Chapter 68: Episode 68

At last, we were in agreement. I looked up again to survey the enemy. It seemed they had scraped together every monster in the dungeon; their numbers were just over five hundred. I’d never seen anything like it. It felt artificial, and I couldn’t rule out the possibility that they had been gathered intentionally. For now, I didn’t see any other demonkin parties nearby.

-Search complete. The monsters are primarily rank-2 and rank-3, with rank-4 monsters positioned in the rear. No boss monster has been identified.

Listening to Ea’s briefing, I carefully examined the terrain. ’Is there an easy way to do this?’

-Multiple individuals capable of ranged attacks detected. Climbing the rock wall or using a shield to leap through the air is not feasible.

’Of course not.’

That meant a front attack was our only option. I had no choice but to mobilize my forces once more.

’Guess I’ll have to use up the whole stock.’

I knelt on one knee and activated the devices on my forearms. With a series of clicks, golem balls poured out, tumbling down the cliff.

“…What are you doing?”

“You’ll see.”

I even removed the device from my back and shook it out. As I watched over a hundred golem balls roll down the cliff, I recited the activation command in my mind.

’Activate all.’

The golem balls burst open, scattering mud. Flesh began to form around the golem blueprints and magic stones, building up the mud golems. On the empty plain, the sight of a hundred golems rising to their feet at once was a breathtaking spectacle. An army, created in an instant. The monsters spotted the golems and began to growl.

-Initiating golem control.

As soon as Ea’s voice faded, the sound of the mud golems leaping down the cliff shook the very earth.

“What are you waiting for?” I said to the stunned Yeon. “Let’s go.”

“Ah, right.”

We followed the golems down the cliff. The distance between the two forces closed rapidly. The monsters shrieked as they charged the golem army. Then, the vanguards of both forces met on the plain.

The ground shook with a series of thunderous booms as they clashed. Like a medieval cavalry charge, the rank-2 monsters were sent flying like bowling pins by the mud golems’ assault. After their charge, the golems began to indiscriminately smash the monsters at the front lines. With merciless blows, monster blood and brains flew everywhere.

“…Incredible. I’ve never seen hunter equipment like this,” Yeon remarked in admiration as she watched the battle. “And to be able to communicate from inside a dungeon… what kind of magic is this?”

“Heh.” Stepping over the corpses of the golems’ kills, I raised both my arms. Fire Cannon magic circles unfolded in the sky like blooming flowers. “You think I’d give away my trade secrets that easily?”

As I swung my arms, fireballs shot out and rained down on the monsters’ dense formation. A gap instantly appeared, and the golems broke through, shattering their ranks. The combination of golems and a mage was classic, but brutally effective. The monsters’ screams echoed across the sky as limbs were torn off and bodies were consumed by flames.

-Reconstructing charge formation.

-Distance to portal: 400 meters.

-Twelve golems heavily damaged. Moving to the rear to commence repairs.

-Four rank-3 Hydius that broke through the flank have been suppressed.

Ea’s golem control was nothing short of masterful. We were almost there. The portal was in sight. The waves of monsters rushing toward us were being crushed under the mud golems’ onslaught. The battlefield was slick with blood. If we just kept this up—!

A rank-4 sandworm erupted from the ground, shattering the frontline. The golems standing there were split in two.

’BOOM!’

On the right, the mud golems began to lose ground against large rank-3 monsters. It hadn’t been a problem until now, but most of the rank-4 monsters had been waiting in the rear. We were starting to feel the strain. As expected, annihilating over five hundred monsters in a few hours was a tall order.

“I’ll go,” Yeon said, stepping forward, but I raised an arm to stop her.

“No need to waste your strength. We’ve come far enough. Let’s just go straight for the portal.”

“How?”

I hadn’t intended to wipe them all out from the start. Thinning the herd for the hunters who would follow was courtesy enough. I strode toward Yeon.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

She gave me a questioning look. I wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Wh-what are you doing all of a sudden?!”

“Remember the quarterfinals?”

At my words, Yeon looked down at my shoes. Seeing the black smoke seeping out, her expression hardened.

“Wait, hold on!”

“Hold on tight.”

“…Hey!”

As I lowered my stance, she squeezed her eyes shut and hugged me back.

’Devastar’

I used two Devastars simultaneously. Black smoke billowed out as our bodies shot forward like a flash of light.

’Ugh!’

As my speed increased, the Sage’s Eye pushed me into a state of extreme immersion. The arms and tentacles of the monsters reached for us in slow motion, narrowly missing my body. We flew past the monsters and were sucked directly into the portal.

* * *

“Ow. My head.”

My head throbbing, I opened my eyes. There was no unfamiliar ceiling, just a wide-open night sky. Around the same time, Yeon was pushing herself up.

“…Please be more mindful of the landing,” she grumbled.

“Landings are a do-it-yourself kind of thing. I’m not an airbag; I can’t worry about your landing, too.”

“…So annoying.” A small smile escaped my lips as she muttered a complaint. “That aside, where are we?”

“This looks like… the Labyrinth Dungeon’s Boss Zone.”

