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Each time a monster unexpectedly sprang out, Lucia would step in and handle it, leaving Kang Jin-hyuk with nothing to do but suck his fingers from the back.

“Wouldn’t it be better if I did some fighting too? Just to get some experience…”

“You can do that in the temple, so conserve your stamina.”

Lucia swiftly dealt with the incoming monsters and opened the newly acquired candy jar to replenish her sugars.

Once payment was received, she faithfully accomplished her tasks.

This was her steadfast principle as a platinum-ranked adventurer.

“If you eat so many candies, won’t your teeth rot?”

“Not if you’re human. I’m different.”

“Still, what about the smell? Or some other issues?”

“I purify my body with magic every day, so it’s impossible for anything like that to happen.”

It finally dawned on Kang Jin-hyuk that he had never once noticed an unpleasant odor coming from Lucia.

He had not even seen her wash her face until now, yet her skin was unblemished, all thanks to her magical powers.

‘Should I call it neat, or is it dirty…?’

A woman who can purify herself with magic and doesn’t even brush her teeth.

Considering how to take that in left his head spinning.

“You’re thinking about something unnecessary again, aren’t you?”

When Lucia noticed his train of thought and inquired, Kang Jin-hyuk shook his head quickly, as if reacting reflexively.

“No, I was just thinking about how to break through the temple.”

“Break through? Just when you feel strong enough, think about crawling out instead.”

“Why? Is there something more dangerous inside?”

“I heard there’s someone asking for a strange trial.”

“You haven’t seen this with your own eyes, have you?”

“Only the wizard who went deeper accompanied me.”

The wizard had gone inside alone, fearing what kind of bizarrely strong monsters might appear if they all entered together.

“Did that wizard pass the trial?”

“Given that he came back with the core of mana he wanted, it seems he did.”

“Do you know anything about the trial’s details?”

“He said it was absolutely confidential. It must be a condition of confidentiality.”

Although Lucia’s warning carried a sense of caution, it only sparked Kang Jin-hyuk’s curiosity even further.

‘A trial that gives you what you desire…’

Perhaps because he felt a pressing need to grow stronger in the limited time available, it drew him in even more enticingly.

Lucia observed Kang Jin-hyuk remaining silent, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Ugh.”

With a sigh that seemed to express disappointment, Lucia cleared the monsters blocking their way.

What would have taken quite some time to traverse ended up being expedited thanks to Lucia’s rapid handling of the monsters, allowing Kang Jin-hyuk to quickly reach the temple’s entrance.

Blocking their path stood a massive wall, but at its center was a door etched with the image of a dragon.

“This is the temple?”

“Yeah. You can already tell, can’t you?”

“From just a dragon picture, that’s all I can tell.”

Based purely on appearance, it didn’t feel like a temple at all.

In fact, the imitation temple they had been in on the second floor felt far more antiquated and mystical.

“I’ll only guide you this far.”

With her bow slung over her back, Lucia took a step back.

Though it was already agreed upon from the beginning, Kang Jin-hyuk felt a wave of regret.

But once Lucia joined him, the monsters’ stats would rise significantly, leaving him little choice.

Thanks to her accompanying him, his condition was at its peak, and he had plenty of consumable items ready.

Summoning his confidence, Kang Jin-hyuk took out the key he received from the dwarf.

He walked up to the enormous door blocking their way and inserted the key into the keyhole.

Even before he turned the key, the picture engraved on the door began to shine brightly, releasing an air of something extraordinary.

“Huff.”

After taking a deep breath, Kang Jin-hyuk turned the key and opened the door.

With a grand sound, the door swung open, revealing nothing but a pitch-black darkness devoid of a single ray of light.

As Kang Jin-hyuk stepped forward, light burst forth as if triggered by a sensor.

“Rather than a temple, this feels more like a maze.”

The only distinguishing feature compared to the first floor was that the walls appeared somewhat more ancient.

Kang Jin-hyuk, who had expected a more ornate view, felt disappointment seeping in as he entered the interior.

As soon as the door closed behind him with a heavy thud, he muttered, “Seriously… it feels like a horror movie.”

Kang Jin-hyuk steadied his startled heart and gripped his baseball bat.

In a situation where enemies could emerge at any moment, he had to remain vigilant without letting his guard down.

As he moved slowly ahead, he heard the sound of footsteps from around a corner.

The sound of clattering metal gradually approached him.

“Could it be someone in armor?”

Even if someone was clad from head to toe in armor, to Kang Jin-hyuk, they would exude an aura.

An aura was a cheat skill that could inflict damage without being resisted by physical defense. Wearing armor would only slow their movements, making them easier to handle.

With the aura emanating from his baseball bat growing denser, so too did Kang Jin-hyuk’s confidence.

“Come at me.”

As the distance between them grew closer, the footsteps finally rounded the corner, revealing the source.

When Kang Jin-hyuk confirmed the identity of his opponent, he instinctively gasped.

“It’s a bunch?”

Rounding the corner were not one but over twenty armored knights, each covered head to toe in iron.

They walked in unison, marching with such precision that it felt they were a singular entity, seamlessly coordinated.

Faced with the hair-raising sight before him, Kang Jin-hyuk found himself momentarily speechless.

Clank.

Upon spotting Kang Jin-hyuk, the knights drew their swords in perfect unison and assumed a battle-ready pose.

