Record of a Thousand Lives

All eyes were on one man. It was Kang Yoon-Soo.

“I know the interior of the excavation site,” he reiterated.

“What did you say?” Ramax asked.

“I’ll guide you.” Kang Yoon-Soo brazenly proposed something unbelievable. “But, reward me with contribution points for every person we rescue,” he added.

The association members openly expressed their disgust for his brazen proposal.

“Are you kidding us?! You want to strike a deal with people’s lives?!”

“How can we believe that you know the way around the excavation site?”

However, Ramax shook his head and interceded on behalf of Kang Yoon-Soo. “Hold on. We can believe this youngster. I’ll personally guarantee it.”

It was all because the valuable artifacts Kang Yoon-Soo had brought back had earned him Ramax’s trust, and his proposal had thus piqued Ramax’s interest.

Ramax asked, “You know the interior of the excavation site very well?”

“Yes,” Kang Yoon-Soo answered.

“We have no choice but to go with you then, if what you’re claiming is true. How many contribution points do you want per person rescued?” Ramax asked.

“1,000,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

One would need to submit at least three or four well-preserved artifacts to earn 1,000 contribution points, but he wanted 1,000 contribution points per person rescued? It was not that the people’s lives were worthless, but his proposal was a very brazen one.

Ramax could not help but frown at Kang Yoon-Soo’s words no matter how much trust he had built up. He said, “That’s too much. I can’t accept that proposal.”

“I’ll receive the contribution points only after hunting down the boss,” Kang Yoon-Soo added.

Ramax and the association members were stunned by his words. Ramax asked, “What? Do you mean you’ll kill the boss that showed up at the excavation site?”

“Yes.” Kang Yoon-Soo nodded. There was no way he would pass up the opportunity to hunt the highly rewarding monsters right before his eyes. “I won’t receive the contribution points if I fail to kill the boss monster in the excavation site,” he continued.

“Hmm…” Ramax was left with a dilemma.

A boss monster appearing in the excavation site was definitely something they had not predicted. Leaving the situation as it was would not only delay the excavation schedule, but also cut off all the funding they were receiving.

Ramax pondered the matter for a while, then finally said, “Alright, I’ll accept your offer.”

Kang Yoon-Soo, Shaneth, and the members of the Red Rock Excavators all went to the excavation site underneath the large rock. The basement of the excavation site was as large and wide as it had always been, and the eerie silence gave even more suspense to the situation.

Kang Yoon-Soo stood at the forefront, and Shaneth, as well as the other members, followed right behind him. However, some of the association members hesitated to follow him.

“You can trust him. You would be more at ease if you did,” Shaneth said to alleviate their unease as she hurriedly caught up behind Kang Yoon-Soo. The members of the Red Rock Excavators deliberated for a while before following suit.

Kang Yoon-Soo easily navigated around the maze-like place; rather, it would be more suitable to say that it seemed as if he knew exactly where he was going. Even the most competent pathfinder would be unable to walk through such a labyrinthine area so quickly.

They were almost at the far end of the excavation site when they suddenly heard voices.

“Ah! Look! It’s a person!”

“Thank goodness! We’re saved!”

It was the survivors who had been excavating artifacts. They had been busy running away from the boss before ending up where they were, and they were exhausted and covered in all sorts of injuries. The association members wrapped up their injuries with bandages and passed some water they had brought along for the survivors to drink.

Their group increased in number when the survivors joined, but Kang Yoon-Soo still led the group at the forefront. Whenever he turned on a forked road or passed by unfamiliar terrain, he found another group of survivors. The scene that unfolded right before their eyes seemed like magic to the association members, and they could not believe it at all.

An association member who was astounded by Kang Yoon-Soo’s navigation skills could not hide his curiosity and asked Shaneth, “How does he know the excavation site like the back of his hand? Is that youngster a seasoned explorer at his age?”

“Well, you might be right… but if it’s Kang Yoon-Soo, you would have to include swordsman, necromancer, alchemist, and clairvoyant as well,” Shaneth said in response, shocking every one of the association members.

Kang Yoon-Soo kept finding survivor after survivor, and the last of them to be found was a boy hiding by himself. The boy gulped down the water he was given and said, “I was the last one who was chased by the boss monster.”

The survivors confirmed that everyone they knew had been rescued, and only then could Ramax breathe a sigh of relief. He said, “It’s really fortunate that nobody died. The only thing left for us to do is to escape from this excavation site.”

At that moment, a loud sound reverberated from across the tunnel. It was not the voice of a human, but rather a cry that resembled the screeching sound of tearing metal.

“Kirigryaaaah!”

“It’s the boss monster! It’s that monster that tried to kill us all!” a survivor whispered while trembling in fear. All of the survivors gulped as they waited nervously, and even the members of the Red Rock Excavators could not help but be filled with unease.

