The Returned Nightmare (2)
The white light faded from my vision, and what greeted us was a dense forest.
"Grrrrraaaah!"
And in the distance, hundreds of ogres were charging straight toward us.
"Heh heh… Yes! It finally worked!"
Kim Seongho cheered even as I held him by the collar. I slammed him to the ground and began stomping on him with relish.
Thud! Crunch!
"You crazy bastard. Have you actually lost your mind?"
"Kuhuk! Kack!"
"Even after getting your ass beaten so badly back then, you still haven't come to your senses? If that's the case, we've got a real problem."
I poured all the irritation rising in my chest onto his face. Only after a few of his teeth had shattered did I finally stop kicking.
"Trash like you… it's been a long time since I've seen the likes of you, seriously."
"Kekeke. Go ahead and talk all you want! This place is going to be both our graves!"
A release-type dungeon. The Ogre's Forest was scheduled to open in fourteen days. Since a fair amount of time had already passed since its creation, that meant it would open in two days.
"You're finished now! I win! I won, you hear me?!"
"Are you stupid? Once the people outside open the gate, we can just walk out. What's the big deal?"
"You think a mere D-rank nobody can hold out against hundreds of ogres?! Before the gate opens, you'll be ogre food!"
Kim Seongho screamed like a madman. I let his words go in one ear and out the other.
"Yeah, yeah. You won."
I pulled a rope from my pocket and tied him to a tree—right in the path where the ogres were charging.
"F-fuck… If you think something like this is gonna scare me, you're—"
Thump. Thump.
The heavy footsteps of the ogres reverberated through my entire body. Kim Seongho's face turned deathly pale.
100 meters. He still blustered on like some self-proclaimed hero.
"If I can kill you, I'd gladly go to hell…"
30 meters. Terror finally flooded the face of Kim Seongho, who had given up on everything.
"Kuhahap! Untie me! Let me go, damn it!"
0 meters. He was back to being the pathetic loser he always was.
"Please spare me! I was wrong! Just this once, please! My arm! Aaaaargh! You son of a bitch—Kyahaaaak!"
The ogres beat Kim Seongho to a pulp with their glaives.
What a pathetic show.
Originally, I had planned to let him suffer in eternal agony, but the situation had changed now that we were trapped here. Since my survival took priority, this was where I had to part ways with the bastard.
Leaving behind the sight of him being torn apart and devoured by the ogres in the distance, I fell into thought.
Two days, huh…
In this dungeon, ogres multiplied infinitely. That meant this narrow dungeon, which was only five kilometers wide, could end up completely packed with them. In the worst case, there might not even be space to run, and I could die.
Still, I wasn't worried.
The kids outside will open the gate for me eventually.
They would definitely crack the dungeon gate open a little to rescue me. All I had to do was slip out among the ogres at that moment.
I sprinted in the opposite direction of the ogres.
Five hundred meters away from the release-type dungeon.
Wang Taein, head of the Hunter Association's emergency response team, was practically groveling before the two women in front of him.
"I've told you several times already—the strategy meeting is restricted to authorized personnel only."
"Authorized?! I'm authorized, damn it! I've told you a hundred times that I'm in the same party as the guy trapped inside!"
Han Yuri's furious roar echoed across the site. Wang Taein kept wiping away cold sweat.
The daughter of the Portan Guild master. He couldn't afford to treat her carelessly.
"It's regulations, so even we can't—"
"Please let them in. These students have the right to hear this."
"Professor!"
At Choi Ahyeon's brightened expression, Irena gave a silent nod.
"Ah… If Professor Irena says so… please, come in."
The place he guided them to was a large tent. School officials and Association staff were all gathered inside.
And there—
"Huh? Seol's here too?"
Lee Seol sat with a rigid expression. Han Yuri shot Wang Taein a glare.
"I thought it was restricted to authorized personnel only?"
"Ahem! Hm!"
"Tsk."
Once everyone had taken their seats, Wang Taein began the briefing.
"Student Lee Seonghyun is currently trapped inside the Ogre's Forest due to Kim Seongho's scheme. As it's a release-type dungeon, we attempted to open the gate slightly, but…"
"It didn't work, right?"
"Correct."
At Irena's reply, Wang Taein projected an image onto the screen. A black hole had turned red.
"As you can see, the release-type dungeon has mutated into a variant dungeon. Even if we try to extract the monsters now, it's impossible. It appears the cause was a person entering before the dungeon fully opened."
"……"
"The variant dungeon will open in two days. We can only hope the ogres inside don't continue multiplying until then… but if they do, Student Lee Seonghyun's chances of survival are close to zero."
Boom!
A meteor shot right past Wang Taein's neck and slammed into the screen.
"Keep talking. I'll turn your body into dust."
"……"
"Y-Yuri, calm down and sit for now."
"Fuck! These bastards are so damn shameless! They let Kim Seongho slip away, and now they're saying his survival chance is zero? Are they trying to die?!"
Han Yuri's killing intent filled the tent. The regular staff members held their breath. Even as the situation looked ready to explode, both Lee Seol and Irena remained quietly silent. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say they were lost in their own thoughts.
