Dungeon Exploration Failure and Strategy (7)
A trap.
It was a trap.
They had been deliberately herded into this vast chamber — surrounded by beasts so they could never escape back outside.
"Kreeeeeeeh, eeeeeeh!"
"Kirr, rrk! Kirrk!"
"Keeeeeh, eeeeeh, keeeh!"
"Krrrrr, rrk."
Monsters poured in like a flood tide. Serrated ants. White droplet spiders. Poison-arrow lizards. Blue-clawed frogs — and more. They swarmed from the far exit and the entrance alike. None of them were particularly powerful, but their numbers were overwhelming. Worse still, the party had been caught in a pincer — a full double envelopment.
I thought they were just staying out of sight this whole time. Turns out they were setting up the ultimate teamfight?
Lee Jinhyuk made no effort to hide his dismay. Dozens of monsters crashing in from front and rear at once? This had to be someone's doing. And the most likely culprit was the dungeon's boss herself — the Mad Mage, Kate.
He had known the game and reality weren't identical, but he never expected her to come at them like this. Something felt off, though. Kate wasn't supposed to be able to control ordinary monsters. Was there something Jinhyuk didn't know? Or a setting he had simply forgotten?
"Erina! Blast us a path with one big shot! Sangcheol, Jeongnam — charge in right after! Baeksan, hold the center as keeper! Jinhyuk, Seolhyeon — stick close and don't fall behind!"
Han Seowoo barked orders at his teammates without hesitation. The monsters flooding in weren't strong enough to threaten their lives if they kept their heads, so a calm, methodical fight would have been enough to cut them down. But killing the beasts wasn't the priority. Getting out of this room was.
The forced random-teleport trap was about to trigger. Could they punch through that many monsters and escape in the scant minutes remaining? Seowoo asked himself the question and, honestly, felt skeptical. Still, standing around doing nothing wasn't an option.
He raised his voice.
"Erina, now! Fire toward the exit!"
Support magic was Erina's specialty; heavy elemental spells were inefficient for her. But they needed a path, so there was no choice.
"Magic Boost! Dragon Lightning!"
Erina finished her chant and spoke the activation words. In that instant, a dragon-shaped bolt of bluish lightning streaked forward like a beam of light and punched straight through the writhing mass of monsters.
"Kieeeeeeeh, eeeek?!"
"Krrrrrk?! Krrl?!"
A dozen or so beasts blackened and charred where they stood, roasted like toast left too long in an oven, smoke rising from their bodies.
"Hah… hah… Out of mana…"
Erina gasped for breath. It had been the strongest spell she could cast on short notice, and the drain on her stamina and mana left her nearly spent.
"H-Han Seowoo! That magic circle only has… hah, hah… two minutes left until it activates…! We have to break through somehow!"
"Tch! Easier said than done…!"
Erina had carved them a little breathing room, but far too many monsters still blocked the way. Goddammit, Seowoo swore inwardly. Over fifty beasts surrounding them. How the hell were they supposed to punch through that in two minutes?
Damn it! Should we just force a breakthrough?
If they pushed hard enough, they might make it — but the odds of Jinhyuk and Seolhyeon falling behind were uncomfortably high. And Yu Seolhyeon was the third daughter of the Gaonnuri Clan. Nothing could be allowed to happen to her. That was exactly why he had assembled a team of this caliber in the first place…
"Shit! We're almost out of time…!"
"Hah."
At Erina's cry, Seowoo could only furrow his brow.
What now?
Even if the random-teleport trap scattered them, the rest of the team had the experience, skill, and ability to survive on their own. They had all come equipped with tracking devices for exactly this contingency, so they would find each other eventually. But those two kids…
"Yu Seolhyeon, Lee Jinhyuk! If you get relocated, stay put and hide right where you land! We'll come find you, so don't do anything stupid, got it…?!"
Seowoo hadn't even finished speaking when—
"Ugh—?!"
"Wait—!"
"Kyaah!"
—the random-teleport magic circle activated with a flash of pure white light that swallowed them whole.
In the midst of light particles scattering as bright as the sun, Lee Jinhyuk thought.
Had he simply let his guard down? Was there a setting he didn't know? A variable born from the gap between game and reality? Who could say. One thing was certain: in a situation like this, there was nothing he could do. If he had been as strong as the others, he might have handled even a twist like this. Without the dead weight named Lee Jinhyuk, they might have broken through and escaped.
