Minotaur in the Monastery

"Can you two ride motorcycles?"

"Yeees... more or less."

"I can manage."

I'd been ready to cram three people onto one bike if I had to, but luckily both women knew how to drive. Thank god for that. One of the machines was a scooter—I'd been prepared to make whoever could only handle a bicycle take that one—but the worry turned out to be pointless.

Of course I could ride too. Technically what I had was a dungeon cart license for use inside gates, but a motorcycle wasn't all that different. I'd even practiced on bikes while prepping for the exam.

"H-hey, even if you are Awoken, isn't this a bit much? Our livelihoods depend on—"

"He's right! This is tyranny!"

"I-I'm posting this online right now. D-don't come any closer. I'll scream."

Naturally the delivery riders were blindsided. Their outrage hit the ceiling, and a few even got bold enough to threaten us. Brave of them, staring down Awoken like that.

"This is an emergency. People are dying inside that gate."

"A-and we're just supposed to take your word for it?!"

"Haven't you seen the breaking news?"

"W-when would we have time to watch the news? Do you think we sit around all day?"

We didn't have time for this. I'd planned to buy the bikes outright anyway. Better to wrap it up fast and get inside.

"Ten million won."

"...H-how are we supposed to—"

"Cash. Or I don't trust it. Look at the world we live in."

"I-I'm in. Just give me the money first and take the bike."

One of them was cooperative, at least.

"Give me your account number. I'll send a hundred million right now."

"Huuuh... a h-hundred million? I only paid two hundred thousand for this used thing..."

"People who cooperate with official business deserve compensation."

I transferred the money on the spot. The other riders looked on with naked envy. Too late for them, though—that ship had already sailed.

"Anyone else? Ten million."

"Um, me... my account is..."

They wore the faces of men who'd just watched ninety million slip through their fingers, but they fell in line all the same. In the end all six delivery riders handed over their motorcycles. Sold them to me, rather. One guy even sold a bike that wasn't his, muttering that he'd just buy the owner a new one.

Feeling nostalgic, I tossed them each twenty million instead. They thanked me over and over. The man who'd gotten a hundred million had a grin that nearly split his face in half. I knew that feeling. I'd worn the same look the first time sponsorship money hit my account.

"Can you two handle the big bikes, or would you rather take the scooter...?"

"What are you talking about? Bigger is obviously better."

"I... like big ones too."

Fair enough. An Awoken tumbling off a motorcycle wasn't going to get seriously hurt. Still, the civil servants and the men around us had suddenly gone weird with their posture and their eyes. Why were they all thrusting their lower halves forward like that?

A little time passed. The civil servant returned with the item I'd requested.

"Hong Eunyoung. Roll it tight and jam the narrow end into this hole. Yes, like that. Just hold it steady."

I hoisted one of the leftover bikes as if it weighed nothing and flipped it over. Gasoline still left in the tank poured out in a thick stream. Being Awoken made this kind of thing convenient.

The civil servant had brought a laminated map of the Namsan area. We rolled it into a funnel and used it to transfer every drop of fuel from the spare bikes into the ones we'd actually ride inside the dungeon.

"That should cover the prep. We're heading out."

Leaving the dazed civil servants and delivery riders behind, we moved straight into the gate. Even now, not a single rescue team had arrived—or shown any sign of coming. People were dying in there, and these bastards were slower than molasses.

Vroooom—!

Bringing the motorcycles had been the right call. We tore through the first corridor in no time. The moment we cleared it, I signaled the two women behind me to stop.

"Monsters from here on. Ahn Jihyun, come here. I'll give you your mana back."

"Yes..."

I restored her only up to A-10. She looked up at me with those wide eyes.

"Sorry, but I can't return all of it yet. A Transcendent's full mana would make the rescue easier, sure—but if you decided to run, catching you alive would be a problem. And I don't particularly want to kill you."

Even a Transcendent was easy prey for my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ability. Catching one alive, though... that was the part I was bluffing about.

"You can handle the statues up ahead on your own, right?"

I intended to keep my own mana in reserve. I'd need it when we found them—or if things went sideways.

Ahn Jihyun nodded once her power was back. She looked ready to put on a show. Mana flared across her entire body in an instant.

"Mana Bomb."

It wasn't all that different from the Magic Missile I'd seen before. Last time it had been a volley of smaller bolts; this time a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠single, larger sphere of force streaked forward. The effect was devastating.

KWAANG—!

The blast slammed into the divine statue atop the fountain. A violent explosion swallowed everything around it. Damn, that was bright. When the light finally died, not a single statue remained where the blast had hit.

"Incredible... so this is why people go on about mages. Excellent work, Ahn Jihyun."

I reached out and patted her head again. Whether a veteran who'd been grinding through this world for years would even register such a small reward, I had no idea. Still—better than nothing.

Having blown through the first monster zone in seconds, we mounted up and rode on.

According to the expedition plan Manager Park had sent over—Kim Chan-il's plan—I knew exactly which route they'd taken and where they intended to camp. Long-term expeditions demanded that kind of thorough prep. You had to account for more than monsters: food, water shortages, and narrowing the search radius for any rescue team if the worst happened. Of course, preparation never guaranteed things would go according to plan.

This Stone Monastery was absurdly vast. Less a monastery than an entire city. A religious city where every last citizen prayed toward their god. Maybe they'd been caught in a curse that slowly turned them to stone, and they'd frozen mid-prayer while begging for it to stop. If it were up to me, I'd have named the dungeon something like Religious City or City of Fanatics. Then again, dungeon names belonged to whoever discovered them first.

