Party Leader: Baek Jaeseong — 17
Our party had long since outgrown the likes of a Dire Wolf pack. Monsters like these no longer frightened us, even when they came by the dozen. Individual growth played its part, of course — but the real difference was how sharply our teamwork had improved.
The heart of dungeon exploration is collaboration. Abilities that can cover damage, tanking, and healing all at once do exist, but Dungeon Hunters who can execute all three to perfection are vanishingly few. And even those rare few can only solo dungeons below their own level.
To explore a high-difficulty dungeon, you lock step with other Dungeon Hunters and do what you do best. Building real teamwork can help a party more than simply stacking individual stats. Ours already had outstanding talent in every seat. Add teamwork on top of that, and fodder monsters were nothing.
We wiped out the incoming Dire Wolf pack and butchered only the parts that would fetch a real price. We were planning to hunt this dungeon for a week, which meant we couldn't haul every byproduct out with us. Cherry-picking the valuable cuts was a fundamental part of any long expedition.
We pressed forward without hesitation. Winding our way up the mountain kept our pace modest, but there was no uncertainty in our steps. The only monsters that appeared from time to time were Dire Wolves. We were still at the foot of the mountain; nothing else had shown itself yet.
"That's a decent number. I think we've already taken down more than twenty."
"Looks like the monsters have been piling up. Good news for us."
They were coming so plentifully it was almost a shame this wasn't a day trip. On a day trip you could sweep up every byproduct without worrying about the weight of your pack — once the bags got heavy, you just walked out of the dungeon and sold the lot.
The tradeoff was that you never pushed into the depths, and you never got the high-value materials waiting there. The stronger monsters lived farther in, and the byproducts taken from them commanded the better prices. Everything had its upside and its cost.
If I used my inventory, those limits wouldn't exist…
Jisu still didn't know what I could really do. I'd told Lina about the special power I carried — told her while I was taking her. Lina was my slave now, so that was no concern. Jisu wasn't. Not yet.
Well. That'll sort itself out naturally in due time.
There was no need to chase the profit sitting right in front of me. I had debts to pay, but they weren't urgent. As long as I was a Dungeon Hunter, I could clear them whenever I felt like it.
After about three hours on the move, we decided to rest. A smartphone app put the distance we'd covered at a little over ten kilometers. Fighting as we went had kept us from walking as far as we might have — combat eats time and stamina in equal measure.
We spread the mats we'd brought and sat down. One of us stood watch while the others drank water and ate chocolate bars. A snack inside a dungeon tastes like heaven. The sweet hit of peanut and caramel felt downright fantastical.
Topping off your stamina in the gaps between marches is a non-negotiable part of dungeon work. We took a full hour. When we finally stood and checked the time, it had just ticked past five in the evening — an awkward hour to keep pushing.
"It'll be dark soon. If we really walked we might get another three hours, but let's play it safe. One more hour, then we make camp."
Setting up a bivouac eats a surprising amount of time. We'd drilled it at the training center, and even at our fastest it took over an hour. A dungeon camp isn't just pitching a tent. You pick ground that suits an overnight stay, build the site as concealed as possible, camouflage it, and only then post a watch — all of it to shave down the odds of a monster spotting you.
Sleep time varies with the situation, but it's generally about eight hours, split into four two-hour watches. We moved hard for that next hour. No monsters this time, so we covered another ten kilometers or so, then built the camp exactly as planned.
"Watches are two hours each, four of us. That means one person gets a night off every day."
We drew lots for the order. I pulled first watch — the easiest slot. Dinner came out of the rations we'd packed. These days there was no shortage of what they called Dungeon Rations: meals you could cook with nothing but hot water, emergency food that actually bothered with flavor.
Tonight's menu was kimchi fried rice, with fruit cake and chocolate for a snack — a spread that took calorie count extremely seriously. We were ravenous, and we cleaned every pack in a hurry.
"Everyone get in and sleep. From tomorrow, the real monsters start showing up."
From this elevation up, it was Gray Wolf and Sharp Tiger country. Vicious, frightening creatures in a different league from Dire Wolves. Gray Wolves leaned on raw power; Sharp Tigers leaned on speed. From tomorrow on, we'd need our heads on straight.
"I'll leave you to it, then."
Yeonji finished a quick wash, dipped her head, and ducked into a tent. The others filed in after her.
For the record, we'd pitched two tents: one three-person and one two-person. A five-man party usually runs it that way. Tonight's lucky girl sharing my tent was Lina. On top of that, she had the night off.
I stood watch with nothing to do but stare at the air. Once I enlisted, tedious work like this would be daily life, wouldn't it? The second I thought about enlisting, my mood went to shit.
Dungeon Hunters were required to serve a year in the military. They called it service, and you commuted, but the fact of going into the army at all was complete bullshit. And boot camp lasted a full month.
Dwelling on that garbage made the time crawl even worse. I burned the two hours staring at nothing, woke Sujin for the next watch, handed off, and crawled into the tent. Inside, Lina was asleep, breathing in cute little puffs, dead to the world.
That oblivious sleeping face was so adorable I had the sudden, idle urge to ruin it. She was turned on her right side. I pressed in behind her until there wasn't a gap, and my cock, hard without my asking, found the cleft of her ass. A wistful little rendezvous, with only fabric standing in the way.
"Hoo… hoo…"
I took a handful of her ass — gently enough not to wake her. Lina's backside was remarkably springy. That was a Dungeon Hunter's body for you, trained hard. Most of them were built like this. There were exceptions, of course.
