A faint vibration rose from the ground and traveled through the tips of Ju-min’s feet.
Ju-min stopped and raised a clenched fist. Choi Sang-ho and Kang Cheol-jin, who were following behind him, reflexively froze in place.
A strange metallic noise came from beyond the narrow, darkened mineshaft. It sounded as though something was scraping against the rough ground as it approached.
A group of mining-type monsters with dull gray skin soon entered their view. They advanced in a pack, clutching rusted pickaxes and iron hammers in both hands.
“There are quite a few of them.”
Choi Sang-ho raised his shield and hardened his expression. Faint mana began gathering around his hand, but he suddenly flinched and dispersed it.
“Damn, that’s right. You told us not to use area-of-effect Skills.”
“Yes. We don’t know where one of the devices might be hidden.”
Ju-min answered briefly. He sheathed his dagger and drew an old one-handed sword from his waist.
Facing a large number of monsters while their area-of-effect attacks were sealed was going to be troublesome.
While the party members hesitated in the narrow passage, the monster at the front let out a grotesque shriek and leaped forward.
Its massive iron hammer came crashing down toward Ju-min’s head.
Ju-min didn’t dodge.
Instead, he raised his left hand, which was clad in the B-grade Giant’s Mining Hands, and directly blocked the hammer’s trajectory.
CLANG—!
Sparks scattered as an ear-splitting metallic screech erupted.
However, Ju-min’s arm wasn’t pushed back even a single centimeter. The durability and Impact Absorption of Giant’s Mining Hands easily withstood the monster’s brute strength.
The moment his opponent faltered in surprise, Ju-min’s right hand traced a smooth arc.
The sharp tip of his sword precisely pierced the monster’s thick neck.
“URGH!”
The monster collapsed with a muffled groan.
Ju-min lightly flicked the murky blood from his blade and glanced behind him.
“I’ll hold the front line. Sang-ho, take down anything that slips past me. Mr. Kang, protect the gear and keep watch over our blind spots.”
“O-okay! Mr. Kang, stay behind me and hold on tight to the gear!”
Choi Sang-ho shouted to steel himself and thrust his shield forward.
The monsters began pouring into the narrow mineshaft in earnest. Their coarse breathing and the ceaseless clashing of weapons echoed throughout the passage.
Ju-min stood at the very front and drew all the enemies’ attention toward himself.
He heavily deflected the pickaxes and iron hammers flying at him from every direction with Giant’s Mining Hands, then precisely stabbed his enemies’ vital points whenever an opening appeared.
None of his movements were wasted.
Thanks to the A-grade passive Skill Perfect Breathing, even the stale air entering his lungs became fuel for preserving his health and mana.
The chaotic battle continued, but Ju-min’s breathing remained as steady as it had been at the beginning.
“O-one’s getting through over there!”
Kang Cheol-jin urgently shouted from behind.
A monster had narrowly slipped past Ju-min’s defensive line and was charging toward Choi Sang-ho.
“Come here, you bastard!”
Choi Sang-ho thrust his shield forward and smashed it into the monster’s face.
The shield bash, whose power had been concentrated against a single target, sent the monster staggering backward. Choi Sang-ho didn’t miss the opportunity. He brought his sword down and finished it off.
“Whew. That’s one down.”
The party members gradually adapted to the situation.
Ju-min firmly absorbed the enemies’ attacks at the front and created openings, allowing Choi Sang-ho to land his single-target Skills with precision.
From behind them, Kang Cheol-jin quickly called out the locations of any enemies that slipped past.
Even without area-of-effect Skills, the number of monsters visibly dwindled.
When the final monster collapsed at Ju-min’s feet, a heavy silence returned to the mineshaft.
“Wow, that was incredible.”
Choi Sang-ho wiped the sweat from his forehead and clicked his tongue in amazement.
“You took all those attacks head-on, and your arm is still fine? Those gauntlets might be sturdy, but your stamina is no joke either, Hunter Im. Your breathing didn’t falter once.”
“My equipment did most of the work.”
Ju-min casually replied as he examined the fallen monsters’ corpses.
His gaze carefully swept across the surroundings before stopping at a corner of the rock wall.
A metallic device lay half-buried beneath the dirt, emitting a faint blue glow.
It was the first mana resonator.
“I found it.”
As Ju-min approached, Choi Sang-ho and Kang Cheol-jin cautiously stopped some distance away.
“Be careful. If you mess with that thing the wrong way, we’ll all be buried.”
“I know.”
Ju-min recalled what he had read in the work log.
It was a complicated machine, but the method of shutting it down had been clearly recorded.
He carefully opened the device’s side panel with a hand clad in Giant’s Mining Hands. Inside, he found thick wires carrying mana and an old control valve.
Without hesitation, Ju-min turned the valve and lowered the switches in the exact sequence described in the log.
HISSS.
The blue light leaking from the device gradually faded with a brief scraping sound. The faint vibration circulating inside it also stopped.
