Chapter 261 – Dragon’s Nest

‘Well, my level is indeed high.’

After eight years of consistent hunting, he had achieved the remarkable level of 9,998.

This was a new record that he hadn’t achieved even before his regression, and it was a position that other hunters couldn’t even dare to dream of.

‘When it’s already difficult to even surpass level 6,000.’

Since Shin Kyung-min, who was world rank 2, was level 6,200, it goes without saying how high a realm Min Do-jun was in.

‘Probably my record won’t be broken even after several years pass.’

This was also why Min Do-jun had been hunting sporadically lately.

Because there were no competitors climbing up from below.

‘But that’s not the biggest problem either.’

Min Do-jun looked at the dungeon before his eyes.

[Seoul Station Dragon’s Nest Dungeon]

– Difficulty: S

– Party Limit: 5

– Entry Requirement: Level 3,000+

– Objective: Survive within time limit

– Failure Penalty: None

– Time Limit: 72 hours

– Time until dungeon break: 402 hours 14 minutes 22 seconds

It was a dungeon of the highest difficulty that required at least level 5,000 to conquer, but to Min Do-jun it was no different from a children’s playground.

‘I thought stronger dungeons would appear to match my level at least…’

For some reason, no dungeons beyond Dragon’s Nest had been appearing.

Ever since it appeared eight years ago until now.

‘It appeared as soon as I hit level 5,000, so why aren’t any higher ones appearing…’

He had conquered Dragon’s Nest and raised his level continuously, but there was no news of dungeons beyond that appearing anywhere in the world.

‘Don’t tell me this is the end? Are there no more difficult dungeons?’

Even before his regression, there were no dungeons beyond Dragon’s Nest.

‘I wonder how many times I’ve conquered just Dragon’s Nest…’

He probably conquered it thousands of times, if not more.

Since he had been conquering it continuously from when it appeared eight years ago until now.

‘I’m really sick of it.’

Now he could navigate the dungeon with his eyes closed.

‘This is why I’ve become neglectful of hunting…’

For that reason, Min Do-jun wasn’t tense at all even in front of the dungeon.

Looking around, it seemed Shin Kyung-min felt the same way.

‘Kyung-min must have conquered this place quite a bit too.’

It had been quite a while since Shin Kyung-min and Jeong Hye-won joined Guardian Guild.

They joined partly because of their friendship, but also because the contract conditions were very good.

‘There’s no place with treatment as good as our guild.’

After catching the Drake King, Guardian Guild had been on a roll.

It was natural since it was a guild established by the world rank 1 and a hero who saved the nation.

Conversely, Emperor Guild without Kang Hyuk-su went downhill.

Now saying Emperor Guild was the top guild had become a thing of the past.

The top guild in Korea was undoubtedly Guardian Guild.

“Now that the Guild Master is here too, let’s prepare to enter.”

Min Do-jun glanced at Shin Kyung-min, who was leading the party.

‘He won’t betray us anymore.’

The Shin Kyung-min before regression was Adam’s puppet, but not now.

‘His Karma value is 0, and he feels favorably toward me for saving his sister twice.’

In his previous life, it seemed he had turned dark because Shin Hye-ri died, but now that won’t happen.

‘As long as I have mind control, the same thing as in my previous life won’t happen.’

Tssss-

He could see guild members equipping their gear.

All of them were shiny items.

They were none other than legendary weapons lent by Guardian Guild.

‘To think I’d use the legendary items I took from Adam like this.’

Unenhanced legendary items weren’t bound, so they could be lent out.

“Guild Master, let’s go in now!”

At Shin Kyung-min’s words, Min Do-jun nodded.

Soon, five S-rank hunters entered the portal.

* * *

“Guild Master, are you really just going to watch?”

At Shin Kyung-min’s question as soon as they entered the dungeon, Min Do-jun shook his head.

“I was going to, but our party doesn’t have a tank, right? So I’ll take the tank role.”

“You will, Guild Master?”

