Chapter 24
Chapter 24
『You have entered the dungeon: Occupied Frontier Lord's Fortress.』
『This dungeon has one rule.』
『Upon entry, a random one of your five senses will be lost.』
『This effect persists until the dungeon is cleared.』
A B-rank dungeon.
The Occupied Frontier Lord's Fortress.
This was why it ranked 11th on the Hunter Community's list of the worst dungeons.
Rules like these became more common the higher the dungeon rank, and while there were ways to circumvent them, they were rare in B-rank dungeons.
More importantly, hunters entering a dungeon of this caliber had no means to bypass the rule.
They had to endure it barehanded and fight regardless.
Which was why Kim Han-yul prayed with all her heart.
'Please, please, please... Let it be taste, smell, or even touch. Just not hearing—no, just not sight!'
Perhaps her desperate wish was heard.
The familiar tug of dungeon entry pulled at her, and when Han-yul opened her eyes, she let out an involuntary shout.
"Yes!"
She could see.
And she could hear her own voice.
Touch?
She clenched her fist—she could feel that too.
Then what was missing?
The answer came quickly.
'I can't smell anything.'
It was like hitting the jackpot.
The Occupied Frontier Lord's Fortress.
The primary monsters here were orcs.
The starting point was usually the underground prison.
The stench was one of the most unbearable aspects.
Losing the sense of smell—the one thing that made enduring it easier—was the luckiest possible outcome for any entrant.
And Han-yul had drawn that exact fortune on her first try.
'They say the first stroke of luck sets the tone.'
So what?
Given Joo Do-gyeom's personality, he probably wouldn't run this dungeon repeatedly anyway. A win was a win.
She turned her head and spoke.
"I lost my sense of smell. Team Leader, you...?"
Her words died in her throat.
Standing right beside her, Team Leader Joo Do-gyeom's pitch-black eyes were clouded over, as if veiled in mist.
Her mouth fell open.
"No way...."
Do-gyeom nodded calmly.
"I lost my sight."
Han-yul's face instantly paled.
The world had turned pitch black.
But Do-gyeom wasn't panicked.
In this era, dungeons with rules were few and far between, so people called the Occupied Frontier Lord's Fortress one of the worst.
But in the future, most dungeons had rules.
Even the calamity-class monsters he had fought to the bitter end all wielded multiple rules like domains.
And yet, just one rule now?
Losing a single sense—not even all of them—was almost laughable.
Of course, this was the perspective of a regressor like Do-gyeom.
Kim Han-yul, however—
"We're screwed. Team Leader. We're so screwed. If you've lost your sight... No. This can't be happening. I have an Emergency Return Scroll saved up for the party. Let's just use it and come back later. That's the smarter move."
An Emergency Return Scroll.
A single-use magical item that allowed immediate return to Earth without clearing the dungeon's objectives.
The personal version cost hundreds of millions.
For a full party, the price soared into the billions.
For the current Do-gyeom, it wasn't an insurmountable sum, but it was undeniably expensive.
And they were hard to come by.
But more importantly—there was no need to use it now.
With that thought, Do-gyeom replied,
"Calm down, Han-yul. It's not a problem."
"How is it not a problem?! Even if I'm called a 'super rookie,' I'm nowhere near your level! Our most important team member just went blind—how am I supposed to stay calm?!"
Ignoring Han-yul's protests, Do-gyeom stepped forward.
The world was dark, but it didn't matter.
No—
It was even better this way.
Wasn't there a saying?
When a person loses one sense, the others sharpen to compensate.
It was true.
And this had been instrumental in mastering certain martial arts.
『Skill: Ripple Perception Qi Art (3★) has leveled up.』
A martial art that mapped the surroundings through sound.
The moment he activated it, he could read the terrain, the layout, even Han-yul's figure as she stomped her feet in frustration.
The iron bars trapping them were no exception.
Do-gyeom gripped the bars and wrenched them apart with ease—they weren't reinforced with any special magic or strength.
Without a word, he stepped out and walked down the musty underground corridor toward the stairs.
Han-yul, following behind, muttered,
"Wait... What? Team Leader, can you see? You're moving like you can—"
"I can't. But it's enough."
"What does that mean?"
Do-gyeom didn't answer.
Instead, he sharpened his senses further as he walked.
『Skill: Five Senses Unity (4★) has leveled up.』
'Better than training blindfolded.'
There was a world of difference between choosing not to use a sense and being unable to use it.
As he ascended the stairs, Han-yul finally fell silent.
Or rather, she began muttering under her breath, organizing her thoughts.
"A special skill? One that doesn't need sight? What kind of skill even does that? Team Leader's still D-rank, right? But if he had it, why didn't he just say so? Seriously..."
"Stop chattering. You'd have insisted on leaving even if I told you."
"......"
Han-yul's eyes widened before she reluctantly nodded.
"Fair. Honestly, I still want to leave..."
"Don't worry. Han-yul. There won't be any problems."
"...I'll trust you."
Han-yul wasn't usually this panicky.
If anything, she was the daring type.
Why else would she have challenged the Corpse Giant when even senior hunters warned against it?
