Chapter 244: The Path to the Heart (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 244: The Path to the Heart (1)
My blacked-out vision and other blocked senses returned one by one.
This was a feeling I only ever experienced the moment I entered a dungeon beyond a rift.
[You have discovered a hidden dungeon.]
[You have entered ‘The Path to the Kraken’s Heart’.]
The message windows that had appeared before my vision went dark served as a stark reminder of our uncertain reality.
We were inside the Kraken—and had entered a dungeon.
My fully restored senses were screaming warnings at me.
This place is dangerous.
It was as if my senses, honed to their absolute limit by experience, were telling me so directly.
“What is this?”
“A dungeon, all of a sudden?”
Kim Tae-yang’s face crumpled into a scowl, while Namgung Hyeok let out a low groan at the unexpected situation.
Han Ju-hee, her expression firm, was calmly assessing our surroundings.
All of them were staring into the empty air before them, their eyes wider than usual.
They must have been looking at the same message windows I was, just as surprised.
Thump! Thump!
An unpleasant throbbing pulsed up continuously from the soles of my feet.
It wasn't the scream of a tense body.
This nauseatingly repulsive pulse… it wasn't mine. It was the Kraken's.
Which made sense. This place might be a dungeon, but it was still inside the Kraken's body.
In other words… the ground we were standing on.
“Ugh… this is fucking disgusting!”
Wasn't simple ground, but the Kraken's flesh.
The ground underfoot was indeed firm, yet it had a strong elasticity.
It felt similar to the sensation of touching a well-trained human's muscle and flesh.
What's more.
Schlorp!
Every time I lifted my foot, a transparent mucus clung to it like glue, making even a single step difficult.
It felt like stepping onto the field created by Elena's trait for the first time.
The only difference was that the force holding my feet down was more direct and powerful.
“…Everyone, calm down. Let's gather up for now.”
Amidst the heavy silence and complaints, Han Ju-hee, having organized her thoughts, raised her voice to call us together.
Schlorp!
Squish!
Unpleasant sounds assaulted our ears every time someone moved.
“Ugh… hngh…!”
“……”
Han Ju-yeon, who was closest to me, was struggling with all her might just to take a step.
Strange…
Even for a healer and buffer, an S-rank Hunter shouldn't have a lower strength stat than me. Why did she seem to be having a harder time?
“Hnngh…!”
This is too uncomfortable to watch.
“Miss Ju-yeon.”
“Yes…?”
“Excuse me for a moment.”
“What are you— Kyaa!”
I slipped my arms under the back and knees of the girl who was flailing like someone stuck in a mudflat and lifted her straight up.
“D-Do-jin…!”
“Just stay still for a moment.”
She went quiet as if she'd been waiting for it. I carried her over and set her down in front of the other S-ranks.
A tongue-click from Kim Tae-yang that seemed to say ‘what a shame’ and a glare from Han Ju-hee were an added bonus.
What? What is it?
I'm just doing my job as an escort. What are they going to do about it?
“First of all… as you all know, we've succeeded in entering the Kraken's body. And…”
“Surprisingly, the inside of the Kraken seems to be recognized as a dungeon.”
Namgung Hyeok finished Han Ju-hee's sentence as he surveyed their surroundings.
“The dungeon's name was clearly ‘The Path to the Kraken’s Heart.’ Thanks to that, the situation has become simple.”
“So we just have to clear this dungeon and destroy the heart at the end, right?”
“…That's right.”
Han Ju-hee stared intently at Kim Tae-yang for cutting her off.
He met her gaze silently and curled one side of his lip into a smirk.
“But you know… do we really have to do that?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean~ is there really a need to follow the dungeon's path?”
What's with this bastard?
He's a moron who only thinks about women. Without an operator drawing up a strategy, his only plan is to charge forward like an idiot. And he has the nerve to challenge Han Ju-hee?
As if thinking along the same lines, she frowned and asked.
“Is there another way?”
“Oh yeah, there is.”
Ugh, that gives me the creeps.
He's probably the only person in the world who can make a ‘good idea’ sound so ominous.
“Let's look at the bigger picture, you know? The bigger picture. Huh? Without being tied down by the dungeon.”
“Hah.”
Damn. A dry laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
The guy with the narrowest worldview on the planet is telling someone else to look at the bigger picture.
“Huh-? You little punk, did you just laugh?”
Not missing even the slightest sound, he glared at me.
“No. The fishy smell in here is so bad I have to breathe through my mouth.”
The stench in here really was severe.
The characteristic fishy smell of a sea creature mixed with the stench of rot from whatever it ate… Ugh.
“Tch…”
Kim Tae-yang clicked his tongue at my plausible excuse.
“Let's move past the trivialities… and hurry up and tell us. What is this ‘good idea’ you mentioned?”
Unable to regain the swagger he'd lost, he continued in a calmer voice than before.
“So… before this is a dungeon, it's the inside of the Kraken's body, right?”
“And?”
“What do you mean, ‘and’?”
He looked at us as if to say, I've explained this much and you still don't get it? Are you all idiots?
With that expression on his face, Kim Tae-yang instantly gathered his mana.
The surging mana stacked neatly around his fist, emitting a golden radiance.
Physical dealers or tankers fight by sending mana throughout their bodies to strengthen them.
And once they become proficient in this method, they can layer their mana to increase its density and strength. We call this Aura.
