Chapter 153. Crimson Chaotic Spear (3)

We safely took care of most of the dungeons in Italy. Although Sumire was a bit sad that there wasn’t a dungeon in Rome, after I told her that we could all come back to visit after we were done clearing Event Dungeons, she seemed happy.

The only remaining dungeon was the S+ ranked dungeon.

“Why did it appear in Venice’s waterway of all places?”

“Eh... Really?”

Didn’t this happen before? Right, wasn’t Windermere like that too? Hwaya seemed to have thought the same thing as she shrugged and nodded her head.

“Yeah. If it turns into a Field Dungeon, Venice would be done for.”

“In various ways...”

I finally understood why Italy’s media was especially supportive of us compared to other countries. It would be more detrimental to have Venice’s Event Dungeon turn into a Field Dungeons than to lose a few low-ranked Event Dungeons. I grinned and urged Lotte on.

“Alright, let’s go lessen their worry, Lotte.”

[Graaaaaaaa!]

Lotte answered with a spirited shout and flew faster. With her astounding speed, it only took 20 minutes for us to reach Venice.

There, I met with someone I didn’t think I’d meet.

“I’m Luca Bruno. You all really are extremely beautiful ladies.”

On top of the bridge near Venice’s Event Dungeon, Italy’s SS ranker was waiting for us. Like Hwaya said, he was very handsome. His slightly messy hair and shirt looked showy, and he seemed to be in his mid-20’s. In any case, the powerful mana I could feel from his body certainly told me that he was an SS ranker.

“Oh, how beautiful. I’ve seen many women across the world, but I’ve never seen such dazzling beauties.”

“Hiik.”

When Luca Bruno extended his hand, Ye-Eun and Ludia, who were bad with strangers, made frightened noises and hid behind my back. Sumire, who didn’t like flattery, frowned, while Shuna looked a bit happy and Hwaya was laughing. For the record, Plene got tired from clearing the A ranked or below dungeons, so she wasn’t currently here.

“Beautiful? I haven’t heard such compliments recently.”

“Of course. I’ve heard a lot about you, Miss Mastiford, but you’re even more beautiful than I imagined. Your eyes are like rubies, only prettier.”

Hwaya smiled at Luca Bruno’s compliment and said to me.

“Did you hear that, Shin? He said they’re prettier than rubies.”

“Well... I don’t think he’s wrong.”

“Oh, then shouldn’t you tell me that? No matter how beautiful I am, I won’t know if you don’t tell me.”

“Sorry, but I’m not the type to say something like that. Imagine if I said those words to you.”

“... Pft! Puhahaha!”

“If you’re going to laugh, don’t ask!”

Hwaya burst into laughter. Since an SS ranker praised her on their first meeting, it was no wonder she was feeling good. I looked at Luca Bruno, who looked confused at Hwaya’s laughter and sighed.

“I’m Revival’s leader, Yeon Hwawoo. Nice to meet you.”

“Oh, I apologize for my rudeness. I’ve been distracted by the beauties. My bad, Dragon Knight. I’m Luca Bruno from Italy’s Guardian. As you probably know, I am an SS ranker.”

Luca Bruno explained why he was here. It seemed he wanted to help us clear the S+ ranked dungeon. Although I was confident we would have no problem without him, it wouldn’t hurt us for him to help. Just when I was about to nod...

“Sorry, but we’ll have to decline.”

Hwaya answered with a smile. Then, she did what I couldn’t understand. She approached me and linked her arms with mine. I was dumbfounded by her sudden approach, while Ludia jumped and Sumire made a cute shriek.

“If someone joins in, it’ll be hard to do this. You understand, right? Ah, we can still provide the monster corpses from the dungeon. Not for free, of course.”

“Oh, sorry, I almost made a mistake.”

“No problem. You already did, but you should know with this, right?”

Hwaya gave him a wink and turned away.

“Let’s go in, guys.”

“Yeah.”

Her voice was light but resolute. We followed her as if we had all been enchanted. The moment we entered the dungeon, however, she gritted her teeth and growled.

“Shin, next time you see him, kick his balls.”

“What, why?”

“That bastard tried to make a move on me. His ability has to be hypnosis or charming. I’m sure of it. I felt his mana moving stealthily. Not just to me, but to all the other girls. You didn’t feel it?”

“What!? Damn, I didn’t notice it at all!”

It was completely out of my expectation. To think Luca Bruno would scheme on all the girls in my party! I finally understood what Hwaya meant when she said he already made a mistake!

However, it was hard to believe he used his mana without me noticing. How could I not notice? Considering Hwaya noticed but I didn’t, his ability was surely a mental type ability. Ye-Eun, who remained silent the entire time, nodded her head at Hwaya’s words and added.

“Yeah, it was scary. For a second, he looked like Shin and was attractive. I thought about calling Master, but the feeling disappeared instantly when I used ‘Bleeding Heart.’”

“To confuse a man like him with Shin...”

Ludia berated Ye-Eun with a cold voice. I didn’t even know why Ye-Eun was being scolded. After all, she canceled his ability immediately with the special breathing method she learned from Duca!

Hearing Ludia, Hwaya asked her.

“How was it for you, Ludia?”

“Don’t call me Ludia! ... I felt something, but I shook it off with my holy power. Mitarus is the Goddess of Justice and Love, so an ability that brings false love is useless against me. I didn’t think you guys were so weak that you would fall for such an attack. If you asked me beforehand, I would have helped you shake it off.”

