«Keryeok!»

«Kweeek! Kweek!»

The king goblins latched on like leeches. Swords stabbed, axes chopped. Where weapons failed, they tore with their teeth.

Thirty sets of fangs and blades ripped into the boss monster’s body. It was a bloodbath in seconds. A scream like a pig at slaughter rang through the space.

«You wretches… how dare you!»

The beast heaved itself upright. Then it released a shockwave of monstrous force.

«Keeek!»

«Kerrruk!»

The king goblins couldn’t hold on; they were flung off like shrapnel from a grenade.

The scattered king goblins staggered to their feet. Go Byeonggap spoke at once.

«To me.»

At his single word, the goblins converged.

The boss monster’s face was a mess of bewilderment and rage. It kept muttering, dazed, “Why?” over and over.

«Why… why are you over there? Come to me!»

«… …».

«You bastards! Come here this instant!»

It bellowed. But the king goblins didn’t budge.

«…You there, what sorcery have you worked?»

«Sorcery, my ass. You dare try to command goblins in my presence? The sheer arrogance.»

«What? You… what in the hell are you?»

«A leader who can’t even see that much sits on the throne?»

Go Byeonggap dragged the conversation out deliberately, rolling his eyes on the sly. The shockwave from earlier had sent the women flying across the room. A good omen.

«I asked what you were! How did you break my mind control? I… I’ve grown this strong!»

The boss monster snarled, conjuring a mass of light. It looked ready to fire at any moment.

Go Byeonggap lowered his voice and murmured.

«Listen. I’ll take that thing on. In the meantime, gather the human women. Kill the rest.»

«As you command.»

«Good.»

He channeled energy into his sword. Golden force sheathed the blade, shaping itself into form.

«You want to know how I broke your mind control?»

«Yes!»

Go Byeonggap sneered broadly as he answered.

«Beats me. Guess my control’s just stronger.»

He kicked off the ground. The boss monster fired the mass of light that instant.

Go Byeonggap scattered sword energy to destroy the projectile. He was thrown back a few steps, but Turka and Orka caught him cleanly.

The goblins faithfully carried out their Lord’s orders.

‘Doesn’t look the part, but is it a ranged type? Up close, I’ve got the advantage.’

A ranged fighter was tricky and powerful. But with no escort, it turned conspicuously weak. Go Byeonggap planned to exploit that gap.

The boss monster hurriedly prepared a second bombardment. But by then, it was already within Go Byeonggap’s range.

‘Start with the ankles.’

The long bastard sword carved a golden arc. The boss monster’s ankle split clean open, spraying fresh red blood.

«Kuhahak! You bastard!»

A fist dropped from the sky. A straight punch wrapped in karma like a gauntlet—fast and heavy. Frankly, its sheer size and mass alone were a major threat.

Go Byeonggap swiftly stepped into his footwork to widen the distance. The fist slammed into the spot where he’d stood just a second ago.

CRACK! BOOM!

The floor screamed. Debris launched upward, as if gravity had reversed.

«You rat bastard!»

No time to breathe. Projectiles rained down in a relentless stream. Dodging them all was impossible. He cycled his internal energy into a shield and huddled beneath it.

With hawk’s eyes, he tracked the boss monster’s movements. The creature had interlaced its fingers into a hammer and was swinging it toward him.

‘I can’t block that.’

Clicking his tongue, Go Byeonggap quickly scouted an escape route. His eyes and mind rapidly calculated the optimal path.

He leaped aside just before the fist-hammer fell.

CRACK! BAM!

The floor shuddered again.

‘What’s with that brute force?’

He’d assumed it was a ranged type, but its close combat was formidable too. On top of everything, the power coming from that massive frame was monstrous.

But he had the edge in sharpness.

Go Byeonggap condensed his internal energy into a blade of energy and fired it. A crescent sword aura aimed for the boss monster’s head.

«Kheuk!»

The creature crossed all four arms to defend. The multiple layers of Karma Barriers over its arms prevented amputation.

But that didn’t matter. It had been bait from the start.

‘Mandala Knight Order secret art—the third form of the Eight Martial Arts.’

He sprang up from the monster’s feet, launching himself into its embrace, and thrust his sword.

‘Shatter!’

«Kuhak!?»

A spiraling vortex of internal energy engulfed the boss monster’s left shoulder. Flesh, muscle, and bone tore like paper, shredded so finely that not even a droplet of blood splattered.

‘Pathetic compared to the original, but this is usable enough.’

«Kuh-eok!»

