Mosquito's Lair
The superior's words still echoed in my ears.
“Senior, we almost made it again this time.”
“It was too close.”
“One monster summons and the face of the dead Ul Halbae is right there…”
“I never dreamed I’d see Eria Goddess’s Holy Spirit in the dungeon.”
As we descended each layer, the team members’ reactions grew more varied.
“I will never enter the dungeon with you again, Prosecutor.”
Piaget Dmitri, the female office worker, glared at me with resolute eyes. I could tell she had learned her lesson.
“I will never come to the dungeon with you again.”
We weren’t dungeon hunters. We were a special investigation squad. There was no chance we’d return.
In fact, there shouldn’t be.
“This time we’ll catch Mosquito.”
“Senior, there are only three days left, right?”
The scheduled dungeon expedition lasted seven days.
Of course, the expedition period could be adjusted, but the dungeon’s anomalies had to be considered.
The moment seven days passed since entry, the dungeon generated its own anomalies.
It created strange cracks and bizarre phenomena, demanding even more preparation.
“Yeah. To leave comfortably, we have to complete it in three days.”
Piaget Dmitri added to my short reply.
“And from the fourth floor onward, the scene will be completely different from now.”
Piaget Dmitri was clearly experienced as a dungeon hunter.
Some said the third floor was just a leisurely walk around the perimeter, but the fourth floor was like climbing the endless Hertz Mountains.
Incidentally, since the founding of the Gilorian Empire, no one has ever conquered the Hertz Mountains.
From the fourth floor, even the current anomaly strategy wouldn’t work.
“Let’s hurry.”
Everyone stood up without a word and began packing the campsite.
We rolled up the sleeping bags and stored the central table.
“Inspector Marian, if the maseok pouch is full, please take this one. There’s still space left.”
Piaget Dmitri tossed the maseok pouch she had pulled from her space toward Marian Artisian, who smiled faintly.
It landed in front of the enormous rock and exploded with a loud bang.
“Cough… cough…”
Kairon kept waving away the swirling dust and coughing nonstop.
Marian Artisian stared at the ruined boulder in disbelief.
“Inspector Marian, let me remind you again—this is a low-gravity zone. The strength of the rocks is quite weak…”
Piaget Dmitri clicked his tongue and recalled the features of the fourth floor.
The dungeon worked like this.
The fourth floor had low gravity, and the sixth floor reversed the field of vision due to special light refraction.
That meant left and right were swapped, making familiar attack patterns difficult to follow.
Even deeper, it was recommended to avoid unless you were a monster.
When we returned to the fourth floor, it had ore deposits and gravity at one-seventh the level of a normal area.
From my memories of living in South Korea, the moon’s gravity was about one-sixth of Earth’s. This was even lower.
Everyone moved slowly and lightly, like astronauts in slow motion.
“Put on your equipment.”
As I spoke, Leonic the priest, who had been jumping in place, pulled a lead pouch from his backpack and tied one to each ankle.
While pioneering the dungeon, the Dungeon Hunter Headquarters and Hunter Association had developed various equipment to assist exploration, including lead pouches.
They had pockets for simple food and water storage beyond weight adjustment, making them highly practical.
“Now the target is secured.”
I fixed the compass toward the target location and addressed everyone.
The target was the Mushroom Cave at the southern edge of the fourth floor.
* * *
On the way, we also defeated a giant stone golem that might appear on the fifth floor and a fire wyvern that hurled rocks like bombs.
“Senior, your condition is better than I expected.”
Marian Artisian moved lightly.
In low gravity and high-oxygen zones, muscle damage barely accumulated from normal movement.
“Mosquito really hit the jackpot.”
Kairon’s words were uncouth, but he wasn’t entirely wrong.
He claimed there was no more pleasant place in the dungeon than the area where his footprints had touched.
From the fourth floor, the dungeon’s unique reset effect disappeared. It formed a separate ecosystem.
That was why Mosquito had chosen this place.
An area where he could make a base yet avoid strong monsters nearby.
A rather reasonable choice.
