Infinite Competitive Dungeon Society

It seemed Cravis Empire’s Crown Prince, Paul, couldn’t go with us on our search.

“I want to go too. The Hero is the empire’s hope... but I can’t leave. My father collapsed recently, so I’ve been in his shoes.”

“I can’t imagine that at all.”

“Kuku, I know. To be honest, I want to go to the dungeon and go wild like always.”

Paul going wild? I only remembered monsters going wild on him... Of course, I didn’t say anything. After all, this was Paul’s home ground.

The Paul I knew from the dungeon was slightly different than the Paul I met in the audience chamber and the grand hall. Perhaps because I was more familiar with his dungeon self, it felt like a carefree, clumpy kid was forced to wear the clothes of a crown prince. He seemed too unfit for the position, but perhaps that’s exactly what made him so passionate and foolish in the dungeon. He could be using the dungeon as a way of relieving his stress.

Of course, that was just my opinion. It could just be that he had no sense for battle.

I stared fixedly at the Peruta Mountain Range on the map.

“Peruta, huh.”

“Ah, right, didn’t you say you summoned Peruta? I remember you telling me that a few years ago.”

“Yeah, I met him a while ago too. I’m learning spearmanship from him once a month.”

Paul and Ellos both expressed surprise at my words.

“Really? You’re learning spearmanship from that Peruta? That’s amazing!”

“No, it’s probably not the same Peruta as the one from our continent’s myth. Peruta is the top-ranking god from the empire’s creation myth. As a principle deity, he’s on a completely different league than the other gods.”

‘If they knew I had true names of other principle deities, they might flip out. Well, Deific Manifestation is different from gods’ true names.’

In truth, using Deific Manifestation no longer gave me any advantage in battle. Although Peruta’s spearmanship and Peruta Circuit were more powerful than mine, I had other techniques that he couldn’t use – Overlord.

Peruta was unable to bring out the true depth of his martial arts with my body, while I could strengthen my entire self with Overlord. Simply put, I was superior. Even so, Peruta was a good master and an adviser.

While I was regretting never having asked Peruta about Edias continent, Ellos was coming to his own conclusions.

“It can’t be the same Peruta. Spear-using heroes from our continent all called themselves Peruta, so the one Kang Shin summoned must be one of them.”

“Um, yeah.”

I didn’t argue with Ellos. Still, I knew that the Peruta I knew was the one from the myth. It seemed this myth carried great weight in this continent. The mythical existence they worshipped so much was teaching me, who wasn’t even from their continent? I could understand what they felt. That’s why I stayed silent.

“Anyways, why is this place called Peruta Mountain Range?”

“It’s simple. In the myths, that’s where Peruta vanished.”

It really was simple as Ellos said. I felt my heart thump. Something was there. Something that would let me take a step forward. I was certain. If I knew that Edias continent had a vestige of Peruta, I would had come earlier!

No, I wasn’t late. Ellos said it was the most dangerous place on the continent. If I came before, I might have had to turn back without gaining anything. Now was the best time.

“Shin, we have to talk about who’s coming.”

“Oh, right. I guess it can’t just be me and you. Since Paul can’t go, besides you and me, I guess your fian...”

I looked at Ellos’ left ring finger. Ellos quickly hid his hand, but I had already seen it.

“...”

He had two silver rings on his ring finger. One was big and thick, while the other was small. It felt like he squeezed his finger through.

I stopped breathing. I couldn’t continue what I was saying, but I also knew I couldn’t stay silent. Still, I couldn’t think of any words to say. In the end, I only said one word.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Ellos responded promptly as if he knew what I was going to say. I didn’t have the confidence to look at his face. I remembered him saying that he was always prepared for the death of his comrade. But if it was his fiancée?

Impossible.

“Shin, I’m okay. As a tribute to her, help me find the Hero.”

“Yeah, I promise. I’ll save the Hero.”

“Yeah... Thanks.”

He smiled bitterly. I felt like I finally understood why he sounded so down when I last talked to him.

In the end, the party members were narrowed down to just me and Ellos. Rather than rescuing the Hero, fighting to protect the empire’s citizens was the priority of the empire’s knights. The ones that could participate in the rescue mission had already left with the other Dimensional Mercenaries.

“You might feel uneasy, but trust me. I’m level 60 now, so I won’t pull you down.”

“I trust you.”

Ellos most likely spent more time in the battlefield than he did in the dungeon. Considering this, his progress was outstanding. Even with the Hero’s personal training, it wouldn’t have been possible without his tenacity. I was genuinely surprised.

Of course, it was wrong to think I was the only one with talent. I was happy with his potential. The reason the Hero chose him as his disciple was likely also because he saw Ellos’ potential.

“Come back safe and sound. Other knights will ready the things you need.”

Paul wished us luck. I still couldn’t get used to him being a crown prince. There was something bothering me, but I forced myself to smile and left the audience chamber with Ellos. In the hallway, refreshing wind blew through the opened windows.

“Be thankful it’s autumn, Shin. Fire elementals like to play around too much during summer, and fires randomly erupt from thin air.”

“I should’ve come during summer to scold those guys.”

It didn’t really matter how the weather was as my body was no longer affected by it.

