Sung Joon glanced wordlessly at Rishubalt.

“I’m not completely sure but I believe he’s one of the elite knights in the Knight Brigade,” Rishubalt said.

“Weren’t they monsters that only appeared in the Awakening Dungeon?” Sung Joon whispered.

“When your synchronization rate increased, a part of my memories returned. However, I haven’t had a chance to sort through them, so explaining it right now would be difficult.”

“Alright.”

Sung Joon suspended his curiosity for the moment and glanced at the knight. He grasped at his memories, mixing together his information on the different world language, and formulated a sentence.

“If you want to talk, I’d appreciate it if you told me your name first.”

“I’m Aaron.”

He introduced himself and drew his sword. His longsword gleamed, reflecting the sunlight.

“Can you tell me now? If you satisfy my curiosity, I’ll make it quick.”

He spoke of some great mercy. Sung Joon smirked and moved towards Aaron.

“W-what are you..!?”

He couldn’t track him with his eyes. Sung Joon instantly closed the distance, confusing Aaron. Aaron had seen Sung Joon fight the Living Armors but this was beyond his expectations.

‘He was hiding his strength!’ Aaron thought.

Aaron urgently clad his sword in a faint aura, raised his sword, and the two men’s swords clashed.

Kwang!

“Argh!”

Boom!

Aaron staggered from the impact. Although Aaron’s skill was similar to that of the Knight guarding the Awakening Dungeon’s first gate, Sung Joon had more than doubled in strength since then.

In other words, Aaron was outclassed.

“It looks like you’re not good enough to kill me, though?” Sung Joon taunted, softly deflecting Aaron’s blade.

‘This is Sir Roukel’s combat swordsmanship!’ Aaron’s eyes quivered.

“You traitor! You were still alive?”

Aaron misunderstood, thinking that Roukel had survived and taught Sung Joon his swordsmanship.

“You’re the traitor,” Sung Joon responded firmly. Although his memories weren’t clear, he was certain that he had been betrayed.

Sung Joon retreated a step and then advanced, as if he was fencing, and stabbed at Aaron’s abdomen.

Before Aaron could even withdraw his sword, Sung Joon cut through the thick armor and pierced his stomach.

“Ugh!”

Instantly a large volume of blood poured out as Sung Joon pulled out his sword, and Aaron felt dizzy.

Aaron dropped his sword and knelt on the ground.

‘He’s not an opponent who I can take on.’ Aaron belatedly realized.

He didn’t think that Sung Joon’s skill in his combat swordsmanship would be this high.

‘So he was hiding his skills when he fought against the Living Armors. I was too careless.’

He could do nothing but admit the truth.

“Are you a monster?” Sung Joon asked.

“Do I look like I could be a monster?” Aaron smiled weakly and responded.

“If that’s the case, then why are you commanding the monster army?”

“It seems like your teacher hasn’t told you.”

“If you don’t want to, you don’t have to tell me. You see, I know someone who loves explaining things, though he’s not really a person.”

“W-Wait.. ugh!”

Sung Joon decided that he didn’t need to hear anymore. His aura-clad blade cut through the armor and pierced Aaron’s heart.

“Absorb.”

Sung Joon pulled out his blade, absorbed the mana, and then destroyed the magic stone powering the warp gate.

Now, the monsters should be unsummoned.

– Verifying the existence of a new item.

The measuring tool responded.

“It’s the ring,” Rishubalt said.

“Ok.”

Sung Joon snatched the ring off Aaron’s body. There was a number engraved on it, like the ring he had gotten from the Awakening Dungeon.

This one had the number 479 engraved on it.

[Unknown Ring]

B-rank.

Unknown.

It was just like the last time in the Awakening Dungeon. His measuring tool couldn’t appraise the item. Sung Joon wordlessly raised the ring, allowing Rishubalt to appraise it.

[Knight Brigade’s Ring]

B-rank.

Verifying Aura Persistence effect.

“Do I have to wear both of these rings..?”

“I can fuse them together since they’re similar items,” Rishubalt said.

“Really? That’s a convenient ability.”

