Hyeon-su cautiously descended the stairs.
'I've already defeated the boss monster, so what the hell is going on?'
His mind filled with questions, Hyeon-su arrived on the fourth underground floor.
Before him was a space covered in all kinds of magic circles.
'What is this place?'
Rustle. Rustle.
Hyeon-su turned toward the sound coming from somewhere nearby.
Something wearing a black cloak was moving.
Then it turned around, and its eyes met Hyeon-su's.
FLASH!
Its eyes were split into long, vertical slits.
A chill ran down his spine.
'That's no ordinary monster.'
Instinctively sensing danger, Hyeon-su felt a cold shiver spread through his entire body.
Just then.
-H-Hu......man?
The thing in the black cloak spoke.
'A monster that can talk?'
There were intelligent monsters inside Dungeons.
However, such monsters only appeared in Dungeons of B-Grade or higher.
'Then why is something like this in an E-Grade Dungeon......?'
A sudden realization struck Hyeon-su like a bolt of lightning.
'This isn't an E-Grade Dungeon...... It's a B-Grade Dungeon......!'
Starting from B-Grade Dungeons, there were sometimes two bosses.
A mid-boss and a final boss.
Hyeon-su realized that the true identity of this Dungeon wasn't E-Grade at all. It was a B-Grade Dungeon.
From B-Grade onward, the difficulty was on an entirely different level.
'The information was wrong. I need to get out of here......!'
Hyeon-su quickly pulled a Dungeon Gate Creation Scroll from his Inventory.
'This isn't a Grade I can handle.'
Holding the scroll in his hand, he attempted to activate it.
'Activate the scro......!'
Just then.
ZAP—!
-F-Finally, a hu-human sacrifice!
The scroll in Hyeon-su's hand shattered.
It had been destroyed before he could activate it.
'......!'
Hyeon-su was so shocked that he couldn't utter a word.
Step. Step.
The figure in the black cloak approached and spoke.
-B-Be......come a sa-sacrifice, hu-human.
'A sacrifice......?'
Every nerve in Hyeon-su's body went on high alert.
"Phew......."
'I need to get a grip. One wrong move and I'll die here.'
Hyeon-su calmed himself and assessed the situation.
Then he looked around, examining the surrounding terrain and structures.
-I-I'll o-offer a hu-human to H-Him.
With that, the creature kicked off the ground and charged toward Hyeon-su.
BAM!
Hyeon-su instinctively activated his skill.
'Design Mode!'
The black-cloaked figure charging toward him immediately froze.
"H-Holy shit."
It had moved so fast that it was practically teleportation. Without Design Mode, Hyeon-su would have been taken down instantly.
'I couldn't even see it......!'
Hyeon-su examined the figure closely to determine its identity.
'A lizard? No, is it a Lizardman?'
Lizardmen were bipedal lizard monsters.
'I'm running out of time.'
Having identified the monster, Hyeon-su hurriedly moved his hands.
'Without a scroll, I'll have to clear this Dungeon myself to get out.'
If he failed to clear it, he would be trapped inside.
Of course, this bastard would probably kill him long before that happened.
Naturally, he didn't expect to defeat it in a single attack, but Cut was the strongest offensive ability he possessed.
'It doesn't seem to have any particular weak points.'
Unable to find anything resembling a core, Hyeon-su had no choice but to slice its torso in half.
He doubted one attack would be enough, so he planned to keep using Cut whenever its cooldown ended.
'Let's try trapping it first.'
Hyeon-su moved his hands and relocated the Lizardman farther away.
Ideally, he wanted to seal it inside a completely enclosed space. However, since he had to work with the existing terrain and structures, creating a perfect enclosure was difficult.
He had Cut, Move, Rotate, Resize, and Delete, but he couldn't alter the shapes of objects by bending them or joining them perfectly together.
In the end, Hyeon-su imagined constructing a box and began cutting out each side separately.
It wouldn't be perfect, since he couldn't join the walls together without any gaps.
Slice. Slice.
He continued cutting sections from the surrounding walls, enclosing the Lizardman as tightly as possible.
Then, when the skill's duration expired, Design Mode deactivated.
-Y-You...... t-trapped me......!
Realizing it had been imprisoned, the Lizardman attempted to smash through the walls.
CRASH—!
THUD! THUD!
Hyeon-su used his Mouse to keep pushing the walls toward the Lizardman.
