The Dimensional Swordmaster C17

Chapter 17. The Whereabouts of the Sword (7)

“Listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”

Gong Siyoung seized Yurian by the arm. Without understanding the situation, Yurian blinked as Siyoung explained in a calm but urgent tone.

“When you approach that monster, a condition will activate. When the monster asks a question, just answer yes.”

“What?”

“Just say yes. That’s all.”

Yurian blinked again, dazed. Siyoung’s grip tightened, impatience rising.

“Just—no matter what—say yes.”

Under the pressure of what felt like a threat, Yurian finally nodded.

“Yes.”

“Good. Let’s go. You two stay right where you are.”

Siyoung warned Yujin and Gu Jayoung, who had instinctively tried to follow. He gave no further explanation.

As they followed Siyoung, Yurian glanced back at the two hunters. Yujin shrugged helplessly—they were just as clueless.

When Yurian’s steps slowed even slightly, Siyoung instantly turned back with hawk-like awareness. Yurian shrank his shoulders and hurried after him in tiny steps.

“Are you really not going to explain in more detail?”

“I already explained. When you get near the monster, the condition activates. Then you answer yes. That’s it.”

“No… Never mind.”

Yurian clicked his tongue. Everything about this was off—the strange teamwork, Siyoung issuing commands like it was natural, nothing going the way Yurian intended.

This wasn’t what I planned…

How had it come to this? He only wanted to sneak in a little spectator session.

He’d even used invisibility magic just to watch from the shadows—but then he saw people plummeting out of thin air.

He couldn’t watch someone die right in front of him. His body had moved before he could think.

But even now, he had no idea why those people had suddenly collapsed and gone limp in midair.

“But that thing isn’t a monster.”

He met the giant’s crimson eyes. Its face was hidden behind a mask, but Yurian recognized the being.

“It’s a Custos.”

As if reacting to his voice, the giant opened its mouth.

〈This is the realm of the chosen. Are you chosen?〉

Siyoung elbowed Yurian sharply in the ribs. Yurian rubbed the sore spot and glared at him. Siyoung mouthed clearly:

Say yes.

…What was all this?

Well, he’d been told to do it, so fine. But what exactly changed by answering?

Still full of doubt, Yurian pouted—but obeyed.

“Yes.”

[All conditions have been fulfilled by ’s response.]

[The First Origin (D) guarded by “Warden of Niflheim” is now unlocked: ‘Limbo’.]

+

The giant turned its back and began to walk away.

With each thunderous step, its body shattered like sugar crystals.

Two steps. Three steps.

His massive form crumbled into fragments—until nothing remained.

Beneath the remnants, a pitch-black door emerged.

Barely wide enough for a single person to pass through.

Above the door, glowing text appeared:

[Time until Gate Open: 48:00:00]

+

Like a well-trained dog awaiting commands, Yurian looked up at Siyoung.

Siyoung pointed at the door.

“What is that?”

Staring at the shrinking timer, Siyoung finally spoke.

“…It means we’re fucked.”

Behind the collapsing giant, the black door stood exposed.

The video froze on the image of Siyoung staring grimly at the door.

Rubbing tired eyes, Gong Sijin exhaled heavily.

“There’s no way we can handle this alone.”

It hadn’t been intentional, but giving Yurian the bodycam had been the right decision—it captured every detail inside the dungeon.

Sijin looked around the conference room.

Everyone who had been inside the dungeon was present:

Siyoung, Yurian, Yujin, and Gu Jayoung—

along with Guild Master Sijin himself and Vice Master Park Ildo.

The seriousness of the situation was obvious.

“I’ll contact the Administration Bureau myself. Once they see the footage, they’ll come up with countermeasures.”

Sijin rubbed the space between his brows, face dark with stress.

And understandably so.

The dungeon that had only seemed “slightly strange” turned out to be far worse than expected.

The door beneath the giant was unmistakably a Gate.

A gate within a gate.

And no one knew what kind of dungeon lay beyond it.

The room fell into tense silence.

Only Yurian—who didn’t grasp the seriousness—looked around serenely.

It wasn’t that no one tried to explain.

It was simply that Yurian did not understand any of it.

Despite his good instinct for reading moods, he couldn’t know what he had never learned.

Since entering the dungeon, Yurian had not seen a single system window.

He couldn’t see the timer above the black door,

nor the “unlocking” notices,

nor anything concerning the conditions.

So Sijin had patiently begun explaining…

which somehow turned into a full lecture on the origins of system windows themselves.

If Siyoung hadn’t stepped in to tell them to knock it off, the lecture might still be going.

But there was no time to sit around explaining.

A gate inside a gate—

the very concept was ominous.

And in 48 hours, they would be forced to enter it.

“It’s lucky it’s only D-rank… but what bothers me is why it’s labeled First Origin. That wording has implications.”

Why “First”?

Unless there was a Second… or a Third…

The worst-case scenario was an endless string of nested dungeons.

The room grew even quieter.

Only the sound of Yurian rolling his chair echoed irritatingly.

Unable to endure the noise, Siyoung grabbed the back of the chair and dragged Yurian toward him.

Only after seeing him sit properly did Siyoung finally speak—eyes still on Yurian as if issuing a warning.

“As you saw in the footage, our skills were forcibly disabled mid-battle. That should be impossible.”

If even Siyoung’s S-rank skills were nullified, the rest stood no chance.

If it happened again, they could all be wiped out.

A hunter without skills was barely different from an ordinary civilian.

Facing monsters unarmed meant certain death.

At last, Vice Master Park Ildo, who had been silent the entire time, tapped the table.

He jerked his chin toward Yurian.

“What I don’t get is… how he used skills.”

The bodycam had recorded everything—

Yurian using invisibility, flying, catching them in midair.

The footage was from Yurian’s perspective; there was no room for misinterpretation.

“Well…”

Everyone turned to stare at Yurian.

He froze halfway through trying to roll the chair again.

Blinking awkwardly under their collective scrutiny, he asked:

“…Why are you all staring at me?”

“Because we want to know how you used skills.”

“Skills… oh, magic?”

“Magic or whatever.”

Park cut him off abruptly.

His tone left no room for evasion; he pointed straight at Yurian like issuing a threat.

“Yurian, was it? I didn’t believe that ‘I came from inside the dungeon’ bullshit for a second. I figured you were just some lunatic who wandered in through a Gate. But this? No. There’s a difference between being crazy and being a sneaky bastard who can use skills when no one else can.”

One person using skills while everyone else was forcibly silenced?

If malicious, killing them all would’ve been trivial.

Suspicion was unavoidable—and Park Ildo had absolutely no intention of hiding his distrust.

“We kept quiet because the Master said to, but I don’t trust you one damn bit.”

Raising his voice, he argued that all this “Chosen One” business could very well be Yurian’s trick.

If it were a trap, entering that gate would be suicide.

“We can leave the inner gate to the Bureau. Let the guild alliance form a team and handle the raid. But as for him? Someone needs to interrogate him and figure out what he really is. Doesn’t it seem weird? He says he can’t see system windows, but he can name monsters fluently?”

Park clenched his fist, shaking it threateningly.

He clearly had experience intimidating people.

Despite being openly accused, Yurian showed no fear.

Such threats meant nothing to someone like him—

it was almost cute.

“What does knowing monster names have to do with system windows? And besides—he’s not a monster.”

Who would call a Custos a monster?

Yurian clicked his tongue.

These people really were clueless about the world.

“A Custos is a summoned being.”