We followed the outer wall on our right for a long stretch. Every statue that appeared along the way dissolved into powder under Ahn Jihyun's magic. But those statues would all reset to their original forms after twenty-four hours as if nothing had happened. Fail to escape the dungeon before then, and you'd have to fight them all over again on the way out.

"Hmm..."

Factoring in the time spent clearing statues and the speed the bikes gave us, we should catch up within two hours. This was an E-rank dungeon, so the maps were fairly complete—and that map had been included in Kim Chan-il's expedition plan. Unless some crisis had forced them off the planned route, we'd run into them soon enough.

About an hour later—

Vroooaaam—!

"No monster respawns from this point. Looks like we've closed to within at least a twenty-four-hour window."

"What did you say?"

Couldn't hear me over the bike noise? It wasn't important enough to repeat, so I just pointed ahead. No monsters meant we could simply keep riding. If Senior Kim's team was already on their way back safely, we might meet them even sooner. But if they weren't...

Worry gnawed at me, though the situation still wasn't critical. Whatever had come out of the new gate that had opened inside this dungeon, we hadn't seen a single one of them despite riding this far. Maybe they weren't that dangerous. C-rank... no, with Kim Isol as she was now, she could solo a B-rank monster without breaking a sweat. Even A-rank one-on-one would be manageable. A pack of them, though—that would be harder.

"......!?"

Screeeech—!

I yanked the brakes hard as we tore down the long corridor. The two behind me skidded to a stop as well.

"No way..."

"Junghyeok. Behind us, just now—"

"Yeah. I saw it too."

I leapt off the bike and ran. What I'd glimpsed out of the corner of my eye was a body in a suit. Please... not them.

I approached the corpse with that prayer on my lips.

"...Died of excessive blood loss. The wounds themselves aren't that deep. One heal would have been more than enough..."

"Is that so?"

Hong Eunyoung filled in the details I couldn't read myself. Healers learned a fair amount of medical theory in their coursework, and as an instructor she would be a cut above.

"These wounds were made by a monster. Coated weapons like ours almost never tear flesh this way. Practically never."

Ahn Jihyun this time. Another veteran Awoken—she knew more than I did.

"Any idea what did it? Claws? Teeth? A weapon?"

"Hard to say. Not that far."

Besides Lee Donggeul, Senior Kim's team should have had another healer. So why was this person lying here alone, without so much as a single heal...?

"Standing around here is just wasting time."

My heart was starting to hammer. Fuck... if they're dead. If they're even hurt. I hated having what was mine taken by anyone more than anything else in the world. Monster or man—if something had touched what belonged to me—

Vroooom—!

I gunned the bike again, far faster than before. Panic was setting in.

"Junghyeok! You're going too fast! It's dangerous from here—you can't just charge in blindly—"

Hong Eunyoung was shouting something behind me, but I couldn't make it out over the engine. The gap between us was widening as I poured on more speed.

"Fuuuuck!!"

Even so I tore forward like a madman.

"Where the hell are you, you sons of bitches!"

Cursing, I blasted through the corridor, across a plaza, and into another alley. We were closing in on the spot marked Prayer Hall on the map when—

KWAANG—!

Screeeech... KWAANG—!

"Guh..."

The building on my left collapsed without warning. A massive chunk of debris came flying. I couldn't dodge it. The impact took me clean off the bike. The motorcycle skidded away, slammed into the opposite outer wall, and erupted in a fireball. My body tumbled across the ground for what felt like forever before finally smashing into something solid.

Cough, cough... fuck. Judging by how far the burning wreck sat, I'd rolled a good several dozen meters. Damn it. My hundred-million-won bike.

I'd already wrapped my whole body in mana beforehand, so the injuries weren't serious. The A-rank suit probably helped too. After all that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rolling, slamming, and scraping, the suit didn't even have a single hole in it.

"Finally showed your face, you monster bastard. Killing you still wouldn't be enough."

I scrambled up, desperate to see what I was dealing with. Whatever it was, I was going to tear its limbs off one by one.

"Gyaaah—shut the fuck up, you bastard!!"

A massive bull's head filled my vision. Was that one of those? The name wouldn't come to me. One thing was certain, though—it was an A-rank monster.

"Fuck... everything's going to shit."

Of all things, an A-rank. Were they all still alive?

I'd lost my weapons when I wiped out on the bike. Fine. Bare fists it was. I charged the thing without a second thought. Did I really need to waste energy on Thought Acceleration just to kill a piece of trash like this? It wasn't even a boss.

"You cow bastard!"

Thud.

I barely rolled clear of the axe it swung and tagged one of its legs with a light punch. That was all it took. Because I wasn't wearing gloves. A-rank suits came with separate gloves, you rotten cow bastard.

"You mana-drained cow bastard!"

After that, every punch I threw left it helpless. At first its whole body flushed red and swollen; later it turned a deep purple with bruises. Was I the first person to ever beat a needle-monster to death with internal hemorrhaging?

Thud.

"Whew... holding back on the mana made that take forever."

I scanned the area and finally recovered my bow and sword. The quiver, thankfully, was still strapped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to my back. Only then did Hong Eunyoung and Ahn Jihyun catch up.

"A m-minotaur?"

"Ah. Right, that was the name."

"Don't tell me you beat it to death with your bare hands?"

"Yeah. Get off for a second. My bike's wrecked. You're riding behind me."

I commandeered Hong Eunyoung's motorcycle.

"We're out of time. These things are A-rank monsters. Fuck..."

I had to find them. Now. Please let them all be safe...

Kyaaaaah—!

"...!?"

A woman's scream tore through the air from somewhere far ahead. Before Hong Eunyoung could even climb on behind me, I wrenched the throttle all the way open.