“Those monster bastards are gonna come frothing at the mouth any second now. I’ll handle all of them, so don’t you lot wander around and get yourselves swept up. Got it?”

“Ah… yes, ma’am! Yes!”

Jeong Seongyeong smiled a wry, cruel smile and tightened her grip on her sword. She released all the karma she’d been suppressing at once. A vast, dense current of it swept through the cave like a typhoon.

Crack!

Rumble!

The walls and floor split open with sharp cracks, and stone fragments shot up wildly. It was to clear out any hidden traps.

‘That should’ve taken care of most of the traps around here.’

“Huff, huff!”

“Ugh…”

Regardless of her intent, the hunters turned ashen-faced. Coming face-to-face with an S-rank hunter’s full power, their bodies reacted before their minds.

“But, is it really alright to send Hunter Go Byeonggap off on his own?”

Oh Yeonu managed to choke out the words, cold sweat pouring down his face. Jeong Seongyeong paused mid-motion of lighting a cigarette and looked back at him.

“Why? Worried about him?”

“Well… a little, I suppose…”

“You don’t need to worry about Byeonggap. That guy’s stronger than me. So at the very least, he won’t die in a place like this.”

“Well, that’s a relief, then.”

“If you’ve got the leisure to worry about him, worry about yourselves.”

She chewed on the cigarette filter as she leveled her sword at the front.

“The sons of bitches. Fast, aren’t they.”

“Kueeeeek!”

“Gyaaaaaak!”

Hundreds of monsters flooded the passage, packed tight. Among them, B-rank individuals and higher dotted the mass.

‘Just as I thought—this dungeon isn’t B-rank.’

She’d told the squad not to worry, but privately, she was anxious about Go Byeonggap. No backing out now, though.

She shook off the distraction and shouted with fighting spirit.

“If you don’t want to die young, keep your heads on straight!”

* * *

Boom! Rumble…

The goblins hesitated, glancing upward. The cave’s tremor grew worse, and moments ago, a heavy impact had echoed through.

«It’s nothing. Let’s hurry on our way.»

«Yes, sir! Understood!»

Go Byeonggap urged the goblins forward, quickening his pace.

‘Sounds like a real ruckus breaking out up there.’

The source of that noise was undoubtedly Jeong Seongyeong.

‘She’s not going to blast this whole place to bits, is she?’

Truth was, if she felt like it, she could trash a dungeon this size without breaking a sweat. She ranked in the top 0.2% of South Korea’s strongest—an S-rank title wasn’t just for show.

Maybe thanks to her pulling aggro topside, the monsters blocking their path had thinned out drastically. Still, it was a decent rift by normal standards.

“Kigigigik! Kigik!”

“Euwook!”

«Clear them away.»

«Yes!»

Changsik and Taesik shot forward like arrows. Their razor claws sliced monster flesh and shattered bone.

“Uwaaaaah!”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

In the distance, a walking knot of muscle came charging, axe and shoulders heaving. A Gigant Orc—one of the strong end of C-rank.

The thing trampled its own allies, heading straight for Go Byeonggap. Instinct told it to target the leader.

«Kerreuk!»

Two beast goblins lunged simultaneously, claws flashing. The Gigant Orc was drenched in blood in seconds. But true to its reputation, it didn’t fall.

“Kuuuaaaah!”

Finally closing into attack range, the Gigant Orc brought its enormous axe down.

«Block it.»

«Uwaaaaah!»

Without even drawing his sword, Go Byeonggap gave the order. Turka thrust his shield forward, stepping in the way.

Crash!

“Kuwook!”

«Uwaaaaah!»

The Gigant Orc was bigger, but Turka’s strength was overwhelming. He deflected the orc’s shield and closed the distance in a heartbeat.

In that instant, a massive fist connected with the orc’s jaw. The Gigant Orc’s head flew clean off.

‘This guy’s getting stronger by the day.’

«Well done, Turka.»

«Thank you!»

«Alright. Let’s move.»

It took barely a moment to wipe out over a dozen monsters.

«This way!»

The farther they went, the more the path forked. At first it was only two branches, but later on, four-way splits and even eight-way crossings appeared with unsettling frequency.

Yet Dorma pressed forward without hesitation. Go Byeonggap could feel himself drawing closer to Kim Haseon’s original position.

‘Please, just let her be alive.’

The closer he got to Kim Haseon, the greater his unease. It gnawed at him that the straggler had to be a healing-type hunter.

She was a high-ranking awakener, so she probably wouldn’t die as cheaply as a frog caught by a thrown stone. The problem was her woeful lack of experience.

