unshaken.

It was only natural.

What mattered right now was saving a life.

‘I just need to buy as much time as possible.

There’s also something I haven’t confirmed yet.’

Perhaps he might have developed a special skill.

Hadn’t he come back to life after ten deaths?

Even if he died in this dungeon, he might regress to a past point again.

‘Even if not, if I die here, then that’s my fate…’

Perhaps it was the karma for the time wasted on pointless regressions.

Muttering inwardly, Jin-yeop bit his lip.

He couldn’t let this young Guide with his whole future ahead of him die here.

If he’d known this would happen, he would have prepared more gate stones.

He thought this, but it was already too late for regrets.

“This is the most rational and efficient choice.”

“Rational and efficient choice…

Is that why you did it back then too?”

“What?”

Eun-ru muttered incomprehensible words, and as Jin-yeop irritably reached out to push Eun-ru’s shoulder away, Eun-ru suddenly grabbed his wrist.

“Then, Senior, you should go.”

“What?”

Jin-yeop couldn’t believe his ears.

“If all that’s needed is to hold out until the support team arrives, I’ll hold out.

So you escape quickly and hurry to send the support team.”

“Guide Lee Eun-ru, have you lost your mind?”

“Is Senior the one whose hobby is sacrificing himself to save others?”

“What on earth are you…”

“How can rationality or efficiency apply when a life is at stake?

How can risking your own life to buy time be an efficient method?”

At that moment, a presence was felt behind them, and Jin-yeop quickly pulled his wrist free and turned his gaze towards the boss.

The dungeon boss, who had been sitting silently at the desk for a while, stood up and removed the robe that had covered more than half of its face.

What appeared was a form completely different from the F-class dungeon boss.

Voluptuously curling, flowing blonde hair and green eyes.

The figure of a girl who looked to be at most sixteen or seventeen.

Although somewhat a sense of familiarity was felt, it was a perfectly humanoid form.

The most troublesome kind of dungeon boss.

Humanoids were usually capable of conversation, and most monsters capable of conversation had mental attacks as their main skill.

System: Dreamweaver Doll Sorcerer’s Workshop Boss Appears
<< Dreamweaver Doll Sorcerer Alice >>
Grade: A

“Shatter the gate stone and get out now!”

Jin-yeop shouted and ran forward.

Without hesitation, he wrapped his entire hand in blue flames and clenched his fist.

At this point, he had to press the attack before it could use a mental attack.

If it used an illusion-based manipulation skill, the very act of trying to buy time would become meaningless.

Regardless of whether the opponent looked like a young girl or a human, Jin-yeop focused solely on landing a critical blow.

But the moment Jin-yeop thrust his fist towards the dungeon boss, a magic circle activated, and with a sound like striking a wall, his hand stopped right in front of her nose.

– Your eyelashes are pretty.

“This, f*ck…”

– Top quality.

The fist he had slammed down hard was blocked by the boss’s magic circle, and the moment Jin-yeop landed on the ground from the rebound, he slid back quickly.

Immediately resuming combat readiness, he narrowed his brow at the tingling sensation in his fist.

The slender, delicate voice wasn’t transmitted through his ears but directly into his brain.

He had to finish this somehow before this voice could sway his mind.

As Jin-yeop tried to move again, his body wouldn’t budge, as if bound by something.

“Lee Eun-ru.”

“…..”

“I won’t say it twice.

Get out now.”

Jin-yeop barked at Eun-ru, who was behind him.

The moment the boss shifted its attention to Eun-ru instead of him, he could easily become an enemy through mental manipulation.

Amidst the taut tension, the boss slowly approached, meeting Jin-yeop’s sharp gaze fixed on her.

Her appearance was so serene, even graceful enough to be called elegant.

– I am Alice, the Dreamweaver Doll Sorcerer.

One who holds the energy of the World Tree, I request a conversation with you.

“Get out now, Lee Eun-ru!”

Jin-yeop strained his entire body, barely managing to turn his head and shout.

But Eun-ru, far from shattering the gate stone, started running towards him.

‘This, f*ck!’

The moment he inwardly spewed curses.

Eun-ru’s figure, which had been clearly approaching him with a contorted face, vanished without a trace.

