There were two skill experience calculations in Beyond. The first was when I used skills while fighting Beyondâs monsters. I didnât know whether it was because they were Floor Master class, because there were so many of them, or because it was Beyondâs special characteristic, but skill experience undoubtedly increased more compared to when I used skills in other places. For example, Crossbow Marksmanship had soared in levels, and by the time I cleared Beyondâs 2nd floor, it became mid-rank level 6.
The second was when I cleared Beyondâs floors. The skills I mainly used to clear the floors increased exponentially. Because of it, Elemental Control, Spirit Aura, and Elemental Contract had all risen to mid-rank level 8.
Although I wanted to raise their levels more, I wanted to increase my Spear Technique levels more.
Peruta said I would have the qualification to learn his spearmanship when my Peruta Circuit became level 7 and I mastered high-rank Spear Technique. His spear techniques were able to deal irrecoverable wounds to the Demon Army Commander, endlessly attack by continuously recovering mana, and both attack and defend at the same time. To me, who had lived three quarters of my life without knowing mana, he seemed like a martial god. I wanted to learn his skills. This desire was as strong as my desire to climb to the dungeon.
If there was another skill I wanted to raise using this opportunity, it was Soul Guard. The Wraith Queenâs Vengeful Spiritâs Wail was an extremely strong mental status effect magic. Just by blocking it, Soul Guardâs skill experience would go up by a lot. Beyondâs 3rd floor was full of such wailing noonims. After I used skill points to raise SoulGuard to level 5, I was having trouble training it, so I couldnât let go of this opportunity to easily train Soul Guard.
[Kyaaaaaak!]
[Wraith Queen used Vengeful Spiritâs Wail! With high magic, charm, and luck stats, you resist the confusion and fear status effects!]
âEat⊠this!â
Putting great care to direct the flow of mana from Peruta Circuit to my spear, I struck the Wraith Queenâs face with my spear. The basis of the attack was Tempest, which used up 300 mana. However, Tempest was actually a technique to shoot out the uncontrollable rotational force. In other words, it was an incomplete technique. The true Tempest was different. The rotational force had to be brought out more naturally while being controlled perfectly. To be honest, I didnât know what it meant.
[Kiaaaaaaa!]
âStop using ectoplasm arrows!â
One of Wraith Queenâs specialty was shooting out dozens of ectoplasm arrows at once. Although I could just dodge them, because they bounced around, I had to move around to dodge them even when the Wraith Queen died. It was extremely annoying. Canât they stop using suicide attacks!?
âRuyue, freeze only the Wraith Queensâ mouths! Peika, when you see a Wraith Queen, first electrocute her!â
[T-That sounds fun!]
[I donât like this place. Those womenâs breasts are too big.]
Since I couldnât slack off on my Elementalist skills, I had my elementals summoned and on guard against the Wraith Queens. Without the Orc Lords, I could leisurely raise my skillsâ experience! I doubt another chance like this would come, so I had to do my best now. Mmm, maybe the Giant Wolf and Wendigo floors might be easy tooâŠ
[Too many humans, humans are scary, the living are scaryâŠ!]
âYeah, yeah, donât worry. Iâll let you rest soon.â
[Human, a handsome human! There wasnât a human like that when I was alive!]
âYeah, Iâll send you off too.â
Time flew when you were focused on something.
After grasping the 3rd floorâs structure completely, I always turned back a step before so that the final pathway wouldnât appear. Although the crafty traps would sometimes change their locations, I always detected them with my mana and destroyed them.
Ludia was fine for the first three weeks, but after that, she began to call me once a day, sobbing and calling my name. Other than that, everything was progressing smoothly.
Then, a month passed since I entered Beyondâs 3rd floor. It was the end of June. Meanwhile, a huge trouble occurred in the outside world. Hundreds of Event Dungeons had appeared on Earth. It was what Ciara prophesied.
[There are 18 just in Korea! I donât understand why there are so many in this tiny country!]
