The Evolution of a Unique Trait

Lee Jiyoo stood quietly in a corner of the site, feeling unnecessarily self-conscious. It was a corner, yes, but it was positioned in a way that awkwardly obstructed the flow of movement. Every time people passed by, they would cast a sidelong glance at her. It had been a while since she’d been on a field mission. From somewhere, the voice of the person who was supposed to be the party leader for this raid drifted over. He was supposedly Shin Hyung-chul, an A+ rank hunter.

“Honestly, those damn Association bastards…”

“Are we really supposed to take her in?”

“Yeah.”

“No, what is wrong with the people at the Association? The party composition is a mess, and I just don’t get it.”

“Exactly. If they had just done their jobs properly from the start, there wouldn’t be any dungeon breaks. Tsk…”

“We need to privatize gate management as soon as possible. If guilds handled it, they’d be much more economical. Watching the Association waste money like this makes me want to die. If they had just assigned a proper healing-type hunter, we could have cleared this with fewer people.”

“And then those Association jerks have the nerve to say guilds only care about money. Whatever. Hey! We’re moving out!”

Synthesizing the conversations heard here and there, it seemed this dungeon was on the verge of a break. The Association had botched the job, failing to clear it in time. Someone approached and spoke to Lee Jiyoo.

“Uh… are you the freelance hunter? Follow me. You probably know this already, but this dungeon is on the verge of exploding. This party can’t clear it anyway, so we’re just going to test the waters and come back out. Just stay in the back and don’t do anything.”

“Y-yes, okay.”

“Well, do you want me to hold your hand?”

“Oh, no. I can go on my own.”

Lee Jiyoo walked toward the energy of the gate. The way she tapped her cane against the ground felt alien among the hunters. Still, her movements weren’t as awkward as a typical visually impaired person’s. As an awakened, her other senses were sharp, and she could feel the dungeon’s energy and the hunters’ unique auras quite well.

“As you know, it’s on the verge of exploding. We’ll explore quickly and then escape. You’ve experienced the interior before, so you know. We both know that going in again with the same party won’t result in a clear. We’ll just process this quickly.”

She wondered if that was really okay, but Lee Jiyoo kept quiet. After all, they were all hunters with more experience than her. From the side, she heard a hunter who seemed to have a mental defense skill grumbling. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠He was complaining about how annoying it was to have one more person to protect. Lee Jiyoo knew he was talking about her. She felt small and bowed her head.

‘Did I come here for nothing…’

Regret washed over her. It was a gaze that was painful to receive, no matter when it happened. Especially among hunters, it was even worse.

“Moving out!”

With Shin Hyung-chul’s shout, the party began to move. Lee Jiyoo’s place was at the very back. She just had to follow along without doing anything and come back out. She could use healing skills, but she decided not to even do that. It would be troublesome if she accidentally cast a healing skill on a monster like last time.

The party entered the dungeon.

“It’s a disgusting place, no matter when you enter.”

An unintelligible language crawled through their ears like ants. It was a mental interference magic cast on the A-rank dungeon, ‘The Dungeon of the Heretic Cult.’ Shin Hyung-chul scratched his ear canal at the unpleasant sensation. Soon, mental defense magic was cast over the entire party, and the sound vanished.

“It seems there is still no proliferation of monsters.”

“Moving forward.”

The dungeon was in a similar state to when they had visited before. Clearing a dungeon ultimately meant dealing with the dungeon boss. Once the boss is dealt with, the dungeon is destroyed and the gate disappears. Monsters other than the boss are spread throughout the dungeon. In some cases, normal monsters continue to proliferate within the dungeon, and in others, they don’t. In dungeons where monsters continue to proliferate, the clear must be done more quickly. This is because if the dungeon fills with monsters, a dungeon break occurs sooner.

‘The Dungeon of the Heretic Cult’ was a dungeon where monsters did not proliferate. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠If they stopped the clear and entered again later, the number of monsters in the dungeon remained the same. Monster proliferation is related to the species of the dungeon boss. For example, dungeons where insect-like monsters appear have an incredible proliferation speed.

“We can’t hold out for long.”

“I know. We’ll quickly check up to where we progressed previously and then escape immediately.”

“Understood.”

A member of the guild ‘Blue Rose,’ who was mainly in charge of mental defense, said to Shin Hyung-chul. The party began to run through the dungeon at high speed. Mold and moss were stuck everywhere. There was an unidentifiable fishy smell and dried-up skeletons visible here and there. If there were a very ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠old dungeon, it would certainly feel like this.

‘…As expected, she can’t ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠keep up properly.’

Shin Hyung-chul, who had been running hard, glanced back and thought. The blind freelance hunter sent by the Association. Lee Jiyoo couldn’t keep up with the speed and was being carried on the back of another hunter. ‘Was it Shin Jiwoo?’

The person in charge of this dungeon had suddenly changed. The previous person in charge definitely had many problems. He had been too careless even with forming the party. Yet, even though he knew a dungeon break would occur, the person in charge had been changed. Changing the person in charge of a dungeon at the Association wasn’t something that could be done simply by dumping the work. Shin Jiwoo himself must have had the intention. And yet, the only thing he did after becoming the person in charge of this doomed dungeon was to add one blind healer.

‘As expected, those Association bastards are hopeless.’

