Chapter 317

'Oh, this.'

The scene made the absence of a sky painfully clear. By the time the operation was actually underway, looking up from any floor of the dungeon revealed only a dark, starless expanse—a peculiar sort of ceiling. Despite the complete lack of any visible light source, the surroundings were strangely bright, while the grass that had once covered the ground had turned a murky, swamp-like black.

'That damn idiot Number 1.'

By the time the cloak-type item returned to its designated storage point, a host of powerful Hunters—including Esther, Jung Haseong, and the blond Hunter—had descended upon the dungeon's middle floor like a swarm of stars. Their comrade, who had gone to retrieve the hostage, had been unable to withstand the relentless assault from the other S-rank Hunters and had ultimately been forced to retreat with the whole group in tow.

'I told him not to come back empty-handed, and instead he comes back dragging a whole pack of S-ranks with him.'

How could someone be so utterly all-or-nothing? It was infuriating enough to make him want to kill the man himself. But blaming his comrade now wouldn't change anything.

Then again, perhaps this was for the best.

Their goal, after all, had been to eliminate some of Korea's Awakened in advance, reducing the possibility of failure later on.

That's why.

“Ugh...!”

The combined attacks of Jung Haseong and, in particular, Esther forced an almost animalistic groan from their comrade. Beast Number 3, seeing the unfortunate man being mercilessly pummeled, quickly rolled up his sleeves to make sure he at least didn't die.

“....”

Meanwhile, the moderately built individual who had remained comparatively calm—in other words, the criminal whose physique most closely resembled the real Beast—had his own reason for participating in this occupation.

SHNK.

Number 2, who appeared to be the leader, finished preparing for battle and drew his weapon.

And the moment that beautifully straight spear appeared, any sharp-eyed modern Hunter would have recognized what it was.

An immense power surged from the spear's shaft in relentless waves, like a raging [N O V E L I G H T] tide.

‘...100% Epic-grade or higher!’

That was the signal for the battle to begin.

The fake Beast acting as their leader drove his spear into the dry ground, loudly announcing his presence.

***

BOOM!

The Epic-grade spear slammed into the dungeon floor.

At that very moment, the parched ground transformed in an instant, as though a violent earthquake had erupted beneath it.

‘Oh my.’

Damn it.

Honestly, I hadn't intended to get this deeply involved in the incident.

'No matter how many times I check, it's definitely inside the dungeon.'

I clicked my tongue bitterly and took another step back.

Now that the civil servant had safely withdrawn, all I had to worry about was my own safety.

'I really hope this choice ends up working in my favor.'

Still, there was one thing I could pin my hopes on.

The long-haired Earthling was the owner of the [Searcher].

In truth, pushing Seonwoo Yeon forward hadn't been some purely selfless act.

With the whereabouts of the [Shroud of the Underworld] unknown, someone capable of tracking magic was the person most likely to locate the victim.

'I've just spent so much time surrounded by top-rankers that I forget, but a B-rank Hunter with tracking skills is actually pretty rare!'

Rescuing Seonwoo Yeon had been necessary anyway.

Things had simply become more complicated because I'd wasted time trying to analyze the [Shroud of the Underworld] and failed.

As the Awakened wearing the bone mask gripped an unidentified spear and activated a skill, something suddenly surged upward.

The ability he had used involved releasing water molecules in an ultra-low-temperature state and shaping them into a specific form.

In short, it was ice magic.

“Jung Haseong, be careful!”

Covering the entire area in a forest of ice spikes in only a few seconds.

Terrifying.

However, that Beast's attack made me notice something slightly strange.

‘Huh?’

The enemy's magic had been completed unusually quickly.

‘Why is the skill casting speed like that?’

And for the record, that wasn't praise.

Ordinarily, a sorcerer had to invest at least a minimum amount of effort into completing a spell.

That investment might take the form of time, or mana.

But the fake Beast before me had completed the spell far too quickly compared to the amount of effort put into it.

And from the perspective of a high mage, the resulting spell was frankly sloppy.

‘What is it?’

SSSHK.

As you can see, if that had been a properly constructed ice spell, it should have maintained its shape for at least a while.

Yet even now, the tips of those ice spikes were already beginning to crumble on their own.

'It doesn't seem to be the result of an item's performance or anything like that. Even if they're an S-rank Hunter with above-average reflexes... this is still a little too much...'

Fast casting speed.