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Sung Joon raised the rings and Rishubalt’s mana flowed, wrapping around the two rings. Then light flashed, and the two rings disappeared, fusing into one.

The fused ring had the number 479 engraved on it.

Sung Joon moved his measuring tool to the ring again.

[Knight Brigade’s Ring +1]

B-rank.

Verifying Aura Persistence effect.

The item’s information had changed a little bit.

“The item will extend your aura duration by one minute and thirty seconds.”

“Nice.”

Rishubalt came forward.

“Explain once we get home,” Sung Joon interrupted.

“I understand.”

Sung Joon returned to the main battlefield to give a situation report.

The worker was taking care of the aftermath. When he discovered Sung Joon, he rushed over to him.

“I heard what happened. Well done,” the worker said.

“If it wasn’t for you, Hunter, there would have been several more casualties. I thank you on behalf of the Dungeon Bureau.”

“It couldn’t have been easy to destroy the warp gate by yourself.. You really did well,” the worker exclaimed, having already heard the situation report.

“What about my reward card?” Sung Joon asked.

While it was nice to be complimented, he couldn’t forget to receive his reward. The worker took out a card from his bag.

“This is an MVP reward card. We’ll finish collecting the magic stones soon. If you present it to a nearby Dungeon Bureau, you should be able to get your reward,” the worker said, amicably explaining how to use the reward card.

While Hunters collected the magic stones themselves inside a dungeon, in a Raid, the workers sent by Dungeon Bureau looted the magic stones.

Once the looted magic stones were collected, rewards were distributed based on contribution. The highest contributor is called the MVP and the Dungeon Bureau gives that Hunter 30% more of a reward.

“As the MVP, we’ll take you to the Dungeon Bureau by car.”

“That’s nice to hear,” Sung Joon said as his face brightened.

He travelled to the Dungeon Bureau in the car that they had prepared. Then he went to the clerk and showed her his MVP rewards card.

“I’ll take care of it immediately.”

The clerk busily typed on her keyboard. After she verified his rewards card, she looked at Sung Joon and spoke.

“Hunter, could you show me your license, please?”

She needed to confirm his identity. Sung Joon took out his license and showed it to her. The clerk checked his Hunter License number.

There was a brief summary of information regarding Sung Joon on the monitor.

“I’ll deposit the money into your account.”

Sung Joon nodded his head and the clerk worked quickly.

“It’s been deposited. Thank you.”

Sung Joon checked his phone, confirming that $1.3 million had indeed been deposited. Then he left the Dungeon Bureau and while he was outside, he decided to buy some furniture for his new studio apartment.

After he was done furniture shopping, he moved into his new home.

In the afternoon, after he had finished unpacking, he took a cold beer and went to the window. It was the seventh floor, and there were a lot of huge buildings around, so it didn’t really have a nice view.

“Rishubalt.”

Rishubalt, who had briefly hidden himself, approached Sung Joon and bowed.

“Did you call for me?”

“I gave you a few days, so have you sorted out your memories?” Sung Joon asked.

When he had hit a 14% synchronization rate, he had been in the middle of a fight and Rishubalt hadn’t sorted through his memories yet, so at the time, he couldn’t ask Rishubalt.

“I don’t remember everything, but I sorted through everything that I currently remember. I believe I should be able to answer your questions to some degree.”

“Fine, then I’ll ask slowly.”

Sung Joon stopped briefly and took a sip of his beer. Then, with a calm expression, he asked, “Why was I betrayed?”

Although he had fitted the pieces of his memories together and confirmed that he had indeed been betrayed, that was all. He didn’t remember why he was betrayed.

“I don’t remember completely, but I believe I can sufficiently answer your question,” Rishubalt responded. Sung Joon focused on him.

After a brief silence, Rishubalt spoke.

“The Emperor had a secret plan. You, my lord, the greatest of the Thirteen Knights, opposed the plan while the other twelve knights agreed to the Emperor’s plan. That’s where everything started to go wrong, and in the end, you became the enemy of the Empire and fought against it alone.”

“And you don’t remember what the plan was about?”

“I apologize. Your synchronization rate is too low so it’s not clear,” Rishubalt apologized, bowing his head.

