B-Rank Dungeon, Witch's Forest (7)
“Dammit, all because of that bastard…!”
The man grinding his teeth was Krum. Not long ago, he had been the proud leader of a guild who quarreled with Leo, only to carelessly throw away a golden goose with his own hands.
For a guild master who commanded dozens, suffering a humiliating, one-sided defeat at the hands of a man without even an epithet had dealt a devastating blow to his pride. Worse yet, his own guild members now looked at him with undisguised contempt. Even if he managed to make it out of this dungeon alive, his authority had long since hit rock bottom. He would never command their respect again.
Slash—!
His blade cleaved through another monster, yet the frustration festering in his chest refused to subside.
“Berserker—!”
“Berserker—!”
“All hail the Berserker—!”
Cheers echoed from across the woodland. Surrounding her were scores of seasoned adventurers, cheering on a mere E-rank nobody. No, she was no ordinary adventurer—she was a lunatic. Known now by the epithet [Berserker], she stood at the very vanguard of the slaughter, carving her way through dozens of monsters while wading chest-deep in their gore.
She was supposed to be leagues beneath him. Yet she shone like a beacon, while his own presence faded into complete obscurity.
Crunch—!
The stone gripped tight in his fist shattered into dust. A dark, suffocating certainty took root in his mind: at this rate, he would be completely devoured by her shadow. Right now, only a few dozen adventurers rallied behind her, but what if they linked up with the rest of the survivors scattered throughout the woods?
“I have to stop this. No matter what it takes.”
If he couldn't outshine her... he would kill her.
The moment his murderous resolve crystallized—
Whoosh—
A thick, black mist drifted across the clearing where he sat alone, and from its depths, a presence manifested. It was an entity whose very face was smothered in writhing shadows. It possessed neither eyes nor mouth, yet it fixed its attention squarely on Krum, its voice piercing the air.
The voice scraped against his eardrums like an awl scratching across stone. It dripped with madness, yet the silhouette extended an inviting hand toward him.
They didn't need to exchange another word. Instinctively, Krum knew what that gesture meant. If he grasped that hand, he could reclaim the glory of leading dozens of subordinates. And at the same time, he would discard the very essence of his humanity.
“……”
His pupils trembled violently. His limbs froze in hesitation, cold sweat cascading down his pale cheeks. Yet, despite his terror, his poisoned ambition made the choice for him.
Slowly, Krum reached out and gripped the shadowy hand.
“Aaaaaaaagh—!”
A horrific screech tore from his throat as the human being known as Krum began to unravel and reshape. Muscle fibers ruptured and rewove themselves anew. His fragile mortal flesh was forcibly restructured into the iron frame of an apex monster. From his transforming body gushed an aura that no living human could ever possess: [Death Qi].
It was an energy so rancid and chilling that merely standing near it made one's soul shudder. Devoid of the fiery vigor of blood or the chaotic drive of demonic qi, it carried nothing but pure, unadulterated malice.
By the time the black shroud dissipated, the shadowy specter, the lingering woodland beasts, and the human named Krum had all vanished. In their place stood a towering, grotesque abomination.
Meanwhile, deep within another sector of the forest, Yeong So-so had been operating on her own for the past few days.
“This appears to be the boss room.”
Whether it was an advantage of traveling alone or sheer luck, she had located the boss chamber early on and spent her time clearing out the perimeter. It served as a good opportunity to 'level up,' just as her disciple had advised.
Slash—!
With a casual flick of her wrist, she bisected the last fiend prowling the southern flank. She had crossed paths with adventurers here and there, but most had already been slaughtered by an unknown assailant. Not being an investigator, she felt no inclination to uncover the culprit. Her disciple would find his way here soon enough if she simply waited.
“That technique that monster unleashed before…”
She murmured under her breath, recalling their earlier encounter. That entity had employed no martial forms, nor had it circulated an ounce of inner qi. Yet its sheer destructive force had defied imagination. The shockwave had shattered the very fabric of space upon collision. Had she clashed against it with her standard martial arts alone, the outcome would have been utterly different.
The encounter had forced her to realize how desperately she needed to grow. Though she had kept a composed face before Juhan, a furious hatred that transcended simple indignity still raged in her chest. She needed strength for one reason alone: to tear that silver-haired bitch apart limb from limb.
Vwooom—!
For the first time in her life, Yeong So-so dedicated herself to deliberate, grinding effort. Unlike the effortless mastery that usually accompanied slaying powerful foes, forging ahead through sheer self-cultivation was an agonizingly slow, seemingly endless endeavor. Yet whenever her focus wavered, she forced herself to remember the humiliation of losing consciousness without landing a single blow.
That absurd, overwhelming concussive force… If she poured every ounce of her blood and sweat into training, how long would it take to replicate even a sliver of that power? Years, at the very least. Even with a heaven-defying karmic encounter, it would take three full years.
Caught in a tempest of excitement, despair, anticipation, and battle-lust, she suddenly froze.
“Aa—! AAA—!”
From the shadows of the tree line emerged a colossal mound of stitched, rotting meat.
“A monster?”
It had humanoid features, but the aura radiating from it reeked unmistakably of a dungeon beast. Without hesitation, she categorized it as prey. Conveniently enough, she needed a punching bag to test her inner qi, so she stepped forward and slashed her sword downward with a full surge of internal energy.
However—
“…?!”
