Global Awakening: Only I Can Respawn

"We're here," YuWon announced.

The duo stood in front of a different store, but unlike the previous store, this one was rundown. Monster corpses were everywhere, along with a few human ones.

Hojin instinctively covered his nose and mouth, recoiling from the rotting smell. YuWon, however, remained unfazed. He had long grown accustomed to scenes like this. It was neither the first nor the last time he'd encountered such grim sights.

He looked at Hojin and slapped his hand away.

"The sooner you get used to this, the easier life will be for you."

Hojin slowly nodded.

Among the wreckage, one thing stood out—a door. While the rest of the store was in shambles, that door remained unscratched.

YuWon approached the door, carefully analyzing it. Hojin joined him, looking at the door, but the next moment YuWon kicked him inside as Hojin went tumbling down.

"Wait—!"

Hojin's voice was cut off as he fell. He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the inevitable impact. But to his surprise, he landed on something soft and wrinkly. Relief washed over him as he silently thanked every god he could name.

At least until the notification appeared before him.

[You've entered the boss room.]

"You want to become the boss's dinner?"

YuWon's voice jolted Hojin back to reality. Only then did he realize he was still on top of a pile of corpses, wrapped in a sticky fluid. Hojin was disgusted and confused when YuWon yanked him out of the trap and handed him a weapon.

It was a massive hammer that felt out of place in Hojin's skinny hands. He blinked down at it, bewildered. Why would YuWon give him such a weapon?

It looked heavy enough to crush Hojin if he tried to swing it. But the moment he lifted it, he froze. The hammer almost felt weightless in his hands.

"What is this…?" Hojin mumbled, staring at the hammer.

"An item I'm loaning you," YuWon replied. "If you do well, then I'll consider letting you have it."

"But why are you giving it to me?"

"Because we got company."

As if on cue, over four dozen human-sized insects swarmed into the room. Just from looking once, YuWon could say they had strong exoskeletons. Sharp objects would have a difficult time hurting them.

That was precisely why he'd handed Hojin the hammer—a blunt weapon perfectly suited for smashing through the armored creatures.

It was easy to wield and had a secret function that suited Hojin the best. The weapon's strength heavily depended on the user's luck stat.

The higher someone's luck was, the harder the hammer hit. And with Hojin's 999 luck, every swing of the hammer was bound to be devastating.

As for YuWon, he opted for a traditional weapon, a spear. The [Formless Blade] turned into a golden spear. He spun it in his hand before vaulting over the horde of insects to the room's entrance.

Hojin could deal with the little critters. YuWon had no interest in them. But he wanted to weaken the boss before handing it over to Hojin. It was the fastest way to grow Hojin.

"Wait—where are you going?!" Hojin yelled.

In his excitement to kill the little monsters, Hojin completely forgot about YuWon and by the time he noticed, YuWon was standing at the chamber's end.

"Just keep smashing those bugs!"

Since they had entered the boss' room directly, all the dungeon monsters converged on their position. YuWon knew it wouldn't be long before the other awakeners, who had entered through the dungeon's main gate, caught up with them.

If they arrived in time to encounter the boss, things could get messy. YuWon wasn't interested in helping strangers; his focus was solely on Hojin's growth.

YuWon wanted to stop them. Hence, to buy time, YuWon raised the spear and hurled it towards the ceiling with all his might. The spear hit the ceiling and closed the path to the boss' room from any unwelcome guests.

Now, other than YuWon and Hojin, no human could enter the boss room and intervene in their hunt.

YuWon quickly recalled the [Formless Blade] that morphed into a gauntlet. The next second, there was a loud clanging sound. Hojin looked at the entrance to see a massive praying mantis standing there. One of its arms stood on YuWon's gauntlet.

How had he missed it? The beast's enormous size should have been impossible to overlook, yet Hojin didn't notice it.

But YuWon reacted faster than Hojin could process, intercepting the strike with a single arm. Hojin blinked in disbelief. How did it even make sense?

"I was expecting a cockroach," YuWon mumbled. "But you'll do."