“Yes. I won’t touch the prey and will just tank, so everyone else just needs to attack. Got it?”

The guild members nodded with brightened faces.

There was no one who wouldn’t be happy to hear they’d get carried.

“Let’s go.”

Min Do-jun took the lead, raising his shield.

It was a Runic Turtle Shield that increased defense by 300% of magic power.

‘With my current magic power at 43,000, that’s about 130,000 additional defense.’

Truly insane levels of defense.

This was enough to easily block even boss attacks.

“Three enemies will appear ahead soon.”

Sure enough.

Just as Min Do-jun predicted, three ogres appeared ahead.

“I’ll draw their attention first, then kill them.”

Min Do-jun instantly dove into the ogre group and made eye contact with them.

The ogres flinched and fell under mind control.

“Only attack me.”

At the quietly whispered command, the ogres swung their clubs at Min Do-jun.

It looked exactly like they had been taunted.

Additionally, he used Blood Song to lower the monsters’ stats, making them easier for guild members to kill.

“Now! Everyone attack!”

At Shin Kyung-min’s shout, the female hunters rushed in and slaughtered the ogres.

“Guild Master, you can tank too?”

“I’ve watched enough to know, so it’s not difficult.”

“You used a taunt skill earlier, right?”

“Yes, well.”

“It was really clean without any aggro issues. You could even switch to being a tank.”

“Stop talking nonsense and let’s advance. This way.”

Leaving Shin Kyung-min’s flattery behind, he continued hunting.

He used Presence Detection to warn when monsters would appear and used mind control to make it look like taunt.

Having conquered this thousands of times, he knew the way well and where many monsters would appear.

Truly perfect tanking.

Thanks to this, guild members could comfortably earn experience.

“Wow, I didn’t know the Guild Master’s carry would be this comfortable…”

“Is it okay for only us to hunt comfortably…”

“Guild Master, you should kill some too.”

“I’m killing some occasionally too.”

He was indeed killing one here and there to stack Avatar of the Battlefield.

“And don’t feel too burdened. This is more about building camaraderie than hunting, and not conquering this dungeon once won’t really affect me much.”

At Min Do-jun’s consideration, the guild members bowed their heads gratefully.

“Thank you, Guild Master.”

“Thanks to you, we get to hunt in such a high-difficulty dungeon…”

“I really think joining Guardian Guild was the right choice.”

“Right. What other guild in the world lends out legendary items?”

The guild members didn’t spare their praise.

However, Min Do-jun felt awkward about Hyun Su-ah and Hwang Da-yeon speaking formally and praising him.

‘Well, it’s an official setting.’

The two were the same age as Min Do-jun but spoke formally in official settings.

“Let’s go.”

Hunting continued in a warm atmosphere.

Kirrrrr-

This time it wasn’t ogres but small baby dragons that appeared.

They were stronger than ogres, but whoever appeared wasn’t Min Do-jun’s match.

“Haa!”

While Min Do-jun drew aggro, guild members rushed at the baby dragon.

Especially under Hwang Da-yeon’s feet, a golden field would appear and disappear when combat ended.

It was the effect of her S-rank trait ‘Heavenly Domain.’

‘It automatically activates whenever monsters enter a certain range.’

He had heard from Hwang Da-yeon before.

The caster’s damage increases and allies within range get shields.

Sure enough, a golden shield surrounded Min Do-jun’s body.

It disappeared immediately from one tail swipe of the baby dragon, but considering it could be received every battle, it wasn’t bad.

‘It’s a good trait.’

After repeating 2 hours of hunting and 30 minutes of rest, when it had been 10 hours, Min Do-jun stopped walking.

A fork in the road had appeared.

“If we go this way, we can go directly to the boss room. What do you want to do? Shall we go?”

“Of course. Since we entered the dungeon, we can’t leave out the boss.”

The majority nodded in agreement, but Hwang Da-yeon seemed inwardly anxious.

“Will it be okay? This is my first time in this dungeon and first time facing the boss…”

“Don’t worry. With our level of power, we can handle it. Plus, the Guild Master is here too.”

