“Phew…”

[Demonization has been deactivated.]

Lying on the temple floor, Ha Gangwoo caught his breath. The scorching heat around him had vanished, he noticed.

Warm sunlight brushed his face through the shattered roof.

The hellscape from moments ago was gone, replaced by peaceful calm. Leaves drifted in from the forest.

“I did it.”

Taking down a boss meant for a hundred-man raid. Ha Gangwoo felt a deep satisfaction at what he’d accomplished.

‘How many did I go up?’

The system alerts had clattered nonstop in the moment he killed the boss.

The most frequent among them: level-up notifications.

He’d soloed the EXP from a hundred-man boss. On top of that, a double-EXP buff.

*Thump—thump—*

He couldn’t help but feel excited.

Ha Gangwoo checked his level right away.

*Ding-*

[Ha Gangwoo]

Level: 73 (9↑)

HP: 2760/2760

MP: 229/229

Strength: 117(+226)

Agility: 110(+83)

Vitality: 97(+196)

Mana: 100(+139)

Sense: 100(+60)

Luck: 100(+60)

Unallocated Points: 63

‘No way…’

A single fight, and he’d gone up nine whole levels.

Considering that leveling had slowed down after passing 50, this was an insane jump.

‘If Mik had been here, I’d have casually hit 75.’

A flicker of regret crept in.

Didn’t Mik have a skill—a 50% monster EXP increase? If that had been in play, hitting level 75 would’ve been no problem.

Ha Gangwoo cared about level 75 for one reason: this item.

[Demonization]

Grade: ???

Description: A core that generates Demonic energy forms inside your body. You gain the ability to use the power of the Demonfolk.

Effects

– All Status increased by 100%.

– Can recover physical injuries. (Consumes a large amount of HP.)

– Madness overtakes your mind.

—Acquired: Demon Eye.

—Acquired: Demon Horns.

—[Unlocks at Level 75.]

—[Unlocks at Level 100.]

—[Unlocks at Level 150.]

‘What’ll it give me this time?’

From Demon Eye to Demon Horns, every Demonization effect had been absurdly good. What would the next one be?

Ha Gangwoo let curiosity churn a moment longer, then pulled up his stat screen and started allocating points.

Ding—

Strength: 117 → 127 (+10)

Agility: 110 → 120 (+10)

Vitality: 97 → 110 (+13)

Mana: 100 → 110 (+10)

Sense: 100 → 110 (+10)

Luck: 100 → 110 (+10)

‘A Jumping Character really was the way to go.’

Gangwoo’s mouth curled at the numbers on his screen.

Barely Level 73, yet his stats could go toe-to-toe with any Level 100. Nothing to sneeze at.

What would happen when he hit Max Level? Could he even rival a Ranker?

A vague, hopeful smile touched his lips as he pushed himself upright.

‘Time for the reward.’

Igrite’s corpse lay in ruin on the temple floor.

The upper body was gone—cleanly sheared off. Nothing remained but a pathetic lower torso slumped against the stone.

Above it floated a single orb: Igrite’s heart.

A hundred-man Raid Boss. More than he’d ever imagined.

Would a hundred players even take it down? It hit that hard. Pushed that deep.

And now he could take the reward alone. All of it.

Thump. Thump.

Gangwoo swallowed dryly and walked toward the heart suspended in air.

In that instant, a system window blazed to life.

Ding—

[Hidden Quest Complete!!!]

[Reward: Survival Essentials ×50.]

Thud!

Fifty backpacks dropped in front of him.

“Survival Essentials?”

The Hidden Quest reward had materialized.

‘What’s inside?’

Gangwoo moved closer.

The packs were fat and full—bulging like they’d been stuffed to bursting.

He unzipped one and peered inside.

‘Rations, rope, a repair kit. Nice.’

Everything a person needed to survive by the skin of their teeth.

The food alone would last a single person five days. And there was a repair kit, too.

In one fell swoop, every worry he’d been nursing had been put to rest.

‘Almost too much.’

The only problem? He couldn’t carry it all alone.

‘First, let’s see the real prize.’

Gangwoo set down the backpack and approached the heart.

A luminous sphere, pulsing with extraordinary energy, hung serenely in the air.

Gulp.

He swallowed again, reaching for the item.

But at that exact moment—

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Something came sprinting toward him at incredible speed.

‘Mimic?’

The blur resolved into Mimic.

‘Tracked me down like a bloodhound.’

Whether it was the Link or the item pulse, the little girl had found him.

‘Go ahead. Take it first.’

Ha Gangwoo waited, as always, for Mimic to snatch the item. He braced for her usual lunge, the grab-and-go that had become routine.

Thump!

But Mimic hadn’t snatched the item at all.

“Master!!!”

Mimic drove into Ha Gangwoo’s midsection, her small arms wrapping around him in a fierce embrace.

