Now, Ha-yeon looked towards the entrance where the enemies would appear with familiarity.

The iron bars disappeared, and an enemy staggered out.

[You have encountered an S+ rank humanoid Monster, ‘Dust’.]

The first enemy whose name was displayed without a title in front.

As expected, with only three remaining, a powerful force could be felt.

A being of a different class than the ones before.

A presence similar to the Chimera she had faced earlier.

Frankly speaking, if the eighth enemy was this strong, she couldn’t even fathom how powerful the tenth one would be.

And as if the System sensed that, it began to intervene.

[Adjusting the difficulty of the trial, ‘Trial-2’.]

[Granting the individual, ‘Baek Ha-yeon’, a temporary increase in rank and skills.]

[Granting the skill, ‘Back Alley Flash (S-)’, until the tenth opponent is killed.]

“Oh….”

Was the System itself doing a balance patch?

She chuckled at the rare sight of a benevolent System.

‘But.’

Had there been a case like this before?

Had the System ever directly intervened to help them because the enemy Monster in the Dungeon was too strong?

No.

If that were the case, there wouldn’t be any deaths in the Dungeon.

Something felt off.

“To be distracted by something else while looking at me. You have quite the nerve.”

But that wasn’t important right now.

The enemy in front of her.

Unlike the previous enemy she had annihilated, this one possessed a distinctly powerful aura.

Being humanoid, it didn’t exude an overwhelming sense of dread, but the red eyes gleaming from the black bandages wrapped around its body conveyed a clear intent to kill.

In times like these…

‘A preemptive strike is essential!’

Of course, she didn’t say it out loud.

She quickly dashed towards the enemy and swung her sword as before.

Clang!

And the sound of friction echoed.

The enemy instantly drew a short sword from its waist and blocked Ha-yeon’s sword.

But this was an expected outcome.

‘Back Alley Flash.’

A newly acquired S- rank skill, albeit temporary.

She swung her sword according to the usage method that had seeped into her mind the moment she acquired the skill.

[Skill, ‘Back Alley Flash (S-)’ is activated.]

As the skill activated, the sword suddenly turned into black dust and disappeared, then reappeared with a massive Flash right behind the enemy’s greatsword, slashing at it.

“Quite a good swordsmanship…”

An attack that didn’t reach the neck, but left a large gash on the chest.

It was an injury that would probably kill anyone else, and it should have been fatal to the enemy as well, but it didn’t seem to be afraid, its red eyes gleaming as it prepared for battle again.

“Crazy.”

After slashing its chest once, Ha-yeon used Sacred Haze to quickly retreat, finishing her observation and preparation against the opponent.

‘I was wondering, but it’s a balance issue.’

A normal Monster or Hunter would be ignored for being in an ambiguous position, neither particularly fast nor particularly strong…

But if an S+ rank was like that, things were different.

Because both were overwhelmingly strong.

‘Tricky.’

The performance of the Back Alley Flash skill was certain.

A surprise attack on an enemy who was focusing all their strength on clashing swords.

And it had been used to leave a large gash on its chest.

‘But that won’t work anymore.’

The enemy knew this ability, so it wouldn’t engage in a test of strength.

The battle from now on would probably be a swift one.

The enemy seemed to know that too, as it drew not only its greatsword but also a short sword, holding it in its left hand.

‘Now, Back Alley Flash is for enchantment or obscuring vision.’

Compared to its power, the mana consumption efficiency was very good, so adding Back Alley Flash to Northern Demon Swordsmanship as a normal attack wouldn’t be bad.

The temporary disappearance of the sword in the Back Alley Flash skill was an additional effect, the real deal was the massive Flash.

“I really need to end this quickly now, so could you just die!”

Ha-yeon charged forward first.

A brilliant light emanated from the splendid sword, and at that moment, a slash flew.

The enemy, Dust, also charged out, using what seemed to be a skill to block the attack with a black aura.

And then came the follow-up attack.

Using Back Alley Flash and imbuing mana into Northern Demon Swordsmanship, she unleashed a slash.

The slash, unfelt due to the skill’s additional effect of disrupting mana waves, struck the enemy’s arm.

A falling left arm and short sword.

It was a grotesque scene, but the enemy didn’t seem to care, charging even faster than before.

‘Left.’

Ha-yeon was briefly taken aback by Dust’s immediate charge, which defied her expectations that it would stop there, but she quickly regained her composure and swung her sword in the predicted direction.

‘Back Alley Flash.’

The sword pierced straight through the enemy’s swinging sword, severing its neck.

[-You have killed an enemy with -Evil- alignment.]

