Chapter 321. Dawn (2)
His skin cooked in an instant.
'Ah, now that things have co to this, I rember an article I read before.'
Sizzle sizzle...
As the skill discharged, the lightning user's disguised short bob flared upward in a ssy arc. At a glance, it looked lik e a cat puffed up from static—almost endearing. But the aftermath of his power was anything but amusing.
'Co to think of it, that S-rank hunter Enzo... wasn't his nickna in the local news "Zeus" or sothing like that?'
His untransford appearance did suit the mythological title, now that he thought about it... But as soon as his skin wa s scorched by artificial lightning, Giryeo made a split-second judgnt.
'This isn't soone I can just stall against!'
Honestly, if he had noticed the Earthling's attack even half a second later, his entire skull would've been charred to as h by now. So the question is—how does he survive this crisis?
'If I try to save my items now, I'll end up cooking soup on the ferry to the afterlife.'
Smrk.
In that instant, the man's sambagean eyes shifted downward. Even with so slight improvents, his awakening lev el was still below D-rank. But just as Enzo had predicted—there was a reason soone with such a feeble body had s urvived this long.
Squeak.
'Ugh... Honestly, I wanted to save this for the absolute last resort, but...'
Giryeo moved without hesitation. The key obstacle was the net-like red lines surrounding him—
a spell cast by a necklace-type artifact that absorbed the wearer's energy to activate. Unlike the [Shroud of the Under world], this magic had completely different rules of engagent. So if he intentionally reached out and touched it agai n—with this hand, wrapped in sleek, black leather gloves, and full determination...
!!
The S-rank hunter in the hallway noticed his prey move, thanks to his superior reflexes and eyesight. Unable to predic t exactly what his opponent was about to do, he chose the simplest option—to launch a relentless, all-out assault on Ki n Giryeo without hesitation.
But that was the wrong move. Enzo should have run.
"Ugh!"
The mage with the faded fake blonde hair was likewise targeting the life of his opponent.
You shouldn't hit people carelessly. You must not kill people recklessly.
Modern people are taught such obvious truths diligently from a young age.
But the one soul here was different. No, from the very beginning, the man nad Giryeo never even considered the b eing before him as an equal.
"Keugh...!?"
Even after being reincarnated in such a frail body, the core identity that shaped his soul remained arrogance—and that distinctive, overbearing attitude.
The Alphaurth struck back. Using the [Gloves of Midnight], he absorbed the powerful red net nearby and, with its sign ature function, reflected it right back at the caster.
'As expected of an S-rank hunter—his reaction speed is insane!'
Of course, it would be ideal if the bars turned out to be fatal, so he was careful with the coordinates, too.
'The guy's quick reflexes made him shift his position a bit.'
The net barrier that had once easily trapped a 170cm adult male reappeared, now shrunk to the size of a basketball. B ut despite being small enough to trap little more than a lark, its sheer placent turned it into a weapon of terrifying p ower.
“—...!”
Giryeo aid so that the lines would stretch from his opponent's skull down to around his chest.
The enemy, cloaked in the form of Brooklyn Morgan, recoiled in horror. Thanks to his superhuman physique, he mana ged to mitigate the damage sowhat—but even so, Enzo's neck and lower lobe of his lung were fully caught in the n et's fine threads. As a result, he couldn't even let out a proper scream.
Thud!
The enemy clutched his own throat, collapsing in agony so intense it almost seed pitiable.
Forced to break free from the binding net, it was inevitable that further injuries would follow.
From his neck—gashed like a sliced apple carved with a paring knife—blood stread endlessly. And his chest... was in even worse condition.
'His respiratory system is shattered.'
Before long, the S-rank hunter began to sweat profusely, wheezing like a patient suffering from severe phlegm buildu p.
'I was aiming for the brain, originally.'
With his lungs—often called the heart of a mage—ripped apart, how could he possibly complete a spell? Though his e arlier judgnt had been sound, it was all for nothing in the end. Enzo's eyes rolled back white, and his struggles cam e to a halt. Overwheld by pain, he lost consciousness.
'Well, the outco was good—so I guess that's all that matters.'
But the ruthless alien, even after seeing this, couldn't believe the enemy was truly neutralized and decided to take a s mall precautionary asure.
'That's what you get for striking first, you punk. This is the price for pushing !'
Tuk, tuk, tuk.
The archmage swiftly drew his green longsword and hurriedly targeted the enemy's wound. Giryeo used his epic-grad e item in the most unglamorous way possible, successfully coating his foe with deadly poison, then promptly turned o n his heel and left.
'Ti to regroup with the other victims.'
From the perspective of the weak, the beasts weren't the only problem. If he ran into that one-eyed A-rank monster h e saw outside the gate alone, it would be disastrous. So Giryeo hurried his steps, aiming to rejoin the Korean hunters.
But in just a few seconds.
'Huh?'
