Andra's Reckless Gambit

The 35 people descending from Dungeon Floor 7 to the lower levels shared the same burning question. What the hell was Andra thinking? Why had he ditched them to go ahead alone, hell-bent on surviving by himself?

They were determined to grill him the moment they caught up. But when they finally reached Dungeon Floor 8, that plan went out the window.

This floor was a dense forest thick with underbrush. And right in the middle of it...

"Took you all long enough."

Andra greeted them with a blood-smeared grin. All around him lay monster corpses minced beyond recognition—chunks of meat you couldn't even identify anymore. Beside him loomed a massive, hulking beast heaving ragged breaths, its face crumpled in agony, body trembling violently. Above its head floated the name: Troll.

A mid-grade monster none of the dungeon warriors had ever encountered before—and the boss of this floor, no less.

Andra turned to the stunned group with a request. "Sorry about this, but I'm out of mana. The hypnosis is about to wear off. Mind taking this guy out before that happens?"

Mitchell pieced it together in an instant. Andra must have hypnotized the troll and used it to slaughter the other monsters.

The quest objective was total monster extermination. A progress bar hovered in the air:

There had been 100 monsters in the forest originally, and Andra had soloed 38 of them. An insane feat. No one could nitpick his screw-up after that.

Instead...

"Wind Cutter!"

"Fireball!"

"Lion's Roar!"

"Fast and Slow!"

Attacks and debuffs rained down on the troll in unison. It was obvious—they were venting their rage at Andra on the beast instead. Still trapped in hypnosis, the troll just took it all like a dummy.

Once the ranged dealers finished, Yui and the melee fighters unleashed round two.

"Hah!"

Splat!

Yui's fist smashed into the troll's already mangled head. The impact was like a hammer blow, sending it crumpling. The twin siblings—Hoakin Onelli and Vivien Onelli—swarmed it, pummeling away.

Thud! Thud! Splat! Crack! Crunch!

At 20 years old, they hadn't awakened body-enhancement skills like Yui. Instead, they'd both gotten the martial art skill Taekwondo. Luckily, it boosted all base stats right away and scaled up with every upgrade.

As the Onelli twins battered the troll mercilessly, a boy suddenly shoved his way in. The moment he moved to activate his skill—

"Red! It's already dead. Save your skill."

Pierre, watching from a step back, shouted. His Monster Encyclopedia skill didn't just show info—it displayed remaining HP bars too. The troll was toast.

The 17-year-old boy, Red, stared blankly at the troll as per Pierre's order, then backed off expressionless.

"Good call."

Pierre ruffled Red's fiery red hair. The boy, whose face blended Eastern and Western features, hadn't uttered a single word since entering the dungeon. Everyone just called him Red after his hair. Always stone-faced, emotionless, indifferent to everything. He only stepped up when needed.

Truth be told, no one knew if he was really just a boy. His baby-faced looks and 5'3" height made it a guess at best.

With the situation sorted, Andra bowed his head in apology before the group.

"Sorry about upstairs. But I've cleared about a third of this floor for you."

No one dared snap back at his brazen attitude. His massive screw-up was buried under an even bigger achievement.

But some people didn't give a damn about that.

"You crazy bastard. Think a sorry fixes it? Who said you could pull that lone-wolf bullshit?!"

Yui grabbed Andra by the collar, yanking hard. Most would've flinched, but Andra stayed cool as ice.

"I'm sorry about that. But I figured I'd make it to the next floor anyway."

Grind!

Yui gnashed her teeth and reared back her fist—

Tap.

Josh held her arm. "You'd be way hotter if you dialed back the violence a notch."

"What?"

"No more fighting among ourselves. We've hurt enough upstairs. No need to rub salt in the wounds—even if we can't apply ointment."

"You defending this prick?"

"Talking about your wounds."

"......"

Yui glared at Josh with a baffled look, then spat a "Tch!" and shoved past.

Mitchell stepped up then, addressing Andra. "Mr. Andra. You got a Skill Enhancement Ticket right after dropping down here, right?"

"Yes."

Seol Ara muttered, "Figures."

She'd noticed the anomaly on Floor 7 after everyone descended: the Skill Enhancement Tickets had vanished from rewards. Meaning they went first-come to whoever rushed ahead—one per person.

"Did you use it?"

"Yeah. Hypnosis doesn't work on trolls. But after enhancing, it stuck. Close call, though. Nearly died a bunch of times before you guys showed. Early on, I had no way to handle the swarms, so I hid in a tree for four hours straight."

Andra had hypnotized monsters from the branches, making them kill each other. When mana ran dry, he'd wait for regen and repeat. Then the troll appeared, uprooted his tree, and tossed it. Worse, hypnosis bounced right off. That's when he used the ticket.

"......Understood."

Mitchell let it drop. They had bigger fish—using the remaining tickets wisely.

Yui jumped in to back him up. "Everyone with a Skill Enhancement Ticket, hand 'em over. You know it's smart to boost the ones holding our lifelines, right? Who's got one? I've got one."

