Infinite Competitive Dungeon Society

His hair that was once too long to bother to measure was now slightly above his waist. I still thought his hair was too long for a man, but he seemed satisfied with himself as he picked up the hair he cut off and imbued mana into it.

“Today, I will only use Gungnir. Show me your and your guild’s power. Prove to me the potential of your offer.”

“... Fine.”

It didn’t take long for his several hundred year of hair to come together in the form of a spear. As it continued to take in Kain’s mana, the spear became metallic, and I was honestly impressed.

“Wow.”

He swung it around a few times then nodded.

“It should have enough power for a one-time use.”

“It’s more than enough. What a monstrous amount of mana.”

“For several hundred years, leftover mana stockpiled on part of my body I didn’t need. Alright, let’s go to Earth.”

He slowly walked forward and stepped out of his room. Even though he was just wearing a single layer of clothes, he was giving off an imposing aura akin to an dominating emperor.

Still, he was an ally of an equal standing. No matter how pressured I felt inwardly, I acted fine on the outside as I returned to Earth. Obviously, we came out at the spot I entered the dungeon. In other words, we were right in front of the gate.

“Ah, Shin!”

“Sorry, Ye-Eun. We might not have enough time left, so we should hurry.”

While Ye-Eun and other Revival members looked at the good-looking man accompanying me in shock, I forced them to stand back. It seemed Kain didn’t plan on dragging things out either. As soon as he located the gate’s entrance, he narrowed his eyes and nodded.

“It’s more powerful than I thought. Using the dungeon’s power? A lot has changed since hundreds of years ago.”

“Or maybe, nothing changed at all.”

My comment made him pause for a moment. Soon, he snickered and nodded.

“Right, I was mistaken. So, about entering that thing... Simply put, it’s impossible.”

“What!?”

Didn’t Loretta say Gungnir would be able to break through the gate? Did I trust her too much!? Seeing me shocked, Kain shook his head.

“I meant it’s impossible with just Gungnir. I’ll need to add Sleipnir’s power.”

“...”

I knew he was helping me, but I wasn’t particularly happy with him purposely messing with me in such an important situation. When I eyed him sharply, he quickly continued.

“I’ll open it with Gungnir and send one in with Sleipnir. Only one person can go in.”

“I’ll go.”

If only one could go, it obviously had to be me. I couldn’t leave it to anyone else. I might have asked Father if he had a god’s true name, but he didn’t. There were many that tried to convince me and Daisy was surprisingly the most adamant.

“I’ll go. Kang Shin, you already fought. Too tired.”

“Don’t worry, I got an upgrade to make up for it. You should be feeling it too, right?”

“You used god’s power.”

“You used it too. I should go. Plus, we need your ability to fight the King of the Dead.”

“What if Kang Shin gets hurt?”

“I’m worried about Mommy, but also Daddy. I want to go too.”

“I’ll be fine. Ina too, stay here with the others.”

While I convinced everyone, Kain activated Odin’s power. When Odin’s power descended on the spear he made with his hair, the hair became larger and longer, and materialized aura rose up from it.

“Sleipnir moves in an instant. The moment I shoot Gungnir, I’ll summon Sleipnir, so hold onto it immediately.”

“I don’t plan on losing to anyone in speed, so don’t worry.”

He nodded. I looked back at the others one last time and shouted.

“Keep your eyes on St. Peter’s Basilica. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Daisy, if they attack us first, we might not be able to open our inventory, so have your Laki out. Everyone else, don’t forget about what I told you!”

“Don’t worry, Son. Your father’s here.”

Father grinned and smacked my shoulder.

“So relax and go save my daughter.”

“Gungnir!”

The moment Father finished his sentence, Kain shot his Gungnir. The spear, told by myths to always hit its target, left Kain’s hand and was sucked into the gate. Soon, the gate swirled and a huge hole appeared. Immediately afterwards, the eight-legged horse Kain summoned charged towards the hole. I use Divine Speed and quickly jumped on top of it.

It seemed there was an unseen connection between Gungnir and Sleipnir, as the hole which was closing itself after Gungnir entered suddenly enlarged itself when Sleipnir neared. Along with a feeling of being devoured by the gate, I was sucked in. Sleipnir didn’t stop and continued to run.

The gate’s inside was completely dark. The sky was full of black storm clouds, and black monsters that seemed to be minions of the gate’s king filled up the sky. Compared to the Beast King’s simple jungle environment, the current scene was far more pressuring.

[Kuhuk!]

The first thing I heard was a scream. Seemingly flying at the speed of light above Sleipnir, I surveyed the area. In front of me... was something gigantic.

“What’s that?”

First, I jumped off of Sleipnir. It didn’t slow down in the slightest and continued to charge before piercing through something giant. Again, a thunderous scream rang out.

[How did you get in!?]

Clearly, that giant was the one who screamed. I thought about what he was, but I couldn’t ascertain his shape. How was that possible? He was in front of my eyes, but I couldn’t capture his form?

“Shin!”

Thankfully, I could capture Hwaya’s voice. As I summoned Sharana, I used Talaria and flew towards the direction of her voice.

“Hwaya!”

It was thanks to Gungnir and Sleipnir buying us time. Currently, that giant was busy screaming out in pain and didn’t seem to care about attacking us. Relieved that Hwaya was fine, I immediately flew towards her.

