The number of shards Gong Siyoung created suddenly spiked. It seemed to be the effect of a buff.
“The Chosen…?”
It was a title he’d heard somewhere before. Where was it? When?
He bit his lip as he hurled shards at the giant in rapid succession. His thoughts drifted just like his body floating in midair, scattered and unfocused.
It was recent. Definitely recent. Back in a dungeon, sometime…
Ah!
“No way…?”
That lunatic—was it Yurian or Yurial or whatever—came in? Why? What the hell for?
Amid the confusion, Woo Yujin and Gu Jayeong also seemed to notice something was off, growing noisy. With attack power and recovery rising, it sounded like someone had come to help.
For Gong Siyoung, it wasn’t welcome at all. Even if he showed up, he wouldn’t be much help. Just annoying. Just in the way.
He should’ve just stayed put like he was. Why come in now?
Siyoung waved his hand dismissively, signaling them to stay where they were, but they kept shouting something back. He deliberately turned his head as if he hadn’t heard.
Right then, the giant monster—its body bristling with shards like a hedgehog—shifted its stance. It held its breath, preparing a second attack.
Cold gathered in Siyoung’s palm. Just as he was about to hurl a blade of icy wind, he noticed the monster was looking somewhere else.
He followed the direction of its red gaze.
〈This is the domain of the chosen. Are you chosen?〉
As if responding to those words, the status window reacted.
[ “Guardian of Niflheim” asks a question to <The Chosen>. Upon meeting conditions, Dim■ion (■) : ■■ will be unlocked. ]
[ “Guardian of Niflheim” requests an answer. ]
[ All skills within a 10km radius are disabled. Time limit 00:10:00 ]
The sound of ice shattering rang out. Including Gong Siyoung’s, every skill was instantly canceled.
The spheres floating in midair cracked apart with a sharp crunch, and Woo Yujin and Gu Jayeong dropped straight down.
“No!”
He tried to activate a skill, but nothing responded. His body began to fall. Gong Siyoung grit his teeth.
A gaping hole yawned beneath them, swallowing everything. He couldn’t even see how far it went.
What do I do?
His mind spun wildly. He grasped at the air, searching for anything he could use—any skill, any item—but there was nothing support-related he could activate right now.
Then, like a miracle, warmth brushed his fingertips.
A pale hand grabbed his arm.
From the transparent air, as if paint were spreading across a blank canvas, someone appeared.
“You—!”
The moment he saw those blue eyes, Gong Siyoung’s face filled with shock.
“How did you even get in here—!”
“Good question. Why am I here?”
Yurian replied lightly, almost teasing. His face carried a casual, unbothered smile.
He tightened his grip and pulled Siyoung upward. The falling body slowed, then stopped.
Easily holding onto someone larger than himself, Yurian pointed somewhere.
Just like Siyoung had been, Woo Yujin and Gu Jayeong—who had been falling helplessly—were now suspended in midair. At Yurian’s gesture, they drifted as if weightless.
Woo Yujin’s eyes went wide.
“What the hell?! What is this?! What is this even?! Didn’t all skills just get disabled?! Who are you?! Why are you helping us?!”
The moment they got out of the pit, Yujin started shouting at full volume. His voice was sharp with excitement.
“What skills?”
Yurian tilted his head, rolling his stiff shoulders casually. Gong Siyoung marched up to him, grabbed him by the shoulders, and shook him hard. Snowflakes piled on Yurian scattered into the air.
“Why are you here?! How did you get in?! Did you sneak in again?!”
“Hey, I didn’t sneak in. I came through that gate thing. The guild master guy told me to go inside and have some fun… oh, is that my sword?”
His pale finger pointed to Siyoung’s waist.
Recognizing it instantly, Siyoung flinched and grabbed the weapon.
“No! It’s not! I didn’t go out of my way to find it or anything! I just happened to see it on the way and picked it up! It’s not what you think!”
“Who said anything?”
One sentence from Yurian came back as ten from Siyoung. Yurian shrugged at the overreaction and casually reached toward him.
