Lightning from a clear sky?
Because the golem, which had been sitting on the floor conversing with him while he was placed on its hand, suddenly stood up, Raon had to lie flat on the golem’s palm, feeling dizzy.
As the number of lightning strikes increased, he could clearly feel the golem tensing while looking around in all directions. Along with that, cracks gradually formed in the space that had been stable.
He had forgotten about Jaehwi for a moment while conversing with the golem. It wasn’t like he didn’t know that personality, but he had been with him, even had his wrist grabbed by him, and then suddenly only he came to this place. The next action of Jaehwi, who had lost him right before his eyes, was obvious.
“Just smash it all. Smash it. But will it even break? No matter what, this is a space created by a dungeon master here…”
At first it seemed like only light was flashing, but when he began to feel faint vibrations, Raon raised his hand to press his forehead. Had he underestimated Jaehwi, or had he overestimated an A-grade dungeon master?
“Can’t you remove it first before this space breaks?”
Being careful not to provoke the monster that had become extremely sensitive, Raon spoke as if whispering. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before this space broke.
The golem’s red eyes flickered as it growled while being vigilant of its surroundings.
“That guy can be pretty ruthless, so let’s not waste each other’s strength for nothing. It’ll be hard for you to maintain this space too, and that guy outside is exerting himself trying to break this. I’ll try to talk well somehow. He listens to my words pretty well.”
There was no answer, but it seemed to be hesitating. It was the difference between being broken or removing it itself, but this was a golem that was hiding here, scared just by Jaehwi rampaging outside.
“If possible, shrink as small as Bbobbo! If you’re as big as you are now when we meet, he’ll probably attack first unconditionally. Or shrink as small as Bbobbo and get into my pocket or something.”
Seeing the cracks getting bigger and bigger with the continuing lightning, Raon spoke urgently. The moment he brought the golem out, he’d have to give up tremendous economic gain, but first, keeping alive this golem that seemed to have intelligence and follow him was more important than it dying in an instant. They could talk more, and if he handed it over to Hyukjin, they could find out more about golems than now. Information was also a precious asset, so he had to salvage at least one of the two.
“Hurry.”
Since he couldn’t stop the bastard outside, right now he had to stop the one inside. As soon as his words ended, powerful lightning cut through the sky and struck the ground.
Cough.
Since entering this dungeon, he’d gotten used to the thick dust, the shaking of the ground, and the sounds of things breaking, but the dust was something he just couldn’t adapt to. Raon, who was instinctively coughing, ended up making an “Ugh” sound at the force tightly embracing him.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
Jaehwi was speaking urgently while roughly touching here and there on his body with his large hands. As he groped without distinction between arms and legs, when his touch reached his ribs, Raon’s body instinctively flinched and shrank.
“Cough. Cough… Ah. I’m fi… Cough. I’m fine.”
Raon, stopping Jaehwi’s hands that were groping his body haphazardly, found it quite difficult to stop the coughing once it had started.
“Pping? Ppiyu? Ppiiiik-!”
“Kreung.”
Raon, who was coughing and catching his breath while covering his lower face with one hand and pushing Jaehwi’s chest with the other, looked at the small stone fragment held in Jaehwi’s hand. The stone fragment, about the size of a doll that children play with, resembled a golem closely.
What. Did that golem really listen to me and shrink?
“Team Leader Kang, where on earth did you go?”
Raon, who hadn’t readily taken the golem from Jaehwi, turned his head at the sound coming from the side. The team members who had been following also seemed to have come all the way to the end of the dungeon and displayed their abilities to help Jaehwi, who was trying to break through the wall unconditionally.
He saw Hyungjun, whose both hands still held red heat, and Nayeon, who was creating a wind barrier.
“Should I say the center of the dungeon?”
Even while pondering how to explain, Raon couldn’t take his eyes off the golem that had entered Jaehwi’s hand. Jaehwi’s attention, who had already confirmed that he wasn’t hurt, was focused on the golem. Jaehwi, slightly frowning, placed the golem in one hand and began to flick it with the index finger of his other hand.
Because Jaehwi was checking the golem while confining him in his arms, Raon couldn’t budge. He couldn’t coldly push him away since he could feel his energy that seeped out from his back touching his chest being absorbed by him.
There was no way Jaehwi would miss this three-birds-with-one-stone situation where he had to check what had suddenly disappeared and appeared, had to hold him in place, and could even receive guiding.
