Dungeons weren’t connected solely to other worlds. They were also connected to the legends, myths, and folktales of the countries in which they formed.
Of those, I was going after a legend.
“Yun-ho, you can head southwest.”
“Understood.”
Southwest.
That was the area closest to its habitat.
“Go to your assigned locations, search until 16:15, then return here. And watch out for wild animals.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Then let’s begin.”
The squad members scattered in every direction.
I immediately headed southwest as well.
Getting to the general area wasn’t difficult. The problem was finding the exact location.
“They said there’d be three trees of equal height lined up, with a rectangular rock wedged in the middle.”
I muttered to myself with a hand on my chin as I looked around.
I was short on time.
Finding the place wasn’t the end of it. I still had to move somewhere else and kill the legend.
After running around frantically, I finally found the right place.
Three trees and a rectangular rock.
I passed between them.
Now all I had to do was keep running straight ahead.
As I went, I steeled myself.
This wouldn’t be an easy fight.
Compared to that bastard, Hexstones weren’t even newborn puppies.
I kept running for quite a while.
Pushing through trees and leaping over brush, I went beyond merely heading southwest and traveled all the way to the edge of the Dungeon.
And eventually, I reached the very end.
The forest that had stretched out like an ocean suddenly transformed into something like an impenetrable wall.
When I placed a hand against a tree, my hand bounced right off.
Looking closely, I could see some kind of veil stretched across the area.
The literal end of the Dungeon.
But—
this wasn’t actually the end.
It was camouflage.
A disguise meant to conceal the area beyond it.
I carefully examined the veil.
Among the rows of towering trees, one was noticeably shorter than the others.
“This is it.”
I reached both hands toward it.
Unlike before, my hands didn’t bounce back.
They passed straight through.
Something entered my grasp.
The veil.
I grabbed it with both hands and ripped it apart.
RRRRIP.
With the satisfying sound, an opening large enough for one person appeared.
I stepped through.
I cut down the trees and brush obstructing my way with my sword.
And just like that, I entered another region.
WHOOOOOSH.
At the same moment, a cold wind washed over my entire body.
It felt almost as though it were sending me a silent warning.
I ignored it and kept walking.
At first glance, the scenery in this new region looked similar to the forest path I’d been running through.
There were simply fewer trees.
A deer bounded around some distance away.
The cries of insects softly vibrated in my ears like a melody.
It was an incredibly abundant world.
Though it wouldn’t be for much longer.
I raised my head.
My final destination immediately entered my view.
A massive lake whose width I couldn’t even begin to gauge.
Suppressing the sound of my footsteps, I approached it.
Judging by the situation, the bastard still seemed to be inside the lake.
‘There it is.’
On one side of the lake stood a tall, circular pillar.
It was some kind of ruin.
If Captain Oh Jun-beom had seen it, he probably would’ve started drooling with excitement.
I rubbed my palms together a few times and began climbing the pillar in earnest.
Steps followed its shape, so climbing it wasn’t especially difficult.
The only problem was that I had to be careful not to wake the bastard.
‘Good thing I’m not afraid of heights.’
Once I reached the top, I realized just how tall it was.
About ten meters, maybe.
I licked my upper lip.
If anything, this was better.
I was aiming for a single strike.
One blow driven down from above.
The greater the height, the more powerful that blow would become.
I checked the edge of my sword for any damage and held my breath even more carefully.
Everything was ready.
All I had to do was wait.
Some time passed.
As I stared at the perfectly calm lake, I began biting my nails even though I normally never did.
The skin split, and blood appeared.
‘What the hell are you doing? Hurry up and come out. Hurry.’
To put it crudely, my ass was on fire.
I only had so much time, yet my target showed no sign of appearing.
‘Ah, shit… I’m screwed if this keeps up.’
Just as anxiety began creeping over me—
WHOOOSH.
That same cold wind grazed my cheek.
The animals that had been roaming the forest vanished in an instant.
Even the insects’ cries faded away as though they had never existed.
‘It’s coming.’
My hand instinctively tightened around my sword.
I swallowed dryly and watched the lake.
RUMBLE….
Large waves rose across what had been perfectly calm water, as though I were looking at the middle of the sea.
The bastard was finally emerging.
HSSSSSSSS—!
A biting cold like the depths of winter swept over my entire body.
My arms and legs stiffened.
But this wasn’t cold.
It was killing intent.
“…!”
At the same moment, the bastard finally revealed itself.
A gigantic serpent burst from the lake, splitting the water apart.
Vertically slit eyes.
Scales as dark as pitch.
My breath caught.
Even at a rough estimate, its body alone stretched several meters.
Its torso was thicker than most logs.
Because I was up so high, I could see the entirety of its majestic form.
That only made me more nervous.
‘At my current level, there’s absolutely no way I can defeat that thing.’
Forget winning.
There wouldn’t even be a fight.
Before I could swing my sword once, it would coil around me and crush every bone in my body.
And I’d be lucky if that were all.
It might swallow me whole.
‘But there is a way.’
The exact center of its head.
If I drove a powerful blow straight into that spot, the bastard would die instantly.
Its scales were powerful enough to withstand even a direct hit from high-level magic, but there was nothing it could do about a fatal weak point.
That was why I had climbed this towering pillar.
‘Just come this far. Just this far.’
I repeated the words like a spell.
Without letting even the slightest sound escape my lips, of course.
Meanwhile, the serpent had completely emerged from the lake and was roaming the surrounding area.
Deep furrows formed wherever its body passed.
Then— a roe deer that hadn’t managed to escape in time entered the bastard’s radar.
HSSSSSSSSSS—!!
