Chapter 37 – Butterfly Dungeon (3)

“Damn it!”

He couldn’t count the number of times he’d cursed out the team leader for putting them through hellish training.

But this time, Kim Tae-yang thought, was on another level.

“Freaking bugs!”

A disgusting bug resembling a camel cricket pushed forward like a tank. Normally, he would have backed down even if told to fight it one-on-one. But there was no retreat.

“Get the hell away from me!”

Kim Tae-yang swung his kukri as if his life depended on it.

The cutting power of his new exclusive equipment, the Red Label-grade kukri, was terrifyingly good.

He thought he’d only grazed it, but the monster’s head was severed, sticking to the wall before sliding down.

Kim Tae-yang’s base ability was Regeneration. Despite his irritation, he held the front line.

He knew that with the team leader gone, he was the only one who could last the longest.

*Squish, thud!*

Right next to Kim Tae-yang, Kim In-ho was providing support with his newly acquired spearmanship.

If the Red Label focused on sharpness, Kim In-ho’s spear was a Blue Label-grade weapon that focused on hardness.

Kim In-ho had been awkward with it at first, but he’d grown very fond of his new Four-Directional Spear. Its ability to extend reminded him of the Ruyi Jingu Bang.

As Kim Tae-yang and Kim In-ho blocked the narrow passage, the corpses of the bugs piled up. But the two of them weren’t the only ones who were strong.

“Close your eyes!”

Seo Hyun-ji summoned Lux, the Spirit of Light. A brilliant white light flashed through the dark dungeon, and the bugs, blinded by the glare, staggered in agony.

As soon as the light faded, Kim Tae-yang and Kim In-ho smashed through all the monsters blocking their path.

“Huu, huu.”

“Haaah!”

Sweat poured down like rain, drenching their bodies in heat.

They had no idea how much time had passed. It felt like hours, but the clock showed that only three minutes had gone by.

“Kim In… ho…!”

Startled by his name being called, Kim In-ho glanced to his side.

It was Kim Chang-yeol, a former member of the special forces who had once been his senior.

He was thrusting an arming sword at his side.

*Crack!*

Kim Chang-yeol, who had been aiming for Kim In-ho, was sent tumbling to the floor by Kim Tae-yang’s kick.

“You tired? Huh?”

“Tired, my ass.”

“Tell me if you’re struggling. Hey, you can go rest in the back with Hyun-ji noona. You’ll get chewed out by the team leader, though.”

“Are you tired? You’re talking a lot.”

As Kim Tae-yang and Kim In-ho exchanged brief banter, Seo Hyun-ji muttered in displeasure.

“Who are you calling noona?”

They seemed to have some breathing room, but that wasn’t actually the case.

The Tushin Guild’s party leader, Baek Ju-hwan, was drawing his bow.

He was a C-Ranker and an exceptional ranged dealer.

*Swoosh!*

With a sharp sound of tearing air, a mana arrow was fired.

Kim Tae-yang split Baek Ju-hwan’s arrow in two.

“Insolent… fool…!”

An arrogant mutter escaped the entranced Baek Ju-hwan’s lips.

He fired another arrow. This time, a single arrow of light split into ten and rained down on them.

This time, even Kim In-ho had to step up to deflect the arrows. The ranged attacks were powerful, but the real problem was the B-Ranker, Kim Chi-guk, charging at them.

“Fall back!”

Seo Hyun-ji summoned Terra, the Spirit of Earth. A brown golem rose from the ground and formed a large wall.

She created wall after wall in succession.

The multiple barriers formed a shield against the ceaselessly swarming monsters.

However, the B-Ranker Kim Chi-guk easily evaded the barriers and thrust his spear.

*Clang!*

Kim In-ho blocked Kim Chi-guk’s spear. The speed was impossible to follow with his eyes.

It was a thrust he wouldn’t have been able to block before.

Kim Chi-guk’s spear was swiftly retracted, then unleashed a flurry of attacks in a circular motion.

Kim In-ho struggled to block his attacks, retreating further and further back.

*Swish!*

Kim Chi-guk dodged Kim Tae-yang’s sudden surprise attack and retreated. At the same time, he counterattacked, striking Kim Tae-yang’s body with his spear.

“Cough!”

Kim Tae-yang felt a searing pain. He thought he had dodged it, but the spear had torn through his abdomen.

Kim Chi-guk felt the sure impact at the tip of his spear. It was definitely a critical hit. He activated a skill to finish him off.

Flash.

Just as a momentary flash of light was about to erupt, a sudden darkness filled his vision.