Their formation left no gap, as though no speck of dust could slip through.

It seemed challenging to rush them head-on, yet they weren’t completely impenetrable.

Kang Jin-hyuk swung his bat, envisioning a bolt of lightning.

With all his might, he struck towards the knights.

An enormous thunderclap shook the maze, and a bright flash of lightning flew forth, striking the densely packed knights.

Enveloped in iron armor, the knights would feel the full force of the lightning.

“Did I take them out?”

Kang Jin-hyuk realized he had spoken aloud after the thought crossed his mind but fell silent afterward.

Once out of his mouth, those words could not be unsaid.

The knights, who had emitted smoke from between their armor, merely resumed their stances and continued marching forward as if nothing had happened.

“This mouth of mine is a curse.”

With a resigned sigh, Kang Jin-hyuk tightened his grip on the baseball bat.

“The fact that lightning doesn’t work means they’re not alive.”

Their mechanical-like movements and lack of any human quality made it evident they could not be living beings.

“They don’t seem like skeletons… so are they golems?”

It was highly improbable that skeletons, made solely of bones, could bear the weight of that iron armor, indicating a higher likelihood they were golems.

If they were indeed golems, the heavy armor would likely serve to protect their core.

“Ultimately, the only option left is to break through head-on.”

Scanning the surroundings, Kang Jin-hyuk turned tail and darted away before the knights could close in.

The knights, responding with remarkable speed, pursued him.

Confirming his plan’s success as he induced them to chase, Kang Jin-hyuk abruptly veered sideways.

The knights following him into the narrow pathway, where only a single person could pass through.

Kang Jin-hyuk waved his hand from the opposite side of the corridor, taunting the knights.

“What’s wrong? If you want to catch me, come through!”

If his taunt worked, the golems shifted their formation into a single line.

Like a train, the knights lined up in an orderly fashion and began to enter the passageway sequentially to pursue him.

“Wow, they really are coming in.”

While they might have good cohesion, their intelligence was decidedly lacking.

The knights were abandoning their advantage of numbers and approaching one by one.

Kang Jin-hyuk lifted his baseball bat and struck down on the first knight’s helm as it approached.

The knight attempted to bring its sword up to defend, but the aura-empowered bat shattered its sword and crushed the helm.

Even after the helmet was crumpled like a crushed soda can, the knight didn’t fall.

As the knight swung its broken sword, Kang Jin-hyuk took a step back.

“The core isn’t in the head, then. Is it in the torso instead?”

Kang Jin-hyuk evaded the knight’s sword swing by twisting his body.

As soon as a gap opened, he swung his bat with all his might, feeling something break with a crack upon contact.

“Got it!”

The knight collapsed lifelessly after the core within had shattered.

[Your level has increased.]

Thanks to it being a formidable monster with considerable experience points, he had leveled up right away.

However, he had only taken down one.

Unrelenting, the knight behind him relentlessly swung its sword, refusing to give him a moment’s respite.

“I understand now where the core is, so capturing it is just a matter of time.”

Grinning with ease, Kang Jin-hyuk began to knock down the knights one at a time down the passageway.

The sound of metal clashing rang through the narrow corridor for a while.

Once Kang Jin-hyuk’s level had risen to an impressive figure, the knights that had been walking toward him stopped one by one.

“Not as difficult as I expected.”

Hearing Lucia say he would face considerable challenges had left Kang Jin-hyuk tense, but now he felt relieved after handling the knights.

“As long as I have MP potions left, it should be smooth sailing from here.”

Kang Jin-hyuk replenished his expended MP with the potions he retrieved from his inventory.

The sole weakness of using aura was the excessive MP consumption.

If they could casually consume potions like in games, there wouldn’t be a problem.

However, in reality, he could only drink so many before feeling bloated.

“I might need to empty my stomach.”

Considering that, he genuinely contemplated as he returned to the spot where he first encountered the knights.

Even as he closed his eyes and listened, there were no sounds in the surroundings this time.

However, given how unpredictable things were, Kang Jin-hyuk grasped his radar from his inventory.

“Hmm… There are already no monsters around here.”

Finding no glowing dots on the radar, Kang Jin-hyuk felt disappointed.

In a situation where he needed to hunt quickly to level up, this turn of events was anything but welcome.

“I might have to venture deeper inside.”

Holding onto his radar in anticipation of a sudden monster ambush, Kang Jin-hyuk continued onward.

After wandering through the maze for about five minutes, a bright dot finally appeared on the previously dark screen of the radar.

“Good!”

Just as he rejoiced in discovering a new target, three additional dots appeared.

Then five, ten, fifteen… The dots on the radar didn’t stop multiplying.

“Wait, what?”

Realizing the quantity of dots had surged to one hundred, Kang Jin-hyuk felt the severity of the situation sink in.

When the dots began to mobilize en masse toward his direction, he felt cold sweat trickle down his neck.

“Do these things even know how to pace themselves?”

Although he had hoped for a horde of monsters, he hadn’t anticipated a hundred to swarm him at once.

Kang Jin-hyuk figured he might have no other choice but to return to the narrow passageway and force a one-on-one fight.

Just as he turned around, the dots indicating monsters began to appear densely in front of him as well.

“What the heck? This isn’t good.”

Realization dawned too late.

Having lost the timing to escape, Kang Jin-hyuk found himself in a dire position facing an overwhelming number of monsters closing in from all directions.