I Became the Successor of the Martial God Chapter 31

I Became the Successor of the Martial God

Chapter 31.  

There is always wind on Seoraksan Mountain.

And since there is always snow piled up here, the wind soon turns into a blizzard.

That blizzard…

Whoooosh!

“Ugh, ughaaa! Y-Youngest Master!”

It causes great suffering to passersby.

Yoo Baek-jun and his party were walking through the snowfields.

Cheon Min-ju, who was following at the very back, let out a scream.

Despite wearing the best cold-weather gear, this icy wind was unbearable.

“M-My face feels like it’s going to fall off!”

“Youngest Master, it’s unbearably cold.”

Cheon Min-ju kept screaming, and even the usually silent Park Chan-kyung voiced his discomfort.

The only ones unaffected were Yoo Baek-jun and Han Seong-ah.

“Master Han Seong-ah, are you alright?”

“Yes. Since I’ve lived on Seoraksan Mountain since childhood, I can endure this level of cold.”

“Y-You’re alright?! With this?!”

“The cold actually boosts my condition. Feels good, no?”

Cheon Min-ju looked horrified.

‘Are these people monsters? Does living on Seoraksan Mountain for a long time make you like this…?’

How could anyone feel better in such cold?

But it was true.

Yoo Baek-jun was naturally immune to the cold due to his Black Ghost Robe and traits, and his body became more active the colder it got.

Han Seong-ah had genuinely adapted to the cold.

“Y-Youngest Master… I think I’m going to die.”

“Tsk, I wasn’t planning to use this yet.”

Yoo Baek-jun clicked his tongue and pulled out a pill from his pocket. He had prepared it just in case.

“W-What is it?”

“A pill to lessen the cold. It’s made with expensive ingredients, so make sure it’s worth it.”

“O-Okay.”

The two trainees hastily swallowed the pill.

Soon after, their pale faces began to regain some color.

“I-It’s getting warmer…”

“I’m sorry, Youngest Master. Causing trouble like this from the start…”

“It’s alright. All disciples go through this.”

Whoosh!

Yoo Baek-jun exhaled.

It had been about half a day since they left the family estate.

They would need to walk for three full days to reach their destination.

‘Well, I’ve brought everything I need.’

The gate that appeared inside the dungeon.

It was extremely tricky.

But for Yoo Baek-jun, who knew exactly what kind of dungeon it was and what would emerge from the gate…

‘There’s no dungeon as good as this one.’

Yoo Baek-jun hummed a tune.

Thinking about what they would gain from this journey made him hum unconsciously.

The disciples were shocked, though.

—Kya-hoooong!

Seol-yeong, perhaps because she liked the cold, ran around wildly nearby.

Cheon Min-ju watched her with a fond expression.

“Hmm.”

Han Seong-ah’s expression suddenly changed.

So did Yoo Baek-jun’s.

He called Seol-yeong back.

—Grooooooar!

The sound of a monster echoed from nearby.

Yoo Baek-jun pulled up his gloves, and Han Seong-ah and the trainees immediately drew their swords.

“Here we go. We’ll deal with every monster we encounter. Get ready.”

Monsters emerged from the blizzard.

“Kill them all!”

The party clashed with the monsters.

* * *

It took exactly three days for Yoo Baek-jun and his party to arrive at their destination.

At the end of their journey was a mid-slope of a mountain range.

“Is this the place?”

“Yeah.”

Before them was a wide crevice.

Below it lay the dungeon and the gate.

Yoo Baek-jun expertly took out rappelling equipment and set it up.

“Will the rappel still be here when we return?”

“We’ll have to climb back up ourselves. Hunters are unnecessarily sturdy, after all.”

“That’s true.”

Han Seong-ah nodded.

Descending was one thing, but climbing back up wouldn’t be too hard.

They could just scale the walls.

The disciples gripped the rappel.

“I’m nervous since it’s my first time.”

“W-We won’t fall, right?”

“You won’t die, at least.”

