The Dungeon Monsters Keep Offering Sacrifices

The Dungeon Monsters Keep Offering Sacrifices – 173

EP.173 Maru and Death Knight’s Dungeon Conquest (1)

“Mr. Lee Kang-hyun will be working hard for our team from now on as an advisor.”

Under Jung Ye-rin’s lead, I was able to exchange greetings with the team members.

As far as greetings go, it was just a simple exchange of names, but the reaction wasn’t particularly good.

No, there was just no interest at all.

‘Well, I guess that’s to be expected.’

After all, there wouldn’t be any direct contact between me and them.

There was only one team member I needed to know.

“Ah, Kang-hyun, if you have any questions, you can contact me or Assistant manager Park Seo-yun.”

Assistant manager Park Seo-yun.

The hunter who had come to pick me up at my house.

At that moment, Jung Ye-rin looked back at the team members.

“And advisor Lee Kang-hyun has prepared a gift for all of you.”

As soon as her words ended, cheers erupted from around.

“Wow, Advisor Lee is the best!”

“As expected of an advisor, huh? So sensible.”

I smiled as I handed out bottles filled with alcohol to each team member.

“Huh? What’s this? A potion?”

Naturally, there were puzzled reactions.

“No, it’s alcohol.”

“Alcohol at the company…?”

Despite such reactions, some team members immediately opened the bottles and started drinking.

“Hey, Park Seo-yun! What are you doing during work hours?”

Jung Ye-rin said jokingly, but soon joined in tilting the bottle and burst into laughter.

The meeting room atmosphere, which had been bleak until just moments ago, quickly filled with lively energy.

At that time, Assistant manager Park Seo-yun, who had taken a sip first, exclaimed in admiration.

“Wow, this alcohol is really delicious!”

Starting with him, other team members also kept expressing their admiration.

“That’s right, Advisor. Where did you get this alcohol?”

I felt proud watching their reactions.

‘Celia, you’re the best.’

This reaction was ultimately thanks to the alcohol filled with Celia’s sincere efforts, offered as a sacrifice.

I decided to praise Celia to the team members as a way of acknowledging her hard work.

“Actually, this alcohol was made by someone important to me.”

The dungeon is like my lifeline.

Celia, who guards such a dungeon, couldn’t help but be important to me.

Suddenly, the eyes of the team members looking at me sparkled.

“Could it be a woman?”

Since Celia was a succubus, she was indeed a woman.

I smiled awkwardly and waved my hand.

But the expressions of the team members were full of smiles.

On the other hand, Jung Ye-rin’s expression slightly hardened.

‘Is the alcohol not to her liking?’

Anyway, thanks to the gift I brought, the atmosphere had brightened considerably.

After exchanging greetings in a warm atmosphere, we dove into the main meeting.

The meeting wasn’t anything grand.

“This week, the dungeons assigned to our team are a C-rank Stone Golem dungeon and a presumed B-rank Minotaur dungeon…”

Under the team leader’s guidance, we simply discussed which dungeons were assigned to the team, their difficulty levels, and conquest plans.

But at that moment.

Ding-

An alarm went off on my smartphone.

‘What’s this?’

Recently, alarms only rang for dungeon-related matters.

I quickly excused myself and looked at the screen.

– The [Dungeon Support & Dispatch] system has been upgraded to [Dungeon Conquest & Dispatch]. –

‘Upgrade?’

Although it’s been sparse lately, I used to dispatch monsters to support dungeons quite actively.

Thanks to that, wasn’t I able to form a connection with the Azmo dungeon?

But now that system has been upgraded, changing from support to conquest.

‘Conquest sounds rather brutal.’

I checked the list of dungeons that appeared below the notification.

– Dungeon ‘The Art of Slowness’ (El Dorad, Dungeon Master: 1-star Zombie) –

– Dungeon ‘Tomb of Stones’ (Earth, Dungeon Master: C-rank Stone Golem) –

– Dungeon ‘Wandering Maze’ (Earth, Dungeon Master: A-rank Minotaur Chieftain) –

– Please select a dungeon and monsters to dispatch. –

Stone Golem and Minotaur dungeons…

‘Something seems familiar.’

As I stared at the screen for a while, Jung Ye-rin’s voice reached my ears.

