You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 37

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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37

 

 

 

When I came to my senses, the furnace had already grown cold.

 

‘Did I fall into a state of selflessness?’

 

It seemed I had unknowingly entered a state of selflessness due to the ripple effect created by Hae-in’s casually thrown remark.

 

‘I think I managed to kindle cold fire…’

 

Looking around, Galmu was quietly placed on the workbench.

 

It seemed the work was already finished.

 

I lightly rubbed the spine of the sword with my fingertips.

 

The appearance hadn’t changed much.

 

Well, he did say it was meant to adjust the interior from the beginning.

 

After giving it a complete once-over, I gripped Galmu in my hand.

 

The sword’s handle wrapped around my hand more smoothly than before.

 

Just as I was about to take Galmu, a mug on the workbench caught my eye.

 

It appeared to be a stainless steel mug, with steam rising from it.

 

‘Did he deliberately leave this for me to drink?’

 

Taking a sip, the fragrant aroma of quince enveloped my entire body.

 

Seeing that I had been continuously kindling cold fire, Hae-in must have prepared this to warm my body.

 

As I left the blacksmith workshop, it seemed I had stayed up all night.

 

It appeared to be early morning, with the sun slowly rising and dew forming on the grass blades.

 

Checking the time, I found over 10 missed calls from Jin-woo.

 

‘Did something happen?’

 

I tried calling back, but he didn’t answer.

 

‘I’ll have to go see him directly.’

 

Just as I was about to step over the threshold of the blacksmith workshop, someone cleared their throat behind me.

 

“Ahem.”

 

Turning around, I saw Hae-in standing with his arms crossed, his hair disheveled like a magpie’s nest as if he had hastily woken up.

 

“I stayed up all night making it for you, and you’re trying to leave without even a word of thanks?”

 

“…I didn’t know you were awake.”

 

Hae-in grumbled as he approached me.

 

“What’s the point of having a good sword? If you put it in some cheap mass-produced scabbard, who’s going to recognize it?”

 

Then he pulled out a scabbard from somewhere and pressed it into my hand.

 

It had leather with thin metal trim around the edges,

and the grip section was finished to fit my hand size perfectly.

 

“I had some spare time so I made it. Use it if you want.”

 

Even at a glance, this was no ordinary scabbard.

 

Not only was it made with high-quality materials, but I could see mana lines on the surface, suggesting it had undergone specific magical treatment.

 

I chuckled at Hae-in’s appearance, grumbling while doing everything for me,

and slid Galmu into the new scabbard.

 

The sensation of it clicking into place fit strangely well.

 

“How much?”

 

“Forget it.”

 

“Should I include the scabbard cost when paying the trading company?”

 

Hae-in scratched his head.

 

“Getting to work on a good sword is enough for me.”

 

His disheveled hair became even more tangled.

 

Then he snapped his fingers and added a remark.

 

“Oh, that Old Master was asking you to hurry up with the triple spicy stir-fried noodles or whatever. Maybe do that for him.”

 

I suppressed a chuckle.

 

“I’ll consider it.”

 

***

 

As soon as I left Hae-in’s blacksmith workshop, I ran straight to the guild building.

 

The moment I tried to open the office door, Jin-woo, fully armed, poked his head out from inside.

 

“Huh?! Brother, where were you? You weren’t answering your phone…”

 

“I had some urgent business… More importantly, what’s going on?”

 

“I’m still trying to grasp the detailed situation, but…”

 

Jin-woo held a small terminal in his hand.

 

A red signal icon was blinking on the screen.

 

“At dawn, an emergency rescue signal came from Brother Ju-yong and Sister In-seon’s supply team.”

 

“Can’t you contact them?”

 

“We haven’t been able to contact them at all since then.”

 

“What about their raid party?”

 

“Same situation.”

 

“Any rescue requests that came into the Association?”

 

Jin-woo’s voice dropped a tone.

 

“I checked just now, and they said there weren’t any.”

 

“Let’s depart right away. I’ll call the Association directly while we’re on our way.”

 

“Understood.”

 

***

 

“Cough! In-seon, are you okay?”

