[It’s dangerous, don’t go.]

Daisy spoke in a straightforward manner.

[Kang Shin will die.]

I sighed. “I asked you to explain the situation to me, not curse me.”

She demanded, [Let me come. Else, I’ll go alone.]

“Won’t you arrive in a different place if you go?” I asked.

[So let’s go together.] Daisy stubbornly insisted, but I had no plans of taking anyone with me. I believed that it was best to go with just Lin. Anyone else would just slow us down. Though, that might not necessarily be the case with Daisy…

I explained, “A very powerful member of the administrative guild is coming with me, so you don’t have to worry about my safety.”

She replied bluntly, [Book Walker, strong. And many.]

I pointed out, “Right, that’s what I wanted. I need to understand the situation.”

Daisy paused and finally said, […Book Walker, also called Slaughter Scholars.]

I frowned. “Yeah, what’s so special about them?”

[Take me too.]

“No.”

Daisy was insistent. I sighed and looked back at Lin.

“Can we bring another person?”

He gave me a crazy look. “What? Of course not.”

“Why?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes. “We won’t gain anything by having more people. I’ll be doing all the fighting, so we don’t need anyone else.”

His confidence irked me slightly, but I also knew he wasn’t just boasting. However, I had an idea.

“Her name is Daisy. She’s from the Sylon continent, so wouldn’t it be helpful to have her guide us?” I suggested.

He raised an eyebrow. “Sylon continent? There’s still an explorer other than Hydelcyon from that continent? What’s her level?”

I must have caught Lin’s attention. I quickly asked Daisy, “Daisy, what level are you?”

She replied instantly, [83.]

I wheedled, “She’s level 83. She’s also a Beyond explorer.”

Lin pursed his lips. “Beyond…? There are more people like you in your guild? Fine, at least she won’t hold us back.”

Lin made it sound like there would be more people who would want to come with me. When I notified Daisy that she could join us with a bitter smile, Hwaya frighteningly interjected, [Let me come too!]

I then explained that we wouldn’t gain anything by letting her come. Of course, I took time to say this carefully so her feelings wouldn’t be hurt. Although Hwaya refused to accept my explanation and appealed, saying that she was quite strong, we really couldn’t take Hwaya with us as well. There was also the fact that Hwaya’s level had gone down after she moved from the Second Dungeon to the First Dungeon.

“Just wait. I’ll come back safely, I promise,” I exhorted.

She whined, [I became a Dimensional Mercenary just so I could go with you in cases like this…]

I pointed out, “I’m not going as a Dimensional Mercenary this time. My Dimensional Travel is on cooldown, so I can’t even use it. Next time, we can take a Dimensional Mercenary mission together, okay?”

She huffed. [Whew, okay… I’ll get mad if you come back hurt, got it?]

“Don’t worry.”

While I pacified Hwaya, Daisy had arrived in Fairy Garden. She seemed to be full of spirit as she gave off more vigor than usual.

Daisy commented, “Leaving Hwaya behind, very difficult.”

I smiled wryly. “Yeah, good job.”

Dais continued, “She said, if I make a move on Kang Shin, she’ll kill me. But, what does making a move mean?”

She really was innocent. “You don’t have to know.”

“…Since she’s here, let’s go. We have to find Sipua as quickly as possible and put her back in her place.” Lin seemed a bit surprised when he saw Daisy, but he soon calmed down and urged us on.

“But Lin, since there are two teams from each of the four guilds, are there eight teams going?” I asked.

He gave me a look. “That’s right. Why?”

I shrugged. “…I’m just making sure. There’s no way to specify Sipua’s location?”

Lin nodded. “That’s right. We’ll be able to sense her if we get close enough, so we can only split up the continent into eight regions and search. That’s the easiest way to do it.”

“In a world that’s being ruled by a world’s enemy, huh…” I mused.

“Yep.”

It was a seriously annoying and dangerous mission.

Daisy interrupted, “If not decided, pick a location. Sion Empire, most likely.”

“You mean…” My eyes flickered.

She said in a flat tone, “Lodert Hydelcyon, probably there… Most likely dead. Sion Empire is the most dangerous.”

“That’s great. I love danger,” Lin responded with a grin and started walking. Apparently, he was going with the region that Daisy had recommended.

She stared at Lin walking away, then faced me and asked, “Kang Shin… As I thought, you like men?”

I exclaimed indignantly, “No! What do you mean that’s what you thought?!”

She blinked. “You two seem close.”

“Please, don’t say that…” I replied weakly.

“Am I, third wheeling?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

I yelled out, “No! Thank you for coming!”

The dungeon had stopped. From the First Dungeon, all the way to the Fourth, all operations other than the Residential Area ceased. We had to return everything to the way it was as quickly as possible, but we couldn’t rush into another world. As such, it took another thirty minutes for the eight teams to choose the region they were going to.

“Shin-nim, please be safe,” Loretta exhorted.

I smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry.”

She said bashfully, “The only thing I can do at times like this is give you a blessing… Hehe, come here. Hurry.”

I almost laughed. “You have no plans in hiding your real intentions, do you?”

Since it seemed she wouldn’t let me go if I didn’t let her have her way, I obediently received Loretta’s blessing. Even though I had already found out that she didn’t need to kiss me to give me the blessing, she still did so while acting as if I had never found out.

Furthermore, although I was the only one she kissed, the blessing was also applied to Lin and Daisy. I could hear Lin muttering Loretta being a scammer under his breath, but Loretta silenced him with a mana bullet.