Yoo Baek-jun tucked Seol-yeong who was peeking out, into the Black Ghost’s inner pocket.

Then, he grabbed the rappel first.

“Follow me closely.”

He descended downward.

Drrrrrrt!

Yoo Baek-jun disappeared into the crevice at high speed.

Han Seong-ah and the disciples quickly followed.

Thud!

After descending for a while, the end of the crevice came into view.

Yoo Baek-jun landed on the ground, and the others followed suit.

“Hmm, deeper than I thought. And…”

Yoo Baek-jun looked around.

Ahead was what looked like a cave entrance, blocked by a massive stone.

Upon closer inspection, the stone had a magic circle engraved on it.

This must have been sealing the dungeon’s entrance.

“What’s inside?”

“Who knows.”

Yoo Baek-jun examined the cave entrance.

Around it were fragments resembling carapace. Seeing this, a smile crept onto his lips.

“Good.”

He checked his pocket.

The types of monsters inside hadn’t changed. That would be helpful.

“I sense a lot of presence. The number of monsters from the gate seems unusually high.”

“Huuu… Huff…”

The disciples tensed up at Han Seong-ah’s words, breathing heavily.

But Yoo Baek-jun remained completely unfazed.

“Can the four of us handle it?”

“Having more people would actually make it harder.”

“Huh?”

Yoo Baek-jun took out bottles filled with a liquid and handed one to each of them.

The bottles contained a green liquid.

“The monsters here are Venom Mantis.”

“Venom Mantis?”

“Yeah, Insect-type monsters…”

Yoo Baek-jun quickly explained.

The monsters here were insectoid.

They resembled mantises, with foreclaws as sharp as sickles, a tail on their abdomen, and a deadly venom coating that tail.

“They attack with their foreclaws, and if they see an opening—wham!—they stab with their tail. Then you’re dead.”

Moreover, these things had extremely sharp hearing.

This dungeon was pitch-black by design, and the monsters used that to ambush their prey.

Hence, they were tricky to deal with.

“That’s where this comes in.”

“This strange liquid?”

“Yeah, it’s the bodily fluid of Venom Mantises.”

“Bodily fluid…”

Venom Mantis had one weakness.

Their eyes.

Having lived in darkness for so long, they had gone completely blind.

Instead, their sense of smell and hearing were highly developed.

“These things identify whether something is one of them by scent. Since they’re completely blind.”

“So you mean…?”

“If we cover ourselves in this fluid, they’ll think we’re one of them.”

“Y-Youngest Master… S-So…”

Cheon Min-ju trembled.

She had a vague idea of what her Youngest Master was planning.

“…You’re not saying we should cover ourselves in this fluid and walk among those monsters, right?”

“As expected of a disciple of the Great Grandmaster Ja-yeon. Very sharp. You got it exactly right.”

“Youngest Master?!”

Cheon Min-ju screamed.

Suddenly, she was drenched in the monster’s bodily fluids and forced inside—what else could she do?

Park Chan-kyung’s face also turned pale.

“Indeed. That’s a splendid idea, Youngest master. Astonishing. How did you know?”

“Huh, Han Seong-ah, Instructor?”

“I bought some information. If you roam around hunter communities, there are folks who sell monster info.”

Of course, that was a lie.

There was no need to buy information—it was already embedded in Yoo Baek-jun’s mind.

He opened a bottle first and applied the Venom Mantis’ bodily fluids all over his head and body.

“Hmm, the smell is foul. It reminds me of when I wore monster hides during the sword trials back in the day. It was just like this.”

Han Seong-ah, strangely nostalgic, also applied the Venom Mantis’ fluids.

“This is a good experience too. Not bad at all.”

“A good experience? You’re really optimistic, huh…….”

The two disciples followed suit.

Everyone’s bodies and equipment were stained with the Venom Mantis’ fluids. Seol-yeong was no exception.

―Grrrrrr…….

“Alright, alright. I’ll clean you up later.”

―Krrrrrung…….

“Yeah, yeah, just meat. Will beef do?”

―Kyahooong.

