Chapter 42: First Death
by AfuhfuihgsThe dungeon exploration proceeded smoothly.
Park Hyeyeon and her group were strong, and considering it was only a C-rank dungeon, it was to be expected.
What was surprising, however, was how the beginner students of Helmunt Academy were so tense and unable to show their true skills.
Park Hyeyeon thought to herself.
‘Pathetic idiots who can’t do anything on their own. Why do I even have to keep watching over them?’
Since there was only one path, they had to overlap their routes. Because of that, Park Hyeyeon was forced to keep seeing them, even though she didn’t want to.
‘Ignore them.’
After that, she focused on hunting.
Park Hyeyeon experimented with various forms of magic. The results were astonishing; even at a glance, she could tell she had grown significantly.
‘My growth is incomparable to before….’
Her understanding of magic was not just excellent; it was near-genius level. However, she constantly struggled with a lack of mana.
Her innate comprehension allowed her to use magic flexibly, but it also meant a high mana consumption.
Since she wasn’t born with a large mana capacity, her body couldn’t keep up with the magic her mind conceptualized.
In other words, although she understood the spells and methods, there were many she couldn’t use effectively.
But now, it felt like her total mana capacity had increased. And above all—
‘External mana… it’s an incredible technique….’
Using external mana was like always having a portable battery attached to a phone. It allowed her to cast spells without worrying about running out of power.
This, combined with her innate talent, created an incredible synergy.
‘Maybe… I can really take revenge with my own hands….’
Driven by the single-minded desire for revenge against Choi Seunghyun, the guild master of Baal, Park Hyeyeon had done everything she could.
She even went as far as consuming monster poison if it meant becoming stronger. But she had gradually fallen into despair.
A massive wall.
Choi Seunghyun was a swordsman capable of using aura. He was also the master of a top guild with hundreds of guild members.
The overwhelming sense of helplessness came from the thought that she couldn’t defeat him either individually or collectively.
Even though she was certain that he was the one who killed her father, she couldn’t exact her revenge, and that helplessness ate away at her.
But now, things were different. The mysterious masked instructor had not only accelerated her growth but also that of the other students.
He even taught them the revolutionary technique of using external mana.
‘Maybe… that person is stronger than Choi Seunghyun.’
She knew well that the masked instructor was a mage. There was an insurmountable wall between mages and swordsmen.
One fundamental premise:
[If they are at the same level, swordsmen are superior to mages.]
But this premise also meant that if a mage’s level surpassed that of a swordsman, the mage could overpower them.
-Crunch
‘This is a chance that will never come again… This time, no matter what it takes, I must… I’ll risk everything….’
If she worked with the masked instructor, killing that man wouldn’t be impossible. She believed this was an opportunity she wouldn’t get again.
Following Park Hyeyeon’s group were the beginner students of Helmunt Academy. Yoon Seulgi spoke up.
“Everyone… doesn’t it feel like there’s something off about this dungeon?….”
Kim Siyeon responded.
“I’ve been feeling it too… Don’t you sense something ominous? It feels like we’ve dived deep into the depths of the ocean… Is it because I’m too nervous right now?”
Kim Siyeon felt an unexplainable sense of dread. The sticky, ominous feeling of mana. It was as if they had ventured into the deep sea.
Baek Hyunseo also replied.
“I feel something strange too… I’ve had a weird feeling since earlier.”
From the moment they entered the dungeon, Baek Hyunseo had felt uncomfortable.
‘It’s probably just my imagination….’
At first, she thought she felt this way because they had to enter the dungeon without a guardian, so she brushed it off. But now, everyone else seemed to be feeling the same. It was clear something unusual was happening.
Baek Hyunseo suggested.
“Maybe… maybe we should leave. It feels like this place is really dangerous….”
Kim Siyeon, her eyes dark, replied.
“If we just leave… do you think Yang Han-gil will let us off that easily?”
At her words, the other beginner students fell silent.
With Kim Siyeon’s reminder, they realized again that they couldn’t act as they pleased.
“Then… let’s just stick as close as we can behind those people… They seem really strong….”
Baek Hyunseo said, and Kim Siyeon agreed.
“That sounds good. Their attitude may not be the best, but their skills seem reliable. And they’re not intentionally pushing monsters our way… If we stay close behind them, we should be safe.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
-Thud, thud, thud.
They quickened their pace.
Choi Juwon’s disciples, particularly Kang Eunbyeol, felt the same sense of unease as the beginner students of Helmunt Academy.
She spoke up.
“Everyone… don’t you feel something ominous in this dungeon? It feels like demonic energy….”
