Chapter 43 – Anomaly (５)

Outside the Dungeon now.

Woo Jimin and Cha Jeongho stood side by side there, watching it.

“Do you know how incredible our Gangseok is?”

“At best, a mage with a little talent.”

Woo Jimin snorted.

“Jimin. You’ll find out soon enough. Why Ure is Ure.”

Jimin shot a sidelong glare at the smirking Jeongho and snorted again.

“Senior. I’ve never beaten you once, have I?”

“Isn’t that obvious, Jimin? I’m the best man in the world.”

She knew.

Cha Jeongho.

He’d already been a Superhuman active in a giant guild when Jimin first started her life as one.

More than ten years older, yet they were very close.

But rivals too.

Well, Jimin was the only one who thought of him as a rival…

“But I’ve finally climbed up here.”

“…Hm. I do think that’s impressive.”

Jimin had even started from the very bottom.

Not Cha Jeongho.

The guild called Ure had existed long before.

Not at its peak like now, of course.

But in the end, Jeongho inherited the Guild Master’s seat and made it number one in the world.

“And today, Senior, you’re going to be really shocked.”

Jimin said it with absolute conviction.

“…What is it with you? Making me nervous.”

She meant it.

What on earth was the basis for that certainty?

Cha Jeongho couldn’t figure it out.

“What, did he suddenly manifest five Circles despite having Mana Circle Formation Disorder, some shit like that?”

“Oh my. That would be surprising too.”

“…Hmph…”

Her tone carried a clear message:

—Maybe something even more shocking than that is about to happen.

…That message.

“What the hell?”

No matter how hard he racked his brain, nothing came to him.

“Just wait, Senior. I’m going to flip everything you’ve been messing with me about completely upside down.”

But then, from somewhere, a frantic shout rang out.

“C-crisis!”

A shout rang out from both the Hwarang and Ure analysis teams at the same time.

“…What?”

“What’s happening!”

Woo Jimin and Cha Jeongho shouted out simultaneously as well.

And then came the answer.

“A large amount of corrupted Mana has been detected inside the Dungeon!”

Corrupted Mana.

A phenomenon found on battlefields.

Monster corpses rot, and the corpses of monsters that devour those rotting corpses tangle and tangle again, until the Mana itself decays.

And in the places where that Mana has rotted, it reveals itself.

“Magin…”

People called beings born from corrupted Mana ‘Magin.’

“W-what the hell does that mean!”

“Did you hear that? A Magin?”

The reporters rushed toward the two in an instant.

*

“…What is this?”

“Why is the light… black?”

Gijun and the Hwarang Superhumans were equally thrown off.

They had predicted the Boss would be where all the Control Stones’ beams converged, now that every single stone was activated.

But at some point, the Control Stones’ beams had stained black.

This wasn’t their doing.

The beams turning black was something they themselves had never anticipated.

And then.

[An Emergency Quest has been triggered.]

[Eliminate the Magin]

– Eliminate the Magin (0/1)

– Reward: Choose 1 of 3 Skills

1. Auto Casting

2. Mana Drain

3. Mana Amplification

‘…What?’

What appeared abruptly before his eyes was an Emergency Quest.

Its condition: Eliminate the Magin.

‘Just now?’

He was bewildered.

Why would a Magin suddenly reveal itself in this Dungeon?

A Dungeon is, from the start, a separate Dimension isolated from the outside.

There is no way for external interference.

That meant the Magin had originated from within this Dungeon Dimension itself.

‘…Damn it.’

Gijun narrowed his brow.

That sense of déjà vu he’d felt a moment ago.

So that was the cause — a Magin.

‘What the hell is going on here?’

First he felt an aura identical to the Ancient Evil, and now suddenly a Magin.

Complex thoughts were flashing through his mind right now.

“The Magin is going to appear soon.”

At Gijun’s words, everyone’s faces hardened.

The word ‘Magin’ was enough to instill fear in Superhumans.

