No Turning Back

"We should head inside first," Tae-hyun muttered to himself as he scanned the raider players. "I found the entrance here."

"!"

"Ohhh...!"

"As expected of someone from the same guild as Cain! You're on another level!"

The players, completely unaware of what kind of quest window Tae-hyun had just looked at, were simply overjoyed. They had found the entrance to a hidden dungeon! Their hearts pounded with excitement, and all the hardships they had endured to get here vanished from their minds.

"To find something everyone else missed, and on the first try..."

"I told you he wasn't ordinary."

The raiders marveled. Finding the entrance to a hidden dungeon so quickly proved he was no average player. They could feel a massive wall of difference between him and the rest of the scum gathered here.

"By the way, what kind of hidden dungeon is this?"

"Who cares? What matters is that it's a hidden dungeon. Let's get inside before someone else spots us and blocks the way."

Without waiting for one another, the raider players scrambled to enter first, completely oblivious to what lay inside! Tae-hyun watched them with a deeply satisfied smile.

This is exactly why I love greedy bastards.

Whoooosh—

A vast underground cavern welcomed the players. Calling it a cavern was an understatement; it was so massive it felt like an open plain. The horizon was shrouded in pitch-black darkness, stretching far beyond their line of sight.

"I was hoping for an ancient temple or a palace."

"Yeah, me too," the raider players muttered in disappointment. The most lucrative hidden dungeons were always ancient temples or palaces—places overflowing with rare items! In contrast, this place was just an empty, endless void.

"Well, since it's this huge, there's bound to be something. Maybe a palace will pop up if we keep going..."

The Rudolph Guild's stream chat was in absolute chaos. Since their channel naturally attracted foul-mouthed, short-tempered viewers, patience was a foreign concept to them.

"Hey, we can't just run around on our own. We're in a party play right now," one of the guild members muttered.

Ugh, these annoying bastards, the Rudolph Guild members grumbled internally. No matter what they did, the viewers complained. What a bunch of insufferable jerks!

"Found it."

Tae-hyun suddenly stopped in his tracks. Instantly, the surrounding raider players looked at him with sparkling, expectant eyes.

"Did you find something?!"

"What is it?! A palace?! A treasure vault?!"

"Honestly, I'd be happy with just a humble monastery or temple..."

"A monster nest."

"..."

"..."

The raiders' expressions stiffened into bizarre grimaces. A... monster nest? Usually, a monster nest wasn't the kind of reward one expected from a hidden dungeon.

"Is it... is it really a monster nest?"

"Why would a monster nest even be here?"

"Some evil bastards probably released them here to breed. Alright, prepare for battle."

"?"

"Huh?"

The raiders were utterly bewildered. Prepare for battle?

"Did I hear that wrong? Why are we preparing for battle?"

"There are enemies over there, so shouldn't we fight them?" Tae-hyun replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Of course, to these raider players, such a concept was utterly absurd. Their absolute favorite thing was getting a free ride. They chased sweet, effortless quests and rewards; they had zero desire to tackle difficult challenges. A monster nest was the textbook definition of a high-difficulty, high-effort chore—a blacklisted quest type where they didn't even know if the rewards would be worth the trouble.

"Look, this place is massive! We don't necessarily have to fight those guys—"

Tae-hyun didn't even bother listening. He pulled out a bomb and hurled it. It was the absolute most foolproof way to draw aggro!

BOOM! CRASH!

"Hey!!!"

"You crazy bastard!!"

The raider players shrieked in horror. What the hell was he doing?!

And right at that moment, a quest window popped up.

"?"

"Why am I representing the Archisus Church?"

"I mean, I am affiliated with the Archisus Church, but I never accepted this quest in the church's name?!"

The sudden quest was shocking enough, but the mention of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Archisus Church threw the raider players into a collective state of utter confusion.

Meanwhile, Tae-hyun tossed his mask aside and prepped his bombs. "Yong-yong, Heuk-heuk, Bulbul-i. Come on out. Get ready to fight."

The less trustworthy his companions were, the more valuable his dragons became. As the three dragons materialized and immediately began channeling their magic, the surrounding raiders stared in mute, paralyzed horror.

Wait... Hold on a second...

"Th-Those... those dragons... are they... uh..."

"Kim Tae-hy—?!"

No... No way, right?

But regardless of the raiders' desperate denial of reality, Tae-hyun was already unleashing a sequence of skills that only he could possibly possess.

"Deploying Dwarf Steel Trap."

Tae-hyun cast his newly acquired Dwarf Metal Magic.

It was an area-of-effect spell that laid down a magic circle on the ground, dealing massive damage by thrusting steel spears upward whenever an enemy stepped on it.

I was hoping for a more useful spell than this, Tae-hyun grumbled inwardly. He had wanted something like lightning magic. Trap-based metal magic like this could technically be replicated using his Engineering or Blacksmithing Skill...

