1:13 PM.
Ahn Yoonseung had said the dungeon was expected to be cleared at exactly 1:00 PM.
But Hunters were dealing with living monsters. Unexpected variables could arise at any time.
A delay of thirteen minutes was hardly unusual.
So I decided to wait patiently, giving myself a little mental leeway, and turned up the ringtone volume on my phone by a few notches.
Then I slipped the Earth-made device back into my pocket.
***
A Blue Gate in Seoul.
A group of Earthlings had gathered in front of the enormous passageway, which stood roughly five meters tall.
Each of them wore a name tag on their chest bearing the words "NEO SISTERS."
Then, at some point, every one of them abruptly turned toward the north side of the area.
– Clack, clack, clack.
The sharp sound of hard-soled shoes, almost like metal striking metal, reached their ears.
“No, this is crazy!”
The person who appeared at the scene showed his face and, within seconds, uttered words that hardly matched his appearance.
It was the sort of expression Koreans often threw out at the beginning of a sentence, followed by a mild curse.
“What the heck is going on...”
“Hunter Kim Giryeo!”
He had been about to mutter another curse to vent his irritation, but a voice from the side cut him off.
“What happened to Ahn Yoonseung? He still hasn’t come out?”
But just because he stopped swearing didn’t mean his anger had subsided.
That’s right.
This was the Blue Gate that Neo Sisters’ regular Team 3 had entered.
And that blue-colored monster nest had already undergone a disaster that should never have occurred.
“Damn it!”
1:20 PM.
1:30 PM.
And when 1:45 PM arrived without so much as a single message from Ahn Yoonseung, Kim Giryeo canceled the restaurant reservation and immediately contacted the Neo Sisters team.
That was when he heard the shocking news.
An unusual mutation phenomenon had been detected inside the gate Ahn Yoonseung’s team had entered.
“Why now, of all times!”
And this wasn’t some low-level gate.
An anomaly had occurred inside an A-rank dungeon.
How could something like that possibly be considered ordinary?
An unprecedented crisis had unfolded.
[Unidentified Gate]
[Description: No gate information available.]
[Rank: 5]
According to Pixy’s analyzer, the gate’s current rating had exceeded the normal A-rank range and reached the highest difficulty level: Rank 5.
It was an unimaginable disaster.
“H, Hunter Ahn Yoonseung’s team... they’re still inside the dungeon...”
“When did this start? Get the person in charge out here!”
“Uh, we confirmed it at around 1:19 PM! This dungeon has a lot of strategy data accumulated on our Neo side. Pfft, the average clear time was almost fixed...”
Tuk.
Kim Giryeo strode forward and stopped directly in front of the problematic gate.
“Was it really this big from the beginning? Anyway, the magic power pouring out of it is no joke.”
At that very moment, the monster den was emitting a gloomy, whistling hum.
The Neo Sisters members, drenched in cold sweat, explained the situation to the Rank 5 Hunter who was known to be close to Ahn Yoonseung.
Giryeo was equally bewildered.
He knew this would make him sound cold-blooded, but honestly, whatever else happened, he simply couldn’t accept Ahn Yoonseung becoming prey for the Gisimche...
“Oh my.”
Without that Earthling, who was he supposed to sit down and eat with now?
And when malicious rumors spread across the internet, who would collect evidence for him?
“Damn it. What rotten luck.”
The frail blond man had survived this long without serious harm largely thanks to Ahn Yoonseung.
The A-rank defensive Hunter possessed a noble character and never forgot a favor.
He had continued to show unwavering goodwill toward the Rank 5 Hunter who had once saved him.
Moreover, barring some extraordinary negative incident, that conveniently loyal disposition of his was unlikely to change.
‘My Earthling acquaintance, whom I barely managed to make after all that trouble...!’
Giryeo thought as he stared at the enormous gate before him.
[Abnormal Mutation].
A phenomenon in which a dungeon’s internal structure abruptly changed and its difficulty fluctuated was anything but ordinary.
The former archmage had long since formed his own theory about such mutations.
It wasn’t uncommon for mind creatures to interfere with traps they had already laid for their prey.
The same kind of thing had occurred on Asphaur.
It was a rare phenomenon.
And in most cases, the change went in the direction of increased difficulty.
Judging from its other characteristics as well, the abnormal mutations occurring on Earth were most likely caused by the same principle as the disasters he had witnessed in the past.
“Ugh...”
