Chapter 49

Siheung 8 Dungeon (2)

The splendid summed up forces of all forty Hunters who had entered the dungeon, including me, and who had performed better than expected, had soon resulted in clearing up of the battlefield.

“Argh!”

The last monster screamed and crashed into the canal on the ground.

“It’s over!”

After hearing that, everyone caught their breath. Han-seol bowed to the first group.

“Now, as the battle is over, I hope you for your wellbeing in the future.”

Unlike the first group, which needed to hold one place, which was regularly rotated with the number of people outside the gate, the second group progressed without changing shifts for a long time.

“Well, Group 2 is moving on.”

When I approached the portal, a system message was telepathically transmitted. All the explorers who had come must have felt it. It was slightly different from the note at the usual gate. In this message, some parts were very detailed, but the important points had been omitted.

-This door is the entrance to the second stage.

-Limited personnel: None.

-The door will be shut close when exposed to an unstable environment.

“They left out the important explanation of when it closes and reopens. Plus, this door leads to a completely different dungeon. All this what is happening is bullshit!”

“That too… it closes when the number of intruding monsters in the barrier increases.”

“What do we do now? There is no member limit in this second stage, which adds up to the sudden changes. In the first stage, the stage rules limited at least the number of enters to forty,”

Each person spat out words of loathing towards the person who had created all of these stages and illogical points, and they didn’t even know if this person was actually a human or just another being.

‘Entering.’

We all advance together, unaware of the things which lay ahead. It could be a being, a different atmosphere, or something which couldn’t even be imagined by the human mind.

*

The message heard by me was different than the normal news, which was heard whenever I crossed a portal.

-You have entered the second stage of the dungeon.

-Please note that we will send no system message henceforward about the events at other stages. However, a system message about the phenomenon that affects every stage will be delivered.

“What does that even mean?”

“If something happens at stage one, we might deliver a system message, but we won’t be able to hear it from here.”

“And it’s the other way around, too. Even if something happens here at stage two, the rest of the crew, which is on the island, won’t know about the happenings of here.”

“That’s right.”

“No, wait a minute. Something seems to be…”

The chatting which was taking place, which gave air to new theories, gradually diminished between the Hunters. Everyone was overwhelmed by the sight which was in front of them at that moment. The Hunters resonating breaths was the only thing that gained significance for that moment.

“Seems like they have been exploring these places for a long time,”

The awakened people who have extremely keen senses will react to even the same environment when they encounter it. However, we were fully aware of the second stage through a briefing before; a lot of confusion was still mixed in the Hunters’ first reaction.

“Some discomfort? This? This is uncomfortable to the point that makes me feel like puking, though,”

The place where the portal sucked us in and spat us out was in a thick fog. We are now standing on the very surface that was not seen from the island. Even within the same middle-dimension, the area was divided by the boundary of a high floating island, which might have been the dungeon’s first stage. The part divided by the border of some regions on the foggy ground will be the second stage. The portal played a major role in connecting the two areas, which are the dungeon stages.

“That’s a little too much,”

It was an environment in which even the nearest Hunter’s face could be barely identified, and no more than 500 meters of vision could be obtained here. Furthermore, the fog was nothing but an extraordinary thing. They should all have felt or at least noticed that as soon as one is exposed to the fog, the senses granted would become dull little by little. No matter how sensitive a Hunter might be, if he moves recklessly without detection skills, he or she will lose direction and wanders in a labyrinth without a wall.

‘To make matters worse, there were monsters that are waiting in the fog, which were more horrible things than Flying Dragons could be.‘

However, monsters on the ground never invaded certain areas of the dungeon, and Hunters called that restricted route a safe zone. The team’s goal is to pass through the safe zone without a casualty in the second stage, as only a small portion of the 40 people from the first stage have been selected, and we need to move on to the next stage safely. Han-seol spoke.

“Because of this fog, we invited a Hunter, who has the highest-ranking [Penetration] skill in Korea. But there was a limit to it too,”

They have been stagnant for a long time since they have come to the second stage.

“That is why you have invited me,”

A Hunter, who was listening to what was being said, stepped forward. Everyone’s eyes turned to the one who will be sitting on a cash cushion if this dungeon’s clear and is successfully over—Nicole Thompson, the person who will be the champion.

