The Dungeon You Can't Leave Without Sex
Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province.
The members of Team Venus, myself included, stood before the B-Class dungeon gate we were scheduled to clear that day.
The gate, radiating a soft blue light, looked almost beautiful at a glance. But beyond it lay a world inhabited by monsters hostile to humankind. For that reason, the area around the gate was sealed off by soldiers and civil servants from the Dungeon Management Bureau.
"Then, one last thing… could you say a few words to the fans who will be watching this interview?"
"Of course. Hmm… thank you for always supporting us. Team Venus will keep working hard going forward."
I looked into the camera and smiled with carefully practiced warmth.
"Thank you for making time despite how busy you are."
"Not at all. You've worked hard too, sir."
They were reporters who'd come to cover Korea's rising hunter prospects. Since our preparations were already finished, the interview hadn't been much of a burden.
Once it was over and we'd exchanged farewells, I rejoined the team. Everyone was already geared up for the dungeon — swords, staves, armor, robes. The game-character look came down to the Dungeon Rules. A representative example: modern weapons like guns and missiles were forbidden inside dungeons.
"Be careful in there."
Instructor Jeong saw us off as we prepared to enter.
"With your skill, a B-Class dungeon should be manageable… but don't get careless."
Normally, when academy students with provisional hunter licenses cleared a dungeon, an instructor was assigned to each team. Ours was different. The academy headmaster — a former S-Class hunter — had granted every member of our team a full hunter license as a special exception.
"Ugh, Teach, how many times are you gonna say the same—"
"We'll keep that in mind, Instructor."
I cut Hye-ji off before she could needle him any further.
"All right. Let's go."
Together with my teammates, I stepped into the dungeon gate as its blue light rippled and surged. In an instant, the scenery around us changed.
In the temporary dungeon management office set up beside the gate Team Venus had just entered—
"…Huh?"
A civil servant from the Dungeon Management Bureau, eyes fixed on his monitor, noticed something wrong.
"Uh, Team Leader Jeong… you need to come look at this!"
"What is it?"
"The dungeon's mana concentration is abnormal… it's rising all of a sudden…"
Mana concentration was the single most accurate metric for measuring a dungeon's rank.
"…Move!"
The middle-aged man called Team Leader Jeong shoved his subordinate aside and dropped into the seat.
"What the hell…"
The curse left his mouth the moment he saw the screen. Just as his subordinate had said, the graph tracking the dungeon's mana was climbing in a steep, unbroken curve.
"This is an emergency — go get the academy instructor, now!"
He barked the order, urgency raw in his voice.
"It's a Level Change."
Every dungeon had its own internal form and environment. The one we'd entered was a steep mountain range thick with greenery. From above, the green seemed to roll on forever — but in truth, the traversable area was limited. Wander far enough and, like in a game, an invisible wall would bar any further progress.
"Something's off."
We were moving by the book, scouting the terrain and gathering information with the team, when Lavenne — summoned at my side — was the first to sense the change.
"What is?"
"The mana concentration is shifting."
That stopped everyone in their tracks.
"…She's right."
"It's definitely… way too dense."
"Hoon, something's wrong with this, isn't it?"
A term for exactly this kind of phenomenon rose in my mind.
Don't tell me it's a Level Change…?
A catastrophic event in which, for reasons unknown, a dungeon's mana concentration spiked until its rank itself changed. My suspicion hardened into certainty almost at once.
"It's still climbing. This isn't B-Class anymore."
Lavenne drove the point home, and the team's expressions turned grim. A phenomenon that had occurred only a handful of times worldwide was unfolding in the dungeon we had just entered.
"Our luck is absolute garbage. Of all the times for this to happen — right after we walk in."
Kang-in's words were dead on. A Level Change that triggered after entry left no room for any kind of response.
"…For now, keep moving and gather information."
If the dungeon had truly become A-Class, monsters to match would start appearing. Even in an A-Class dungeon, ordinary monsters were still within our team's reach. The real problem was the boss monster that existed in every dungeon. The only way out was to kill the boss and open a return gate — and no matter the type, a boss's strength was on an entirely different level from regular monsters.
Whatever shows up, I just have to hope it's as weak as possible.
That hope was crushed a few hours later.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me—!!"
Faced with a house-sized, lizard-like monster whose entire body was sheathed in steel-hard scales of deep gray, Kang-in spat a curse that was half a scream.
"This bastard's a dragon-type!!"
Misfortune, they said, never came alone. As if to spare us the trouble of searching, the boss monster that revealed itself first was a dragon-type — known as one of the strongest among all monsters.
