Chapter 241

A monster that was strong against the strong and weak against the weak was approaching.

No—more precisely, although the S-rank hunters present were undeniably powerful, their abilities were just ambiguous enough that the creature's special trait didn't affect them all that severely.

The sand-colored lizard that ruled this place had a tendency to grow stronger in proportion to the gap between itself and any opponent possessing an enormous amount of mana.

But Earth had no rank beyond S-rank.

As a result, the degree to which the monster could enhance itself remained relatively limited.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

So the only real handicap they had to endure was the monster's extreme sensitivity—the very thing a certain archmage had subtly hinted at beforehand.

Kyaaah!

The dungeon boss, which had seemed relatively docile when dealing with an A-rank team or the body of one of its own kind being controlled, once again revealed its truly horrifying nature the moment it entered the corridor.

Its champagne-gold scales, gleaming like a 14k ring, were covered in red boils, and a guttural roar burst from its throat like an erupting volcano.

"Kaaaaaaaah!"

The S-rank boss monster finally revealed its full form before the hunters.

The reptile's entire body seemed to glow as it trembled violently upon sensing a power equal to its own inside its territory.

"Heuk!"

"Ugh."

The weaker members who had retreated to the southern corridor stiffened beneath the boss monster's overwhelming presence.

The sand-colored reptile's sensitivity was triggered only by the dense magic power possessed by true powerhouses.

Had they known this would happen, it might actually have been better for the fraudulent appraiser to handle the raid alone and quietly guide the A-rank team back toward the entrance.

The problem was that said wizard had already exhausted all his energy fighting the weakest monster in the dungeon.

Tak.

In the end, battle was unavoidable.

Jung Haseong fixed his gaze on the monster charging directly toward him and tightened his grip on his red sword.

Whoooosh!

What followed was a spell cast by the S-rank fire wizard, a man regarded as the pinnacle of flame-type awakened abilities.

To slow the boss's charge, he summoned a wall of fire, intending to intimidate the creature.

Rather than wavering, however, a powerful surge of blue flame erupted upward and completely blocked the monster's path.

"Grrr!"

But just how intense was this otherworldly monster's territorial instinct?

With a sickening impact, the grotesque creature forced its way straight through the rising wall of fire and continued toward Korea's hero, who stood with his back to those he needed to protect.

The monster swung one of its forelegs.

Claaank!

A deafening impact exploded through the corridor, far too violent to sound like the collision of a single blade and several claws.

"...?!"

At that moment, the black-haired wizard physically holding back the charging monster suddenly sensed something strange.

A smell.

It wasn't anything like the pleasant aroma of food cooking.

It was faint, acrid, and unpleasant.

Wait.

Was something burning?

'Huh?'

Clank!

Jung Haseong forced the monster backward with his sword using his monstrous physical strength.

Yet even after creating distance between them, the scene before him remained unchanged.

The six-legged reptile, its face smeared with soot, was still howling in pain.

Could that really have been caused by nothing more than the flames of the barrier?

'My attack power...'

Only then did Korea's national hero truly recognize how much he had changed.

Until now, he had only fought A-rank prey, leaving him with no meaningful opportunity to test the true limits of his improved abilities aside from measuring how quickly he could clear dungeons.

For Haseong, who hadn't participated in incidents such as Inevitable Malice or the Kagoshima Gate, this was effectively his first battle against an opponent of equal rank.

And when his skill worked properly even against an S-rank monster—

No.

When it proved this threatening—

The wizard couldn't help but understand.

'It's different.'

This was exactly the result Kim Giryeo had intended.

Through repeated training against alien creatures, Jung Haseong's skills had been refined to a level far beyond what they had once been.

The improvements made across multiple stages had not only fulfilled the Pyromancer's long-held wish to protect his allies, but had also pushed the sheer offensive power of his skills to an entirely new level.

Whoooosh...

A faint current of heat spiraled through the air like a miniature whirlwind.

Then, centered on that tiny rotation, a burst of indigo flame exploded directly above the sand-colored reptile's left eye.

"Kaaaaaaaah!"

Whoosh.

The flame was still imperfect, unable to maintain its full blue intensity.

But it was enough.

Jung Haseong inhaled the searing air as naturally as though breathing ordinary oxygen, then relayed his judgment to the other hunters.

"Its defense is weaker than I expected."

"Yes? What did you say?"

"Even though it's an S-rank boss monster, its body is weaker than we anticipated."

It was an exceptionally precise assessment, honed through thousands of dungeon raids.

A judgment worthy of Korea's top-ranked hunter.

"As expected, the S-rank monsters in this dungeon seem to be on the lower end even within the same rank! Let's stop the boss's pursuit first, and if that succeeds, move immediately to neutralize it!"

There was no need for the alien appraiser to spell everything out for them.

The veterans present were fully capable of estimating the monster's level through accumulated experience and the instincts they had sharpened in the field.