A rookie healer hunter likely only knew her own specialty. She’d probably never even traded blows with a monster, let alone fought one up close.

Imagine someone like that stranded alone. She’d be in 99% panic.

It was practically a law of nature that a hunter who lost their cool wasted karma.

‘And once they burn through all their karma, they die.’

Praying no disaster had struck, he stretched his legs and ran.

After a long sprint, they finally reached the end of the seemingly endless corridor.

«M-My Lord? This is…»

«Shh! Everyone, hide your presence.»

«Yes!»

Go Byeonggap pressed himself against the wall and took in the scene before him.

It was a space so vast that “vast” barely did it justice. Dozens of tunnels converged on it from every direction.

And it was crawling with monsters. So many that just watching them made his skin crawl.

‘What’s with this many? There must be six or seven hundred here. And some strong ones mixed in, too.’

The monster horde surged urgently into several of the tunnels. Likely heading toward Jeong Seongyeong’s group.

«What will you do? Will you engage?»

«No, there are too many. Let’s wait until they clear out.»

«Understood.»

They stayed hidden, waiting for the monsters to vanish.

‘Is Kim Haseon in there?’

Across the cluster of tunnels, a single large cavern loomed. Even at a glance, it felt different from all the paths they’d passed. Probably the heart of this dungeon.

«It seems the human you seek, My Lord, is beyond that.»

Dorma murmured quietly.

«But, if that human is not as strong as you, My Lord, is it not unlikely she is still alive?»

«I was just thinking the same thing.»

Of all places to get separated, she had to land in the very heart of the dungeon. Her luck was shit.

Even thinking optimistically, Kim Haseon was probably dead. Could he at least recover her remains? Even that was uncertain.

‘I came all this way. Might as well take a look around.’

After about five or six minutes, the monsters were almost entirely gone. Go Byeonggap shot a glance at his goblins and drew his sword.

«Stay right on my six.»

«Yep!»

«Let’s move.»

He stepped out into the passageway—and the moment his foot touched the floor, he launched forward like the wind.

“Grrr—Gruk!?”

He cleaned up the remaining monsters in a blur. They crumpled before they could even mount a proper counter, shattered by the sudden onslaught.

If they dawdled, the swarm that had already passed might double back. Byeonggap hurriedly slipped into the mouth of a massive cave.

The cavern was wide enough for a ship to sail through—dark and deep. He ran without pause for about twenty seconds, and then the light ahead grew bright.

Byeonggap’s eyes and mouth fell open at the same time.

«…Didn’t see this coming.»

Unlike everything before, this space bore the heavy stamp of artificial hands.

An open hall. Square-cut walls lined with thick pillars, torches and braziers lighting the space in scattered pockets of glow.

At the far end sat a colossal throne. It looked built for a giant rather than a normal man—and the thing sitting on it was closer to a giant than a man.

«My Lord, look up there!»

Kiriyan pointed with his long lightning rod. Kim Haseon hung limp in the air, drenched in blood, suspended by some principle Byeonggap couldn’t fathom.

‘Is he taunting us?’

It was staged for them to see. Like an enemy commander’s head hoisted on a banner after a battle.

Byeonggap slowly dropped his gaze. Then he looked straight ahead.

The giant on the throne. His upper body was cloaked in shadow; only his legs were visible. They resembled human legs, but grotesquely oversized. Standing, he must have been an easy five meters tall.

‘So that’s the dungeon boss. Shit. I figured he’d have gone after Seongyeong noona’s group.’

He’d caused that racket upstairs on purpose—to lure the monsters that way. He’d assumed the dungeon boss would follow.

But here the bastard sat, waiting for him, perfectly at ease…

‘Not an ordinary bastard.’

The karma radiating off him was average. B-rank monster at best, if he had to put a number on it.

But his gut kept screaming warnings. Even though the bastard hadn’t moved an inch.

«Stay sharp. This one won’t go down easy.»

The thing didn’t stir. Byeonggap quietly concentrated his internal energy into his legs. His plan: jump in one go and snatch Kim Haseon out of the air.

In a flash, he sprang.

That was when it happened. Dozens of orbs of light flared into existence behind the throne—and shot straight at Byeonggap.

«My Lord!»

«Hyaaap!»

Dorma and Kiriyan conjured projectiles of their own and fired back in unison. A massive explosion erupted right beside Go Byeonggap, and its shockwave foiled his attempt to snatch Kim Haseon.

«Damn it!»

«My Lord! Are you all right?»

«Yeah—no problem.»

Go Byeonggap landed on the floor and fixed his gaze ahead. Thanks to the orb of light, the giant seated on the throne was now fully revealed.

His eyes went wide.