Seo Hyun-ji had timed it perfectly, having the Spirit of Darkness descend and shroud the area in black.

Kim Chi-guk changed his target.

The presence of Seo Hyun-ji, who had been summoning spirits to support her allies from the start, was annoying.

Kim Chi-guk thrust his spear toward where Seo Hyun-ji had been. But she had already moved.

The descent of the Dark Spirit did not last long. Kim Chi-guk targeted Seo Hyun-ji. But Kim Tae-yang blocked his path.

He was certain his opponent had suffered a fatal wound. Kim Chi-guk planned to casually swat him aside and go for Seo Hyun-ji.

But Kim Tae-yang didn’t budge. In fact, while dodging his attack, he lunged into his personal space.

Startled, Kim Chi-guk tried to create distance, but he could no longer escape Kim Tae-yang’s close range.

*Squish!*

Kim Tae-yang’s strike sliced a large gash across Kim Chi-guk’s abdomen.

Kim Chi-guk’s pupils dilated in disbelief.

His gaze fell on Kim Tae-yang’s abdomen, where he had been pierced.

There was no wound.

Super Regeneration.

It was an ability-enhancing skill that Kim Tae-yang had developed through his training with Lee Hyunbin. But of course, Kim Chi-guk couldn’t have known that.

“Keuk!”

The B-Ranker Kim Chi-guk collapsed. And even the C-Ranker Baek Ju-hwan was critically wounded by a blow from Kim In-ho’s Four-Directional Spear.

It was a sight that other hunters would have found unbelievable.

A C-minus ranker had taken down a B-Ranker, and another had taken down a C-Ranker.

“Damn it.”

Wiping the blood from his lips, Kim Tae-yang looked at the bugs swarming toward them again.

“This is insane. We should’ve just run.”

Seo Hyun-ji bit her lip at the bleak situation.

She couldn’t abandon her teammates, so she fought alongside them, but the situation was too dire. Her mana was already depleted.

The three of them recalled the failure of their plan. It was only because their team leader was unusually strong for a porter that they’d gotten this far; in truth, it was an absurd task.

‘Don’t tell me…’

Seo Hyun-ji felt a sense of dread. Lee Hyunbin had been injured because of her.

For him to charge into the enemy’s center alone in that condition, his chances of survival were slim.

No, there was no way he could have survived.

It was at that moment.

A miraculous message appeared in their despairing vision.

-You have successfully hunted the Butterfly Queen, Mago.

“What the…!”

“Ah, couldn’t you have killed it a little faster! That was so damn tense!”

Kim In-ho and Kim Tae-yang grumbled, while Seo Hyun-ji let out a sigh of relief and collapsed on the spot.

The prey before them was too strong, and their queen was dead.

The bugs, now without a leader, scrambled to flee back to their own lairs.

***

The boss was defeated.

The Butterfly Queen, Mago, had used a charm skill to control the hunters and command her minions.

Her brilliant wings, which had allowed her to fly, were torn to shreds.

Her body was sliced open, revealing her insides, and blood trickled out intermittently like a dried-up stream.

The Butterfly Queen’s lifeless eyes were fixed on my face.

I, too, stared back into those eyes.

I was currently seized by an inexplicable sense of unease.

-Hero… You… to us…!

Something that could be mistaken for a tear trickled from the dying Butterfly Queen’s compound eyes.

Her hand, reaching out like a final flutter of her wings, trembled faintly before falling to the ground.

The death of the boss.

This thing knew me.

And I didn’t know it. No, of course I wouldn’t know a monster.

Level up messages popped up a few times. Then, several parts of the hunted boss monster’s body began to glow.

I checked the items I had acquired ownership of.

A rare skill, Sleep, and a unique item, Mago’s Leather Boots. And.

-Synchronization Rate has increased.

-Restoring Soul Breaker.

I had acquired an attack skill I used to have.

-Congratulations. You have acquired a Legendary-grade skill.

The eyeball extracted from the Butterfly Queen’s eye transformed into a skill USB.

-This is the first time a Legendary-grade item has dropped in an intermediate dungeon. Well, you know what they say—the destined will succeed, right?

Olivier sent a congratulatory message through the comms.

-Sleep is a mage-type skill, and the boots have a levitation option. Mago’s Eye has the Insight skill effect. What would you like to do?

I don’t need Sleep or the boots, so I’ll sell them. It’s better for me to take the Legendary skill.

Back in the other world, dealing with enemies who had insight abilities was always tricky.

If mastered to the highest level, it would allow one to see even the opponent’s characteristic skills at a glance.