Whether from her speed or the sheer force of it, Ha Gangwoo toppled backward and hit the ground with a heavy thud.

“Ugh! What the—!”

Ha Gangwoo rubbed the back of his head where it had smacked the floor, then looked down at the sobbing Mimic in his arms.

“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me—!”

Had their base been raided? Lost in the intensity of the raid, he’d completely missed sensing Mimic’s mood.

“I’m so relieved. I was so scared something had happened to Master… Hic, hic.”

But the reason Mimic was acting like this was something else entirely.

‘It’s because of me.’

A fight that dropped his HP below ten percent. It had been brutal, fought with the resolve to die.

And Mimic had sensed his danger.

‘…’

Ha Gangwoo looked at the weeping Mimic and gave a bittersweet smile.

‘It’s… odd.’

Had anyone besides his sister ever cared this much about him?

Ever since his sister died, no one had wondered if he was hurt or suffering. No one had grieved for him.

But now, looking at Mimic like this…

It felt good. A being who cared this much about him. It wasn’t bad at all.

‘What do I do.’

Ha Gangwoo scratched his cheek as he watched Mimic sniffle.

It felt good, but it also caught him off guard.

How was he supposed to comfort a crying kid?

Ha Gangwoo hesitated for a moment, then spoke.

“Stop crying. Is there something you want?”

Bribing her with a gift. It was the only way he could think of to calm a child.

“Sniff… sob… yes…”

“Okay, what do you want?”

At the mention of getting something, Mimic’s tears stopped instantly. The gift tactic worked like a charm.

Mimic thought for a moment about what she wanted, then, with her puffy eyes, she beamed in a crescent-moon smile.

“That thing!!!”

‘…’

Ha Gangwoo looked at the object she was pointing at and smiled with quiet satisfaction.

He’d thought she’d want Gold or something to eat, but as always, her eye for items was top-notch.

What Mimic was pointing at was none other than the 100-player raid reward: Igrite’s Heart.

“Take it.”

An item whose effects he hadn’t even confirmed yet.

But seeing Mimic’s bright smile made any greed for the item vanish.

“Wow~! Really?! Yes!!!”

Mimic beamed, then grabbed Igrite’s Heart and hopped up and down with joy.

Ha Gangwoo watched Mimic’s delight with a satisfied expression.

‘Timing couldn’t be better.’

Come to think of it, there was something he needed Mimic to do.

Fifty backpacks. He’d been wondering how to carry them all, hadn’t he? But with Mimic here, there was no need to worry.

“Let’s go now. They’ll all be waiting. I’ll leave the bags to you.”

Ha Gangwoo handed the backpacks over to Mimic,

“Mik!”

and the little girl opened her small mouth wide, then began to swallow the massive packs, one after another.

***

“Teams 1 and 2!!! Smash the orb on the right!!!”

Crack—

“Teams 4 and 5!!! Step on the pressure plate below!!!”

Ding-a-ling!

[Cleared.]

[A door to the next room opens.]

“Haaah… haaah…”

“Fuck, monsters would’ve been easier.”

The Blue Team’s clearing party—twenty-five Players—gasped for breath.

Over six hours of clearing. The exploration-type Dungeon had been a labyrinth of traps and puzzles.

As exhaustion painted every face, Han Seongdae slammed his massive shield into the ground—*THUD!*—and announced,

“We’ll rest for ten minutes. Anyone with HP or MP below half, speak up.”

“Yes, sir!!!”

Everyone followed Han Seongdae’s orders. Watching this, Jo Seunghyun frowned.

‘…’

Hadn’t Ha Gangwoo appointed Seunghyun as leader? Yet the initiative had already slipped into Seongdae’s hands.

But Seunghyun couldn’t say a word to Seongdae.

‘He’s incredible.’

Even in Seunghyun’s eyes, Han Seongdae was outstanding—a person better suited to leadership than himself.

Always grasping the full battlefield, even when a casualty situation arose,

*CLANG!!!*

he’d use that enormous shield to weather the crisis.

A figure truly optimized for command. Seunghyun had no choice but to acknowledge it.

If they wanted to clear this content, they had to follow Seongdae’s lead over his own.

*Grind—*

Jo Seunghyun found himself grinding his teeth without realizing it.

‘It’s been a while.’

That old feeling of defeat was rising inside him again.

Ten minutes passed. One by one, the Blue Team members, finished with their maintenance, pulled out their weapons.

“Then we’ll head out right away.”

At Han Seongdae’s word, Bae Heena, who had taken point for the party, stepped forward and led them deeper into the cave.

The cave was brighter than expected.

Glowing ore, light spilling from stone statues—it was a mysterious place, and dangerous.

“Shoot that pressure plate over there!”

Bae Heena would sense something, call out a warning, and a party member would fire an arrow at the plate ahead.