But Jinhyuk was weak.
Far too weak.
Ugh…
The blinding flash stole Jinhyuk's vision. Everything was a blur; he could barely see ahead. He needed to secure his sight fast — there might be monsters nearby — but a thick, foul stench stabbed into his nostrils and made it impossible to think straight.
Urgh… what the hell is that smell…?
A nauseating, putrid reek rose in waves, and yellowish bile surged up from deep in his gut. It was the kind of odor that conjured images of long-fermented stinky tofu or a sewage treatment plant. Jinhyuk screwed up his face and clamped a hand over his nose.
Ugh. Disgusting. Seriously.
He forced his leaden eyelids open and lifted his head to survey his surroundings. Pitch-black darkness. He had a lantern, but lighting it risked drawing the attention of any monsters that might be nearby, so he didn't dare.
But it's too damn dark…
The thought of being alone in the dark, with no idea where he had been teleported, sent a cold, unknown sensation squeezing tight around his heart.
And then—
"Ugh… kuh… the smell… this is…"
—Yu Seolhyeon's voice came from right beside him.
What? He had been sent to the same place as Seolhyeon? A small mercy in the middle of a disaster. He had been bracing himself for solitude, and the relief was immediate.
"Seolhyeon? You okay?"
"Ugh… y-you too… here… ugh!"
He moved closer and spoke to her. The gloom made it hard to see, but once he was nearly face-to-face, enough of her outline came into view. Seolhyeon's pretty features were twisted in misery as she doubled over, retching again and again. The stench had clearly scrambled her senses.
"Ugh… the others…?"
"Can't see them. Looks like we all got scattered."
"The sm-smell is… too much… hah… what even… is this…"
"Seolhyeon, can you scan for monsters nearby?"
"Hah… hah… Right. Okay…"
Seolhyeon steadied herself and began to carefully extend her supernatural ability to check for beasts — and that was when it happened.
Flash!
Bright light flared. Crystals hanging from the ceiling blazed to life. Someone had turned on the lights. Before Jinhyuk could even wonder who, unfamiliar shapes filled his vision.
Where is this?
As the murky darkness slowly lifted, he made out glass flasks, beakers, test tubes, and droppers scattered in chaotic disarray. The floor was slick with some unidentifiable viscous fluid, mixed with the rotting carcasses of monsters, bone fragments, and filth.
And then Jinhyuk understood exactly where he was.
"Nice to meet you~."
A young woman's voice brushed against his ear. Familiar, yet not — the kind of voice he had only ever heard inside a game.
"I never expected more guests to drop by like this~."
He snapped his head toward the source of the voice. In the distance, a figure began to crawl into view. Crawl — not walk.
"Eheh. Lately things have been pretty fun, you know~?"
A human woman's upper body. A snake's lower half. A half-human, half-beast woman.
"Hello~?"
She looked like a lamia straight out of mythology. Sweeping back her bleached-white hair, she greeted them with cheerful warmth. Her name was Kate Mon Bernstein — the boss monster of this dungeon.
Why the hell did we get teleported here of all places.
"Lee Jinhyuk… is that…?"
Beside him, Yu Seolhyeon whispered, knuckles white around her spear shaft. She had already figured out that the snake-bodied creature was the boss.
"Eheheh. Hello? Hello?"
"…"
Kate's intelligence had deteriorated, or something close to it. The way she carried herself was pure child.
"Aren't you going to say hello back? That's so mean~."
…Looks like her personality matches the setting after all.
At first he had thought they were completely screwed, but Kate was just grinning at them with what passed for a friendly face. She wasn't radiating killing intent, which suggested she wasn't about to attack immediately. Of course, it was only a temporary amusement. Sooner or later her true nature would surface — that much was certain.
"I'm gonna get mad, you know?"
"Ah — sorry."
Jinhyuk made a show of answering her. Ignoring her completely would only make things worse.
"…Jinhyuk. Look."
In a barely audible whisper, Seolhyeon angled her phone screen toward him. The display showed the locations of the other teammates. They were all heading this way — but the distance was considerable. They would need to buy time until the others arrived.
"I'll keep her talking and stall."
