The Return of the Legendary All-Master

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 290

The Lord of the Grand Duchy.

Grand Duke Delphos had been anxiously waiting for the return of the Seivro Knights.

“I hope they’re unharmed.”

The barrier detection device within the castle.

The siren had gone off from what should have been a functioning detector.

That meant something had gone wrong with the barrier.

Grand Duke Delphos hastily abandoned his work and checked the device.

However, after sounding the siren a few times, the detector became completely unresponsive.

Because of that, he had urgently dispatched the Seivro Knights to the barrier.

Yet, despite the long passage of time, the Seivro Knights showed no sign of returning.

Could something have happened?

Just as ominous thoughts spread through his mind, the long-awaited news arrived.

“Your Grace! The Seivro Knights have returned!”

“What?!”

Grand Duke Delphos hurriedly stepped out to the castle gates.

As reported, the Seivro Knights were indeed returning, and they appeared to be in good condition.

‘It seems the barrier remained intact after all.’

If something had happened to the barrier, the knights’ expressions would have been grim, but their faces were, fortunately, bright.

“Your Grace, we have completed the search as you ordered and have returned.”

Knight Commander Jiron reported with disciplined precision.

The Grand Duke nodded in satisfaction.

“I see. Was the barrier intact?”

“It was destroyed.”

“……What?”

Grand Duke Delphos momentarily froze at how confidently he had just stated that the barrier was destroyed.

What nonsense is he spouting right now?

Jiron, as if to confirm what had just been said, repeated himself.

“The barrier collapsed. As a result, the monsters outside poured in.”

“Haha……”

The situation was worse than he had imagined.

Grand Duke Delphos barely managed to steady his trembling legs to keep himself from collapsing.

“But we managed to put out the immediate fire.”

“Put it out?”

“Yes. An outsider arrived and protected us.”

“An outsider?”

An outsider had come to the Grand Duchy, a place avoided due to its harsh cold?

Even with the barrier broken, the cold remained unchanged.

That was because remnants of the barrier still lingered.

Regardless, it was surprising that an outsider had come to the Grand Duchy.

“Yes. He was a warrior far beyond my capabilities.”

“Even you, the commander, were no match for him…?”

Grand Duke Delphos was shocked.

One of the few Sword Masters in the Empire.

The Sword Master in question was none other than Jiron, the commander of the Seivro Knights under Delphos.

Jiron was, without a doubt, the pride of Delphos.

Grand Duke Delphos also took great pride in him.

And yet, even a Sword Master like Jiron was no match for that outsider?

Just who in the world was this outsider?

Delphos looked around, searching for him.

“Ah, the outsider hasn’t returned yet.”

“Hm? Then where is he now?”

“He’s still closing the dungeon.”

“The dungeon?”

“Yes.”

“This is… Then we need to go help him. There’s no time to waste.”

Delphos was ready to head to the dungeon immediately.

But Jiron stopped him.

“There’s no need. If anything, offering help would only get in his way.”

“Get in his way?”

“Yes. For now, let’s trust and wait.”

“Hm…”

“The outsider also seemed to prefer it that way.”

“If that’s the case…”

* * *

Serion, consumed by deep resentment.

Its level was 520, but its numerous dangerous special abilities made it an exceptionally difficult opponent.

“Hun, do you think there’s some kind of opportunity waiting for us here?”

They stood inside a pitch-black cave.

There wasn’t a single source of light, so they had to use an artifact to illuminate their surroundings.

“You’ll find out when you see it later.”

With that, Jeong-hoon resumed walking.

First, they needed to get out of this cave.

The cave was merely the starting point.

They had to leave it and reach the nest where Serion was hiding.

“Screeech!”

Just then, the shrill cry of a bat echoed in their ears.

[Lv. 510 Snow Bat]

A Level 510 Snow Bat that survived in extreme cold.

Unlike regular bats, it was twice as large and had dark blue fur.

[The Snow Bat uses ‘Ice Ultrasonic Wave.’]

The creature opened its mouth and unleashed an ultrasonic attack.

Jeong-hoon quickly formed a barrier of light, shielding everyone.

Crackle—

A sharp noise rang out as the light barrier was damaged.

“What kind of ability is that…?”

Ha-jin asked.

“It’s an ultrasonic wave. If you get hit by it, your entire body will start freezing from the inside out.”

Since the enemy was high-level, if Jeong-hoon hadn’t deployed the barrier of light, they all would have been in danger.

“This is horrifying…”

“Stay close to me. As long as you do, you won’t be in danger.”

With those words, Jeong-hoon took out Anima and drew the bowstring.

‘About six of them.’

His radar detected six targets.

He aimed at the one in the lead and released the string.

Whoosh—

The arrow traced a parabolic arc before piercing straight through the Snow Bat’s body.

“Screeech!”

Its agonized cry echoed through the cave.

The remaining five, startled, flapped their wings frantically and tried to flee.

‘I won’t let a single one escape.’

Jeong-hoon had no intention of letting them live.

He swiftly drew the bowstring again, aimed at another fleeing Snow Bat, and let the arrow fly.

Whoosh—

Once again, the arrow found its mark, piercing through the creature’s body.

Jeong-hoon didn’t stop there. He kept drawing and releasing his bowstring.

One by one, the Snow Bats were swiftly exterminated.

“All right, let’s keep moving.”

Having cleared the surrounding Snow Bats, Jeong-hoon took out the scan map.

[Scan Map]

- Type: Map

- Grade: Epic

- Scans the current area to create a map.

- The scan records the area with the user’s location as the center.

A must-have item for navigating large dungeons.

[Scanning the entirety of Serion, consumed by deep resentment.]

Once the scan was complete, the map displayed a detailed route out of the cave.