“Yes, that’s right,”

“Well, let’s scan it first, shall we? I have to see the big picture first.”

Since the Korean expedition team did not just play around in the meantime, they have secured a 30km safety zone in terms of a straight line. What they need from Nicole is a guide; after that, someone to find a safety zone without monsters and check the portal’s location to the next stages.

“Okay, wait a minute.”

Nicole, who was speaking confidently, closed her eyes. And I found myself looking at her face.

Ugh!

‘Damn it. I’m doing this again.’

Unknowingly, anger, and murderousness rose from my heart for me.

‘What’s wrong with me?’

She keeps reminding me of Angelica, but I always need to remind myself that she was not her.

“Everyone, please be quiet for a moment.”

All at once, the Hunters stopped their chatter.

Whooooong!

I could see it, and it was visible to the eyes now. The blue Mana emanating from her heart gradually turned red. It’s a scene of using one’s unique skill, and the pattern was something I had never seen in my previous life.

‘For sure, this isn’t it.’

This couldn’t be Angelica, and it couldn’t be her hundred percent, either. That skill was not what I had seen in my previous life. While I thought of this, Nicole completed her unique skill, and something else happened. All of us were looking at the light which was being emitted by her.

“Heck! What is this strange thing?!”

Perhaps, since there was no prior information, some of the Hunters were frightened and raised their guards.

“Hush!”

Nicole opened her index finger as she closed her eyes and put it on her lips.

“Everyone be quiet. It’s distracting her.”

Another Hunter murmured. “I’ve heard rumors that she had a detection type as a unique skill…”

He meant that he didn’t know it would be this way. Hundreds of small lines were drawn in the air around us after she activated the skill. Each line was about three centimeters long. The black and thin lines, drawn at a reasonable distance from each other, soon filled the air, spreading vertically. It convexed up and concaved down too.

“Eye?”

An eye sprung up in the air. There were no eyelids, but the dungeon’s landscape had replaced it, and there were hundreds of eyes filled with just whites and pupils between the eyebrows, closely surrounding the environment.

“What is this…?”

Even before the Hunters’ muttering was over, hundreds of eyes in the air closed in unison. The eyes returned to the lines on air, and the line was then erased in the blink of an eye. At the next moment, hundreds of similar eyes reappeared from a farther place than we currently were.

“Is it surrounding us? That too, from further away?”

The eyes blinked again. The place where the eyes reopened was farther than it had just been.

‘That’s the way it worked.’

Every time it blinked, it got further and further away. Of course, those weren’t just normal eyes.

‘As described by those who witnessed this skill, these were magic eyes.’

Although it had a grand name, its Mana pattern showed that it was only about S-Rank clairvoyance, which was slightly less than the SS-Rank clairvoyance skill. The difference, from the clairvoyance skills available with cards, was indeed the wide range.

‘This is where the true value of unique skills comes from… Beyond the limitations of ordinary skills.’

This was a skill that I could not do, either. While the Hunters were surprised, Nicole observed a landscape in the fog that no one else could see through. And after a while, she finally opened her eyes. Not with the hundreds of eyes in the air, but with the two eyes on her body.

“Phew…”

She was sweating all over, and there was a significant decrease in her active Mana. She took a few sips of Mana Potion out of her backpack and burped. Then she turned to Han-seol and spoke.

“You said you had advanced about 30 kilometers from the last attack, right?”

“Yes.”

“You have done really well. We’re halfway there already.”

Han-seol’s expression brightened a little.

“That means…”

In that brief time, Nicole scanned the entire second stage of the dungeon. It was impossible for a normal skill like [Penetration] to perform such a skill, no matter how high of a rank they might have acquired.

“That 30 kilometers is half the distance we need to go. We just need to solve the other half like this. Good job. I could imagine how hard it must have been to deal with it with B-Rank [Penetration]. Why didn’t you call me earlier?”

“We had our circumstances.”

“Well, I could guess that.”

“Then, we’ll follow the safe zone that’s been pre-registered on the terminal until the point that was cleared. I’ll take the lead for the safe zone.”