Thanks to Choi Ahyeon's mediation, Han Yuri took a deep breath and barely regained her composure.
"So you're just going to shit yourselves and give up?"
"It's not giving up… we're simply stating that, realistically, it's impossible. Student Lee Seonghyun is only D-rank. On the other hand, there are hundreds—no, potentially thousands—of C-rank ogres multiplying."
"What's the plan?"
"……Once the dungeon opens in two days, we will deploy A-rank hunters."
In truth, this was the best they could do. Realizing that, Han Yuri ground her teeth and closed her eyes. Lee Seol offered her some comfort.
"Hyun will be fine."
"On what basis?"
"I have no basis. But…"
Lee Seol's coldly sunken eyes swept over the Association staff.
"He will be fine. No—he must be fine."
At her icy gaze, the staff members' faces turned ashen.
"Grrrrraaaah!"
"Kugh!"
A heavy blow from an ogre slammed into Lee Seonghyun's back. He had thrown his body forward to minimize the damage, but—
"Graaaaah!"
Another ogre's glaive was already waiting where he landed.
Boom!
"Kugh!"
I swung Eve in the direction of the swinging glaive, deflecting it. Like a baseball. Like a volleyball.
Lee Seonghyun was being bounced around in every direction.
There were only ten minutes left until the dungeon opened.
Fuck fuck fuck!
Ever since Lee Seonghyun had entered the dungeon, the number of monsters hadn't decreased at all. Instead, they had only grown—now approaching a thousand.
Amazingly, he had been running from them nonstop for forty-seven hours. Without sleep, without even a moment's rest.
Even though he had devoted himself entirely to escaping, his clothes were torn to shreds and his body was a complete wreck. His left arm was half-broken, and his body was covered in so much blood that it had practically crusted over.
Dodging and fleeing, over and over. Even that had finally reached its limit.
"Huff… Huff…"
A thousand. Not a hundred—a thousand. Even if their speed was slower than his, numbers were an entirely different story.
"Grrrrrrrr!"
"Ha…"
They had blocked off not just his front and back, but every angle.
Equivalent Exchange
Super Recovery
Thunder God
Body reinforcement through Equivalent Exchange, Super Recovery, and Thunder God. Those were the reasons he had survived until now, but now—
I'm exhausted.
His vision blurred. His stamina had reached its limit, and mana backlash was rising as well. Just before his consciousness plummeted to the floor, he squeezed out the last of his mana.
"I won't die quietly!"
His final trump card.
Ziiiiiiing!
Space itself trembled. A thunderous roar like the bellow of a god filled the dungeon.
A hole opened in the sky, and golden spears of light rained down upon the earth.
Thunder God has been activated!
"Grrrrraaak!"
"Kieeeeeek!"
A wave of lightning swept over the dungeon.
Ten minutes before the dungeon opened.
From A-rank hunters of the Association, members of the Portan Guild, and even professors from the Academy—everyone had formed ranks in front of the dungeon.
Prominent figures from across the industry had gathered here to save a single person—Lee Seonghyun.
Yet the atmosphere on site was ice-cold. Death. In everyone's minds, they had already concluded that Lee Seonghyun was dead.
At the very front of that group stood Irena.
Wang Taein asked her with concern.
"Professor… are you alright? You haven't slept a wink and you've been standing here the whole time."
"I'm fine, so please return to your position. It's almost time to enter, isn't it?"
"Yes… but your body isn't in good condition to begin with… perhaps it would be better if you left this to us…"
"No. I'm alright."
When Irena refused with a faint smile, Wang Taein had no choice but to withdraw.
For two whole days, she had stood in this very spot, staring only at the dungeon. Just in case it might open midway.
"……"
A nightmare repeating itself. As if the heavens were testing her once more, they sent down this trial.
She carefully hugged the photograph in her hands to her chest.
Seongyul…
Her heart beat irregularly, like arrhythmia. It was a serious enough symptom that she should have rushed to the hospital immediately, yet she remained rooted in place.
This had happened once before. Right before entering the dungeon to rescue Lee Seongyul. The situation was terrifyingly similar.
Irena swallowed the blood pooling in her mouth.
Anxiety. Fear. Dread. Every time ominous thoughts threatened to swallow her like a storm, she bit the inside of her mouth and endured.
She bit down on her already torn mouth once more.
He's alive.
"Three minutes remaining. Everyone, prepare for entry."
She had no strength left to grieve, no leisure to fall into despair.
"Two minutes remaining."
He's alive.
Coldly. Calmly.
"One minute remaining!"
He's alive.
A blue aura surged around her. The remnants of mana. She ignited the broken engine and forced it to run.
"Dungeon opening!"
Boooom!
The moment the dungeon opened, Irena's figure shot forward like a bullet.
"P-Professor!"
An unscheduled solo action. Yet she did not stop.
He's alive.
She charged through the pouring monsters and entered. A white light greeted her, along with the forest.
The dungeon interior she had wanted to enter so desperately, the place she had longed to see so badly.
Forty-eight hours. The place she had yearned for, second by painful second.
"Seonghyun is…"
A thousand hands reached out.
"He's alive!"
The A-rank unique skill once called the shadow that covered the world opened its eyes once again.