The damp smell of moss stabbed at the tip of his nose.
Chae-ho moved forward while quietly exhaling.
Whenever a faint pulse throbbed near his temple, a headache that felt like needles piercing through him briefly passed.
It was the backlash from using the skill.
The time he had activated Time Deceleration to avoid the Orc Warrior's attack and cut its knee joint had only been about 0.7 seconds.
But twisting the flow of the world and perceiving it during that brief instant had placed a significant burden on his brain.
Chae-ho kept his expression stiff and forcibly suppressed the pain.
There was no reason to show it.
The pain was not severe enough to interfere with battle right now.
As usual, he gripped his old iron sword and took his position on the right-side support line, one step away from the frontline.
"Don't let your guard down. This is the final area leading to the boss room."
The party leader, Choi Min-seok, who was walking at the front, turned around and raised his voice.
His gaze swept across the party members before briefly stopping on Chae-ho.
Previously, he had looked at him with distrust, seeing him as nothing more than a Grade D former porter.
But now it was different.
There was clear trust in his eyes.
The other party members were the same.
Those who had watched Chae-ho cautiously throughout the break continued glancing toward the right side where he stood even after they resumed moving.
As if the strongest shield was standing there.
'This is uncomfortable.'
Chae-ho clicked his tongue inwardly.
His role was frontline support.
He had no intention of stepping forward, nor did he plan to take the lead and cut down monsters.
He had only intervened earlier because he could not watch the mage die right in front of him.
Before long, they encountered another group of monsters.
Four ordinary orcs appeared the moment they turned the corner of the passage.
"Frontline engage! Healer, fall back!"
With Choi Min-seok's command, the battle began.
Explosive sounds rang out as metal and clubs collided, filling the cave with sharp impacts.
The battle proceeded smoothly.
The frontline fighters pushed the orcs back with their shields, while the spearmen and mage took advantage of openings to inflict fatal wounds.
Even during this, Chae-ho strictly maintained his position.
He only lightly knocked away orc clubs that flew toward the right side or struck the ankles of creatures trying to bypass the formation.
He did not force himself to finish them off.
He simply removed obstacles so the frontline fighters could fight comfortably.
The hunt ended quickly.
"Whoo, good work."
One of the frontline fighters wiped sweat from his forehead and bowed toward Chae-ho.
He had survived a crisis when Chae-ho had perfectly twisted the attack trajectory at the moment he lost control of his shield.
"Good work."
Chae-ho answered briefly and put his sword away.
The smooth hunts continued.
The belief among the party members that the porter experience written on his resume had to be fake was becoming established as fact.
The distance control and field awareness he showed were not something someone who only handled chores from the back could possess.
At this rate, it seemed they would reach the boss room without any major crisis.
Just as the tension slowly began leaving everyone's shoulders.
***
THUD.
THUD.
The bedrock beneath their feet trembled heavily.
Choi Min-seok, walking at the front, stopped and raised his clenched fist.
It was the signal to stop.
When the party members' footsteps ceased, the vibration coming from deeper inside the dungeon struck their ears even more clearly.
It was not the footsteps of an ordinary monster.
It was a roar like a massive chunk of metal rolling across the ground, approaching at regular intervals.
"Everyone, draw your weapons."
Choi Min-seok growled quietly while adjusting his shield.
Something emerged from the darkness.
The party members' faces instantly turned pale.
"Chwiieeeek!"
The creature that appeared while releasing rough snorts was a monster completely different from ordinary orcs.
It stood well over three meters tall, and its entire body was a dark reddish color as if covered in blood.
In both hands, it held iron clubs as thick and rough as tree trunks.
A Charge-Type Mutated Orc.
A high-level individual that appeared extremely rarely even in Grade C dungeons.
The mutation was not recorded in even a single line of the dungeon appearance records provided by the Association.
"Crazy, why is that thing here?!"
The mage standing at the rear shouted with a trembling voice.
The Mutated Orc did not care about the party members' confusion.
Its red eyes swept across the group, and it lowered its enormous shoulders.
Then, the next moment.
"Kwoooaaah!"
With a maddened roar, it kicked off the ground and launched itself forward.
This was not simply running.
Its overwhelming mass carried tremendous acceleration, charging toward the party like a runaway locomotive.
"Block it! Frontline, group up!"
Choi Min-seok shouted with veins bulging on his neck.
The shield warriors beside him hurriedly locked their shields together and prepared to withstand the impact.
But it was not enough.
CRASH!
With a horrifying collision, one shield warrior was blown backward without even having time to scream.
"Keugh!"
The shield warrior flew through the air and rolled across the floor.
The tightly formed formation was torn apart like a sheet of paper in an instant.
The charge's power did not diminish at all even after sending the shield away.
Immediately after breaking through the defensive line.
The Mutated Orc's merciless iron club, still carrying its momentum, headed toward Choi Min-seok and the healer standing directly behind him.
"Damn it!"
Choi Min-seok hurriedly raised his shield.
But his stance was already ruined.
If he was hit like this, not only would his bones be crushed, but the healer behind him would not survive either.
There was no space to dodge.
No time to create distance.
At the desperate moment when everyone's thoughts froze white.
Chae-ho's eyes, watching the charge from the right-side support position, sank coldly.