“We need to head east. This place is a complete maze…”

Yeo Min-Ji furrowed her brows as she examined the map.

Just as she said, escaping the cave was no easy task.

Some paths led in circles, bringing them back to where they started, while others stretched on for a long time only to lead deeper into the cave.

Among the countless routes, only one was correct.

‘Even getting out of the cave is a challenge in itself.’

Despite having the scan map, they still struggled to find the way, suggesting that escaping would take a considerable amount of time.

“For now, let’s get moving. The more we walk, the faster we’ll get out of here.”

“Got it.”

* * *

As expected, escaping the cave was no easy feat.

Even with the map guiding them, they sometimes reached dead ends or stumbled upon monster nests.

By the time they finally made it out of the cave, about five hours had passed.

"You all worked hard."

Jeong-hoon spoke to everyone with an apologetic expression.

He was the one who had led them using the map.

So, getting lost was entirely Jeong-hoon's fault.

It was only natural for him to feel sorry.

"This is just the beginning, right?"

At Ha-jin’s question, Jeong-hoon nodded.

"Still, now that we've made it out of the cave, we've passed the hardest part."

"Really?"

"Yeah. There will be a lot more monsters, but they won’t be as threatening as the ones inside."

Just as Jeong-hoon said, tricky monsters like Snow Bats and Blood Bats did not appear.

Instead, the area was filled with Teros, the monsters they had hunted outside.

"If it’s just Teros, we can handle it."

Teros was one of the monsters they had hunted to exhaustion.

As always, Jeong-hoon grabbed the Shadow King’s Spear and dashed toward the Teros.

* * *

From then on, they advanced without stopping.

Clearing through the monsters, they arrived in front of Serion’s nest.

However, instead of entering the nest, Jeong-hoon changed direction and moved forward.

"Huh? Hoon, that’s not the boss zone."

Ha-jin, following behind, tilted his head in confusion.

"Oh, that’s because the opportunity isn’t with the boss."

"The boss doesn’t have it?"

"Yeah."

Jeong-hoon nodded while cutting down 14 monsters at once with the Shadow Crescent Moon.

They continued hunting monsters one by one as they moved forward, eventually reaching their destination.

The place was an open snowfield.

Ahead of them stood a black wall, marking the boundary of the dungeon’s space.

[Master, what exactly is here?]

Mukho seemed quite curious as well.

"The All-Things Statue."

[The All-Things Statue?]

Jeong-hoon nodded.

The hidden opportunity in this place—

It was none other than the All-Things Statue.

Simply put, it scans the user and grants them a single item they need the most.

There was no limit to the number of people who could use the statue, but there was a condition—everyone had to be present in one place.

In other words, if someone wasn’t there when it was used, they would miss out completely.

In fact, some members of James Marcus’s party weren’t present at this location, causing them to fail in obtaining the opportunity.

'Now then, what will it give us?'

The item it had granted James Marcus was a shield.

A Celestial-grade shield on a completely different level from the one he had used before—one that had significantly strengthened him.

'Its defense was incredible.'

Since the shield had effortlessly defended against Jeong-hoon's Leviathan in the parallel world.

‘Will it give me an item?’

There wasn’t any item he urgently needed.

He already had two Ultimate-grade pieces of equipment, with three more about to be added.

He was also planning to upgrade Leviathan to Legendary ~ Celestial.

It would be better if it increased his stats instead.

Jeong-hoon moved toward the open snowy plain, and the rest followed silently behind him.

Then, when they reached the very end of the dungeon—

‘Is it here?’@@novelbin@@

Jeong-hoon stopped and struck the ground with his fist.

Crack.

Kwa-gwagwang!

With the sound of shattering glass, the ground collapsed.

The debris flickered with light before disintegrating into dust, revealing a staircase leading downward.

It wasn’t a naturally formed staircase but an artificial one, carved by human hands.

“Wow, I didn’t know something like this was here……”

Yeo Min-Ji looked down at the stairs with a bewildered expression.

“Alright, let’s head down quickly.”

Jeong-hoon briskly descended the stairs.

Before long, he came to a stop.

A barrier was blocking the path.

“Hun, can you break this barrier by force?”

Ha-jin unsheathed his sword, ready to destroy it.

But Jeong-hoon raised his hand to stop him.

“That won’t work.”

“Hm? Then is there another way?”

“Yeah.”

The method to dispel the barrier was simple.

Jeong-hoon took out the Deciphering Lens he had purchased earlier.

An item that could only be bought after reaching Level 6 in the Achievement Store.

Because of that, the others were seeing the Deciphering Lens for the first time.

“What’s that lens?”

His mother took an interest in it.

“It’s an item called the Deciphering Lens. I bought it from the Achievement Store.”

“Oh? I didn’t know something like that existed. That’s pretty amazing.”

“Yes. You can only buy it after reaching Store Level 6.”

“Level 6?! Hun, your store level is already at 6?!”

Yeo Min-Ji asked, her eyes widening in shock.

“Yes. But let’s decode the barrier first before continuing this conversation.”

“Oh, got it.”

Yeo Min-Ji nodded and closed her mouth.

As silence fell over the area, Jeong-hoon equipped the Deciphering Lens and placed his hand on the barrier, channeling his mana into it.

Then, the spell formation surfaced.

‘I can decode this.’

The spell structure of the barrier was quite complex and intricate.

However, with his memories from before the regression and the Deciphering Lens combined, it was something he could handle.

Wooong—

The barrier trembled each time he disrupted a part of the spell.

Jeong-hoon continued to manipulate the formation, and before long, the barrier shattered.

Crash!

With the sound of breaking glass, the barrier disappeared.

Now, they could continue downward.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Jeong-hoon quickly descended further.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]