Lair of the Corrupted Knight

We had already faced over eight hundred monsters packed across the ceiling, so we instantly recognized that the incoming horde numbered in the thousands. Even my rough estimate put their numbers at several thousand at minimum. A faint red aura clung to their bodies—definitely a buff bestowed by Nargul. Killing monsters under that buff only meant they would rise again moments later, turning the encounter into a waking nightmare. They wouldn't resurrect infinitely, of course. Each revival came with a proportional drop in all their stats. Still, an immortal legion that kept standing back up would be pure hell for anyone forced to fight them.

I relayed the information to Yeonhee, then immediately ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moved toward the door. She shared what I'd told her with the rest of the party, and the hunters' faces twisted into grimaces of pure dread.

They all seemed to share the same thought. Their gazes turned toward me again, this time with open curiosity. The idea of these people surviving and spreading stories about me across the internet already made my head spin. I'd have to find a way to keep their mouths shut before we cleared the quest and left... Hmm. How should I handle this?

Clack clack—

For now, we needed to open this door. I pushed against it alone, but it wouldn't budge. It hadn't felt this heavy before... Damn it. Even the smallest things were becoming difficult. I gestured toward the door and mimed pushing to Yeom Tae-seok. We shoved together, but it still refused to move. A few other hunters joined in, adding their strength, and finally the door began to creak open bit by bit.

The blue glow flickering in the eyes of the approaching monsters was now visible in the distance. We needed to hurry. The door had grown far heavier than before, costing us precious time. Damn it... why does the difficulty keep increasing?

With a thunderous kuuuuung—! we finally forced the door open. I scooped Yeonhee into my arms and dove inside first.

A-rin shouted, sounding slightly hurt, but she could complain after I grew extra arms. The rest of the party followed right behind me, and the other hunters scrambled into the cave in a panic. The fact that they followed me without hesitation was entirely thanks to the monsters now practically breathing down our necks.

—Krrraaaaaagh!!

Leaving the monsters' screams behind, we entered a cave filled with absolute darkness. I was about to pull out a torch made of mana to light our way when a woman with a small frame but an absurdly large chest stepped forward.

Among the twenty-five hunters outside our party, two were mages. She was one of them. A sphere of light rose from her hand and began to drift slowly around us. As it illuminated the surroundings, the true scale of the passage was revealed. At the same moment, an unexpected message appeared that made everyone gasp.

"Hup...!"

"......?!"

"Ugh...!"

In a cave where every footstep echoed like thunder, the sudden message made the hunters slap their hands over their mouths. Their eyes widened into perfect circles, bloodshot and demanding an explanation as they all stared at the back of my head. How ridiculous. Isn't it a bit much to expect explanations from a monster?

I didn't even glance behind me, simply continuing down the passage in silence. Everyone followed, holding their breath. Making noise in a place like this was strictly forbidden. At least they all understood the basics.

Boom! Boom boom! Kwa-kwa-kwang—!

"Eek!"

We hadn't taken many steps before the sound of monsters wildly pounding on the door we had just passed through reached us. We had left it open, but it seemed to have closed again after we entered. Still, did they really need to hammer on it like that? Were their brains so small they couldn't even open a door? For some reason the creatures kept screaming without managing to get inside, which was fortunate for us. It was also exactly what I had hoped would happen.

Since this was a completely separate space from where we had been, the System had gone out of its way to display an entry message. Perhaps this place was unaffected by the closure of Nargul's dungeon?

......And that's it? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠They want to participate, but what? Please, just give a slightly kinder explanation.

That's a reasonable deduction. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠However, considering the dungeon's nature, the challenge time probably wasn't unlimited. Still, since no remaining time had appeared yet, it seemed we had secured at least twenty-four hours...

We walked for about thirty minutes before arriving at an enormous cavern that made our eyes widen in awe. The space was so absurdly vast it left our mouths hanging open. Massive pillars stood throughout the cavern, preventing the ceiling from collapsing. As we drew closer to one, we saw it was covered in densely packed writing.

The greed that had been lurking in the minds of people who had just been running for their lives now began to creep upward. It was an emotion anyone would feel upon entering an unknown space that no one had ever stepped foot in before. But.

Unfortunately, the artifact here is only given after you defeat that guy.

There was no need to waste energy searching already—

The hunters had already scattered in every direction with their mana torches, using every ability at their disposal to scour the vast cavern. Those clustered near the pillars even began growling at each other in hushed voices. They probably thought something was buried at the base of the pillars. I keep telling you there's nothing there...

But since everything else had changed, it was possible an artifact that hadn't existed here before might appear. I spread my sensory waves as wide as possible and scanned the area, but I couldn't detect anything different this time either.

I approached a pillar and stared at the characters I had encountered again after leaping across an entire lifetime. Still can't make any sense of it no matter how many times I look. Yet the patterns carved into the pillar remained exquisitely refined. They spoke of just how advanced the beings who created this space had been. The pure white material filling the space and the texture of the pillars felt no different from polished stone, but the gentle concentration of mana rising from them was so sacred that it was clear this was no ordinary carved space.

And though the others hadn't realized it yet, my sensory waves had already detected countless small winged creatures clinging to the ceiling at a height invisible to the naked eye. Their overall shape resembled bats, but the massive single eye set in their triangular faces and the two pairs of wings folded neatly together as if in prayer were more than enough to show they were creatures from another world. The three long, curved claws on their upper wings in particular looked specialized for scraping at something.

Those hook-like claws were their primary method of attack—raking across hunters to absorb blood. I wasn't sure how that would work on me, though. These were the only living beings in Nargul's dungeon, and they were just beginning to wake from hibernation. Their bodies were only about the size of sparrows. But the more blood they drank, the larger they grew, eventually becoming several times bigger. When they spread those huge wings, they became quite intimidating.

They were still frozen like stone, showing no signs of life, but soon they began shaking themselves one by one, shedding the stone fragments clinging to their bodies. Clatter clatter—

They don't seem like they'll attack right away... Still, launching a preemptive strike against creatures at that height would be difficult. Besides, the space was far too large for Contaminated Breath to be effective. I gently set Yeonhee down on a rock of convenient sitting height. Only then did the party members slide down from the Lizardman's shoulders, carefully steadying their breathing as they looked around.

Yeom Tae-seok tilted his head as he watched the hunters frantically searching for artifacts that weren't even glowing. You're not exactly at an age where you should be calling others young. Yeom Tae-seok wasn't actually that old. When Jua had casually asked, he'd said he was in his mid-forties. Considering awakened beings usually aged slowly, his aged appearance was rather mysterious.

Bae Jua spoke first.

At Yeonhee's answer, Bae Jua followed up with another question.

A-rin pulled a cardigan from her inventory and put it on, doing her best to calm her anxious heart. No Ha-yun, on the other hand, burned with fighting spirit as the corners of her mouth lifted.

At Yeonhee's question, I raised my head and quietly stared at the ceiling. The others' gazes slowly followed upward.

······

I just call those black bats hanging up there 'hook bats' since they never come out of here...

We would have to defeat those pitch-black bats dangling from the ceiling, pass through the ant-nest-like maze, and enter the space where the Skeleton Knight slumbered.