 

Park Ju-yong coughed as he got up from where he was.

 

“I’m fine. How are you, Ju-yong?”

 

Shin In-seon approached and examined Park Ju-yong’s physical condition.

 

Aside from some minor scrapes from rolling down, there were no major injuries.

 

The place where the two had fallen was a large basin-shaped pit.

 

“For falling into an abnormal phenomenon, there’s nothing particularly special here.”

 

Shin In-seon looked around and spoke.

 

As she said, aside from the deeply recessed basin shape, there were no particular traps.

 

“Maybe it wasn’t an abnormal phenomenon to begin with.”

 

Park Ju-yong looked up at the cliff above with a serious expression.

 

The abnormal phenomenon was simple illusion magic, and the Raid Leader had used it to trap himself and In-seon.

 

From the Raid Leader’s expression he saw while falling, Park Ju-yong’s deduction was almost certain.

 

But there was still a puzzling question he couldn’t understand.

 

‘Why on earth…?’

 

For what reason had Nokchung’s Raid Leader pushed himself and In-seon?

 

But now wasn’t the time to worry about such things.

 

“In-seon, you remember the formation we practiced during training, right?”

 

“Yes, but why…”

 

Shin In-seon couldn’t finish her sentence.

 

The ground began to tremble slightly.

 

Soon the sand in the center of the basin began to surge like waves, and something massive revealed itself.

 

A black shell that seemed to be three times the height of a person.

 

Below it, crustacean legs resembling ant legs sucked in the sand.

 

In an instant, the basin floor turned swamp-like, and their ankles began sinking smoothly.

 

Park Ju-yong pushed Shin In-seon behind his back and drew his butcher knife.

 

His sword was nowhere to be seen, apparently lost when falling from the cliff.

 

“It’s an Antion. Its habits are…”

 

“It hunts prey by turning sand into a swamp, right?”

 

Shin In-seon interrupted Park Ju-yong’s words and answered.

 

“We just need to avoid getting caught in the sand swamp. I know enough about it. Don’t worry about me and do what you’re planning to do, Ju-yong.”

 

Shin In-seon said this while pressing herself as close to the wall side as possible.

Then she drew her butcher knife and drove it into the cliff.

 

Seeing her like that, Park Ju-yong let out a chuckle.

 

“I’ll finish this quickly and come back.”

 

With those words, Park Ju-yong walked toward the sand swamp.

 

The moment his toes sank into the mud, he quickly scanned the rock fragments scattered sparsely around the area.

 

‘They look like footholds, but… those are traps.’

 

They were real rocks, but the reason Park Ju-yong judged them as traps was simple.

 

Antion was deliberately luring prey to those spots.

 

‘First, I need to prevent it from creating the sand swamp.’

 

The way Antion created the sand swamp was simple.

 

It churned up the ground with tentacle-like legs hidden beneath its shell.

 

If he could just cut off those legs, Park Ju-yong could create a favorable environment for himself.

 

Having organized his strategy, Park Ju-yong leaped toward a rock fragment.

 

Instantly, one of Antion’s tentacles burrowed into the ground and shot up quickly toward Park Ju-yong’s jump trajectory.

 

The butcher knife in his hand smoothly activated.

 

Park Ju-yong then swung the laser blade like a whip toward the tentacle flying at him.

 

Slash!

 

The tentacle was cleanly severed, and green slime scattered through the air.

 

A sour acidic smell stung his nostrils.

 

Before the acidic slime could touch him, Park Ju-yong quickly threw his body toward the next rock fragment.

 

What followed was a repetition of patterns.

 

Park Ju-yong leaped, and Antion launched tentacles.

 

Every time Antion attacked, its tentacles were cut off by the butcher knife.

 

But Antion didn’t stop attacking.

 

No, more precisely, it couldn’t stop attacking.

 

Because it could feel Park Ju-yong slowly closing in on it.

 

Before it knew it, Park Ju-yong had gotten close to the center of the basin where Antion was.

 

Tentacles could regrow.

But life could not.

That’s why Antion had no choice but to keep making this gamble.

