Haehyuk had checked the car, and fortunately, it had rolled safely to the dungeon area without flipping over or exploding during the move. Kang Sihyun got out of the car, saw the dungeon that had appeared in China, and was at a loss for words. There was nothing in the vast plains. Only something existed in the air.
Black tiles floating in the air, lotuses, and a pavilion floating even higher than those.
Wonder and mystique surged simultaneously. It was truly a paradise that had appeared in the sky.
It was the first time seeing a dungeon that had formed in the air. Kang Sihyun was frozen, unsure whether to marvel or be horrified, when a car stopped behind their group. The Chinese guild that arrived late approached Kang Sihyun's party.
"Could that possibly be the dungeon?"
Kang Sihyun pointed at the pavilion as he turned to Laoqian who had just arrived at his side. A man with thick eyebrows smirked, lifting only one corner of his mouth.
"Didn't I tell you? Things floating in the air."
Then, that must really be the dungeon. After pyramids and ice castles, now it was paradise. It seemed like dungeons had their own themes based on the country.
While Kang Sihyun was dumbfounded, Laoqian threw his blue jacket, which he had been wearing over a white shirt, onto the car. It was then that Ban Haru, who had been examining the paradise in the sky beside Kang Sihyun, turned around with wary eyes.
The quick turn by Ban Haru, enough to startle anyone beside him, made him narrow his eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"..."
"...Bro?"
Following Ban Haru's gaze, Kang Sihyun turned to see Songzhan standing a step away from them, staring back.
"You've taken out a weapon."
Glancing, Ban Haru checked Songzhan's sleeve and commented. Kang Sihyun noticed a sharply shining needle inside the man's sleeve and held his breath.
Sensing the commotion about to arise, Haehyuk positioned himself beside Ban Haru to monitor the situation. Songzhan, who seemed unaware they were talking about him, stood still but eventually smiled slightly and took the needle out of his sleeve. A sharp scent wafted faintly to their noses, as if the needle tip was poisoned.
"I prepared for battle. As you know, my class is related to assassination."
His reply was cheekily smooth. Despite his harmless-looking face which softened his image, the needle he held added an eerie feeling.
It was understandable that an assassin class would use needles. Not all assassin classes would use daggers, and needles could be stealthy.
However, the fact that he secretly took out the needle behind them, noticeable only to Ban Haru, was suspicious. Moreover, the dungeon had not even been entered yet.
Noticing similar thoughts, Haehyuk subtly furrowed his brows so slightly it was almost unnoticeable and then stepped aside with Ban Haru, positioning themselves parallel to Songzhan in a silent declaration of not turning their backs. Songzhan, appearing to be in a tight spot, put away the needle and raised both hands.
"I was just taking out a weapon."
"Do you usually start by pulling out assassination tools?"
"When fighting monsters, it tends to be handy. Monsters are usually not that intelligent, are they?"
Laoqian answered instead of Songzhan, his tone mixing informal and formal speech in a way that was subtly irksome. When Kang Sihyun's group turned to look at him, Laoqian smiled annoyingly, and Songzhan, following his guild leader's cue, also smiled in a way that was hard to resent.
Suppressing the uncomfortable feelings, as one cannot spit in a smiling face, Kang Sihyun and Haehyuk exchanged glances in the air. It was creepy, but it seemed like they had to bury the hatchet for now.
"Our guild members are quite sensitive, my apologies if we have offended."
"It's okay. Your reaction was understandable."
"Glad to hear that. I trust there won't be any blind attacks with the needle."
"Of course."
Ha, ha. Almost everyone was laughing, but the atmosphere was not harmonious. Kang Sihyun stepped back from the Chinese guild members and pulled on Lee Hamin and Ban Haru's clothes.
'Move as much as possible from behind.'
Blinking as a signal, the two nodded in understanding. Having met high-ranking awakened beings often, they had become quite adept at communicating with just looks since speaking out loud wasn't always possible.
Kang Sihyun looked back at the paradise in the sky, leaving the unpleasant feelings behind.
The floating paradise appeared to be at the height of a 20-story building, too high to climb without any abilities. None of the party had flight skills, and using one of his copy abilities would mean
depleting one of his uses. Under normal circumstances, he would have volunteered to go first, but the situation was different this time. Since the Chinese guild did not seem friendly, he wanted to save his copy abilities until they entered the dungeon.
While waiting for another plan to emerge, the party started discussing how to reach the pavilion in the sky.
"Actually, on the first day the dungeon appeared, we tried to climb it ourselves to get a sense of the place, but we couldn't get up with flight skills."
Laoqian unexpectedly revealed this. Kang Sihyun listened intently to his story.