Upon closer inspection, however, she wasn’t ‘fine.’ Her battle dress was torn up and she was full of wounds. Still, she still had all her limbs.

When Hwaya saw me, she widened her eyes. I stopped next to her and asked.

“Are you safe?”

She shouted back.

“That’s what I want to ask! You were alone with a king! What happened!?”

“I killed him.”

“I see... Thank goodness.”

Hwaya drooped her body. Her teary eyes told me what she was currently feeling, but I didn’t say anything.

She continued.

“I knew you must have entered by yourself too... I was so worried.”

“You were alone with a king too!”

“I can die, but if you die...!”

“Hwaya, there isn’t anyone that ‘can’ die.”

I spoke firmly as I took out my Chaotic Spear. That giant existence with an indeterminate form had finished writhing and was turning its head towards us. I had no clue where to attack him, but Gungnir and Sleipnir had caused him to scream. If he had an immortal body, he wouldn’t have done so. I knew there had to be a way to injure him.

Moreover, in the end, he was one of the Five Kings. Just like the Beast King said, if one of them were vastly superior to the others, they wouldn’t have been called the Five Kings. There may have been an hierarchy amongst them, but the difference wasn’t huge. I had already defeated the Beast King. Now, Hwaya was with me too.

I reaffirmed my resolve and spoke for both Hwaya and myself to hear.

“We’re going to survive until the end, Hwaya. Stay with me until the end.”

“Until the end? I’ll be with your until the end?”

I looked back at her. For some reason, her eyes were strangely out of strength.

“Shin, you aren’t interested in me anyways. That elf is the only one... You won’t accept me anyways.”

“No.”

“... Eh?”

“I’ll accept you.”

With that, I turned around and prepared myself for battle. The large flock of monsters in the air glared at us and shot towards us like rain. Seeing how each of them surpassed SS rank, I released my Evil Eyes.

Half of the monsters turned to stone, but more than half remained unpetrified. Next to me, Hwaya raised her hands and burned up the monsters with flames at a terrifying temperature.

“Y-You’ll accept me... But in the past, you...!”

“The way I think has changed since then... And what you mean to me changed too...”

Countless number of worlds and countless number of enemies. I undoubtedly had a long journey ahead of me with my current comrades. Some of them may quit when Earth became safe, but I felt that most wouldn’t.

Coincidentally, there wasn’t just camaraderie between us. For a long time, I was ignorant of their feelings or I had pretended to be ignorant. But now, it was hard to gloss over them. Seeing Loretta and Kain, I realized something.

I was no longer just an ordinary Korean person. I wasn’t even an ordinary Earthling. Considering all the things I had to do I couldn’t restrain myself under the name of Earth. If I had to pick a name, it would be explorer. Or maybe, savior was better. So I didn’t need to restrict myself to Earth’s common sense. I couldn’t.

Accepting only Loretta, but still brining other female members around to other worlds. I couldn’t do something like that. I had finally decided, and now that I have, I didn’t plan on hesitating. Imagining Lin’s grinning face irked me, but I had no other choice.

[You killed the other king! And you came to find me! Kahahaha, that lion died! Interesting, yes, very interesting!]

The king roared. In an instant, I somewhat found out what his ability was. He didn’t control high-temperature lava, he didn’t have the ability to conceal himself from the world, he didn’t have mountainous power or control toxic acid, nor did he control corpses. He controlled emotions of all creations.

His voice caused ripples in people’s hearts. Even the most powerful warriors or the most powerful magicians were mere humans when their mentalities broke down. This king had the ability to break down even the most strong-minded individual and bring him to ruin.

I was surprised that Hwaya was alive after facing off against someone like him for dozens of minutes. At the same time, I understood why Hwaya would say something she never would normally. When I realized it, a chill went down my back.

Hwaya was reaching her limit. If I came just a bit later...

“Hwaya, are you okay?”

I resisted the effect of the king’s voice with Absolute Soul’s power and asked Hwaya. I was thinking it might be better to make her faint. But for some reason, Hwaya’s answer was a bit strange.

“Yeah... I’m fine, I’m extremely fine.”

I turned around. Hwaya’s cheeks were bright red like she was a volcano about to erupt.

“Are you really fine!?”

“I’m so fine I don’t know what to do!”

Hwaya shouted. She certainly didn’t sound fine!

“I feel like I can kill him on my own!”

“Hwaya, calm down!”

“I won’t die, Shin! I don’t want to die!”

Hwaya’s eyes shone with a fearsome light. In that instant, a fiery blaze shot up above the incoming minions. They were flames of a truly colossal scale. Thinking about how Hwaya still had such firepower, a feeling of respect rose up within me.

Hwaya spread her arms out and shouted.

“I’m so happy right now and I’m sure more happy things will come in the future! How can I die now!?”

“Hwaya, you...”

“Let’s survive until the end, Shin! Until the end, crushing through all these bastards!”

Perhaps unhappy that Hwaya got her spirit back, the king led his formless body towards us. Just this made my heart drop a beat. Great despair that I had overcome until now with hope for the future suddenly rose up in my head.

A great fear laid its gaze on us.

[Come, Hero. Your body defeated the Beast King. Let’s see if you can withstand in front of my fear!]

The battle between us and the fear-ruling king had now begun.