The Formula for an F-Rank Capturing S-Ranks
"Grrrrr…" The massive flower, Rafflesia's Heart, spewed out a stench that blanketed the forest. The Mana Absorption Field it had deployed was a catastrophe for the S-rank hunters. Baek Seol, Hong Yeonhwa, and Shin Seoyun couldn't even twitch a finger as their mana was forcibly sucked from their bodies, leaving them utterly drained.
But the real nightmare was just beginning.
Shooo-! Thwack! Shiny black stamens erupted from the flower's core like tentacles, slithering across the ground like living snakes. They coiled around the fallen beauties' bodies.
"Kyaa…! Let… go…!" Baek Seol groaned, trying to resist, but it was futile. The slimy, mucus-covered tentacles climbed her ankles, squeezing her thighs and binding her arms. The white suit—Valhalla Guild's pride—grew transparent as it soaked through, clinging to her skin.
"Kyaaa…!" Yeonhwa fared no better beside her. Thick tentacles wrapped around her black leather suit, hoisting her up. The tips dug relentlessly into her breasts and ass, compressing them. What burst from her red lips wasn't a battle cry, but a scream laced with humiliation.
"You… filthy thing… how dare you…!" Seoyun, with all her guards down, was lifted into the air by tentacles, her limbs bound. The elegant heiress was gone, replaced by a figure suspended in a humiliating pose, moments from becoming its prey.
The boss didn't devour them right away. Like savoring a melting candy, it slowly, insidiously sucked in the dense S-rank mana, relishing every drop.
'…….'
Siu watched the hellish scene with trembling eyes. A chaotic mix of arousal and terror. Instinctual fear of the overwhelming monster froze his legs. And the harsh reality of an F-rank's utter hopelessness dominated his mind.
Run away.
His goggles displayed [Survival Probability: 0%].
Survival Probability: 0%
But then.
"Huu… S-Siu… run… away…."
Baek Seol's voice, ragged from tentacles binding her entire body, still worried about him. That voice ignited the fuse in the cowardly nerd's brain.
Run? I didn't even get overtime pay—where the hell am I supposed to go?
Siu bit his lip until it bled and turned away. His gaze fiercely scraped data through the goggles.
Target: Rafflesia's Heart
Status: Excessive Mana Intake. Internal Energy Saturation.
The thing was gorging on mana like it was at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Its digestive organs swollen to the limit.
So the answer was simple.
Make it puke.
Shove in something so indigestible, a deadly poison it couldn't handle.
Siu's eyes locked on the helicopter wreckage. Behind the half-destroyed fuselage sat an intact Auxiliary Fuel Tank, sloshing with high-octane aviation fuel. Next to it, a ruptured Coolant Pipe and the S-rank Mana Ink in Seoyun's gifted bag.
…Plenty of materials.
Siu dove behind the wreckage. He pulled out a magic marker and started scrawling formulas directly on the cold metal surface of the fuel tank.
Paper scrolls? No.
"Hoo… this is a gamble…!"
This time, the tank itself was the scroll—and the bomb.
Screeech, screeech! The sound of metal being scratched echoed desperately.
Mana Reverse Flow
Base: Aviation Fuel (High Octane) → Igniter
Catalyst: S-rank Mana Ink → Maximizes Mana Conductivity
Command: Reject & Explode
Siu's hands moved too fast to see. This wasn't some basic fire scroll production. It was a gamble overturning common sense, bypassing paper mediums entirely. A system error missile to force-reverse the 'mana flow' it was sucking in, collapsing it from within.
"Ready."
Siu drew the final stroke on the tank and jammed the coolant pipe in like a detonator. Red runes pulsed like a heartbeat across the surface.
"Hey!! You monster bastard!!"
Siu hoisted the tank onto his shoulder and burst from the wreckage. His shout drew the boss's gaze from tormenting the beauties.
A puny bug with zero mana.
"Kraaaah-!"
As if annoyed, the boss gaped its massive maw (petals) toward Siu. A typhoon-like suction roared in, ready to swallow him whole.
"No!! Siu!!"
"Siu—! Run!"
Baek Seol and Yeonhwa screamed from their tentacle bonds. But Siu didn't stop. The very moment his body was yanked by the pull, he kicked off the ground and leaped forward.
