“Tch. A hero, huh? Rank A. Let’s retreat for now.”
“How did they know we were coming?”
They took out a scroll from their robes and tore it open.
A bright light emanated from the scroll.
Their bodies vanished like phantoms.
‘Lady Laura, why didn’t you use Dispel…’
In the face of this sudden situation, we were all taken aback.
“What, what is this?”
“What’s that hole, and why are those people just disappearing?”
“Meowww!”
Only Laura calmly reprimanded me.
[What are you going to do with Dispel? There are too many eyes watching.]
In that short moment, I was so focused on capturing them that I hadn’t thought that far ahead.
Upon reflection, I realized we were with other people.
Even if I captured them, I would have had to hand them over to the police or a hero.
To get information, I’d have to torture them, but doing that in front of everyone would be inappropriate.
Laura added in a slightly weary voice.
[And besides…it wouldn’t have worked anyway. That was a proper magician’s scroll.]
“Isn’t everything supposed to be dispellable by you?”
[That’s only by your Earth standards where magical ability just grows over time. In my world, Dispel would be impossible against even Rank A. It’s not some omnipotent technique, you know.]
In other words, Dispel is a civilian-killing tool and doesn’t affect higher-level opponents.
I resolved to act more carefully as a Dark Knight in the future.
If Laura was right, it might not work on an S-rank hero. When that time comes, I’ll need to defeat them with my own power.
“Was it just me that saw that? People in red robes just disappeared right in front of our eyes…”
Park Hayeon looked around at us with a pale face, as if she’d seen a ghost.
“Me, me too.”
Lee Sang-hyun was trembling in fear.
With serious expressions, the two began debating what that thing just now was.
Something else caught my attention.
‘Those guys earlier spoke about A-rank… Could they have been talking about me?’
Strictly speaking, though my average stats are a bit lower due to luck, I do have abilities comparable to A-rank.
Laura answered me.
[An adequately trained wizard can roughly gauge someone’s strength. It’s partly your fault for not hiding it well enough.]
So, that’s why they knew.
Upon further inspection, the red robes those guys were wearing looked familiar.
‘Didn’t they belong to the Gospel of Salvation?’
The Gospel of Salvation.
They were originally supposed to appear later in the story; it was a cult worshiping a false resurrected Jesus.
But their “resurrected Jesus” was actually a demon that deceived people. The rituals the cultists performed to realize the “Kingdom of God” on Earth were actually just ceremonies to summon the Demon King.
‘Were they behind this Gate incident?’
This kind of early appearance wasn’t something that happened in the game, so even I didn’t know about it.
“But isn’t this a Gate?”
Lee Sang-hyun, being a third-year, was the first to notice.
“Gate?”
“Meowww.”
I took out the “mana detector” from my bag.
It’s a device used to determine the level of a Gate. It looks a bit like a Geiger counter.
“That’s a mana detector, right? You brought that?”
I had it just in case they got scared and refused to enter the dungeon.
“Let’s check it.”
I held the detector near the Gate.
The gauge on the device started to move, the numbers gradually increasing.
1171 —
1462 —
2147 —
2235 —
2236 D
“It’s a D-rank dungeon.”
“The power felt like it might’ve been an A-rank dungeon’s worth, but this is much lower than I expected.”
Lee Sang-hyun let out a sigh of relief.
I was also relieved.
When those Gospel of Salvation wizards showed up earlier, I thought for sure they were up to something, but maybe it was just the Gate appearing by itself.
It’s time to achieve the hidden purpose of this trip.
I declared boldly.
“Wanna go inside?”
“What?”
“Meowww!”
Everyone gasped and started freaking out.
To calm them, I decided to downplay the dungeon.
“A D-rank dungeon is within our capabilities. Some of you might not know, but I’ve recently been re-ranked as B-rank.”
“Whoa. B-rank? When did you get so strong?”
Park Hayeon looked surprised.
I felt a twinge of guilt but lied smoothly.
“Yeah, I’ve been practicing whenever I have the time.”
“So that’s what you were doing when you went out late at night?”
“That’s right. I can’t go into detail, but yeah.”
“Mmm.”
Park Hayeon reluctantly nodded.
“Let’s gather opinions. What do we think? Personally, I think camping inside this D-rank dungeon sounds fun.”
“It seems doable, right?”
Park Hayeon supported me.
As usual, she was willing to take risks, just like in the original story.
Isiah and Lee Sang-hyun, however, still seemed hesitant.
“Still, is that okay? We’re still students. Even if we are, what about your cousin?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Being worried about her?”
‘True though.’
Outwardly, she’s just a small child, so I understand their concern.
She decided to handle this part herself.
“Don’t worry. The only one here stronger than me is Shinnoda.”
“What? Haha. This kid doesn’t know anything, huh? The rest of us here are Academy students, you know.”
She summoned fire on her fingertip. The fire quickly grew into a sphere larger than a person’s head.
“Still doubting?”
“That’s just making fire…”
The fireball evolved into a fiery tornado that seemed like it could engulf a mountain. The searing heat dominated the surrounding area.
“Still doubting?”
“Uh…”
Lee Sang-hyun couldn’t contain his astonishment.
Park Hayeon looked worried.
“But, isn’t that starting a forest fire?”
“Don’t worry.”
The fire tornado dissipated.
The fires scattered across the mountain returned to her fingertips as if rewinding time.
We all stared at the scene in a daze.
“You’re really amazing.”
I checked everyone’s faces.
“What do you think? If we go in, we can use the camping gear we have. Even if it takes a while, we can just sleep inside. After all, clearing this dungeon properly might help us boost our stats significantly.”
Everyone’s eyes sparkled at the mention of stat improvement.
It was a dream scenario for an Awakened One.
In truth, even if I knew nothing about this dungeon, our strength was enough to overcome it.
Not to mention, I already knew all the hidden mechanics.
Our group ultimately agreed to enter the dungeon.
Although there was a possibility that the mysterious red-robed figures might have been up to something, my forceful suggestion to go in swayed everyone.
Since we were all Awakened Ones, danger awareness was weaker than normal people’s, and the teenage blood was easy to rally.
Lee Sang-hyun somehow followed my decision, while Isiah, despite being still scared, seemed content to follow the group.
“Alright. I’ll go in first. Follow me.”
I entered the gate.
—
It’s been a week since Dark Knight stopped hunting.
By now, everyone realized he had ceased his activities.
News channels kept blaring the story.
<Dark Knight Disappears! Hero’s Association Official: “It’s time to end vigilante justice.”>
<Since Dark Knight has stopped, criminal ability offenses rise by 20%... Is it really just coincidence?>
<End of Private Justice... Experts: “In the long run, this might be a positive development.”>
<Fansite "Knights" claims Dark Knight's pause is due to irrational internet criticism…>
A special program aired on TV.
An expert panel featuring a criminal psychologist and a retired hero.
The anchor brought up the day’s topic.
“Dark Knight seems to have stopped his activities and gone into hiding. What could be the reason?”
Ex B-rank hero Oh Joon-chul smiled faintly and responded.
“Probably due to the relentless pursuit by the association. I don’t know the internal details since I’ve quit, but they must’ve taken action. Though the association seems soft on the outside, they’re a fearsome organization.”
“Ah, I see. Have you encountered such cases in the past?”
“I’m not allowed to say due to a confidentiality agreement.”
The anchor handed the turn to criminal psychologist Kim Moon-chul.
Kim Moon-chul started sharing his analysis.
“I see things a little differently. Rather than the association giving him a meaningful blow, I think he was deeply discouraged by the public’s backlash when the fake Dark Knight, ‘Darkness Jumper,’ appeared.”
“Ah… So you’re saying the fansite’s claim has merit?”
“In context, they’re the same. Although what he does—private justice—is a threat to the rule of law, surely he must have a self-righteous belief in carrying out justice. But upon seeing the irrational criticism on the internet, it must’ve struck him. Even if it was aimed at a fake version of himself, the attacks ultimately targeted Dark Knight.”
“Ah… I see.”
He took a deep breath before continuing.
“He might have thought being someone’s knight was too good for the people of this country. Given that he has stopped this far, his psychological state is likely very unstable. Right now, he’s a walking bomb. Whoever pulls the trigger will create a full-on A-rank villain.”
Kim Moon-chul listed all his concerns.