 

And at the moment of the final bet, the sand swamp stopped moving.

 

Park Ju-yong had rushed at Antion and dismantled all of its legs.

 

Antion’s gamble could never have succeeded from the start.

 

Everything had been a game set up by Park Ju-yong.

 

With its legs severed, Antion looked up at Park Ju-yong approaching with the butcher knife.

And then it sensed its final moment.

 

Park Ju-yong raised the butcher knife and brought it down straight onto Antion’s head.

 

At that moment, with a tremendous explosion, Park Ju-yong was sent flying backward.

 

“Cough!”

 

Park Ju-yong, who had rolled on the ground several times, coughed up blood.

 

“Ju-yong!”

 

Shin In-seon ran toward him.

 

She immediately pulled out a potion and poured it over Park Ju-yong’s abdomen.

 

Park Ju-yong couldn’t understand what was happening.

 

The moment the butcher knife struck Antion’s head, an attack had come flying at him.

 

Seeing In-seon pouring potions through his blurred vision, it seemed he had been hit by magic.

 

Only after she had used all the potions did the ringing in his ears and his blurred vision improve slightly.

 

“Cough…”

 

As his mind cleared a bit, Park Ju-yong got up from his position, breathing raggedly.

 

“The potions only removed the mana. You need emergency treatment too.”

 

Though Shin In-seon spoke firmly, Park Ju-yong didn’t listen.

 

“I’d like to do that too… but I don’t think those guys will give us the chance.”

 

Park Ju-yong held his abdomen with one hand and aimed his butcher knife with the other.

 

Where he was glaring, he could see Nokchung’s Raid Leader grinning wickedly.

 

“I can wait long enough for you to give first aid, if you’d like?”

 

The Raid Leader’s appearance was completely different from before.

 

Instead of a sword, he held a strange staff, and instead of armor, he wore something like a robe.

 

It wasn’t just the Raid Leader.

 

All of Nokchung’s Guild Members, or were they really Nokchung’s Guild Members?

 

All of them, as if coordinated, were wearing white robes.

 

“What’s the reason?”

 

“Ah, I don’t particularly have any ill feelings toward you. But if I must explain…”

 

The Raid Leader seemed to search for the right words, thinking for a moment before speaking.

 

“S-Rank Taming? That’s the feeling, I suppose.”

 

“S-Rank… Taming?”

 

“Yes, so if both of you could die while leaving decent corpses, that would be perfect.”

 

Powerful mana began gathering at the tip of the Raid Leader’s staff, forming the shape of a massive spear.

 

Park Ju-yong squeezed out his remaining strength and channeled it into his butcher knife.

 

Then he whispered toward Shin In-seon.

 

“In-seon, there should be space under Antion’s corpse. I’ll draw their attention, so escape that way.”

 

“But…”

 

“Didn’t the Merchant say so? To just stay alive. That he would definitely come to rescue us.”

 

But Shin In-seon couldn’t readily open her mouth.

 

“This is the best option right now. I’ll try my best to survive too.”

 

“Well, it seems you’ve finished your farewells, so now it’s time to bid farewell to the world. Then, goodbye.”

 

With those words, the massive Magic Spear began flying toward the two of them.

 

“Now!”

 

Park Ju-yong squeezed out his last strength and charged toward the Magic Spear.

 

Park Ju-yong’s butcher knife and the Magic Spear collided, creating massive sparks.

 

Taking advantage of that gap, Shin In-seon approached Antion’s corpse, but…

 

“We have sharper hearing than you think.”

 

While targeting Park Ju-yong, the Raid Leader simultaneously launched another Magic Spear toward Shin In-seon.

 

“No, no!”

 

Park Ju-yong’s eyes widened as he shouted, but the magic had already left the Raid Leader’s staff.

 

Just as the Magic Spear was about to strike Shin In-seon.

 

Blue Flames devoured the magic.

 

It was a familiar heat to both of them.

 

“Haah… This is definitely being late. Vice Guild Master…”

 

Park Ju-yong looked at the familiar back and lost consciousness.

 

***

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