I Gave Up Being Stronger

“Let’s skip the small monsters,” Cha Jin-Hyeok said.

“I knew you would say that, moly.”

‘But these small insignificant monsters can become a variable later!’ Kyle barely suppressed the urge to interject.

“You both need to follow my movements closely, moly. You must mimic even actions that seem meaningless, moly,” Mole Woman said.

“Got it.”

Mole Woman nodded, seemingly satisfied with Jin-Hyeok’s answer, then narrowed her eyes and looked at Kyle. “How about you, Captain?”

“Me?”

“Can you follow my movements well, moly?”

“If you’re asking whether I can copy your movements, that’s quite rude. I have never failed to accomplish anything physical.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Mole Woman sighed and shook her head. “I’m asking if you can follow even seemingly meaningless movements as well, moly.”

She glanced at Jin-Hyeok, who muted his livestream, and then continued, “We’re going to use bug-like Play. Do I really need to explain this, moly? Look, Kim Chul-Soo understood without me saying anything and even muted the livestream. I’m a bit worried about speed-running with a Player who has such poor comprehension about Dungeon raids, moly.”

“I will cooperate…” Kyle said.

“Hmm, then for the formation…” Mole Woman stroked her chin. “You should be in the middle. It’s best if Chul-Soo is the last, moly.”

“Why?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“No matter how good your movements are, we will have to take a few big hits from the monsters while advancing, moly. And since you have the strongest defense among us, it’s best if you take the hits. Do not dodge the attacks. Just take them all, moly.”

Kyle brought up an extremely obvious point. “Isn’t there a way to prevent those big attacks in advance?”

“Of course, there is.” Mole Woman’s expression suddenly turned serious. “But it takes more time, moly.”

“...”

“One billion viewers are waiting, moly. Every second we delay steals a billion seconds from the viewers, moly! That’s 270,000 hours per second, moly. Do you want to become a time thief, moly?”

Mole Woman clapped her hands together and tied her hair into a ponytail. Jin-Hyeok captured this scene and her white nape, which once again became the [☆Most Replayed Scene☆] on Jin-Hyeok’s livestream, stimulating his competitive spirit.

Kyle, who felt a sense of rivalry toward Jin-Hyeok, had his pride deeply hurt.

‘He feels competitive toward that woman, and not me?’ Kyle, too, began to feel competitive.

***

Kyle had never heard of this strategy.

‘We’re just leaving that trap alone?’

‘We are ignoring this attack?’

‘This attack will reach Chul-Soo!’

Kyle glanced back, just in case.

‘Chul-Soo’s defense is unparalleled.’

In terms of defense, Chul-Soo was several levels above him. Although Kyle already knew this, experiencing it firsthand felt quite different.

“From here, we’ll move by digging a tunnel,” Mole Woman said.

Though she did not explicitly mention it, this was a kind of bug—a bug that allowed Players to dig in places where it shouldn’t be possible. However, due to the livestream, she avoided mentioning the word bug.

“It’s best to wear light clothing, moly.” Mole Woman casually stripped off her clothes. “If I were alone, I would obviously choose to be naked.”

Mole Woman was not trying to prove that she was an excellent Navigator. What she wanted to demonstrate was that she was an excellent Navigator suitable for livestreaming. Understanding that exposing herself completely would negatively impact Chul-Soo’s livestream, Mole Woman had worn a bikini-like outfit underneath.

“Follow me, moly.” Mole Woman dove toward the ground. Though it was soil, she slipped in as if she were entering water.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going?” Jin-Hyeok asked Kyle.

Mole Woman had not called this a bug, but Kyle knew well that this was essentially a bug, so he could not help but hesitate.

“This path will disappear if you don’t hurry.”

Feeling the urgency, Jin-Hyeok threw himself in first. The passage was barely wide enough for one person to crawl through. Everyone was moving on all fours. Jin-Hyeok followed closely behind Mole Woman.

‘The viewer count is skyrocketing!’ Jin-Hyeok thought. Suddenly, the number of likes started increasing too. ‘Why is this happening? Have the viewers realized it’s a bug? You’d have to see it directly to know it’s a bug, right? On livestream, it probably looks like a Skill.’

Jin-Hyeok wanted to figure out which aspect of this scene was eliciting such a positive response from the viewers. However, all he could see was a Mole Woman’s well-toned bottom.

‘Do viewers like seeing aesthetically pleasing glutes?’

Once again, his competitive spirit swelled up. He was confident he would not lose to anyone when it came to the aesthetic appeal of glutes.

‘Maybe I should wear that and show off my glutes too.’

***

“On the count of three, we will jump up to the ground, moly!” Mole Woman, lying face down, tensed her arms and legs. “One, two, three!”

Surprisingly, she seemed to float up and vanish up to the ground. She had moved to the surface.

Jin-Hyeok also returned to the surface without any discomfort. Kyle arrived too, looking somewhat disgruntled.

[You have arrived at the boss room ⌜The Principal’s Office of the Forgotten Magic School.⌟]

“We have reached the boss room. That was quite fast,” Jin-Hyeok said.

Many had challenged the Pangea Temple. Quite a few Players had made it to The Principal’s Office of the Forgotten Magic School.

-Wow, that worked, LOL!

-They took exactly 18 minutes, LOL!

-I saw in another video that it took some Players about 180 hours to get there.

-But won’t the principal appear soon?