The massive body that had been crawling along as slowly as a grub suddenly shot forward like lightning and seized the roe deer.
Its tightly closed maw opened.
WIIIIIDE.
For a moment, I was left speechless at the sight, which reminded me of a hippopotamus’s mouth.
My legs, stiff as planks, trembled.
The roe deer’s fate ended there.
CRUNCH.
The bastard swallowed it whole.
Teeth shaped like hooks flashed.
“EEEEEK….”
A mournful cry came from inside its maw.
The sound echoed, making me flinch without realizing it.
‘That thing really is a monster.’
Looking at it now, Hexstones weren’t even at the level of newborn puppies.
They were ants.
At least compared to that crazy serpent.
After finishing its meal, the bastard went back to crawling around like a sluggish grub.
Its tongue flicked out as it searched for its next prey.
And now,
it was coming this way.
It’s coming.
The bastard is getting closer.
I controlled my breathing and patiently waited for the right moment.
Its glaring eyes reached the pillar.
It came closer and closer.
The bastard’s boulder-like head filled my entire field of vision.
Now.
I leaped without hesitation.
Straight toward the bastard—
or more precisely, toward its head.
The sword gripped in reverse pointed at only one place.
“Hah!”
With a shout, I drove the sword downward.
SQUELCH—!!
The bastard realized what I was doing and twisted its body, but it was already too late.
The entire blade had buried itself in the exact center of its head.
Dark-red blood blossomed in every direction.
I was so close that it drenched me completely.
Ptooey.
I spat out the blood that entered my mouth and forced even more strength into my arms.
I drove the sword in as though I intended to bury even the hilt inside its skull.
RUMBLE—!!
The bastard thrashed violently in agony.
Nearby trees were swept aside like reeds.
My body shook wildly as well.
If I fell to the ground now, I’d end up exactly like that roe deer.
I gripped the sword hard enough to break it and fought to keep my balance.
Several seconds passed like that.
I could feel the strength gradually draining from the bastard’s struggles.
I was over the nine-tenths ridge now.
I squeezed out the last of my strength.
The sword, driven by every ounce of power I had left, finally began swallowing the bastard instead.
The massive body that had been thrashing wildly flopped around like a fish stranded on land.
“Just fucking die already!”
Sweat poured from my forehead.
I had no time to wipe it away.
I kept my focus entirely on the bastard until the very end.
Its raised head slowly sank toward the ground.
Then, at some point—
THUD.
It collapsed.
Its long tongue hung limply from its maw.
Its vicious eyes had lost all focus.
Only then did I finally release the sword I had been gripping the entire time.
My body sank to the ground on its own.
“Huff, huff.”
I spat out breaths as though coughing up blood.
At the same time, vitality returned to my body.
《[Instant Fatigue Recovery] activates due to extreme fatigue.》
Just the fact that [Instant Fatigue Recovery] had activated showed how brutal the fight had been.
Either way, my Stamina had returned.
I slid down the bastard’s head as though riding a slide.
“You could cast this thing as the star of a giant-monster movie.”
Seeing it up close, the sight was truly overwhelming.
It was so enormous that I couldn’t take the whole thing in at once.
I could hardly believe I had killed it.
If I hadn’t known the strategy for defeating it, I probably would’ve died horribly long ago.
Of course, if I hadn’t known, I never would’ve come here in the first place.
Now that its life had ended, the bastard’s scales were melting away.
I roughly brushed myself off and picked up my sword again.
The edge had dulled a little, but with the scales gone, cutting through the body shouldn’t be difficult.
I quickly began butchering it.
There was no need to dismantle the entire body.
I only needed the area beneath its head.
Given the size of the creature, its organs were enormous as well.
The smell was fishy and revolting.
But I had cut apart the corpses of monsters far more grotesque than this dozens, even hundreds of times.
Compared to those, this bastard was almost cute.
Or so I hypnotized myself into believing as I finally finished the job.
Among the unidentifiable organs, a hexagonal lump rolled out.
It was the bastard’s heart.
“Whew.”
If I absorbed this heart as it was, I could contain this giant serpent within my Gi.
I could Manifest it.
But the vessel I had right now was too small.
Far too small.
Just like my physical abilities, my Gi had barely improved compared to before my regression.
Even if I tried to Manifest it now, nothing would take shape.
I shrugged.
It didn’t matter.
What I wanted to Manifest wasn’t this giant serpent.
It was this serpent’s origin.
I raised my sword again.
Then swung it hard.
A chunk was cut away, spraying blood everywhere.
My black combat boots were dyed red.
What am I going to tell the Squad Leader and the others later when they ask why I look like this?
No idea.
I’ll think about that later.
I rolled up my sleeves and rummaged through the fresh blood.
Inside the large lump was a smaller one.
The serpent’s origin.
A legend that had yet to ripen.
When a mystical snake reaches adulthood, it becomes an Imugi.
An Imugi cultivates itself beneath the water for 1,000 years and takes a Wish-Fulfilling Jewel into its mouth.
Then it ascends into the heavens and becomes a legend.
A Dragon.
That completed everything I needed to do.
The heart that had been pounding from tension now began pounding with anticipation instead.
I overlaid my heart with the heart of a being destined to become a legend.
《You have taken the heart of a snake into your body.》
《A new ability, [Mystical Serpent], has been unlocked.》
《From now on, you can Manifest a snake through Gi.》
The moment the legend became an ability, there was no longer any need to wait for it to reach adulthood.
Nor did it need to cultivate itself beneath the water for 1,000 years.
All I had to do was Awaken it like any other ability.
And I knew every method required for that Awakening.