Team 25A ascended the Temple Stairs. The crumbling debris of the old stone steps screamed as it was ground under the soles of their combat boots.

The temple was remarkably tall. It took almost 30 steps to reach the entrance.

A shimmering mass of reddish light lay before them, like the giant eyeball of a monster.

Team 25A exchanged glances, then entered the reddish light together.

‘This feels different.’

There was an unusual sense of strangeness, unlike being transported through a portal.

While portals caused various symptoms such as a dizzying mind and a whitening of vision, passing through the shrine entrance felt like simply traversing a passage connecting two spaces.

“It’s cold.”

As soon as they passed through the gateway, Oh Songhui hugged herself, rubbing her forearms. Kim Songcheol listened to the rustling sound and surveyed their surroundings.

First, a short corridor was visible. At the end of the corridor, a vast, old space unfolded.

Relief carvings lined the walls, and thick pillars stood at regular intervals.

In the center of the large space, an unknown structure floated in the air, slowly rotating.

“That must be the way.”

Seo Gangjin pointed into the distance. A passage leading into the darkness beyond the large space was faintly visible.

“Let’s move cautiously. We don’t know what might appear.”

Kim Songcheol warned his team members once again.

Unlike F-rank dungeons, where most types have been analyzed, information about these instant dungeons was still scarce.

Team 25A moved carefully.

There could be traps, or monsters could suddenly jump out.

Kim Songcheol kept his mana evenly tensed, ready to react as quickly as possible.

If someone poked him from the side, any kind of magic would burst forth.

As Oh Songhui, who was in the lead, stepped from the corridor into the open space,

Plink!

A drop of black liquid fell right in front of her foot.

Oh Songhui sensed the liquid without missing a beat.

The moment she stopped dead in her tracks and slowly raised her head,

Thud-thud-thump!

Black liquid poured down.

It had a texture like thick tar.

“…What is it?”

Oh Songhui retreated.

The team members stopped in their tracks.

Kim Songcheol also focused on the black liquid.

He had never seen this before.

He had no idea what it was.

Thud-thump!

Soon, black liquid also began to fall sporadically in the large space.

It was as if several people were pouring black liquid from the ceiling.

Then, the first drop of liquid that had fallen suddenly surged up and rushed towards Oh Songhui.

“…!”

Oh Songhui retreating and a vertical barrier forming in front of her happened almost simultaneously.

Splash!

The liquid was initially blocked by the barrier, but then it flowed over the barrier and shot towards Oh Songhui again.

Slash!

Oh Songhui instantly swung her sword twice, cutting through the black liquid.

“Too slow!”

Oh Songhui’s confident shout.

But everyone knew.

Physical attacks wouldn’t work on this black liquid.

The fragmented liquid clearly squirmed and reassembled itself.

“Magic Missile.”

Kim Songcheol cast magic.

The magic missile seemed to strike the black liquid, but it merely grazed it and flew towards the structure in the distance.

Clang!

Surprisingly, the magic missile couldn’t reach the structure.

An invisible shield was protecting the structure.

“That’s it.”

The dodecahedron structure.

Kim Songcheol had already felt the mana fluctuation emanating from that structure.

That structure was clearly giving life to the black liquid.

“Seo Gangjin, run!”

Kim Songcheol shouted. A magic circle was already rapidly forming around him.

“Coming!”

Seo Gangjin didn’t hesitate and dashed towards the structure.

The black liquid that had already poured into the space was now surging towards Team 25A.

It was a sight that would make anyone flinch, but Seo Gangjin focused only on the structure, as if the black liquid was invisible to him.

Whoosh!

The black liquid surged towards Seo Gangjin as if it had been waiting.

However, vertical barriers continuously appeared on both sides of him, creating a path towards the structure.

The liquid flowed down, blocked by the barriers.

The black liquid urgently flowed over the barriers and squeezed underneath, but Seo Gangjin was no longer there.

“We need to do this quickly!”

Oh Songhui shouted as she cut through the black liquid.

Cutting it only delayed the attack.

Moon Gijeong was also continuously firing Wind Cutters, buying time.

“Control the distance!”

Kim Songcheol fired a magic missile towards Seo Gangjin.

The magic missile grazed Seo Gangjin and then dissipated as it hit the structure’s barrier.

It was a magic missile to once again show Seo Gangjin the position of the transparent barrier.

“Confirmed!”