Sung Joon smiled and shook his head. It wasn’t Rishubalt’s fault that his synchronization rate was too low.

“In that case, were the knights that I was fighting in the plains the Thirteen Knights..?”

Sung Joon recollected his past dream.

Two of his dreams had been located in the same spot. In one of his dreams, twelve knights and a huge army besieged him and in another dream, three bloodied knights aimed their swords at Sung Joon.

He had been surrounded by corpses.

“You’re speaking of the Battle of the Ridonia Great Plains. I fought alongside you in that battle, my lord,” Rishubalt replied.

Sung Joon furrowed his brows and sifted through his memories.

“It looks that way. The only thing I can confirm is that there were a lot of enemies and there were twelve guys I had to be wary of.”

“Excluding you, they should be the twelve swordmasters of the Thirteen Knights. They all followed the Emperor’s plan and secretly entered the Ridonia Great Plains in order to kill you. If my memories are correct, they were backed by the Knight’s Brigade and they also brought along 50,000 of the Imperial Army.”

As he finished explaining, Rishubalt’s body shook in unbridled fury. Sung Joon’s past self, the Sword Saint Roukel, was the strongest knight of the Thirteen Knights and the strongest man in the Empire.

In order to kill him, the Emperor had sent not only 50,000 of the Empire’s troops, but also the Knight Brigade and even the Empire’s strongest force, the remainder of the Thirteen Knights.

“..This is all I can remember for now.”

Rishubalt regretted that he couldn’t do more. It showed all over his face.

Sung Joon smiled faintly and said, “Thanks, Rishubalt. You’ve helped me plenty.”

“Thank you, my lord.” Rishubalt smiled in turn.

“Yeah, I died in the Ridonia Great Plains.”

“I don’t remember the aftermath. I fought for you, my lord, and was the first to die.”

“I can’t say for certain, but I had a dream a little while ago.”

Sung Joon briefly took a sip from his beer and said, “I think I killed nine swordmasters.”

Sung Joon smiled.

“As expected of you, my lord!” Rishubalt said admiringly.

The Thirteen Knights were extremely powerful, but he had killed nine of them?

Although he, or Roukel, had died in the Ridonia Great Plains, he could say that the Empire had suffered a huge blow.

“I’ll ask just a bit more. The knights that appear in the Awakening Dungeon.. they’re not monsters, right?”

“I cannot tell you that right now.” Rishubalt’s eyes went cold.

“The Awakening Dungeon is the dimension that we had lived in. In other words, it is a connection to another world through unknown means. I do not know the reason.”

“I see.”

Sung Joon nodded his head. He had expected as much.

“It’s possible that the Raid that had occurred just recently was connected to the other world as well.”

“It’s definitely possible,” Sung Joon replied and glanced at the ‘Knight Brigade’s Ring’.

The knight he had killed was definitely part of the Knight Brigade.

The warp gate connected this world to another.

“Do you know of a knight called Aaron?” he asked.

“I don’t know him. However, the ring is definitely a token of the Knight’s Brigade. I was also in the Knight’s Brigade and ranked ninth, so I definitely remember the ring,” Rishubalt replied.

The Knight Brigade had been annihilated in the Ridonia Great Plains, so Aaron had to be a new recruit.

“In that case, this will be my last question.”

“I’ll answer as much as my memory allows.”

“Did the Emperor join forces with the monsters?”

“I can’t remember clearly. However, based on the current situation, the possibility is high,” Rishubalt replied.

Sung Joon narrowed his eyes and sorted his thoughts.

One: The Emperor had set some sort of plan.

Two: The Raid Boss was definitely a part of the Knight Brigade.

Three: The Raid monsters followed the command of the Raid Boss.

Four: The Awakening Dungeon was a connection to another world. Conversely, it was possible that the dungeons were a connection to Earth.

The four points were all just circumstantial evidence but..

Sung Joon crushed the beer can.

“Rishubalt, it’s a hasty conclusion, but I have a general idea of what’s going on.”

“No..”

Rishubalt wasn’t a fool. He had also established a hypothesis and felt extremely anxious.

“The dungeons and the Raids are connected to an ‘invasion’.”