He spoke with such conviction that Sehyun had no choice but to believe him. He thought about quitting and heading back, but he couldn’t ignore the quota and return empty-handed when he hadn’t even been injured. Besides, Squad 2 had cleared the first floor of the dungeon yesterday even while being in poor condition.
Rather than return to be pointed at and compared unfavorably, it was better to collect the ten magic stones assigned by quota and head back.
“Let’s go.”
Having made up his mind, Sehyun fitted an arrow to his bowstring and began to move forward slowly. Since bats detected magic power faster than expected, he refrained from using any skill in advance.
After walking only a few steps, he saw at the end of the winding path a circular dome-shaped space. As Jaeyoung had said, three bats were circling inside the dome-like space as if they were scouting.
Sehyun aimed at the closest one and fired <Fall of Purification LV.1>. The moment a popping sound rang out, the other two beasts simultaneously turned their heads toward Sehyun.
The first to dash forward was Jaeyoung. With his crossbow braced tightly against his shoulder, Jaeyoung tumbled, tracking the trajectory of the swooping bat. When the beast lowered its claws and descended, he pulled the trigger in rapid succession, aiming for its heart and abdomen.
The crossbow had four bolts left. The fight had to be decided within those.
The first bolt missed due to the distance. But the next, fired just as the beast flew within range, pierced through its chest and sternum.
Kieeeek—!
A horrible shriek filled the chamber. Jaeyoung, with an anxious look, quickly surveyed his surroundings, then fired the final bolt at the creature’s eye. The bolt sank into the left eye with a sickening sound, piercing through and bursting its brain.
The kill was made before the beast could land. Its body crumbled into black ash and scattered with the wind.
Meanwhile, Sehyun, as soon as Jaeyoung dashed out, pulled his bow again. To divert the attention of the beast lunging at Jaeyoung, he deliberately shot an arrow at its feet.
The gaze shifted to Sehyun, just as he wanted. Spreading its wings wide, the beast snapped its jaws open and darted toward him like lightning. Sehyun rolled aside at an angle, evading, then immediately nocked and drew another arrow.
The arrow he released struck the beast’s nape. Choking, the monster reached back to claw the arrow out, writhing in pain.
Not missing the opening, Sehyun nocked another arrow, surrounded it with skill, and drew the bowstring to its limit.
The muscles in his back twitched, his shoulders ached sharply. Unlike in training, here there was no recovery. His body, already drained from firing countless arrows, was exhausted. His fingertips, gripping the arrow’s fletching, were raw and split open. Yet tension kept him from even feeling the pain.
The arrow flew true, piercing through the beast’s head and embedding in the wall. A cracking sound followed, its skull burst apart, and its collapsing body dissolved into black ash.
When the corpse vanished and a magic stone was revealed, the long-awaited notification appeared in his vision. It was a level-up message.
[You have leveled up.]
[You have acquired Fear Resistance LV.2.]
Jaeyoung had probably already reached LV.2. He had killed more beasts than Sehyun, and judging from his quicker reflexes and vision, he had likely leveled up a couple of hours earlier. He might even have reached LV.3 by now.
“Hyung, we should get out quickly. That noise just now… something dangerous might wake up.”
Sehyun didn’t know what “that” was, but if Jaeyoung, who had remained calm all this time, was speaking with such unease, then it must be a dangerous monster. Perhaps even the boss. The fact that there were three of them was odd, but Sehyun decided to retreat first.
“Alright, let’s go. Come here, Jaeyoung. You’re not hurt, are you?”
“No. But, hyung… your fingers…”
“I don’t get why you’re quitting when we handled them so easily?”
“Yeah, if we all pitch in, we can keep going.”
“Come on, think about it. If we give up here, we’ll look worse than Squad 2. Don’t do that, just help us a little more. Hm?”
Three men suddenly blocked their path. Though they looked uneasy, they didn’t move aside. To them, Sehyun and Jaeyoung must have looked like easy marks after silently cooperating this far. And truth be told, they had played the fools.