‘W-what the hell is that?!’

It was a monster he had never seen in his life. From the chest down, it was almost entirely human. But it had two arms on each shoulder—four in total—and its head resembled that of a mountain goat.

Beastfolk-type monsters weren’t exactly rare, but he’d never heard of a giant with four arms and a goat’s head.

‘What the hell are those…?’

The truly grotesque part was something else. It was the four monsters and three humans cradled in the boss’s arms.

Every single one of them was female.

In addition to the harpy and the half-human, half-snake basilisk, there was a female orc and a satyros—a humanoid monster closer to a human than a horse. And, above all, three human women.

All the women wore lewd expressions as they clung to the boss. The boss’s body was so massive that even holding seven women at once left room to spare.

The atmosphere over there was utterly debauched. The female bodies were completely naked, and the boss monster’s lower body was bulging.

«Like hell I’ll—!»

Go Byeonggap twisted his face into a grimace and spat. He’d seen plenty of gross things in his life, but never anything as gross as this.

Just then, the hand of the boss monster, which had been motionless, moved. The bastard flicked his fingers a few times, and Kim Haseon, floating in midair, was dragged over.

Soon, the bastard slowly opened his mouth.

«You… vermin.»

«Huh!?»

«You vermin… have no worth… as vessels.»

«M-My Lord! That thing spoke!»

«I have ears too.»

His grip tightened on the sword handle. But he couldn’t attack recklessly—not with the human women cradled in the boss’s arms.

‘This is insane. What the hell are those women?’

They were unmistakably human. Not something that merely looked human, but human themselves.

Who were they, and why were they acting like this?

‘Every single one of them has glazed eyes. They’re out of their minds.’

The women all wore faces like they’d been drugged. With dazed, dreamy expressions, they simply groped the boss’s body, not even glancing his way.

Just then, the boss monster looked upward and spoke.

«The place where the Origin is… is it over there?»

«What the hell have you been babbling about? An Origin?»

Go Byeonggap barked the question. The boss turned to look at him.

«You… can speak, can’t you? But frankly… you look useless. Wild… defiant.»

He kept muttering those words without pause, kneading the basilisk endlessly. But the grip of his kneading hands must have been too strong, because the basilisk twisted its face in pain.

“Keu… keuee… keuk!”

And then it went limp and died.

It really did die.

«……»

The boss looked down at the dead basilisk with a flat expression. Then he scooped the corpse up and hurled it toward them.

Thud!

Orka raised his shield and blocked the flying body. The basilisk landed in a crumpled heap, limbs bent at wrong angles.

Glancing at it, Byeonggap saw the basilisk’s body was emaciated and covered in wounds. It had already been weakened to the breaking point.

«A strong host… is needed. A strong host.»

«My Lord, there’s no point talking to that freak!»

Dorma spoke. Go Byeonggap answered, his eyes murderous as he stared the boss down.

«Yeah, first time I’ve wanted to kill someone this bad. Dorma, Kiriyan—cover me from range. The rest of you protect them.»

«Yes!»

«Understood.»

Go Byeonggap dropped into a stance and blasted out an overwhelming surge of internal energy. The goblins formed a battle formation at lightning speed.

‘I need to save those women and Kim Haseon first.’

He locked that objective in his mind as he built his strategy. Then the boss opened his mouth again.

«I too possess… things like you.»

The creature snapped his fingers. Instantly, around thirty figures materialized around him.

They were blurry at first, but gradually took on solid forms.

All of them were goblins. Not just any goblins—King Goblins, the strongest of their kind.

«Kerreureuk!»

«Kreureureu!»

Each one was strong enough to be a boss monster of a B-rank rift. Their eyes blazing red, they snarled at Byeonggap’s party.

«Wh-what is that!?»

«Fellow kin!? But how?»

Byeonggap’s goblins were visibly shaken.

Kiriyan thrust his lightning rod forward and barked a command.

«Back down! How dare you point your weapons at the Lord!»

«Kreureureu!»

«N-no, even so—!»

But it was useless. The King Goblins too had all lost their minds.

The hulking boss monster let out a skin-crawling laugh.

«Hehehe… my ones… and your ones. Which are… stronger?»

«…Ha, seriously.»

Go Byeonggap stood frozen for a few seconds, then curled a bitter grin. A deep, unshakable composure settled on his face.

«What ‘ones’ of yours are there?»

«Wha…?»

«As your Lord, I command.»

He spoke the words lightly, almost offhand.

«Kill that big son of a bitch.»

«Kreureureu!»

«Kerreuk!»

«Huh—hurk!?»

The King Goblins swung their blades around and began attacking the boss monster.