The Unbreakable Will
No Hayun trembled as she thought of her mother. The woman who had always showered her with boundless love and guided her only daughter—the one who had inherited her powers—in the right direction. The only minor issue was the merciless violence that came with it.
'Getting hit doesn't bother me. What I hate is that the path I'm forced onto is one I can never deviate from...'
No Hayun had always wondered. Did her mother truly see her as a child? Or was she nothing more than a puppet onto whom her mother projected herself, forcing her to achieve the heights she herself could not reach? Whichever it was, it was undeniably a twisted form of love.
'I have to stand on my own two feet. The only one I can trust is myself.'
Once again, her gaze fell on the girl who was glaring at her with fierce determination. How many times in her life had No Hayun looked at another woman and thought she was beautiful? The girl before her was one of those rare few. A being with a unique class found nowhere else in the world—clearly just as special as she was. But...
'I'm still stronger. And that fact will never change.'
That unshakeable truth allowed her to act with composure.
'Is she really only sticking around because of his face? But aren't I much prettier? Ha... I don't know anymore. Looks like today isn't going to work. Temporary retreat.'
No Hayun suppressed her aura once more, bowed her head slightly to Yeonhee, and said she would be careful.
"Whoa... seriously..."
Helen shivered, hugging her arms tightly as she watched Hayun's sudden personality shift. Yeonhee, observing this unpredictable creature known as No Hayun, felt an unfamiliar fear for the first time in her life. And that emotion became fuel for her drive to reach even greater heights.
'...If we fought right now...'
Yeonhee briefly simulated a battle against Hayun in her mind. The result that came to her was an overwhelming victory. But that scenario only worked under the assumption that Ilwol was present.
'No...'
For some reason, she felt that in a fight against No Hayun, she shouldn't rely on Ilwol's help. She ran the simulation again without him. The result was a close match. But that was only after she had successfully summoned all her beasts. At the current moment, Hayun—who had a much faster casting speed—held an overwhelming advantage. It seemed she would need to further increase her mana capacity so she could keep her summons out at all times, or find some other solution.
After some time passed, both women's auras began to subside simultaneously.
'Hmm... You could have pushed a little harder, Yeonhee. Is it still too much for you?'
While hoping Yeonhee wouldn't be corrupted by the harsh realities of this world, I still wished for her to cultivate a strong will. After all, I knew better than anyone that the power to wield mana stemmed from an unyielding conviction and determination.
'Still, she's come a long way.'
"Huu—"
For a brief moment, the suffocating clash of auras between the two promising young hunters had made the atmosphere strange, but there were more pressing matters at hand. The equipment from the Blue Eye cultists was vanishing, and we needed to decide what to do with the few remaining items and their corpses.
Surprisingly, it was Lee Jiu who spoke first.
"In my opinion, we should just hand over both the equipment and the bodies to the management office. It'd be a pain if we got caught trying to sell the dropped gear and our identities got leaked to that organization. Besides, we're not that far from the entrance, so if we send up a signal, an administrator should arrive within thirty minutes."
It was a reasonable approach. But the nagging unease I couldn't shake forced me to be more cautious.
'From the start, it felt like they were targeting us specifically... which means they probably already know who we are. And if their goal was to buy time like I suspect... then just sitting here isn't the right move.'
They might be creating a massive underground space like last time to kidnap people indiscriminately, or they could have come up with an entirely different method.
'Whether other people get sacrificed or not isn't my concern, but the things the Blue Eye cult is doing could eventually harm Yeonhee.'
I had a rough idea of where they might be conducting their schemes. Places where large crowds gathered, or the paths leading to them. If they were willing to suffer this much loss of manpower for their ritual, they were likely targeting such locations. After all, the more materials, the better.
"Hmm—let's go with that, then. We'll fire the flare ourselves."
While I was deep in thought, No Hayun—having received Helen's approval—immediately launched a flare made from monster byproducts.
Shwoooosh—
When No Hayun infused the baseball-sized flare with mana, it shot into the sky, scattering red powder as it rose.
"Things got a bit messy since this morning, but if we handle this properly, we should get a decent reward."
Lee Jiu tried to lift the mood on a positive note, but everyone's faces were already clouded with worry.
"What do you think, Yeonhee?"
"Um... honestly, I'm not sure. Leaving the bodies like this feels wrong, but I'm not sure if it's right to waste time here either..."
"The current approach is the safest. It's what the manual recommends too. But these guys were talking about sacrificing hunters... which means they could be doing this somewhere else as well... ugh, what a headache."
"What about you, unnie?"
At Jin-gyeong's question, Helen pondered for a moment before saying they should wait and see for now. Looking at her, I became certain this was exactly the scenario those bastards wanted.
'We really need to go check. If I count from the time I stepped back, it's been about thirty minutes, hasn't it?'
