Chapter 61: Episode 61

“Huff! Hah!” Heejong gasped, his lungs burning as he ran. A massive glacier monster pursued him, a featureless being of smooth ice, devoid of eyes, nose, or mouth. “Dammit!”

He glanced back and thrust his spear forward. His Unique Ability, Matan, fired a pinpoint shot that merely peppered the creature’s body with holes, inflicting no real damage. Heejong clicked his tongue. “This is a bad matchup.”

“Move!” Yoonji shouted, swinging her arms wide. Arcs of lightning crackled through the air, exploding against the glacier monster’s body. As the creature staggered and fell, they scrambled in the opposite direction.

“Be careful, Ms. Jo!” Heejong yelled.

“I know!”

They leaped across floating ice platforms like stepping stones in a river. The entire dungeon’s terrain was in constant flux, carried by a swift ocean current. A single misstep would mean being swept away with no hope of recovery. When the glacier monster didn’t follow, they paused to catch their breath.

“Ms. Jo, this place is filled with nothing but large monsters with extreme elemental attributes tied to the terrain,” Heejong said, winded. “It’s going to be tough to clear without someone who can use fire or has serious firepower!”

“So, what are you suggesting?”

“We should either retreat and let another party handle it, or go back to the entrance and get Yusin and the others…”

Yoonji’s eyes blazed at his suggestion. “Have you no pride? You call yourself a pro? You think we can’t clear a simple grade-4 dungeon just because of a slight matchup disadvantage?”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant. I was just saying…”

“Forget it,” she cut him off, crossing her arms. “Whatever the dungeon is like, all we have to do is kill the boss and check for a portal. I think we’re almost there.”

There were several ways to estimate the location of a Boss Zone. One could make an educated guess based on terrain anomalies, monster types, the stars, the wind, or even the behavior of local flora and fauna. Dungeons were structured like puzzles, and veteran hunters could combine the most trivial clues to find the boss’s location.

Yoonji brushed snow off the ice, stared at the flow of the seawater, and then declared, “We’re here.”

“How do you know?”

“This dungeon is like a miniature planet, constantly rotating and flowing. How many times have we ended up in this exact same spot?” They had been wandering aimlessly. No matter which direction they chose, they kept returning to the same place. “But that landform over there isn’t moving.”

“Ah! Now that you mention it…”

There were many ways to find a Boss Zone, but one of the most common methods was to look for an unusual place. In a desert, the boss often resided in a special area like an oasis. In a lightless cavern, the path leading to the surface was likely the Boss Zone.

They climbed onto the stationary ice sheet and moved forward. Fortunately, the persistent glacier monsters were absent here. After a short walk, a small altar came into view.

“Oh! You really are a natural at this, Ms. Jo,” Heejong exclaimed. “You led us right to it!”

“This is basic.”

“Alright, I’m activating it.” Heejong placed his hand on the altar and infused it with mana.

’Rumble!’

Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently. Something crimson flashed from beneath the pristine ice. “Huh, something’s not—!”

’CRASH!’

The floor shattered as glacier monsters erupted from all sides.

’It’s a trap!’

The vast glacial field had instantly transformed into a swarm of enemies, surrounding them. There were dozens of them, each one a difficult fight on its own.

“Dammit! I knew something was off!” Heejong cursed.

“What do you mean, you knew?” Yoonji shot back. “You’re the one who happily activated the altar!”

Their bickering was cut short as the massive glacier monsters began to charge, the ground trembling with their advance. It was a moment of absolute crisis.

’GRAWRRR!’

A deafening roar split the air. A fiercely spinning circular saw zipped past, carving a line around the ice platform they stood on. The platform shuddered violently as seawater surged into the newly formed trench. The charging glacier monsters flinched and halted, as if it were a stop line.

“Are you two okay?”

They turned their heads. Yusin had appeared out of nowhere, waving at them from a foothold of solidified air.

“Y-Yusin? How did you get here?” Heejong stared, his eyes wide.

“Q-Quick, do something about these things!” Yoonji’s face was pale with terror at the sight of the menacing creatures.

Yusin smiled warmly. “Why should I?”

Yoonji was rendered speechless. She bit her lip, her shoulders trembling as the glacier monsters tested the edge of the water.

“Hey now, Yusin!” Heejong said, patting Yoonji’s shoulder. “I’m not in the mood for jokes, alright? We’re all comrades here.”

She spoke through gritted teeth. “Ugh, fine! I’m sorry about before. We were wrong, so just hurry up and do something!”

“I’ll save you,” Yusin said, holding up his fingers. “On one condition. A one-to-one-to-eight split.”

Their eyes widened to the size of saucers.

“Naturally, my team gets the eight,” he continued. “From now on, all party profits will be divided according to this ratio. Do you agree?”

“Are you serious?!” Yoonji exploded. “We’re about to die, and you’re pulling this crap?!”

Yusin casually cleaned his ear. “I wonder who started it? Trying to rip off your juniors with a garbage profit share, hogging all the grade-4 and higher dungeons for yourselves. It’s so dirty that I’ve decided to be a little petty myself.”

Yoonji’s face twisted with rage. “You really…!”

