Ch.22How is this supposed to be a saint?

It was quiet.

The five of them walked out of the narrow cave in silence.

Only the sound of footsteps echoed through the dungeon.

This was the result of Aila’s declaration of being a saint.

‘Everyone’s being cautious.’

Though she herself considered it mere caution.

“…Wait.”

The man walking at the front, Koo Ha-jun, extended his hand to the side and stopped in his tracks.

“…Over there.”

Koo Ha-jun stretched his hand out far, pointing somewhere.

In the distance, there was something wriggling and moving.

“Is that a goblin?”

“Seems like it…”

After hearing Ha-jun’s words, Choi Jin-sung and Ha Yu-ra looked in the direction he was pointing.

Yu-ra stared intently ahead.

As an archer, her sensory enhancements were more focused on vision compared to other hunters.

It was slightly dark, but not so dark that they couldn’t make out the monster’s form.

Yu-ra’s pupils turned slightly blue as the shape of whatever was over there became increasingly clear.

Thin limbs contrasting with a fat body.

Legs like a grasshopper with reverse joints, and something pointed like a bird’s beak attached to its head.

“It is a goblin.”

“Really?”

“Shin-young, what should we do? At this distance, my arrows might reach.”

“Hmm, Yu-ra, how many can you see right now?”

“…Two. But there might be more.”

Cutting through their voices, Choi Jin-sung spoke up.

“Hey, um…”

Feeling Choi Jin-sung’s gaze on her, Aila responded briefly.

“Just call me Aila.”

“Really? Then Aila, do you have any means to attack from a distance?”

Aila pondered for a moment.

She did have a way to attack from a distance.

At this range, she could probably wipe out the other four goblins hiding behind that rock cleanly.

The problem was that her method was quite primitive.

Simply throwing a powerful punch to create a pressure wave that would sweep everything away.

While effective, it would indiscriminately wipe out everything, friend or foe alike.

Sending a pressure wave from a distance wasn’t an issue, but if the dungeon core broke before they’d finished exploring, that would be a disaster.

After considering briefly, Aila answered that she couldn’t use it in the current situation.

“Then we have no choice but to ambush them before they notice us…”

Koo Ha-jun drew the two short spears from his waist and, despite his large build, walked quietly.

Carefully, silently, Ha-jun approached the goblins.

Aila grabbed the back of Ha-jun’s neck as he moved forward and lightly tossed him backward.

“Ugh!”

The three others had different reactions to seeing the large man rolling on the ground.

Yu-ra immediately turned her attention back to the goblins, worried they might have noticed the noise Ha-jun made as he tumbled; Jin-sung stared at Ha-jun rolling on the ground; and Sung Shin-young pointed her staff at Aila.

The situation was about to explode.

“What the he–“

Just as Ha-jun’s angry voice was about to ring out, like pulling a trigger—

BOOM!!!!!

“Eek?!”

“W-what?”

With a massive explosion, dust rose into the air.

When the dust settled moments later, they saw an enormous rock formation blocking the path that had been clear just moments ago.

“W-what is this…?”

Ha-jun trembled.

He gauged the size of the massive rock before him and estimated its weight.

If he had continued walking toward the goblins—

“……”

Just imagining it made cold sweat run down his back.

“Did the ceiling collapse?”

“Did someone use a powerful tech—”

Shin-young’s words were cut short.

RUMBLE—–

“Eek!!”

“I-it’s shaking?”

“What’s happening?!”

The entire dungeon began to shake.

The cave trembled with loud noises, and rock fragments crumbled down with a hissing sound.

It wasn’t an earthquake.

Earthquake-like phenomena don’t occur inside dungeons.

There was only one reason why a dungeon, which always maintains stability, would become this unstable.

“…Is it growing? Already?”

Dungeon growth.

A phenomenon where, over time, the dungeon core absorbs magical power and gradually increases its size.

“It hasn’t even been an hour since the dungeon opened, and it’s already growing?!”

The dungeon roared.

The five gathered in one place, clutching their trembling bodies.

After what might have been minutes or hours, the rumbling finally subsided.

“I-is it over?”

“Seems like it.”

A crackling electronic sound was heard.

It came from Koo Ha-jun’s chest pocket.

-Hello, can you hear me?

A man’s voice mixed with electronic noise flowed from the pocket.

“Is that communication?”

“Shh.”

-We’ve observed dungeon growth. Expected variation from C6 to C9. All hunters currently able to communicate, please continue to report your situation until we send a separate message. We are not responsible for any consequences resulting from non-compliance with these instructions. I repeat—

“Koo Ha-jun and four others, all safe.”

-…Confirmation complete. Current situation?

“Everyone’s fine, but the path forward has collapsed due to falling rocks. Further advance seems impossible.”

-…Understood. Please wait a moment. We’ll contact you again.

With those words, the noise from the communicator abruptly cut off.

“So we just wait as ordered.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be possible.”

