Inside a dungeon. The faces of three men and women were not good.

[ Savage Labyrinth Time Attack Dungeon World Rankings. ]

[ 1st United States 15 minutes 53 seconds. ]

[ 2nd China 16 minutes 41 seconds. ]

[ 3rd...... ]

[ ...... ]

[ ...... ]

[ 15th Republic of Korea 25 minutes 58 seconds. ]

The core of a Time Attack dungeon lay in how quickly you cleared that dungeon.

Naturally, if you set a new record, you received excellent rewards.

And the Savage Labyrinth was a place that made particularly special use of that Time Attack dungeon format.

Right now, with no server merge yet in place.

Users around the world were burning with a desire to compete against users from other countries.

To satisfy that urge, this Savage Labyrinth had appeared, updating records from all over the world.

The Savage Labyrinth Time Attack, run as an event over a set period.

Naturally, users from Korea had joined as well.

The Savage Labyrinth had opened about a month ago, and users formed parties of four and could enter at any time.

Right after it opened, an enormous number of users had gone in and challenged it, but that was no longer the case.

“The gap is too big. There’s less than a week left until the Time Attack dungeon ends......”

At Hanul’s words, the others nodded in agreement.

“To see a gap like this between users of similar level......”

Between 15th place Korea and 1st place United States, the difference was over ten minutes.

The Time Attack dungeon had an entry restriction.

Only users from Level 290 to 310 could enter.

Which meant only users of similar level were participating.

Of course, when people went in as a party just for fun, it sometimes took them an hour.

The rankings currently on the list were all, at least within that level range, the very best users.

And the gap between these best-of-the-best users was a full ten minutes.

“We only have five entries left. We have to be careful.”

You could not just keep going in at random.

The total number of entries allowed was ten.

And the party’s limit followed whoever had used the most entries among them.

“If we mess this up, we’re going to become a laughingstock......”

At Taehun the Fighter’s words, the others sighed.

The three of them had been friends for a long time and had rather special backgrounds.

[ Hanul Lv.306 ]

[ Hyeji Lv.303 ]

[ Taehun Lv.301 ]

The three of them were Olympic medalists.

Hanul was a kendo gold medalist in the newly added Olympic event.

Hyeji was an archery gold medalist.

Taehun was a taekwondo gold medalist.

So they had chosen classes that matched them.

Hanul was a Swordsman, Hyeji an Archer, and Taehun a Fighter.

“How did we end up like this......”

At Hanul’s words, Taehun gave a hollow laugh.

“Because we’re the RNG-fucked trio, that’s why.”

The three of them were, quite literally, unlucky.

Normally, if your skill was good, you would open Hidden Classes or Legend Classes and the like, but they had never even received one of those “common” quests.

Of course, their performance at hunting grounds had been dazzling.

Compared to others of the same level, they were overwhelmingly strong.

On top of that, since they had a fair amount of money, they had all geared up in good items together.

Because of that, they had hunted in higher-tier hunting grounds than their level would suggest.

“God, how do we all die together in a hunting ground and drop all our main weapons......!”

The problem was that a boss monster had suddenly appeared there, forcing all three of them to log out and drop their main weapons.

Even if they tried to buy them again, it was hard to find artifacts that put out that level of power.

In Ares as it currently stood, supply could not keep up with demand.

Even if you had money, you could not get good items.

“Maybe the fact we didn’t join a guild is part of the cause.”

At Hyeji’s words, the other two agreed.

Of course, they had received a flood of offers.

The problem was that most of those offers were simply trying to use the three of them for commercial gain, so they had decided not to join any guild and to play as just the three of them.

The downside was that they could not receive support.

“The Americans are backed by the world’s number one guild. They’re decked out in insane items, and they’re all Hidden Classes or Legend Classes, too.”

Guild support was bigger than you might think.

And there was another reason they had not been able to close the time gap.

“Why is every person who comes with us such a troll......”

The Savage Labyrinth was entered in a party of four.

They had kept forming parties and entering the dungeon.

But that one extra person had always, without fail, trolled in some way.

Or if it was just an ordinary user, they simply could not keep up with the three of them.

“Maybe it’s the debuff effect of the cursed trio?”

“Ugh......”

The three of them let out shallow groans.

In any case, what they needed now was one person who would help them clear this dungeon.

“This time, we really need to be picky. Too many idiots coming in just aiming for the prize money.”

The first-place prize for the Savage Labyrinth was a staggering 400 million won.

One hundred million each.

But because it was the first-place prize, there were not many applicants, and the ones who did apply were all weird.

“Should we put something else up? People were interested at first, but now nobody cares.”

Because the gap with first place was so large, most people had given up.

Hyeji thought deeply, then recalled one particular material.

“How about Orichalcum?”

At that, Taehun took Orichalcum out of his inventory.

“You want to put this precious thing up?”

The Orichalcum they possessed was not just any “legendary ore.”

It was highest-grade Orichalcum.

They had obtained it after clearing a Hidden Quest.

“Either way, we can’t use it even if we keep it.”

The problem was that the required level to use this highest-grade Orichalcum as material was 400.

Every blacksmith they brought it to told them the same thing: it was material they themselves could not use.

Of course, the restriction might be lifted in a year or two, but that was too far away.

“Let’s put up exactly half of it.”

“Got it.”

“We’ve got to put out the immediate fire first.”

Once they agreed, Hyeji posted in the party recruitment window.