And once they determined that the beast in front of them could actually be killed, there was only one thing left for hunters to do.

"Everyone, please step aside for a moment. I have some work to do."

Right.

Hunters couldn't simply turn tail and run forever.

That would be embarrassing.

Then the world's only S-rank Cursed Sorcerer activated her innate spell.

She focused her entire mind on the enemy of humanity before her, a creature that preyed upon ordinary people, and released a surge of black energy.

It was a curse saturated with overwhelming hatred.

***

Wooong...

A few minutes later.

Beyond the golden corridor came a familiar sound.

It resembled an eerie wind passing through a hole in a rock, carrying an unpleasant and distinctive vibration.

And yet—

Had that sound ever seemed so wonderful before?

"Ah, the exit! That's the exit, right?"

"Awesome! That's awesome!"

Neo Sisters Guild's regular Team 3.

Among them, Ahn Yoonseung and the team's youngest member reacted most enthusiastically to the newly appeared passage, practically jumping in celebration.

"Wow, the future of Korea is looking really bright..."

"Yeah. A friend of mine from Hanshin Guild said they recently received an offer to immigrate to Canada. They were considering leaving the country, but now I'm wondering if I should talk them out of it."

"Why doesn't our guild have any S-ranks...? Come to think of it, Hunter Kim's a free agent, isn't he? How has nobody managed to scout him yet...?"

But among the veteran hunters, including the team leader, the atmosphere was subtly different.

Murmur.

Even with the S-rank hunters—famous for their exceptional hearing—standing right in front of them, they couldn't stop talking.

What they had just witnessed was simply too shocking.

"Whoo..."

To put it plainly, Korea's number-one and number-two hunters had successfully defeated an S-rank boss between the two of them.

The six-legged lizard was indeed an S-rank monster, but compared to creatures such as Hawaii's Nuckalavee or Japan's Black Dragon King, it was considerably weaker.

Its physical capabilities were far inferior.

And yet, even though it was only a monster barely qualifying for S-rank, fighting it had still left the industry's top two hunters battered.

"Hunter Haseong, do you happen to have any painkillers left? One isn't enough. I'm seriously dying here."

"Here."

"Ah~ Thank you. Thank you."

Still, it was a victory worth remembering.

Esther, whose arm had been torn apart by the monster's claws, swallowed another painkiller and replayed the battle in her head.

'When my flesh started tearing, I thought I'd stuck my spoon into something I had no business touching. But wow... we actually killed it.'

This battle had been defined by Jung Haseong's exceptional performance.

Hidden inside the sand-colored reptile's mouth was some kind of organ capable of spewing fire.

And standing against it, of all people, was Korea's greatest Pyromancer.

'Was Hunter Jung Haseong's resistance to his own attribute always this high?'

Seriously, what in the world had Kim Giryeo taught that hero?

Seo Esther glanced at Korea's national hero, whose injuries were noticeably lighter than her own, and wondered.

A playful sense of dissatisfaction briefly rose within her when she realized the gap between herself and the already difficult-to-catch first-place hunter had grown even wider.

But the feeling didn't last long.

Before she knew it, someone's cheerful voice completely changed the mood and dragged the conversation in another direction.

"E, excuse me! Guild Leader of Korea's Magic Tower!"

Soon afterward, Ahn Yoonseung of the Neo Sisters Guild approached respectfully.

Standing before the veterans of the industry, the young hunter clasped his hands politely and asked a question.

"Hello! Thank you so much for coming to save us! But, if you don't mind me asking—Hunter Kim Giryeo...? Did Giryeo Hyung not enter the dungeon at all?"

"Ah."

"I've been wondering why I haven't seen Hyung anywhere since earlier..."

Esther answered with a brief sentence and a gesture.

"If you're looking for Giryeo, he's right over there. He's coming this way."

Whoosh.

At Esther's reply, Ahn Yoonseung instinctively turned his head.

And just like that, the distinctive blond hair of the person he had been searching for finally entered his field of vision.

"Ahn Yoonseung."

Ahn Yoonseung.

Limping.

A blond man approached them with a strangely awkward gait, gradually closing the distance.

"What's wrong? I've been behind you this whole time. Didn't you notice me at all?"

Just as he said, Giryeo had remained hidden behind the last pillar in the corridor together with the relatively weaker Seonwoo Yeon.

He had only shown himself once the battle was completely over.

But no one needed to ask why the S-rank hunter hadn't taken part on the front lines.

The reason was immediately obvious.

Tuk, clang!

The sound of a shield worth billions crashing to the dungeon floor rang through the air.

There was no time for an explanation.

Ahn Yoonseung's mouth opened at once, and a shout bordering on a scream burst out.

"Hyung-nim!"

The shirt Giryeo wore was soaked almost entirely in vivid red, with only the fabric near the collar retaining any hint of its original color.

