A Nostalgic Ambush

He didn't know when Tae-hyun might come chasing after him. For now, recovery was the top priority. At the same time, Jang Ssu-an immediately began preparing. He was setting up to ambush Tae-hyun the moment he stepped through the dungeon entrance! He pulled out every scroll in his inventory, readied ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠every skill at his disposal, and stacked on every single buff he could cast.

Jang Ssu-an was showing the true caliber of a ranker. Whoever dared to step through that entrance would undoubtedly be met with an instantaneous, devastating burst of damage.

But Tae-hyun did not pursue him right away.

"Tsk. Things are getting complicated," Tae-hyun muttered. He didn't rush inside. A cornered rat could still bite a cat, and that was doubly true when the opponent was a ranker. Just moments ago, when he thought he had him dead to rights, Jang Ssu-an had resurrected. It wouldn't be surprising if the man had other hidden trump cards up his sleeve.

"Aren't you going after him?"

"If we rush in now, we'll take heavy losses. They aren't idiots; they'll be waiting for us with everything they've got."

Tae-hyun decided to wait for Cain and the rest of his party to arrive. After all, the other guild members had already been dealt with. Only Jang Ssu-an and two others remained. Tae-hyun held all the cards.

Even so, he couldn't afford to be careless. He had no idea what kind of dungeon lay beyond that entrance.

'If there's another exit inside that dungeon, things will get incredibly annoying. We need to go in and settle this as quickly as possible.'

With Lee Se-yeon by his side, he didn't even entertain the thought of losing a direct confrontation.

When Tae-hyun failed to immediately pursue, Jang Ssu-an finally caught his breath.

"Are you all fully recovered?"

"Yes, sir."

They all carried emergency potions. No matter how many different poisons they had been afflicted with, given enough time, they could neutralize them.

"Good. We move! Contact the outside and call for backup. Those underhanded bastards... resorting to such dirty tricks just because they didn't have the confidence to beat us fairly."

His guild members nodded in agreement. PK'ing opponents outside the arena to prevent them from participating in the tournament altogether! They had never imagined anyone would actually try to pull off what had always been treated as a running joke.

"I've sent the message."

"We just need to hold out. The longer we survive, the more the advantage shifts to us. They'll be under pressure too."

Jang Ssu-an had to make it to the tournament, but so did Tae-hyun. If other players arrived from the outside to help, Tae-hyun would find himself in a very difficult position.

"By the way, what kind of dungeon is this anyway?" one of the guild members asked.

Jang Ssu-an was curious about that himself. Seeing a rabbit enter, it didn't seem like a particularly high-level dungeon...

'Was the information fabricated from the start, or was it real?'

Even in this situation, Jang Ssu-an couldn't let go of his lingering hope. Greed truly was a powerful thing!

"I don't know. We'll find out as we go. Either way, we just need to hold out. It'll be even better if we can find another exit. If the dungeon difficulty is low, it'll actually make things easier for us."

The guild members nodded at his words.

Pitter-patter.

"?"

From the grassy field in the distance, a single black rabbit came scurrying over. It looked incredibly cute and weak. The only unusual thing about it was the single horn protruding from its forehead.

"It's just a rabbit?"

"Well, it is the Rabbit's Secret Kingdom, so of course rabbits would show up. Man, it's been ages since I've seen one."

Most players only fought rabbits during their novice days. Of course, there were freaks like Tae-hyun who ground them endlessly until they unlocked rabbit-related titles, but the vast majority of players ignored rabbits once their levels went up. The guild members felt a sudden wave of nostalgia.

"Don't let your guard down," Jang Ssu-an warned.

"We won't."

"Come on, it's just a rabbit..."

One of the guild members raised his weapon and approached the rabbit. In that instant, the rabbit vanished.

"Urgh!"

A cascade of system messages popped up as if he had just been struck by a raid ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠boss! The guild member went rolling backward.

"Are you okay?!"

"C-careful! This thing is no joke. What level is it? It feels like it's well over 150!"

"What? Since when do rabbit monsters like that even exist?!"

While his guild members panicked, Jang Ssu-an observed the rabbit with a sharp gaze.

In Pan-On, nothing was impossible. Since level was king, even a cute and weak-looking rabbit could be devastatingly powerful if its level was high enough.

"Get back, I'll handle this!"

With a shout, Jang Ssu-an swung his dual swords and launched an attack. The buff skills he had prepared to fight Tae-hyun were still active. His entire body glowed with a brilliant light! Aura and visual effects erupted from his dual swords, looking as if they could cleave through anything in their path.

Clang!

"!"

To his utter shock, the rabbit blocked his strikes with its horn. Jang Ssu-an was stunned, but he didn't stop.

Clang! Clang!

He immediately followed up with his next sequence of attacks. It was a highly skilled, fluid display worthy of a top-tier ranker.

Although the horned rabbit possessed terrifying attack power, its HP and defense were not particularly high. After enduring a barrage of consecutive strikes, it failed to block with its horn and stumbled.

Squeak! Squee-eek!

The horned rabbit let out a pitiful, sorrowful cry, acting weak! But the guild members felt absolutely no sympathy. If anything, it gave them goosebumps.

"Guild Leader! Kill it! Kill that thing!"

"What kind of monster acts like that?!"

It was absurd to see a creature that had been trying to murder them just seconds ago suddenly play the victim.

Slash!

With a clean, decisive finishing blow, Jang Ssu-an brought down the horned rabbit.

"Guild Leader, did you get it?"

"It's dead. You don't have to worry."

"Wow, what a bizarre monster."

While his guild members chattered in relief, Jang Ssu-an fell into deep thought.

"These rabbits... couldn't we use them to our advantage?"

