‘Damn it. What in the world is that?’

The horror in front of them was so gruesome it felt unreal. Hunters drained of life, wrapped in thick tendrils—like flies caught in a Venus flytrap.

Go Byeonggap studied the situation more closely. Aside from that colossal tree made of monster flesh, there were no other monsters around.

But the problem was the grotesque tree itself. It was a fusion — at the very least, thousands of monsters melded together. And it was unmistakably alive.

Eyes blinking without pause. Limbs that stiffened and shot up at intervals. The monsters covering its crown like leaves writhed like a colony of worms.

Byeonggap had never even heard of such a thing. No — something this abominable shouldn’t exist in this world at all.

“Those people… they’re not all dead, are they?”

Jeong Seongyeong’s voice trembled dangerously. Even for a veteran hunter who’d been through every kind of fight, that twisted tree hit like a shockwave.

“They’re still alive.”

Han Changhun answered with a firm tone. Normally laid-back, now he looked ice-cold.

“I can feel it. Those people — they’re still breathing. If we pull ‘em out now, we can save ‘em.”

“Then let’s go! Right now — let’s get them all out!”

“No. Stay put.”

Sim Seungseop quietly stopped Seongyeong.

“There are seventeen S-rank hunters in there. If there’s a monster they couldn’t handle, the same thing will happen to us.”

“But we can’t just stand here and watch.”

Seungseop shut his mouth, thought for a few seconds, then spoke.

“Stay here and keep your presence hidden as much as you can.”

He stood up. The others stared at him with blank eyes.

“I’ll draw its attention. Two possible reactions: it aggroes on me, or it doesn’t react at all. If it’s the first, stay hidden — no need to get dragged into this together. If it’s the second, we can approach and save the people.”

“So you’re offering yourself as a sacrifice?”

“Like you said, we can’t just stand here and watch.”

“Hey — hold on!”

Before anyone could grab him, Seungseop leaped into the air. Seongyeong hurried to follow, but Byeonggap blocked her.

“Let go! If things go wrong, that man could die alone!”

“So what? You want us all to die together?”

“What? You — hey, you…”

“Someone had to do it anyway. Neither you nor I had the guts, so Mr. Seungseop stepped up. Like he said, there’s no point in getting swept up and killed together. If things go south, we three should put our heads together and figure out the next move, don’t you think?”

Instead of answering, Seongyeong chewed her lip. By then, Seungseop was already making his move.

He put distance between himself and the group, heading to the left side of the tree. Finding a suitable spot, he planted his feet and began releasing karma. Soon, a massive current of electricity gathered in his palm.

A colossal spear of lightning, like a telephone pole laid horizontal, bristled with killing intent.

Crackling static screamed through the air.

Piercing shrillness gouged at eardrums as the lightning spear lashed out, slamming mercilessly into the trunk’s base.

Charred chunks of flesh sprayed in every direction. From the gouged crater, blackened blood erupted like a geyser.

Then, silence.

Go Byeonggap’s group and Sim Seungseop alike held their breath, watching the tree for any sign of movement. For a moment, time itself seemed to freeze.

“Looks like… nothing happened, aye?” said Han Changhun, his Gyeongsang dialect bleeding through.

“Seems that way. Thank goodness.” Byeonggap’s voice was quiet, relieved.

“Phew… shit. Thought my heart was gonna drop out.” Jeong Seongyeong let out a shaky exhale.

The tree showed no reaction to the attack. It was the second of the two scenarios Seungseop had proposed.

Far off, Sim Seungseop turned back to face the group. He raised both hands above his head and made a circle with his fingers.

Jeong Seongyeong shot to her feet.

“We’re good! Let’s go save the people!” Her voice was sharp, driving.

“Let’s do it. But even if we save ’em, we got no way out. What then, I ask?” Changhun was already scanning the tree, chewing his lip.

“We’ll find a way.” Byeonggap’s tone held a certainty he didn’t quite feel.

“Huh? How’s that?” Changhun frowned.

“I’ll explain later. First, let’s get the people down.”

“Ah… got it.” Changhun nodded, dropping the argument.

Go Byeonggap’s group rejoined Sim Seungseop. Without lowering their guard, they approached the tree.

Up close, the tree was far more grotesque than from a distance. The monsters that made up its trunk flailed their limbs blindly. A few would’ve been one thing. But thousands writhing in unison—it was enough to turn the stomach.

“Ugh, disgusting. …Hey, Byeonggap. What the hell are you doing?”

Seongyeong scowled, her face a knot of disgust as she looked at him. He was standing at the base of the tree, stroking it.

«Krr… k-kreuruk…»

Among the monsters fused into the tree were goblins. Byeonggap had tried to carve them out, but it was useless. The parts not visible—the tree’s interior—were already a tangled mess of all kinds of monsters.

Rage and a lump in his throat rose in Byeonggap as he looked at the goblin.

«I’m sorry. With my power… I can’t save you.»

“Byeonggap, I asked you what you’re doing.” Seongyeong’s voice was harder now.

“…It’s nothing.” He pulled his hand away and turned.

“Come on, let’s get these people down, quick.”

The four of them climbed the tree. Grabbing monsters’ arms and legs to ascend was a specific kind of ordeal in itself.

Methodically, they began rescuing the trapped people. Everyone tangled in the tentacles was unconscious, so each person had to be moved with care. Hunter after hunter was laid out on the ground.

As the three ferried victims over, Han Changhun worked tirelessly, pouring his energy into healing them.