The hand kneading her ass grew bolder and slipped into the valley between her cheeks. The thick leather of her pants kept me from sinking into the flesh the way I wanted, which was a genuine shame. In a dungeon you slept in your combat gear — you had to be ready to fight at a moment's notice, even from a dead sleep.
In the end, my wicked hand staged a break-in, sliding down inside her waistband. The instant it did, her whole body gave a hard twitch. The even rhythm of her breathing hitched once — then settled back into the same regular cadence as before.
She's awake.
Lina had woken up. She was only pretending to sleep. I knew it on instinct. A faint tremor ran through her, traveling all the way to my fingertips. She'd come awake, but she couldn't fight me. She was already my slave — a slave eaten down to the bone by the sexual pleasure I gave her.
"Hoo…! Hoo…!"
She could huff out those sleeping breaths all she wanted. It was useless. Lina didn't seem to realize how different her voice sounded when she was tense. She had never been much of an actress to begin with.
Keeping quiet because she's embarrassed? Now? After everything?
What a little prude. We'd already seen every last thing there was to see, and she wanted to play coy now? That got under my skin enough that I straightened my middle finger and rubbed it over the mound of her pussy.
"Hnh—!"
A moan punched out of her. Even then, Lina kept pretending to sleep. She had no idea she'd already been caught. Suddenly, I was having fun.
"Heh. This takes me back to when I first fucked Sujin."
I stripped her leather pants off entirely, no hesitation. Disarming a party member in a dungeon — where you had to be ready to fight at any moment — was not what anyone would call sound practice. But the only thing that spawned here was still Dire Wolves. With three of our people on hand, even a boss Dire Wolf wouldn't get cute with us. So I indulged myself, and I did it with my nerve fully intact.
Sleep-sex, right then and there. Sleep-rape, to be precise. Except this wasn't rape — it was willing. Lina was my slave, which meant I didn't need her permission to use her whenever I wanted.
"Mmph—!"
Lina squeezed her eyes shut. She knew exactly what was about to happen to her. I shoved a hand up under her top and grabbed her breast without any delicacy at all. She was already awake; a little roughness wouldn't matter.
"Docking."
A wet, obscene sound. Ridiculously enough, her pussy was already melted open. Clear, slick fluid had poured out of her in quantity, as if to make sure my cock would slide in without a fight. Lina's wetness had a bit of viscosity to it, which only made pushing in feel better.
"Whoa. You're soaked. What a little pussy-leaker. Have you been wet since you drew the lot to sleep in my tent? Lina, you really are a dirty girl."
Her pussy clenched hard at the words. She couldn't keep a poker face — not with her expression, and not with that hole either. Her mouth stayed shut tight, but her pussy was shouting at me at the top of its lungs. Please just fuck me.
I moved on purpose, unhurried. Too much violence in the rhythm and the watch might hear. Honestly, I wouldn't have cared if we were caught — but there was no reason to advertise it. If Sujin overheard, she'd come clinging and ask for the same, and that would be a problem. This was a dungeon. We couldn't afford to take our heads off entirely.
Squelch. Squelch. Squelch.
I rolled my hips in a slow, easy grind. There was none of that usual sharp, blinding pleasure — just a soft, lingering kind, and it was excellent. It felt like eating something simple and raw after a diet of nothing but greasy fast food.
Lina's pussy, however, seemed to want something with more of a kick. Her inner walls coiled around my cock like a whirlpool, squeezing for a harder stimulus. If this hadn't been a dungeon, she would already have dropped the sleeping act, swaying her hips to milk me for everything I had.
"You asleep?"
Sujin's voice carried in from outside the tent — the watch. Lina's body went rigid.
"No. I was just about to."
"Ah. Did I wake you?"
"It's fine. What's up? Something to report?"
"Yeah. Major situation to report. I'm in heat."
Sujin delivered that briefing with astonishing nerve. Lina's pussy twitched around me.
"If you're not sleepy yet, could you maybe touch my pussy a little before you go to sleep?"
"And what happens when that turns into sex? Even so, fucking on watch is dangerous. We could get jumped by a monster."
"We don't have to go all the way. Just take the edge off a little. That's fine, right?"
It was not fine in the slightest. I made a show of considering it anyway. I was far too curious about how Lina would react.
"Hmm. Alright, then. Why not?"
The instant I said it, Lina's inner walls clamped down on me with shocking force, locking around my cock as if she had no intention of letting it leave. At the same time, both of her hands closed over the one I had on her breast, holding it there.
"Hurry. My pussy's burning up. I'll warm your hand for you."
"Ah — sorry. Sleep just hit me all of a sudden. I'll touch you in the morning."
"Ehh!? All of a sudden?"
Sujin needled me a few more times, but I held the refusal. I felt bad for her, but Lina's pussy would not let me go, so there was nothing to be done. Only after Sujin's presence receded into the distance did that grip ease, a little. I spent the rest of a very pleasant night toying with the pussy of a girl who was still pretending to sleep.
The hunting went remarkably smoothly. Gray Wolves and Sharp Tigers were threatening opponents — but we were stronger.
We pushed forward, taking monsters as we went, without any real damage to show for it. Wealth stacked steadily in the bags we used for byproducts. The packs grew heavier; our hearts grew lighter. Wallets and worries have always been inversely proportional.
Two days went by fast. On the third, we had only about three kilometers left to Baengnokdam. The fighting had ended more easily than expected, and we'd made better time than we'd budgeted for. Originally we were supposed to reach the crater lake on day four. At this rate, we'd be there today.
"It's seven in the evening. One hard hour and we're at the summit. Baengnokdam is a safe area — resting easy up there beats building another camp, doesn't it?"
The rest of the party agreed without a single objection. We started for the peak.