“Ah, these big chunks…”
Piaget Dmitri smashed a tyrannosaurus-sized monster with his mace, turning it into fine pieces.
With low gravity, monsters here grew larger. Even over two meters tall, Kairon looked like a cute hamster.
“Ah, I’m so pissed off at this bloated wyvern…”
Marian Artisian nocked her arrow, twitching with irritation.
Hunting a wyvern that glided on air cushions was irritating enough for an archer.
With low gravity, air resistance dropped, making it easier for air-cushion users or large-winged monsters to adapt.
The varied movements increased the hunt’s difficulty.
As we raced north to south, irritation and surprise showed clearly on our faces.
Not far ahead, faint light appeared in the endless darkness of a bottomless pit.
“The Mushroom Cave. Mosquito’s home.”
At last, we reached the cave where the dungeon’s old raider lived.
* * *
“Unbelievable.”
Kairon’s refined opinion after countless battles.
“Uwaeek.”
Piaget Dmitri patted Marian Artisian’s back as she vomited and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Eria Goddess, grant eternal peace and rest to the souls here.”
Leonic the priest knelt and clasped his hands in prayer.
I had witnessed countless horrific scenes after falling into the Gilorian world, but this was among the worst.
Countless mushrooms filled the cave.
The nutrients that allowed the mushrooms to grow thickly came from the corpses of the victims.
From the cave entrance, bodies were neatly stacked.
Some leaned against the walls as if sitting in a chair, others hung from the ceiling like butcher’s meat.
On every decayed body, artificial mushrooms grew.
That was when a man’s back curled into a sphere in the darkness appeared faintly.
He plucked mushrooms from the corpses and put them in his mouth.
Mosquito.
“He’s farming mushrooms on corpses?”
My head throbbed with sudden pain, as if hit in the back with a blunt hammer.
At that moment, Mosquito noticed our presence and slowly turned toward us.
Our eyes met.
My breath stopped.
The eyes were not human. They were like a monster’s—vertical slit pupils that pierced the darkness with a sinister gaze.
“Run!”
Mosquito turned and leaped into the Mushroom Cave.
He stretched his arms, wrapped them around the walls, and climbed vertically in an instant.
“Whoa.”
Marian quickly shot an arrow, but Mosquito dodged using tree-like limbs.
He used rock gaps, various stalactites, and boulders as shields to move swiftly and vanished into the cave’s darkness.
Without leaving a single sound.
“What the… Is that the notorious murderer from Clovan Dungeon?”
“Doesn’t look human.”
“A monkey…”
“Living long in a low-gravity zone must have turned him into that.”
Mosquito vanished from sight with animal—or rather monstrous—movements perfectly adapted to the fourth floor.
It was like a terrified mouse disappearing down a sewer after climbing onto asphalt.
“Senior, what now?”
“Should we chase?”
Marian Artisian and Kairon stared at the cave entrance with pale faces.
The entrance was littered with bodies turned into mushrooms.
“As Mosquito’s base, we should be cautious.”
There was only one entrance, but the cave was his territory.
It was wiser to explore the cave first and proceed slowly than to enter rashly.
“First, block the entrance and prepare to enter slowly. Or we could lure him out.”
Or we could provoke him by touching the cave itself.
“Prosecutor, how about blowing up the entire cave with a rune cannon?”
Piaget Dmitri fiddled with the rune cannon with a subtle expression.
“He means to use poison to force it out. Haha, that sounds good.”
Kairon glared at the cave with eerie eyes.
But they were overlooking the biggest disadvantage we faced.
We didn’t know Mosquito’s true nature yet.
“It’s dangerous. It could be within his attack range. I don’t know what he’s installed inside.”
“Huuuuuuum.”
Marian sat down with a croaky voice.
She spoke in a hesitant tone.
“Should we ask the spirit for scouting?”
She wanted to summon the spirit like a drone.
The camera was the spirit and Marian herself. If the spirit’s affinity was high, even the owner elf could see what it saw.
But she wasn’t confident in her spirit affinity yet.