He intended to crush it to death.
'It shouldn't be able to break them.'
-K-Kuugh!
'I just need to buy some time.'
-Y-You hu-human! I-I won't let you get away with this!
THUD! THUD!
CRASH—!
CRASH! CRASH—!
The enraged Lizardman repeatedly tried to destroy the walls, but even a Dungeon's final boss couldn't destroy its structures.
Eventually, the Lizardman began pushing the walls apart instead.
The gaps along the corners where the separate walls met gradually widened.
'Damn it. What a brute.'
GRRRR.
CREAAAAK.
Hyeon-su kept pushing the walls back with his Mouse to prevent them from moving, but the Lizardman eventually forced open a gap large enough to escape through.
It shot through the opening like an arrow and struck Hyeon-su squarely in the stomach.
THUD!
"Guh!"
CRASH! THUMP!
"Kuugh!"
Sent flying by a single kick from the Lizardman, Hyeon-su hurriedly moved his hands to trap it again.
Realizing what Hyeon-su was attempting, the Lizardman's eyes flashed, and its body slowly began changing color.
Just like the surrounding rocks.
Then, at some point, its body blended into the wall and disappeared completely.
Hyeon-su frantically checked his cooldown.
-54
-53
-52
'Damn it!'
There were still around fifty seconds remaining.
THWACK!
THWACK!
"Guh!!"
The Lizardman emerged from behind him and slammed its tail into Hyeon-su.
A deep, agonizing pain surged through his body, as though his internal organs had been torn apart.
At that moment, he tasted something metallic in his mouth.
Hyeon-su tried desperately to endure it, but the pain became unbearable. A violent cough erupted from his throat, sending bright red blood spilling from his mouth.
"COUGH!"
'Damn it.'
"Huff, huff......."
In truth, with a level difference this enormous, a single blow should have been enough to kill him.
'Is it deliberately keeping me alive?'
It was a reasonable suspicion, especially since he had taken the attack directly without any defensive skills or protective equipment.
'My entire body hurts. But the problem is, my cooldown still hasn't finished.'
Just then.
SWISH!
"Urgh."
The Lizardman appeared behind Hyeon-su once more and wrapped its tail around him.
Trapped in its coils, Hyeon-su was lifted into the air.
-C-Caught you. Hu-human sacrifice.
The Lizardman slowly emerged from the wall it had blended into, looking pleased with itself as it gazed at Hyeon-su suspended in midair.
Then it began chanting some kind of incantation.
Hyeon-su tried to use his Mouse, but his entire body was bound so tightly that he couldn't move a muscle.
"Ugh......!"
An electric cage formed around Hyeon-su.
CRACKLE, CRACKLE.
BZZZT.
'I don't even need to touch that to know.'
-H-Human. S-Stay still. M-Must preserve you...... i-intact.
And then his cooldown finally ended.
'What impeccable timing.'
Hyeon-su activated Design Mode.
He clicked on himself, intending to escape from the electric cage.
But then a thought occurred to him.
'Wait. Didn't it say something about needing to preserve me intact?'
If that was the case, didn't it mean the creature intended to leave him inside this cage until it was ready to do something?
'It's worth testing.'
Since the monster was probably B-Grade, he would likely need to use Cut at least five more times to defeat it.
Design Mode had a cooldown, meaning he could only attack once every three minutes. There was a limit to how long he could keep surviving against a B-Grade monster using nothing but the surrounding terrain.
'There's hardly anything useful here.'
The only nearby structures he could manipulate were rocks.
But what if he could safely buy time inside this cage while continuing to attack?
'That's not a bad option. No, it's an excellent option.'
Hyeon-su used Cut on the Lizardman and then deactivated Design Mode without doing anything else.
-.......
The Lizardman seemed completely unaware of what had happened.
As though nothing had occurred, it lowered Hyeon-su to the ground and went off to retrieve something.
Hyeon-su didn't know whether the Lizardman was simply too dull to notice or whether the damage needed to accumulate before Cut could sever it completely.
Either way, it was fortunate.
'It worked!'
Thankfully, Hyeon-su's plan had succeeded.
Just then, the Lizardman returned carrying another electric cage and placed it beside Hyeon-su.
Hyeon-su looked at what was inside.
'A baby mermaid?'
A tiny, palm-sized baby mermaid with a bluish glow lay unconscious inside.