Having confirmed the barrier’s position, Seo Gangjin raised his sword high and exerted his maximum strength.

Shatter!

The moment Seo Gangjin’s sword struck the barrier, the transparent wall shattered into pieces with a clear sound.

“Destroy it!”

Kim Songcheol shouted.

Oh Songhui and Moon Gijeong blocked the black liquid surging into the passage, and Kim Songcheol cast another magic to protect Seo Gangjin.

“Take that!”

Seo Gangjin swung his sword like a baseball bat, striking the structure.

Instead of breaking, the structure was pushed back and tumbled across the floor.

At the same time, the squirming black liquid spread out across the floor and lost its movement.

It simply flowed, as if it had never moved.

Situation ended.

Team 25A finally relaxed.

“No ordinary monsters appear, huh?”

Kim Songcheol shook his head, looking at the sticky black liquid clinging to the soles of his boots.

In a normal F-rank dungeon, monsters appear, and the situation ends when those monsters are directly killed.

But this temple had a twist.

Not the monster itself, but by destroying other structures.

“It’s not a difficult puzzle, but it’s a bit annoying.”

Kim Songcheol mumbled.

“…”

Oh Songhui looked back and forth between Moon Gijeong and Kim Songcheol, then opened her mouth towards Moon Gijeong.

“…You knew it too? That we had to destroy that?”

“It is strange, isn’t it?”

Moon Gijeong shrugged his shoulders. He might not have been as quick as Kim Songcheol, who felt the mana rupture field, but Moon Gijeong would have figured it out soon enough.

“I really need to travel with mages.”

Oh Songhui once again felt the necessity of mages and shook her sword.

The black liquid clinging to her sword dripped to the floor.

Team 25A passed through a large space and entered a dark passage.

Kim Songcheol illuminated the way with light magic. A ball of light stretched forward, illuminating various parts of the passage.

“This is a bit suspicious.”

Seo Gangjin mumbled. The passage was excessively narrow compared to the wide space behind it.

Just wide enough for two people to pass through.

Team 25A was proceeding in the order of Oh Songhui, Moon Gijeong, Kim Songcheol, and Seo Gangjin.

“It won’t be that malicious.”

Kim Songcheol encouraged his teammates.

Dungeons are not designed to outright kill hunters.

Of course, one might die in the process of clearing a dungeon, but it meant that unavoidable traps wouldn’t be set in such narrow passages.

Especially not in an F-rank dungeon.

As expected, Team 25A exited the passage without incident.

What awaited them was, as expected, a large space.

This time, no structures were visible either.

Nor were there any monsters to greet them.

Only space existed.

“What? What are we supposed to do?”

Oh Songhui’s voice echoed hollowly.

“…”

Kim Songcheol, who had been looking around the space, finally spoke.

“Let’s split up and investigate.”

Another puzzle would be waiting. The first priority was to figure out what kind of puzzle it was.

The team members scattered in all directions, beginning to search for anything unusual.

They tried moving boulders and pressing bricks for a long time without success.

“Over here!”

Moon Gijeong shouted. The team members immediately rushed to him.

“What is it? What is it?”

“Look at this. It became like this when I touched it.”

Moon Gijeong pointed to a carved relief. Two glowing blue dots were marked on the picture.

It was where Moon Gijeong’s finger had touched.

“It glows when you touch it?”

Oh Songhui gently swept her palm across the picture. Only the part her hand touched glowed blue, and surprisingly, a male staff member on horseback in one of the glowing pictures began to move.

He spurred his horse with vivid motion, leaping over an enemy in front of him.

Then he stopped in the exact pose he landed in. It was the point where the blue light ended.

“Let’s send him all the way to the end.”

“Alright.”

Oh Songhui, following Kim Songcheol’s suggestion, ran forward with her hand on the wall. As her hand passed, the area glowed blue, and the mounted male staff member continued to gallop.

Eventually, upon reaching the end of the picture, the male staff member cut the rope connecting above and below with the sword he was holding.

At that moment.

Crr-crr-crackle.

With a loud roar, the wall opened. A considerably large passage was filled with darkness.

And.

Thump-thump.

Heavy footsteps were heard.

“…We need to prepare for battle.”

Following Kim Songcheol’s command, the hunters took formation.

Thump-thump.

A monster emerged from the darkness.

It was a Stone Golem.

Its size was about 2 meters.

