Instant Kill, Time-Stop Spellcaster

Ding!

[You have entered F-grade Dungeon .]

[Eliminate the branches of the World Tree to clear the dungeon.]

Start easy.

It was the lowest-level dungeon.

“Hmm.”

The scent of home.

The dungeon’s setting was Kyle’s hometown, ‘Thea.’

Although now, it was a decorated alternate dimension.

“I should visit my real hometown later.”

There are two types of gates.

The one that leads to the “dungeon.”

The “passage” that leads to real Thea.

This was the former.

“I should also visit my friends’ hometowns.”

It was a promise from a past life.

After the war ended, we were supposed to show each other our hometowns.

“Tsk, if only I didn’t have that vocal cord issue.”

Walking with light thoughts.

A leisurely pace.

However, there were rat monsters swarming all around.

Squeak. Squeak.

Dozens of rats the size of cats.

An awakened individual would never be able to handle this on their own.

Even for a D-rank Awakened, it would be too much.

Still, Kang-hyun was calm.

He lowered his black mask.

And stretched his itchy neck.

“Hmm, hmm. Ahh, ahh.”

The rats, which had been wary, suddenly charged at him.

“[Stop]”

Squeak-

The rats froze.

He poured some fresh water and replenished himself, admiring the moment.

Ah, the sense of discomfort brought by the stillness.

“I really missed this.”

He put the mask back on.

He had intentionally chosen this place.

Just like the plaza, where weak monsters came out in droves.

The stronger the opponent, the greater the mana cost for commands.

But in a place like this?

Even with the tiny amount of mana he had now, it was enough.

“But this one use nearly drained all my mana.”

His body was really weak.

“I need mana to increase quickly, so I can try that.”

That.

The ultimate of commands.

Just thinking about it made his throat itch.

“Wasn’t that sealed?”

After the World Tree sealed his commands.

He realized it at the moment of death.

“Well, just once…”

Would this much mana work?

He glanced at a tree, cleared his throat, and focused.

“Die… cough, cough!”

As expected, there wasn’t enough mana.

His throat tightened.

The strain on his vocal cords.

“Ah, no!”

His throat will get damaged!

Hydration!

Panicking, he quickly drank water.

Gulp, gulp.

The water bottle ran out quickly.

“Ugh!”

As expected, he’d need more mana to use it.

“That was a close call. I have to be careful. My throat might get ruined.”

But it seems like it would be soon.

The requirements were harsh, but the command wasn’t too costly.

Throwing away the empty bottle, he drew out a shortsword.

It was a weapon he had received when applying to become an Awakened.

“Cutting each of their necks is a chore.”

Other Awakened couldn’t even dream of this strategy.

He approached the rats with the sword, and they just looked up with glazed eyes.

Their will to resist had completely stopped, showing an utterly powerless appearance.

They sensed their fate and trembled.

Thrust-

The sword pierced their necks, and they slumped.

After cutting all the rats, he saw mana stones on the floor.

The rat corpses just vanished.

Mana stones were the main source of income for Awakened.

They were so expensive?

They were only the size of a pinky nail.

Was it because it was an F-grade dungeon?

Still, he gathered them one by one.

“I need to pay off my debt…”

The collapsed academy and the mountain of debt.

How did Hero Kyle end up like this…

Tears blurred his vision.

After slaying dozens of rats.

In the deepest part of the dungeon.

A black object was left.

It was a tree branch, about the size of a bamboo shoot.

“The World Tree’s root.”

The source of the dimensional invasion.

In other words, the root of the dungeon.

Without hesitation, he cut it down.

Crunch-

“Now, a clear notification should pop up. I’ll get the rewards and that’s it.”

As expected, it was simple.

However, another message window appeared before him.

It was different from what he had anticipated.

Ding!

[You have cleared the dungeon.]

[Assessing the clearance grade.]

Ding!

[Perfect Clear!(Solo)]

[An incredible achievement! You have completely blocked the World Tree’s invasion!]

[Your achievement will bestow a ‘blessing’ upon the surrounding area! Everyone will praise your accomplishment!]

“Huh?”

What’s this about?

This message wasn’t part of what he expected.

A moment later.

