ASIN 05

Chapter 5

Meanwhile.

The First Assault Team of the Cheongbaek (Pure White) Guild, the guild to which Baek Seoha belonged, was making excellent progress through the B3-ranked dungeon.

“We’re moving much faster than expected. At this rate, we should be able to finish it by tomorrow.”

“The advance team says they’ve already located the boss room. Let’s recover our stamina first, then finish the raid.”

According to the scouting report, the dungeon boss was a Puppet Spider.

It wasn’t particularly easy or especially difficult—a fairly standard boss monster.

The map had already been fully explored, so there was practically nothing left to be wary of. The leader issued the next order, and Seoha began putting away her equipment, ready to end the day’s expedition.

That was when the gem hanging from the necklace around her neck suddenly shattered.

“Uh… Seoha, your necklace…”

Chae Hwayeon, who knew exactly what that meant, stared with wide eyes.

Seoha instinctively clenched her fist.

A dungeon…? Did Oppa get trapped inside one?

When the gemstone broke, the item’s effect activated, allowing her to determine Baek Eunha’s current location.

He was near their apartment.

It seemed he had been caught nearby when a dungeon seed bloomed.

Seoha made her decision instantly.

…Even if I leave now, what can I actually do?

Realistically, there was almost nothing.

They hadn’t even finished clearing the B-rank dungeon they were currently inside.

The odds that she could personally rescue her brother were incredibly slim.

Yet even as those rational thoughts crossed her mind…

…her body was already sprinting alone toward the dungeon’s boss room.

After losing both of her parents to a dungeon disaster, this was no longer something reason could control.

“Baek Seoha! Where are you going?! Stop right now!”

The guild members panicked and chased after her, but Seoha was astonishingly fast.

Kiiiik! Kieeek!

You’re in my way.

Even though she knew where the boss room was, monsters still blocked the path.

Two Poison Spiders and three Spider Halos.

Every one of them was a B-rank monster—not opponents to be underestimated.

But Seoha knew.

I can wipe them all out.

If she fought seriously, none of them could threaten her.

BOOM!

BAM!

SPLAT!

She explosively launched herself forward, every muscle in her body tensing in a single leap.

Her spear struck only vital points.

The Poison Spider that had just begun spewing venom was instantly riddled with three massive holes before dying on the spot.

It probably never even realized how it had died.

She was that fast.

By the time the others finally caught up…

…what they witnessed looked almost divine.

SPLASH!

Poison shot toward her from two different directions while webs targeted her from behind.

She slipped perfectly through the tiny gaps.

Slash!

She slammed on the brakes in a feint, narrowly avoiding the forelegs of a Spider Halo that had leapt off the wall.

BOOM!

SPLAT!

One lightning-fast thrust.

The Spider Halo exploded apart with a blast that sounded like a bomb going off.

It was an acrobatic maneuver no sane person would ever attempt.

Yet its effectiveness was undeniable.

She repeated the process again…

…and again…

Until not a single monster remained in the corridor.

It wasn’t a battle.

It was a massacre.

“W-Was she always this strong…?”

“…”

The teammates who had frantically chased after her stood frozen, mouths hanging open.

They had never seen Baek Seoha this violent…

…or this ruthless.

Watching her continue advancing toward the boss room like an unstoppable force, Chae Hwayeon couldn’t help but think—

Maybe…

Maybe she’s already reached S-rank.

Realizing I had been dragged into an undead dungeon, I was still trying to process the irony when something came to greet me.

A skeleton holding a crude sword.

“…”

It didn’t look like a Skeleton Warrior.

It was literally…

…just a skeleton holding a sword.

The most basic model.

Default settings.

Like a plain 500-won soft-serve ice cream—completely unmodified.

“…So this isn’t that high-ranked of a dungeon?”

At least that was one piece of good news.

Honestly, against something like this…

I was confident I could win even bare-handed.

Kik!

Apparently recognizing me as an enemy, the skeleton waddled toward me on its tiny legs.

For some reason…

I found it almost laughable.

“…You’ve got some nerve.”

Not even recognizing your senior!

Whoosh!

Swoosh!

I calmly waited for its attack.

The moment its sword came down, I easily dodged, grabbed its arm and neck, and flipped its body over.

BOOM!

CRACK!

“Ghk!”

It was heavier than I expected, forcing a grunt out of me…

…but the throw landed perfectly.