***
'Time Deceleration.'
With Chae-ho's will, the flow of time stretched and became viscous, as if the world had fallen into a mud pit.
Within his vision, the mage's distorted lips as he screamed, the trajectory of the shield warrior tumbling across the ground, and even each scattered dust particle all played back at an extremely slow pace.
Chae-ho calmly turned his gaze and captured the creature.
The Mutated Orc charging forward like madness.
The muscles in its arms swollen tight.
The angle of its ankles violently pushing against the ground.
And the direction of the savage iron club raised toward Choi Min-seok's head.
During the span of a single breath, countless calculations were completed inside Chae-ho's mind.
'Blocking it head-on with strength is insane.'
No matter how well he deflected the trajectory, if a Grade D Hunter like him tried to receive that size and speed directly, not only would his sword break, but both his arms would be torn apart.
Chae-ho immediately searched for a point outside the creature's line of sight.
The orc was completely focused on Choi Min-seok in front of it.
Because both arms were raised, its side and legs were completely exposed.
A blind spot with the least resistance, a place the creature could not see.
Chae-ho threw himself toward that spot without hesitation.
Inside slowed perception, even his own movements felt frustratingly slow.
But he had already moved to the right side of the orc's charge path.
With one angled step, he claimed the position where his sword could reach the creature's right leg.
Just before the iron club reached Choi Min-seok's shield.
Chae-ho waited for the exact moment when the orc's weight fully shifted onto its front leg.
The Achilles tendon of its right leg, pulled tight to generate explosive force against the ground.
The old iron sword tightly held in Chae-ho's hand cut smoothly through the air at an angle.
Slish.
No matter how tough the leather was, the tendons around a joint stretched to their limit were vulnerable.
The sharp blade cleanly severed the thick tendon and passed through.
At the same time, Chae-ho deactivated the skill and stepped back greatly.
***
The world returned to normal speed.
"Kuaaah!"
A strange scream erupted from the Mutated Orc as it tried to strike Choi Min-seok.
With the tendon in its right leg severed, the creature's enormous mass and charging acceleration could no longer be supported.
The forward momentum lost control and twisted away.
The giant body lost balance, spun awkwardly like a top, brushed past Choi Min-seok's side, and shot directly toward the hard stone wall of the dungeon.
CRASH!
A tremendous roar echoed as if the entire cave would collapse.
The Mutated Orc slammed into the wall head-on, and piles of stone fell around it.
The massive iron club slipped from its grip and rolled across the floor.
The creature only released beast-like groans, unable to properly stand from the impact.
Choi Min-seok, who had squeezed his eyes shut at the edge of death, opened them with a rough breath.
The creature that should have crushed him was vomiting blood against the wall.
He could not fully understand what had happened in that brief instant.
But he instinctively knew this was their only chance.
"Attack now! Immediately!"
Choi Min-seok screamed and charged first with his shield.
The party members, frozen from the shock, finally regained their senses and drew their weapons.
"Die, you damn monster!"
The mage swung his staff and fired a continuous barrage of fireballs.
The spearmen drove their weapons into the creature's thick neck and chest.
The Mutated Orc, flailing while pinned against the wall, was brutally cut apart without being able to launch a proper counterattack.
Squelch.
Finally, Choi Min-seok's longsword pierced deeply near its heart.
"Krk..."
Strength finally left the Mutated Orc's enormous body.
It coughed up bloody foam and slowly slid down to the floor.
The battle was over.
Only the rough breathing of the party members echoed emptily through the cloud of dust.
Choi Min-seok pulled out his sword and collapsed onto the floor.
His entire body was drenched in sweat.
The horrifying memory of almost having his head crushed by the creature's club sent chills down his spine.
He turned his head and examined the Mutated Orc's corpse leaning against the wall.
Although it was covered in sword marks and burns, Choi Min-seok's eyes were fixed on the creature's right ankle.
A mark where thick leather and muscle had been cleanly cut with no error.
The decisive wound that had stopped the terrifying charge.
Choi Min-seok slowly turned his head backward.
Behind the formation where everyone had panicked and lost their composure.
That was where Chae-ho stood.
As always, Chae-ho's expression had not changed.
He calmly shook the dark red blood from his blade onto the floor.
At that brief moment.
While no one else could react to the beast's charge, Chae-ho had not tried to forcefully cut it down.
He had coldly judged that he could not fight its strength head-on.
Instead, he had found the single weakness capable of twisting the direction of the charge and struck it precisely.
A calculated movement that saved a companion and completely controlled the situation.
Choi Min-seok swallowed dryly.
The disguise of being a former porter had fallen away.
In its place stood a terrifyingly skilled fighter who viewed even this Grade C dungeon as nothing more than a casual walk through his front yard.
The party members' gazes also gathered toward Chae-ho as if on cue.
The trust they had shown him moments ago had now transformed into absolute awe.
No one dared speak carelessly.
They even held their breaths.
Meanwhile, the healer checked the arm and shoulder of the shield warrior who had been thrown back and used healing magic to ease the damage.
After confirming the shield warrior could stand on his own and move his arm, Chae-ho wiped the blade with a cloth and spoke in his usual calm tone.
"If everyone can move, let's continue."