Adaptation (1)
"You're late. If the raid begins at exactly ten at night, you should have arrived at least an hour early to stand by!"
Kim Min-jung glanced at her watch.
9:40 PM.
It wasn't late at all.
Besides, all preparations had been finished before departure, so they only needed to step inside. If anything, they had arrived ahead of schedule.
Team Leader Jung wasn't genuinely furious. He was simply looking for an excuse to find fault.
How does he always hit the mark so perfectly?
The brief anxiety Kim Min-jung had felt about what might happen if Z-team failed to appear now seemed utterly pointless.
Still, she did her best to pretend ignorance.
"Why is the team leader here? The operational plan clearly stated that only the two of us would be moving."
Team Leader Jung, convinced he had caught them off guard, puffed out his chest with triumph.
"How could I possibly send just two people—a mercenary borrowed from another team and a total rookie? Of course the team must provide backup. No matter how much we've clashed, I'm not some petty creature who can't separate public duty from personal feelings enough to withhold even this level of support."
His tone suggested he was graciously yielding ground.
Yet the words he used to describe the pair were dripping with condescension.
It was a clear declaration that he would establish the hierarchy right from the start.
Kim Min-jung glanced at Lee-hyun to gauge his reaction.
"As you wish."
Lee-hyun nodded with an unreadable expression.
Team Leader Jung interpreted it as surrender.
Boring bastards. I was ready to slap them with disciplinary action for insubordination if they dared say they didn't need us. Fine. Let's see how long you can keep pretending to be so relaxed.
Team Leader Jung turned away, grinding his teeth inwardly.
In truth, he had never seriously believed the two could clear the dungeon.
A long-unsolved dungeon was precisely that dangerous.
That's exactly why our team's so-called raids are really just management missions in disguise.
"If everyone is ready, we enter the gate!"
The dungeon this time did not appear to feature the extreme environments typical of others.
The warm sunlight caressing their faces felt wonderfully pleasant.
It truly felt as though they had stepped inside the tale itself.
They stood atop a hill thick with lush green grass.
In the distance, a city and the castle walls encircling it came into view.
Condition 1, 'Eliminate the flute player,' has been completed. However, for unknown reasons, the sound of the flute can still be heard.
Complete the remaining Conditions 2 and 3 as quickly as possible.
Current raid progress: 25.1%
As the existing strategy report had stated, this dungeon was currently in a state of 'suspended raid.'
The cause was the faint flute melody drifting from beyond the castle walls.
Piririri—
Mild hallucinations are beginning to manifest.
Duration: Variable (Check timer)
"Everyone, insert the supplied earplugs immediately. If you're too late, the curse can trigger derangement symptoms, so stay alert!"
Their vision began to shake.
The team members swiftly put in the earplugs they had received before entering the dungeon.
Lee-hyun and Kim Min-jung did the same.
◈ Crafted from the tangled thread of the brother and sister who were nearly devoured by the tiger that ate their mother.
◈ When worn over the ears, it activates power that reveals true voices and blocks specific surrounding sounds. Particularly effective at suppressing magical or deceptive forces.
◈ Origin: Korean folktale The Brother and Sister Who Became the Sun and Moon
The flute sound stopped abruptly, as if it had been a lie.
The shaking vision calmed as well.
The effect of 'Earplugs: Everyone, Shut Your Mouth' has activated, reducing the flute sound to its minimum volume!
You have escaped the curse. You may now move freely for approximately 2 hours.
However, activity time may decrease depending on the situation, so remain vigilant.
"As you can see, the earplugs' effect isn't perfect. We don't know when an unexpected situation might reduce our activity time, so check the countdown frequently."
Team Leader Jung spoke while irritably sweeping his hair back.
Even with the earplugs in, the flute sound that occasionally pierced his ears kept stimulating his sensitive senses.
The report had also contained details related to this flute sound.
Cause of Failure: The flute sound generated upon dungeon entry induces mental derangement. The greatest threat is self-sabotage caused by the debuff.
Countermeasure: An item capable of defending against an area-wide debuff is required. However, most such items have the drawback of short duration.
Limitations: The flute sound was expected to disappear upon killing the boss monster, yet it persists. The true cause is believed to lie elsewhere.
Alternatively, it is predicted that subordinate monsters are playing the flute. It is urgent to devise a plan to locate and eliminate them.
Lee-hyun reviewed the report contents in his mind and thought.
This exact point is what caused the majority of previous raid teams to fail. In reality, finding the source of the flute sound and discovering clues about the children within two hours is no easy task.
It was the same reason the Threefold Divine Wind in the yellow desert had been such a headache.
The difference was that while the Threefold Divine Wind mainly tormented hunters near the boss room,
the flute sound continued to dominate the dungeon even after the boss monster died.
White Burn had invested considerable effort into locating the source of the sound.
Yet they had still failed to find it.
No matter how thoroughly they searched the entire city, they could not discover any meaningful clues.
However,
Lee-hyun was able to detect a trace right here.
The Sacred Relic: Fiery Golden Eyes has activated and discovered the hidden myth of ■■■■ within this dungeon.
The flute sound is being influenced. Locate the myth of ■■■■ and inherit ■■■■'s karma.
If Sun Wukong's myth had mixed into the flute sound, the story became much simpler.
Locate the source of the flute sound within two hours.
For Lee-hyun, this was not a difficult task.
Pathfinding was his specialty, after all.
And,
In reality, I'm practically immune to curses like this anyway.
The flute sound has no significant effect.
Your personal countdown has been suspended.
In essence, this dungeon was extremely favorable for Lee-hyun.