“Thanks for finding it.”
Even as Siyoung frowned like he wanted to pull away, he let Yurian take it without resistance. Yurian retrieved the sword from his waist and smiled softly.
He hugged the broken blade—split cleanly in two—like something precious.
“…So it really was important.”
Siyoung muttered under his breath. For someone claiming it didn’t matter, Yurian looked ridiculously happy just to have it back.
And he expected him not to notice?
“Just so you don’t get the wrong idea, I didn’t come into the dungeon to look for that. I just happened to be here, and then I saw it, so I had no choice but to pick it up. So don’t misunderstand.”
“I won’t misunderstand. Still, thanks for finding it.”
“Y-you don’t need to thank me! I told you, I just found it by accident!”
By the time Siyoung insisted for the fifth time that it wasn’t intentional, Woo Yujin and Gu Jayeong—who had been watching from a distance—crept closer.
“You know Hunter Siyoung? Are you here to help us, by any chance?”
Yujin scratched his cheek with an awkward smile. Seeing the two talking so casually seemed to have lowered his guard. Gu Jayeong pointed toward the giant, not forgetting.
“Just in case you forgot, that thing is still right there.”
As she said, the giant monster stood across the pit, unmoving. Its red eyes remained fixed on them.
“And skills are still disabled… but seriously, who are you? How are you using abilities right now? Got some insane item or something?”
Even Gong Siyoung’s S-rank skill had been nullified, so seeing a complete stranger moving around just fine was bound to be suspicious.
Woo Yujin checked his status window again.
+
[ All skills within a 10km radius are disabled. Time limit 00:07:20 ]
+
Time had passed, but the restriction was still active.
“Man, you’ve got some ridiculous tricks.”
Unlike Yujin, who brushed it off, Gong Siyoung’s expression hardened. He tried to activate a skill again, just in case—but nothing happened.
The question surged up again.
How the hell is an A-rank monster blocking S-rank skills? Even as a debuff, that should be impossible…
And then—
How is that guy using anything at all right now?
Thanks to Yurian, they were alive—but everything about him was suspicious. From his sudden appearance to the fact that he was the only one still moving freely.
If Yurian hadn’t shown up when he did, they would’ve fallen straight into that hole.
The more Siyoung thought about it, the more irritated he got.
Of all people… why did it have to be that lunatic?
“What about that ‘unlock’ thing? You saw that too, right, Hunter Siyoung?”
“I did.”
“The restriction showed up in the status window, right? I couldn’t see exactly what gets unlocked though.”
Yujin muttered. Siyoung nodded.
It looked like the obscured part was either a rank—or a name.
“Could be an item. That thing might be guarding it.”
“No. If it were an item, it wouldn’t say ‘unlock.’”
There wasn’t another dungeon inside the dungeon, so what the hell was it?
Even with shards embedded all over its body, the monster didn’t move an inch. But its gaze remained fixed on a single point.
Following that gaze, Siyoung turned his head.
Right next to him—Yurian.
Yurian, who had been chatting absentmindedly with Woo Yujin, noticed the look and glanced back. His lips silently formed a word.
“Why?”
“…Ah.”
The monster’s repeated words resurfaced in his mind.
The way it stood still—like it was waiting for an answer—sent a chill down his spine.
In an instant, the pieces clicked together.
Yurian had received the title <The Chosen> as a reward from the initial dungeon clear.
And that monster had asked Yurian a question.
The moment it did, the status window displayed a message as if it had been waiting for him.
Gong Siyoung hurriedly checked it again.
+
[ “Guardian of Niflheim” asks a question to <The Chosen>. Upon meeting conditions, Dim■ion (■) : ■■ will be unlocked. ]
[ “Guardian of Niflheim” requests an answer. ]
+
“…It’s asking for an answer.”
Even the label “boss monster” had disappeared.
That thing wasn’t just a monster.
Its name was “Guardian of Niflheim.”
A guardian.
The meaning was obvious.
It was protecting something.
And that something was definitely connected to the door beneath them.