CREEEAK.
With a harsh grinding noise, the old stone floor beneath their feet began to tremble faintly.
It happened immediately after the Sword of the Fallen Knight Commander in Taehu's hand slid into the groove of the grotesquely broken statue.
"W-Wait. What's happening?"
"Is that an earthquake? This place isn't going to collapse, is it?"
The temporary party members, who had been about to move on to the next area, stopped dead in their tracks. The party leader at the front hurriedly raised his shield and spun around.
Their gazes converged on the corner of the empty hall, around the old statue where Taehu stood.
A massive crack split across the heavy gray stone wall.
Then, raising a cloud of dust, the wall slowly slid open to both sides.
A strange passage that existed neither on the dungeon map nor in the Association database revealed itself.
A cold, acrid wind seeped from the darkness within.
"Hwang Taehu! What did you do over there?!"
The party leader came running over as he shouted.
The spearman and the other party members hurried after him, their eyes wide.
As the party members stared dumbfounded at the opening in the wall, Taehu quickly pulled the sword from the statue and concealed it behind his back.
Then he gave them an innocent smile, pretending to know nothing.
"One of the bricks was sticking out farther than the others, so I touched it just in case. Then the mechanism suddenly activated."
"Good grief. You're telling me there was still an undiscovered hidden area left in the Gray Citadel?"
The party leader's voice trembled faintly.
He sounded incredulous, but naked greed was already gleaming in his eyes.
A hidden passage inside a dungeon meant undiscovered loot.
Even if the Gray Citadel was only a low-difficulty C-rank dungeon, there was no telling what might be waiting inside an area that no one had managed to open for years.
The spearman swallowed hard and peered into the passage.
"Party Leader, isn't this a huge jackpot? Looks like we're going home with a fat payday today."
"Calm down. We don't know what kind of traps might be inside."
The party leader cleared his throat and composed his expression, but he could not hide how tightly he was gripping his shield.
Taehu took advantage of the moment and spoke calmly.
"Then let's make one thing clear before we go in. Since I'm the one who happened to discover this place, I get priority over any Relics or rewards we find inside."
The party leader paused.
If Taehu acted unilaterally in a situation like this, it could easily cause an ugly conflict with party members blinded by unexpected riches.
Taehu preferred to draw a clear line from the beginning and establish a legitimate claim.
"Well, rules are rules. Hunter Law does recognize the principle of discoverer's priority when distributing rewards from previously undiscovered areas. I agree."
The party leader nodded readily.
"In exchange, can we take the smaller stuff, like monster materials? We'll handle all the tedious carrying inside."
"That's fine. Let's do that."
Taehu smiled inwardly.
The Knight Commander's Seal was his only objective anyway.
He did not care if they took a few miscellaneous bones and scraps.
Once the agreement was settled, the party members' steps immediately grew lighter.
"All right, Hwang Taehu, stay close behind us. We'll make sure you get through safely!"
The same party members who had treated Taehu like an inconvenient burden only moments ago now took the lead as though they were his personal guards.
Taehu quietly stroked the hilt of his sword behind their backs and stepped into the hidden passage.
The dark passage was an entirely different world from the Gray Citadel outside.
The air was so heavy that their footsteps echoed dully, and sticky Demonic Energy resembling dense fog clung to the walls.
"Ugh, what is this? Why is it so cold in here?"
The spearman shuddered and adjusted his grip on his spear.
"Stay sharp. Something about this place feels seriously wrong."
The party leader also raised his shield tightly and proceeded with careful steps.
Their tension was understandable.
In the ordinary Gray Citadel, at least ten skeleton monsters should already have come rushing out by now.
Yet this passage was unnervingly silent.
Taehu walked quietly behind the group and broadened his awareness.
This was not an area ordinary low-rank Hunters could handle.
Judging by the concentration of mana in the air alone, it was comparable to the inner reaches of a dungeon meant for Hunters of at least C-rank or higher.
'With mana this dense, whatever comes out won't be ordinary either.'
CLANK.
As if answering his thought, a heavy metallic sound came from the darkness ahead.
"Something's coming!"
The party leader urgently raised his shield.
What emerged through the fog was no brittle skeleton.
Three enormous wraiths approached, blue light blazing from their eyes, their entire bodies encased in thick, ancient steel armor.
Heavy maces and rusted greatswords rested in their hands.
"What the hell are those tin cans? Were there monsters like that in the Gray Citadel?"
The spearman shouted in alarm.
"Don't panic! They might just look impressive. I'll strike first, so get ready to thrust from behind me!"
With a battle cry, the party leader charged the leading wraith.
The heavy one-handed sword in his grip hurtled toward the creature's chest.
CLAAANG!
A deafening impact rang out as red sparks scattered.
"Damn—gah!"
A strangled cry escaped the party leader.
The hand holding his sword trembled violently.
There was not even a scratch on the wraith's breastplate.
Instead, the recoil sent the party leader staggering backward.
The wraith immediately raised its enormous mace.
"Look out!"
The spearman behind him urgently thrust his spear at the wraith's forearm, but the spearhead slid away uselessly with a dull impact.
"Damn it! We can't pierce the armor!"
Their formation collapsed in an instant, and the party members stumbled backward.
Weapons meant for ordinary C-rank monsters could not even scratch these steel-clad wraiths.
The mace was just about to descend on the party leader's head.
"Move aside for a moment."
Taehu's calm voice sounded as he slipped between the party members.
"Hwang Taehu! No! Get back!"
The party leader reached toward him in horror, but Taehu was faster.
A sharp Appraisal light flashed in Taehu's eyes.
At the same time, a faint pulse spread from the old leather glove covering his right hand.
The Tracker's Glove.