[Although thereâs no guarantee that Event Raids would break out, if we were to leave them alone because weâre afraid, they would only come back as bigger dangers. Maybe, Earth will come to have a similar human to monster ratio as other worlds.]
[Weâll have to trust Guardian and Freedom Wing. Everyone is well aware of Event Dungeonsâ danger now.]
[Shin, shouldnât we clear as many Event Dungeons as we can?]
[R-Right! Once Japanâs Event Dungeons are taken care of, I want to join everyone too!]
At this time, my Spear Technique was at high-rank level 8. Swinging my spear and killing three Wraith Queens at once, I murmured.
[Several countries probably want to let low-ranked Event Dungeons turn into Field Dungeons.]
[⊠Youâre exactly right. They most likely want a source of Mana Stones that they can regulate and control. As for the high-ranked Event Dungeons, or what they call Gates, most say that they should be destroyed first.]
[They arenât wrong, but theyâre probably using that as an excuse to buy time. That way, the low-ranked Event Dungeons would turn into Field Dungeons for them to control.]
The reason was simple. It was lucrative.
In truth, high-ranked dungeons had much more value. Just look at Britainâs Windermere Lake and Americaâs Antelope Canyon. After I subjugated the bosses, their monster reproduction rate greatly decreased, giving them a safe and steady source of income. Each melting tuna was 150 million won and each wyvern was 250 million won.
However, as valuable as these two dungeons were, they were the most troublesome to clear. A countless number of rankers stepped in to clear them, and in Wyvernâs Nest, many rankers died. Countries should have realized that high-ranked dungeons will be more disastrous when they become Field Dungeons.
[Yeah. A lot of the high ranking ability users were sent to A or A+ ranked dungeons. For Event Dungeons ranked S or above, the Guardian plans on clearing them one by one in order. Theyâre sending all of their rankers. Freedom Wing and rogues are also being called to prepare for Event Raids.]
[That sounds like itâs going to take a long time⊠Itâs perfect for glancing over Event Dungeons ranked B or below.]
[A lot of people are saying that low-ranked dungeons should also be cleared. But⊠theyâre all being ignored.]
It seemed humans were still only thinking about how to benefit from the change brought by Two Moon. I couldnât blame them. A year and a half passed since the world transformed into fantasy. Civilization remained unhurt by what seemed like a calamity, and monster remains and Mana Stones even improved the advancement in science and technology. It made sense that some called emergence of monsters the âblessing of God shifting the worldâs paradigm.â To them, ability users killed by monsters would only be âpain necessary for change.â
It was only obvious. As long as they didnât know about the dungeon, as long as they didnât know about other worlds heading to ruin, it was only natural. As long as their lives werenât in danger, all humans, including me, would rather satisfy their hungry stomach than to worry about the future. The reason we were making a fuss over it was that we were dungeon explorers before we were Earthâs ability users.
To make them understand, the number of dungeon explorers just had to increase over hundreds of years. During that time, countless Event Dungeons would appear and transform into Field Dungeons. Countless Event Raids would also break out and destroy Earthâs civilization.
Humanity will then understand. That the emergence of monsters wasnât a blessing.
[Even if Field Dungeons donât appear, humanity already lost too much land to monsters.]
[Philippines, Madagascar, Republic of South Africa, Dominican RepublicâŠ]
There were already several ruined countries, and ten times as many countries relinquished entire regions to monsters. Even so, humans werenât considering taking back the lands claimed by monsters and were thinking about increasing monstersâ territories just because they would be able to control them. This couldnât continue. Like this, Earth would only be coming closer to ruin.
[Hwaya, if you have something you want to say, say it.]
I thrust out my spear. A whirlpool instantly formed on its tip, which then shot toward the Wraith Queenâs head.
[⊠But Iâm not the guild master, Shin.]
[Iâm ordering you with full confidence. Do as youâd like.]