As time passed, Hyeji’s expression grew puzzled.

“No applications. Why......?”

The three of them looked confused.

They were getting plenty of messages from nobodies.

But none of the names anyone would recognize were applying.

And then, after some more time passed—

“This person......”

Hyeji’s expression turned startled.

“Who is it?”

She let out a hollow laugh and said,

“You two know Blacksmith Hyun, right?”

The name of the hottest person around these days came out of her mouth.

*****

After finishing the video shoot and logging in, Hyunsoo was looking around Vallas Territory as restoration work went on.

Just then—

“Hyunsoo siiir!”

Nell came running in a panic.

For someone who normally kept themself composed better than anyone, this was an unfamiliar sight.

“What’s going on?”

“There’s a place called the Savage Labyrinth Time Attack Dungeon......”

Nell explained it to him.

“They’ve put up a mineral that I think is exactly what you need right now, Hyunsoo.”

“A mineral?”

“Yes, take a look.”

[ We are recruiting one person to clear the Savage Labyrinth Time Attack Dungeon with us. If you help us place within the top 5, we will give you the listed mineral. Unfortunately, it’s only enough to make a single sword. ]

( Highest-Grade Orichalcum )

Grade: Legend

Restriction: Level 400+ Blacksmith

Difficulty: Highest

Special Abilities

· When crafting a sword, cutting power increases by 121%.

· When crafting arrows, penetration increases by 121%.

· Strength, Agility increase up to 36%.

· Attack speed increases up to 70%.

· Critical hit chance increases by 40%.

· Durability increases all the way to infinite.

Description: Orichalcum, the ore of legend. It weighs less than any other ore, and its hardness is far better, /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ so it is almost never damaged. Furthermore, compared to lowest-grade Orichalcum, only about 1/100 can be obtained.

“......Wow.”

Hyunsoo was purely impressed.

Orichalcum.

Hyunsoo had obtained Orichalcum once before.

The Orichalcum Baby Arrows had been born through that ore.

But at the time, that Orichalcum had been lowest-grade.

This, however, was highest-grade Orichalcum, 1.5 times better than lowest-grade.

“For the same ore to be this much better......”

He could clearly see just how huge the gap between lowest-grade and highest-grade was.

“The competition is going to be insane, isn’t it?”

“No, I don’t think the competition will be that strong.”

Nell calmly shook their head.

“From what I can see, the only person who can handle this highest-grade Orichalcum in the best possible way is you, Hyunsoo.”

Even so, its value was enormous.

So then why?

“Do you see the name on the party recruitment?”

“Hyeji? Sounds familiar.”

“That’s the same Hyeji who’s a gold medalist.”

Hyunsoo could not help being surprised. Nell explained the situation.

“15th place?”

“Yes. They’re definitely outstanding, but they’re also called the cursed trio. They’re just too unlucky......”

Nell then gave the decisive reason.

“Netizens are tearing into them, saying this is their chance. Highest-grade Orichalcum is incredibly precious, but they can only get it if they place within the top five. If you join that party, you’re sharing the risk with them.”

Hyunsoo found that reasonable.

But he had already made his decision.

Because, unlike for them, this mineral was the very best for him.

Hyunsoo said,

“I recently set one more new goal.”

A goal?

Nell wondered if he meant becoming a king.

But Hyunsoo gave a small smile.

“I’ve started wanting to stand at the summit of the users.”

Nell’s expression turned surprised.

The Hyunsoo who had once played the game just to survive was nowhere to be seen.

“I know I’m not qualified yet to be dreaming about standing at the summit. But there’s one thing I’m sure of. Right now, I may not be at the summit of the users, but......”

Soon, as she listened, Nell was impressed.

“I can become a user who wields the weapon of the summit.”

The reason Nell was impressed.

‘Come to think of it, Hyunsoo is not using a weapon he crafted for himself.’

A weapon of the summit, in the literal sense.

Goosebumps ran up Nell’s back.

‘His own weapon, crafted by the greatest blacksmith using the greatest mineral.’

It was not a pipe dream.

Before long, Nell and Hyunsoo exchanged a few more words.

“Fortunately, they still have a spot open. We’ll need to move quickly.”

Hyunsoo set out immediately.

His heart pounded as he moved at high speed.

*****

“Let’s not be rude.”

At Hyeji’s words, the other two agreed.

Blacksmith Hyun.

The man who was the hottest name around these days was coming here.

What was surprising was that the man shrouded in mystery was going to show himself in person.

“Let’s not be rude,” meant they would not make fun of his looks.

Because Hyun was wrapped in mystery, plenty of rumors had spread, and the most widespread was that he was a hideously ugly man in his fifties.

Wasn’t it obvious?

Everyone wanted to be a star.

The three of them believed the rumor—and in Ares, where you could not change your appearance all that much, more users than you might think suffered disadvantages or were ignored because of how they looked.

Just then.

A user riding a massive black horse appeared.

This was the party recruitment area near the Savage Labyrinth.

“What the......?”

Female users stole glances at the man dismounting from the horse.

The male users were impressed as well.

A brown coat rarely seen in Ares. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

On top of that, a wonderful physique and handsome face to go with it.

And seeing the incredible artifacts covering him, they wondered if he was an unofficial high-ranker.

‘What’s a guy like that doing in a Level 300 hunting area?’

Soon, he walked up to them and greeted them coolly.

“Hello, I’m Blacksmith Hyun.”

The three of them opened their eyes wide.