The fact that he was wrapping his fist in Aura meant…
This bastard, no way…
“Hehehe… why follow the path when we can just tear apart everything in sight? Huh?!”
“W-Wait…!”
“Stop…!”
Before Han Ju-hee and I, sensing disaster, could say anything, Kim Tae-yang's fist shot toward the twitching flesh wall that was giving off that unpleasant pulse.
“Wooohooo—!”
The moment his fist, tracing a golden tail through the air, slammed into the wall.
CRUNCH!
The flesh wall caved in where his fist struck, creating a massive crater.
At the same time, a gust of wind carrying a foul stench blew past us.
“See this! If we just smash everything like this—!”
G-g-g-gurgle!
Before his pathetic boasting could finish, the surrounding flesh walls began to pulse even more violently.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
The sound echoed from all the walls, loud enough to make my head spin.
“You…!”
Just as Han Ju-hee, her face contorted in disgust at the foul smell and noise, was about to unleash her fury on the reckless Kim Tae-yang.
Drip.
A single drop of some unknown liquid fell from the ceiling of the flesh wall, trailing a long tail behind it.
Everyone's gaze turned to the transparent liquid that had pooled in a crack in the flesh wall under our feet.
“…What's that?”
The moment Kim Tae-yang, unable to contain his curiosity, touched the liquid with the tip of his boot.
Szzzzzle…!
“Whoa…?!”
An ominous sizzle and the sound of something burning hit our ears.
I finally understood what the liquid was.
It's…
“Acid…”
It had to be acid, capable of melting anything it touched.
And it didn't seem to be ordinary acid, either.
The boots Kim Tae-yang was wearing were top-of-the-line combat boots, painstakingly crafted by an artisan.
They were pieces of equipment loaded with all sorts of options, not to mention high defense.
The fact that it damaged such equipment meant a human body would be done for the instant it made contact.
I hastily looked up, only to witness the worst-case scenario with my own two eyes.
From the writhing ceiling, a highly viscous, transparent liquid was slowly, slowly swelling, preparing to fall.
Seeing this, Han Ju-hee shouted to her sister.
“Ju-yeon! Shield!”
“…Okay!”
「Holy Shield.」
A white radiance gently enveloped us, from over our heads to under our feet.
And then, as if on cue, the fully swollen liquid began to fall, drop by drop.
Szzzzle!
Szzz!
The transparent liquid made a gruesome sound each time it hit, running down the surface of the shield.
A sense of crisis that sent shivers down my spine and a sense of relief washed over me at the same time.
I shuddered to think what horrors would have occurred if that liquid had touched our bodies, but then felt relieved, reminding myself that we had Ju-yeon, who specialized in healing, protection, and buffs.
As the liquid continued to rain down, Han Ju-hee bit her lip and asked.
“How long will the shield last?”
“The mana consumption is higher than I thought, but… it should hold for two or three hours easily.”
“Haaah…”
Han Ju-hee let out a sigh of relief at the duration, a length of time a mage could only dream of.
But that was only for a moment.
Her gaze, blazing with fury like a flame, turned to the awkwardly standing Kim Tae-yang.
“I'm done being patient. If you act on your own one more time… one of us won't be leaving this dungeon alive.”
Hmm.
If that were to happen, nine times out of ten, Han Ju-hee would be the one to survive.
Not all S-ranks are created equal, after all.
“…Got it.”
Only after he answered in a meek voice did Han Ju-hee compose herself.
Namgung Hyeok, who had been observing the situation from a step back, spoke up.
“So, what is the plan now? Shall we press on, or… shall we wait here for a time?”
Han Ju-hee looked up at the ceiling, deliberated, and then answered.
“…The production of the acid is gradually slowing. It would be dangerous to encounter an enemy in this state, so let's wait a moment.”
Indeed.
The amount of acid being squeezed out from the cracks between the flesh walls had decreased significantly.
From this, I could deduce one thing…
“It seems the Kraken sprays acid as a defense mechanism when the walls take a shock.”
At my words, Han Ju-hee nodded, her expression visibly more at ease.
“Given the circumstances, we have to assume so.”
Her expression seemed to say, Thank goodness there's at least one person here I can have a rational conversation with.
“Clearing this dungeon… is going to be trickier than I thought.”
“I agree.”
The sticky ground that clung to our feet, and now walls that spew acid when struck.
It would be one thing if these were the only gimmicks, but since this place is classified as a dungeon, the appearance of monsters was a given.
We would have to carefully control our power, which meant an unavoidable drop in our combat effectiveness.
Just as I was thinking that clearing this place wouldn't be easy, even with three… no, four S-rank Hunters.
“…It's finally stopped.”
The acid that had been dripping from the ceiling finally ceased its activity.
It seemed the body had determined that this was enough to have completely melted away any intruders.
The shield protecting us disappeared, and Han Ju-hee pointed down the dark path with the tip of her long staff.
“Let's move out. Hunter Kim Tae-yang and Hunter Namgung Hyeok will take the front. Hunter Han Ju-yeon and Hunter Kim Do-jin will be in the middle. I will take the rear.”
The formation was quickly established.
Kim Tae-yang and Namgung Hyeok at the front left and right, Han Ju-yeon and I behind them, and Han Ju-hee at the very back.
A party of four active S-ranks and one former S-rank.
A party that could be called the strongest in the Republic of Korea.
“We're moving out.”
We finally began to advance into the unknown dungeon.