NOVEL WEB Chapter 14
Chapter 14: First Dungeon Conquest
“It’s a tunnel.”
The field inside the dungeon resembled an earthen tunnel.
A soft light shone down from above, but the atmosphere remained dim, with dirt walls and floors stretching all around.
After about ten minutes of walking deeper into the dungeon—
[Ha… judging by this measly mana, these are pathetic creatures, hardly worth my summoning back then.]
‘Funny, they’re the monsters I saw most often in Altera. Did pride not matter to you back then?’
[Th-that was… volume! It was all about volume! Their low mana cost made them ideal for building a horde…]
‘Sure, keep those excuses coming.’
[It was a strategic tactic!]
Ignoring the Demon King’s defensive outburst, Suhyeon looked ahead at the approaching monster.
It was child-sized, with green skin and an ugly, misshapen face and frame.
An F-rank monster: Goblin.
Back in Altera, it was among the lowest of the low.
[Aren’t you going to greet your kin, seeing as you have such a reunion?]
‘Kin? If we’re talking about kinship, you’re way closer to them than I am.’
The Demon King had insisted that to master moving casting, Suhyeon needed live practice.
And this dungeon was perfect for that purpose.
‘Before I start practicing moving casting, I’ll warm up first.’
“Keeek!”
“Grooowl!”
“Kraaak!”
With swift strikes of his sword, Suhyeon felled three goblins.
He pulled back his sword and launched a left jab, generating a spark on his fist that sent another goblin flying.
The two goblins rushing in from the front were swiftly dealt with using Magic Missiles.
As Suhyeon unleashed his mana and took down the monsters, he began to hear a faint ringing in his ears—the mana in the surroundings reaching out to him.
[The mana is reacting to you again. Use Memorize.]
Good, if I can recall that memory here…
Scrape!
“Urk!”
A goblin lunged from the wall, its claws nearly grazing Suhyeon’s cheek.
Dungeons had a nasty way of responding to human presence. Like hidden landmines, if a person got too close, the dungeon would spawn monsters from the walls.
So, could monsters be prevented from spawning by staying outside the dungeon?
Not quite. If a dungeon wasn’t cleared within a month, all unspawned monsters would suddenly appear and rush out, spilling into the outside world.
Moreover, magical traps placed within dungeons specifically aimed to eliminate intruders.
Dodging the goblin’s claws, Suhyeon swiftly slashed through it. However, he couldn’t properly recall his memories and thus failed to cast any spells.
[What are you doing, thinking instead of moving! Review your memories while in motion!]
‘Easier said than done!’
Suhyeon’s Memorize was unique; mana read his memories and cast spells based on them.
However, unless he reached a state where he couldn’t distinguish memory from reality—like with the wyvern incident—the mana wouldn’t grant him power.
Standing still, it was easy to reach this state, but with constant movement, delving deeply into memories was challenging.
After pushing forward through the dungeon and clearing out F-rank monsters, Suhyeon decided to take a quick break.
He crouched down near the body of a recently defeated monster, pulling out the dagger he’d received as a supply item.
“So, this is how it’s done…”
Twenty monster corpses lay sprawled around him, lifeless.
Suhyeon plunged the dagger into the goblin’s chest, twisting his wrist to extract a hard object lodged inside—the mana stone.
To verify dungeon completion, hunters retrieved mana stones from monsters and submitted them to the Union.
Once Union agents confirmed a dungeon’s clearance, they would purchase the dungeon from the hunter, then assess and retrieve any valuable plants or items to determine the dungeon’s worth and compensate the hunter accordingly.
However, the most important component was the mana stone, the monster’s core.
Even if all monsters in the dungeon were defeated, without retrieving these stones, the Union wouldn’t recognize the dungeon as cleared.
It made sense.
Psssh…
As the mana stone was removed, the monster’s body turned to black ash and crumbled away.
Clink!
One of the goblin’s teeth fell to the ground.