She was imprisoned just like Hyeon-su.
The Lizardman alternated its gaze between Hyeon-su and the baby mermaid, seemingly satisfied.
-F-For...... H-Him......!
Then it began muttering something while drawing magic circles all over the place.
From inside his electric cage, Hyeon-su continued using Cut on the Lizardman whenever his cooldown ended, steadily accumulating attacks.
-Mmm~.
Just then, a faint groan came from the other electric cage beside him.
It was the voice of an adorable little girl.
A pair of blue eyes, as though they contained the ocean itself, opened.
When the baby mermaid's eyes met Hyeon-su's, she flinched.
She trembled and asked,
-Who...... are...... you?
'Wow, she's really beautiful.'
Her soft, flowing hair swayed gently as she stared at Hyeon-su with her large, round eyes.
"Um, hello. I'm someone who's been locked up, just like you."
Blink. Blink.
The baby mermaid looked between her own cage and Hyeon-su's, apparently beginning to understand their situation.
-Where...... is this?
"Well....... How should I explain it? Do you know what a Dungeon is?"
Whatever the Lizardman was doing, it paid absolutely no attention to them.
It was completely absorbed in drawing magic circles everywhere.
Thanks to that, Hyeon-su could comfortably wait out his cooldowns.
-I don't...... know.
"Hmm. Then it'll be difficult for me to explain."
Just then.
-I-It's...... d-done.
The Lizardman's voice rang out.
'Damn. I think I still need a few more attacks.'
Step. Step.
The Lizardman approached one of the places where it had drawn something and dripped its own blood onto it.
The blood began flowing along the magic circle, and the entire cavern started glowing.
'I can't wait any longer.'
Hyeon-su activated Design Mode and teleported himself to an area without any magic circles.
He moved the imprisoned baby mermaid along with him.
After using Cut on the Lizardman one more time, he mercilessly sliced apart the sections of the walls bearing the magic circles the creature had worked so hard to draw, destroying them.
'Deactivate Design Mode.'
As soon as Design Mode deactivated, the cavern, which had been brightly illuminated by the magic circles, fell dark once more.
Realizing that its plan had been ruined, the Lizardman became ferocious.
-Y-You...... b-bastards......!
The enraged Lizardman kicked off the ground and lunged at Hyeon-su.
ZAP!
THUD—!
THWACK—!
The Lizardman's fists, backed by hard scales and powerful muscles, sent Hyeon-su flying.
"Guh!"
Coughing up blood once again, Hyeon-su raised his Mouse to stop the bastard.
Just then.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—!
Water bombs shot from the baby mermaid toward the Lizardman.
-KRAAGH!
'Water?'
The moment Hyeon-su saw that, a particular item in his inventory flashed through his mind like a bolt of lightning.
"In that case......!"
Hyeon-su gathered the surrounding walls and trapped the Lizardman once more. Then he turned to the baby mermaid.
"Can you fill that space with water?"
The baby mermaid nodded and immediately began filling it with water.
RUSHHHH!
THUD! THUD! THWACK!
CRASH—!
It became a struggle between the Lizardman, which constantly tried to smash and push apart the walls, and Hyeon-su, who continued keeping it trapped.
WHOOSH!
Once Hyeon-su confirmed that a sufficient amount of water had accumulated, he quickly pulled a Lightning Bolt Scroll from his Inventory and activated it.
FLASH—!
CRACKLE, CRACKLE!
-KRAAAAGH!
When lightning shot into the water, the submerged Lizardman writhed in agony as though being electrocuted.
"It worked!"
Hyeon-su checked his cooldown, which had just finished, and attempted to use Cut on the Lizardman again.
'Please let this be the last one.......'
Perhaps his hopes had finally been answered.
A moment later, messages appeared.
-Final boss monster defeated.
-You have gained 103 EXP.
-Dungeon cleared.
-First Dungeon clear achieved!
-Luck takes effect!
-First-clear reward granted.
-You have acquired Armor of Immortality (S-Grade).
-Dungeon Story unlocked.
-A Dungeon Gate will appear in 10 seconds.
THUD!
"Huff, huff...... I did it......."
He barely had the strength to read the messages that continued appearing before his eyes.
Covered in wounds from head to toe, Hyeon-su collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted.
'Damn it. I don't even have the strength to move a finger.'
-Congratulations!
-E5126 Dungeon has been cleared for the first time!