At that moment, No Hayun—who had been quietly listening to our conversation nearby—carefully offered her opinion.
"I think it would be best if we head to the Lizardman Swamp right away."
'Oh...?'
If Hayun hadn't said it, I would have connected with Ran and suggested to Yeonhee that we go there.
"What's your reason?"
Lee Jiu immediately asked for justification, and No Hayun replied as if it were no big deal.
"When I told the guild I was coming back in here today, someone from the information department warned me that there have been rumors of groups camping out near the swamp lately."
Camping. Spending the night in a dungeon. And in large groups?
Normally I would have clicked my tongue and called them fools for bringing trouble upon themselves, but given the current situation, we could infer the meaning behind their actions from the outcome alone.
'Groups with enough power to easily subdue the strengthened monsters that appear at night, and who have secret business to conduct when no other hunters are around...'
"But why would that information department person just leave them be? Shouldn't they have reported suspicious people?"
Jin-gyeong grumbled, but the three party members standing beside No Hayun glared at her as if she had said something ridiculous. From their reaction, I could roughly guess the position of that guild employee.
'Thirty minutes...'
If we were already delayed, then we were delayed.
"L-let's go. After hearing that information, I have a bad feeling about this."
Yeonhee furrowed her brows and took a stance as if ready to dash off at any moment. Our party members quickly formed up and began moving, and naturally, No Hayun's party followed along.
On the way to the swamp, we occasionally had to slow down after encountering monsters. But aside from that, we ran almost at full speed, and Yeonhee's heart raced as fast as our pace.
Thanks to our hurried efforts, we arrived at the Lizardman Swamp in one hour and ten minutes.
But the scene that greeted us was already...
"Aah..."
"We're screwed..."
"This is..."
Two hours earlier.
A wide clearing just before entering the Lizardman Swamp.
Thud—
Hundreds of black thorns were embedded in the flat ground, enough space for hundreds of people to sit and rest comfortably. And those thorns had countless other things impaled on them—things that were being pierced by someone even now.
Humans who should have been breathing with vibrant life. They were losing their vitality rapidly as they hung from the thorns.
And there was a man quietly smiling as he watched the hunters impaled on those spikes.
"Owooo..."
A middle-aged man muttering incomprehensible groans. He was Kwon Baek, the branch leader who had given orders to Jeong Tae-hyeong.
Before the vitality-draining thorns, his eyes gradually turned into cloudy white sclera.
"Oooooh—the gate is opening... They are coming..."
And the red-haired man standing behind him, watching the spectacle, grinned as he spoke to the cultists.
"Hurry up and get ready, you damn slugs! At this rate those bastards will arrive first!!"
The cultists felt wronged. They had camped out in the dungeon, leveled the ground, and prepared a massive altar for the ritual. Today they had focused on attacking weaker hunters to gather materials. And now they were the ones busily planting the Cognitive Impairment items into the ground. Yet they could only glare at the red-haired man who kept yelling at them without being able to voice any complaints.
Because he held a position so high that even the branch leader spoke to him with respect.
Crackle—
"Tsk. Hey, Kwon Baek. It's almost time. Finish it quickly. Even deceiving the dungeon's eyes is reaching its limit now."
Small sparks of lightning flickered around the branch leader's body as well, but around the red-haired man, lightning bolts akin to actual strikes continuously appeared and disappeared. The Lizardman Swamp dungeon was rejecting them, as they were far too powerful for this place.
"Ooooooh..."
"Fuck, I told you to enjoy it in moderation. This is exactly why I said I don't work with rookies. You think just anyone can pull off something like this."
Even as he grumbled in dissatisfaction, he didn't interfere with the branch leader's ritual. Instead, he stepped away for a moment and spent the time berating the cultists again.
And exactly five minutes later, a barrier formed with Kwon Baek—the one called the branch leader—at its center.
The wrinkles on Kwon Baek's face had multiplied as if he had aged ten years, but an irrepressible look of satisfaction remained on his face.
"This way, Branch Leader."
"Mm—"
A man who appeared to be of higher rank than the other cultists—judging by the rather fine robe he wore—guided Kwon Baek to the prepared spot.
Kwon Baek nodded and settled into the space concealed by Cognitive Impairment, then began preparations to open the transfer gate.
The fact that a man with only mid-tier D-grade mana could attempt such a miraculous feat was possible thanks to the enormous life force obtained by sacrificing the lives of two hundred hunters.
Historically, every new beginning has always been difficult and arduous. But through this transfer gate, they would cross over for the first time. And once the gate had been opened, the second and third times would require progressively less power to connect.
And those butchers who crossed over would slaughter every hunter who had entered this dungeon today, once again announcing their existence to the world.
He didn't doubt for a second that the great glory of Ashuran would descend upon him for having summoned them.