It was a low-risk plan.
A good idea.
“How can I help?”
“Please give me a moment. I’ll talk to the spirit and come back.”
Marian staggered up the opposite hill.
Meanwhile, Leonic the priest spread a barrier to block any other passages he might use to escape.
During the descent to the fourth floor, I had considered various methods to catch Mosquito.
Enter cautiously, considering every possibility.
If we destroyed the cave, we could overwhelm him with one blow.
Then, from afar, came the orderly sound of many footsteps.
Tap. Tap.
Click. Click.
“Huh?”
Kairon looked up and saw one small red dot approaching through the haze.
A burning-wing-patterned flag became visible in the distance.
“Blaze Clan?”
Kairon, who had been sitting with legs crossed, straightened up.
Thick dust rose beyond the hill, and the flag with the burning-wing pattern slowly emerged from the distance.
Under the fiery, wing-shaped form, the silhouette of an advancing army began to appear.
The Blaze Clan flag fluttered like living flames, and hunters in red armor marched in unison beneath it.
As they drew nearer, the ground vibrated under their weight, and the air filled with tension.
At that moment, a man with heart-shaped white hair stepped forward.
“We arrived first? Impressive speed.”
The man, leading hundreds of red-armored hunters, smiled leisurely.
“General Jade!”
Kairon jumped up and placed his left hand on his right chest, faking familiarity.
“Captain Kairon. I heard about you through Head Office Director Frida, but meeting in person is an honor.”
“The honor is mine!”
Emotion filled Kairon’s eyes.
Jade Blaze, leader of the Blaze Clan.
Once known as the “Red Heart of the Battlefield” for his terrifying reputation, he was now the leader of a prestigious high-ranking clan.
His maseok was rumored to have become the foundation of a power plant due to his bold decisions and rapid advances.
Now retired from the battlefield, he led the dungeon clan and maintained a delicate balance with the Capital Defense Command.
He asked,
“What are you doing here?”
“General, we are setting up a barrier in the cave to arrest raiders.”
“Hmm, I heard about a raider extermination operation at the Capital Defense level…”
Jade stroked his white beard.
“I didn’t know it was today. Especially with such a small force.”
He fixed a sharp gaze on me.
He meant it as a greeting.
“First-Class Prosecutor Zeo Blood of the Capital Defense Command.”
“Jade Blaze. I lead a small clan.”
He spoke casually, but behind him, hundreds of red-armored clan members stood ready in formation, awaiting his orders.
“Rest for a while.”
“Yes! General!”
Only then did the red-armored troops sit down.
They moved as orderly as an army.
They even called their leader “General.”
Jade’s forehead creased with deep lines as he scanned the surroundings.
“A vicious one, just like the rumors.”
His gaze fixed on the corpses surrounded by mushrooms.
His clan members did the same.
Whisper. Whisper.
“Why so many bodies?”
“Are all those bodies hunters eaten by raiders?”
“Damn it, we must catch them ourselves.”
“Now that our clan is here, the raider is finished.”
The troops grinned while slashing their own throats.
With battle experience came confidence.
But allying with the Blaze Clan wasn’t part of our plan.
We had no intention of receiving help.
“Yes. How is your formation?”
Jade asked me with a arrogant look.
“Five in total.”
“Two prosecutors, one dwarf equipped with high-performance weapons, me, and the priest—five.”
Kairon added quickly, thinking my explanation was insufficient.
“Have you planned the extermination?”
“Currently under investigation. For terrain and possible traps.”
Jade nodded while listening to Kairon’s explanation.
A superior’s authority, accustomed to receiving reports from subordinates, showed in his demeanor.
“Clever.”
He muttered to himself and stroked his beard.
Then, as if he had made a decision, he said,
“We won’t handle the raider extermination.”
He declared he would plant his flag here.
A large clan like the Blaze Clan would personally hunt Mosquito.
Especially on the day we came to exterminate him.
“Have you ever suffered losses to raiders?”
The question carried suspicion.
Mosquito had been here for a long time.