But even by her standards, Do-gyeom was just too much.
A D-rank hunter with that level of combat power AND a detection skill?
She'd never even heard of such a thing.
And then there was that item—Eve's Gift.
Where the hell did he even get that?
A treasure among summoner-type hunters, something she'd never even glimpsed before.
'Just when I think I'm starting to understand him...'
She still had no idea.
Joo Do-gyeom.
Though his vision was lost, leaving his eyes clouded, his usual calm remained in those pitch-black pupils.
She stared at them intently—until he spoke.
"You're making me self-conscious. Is there a reason you're staring so hard?"
"......!! You can—no, sense that too?"
"I don't need to try. It's obvious."
Do-gyeom fell silent.
So did Han-yul.
Not far away—
"Squeeek!"
The distinctive snort of an orc echoed.
From behind the closed wooden door at the top of the stairs.
Do-gyeom summoned Daeboo, his massive axe.
Han-yul's eyes questioned him.
'Isn't it too cramped to swing that thing here?'
The answer came swiftly.
Stepping closer to the exit, Do-gyeom drove the axe into the wall—
Whoosh—!
—and cleaved through the stone wall, the wooden door, and the torsos of two orcs waiting beyond in a single, seamless motion.
No deafening crash, no visible destruction—just a smooth, effortless cut.
Like slicing through tofu.
The only sounds that followed were—
Thud!
—the severed door and dead orcs collapsing to the ground.
Han-yul's mind flooded with question marks at the surreal sight.
Do-gyeom, nodding faintly to himself, thought:
'I can still use Mandatory Death Eye even without sight.'
It was less about seeing and more about sensing, after all.
His first experiment—connecting the dots beyond the wall—had gone perfectly.
Satisfied, he strode forward.
Han-yul, trailing behind, couldn't help but ask:
"Team Leader... are you actually a monster?"
"Does it seem that way?"
"......Kidding. Just kidding. Don't look at me like that."
"I'm not looking at all. I can't see right now."
"Oh, right..."
"Hmm..."
She asked, she groaned—but this wasn't new.
Even in the far future, many had called Joo Do-gyeom a monster.
'Guess I'll have to get used to it.'
With a calm nod, Do-gyeom moved on.
Escaping the underground prison was a kind of tutorial.
A chance to adapt to the lost sense.
Only five orcs stood in their way.
If the commotion grew or the fight dragged on, reinforcements would come—but under normal circumstances, that wouldn't happen.
Was this the system's mercy?
Hard to say.
Either way, the two of them exited the underground prison with ease.
'Well, more like Team Leader soloed everything and walked out.'
Even seeing it a second, third time, it was hard to believe.
An axe technique that rendered cramped spaces meaningless—slicing through everything like tofu.
Or was it even an axe technique?
'He's not even using Gangqi...'
Gangqi was a secret art reserved for close-combat specialists who had reached at least S+-rank.
How was a D-rank like Do-gyeom using it?
'...Which just makes it more baffling.'
Lost in thought, they finally emerged from the prison.
Do-gyeom didn't head outside.
Instead, he climbed the stairs leading to the watchtower-like outer wall pillars, reaching the top.
Naturally, Han-yul followed.
What awaited them was—
Hundreds of orcs reveling in a savage feast amidst burning, crumbling buildings.
The literal scenery of an occupied fortress.
Han-yul felt a wave of dizziness.
"So... we have to get past that and defeat the Orc Warlord in the inner sanctum to clear this dungeon?"
"Correct."
"...With a blind Team Leader."
"Yes."
It wasn't a problem.
But it was hard not to feel overwhelmed.
The 11th worst dungeon according to the Hunter Community.
'There's a reason it's ranked that high.'
Losing a sense was bad enough, but fighting through hundreds of orcs, their warriors, their shamans, just to reach the Warlord?
Was this really B-rank?
Realistically, it felt like a dungeon only B+ or even A-rank hunters could handle.
It was nothing like Zombie Burst, where sheer numbers were the only challenge.
Zombies died easily to basic attacks, while even the weakest orc could slaughter dozens of zombies effortlessly—and they had intelligence on top of that.
Worse, Zombie Burst could be cleared without defeating the Corpse Giant, but the Occupied Frontier Lord's Fortress required killing the Orc Warlord.
'...And unlike Zombie Burst, this is an instanced dungeon—just the two of us against everything.'
The thought came unbidden.
'Ah, I really want to use that Emergency Return Scroll.'
But she didn't say it aloud.
They'd come this far, and she'd already complained enough.
Now was the time to hear the plan.
"So... how are we doing this? You're not seriously planning to carve through all of them and behead the Warlord, right...?"
Do-gyeom's misted eyes turned to her.
Han-yul's face slowly twisted in horror.
"W-Wait... you're not...?"
Do-gyeom chuckled.
"Of course not. I'm joking."
"......Team Leader. If you weren't you, I'd have shot you just now. You know that, right?"
"Haha!"
"Don't laugh!"
She snapped, but it was oddly refreshing.
'He can laugh like this too, huh?'
Why did he always act so stiff?
It was ridiculous.
Annoyed, she crossed her arms.
"So? What's the plan?"