"Got it for now."
"Hey~ what are you two whispering about~? Leaving me out~?"
Kate pouted, clearly displeased at being excluded from their hushed exchange.
"Play with me too. You will, right? Right? Right? Then starting now, playti—"
"Hold on a second. There's something I want to ask first."
"Hmm~? What?"
Dangerous. Her idea of "play" was wildly divorced from anything resembling common sense. Knowing Kate's character settings was a genuine stroke of luck. He needed to change the subject before she started whining for games.
"Have any other people come through here recently?"
"Yep. There are. I locked them up over thaaat way. Eheheh. Saving them for later. To eat."
Kate jerked her chin toward a deeper chamber — apparently a holding cell for captured humans.
"To eat, huh…"
"Hmm? What's wrong~?"
"Nothing. Never mind."
He already knew from the world's lore that she was capable of eating people, but hearing it said so casually still hit hard. And this place itself was a human experimentation lab — where she dragged people and monsters alike for her experiments.
"Oh. By the way."
"Mm-hmm."
"Were you the one who sent those monsters to attack us?"
"Me? Nope, nope, not me."
She waggled a finger and smiled with arrogant delight.
"My children did it. Pretty amazing, right?"
"Children?"
"Yep! The ones I made a long, long time ago? Way back in the olden days. I can't make them anymore, which is sad."
The experimental subjects she had created with synthesis magic before she lost her wisdom, then.
"Some of my children can guide the movements of monsters? Monsters, I think? Anyway, things like that."
The game's descriptions of Kate's experiments had never been detailed, and they hadn't been important enough to memorize, so the details had slipped from his memory. He never would have guessed that one of her synthetic creatures had a setting like that. Completely outside his expectations.
"Ah. But my children…"
Kate's head drooped for a moment, then snapped back up to lock eyes with Jinhyuk. The mischievous grin faded from her lips. A thick, simmering killing intent rose from her like heat haze.
"…you killed them, didn't you? You did, right? They got hit by that lightning of yours earlier and roasted black. I think I'm really sad about that."
She muttered in a gloomy voice, then suddenly fixed them with a murderous glare. Her emotional swings were as extreme as a bipolar patient's — impossible to track. Not that anyone could be expected to understand the emotional landscape of a monster. A few exchanges of conversation didn't mean you could reason with her. Kate had been insane even when she was still human.
"Heh… but it's okay. It's okay. Because."
Suddenly her lower jaw split lengthwise into four segments, and something that was either a tentacle or a tongue flopped out from within. Sticky fluid dripped from its tip. A paralytic toxin of some kind.
"I can just."
Crack, crack. Bundles of tentacles erupted from around Kate's shoulder blades, tearing through skin. The writhing mass was slick with viscous fluid and blood, squirming like living snakes. Revolting. Jinhyuk grimaced. In the game it had been merely unpleasant; in person it was far worse. This was the boss visual of a female-oriented game?
"Eat you. Heheh! Then maybe I'll feel better again?"
"Ugh."
Kate beamed as she flooded the air with killing intent. Seolhyeon bit down on her lower lip for a moment — then steadied herself by recalling the far stronger enemy they had defeated not long ago. Jinhyuk had told her the black-handed gibbon was much more powerful. The half-human, half-snake monster looked more intimidating, but it didn't squeeze the heart with the same pure terror. Of course, she was still stronger than either of them.
"If you surrender nicely, I'll~ eat you with less pain~? A female's soft flesh is so tender and delicious~."
"You crazy bitch."
Seolhyeon couldn't hold it in any longer. She spat the curse with a twisted scowl, gripped her anti-monster greatspear, and dropped into a ready stance.
"Jinhyuk, get ready. The others are going to take a while."
Fully committed to combat, Seolhyeon didn't look back. She fixed her gaze on Kate and focused.
"You've got all kinds of gear prepared, right? I'll tank as hard as I can. You handle support."
"…Got it."
Jinhyuk had no choice. He dug through his oversized backpack and pulled out item after item — gear prepared specifically for a boss fight, just in case. Pheromone bombs. Fire-attribute magic scrolls. Kate-specific spray. Neurotoxin arrows. Adhesive explosive talismans. A high-frequency repeller. A 100,000-lumen flashlight. Scatterable metal shards. And more.