He simply did not show it.
"So, Deputy Kim and Manager Jang... pay close attention while searching. We'll wait here. Contact us immediately if you need help. Fighting."
Of course, unaware of this fact, Team Leader Jung was certain that Lee-hyun and Kim Min-jung would fail.
No—he intended to make them fail without fail.
They can't even reveal what they did before. I don't know what scheme they're plotting, but you think I'll let you have your way?
Jealousy filled Team Leader Jung's eyes as he watched Lee-hyun.
Lee-hyun, who had been stuck to Kim Min-jung like glutinous rice cakes these past few days, was a thorn in his side.
He had mobilized every connection he possessed to uncover the man's background,
yet he had learned absolutely nothing.
Even inquiries to the personnel team yielded the same result.
Well, there was one thing he had discovered.
That Lee-hyun had worked as a guide for a long time. And that he had assisted with Team A's previous raid.
When he learned that fact, he had been utterly dumbfounded...
A guy whose strength is only on par with mine was just a simple guide? Nonsense. There must be something else. He's a hunting dog that Lim Won-young has been secretly raising. He's planning something.
That was why he had come to see for himself.
To confirm the man's true ability.
Or what he was hiding.
Swish.
At the team leader's command, all of Z-team stepped back as if the matter had nothing to do with them.
Kim Min-jung found their blatantly drawing-a-line attitude ridiculous, but
"Let's go."
Lee-hyun paid it no mind and stepped forward.
Kim Min-jung followed behind him.
The dungeon raid had begun.
You are approaching the city. The flute sound's influence is growing stronger.
Item duration has decreased by 10 minutes.
Kim Min-jung spoke while looking at the message floating on her retina.
"We only have about one hour and forty minutes left."
"That's more than enough."
Before they knew it, Lee-hyun and Kim Min-jung had arrived before the castle walls.
However, approaching any closer was difficult.
Hundreds of zombies were swarming the wide-open main gate of the city walls.
"...You're saying that even after seeing that?"
Due to the continuing curse of the flute, all citizens of Hamelin have fallen into collective hallucinations.
They are currently behaving like zombies because of the hallucinations.
Referencing Achievement Condition 3, 'Safety of Hamelin's Citizens,' please take care that the citizens are not harmed.
This was the second reason they had been unable to clear the dungeon until now.
The flute's curse did not affect only the hunters.
The zombies with limbs bent at unnatural angles and drooling saliva were ready to burst out of the castle walls at any moment.
Even dealing with the zombie-like citizens would not be easy, yet the taboo of having to keep them alive as much as possible weighed heavily.
Sun Wukong, perched on Lee-hyun's head, tilted his head in confusion.
"Can't we just ignore them and sweep the whole lot away?"
That would cause our quest completion rate to plummet. We don't know what other variables might appear. It's best to follow the achievement conditions as much as possible.
"You people really live such complicated lives, don't you?"
That's the problem. We never know when additional taboos will be added.
Lee-hyun activated his magic circuits.
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
Anyway, let's begin. It looks like we'll be able to obtain many things here as well.
Rumble—
In an instant, blue-white lightning reminiscent of a blazing sun exploded outward with Lee-hyun at the center.
Dueogsini's Sigh (B+)
A ferocious rage reveals itself for the first time!
"...!!"
Kim Min-jung unconsciously staggered backward.
She had never dreamed that Lee-hyun, who had just escaped the curse, was hiding this much power.
As expected! The fact that he matched Team Leader Jung last time wasn't a fluke! No, this is on a completely different level...!
Lee-hyun smiled at the wide-eyed Kim Min-jung.
"You asked how we'd handle the zombie swarm and the flute sound, right? This should be answer enough..."
Lee-hyun pulled one of the Docheol's Fangs hanging at his waist and gripped it.
In the distance, he could see the zombie swarm beginning to rush toward them from the castle walls.
Zombie-type enemies were usually vulnerable to external stimuli. They had reacted to the lightning and thunder.
Of course, this was all according to Lee-hyun's intention.
To bury the entire zombie swarm at once, I need bait.
Crackle!
In the blink of an eye the axe was covered in vivid yellow lightning, and
Let's see how much Dueogsini's Breath has been strengthened.
He hurled it toward the castle walls with all his strength.
Whiiiir—
The axe flew skyward, generating a fierce gale. An incomparably powerful sonic boom followed.
With the addition of the Threefold Divine Wind's effect, its power, speed, and every aspect had grown stronger.
And as a result,
Dueogsini's Fury strikes!
An even more powerful lightning bolt rained down upon the castle walls.
Accompanied by a tremendous thunderclap.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
The zombie swarm froze mid-charge, their attention captured by the axe that had flown above their heads.
And when the lightning struck, they were completely buried beneath the collapsing castle walls.
Lee-hyun then threw the remaining two axes as well, completely demolishing the walls.
A large number of zombies were buried alive beneath the rubble.
Rumble...
A massive cloud of dust billowed outward.
"There. That should do it, right?"
"Y-yeah... it does."
Kim Min-jung nodded in a daze.
She felt as if she had been possessed by a goblin.
"Then what are you waiting for? Why aren't you running? We have to find that flute."
"...!"
"I'll go on ahead."
Swish—
Lee-hyun shot forward, wrapped in the wind that rode the lightning.
Once again, his movements were as elusive as a goblin's.
Dueogsini's Dash
Kim Min-jung stared blankly after him for a moment before urgently activating her own movement skill and giving chase.
Thump!
Her heart kept racing as she watched Lee-hyun run ahead.
It felt as if she had returned to four years ago.