"What do you mean you can't get up with flight skills?"
"When we brought a buffer and tried, it was as if we were blocked by an invisible barrier. Even when we attacked the air with skills, there was no sense of impact. After several attempts with the same result, we just gave up. That's also why we didn't bring a buffer to this dungeon."
The man fiddling with the watch on his wrist added more explanation, showing no signs of exaggeration or lying.
If flight skills were ineffective, the alternative was to use a shield platform. Since it wouldn't consume a copy attempt, Kang Sihyun tried creating a platform as a demonstration, but a semi-transparent shield formed in the air only to shatter as if attacked by an intangible force with a sharp sound.
"......!"
Kang Sihyun's eyes widened. Wondering if it was the doing of the Chinese guild, he observed Laoqian and the other Qingcheng guild members. Two of them, engrossed in their meeting, seemed unaware of the shield being formed, while the other two appeared startled upon seeing the shield break. When their eyes met, Luo Yixiang shook his head. Laoqian shrugged his shoulders, and Kang Sihyun attempted to create the shield platform again.
Chang!
The result was no different from before. The third and fourth attempts were the same. As the sound of the shield breaking continued, the party's attention focused on Kang Sihyun's actions. After the fifth shield platform was dissolved by an unknown force, Kang Sihyun conceded.
It was not a place that could be reached with skills.
"...It seems we have to climb up ourselves."
"Is that not possible?"
"Yes. It's not about trying forcefully. The moment we use skills, they are immediately cancelled, so stepping on the shield platform to get there won't work. The previous dungeon was difficult to enter, but this one is even more challenging."
As the appearance of the children of Gula approached the first, the difficulty of entering dungeons seemed to exponentially increase. At this point, the situation during Decumanus, which only resulted in a massive rift, seemed heavenly in comparison.
"Then we must find another method..."
How could they climb up?
At that moment, regardless of nationality, everyone's faces were filled with questions and concerns. They couldn't use flight skills, nor could they simply jump from their position. Even stepping on something to climb up seemed impractical, so everyone was at a loss for a solution.
"Can't we step on this to go up?"
Lee Hamin, who had been quiet all along, suddenly spoke up, gesturing towards the black tiles floating in the air. Kang Sihyun and the others simultaneously checked the dozens of tiles floating in the sky.
Their eyes, which had seemed clouded with the lack of a solution, cleared up.
Stepping on something to climb up.
Perhaps it was possible, albeit a bit tricky.
Haehyuk looked at Kang Sihyun, who then met his gaze and nodded.
"Let's try it."
"Are you saying we should step on these to go up?"
Laoqian pointed accusingly at the palm-sized platform. Given his height of over 190 cm, his feet would not be small. Stepping on the tiles with just the tips of their feet and jumping up would not be easy, but they had no choice.
"There's no other way."
"We could think a bit more about it."
"We have to try everything we can."
The saying that one cannot spit in a smiling face applied here too. As Haehyuk spoke in a friendly tone with a smile, the man briefly showed dissatisfaction but then brushed his disheveled hair back. Kang Sihyun, looking for a compromise, gripped a rod and walked forward. The Qingcheng people seemed reluctant, so he intended to go up first and then encourage them to follow.
At that moment, as if realizing what Kang Sihyun was about to do, Ban Haru followed and stopped Kang Sihyun's arm from launching.
"I'll do it."
"Brother?"
"Yes."
Because it seemed worth trying.
With confidence in his added voice, Ban Haru, who seldom took the initiative, stepped back, and then, with an incredible jump, stepped on the floating tile.
Agilely stepping on the tile platform
, his body, without a hint of disarray, soared higher. Tap, tap, tap. He stepped on the tiles two, three times in a row, ascending upwards. The platform Ban Haru stepped on vanished into a transparent color shortly after.
Seeing that the tiles did not reappear even after some time, Kang Sihyun quickly spoke up.
"Brother, keep going straight to the pavilion!"
If his assumption was correct, the tiles used for climbing would not regenerate. Shouting to conserve more tiles in case he needed to climb again, Ban Haru nodded and swiftly moved towards the floating pavilion in the sky with animal-like agility.
Kang Sihyun watched as Ban Haru safely reached the pavilion before turning around.
"...It seems to work, at least."
He spoke cautiously, and the Qingcheng guild members, grasping the situation, sharpened their stance a bit. Haehyuk's posture was no different. Kang Sihyun, in the now tenser atmosphere, watched the two guild leaders.
The number of platforms was limited, and once a platform was used, it could not be reused.
This meant that the later one started, the more disadvantageous it would be to climb up.
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