I Awakened as a Dark History - Chapter 79

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 79
“…….”
“…….”
“Wait, hold on. Dareia, what if you put the knife down?”
Silence shattered.
I stretched across the table. Only after wrenching the Short Dagger from Dareia Godden’s hand did I finally manage a shaky breath of relief.
Of all things, the method to deactivate the Stone Tablet turned out to be blood—classical, primitive in the truest sense.
Yet precisely because it was classical and primitive, it made a twisted kind of sense.
Blood was certainly more impressive than spit, more potent, more dignified.
‘But it’s terrifying.’
Not the blood itself.
It was this scarred woman here, poised to seal every single Stone Tablet in this place with blood, that frightened me.
I quietly set the sharp Short Dagger behind my back.
“Ahem. Well… I suppose when you see handprints left behind like that, it does seem blood is indeed what closes it.”
But please, let’s stay calm. Too much blood loss and you’ll die.
I laughed awkwardly, as if trying to soothe Dareia Godden.
Unfortunately, Dareia Godden scarcely glanced at me.
“Yu Hunter.”
Dareia Godden looked toward Yu Ho-yeon.
Yu Ho-yeon nodded. He retrieved the Short Dagger from behind my back.
Slice—
The keen blade parted skin with a soft sound.
I squeezed my eyes shut a second time. A soundless scream echoed silently in my throat.
‘No! Do this when I’m not here, you people!’
Yu Ho-yeon brought his blood-soaked hand to another Stone Tablet.
Unlike Dareia Godden, he rubbed his hand across the Tablet’s surface.
While I covered my eyes with both hands and stared at the ceiling, the two of them seemed absorbed in watching the Tablet.
“The bloodstain is disappearing.”
“Other blood soaks right in, it seems.”
I hadn’t wanted to know. Or rather, I’d wanted not to see it.
I barely opened my eyes and turned them toward the Tablet.
Blood was still dripping steadily from Yu Ho-yeon’s hand, yet the Tablet lay pristine.
Each time a drop fell, the Tablet absorbed it like a sponge.
I pressed my finger against the spot where a drop had landed, wondering if it really was just stone.
“It’s rock though…….”
“It absorbs other blood, but not ours.”
“Yes.”
I gazed down at the Tablet with a sudden chill spreading through my chest.
A hypothesis floated into my mind—one I wished were only imagination.
“What if this Tablet absorbs blood to open a door?”
I looked at Dareia Godden and Yu Ho-yeon, hoping they’d dismiss it as delusion, hoping they’d regard me with pity. Such was my desperate wish.
But the two before me nodded almost in unison.
Whether or not Dareia Godden sensed my despair, he caressed the bloodstained Tablet’s surface.
“Though it appears the Tablet can absorb various types of blood. It absorbed dragon’s blood as well.”
At Dareia Godden’s words, my mind spun taut again.
My imagination, needlessly generating dark history, exerted itself once more.
Any blood will do if absorbed?
Just fill the quota?
If ■■’s blood is the exception, why haven’t the doors opened in other dungeons?
There should have been more than enough by now.
Does the Boss’s blood matter?
No, then the doors would have opened in every dungeon Dareia has conquered so far.
My hand pulled the Tablet toward me in a frenzy.
The text appeared fragmented, just as before.
It felt strange to decipher the second foreign language from my school days anew.
‘Even so…….’
I stumbled through sentences where unknown words vastly outnumbered the familiar ones.
When viewed together, wouldn’t context reveal certain words?
With that thought, I riffled through the Tablet frantically.
“Blood, think of blood…… whose blood.”
Blood is probably crucial. What word could mean blood?
Now that I think about it, the Dragon’s Stone we brought had a word repeating throughout.
[■ Stack ■■
Enemy ■, ■’s ■, ■■ ■]
The first sentence’s verb is probably “stack.” So what would we need to stack in front of this tablet?
And the same word that follows after it.
I pointed to the beginning of the repeating words.
“Hunter Godden.”
“Yes.”
At my call, Dareia Godden’s voice reached me.
Since it was a short word the interpreter didn’t need to translate, I heard his voice as is.
“These words—can you see them by any chance?”
I pointed to the words at the beginning, ignoring what repeated.
“The first word, I don’t know. The second is you, the third is…… I can see the middle word. It’s ‘of.'”
The middle word was probably a preposition. Not much use. I could see the preposition too.
I glanced toward Yu Ho-yeon.
“In the dungeon we went to this time—has there ever been any casualties?”
This dungeon had quite a bit of information. They’d probably attempted it multiple times to conquer it.
