“Oh, this? It’s one of the things I picked up from the hidden dungeon before Mom got restricted. Do you think it might not work?”
Noh Ha-yoon said it was a gift from her mom on the day the statue first awakened and was recognized for its potential.
“Actually, it doesn’t have any special features. But look here, see how intricately detailed it is? It must have some artistic value. A hunter should at least have something like this for decoration in their room, right?… Uh, and—”
Truth is, aside from being an item from another world, it seemed utterly useless, but she dragged on her words trying to prove its worth to me.
‘Let’s see.’
It’s a statue about the size of my forearm, engraved with the face of a woman of striking beauty.
Despite being just a statue, it exuded a lively aura as if it would come to life any moment.
And at the feet of the woman, dozens of different species were shown bowing down in intricate detail.
The kneeling species were only depicted from the back, making it hard to identify accurately, but one with a thick tail definitely resembled a Lizardman.
‘A Lizardman, huh…?’
“This doesn’t bring up any system description, but it’s true that my mom found it in the hidden dungeon, right?”
‘A worthless item with no description.’
Initially, I wanted some kind of artifact like the bracelet Noh Ha-yoon bragged about at the café, but even I thought that was a bit of a stretch.
‘This feels a bit weird.’
Moreover, gazing at the goddess statue stirred an inexplicable feeling in my heart.
I approached her to inspect the statue more closely.
“W-why are you coming closer…?”
Noh Ha-yoon seemed flustered by my sudden approach but soon looked at me with a spark of expectation in her eyes.
It’s been almost two months since I met her, and I couldn’t figure out what on earth she was thinking.
Anyway, I took the goddess statue from her, and as soon as it touched my hand, the voice of a woman I longed for briefly passed through my mind.
‘……’
– Confirming the follower of Irmana.
– Acquired the statue of Irmana!
‘Whoa?’
Statue of Irmana
– Crafted with utmost dedication by a talented sculptor of the ancient kingdom to honor the great Goddess of Water, Irmana.
– The sculptor’s profound heart and sky-reaching talent recognized it as a statue over the years.
– You receive Irmana’s revelation with an extremely low probability.
‘Holy moly! It was the statue of Irmana?!’
It felt strange, but I didn’t expect it to be this good, and I hit the jackpot from an unexpected place.
“My mom said she endured weeks trapped in an ice-covered dungeon before finally getting out. There’s a bit of a ‘witch’ story there. So what do you think? Isn’t this worth trading?”
As I stood there blankly without any reaction, Noh Ha-yoon seemed a bit anxious, her words coming out faster.
“Clap… clap, clap.”
“Ah? You mean you want to trade? Then give it to me quickly.”
I innocently handed her the carved object.
Compared to the value of this goddess statue, that bone-made item was practically trash.
Of course, Ha-yoon seemed to think differently about the piece she received.
“Wow… amazing… This, could it be made for your master? It looks a bit like a man’s that, that…”
Nod—
I replied vaguely in the affirmative, and Noh Ha-yoon’s face turned bright red from her cheeks to her neck as she squealed.
“W-what?! So you two… must be that kind of relationship… amazing… how does it feel? When you… can you tell me in detail?”
Noh Ha-yoon stuttered unexpectedly.
‘What do you want me to say to a skeleton?’
I didn’t bother responding to her question.
Of course, it didn’t seem like she expected an answer from me; she just babbled on with whatever came to her mind.
“I’m curious about Yeon-hee’s expressions and posture… I should have tried harder to see it then… It could have been a good reference.”
‘…… What a weirdo.’
Whatever she imagines is her business, but I felt a bit worried.
‘Yeon-hee’s image might seem a bit off… Cough…’
Anyway, as I continued to stroke the statue, it struck me how to use it.
‘I feel like it would be more efficient to use this when raising the ritual quest.’
I might reduce the time for Irmana’s quest, which has just over a month left.
And the last option was somewhat puzzling.
‘Receiving revelations from the deity… This feels like it’s going to be annoying.’
What if she orders me to do this and that since she thinks I’m one of her followers? I couldn’t help but worry.
Anyway, I didn’t know what exactly receiving revelations meant, but since it had the note “extremely low probability,” there was no need to worry about something that probably wouldn’t happen.
I kept petting the goddess statue while waiting for everyone to wake up.
“Ahh──”
“It was truly a sublime experience…”
“I feel like I could fly…”
About 20 minutes after receiving the statue, my companions began to regain their senses one by one.
Those who had taken the elixir were still in a warm state, not fully stabilized due to the lingering energy.
Seeing the girls barely opening their eyes and letting out away their breaths in moonlight somehow painted a rather stimulating picture.
“Thank you… My magic power has soared to 300… Over double what it used to be.”
“Huh? Eun-young unni, your maximum magic power was lower than I expected?”
