The Apex Guild's Shadow

The boss fight's opponents weren't just orcs after all. Regardless, we set out again toward the area where the boss fight would take place. This dungeon's boss stage featured creatures called Orc Intermediate Warriors appearing as squad leaders, with numerous Orc Lower Warriors under their command. I wasn't sure if orcs naturally divided themselves into ranks like that, but the System said so, so whatever.

That was the result I'd achieved before lunchtime. Running around for half a day and getting this much felt like a perfectly satisfying outcome.

Chomp— The party members were enjoying a peaceful lunch, each eating the food they'd prepared. Staaaaare— The Lizardmen on watch duty were openly staring at A-rin as she ate. When I tried offering them some food, thinking they might want it, they recoiled in shock. From the way the orcs had been watching the perimeter earlier, this seemed to be a characteristic of the Lizardmen.

"Kek kek— Can't you make those Lizardmen look the other way? I'm choking here."

"Ah, yes. Everyone, turn your heads the other way."

"Churarak!" (You guys stare at people eating like that? No manners at all.) (Manners? What's that? If you don't have it, just take it!) (I want some. Big Boar!)

Damn it, communication really was impossible... As I shook my head, a group had just entered my sensory range. A party of ten—rare in a mid-tier dungeon—looked like they'd just finished a hunt, their bodies covered in blood. But as they drew closer, I realized the blood wasn't only from monsters. Monster blood and hunter blood carried subtly different mana signatures, making them distinguishable.

'...... Villains?'

They weren't heading straight toward us, so they probably hadn't noticed our presence yet. Two women and eight men. Judging by their equipment, everyone except one was a close-range fighter. That meant the remaining one was the key.

'What should I do...'

I didn't want to interrupt the others while they were finally relaxing. But if I slipped away alone, Yeonhee would ask where I was going. They hadn't actually harmed us yet, so there wasn't any real justification to attack first either.

'... Was I like this in my past life too? I need to exercise some restraint.'

It felt strange to realize that whenever I encountered a potentially threatening opponent, my first thought was whether I could kill them or not.

...... Fortunately, they veered off to the left instead of coming our way. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Though they were too far for me to hear their voices, from the movement of their lips, they seemed to be discussing how to divide the spoils they'd taken from killing another party.

'Those guys... they're from the Apex Guild.'

The thick chain-shaped gold necklaces around their necks and the snake tattoos on their throats were the signature marks of Apex Guild members. Given that they were originally a gathering of ex-convicts, their style was predictably cheap. Anyway, they moved away, and after finishing our meal, we set out again. I didn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bother changing the route we'd originally planned.

'If we run into them, we run into them.'

Honestly, part of me wanted to chase after them and pick a fight. Those necklaces alone looked like they'd fetch over a million won each... But that concern was quickly overshadowed by the orcs charging at us.

There were definitely more of them than I remembered.

- Kwoooaaar!!

"Round six begins now!"

"Hahang— We're meeting a lot today!"

"Fifty this time. They don't usually travel in groups this large..."

Judgments based on past data could no longer be trusted blindly. Both the numbers and behavior patterns of the monsters had changed from before.

Since there were quite a few of them, I opened with bombs. Several orcs caught directly in the blast had their heads blown off and died instantly. Then A-rin and I charged deep into their ranks together.

"Ilwol, stop crouching down to strike upward. You need to create an angle to strike downward instead!"

"Clack clack clack!"

She was right—I'd developed the habit of crouching low to break the opponent's center of gravity. It was probably a leftover trait from my days as a guide, always looking for escape routes first. She pointed it out immediately.

I'd only expected a bit of posture correction, but the results exceeded my expectations.

'She's definitely helpful.'

Fighting alongside her, swinging ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my sword, our breathing gradually began to sync. Just as I was starting to enjoy the harmony between her light footwork and my steady, heavy strikes—

Shiver—

'Hm?!'

A chill ran down my spine. When I turned around, Yeonhee was staring straight at me. Her eyes, slightly hollow and empty, looked at me without emotion, and for some reason it felt terrifying.

'......'

Even so, I had no intention of stopping what I was doing. Opportunities like this didn't come often. A-rin could suddenly leave the party if her emotions got the better of her, so I needed to learn as much as I could while I had the chance.

The brief chill soon faded, and Yeonhee returned her focus to the battle.

'Whew... That was intense.'

"Hehe— Level up."

Jua glowed as she leveled up near the end of the fight. The other summons were also steadily gaining levels through repeated battles. Since the opponents were higher level than them, they were receiving positive experience corrections.

Yeonhee was level 47. I was level 50. It felt like we were being left out somehow, but there was nothing to be done about it. If we wanted faster growth, we could head straight to the Dungeon of Nargul, but we needed to wait until the other party members had grown enough. In the meantime, I could work on my own quest too.

"Whoa! What is that?! A new skill?!"

"Puhehehet! I got a new skill! This is amazing! Maybe fighting those spear users earlier helped?"

Jua had acquired a new skill that manifested thin stone spears from the air and drove them into the ground. Though it was simply sharp rocks falling from the sky, its destructive power was enough to kill monsters in a single hit if it connected, and she was unusually excited.

"Rock Spear! Rock Spear! Rock Spear—! Kyahahaha—!"

Acquiring a new skill was a major event that happened maybe once or twice a year for hunters, so everyone understood even if she was overreacting a bit. A-rin even joined in, repeatedly shouting "Show us more!" to hype Jua up. Though she occasionally cursed, the usually calm and steady Jua getting excited made the entire party's atmosphere lively as the battle continued.

We couldn't afford to let the momentum make us careless, but there were times when riding the wave and pushing forward was necessary. In the end, we abandoned our conservative approach to the boss fight and decided to challenge it immediately.

Four hours later.

After ten more battles, we finally arrived at the wide hilly area where the boss fight would take place. Rolling hills of varying heights stretched endlessly. Atop the tallest hill stood ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a crudely built fortress-like structure. The orcs would come through the gate from there to begin the boss fight. Since they started on the hill, the hunters would be at a disadvantage from the beginning. Moreover, there were a thousand orcs, while only a hundred hunters were allowed. Among those thousand, there were exactly ten Orc Intermediate Warriors. We would soon see them leading their centuriae down the slope.

A translucent barrier with a 500-meter radius had formed around the hill where the orcs were positioned. If more than a hundred people entered, the battle would begin immediately. Inside the barrier, a fight was already in full swing. Though the view was hazy during an active boss fight, it looked like the hunters were struggling quite a bit.

"Heeheehee—"

On the way here, I'd obtained the highest-grade rune possible from the Rune of Mana Absorption (Intermediate). I immediately swapped it with the one I had before. With my inventory filled with Big Boar corpses and Orc Lower Warrior bones, my heart felt as warm as a farmer's after a good harvest.

The other party members had also achieved satisfying growth, and the party's atmosphere was at its peak. But just as we were about to enter the boss fight, an unpleasant group sauntered inside.

'Those guys from earlier. They're here for the boss fight too? Or are they planning to stab us in the back during it?'

It was the ten-member Apex Guild group. After registering, they settled down a few dozen meters away from us and began making crude comments about passing hunters while snickering. The blood staining them was noticeably thicker than before. And this time, I wasn't the only one who noticed.

A-rin, Jua, and Yeonhee were all watching the group warily, sensing the thick darkness they carried.

"Those people... right?"

"Yeah. Probably. They're not even trying to hide it. The smell of blood is overwhelming."

"Why aren't people like that punished?"

"Because there's no way to prove it. They can just say they were attacked first and had no choice but to kill them. That they didn't even know who those people were. Who's going to argue with that? Unless there's someone who can read memories."

"......"

'There is someone with a similar ability.'

Yeonhee and I had killed three men in the Goblin Dungeon too. Of course, ours had been genuine self-defense, but no one could ever know what truly happened inside a dungeon.

'Jeong Hyochan letting it slide was fortunate.'

The "Judge of Truth and Falsehood," Jeong Hyochan, who had investigated Yeonhee, hadn't shown his face since. Maybe he'd gotten connected to higher-ups and no longer came to lower-tier dungeons.

Anyway, if things went in order, we would be facing the boss fight together with the Apex group. And we weren't the only ones who'd made that calculation. More and more parties were deliberately postponing their turn to avoid them. While the rules technically didn't allow changing a registered boss fight, some staff members exercised discretion based on the atmosphere.