While the Blaze Clan had hunted monsters in Clovan Dungeon.
“No.”
“Then do you know about the raider?”
“There’s no way.”
“Then why?”
He couldn’t be doing this for the bounty on Mosquito.
He had his own reasons that I didn’t know.
“For revenge against the hunters who sacrificed themselves and for the dungeon’s peace.”
“Is that certain?”
“What?”
“I’m asking if that reason is certain.”
One of Jade’s aides stepped forward aggressively toward me.
Jade raised his hand to stop him.
“General, but…”
The aide voiced dissatisfaction with my arrogant attitude in a low voice, but Jade remained unchanged.
“Enough. Back to your position.”
Under his order, the aide turned away with a vicious glare.
“Why the suspicion?”
“I want to know why today of all days.”
He fell silent.
“The Blaze Clan holds an overwhelming position in the dungeon as a high-ranking clan. If you had the will to exterminate raiders, you would have done it long ago.”
His sharp gaze softened. Agreement.
Then, unexpectedly, a name slipped from his mouth.
“Because of Head Office Director Frida Keilak.”
* * *
He gave no further explanation.
He only muttered “Frida Keilak” as the reason for intervention.
Frida Keilak.
She had many enemies.
Her fierce, unnecessary hysterics and arrogant behavior were also part of it, but the main reason was her rapid promotion.
She suddenly appeared like a shooting star at the pinnacle of the Capital Defense Command, and malicious rumors always followed her.
From her being the secret lover of a third prince to stories of her son being killed by a heretic group, driving her to blind vengeance.
Incidentally, she hadn’t married.
From what I knew, she had no children.
But many people feared her.
That was why Jade’s reasons were also heard.
“I see.”
So I answered calmly.
Jade nodded with a deep gaze.
“When does the operation start?”
Jade summoned a terrain detection mage, confirmed several matters, and approached me.
“The target moves completely differently from ordinary people, perfectly adapted to the low-gravity zone. We must plan carefully.”
I had no intention of working with him yet.
“Prosecutor Zeo, with General’s support, catching Mosquito is a sure thing.”
“Is the operation name Mosquito?”
“Yes, General.”
“Why?”
“It’s… I don’t know. Zeo Prosecutor decided.”
Kairon, who had just arrived, prompted me, then fumbled at Jade’s question.
I explained instead.
“Because it’s too small.”
“Too small but too troublesome…”
Jade caught on immediately.
“Then the Blaze Clan strikes first.”
Jade played a long game.
His clan would target the raider living in the Mushroom Cave.
By the general who had once ruled the battlefield with the “Red Heart of the Battlefield.”
But it wasn’t time yet.
“Not yet.”
“According to the detection mage, there are no monsters inside the cave. Only one target, no other dangers.”
His words sparked rising morale among the clan members.
“We don’t know what traps are installed inside the cave. More importantly, we don’t fully understand the target’s abilities.”
Did the general’s eyes, accustomed to the battlefield, show exasperation with the cautious argument?
Or was it simply a desk-pushing tactic?
A fleeting smile crossed his face.
“That’s the right theory. But when facing a single opponent, aggressive attack is the most reliable. For now, let the Blaze Clan strike first.”
With those words from Jade, the Blaze Clan leader, the red-armored hunters’ momentum rose menacingly.
“Siriil, lead the vanguard. Leonid will handle the rear.”
Jade commanded.
“The vanguard explores the cave terrain, lights fires, and checks for traps.”
“Yes!”
Resonant voices from the troops.
“If all is well, the rear will sweep through. Our goal is capture. Try to take them alive, but if impossible, kill them.”
After issuing his storm of orders, Jade shouted to the red-armored army.
“Warriors of the Red Wings! Our comrades have had their flesh eaten and hearts torn out by this monstrous raider. Today, we will avenge the comrades who went to Eria Goddess.”
“Waaah!!!”
The clan members raised their swords and shields high in response to their general’s cry and shouted the battle cry.
“Warriors of the Red Wings, our time has come!”