If so, there would naturally have been casualties.
Sure enough, Yu Ho-yeon nodded.
“I’m not sure exactly. This dungeon is one of the ones that appeared early on. They said there’d been over ten conquest attempts.”
Then let me piece together the words I could guess and the words I’d deciphered.
“Stack blood. Enemy’s blood, your blood, ……’s blood.”
One word was still unknown. But the hypothesis that the door opens when three types of blood accumulate seemed fairly plausible.
“This dungeon happened to have the condition fulfilled in front of us, but…….”
A dungeon could exist where the condition is fulfilled even when we’re not present.
I swallowed hard. Fear crept in a little.
I asked Dareia Godden with an awkward expression.
“Um…… these tablets are rare, right? They don’t appear in every uncleared dungeon, do they?”
“That’s correct. They appear extremely rarely even in uncleared dungeons.”
It was at least good news. I sighed and scratched my head.
“It would be best to clear the older dungeons quickly.”
I agreed strongly with Dareia Godden’s point.
“I was thinking it might not be a bad idea for me to go in together and collect the tablets.”
Two men and women shook their heads simultaneously.
“That won’t do.”
“Can’t happen.”
I know it too.
‘You don’t put all your eggs in one basket.’
It wasn’t good for both Dareia Godden and me to enter a dangerous dungeon together.
If we both died, who would close the tablets?
“I’ll work from outside and try to interpret the tablets.”
I wasn’t sure how much I could interpret as someone who wasn’t a linguist, but I had to try.
‘What choice do I have?’
Fiddling with various Excel functions usually worked out somehow.
‘Though I got summoned to the team lead’s office that one time when I deleted a file.’
The ominous memory that suddenly surfaced I pushed deep into a corner of my mind.
Pressing down hard so it wouldn’t resurface.
* * *
The oversight of excluding me from Dareia Godden’s skill seemed to be quite a significant issue within the Raid Team.
“It’s a shame to exclude the Healer no matter what.”
“It’s better than losing the Healer entirely if we bring her along.”
“The Healer’s agility seemed quite high. Wouldn’t it be safe if Hunter Godden just pulls aggro properly?”
“One escort could be assigned too. Hunter Godden just needs to protect the Healer when he uses his skill. Doesn’t that address the efficiency issue?”
“Can a single Tanker handle the situation when Hunter Godden needs to use his skill?”
The second dungeon conquest briefing was extremely chaotic.
The next dungeon conquest briefing was almost nothing but a debate over whether the Healer should participate.
I watched the hunters’ discussion for a moment, then quietly turned my gaze toward Dareia Godden.
Dareia Godden was quietly observing the hunters’ debate. When our eyes met, he smiled faintly.
The world’s number one hunter had composure even in a conference hall.
Among the hunters chattering eagerly, Dareia Godden raised a hand.
The moment he signaled that he wished to speak, the hunters fell silent as one.
Seo Il-hak finally managed to catch his breath.
“Then, Hunter Godden, we’d appreciate hearing your thoughts.”
Dareia Godden nodded and rose from his seat.
“I have no wish to send into a dungeon anyone I cannot protect with my own strength.”
Dareia Godden was the backbone of the Raid Team.
Though Baek Moon-il served as Leader in name, everyone listened closely to Dareia Godden’s opinion.
And now Dareia Godden was openly refusing my participation.
The hunters regarded him with expressions mixing disapproval and relief alike, yet none of them dared contradict him.
Dareia Godden looked around at the S-rank Hunters as though seeking their judgment.
“There are hunters undertaking dungeon conquests on behalf of the elite gathered here. What if the Healer joined them in their conquest instead?”
Seo Il-hak and Baek Moon-il grew contemplative. The two most seasoned veterans in the country exchanged glances briefly.
“You’re right…… the conquest schedule for all the high-rank dungeons the Haje Guild was managing has been pushed back. With the Healer present, we could move forward on those.”
Once Baek Moon-il agreed without reservation, Seo Il-hak nodded as well.
“Understood. We’ll exclude the Healer from the Raid Team. In exchange, we’ll arrange for them to join other high-rank dungeon conquest efforts.”
Seo Il-hak turned to face me.
“Would that be acceptable?”
It was an arrangement I, Dareia Godden, and Yu Ho-yeon had already agreed upon beforehand.
I consented without hesitation.
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
The compensation would be less than what an Uncleared Dungeon offered, but now something more important than money had emerged.
I touched the Subspace Ring fitted on my finger.
Though the item itself carried no weight, I could feel the heaviness of the Stone Tablet within it.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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