They were, quite simply, unknown entities.

Even meeting a Magin isn’t easy for most Superhumans.

Because to encounter a Magin, you had to go to a battlefield.

And regular people aren’t even allowed to set foot on a battlefield unless they’re top-tier.

Would they ever have dared to think they’d meet a Magin here?

“A Magin in a Dungeon…?”

“What does that mean?”

The Superhumans couldn’t process it.

Of course they couldn’t.

What he said was true—a Magin had never appeared inside a Dungeon before.

This was an unprecedented crisis.

But it was fact.

The Quest said so.

And so did Gijun’s instincts.

“Follow me.”

Gijun said.

‘First, I need to move toward where the light is pointing.’

He broke into a run, chasing the beam.

*

Crack—Crunch—

A black silhouette, its form impossible to make out.

It was tearing something apart alive and devouring it.

What it swallowed was the Dungeon’s Boss Monster: Gahies.

Gahies couldn’t even resist as the creature ripped him apart alive—a Level 5 Boss Monster, and he couldn’t fight back.

Couldn’t even writhe in agony.

Overwhelmed by sheer, absolute terror.

[Kekek… Kekekek…]

The black silhouette let out a bizarre laugh as it tore into the Boss Monster.

Its shoulders shook with pleasure.

And at the same time…

Crack!

Its body twisted.

Where there had been only a smooth, black shape, black scales now erupted across its skin, and horns sprouted from its forehead.

Countless spines jutted out along its spine, and its face had transformed into Gahies’s own.

It was Gahies, yet it wasn’t.

A black human wearing Gahies’s form.

And now…

BOOM!

The Magin launched itself violently toward a single point.

“First… the weak ones…”

*

Around that time, Ure’s Superhumans were running toward where the beam pointed.

“I don’t know what’s happened, but… we gotta go see, right?”

It was common knowledge that a Boss Monster waited at the beam’s end.

So they moved, hunting for it.

Something serious was clearly unfolding, but they couldn’t flee now.

Not with the pride and dignity of being Ure’s Superhumans at stake.

That was when it happened.

Their smartwatches blared an urgent alarm.

Then a voice crackled through.

[Watch out! Corrupted Mana detected inside the Dungeon!]

The analysis team’s frantic shout.

At those words, everyone’s face went rigid.

“What…?”

“Corrupted Mana?”

“What the hell…”

They knew exactly what that meant.

It meant a Magin could appear.

[The detected Corrupted Mana level is… Low-Rank.]

Low-Rank.

So the Magin inside was a Low-Rank Magin.

But then another alarming thing happened.

“It’s, it’s getting closer!”

The black light from the Control Stone.

It was drawing steadily nearer to them.

That meant the Boss Monster—no, the Magin—was heading their way.

“Damn it!”

Ure’s leader shouted urgently.

“Run!”

“A Low-Grade Magin.”

A level they could never dare to handle on their own.

But just then—

Crackle!

The smartwatch signal shifted again.

This time from inside the Dungeon.

[I’m firing a flare. Run toward it.]

“…This is…?”

“Ha Seol—that’s Ha Seol’s voice!”

The voice crackling through the smartwatch belonged to the Hwarang Superhuman, Ha Seol.

Their minds were still a mess.

But there was no time to think.

Fwoosh—BOOM!

A flare burst crimson in the air from that direction.

“For now… run!”

They broke into a sprint.

*

“A Magin.”

The Hwarang Superhumans had just heard the Dungeon’s situation through their smartwatches too.

“What do we do? If it’s really a Low-Grade Magin…”

Gijun answered Ha Seol’s worried words.

“Let’s try it.”

That was Gijun’s will.

A Quest had appeared.

Of course greed had to follow.

No—setting that aside, he wanted to understand the situation anyway.

Whether that ancient malice he sensed was just his imagination, or real.

And obviously, he wasn’t just charging in blind.

“It’s doable.”