“Of course, monsters are threatening no matter what season it is. Before we enter the mountain range, we’ll also encounter more invaders than you’re thinking.”

We were entering the enemy’s territory, and they were also madly searching for the Hero. Objectively speaking, this mission was ridiculously dangerous. We knew out destination, but that didn’t mean we could just march there.

For that reason, we left through the first floor’s entrance. Soldiers and maids were busily running about. The entirety of the palace, the empire, or even the continent could be running around like this, preparing for the decisive battle. Their determination and tension showed the gravity of the situation.

That is, until they saw me.

“... There’s a woman like that in this world?”

“Whose woman is she?”

“Damn, her brilliance is making me blind!”

“If she gives me a glance, I can die without regrets while fighting the invaders.”

“...”

“Shin, wait a moment. Hey, you, come over here.”

Ellos called a few of them here and gave them an order I couldn’t hear. Seeing the male knights and soldiers scurrying away, I could tell he threatened them with punishment if they kept ogling Lotte and Licorice. As a man, I empathized. Even if the world was about to fall, guys couldn’t help but look at pretty women in front of them.

Once the curious gazes disappeared, Ellos opened the map he was carrying. He then explained the route we’d take in detail.

“It’ll be dangerous no matter which path we take, but this is the safest. We’ll only have to go around a bit.”

“Aren’t we in their territory anyways?”

“With this path, we’ll avoid two of their castles. You know what that means, right?”

I did. Unless the invaders were like monsters who liked to live in the wild, most would be living in castles. Ellos most likely planned a route that would have the least amount of fights. I again realized how absurd this mission was.

I reviewed my options. The straight path was shorter, but contained two castles on the way. Ellos’ path was longer, but allowed us to avoid the castles. Since we didn’t know what we would lose if we fought at the two castles, Ellos’ path wasn’t a bad choice at all.

“Ellos.”

Still, I disagreed. It didn’t matter whether I fought two battles or two thousand battles as long as the world’s enemy wasn’t there.

“What’s wrong?”

Ellos tilted his head. I looked back at Lotte. She shook her head with teary eyes.

“No, I don’t want to. Please, Hero is the only one allowed! Why can’t you understand how I feel?”

“S-Sorry.”

She must have had a lot of stress built up without me knowing... I felt guilty all of a sudden. No, it wasn’t just a feeling. I was guilty. Did she get smaller when she became a Blaze Queen just to prevent other people from riding her? In any case, it was hard for me to ask her to sacrifice herself. If I didn’t have any other choice, I would have to ask her again, but for now...

I faced Ellos, who looked just as surprised as Lotte.

“Do you know any wyverns live nearby? It doesn’t to have wyverns. I’m looking for ridable monsters that can fly quickly.”

“If you’re okay with wild untamed wyverns, there are some in a canyon about six hours from here on horseback. But Shin, are you suggesting we tame wyverns to fly? First, taming wyverns is impossible. Second, we would be imposing ourselves completely by flying so openly in the sky. Plus, we don’t have any time to waste to go tame wyverns. That canyon is in the opposite direction of where we’re going.”

“Ellos, here’s my thought.”

I spoke resolutely.

“We’ll fight less if we just kill the enemies that can follow our speed in the air. Our pace will shoot up, too.”

“It’s too bold. We’ll just be shot down!”

“It’s a small risk compared to the benefits. Didn’t you say Peruta Mountain Range was dangerous? We’ll have to fight monsters there, so we can’t waste time walking there when we can fly.”

“Flying will be quicker, but the risk is... Shin, just what level are you?”

“Levels aren’t important to me anymore, friend.”

With that, I grinned. The two bracelets on my wrist, Pure Black Desire and Lin’s bracelet, each glowed with a hazy, bright light. Since I’d yet to name Lin’s bracelet, I decided to call it Radiance from now.

Ellos looked at me with a dumbfounded look and surrendered.

“Fine. Since I’m risking my life already, I might as well jump into the dragon’s mouth. I just hope we can kill it before it breaths fire and kills us.”

“Good, it’s decided. So, where’s the canyon?”

“Northwest. It’s...”

Ellos raised his finger and pointed to a direction. Immediately, Lotte transformed into her Blaze Queen form and flapped her wings. Surprised, Ellos jumped back.

“She really is a wyvern!”

“She’s different from normal wyverns.”

[I’ll go alone. Forcing wyverns to submit is nothing for a Blaze Queen like myself.”

“How long will it take?”

Six hours on trained horses. Disregarding the time it takes to subdue wild wyverns, it was 12 hours. Lotte smiled confidently.

[Twenty minutes is enough.]

Lotte then shot up in an instant and disappeared at the speed of light. Ellos speechlessly followed the trace of light Lotte left behind.

“Just who is that wyvern...?”

“Like I said, she’s not a normal wyvern. Alright then, Ellos, while we wait...”

“Yeah?”

I put the map away and glared at him lightly. It was time to request what I’ve been waiting for.

“Treat me to some food, you bastard. It might be normal in your world to send people off without feeding your guests, but that’s unheard of in mine.”

You’re sending me off to a place where I can’t even open my inventory, and you’re not even treat me to a meal! Paul, you bastard, I won’t forget this!