Nicole would lead the way from the untracked area. Even without Nicole’s help, it was a clear path I could see through the memories of my past life, but I was going to follow her lead here calmly instead. I didn’t have to step forward as I once did back in the Chicago dungeon.

“Let’s go!”

We started walking with a bit of relief as the safe zone was our path for now.

*

A few days later…

“Get ready. They’re going to jump in from here.”

It was Nicole and not Han-seol who issued the warning. We were already in the middle of the uncleared zone, and the lead went to Nicole. Another factor that bothered Hunters who explored this place was that the dungeon’s safe zone was not always continuous. Simply put, the safe zone was cut off in places. In the part where the safe zone suddenly disappeared, we had no choice but to risk passing through. Whenever that happened, the monster rushed in as if they made a reservation for the land.

“Argh!”

Monsters rushing from the fog were variations of what we saw on the floating island. Their heads looked like lizards, as seen above. On the other hand, these guys had no wings and rushed in with their four legs. Then, their mouths spewed poison instead of fire. There were sharp horns all over their bodies, and each one was so strong that it was not even comparable to the Flying Dragon we had already encountered.

“Oh, no! I don’t know who made these dungeons, but when I see them in person, faces to face, I’ll make sure to give them a sweet punch!” A Hunter shouted so as he struck his sword down.

Crack!

He tore the upper body of the Earth Dragon vertically. But then, the unexpected happened when he took out the sword. Sharp teeth sprang up suddenly along the sliced surface that ran down from the head to the chest, revealing sharp fangs like horns all over the skin. In that way, the monster did not lose his breath, and it rushed toward the Hunter, closing two branches of the divided body like a pair of scissors. It was going to bite him off with the teeth that grew in the short period.

“You disgusting bastards!”

Grrrr!

The man who spat profanity gathered the sword energy to grind up the monster’s body completely.

“I can now understand more and more why it took them so long!”

If they had gone through all these monsters without looking for safety zones, eventually all Hunters realized that the ‘potion shock would temporarily paralyze Mana-core,’ whether from Mana-potion taking in excessive amounts of one type of potion. They would have no choice but to stop the exploration.

Swish!

Pa-pa-pak!

The battle ensued. Monsters burst out one after another, following as I swung my sword energy. Countless eyes follow behind my back while I swung the sword without hesitation. Most people admired it, but they muttered their doubts quietly.

“Bill Russell again? The more I look at it, the more I don’t understand. Are they sure he’s an S-Rank?

And there were two exceptionally sharp ones among the gazes.

Swish!

“Squeal!”

The sword energy of Han-seol contained countless waves in a single strike. The waves gathered in a straight line without spreading or disintegrating, and the destructive power it created was formidable.

Pooh!

A single strike from her burst open the body of Earth-Dragon. Like ginkgo trees in winter, the rain let go of the sprinkled leaves, and pieces of monster’s flesh were scattered in one direction. It was not like a beautiful tree. A dark red graveyard was laid like silk on the wet ground with fog, and the battle was over.

*

After a while, Nicole spoke. “It’s a safe zone again from here on. There’s no sign of monsters being around.”

Everyone sighed out loud in relief. Han-seol wiped the sweat off her forehead and said.

“Let’s take a break here for today,”

Han-seol came to me when I was taking a rest after installing the tent and finished eating. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

I answered indifferently. “Please, take a seat.”

“Yes, thank you for your politeness.”

At the time she spread out the instant chair next to me, another voice popped out.

“Oh! Then, can I join you both?” It was Nicole Thompson who came up to us with a thermos full of tea in one hand. It was one of the other two particularly sharp eyes that had kept an eye on me all day today.

Han-seol spoke, “If it’s all right with Mr. Russell…”

I nodded. “Do as you please.”

Now, even Nicole sat with her chair deployed. We three people sat face-to-face in front of my tent. At the strange composition, it attracted the attention of the surrounding Hunters. Han-seol smiled lightly and spoke in a small voice. No matter how one might be a Hunter, it was a whisper that could not be heard unless one was determined to use his skills or his hearing was particularly sensitive. Were Hunters even interested in our conversation? I didn’t think they would be. And so, without a worry, we started with our talk.