A bright and quiet room lit by warm sunlight.
The Guide sat down on a soft sofa and stared at the man reflected in the crystal orb.
“Oscar Crucian.......”
He pressed hard against his already throbbing temples.
“Ah, this is difficult.”
Without exaggeration, among all the people he had met in his life, this was the hardest type of person to figure out.
‘He’s intelligent and capable.’
At barely his early twenties, he was already a genius who surpassed a level 7 mage.
And geniuses of that caliber usually fell into two categories.
‘An insufferable bastard drunk on his own greatness, or a lunatic obsessed with skill.’
Surprisingly, Oscar Crucian fit neither of those cases.
He was even considerate toward others.
‘In other words, he’s perfect.’
Yes, perfect.
That was the problem.
Because if someone was human, there had to be at least one rough edge somewhere.
But in all the time he had observed Oscar Crucian, no such flaw had existed whatsoever.
That was precisely why he found him suspicious.
‘After speaking with him, he doesn’t seem to be a demon race member...... but still.’
Just what was he?
After staring for a long while, the young brat inside the crystal orb began overlapping with someone else in his mind.
A person who had shared the same name and worn robes of the same color.
“......Looks like I’ve broken down too.”
The Guide let out a small laugh and shook his head.
Even that person who had briefly crossed his mind had been a complete menace at that age.
That was why it had always felt ridiculous whenever people praised him as some kind of hero.
In other words, even humanity’s universally revered hero had not been perfect at that age.
“But...... yes. If you really are the same type of person as him.”
There was something he wanted to see.
Something he wanted to confirm.
With practiced motions, the Guide manipulated the crystal orb and constructed a dungeon meant for only one person.
Oscar slowly looked around.
It was a village he had visited before.
Quite a long time had passed since then, yet it was still a place that surfaced vividly in his memories.
“A rural village? It’s pretty.”
Tesila, who had barged in immediately, walked over beside him and spoke.
“But this is kind of interesting.”
“What is?”
“There are people.”
In the direction she pointed, villagers could be seen.
Of course, perhaps the two of them were invisible, because the villagers showed no reaction at all despite the appearance of outsiders.
“The two dungeons I barged into earlier didn’t have people in them. Did yours?”
“......No, now that I think about it, mine didn’t either.”
The purpose of this dungeon, to begin with, was to help challengers grow.
Perhaps because of that, many of the conditions had focused on self-discipline and cultivation......
‘And now there are suddenly people. Besides.’
Oscar frowned.
The very fact that the dungeon had chosen ‘this place’ as the testing ground displeased him.
‘No, it’s probably just coincidence.’
Even if the dungeon could read information about its target, it probably couldn’t read memories from the past.
Oscar forcefully shook away the negative thoughts and asked,
“So what do we do now? When do they tell us the conditions for clearing it?”
“Ah, right. This is your first time.”
Tesila nodded.
She had entered the previous two dungeons alongside challengers, but she herself had not been one.
After all, she had barged into a dungeon more than two months after those troublemaker brats had already entered it.
“First, you fail.”
“......We have to fail?”
“Yeah. Don’t tell me you thought you’d succeed the moment you entered? Even the Yellow Tower Master couldn’t do that.”
She let out a small laugh.
“And you entered a difficulty 3 dungeon, which is even harder than that, so who knows...... but I doubt the conditions will be easy. Maybe all difficulty 3 dungeons are like this.”
“You don’t have any related information either, Ms. Tesila?”
“Nope. You heard it too, right? There’s still someone who entered difficulty 3 and never came out.”
Sure enough, he had heard about that from the Guide when he first entered this place.
“That’s why everyone avoids difficulty 3. Most people coming here are probably at least level 6, but they don’t want to risk their lives for no reason.”
“I suppose that’s true.......”
The most common visitors were probably level 6 mages and knights who wanted to break through the wall of level 7 and become Masters.
After that would come late-stage level 7 Masters wanting to surpass the wall of level 8.
Fran was the strange one.
For a level 5 to come here, it would probably feel like wasting a one-time opportunity.
“Then let’s look around first.”
“Good call. So what are you planning to start with?”
“I think we should at least learn the surrounding terrain first.”
“Wow, do you want to join our adventurer party? I think you’d do great as an adventurer.”
“I’ll pass.”
Together with her, Oscar began exploring the village starting from the center.
Children kicking around a ball in the central square, old men wasting time over chess matches.
Women at the washing area and men returning with fresh prey from hunting could also be seen.
“For a mountain village, it’s fairly large.”
“There are a total of 47 houses and a population of 182.”
“Hm?”
Tesila’s eyes widened.
“I counted the houses too, but what’s your basis for 182 people?”
“......It just seems like about that many people live here.”
“Aw, come on.”
Leaving behind the laughing Tesila, Oscar headed toward the outskirts of the village.
“There’s nowhere blocked off.”
“Blocked off? Ahh, are you talking about transparent walls?”
“Yes. When I explored the previous dungeons, there were places I couldn’t go.”
There had been spaces where he could no longer proceed, as though obstructed by invisible walls.
Since the place was fundamentally created through illusion magic, it was probably a natural limitation.
“Yeah, the two dungeons I entered had those too. Come to think of it, this place doesn’t.”
Tesila said while looking around.
“Or maybe they do exist, but the transparent walls are set extremely far away.”
Set far away.
Her words lingered in his ears.
“If that’s really the case, then why?”
“You mean the designer’s intentions?”
“Yes.”
“Hm~ probably because there’s a reason you need to leave the village. Or maybe they hid some sort of mechanism outside.”
A reason to leave the village.
Oscar narrowed his eyes.