Her sword was halted dead in its tracks. Caught off guard, she focused her vision on her opponent. Before her stood a monstrosity resembling a golem cobbled together from dozens of butchered human corpses. It was far too grotesque to even be called a jiangshi.
Having lived exclusively in the East, Yeong So-so had never encountered a Western [Golem] before. Nor did she have any way of knowing that the creature before her was Krum, a man who had been an allied raid leader just hours prior.
With feral glares fixed on each other's throats, the two clashed.
Meanwhile, completely oblivious to the shadowy mastermind or Krum's horrific transformation, our group was searching for the boss room in our own unique way.
“Boss~! Got any spare salt?”
“We're running low on meat over here~!”
“Toss some vegetables this way!”
We had erected a full-blown fortified base camp in the middle of the woods and were currently having a raucous barbecue party. It was a sight so peaceful and absurd that nobody would believe we were inside a lethal dungeon break.
How did things end up like this? It all traced back to a single comment from Selena.
“Hey, Boss, why do we have to march forward so uncomfortably? If we just pitch camp in one spot, won't the monsters come running to us anyway? If safety's the real priority, wouldn't that make way more sense?”
“Uh…?”
Her logic had been so infuriatingly sound that I absentmindedly agreed on the spot. Before long, we had split the survivors into sentry rotations and resting groups, and the camp devolved into an open-air banquet. The mouthwatering aroma of roasted meat mingled with the occasional shriek of an ambush predator getting swatted down, turning the whole expedition into a bizarre tower-defense minigame. A few scouts getting their limbs snapped in minor skirmishes was brushed off as trivial background noise.
And now…
“Ayy~! Boss, having no booze at a feast like this really kills the vibe, don't you think?!”
“Right on, brother—!”
“……”
Sitting behind me were two guys tearing into massive roasted drumsticks. They were adventurers I had recently gotten acquainted with. If I recalled correctly, they weren't affiliated with any large guild and operated as an independent, small-scale party. Since we happened to be the same age, we had dropped the formalities and quickly transitioned into casual bro-talk.
“Puhah—! Man, how the hell did you season this meat? It's incredible!”
The boisterous archer ravenously chewing through his ration was Kidd. He was an obnoxious punk who arrogantly referred to himself as the 'Divine Archer' and the 'Proud Bow,' but the guy could shoot silver arrows through a needle's eye from a mile away, so I gave him half-credit.
“This carbonated water is fire too! Who the hell came up with this recipe…?!”
Chugging down sparkling water beside him was a tanned, flashy blond warrior. He looked like the textbook definition of an NTR playboy, yet in reality, he was an earnest romantic passionately devoted to his fiancée back home. It was an almost tragic disconnect between his sleazy exterior and wholesome interior. Oh, and his name was Hilder. Apparently, it was a common name in this world, though I couldn't care less.
Perhaps because we were all freaks in our own ways, it took less than a day for us to become fast friends. Right now, we were chatting away like lifelong drinking buddies over grilled meat and refreshments, until my brain suddenly rebooted.
Damn it all—!
I was losing my mind. Drunk on the campfire atmosphere, what the hell was I doing throwing a cookout inside an active dungeon? For a B-rank dungeon break, things had been so ridiculously calm that I had almost forgotten our actual mission.
On the bright side, the quality of the monsters had steadily climbed, which meant we were drawing closer to the core chamber. That confirmed Leo's directions had been spot on. I felt a pang of guilt for doubting the beast-man earlier. Was this what racial prejudice felt like? It was a humbling reminder that I shouldn't jump to conclusions based on appearances.
“Wooo~! Drink up, drink!”
“Eat until you burst~!”
“Gwahaha—! Look at him go! Pour another round, pour it down—!”
“……”
Watching the three idiots link arms and sway together gave me a phantom migraine, but I gritted my teeth and led the expedition toward the coordinates Leo had provided.
Unlike the rest of the dense forest, this clearing was completely devoid of trees. Bathed in brilliant, unfiltered sunlight, the wide expanse looked like an ideal spot for sunbathing.
“Boss, that massive gate up ahead…”
“Yeah. That's likely the boss room.”
“Hell yeah—!”
Behind us, several hundred adventurers embraced each other in sheer ecstasy. Given that they had been trapped in this living nightmare for weeks, their tears of joy were entirely understandable. Well, mostly understandable.
“Man, I kinda wanted to stay trapped a little longer…”
“Hear me out: what if we open a restaurant inside a dungeon? We'd make a killing.”
Kidd and Hilder were insane in a completely different category. While everyone else prayed for salvation, these two lunatics were genuinely wishing for an extended vacation. As I was shaking my head at their nonsense, a voice called out.
“Alright, everyone! Prepare to enter—!”
Just as the massive vanguard moved to breach the boss chamber—
Huh?
A black silhouette was hurled through the air from the tree line, hurtling toward us before crashing violently into the ancient trunk beside the gate.
Lustrous black hair, enchanting red eyes, and a slender frame currently spitting up bright crimson blood.
“Yeong So-so…?”
“*Cough—!*”
Leaving her side, I snapped my head toward the direction she had been thrown from. Emerging slowly from the dark canopy was a towering abomination composed of stitched corpses. A creeping sense of familiarity washed over me.
I immediately called up my interface.
[Corrupted Flesh Golem: Krum]
“Ah, fuck.”
My headache began throbbing with a vengeance.