When the scenario gate had appeared, the alien scholar had compared what happened there to the tyranny of an ‘overseer’.
Viewed in the same context, an abnormal mutation could essentially be interpreted as the result of the Gisimche’s tendency to ‘overfeed.’
To put it simply, it was hunger.
“Hey, you gluttonous Gisimche b*stards!”
Even humans sometimes sat down for lunch thinking they would eat only a modest amount, only to realize midway through the meal that it wasn’t enough and open the rice cooker again.
‘I, I only meant to gorge myself on a little pain and screaming, but now that I’ve started, I’m still hungry. I guess I’ll have to forcibly alter the box and kill them after all.’
That was essentially how the Gisimche modified the structure of their prey boxes.
They didn’t simply take an F-rank monster like a white rabbit and mindlessly strengthen it until it reached A-rank.
Instead, the dungeon’s rank itself changed, along with large-scale alterations to both its structure and the monsters appearing inside.
Perhaps that was why abnormal mutations were so rare on Earth.
But whatever the odds might be, once it happened to you, the probability was effectively 100%, wasn’t it?
And now, with an A-rank gate undergoing an upward mutation, not only Ahn Yoonseung’s team but all of South Korea was potentially in danger.
‘Who would’ve thought Korea’s first Rank 5 dungeon would appear like this?’
For now, he had already contacted the Association.
Experts would soon gather to deal with the situation.
Ssk.
The senior Neo Sisters executive, Lee Cheongryong, seemed unable to accept reality.
Holding the analyzer in one hand, he once again stretched his other arm into the gate.
Giryeo followed suit and extended his own arm into the passage.
A human hand was far less sensitive than the tentacles of his previous life.
Still, now that his lungs had been restored, he was capable of perceiving quite a variety of things.
“Haa...”
The alien archmage rubbed his dry fingertips together and focused on the atmosphere inside the dungeon.
Gradually, certain information began to flow through his nerves.
“Huh?”
It happened at that very moment.
The blond man suddenly shouted and shoved Lee Cheongryong, who was standing beside him, backward.
“Wait! Get away from the gate right now!”
“Heuk!”
“There’s a monster at the entrance...!”
But he never got to finish the sentence.
Whoosh.
Immediately afterward, something poured out from within the glowing blue passage.
Reddish, repulsive organs that resembled ropes woven from the flesh of beasts surged outward all at once.
“Aaack!”
“Hunter Kim!”
“Tentacles! Aren’t those tentacles!?”
“Ack!”
The mysterious strands that seemed intent on crushing Kim Giryeo’s eyes immediately tightened around the prey they had caught and began dragging him inward with tremendous force.
Their monstrous strength was enough to swallow a grown man weighing more than seventy kilograms into the nest in an instant.
***
“F*ck!”
I try to avoid crude language as much as possible, but it seems the world simply refuses to cooperate.
Swish!
By the time I felt something brush against my eyelids, my entire body had already been dragged into the dungeon.
Even so, I didn’t lose my composure.
Since I needed to deactivate the traps as quickly as possible anyway, I immediately responded to the attack.
I raised one arm to keep the pressure off my carotid artery and managed to avoid the worst possible outcome while minimizing the damage.
‘So this is what they call a tentacle...!’
Seung-!
With my right arm, I forced the red strand wrapped around my neck as far away from me as possible.
Then, with my free hand, I pulled [Hydra] from the item box and brought it down hard against the creature’s body.
A strength-enhancement technique completed in two or three seconds.
At the same time, lightning-like currents of internal magic power surged into [Hydra].
Push!
The bright-red creature staggered backward.
“Hunter Kim Giryeo!”
“Hey, hey! Grab it! Quickly!”
If I had been alone, I would have had no choice but to follow this up with a dirty, drawn-out battle relying on venom.
Fortunately, several high-ranking Awakened from Neo Sisters were still standing outside the gate.
There was no need to drag things out, and the situation was soon brought under control.
“A, are you okay?”
Of course.
I’m fine.
If it hadn’t been for the sacred tree, the skull of an F-rank Hunter would probably have shattered into pieces like glitter inside a snow globe by now, but anyway.
“Whoo.”
I adjusted my grip on the sword, carefully making sure the tip of [Hydra] wasn’t pointed toward the Hunters who had entered after me, and began to think.
At first, everything had happened so suddenly that I hadn’t noticed.
But now that I looked again...
“It’s an A-rank monster.”
“Yes?”
“This tentacle monster has an A-rank level of magic power.”