The boss monster toppled backward. Go Byeonggap stabbed his sword into its solar plexus and dropped down. The creature’s chest split in half, exposing its insides.

«You… you bastard—kyaaak!»

Its fighting spirit was almost commendable. The remaining two arms flew at Go Byeonggap. But he didn’t even look—his projected sword aura met them, and the wrists snapped clean off.

«Kkeu-uh…» The boss monster let out a ragged breath.

Its stiff head lifted. In the same instant, Go Byeonggap’s arm blurred. Almost simultaneously, a long blade buried itself in the creature’s eye.

«Eok—ugh! Uwaaah! Uwaaaaaaah!» it screamed, thrashing wildly.

It flailed, but with no hands left, it couldn’t even pull the sword from its own eye.

Go Byeonggap glanced back. The goblins had gathered the women and laid them out in a single spot. The female monster’s head had been cleanly severed.

‘Time to end this.’

He stepped onto the boss monster’s torso and climbed upward. Standing on its brow, he gripped the sword still lodged in the eye socket.

The boss, which had been screaming nonstop, began to beg in a desperate voice.

«Sp—spare me! I don’t want to die!» it pleaded.

«Tsk. Even in this state, you still want to live?» Byeonggap replied.

«I’ll do anything you command! Please… please, have mercy!» the monster implored.

«Mercy, is it…» he muttered, more to himself than to it.

He yanked the blade from its eye with a slick shlick. Then he reversed the sword and pressed it against the remaining eye—so close the tip trembled a hair’s breadth from the pupil.

«I’ll ask you a few things first.»

«Wh—whatever you want, I’ll answer!» the monster promised.

‘Maybe this bastard knows something worth pulling out of him.’

Questions he’d long held but never had a proper place to ask—he might finally get answers now.

Go Byeonggap shrugged off his backpack, then lobbed it toward the goblins.

«Catch!» he ordered.

«Ah—yes, sir!» a goblin stammered, snatching it midair.

«There’re potions inside. Use them to treat the women. If any of them regains consciousness, tell me immediately.»

«Understood!» came the crisp reply.

He turned back to the boss monster. The creature was frozen in terror, trembling from head to stump.

«Hmm… Where should I start? Right. You bastards—what exactly are monsters?» he asked.

«M-monsters? First, tell me what ‘monster’ means. All I know is—» the creature began.

«Ah, forget it. My mistake.»

‘Monster’ is just a term modern-day people use for the creatures inside the rift, he thought. No surprise it doesn’t understand.

«Forget ‘monster.’ Just tell me: what are you lot?» Byeonggap pressed.

«Wh… what do you mean? What are we?» the monster asked, confused.

«…That’s too vague,» Byeonggap muttered, annoyed.

It felt like playing a frustrating game of twenty questions.

‘I need to be more specific.’

Steeling himself, he finally asked what he’d only guessed at in his heart—and never wanted to accept.

«You lot… Are you human? Or one of those other demi-human races?» he demanded.

«…I see. You’re asking our species’ name,» the monster realized.

«Good, so you’re not wearing that head just for decoration. What’s your answer?» Byeonggap said.

«Hehehe… Human. Truly a word I’ve not heard in a long, long time.»

The creature burst out laughing. Its eyes were still steeped in terror, but the laughter was genuine.

«What’s so funny? Answer me.»

«Let me ask you one in return. What do you get when you cross a horse and a donkey?»

«What? …A mule, obviously.»

«Right. Now, if a mule and a bull mated and had offspring… what would you get then?»

Could a mule and a cow even breed? Go Byeonggap caught himself mid-thought, snapping back to reality.

‘Hell, why am I even entertaining this?’

«Do you not grasp the situation here? Who said I wanted to play riddle games with you?»

«It’s no game. We… cannot trace our origins that way. Countless different bloodlines are mixed within us.»

«Mixed… within you?»

«Yes. Humans, you said? I hear such pure-blooded races existed in the distant past. But now, that distinction is meaningless. We’re all mongrels, jumbled together.»

Go Byeonggap was silent for a moment. The creature continued.

«You’re… looking for a pure-blooded human? Give it up. Such a thing no longer exists in this place.»

«…….»

He nearly said, ‘I am a pure-blooded human,’ but stopped. Clearly, this bastard didn’t even know the basics.

«So, if I trace your roots, eventually there are demi-humans—whether human or something else?»

«That would be the case.»

‘Does that mean monsters are the byproducts of the five demi-human races, besides the Saraon? But that doesn’t add up, does it?’

Fine, let’s say everything he’s saying is true. But what kind of bloodlines, how mixed, could possibly spawn these horrors?