There wasn’t a single thing about the Association that he liked. What good is it being a state institution? They didn’t do anything right, from hiring employees to managing dungeons.

“Stop!”

They ran quickly and arrived at the point they had reached during the previous clear. As expected, monsters remained beyond this point. Massive jailers over 2 meters tall with blisters blooming all over their bodies. Wielding greatswords covered in moss and mold, they were powerful monsters, fitting for an A-rank dungeon.

“It’s impossible, as expected. The mental interference magic is much worse than when we came before. It’s hard to defend any longer.”

“Yeah. We need to escape now. For some reason, the dungeon’s ominous energy has become even thicker.”

A hunter from the Blue Rose guild approached and said. The number of combatants was high, but the number of healers and buffers was small, making it hard to maintain. The dungeon’s malice was much stronger than when they had visited before. Now, it felt like a bizarre voice was piercing through their mental defense skills.

“Huh? Why is this…”

“What’s the matter?”

The moment he ordered the escape, the utility-type hunters with escape skills made sounds of confusion.

“…The escape skill is impossible. It’s blocked by something, so we can’t get out.”

“What? We escaped without any problems during the last clear, didn’t we?”

“That’s true, but this time something is different. The air feels stickier than it did then…”

That was something Shin Hyung-chul had been feeling as well. Dungeons with mental attack magic, like ‘The Dungeon of the Heretic Cult,’ have a unique mana. Everyone was feeling that the mana was becoming thicker as time passed. In fact, the intensity of the mental attacks was also increasing. But it was the first time he had heard that it would even block escape skills.

“…So. You’re saying we can’t escape?”

“…We can’t. It’s absolutely impossible. Unless we bring an S-rank supporter, it seems impossible.”

The person who spoke was an A-rank hunter. Usually, escape skills are quite efficient. It meant that an A-rank hunter’s escape skill should be enough to escape an S-rank dungeon.

“Ha… this is the first time I’ve seen this.”

Shin Hyung-chul ran his hand through his hair. The other hunters were trembling in anxiety. Shin Hyung-chul was the same, but as the party leader, he couldn’t lose his composure.

“…Keep trying for now. And, the party will advance toward the boss’s room.”

“What? What are you talking about!”

At those words, the A-rank hunter from the Blue Rose guild shouted. Of course, the other hunters had a similar reaction.

“The fact that an A-rank hunter’s escape skill is impossible means the mana covering the dungeon is that strong. And it seems this dungeon has a structure where the ominous mana covering it gets stronger as time passes. It will probably get exponentially stronger as it gets closer to a dungeon break. We have to assume that we can’t use escape skills anyway.”

“But…”

Shin Hyung-chul spoke very calmly. Shin Hyung-chul had awakened with low potential, but he was a hunter who had grown to A+ rank through immense experience. Everyone knew that his analysis in such unexpected situations was worth following.

“Understood.”

And so, the party began to clear the dungeon again. But as time went on, the insufficient healers reached their limits. As the mental defense skills weakened, the party members slowly began to go insane.

“Is the escape skill still not working?”

“…Yes. It’s impossible.”

“Damn it…”

Shin Hyung-chul spat out curses while cutting off the heads of monsters at the vanguard. Shin Hyung-chul had a mental attack immunity option on his armor, so he could resist to some extent. But the others couldn’t, and if things continued like this, they would be wiped out before even reaching the boss’s room.

“Uwaaaaaaaah-!!”

There was no method. No, there was no time to think. While there was still a sliver of hope left, Shin Hyung-chul swung his greatsword like a madman. Thanks to that, the progress speed increased a little, even if only slightly. Even though the boss’s room was still far away.

“Kyaak!”

At that moment, Lee Jiyoo, who was at the rear of the formation, screamed and rolled on the floor. The mind of the hunter who had been leading her, the one who couldn’t see, had begun to be corrupted. The others were also going insane one by one. The strength of the hunters who had been casting mental defense skills had begun to run dry.

Tata-tat-

Avoiding the party members who were going insane, Lee Jiyoo headed toward the front of the formation. Strangely, Lee Jiyoo was able to move better, and the reason was that she was beginning to ‘see’ more clearly.

“This is…”

It didn’t mean her eyes could see. Lee Jiyoo’s eyes were still blind. But mysterious clusters of light had begun to appear in Lee Jiyoo’s field of vision, which had previously held nothing but endless darkness. Those lights, which had occasionally sparked like static in the darkness. Since entering the dungeon, that phenomenon had occurred more and more frequently, and now, colorful lights were moving in groups through the darkness.

“People…”

A massive black light filled with malice. And a larger red light cutting through it. Various lights moving in perfect order from all directions. And the ominous energy covering the entire space, growing stronger and stronger. And the human lights that were being swallowed by that energy and slowly turning black.

Light. Mana. Or something that constitutes existence. Those things. They were beginning to appear in the eyes of Lee Jiyoo, who had lost her sight long ago. It wasn’t the world she saw before becoming a hunter. It was something more fundamental. Lee Jiyoo began to see the world again.

Whoosh-

And then, the moment that sensation reached its peak. Along with the feeling that the eyes that had shown her nothing but darkness were brightening, Lee Jiyoo became able to observe the world in a new way.

It was at that moment that the message appeared.