[Stack increased.]

[3/5]

But because it pierced through, the tip of the enemy’s sword grazed her.

She quickly dodged to the side, but the strike, made with the resolve to die, was fiercer than ever.

The attack left a small wound on her cheek.

[Additional blood detected.]

[Effect increased.]

Two enemies remained.

Just as she was thinking that, the Water Ring on her hand seeped into Ha-yeon’s body.

Around the time Ha-yeon was struggling so much.

Kaede was going through hell in another place.

“…Persistent.”

[Your role is ‘Executive Assassin of the Assassination Guild’.]

Her role was an executive of the Assassination Guild, which existed in the shadows.

She was an executive close to the leader of the massive Assassination Guild that had taken over the shadows of the Sailun Marquisate, a noble family that ruled the territory.

[Constellation, ‘Dark Return’ says he’ll sweep them away if you ask.]

“I think I can shake them off though… If I can’t, I’ll just kill them…”

Currently, she was on her way back after assassinating the heir of the Pladin baronetcy, a noble family that served the Sailun Marquisate, according to the situation of the Assassination Guild.

She didn’t know why she was assigned such a mission as soon as she arrived, but her skills were certainly reliable.

She had assassinated the target without much difficulty and was trying to escape, but who knew there would be a mage here.

Since then, several knights had been chasing her.

“Stop! If you stop now, I’ll spare your life!”

“…..”

Judging by the lustful look in their eyes, she would suffer a fate worse than death if she were caught.

‘Disgusting…’

Frowning at the sight, she activated a skill.

[Skill, ‘Shadow Reincarnation (A+)’ has been activated.]

As the skill activated, Kaede was sucked into the shadow of a tree.

A moment later, she arrived at her room in the Assassination Guild, which wasn’t exactly familiar but not unfamiliar either.

“The installation was quite late…”

“I’m sorry. Kaede-nim’s mana is too vast…”

“It’s okay. It doesn’t matter, you can leave now…”

“Yes!”

One of her skills, ‘Shadow Reincarnation’, was a warp skill that allowed her to move by connecting one shadow to a shadow she had designated.

One might wonder why she hadn’t used it until now, but it required a sufficient supply of mana from the destination side to use, so she had been stalling for time while escaping.

Anyway, having finished this mission and returned, she lay down on the bed in her room and muttered.

“Ha-yeon is a Knight Commander… Grace is a top-tier mercenary…”

The fact that it was called an Assassination Guild was only known to those who worked in the darkest corners of the underworld.

To the outside world, it was strongly recognized as an information guild, so it had a lot of information.

Noticing this, she had asked her subordinates about the whereabouts of the two, and the information that arrived in less than a day was about these two.

“But Ha-yeon is missing.”

A day ago.

While the Knights were subjugating Monsters, a tremendously huge Monster had sprung up from the ground and moved Ha-yeon somewhere.

Ha-yeon didn’t know it, but there was a difference of 1 day per hour between reality and the Trial Ground.

“Grace has returned to being a mercenary for now…”

The Knights who were with her were all safe.

After Ha-yeon disappeared, the Divine Beast had simply laid there, exuding an aura of intimidation that prevented anyone from approaching, but it hadn’t directly attacked anyone.

That’s why the Knights had returned, and Grace was doing mercenary work for now.

“In terms of the ratio with the outside world,”

About three and a half hours had passed outside.

It was about time to enter the Dungeon.

Since they didn’t even know the Boss Monster properly yet, waiting was the best option for now.

“…..”

Her heart was filled with the hope that Ha-yeon was safe.

Meanwhile, Team 2 had finished clearing out the Monsters to some extent in 3 hours and 30 minutes and were now preparing to enter the Dungeon.

“Is it okay for just us to go in?”

“Reynolds-nim is someone who will come back even if we don’t worry about him and enter alone.”

“Well, that’s true.”

She was concerned about Reynolds, whom they hadn’t been able to meet even when they were finishing clearing out the Monsters, but they couldn’t delay any longer.

Veronica and Elin knew that, so they didn’t think about his situation after that.

“How much mana and stamina do you have left?”

“Mana… I have about half left. I also have an artifact, so it’s a little more than that. Stamina… it might be a little tough.”

At those words, Elin flicked her fingers, and the Water Rings that were on her wrist as well as Veronica’s seeped into their wrists.

Soon, a small amount of mana and stamina filled them to some extent.

As someone specialized in support, this was very easy for her.

“More than that, where is Ha-yeon…”

Why was the mana connection so difficult?

Elin began to feel a little uneasy.