I continued explaining.
“Well, just like during the [Mimic City] incident, we shouldn’t blindly trust the analyzer’s result.”
“Ah!”
“It looks like this dungeon contains monsters of several different ranks, just like an ordinary dungeon. I suppose it’s a relief that they aren’t all Rank 5!”
One of the Neo Sisters guild members responded optimistically after hearing that, but...
“W, what if the dungeon just has an unusually high magic-power density and there isn’t actually a Rank 5 monster? That happens sometimes!”
Unfortunately, things weren’t that convenient.
“I wish that were true, but according to my detection skill, there is definitely a Rank 5 monster in here. One hundred percent.”
The Neo Sisters Awakened immediately fell back into despair.
Meanwhile, I briefly pondered the situation while running my hand along the dungeon wall.
‘A box opened by something with a gluttonous disposition... If that’s the case, then the odds that a watcher is attached to this place as well...’
Originally, I had intended to spend much longer preparing myself mentally before going inside.
But now that things had turned out this way, there was nothing I could do.
Actually, perhaps this was for the best.
If I had entered through the proper procedure, I would first have had to report to someone in accordance with the knight’s oath.
And considering recent events, I doubted anyone would have readily approved my entering a Rank 5 gate like this.
‘It’s a shame I can’t use Kang Changho’s strength, but there’s no time to argue about that right now.’
I made my decision and addressed the Awakened around me.
“Everyone, go back outside and relay a message. I’ll stay inside the dungeon and disable the traps until reinforcements arrive. Tell them to summon every available Rank 5 immediately.”
“Yes?”
“T, traps? There are traps in this mutated dungeon?”
“Judging by what I can sense, probably quite a few.”
I nodded as I answered.
One of the Neo Sisters guild members spoke up anxiously.
“You’re going to clear the path ahead all by yourself? That sounds far too dangerous...”
That was true.
“I know. But rescue operations like this are usually a race against time. Besides, once a Rank 5 Hunter enters a dungeon, it’s generally better for them not to leave again. Rather than standing around uselessly at the entrance...”
As I straightened the sleeve that had been thrown into disarray while I was being dragged inside, the Neo Sisters members looked momentarily confused.
What did I mean by saying it was better not to leave once you entered the dungeon?
But when I elaborated, their eyes widened.
“You don’t understand why I said I’d stay behind? This dungeon is currently at an extremely high risk of breaking.”
“Heuk!”
“Ah!”
Whenever an abnormal mutation occurs, the number of monsters inside the dungeon changes unpredictably as well.
But what if the monster density randomly determined this time had ‘already exceeded the threshold for a break’?
‘The moment Ahn Yoonseung’s team is wiped out, the break could happen immediately.’
That much should have been enough for them to understand.
And judging by their pale, frozen faces, it was.
“If you aren’t absolutely certain you can survive against a Rank 5 monster, leave now. We have no idea when another monster might regenerate while we’re standing here. Of course, I’ll avoid combat as much as possible and focus on keeping myself alive. Anyway, hurry and bring more people from outside.”
“Y, yes!”
“I... I understand.”
At that, all the Earthlings who had entered the dungeon turned around and headed back toward the entrance.
I watched them for a while.
Only after the traces of their magic had completely faded did I turn my back on them.
“Haa...”
For now, half of what I just told them was a lie.
Still, I’m glad those Earthlings left so easily.
‘Because fortunately, this mutated dungeon happened to generate relatively few creatures.’
My eyes moved as I organized my thoughts.
Earlier, when I followed Director Lee Cheongryong’s example and reached an arm into the dungeon, I had already realized that the monsters here were spread remarkably far apart.
As long as one stayed alert, even an F-rank could advance while avoiding combat.
‘Maybe they were short on resources or something.’
Instead, numerous dangerous traps had been placed throughout the dungeon, as though to make up for the low monster density.
If I wanted to reach the middle and later sections, where the survivors were located, even one second sooner, I first needed to disable those traps.
That was precisely why I had driven all those primitive sorcerers outside.
From this point onward, I intended to use high-level magic without holding back.
And by now, anyone could probably guess the current survival status of Ahn Yoonseung’s team...
I thought as I focused on the magic power of the creatures lingering at the very edge of my senses.
‘Yoonseung should honestly be grateful that the worst thing happening to him right now is getting ripped off by me.’
Seriously.
Where else in the world would you find a swindler this considerate?
I’m even personally making sure my cash cow doesn’t go and die on me.