Chapter 397

'I can’t exactly reveal the truth to the test subjects I’m about to exploit, can I...'

I did not bother answering them and let the conversation move on.

Inflicting pain by tearing into living flesh without anesthesia was not something anyone in their right mind could do. The hunters in front of me also decided to focus on the raid and move quickly before anything went wrong. More precisely, the two S-rank hunters who understood my declaration took the lead and began eliminating the monsters.

'Everyone checked the PDF file distributed by the Association, right?'

'I checked it every time.'

'I memorized it.'

For reference, the reason there had been a string of failures in the Rage Gates was simple: hunters had entered without any prior information. What was dangerous, what was safe, where they should proceed, and what they should ignore—unable to distinguish any of these things, they wandered through an unfamiliar world and inevitably stayed too long.

As a result, none of the hunters had managed to avoid the status effect that gradually crept over them. They would go berserk and lash out at those around them. Yet even then, they did not completely lose their reason or morality. It took a long time before people discovered that the pain from a stab wound could actually serve as a countermeasure.

But thanks to the advance parties that came before us, we already knew every critical detail about this gate.

'Ignore everything else and head straight for the top floor of that castle.'

It really was possible—the speedrun strategy. And while Jung Haseong and Esther were occupied with hunting, I accomplished another objective. After all, why would a Grand Mage go so far as to spout lies merely to conserve mana?

'Not joining the fight because I’m busy controlling the entrance—that is obviously a lie. But in the end, it is all for your sake, so bear with me.'

Srrk.

There were still no signs of anyone watching us inside this gate. So I was able to safely implant a certain spell into the bodies of the accompanying S-ranks. Of course, I applied the newly developed magic to myself as well. After all, when it comes to insecticide made to kill something, having too much is better than not having enough.

'This is a method we have never tried on the Alphauri, but I put a great deal of effort into developing it, so please listen carefully.'

That was why this body had gone out of its way to propose the unusual approach of a speedrun in the first place. Originally, I had wanted to drag in all the staff from the Korean Magic Tower and Garion’s other auxiliary personnel as well, but—

'After all, the more mediums there are for the magic to permeate, the better.'

[Sin Classification] was a unique kind of hell where even without being attacked by a monster, the weak were placed in danger. The instant you stepped inside, you were struck by the curse emanating from the castle, making it impossible to recklessly bring lower-ranked hunters along.

So in the end, I gathered only the S-ranks—the ones whose safety could be guaranteed. They, on the other hand, ended up making the absurd mistake of believing that I had predicted the dungeon’s dimensional anomaly.

'Does misperception happen to be one of the seven deadly sins of this planet?' ℴ

If we were short on manpower, the answer was simple—just increase the number of spell activations. After pulling a few strings here and there, I noticed that the scenery around us had already changed. Truly, it was a pace befitting humans who had surpassed even the A-rank. The guild masters of the Korean Magic Tower and Garion tore forward at a merciless speed, cutting down every monster in their path. Back when I was a worthless F-rank weakling, no matter how hard I tried, I could never have dreamed of keeping up with such superhuman strides. And to make matters worse, from the side, it looked as though they were merely waving their hands lightly—yet the primitive mages’ power swept through the enemies of [Sin Classification] like dead leaves in the wind.

And then...

'Hmm?'

The "castle" of this gate had looked perfectly normal from the outside. But once we charged inside, an unexpected anomaly revealed itself. Put simply, the stairs were a mess. Crooked, uneven, and twisted—something only a many-legged insect could probably climb with ease. And yet there they were, installed as though humans were meant to use them.

'What on earth are the Gisimche actually good at? Eating?'

Alright. For now, I would focus on what I needed to do. Preparations against the Gisimche did not end with a single strike, so I repeatedly cast the spells I had devised as I moved along the path.

Kkrrk kkrrk kkrrk.

However, once we entered the black castle itself, it quickly became clear that encounters with the enemies here were anything but ordinary.

'That monster again.'

A distinctive feature of the sixth castle: creatures wrapped in wooden structures resembling wagon wheels rolled around the area while making strangely gentle sounds.

'I cannot exactly ignore them, considering how often we have encountered them.'

Ah, by the way, the gate we entered was the Sin Classification of Pride. Humans casually shortened its name to "Pride Castle." Arrogance—arguably one of the greatest sins according to human nature.

Judging by my intuition, the Awakened named Seo Esther appeared to possess a slight sense of superiority. Of course, for a curse-attribute mage, being only that mildly "twisted" already placed her among the top 1% in terms of character. After all, anyone with a misguided sense of superiority would inevitably face a dreadful trial if afflicted by a "Pride" status ailment.

'Hmm.'

Originally, someone like Esther should not have set foot inside this gate. Yet, despite being fully aware of all the dangers, we chose to bring her along anyway.

Crash! Bang! Boom!

Well, that was because everyone here was simply absurdly strong.

'That’s right. This is what the difficulty of a normal A-rank gate looks like.'

Up until now, it had all merely been a process of trial and error. There was no longer any enemy capable of stopping the Koreans, who had absorbed the lessons left behind by other nations. Their bodies themselves were S-rank, granting them powerful magic resistance. Garion’s leader had somehow obtained rare items capable of blocking mind control and covered himself in them. And right beside him stood Earth’s only S-rank curse sorcerer—meaning she already possessed the appropriate mental defenses as a specialist in psychic attacks.