But an unstable magical structure.

The fact that the Beast's magic was only slightly faster than normal might seem insignificant to most people, but to a true mage, it was an extremely meaningful detail.

So then, what did that imply?

'The ice attack is only a disguise.'

While moving my sluggish body as quickly as I could, I simultaneously analyzed the enemy's abilities.

'The skill he just used doesn't match that primitive caster's natural affinity. In that case, considering how strong he is in fast-paced combat, that Beast's attribute must be...'

However, perhaps because the battle was unfolding in real time, it wasn't easy to focus.

The enormous Beast, built like some wild mountain animal, and the smaller fake Beasts—barely half its size by comparison—seemed completely occupied with Korea's two top-ranked Hunters.

So I ran even faster, desperate to avoid getting caught in the crossfire between Jung Haseong and the enemy.

It was then.

One of the tall Beasts, having retrieved the spear he had driven into the ground, suddenly stopped and stared in my direction.

......

The opponent was wearing a mask, so I couldn't be completely certain.

But the instant I felt as though our eyes had met, I'll admit it—my blood ran cold.

'Huh?'

All around me, Korean Hunters were stabbing, burning, and beating his comrades in utter chaos.

And yet, in the middle of all that, this predator was staring only at the blond man standing at exactly the same height as him.

'There are so many Awakened people here, so why only me?'

With that enormous bone mask and those tattered leather clothes, for just a moment, he genuinely looked as though the world's highest-ranked mage had returned from the dead.

But judging by the magic he had shown so far, his Awakening attribute was probably quite different from Brooklyn's.

I quietly glanced around.

'As expected, the greatest magic in this world is running away!'

Taking advantage of the moment Esther rushed in to subdue the Beast, I fled at full speed.

My destination was somewhere near the deeper reaches of the dungeon.

Perhaps the enemies had needed a place to rest while remaining hidden.

Fortunately, they had already cleared out some of the monsters in this area.

'Monsters everywhere, S-rank Hunters everywhere. It's like a damned marketplace.'

Dragging my miserable F-rank body along, I made it to a corner of the second floor.

And then—

An anomaly erupted on the battlefield where the S-rank monsters had collided.

"Ugh!"

"What the...!"

Among the fakes, the one whose build most closely resembled Brooklyn—the tall Beast with the cold impression—suddenly began pursuing a single Hunter with relentless persistence.

This time, without relying on any weapon, he forced his way forward using nothing but raw magical power.

SWOOSH.

When the medium-built Beast swung his hand, part of the dungeon began to change.

He flooded the floor and walls with an enormous volume of water, then dropped its temperature to an extreme low.

The entire area behind him froze solid, effectively paralyzing that section and preventing the Awakened from approaching.

'This is unfair! What did an alien ever do to deserve this!'

CRACK.

The wielder of the long spear soon came charging toward me with terrifying momentum, ripping apart the ground as he advanced.

"Huh!"

For reference, all the other Korean Hunters had ended up on the opposite side of the ice wall.

The fake Beast continued his charge, tearing through the ground with such ferocity that an ordinary civilian couldn't even begin to comprehend it.

Compared to this, a wild boar trampling through a field would have seemed almost cute.

That was how heavy and destructive each of his steps was.

And what made the situation even more hopeless was—

'If solid ground gets torn apart that easily, then it's obvious what'll happen to a low-rank Hunter like me!'

Having made up my mind, I immediately pulled a weapon from my pocket.

The item I chose was the [Surprise Box!].

However, exactly as I had roughly predicted, an otherworldly powerhouse among the fakes—especially one radiating such an extraordinary presence—wasn't someone who could be stopped by a cheap trick like this.

CRACK!

CLACK.

Soon, two distinct sounds rang out through the dungeon almost simultaneously.

The first was a crushing sound, made when the medium-built Beast seized me by the neck and planted one foot into the ground.

Mixed faintly beneath it was the subtle pop of the [Surprise Box!] opening.

The Beast flexed the muscles in his leg and continued driving his captive backward.

The moment I judged that we'd put enough distance between ourselves and my allies, I immediately opened the box.

Naturally, the opponent ignored the stun effect entirely and slammed me into the cave wall without releasing his grip.

BOOM!

‘Oh my.’

Before long, the Beast, still holding his prey, charged ahead with enough force to smash straight through the dungeon's terrain and structures.

