Insects of the Higher World
As Seoya fixed the monster with her chilling gaze, it began thrashing wildly once more.
Its body was melting away under her mana, so this seemed like its final desperate struggle before death.
Seoya hurriedly wrapped her mana tightly around her hand. For some reason she couldn't fathom, with her mind clear now, she had to finish it off quickly before Baek Yena or Kwon Yooseok's mental strength fully depleted.
It's just bugs... nothing more.
Seoya whispered to herself, as if to soothe her nerves.
Densely compressed blue mana shot up from her hand, soaring high into the sky. Soon, clouds tinged with blue light began flashing.
"Now."
Her small lips moved, and the ground trembled with a deafening rumble, as if something were collapsing.
Blue lightning crashed down from the heavens onto the monster.
Kraaaack—
The monster's form shuddered violently from the strike, accompanied by the sound of burning flesh and an indescribably horrific stench.
Bugs scattered in all directions, flying into the sky, while black liquid pooled in the melted spots on its body.
Once the thunderbolts that had judged the monster finally ceased, Seoya stood there, staring down at the spot where it had been.
The bugs had all vanished somewhere, leaving only a sticky, repulsive black sludge that no one would want to approach.
"Ugh...."
As Seoya shuddered at the sight, a system window popped up before her.
Boss Monster ‘Wai■tin■g □’ defeated!
Dungeon ‘Higher’ clear condition: ‘Defeat Boss Monster’ achieved!
Dungeon ‘Higher’ cleared.
Contribution Reward: A-grade Magic Stone
"What the hell is up with that monster's name...."
Seoya glared at the censored text, but it didn't change.
The reward's just an A-grade Magic Stone, huh.
But something even stranger caught her attention.
Dungeons she entered should yield S-grade Magic Stones due to her title effect, yet this was only A-grade....
Yep, this confirms it—this isn't Ibin's dungeon. It's one made by the Higher World.
"Hah, hah... You okay?"
At that moment, Baek Yena staggered toward her, teeth gritted.
"Yeah, I killed it."
"This is insane. There was nothing like this in the system update notes. No weird shapes like that, no mental drain like this...."
"You feeling okay now, unnie?"
"My mental strength's still in the double digits at least... It's cold, but I can control my body normally again, so don't worry."
Reassuring Seoya, Baek Yena scanned the floating clear window, then furrowed her brow slightly.
"Hey, Kwon Yooseok."
"Whew, what's up?"
Kwon Yooseok replied in his usual sly tone, eyes wide, but his face was slick with sweat from the earlier mental disruption.
"Got any guesses about this monster?"
"Hmm, no clue at all...."
He pondered briefly before speaking again.
"What bugs me is that it wasn't animal or plant—just some freakish form. And that sound earlier... something no human could even imagine."
Then, Seoya recalled another monster with an "odd form."
"Test Subject!"
Kwon Yooseok's eyes sharpened as he thought of the same thing.
"Right, there was one in that dungeon we cleared together.... Does 'Test Subject' mean they experimented to create these freaks? But who?"
Seoya fell silent.
She could guess the culprit behind all this.
If even that test subject was made by the Higher World....
Ibin had made a jungle dungeon, but the Higher World might have swapped the animals with test subjects, confirmed the system worked, and now created the whole dungeon from scratch—including the backdrop.
An uneasy feeling crept over her. The Higher World was eroding Earth at a frightening pace.
"Oh yeah, with things like this, no way we can search the bodies~."
Kwon Yooseok said to Seoya with a face that showed zero regret.
She already knew, but his utter lack of camaraderie for the dead guildmates earned him a look of contempt from her.
He hurriedly spat out excuses under her gaze.
"Dungeon's closing soon anyway~ And if that monster got 'em, doubt the bodies are intact."
This time, Baek Yena—who had zero humanity but at least some guild loyalty—glared at him like trash.
She checked her wristwatch. Less than five minutes since Seoya killed the boss.
Boss defeats usually closed dungeons in five to fifteen minutes.