In response to Sung Shin-young’s words as she crouched on the ground, Aila lightly objected.

Aila picked up a stone from the ground and tossed it up and down lightly.

“Hup!”

Then she threw it forward.

The stone shot out at a speed impossible for a human arm.

SCREECH!!!!

Along with a piercing sound, at the end of the stone’s trajectory, far beyond where they could see clearly in the darkness, something shattered with a scream.

“What?!”

“Battle positions!!”

A stench wafted from the darkness.

With a squelching sound, something revealed itself.

“Ugh.”

“A ghoul…”

The monster, resembling moving mud, approached slowly, dragging something that dripped and oozed.

The sight of human-shaped mud writhing was enough to evoke psychological disgust.

“Shin-young! Blast it!”

“Ice Arrow!”

An arrow of ice pierced the center of the monster’s chest.

The monster collapsed.

Judging by its stillness, it seemed to have died instantly.

“There are more!”

Arrows cut through the air.

One shot, two shots, they kept flying.

But they couldn’t kill all the monsters, as more and more crawled out.

“Damn, goblins and ghouls coming together?”

“Where are they coming from? There was nothing on our way here!”

“The growth must have opened new paths.”

“Ice Arrow · Triple!”

“Whoa!”

Three ice arrows pierced the air right next to Choi Jin-sung’s head.

“Don’t block! Want to get hit by an arrow?”

Damn it.

Jin-sung swallowed hard.

The situation wasn’t good.

Both goblins and ghouls are C-rank monsters, but when they team up and swarm together, it’s not such a simple matter.

Goblins have a humanoid form.

This means they can use strategies similar to humans.

Throwing stones, picking up and using artifacts scattered around the dungeon.

Moreover, they have a habit of living in groups, so they’re numerous, making them dangerous if magical power isn’t distributed well.

Ghouls are human-shaped monsters made of something resembling slimy mud.

With their amorphous bodies, physical attacks don’t cause much damage.

Furthermore, that mud-like substance contains strong toxins, making them monsters that require ranged magical attacks rather than close combat.

A monster that forces magic use, and a monster that overwhelms with numbers.

“Damn… Hey, try to deal with the ghouls somehow!”

“I’m trying! …Shit, everyone get back! I’m firing something big!”

Sung Shin-young drew up her magical power.

The hot energy flowing through her veins concentrated in one place.

The condensed magic was tempered cold, then released in an instant.

“Blade Storm · Icicle!”

Blades forged of ice flew through the air.

The frigid blades tore through the narrow passage, shredding the monsters within.

“Haa, haa…”

When the spell ended, no more monsters were visible.

“Well done. If there are any goblins left, we’ll handle them.”

“Ugh, I can’t… do any more…”

Shin-young slumped to the ground.

The backlash from squeezing out every last drop of her magic had hit her.

“Good job.”

“You’re buying dinner when we get out…”

Shin-young sighed.

She was exhausted.

Lying flat on the ground, she looked around.

Yu-ra counting her arrows, that idiot chattering away, Ha-jun keeping watch for more monsters…

“Huh?!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Aren’t we missing someone?”

“The one behind— What?! Where did she go?!!”

The four looked around in alarm.

As if she had suddenly vanished, Aila was gone.

“What happened?!”

“Sh-Shin-young. Are you okay with your magic? Can you detect her?”

Everyone was confused.

She had definitely been there before the battle started.

Wasn’t she the one who initiated the fight by throwing that stone?

She had clearly thrown the stone, starting the battle… but her whereabouts after that were a mystery.

“Damn, where did she disappear to?”

Monsters were approaching from the front, and the back was blocked by fallen rocks.

So… the sides?

“Everyone, check the walls!”

At Jin-sung’s words, the two others except Ha-jun, who was keeping watch at the front, began feeling along the walls.

And, in less than a few minutes.

“H-here, it’s hollow…!”

Yu-ra’s hand had gone through the wall.

Jin-sung immediately rushed toward the wall that wasn’t a wall.

And then, he froze at the sight before him.

“……”

“What, why are you just standing—”

Yu-ra, who had followed Jin-sung, also froze at the scene unfolding before her eyes.

An open space.

Inside, blood formed a sea.

Inside, corpses formed a mountain.

A mountain of corpses in a sea of blood.

At the center of this scene straight out of a novel stood a white woman.

The woman, her body stained red, was holding something and eating it.

“Nom nom… Hm? Oh? Are you finished over there too?”

With splashing footsteps, the woman’s figure drew closer.

Between her blood-stained white skin and hair, golden eyes shone brightly.

That thing in her hand…

“A goblin?”

“H-hieek.”

Yu-ra staggered.

Understandable, given her timid nature.

Damn, how is this person a saint?

“Hmm? Would you like some?”

Aila extended the partially eaten goblin corpse toward us.

“U-uwaaa…”

Not only the weak-stomached Yu-ra, but I too felt my head spinning.

Indeed, people who call themselves saints are definitely all crazy.