"Starving, huh? Then chow down on this too!"
He hurled the tank from his shoulder straight into the boss's gaping throat.
"I'll make you burst at the seams!"
Whoosh-!
Accelerated by the suction, the tank rocketed deep into the boss's esophagus, toward the glowing red core.
Gulp.
The moment the boss closed its mouth, Siu rolled across the ground and tore the Detonator Scroll in his hand.
"Blow."
KABOOOOM-!!!!
Silence like the world had stopped, then a horrific rupture shredded eardrums. No mere small blast. The boss's body bloated grotesquely like a balloon. Purple light backflowed through every vein in its stem-leaves, exploding outward.
Siu's 'reverse flow formula' had clashed with the gorged mana, shattering its internal energy circuits.
"Kieeeek!!"
The monster's shriek shook the forest. Massive petals tore free, and the tentacles holding the women went limp, snapping off.
A colossal pillar of fire pierced the sky. Aviation fuel flames mingled with backlashed mana in a brilliant, destructive fireworks display.
Plip, plop.
Burning petals and mucus rained down like fiery precipitation.
With the Mana Absorption Field gone, the suppressed S-rank hunters' mana surged back.
"Hahk, hahk…."
Freed, Baek Seol crawled on the ground, gasping. Her eyes snapped forward first.
In front of the burning corpse stood a dirt-caked man's back. F-rank. Zero mana. Weakest of the weak.
But in this moment, no one's back looked more massive.
"Overtime… done…"
Siu adjusted his singed glasses and turned, body swaying from exhaustion but buoyed by relief at closing the case. He flashed a thumbs-up.
"Time to clock out, bosses."
Seoyun gaped blankly. Yeonhwa's eyes sparkled with fervor. Their expressions screamed of course. Beyond mere interest. It was the primal thrill of a female sensing a true male.
"Ha… you drive me insane."
Yeonhwa licked her lips, trying to rise—
Rumble rumble rumble-!
The ground quaked again, as if it weren't over. The "dead" boss. Upper body gone, but its roots buried in the earth still lived. In its death throes, it was collapsing its entire nest.
"…Shit! Get back! The ground's caving!"
Siu yelled, but too late.
Crack!
The ground beneath him split wide, swallowing him whole.
"Huh?"
Siu plummeted into the void. Baek Seol lunged, hand outstretched, but a surging vine wall blocked her.
"Siu!!"
Despair's peak. A red flash pierced the vine wall.
Hong Yeonhwa. She leaped across crumbling earth, hurling herself at the falling Siu.
"Gotcha!"
Thud.
She snagged his waist midair. But no footing to climb.
Locked in embrace, the two plunged into the deep darkness of the chasm, the Unknown Grotto.
"Nooo!!"
Baek Seol's scream buried under collapsing earth.
Crash, crash!
The entrance sealed by massive boulders.
* * *
How far did they fall?
A dull thud echoed in the dark.
"Ugh…."
Siu groaned, eyes fluttering open. His body throbbed, but thick moss below and Yeonhwa's flame cushion spared broken bones.
"Hong Yeonhwa-ssi? You okay?"
Siu groped in the dark. Then, bioluminescent plants on the ceiling flickered faintly, illuminating the space.
A narrow, humid cave. And in the center, Yeonhwa collapsed.
"Haa… haa…."
Her state was off. She writhed on the ground, breathing raggedly. Through her torn leather suit, sweat-slick white skin flushed red.
"Yeonhwa-ssi?"
As Siu approached to check, a sweet scent assaulted his nose.
Pink mist filling the cave. The boss's death fluids, or pollen from Dreamflower growing here.
"So… hot…."
Yeonhwa looked up at Siu with unfocused eyes. Hers swam not with reason, but sticky instinct.
No ordinary poison. An Aphrodisiac Mana Toxin overheating mana circuits and stimulating nerves—even S-ranks couldn't resist.
"My body's… weird…."
Her trembling hand yanked down her suit's zipper. Voluptuous cleavage bared raw.
"Help me… yeah?"
Sealed chamber. S-rank beauty lost to heat. F-rank nerd swallowing hard before her.
Siu felt the toxin's grip too—his face heating up.
"Yeonhwa…"