I Got the Academy Morale Rune

198 – Dragon’s Breath River (2)

After a kaiju appeared in modern society.

Most of the special landmarks in Korea have become ‘fields outside the boundary’.

However, this space, commonly referred to as a ‘field’, was not named so simply because there was no [magical barrier].

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Just as the dungeon’s boss is regenerated after a week if you attack a dungeon, there is a kind of ‘monster regeneration space’ designated by the system even in non-dungeon areas.

In this space, no matter how much you set up barriers and control your magical powers, monsters will somehow break through and appear.

It was not simply a space without a barrier, but a space without any other meaning even if a barrier was placed.

In the meantime, holders from all over the world have conducted countless studies to ‘exterminate the monster’, but all of them have failed due to the force majeure of the system.

Because of that, the field had now lost all possibilities of the [Magic Barrier], and its perception had changed to that of a hunting ground for the holders.

“The field… Isn’t it?”

Unusually, however, there was a special geographical feature in Korea that was outside of these field designations.

That was Mt. Gyeryong that we climbed today.

Mt. Gyeryong was not designated as a field, so it was a ‘normal mountain’ where the [Magic Barrier] normally unfolds.

Yoo Eun-seol nodded at my words.

“Yeah. Gyeryongsan is the only mountain among major mountains in Korea that has not been designated as a field. It is almost the only mountain in Korea that can be climbed, so there are so many people even on weekdays.”

“… I see.”

There are still many things I don’t know.

I became a veteran level B-class holder after going through all the prenatal battles in one year, but in fact, I am a new holder who is no different from a new holder in terms of holder career.

There were many fields and dungeons that I hadn’t been to yet, and there were quite a few pieces of information that I didn’t know at all because I hadn’t seen them in the original work.

I learned for the first time today that Mt. Gyeryong is the only ‘no field’ among major mountains in Korea.

As if proving that, a huge number of ordinary people were crowding around and climbing.

Even though the entrance said that the number of people was limited to some extent, the number was so large that it was difficult to count.

“uh? Mom, look at those holders over there.”

“Junsu, don’t point your finger at the Holders like that.”

Some people looked at us with amazement as we climbed the mountain armed.

Fortunately, both Master and I were on the move wearing masks and robes, so our identities were not exposed.

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Just because we are holders attracts attention, and when we find out what kind of holder we are…

Asking for an autograph or taking a picture of them might even block the road.

‘Because Master is a celebrity that ordinary people know.’

I’ve only recently made my name known, and even then I’m a promising prospect with a higher level of interest among holders…

Master is an ‘S-class holder’ with only five people in Korea.

A genius among geniuses who even became the youngest S-rank holder.

The number of S-rank holders also meant national prestige, so their popularity was enough to slap quite a few celebrities and sports stars.

It wasn’t excessive at all to go to the dungeon in such a tight disguise.

[You have entered the dungeon.]

[The courageous energy of the dungeon temporarily increases the spirit and divinity of the holder.]

After going through so many people, I arrived at the dungeon quickly.

＜The river where the dragon’s breath touches＞.

As soon as I entered this place, I had to read another message I had never seen before.

‘what. It’s not going down, it’s going up?’

If you enter a dungeon that can be called an intermediate dungeon, where the average number of appearing monsters is C-class or higher… In general, an information window about a decrease in stats pops up.

This is a debuff possessed by the dungeon itself, which cannot be immunized by SPR or [Brightness Index].

No matter how strong the hole was, I couldn’t escape this debuff.

But, out of nowhere, a message of rise, not decline, appeared.

Of course, it is a fact that I have never heard of or experienced.

After blinking and rubbing my eyes a few times, Master looked at me strangely.

“Jaehyun, why?”

“That… Dungeon debuff… ”

“ah. A bit peculiar, right? This dungeon mysteriously lowers the spirit and divinity. I think it was the first time I saw a dungeon with such a special debuff when raiding.”

“… Yes?”

For a moment, I wondered if I had heard it wrong, so I asked back like an idiot.

It’s not going up, it’s down?

‘What?’

I tilted my head and thought.

That means that the contents of the information window displayed by Master and mine are different…

Master, who is overwhelmingly stronger than me, is there a chance that there will be a difference between me and me?

‘ah. Is it because of the runes?’

It flashed into my mind for a moment.

Runes related to the ‘dragon’ I have.

[The promise made by the dragon], and [the pride of the forgotten dragon knight].

If there was something that could be the reason, it was most likely these two runes.

The name of this dungeon is ＜The River Where the Dragon’s Breath Touches＞.

It’s a dragon-related dungeon from the name, and anyway, the two runes I have are special runes that contain ‘the legend of the dragon and the dragon knight’.

“Master.”

“Yeah. tell.”

“Is the boss of this dungeon a dragon?”

The highest level dungeon ＜The River where the dragon’s breath touches＞.

However, about this dungeon, in fact, nothing was well known in the Holder world.

The reason was simple.

It is a dungeon that has already been cleared, but the master who has completed the raid has personally paid for the ‘dungeon operation’ and has virtually closed the dungeon itself.