Moreover, though it looked like he was lightly moving his fingertips, Raon bit his lower lip rolled inward at the small sparks that occurred each time Jaehwi’s fingertips touched the golem. He could just roughly touch and check it, there’s no need to put in enough force to create sparks like this. Plus, why are you doing this at my eye level!
Unable to scold or touch him, it seemed like he was tormenting the golem, so Raon stealthily reached out and grabbed Jaehwi’s hand.
“Don’t do that.”
“……”
Since there was no answer, when he slightly turned his body to look up at him, the corners of the eyes of Jaehwi, who had only been frowning, rose. “Don’t be angry.” Raon forced the corners of his lips up and smiled. His handsome eyebrows flicked slightly and a “Ppuk-” sound was heard from behind.
Golem aside, are your fingers even okay?
Not knowing what might happen if he said more, Raon obediently turned his body to look ahead. The golem’s head was bent to the side, different from before.
Raon, who had been focused on Jaehwi and the golem for a moment, swallowed the saliva that had gathered in his mouth at the sight of the team members visible beyond the golem right in front of him. At first, attention had been focused on him who had disappeared and appeared, but before he knew it, their gazes were also directed at the golem in Jaehwi’s hand.
“What is that again?”
At Team Leader Lee’s words, Raon bit his lower lip slightly. He had to establish the standard of how much to talk about and how much to hide.
“The wall seemed strange so I touched it, and before I knew it, I was in a place like a lush meadow. Should I call it a dungeon within a dungeon? There was nothing threatening, and I didn’t see any other life forms besides grass. While looking around for a while, there was a stone fragment resembling a golem so I picked it up, and soon lightning struck in the blue sky and cracks formed, then when I came to my senses, it’s this situation now.”
“The dungeon dissolution time has disappeared.”
Raon, who had been mixing truth and lies, stared at the golem, not Jaehwi, at Minji’s words as she looked at the tablet with a serious expression. So it’s like, since he brought it out, it will maintain the dungeon?
“How much was left earlier?”
Raon, who had been gently caressing Jaehwi’s wrist and letting his energy flow as if he would continue to torment the golem, carefully moved his hand toward the golem.
“It was about 29 hours…”
“If this becomes a respawn dungeon, it would be beneficial in many ways for the center. Dungeons with many golems are rare, and it’s a place rich in minerals too. We’ll have to look more into the part where the respawn time suddenly disappeared. Then, shall we go out? Oh. Did people from Team B and the center come?”
“Yes. We received a report that they arrived a little while ago, but we told them to wait outside. Thanks to Nox, it was settled smoothly.”
Raon, who couldn’t extract the golem from Jaehwi’s hand that gripped it when he tried to take it even though he had stayed still until grabbing the golem, slightly shook the hand holding the golem.
“Did Team Leader Choi also come?”
“…He came.”
Knowing what the brief hesitation and long sigh meant, Raon lightly patted Team Leader Lee’s shoulder.
“As soon as we go out, they’ll enter the dungeon investigation. They’ll look into this fragment too.”
Raon, who extracted the golem from Jaehwi’s hand by putting strength in his hand while saying he’d hand it over to Hyukjin, shoved the golem into one of the pockets of the protective gear he was wearing. Then he tapped the arm that was wrapped around him.
Raon, who escaped from the embrace that reluctantly let him go, headed outside before the others.
“Squiung? Ppik. Ppyooooo!”
Before even walking a few steps, Bbobbo, who had approached closely, shrieked loudly at the same time as seeing the golem, but no one inside the dungeon paid attention to Bbobbo’s sounds.
“Why does our hyung create many things to talk about long and deeply?”
Raon ended up laughing softly at what Jaehwi said as he approached his side and held his hand. That’s what I’m saying. I had no idea that incidents and accidents would occur like a raging storm every time I entered a dungeon. Could my hidden ability possibly be something like dungeon master collector?
Starting from the fact that a C-grade Guide can perfectly care for an S-grade doesn’t make sense. Both Bbobbo, who secretly hid in his bag and followed him home, and the golem, who deliberately called only him to a special space wanting to go outside.
There were monsters that could be tamed, and there were many ability users who tamed and carried around such monsters, and although rare, there were cases where tamed monsters were put up for auction at high prices.
Bbobbo, known to be impossible to tame, was flying by his side, and far from taming, a golem designated as a high-level monster and known to be burdensome when encountered inside a dungeon was in his hand. If he had some kind of relationship with dungeon masters and could only enter dungeons with an Esper who could perfectly protect him every time…
“Kang Raon.”
Raon, who had been lost in his own thoughts for a moment, urgently raised his head to look at him at Jaehwi’s words calling his name.