It wouldn’t be easy, but it wasn’t impossible.

Low-Grade Magin were undeniably strong.

Incredibly so.

Strong enough that a Level-4 Dungeon’s Boss—even one with surging mana—couldn’t compare.

Even so, Gijun’s confidence came from his own abilities.

‘With how I am now…’

The calculation was that he could take on a Magin well enough.

Gijun knew Low-Grade Magin well.

There was no way he wouldn’t.

He knew how strong they were.

Of course he did.

But he knew himself just as well.

Better than anyone else here.

They might all think he was remarkable, but Gijun had no doubt he was more remarkable than they realized.

‘I can do it.’

He truly believed that.

‘Because Fireball has changed.’

That was exactly why.

Gijun’s Fireball had finally reached C-rank Proficiency.

[Fireball]

>Grade: Legendary

>Proficiency: C

– Power Increase +40

– Mana Explosion Increase +50%

– Spin Force +50%

A C-rank Fireball.

Both the Power increase and Explosion increase had climbed to substantial figures.

And the newly added ability was Spin Force at 50%.

The description for Spin Force was as follows:

[Spin Force]

>For every 1% increase in Spin Force:

– Attack Power +1%

– Range +1%

-Speed +1%

-Explosive Force +0.1

50% rotation rate increases, while the Fireball’s damage, range, and speed each increase by 50%.

Moreover, explosive force also increases by 5.

‘With this Fireball, it’s enough.’

Faster, farther, and stronger.

With that second heart added to this absurd Fireball, even a Low-Grade Magin should be a manageable opponent.

And then—

“It’s getting closer!”

The beam of light was drawing near.

That meant the Superhumans of Ure were also racing toward this spot.

“Let’s go.”

Gijun ran.

Toward where the light pointed.

And toward where the Magin would be—

Boom-boom-boom-boom!

After about five minutes of running, a violent pulse of corrupted mana ripped through the ground.

The bastard was moving fast.

The direction it was moving in—straight toward where Ure’s Superhumans were sprinting.

“Fuck! Someone help me!”

A Superhuman of Ure screamed.

He’d run with everything he had, but shaking a Low-Grade Magin wasn’t easy.

The Low-Grade Magin looked like it would swallow them in moments.

Then—

Kwaaah!

Three Fireballs tore across the air.

“The fuck… now what?”

The Superhumans of Ure flinched at the sight of those Fireballs.

They were Fireballs, sure—but they didn’t look like any Fireball they’d ever seen.

“T-Triple Casting?”

Because three Fireballs were slicing through the air at the same time.

And that wasn’t all.

“Th-the speed…”

The Fireballs were fast.

A speed on a completely different dimension from an ordinary Fireball.

Closing dozens of meters in an instant, the Fireballs streaked toward the Magin like a major-league pitcher’s fastball.

“Rotation?”

“Fireballs are rotating?”

They caught the secret of that speed.

It was because the Fireballs were spinning.

Impossible.

Making a Fireball rotate.

That shouldn’t have been possible.

To make a Fireball rotate, you had to cast it, then control the mana every single moment from launch until it struck the target.

Even just firing one off was hard enough.

Sustaining mana control to create rotation was damn near impossible.

And three Fireballs at once, no less—

‘What the fuck…’

Park Gangseok was stunned.

A shock close to sheer awe.

And looking at the Superhuman named Baek Gijun, he felt an overwhelming wall before him.

A genius.

A genius above geniuses!

And then—

Pow-crack-boom!

“…”

Something even more incredible just happened.

Where the Fireballs had pierced through, three massive holes gaped in the Magin’s body.

“…Crazy.”

“What kind of Fireball is that…”

A Fireball that punched through a Low-Grade Magin’s body.

A scene unbelievable even with his own eyes on it.

“Sounds like an egg trying to break a rock.”

“But how is it actually working… I’m losing my mind. Really.”

Kraaaaaah!

The Magin let out a scream, raw with agony.