It wasn’t that big, but the problem was something else.

It was the Stone Golem’s defense.

“Ah.”

Kim Songcheol’s small exclamation.

Cacack!

Kim Songcheol first fired Magic Missile and Wind Cutter. But, as expected, only a few stone fragments scattered.

Indeed, its defense was considerable.

While Kim Songcheol continued to unleash magic to distract the Stone Golem, he pushed his senses to the limit to find the golem’s core.

Meanwhile, Oh Songhui and Seo Gangjin approached and engaged the Golem in close combat.

The Golem was fast in its movements due to its smaller size.

Its speed was almost similar to Seo Gangjin’s, and it was on par with a boss monster from an Irregular Dungeon.

‘Where is it?’

Kim Songcheol pushed his Mana Sense to its absolute limit.

It was the first time he had poured all his concentration into his mana senses to this extent.

And the surrounding mana reacted to Kim Songcheol’s will.

It was a peculiar sensation.

Mana, which merely existed, blew like wind and whispered in Kim Songcheol’s ear.

‘Ah.’

Kim Songcheol clearly understood that whisper.

“…Aim for the solar plexus!”

And while indicating the core’s location, he fired an attack magic towards it.

As expected, there was no significant damage. Only a few stones shattered.

The Golem’s body is hard.

They would have to drag out the battle as long as possible, slowly chipping away at its outer shell and then destroying its core.

However.

Crunch!

Seo Gangjin’s sword, aiming for the solar plexus, got stuck in the Golem’s arm joint.

Seo Gangjin was flustered.

He should have let go of the sword and retreated immediately, but Seo Gangjin pulled the sword once more.

Just one mistake.

The result was tragic.

The Golem’s other hand shot out quickly and grabbed Seo Gangjin by the neck.

“No!”

Moon Gijeong’s magic struck the Golem’s entire body, and Kim Songcheol’s magic was fired at the Golem’s joints, but it was not enough.

The Golem lifted Seo Gangjin with one hand and slammed him to the ground.

“Gah!”

Seo Gangjin, hitting the stone floor, bounced up about a span and then hit the floor again.

“Seo Gangjin!”

Oh Songhui’s piercing scream.

“Damn it!”

Kim Songcheol’s urgent curse.

The magic formation flickered in and out of existence. Each time, attack magic struck the Golem’s solar plexus.

Oh Songhui intensified her aura and swung her sword at the Golem.

However, Oh Songhui alone found it difficult to hold the Golem. The difference in strength was too great.

Although the Golem’s solar plexus was gradually rupturing from the magic, the core was not yet visible.

At this rate, Oh Songhui would clearly fall as well.

Just one mistake could lead to the team’s collapse in an instant.

Kim Songcheol felt a sense of powerlessness.

And he made a decision.

‘Damn it.’

Kiiiiing!

Kim Songcheol’s Circle rotated at an incredible speed.

‘I’ll force a Circle to form.’

It was an impossible feat.

But Kim Songcheol knew.

That he could do it now.

The Circle’s suction power absorbed the surrounding Mana with strange intensity, and that Mana, submitting to Kim Songcheol’s immense Mana Control, began to rotate in reverse around the Circle.

“Cough.”

Kim Songcheol felt intense pain.

The pain even grew stronger.

This was because the rotation force of the forcibly created second Circle intensified, failing to harmonize with the first Circle, and its axis of rotation became misaligned.

“Aaah!”

At that moment, Oh Songhui was struck by the Golem’s arm and bounced backward.

The Golem quickly charged towards her.

If left alone, even Oh Songhui would suffer serious injuries.

“Please…!”

Kim Songcheol’s muttered words, as if spitting them out.

At that moment, the Circles aligned for a brief instant.

Kim Songcheol did not miss that moment.

“Lightning Spear!”

A magic formation appeared in the air.

Rupture chuchuchuchu!

A powerful electric spear shot out from the center of the magic formation towards the Golem at an incredible speed.

However, due to using 2nd Circle Magic in an unstable state, the trajectory of the Lightning Spear did not move as calculated.

If left as is, it was sure to miss.

It was a situation where a second magic spell could not be guaranteed.

‘It has to hit!’

The moment Kim Songcheol clutched his chest and opened his eyes wide.

Rupture chuchu!

Surprisingly, the trajectory of the Lightning Spear twisted and hit the Golem’s solar plexus as if sucked in.