‘No, there shouldn’t be any such thing.’
Even if there were, he had absolutely no intention of leaving this village.
He couldn’t repeat the same mistake.
After confirming that the sun had reached the mountain peaks, Oscar spoke.
“For now, let’s head back to the village.”
Night deepened.
The two sat on a bench in the village’s central square.
After drinking the provided rations and water, Tesila spoke first.
“Should we sleep and wake up early? It’s not like anything’s going to happen at night in a rural place like this.”
“......No.”
Oscar shook his head.
This village, from the path at the entrance all the way to the bench he sat on now.
Every part of it was vivid enough to appear in his dreams. Which was why he knew.
‘Whether it’ll happen tonight or several days later, I don’t know.’
A guest would come to this village.
And destroy everything here, killing everyone.
Oscar waited for that existence within the darkness for a long time.
Tick, tick.
The moment the watch on his wrist pointed to 2:32 in the morning.
Tesila, who had been nodding off, suddenly snapped her eyes open.
“Oscar!”
“Yes, I see it.”
Still seated, Oscar stared at the existence floating in the night sky.
A gigantic figure exceeding three meters in height, with a massive pair of horns protruding from its head.
“......A demon.”
KUUUUNG!
With a thunderous boom, the demon landed on the ground and stared at the seated Oscar.
Judging from how it didn’t even glance at Tesila standing right beside him, it seemed she was invisible.
“A pure white robe? A mage of the White Tower.”
“Your body’s frozen stiff. Can’t even think of standing up, hm?”
The demon grinned viciously and slowly spread both arms wide, causing flames to surge upward.
At that exact moment, the sight of the village overlapped within Oscar’s eyes.
The sight of every villager dead and the village reduced to blackened ruins.
The children who used to play ball with him, the couple who had treated him to meals.
The village chief who had clasped his hand while thanking him for his help, now dried into a brittle dead tree rolling across the ground.
“Why did you come?”
He had always wondered.
Why did these villagers have to be massacred?
Had it somehow been because of him?
Of course, he knew.
The scene he was witnessing now was nothing more than a fabricated illusion, and that the demon before him did not know the answer.
Still, he simply wanted to ask.
“Hm? What an amusing thing to say.”
The demon grinned.
“Since when did we need reasons to kill humans?”
The human heart was weak and deceitful.
And it seemed he too could not escape that category.
Seeing how he felt a sliver of relief from words spoken by nothing more than an illusion.
“Though I should be the one asking. Why is a mage of the White Tower in a place like this......”
Before the sentence could even finish—
Snap!
Oscar flicked his finger.
KWAHHHHHHH!
At the same time, a violent typhoon swept forward.
“K-Kgh.”
As the wind and dust cloud cleared, the demon could be seen dripping blood from wounds covering its body.
Slowly lowering its crossed arms, killing intent overflowed from its eyes.
“How cowardly, just like an insect. Attacking while someone’s speaking.”
“I don’t have a hobby of talking with trash.”
Once more, Oscar flicked his finger.
“I won’t fall for it twice!”
Fwoooosh!
With a light wave of the demon’s hand, flames burst upward from all directions and blocked the wind.
Oscar stared at it indifferently before clenching his fist.
KWAAAAAAAH!
The raging wind crushed the flames as though stomping insects, swallowed them whole, and then engulfed the demon.
“Kuhuhu, kahaha! Foolish idiot. As if I’d be harmed by flames I created myself!”
Oscar’s expression did not change in the slightest.
To begin with, he had never intended to use the flames themselves.
KAGAGAGAGAK!
The whirlwind, now blazing red after swallowing the flames, sharpened like blades.
Those blades mercilessly scraped, slashed, and carved apart the demon trapped inside.
“KRAAAAAAGH!”
The demon writhed in agony and frantically spewed flames, but they were swept away by the wind and could not leak outside.
Over ten minutes passed, and when the wind finally ceased, something collapsed onto the ground with a thud.
A corpse so mutilated it was difficult to look at directly.
Oscar gazed down at it with emotionless eyes and muttered,
“It’s not that I can’t think of standing up. There’s simply no need to.”
At best, it was only a baron-class demon.
Now, he had reached a level where he could butcher one without even leaving his seat.
“W-Wow.......”
Watching the scene, Tesila gave a sincere gasp of admiration.
“I heard you were strong, but I didn’t think it was to this extent?”
“The compatibility was favorable. And the opponent was stupid too.”
Using fire head-on against a mage of the White Tower.
Even mages of the Red Tower didn’t do something that foolish.
After checking the corpse, Tesila nodded.
“It’s definitely dead. This is my first time seeing someone clear a dungeon on the first attempt.”
“......It was an unpleasant dungeon.”
Oscar snorted quietly and muttered,
“So when does this end?”
“Who knows? Usually, once the clear condition is fulfilled, a voice immediately announces it.”
The two sat waiting on the bench for a long time.
Only after dawn broke did a message announcing the dungeon clear appear.
[Achievement Rate: 8%]
[Clear condition partially achieved. Conditional success.]
An achievement rate of 8%?
Partial completion of the clear conditions?
As Oscar frowned, a new voice sounded before him.
[If you choose to leave the dungeon now, you will receive ‘Windless Zone’ as your dungeon reward.]
[Will you leave?]
The achievement rate was merely 20%, yet even that alone was enough to receive Windless Zone.
Even if he left the dungeon right now, there was nothing for him to lose.
After sorting through his tangled thoughts, Oscar spoke.
“What was the clear condition for this dungeon again?”
[Your clear condition is one.]
The guiding voice continued.
[Give up.]

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