The place was a completely black void, as if we’d been dropped into the middle of space. There was a floor, but it was transparent like glass, revealing the abyss below and making me dizzy. As I reached out, I found a transparent wall at the edge. Beyond it, fluorescent stars and planets orbited, and strange symbols and portals floated around. It was the same sky we had seen from outside the dungeon.

“Yusin.”

“Hm?”

“Those portals… don’t they look like dungeon gates?”

“Oho.”

Looking closely, I saw they were indeed dungeon gates. The scenery reflected in their centers showed typical dungeon landscapes: lava zones, glacial zones, and forest zones. They were probably the entrances to the dungeons that had appeared all over the Korean peninsula. And then I saw the strange writing all over this space. The longer I looked at them, the more my head started to hurt.

“Let’s move.”

“Yes.”

Being in this strange place was making me feel strange, too. I wondered if this was what it felt like to be lost in space. I pushed away the vague fear creeping into my mind as we explored. As its name suggested, the Labyrinth was governed by peculiar rules. Platforms would break off and attach elsewhere, or rise like elevators. Other players would have had a hell of a time here. There were no monsters, but the terrain was completely unfamiliar. Fortunately, I had the Sage’s Eye, which could read the flow of mana. Even in this complex space, I could find clues by focusing on areas with high mana density.

“Yeon. Over here.”

Yeon, who had been searching for clues, shot up and ran over. She’d seen me navigate a few of these tricks, so she trusted my lead without question. Standing next to me, she tilted her head.

“…There’s nothing here.”

“Look again.”

She glanced away, then back. “Ah!”

A path had appeared where there wasn’t one before. There were spots like this, where the way forward only became visible after you stepped on a specific point. We scrambled across, afraid the platform might disappear.

-Tower Master. I sense a powerful magical energy up ahead.

“Stay sharp. Looks like we’re close to the boss.”

We finally reached the last stop and pushed open the door blocking our path.

There.

’Munch.’

’Chomp. Chomp.’

We came face to face with something strange. Someone was eating, their back to us. What were they eating?

’…A corpse?’

-Tower Master! I’m detecting the mana signature of the Irregular boss monster from that corpse!

’What?’

It was true. Though bloodied, that was unmistakably the boss monster of this Labyrinth Dungeon. And someone was eating it. Did that person kill the boss? Then why hadn’t the dungeon been cleared?

-It’s not dead yet. I’m detecting life signs from the Irregular.

Just as Ea said, the pile of mangled remains stirred.

Just then, the figure turned to face us. It was a human. No, to be precise, something that was ’once’ human. Its eyes were vacant, its mind clearly gone, and its mouth was smeared red with blood and flesh.

“…A demonkin!”

Yeon raised her sword. “What are you doing here?!”

The demonkin, who had been staring at us with unfocused eyes, suddenly smiled, a chilling, eerie grin. Then, it swallowed the remains in its hand in one gulp.

The remains slid down its throat. Instantly, a violent seizure wracked its body. Its limbs and neck twisted grotesquely.

“Get him!”

I immediately fired an Ice Javelin, and Yeon sent a sword strike flying, but they were easily deflected by an arm that shot out from the man’s chest. The arm resembled a fragment of the cosmos itself, as though the starry backdrop of this zone had clumped together and condensed to form it.

“Hah-haaaaah…!”

As the physical transformation progressed, its face became increasingly steeped in pleasure.

’Ea! Can you explain what’s happening?’

-That demonkin is a devourer-type ability user. It seems to be eating the Irregular and absorbing its power.

The situation was taking a bizarre turn. I’d thought it would all be over once we defeated the Irregular, but now a devourer-type demonkin? It laughed, intoxicated with power.

“So you finally found the portal. But is it really just the two of you?”

Yeon gritted her teeth and charged. The demonkin crossed its arms over its chest. They sank into its flesh and disappeared, then additional, bizarre arms burst out from its back and abdomen. A total of six monstrous arms unfurled and swung toward Yeon.

“Hmph!”

She dodged the first two with nimble steps. But the demonkin was disgustingly fast. Unable to avoid the third strike, her body was sent flying, rolling all the way to where I stood. The demonkin laughed, its shoulders shaking.

“Heehee! Huk! Kyaak! Muahaha!”

Its legs rooted themselves to the floor. Like a plant taking hold, blue, vein-like tendrils spread outward from them, creeping across the entire Boss Zone. Once again, its face was lit with pure rapture.

“Why are you doing this?! You were human once!”

At Yeon’s cry, the demonkin smiled as if in pity. No, it wasn’t pity. He was looking down on us.

“You pitiful lumps of flesh, trapped by the limits of your species. You could die and be reborn, yet never truly understand this feeling. You will never comprehend this enlightenment! I have accepted all the truths and realities of the disaster into this very body!”

I didn’t know what kind of bullshit it was spouting, but it seemed to have taken complete control of this area. A demonkin that had killed the Labyrinth Dungeon’s boss and swallowed its core. This demonkin was now the final boss of the disaster.

’Ea! How much time is left until the Labyrinth Dungeon fully manifests?’

-Twenty-five minutes remaining!

* * *

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