Standing Among the Dead

Vroooom—!

We hadn't been riding long. I couldn't pinpoint exactly where the scream had come from, but it definitely hadn't come from any path we'd already traveled. That left the prayer hall ahead as the only real possibility. After covering a few hundred meters, I killed the engine and swung off the bike.

I didn't even need to look for them. The moment I passed through the prayer hall's entrance, a whole pack of Minotaurs filled my vision. Three meters tall at the least, massive frames that made them impossible to miss. The woman who'd screamed, though—she was nowhere in sight. Probably nearby.

I poured mana into my legs and shot forward like a bolt. Finding her and keeping her alive mattered more than dropping these things. But these fucking cattle bastards would absolutely get in the way of that. So I'd cut them down in a single breath.

Shiiing.

I drew my sword. First real combat. And I still didn't feel like I was going to lose to any of them. I'd only started sword training less than a week ago. So what? Even as a complete rookie, there was no way I was worse than these dumb cow sons of bitches.

"You ready, you fucking bastards?!"

[Um...]

[Um...]

What the hell kind of nonsense were they spouting? Was that their usual pattern? Didn't matter. It did nothing to me. Stupid animals.

"Hah!"

Slash—!

I carved straight through the waist of the one in front. In an instant its torso split clean into upper and lower halves. Hell yes—feel that in your hands. Today was a beef party, you bastards.

Every time my blade swept through, they came apart. Sliced. Diced. Chunked. A storm of blood erupted. Everything that entered my field of vision died right where it stood.

Whoosh—!

I flicked the blood and scraps of flesh off the blade. Clean cuts next time that way. Not that it did anything for the stench. My entire body was already soaked through with their blood.

Shiiing— click!

I sheathed the sword, pulled out my bow, and started moving carefully through the prayer hall's interior.

"Search and rescue! Is anyone here?! Isol! Donggeul! Hwayeon!"

I drew the bowstring and gathered mana. In a real emergency, a shot would be faster than running. But these were A-rank monsters. Besides Kim Isol, none of them would be able to hold out...

Crumble.

—Thud.

One whole wall of the prayer hall suddenly collapsed—old building, and those hulking things had clearly been thrashing around. I shouted a few more times. No answer came back. Were they all dead?

Then—

"Hyung-nim! Over here! There's a monster—!"

Jang Yong's voice. I sprinted toward the source and found it: the broad back of a Minotaur mid-swing with its axe.

Thwack—!

I released the fully drawn string. The arrow flew true, straight for its head.

Clang—!

The Minotaur actually blocked the arrow with its axe—some kind of freakish instinct. Didn't matter. The arrow split the axe and blew the thing's entire head clean off. Damn. Waste of a decent axe. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠That thing would've been worth something.

"Hic..."

"I-It's okay. The rescue team... Hyung-nim came to save us."

A woman's sobbing voice. Past the toppling Minotaur corpse, two silhouettes came into view.

"Jang Yong. And Miyun. Glad you're both safe. Where is everyone else?"

"......"

"Hyung-nim... about that..."

"Junghyeok!"

Two women appeared behind me. I spun around, startled—Ahn Jihyun and Hong Eunyoung. The healer, Hong Eunyoung, was sticking close behind Ahn Jihyun as they approached. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Not the ones I was looking for.

"Are either of you hurt? Need a heal?"

"We're fine. More importantly, the others..."

"Explain. Fast and short."

"This morning we got ambushed. By Minotaurs..."

This morning? It was already midnight. That meant they'd been dealing with these things all day...

"...Isol got hit, but luckily Donggeul got a heal off. Once she recovered, Isol put out this insane strength and took one down..."

What? I'd figured Kim Isol would drop them easier than that. She'd struggled from the start? Ah—that Um... sound. Mental attack, right.

"So what happened after that? A lot of time's already passed."

"Yes. At that point everyone was still okay thanks to Isol, but then we heard more of them rampaging farther out. We tried to run, but we couldn't agree."

"Agree?"

"We had a lot of gear. Even if we dumped everything else, getting out would take at least two or three days. Without water and food we wouldn't make it..."

With Minotaurs on the field, the equipment could be written off on insurance anyway. They hadn't even scored any real loot—just one giant axe. So the group had split between the take-only-water faction and the we-need-food-too faction. Except it hadn't been the time for a debate. Another monster closed in, and everyone except Kim Isol fled without even grabbing water.

What an absurd, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠idiotic story. And somehow the place they'd run to had more of the things waiting, and from there the whole group scattered. So the corpse we'd found on the way in had been someone lucky enough to make it that far? Probably used their teammates as shields and ran alone.

"Kim Isol stayed behind to buy time to the end, but it was useless. I ran into Miyun hiding in this prayer hall building, and the two of us just... stayed hidden. Then a little while ago those things showed up, and... Hyung-nim, you're really our savior."

"I see..."

I pulled water from Hong Eunyoung's bag and handed it to the two of them, along with some squeeze-gel rations. They looked like people who'd just been handed their lives back. I kept my brow furrowed the whole time.

"You two stick with these two. I'm going to search the area for survivors."

"But—"

"That's an order. Don't go far. Guard Jihyun's motorcycle and wait as much as you can. I'll be back soon."

I warned them about the Minotaurs' mental attacks and left the prayer hall alone. With Ahn Jihyun's magic, a few Minotaurs wouldn't be a problem—and she had Hong Eunyoung the healer with her. More than that, I planned to cut down every last one of these cattle bastards in the area.

"Fuck..."

My chest felt tight. Were they really dead? Why the hell had they scattered like idiots? Even under a mental attack, if they'd fought while getting healed, Kim Isol could have—

Damn it!