Kang Eunbyeol voiced her concern, but the other disciples only glanced at her briefly before moving toward the monsters.
“Um… everyone?….”
When she spoke up again, Park Hyeyeon responded.
“I’m not an idiot; I already feel it too, and I’m sure the others do as well. So what do you want me to do? Leave right now?”
“If… if it feels dangerous, shouldn’t we leave….?”
Kang Eunbyeol trailed off, feeling unnecessarily intimidated.
‘She’s different from the people I’ve met before….’
As the daughter of the Hunter Association’s chairman, Kang Eunbyeol had met countless hunters and people. She had encountered various kinds of mages and swordsmen.
But the girl standing before her now—Park Hyeyeon—was unlike anyone she had ever met.
‘She feels like an emotional person, but broken, like a damaged doll….’
Park Hyeyeon had a delicate physique to go along with her beautiful face. While her words made her seem like a bad person, upon closer thought, they weren’t.
Her words leaned more toward realism than malice, and she never actually harmed anyone.
Not only that, but when Kang Eunbyeol asked trivial questions or made comments, the other disciples would just glance at her and ignore her.
However, Park Hyeyeon would always take the time to respond.
Whether she was cold or not wasn’t the issue. The important part was that she always reacted.
“If you want to leave, then leave. I’m not going to get involved, no matter what you choose. It’s your decision.”
When they entered this place, Park Hyeyeon had been granted some authority by the masked instructor.
While everyone was allowed to act freely, any combat decisions or important choices were to be made by Park Hyeyeon, as per the instructor’s orders.
Kang Eunbyeol felt a pang of frustration.
Park Hyeyeon, with her small frame, was slicing through the monsters at the front lines. Meanwhile, here she was, hesitant to proceed in a mere C-rank gate because of a foreboding feeling.
‘Let’s go just a little further.’
With that thought, Kang Eunbyeol replied.
“I wasn’t suggesting we leave. I just wanted to check if others felt the same.”
With those words, Kang Eunbyeol rejoined the group.
They walked for a while. The dungeon, which had been shaped like a cave, started to open up.
“Everyone, stop.”
At Park Hyeyeon’s command, all the disciples halted. The beginner students from Helmunt Academy, who were following behind, also stopped simultaneously.
As soon as Park Hyeyeon stepped out of the cave, she sensed something was off.
‘The flow of mana is randomly cracking apart.’
It was a phenomenon difficult to describe. Like sinkholes forming in the ground, holes were appearing in the flow of mana. It wasn’t just a feeling of dread.
The feeling had now turned into one of eerie horror.
‘What in the world is happening? Why is this…?’
At that moment, a tremendous sound started echoing through the dungeon.
Rumble—
Boom—
Rumble—
The dungeon was suddenly struck by a massive earthquake, and the terrain began to shift.
‘This… this is…’
Park Hyeyeon knew exactly what this situation was. It was a precursor event of the Black Gate that she had heard about from her father when she was young—something every hunter would recognize.
An unexplained phenomenon, where a gate suddenly turns black and becomes corrupted by demonic energy.
The gate’s rank increases by two to three levels, triggering a massive earthquake and transforming the internal structure of the dungeon, drastically raising its difficulty level.
Worse, in such situations, exiting the dungeon becomes impossible.
‘We need to get out of here right now.’
This was a C-rank dungeon. If things went wrong, it could transform into an A-rank dungeon.
Dungeons created by Black Gates were notoriously difficult and unpredictable.
She was certain that clearing it with their current group was impossible.
With a serious expression, Park Hyeyeon shouted to the others.
“Run! Now!”
The people stared blankly at her.
“If you want to live, run now!”
As her voice echoed through the dungeon—
Squish—!
“Aaaaah!”
One of the male beginner students from Helmunt Academy was suddenly pierced through the abdomen by a tentacle-like appendage from an unknown monster.
“Kyahhhh—!”
In an instant, everyone screamed and began to flee.
A high-level monster, standing among them, looked like a cross between a human and a bat. It grinned as it muttered.
[Ah, how long has it been since I’ve felt the ground beneath my feet?]
It smiled contentedly as it absorbed the blood of the person it had impaled with its tentacle.
[Humans, don’t run. I’ll kill you all anyway.]
Thud
The student, drained beyond his limit, collapsed lifelessly.
“Kyahhhh—!”
The sight of the fallen student triggered screams from the group. Watching them, the vampire smiled.
[Ah… such a delightful sound….]
Laughter from the monster echoed throughout the dungeon.
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