So, there was no way to know the types of dungeon bosses, let alone dungeon clearing information.

The fact that Yoo Eun-seol became an S-class holder through this dungeon, and there are huge rewards in the boss room of this dungeon…

That was the reason why various rumors were floating around in the Holder world.

“Yes. I should have told Jaehyun beforehand… .”

Master pondered for a moment, then pointed to the front inside the dungeon.

“First, we talk while walking. Monsters don’t appear in this dungeon for about 10 minutes.”

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

＜The River where the dragon’s breath touches＞ is a normal ‘forest’ type dungeon similar to other dungeons.

A dense forest extending from the entrance to the middle and boss room is composed of a straight line, and a river much larger than the size of the forest flows alongside it.

The attack route is also simpler than you think.

A structure that comes to an end simply by going down the stream of the river.

Of course, the level of monsters appearing in the process was enormous, but it meant that it was not a dungeon that was difficult to conquer because of the geographical features.

Thinking back to the dungeons I had conquered before, it was a dungeon quite similar to ＜The Forest Covered by Snakes＞.

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

“Isn’t that a dragon?”

“Yeah. To be precise, all the monsters in this dungeon have nothing to do with the form of the ‘dragon’ known only in rumors.”

According to Master.

There were no dragons in ＜The River where the dragon’s breath touches＞.

In fact, not to mention dragons, the ‘Grizzly Drake’ and ‘Imoogi of the Mountain’ that I saw before…

There was no existence that could be called a ‘sub-ryong’.

Most of the monsters that appear are monsters in beast form or monsters in the form of similar races.

They were mainly monsters with debuff skills.

When I heard that far, I asked with a puzzled face.

“Then why did the name of the dungeon become the river where the dragon’s breath touches? Isn’t that the name decided by the Holder Association?”

The name of the dungeon is determined in two ways.

One is when the holder association decides by summarizing the report after completing the capture.

The other is when the name of the dungeon is fixed from the beginning.

Probably, judging from the story so far, this dungeon was more likely to be the latter case.

Master nodded and replied.

“Yeah. The name of the dungeon was fixed from the beginning.”

And with those words, he pulled out an item that looked like a pendant from his bosom.

Inside the pendant was engraved a brilliant blue jewel and a picture in the shape of a sword.

“It’s an item called ‘Token of Valiant Oath’. I found it in the rest room after clearing it. Part of the name of this dungeon is clearly stated in the details of this item.”

“A token of a valiant oath… .”

I blankly tried to recite the name.

bravery, and oath.

Both were quite familiar words.

Master continued.

“There are many types of item effects, but… Most importantly, it gives you the right to enter the dual dungeons here. To be exact, it gives qualifications to the holder, and reacts with light to those who have other qualifications. The reason I was able to find Jaehyun as a partner before was because of the effect of this item.”

Some of the questions I was curious about were answered there.

The reason why Master chose me exactly.

And the reason I knew about the conditions to enter the double dungeon.

It all seemed to be because the descriptions were attached to the items related to it.

And when I thought about that, I clapped my hands at the thought that suddenly came to my mind.

“ah! Then the double dungeon… ”

“Yeah. I think it might be a dungeon related to the existence of a dragon. This dungeon seems like a rite of passage to enter it.”

It seems like a dungeon that is too powerful for a rite of passage…

Anyway, I understood everything Master was trying to say.

By the time the first ’10 minutes’ I said was about to end.

Woo-woo-!!

Shoot, aaa-!!

suddenly somewhere

Along with the sound of a heavy cry, the sound of the waves of a huge wave was heard.

The owner of the sound was not far away.

A large river right next to us.

It was a sound coming from behind him.

I quickly took out the [Sword of the Penitent] and the [Bronze Shield of the Hobgoblin] at the same time using the Arms Replacement Technique.

First of all, it was to respond to unexpected situations in a defensive posture.

But Master reached out and restrained me.

“Calm down. It’s a back-and-forth monster.”

“A backhanded monster?”

“Yeah. To be precise, it passes right by, without even giving us a chance to attack. It is an unusual monster that moves repeatedly from the beginning to the shore where the boss room is located.”

Unlike normal monsters, back-and-forth monsters do not attack until the holder attacks first.

It’s an extremely rare case, but when you go around the dungeon, there are often monsters like that.

Even now, the monster seemed to be a special monster that passed without an attack, let alone an attack.

At Master’s words, I felt relieved and let go of my guard.

There was no need to lose strength from monsters that would not even be hunted.

By the way… .

Woo-woo-!!

Shoot aaa!!

Koo, Kwaaa!!

“Master? This bastard, won’t you pass by?”

“uh… la?”

The colossus, moving with a great roar, stopped right next to us.

The development is completely different from what the master said that it would pass right away without a chance to hunt.

Even on Master’s face, a rare expression of bewilderment was revealed.

But what’s really important…

That was not it.

-God, Aspidokelon! Meet the oath of the great being! We will safely move you to the place you want to go!!

[Language] The monster’s noise is communicated through runes.

But I didn’t understand what he was saying right away.

I feel like an idiot for a moment.

… What the hell is this giant tortoise baby?