On day four of the siege, the inferno that had consumed the ninth room finally guttered out after a full day. The raid party, having taken refuge in the corridor, finally broke camp and pressed onward.

[Deriman/Shield Bearer]

[Shape/Storm Archer]

[Chieftain/Mana Lancer]

[Ruah/Assassin]

[Dix/Mage]

[Nowell/Spirit Master]

[Sebastian/Reaper]

[Kino/Bounty Hunter]

[Lebex/Warrior]

[Ryurik/Priest]

Taehyun already possessed detailed information on every raider. As the party’s collective stress mounted, their single-use skills were steadily being exhausted.

[Sebastian’s raid party has entered the eleventh room.]

[Balak’s soldiers, lying in wait within the forest, launch an ambush.]

They were forced into combat the moment they entered a new room. Taehyun had stationed a contingent of soldiers in each chamber, ensuring they would be bled by a thousand cuts in an endless series of skirmishes.

[Sebastian’s raid party has used a camping item.]

[Balak’s soldiers, waiting in ambush in the corridor, attack.]

Even attempting to camp offered no respite. He relentlessly chipped away at their stamina and compounded their fatigue. As their stress levels crept higher, a palpable tension spread through their ranks.

“There aren’t many soldiers left,” one of his Supporters noted anxiously.

“And the duration of Death’s Breath is nearly at its end,” the other added.

The two continued to voice their concerns, but Taehyun ignored them completely. He was more than willing to sacrifice his soldiers to bleed the invaders dry.

[Dix’s stress index has reached 80.]

[Chieftain has been injured by a rolling boulder trap.]

[Lebex has touched the corpse of a merchant.]

[The merchant’s curse is activated.]

[C-rank Soldier Ants are summoned around the merchant’s corpse.]

The raiders were slowly being backed into a corner. Junhyun, waiting for Death’s Breath to finally expire, deliberately slowed their advance even further. Consequently, the party began taking brief, unprotected rests more frequently. By the time they dragged themselves to the fourteenth room, every one of them was a haggard wreck.

—

[You have entered Balak’s fifteenth room.]

They had finally reached the fifteenth room. Between the death of their Bounty Hunter, Kino, the oppressive drain of Death’s Breath, and their dwindling supply of camping items, the raiders had been pushed to their absolute limit.

Their stamina and fatigue were at critical levels, their stress was dangerously high, and they had burned through most of their one-time-use skills. The situation was, once again, dire. To make matters worse, the Rescue a Colleague Coin had been neutralized back in the ninth room, leaving them with precious few items.

Junhyun’s only solace was the knowledge that Death’s Breath would soon fade.

[The duration of the B-rank Dungeon Master’s unique skill, ‘Death’s Breath,’ has ended.]

[All debuffs on the raid party have been removed.]

At long last, the message they had been desperate to see appeared. A collective sigh of relief washed over the raiders as they finally caught their breath.

“That’s the last we’ll have to worry about that debuff,” one of them muttered.

“Now we can finally raid in peace. Well, except for the traps. Those are still a nightmare.”

“Most of our one-time skills are gone, but Balak lost a lot of troops in the Silent Forest, too. We can still do this.”

With Death’s Breath gone, there was no longer any reason to slow their pace. They could finally advance at their intended speed.

The raid would certainly be smoother from now on, Junhyun thought, a sliver of confidence returning. ‘Balak must have over twenty-five rooms. He probably expected me to use this around the twelfth room, but he was wrong. He’s just wasted his Radar Sealing Trap.’

Taehyun had surely anticipated a high-grade radar and likely placed a sealing trap in the twelfth or thirteenth room. But Junhyun, confident he had seen through his rival’s mind games, had waited until the fifteenth. If he could just confirm the layout of the rooms up to the twenty-third, he could storm through them all at once.

Satisfied, Junhyun moved to activate the item. Just then, a lone goblin came sprinting toward them. Unfazed, he dispatched it with a casual swing of his scythe.

But that single, dismissive action sealed their fate.

[The Radar Sealing Trap in the fifteenth room has been activated.]

[The effect of the Radar (High) has been sealed.]

The trap wasn’t on the wall or the floor. It was the very branch the goblin had been carrying in its mouth. Stunned, Junhyun snatched the twig and examined it closely.

[Radar Sealing Trap]

“Damn it!” he snarled. “Not only did he disguise it as a branch, he had a soldier carry it! A mobile trap!”

It was impossible to reposition traps once a raid party had entered a dungeon. But Taehyun had circumvented that rule by having a monster deliver it. A wave of regret washed over Junhyun as he stowed the useless radar. Now they had no choice but to advance blindly, clearing one room at a time.

‘It was fine,’ he reassured himself. With Death’s Breath gone, they could recover completely each time they camped.

As long as they could fend off the ambushes, managing their stamina, fatigue, and stress would be far easier than before.

“Sebastian, when are we moving out?” one of the raiders asked.

“Let’s rest for a bit first,” Junhyun announced. “Death’s Breath is gone, so let’s get our bodies back in order. It’ll help with the stress, too.”

“Sounds good to me.”

The raiders readily agreed. With the debuff lifted, they could finally shake off their profound exhaustion. They pulled out their camping gear, looking forward to a moment of peace.

Just then, a familiar, sinister energy began to radiate from deep within the dungeon.

[The B-rank Dungeon Master’s unique skill, ‘Death’s Breath,’ has been cast.]

[For a certain period, the raiders’ health will be drained.]

[For a certain period, the raiders’ fatigue will accumulate.]

It was the same oppressive aura they had just escaped. The raiders stared in disbelief as the Dungeon Master’s unique skill was cast a second time.