"Huh?"

"Kim Tae-hyun and his group will definitely chase us inside. When they don't see us near the entrance, they'll come looking for us. What if these rabbits appear then?"

"They'll look down on them and try to brush them aside!"

"Exactly. Anyone would let their guard down slightly seeing such an innocent appearance. Even if they don't, they'd never expect them to pack this much of a punch."

"As expected of our Guild Leader!"

"Haha, I am pretty amazing, aren't I? Hahaha. Pull out all your Short-range Teleport Scrolls and Teleport Gate Scrolls. We'll strike the moment they arrive."

Completely forgetting the gravity of their situation, Jang Ssu-an quickly became drunk on his own cleverness. He felt incredibly proud of himself for devising such a brilliant strategy under such dire circumstances.

Using monsters to sow chaos when outnumbered was indeed a solid tactic. In fact, it was a method that Tae-hyun himself frequently employed.

The only problem was that Tae-hyun possessed a certain title!

"We're going in fast. We've wasted too much time."

After finishing his explanation of the situation, and once Lee Se-yeon had raised undead from the corpses of the fallen guild members, Tae-hyun immediately headed toward the dungeon entrance.

"The Rabbit's Secret Kingdom? What kind of dungeon is that?"

"Isn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the name a bit weird?"

"Does that matter right now? Focus."

Silencing his whispering party members, Tae-hyun concentrated. Jang Ssu-an was more calculating than he looked. If they weren't careful, they might actually fall into a trap.

"...What's this?"

Tae-hyun, who was about to activate his Divine Foresight skill, felt a sudden wave of unease. There were blatant traces ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of passage left right in the middle of the dungeon corridor. It was as if they were practically advertising, 'Hey, we went this way!'

Lee Se-yeon also looked dumbfounded as she stepped forward to investigate.

"They definitely went this way," she confirmed.

"What's their angle? Why would they leave such obvious tracks?"

Tae-hyun and Lee Se-yeon exchanged looks. Only one explanation came to mind.

"Is it a trap?"

"They managed to set up a trap capable of taking all of us down in that short amount of time? That seems a bit far-fetched..."

"To be fair, they don't know that you or Cain are here. Still, it's strange. It feels like they found something inside the dungeon..."

Tae-hyun couldn't shake his unease. Usually, setting traps like this was his job! Having the tables turned felt incredibly awkward.

Crash!

With a loud bang, one of Jang Ssu-an's guild members materialized behind Tae-hyun's party. He had used a Short-range Teleport Scroll nearby to position himself right at their rear.

"?!"

Cain immediately prepared to strike.

'What is that idiot doing?'

It made absolutely no sense. Teleporting directly behind them like that was practically begging to be killed. It would have been far wiser to use the scroll to escape elsewhere!

But the guild member wasn't alone. A pack of small, cute rabbits had teleported right along with him.

"???"

"Hahahahaha! Take this!"

The guild member bellowed as he charged forward. Behind him, the rabbits, their eyes glowing a menacing crimson, chased after him.

As the enemy rushed toward them, Cain tensed.

'What skill is he going to use? Where will he strike first? I should bind his feet and then counterattack immediately...'

Cain was entirely focused on the player, completely ignoring the rabbits hopping behind him.

"Cain, watch out for the rabbits! The rabbits are the real threat!"

"What?"

Cain was bewildered by Tae-hyun's warning. With an enemy player charging right at them, he was supposed to ignore him and focus on rabbits?

But Tae-hyun's words were absolute truth.

Flash!

The charging player must have activated a skill, because he vanished on the spot. All that remained was the pack of rabbits charging forward with terrifying momentum!

Cain hastily activated his skill. It was a good thing Tae-hyun had warned him; otherwise, he would have taken the hit completely unprotected.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

"?!?!?!"

Cain gasped in shock as a heavy impact reverberated through his defenses. What kind of absurd power was this?

"What kind of rabbit hits like this?!"

Cain's reaction was an exact mirror of what Jang Ssu-an's guild members had experienced earlier.

"Ugh...!"

Though he was pushed back, his preparation saved him from losing his footing. Cain immediately launched a counterattack.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

"Come at me, you little pests!"

The sight of him fighting for his life against a bunch of rabbits was somewhat comical, but no one present was laughing. The opponents were just that formidable.

Watching Cain struggle against the rabbits, Tae-hyun's expression hardened. While the rabbit ambush was unexpected, it wasn't enough to bring down his party. Which meant there was bound to be...

"I figured there'd be more."

With his Divine Foresight active, Tae-hyun swung his hammer directly into the empty air.

Whoosh!

At that exact moment, a teleportation gate materialized in the empty air, and Jang Ssu-an burst through. Met with an instantaneous attack the second he stepped out, Jang Ssu-an gritted his teeth and blocked with his dual swords.

Crack!

One of his dual swords fractured and shattered completely.

Jang Ssu-an's eyes widened in sheer disbelief.

"?!"

"Oh dear. I hope that wasn't an expensive piece of gear."

Despite deliberately aiming for Weapon Destruction, Tae-hyun shamelessly feigned ignorance.

Jang Ssu-an's face flushed red with fury.

"You absolute insect...!"

"Your vocabulary gets shorter every time you get angry, you know that?"

"Enjoy your arrogance while it lasts, you worthless trash! You'll be regretting it soon enough!"

As Jang Ssu-an shouted, a swarm of rabbits began pouring out of the temporary teleportation gate hovering in the air. It was a gate linked to another section of the dungeon! Jang Ssu-an quickly tried to lung toward Tae-hyun's party, attempting to draw the rabbits' aggro onto them.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Naturally, Tae-hyun had no intention of letting him do as he pleased.