When a mana stone was extracted or broken inside the monster, its body would disintegrate into ash.
Occasionally, an item or a body part would remain, unturned, which this world referred to as loot.
This loot could be left for agents to assess or taken by the hunter for personal use in crafting equipment or weapons.
The Union required hunters to submit the mana stones first to facilitate a quick appraisal of the loot’s value.
In short, hunters were responsible for handling the monster corpses themselves.
The tedious job of extracting the mana stones was left to the hunters, as it was nearly impossible for Union agents to manage all the dungeon clearances.
Back in Altera, mages also extracted mana stones to support research.
“Honestly, harvesting mana stones is more troublesome than the actual fight.”
Suhyeon’s skill in handling swords and weapons, honed in Altera, allowed him to deftly retrieve mana stones without much mess. However, dealing with blood-soaked corpses left many with PTSD or depression.
Though now accustomed to it, in his early days as a knight in Altera, he’d often found himself nauseated by the sight of corpses.
Thinking about those who endured these scenes daily for money left a bitter taste.
“All this… just for money.”
After extracting the mana stones from nearby monsters and tucking them into his bag, Suhyeon raised his hand and summoned his magic.
As he watched a faint will-o’-the-wisp light flicker, Suhyeon let out a long sigh.
Clearing monsters in the dungeon brought a painful realization.
“This is nothing…”
It was pitiful—his mana supply was far too low.
To think a 1-star rank would grant him so little mana.
Though he could use spells up to the third class, his mana limit was restrictive. He could sustain a body-strengthening spell for about 30 minutes, but casting other spells simultaneously would rapidly drain his mana.
‘This is why I need a mana potion…’
[Blame yourself. Who decided to stroll into a forge?]
‘Could you at least stop talking for once?’
He had no comeback; if he hadn’t wasted time at the forge, he might have found a potion shop that accepted custom orders.
It would be helpful if he knew a hunter familiar with Hunter Valley…
‘…Wait.’
A thought struck him.
[What are you doing?]
Hoping against hope, Suhyeon pulled out his phone and tried to turn it on.
“It’s dead…”
Nothing happened.
He had discovered that electronic devices powered by electricity or fossil fuels didn’t work inside dungeons.
In the dungeon’s atmosphere, known as displacement energy, unique wavelengths disrupted electronics, rendering them as useless as if hit by an EMP blast.
Looks like I’ll have to clear this dungeon quickly and head outside.
“Let’s get going.”
Dusting himself off, Suhyeon stood up.
He continued forward, dispatching goblins as he went until he finally reached the dungeon’s last monster—the F+ rank dungeon boss, an orc.
“Graaaagh!”
The orc’s hulking body was armed with a massive club, seemingly fashioned from a tough type of wood, and a bulging belly and stout frame that made its strength obvious. Even one solid hit would likely shatter bones and send a person flying.
“Urgh! Grooo!”
With swift reflexes, Suhyeon dodged the orc’s attacks.
That was all he was doing—dodging.
“Agh… this is unbelievably hard.”
[Recall your memories! Like with the wyvern! Why can’t you do it?]
“You think I’m doing this because I want to?”
At this moment, Suhyeon hadn’t managed to land a single hit on the orc.
More precisely, he hadn’t tried to. He was focused on practicing moving casting—casting spells while in motion.
But every time he moved, his memories began to resurface only to slip away again, leading to a frustrating cycle.
Why is it so difficult to remember while moving?
[Hey, you lunatic! Watch out!]
Distracted by the attempt to cast while moving, Suhyeon failed to fully react to the orc’s movements.
The orc’s club swung down with crushing force, aiming for Suhyeon’s head.
Twisting his body desperately, Suhyeon barely evaded the strike, the club grazing his hair and sending a chill down his spine.
[You fool! Did you leave your common sense as an offering to some spirit? Think, damn it!]
“I am thinking!”
This was infuriating.