Jonathan Yombi, Irene Luker, and Dennis Cobitt raised hands first. Then Hoakin and Vivien Onelli, Kim Jung-min, Josh, and Red followed.

They always sent the strong ones ahead to scout dangers on new floors, so naturally, they'd snagged the tickets.

Yui smirked. "Looks like the tickets found their perfect owners."

Griping erupted. "So we don't even get a shot at enhancing?"

"Just the frontrunners? What about us? We'll get ditched again if shit hits the fan like on 7!"

Yui's eyes blazed. "What the fuck, you assholes?!"

She looked ready to swing. Mitchell held her back. "They're right."

"Right my ass! Stronger vanguards mean better odds for everyone!"

"But we can't rule out another Floor 7 fiasco."

"So what now?"

Mitchell had talked Yui down, but she wasn't wrong. As he pondered, someone shot up a hand.

"How about we debate it out?"

"Hell yeah! Debate time!"

Jonathan jumped in. "I'll start! I need a ticket—'cause my skill rocks!"

Yui stared at him in disgust. "You even know what a debate is?"

Someone else piped up. "You all nuts? Debating in a monster-infested forest?"

Pierre, who'd been quietly observing, finally spoke. "From now on, we use tickets in rotation. First, whoever got them today. Next batch follows a set order. Fair?"

"......Huh, that's solid."

"Crystal clear."

His solution killed the debate instantly. Tension dissolved. Seol Ara approached Pierre, who watched with a faint smile.

"Pierre. About this quest reward."

He cut her off, knowing. "Dungeon Coins are new, huh?"

"Yeah. If they're giving coins, there must be a use."

Smartest guy here—surely he'd guess something solid.

After a brief pause, Pierre said, "This dungeon apes RPG games hard. Coins probably buy gear, items, base stats... maybe even skills."

"Whoa! That'd be awesome."

Even if right, would the system let them spend wisely? Pierre kept that worry to himself. Better to let flimsy hope spark real energy.

"Alright~ Let's set the next ticket order and start clearing!"

Jonathan's words yanked happy daydreams back to reality. Under Mitchell's lead, a quick meeting kicked off.

Clang! Clang!

Hammer strikes echoed through Hidden Space.

"Whew!"

Under a bright full moon, Osgeelro Haiban's hands paused. "That's enough for tonight. It's dark, and all the crap we've ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dealt with has me beat."

He wiped sweat, eyeing his progress. Han Ji-woo stood beside, gazing at the same spot.

"Just leveled the foundation?"

"Didn't I say a sturdy mansion? Forget the orc village one—this is different."

"True, this is impressive already."

Osgeelro had finished a base spanning at least 1,000 square feet. He'd aimed bigger but settled for solid.

"Good work."

"Sniff sniff! What's that nutty, savory smell?"

"Pao's grilling fish."

"Fish?! Grilled?!"

"Yeah. Looks done."

Han Ji-woo and Osgeelro headed to the fire pit. Pao had four skewered fish roasting. Perfectly cooked, one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠per person.

Osgeelro devoured his bones and all, eyes rolling back at the aroma.

Crunch! Crunch! Gnaw! Chomp! Chew! Gulp!

"Kahaha! Delicious! Man, you're blessed. Kidnapped to this place!"

"......You think?"

Lottery dreams flashed by. Without this mess, he'd be rich and carefree. Screw it.

One year. Back home then. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Ji-woo shook it off, slapped a stone slab on the pit, and pulled out mashed potatoes he'd ground during Osgeelro's work.

No mixer or grater, so he'd improvised a wooden mortar, pounding till runny batter.

His prize: potato pancakes.

He slicked the hot slab with sunflower oil and poured batter.

Sizzle—

A rich, toasty scent wafted. Osgeelro, picking fish bones from teeth, perked up.

"What's that?"

"Potato pancakes. Big thing back home."

Gulp!

Osgeelro's swallow said it all.

"Ah...... but no spatula."

Ji-woo eyed the cooking pancakes, stumped. Slab was thick for meat, no handle—couldn't flip like a pan. He'd rushed in excitement, forgetting.

As he berated himself, Osgeelro asked, "Flip what?"

"A spatula. Essential for pancakes."

"What happens without?"

"One side burns, other stays raw."

"Can't have that!"

Osgeelro barked, grilling Ji-woo. "Draw it on the ground!"

"Huh? Oh, sure."

Ji-woo sketched a rough spatula in dirt.

"Like this. Metal or wood."

Osgeelro glanced urgently at the pancakes, yanked metal scrap and hammer from inventory. His eyes flashed!

The hammer blurred impossibly fast—one of his racial skills.

Clangclangclanging!

Thunderous metal rang out, stopping on a perfect spatula.

"Whoa!"

Exaggerating a bit, it'd taken a blink. Ji-woo flipped the pancakes, beaming at Osgeelro.

"Osgeelro!"

"What? Pancakes burning?"

"Make a pan too!"

"......Huh?"

Ji-woo's eyes sparkled at the dwarf. No longer just a master builder—he was a kitchen tool wizard.