Chapter 48: Twenty-Four Minutes

The moment Raive opened his eyes, he stood and turned around.

He was back at the entrance of the Orange Dungeon, standing before everyone else. All eyes focused on him, as if waiting for what he’ll say.

"Change of plans."

He said, pushing down the phantom pain still lingering in his senses.

"You all stay here on standby. I’ll go in alone."

"What?"

Hearing that, Hazel couldn’t help but feel puzzled.

"Isn’t it dangerous going in alone? At least take someone with you!"

Raive turned to her and shook his head gently.

"Sorry, but this dungeon only allows one survivor. Extremely dangerous, sure, but it’s actually easy to clear."

Without further explanation, he turned to Reinhardt next and gave a command. "Thirty minutes. Reset the dungeon exactly then."

"An orange dungeon... in 30 minutes?"

Even Reinhardt couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. The green dungeon the Sine Gang used to farm had taken them 45 minutes on average to clear.

Thirty minutes was just too fast!

"Trust me. Thirty minutes is more than enough."

With that, Raive stripped off everything heavy. He kept only a tank top, long pants, boots, and a helmet fitted with three lights, modified to burn brighter while running.

No one to heal him this time, after all.

"Oh."

Then he turned to the rest and pointed.

"Hazel, Hershey, eat 40 candies each—the ones we got from the apartment. Then drag Khamish along and clear the yellow dungeon over there."

Those candies should give them enough stats to hold their own without him. And leaving them idle would just waste time. Efficiency came first.

"Yellow dungeon, just the three of us? You sure we can handle it?" Hazel asked, worried.

Raive just smiled and nodded.

"Don’t worry. You’ll be strong enough. Just head in and clear it yourselves."

With that, he jumped straight into the orange dungeon without a second thought. He still remembered every trap by heart.

And now, with foreknowledge and a new skill, he could run far faster than before.

So much faster that 30 minutes suddenly felt generous.

"Starting the stopwatch..."

He muttered, pulling out his phone, starting the timer, then zipping it away securely so nothing could knock it loose no matter what happened.

Then he ran straight for the door, shoved it open, and took off.

He didn’t even wait for the monsters to react before leaving them behind.

Raive tore through the corridors.

The 50% speed bonus made him faster than ever.

Even at that speed, he dodged every trap along the way. He couldn’t have forgotten them if he tried.

He ran nonstop, choosing the right paths each time, and hit the final stretch in under 20 minutes. A maze like this was nothing once you knew all its gimmicks!

"Hmm..."

Still, the moment he reached that stretch, he felt the monsters closing in from behind. As expected—no matter how fast he moved, it was built to let them catch up right near the finish.

But Raive already knew the counter.

With a swing of his sword, without breaking stride, he brought the ceiling down again. His pace didn’t slow at all—if anything, he pushed even harder.

Then he hit the light, leapt forward, and slid across the marble floor to a stop.

BAM!

The entrance sealed shut behind him under falling dirt and rock, the whole chamber shaking briefly.

"Let’s see..."

He pulled out his phone and checked the timer without much thought.

24 minutes, 13.55 seconds.

He hadn’t even pushed all-out, and he’d still cleared it under 30!

After noting the time, he gathered the loot into the bags he’d brought—no way he had enough pockets otherwise.

Forty stat-up candies, two skill scrolls, and various trinkets went into the bags before he sat down to wait. Then the moment came.

It should’ve only taken a few minutes, but it felt to Raive like Reinhardt was dragging his feet.

The dungeon began glowing unnaturally, as if someone were sliding the brightness up toward its peak.

Once the white washed everything out, color rushed back all at once.

Looking around, Raive found himself back at the entrance, Reinhardt staring at him in disbelief.

"Y-You actually cleared it in under half an hour..." He whispered.

"I did."

Raive said, dropping the loot into the prepared basket before turning back. "And I’ll do it again. This time, 25 minutes."

Without waiting for a reply, he jumped straight back in.

This run, he wasted even less time, dodged every trap, and reached the end in 22 minutes. But instead of grabbing the loot right away, he stared at the stat-up candies and hesitated.

"Will it actually work...?" He asked himself, half-hoping.

He popped one into his mouth, closed his eyes, and hoped. To his surprise—

[You have ingested a stat-up candy.]

[All stats have increased by 1.]

"YES!"

Seeing it work, he grabbed every remaining candy and downed them all. Counting what he’d already eaten, that brought his total to 211 candies!

A full +211 across all stats!

A fierce grin spread across his face as he sat down to wait.

A few seconds later, Reinhardt reset the dungeon, and Raive found himself back outside.

"Here’s the loot." He said, dumping it into the basket again.

This time, though, before heading back in, he looked around. "Hazel and the others still not back?"

"Not yet..." Reinhardt answered, his voice low with worry. "You think they’re okay...?"

Raive paused to think it over.

They had Hershey with them—there shouldn’t be any real trouble.

Still, he frowned.

"...Give them two more hours." He said. "I’ll farm this place clean while we wait."

Before reloading, he wanted to squeeze out everything the dungeon had to offer. And to make it even faster, he even "borrowed" a few lower level scrolls from the stash they took from the Sine Gang, pushing both his new skills to level 3.

At level 3, the Speed Runner gives a 70% speed boost, while the Last Stand now adds 140% bonus to defense. With this, he could clear the dungeon even much faster now.

Efficiency first!