With a startled face, Jin-yeop stared at the spot where Eun-ru had disappeared, then immediately turned his head towards the dungeon boss, Alice.

– Will you converse with me now?

“You, f*ck!

What the hell have you done!”

– I sent him out, as you wished.

“What?”

– Outside.

The world where you live.

At that moment, the heavy force that had been pressing Jin-yeop to the ground disappeared.

His body, struggling against the sudden release, lost control and staggered, then plopped down onto the floor.

Jin-yeop doubted whether he was seeing an illusion.

Holding his forehead with one hand, gasping for breath, he shook his head rapidly, trying to calm his wildly pounding heart.

He mustn’t be agitated.

He had to stay as calm as possible and discern whether Lee Eun-ru had truly escaped the dungeon or if he was seeing things due to a mental attack.

But how?

The moment that thought reached him, Jin-yeop gnashed and bit his lip.

A coppery taste of blood spread on his tongue.

If it was an illusion, he had to wake up.

The best way to do that was to inflict damage on himself.

Skill Activation: (A) Blue Flame Mist

At the same time as the skill activated, blue flames reflected and flickered over Jin-yeop’s dark pupils.

The flames rising in the air rushed not towards Alice, but straight towards Cha Jin-yeop himself.

– Oh my.

But the flames dissipated without even singeing a single strand of Jin-yeop’s hair.

At the same time, the inescapable, heavy, powerful force began to constrict and press down on Jin-yeop’s limbs again.

Completely unable to move, Jin-yeop glared at Alice.

“You gonna release this or not?”

– All I want from you is conversation.

Alice said this, smiled softly, then squatted down, bringing her eyes level with his.

Ironically, her face looked utterly harmless, even pure.

– One who holds the energy of the World Tree, do you know the whereabouts of the Fairy King?

“What are you talking about?”

Jin-yeop narrowed his brow at the incomprehensible words.

Then Alice quietly pointed her index finger at one of Jin-yeop’s wrists.

Where her fingertip pointed was the Tifone watch item.

The watch item made by reprocessing a branch of the World Tree from the dungeon ‘Cradle of the Fairy King.’

– Is the Fairy King safe and sound?

“…..”

– I ask again.

The Fairy King is safe and sound, right?

“…..”

“I don’t know.”

Jin-yeop had never cleared the Cradle of the Fairy King.

He only knew that dungeon was the only one without a boss, and that the escape gate opened only after damaging a part of the World Tree.

– Then how do you come to possess the energy of the World Tree?

“I obtained it somehow.”

“…..”

“What’s your reason for doing this to me?

Why is this dungeon…

No, what exactly are you?”

This was the first time he’d encountered a boss so actively seeking conversation.

Even in dungeons he hadn’t experienced, all dungeon bosses possessed only strong aggression.

Regardless of whether they had intelligence or not, regardless of whether conversation was possible or not.

But the dungeon boss before him now, Alice, had requested conversation and even mentioned another dungeon.

Was this possible?

Trapped in this bizarre situation, unable to move, Jin-yeop didn’t know what to do.

– Dungeon, you call it.

“…..”

– I suppose that’s what you people call it.

With a composed face, Alice stared not at Jin-yeop, but vacantly at some point beyond him.

Jin-yeop noted the word ‘you people’ in Alice’s speech.

That implied they had a different name for dungeons among themselves.

His head spun dizzily.

This moment, with Eun-ru gone and conversing with a dungeon boss, was so surreal it was unbearable.

He had definitely killed the F-class dungeon boss, the ‘Corrupted Doll Sorcerer,’ with his own hands.

Although humanoid, its final form had most of its body modified like a doll.

Then what was this A-class dungeon boss, Alice, before his eyes?

Was she a completely different entity from the one he killed before?

Or had time rewound, and the F-class dungeon boss reappeared in its ‘intact’ form?

The questions in his mind were endless, but Jin-yeop couldn’t bring himself to ask Alice.

Satisfying his immediate curiosity wasn’t important.

Jin-yeop gathered his thoughts and glared at Alice.

“Let’s forget about the reasons.

I need to get out of here.

Since it seems you have no intention of letting me go nicely, wouldn’t it be better to settle this, one way or another?”