A build assembled from game knowledge and real-world information combined. With this, they should be able to put up a decent fight.
Probably.
About fifteen minutes had passed.
"Hah… hah… hah…"
Yu Seolhyeon was gasping for air, her chest heaving in irregular spasms. Her clothes were torn in so many places that intact fabric was hard to find. Her blonde hair hung in a wild, tangled mess, and her body was covered in bruises — one rib felt cracked.
"Hah… hah…"
She used her spear as a crutch, fighting just to stay upright. Her left arm barely moved. Both legs trembled so hard she looked ready to collapse at any second. But she held on. Collapse now and she was dead. So she bit down hard on her lower lip and forced herself to stay conscious.
"Ugh… ugh… it hurts, it huuurts!"
Kate shrieked. Her condition was no better. Her bleached white hair was scorched black from the fire scrolls. The tentacle mass on her back had been almost entirely severed, oozing blood in wet pulses. Her human upper body was mottled with bruises and poisoned; the strange spray had left her coughing up blood. Her clothes were shredded beyond recognition. Five or six arrows jutted from her shoulder, arm, and abdomen. Her serpentine lower half was riddled with spear wounds and gashes from the metal shards Jinhyuk had scattered.
"You weaklings! All you do is… piss me off!"
Kate snarled, radiating murderous intent. These pathetic weaklings kept harassing her with cheap tricks, always jabbing at her sore spots. Infuriating.
"Hah… hah… I don't know how much longer I can hold on, Jinhyuk. Where are the others?"
"Looks like we'll need another ten minutes at least."
"Is that… so."
Seolhyeon had burned through nearly all her stamina. She had nothing left. The only reason she had lasted this long was Jinhyuk's prepared gear and his tactical direction. Alone, she would have died three or four times over by now.
"…Seolhyeon."
"Hah… hah… hah… What?"
"I need a minute to set something up. Just one minute. Stall for one minute."
"…One minute?"
"Yeah. After that, I'll handle the rest."
Seolhyeon was faintly puzzled, but she had no better options. She gave a slow nod. Everything he had shown her so far had earned him a strange, unshakable credibility.
"…Fine. One minute. One minute, right?"
She had thought every available method had already been used — but he still had a trump card left? Jinhyuk was a future-sight ability user. He might pull some extraordinary method she couldn't even imagine. So she would trust him. Trust Lee Jinhyuk.
"What are you two whispering about nooow?!"
"Ugh!"
Clang!
Kate's tail cracked like a whip. It hit like a steel rebar — Seolhyeon's arm went numb. She scowled and swept her spear shaft sideways, deflecting the tail off to the side.
"Die! Just diiie!"
"Ugh! Ugh!"
Kate pressed without pause, lashing her remaining tentacles in a relentless barrage that steadily forced Seolhyeon back. She blocked as best she could, but she couldn't stop everything. Blows landed on her shoulder, her side, her thigh. Agony blurred her vision, but she clenched her teeth for one reason alone — the one minute Jinhyuk had asked for.
One… minute… just one minute…
Holding out for a full minute without Jinhyuk's support, already this drained, was pure torment. Still, Seolhyeon endured. Repeating "one minute" over and over in her head was all she could do.
…Just a little… j-just a little longer…
She gritted her teeth and deflected another wave of tentacles — and then, abruptly—
…Huh? Why did she stop attacking?
Kate had halted mid-assault and was wearing a hazy little smile. Opportunity, if nothing else. A full minute had to have passed by now.
"J-Jinhyuk, that should be enou—?"
"Heh. Heheh."
Seolhyeon glanced back over her shoulder. No one was there. Only Kate's laughter pricked at her ears.
Wh-what? Jinhyuk — where was he? Had he just ducked out of sight?
"Heh… heheheh… Ah~ you two are hilarious~."
"Jin… hyuk?"
"Hey, dummy~. That guy ran away."
"What?"
Kate grinned wide.
"That boy abandoned you and ran."
In an instant, Seolhyeon's heart dropped. She wanted to deny it — the words were too absurd — but when she spread her senses wide, she couldn't find a single trace of Lee Jinhyuk's presence.
Which meant he wasn't here.
No. Then… was it true?
He… ran? Jinhyuk… ran away…?
To save himself.
And left me behind?