It looked like ordinary floor, no different from the rest. But the moment the arrow tapped the ground—*tuk!*—

*Swoosh—*

a massive blade swept across it.

Traps like that were hidden throughout the cave.

Without Bae Heena, at least ten would have died—that was how treacherous the cave was, traps springing up continuously.

After another hour of pushing deeper, the Blue Team finally reached their destination.

A vast hall. An altar standing at the center of an unnaturally wide cavern.

A single item rising atop it.

Plainly, it was the treasure sleeping within Quebaranto. The Quest item.

“That’s it!”

“What a relief.”

Everyone felt reassured seeing the reward. They’d had a vague sense of it while solving the puzzles so far.

“No way—was there a team that went in before us?”

“We’re the only ones here!”

But seeing that item made it certain.

We were the only ones in this cave. Or at least, we were the party at the very front.

And so smiles crept across the Blue Team members’ faces.

“What do you think, Ms. Bae?”

Han Seongdae looked toward the altar and asked Bae Heena.

‘…’

Bae Heena stared straight ahead, her brow furrowed.

‘I don’t feel anything…’

A vast hall, with an altar at its center.

It was clearly the final stage of the Dungeon. But she felt nothing.

Feeling nothing in such a definite situation…

‘A trap?’

Bae Heena was sure. Her instincts screamed it. That place was dangerous—run, now.

But she couldn’t speak rashly. The fear she felt was only a hunch.

The Blue Team stood before the vast hall, silenced, waiting for her answer.

Tension hung in the air like the calm before a storm—when,

“I don’t sense anything. No Monsters, no traps. However,”

Bae Heena began, her voice low. The Blue Team listened closely.

“It’s strange. It looks dangerous. The very spot that should be the hardest has nothing. It has to be a trap.”

At her words, the Blue Team’s expressions turned cold.

What she meant was that something there evaded even her Detection skill.

But the Blue Team couldn’t give up.

This Dungeon they were Clearing was tied to a Quest that could shape their entire lives—a job change.

“What should we do?”

“I’ll follow the leader’s decision.”

The party members looked at Han Seongdae, their resolve unwavering.

Han Seongdae seemed to ponder for a moment, then turned to Jo Seunghyun.

“Leader, you decide. We’ll follow your call.”

After all, the leader of this Clearing party was Jo Seunghyun. He was asking for his opinion.

“…”

Jo Seunghyun grimaced at the question.

Over seven hours of Clearing, exhausted to the bone. Could they go back to the Saint’s Body empty-handed?

What would they even say if they returned? He had nothing to say.

So the verdict the leader would reach now was all but decided.

“We’ll push ahead with the Clearing.”

There was no choice but to try.

That was the only reason they’d asked him that question.

To pin the blame if there were casualties.

*Grind—*

Jo Seunghyun’s teeth ground in irritation, but he let himself be used.

That was what being a leader was about, after all.

“Then let’s go.”

Jo Seunghyun forced calm into his voice and spoke low.

At his word, the party members gripped their weapons tighter and moved forward.

But just then—

“Go, and you all die.”

At the entrance linking to the vast hall,

a man stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall.

‘…’

In an instant, the Blue Team’s gaze snapped to him.

“What the?! When did you get here?!”

Bae Heena, leading the blue team, flinched as she spotted the man.

‘A player who got here early? Or did he follow us? No way…’

She’d been sweeping the area with Detection the whole time. But she hadn’t sensed even a trace of his presence.

No—even now, staring right at him, she couldn’t detect him.

‘What the hell is he?’

A player that good at concealing his presence just suddenly showing up. No matter how she thought about it, something was off.

“What the?! Who the fuck is that?”

“Don’t tell me he followed us the whole way?”

The blue-team members scowled at the man.

One look and you could tell he was a player from another faction. The intent behind his arrival here was obvious.

The current quest was to claim the treasure inside the cave. This bastard had tailed them, waiting for the blue team to let their guard down so he could snatch the quest item.

That realization soured the blue team’s mood fast.

“Fuck off! You deaf?!”

“Leave while the leaving’s good, asshole.”

Over twenty players raised their weapons, a wall of threats.

In an instant, razor-sharp blades converged around the man. Any ordinary player would’ve been begging for mercy on their knees by now.

“Why? Scared? You think you’ve got the balls, then come at me.”

But the man wasn’t fazed. Instead, he shot back a taunt, his face dripping with confidence.

“This son of a bitch!”

A blue-team member, taking the bait, roared and lunged forward.

“That’s enough.”

But Han Seongdae stepped in, blocking the blue team.

“What?!”

“Move it, Captain!!!”

The agitated blue-team members bellowed, but Han Seongdae turned his back on them and walked toward the mysterious man.

Then, with easy composure, he extended a hand for a handshake.

“A pleasure to meet you. First time in person. You’re Kang Seongbin-ssi, right?”

The mysterious man was none other than the red team’s leader. Kang Seongbin.