Episode 4 – Master of Ice and Fire (3)

Whoosh! 

Jaehyuk stepped out of the portal and entered the first floor once again. 

"Hmm?" 

He appeared to have been dropped off at a different location of the Blood Mountain Forest since he was not infront of the cave, the entrance of the hidden dungeon. 

Why did the portal drop him off here instead of there? 

[The hidden dungeon 'Ancient King's Tomb' has been conquered.] 

[The hidden dungeon will be destoryed.]

Destoryed? Does that mean nobody else can enter the dungeon? 

'A one-time dungeon that collapses once cleared, huh?' 

There was no need to be surprised. Most if not all dungeons also did the same. It was to prevent players from getting too strong. 

Imagine a dungeon that allowed players to raid it as many times as they wished. Wouldn't that be a quick money cheat code? 

Jaehyuk summoned the system interface and checked the time left for the trial. 

[287 : 18 : 19]

"Huh?" 

It was certainly strange. He stayed inside the hidden dungeon for two days straight yet it was showing a few minutes has passed. 

Was this an error? 

"Ah! I see what's coming now." 

He suddenly remembered an important detail. 

Since dungeons are connected to different spaces, the flow of time inside a dungeon was completely different from the outside world. 

If a person spent a week inside a dungeon, a few hours will only pass by in the real world. So it would completely make sense that such a thing would happen now. 

'Either way, I still have enough time to catch up with the frontrunners and clear the floor.' 

He swept his gaze throughout the entire Blood Mountain Forest. 

Vast lands, scarlet trees and the waterfall in the background. Since he was standing on top of a cliff, he could see everything from all the way here. 

Even though he was in a new location, if he continued to travel in a straight line, he would be able to reach the opposite side of the forest in no time. 

Kwang!! 

A loud sound. It came from somewhere close by. 

Jaehyuk flowed mana into his eyes and looked around. 

After looking around for a while, he eventually found the source of the sound. 

'Found it.' 

In a place not too far from here, there was the sound of weapons clashing. There were two people fight against a group of horned wolves. 

They were humans. 

Judging based on their equipment, one of them was a swordsman and the other person was a mage. They seem to be getting pushed back against a corner. 

If the battle continued any further, they will surely perish in time. 

Normally, he would have ignored them and left them to their fate but someone there managed to catch his attention. 

'Should I give them a hand?' 

Jaehyuk smiled. In the end, he couldn't let them die. 

['Wind Flying Gale' has activated.] 

Large amounts of wind gathered around Jaehyuk's feet and in the next moment... 

Boom! 

It exploded and scattered the ground, launching Jaehyuk forward like a rocket. 

* * * 

Slash-! Slash!! 

Two Uni-horns got slashed and died on the spot.

"Damnit! No matter how many I slash, more just keeps coming. Do they have a somewhere they are spawning from?" 

Yoonghwan, one of the remaining survivors of his party, cursed. The hand holding the sword was trembling and his breathing was rough. 

His party, which consisted of only him and one other person, was completely surrounded by hungry horned wolves.

Horned wolves were ranked based on the number of horns they possessed from lowest to highest; Uni-horn, Bi-horn, Tri-horn, Quad-horn and lastly, Penta-horn. Most of the wolves surrounding them had one horn and a few had two horns. 

Yoonghwan and the other survivor was in a complete disadvantage. 

Once the party was attacked by the Insect King, only two of them managed to survive with their lives while the others were killed brutally and had their heads eaten off. As a result, they were forced to wander on their own and got surrounded. 

Perhaps they had entered the wolves territory without knowing or the beasts tracked them down using the blood from their injuries. The answer doesn't matter. 

'What's taking her so long anyways?' 

Yoonghwan glanced at the woman behind him. She was the last survivor of the party along with him. She was dressed in a red robe and wielded a magic staff. She had dark red hair and very white skin. She was hurriedly trying to cast a spell to help them out for their situation. 

Apparently, she was a mage that needed a few minutes to cast a spell. While casting, she won't be able to even speak. Meaning, she will be completely helpless against enemy attacks. 

On the other hand, when she casted a spell, it packed a serious punch and destoryed the surroundings. Her spell was even strong enough to momentarily stun the Insect King allowing them to escape. 

A mage that sacrificed mobility for destructive power. To Yoonghwan, it definitely looked like this. 

If mages of those category were protected well then they could be used in any situation. However, this situation was different. There was no one else to protect her except him and there was a pack of horned wolves that viewed them as lunch. 

Grrrrr, Growl! 

A few Uni-horns licked their lips and leaped towards his face. 

Swish! 

The sharp edge of his longsword sliced open their heads. 

The monsters spat out a final cry and stopped breathing afterwards. However, the sense of victory was temporarily. 

More horned beasts bared their fangs and closed the distance in a blink of an eye. 

Yoonghwan ducked low. A horned Wolf flew over his head and slammed its face into a tree after failing to stop on time. 

Slash! Slash! Clang-! 

His steel longsword continued stabbing in the horned wolves until he met resistance. 

Yoonghwan opened his eyes. 

A horned Wolf has grabbed onto his sword with its teeth. At the same time, a few more horned wolves were rapidly getting closer and closer. 

"Shit—" 

He tried to pull his sword but the horned Wolf showed no signs of letting it go anytime soon. 

Seeing this moment, the horned leaped into the air and opened their jaws wide. However, 

Whoosh! 

When it looked everything was over, a sudden surge of flames shot out and washed over the horned wolves. There were sounds of moans as the wolves were being swept away. 

"?" 

Yoonghwan opened his eyes. 

When the flames cleared, the aftermath was revealed. 

The horned wolves along everything within a five metres radius was left completely destoryed and burnt to cinders. 

"Wow." 

Despite seeing the power of her magic already, he couldn't help but look surprised. Such terrifying destructive power that was. 

Yoonghwan released a sigh of relief. 

That was too close for comfort. If the Mage hadn't unleashed her magic on time, maybe he would have been inside the stomachs of horned monsters. 

He looked at the Mage that was coming closer. 

"Did I get them?" 

"Yeah, I think you got all of them. What took you so long anyways?" 

"Do you think I was just playing around? Unlike like you, I have to cast the incantations to performs the spell. Don't you already know?" 

"I know. You have already told me a hundred times over. Can't you at least shorten the incantations. More importantly, why do you have to remain stationary?" 

"Tck, why do you have to ask the same questions over and over?" 

"That..." 

"Anyways, do you know the way out of here? My feet are starting to hurt."

Khloe looked around and Yoonghwan sighed. 

"I don't know. We moved too far from our initial position." 

"Are you saying we're lost?" 

Yoonghwan nodded and Khloe's expression crumbled in an instant. 

"Great! What are we going to do now! I can't die here." 

The woman started moving around in a panic and bit her nails. Meanwhile, Yoonghwan crossed his arms and began to think. 

'We must have gone pretty deep. How should we escape from here and reach the other side? Should we try calling for help? No, that will be very foolish.' 

The mission was to reach the opposite side of the forest. But since they have entered an unfamiliar area of the forest, things will become rather difficult. 

Plus, trying to call for help in a forest filled with monsters was probably not the best idea. 

'If only...the others were still here. But they went and got themselves killed.' 

His line of thoughts was forcefully cut short. 

"?!" 

He quickly carried Khloe who screamed and jumped out of the way. 

BOOM!! 

Something brushed past them and crashed against the trees as it struggled to come to a stop. 

It was a giant monster around 10 feet tall with three horns on its head. The fight earlier must have attracted its attention. 

Grrrrr—

The beast bared its huge fangs at them with a menacing look. From the beast's aura alone, it was clearly different from the other horned wolves they faced just a moment ago. 

"Three horns?! It's a Tri-horn!!" 

"Khloe, charge a spell quickly! I will keep it busy!" 

Yoonghwan slipped past Khloe and jumped towards the beast's nose. 

It was then... 

Swoosh! 

His longsword shone with a faint glow. 

Aura Sword. 

(T/N: In the murim, it will be called Ki Blade or Sword Ki. Well, I will be using the term 'Sword Ki' recently in this novel.)

It allowed the user's sword to be imbued with mana which increased its overall attack power. It was a great skill for beginners to use on the first floor. The low-level skill did not turn Yoonghwan into an expert but it did help him stay alive. He became dizzy from having large amounts of his magic power being consumed. 

Despite feeling drained, it didn't stop him from swinging the sword. 

Slash! 

The beast spat out a moan as one of its horns fell on the ground. 

'Yes, I can do it.' 

His excitement began to rise. He heard from the mysterious merchant that those horns are great crafting material. If he could take that horn with him then Maybe... 

His excitement did not last long though. 

Slam! Crack! 

Before even realising what happened, his body powerlessly flew in the air and slammed against a tree, really hard. 

"Urgh!" 

The impact made him draw a breath. His blurry vision caught the monster approaching. His arms were weak and the mage was still shaking at the background, trying to cast a spell. 

'It's over.' 

At that moment, 

BOOM!!! 

A flash of lightning shot out somewhere from the forest and struck the monster. Along with a painful cry, the monster fell down with a loud sound. 

Blood spurted out and hit Yoonghwan's face. 

"Wh-What?" 

A shocked gasp. Yoonghwan didn't understand what had just transpired. Did something land there just now? 

When the cloud of dust disappeared, he saw a sword stabbed into the skull of the horned beast. A sword? He wondered how it was possible for a sword to move like that. 

He shifted his gaze and noticed the sword owner standing on top of the monster. It was a man covered in black clothing from bottom to top. Yoonghwan came back to his senses and became alert. 

Who was this mysterious figure and why did he decide to show himself now? 

"You... W-What... are you?" 

His question didn't come out the way he expected. He was planning on saying 'Who' but the word 'What' came out instead subconsciously.

The man stood before Yoonghwan. He didn't answer his question and just wordlessly stared down at him. 

'…..?'

After a while, the man ignoring Yoonghwan's question-filled gaze at him, opened his mouth and asked a question of his own. 

"You... You're from earth, aren't you?"