The boss here was the Ancient Dragon, known to be stronger than the Drake King, but with S-rank hunters armed with legendary items, it was manageable.

Shin Kyung-min and Jeong Hye-won had also killed it several times, so there would be no problem.

“We might get there and find it’s not there. The boss isn’t always present.”

After the guild members reassured Hwang Da-yeon, they soon arrived at the boss room.

“We’re here. Shall we go in?”

But when they actually entered, there was no one in the boss room.

“Looks like there’s none today.”

“Bad luck. It would have been a good experience.”

Just as they were disappointed about the absent boss.

Something caught Min Do-jun’s Presence Detection.

“Look up there!”

What appeared flapping its wings was a massive red dragon.

[Red Dragon Karmygas]

“It, it has a name?”

“That means…”

“A named boss?”

Min Do-jun’s eyes widened.

‘In eight years of conquering Dragon’s Nest, this is the first time I’ve seen this guy.’

It was his first time seeing a dragon other than Ancient Dragon in the boss room.

[How dare you invade my territory! Insolent bugs!]

Since it was a named boss, it could even speak, and Min Do-jun approached with interest.

‘It looks quite strong. Though one mind control should make it docile.’

Min Do-jun’s eyes turned purple as he looked at the boss.

However, an unexpected message appeared.

[Cannot control the target’s mind due to their mental barrier skill.]

[Debuff nullified.]

‘What?’

This was the mind control ability that had worked even on Ancient Dragons.

No boss had ever blocked it like this.

‘Is this because it’s a named boss?’

It was surprising but also worrying.

‘If I can’t draw attention, the guild members will be in danger…’

He wanted to give them a chance to kill the boss, but the guild members were hesitating and backing away behind Min Do-jun.

“Guild Master, sorry to ask, but please handle the boss.”

“Aren’t you going to kill it?”

“It’s too strong for us to handle.”

“Right. Just looking at it, you can feel it. That it’s on a different level from existing bosses…”

Seeing fear in even Shin Kyung-min’s face at level 6,200, it wasn’t just talk.

‘Is the pressure that severe?’

Min Do-jun tilted his head in confusion.

Unlike the guild members, he didn’t feel even a trace of fear.

It might be because he was so strong, but actually it was because of the Courage trait.

The Courage trait was blocking the primal fear emanated by the Red Dragon.

[Insolent human! Kneel before me right now!]

At the Red Dragon’s roar, guild members hesitated and stepped back.

Meanwhile, Min Do-jun asked his teammates without even looking back.

“Should I kill it for you?”

“Pardon?”

“Is it okay if I kill it?”

“Yes! Guild Master, please!”

“Got it.”

Min Do-jun activated Rampage.

[Using Rampage.]

[All stats increased by 1.5 times.]

[Strength +37,520 Health +35,670

Agility +40,096 Magic Power +32,580]

[Time remaining: 4 minutes 59 seconds]

-Strength: 128,853 Health: 123,301

-Agility: 136,580 Magic Power: 97,742

Stats other than magic power exceeded 120,000.

‘Using it when Avatar of the Battlefield is at full stack is incredible.’

It was his first time seeing a named boss, but it didn’t matter.

‘Red Dragon? That level is nothing.’

He was confident he could win against anyone.

And indeed, his combat power exceeded 50 million.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Screech- Screech screech!

[GRAAAAAAAH!]

It didn’t take long for the Red Dragon’s roar to turn into screams.

[You have defeated Red Dragon Karmygas!]

[Experience +150,000,000] (100% contribution)

[Level increased!]

[S-rank Magic Stone obtained.]

[S-rank Magic Stone obtained.]

[S-rank Magic Stone obtained.]

[S-rank Magic Stone obtained.]

[S-rank Magic Stone obtained.]

[Red Dragon’s Crimson Shield obtained.]

[Red Dragon’s Flame Cloak obtained.]

[Core of Magic Power obtained.]

[Achievement unlocked!]

[Maximum level achieved!]