Though still furious, the mention of beef quickly soothed the anger.

Yoo Baek-jun stood before the cave.

“Now, let’s go in.”

* * *

The cave’s interior was terrifyingly dark. There was absolutely no source of light.

“Youngest master, should we light a fire?”

“No. Everyone, take one of these.”

Yoo Baek-jun took out another pill and distributed them.

“It’s a pill made from Nightshade herb. It’ll brighten your night vision. Once you take it, you’ll see well enough.”

As he said, after consuming the Nightshade pill, the inside of the cave gradually became visible.

Park Chan-kyung marveled inwardly.

‘The breadth of his knowledge is astonishingly vast. I heard he can even make medicine…….’

‘Did he make it himself?’

While the two disciples were impressed, Han Seong-ah was amazed by something else.

‘Such thorough preparation. Could it be that he already knew what kind of monsters were here?’

Earlier, Yoo Baek-jun had seen fragments resembling a carapace near the entrance and smiled.

Thinking about it—

‘He must have deduced what monster was inside from that. That pouch of his must contain items prepared for every possible situation.’

For someone who’s never raided a gate before, this level of meticulousness was astounding.

She couldn’t help but click her tongue in admiration.

“Venom Mantis emit a cry to call their allies when in danger.”

Yoo Baek-jun, walking ahead, suddenly spoke.

“So we eliminate them before they can make a sound. Understood?”

“Yes, understood.”

The sound of monsters echoed nearby.

A hissing noise.

Yoo Baek-jun pulled up his gloves and exhaled deeply.

‘Venom Mantis. They aren’t originally from this dungeon—they must have come from the gate.’

The creatures native to this dungeon had long become prey for the Venom Mantises.

Though it’s a sealed place, the Martial God might have brought monsters here.

‘This isn’t an Entry-type gate.’

Gates are broadly divided into two types.

One is the ‘Emission-type gate,’ where monsters and a boss monster emerge as soon as the gate appears.

The other is the ‘Entry-type gate,’ where you must enter and complete quests inside.

‘Emission-type gates close once the boss monster is defeated.

Entry-type gates, if left unattended, will eventually spew out monsters.’

Or, if the hunters who entered first fail to clear it, monsters will emerge.

The gate in this dungeon is the former.

‘The boss monster of this gate is the Queen.’

She won’t leave her nest. That makes things easier.

“Youngest master, I see it.”

“Hmm.”

In the distance, a monster came into view.

A mantis, but one so grotesquely large it sent shivers down the spine. Its protruding tail, like that of a sphinx, was striking.

“Do we eliminate it?”

“No…….”

“Huh?”

Yoo Baek-jun shook his head.

“We capture it.”

“Capture? Why that thing?”

“Didn’t I say earlier? Venom Mantises call for allies when in danger.”

“Ah, Youngest master. Don’t tell me—”

Han Seong-ah seemed to have guessed what Yoo Baek-jun was planning.

He nodded quietly.

“Time’s wasting. Let’s finish this quickly.”

The important thing isn’t clearing this gate but finding the dungeon’s hidden elements.

He intended to clear it as fast as possible and find traces of the Martial God marks.

To do that…

‘We need to lure out all the monsters in this cave.’

Of course, it won’t be easy.

“Uh, youngest master. How do we subdue it……?”

“I’ll use a Silence spell. While it lasts, we sever its arms and tail, then tie its mouth shut so it can’t make noise.”

Yoo Baek-jun took out tools one by one.

Seeing this, Han Seong-ah was awed by how prepared he was.

“This should be more than enough.”

“Mhm. Park Chan-kyung, with me. Cheon Min-ju, move with Instructor Han Seong-ah. Any more questions?”

Yoo Baek-jun took out and tore a scroll.

The area was engulfed in silence.

It felt as if all outside noise had been cut off.

Now, any sound made here wouldn’t escape the Silence spell’s range.

“Let’s go.”

Yoo Baek-jun gestured, and the party cautiously advanced toward the Venom Mantis.