Giryeo was struck by an imnse shock and ca to a halt at the side of the corridor.
'H, huh?'
He had thought sothing was off ever since they ca running from that direction.
'W, what is this!'
The scene at the end of the corridor is completely different from before.
This dungeon is structured like an ant nest, divided into narrow "paths" and wide "rooms." The room where Jung Hase ong's side was fighting had clearly contained dry trees and paths, but what now appeared before him was a dazzlingl y luminous, phosphorescent garden.
Sothing big had changed.
'Did the cave-like corridor remain the sa, but the plains connected to the end were swapped?'
Sssk.
The Alphaurth magician sharpened his senses and carefully scanned his surroundings.
'That's it. The room has shifted. It's like an elevator brought up the boss room...'
The situation was quickly grasped.
'The color of the sky has changed.'
Just monts ago, the ceiling had been pitch-black, like the deep of night on Earth—but in the blink of an eye, it had t urned a bluish hue, reminiscent of dawn. A dungeon trying to imitate the passage of ti—how pointlessly elaborate. Yet, and compared to the changes occurring on this planet itself, the transformation of the dungeon's scenery was un folding at an alarmingly rapid pace.
'They've added annoying events like this. Each little thing could seriously complicate the raid process.'
This Gate seed to alter its structure according to the phase shifts of the fake sun embedded in the high ceiling.
Giryeo resud his halted steps and moved forward again.
Ssk.
Just as he had noticed when he was first captured—the remnants of the beasts had created their own safe zones with in the dungeon. However, even as Giryeo deliberately followed the path toward that sanctuary, he tilted his head in pu zzlent for a brief mont.
'Why go through all that trouble just to establish a base in the dungeon? What do they even gain from blowing this pla ce up—besides tanking the KOSPI index?'
'Oh my.'
Pong. Pong. Pong.
Even without focusing his attention, he could hear the clear sound flowing from beyond.
'Sohow this.'
To sum it up, the scenery at the far end of the reversed second floor was this.
'I feel like I just learned sothing I really didn't want to know...'
It was already surreal enough that the ground was blanketed with plants shimring in shades of brown and pale whit e, like autumn silver grass. But right at the heart of that fall garden scene—a massive flower bud stood shyly covering its chest with leaves, as if bashful in front of him.
'It's the dungeon boss.'
Due to the high population density, the one-eyed beast that had been pushed out seed to have co from sowh ere unknown. But the archmage at least recognized the creature right before him. More importantly, they were familiar with each other.
This creature, encased in soft-textured leather, was none other than a cannibalistic 'animal'. To use the commonly see n PIXY brand na tags on Earth, it was described as follows.
[Sunflower]
[Grade: A]
[Description: A boss creature that remains largely inactive, constantly guarded by a number of mid-sized quadrupedal monsters hiding in the fields of its spawn zone.]
For a boss in an A-rank dungeon, it might seem weak at first glance. If you just deal with the pesky moths swarming ar ound, you can kill the flower that stays still. So does that an a sorcerer like Jung Haseong, who uses wide-area ma gic, could clear this place as easily as chewing gum?
'This is crazy.'
This was not an incorrect statent, assuming the boss had not strayed from the field where it initially appeared.
But there are often such exceptions in the world. Take, for example, the axolotl. Also known as the xican salamand er, this creature, depending on its environnt, may never undergo full tamorphosis and instead live its entire life r etaining the appearance of its tadpole stage.
This is called neoteny.
However, if there are no tabolic disorders, and if the axolotl is about to migrate from its habitat as part of a natural process, its body and functions undergo a complete transformation.
So then—why is the word "salamander" included in the na "axolotl" in the first place?
'No way... These damn Beasts...'
And why was the dungeon boss that appeared before the Archmage classified as sothing like "The One Who Longs for the Sun" by the Alphaurth?
[Sunflower That Faced The Star]
[Grade: S]
[Description: It has been confird that this creature rapidly matures into an adult if it escapes beyond its usual spaw n area.
The cause is the environntal difference between its howorld's designated feeding zone and the planet it current ly occupies. When threatened by factors such as damage to the feeding zone or nutritional deficiency, it ventures outs ide—where actual solar energy exists—and, in an overgrown state for species preservation, consus nearby enemie s indiscriminately. It then dies following the creation of embryos.]
[Observed Reward Item Table]
[{0} Limited to post-escape: Elixir of Immortality...]
According to previously verified information from Alphaurth, that monster had been hiding its true form. In a way, it serv es as another example—like the Flower Baron—of a being whose power drastically differs inside and outside the dung eon.
Setting aside all the other unnecessary research findings, this part alone was enough to grasp the overview.
[{0} (Only after escape) Elixir of Immortality]
That monster only dropped valuable loot when it transford under specific conditions. That's why Alphaurth's magicia ns put a lot of effort to breed this creature. But would Earthlings really see this thing any differently?