“First, the C-rank Stone Golem dungeon, upon inspection, is said to have a massive tomb made of stones. The problem is the Minotaur dungeon. The reason why it’s estimated as B-rank rather than confirmed is because the dungeon interior is a complex maze…”

From her story, I could be certain.

The fact that some of the dungeons on my list matched the ones Jung Ye-rin was talking about.

“The advance team couldn’t fully explore the maze, they say. So, it’s not confirmed whether the dungeon master is a regular Minotaur or an evolved one, which is why it’s estimated as B-rank.”

“……”

I listened to her explanation in a daze.

It seemed I could earn my keep as an advisor after all.

====

***

====

As the meeting was almost over, suddenly the conference room door opened and a man entered.

With his appearance, the room fell silent in an instant.

“Ah, sorry. I’m late. Haha.”

The man apologized nonchalantly with an annoying smile.

Jung Ye-rin’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

Other team members also wore awkward expressions.

The man approached me with a sly smile.

“Ah, you must be the new advisor? Nice to meet you. Haha.”

Wondering who he was, I glanced aside and saw Jung Ye-rin mouthing something.

‘Yoon Tae-kyung…?’

The very person I heard about in the elevator, now suspected to be in the line of Vice Guild Master Jung Tae-young, Jung Ye-rin’s older brother, a B-rank hunter.

“I’m Yoon Tae-kyung. Pleased to meet you.”

He approached me and offered a handshake.

I also smiled and extended my hand.

“I’m Lee Kang-hyun.”

Even during the handshake, Yoon Tae-kyung’s gaze remained sharp.

“But you know, Advisor, I heard you’re quite skilled, so I’m curious why you chose to come here of all places. Surely other places would have been eager to have you, right?”

Though his tone was light, his words were laced with blatant disrespect.

It was an explicit doubt about my abilities.

‘He sees me as a parachute hire, huh.’

In a way, he wasn’t wrong.

Regardless of my skills, my appointment to this position was the result of various complex interests intertwining.

But that statement just now was an insult not only to me but also to Team Leader Jung Ye-rin.

“Mr. Yoon Tae-kyung, that’s enough!”

Yoon Tae-kyung continued, paying no heed.

“I mean, come on? No particular experience, and all you seem to do is summon that weak-looking skeleton. I’m really curious about what made you qualified to be an advisor. Haha, don’t take it too personally, I’m just curious.”

“Clack…”

Maru was about to draw his demon sword, but I stopped him.

“Hold it.”

“Clack.”

Not just Maru, but Jung Ye-rin’s face also turned red.

She must have been angry at the team member’s behavior ignoring her words.

As she was about to step forward, I stopped her and took a step forward myself.

“Kang-hyun…”

Jung Ye-rin murmured softly, but I looked straight at Yoon Tae-kyung and spoke calmly.

“Let’s stop here. You seem curious about my abilities, but there will be opportunities to demonstrate them in the future.”

“……”

Yoon Tae-kyung fell into a brief silence at my firm attitude.

But soon, as if something had irritated him, he raised his voice.

“If you’re so great, why don’t you show us right now! Ah, there’s a perfect place right there.”

Yoon Tae-kyung pointed at the Stone Golem dungeon written on the whiteboard.

“A C-rank dungeon. Should be nothing for someone of your caliber, right? Why don’t you try conquering it alone?”

“No, Mr. Yoon Tae-kyung!”

Jung Ye-rin got angry at the team member’s unreasonable words, but I stopped her once again.

“It’s alright.”

Wasn’t this expected anyway?

Not just Yoon Tae-kyung, but they don’t know what traits and skills I possess.

Even if I let this situation pass, it would surely hold me back in the future.

“Fine, I’ll show you.”

“…Pardon?”

Yoon Tae-kyung was taken aback by my confident demeanor.

====

***

====

‘What is that bastard thinking?’

Yoon Tae-kyung thought as he looked at Lee Kang-hyun standing before him.

The man who was personally recruited by Team Leader Jung Ye-rin as the team’s advisor.

The problem was that the man didn’t seem to have any special abilities.

Even the skeleton he kept with him looked too ordinary.

‘Is it just bravado?’

He was rather taken aback by how confidently the other party was acting.

‘Yeah, it must be bravado.’

His pride wouldn’t let him back out now.

It was obvious that even if he entered the dungeon, he’d just hide and waste time before coming out.

‘Heh, you’re done for.’

As he inwardly sneered, he recalled his conversation with the Vice Guild Master.

– That bitch Jung Ye-rin hired an advisor behind my back. She’s probably paying his salary from the team’s operating budget too. So report everything without missing a single detail. Who he is, what he does, everything.

The Vice Guild Master’s instructions were simple.

To expose the incompetence of Lee Kang-hyun, the advisor hired by Jung Ye-rin.

Hiring him as a team advisor with generous treatment, but he’s incompetent?

The plan was to use that immediately to pin embezzlement charges on Jung Ye-rin.

– If you can just get rid of Jung Ye-rin, that team leader position is yours.

Moreover, if this job went well, he was set to take Jung Ye-rin’s position as team leader.

That was the promise with the Vice Guild Master.

Yoon Tae-kyung smiled slightly at the hopeful future. Then he looked at Jung Ye-rin with pitying eyes.

‘That’s what you get for hiring just anyone.’

It wasn’t even an officially registered advisor position within the guild.

Still, considering Jung Ye-rin’s personality, it probably wasn’t embezzlement.

‘Is he her boyfriend?’

It was clear that she had simply given him the position based on their personal relationship.

Though he didn’t know the exact circumstances, Yoon Tae-kyung just needed to do his job.

“Since the advisor said he’d do it, you don’t have any objections, right, Team Leader?”

The situation had now reached a point of no return for anyone.

====

***

====

Action was swift.

As Yoon Tae-kyung said, I prepared to enter the Stone Golem dungeon alone.

The dungeon was C-rank.

Since I was going in alone to clear it, Jung Ye-rin prepared for any contingencies.

All team members were armed and ready to enter the dungeon at any moment, and guild medical staff were on standby.

A moment later, Jung Ye-rin told me not to overdo it, but I shook my head.

“It’s alright. This is necessary for me to work comfortably in the future.”

This was indeed necessary for me to work comfortably in the future.

Moreover, this level was nothing to me.

‘Status window.’

I called up my status window.

[Traits]

True Dungeon Master (EX)

Owner of the Demon Sword (S)

Magic Sensitivity (A)

Magic Circuit (B)

Spirit Affinity (B)

[Basic Information]

Health: C+

Attack: B+

Defense: C

Magic: A+

Divine Power: D

[Skills]

Knight Oath (S): Maru (Active)

Holy Shield (C)

Fireball (E)

Goddess’s Healing (E)

Venom Explosion (A)

My information had changed slightly thanks to the recently acquired Spirit Affinity and Venom Explosion.

It had clearly improved, but in its current state, it wasn’t a good match against Stone Golems.

Skills like Fireball or the spherical Venom-launching Venom Explosion would be difficult to deal significant damage to Stone Golems made of rock.

That didn’t mean I lacked confidence, though.

I had Maru, after all.

And I had another ace up my sleeve.

‘Let’s see…’

– You have selected the dungeon ‘Tomb of Stones’ from [Dungeon Support & Dispatch]. –

– Please select the monster you wish to dispatch to the dungeon ‘Tomb of Stones’. –

It was monster dispatch.

‘Since Maru will be entering with me anyway, who should I choose?’

In fact, I had countless options.

I could just send Celia to sweep through the Stone Golems.

A C-rank dungeon would be at most 3-star, so there was a big difference compared to the 6-star Celia.

However, I shook my head.

‘Let’s exclude Celia since she’ll be busy managing the dungeon.’

I didn’t want to burden her with extra work unnecessarily.

The same went for Goblin Lord.

‘Then is Death Knight the only one left?’

I excluded Baalcherit as well. If it was just sending a dispatch, it would be fine, but since I was planning to enter the dungeon myself, I needed someone reliable.

‘Death Knight would be perfect indeed.’

I was already planning to enter the Stone Golem dungeon made of stone tombs.

‘Death Knight’s pickaxe skills were no joke.’

Thinking that, I made my way towards the dungeon.

“Let’s go, Maru.”

“Clack!”

As I stepped into the dungeon, I touched the screen.

– Dispatching Death Knight to the dungeon ‘Tomb of Stones’. –