Being able to see the other side of your opponent’s cards was an enormous advantage.

-I will use Mago’s Eye.

-Legendary: Insight has been acquired.

-The 1st stage effect allows you to view an opponent’s status window.

After collecting the items, I headed back to where my team members were.

They’d been through hellish training, so they wouldn’t lose to enemies of this caliber.

If they did lose, it would just mean their training was insufficient, and I’d have to ramp up the intensity as much as I wanted.

-Olivier.

-Yes. You hit the jackpot, so are you going to share some with me?

I asked her nonchalantly as she teased me.

-That boss knew me.

-…

There had been something strange before, too.

The Villain, the Company Man, whom I met in the dungeon where I first awakened. That guy knew how to offer sacrifices in a dungeon.

*So you’re the Hero.*

The Company Man had worn a crazed smile even with his ruined face.

And the dying monster had also called me a Hero with clear pronunciation.

There was definitely something going on. Something more than a coincidence.

-You. No, you all seem to be hiding something from me. Am I right?

-…I don’t know anything about that boss.

Olivier’s low voice continued.

-But it was probably someone who knew you, Hero.

A person.

At Olivier’s words, I used Insight to look at the Butterfly Queen’s corpse.

-Butterfly Queen Mago ★★

-Strength: 35

-Agility: 45

-Stamina: 85

-Mana: 88

-Luck: 45

I could see the Butterfly Queen’s stats.

-Origin: Lania Domain

The name of a familiar domain appeared.

-True Name: Diana Chryston

The moment I saw that name, I remembered a young girl who always waved at me with a bright smile.

***

The Uiwang Railroad Museum Dungeon had been cleared. A dungeon without a boss can no longer grow.

There was a low chance that one of the remaining monsters might awaken as a new boss, but they were usually hunted down and mined by other hunters before that could happen.

A dungeon completely purged of monsters would gradually collapse and vanish without a trace.

The hunters who had been entranced by the Butterfly Queen had now come to their senses.

“Did Hanul take the boss again?”

“We would’ve all been wiped out if it wasn’t for Hanul. Seriously, why were there so many monsters in that dungeon?”

For the hunters, this insect dungeon had been nothing short of a nightmare.

Their lives had been constantly on the line thanks to monsters pouring out from all directions like real bugs.

“I heard Tushin was being controlled by the boss.”

“And that Kim Chi-guk and Baek Ju-hwan were taken down by Hanul’s rookies?”

Someone muttered. This was bound to happen, as everyone retained their memories from when they were being controlled.

Tushin’s Baek Ju-hwan and Kim Chi-guk couldn’t lift their faces.

They were renowned fighters in the B and C-Ranks, respectively, and were among the top ten.

For those two to be defeated by rookie hunters, even if they were being controlled, was humiliating.

‘No, those guys were just strong.’

Baek Ju-hwan ground his teeth in anger. Kim Chi-guk, knowing this to be true, couldn’t say a word and fled the scene with a sour expression.

“Ms. Seo Hyun-ji! How was your first dungeon raid?”

“We heard that everyone might have been wiped out if not for Hanul’s efforts, is that true?”

“Ms. Seo Hyun-ji! When is your next dungeon raid…!”

As soon as the dungeon raid was over, Seo Hyun-ji was surrounded by reporters.

Kim Tae-yang and Kim In-ho, who had never experienced this before, just blinked, unsure of what to do.

“Thanks to the help of my teammates, I was able to successfully clear the boss, though I still have much to learn. I will continue to train diligently to achieve good results in the future.”

As if she had expected this, Seo Hyun-ji gave a brief comment to the press with a smile.

While everyone else was grimy from battle, Seo Hyun-ji had used items from her inventory to look effortlessly put together before she left.

After the clearance of the Butterfly Dungeon, interest in S-Rank Hunter Seo Hyun-ji exploded. The news and newspapers were filled with special features about her.

Leaving the public’s attention behind, I returned home to rest.

“Mister.”

When I got home, Katrinne was staring at me intently.

“Did something happen?”

“Why?”

“You just seem like it.”

“Nothing happened.”

“It doesn’t look like nothing. Are the Justice members not gathering well?”

“I’m not gathering anything like that.”

“Funny.”

We exchanged meaningless jokes.

Katrinne smiled faintly, studying my face feature by feature.

Awkwardness.

Feeling it, I stood up to go to my room.

“Hey.”

“Yeah.”

“By any chance, are you in contact with the people from the domain?”

At my words, I could see Katrinne’s round eyes curve into a slight smile. Then came her reply.

“Yes.”