The space cracked, and the world shattered with a loud sound.

Dungeon cleared.

The scenery before entering the gate.

Aden was also in front of him.

“Huh? How did you come out so soon?”

The phone number 191 was displayed on Aden’s phone.

Wasn’t that the emergency Awakened support number?

Luckily, he hadn’t called yet.

“Put that down, you idiot. I cleared the dungeon.”

“Huh? You just went in! Do dungeons naturally clear themselves?”

A solo clear was an absolute impossibility.

She had already looked it up on her phone.

“I was about to call, thinking you might be in danger.”

“That’s sweet of you.”

But solo clearing is impossible, huh?

It wasn’t that difficult.

Are today’s Awakened this weak?

At that moment.

A light erupted from the spot where the gate had been, spreading wide in the sky.

“Huh? What’s that?”

“Oh, that must be it.”

“What is it?”

“That’s the blessing. They said if you perfectly clear a dungeon, it gets spread to the surrounding area.”

“Blessing? No way, that’s not possible.”

They seemed to know what a blessing was.

“Blessings only activate if you perfectly clear a dungeon.”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“But I heard that’s really hard to achieve.”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“Well, even if it’s not, that’s what they say.”

Aden had always been skeptical about people’s words.

“That’s not something light. It has a range of 100km, so if it activates, the entire Seoul-”

Ding!

[A hero has perfectly cleared the F-grade dungeon ‘Mouse Hole’ and completely stopped the World Tree’s invasion!]

[In honor of their achievement, a ‘blessing’ has been bestowed in the area. Everyone, please celebrate!]

The message appeared before them.

Aden, too, stared at the air.

It seemed the same notification had popped up for her.

“…Huh?”

“Yeah. The message popped up.”

Just as Aden said.

But it didn’t seem like something that would attract this much attention.

Did it say 100km?

It’s unnecessarily loud.

“Well, at least it’s not as bad as back at the plaza.”

They’d probably think a decent rookie just came out.

It’ll calm down soon.

Still, it was time to leave.

At that moment.

Ding!

[You have achieved ‘Perfect Clear!(Solo)’ for your first dungeon.]

[An unprecedented achievement in history!]

[You will receive a reward for completing this achievement.]

“Oh?”

Achievement reward?

This was something new.

[You will receive a ‘—grade Random Box.’]

[This is an unprecedented reward. It will temporarily unlock.]

[Do you wish to open the ‘—grade Random Box’?]

A random box?

What is this? It’s not even a game.

“Yes.”

Well, since they’re giving it, let’s see what it is.

A hologram of a box appeared before him.

But it was covered with a mosaic.

It felt like something that shouldn’t be revealed was inside.

[Opening ‘—grade Random Box’.]

With a flashy sound effect, the box opened.

Ding!

[You have received the trait ‘Inventory’.]

Is that good?

The method of use was instantly imprinted in his mind.

His pocket, where he stored mana stones.

As he thought about putting them away, the pocket vanished.

Whoosh

[Inventory]

Mana stone pouch

The inventory was an incorporeal space.

Its size was roughly the size of a container.

His body trembled with excitement.

“Awesome!”

An incorporeal space!

Even Kyle, the strongest user of commands, could never achieve this.

It was still in the realm of fantasy in modern magic engineering.

A treasure—an incorporeal space!

“Moreover, there’s no item to mediate. It’s completely incorporeal.”

If the heroic companions from his past life saw this?

There would have been a huge fight.

They would’ve all argued about who deserved it.

“Someone as weak as you doesn’t deserve it!”

“This is perfect for a noble saint like me!”

“We should let the strongest person have it!”

Of course, Kyle would have ended up with it after knocking them all out.

But still!

“This treasure is mine!”

Hooray for the system!

Long live my free growth!

“Do other Awakened also get this kind of thing?”

This is totally cheating, right?

“If only I had this system in my past life…!”

I would have gotten much stronger.

I would have defeated the World Tree!

The frustration almost overwhelmed him.

“Hey, look at this! This clear reward is just…”

Excited, he called to Aden, but then stopped.

Aden was trembling.

Her mouth was agape.

Her eyes widened to the point of ripping.

She kept looking at the message in the air and then at him.