“Wh-what’s happening? I thought it was a one-time thing!” someone shouted.

“If he uses that much mana, he won’t be able to power his turrets!” another realized.

“Damn it all! We have to deal with that cursed debuff again? Doesn’t anyone have a removal skill?!”

A Dungeon Master’s unique skill consumed over a hundred units of a crystal sphere’s mana. Using it twice in a row meant that Balak’s mana-powered traps and installations were now useless. The raiders frantically searched for a debuff removal skill, but they had already used Warm Embrace twice.

Junhyun’s hand hovered over his Effect Reversal Card, his mind racing. He couldn’t afford to lose anyone else. But if he used this card, he risked Taehyun turning one of his buffs into a debuff. That bastard would seize the chance to buff his own soldiers.

With his item-neutralizing ability gone, he had to save the Effect Reversal Card as a last-ditch counter. For now, they had no choice but to endure. He activated his Sight Priority Right and ordered the party forward.

“Sorry, change of plans,” he bit out. “We clear these rooms as fast as possible before we’re ambushed again.”

“So it comes to this,” a raider grumbled. “With most of our skills gone, the ambushes will only get worse.”

“If I’d known it would be like this, I wouldn’t have come for any amount of money.”

Dragging their weary bodies, the raiders pushed onward into the next room.

—

[Balak’s Crystal Sphere]

[Rank: B]

[Level: 1]

[Mana: 50/450]

[Upgrade: Stage 3]

After casting Death’s Breath twice, the crystal sphere’s mana was perilously low.

“Th-this isn’t enough mana to operate the turrets!” one Supporter cried. “Why would you use Death’s Breath twice?”

“The mana turrets are incredibly effective, even against top-tier B-rank raiders. I don’t understand this decision either,” the other fretted.

The mana turret was indeed a powerful installation, capable of firing devastating blasts at any detected target. But with the Bounty Hunter Kino dead, the turrets were a necessary sacrifice. The raiders would now grow even more desperate, struggling to navigate the remaining traps.

“The turrets are expendable,” Taehyun stated calmly. “Because of Death’s Breath, they won’t be able to deal with the other traps properly anyway.”

He took out a handful of buff items and began distributing them to his soldiers.

[Stress Index]

[Deriman/67]

[Shape/58]

[Chieftain/71]

[Ruah/75]

[Dix/88]

[Nowell/76]

[Sebastian/46]

[Kino/78]

[Lebex/71]

[Ryurik/77]

Most of the raiders now had a stress index over 70. With Death’s Breath steadily draining their health, the combined fatigue and mental pressure had to be immense. Confirming that Junhyun hadn’t used his Effect Reversal Card, Taehyun positioned his forces from the seventeenth room onward, sending a small detachment of just three goblins into the sixteenth.

[Sebastian has used Sight Priority Right.]

[The vision of Sebastian’s raid party collides with the vision of the scouting Evil Goblins.]

[A win/loss die is rolled.]

A die materialized in the air. It seemed the effect of their Sight Expansion had worn off, forcing them to use the lesser priority-based skill.

But he had only sent three goblins.

[The number on the die is 6.]

[Sebastian’s raid party, holding the cards 1, 4, 5, and 6, wins!]

[Sebastian’s raid party gains the upper hand in the sight battle.]

The outcome was irrelevant.

“There were only three goblins? Did you just waste that sight item?”

“You said we were almost out of items! What are you doing?”

“Ugh, the fighting is getting harder. This is a disaster.”

The extreme fatigue and rising stress set their nerves on edge. Dissatisfaction and anger rippled through the group, all of it directed at Junhyun. Though he tried to ignore them, a flicker of irritation crossed his face. He was beginning to lose his composure.

‘He’s making uncharacteristic mistakes,’ Taehyun observed. ‘The old Junhyun would have used this as an opportunity for psychological warfare, turning the tables on me. But with the raid party dragging him down, he can’t help but feel pressured.’

Death’s Breath was taking its toll on their stamina and morale. It was impossible to make rational decisions while leading a group on the verge of collapse. Moreover, Junhyun himself was being pushed to his physical and mental limits. He was only human; of course he was growing anxious.

‘If he kills a comrade to use the Scythe’s Pardon, the others will brand him a traitor and attack. Even if they don’t, he’ll be down one fighter, which only benefits me.’

Now, Junhyun had nothing left but his Effect Reversal Card. A faint smile touched Taehyun’s lips as he cast buffs on the soldiers stationed in the upcoming rooms.

[The stats of Balak’s soldiers in the seventeenth room increase for a certain period.]

[The reaction speed of Balak’s soldiers in the eighteenth room increases for a certain period.]

[The skill critical rate of Balak’s soldiers in the nineteenth room increases for a certain period.]

One by one, buffs were applied to the soldiers waiting in ambush.

“M-Master!” one of his Supporters exclaimed. “Why are you wasting buff items by using them separately?!”

“Just be quiet and watch,” Taehyun replied, gesturing leisurely toward the screen. The raid party was just now entering the seventeenth room.

“Those bastards! They’re buffed!”

“Ugh… I’m dead on my feet, and now we have to fight buffed soldiers?”

“Shouldn’t you use the Effect Reversal Card?”

The raiders struggled even more against the empowered soldiers. But Junhyun didn’t use his card. He couldn’t. The soldiers before them had only a single buff. Considering what other buffs Taehyun might have in store, he couldn’t risk using his trump card now.

‘He knows it’s a waste to turn one buff into a debuff,’ Taehyun thought, a cold, predatory smile spreading across his face. ‘Get more anxious, Junhyun. Now it’s my turn to apply the pressure.’

He remembered their clash at Balak Fortress, the memory fueling his bitter satisfaction.

—

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep