With a rumbling tremor that shook the very bedrock, the air inside the dungeon sank heavy. The being that had appeared before them bore a grotesque form that could not be found anywhere in the Association's database.
The head of a giant mountain goat on the body of a wolf sheathed in pitch-black scales. And from its back, what looked like dozens of grotesque tentacles whipped through the air. The overwhelming killing intent the creature radiated was more than enough to choke the breath out of even the veteran hunters on site.
"Goddamn it! This is on a completely different level from the reported boss!"
Before the team leader's scream had even finished, the mutant boss kicked off the ground and launched itself forward.
CRASH—!
A single leap. The defense-class hunters at the front of the formation were flung in every direction without even a chance to scream. Thick steel shields crumpled like paper, and hunters spewing crimson blood rolled across the floor. The raid formation collapsed in a single strike.
"Everyone, hold it together! If we scatter, we all die!"
Jina shouted, adjusting her grip on her sword. A desperate resolve to suppress her fear permeated her voice. But the being before them, as if mocking that resolve, opened its maw and began gathering deep blue magical energy.
CRACKLE—!
An ominous sound, like the very air burning, stabbed at their eardrums. A wide-area annihilation attack. The moment that energy fired, not a single soul here would survive.
'Dangerous.'
Hidden behind a pile of boulders, Somyeong's eyes sank cold. It was not yet time to reveal himself, but neither could he stand by and watch his sister and the others die. Somyeong quietly set down his backpack and gathered true energy at his fingertip.
'Going to have to make some noise.'
Somyeong nudged a small chunk of rock on the ground with the tip of his foot. As it floated into the air, his finger flicked against it lightly.
CRACK—!
A sharp report split the air, but it was swallowed by the mutant's ferocious howling, and no one noticed. The stone Somyeong fired struck the most vulnerable point of the ceiling with pinpoint accuracy.
CRRRACK—!
A chain reaction of fissures spread. It was not merely a matter of breaking rock. It was a precision strike infused with true energy that destabilized the flow of the entire bedrock.
"Huh? The ceiling—!"
At someone's cry, massive boulders weighing several tons came pouring down like a torrential rain. And of all places, directly above the mutant's head as it charged its wide-area attack.
BOOM! KA-BOOM—!
The colossal stones crushed down on the mutant's head and back. The energy that had gathered in its maw, disrupted by the external impact, detonated from within.
"KYAAAAAGH—!"
The mutant shrieked in agony, losing its balance and staggering. In the aftermath of the massive explosion, the scales on its chest sloughed away, fully exposing its core, pulsing red.
"Now! Jina!"
The team leader's urgent cry rang out. Jina kicked off the ground on pure instinct. Her physical abilities, enhanced by the elixir's power, were drawn out to their very limit.
But the mutant was no pushover either. Sensing its mortal peril, the creature whipped the tentacles rooted in the ground out in every direction. Shadows of death surged toward Jina at speeds too fast for the eye to follow.
'She's rushing too much.'
Somyeong calmly surveyed his surroundings. He flicked pebble after pebble off the floor in rapid succession.
TING! TING! TING!
Strange sounds rang out in midair. The small stones Somyeong fired struck the flanks of the tentacles bearing down on Jina with perfect accuracy. The impacts were minute, but they were enough to bend the tentacles' trajectories, making them graze past Jina's body by a paper's width.
From Jina's perspective, it was nothing short of a miracle. Attacks that should certainly have skewered her were curving away around her body, as though like poles of a magnet were repelling each other.
'I can see the path!'
Jina thrust her sword forward, flooded with relief she did not fully understand. Along the safe corridor Somyeong had forced open for her, the tip of her blade pierced the mutant's core with perfect precision.
SQUELCH—!
With the unpleasant sensation of a heart being skewered, the mutant's enormous body convulsed. Soon, the creature lost its strength and crashed down onto the vast floor.
***
For a moment, silence hung inside the dungeon. Through the thick clouds of rising dust, the massive mutant could be seen drawing its final breath.
"......Did we win?"
Someone's cautious murmur broke the silence. Then sighs of relief and cheers erupted from every direction.
"WAAAAH! Kang Jina! Kang Jina did it!"
"My god, taking down that insane mutant in one stroke......! That's genuinely A-rank performance or higher!"
Even the wounded hunters pulled themselves up and raised their thumbs toward Jina. But the hero of the moment could not savor the joy of victory. She stared down at her sword with trembling hands.
'Impossible. That wasn't an attack I could have dodged with my own skill.'
The strange sensation from earlier would not leave her mind. The vivid feeling that someone had been at her side—pushing her forward, knocking aside the enemy's blades.
Jina's gaze slowly drifted toward the rear of the formation. There was her brother, Somyeong, already shuffling around gathering the potion bottles scattered across the floor.
"Oh no, these were expensive, and they're all broken. What a waste."
Somyeong was clearing away the shattered glass with his usual dim-witted expression. His hunched back, covered in dirt and dust, was the very image of an incompetent porter.
'It couldn't be Oppa. Was I just lucky after all?'
Jina shook her head. But the situation just now had been far too precise to dismiss as simple luck. It had felt as though someone invisible had been ruling the battlefield.
"Jina! Are you hurt anywhere?"
Somyeong approached with an innocent smile. Jina stared at him intently with suspicious eyes.
"Oppa, about when the rocks fell from the ceiling earlier. Did you see anything strange?"
"Huh? Rocks? Oh man, I was so scared I just covered my head and hit the floor. Heaven really must have helped us. The boulders fell right on that thing's head, like they were trying to keep my little sister safe."
Somyeong answered breezily and patted Jina's shoulder. There was not a hint of falsehood in his expression. Jina let out a small sigh and let her tension go.
"Right. Of course. What would you know anyway, Oppa?"
"Exactly! I just trust our Jina and carry the bags as hard as I can. Come on, the boss is dead, so let's get out of here. The air in this place is terrible."
Somyeong slung the huge backpack over his shoulder like a shoulder bag once again and took the lead. Jina felt a strange sense of dissonance watching her brother's back, but the fatigue washing over her made her shelve the thought.
***
Outside the Gate, chaos had already taken hold.
SCREECH—!
Several black sedans braked hard, kicking up clouds of dirt. The doors opened, and men and women in uniforms bearing the Hunter Association's logo poured out. Leading them was a man with exceptionally sharp eyes.
The Association's Special Investigation Team Leader, Han Minwoo.
"Is this the place? The Gate where the anomalous waveform was detected?"
"Yes, Team Leader. According to the instruments, a mutation waveform approaching S-rank was recorded until just moments ago. The survival probability for the personnel inside appears slim......"
Before the investigator could finish, the light at the Gate's entrance rippled. And the White Tiger Guild raid team emerged, covered head to toe in dust.
Han Minwoo's brow narrowed.
"There are survivors. All of them, at that?"
"L-Look over there! It's Hunter Kang Jina!"
Where the investigator pointed, Jina was walking out supported by her comrades, and behind her, Somyeong was yawning under a massive load.
Han Minwoo walked toward them slowly. His gaze rested not on Jina, the supposed hero of the victory, but on the one man behind her wearing the most serene expression of all.
For someone who had just escaped a battlefield reeking of blood and gunpowder, the man's energy was far too still. Like the surface of a vast lake—a strange tranquility in which no ripple could be felt.
"Hunter Kang Jina of the White Tiger Guild?"
Han Minwoo asked in a cold voice. Jina nodded and answered.
"Yes, that's right. What brings the Association......"
"We require a detailed report on the circumstances of the mutant subjugation that occurred inside. And......"
Han Minwoo's gaze moved past Jina's shoulder, to Somyeong.
"Your porter there will need to accompany us for a while as well."
Somyeong scratched the back of his head as if it were all a hassle and narrowed his eyes.
"Me? I just carried the bags. Why do I need to go?"
Instead of answering, Han Minwoo swept his eyes over Somyeong from head to toe. By all appearances, he was an ordinary F-rank porter—but Han Minwoo's keen senses were sounding an alarm.
"It is simply a necessary step in the investigation process. We ask for your cooperation."
Somyeong shrugged and looked at Jina. Jina grabbed his sleeve with an anxious expression.
The air outside the once-quiet dungeon began to pull taut once more. Somyeong looked Han Minwoo straight in the eye and spoke in a low voice.
"I haven't even had dinner yet. This will be quick, right?"