The boss of the Pangea Temple, the Principal of the Forgotten Magic School, was the main reason this Dungeon had remained unexplored. When a Player defeated all the Immortal Magic Soldiers in the Dungeon, the lid of the coffin would slowly open, revealing the principal with an overwhelming presence and size.

The principal was a boss monster who wielded his coffin as a weapon and had mastered all kinds of magic. All Players who had challenged this room so far had either died or fled.

-The boss’s Level is estimated to be around mid-300s. Plus, he gets the boss monster bonus attributes.

-So, essentially, the boss monster is around Level 400.

“I can see a large coffin in the distance. That must be where the Dungeon boss sleeps,” Jin-Hyeok said.

[The Principal’s Resting Place]

“I see dozens of skeleton soldiers around it.”

Several skeletons wrapped in robes stood there, emanating considerable magical power.

[LV298/Immortal Magic Soldier/Skills/]

Those skeleton soldiers were chanting spells and waving their staffs. After a moment of consideration, Mole Woman said, “I will tank their attacks, moly.”

Kyle could not believe his ears. He had never heard of a Navigator tanking attacks. In the Arvis Server, this was impossible and should never happen.

“Kyle, you should go wild too, moly! We need to buy time for Chul-Soo, moly!”

Though it was hard to understand logically, Kyle dutifully followed Mole Woman’s orders. Every time he swung his sword, a flash of light appeared, and the Immortal Magic Soldiers fell helplessly.

Rumble! Rumble!

The fallen Immortal Magic Soldiers stood up again. Their bodies, cut by Kyle’s sword, automatically reattached and regenerated.

“They’re using cheap tricks.” Kyle swung his sword quickly. He focused on basic slashes instead of flashy skills. Then, he heard a slightly awkward voice.

“Wait, that’s one of the orthodox methods for dealing with skeleton soldiers! The Swordsman’s technique of defeating enemies is faster than their regeneration rate, which makes them impossible to come back!”

***

Mole Woman had been somewhat suspicious of the Sword Emperor Unit Captain Kyle. He kept looking confused at everything she said, and she was unsure if he would follow her instructions properly.

‘I guess he’s more skilled than I thought!’ Mole Woman changed her opinion of him.

They clearly came from different worlds. Kyle’s expression when Mole Woman volunteered to tank the attacks was priceless. Though he did not say it, he was undoubtedly thinking, ‘How can a Navigator tank attacks?’

‘This is so normal in our Region,’ Mole Woman thought.

Arvis seemed to have forgotten the intensity of battle after enjoying prosperity and peace for too long. In contrast, on Earth—especially the Korean Region, which was heavily influenced by Kim Chul-Soo—it was quite normal for Navigators to act as a Tank. Of course, they often died doing so.

‘With sword skills like that, I don’t need to draw aggro.’

She felt it was a good decision to bring him along. The Immortal Magic Soldiers glared at Kyle with glowing red eyes. They were chanting spells, dropping small meteors on Kyle’s head. Kyle was slicing through the meteors with his flashing blade while taking down more Immortal Magic Soldiers.

Meanwhile, Jin-Hyeok stood in front of the large coffin, his eyes closed.

‘Since they’re all busy, I should fill in the audio for Chul-Soo’s livestream!’ Mole Woman had worked tirelessly to prove she was a suitable Navigator for livestreaming. Today was her chance to show her true value.

“Wait, that’s one of the orthodox methods for dealing with skeleton soldiers! The Swordsman’s technique of defeating enemies is faster than their regeneration rate, which makes them impossible to come back!”

She sounded stiff as though she were reading from a textbook, but viewers’ reactions were surprisingly positive.

-She is so cute! LOL

-Trying so hard. Haha!

-No matter what anyone says, Mole Woman is the number one Navigator in the Korean Region. Fight me if you disagree.

With Mole Woman’s contribution, Jin-Hyeok could focus entirely on the coffin.

[You have activated the Skill ⌜Omnipotent Director⌟.]

The Principal of the Forgotten Magic School was an extremely powerful entity. Even with the Guardian Tree’s buffs, Jin-Hyeok would need to be on guard against this opponent. If this was a normal Play, Jin-Hyeok would have fought the boss monster with all his might. However, such exciting opponents were rare, so he had to find a more interesting way to fight.

[The Principal’s Resting Place is being deleted.]

[It’s protected by the System settings. It cannot be deleted.]

Jin-Hyeok took out the Rule Breaker, Miri.

‘I need you for this, Miri.’

-I will be as rough as I can!

Jin-Hyeok did not know if the coffin had a head or a temple, but Miri turned black.

Boom! Boom!

-You shall come!

Boom! Boom!

-You shall come for me!

Finally, the Rule Breaker Miri succeeded in breaking through the System settings.

[You have deleted The Principal’s Resting Place.]

The coffin disappeared.

-Wow, it took him four seconds to defeat the boss monster.

-Can we even call this defeating it?

-Anyway, the boss is gone.

Some viewers expressed disappointment.

-Isn’t anyone curious why the Pangea Temple’s boss is a magic school principal?

-It’s a shame. Clearing it properly would have revealed hidden lore.

-Nah, I’m not that curious.

-I’m just glad he cleared the Dungeon.

Jin-Hyeok sat down on the floor, breathing heavily, while Kyle wiped out the remaining Immortal Magic Soldiers. Some soldiers shot fireballs at Jin-Hyeok during this time, but he easily handled that.

“We have succeeded in defeating the boss. A new space has opened up below.”

Beneath where the coffin had been, they discovered a space large enough for a couple of people to enter. Inside lay a sword emanating a holy aura.