Ch.4444. Is This Bug

Amon had been with this party of people who couldn’t find other groups for a week now.

This party with two vanguard attackers was surprisingly perfect.

“Uooargh!!”

The minotaur beastman charged into the skeleton horde.

Torso was a minotaur tank.

He had modified both hands to store folding shields, which could be extended to become weapons when swung or expanded to form barriers protecting allies.

He also had a node with telepathy function installed in his head.

He was an ideal tank capable of breaking enemy formations, protecting allies, and battlefield command control simultaneously.

As he disrupted the enemy formation, the hidden sniper targeted the commander.

[Bingo.]

Bang!

When Vans, the party’s sniper, pulled the trigger, the commander’s head disappeared.

Though she was a regular human, it was hard to find any human parts on her body.

Artificial lungs for breathing stability, mechanical arms and legs for aiming stability, mechanical eyes with targeting assistance.

And finally, a magic tattoo with optical camouflage effect.

She had such high specs that it was hard to understand why she worked as a mercenary.

After she destroyed the commander’s head, it was the vanguard attackers’ turn.

Amon and Kathy swung their sword and spear, instantly dispatching the elite skeletons.

All that remained were the commander trying to recover damage and ordinary skeleton soldiers.

This was the heavy gunner’s job.

“Get back. It’s Vox time.”

Vox, the party’s ogre heavy gunner, unleashed his machine gun.

Thanks to the ogre’s physical abilities, Vox carried not only a massive ammo drum on his back but also numerous bombs.

Though his speech was clumsy, he was an elite ogre with certification as an explosives expert.

However, Vox’s explosive knowledge wasn’t needed in this battle.

The ordinary skeletons were obliterated by modern conventional weapons before they could put up any resistance.

With the skeletons temporarily neutralized, all that remained was destroying their heads and spines one by one.

Normally, a mage would use attack magic to handle them all at once, but Amon’s party’s mage was a bit different.

The mage’s name was Hen, though it was confusing whether to call ‘him’ or ