Acquired the Scam Rune in the Academy

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After monsters appeared in modern society.

Most of the special topographical features in the country became ‘outside the magical barrier fields’.

However, the space commonly referred to as the ‘field’ was not called that just because the [Magical Barriers] were absent.

Just as when you clear a dungeon, the dungeon boss takes a week to respawn, even in areas outside of dungeons, there is a kind of ‘monster respawn space’ designated by the system.

No matter how much you set up barriers and control magic in this space, monsters will appear somehow, breaking through them.

It was not simply a space without magical barriers, but a space where setting up barriers was meaningless anyway.

Although Holders around the world have conducted countless research to ‘annihilate monsters’ so far, everything ended in failure due to the system’s force majeure.

That’s why fields have now lost all possibility of [Magical Barriers] and their perception has changed to something like hunting grounds for Holders.

However, there was a special topographical feature in the country that escaped this field designation.

That was Gyeryong Mountain, which we are climbing today.

Gyeryong Mountain was not designated as a field, so it was an ‘ordinary mountain’ where [Magical Barriers] were normally activated.

Yoo Eun-seol nodded at my words.

“Yes. Gyeryong Mountain is the only mountain among the major mountains in the country that is not designated as a field. It’s close to being the only mountain in the country where you can go hiking on weekdays, so there are so many people even though it’s a weekday.”

“…I see.”

There’s still so much I don’t know.

Although I became a veteran B-grade Holder after going through all kinds of hardships for a year, in terms of Holder career I was still a fledgling Holder rookie.

There were still many fields and dungeons I hadn’t been to, and quite a bit of information I didn’t know because I didn’t see it in the original work.

I only found out today that Gyeryong Mountain was the only ‘no field’ among the major mountains in the country.

As if to prove that, there were an uncountable number of ordinary people hiking around us.

Despite the limit on the number of people at the entrance, there were too many to count.

“Mom, I think those are Holders over there.”

“Joon-soo, don’t point at the Holders like that.”

There were also some people looking curiously at us hiking while armed.

The good thing was that both Master and I were moving with masks and robes on, so there was no chance our identities would be revealed.

Given how much attention is focused on us just for being Holders, if people found out who we were…

They might completely block the way, asking for autographs and to take pictures.

‘Master is a celebrity even known to ordinary people.’

I’ve only recently made a name for myself, and even then Holders are more interested in me as a promising prospect…

Master is one of only five ‘S-grade Holders’ in the country.

Moreover, a genius among geniuses who became the youngest S-grade Holder ever.

The number of S-grade Holders also signified national status, so his popularity surpassed that of average entertainers or sports stars.

Dressing up like this to go to dungeons was not excessive at all.

[You have entered the dungeon.]

[The valor of the dungeon temporarily raises the spirit and divinity of the Holder.]

We soon arrived at the dungeon, passing through the large crowd.

<The River Touched by the Breath of a Dragon>

As soon as I entered here, I had to read another message I was seeing for the first time.

‘What the. It raises instead of lowers?’

When entering a mid-level dungeon that could have average C-grade or higher monsters appearing… A stat downgrade info window normally pops up.

This is a debuff held by the dungeon itself, which cannot be immune even with mental stats or [Enlightenment Quotient].

No matter how strong the Holder, they couldn’t escape this debuff.

Yet for some reason, a message about raising stats appeared instead of lowering them.

Of course, this was a fact I had never heard of or experienced before.

I blinked my eyes a few times and rubbed them. Master looked at me strangely.

“Jae-hyun, what’s wrong?”

“The… Dungeon debuff…”

“Ah. It’s a bit strange, isn’t it? This dungeon oddly lowers mental and divine stats instead. When I raided this dungeon, I think it was my first time seeing a peculiar debuff like this too.”

“…Huh?”

Thinking I misheard, I stupidly repeated the question back.

It lowers instead of raising them?

‘What is this?’

I tilted my head and thought about it.

That is to say, the content of the info window Master saw and mine were different…

Was there any chance Master, overwhelmingly stronger than me, would have something happen to cause us to differ?

‘Ah. Is it because of the runes?’

The thought suddenly came to me.

The runes related to ‘dragon’ that I have.

[The Promise Bound by the Dragon] and [The Forgotten Dragon Knight’s Pride].

If there was any reason for this, the high chance was that these two runes were it.

The name of this dungeon was <The River Touched by the Breath of a Dragon>.

Not only was it a dungeon related to dragons by name, the two runes I had contained the ‘legend of the dragon knight and dragon’, so they were special runes.

“Master.”

“Yes. Go ahead.”

“Is the boss of this dungeon perhaps a dragon?”

The top-tier dungeon <The River Touched by the Breath of a Dragon>.

In fact, the Holder world didn’t really know much about this dungeon.

The reason was simple.

Although the raid was already over, Master, who completed the raid, personally bore the ‘dungeon operation’ costs and effectively closed the dungeon itself.

So there was no way to even know what kind of monster the dungeon boss was, let alone information about clearing the dungeon.