Irritation boiling over, I climbed onto the bike I'd left in front of the prayer hall and roared forward, shouting for anyone still alive to answer. Please...

The only things that answered my voice were Minotaurs I wouldn't have minded chewing up and spitting out.

Thirty minutes out from the prayer hall. I'd scoured the whole area. In that time alone I'd put down more than twenty of the bull-headed monsters. The longer it went, the heavier the despair got. I'd already ditched the motorcycle—out of gas, it was just trash.

That was how I arrived at the place Kim Chan-il's team had camped the night before. Abandoned tents and gear. Blood everywhere. I found myself praying to a god I didn't even believe in that none of that blood was hers.

The food was still there. The water too. I gathered both into one pile. If I found other survivors, what we'd brought wouldn't be enough to last. Without the bike, getting back would take at least two days.

"Huu..."

There was still hope, though. No corpses here. Minotaurs weren't man-eaters. No chance they'd been eaten. Which meant Kim Isol might still be alive.

I took the long corridor across to the opposite side—Senior's team's final expedition objective. Odds that people had fled this way were low, but there'd been no one near the prayer hall. I had to check here too. This place they called the Hall of the Gods.

"Kh..."

I couldn't believe it. The moment I set foot in the hall, a human corpse. Crushed under something—no shape left to recognize. The only reason I could even guess it had once been human was the pitch-black C-rank suit caked in blood and flesh.

I carefully approached and pried at it with my scabbard.

"Lucky... I guess."

Short hair. Not a woman.

"Ugh..."

It wasn't the corpse. It wasn't the grotesqueness or the cruelty. It was me—satisfied with that. Satisfied that the body wasn't a woman's. The filth of my own relief made bile rise in my throat. And if the next corpse I found had long hair? If it belonged to someone I knew?

"Fuuuck..."

The day my family was wiped out came flooding back. My vision swayed.

"Hah... hah... What the fuck are you even saying, you piece of shit. Shut up!"

I shook my head hard, shoved the thoughts aside, and pushed forward.

"Come on out, you bastards!"

I shouted. If you're here, show yourselves. You fucking cattle. I'll cut every last one of you down.

I walked the long corridor of the Hall calling Kim Isol's name and the others' one by one. The statues of the gods lining both sides seemed to look down on me with something like mockery.

Crack—!

I smashed one to powder with my fist. I needed something to take it out on.

[Um...]

Oh, you walked right into it, you bastard.

I kicked off the ground and closed the distance on the one I could see far ahead, then just started swinging the sword in my hand. It couldn't do a thing—just kept going Um, Um until its whole body came apart in pieces and it died.

"Hah... hah..."

There were Minotaurs inside this Hall. What if, like at the prayer hall, survivors were hiding somewhere to avoid them? Then there was only one method. Make a racket, draw every last one of them to me, and wipe them out. Search for survivors after that, nice and slow.

Bang—!

Bang—!

"All of you, get out here, you cattle bastards!"

I smashed every statue I could reach while I shouted. Before long they started coming, one by one. Seeing that, I let a thin smile pull at my mouth.

"Come at me all at once."

I cut. Cut and cut and cut again. Sliced, stabbed, severed.

"Hah, hah—any more?"

In the span of a few minutes of continuous fighting, I dropped dozens of Minotaurs. Then I threw my head back and roared. If there were more, come out. After that, not even a calf showed itself.

Only then did I start looking for survivors.

"Any survivors?! The monsters are all down! It's safe—come out!"

No answer came from anywhere.

"Fuck..."

I still hadn't found any more human bodies. I pushed deeper in. The Hall was large and sprawling enough that no matter how loud I yelled, not every corner would hear me—especially anywhere with a closed door.

I smashed through every door room by room. A few remaining stone statues fired magic at me. E-rank monster attacks weren't going to touch me. I reduced them to dust in seconds.

Moving from place to place like that, I finally found one last long corridor. It looked like it connected to another building. I opened my phone and rechecked the map.

"Hmm... a temple?"

The building beyond the corridor was labeled a temple. This was exactly why I kept calling this place an ancient city instead of a monastery. The map marked five temples total. The one sitting at the far right corner was the one right in front of me—marked with a red X. Absolute no-approach zone. Because this was where the dungeon's boss monster appeared.

I started walking toward the temple. This was an E-rank dungeon, but the boss that spawned here hit absurdly hard. At ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠F-team level, even if several teams banded together, they probably couldn't take it down. That was why this place was strictly off-limits.

The temple. The boss here ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was a fixed-type monster that never took a single step. As long as you didn't approach, you were fine—which was exactly why this dungeon's difficulty stayed low.

I thought about it. What would I have done? When A-rank monsters came pouring in too strong to handle, if I were powerless—how would I have survived? I probably would have headed for this temple. Pit the boss and the Minotaurs against each other, then use the opening to run or hide.

Rrrrumble.

A massive door blocked the temple entrance—broad, over five meters high. One side was already destroyed and lying on the ground. I shoved hard against the remaining half. The door itself was carved from stone; without being Awoken, you probably couldn't even open it. Either way, I stepped into the temple.

"Of course... here."

One step inside. At the same time, a stench stabbed my nose—the reek of blood thick enough to choke on. Were they in here? And were they alive?

Splash... splash...

With every step the stench grew denser, and my feet grew heavier. At some point I was walking through flowing blood. No information rose from it—so it all belonged to the dead. Monster or human, didn't matter.

Even past the collapsed pillars, the floor of blood went on. I kept walking until I finally reached a wide hall.

Corpses... dozens—no, hundreds of monster corpses filled my sight. All Minotaurs. And in the center of that mountain of bodies, someone was standing.

A person.

"......"

Without a word, I started walking toward them.