The world before Taehu alone faded into black and white.
Then a vivid red point appeared beneath the enormous armored wraith's neck, over a narrow seam where the steel plates overlapped.
It was the sole pathway leading to the monster's weakness beneath that thick shell.
Taehu reached behind his back.
SHING.
The Sword of the Fallen Knight Commander slid from its sheath, tracing a heavy silver arc.
Taehu lightly kicked off the floor and plunged straight into the wraith's reach.
At the exact instant the mace came tearing down through the air, his body rotated smoothly and slipped into its blind spot.
Then he drove his sword sharply toward the glowing red point.
SLICE.
The sound was chillingly smooth.
The steel armor that had repeatedly repelled the party members' weapons gave way like wet paper.
The blade pierced straight through the wraith's core and emerged far from its back.
"RAAAAAAGH!"
A horrific death scream thundered through the passage.
Taehu cleanly withdrew the sword.
Black cracks immediately spread from the wraith's torso, and its enormous body collapsed into a shower of dark ash.
CLATTER.
Only the empty suit of armor remained, crashing noisily to the floor.
A deathly silence fell over the passage.
The party leader, the spearman, and even the other Hunters who had been preparing to provide support stood frozen with their mouths hanging open.
He had reduced that monstrous armored creature to ash with a single thrust?
And the one who had done it was not some frontline combat-type Hunter, but Hwang Taehu, the appraiser they had assumed was only useful for carrying baggage?
"Uh... How did you just do that?"
The party leader stammered, doubting his own eyes.
Taehu casually brushed the dust from his shoulder.
"The joint looked a little worn. The seams are usually the weakest part of old things."
"You thought it looked worn, so you stabbed it... and the armor just opened up like paper?"
The spearman muttered with a vacant expression.
But there was no time to marvel.
As soon as the first wraith collapsed, the remaining two charged forward together with grotesque metallic screeches.
"I'll take the lead. Keep a reasonable distance and follow behind me."
Taehu lightly flicked the ash from his blade and stepped forward.
It was far more efficient for him to clear the path alone than to awkwardly coordinate with the others.
The Tracker's Glove continuously painted the wraiths' weaknesses in red, while the Sword of the Fallen Knight Commander responded swiftly to Taehu's will.
CLANG! SLICE!
CLATTER!
Whenever a wraith swung its greatsword in a wide arc, Taehu did not attempt to meet the attack with brute strength.
He slipped away from its trajectory and guided his blade past it.
Then he precisely carved into nothing but the crimson weaknesses—the gaps in their armor, the vision slits of their helmets, the backs of their knee joints.
Not a single movement was wasted.
The enemies' heavy attacks could not even brush Taehu's clothes, while every counterattack cleanly destroyed the core of a wraith.
Black ash and empty suits of armor piled up along the passage.
"Is that guy... really an appraiser? His swordsmanship is ten times smoother than mine."
One of the party members following behind in a daze sucked in a breath.
"Hey, keep it down. If we cluelessly run ahead, we'll only get in his way. Let's just stay quiet and follow him."
Even the party leader slowly lowered his shield and shook his head.
When they first formed the temporary party, they had treated Taehu like dead weight.
Now, he was displaying combat power so far beyond their common sense that no one present could still regard him as an ordinary support Hunter.
Taehu paid no attention to their stares.
He focused only on opening the path ahead.
The synergy between the equipment he had restored was even greater than he had expected.
A leather glove and a broken sword, both salvaged from junk everyone else had thrown away.
Those decrepit items were now displaying power more reliable than most expensive top-of-the-line equipment in this dark hidden area.
The solid feel of the sword in his hand and the sensation of combat gradually becoming natural brought a faint smile to Taehu's lips.
At this rate, the day when he could roam higher-rank dungeons alone and gather valuable materials himself was not far away.
Before long, the end of the passage came into view.
Beyond it lay a wide circular chamber where cold frost covered the floor instead of dust.
It was the deepest part of the hidden area.
When Taehu stopped, the party members who had been following in silence clustered closely behind him.
At the center of the circular chamber—
A vicious presence swirled in the air, fundamentally different from the armored wraiths they had encountered so far.
A Knight Commander Wraith stood there, clad in armor as black as pitch, one bloodstained greatsword planted against the floor.
A fierce light burned through the gap in its helmet, as though it intended to tear the intruders apart.
But Taehu's gaze did not linger on its terrifying appearance.
Behind the enormous wraith, atop an old stone pillar that rose like an altar, rested a tightly locked iron chest.
A crude box buried beneath the dust of ages.
Blue light from Taehu's Special Appraisal flashed continuously toward it, displaying new information across his vision.
It was unmistakable proof that the true Relic he had been searching for was inside.
"Damn... What the hell is that? That's a boss monster!"
The spearman gripped his spear with trembling hands.
"Hwang Taehu! Let's not do anything reckless! That's not something we can fight!"
The party leader also retreated with a pale face.
Even their limited experience was screaming a warning.
That black wraith was a monster they could stab hundreds of times without leaving so much as a scratch.
Taehu, however, did not retreat.
There was only one clear objective before him.
The Knight Commander's Seal.
And beyond it, everything new he could do for his parents and the certain key that would make him another step stronger.
Taehu exhaled softly and loosened the muscles across his back and shoulders.
The rougher and sturdier his opponent was, the more clearly its weakness would reveal itself.
And the sword in his hand was already prepared to exploit that opening.
The Knight Commander Wraith slowly raised its greatsword with a heavy metallic scrape.
The surrounding air froze sharply enough to feel as though it might tear apart.
Taehu quietly adjusted his grip on his sword.
Then, without hesitation, he stepped into the heart of that frigid tension.