I snatched the sword from its broken hand and finished it.

Crunch!

“You’re nothing special.”

Honestly, I hadn’t expected to win that cleanly.

It was strangely satisfying.

Then I noticed something odd.

I’d been wondering about this before…

Apparently…

…that strange mental side effect didn’t occur when I was facing monsters.

“Heh.”

That simplified things.

A dungeon that only spawned skeletons like this.

My mind was perfectly clear.

And there weren’t any humans around to act as my emotional debuff totems.

“Hehehe.”

Wasn’t this basically…

…an unbeatable matchup?

“This cold… heavy feeling…”

The sword was flimsy and poorly made, but that only meant my current strength was enough to wield it.

Perhaps…

…it was finally time to show off the swordsmanship that had once impressed even the Sword Saint.

Rattle.

Kik!

Kiiik!

Perfect timing.

More enemies were approaching.

Wearing a confident grin, I walked forward—

Only to immediately identify them…

…and turn around to sprint for my life.

Tap tap tap!

“Huff!”

Three Skeleton Warriors.

Two Skeleton Archers.

And on top of that…

…a Skeleton Mage.

Apparently this wasn’t such a low-ranked dungeon after all.

“Hah… huff… haa…”

Only after running until my mouth tasted of blood did I finally escape the monsters’ sight.

While running, I realized something.

For a dungeon that wasn’t high-ranked…

…it was surprisingly enormous.

And perhaps because it was an undead dungeon, the monsters didn’t spread out evenly.

They tended to move around in groups.

If they hadn’t…

…escaping like this would’ve been impossible.

“This is troublesome…”

It didn’t seem like an overwhelmingly difficult dungeon…

…but I couldn’t imagine my current weak self clearing it.

Not unless I had all three magic stones.

Instead…

I only had one.

I’ll just wait.

For a dungeon around this rank, nearby Hunters would be mobilized soon enough and clear it.

Surviving until then shouldn’t be difficult.

Just as I found a hiding place between two pillars and was about to slip inside…

…I noticed someone was already there.

“Eek! Ah… y-you’re…!”

The girl let out a frightened squeak.

She was the high school student who had gone with the trainee Hunter’s group earlier.

Damn.

Another debuff totem.

Resisting the emotional turbulence welling up inside me, I pulled my hood even lower and asked in an icy voice,

“U-um… the… the people from earlier…?”

This was seriously driving me insane.

The girl’s answer was completely unexpected.

Her body trembling, she recounted everything that had happened.

According to her…

…the trainee Hunter and everyone else were either dead…

…or their fate was unknown.

That dangerous of a dungeon? They got wiped out that quickly?

It was hard to believe.

Sure, even ordinary skeletons might be terrifying enemies for people in this world.

Honestly, for trainee or rookie Hunters, struggling against even two or three armed civilians wouldn’t be unusual.

It wasn’t a matter of physical ability.

It was experience.

But that trainee Hunter had seemed well informed about dungeons.

A group led by someone like that…

…had been annihilated almost instantly in such a spacious, quiet dungeon?

Something didn’t add up.

“There… there was something terrifying…”

“…”

“A giant skeleton soldier suddenly attacked us…”

I frowned.

A giant skeleton soldier?

If she was telling the truth…

…then it was almost certainly a Skeleton Giant.

But a Skeleton Giant was a B-rank monster, even if only barely.

It should never appear in a low-level dungeon.

Unless…

…this isn’t a low-level dungeon?

Then what about the ordinary Skeletons…

…and the Skeleton Warriors I had just seen?

Those were monsters that belonged in lower-ranked undead dungeons.

But if all of them appeared together…

…inside a higher-ranked dungeon…

There’s a higher undead.

That was the only explanation.

From ordinary Skeleton Soldiers…

…to Skeleton Giants…

They weren’t native monsters of this dungeon.

They were summons belonging to someone else.

Meaning…

The being that had summoned them all…

…was somewhere inside this dungeon.

This is getting complicated…

If that were true…

…then ordinary nearby Hunters wouldn’t be enough to form a rescue party.

A properly prepared strike force would be required before anyone could enter.

The girl and I remained hidden in silence.

Time continued to pass.

Only after two full hours had gone by without any sign of rescuers…

…did I finally become certain.

This isn’t a low-ranked dungeon.

THUD!

THUD!

At that exact moment…

…heavy footsteps began echoing through the corridor.