Chapter 27
“……”
There was no answer. Only silence enveloped the white space.
Cha Si-hyeon looked around again and again, wondering if he might have missed something. But Yoo Yi-joo was nowhere to be seen.
He looked back at Lim Yuchan. Lim Yuchan’s hands were in an unusually messy state, as if he had been pounding on the door for a long time.
Baek Doha was the first to take his eyes off Lim Yuchan’s condition and look at the door.
The door that Lim Yuchan was presumed to have been pounding on was black.
‘……Black?’
The doors just before entering the ‘area’ were definitely green, yellow, and red. So what was this black door?
“What is it, Hyung-nim? Tell us. What happened?”
Unable to hide his anxious expression, Cha Si-hyeon strode over and asked him.
“I’m not sure, but……”
Lim Yuchan, uncharacteristically, stopped mid-sentence.
Baek Doha calmly assessed the situation.
A new black door appeared tightly shut, Lim Yuchan frantically pounded on the black door. And Yoo Yi-joo who is nowhere to be seen.
‘For some reason, Yoo Yi-joo went through the black door.’
As soon as he reached this conclusion, Baek Doha rushed to the black door. Just as he was about to activate a skill along with Lim Yuchan.
Creak.
The door gap widened.
Baek Doha’s hand, about to use a skill, stopped abruptly.
“Huh?”
A light voice spread as the door opened.
“Oh my, looks like I was the last one.”
The three S-rank hunters looked at the figure appearing from inside the door, each with a different expression.
“Did you wait long?”
[SYSTEM] All personnel have gathered. The maze exit is now open!
It was Yoo Yi-joo who came out. Completely unharmed.
💎
[SYSTEM] You have escaped the hidden area, [Small Dragon from Hell].
[SYSTEM] Congratulations! The maze exit has been opened!
I stared at the system windows floating in the air.
If asked how I escaped…
[Unique skill, Lim Yuchan(S)’s ‘Burning Faith of Fire(S)’ is being activated.]
▸Skill effective time 00:03:02
The moment I entered the monster’s mouth, I immediately activated the skill.
My body itself was like a huge bomb.
I exploded S-rank flames inside its mouth.
I didn’t know that using the skill a beat late would actually be helpful.
‘Keeng, keeeng.’
As a result, the impact of the bomb was all directed at the monster, and as soon as I came out of its pierced mouth, I comforted the startled Mungchi.
“I went to the hidden area, but it was weaker than I thought. Mungchi lured it, so I killed it easily.”
However, I couldn’t tell them all the facts, so I spoke in a roundabout way.
Their gazes touched Mungchi and then turned to me. Why, what. It’s not a lie.
Ignoring the intense stares, I quickly checked the system window.
[SYSTEM] Reward for escaping the hidden area, [Small Dragon from Hell], is being given.
▸Reward: Skill ‘Trick of Trick(B)’
▸For 30 seconds, you can move to any desired location within a 30M radius and then return.
“Anyway, it seems we’ve escaped, let’s get out before it closes.”
I pointed to the area half-obscured by the bodies of the three S-rank hunters. They turned around with belated expressions of realization.
“Is that the exit?”
“What else would it be, use your brain.”
“This guy.”
Yes, the most important thing is that the maze exit has been opened.
I casually ignored Cha Si-hyeon and Baek Doha who started fighting again and moved towards the opened exit.
[SYSTEM] You have escaped the maze!
[SYSTEM] Successfully entering the final boss area!
[SYSTEM] ‘Main Quest-9’ cleared.
And then.
[You’ve come.]
‘……A voice?’
[SYSTEM] ‘Main Quest-10’ has arrived.
[SYSTEM] Checking ‘Main Quest-10’!
[SYSTEM] Main Quest-10 [BOSS: Defeat the Twilight Sorcerer]
▸The dungeon’s final boss has appeared. Completely eliminate the sorcerer’s influence and escape the dungeon. (Boss influence: 100%)
Finally, I entered the boss area.
I lifted my head, leaving behind the system’s lettering welcoming me.
“What’s this place?”
Cha Si-hyeon frowned.
The cracked sandy ground, the crimson sky, the alien air, the aura felt from all of these.
In that space. At the farthest end from where we are, there’s a black silhouette.
[There are many of my dolls here, I like it very much.]
……What?
‘Did she just speak?’
The woman, who anyone could see was the final boss, seemed to be the ‘sorcerer’ described in the quest.