To think he was taking criticism from someone he’d once fought to the death.
‘This is driving me crazy…’
The Demon King, too, was getting exasperated.
How could he not realize this?
He had practically used a version of moving casting yesterday!
“Guess I have no choice.”
He needed to finish this dungeon quickly; he had other things to check on.
“Graaagh!”
As the orc roared, Suhyeon tightened his grip on his sword.
‘Demon King, I’m putting the moving casting on hold for now.’
[What?]
Abandoning his attempt at moving casting, Suhyeon dashed at the monster. The orc saw him approaching and swung its club horizontally.
Focused as he was on recalling his memories to practice moving casting, his response to the surroundings had suffered as a result.
‘Not now.’
Lowering himself to the max, Suhyeon slid under the path of the orc’s swing.
Just as the club nearly skimmed over his head, Suhyeon sprang up and sliced through the orc’s club in one fluid motion.
“Grooo?”
The orc’s bellow faltered as it sensed something different in Suhyeon’s movements.
Half of the wooden club was cleaved off in one blow, throwing the orc off balance.
Not wasting the opportunity, Suhyeon leaped forward, twisting his core to bring his shoulder down as he slashed horizontally.
A silver arc swept cleanly through the orc’s neck, severing its head.
The orc’s massive, headless body sagged and then collapsed to the ground with a resounding thud.
“…Phew.”
Suhyeon caught his breath and flicked his sword to remove the orc’s green blood.
With the dungeon boss defeated, the F-rank dungeon fell into a dead silence, except for the Demon King’s angry voice.
[What was that! Weren’t you supposed to be practicing moving casting? That wasn’t moving casting at all!]
‘Stop yelling; it’s giving me a headache.’
Despite his fury at Suhyeon for defeating the orc without using any spells through Memorize, the Demon King had to admit—
‘He truly is a hero.’
He had noticed it when Suhyeon had wielded a broom as if it were a sword.
Throughout the dungeon, Suhyeon had only used body-enhancing magic.
Yet, every motion he made with his sword while fighting monsters was precise, with no wasted movements.
He had been wielding a holy sword for quite some time, after all.
…Still, though.
[Don’t you realize there’s no point in defeating monsters this way? You said you wanted to get stronger to deal with the caster of these gate spells, didn’t you?]
“That’s why I wrapped this up quickly.”
Suhyeon drew his dagger to extract the mana stone from the fallen boss monster.
“I just thought of a way to get a mana potion.”
After extracting the mana stones from the monsters he defeated, Suhyeon reported his F-rank dungeon clearance to the Union.
Following an agent’s verification process, the mission log on Suhyeon’s phone updated.
[F-rank Dungeon Clear (1/20)]
To clear 20 F-rank dungeons in a week, Suhyeon estimated he’d need to complete about three dungeons a day.
However, at this moment, Suhyeon, dressed in casual clothes instead of his hunter’s uniform, was waiting for someone in Hunter Valley.
He was waiting to meet someone he knew.
The person he was meeting was Seo Yura, a 2-star hunter whom he had saved during the wyvern incident.
Since phones couldn’t be used inside dungeons, he had quickly completed his dungeon run and reached out to her afterward.
He hadn’t found any shops that took custom potion orders yesterday, but a professional hunter might have better information.
Fortunately, Suhyeon’s hunch had been correct.
She did know a shop that made custom potions, and she arranged to meet him today to take him there.
[A so-called hero, resorting to favors…]
‘I saved her, didn’t I? A little reward doesn’t hurt.’
[A noble hero, acting so shamelessly?]
‘I’m no worse than you.’
“Oh, here you are.”
A woman approached him, smiling as she extended her hand.
“Seo Yura, guild master of the Black Cat Guild.”
“Nice to meet you.”
After a brief exchange of greetings, she turned and motioned for him to follow.
“You said you wanted a potion shop that takes custom orders? I’ll show you the best one.”