This boss monster at least roughly bore a ‘human’ shape. Except for the four arms and the goat’s head.

But many monsters were closer to beasts than humans. And countless were so grotesque, the word ‘monster’ was the only way to describe them.

Saying they were just mutations from mixed blood was too much of a leap.

Cross a cow and a mule, you should get something cow-like or something mule-like—not a damn dinosaur popping out of nowhere.

To that question, the creature answered thus:

«We… had to change to survive. Our current forms are the result of that series of changes… yes, you could call them the fruits of evolution. Cough! Cough! Kugh-heh-ck!»

It spat out blood. Its complexion had grown noticeably worse.

‘Time is running out.’

Go Byeonggap set aside his stray thoughts and fired off his remaining questions.

«Keep your answers short from now on. What was chasing you? What were you trying to survive against?»

«From the Nightmare.»

«Nightmare? Do you mean a demon?»

«It goes by that name as well.»

«Where are they? Are there any in here too?»

«No.»

The boss monster paused for a moment before continuing.

«We crawled into this cave to escape the nightmare. Then one day—cough! hah, hah—one day the way out was blocked. After that, the nightmare never came.»

‘He must mean the exit to this anthill got sealed.’

«How did you survive in here? There’s nothing to eat. Did you eat each other?»

«From that day on, we could live without eating or drinking. And… just by breathing, we gained great strength.»

«Is that so? Then why attack us?»

Go Byeonggap asked without much thought. The boss monster let out a hollow laugh.

«Because you’re intruders. And… didn’t you attack us too? Things that look like you always attacked us.»

«I suppose that’s true.»

«My Lord! One of the women is coming to!»

«Time’s up.»

Go Byeonggap quietly withdrew his blade. A flush of hope spread across the boss monster’s face.

«I… I answered everything you asked. You’re going to… to let me live, right?»

«No.»

«What—what!? Y-you’re breaking your word!»

«What are you talking about? I never once said I’d let you live. Anyway, I heard everything I needed.»

«You coward—gurk!»

He slashed his sword fiercely. The boss monster’s skull split cleanly in two.

The creature twitched briefly before going limp. As its life faded, the dungeon collapsed, and escape portals opened all around.

Go Byeonggap jumped down from the corpse and approached his goblins.

“Ugh…”

Kim Haseon groaned, her face twisted in pain. It was a sign she’d soon wake up.

Having the goblins spotted would do him no favors, so he first opened the gate to Asvillam.

«Dorma, take the children across.»

«Understood. Everyone, follow me!»

«You worked hard today. See you at dinner.»

«Yes! I’ll see you then.»

All the goblins crossed into Asvillam. Go Byeonggap then hoisted Kim Haseon and the three mysterious women over his shoulders and stepped through an escape portal.

When he came out, hunters including Jeong Seongyeong were already there.

“He’s out! He’s out!”

“Hunter Go Byeonggap is out! And Ms. Haseon is with him!”

“B-but what about the others?”

People who spotted him made a huge commotion.

“Byeonggap! Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“No problem. You look fine too, Noona.”

“Of course I am. To those chumps… no, that’s not the issue. Did you take down the boss?”

“It just sort of happened.”

“Anyway, who the hell are these women?”

Go Byeonggap set down the four women he’d been carrying under his arms.

With Kim Haseon aside, Go Byeonggap was stark naked—not a single thread on him—and somehow that made things awkward.

“Fished her out of the inner chamber. Looks like a hunter who entered the dungeon before us.”

“My God…”

“More importantly, this dungeon is nowhere near B-rank. That boss monster was easily S-rank.”

“Tch! A variant, then.”

“That’s strange. Even for a dungeon, one that’s been generated less than a day—”

“It hasn’t been a day!”

Jeong Seongyeong practically radiated killing intent.

She shoved her phone into their faces.

“I checked right away because it was so suspicious. A day? Bullshit! It’s been three days since it formed!”

“The update time… two minutes ago. Damn it.”

“The Association—those sons of bitches! Is this how they handle things? I’ll kill every last one of them when we get back.”

She looked ready to turn someone into a corpse. And Go Byeonggap had no intention of stopping her.

“Phew. Let’s head home for now. I’m exhausted.”

“…Yeah, let’s do that. Everyone gather up! I’ll do a status check and we’ll head back to Seoul. And someone help load these people into the vehicles!”

“Oh, yes ma’am!”

The half-dead subjugation team took a brief rest, then returned to Seoul.

And so the long, short day came to an end.