The woman standing in a black dress that revealed her figure tapped her unusually red lips with long, pointed fingernails.
[One is fire, and an incredibly large fire at that.]
“……”
[One has some strange blood mixed in, and one is the very embodiment of sword desire……]
Trailing off, she turned her head.
[What are you?]
And she tilted her head, looking at me.
That question was as innocent as a 7-year-old child asking about an unfamiliar word.
[Usually, life before losing its mind shows something.]
The sorcerer stared at me with narrowed eyes.
The pale face shadowed by the hood and the red eyes within made me flinch. Just as the instinctive urge to run away arose.
Whoosh!
“…!”
Something pulled me.
In the suddenly changed view, I saw Cha Si-hyeon, who had grabbed and pulled my arm.
“Why, why…?”
“Haha!”
What just happened? As I stammered in confusion, instead of Cha Si-hyeon’s answer, a woman’s laughter returned.
The reason for that laughter became clear when I looked down. Specifically, when I saw the bluish arm that had sprung up where I had been standing. That…
“Was it trying to grab me?”
It was just a moment. Asking dazedly, unable to believe I had nearly died in that instant, Baek Doha nodded with a chilling expression.
[How can there be something so special with nothing at all.]
…What is she going on about?
[You’ll only come to harm standing next to such monsters, child.]
My heart pounded.
I know they’re monstrously strong, but isn’t that a bit rich coming from someone who just tried to kill me?
[Become my doll. I like special things like you—]
“Bullsh*t.”
The sorcerer’s words were cut off then.
[What?]
As if unwilling to wait any longer, Cha Si-hyeon silenced the sorcerer with just two words. And simultaneously.
[Using skill, ‘Blessed Flame (SS)’.]
Lim Yuchan used his skill.
The large flame that bloomed from Lim Yuchan’s hand surged forward with just one gesture from him.
Bang! It was an instant before the flame slammed into where the sorcerer had been standing leisurely.
‘Is, is she dead?’
Was that the last conversation? Can we get out of here now?
But, as always, my hopes didn’t become a reality.
“…What’s with her?”
[SYSTEM] The dungeon’s influence has protected the boss.
Despite clearly being hit by Lim Yuchan’s attack, the sorcerer hadn’t sustained even a scratch.
▸Boss cannot be defeated while influence remains.
It had been blocked by a suddenly appeared barrier called ‘influence’.
As everyone was caught off guard by this unexpected situation, the sorcerer swung the spear she was holding widely.
[I gave you a chance, but you kicked it away.]
Rumble, the ground shook slightly, and above it, some people began to appear.
‘No, not people but…’
[I have no choice but to tame you by force.]
It would be more accurate to say corpses were moving. Not just humans, but even the monsters we had seen in the dungeon so far were coming out under the sorcerer’s command.
In other words, there were more than just a few.
“D*mn, what a pain.”
Cha Si-hyeon frowned and drew his sword.
It was no different for Baek Doha and Lim Yuchan.
Watching the three S-ranks enter combat, I looked down at the ground.
‘Influence…’
On the ground was the bone that had tried to grab my ankle just moments ago.
I also drew my sword. And immediately swung it.
Swish, I lightly cut the bone that stood out more under the twilight, that is, the arm of the skull on the ground.
Ding!
[SYSTEM] The boss’s influence weakens!
▸Current boss influence is [99%].
…Aha. I stared at the system message that appeared and quietly smiled.
‘As I thought.’
These monsters are controlled by the sorcerer and are the sorcerer’s influence.
💎
Noticing the influence wasn’t too difficult.
‘The system told us to eliminate the boss’s influence from the start.’
There are various definitions of ‘eliminate’. But thinking about it, apart from the sorcerer herself, the only things to eliminate in this space are these monsters controlled by the sorcerer.
It’s a very simple fact.
[SYSTEM] Until rank up (61/100)
A system notification popped up, seemingly counting the influence as monsters too.
I needed to tell the S-ranks about this fact first.
“Hey-“
[SYSTEM] The boss’s influence weakens!
But before I could speak, a new system window appeared.
Turning my head, I saw a sword deeply embedded in a monster’s body.
Cha Si-hyeon pulled out his sword without hesitation from the skeleton that had died without any resistance, deeply stabbed.
Watching the blood spray into the air, he smiled with detachment.
‘Right. Yeah, he’s not the type to wait for someone to finish speaking.’
💎
Thank you for reading! ♡