There were various rumors circulating in the Holder world, like Yoo Eun-seol became an S-grade Holder through this dungeon, there is tremendous compensation waiting in the dungeon’s boss room…

That was also why.

“You’re right. I should have told Jae-hyun in advance….”

After thinking for a moment, Master pointed to the front part inside the dungeon.

“Let’s talk while walking first. No monsters appear in the first 10 minutes of this dungeon.”

We simply prepared our equipment and started walking inside the dungeon.

The <The River Touched by the Breath of a Dragon> is a common ‘forest’ type dungeon similar to other dungeons.

From the entrance to the middle and boss room, there is a lush forest in a straight line, and next to it is a much larger river flowing along.

The route is simpler than I thought.

Just go down along the waterway of the river and you’ll reach the end.

Of course, the level of monsters appearing in the process is enormous, but it’s not a difficult dungeon to clear because of the terrain and landmarks.

Compared to dungeons I’ve cleared before, it was a very similar form to the <Forest Covered by Snakes>.

“First of all, to conclude, the boss of this dungeon is not a dragon.”

“It’s not a dragon?”

“Yes. To be precise, none of the monsters in this dungeon are related at all to the form of the rumored ‘dragon’.”

According to Master’s words.

There were no dragons in the <The River Touched by the Breath of a Dragon>.

In fact, there were no dragons, let alone the ‘Grisly Drakes’ or ‘Imugi of the Mountain’ that I saw before…

There were also no beings that could be called ‘sub-dragon’.

The appearing monsters were mostly beast-shaped monsters or monsters with similar humanoid forms.

They were monsters said to possess mostly debuff skills.

After hearing that, I asked with a puzzled face.

“Then why is the dungeon named River Touched by the Breath of a Dragon? Isn’t it a name not set by the Holder Association?”

The names of dungeons are determined in two ways.

One is after the clear, the Holder Association collectively reviews the reports and decides.

The other is when the name of the dungeon was originally set from the beginning.

Based on the story so far, the latter was highly likely for this dungeon.

Master nodded and answered.

“Yes. The dungeon name was originally set.”

And with that statement, she took out a pendant-like item from her belongings.

Inside the pendant shone a brilliant blue gem and a sword shaped drawing engraved on it.

“It’s an item called the ‘Token of Courageous Oath’. I discovered it in the rest room after clearing. In the details of this item, the part about the name of this dungeon is specified.”

“Token of Courageous Oath….”

I murmured that name blankly.

Courageous, and oath.

Both were very familiar words.

Master continued.

“There are various effects of the item but… The most important thing is that it gives qualification to enter the dual dungeon inside. More precisely, it gives qualification to the Holder, and for others with different qualifications, it shines and reacts. The reason why I was able to find Jae-hyun as my partner was also thanks to the effect of this item.”

The questions I had been curious about were solved there.

The reason why Master chose me accurately.

And the reason she knew about the entry conditions for the dual dungeon.

It seemed that everything was explained in the related item.

And thinking that far, I suddenly clapped my hands as a thought occurred to me.

“Ah! Then that dual dungeon…”

“Yes. I think that’s really the dungeon related to the existence called dragons. I think this dungeon is more like a rite of passage to get in there.”

It seems like too powerful of a dungeon for just a rite of passage though…

Anyway, I understood everything Master was trying to say.

Around then when the ’10 minutes’ she first mentioned was ending.

Wooo wooo—!!

Syut, ahhh—!

Suddenly from somewhere.

Along with a heavy wailing sound, I heard the sound of a huge wave of water.

The owner of the sound was close.

It was the sound coming from behind the large river right next to us.

I quickly took out the [Sword of Penitent] and the [Goblin Bronze Shield] with the Art of Weapon Exchange.

It was to respond defensively to the sudden situation.

But Master reached out her hand and stopped me.

“Stay calm. It’s a reactive-type monster.”

“A reactive-type monster?”

Yes. To be precise, it will pass by without us even having a chance to attack. It’s a peculiar monster that moves repeatedly from the entrance to the deepest part and back.”

Unlike normal monsters, reactive-type monsters don’t attack until the Holder attacks first.

Extremely rare, but while going around dungeons, monsters like that would occasionally appear.

In fact, this monster doesn’t even attack, it just passes by without giving us a chance apparently.

Hearing Master’s words, I also relaxed my guard stance relieved.

No need to waste strength on a monster we won’t even hunt.

But….

Wooo wooo—!!

Syut ahah—!!

Coo, quaah—!!

“Master? Isn’t this guy not passing by?”

“Huh…?”

The giant monster moving with tremendous roar stopped right next to us.

A completely different development from Master’s words that it would pass by without a chance to hunt it.

Even Master’s face showed rare bewilderment.

But the really important thing…

Wasn’t that.

– Lord, Aspidochelone! I greet the oath keeper of the great existence! I will safely transport the oath keeper to wherever they wish to go!!

The monster’s bellowing is communicated through the [Language] rune.

But I didn’t understand its words straight away.

I suddenly felt like an idiot.

…Just what the hell is this giant turtle punk?

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