His abdomen, still not fully healed, was covered in a messy crust of dried blood.

"Hyung-nim!"

The moment Ahn Yoonseung saw the hunter's obviously abnormal condition, his equipment slipped helplessly from his hands.

He hadn't dropped it intentionally.

The shock had caused his blood pressure to plummet so sharply that he could no longer maintain his grip.

"W, what happened—no! Aaaahh!"

His mind was so overwhelmed that he couldn't even form a coherent sentence.

As Yoonseung stammered with his face completely drained of color, Seonwoo Yeon, who had been watching nearby, stepped in and explained for him.

"He got caught in a dungeon trap."

The government employee continued explaining for some time.

As soon as Kim Giryeo realized Ahn Yoonseung's team was in danger, he had voluntarily entered the S-rank gate and taken responsibility for clearing the path.

He had successfully disarmed nearly all the traps.

But while opening the final door, he had apparently made one mistake and ended up like a mouse caught in a mousetrap.

"S, so that's why the rescue came so quickly!"

"Yes. Actually, Hunter Kim Giryeo had already dealt with most of the monsters beforehand, so we didn't encounter many fights on our side."

It was then.

The blond man, who had been moistening his throat with the last of a mana potion, heard the employee's explanation and quickly corrected her.

"No. That's not what happened. I didn't kill them. There just weren't many monsters here to begin with."

"Ah. Then did you simply ignore the A-rank monsters along the way and rush ahead? That would explain why there were only a few weaker enemies scattered throughout the dungeon..."

....

For some reason, Korea's fourth S-rank hunter fell briefly silent.

During the conversation, Seonwoo Yeon asked him,

"Then just how strong was the monster you fought alone for you to exhaust yourself badly enough to make a mistake while disarming the trap?"

Giryeo answered honestly that it had merely been an insignificant creature.

No one believed him.

'So he ignored the A-ranks and only dealt with the S-rank.'

'Even if it wasn't a boss monster, how could he fight an S-rank alone...?'

'Did he encounter something unusual, like a mid-boss? It's strange that only that one didn't leave a corpse behind.'

The hunters' collective distrust was ultimately the result of seeds he himself had planted.

At this point, what use was there in complaining?

Whoo.

Giryeo let out a short sigh and pulled something from the item box at his waist.

It was a round orb of an indistinct dark-blue color.

The moment he crushed it in his hand, something strange happened.

The torn and ruined Earth-style clothing he was wearing rapidly returned to its original condition.

"Huh?"

Swish.

Fibers materialized seemingly from thin air, completely restoring the damaged suit.

Seeing Seonwoo Yeon's startled expression, Kim Giryeo casually offered an explanation.

"Don't be surprised~ It's a foreign item. Just an item."

For reference, the orb he had crushed was nothing more than a hollow decoy, as meaningless as an empty capsule from a gacha machine.

These primitives tended to accept nearly anything as a dungeon artifact as long as you gave them an explanation that sounded plausible enough.

After magically restoring his appearance, the alien turned toward the awakened ones gathered around him.

"Everyone, before we leave, I have a favor to ask..."

"A favor?"

"Right. Especially you, Yoonseung. There's something you absolutely need to be careful about..."

A few minutes later.

In front of the exit of the strange mutated gate.

– Oh my gosh.

– Are they coming out?

– That magic power... it definitely feels like S-rank...

Murmur murmur.

As they stepped toward the noisy world outside, a familiar scene gradually entered their view.

Esther was the first to emerge from the gate.

Despite her relatively slender frame, she carried not one but two corpses over her shoulders, each easily weighing more than 100 kilograms.

What this superhuman of the new age had brought out of the dungeon were none other than the corpses of an ordinary S-rank monster and the dungeon boss.

"Heuk!"

Her appearance was impressive in more ways than one.

The Guild Leader of the Magic Tower lowered the newly discovered monster carcasses to the ground, apparently intending to hand them over to university researchers.

"Hunter Esther!"

"Did you really clear the dungeon? No, how?"

"Is this the dungeon boss?"

"Ugh~ I'm going crazy. Everyone, please calm down. I'll answer your questions one by one, so just give me a moment."

"What about Hunter Jung Haseong?!"

"Our national hero is still inside collecting soil samples, so please wait for him as well..."

Booooooom!

But soon afterward, the crowd's shrill chatter abruptly died away as everyone flinched at the sudden roar of an engine.

The dry mechanical growl rose and fell with the revolutions of a large motorcycle.

Tak.

The rider dismounted from the high-displacement bike and slowly surveyed the surroundings with an icy gaze.

"What about Kim Giryeo?"

His green eyes were so vivid they could almost be mistaken for fluorescent.

His hair, another side effect of awakening, was an unnatural cold violet rarely seen in nature.

"Is he dead?"

Korea's third S-rank hunter slowly approached the crowd.

And with almost no change in expression, he casually asked whether the man was alive or dead.