'Definitely 100%. There's no other clear purpose for these Beasts. Besides, looking now, there's even an obvious ma s-made barrier surrounding the area. If soone else tries to clear it in the anti, that could cause serious troubl e.'
The literal ergence of a material from another world that quite perfectly prevents aging. With this, the alien mage fu lly grasped the intentions of the enemies who had taken over the Korean Gate.
'Those sorcerers are planning to deliberately blow up this dungeon to fatten up the boss!'
It was a cause that was truly the epito of selfishness.
'My goodness. They're doing the exact sa thing as those marine creature overlords sowhere. These damned lun atics are doing this to people just for magical ingredient materials!'
It didn't matter to them whether the capital city of so peninsula nation lived or fell. It wasn't their concern—clearly, t hey just planned to grab the elixir and be done with it.
'Well, Alphaurth did often think that way too, and that's exactly how all sorts of problems kept happening...'
After discovering the gate boss, and taking about a minute to sort through all his thoughts, Giryeo ca to a decision t hrough a series of deductions.
'Then it's simple—if we kill that boss while it's still in the juvenile stage, it's over.'
He had to find a way to bring Jung Haseong and Seo Esther here—so they could eliminate the root of the problem.
Now that he was roughly at the level of an E-rank Hunter, he still wasn't capable of handling a high-tier monster. So, G iryeo began looking for a path to move to another floor.
'H, huh?'
The mont he discovered that sowhere behind the boss, a passage in the wall led to the lower floor, all the tiny h ars on his body suddenly stood on end.
Thud, thud, thuxxx!...
That's because such a sound suddenly echoed through the previously quiet cave.
"Crazy...!?"
How did you even survive? There wasn't even ti to voice such a question. By the ti he turned his head, the other party was already right in front of him. Like a character in a play that showed no rcy, there was no small talk or pret ense of conversation—The opponent simply unleashed a spell without a word.
"Waagah!"
What firepower. The plasma was so intense that it made the lightning caster's takedown in Japan look like a joke. In a g once more, looked just as he had before—his nape torn open like a gazelle mauled by a lion. The wound on his ches e of the spell—but still.
'Right. Now that the barrier of the [Sacred Tree Seedling] has been broken, of course this was bound to happen!'
As expected, just brushing against it causes serious injury. Giryeo looked down at his right leg, which was badly burne d from his kneecap down to his shinbone.
"Wait, right?"
Co to think of it, the pain in that spot feels oddly familiar. The more he thought about it, the more it seed like ther e might be so kind of lingering magic stuck in that area, too.
'Oh my. Oh my god.'
There was no ti to dwell on idle thoughts. Barely managed to hold his collapsing body together, Giryeo sohow f orced himself to stand, even on his charred leg. And when he turned toward the direction the attack had co from— what he saw was a horrifying sight.
Tuk, tuk, tuk...
His blood dripped in thick, clotted strands—so viscous it seed more like syrup than liquid. Enzo Chiano, reappearin g once more, looked just as he had before—his nape torn open like a gazelle mauled by a lion. The wound on his ches t hadn't improved much either. No—if anything, the injuries looked even worse than before, the damaged flesh more g rotesquely expanded.
"Hmm?"
The item called [Doppelgänger's Jealousy] is useful for concealing one's identity, but since it alters the user's physiqu e, it inevitably results in several critical deficiencies.
'Is covering your face enough?'
Now, standing before the alien, was a man with a bear-like physique. Enzo Chiano had abandoned his pathetic "dead man" charade and now wore only a bone mask dangling over his head. This ant that the Awakener's characteristic physique was now fully revealed.
"......"
Growling. Growling.
Enzo, despite his damaged respiratory system wheezing out strange noises, had walked all the way here, seething wit h rage as if the pain ant nothing. It was obvious at a glance—he was in terrible shape.
"That's why he couldn't even hit a single slow target."
But no matter how bad his condition looks, could it really be worse than soone with an awakening value of 33AW?
With the net-like offensive barrier piercing holes through the organs inside his sternum, and on top of that, the front of his neck was slashed open. As you can see, the opponent is severely wounded—no more potion could restore him im diately.
However, Kim Giryeo instinctively felt defeated just from failing to instantly kill the fake Beast. Even if that thing rely closed its eyes and blindly unleashed area attacks, it would still be the end for him.
Cough, cough...
But then, Enzo—now reduced to uttering nothing but beast-like cries—seed unable to unleash any powerful magic yet, summoning only a thin stream of electricity aid at a single point.
Crackle!
Just as the blonde Hunter was doing everything he could to dodge it in that desperate mont—the situation shifted d radically.
Boom!
A deafening roar, no less intense than the sound of superheated plasma expanding the air.
"-!!"
Now that Enzo had more or less regained his focus, he was struck by the sudden explosion of flas nearby and, stag gering backward. After all, flinching away from intense heat was a natural instinct for all living beings.
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