[You have received the Queen Elf’s High-Rank Blessing. For the next four days, you will receive the following effects: You are protected against all low rank and mid-rank status effects. You can maintain your consciousness for 5 minutes after falling in a half-dead state. Your luck has increased by 100. All members of the Faerie race will see you favorably. Your health and magic power recovery rate has increased greatly, and you will not get exhausted easily. When attacking, your chance of landing critical hits increases.]

“I’ll see you later then. Lin, for each scratch on Shin-nim’s body, it’ll be one Last Bullet,” she warned him.

“Are you trying to kill me, Noonim?” Lin cried out indignantly.

The team consisting of Sikatra and Philoen left ahead of us, and we also used Dimensional Travel afterward. It wasn’t my Dimensional Travel skill. Instead, it was a Dimensional Travel similar to the portal that linked the dungeon to other worlds.

Lin waved casually. “I’m off, Loka.”

Loka said somewhat tearfully, “Be safe, nyan. The baby will be waiting for Daddy to come back!”

“You’re only two months pregnant…” Lin muttered but still comforted her.

Noting the somewhat heartwarming interaction between Loka and Lin, I jumped into the portal along with Lin and Daisy.

The scenery then changed into a complete wasteland.

“Whew…”

No matter where I looked, there wasn’t a single building or creature. Lin waved his hand through the air as though the sandstorm was annoying him and put a cigarette in his mouth. His casual movements shocked me greatly, but it seemed he didn’t think it was unusual.

He puffed and then said, “Let’s start after I finish this smoke.”

Daisy heard Lin’s mumbling and tilted her head.

“Book Walker, coming soon. They’re sensitive to change.”

“Are any of them around here strong enough to threaten me?” Lin asked.

She shook her head. “Not at all. Iana is enough.”

Daisy opened her inventory and took out a boar clad in steel. It was dozens of yards long when I first fought it, it had shrunk to only nine feet. Now, it could only barely fit a person on its back.

“Iana, strong,” Daisy emphasized.

“Yeah, yeah.”

While I was nodding as Daisy praised her undead again, the so-called Book Walkers began to appear. I imagined literal walking books, but that wasn’t how they looked. In fact, they looked no different than regular humans.

One remarked, “We haven’t seen them before.”

Another commented, “There are still humans left.”

“We must add them to our database,” a third said coldly.

Lin chomped on the cigarette he was smoking and muttered, “Hey, blow them away. Just their way of talking annoys me.”

Daisy explained, “Book Walkers are researchers. They study their opponents, record them in their books, find their weaknesses, and attack. To win against them… You have to kill them swiftly with various methods without giving them information. The moment they record their books, all Book Walkers gain resistance.”

I looked at her. “That means you…”

“Undead I used once won’t work well next time. Abilities I used before won’t work well either. But.”

Iana abruptly charged towards the Book Walkers, and steel thorns enveloped in a black aura shot out from his body to attack them. The Book Walkers seemed surprised and took something out, but Iana reached them in an instant and skewered them before they could do anything. Daisy nodded in satisfaction and said, “Don’t give them…time to research. Then, undead is reusable. Or, with overwhelming power, research is futile.”

I rubbed my chin. “So it doesn’t matter as long as we’re powerful? They aren’t that different from normal monsters then.”

Daisy cautioned me, “Information sharing, annoying. High caste, stronger.”

“That’s why we were told to avoid them…? Fine, whatever. What about those books?” Lin asked.

At the spot which Lin pointed to were three fancy leather books which were what the Book Walkers had taken out.

Daisy replied flatly, “Burn them…as quickly as possible.”

The moment Daisy’s words left her mouth, Lin threw the cigarette he was smoking. When the cigarette landed on the Book Walkers’ corpses, they started to burn along with their books. I couldn’t help but feel awed at Lin’s terrifying flames. At that moment, Daisy approached me.

“What’s up, Daisy?” I asked.

“I have to say something, to Kang Shin.”

Her large red eyes were staring at me intently.

“If possible, Kang Shin shouldn’t use your power,” she stated firmly.

“What?” Lin looked perplexed.

I protested, “That’s why I came.”

Daisy’s tone was extremely serious. Her eyes were fixed on me and refused to leave.

“If you use abilities, they’ll get recorded. They will gain resistance… to them. This is the same, for the world’s enemy.”

“Ah…” She had a point.

She stated flatly, “Kang Shin said one day, you’ll come back and save this place. So for now, save your strength.”

A lightbulb lit up in my head. “So that’s why you wanted to come with us so much so that you can prevent them from learning about my abilities. You’re planning on using your abilities instead…?”

“Mhm.”

Daisy nodded. Her trust for my potential had even surprised me. While I was thinking, Daisy smiled slightly. This was the first time I saw her smile, at least towards me.

She added, “Of course, I trust you.”

“I thought I was protecting myself from being read…” I mumbled

She interrupted, “I didn’t read, with my Evil Eyes.”

“What?” I asked

A mischievous look appeared in her eyes. “Kang Shin is…easy to read. Even without Evil Eyes.”

Shame!! However, what she added afterward made me flinch, “That’s why I like you.”

“…Hm?” Just what did she mean?

Lin interrupted caustically. “Oi, don’t flirt with another woman in front of me. I’ll shoot you.”

Lin had finished incinerating the corpses and books, so he scowled as he walked back to us. Daisy tilted her head and asked, “Flirt? With another woman? Who, with who…?”

Yes, Daisy, please remain innocent!