With a sharp twist, YuWon gripped the mantis's blade-like arm and tore it off with ease. The mantis let out an ear-splitting shriek, stumbling backward in pain. But YuWon didn't stop there. He used the mantis's severed foreleg as a makeshift scythe and began hacking away at the monster's other legs ruthlessly.

The mantis flailed in desperation, trying to retreat, but YuWon was relentless. He stuck to the creature like a leech, continuously attacking it. In mere moments, YuWon reduced the dungeon boss to a limbless insect quivering on the ground in fear.

Yet YuWon didn't deliver the final blow.

"Oi! Are you done yet?" YuWon yelled.

Hojin, standing amidst the shattered remains of smaller creatures, blinked. He hadn't even realized he'd been fighting while staring at YuWon and the mantis, let alone slaughtered every one of the lesser monsters, and got drenched in their blue blood while at it.

YuWon grabbed what was left of the mantis boss and dragged it toward Hojin. The latter stared at him, confused, as if asking whether YuWon was serious. This was YuWon's kill, so he should claim the reward.

"Either you kill it or I'll kill you."

Hojin didn't bother asking another question. He lifted the hammer and hit the mantis on the head.

[You have cleared the dungeon!]

[You are the first player amongst all to clear this dungeon!]

[An additional 1000 gold will be awarded as a bonus.]

Meanwhile, YuWon got a separate reward.

[Achievement Unlocked: Coach Never Plays The Field!]

[Gained after helping four awakeners reach level 20.]

[Effecting: Teaming up with lower-level players will award them bonus exp, gold, and stats.]

Not bad. This will come in handy.

It was the perfect support achievement for YuWon, who had to raise others to his level or beyond.

"Um… YuWon, the monster dropped something."

"Keep it. I'll check it later."

"…sure."

With nothing left to do, they gathered what they could and headed outside.

At that very moment, a group of awakeners found their way to the boss' room, only to find a wreckage blocking their path. They had suffered constant attacks from the insects to get this far; they weren't going down without a fight.

It took a few hours for them to break past the barrier. Their leader, a paladin, had prepared them for a deadly fight, but when they entered the boss room, insect corpses were all they found.

"Do you see anything?"

"Nothing here… are you sure this is the dungeon the patron god talked about?"

The man stared at their leader, but he was equally stunned. So was their patron god. He couldn't understand what happened until he opened the gods' chatroom and found others laughing at him.

[Track-Star: Which one of you fools messed with my dungeon!?]

[Announcement: The chat is being spammed by emoticons. Please maintain decorum.]

[777: Please don't get so upset, father.]

[Track-Star: It was you? Tyche, why would you do something like this!?]

[Announcement: User <Track-Star> please do not use real names in this chat. This will be your only warning.]

[777: Technically, I didn't.]

[All-Daddy: This will be fun.]

[Track-Star: Not you too, father!]

[All-Daddy: What did you say?]

[Track-Star: …nothing.]

[All-Daddy: That's what I thought. Don't dwell on these things and continue raising your mortals.]

[Track-Star: Yes, father.]

The god, Hermes, had focused on raising his human and ignored everything else. That's why he didn't know YuWon and Hojin had cleared the dungeon beforehand.

Since he didn't focus on entertainment, unlike the other gods, no one would tell him what happened to the dungeon.

As frustrated as Hermes was, there was nothing he could do about it other than sulk in a corner. To make up for it, he quickly distributed some gifts to his paladin before ending the stream.

[777: I feel bad about what happened. Since my paladin was involved in this mess, it's my responsibility to make things right.]

Hermes was taken aback by his daughter's message. Tyche wasn't one to help someone without seeking profits, even for her family. However, Hermes had nothing to lose, so he listened.

[Track-Star: What is it?]

[777: A new dungeon. I bought the information from an angel so it's credible.]

[Track-Star: And what do you want?]

[777: Nothing father. I want to ease my guilt. That's all.]

[Track-Star: Tell me more.]

[777: The dungeon is in what the mortals call a subway station. Some awakeners are using it as their base. You'll have to deal with them yourself. I'll send you the location privately.]

[Track-Star: Alright… but this better not be a trick.]

Hermes waited for a response, but none came. He had a feeling his daughter was playing tricks again. But he doted on her too much to scold her.

Being a father is tiring, even for the gods.

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