“Singing uses less magic, so I didn’t raise it frequently.”
‘So her ability was to use less magic… Bard of Salvation. What an OP class.’
“So what are you going to raise when you level up?”
“Resistance, intelligence, melody.”
“Why resistance? Anyway, what’s this melody? Is it a unique stat of bards?”
“Yeah… If I raise that, I can sing longer and concentrate without being affected by the surroundings.”
“Ooh— that’s interesting.”
‘I see… I vaguely heard there was a unique stat for bard classes.’
I waited until Yeon-hee’s breathing stabilized a bit, then asked her to call the summoned creatures.
She summoned the werewolf ‘Rakan’ squad.
“Are you guys serious? You’re asking for a beating?”
“Kiing…”
“Sigh… I can force you, but there’s no choice.”
Werewolves hated carrying others and, as usual, the orcs and Lizardmen shouldered the companions.
‘In a way, I somewhat envy that. Gori’s such tendencies seem to be fading.’
After stepping outside, we headed to the place where the boss battle was about to happen.
My companions still looked dazed even while riding the shoulders of the summoned creatures.
We would be at the boss battle location in about 30 more minutes, so that should be the perfect time to recover on the way.
However, just a few minutes after stepping outside, I felt some unsettling things swirling in my senses.
‘A gate…’
Like when the Chinese guys came through a few days ago, I sensed multiple newly created gates within the dungeon.
But the size was several times bigger than then, and the energy felt was quite something else.
‘… This feels a bit dangerous.’
I clenched my fist and signaled to stop.
The summoned creatures and companions halted in their tracks.
I signaled Yeon-hee to summon the ‘Castle.’
“?!”
Yeon-hee looked shockingly surprised but quickly summoned the ‘Castle.’
Ku-ru-ru-ru-ru—!
[······.]
The massive fortress that was summoned stood tall, appearing as if it was asking what its mission was.
‘Castle, this is your first mission.’
[······?]
I quickly placed Eun-young, the most unwell among my companions, inside the golem’s body.
(This space is quite nice.)
Azraelon, who entered alongside Eun-young, nodded in satisfaction.
“Clap, clap, clap!”
“Huh? Us too?”
Nod—
I also pushed Ha-yoon, Ah-rin, and Joo-ah into the Castle, and it embraced them all warmly like a mother wraps her cubs.
‘DON’T LET ANYONE NEAR THEM.’
[······!]
Castle little nodded at my words and activated its abilities.
Boom boom boom—!!
A gigantic stone barrier manifested in the air, surrounding the castle.
Dozens of immense shields created a sturdy defensive line, and the thick aura of magic surrounding the walls assured me that no attack would faze it.
Additionally, I had the werewolf ‘Rakan’ squad ride atop the Castle, making it feel impenetrable.
Fortunately, Castle didn’t seem to mind them climbing on top of it.
And Rakan seemed pleased to be on the Castle, howling repeatedly.
‘Shut it. You damned beasts. You trying to call all the monsters in the dungeon?’
“Gruuhh—”
Rakan briefly displayed defiance at my words, but suddenly, the fur covering its body stood on end.
Since it’s a well-built guy, it must have sensed something unusual happening in the dungeon.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on my instincts.
The energy of the first creature to step through the gate became gradually recognizable.
‘…… What the heck is this? That’s not a human coming through, is it?’
The changes in the dungeon were increasingly astonishing.
The creature that came through was robust, and the green aura rippling around its body was intense even from a distance.
Standing four meters tall.
Sharp horns sprouted from its head and shoulders.
The muscular limbs looked like they were about to burst, indicating that it was not just a big guy.
And it held a massive wooden club that was as large as it was.
The club was no ordinary wooden stick.
It was reinforced like metal, making it hard to crush even weapons.
‘Damn… why the hell is that thing here?’
The monster that crossed through the gate was an ogre, typically only found in B-level higher dungeons.
Alongside goblins and orcs, it’s known as one of the three humanoid monsters.
While ogres are labeled as the dominant species of the dungeon due to their high intelligence and strong physical capabilities, they are generally surpassingly powerful compared to regular orcs.
However, due to their nature, they don’t reproduce well, so encounters are rare.
Currently, I sensed three gates.
From each gate, ogres lumbered out, revealing their form sluggishly.
‘One per gate…?’
If I can sense three, there must be way more throughout the entire dungeon.
‘Dealing with that would be a headache.’
They have abilities that activate upon death, making it annoying in many ways.
‘There could be over a hundred of them… this is bad news.’
I shot off all the flares signaling number four into the sky.
It was a red alert to avoid combat and hide immediately.
This was the second time I’d launched flares after discovering the ‘Teeth’ during the dungeon break at Gu Chang-ro.
Seeing the flares I shot up, my companions’ eyes went wide as they firmly gripped their weapons and entered combat mode.
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