“Uuu, I think he had me, Ludia. When Hwaya unni refused and exerted her mana, I snapped out of it. I protected myself with guardian power afterward, but I was afraid to say something. That man is scary.”

Listening to the others, Sumire was gritting her teeth. It seemed she didn’t feel anything. Was it the power of Athena’s true name? Regardless, I was certain she was extremely angry. Unlike her usual calm self, she was shouting curses.

“He’s the worst! The worst, worst kind of men!”

“Right. People who try to control other people’s feelings are the worst. Smiling on the outside like nothing, while trying to... That bastard, I want to kill him.”

Hwaya gritted her teeth and joined hands with Sumire. Several white fireballs were floating around her. Bewildered, I shouted.

“Why didn’t you tell me?I would have immediately cut off his lineage!”

“Huhu, my son’s all grown up.”

“He probably turned out like that because of you, Kang Yungoong. After being with you, I finally began to understand Kang Shin. You’re the real enemy... Kuk.”

Looking at how angry I was, Hwaya surprisingly made a small smile.

“I knew you’d react this way, so I came into the dungeon first. We’re finally in a good position with everyone supporting us. Imagine what would happen if you harmed an SS ranker. Everything would have gone back to square one.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not like I started it to get everyone’s support. It’s more important to pay back the indignation everyone suffered.”

“Yeah, but I’m happy with just your words. Though, I’m a bit unsatisfied that you didn’t refer to me specifically.”

“Everyone is my precious friend and comrade!”

When I emphasized that point, Hwaya made a dumbfounded expression, but soon smiled again. My grip on my spear became loose because of her lovely smile.

“Yeah, let’s see how long you’ll run away with those words.”

Because I couldn’t get myself to face her smile, I turned away. I knew what she wanted from me... but I couldn’t answer her at the moment.

So instead of answering her, I urged everyone on.

“Let... Let’s go hunt monsters! We need to clear this dungeon fast, so I can go kill the bastard!”

“Like I said, you can’t kill him. Did you hear what I said? Plus, he probably ran away already.”

Regardless, Luca Bruno’s scheme enraged us all, and motivated us to clear the S+ ranked dungeon faster.

The dungeon itself was quite peculiar. Was it because it appeared in the waterway? The dungeon was half-submerged in water, while salamanders and fish type monsters stood erect inside the water. They took turns jumping out and shooting high-pressure water that seemed to be powerful enough to cut diamonds. Without Hwaya, it would have been difficult. In other words, with Hwaya, they were of no threat to us. Her powerful flames easily evaporated the water they shot out, and we took the opportunity to kill them.

“Please forgive us, we don’t want to die!”

“We learned the human language just to apologize!”

“Screw off back into the water!”

Hwaya’s flames raged, sweeping through the fish spouting nonsense. Because she focused all the bonus stats she gained through clearing Event Dungeons in magic, her flames had gotten incredibly powerful. They could even instantly turn S+ rank dungeon’s monsters to ashes. We were busy trying to catch up to her performance. Although she laughed it off in front of me, it seemed she was extremely angry about what Luca Bruno did.

In the end, we managed to clear the dungeon in just two hours. After we defeated the two boss monsters, a large salamander and a large fishman called Sahuagin[1. DnD reference], we chose our rewards. For the first time in a while, my contribution was 2nd. In any case, I chose an item called ‘Crystal Lair,’ as it had a fancy name...

“An underwater tent? A high-class household tent that makes underwater as cozy as the surface...?”

I picked an item that looked good, but a strange item popped out. As its option, it provided an unlimited supply of purified water and bread. With this, I would be able to live underwater forever! Though I didn’t need to at all!

I stored the puzzling item in the inventory and waited for the others to finish.

“If a large monster appeared, Venice would be done for.”

“Don’t jinx us.”

Although people nearby should have already been evacuated, Venice’s beautiful waterways, bridges, and buildings would all be destroyed. Shivering at what Ye-Eun said, I waited for the message.

[You completely cleared the S+ rank Event Dungeon! All party members gain 3 bonus stats!]

[You will now return.]

“Tsk.”

“Someone just clicked her tongue! Who was it!?”

With a new mystery, our dungeon breaking in Italy ended. As Hwaya expected, Luca Bruno was nowhere to be seen. I wanted to go find him and break his legs, but there were still Event Dungeons we had to destroy. For now, I had no choice but to let him go.

Brightman and now Bruno. The number of people I had to beat up was increasing. That was good.

“Why are all male rankers like this? Why do all of them care so much about women?”

While leaving Italy, I asked. Ludia then retorted bluntly.

“Shin, you need to be more like them.”

“Ludia’s right. You need to care more.”

“Sorry, my bad.”

No, now that I thought about it, there was a normal ranker. The American man in the place we were currently flying to.

“Pepper, how about Leon Pepper!?”

“He’s... gay, I think?”

“Are you saying people who don’t act like Brightman and Bruno are all gays!? Isn’t that too much!?”

While Hwaya’s controversial claims continued, our plane firmly headed to America.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

One of the two SS dungeons on Earth was waiting for us.

Author’s note:

A new SS ranker! And almost like it was promised, he was a bad guy. He has to die!

Luca Bruno will appear again later. This Italy chapter was mainly to introduce him. I hope he’ll get beaten up the next time Shin sees him!