Just when the large shadowy figure was about to emerge from the far end of the tunnel, Kang Yoon-Soo raised his right arm and said, “Summon White.”

A large white werewolf suddenly appeared out of nowhere, still bearing the Chain of Obedience on its neck. Those present suddenly froze in fear. Shaneth was surprised as well by White’s appearance.

If White were to roar here, it was obvious that they would be easily found by the boss monster. However, White was behaving unlike its usual self. It just quietly stared down at Kang Yoon-Soo without making a sound, then growled quietly in the werewolf language. “Grrrrr… Orkan, arukiran, ramikurunra, ramir, urnokra.”

It might have sounded like meaningless growls and grunts to others, but Kang Yoon-Soo fully understood what the beast was saying. It meant, “Grrrrr… Human, I do not trust you. You are weaker than me and your temper is bad. What I mean to say is, you look like your father’s dick.

“But I changed my mind when I saw the ancient wolf that came out of your wrist device. Auron, the wolf of strength, is revered and worshiped by all wolves! If Auron has helped you, there must be a reason why. I have decided to serve you as my master.”

Then, the chains around its neck slowly cracked and fell to the ground—the ‘Chain of Obedience’ had come off. White had decided to serve Kang Yoon-Soo as its master.

White was not aggressive or wild at all, even though it had been released from forced obedience, and it looked at Kang Yoon-Soo the same way a dog would look loyally at its owner.

Kang Yoon-Soo said, “White.”

“Charnoroki?” White replied.

“Be the bait and lure the boss monster away,” Kang Yoon-Soo ordered.

“Karukur…” It was a command that White would have usually disobeyed, but it nodded and ran toward the other side of the tunnel instead.

“Oh my god…” someone said. The onlookers could not believe their eyes.

Werewolves were usually well known to be wild and aggressive monsters; a fully grown adult bull would be ripped to shreds if a werewolf swiped it with its razor-sharp claws once. And yet, that werewolf was listening to the commands of a human?

All eyes were on Kang Yoon-Soo after White listened to his commands and left, and the way people looked at him suddenly changed. It was now difficult to believe he was merely a simple pathfinder.

It was then that White’s loud roar, followed by the sounds of battle, rang out from the far end of the tunnel.

“Let’s go,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

The survivors and the excavators hurriedly left toward the surface. However, a strong vibration suddenly approached them from behind just as they were about to reach the exit of the excavation site. It was the same kind of vibration Shaneth had initially felt when they were excavating artifacts.

“Kirigruriyaaaaah!”

The boss monster was a dragon made out of bones. It has two large wings with not a single patch of leather covering them, and its skull contained two glowing red eyes. It was a gigantic and grotesque monster.

[Bone Dragon, Skeltrodon (Boss, Level 174) has appeared!]

Bone Dragons were ancient creatures believed to have been lost in history. They usually roamed alone unlike other boss monsters, but the dragon was still intimidating nonetheless.

It had been trapped underground for a long period of time, so it appeared to be smaller than a normal dragon and its teeth were dull, but the core embedded deep within its bones still shone brighter than anything else that existed in the underground.

The Bone Dragon beat its skeletal wings as it quickly charged toward the group in midair.

“Kyarrng! Rokra!Urnokra!”White roared as it suddenly charged and jumped up toward the Bone Dragon, slamming into its wings and disrupting its flight. The survivors screamed as they ran out of the excavation site, but one person was pushed down by the wave of bodies and fell down.

“Huk!” Someone fell with a groan.

“Leader!” someone cried. The one who had fallen was Ramax.

The Bone Dragon did not fail to notice the old man, and it breathed out immensely hot and destructive black fire from its bony mouth. White jumped back to avoid the black fire, and the Bone Dragon quickly took the opportunity to fly and charge toward Ramax.

“Hing!”

Ramax closed his eyes as he curled up, awaiting his fate of being ripped to shreds by the Bone Dragon.

Clang!

Kang Yoon-Soo blocked the Bone Dragon’s attack in a split second, however, and Ramax took the chance to escape out of the excavation site.

The Bone Dragon did not pursue the group after they had left the excavation site. It was as if it treated the excavation site as the boundary of its territory.

“Thank you!”

“We survived thanks to you!”

The survivors started to gather around Kang Yoon-Soo as they thanked him one by one.

Ramax, who had survived by a hair's breadth, said in a trembling voice, “Thank you so much! I would’ve been dead if it weren’t for you!”

However, Kang Yoon-Soo ignored their gratitude as if he could not hear them at all. He readied Ravian’s Longsword as he quietly said, “Let’s go.”

“Alright!” Shaneth replied enthusiastically as she readied her Death Scythe, and the pair entered the excavation site once again.

White growled with its claws out as the Bone Dragon looked at its enemy through its glowing red eyes. The dragon suddenly reared up and let out a deafening roar.

“Kirgriyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”