'If this weren't a sacred tree, my back would've already been ground away.'

How many hundreds of meters did he drag me?

The medium-built Beast had separated me from the others without so much as an explanation.

And afterward, he seemed intent on completely incapacitating me.

'Oh my!'

Well, ominous mana was already gathering in the Beast's hand...

So I mobilized every scrap of imagination I possessed.

Before the disaster I was predicting could actually happen, I decided to buy myself time somehow.

If nothing else, with my mouth.

"W, wait...!"

But the Beast's magic activated faster than I could speak.

Then again, perhaps that wasn't even the real problem.

'Oh, damn it. This cursed planet. Come to think of it, I don't have a translator right now, so he won't even understand my threats!'

To think the only weapon I had that could contend with an S-rank would end up sealed away!

The magic completed by the Beast felt strangely familiar to the alien.

Because the inhabitants of certain planets had always lived surrounded by water containing minute impurities, this element had long been regarded there as an extraordinarily destructive force.

So much so that Alphaurians had prioritized developing resistance to it above almost everything else.

It was one of nature's divine forces.

BZZZZZZZT!

Electricity.

The deranged criminal electrocuted a person using artificially generated lightning.

And as if the first attack weren't enough, the opponent had prepared a second trap in advance without caring whether the initial strike had landed properly.

As expected from a human of unknown origin, the additional artifact activated by the Beast possessed a function I had never encountered in Korea.

ZZZT, ZZZZZZT...

I think I'd seen something similar in an Earth biology book.

If I remembered correctly, it resembled a red basket fungus.

A web-like pattern of crimson lines formed around me as I collapsed, crackling with electricity and enclosing me from every direction.

'If I touch it, will the barrier melt?'

At a glance, the purpose was obvious.

It was a stationary trap designed to make escape difficult.

Any contact with it would inflict tremendous damage.

If I had to classify it, it was a type of magic derived from barrier techniques.

'Oh, as expected.'

ZZZT.

I shouldn't try to force my way out.

Just to make sure, I cautiously moved a fingertip closer.

The instant it touched one of the red lines suspended in midair, a threatening roar erupted around my [Protection] barrier.

I immediately pulled my hand back.

But what was truly strange was that the Beast, after trapping me with the artifact's effect, abruptly stopped attacking.

'Why?'

If the prey was already locked inside such an effective cage, shouldn't he be bombarding it with long-range magic by now?

The opponent's behavior had suddenly departed from standard combat logic.

Not that I could do much to retaliate anyway, considering I'd already drained most of my mana using powerful telekinesis before even entering this place.

So all I could do was blink in confusion.

Unlike the sky-high region reached through spatial distortion, the winding cave passages here twisted and branched like human capillaries.

The masked Beast briefly glanced toward the plains, where the sounds of battle continued to echo.

Then he immediately began doing something else.

'Huh?'

A superhuman whose appearance suggested he couldn't have been further removed from civilization suddenly pulled a machine resembling a walkie-talkie from his pocket.

'That's...'

The device turned out to be a universal translator manufactured by the Pixy Corporation.

I was wondering what in the world he intended to do after pulling something like that out.

And then the Beast calmly removed the earpiece from the device and carefully inserted it into his ear...

Korean!

The first words that followed were rather unexpected as an opening.

The moment I heard them, I immediately found myself wondering what kind of person this guy really was.

Wait, let me ask you a question.

But generally speaking, there is usually a reason behind a person's actions.

It will only take a moment.

Within a few seconds, the tall Beast finally revealed the true purpose behind his eccentric behavior.

SWOOSH.

From the back of the hand all the way to the fingertips, the figure—just like me—didn't expose even the smallest patch of bare skin.

His hands were completely covered by gloves.

Then the Beast raised one hand to his neck and forcefully removed his own mask.

What appeared before me next was genuinely shocking.

Glossy golden hair cut into a bob.

Pale white skin.

And a sharply sculpted nose, as though carved from stone.

Ah... so, the question I was going to ask is...

Inside the Beast's bone mask was a face perfectly identical to Brooklyn Morgan's.

Have we, by any chance, ever faced each other like this before, with our masks off?

The woman, beautiful enough to look like a model, opened her mouth and laughed.

There was only one small problem.

Brooklyn Morgan was already dead.

After observing her for a long moment, I finally remembered whose magical power was flowing through that impostor wearing someone else's face.

That human and I had already met before...