“Call it karma. If you don’t like it, I’ll be on my way.”

“YUSIIIIIN!” Heejong roared, his face beet red.

“Yes?”

“I’M OKAY WITH JUST 0.5!”

Seeing her partner fold so easily, Yoonji smacked him hard on the back.

Yusin smiled, satisfied. “Excellent. And you, Ms. Jo?”

“…Haaah. Fine! I get it! Just save us already!”

Only then did Yusin rise to his feet. “Then let’s go.”

Using remote casting, he laid two magic circles on their ice platform. “Step on those.”

They hesitantly moved onto the circles. As soon as they were in place, Yusin manually activated the spell.

<Leap Boots>

’THWUMP!’

Their bodies shot upward like springs. The surrounding glacier monsters looked up, like dogs that had just lost the chicken they were chasing.

“G-gaaaaaah!”

“Aaaaaaaah!”

Startled by the unannounced flight, they screamed their heads off. Yusin casually waved his arm, activating another magic circle he had prepared in the air.

<Wind Fort>

The pair, who had been ascending vertically, were caught in a sudden gust of wind that altered their trajectory. After flying for several hundred meters, they saw Seojin, Bora, and Eunsol waiting for them on another ice platform.

“Hunters! Over here!” Bora greeted them with a bright smile. “Ah, you’ll have to land on your own! Unless you want to crack your head open and die!”

Her words snapped Heejong and Yoonji to their senses, and they frantically flailed their limbs in mid-air.

’Thud!’

They managed to land with a roll, but the impact on the hard ice still sent them groaning and tumbling across the surface. Meanwhile, Yusin was leaping through the air, creating shields as he went.

“Seojin! Go on ahead!”

“Alright.”

Seojin ripped off his shirt and, without a moment’s hesitation, dove into the frigid seawater. ’Splash!’ He surfaced, grabbed the edge of the glacier with both arms, and began to kick. A fierce spray of water erupted behind him as the massive ice floe slowly began to move forward.

“What in the world…! Won’t he freeze to death?” Heejong, having finally regained his composure, stared at the scene with his jaw agape.

“It’s fine,” Bora said. “He has the Iron Man ability.”

At her explanation, his jaw dropped even further. “Iron Man? That’s the strongest physical-type ability! Why the hell is a guy like that here as a guest?”

As Yoonji stared blankly beside him, Eunsol trotted over. “Lady, are you okay?”

“L-Lady?” Yoonji looked dazed.

After a quick glance at Yoonji, Eunsol scurried over to Bora. “Bora! Bora! That lady is a grown-up, but she peed her pants!”

“Huh?” Bora blinked.

“What?” Heejong turned his head.

Sure enough, the crotch of Yoonji’s suit was visibly soaked. Her face flushed crimson, and she hastily squeezed her legs together. “W-What are you talking about?! That’s not true!”

“Eunsol, you should have said that more quietly,” Bora said, an undisguised snicker in her voice.

Eunsol tilted her head. “But it’s weird. Why would a grown-up pee in her pants?”

“I TOLD YOU IT’S NOT PEEEEEE!”

The series of humiliations had completely broken Yoonji’s composure. She wanted to find a hole to crawl into, but they were on a flat sheet of ice under an open sky. All she could do was endure the crushing wave of embarrassment.

“Is everyone unhurt?” Yusin asked, landing on the ice after a series of leaps.

“Yes, Yusin!” Bora chirped. “Except for Ms. Jo Yoonji peeing her pants…”

“KIYAAAAAAH! EVERYBODY SHUT UP! I’M GOING TO DIE! I’M JUST GOING TO DIE RIGHT NOW!”

’What a strong reaction,’ Yusin thought, giving an awkward smile. “…Since everyone seems to be safe, we’ll head straight for the boss.” He pointed in a direction. Seojin, still pushing the glacier, nodded and changed course.

Heejong looked around. “You guys know where the boss is?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, over there!” Heejong spotted another altar nearby.

Yusin shook his head. “That’s another trap.”

“Y-You can even tell them apart?”

“More or less.” In truth, Ea was feeding him everything from the Great Library, whose vast archives contained data on most dungeons. “We’ve arrived.”

’Thump!’ Seojin pushed their glacier up against another one.

“Good work, Seojin.”

“He’s ridiculously good at physical labor, that’s for sure,” Bora commented.

Despite having propelled them through the freezing water, Seojin climbed onto the ice without the slightest change in his complexion. Yusin and his companions leaped onto the next glacier without hesitation. Heejong followed awkwardly. Yoonji, still half out of her mind, scrambled after them when she realized she was being left behind, shouting, “Wait for me!”

’Ea. This is the right altar, isn’t it?’

-Affirmative, Tower Master.

Yusin placed his hand on the altar. Heejong and Yoonji flinched instinctively.

“If you touch that carelessly—!”

“It’s fine.”

’Clank! Clank!’

The altar absorbed the mana, resonating with a blue light as it activated. Yusin took a few steps back and waited. Through his Sage’s Eye, the altar appeared to be scattering mana throughout the entire dungeon, like a radar.

’Rumble!’

“It’s coming!” Heejong yelled as the surface of the water grew turbulent and the glacier began to shake.

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