“Why are you all so greedy? We’re not doing any more. If you want to, go ahead on your own.”
“Come on, with your skills, you could keep going—why pull out now?”
“What—what did you say? Damn…”
“Don’t be like that, we’ve got time. Let’s push on just a bit more. We already gathered most of the magic stones for you.”
Sehyun stopped Jaeyoung from stepping forward and raised his bow instead. He pulled an arrow from the quiver on his thigh and aimed it straight at their faces.
“If you don’t want your heads blown apart, step aside. Whatever happens here, the beasts will take the blame. Think carefully.”
In other words: if he killed them, he could just blame it on the monsters. The men’s faces finally drained of color.
“Hey, no need to go that far…”
“Move.”
“What’s the rush? Let’s just lower the bow and talk this out.”
“Hyung, we need to leave now!”
Jaeyoung grabbed Sehyun’s sleeve desperately, his eyes darting around the chamber, trembling. Seeing that, Sehyun lowered his bow and tried to shove past the men.
He would have—if they hadn’t planted their feet and grabbed hold of him.
“Then at least hand over the magic stones. I can’t take this life anymore… I’ve had enough. You two are good at fighting, huh? But us—we could die any second. So just give in this once. Daegong will handle the rest.”
“Hyung! Let go of him, you bastards! Let him go now!”
“We’re not trying to do anything else! Just the magic stones, give us those!”
“Did Daegong… tell you to do this?”
Sehyun spat the words out as he tore his arm free from their grip. He wondered what had driven them to this point, but then realized. They had been after the stones from the start. And they wanted Sehyun and Jaeyoung dead here.
“We can’t say, but this is for a good cause. You two are young, you shoot well, the village head trusts you. Us… we’re not. We don’t have a chance. So let us live.”
“Hyung! We need to leave now! Quickly…!”
“I know, just let go of me already! We have to get out of here…!”
Whether it was because combat classes were naturally this strong, or because Sehyun really was the weakest, he couldn’t shake their grips from his arms. Jaeyoung tried to pry them off but clutched his head in pain midway and collapsed.
Even at Sehyun’s desperate cries, the men didn’t release him. Instead, their hands fumbled at his body, searching for the stones. When their hands reached the small pouch tied at his waist, one of them froze, staring past Sehyun, and muttered as if entranced.
His heart sank.
“What… is that…?”
Everyone’s gaze shifted behind Sehyun. Jaeyoung still crouched with his head in his hands. Then—an abrupt change in the air. The moment he felt it, everything fell silent.
Even the sound of breathing disappeared. What he felt through his skin was a spine-chilling, eerie sensation.
Something was watching them. Instinct screamed not to look. Reason urged him to. Forcing down the clashing instinct, Sehyun lifted his eyes, trembling, to where everyone else was staring.
It was a creature, pure white from head to toe. Three times the size of other bat monsters, with eyes as black and bottomless as the abyss.
Albino.
Yes, it was an albino. Its tilted head, studying them with curiosity, didn’t seem particularly threatening. But when it straightened its head and opened its jaws into a grin, everyone was seized by an irresistible terror.
Jaeyoung too. The death replaying in his mind was as suffocating as the creature’s lifted lips. The beast’s hunched back cracked as it straightened, and for a fleeting eternity, everyone barely regained awareness.
Not that they were sane. What broke out first was a scream.
“Aaaahhh!!”
“Aaaghhh!!”
“Aaahhhh!!”
The three men collapsed onto their rears, eyes unfocused in terror. Desperate to survive, they flipped over, clawing at the floor, crawling away. The stench of piss filled the air, soaking the ground as they wept and smeared their faces with snot, driven by sheer will to live.
And yet, the albino beast did not move. As if its prey was already chosen, it didn’t spare them a glance. When their screams faded and their figures disappeared from sight, the monster’s black eyes changed.
Its pupils split sideways like a goat’s. And those eyes curved in a way that made the skin crawl.