“Th-This is… how is this… Perfect, for real…”

Why is she acting like this?

“…Are you okay?”

Aden couldn’t believe the reality before her.

It took her a moment to accept it.

“The Perfect Clear, which has only existed twice in history…”

It happened before her eyes.

Her teacher entered the gate.

The dungeon was cleared in an instant.

Her teacher had said the blessing would be bestowed.

And now, the blessing had been bestowed.

Most importantly, the system had kindly notified them.

[Perfect Clear!(Solo)]

“Solo. Cleared alone.”

No doubt about it.

Her magic teacher, the man named Kang-hyun, who had just awakened, had perfectly cleared the dungeon.

“…”

Having processed the thought, Aden immediately began to act.

Kang-hyun, startled, turned to her.

“What, what are you doing?”

Without hesitation, she kneeled.

“Master.”

“Huh?”

“I will serve you as my master from now on.”

In the Awakening Management Bureau of South Korea.

Section Chief Choi Young-ho urged the staff below him.

“Have we found the S-grade command user yet?”

“Well, we couldn’t gather CCTV footage, so the investigation is delayed….”

“Report concisely.”

Section Chief Choi turned sharply, gazing at his subordinate.

“Efficiency is the basic principle of government execution.”

“Yes. Not yet.”

“I see.”

He took off his angular glasses and sighed deeply.

The ground felt like it might collapse.

“We need to find them as soon as possible.”

What if another country gets them first?

He would probably be fired on the spot.

Not just any other person, but an S-grade.

And a successor to Hero Kyle!

“Has the higher-ups said anything?”

“They’ve said to turn the whole peninsula upside down to find them.”

“Is that all?”

“Of course not. They’ve been reprimanding us for not identifying such talent earlier.”

“That’s too harsh.”

An S-grade appeared out of nowhere.

How were they supposed to identify them in advance?

“No!”

“Ah, you scared me.”

“Government execution must never falter!”

“Oh, here we go again….”

He launched into a long-winded speech.

Completely absorbed, he seemed to lose track of his surroundings.

His subordinates took the opportunity to grab coffee from the vending machine.

About 10 minutes later, they returned to their positions.

“…Thus, we must carry the responsibility for the nation’s governance and proceed with a more righteous approach!”

“Yes. We understand.”

“Glad my words were helpful!”

Sip.

The coffee was sweet.

“Still, how could we have identified them in advance? Even if they just awakened today, I’d believe it.”

“That’s not possible.”

“That’s just what I meant. Haha.”

Section Chief Choi adjusted his glasses.

“Anyway, we need to find that S-grade command user quickly. If it slips away to another country, it will be a disaster!”

Especially the United States.

They’re always snatching up Awakened.

The birthplace of hero fiction.

A country obsessed with idolizing heroes.

As expected, offering huge support.

“Moreover, Thea might get involved too.”

“Right.”

After all, they were the successor to Kyle.

“We need to hurry….”

Section Chief Choi stopped mid-sentence.

His subordinate’s face looked strange.

“What’s wrong?”

The eyes were fixed in a trance-like state.

They seemed to have seen something they shouldn’t have.

“Blessing…?”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Uh… Section Chief, is it possible for the system to malfunction?”

“Efficient communication! Please restate your question using the five Ws and one H!”

“Ah, no….”

At that moment, the hallway became noisy.

Bang! Bang!

The sound of someone running.

The door flung open.

“Senior Shin?”

The manager from the neighboring office rushed in, out of breath.

Unlike Section Chief Choi, he was an Awakened individual.

Section Chief Choi adjusted his glasses.

“Senior! Running down the hallway like that is unbecoming of a civil servant—”

“Hey, hey! Young-ho, did you see it? No, you’re not an Awakened, right?”

“Huh?”

“Just now, in Seoul, a Blessing was granted!”

Blessing?

What’s that about?

Why is it in Seoul?

It took a little time to process the information.

“Please restate according to the five Ws and one H—”

“Damn it, it’s a Perfect Clear! It’s the third Perfect Clear in Earth’s history! It just appeared!”

“…Huh?”

Section Chief Choi, forgetting the five Ws and one H, asked again in confusion.