“That takes care of one.”
Ju-min stood as he spoke.
Kang Cheol-jin released the breath he had been nervously holding.
“Ugh, that took ten years off my life. I really thought it was going to explode.”
“There’s no reason to waste time. Let’s find the next one.”
At Ju-min’s urging, the three of them continued into the darkness.
***
What followed was straightforward.
Thanks to his experience deactivating the first device, Ju-min closed the second device’s control valve without difficulty when they found it.
The monsters occasionally ambushed them, but they posed no threat to the party’s thoroughly controlled formation.
At last, the party entered the deepest part of the abandoned mine.
“That must be the last one.”
Choi Sang-ho jerked his chin toward the front.
However, the third mana resonator was in a completely different state from the previous two.
The enormous device stood in the middle of a wide cavern, already rattling violently as it emitted a brilliant crimson light.
VMMMMM!
The machine produced a violent rupturing noise as though it might explode at any moment. Vibrations traveled through the ground and shook the entire mineshaft.
Even the air around the resonator shimmered like a heat haze due to the mana’s intense heat.
“W-what is that?! Why is it glowing so red?!”
Kang Cheol-jin staggered backward in shock.
“Damn it! It’s about to overload! If we go anywhere near that thing, there won’t even be bones left to recover!”
Choi Sang-ho urgently raised his shield.
As he blocked the violent waves, he turned toward the passage behind them.
“Hey! This isn’t going to work! Wouldn’t it be better to retreat while we still can? If that thing explodes, we’re all dead!”
Just as Choi Sang-ho was about to urge them to retreat—
“We can still stop it!”
Ju-min’s resolute shout echoed through the cavern.
Choi Sang-ho flinched and stopped moving.
“The mana inside it has already been compressed to its limit! The waves have spread all the way into the passage, so even if we run now, we won’t get far enough away! We can still prevent the overload if we close the control valve!”
“But how are you supposed to get close to that thing?! The heat will burn you alive before you even reach it!”
“I’ll shut it down. You two, stay back.”
After giving the short command, Ju-min stepped toward the overloaded resonator without hesitation.
“Hunter Im!”
Leaving Choi Sang-ho’s urgent voice behind, Ju-min forcefully poured his mana into Giant’s Mining Hands.
The patterns on the gauntlets’ surface glowed intensely as their Impact Absorption capacity was pushed to its maximum.
With every step, skin-piercing heat and violent vibrations crashed over him.
An ordinary C-rank hunter would have been crushed beneath the pressure of the mana and struggled even to breathe.
However, Ju-min endured by using Perfect Breathing to accelerate the mana circulation within his body.
VMMMMM! CRASH!
A violent wave of mana erupted from the resonator and slammed into Ju-min’s body.
Giant’s Mining Hands produced a heavy noise as they absorbed the impact.
Ju-min tightly bit his lip and leaned forward, eventually reaching the device’s core.
The red-hot control valve was shaking wildly.
Ju-min firmly grasped it with both hands, which were encased in the bulky gauntlets.
The powerful vibrations traveled through his arms and spread across his entire body.
The device struggled as if desperately trying to throw off Ju-min’s hands, but he tenaciously maintained his grip.
Recalling the structure described in the work log, he twisted the valve at the precise angle instead of attempting to overpower it with brute force.
SCREEEEEECH!
An ear-splitting metallic scrape erupted.
Ju-min squeezed out the last of his strength and turned the valve until it locked completely.
At that moment, the erratically surging mana overload subsided as though it had never existed.
The device’s crimson light abruptly went out, and its surface returned to its original dull metallic color.
At the same time, the sinister false bell that had relentlessly echoed throughout the abandoned mine vanished into a profound silence.
Only Ju-min’s low, steady breathing remained in the cavern.
“Haa.”
Ju-min released the valve and lightly shook out his wrists.
Faint smoke rose from the surface of Giant’s Mining Hands.
Behind him, Choi Sang-ho finally moved. He dropped his shield to the floor and slumped down.
“You crazy bastard. You actually shut it down.”
Kang Cheol-jin also leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.
“We survived. I really thought we were going to die.”
The party members sighed in relief as the suffocating tension finally dissipated.
At that very moment—
RUMBLE—!
The enormous slab-like iron door blocking the area behind the deactivated resonator began to vibrate heavily.
The door, which had remained closed for countless years, slowly split apart and slid to both sides.
Dense, heavy mana rushed out from beyond the open iron door.
The outline of an enormous space hidden within the darkness was revealed.
Ju-min’s gaze naturally shifted toward the air.
A blue System message clearly appeared before his eyes.
[Hidden Clear Route Unlocked]
“The path is open.”
Ju-min briefly muttered and adjusted his grip on his sword.
The Boss Area, which had finally emerged from behind its veil, now stood wide open.
“Now it truly begins.”
Without hesitation, Ju-min walked toward the open door.