'Perhaps this is the proper strategy for tackling a Sin Classification. Instead of sending in weaker individuals, you gather the strongest people possible and send them all in at once.'

The round, wheel-like monster that had appeared before us collapsed to the ground in an instant.

Rumble!

Then there was no enemy worth stopping for anyway. I cast the spell—a kind of bait for the Gisimche...

'I suppose it will be fine to check how the developed magic functions after we leave the dungeon?'

Since the other S-ranks were focused on clearing the way, it was not long before we reached the designated area.

Swish... Swish... Swish...

The room echoing with the sound of chains dragging across the floor was none other than the dungeon boss’s lair.

'...Does anyone need to make any preparations?'

'I’m fine.'

'You do not need to ask for my opinion since I’m sitting out of the fight, Esther. The low-level grunts we ignored are swarming in behind us—let’s get started.'

To think that we had reached the final stage of the trial so smoothly. Yet no one knew how long this fragile peace, with everyone still clinging to their sanity, would last.

'No matter how high-ranked a Hunter you are, the moment you enter the dungeon, you are exposed to [Brainwashing].'

Therefore, we stepped into the room of the A-rank boss without hesitation.

[Drrrrrrrr...]

A sharp metal edge capable of gnawing through human flesh. And a massive cartwheel covered in those blades, rolling relentlessly forward.

By the way, I was only now getting around to revealing this information. In fact, we already had a rough idea of how that monster would behave, thanks to what we had heard beforehand.

'Thanks, Mongolia!'

The [Sin Classification] possessed a kind of information-preview mechanism: clearing one dungeon would automatically reveal information about the next castle.

'Foreigners seem to call it a "spoiler," as though it were revealing the story ahead of time.'

Of course, now that most of the related castles had already been revealed, the mechanism no longer offered much of an advantage. However, South Korea, unusually enough, happened to receive the information at exactly the right time and in exactly the right order, making it surprisingly useful.

The sixth castle to appear punishes arrogance. Those who normally conduct themselves with excessive pride should refrain from entering.

Additionally, the otherworldly monsters residing within it are inherently humble—they do not flaunt their abilities carelessly, nor do they look down on their opponents. When facing enemies of equal rank, their defenses will feel exceptionally solid. However, if they are provoked beyond a certain threshold, even these humble creatures can eventually go berserk, setting their wheels ablaze, and so on.

'The Gisimche may be a mostly trash-tier species in many respects, but their willingness to learn is commendable. At this point, they have grasped the concept of the Seven Deadly Sins fairly convincingly.'

As I mentioned earlier, the key to a speedrun-style strategy was information. Since we had been assigned a relatively later stage, we could proceed with confidence thanks to the countless tips and guidelines left behind by those who had gone before us. So, to make sure Mongolia’s sacrifice—no one had actually died, but the Lust Castle that appeared there had created a level of hell far beyond imagination—was not in vain, taking measures like this was necessary.

Swoosh!

The goal was to erase that boss from the world and secure humanity’s safety.

[Kkrrk kkrrk kkrrk.]

Using the blue explosion triggered by Jung Haseong as a signal flare, the battle in the boss room began. As expected, the boss encounter did not present any major crisis.

'The opponent is an A-rank, my top one. But we entered the room as a trio of S-ranks.'

Just for a moment, try putting yourself in that monster’s place. Hunters had cursed gates plenty of times before, but in this battle, the monster itself had every reason to complain about how unfair the world was.

'Even for an A-rank, its rolling speed seems pretty slow.'

'That is because it is classified as a living creature. That black, sponge-like thing stuck in the middle reacted to my curse.'

'Aha?'

But who was going to listen to complaints like that?

'Watching some of the strongest hunters in humanity corner a single monster and beat it senseless... I have to admit, there is hardly anything more absurd than this.'

Boom!

The otherworldly beast, whose motif was humility, was struck once again by a powerful attack. Now that it was charging at us without holding back any of its strength, it was obvious at a glance that the monster’s stamina was nearly depleted. That was a good sign in more ways than one.

'It’s over. The magic I prepared for the Gisimche has been cast successfully, and the dungeon is as good as cleared.'

But at that moment, as I leaned against one side of the dungeon and watched the battle unfold, a small concern surfaced in my mind.

Come to think of it, it was rather strange. The [Sin Classification] nest inflicted one of the seven deadly sins as a status effect on anyone who entered, yet the monsters inside the dungeon were, conversely, themed around virtues such as kindness, purity, and similar traits.

Moreover, all the monsters in each [Sin Classification] seemed to despise the particular sin assigned to their castle. For example, eating inside the Castle of Gluttony would increase the monsters’ hostility. Incidentally, whenever I tried to explain the mechanics of the [Sin Classification] in this way, the logic inevitably hit a wall at that exact point.

'Hmm.'

The more I thought about it, the more my attention kept returning to one particular contradiction.

If that was the case, why had the Castle of Sloth—the place that should embody the utmost diligence—not revealed itself to the world yet...?