"You're right, bodies probably aren't pristine. But we still have time to search."
Baek Yena eyed the ominous black sludge warily, then strode toward the inn.
Seoya trailed after her.
"What're you doing, unnie?"
"Gonna ask the innkeeper. Even if it's just an NPC."
Baek Yena knew she'd get nothing from an NPC—this was just venting for the hunters who'd died pointlessly.
Bam—
The wooden door slammed open, half-shattered against the wall.
"Nesi."
Seoya, peering past Baek Yena, met Nesi's eyes.
The NPC's head was properly attached, her brown eyes fixed directly on them from the inn's entrance.
"Hey, where'd the guys who were here before go?"
Baek Yena's voice was icy, but Nesi kept her usual kindly expression.
"The previous travelers? Where'd they go?"
"Who knows~? They vanished one day, so they must've left somewhere."
Word-for-word the same as her answer days ago.
"See~? Pointless~."
Kwon Yooseok shook his head from the back.
"Then what's that?"
Seoya asked flatly, as always.
"What we saw behind the inn. What is it? Tell me, Nesi."
"Ah."
Nesi turned to Seoya, and Seoya instinctively stepped back, a chill running through her.
Nesi's gaze pierced right through her—not at "space" or a "human shape," but at Seoya herself.
"The Great One."
Nesi replied brightly, her voice like a song, then spun in place with a twirl.
The sudden shift tensed them all.
"The Great One, the Higher One, something we dare not name, behold, or even imagine."
Baek Yena and Kwon Yooseok looked baffled, but Seoya understood.
The Higher One.
Nesi was saying the monster they'd fought was from the Higher World.
"We serve them. As higher beings, it is only right to worship and revere them."
"But it attacked us."
Seoya shot back immediately.
"If they want worship, why attack?"
"That's only natural...."
Nesi said with an ecstatic expression.
"How could lowly beings like us affect the Higher Ones? We're no more than bugs they could squash without a thought."
"...Any chance the Higher Ones might help us?"
Seoya recalled the "warm energy" from the Higher World that had restored her mind.
"Who knows~? It's all up to the Higher Ones' whims~ We don't step on ants for any special reason, nor sprinkle sugar on them."
"The more I hear...."
Baek Yena scowled, having listened.
"This bitch... I have no idea what she's saying, but she's more annoying than Go Heejae."
"Haha, who knows if insignificant bugs like us can even comprehend~."
Baek Yena cursed the NPC outright, while Kwon Yooseok mocked the "bug" line in his drawling tone.
"Seems like the Great One you serve and us bugs are in the same boat~."
Suddenly, Kwon Yooseok froze, face hardening as he strode to Nesi, turning his back to Seoya and Baek Yena.
"Wait... those bugs making up that monster earlier... were they really just bugs?"
No answer from the NPC.
Kwon Yooseok's calm facade cracked, his expression souring.
After a brief silence, he forced his sly tone.
"O~ This is pretty grotesque~ Tell me that's not the scenario, pretty please~."
"...Yooseok, please say it's not what I'm thinking."
Baek Yena squeezed her eyes shut, grasping it too.
Seoya, clueless, blinked wide-eyed between them.
"Lemme rephrase...."
Kwon Yooseok lowered his voice.
"If we'd died fighting that thing... would we have become part of it?"
"Of course you'd all serve the Higher One!"
"Urk."
Baek Yena gagged, hand over her mouth.
Then their vision shook—the dungeon crumbling.
Nesi, still beaming, ignored the other two and spoke to Seoya.
"How could lowly beings like us affect the Higher Ones?"
With those final words, cracks spiderwebbed their sight.
Kraaaack—
A blinding light later, they collapsed outside the dungeon.
"Never missed the outside world like this."
Baek Yena muttered, kneeling on the ground, hands planted.
In her exhausted voice:
"Never thought my life genre would flip from fantasy to grotesque gore...."
"What're you talking about?"
Seoya asked, lost.
Kwon Yooseok, with his subtle expression, finally spoke.
"To explain...."