[I want to burn all the thoughtless idiots into cinders.]
[What you want to do before that.]
[I want to get rid of all the Event DungeonsâŠ]
At Hwayaâs words, I became silent for a moment. It wasnât just because 12 Wraith Queens were flying toward me while shooting ectoplasm arrows. I could simply use Divine Speed once and take care of them all.
It was because I thought of Ciara. I was displeased and annoyed that what we were about to do was exactly what she wanted. However, since it was unavoidable for me to achieve my goals, I would have to bear with it. If I gave up my goals just because of a slight annoyance in the process, I would only regret it later.
Besides, Ciara wasnât completely wrong either. I would be safer if there were more people helping, and if I was safe, Earth would be safe as well.
Just look at the current situation. Instead of helping Earth become safer, humans were doing foolish things for their own greed. Since Guardian nor Freedom Wing couldnât get out of their selfishness, Ciaraâs suggestion for me to lead Earthâs ability users wasnât entirely wrong.
That said, I wasnât wrong either.
[⊠There should be countries that donât have the necessary defensive capabilities against monsters. They should be allowing other countriesâ ability users to enter their gates.]
[Shin!]
[I think you know what Iâm trying to say, but⊠âfor now,â letâs try to do it âlawfully.â]
[ThâŠ. Thank you!]
[I know whatâs important, Hwaya. I also know whatâs best for the future. If itâs something we can do, we should probably do it. I doubt itâll be dangerous with our guild membersâ strength, but donât force them to come. Only take volunteers. I donât want to use my position as the guild master to order them around.]
[Iâll help! If thatâs what Hwaya unni wants and what Shin-nim recommends, Iâll help gladly!]
[I want to help too! I want to take this opportunity to go to Earth!]
[Clearing Event Dungeons give achievements right? Iâll help too!]
[If itâs what Shin wants, Iâll do anything.]
[Iâll help, but I want to do it alone. I want to test my improved spearmanship.]
[I probably have to help too⊠How annoying.]
[No, Walker. Considering the current state of affairs, you stay home and focus on protecting Yua.]
[Damn it. While you guys accomplish cool things, why do I have to stay home and be a bodyguard⊠Kuk!]
Wraith Queens were gathering. Traps exploded, spreading poisonous mist, frost crystals, and sleeping gas. Using Tempest, I blew them all away, then gathered my aura in my spear. White aura. It was the Heroic Aura, only allowed for Heroes.
[As for the âothers,â Iâll take care of them when I get out. Just wait for one month.]
[Okay!]
[Iâll wait for you, Shin-nim!]
[I love you, I want to see you.]
[Wait, who was the girl that just confessed her love to Kang Shin? She used the Floor Shopâs voice changing item! I couldnât even think about buying it because it cost 1.5 million gold!]
[How can you be certain it was a girl, Walker? There are men in this guild, too⊠Could it be⊠you?]
[Do you want to fight, you old⊠Kuk!]
It was impossible to avoid getting attention. We were strong. We would inevitably obtain a special position compared to other ability users. In that case, I would rather do things my way.
âI donât like your methods, Ciara. People should sacrifice themselves to protect the Hero? Thatâs wrong. That would only be a never-ending vicious cycle. Furthermore, I hate the idea that people should live or die for others. As humans, we have a right to die for our sake.â
I didnât want to restrict others. For that to be possible, the Hero had to be stronger than anyone else. He had to be so strong that they didnât need to worry about me. Thankfully, the Hero in question was an excellent man of extreme talent. Furthermore, he still had 20 years left to grow.
20 years. It was enough time for humanity to grow and come to take care of itself. Coincidentally, I had the appropriate identity to influence them toward that direction.
âHuaaaaaaaaaap!â
[Kyaaaaaaaak!]
[Kiaaaaaaaa!]
I thrust out the aura imbued in my spear. The spiraling aura instantly swallowed all the Wraith Queens and exploded. Perfect.