「───────!!!」
I'd heard they appeared in B-Class dungeons and above, but this was my first time seeing one in person. The sheer presence rolling off the thing sent a chill down my spine. If there was any consolation, it was that this one had no wings — a ground dragon that moved on land.
"…Combat ready!"
I forced down the rising terror and shouted.
A heavy whoosh cut the air. The monster, built like some ancient dinosaur, swept a foreleg at us.
A thunderous impact. Kang-in, our tank, raised his massive shield and caught the blow — but the sound was like a bomb going off, and his body was driven clean backward.
"Son of a—!!"
His eyes went wide at a force so overwhelming it left him stunned. The others weren't standing idle either. Anika, her great hammer wreathed in golden lightning, and Hye-ji, gripping a greatsword stained crimson, charged the ground dragon from either side.
A book of pure light materialized before Bo-yeon's eyes — the manifestation of Record Speller, a skill every mage on a standard Awakened team was expected to have. Bo-yeon's Record Speller was B-Class.
"□□□■■■!"
She spoke in a language none of us understood. The surrounding mana convulsed, and thick tree roots burst from the ground beneath the boss, binding it in place.
「─────────!!!!!!!!」
Crack! Snap!
Every time the ground dragon roared and thrashed, the earth heaved and the roots tore free. Anika and Hye-ji seized the brief opening and struck.
A wet crunch. A ringing clash of metal.
"What the hell!?"
"…It's too hard."
Attacks poured out with every ounce of the superhuman strength their Awakenings had granted them — and left nothing more than shallow scratches on the thick-scaled hide.
Another crash. Kang-in took another foreleg on his shield, and blood spilled from his mouth.
From the rear, I channeled mana into the staff in my hands — the Staff of Recovery, something we'd picked up in a previous dungeon. Even without a skill of my own, it let me cast something close to healing magic. Between my support and his own skills, Kang-in's injuries closed quickly. But all we were managing was a razor-thin hold.
So this is A-Class…!
The overwhelming power and presence made the fear of death feel close enough to touch.
Then the ground dragon, which had been driving us back without mercy, suddenly stopped. Its belly swelled to a grotesque size.
"Everyone, to me!!"
Lavenne, at my side, shouted in a voice sharp with urgency. Sensing something was wrong, the team scrambled in close — and in the same instant—
「──────────」
—the ground dragon's jaws opened.
A gale tore through the mountains as if the whole range were shaking. We stared, dazed, at the cloud of dust rising in the distance.
A Breath — the ultimate attack of a dragon-type monster. The compressed blast the ground dragon had unleashed had scoured a straight path through the land, leaving nothing but barren earth in its wake. If Lavenne hadn't space-shifted all of us out of there in that final second, we would have been wiped out on the spot.
"I'd heard dragons were strong, but… how the hell are we supposed to kill something like that?"
Kang-in, who as the tank had felt its strength more keenly than anyone, muttered in a hollow voice.
"That isn't a true dragon."
Even as she said it, the beautiful little summon who had just saved our lives delivered an even more hopeless piece of news.
"It's probably in the middle of molting — the stage before it becomes a complete dragon. A real dragon's power is on a completely different scale."
Her theory was that the sudden spike in mana concentration meant the monsters inside were only now beginning to undergo gradual change.
"The reason it came looking for you and struck first was to eliminate the threat you represent and molt in safety."
"…Then why isn't it chasing us? Why is it just sitting there?"
"That's thanks to me, too. Dragons are sensitive to mana, so I cut off the traces of mana you were leaking. It burned through a huge amount of spiritual energy."
She'd managed even that while getting us out.
"…Thank you, Lavenne."
"You saved us."
"Forget it. That isn't what matters right now."
The brief relief of having survived at all didn't last.
"We're out of time. Once it finishes molting, even hiding like this becomes impossible. It'll pick up the smallest trace and track you down."
When that happened, even Lavenne wouldn't be able to stop it.
"From the look of it, it'll take about a week for that thing to become a complete dragon. You have to kill it somehow before then."
"…We couldn't even hold our own just now. How are we supposed to do that?"
They'd given everything and barely managed to endure. The clash with the ground dragon had broken their will, and shadows hung over every face on the team.
But I trusted my capable summon.
"You've got a way, don't you?"
"Of course I do. Who do you think I am? I'll power you all up so you can take that ground dragon down within a week!"
That was possible…?
"Just do exactly as I say."
With a confident smile, Lavenne raised a finger and pointed straight at Kang-in.
"And look — we've even got the perfect stud right over there."
"Stud…? Me?"
Kang-in tilted his head, clearly not following. Lavenne ignored him and kept going.
"The method is simple. From now on, I'm going to pour spiritual energy into your bodies and raise your Grade of Existence."