SCREEECH!

With a bone-chilling sound, the magic circle etched itself into the earth. The patterns were drawn so densely that not a single gap remained. Just looking at it, one could feel a murderous aura radiating from the circle, promising absolute hell to anyone unfortunate enough to step on it.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Even Carbanog hadn't expected Tae-hyun to utilize metal magic with such terrifying efficiency. The synergy was far better than anticipated! In fact, perhaps metal magic suited the Avatar of Archisus far better than any other school of magic.

The reactions of the viewers watching the stream shifted from confusion to sheer, unadulterated shock. When Tae-hyun had first pulled out a bomb and chucked it, the viewers had cheered, thinking, Now that's a true raider! But the moment he summoned his dragons and began planting his signature custom bombs all over the place...

Tae-hyun's playstyle was notoriously impossible to replicate. For other rankers, whether they were swordsmen or mages, players could at least attempt to mimic their builds. But Tae-hyun was a ranker who commanded powerful summons while ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠orchestrating complex battles using a vast array of custom explosives. Copying him was a fool's errand. For starters, the Engineering skill wasn't something just anyone could master...

"W-Wait. You're really Kim Tae-hyun?"

"Didn't I tell you I was Kim Tae-hyun?" Tae-hyun asked, looking at Jackal. Jackal was so utterly flabbergasted that he couldn't even form proper sentences.

"Are... are you going to kill me?"

"Why would I?"

"Well... because... I impersonated Cain..."

"Eh, impersonating Cain is no big deal. Anyone could do that."

"?!"

Jackal stared in disbelief at how casually Tae-hyun brushed it off. Wait, isn't he your close guildmate? Shouldn't you at least get a little angry on his behalf?

"Just get ready to fight."

"Uh... yeah. Got it." Jackal nodded, looking like a man possessed. He was still in a daze. To think he would live to see the day he got to play alongside the legendary Kim Tae-hyun!

The members of the Rudolph Guild were equally dumbfounded. They had assumed he was just some random newcomer, but he turned out to be the real deal!

"...Who was the idiot who suggested we attack him earlier?"

"It wasn't me!"

"You absolute moron... you almost got our entire guild uprooted!"

The viewers, thrilled that it wasn't their own skin on the line, egged them on excitedly. After all, Tae-hyun rarely streamed, so when else would they get a chance to watch him play in real-time like this?

ROAR!

Born and raised in the pitch-black depths, the Belladon possessed a massive, dinosaur-like physique and a highly troublesome ability to manipulate shadows at will. Each and every one of these creatures was on par with a boss monster from a standard dungeon!

What kind of church breeds things like that? What a disgustingly vicious cult.

Carbanog thought to itself: If it's a cult this vicious... surely, surely it's not the Archisus Church, right...?

"Prepare for battle!"

"Oh, o-ohhhh!"

The players, who had been dazed by the shocking revelation of his identity, snapped back to reality at Tae-hyun's shout. They had been dragged into an entirely unexpected battle, but knowing the truth completely changed their perspective.

If we're fighting alongside Kim Tae-hyun, it's an absolute win!

There's no way Kim Tae-hyun would ever do something that doesn't benefit him!

This might be a chain quest leading to a Legendary Quest! This is guaranteed to be a jackpot!

Who was Kim Tae-hyun? He was a living legend in the questing community, famous for cherry-picking and conquering Legendary Quests. A quest brought to them by a guy like that? This was bound to be a massive hit—

CRASH!!

"..."

The atmosphere instantly turned ice-cold as one of the overexcited raiders was instantly logged out. Indeed, the people who usually accompanied Tae-hyun on his Legendary Quests were high-tier rankers who had survived his grueling, hellish trials. They possessed skills on an entirely different dimension compared to these lazy bums who only looked for easy rides! Just because Tae-hyun was standing next to them didn't mean they would suddenly gain skills they never had.

Snapping back to their senses, the raider players instinctively looked behind them, searching for an escape route. Tae-hyun, holding a sword in one hand and a bomb in the other, spoke to them with a warm, gentle smile.

"If anyone turns back from this point on, I will personally execute you."

"..."

"..."

You absolute evil bastard!

"Keep your eyes forward! Charge! Charge! Form a line and take them down one by one! Don't just try to block them; move fluidly and surround them! Keep applying ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠debuffs as you fight!"

"This is madness! I'm out of h—Aaaargh!"

"I told you, if you turn back, you die! Charge forward!"

Kim Tae-hyun behind them, and terrifying monsters in front of them. The raiders wisely chose to fight the opponent that seemed slightly more reasonable—the monsters!

"Aaaaargh!"

Screeeech!

And so, a desperate, bloody battle erupted in the depths of the underground cavern.