Not a few were already dead. Mostly A-rank and below. The tree had drained every drop of vitality from them, leaving their bodies brittle — a single touch and their flesh crumbled to dust.

About an hour later, the rescue work was finished.

It was around then that Han Changhun frowned.

“This… this is bad.”

“What’s wrong, Changhun-ssi?”

“I healed all their wounds. But the problem isn’t the wounds — it’s their life force itself. It’s so depleted they’re like old folks at death’s door. They’ll probably stay unconscious for a while.”

“So what happens now?”

“Honestly, all these folks are top-tier hunters — they’d recover naturally if they could just eat and sleep well. The problem is we don’t have the conditions. We’ve only got two meals’ worth of food left.”

“Hmm.”

Go Byeonggap stroked his chin, sinking into thought.

Jeong Seongyeong spoke up.

“Then let’s move everyone before it’s too late.”

“Move them where?”

“Back to where we first entered. Byeonggap said he knew a way out. Right?”

“Yeah. I’ve got a hunch. Though I’m not sure it’ll work.”

“…If you had something like that, you should’ve said so sooner.”

Sim Seungseop said it without sarcasm, so Byeonggap answered lightly.

“It only just came to me.”

“Then I guess there’s no helping it.”

Seungseop nodded and looked at the people scattered across the ground.

“But how are we going to move all of them? There must be a hundred and fifty people lying here. And from what I hear, they won’t be waking up anytime soon.”

“Haah… It’s going to take a while. That’s why we need to start fast, isn’t it?”

“Can’t argue with that. But here’s another idea. How about this?”

“What is it?”

“I think of this place as a kind of hidden world. Once you step in, you can’t go back out — so it’s close to a dungeon. That means there’d be a boss monster too.”

He stretched out his arm and pointed at the tree.

“How about we try smashing that thing? If we’re lucky, we might escape without all this hassle.”

“Oh!”

Jeong Seongyeong even snapped her fingers in admiration.

“That’s not bad. It actually makes sense.”

“Right. If we treat this place like a dungeon, there’s gotta be a boss, and no matter where I look, there ain’t nothing weirder than that thing. Could be we escape.”

“Hmm.”

Unlike the two who agreed, Go Byeonggap was skeptical.

It was a plausible theory. But he couldn’t shake the worry that they’d be poking a sleeping lion’s whiskers.

“I’m a little concerned. Is there any need to provoke that thing?”

“Provoke? Well, as you saw, it didn’t react to anything we did.”

“Right, Byeonggap. You didn’t flinch when you were cutting off tentacles to pull people out. What are you gonna do now?”

“That’s true, but…”

“Moving everyone to the wall takes too long. Two days just going back and forth. To relocate all these people, it’d take at least ten days, even on the low end. And without supplies, can they hold out that long?”

Sim Seungseop’s point was fair.

But Byeonggap had a way to cut that whole process down to a single day. Simple: send all the downed hunters into Asvillam.

The risk, though, was exposure — Asvillam and the goblins. One slip and over a hundred people could find out.

He didn’t need to hide it desperately now, but he had no desire to flaunt it either.

“Understood. Looks like we don’t have much of a choice.”

In the end, Byeonggap decided to go along with them. As Seungseop said, if things went well, everything would be smoother.

“Then let’s not drag it out — let’s do it now.”

“Agreed.”

The four of them stood side by side, facing the tree.

A moment later, explosive force began to surge in every direction. That was the combined power of three S-rank hunters — and Byeonggap, who matched them.

Seungseop moved first, sweeping his hand through the air. The next instant, his karma converted into ultra-high-voltage electricity, engulfing the tree whole.

Crackle! Kwa-cha-chang!

A monstrous lightning storm raged. The horrific stench of burning flesh spread everywhere.

After the current storm passed, Byeonggap and Jeong Seongyeong launched themselves forward. Han Changhun cast a top-grade buff on both of them.

‘So this is a buff? Strength surging through my body.’

Byeonggap focused his internal energy to the max and fired five sword beams. The volley struck the exact same spot with no margin of error.

A wide, deep gash opened where they hit.

“Hyaaaaah!”

Seongyeong followed up, swinging her axe diagonally with all her might. Her massive blade struck precisely where Byeonggap had prepped.

This attack should split the tree in half…

Klang!

‘Klang?’

A sharp, ringing impact echoed — a sound hard to believe came from hitting flesh.

Seongyeong lost her grip on the axe and stumbled back, clutching her arm.

“Ugh!”

“What! You okay?”

“There’s something hard inside…”

That was the moment.

Crack! Kwa-ji-jik!

The massive tree split vertically, revealing what was inside. Like a seed unveiled from its fleshy casing.

And that seed was something never before exposed to the world.

The moment the ‘Thing’ revealed itself, a chill ran through everyone—Byeonggap included. Their instincts screamed the same message, without a hair’s breadth of error.

Dangerous. That thing is far too dangerous.

“Th-That’s…”

A giant clad head to toe in platinum plate armor.

Its appearance was truly beautiful—so much so that no amount of praise in this world could do it justice.

Its broad helmet had slits like iron bars, and from within, a radiant light poured forth.

That light was holy and beautiful. But Byeonggap felt only a sickening dread. A revulsion so strong it made him want to retch.

He knew that being. He couldn’t not know it.

«Ah… Alsharon. The Seventh Divine Warrior… He was supposed to be dead. How?»

Its identity was one of the divine messengers that had once swept the Saraon legion from this very plain.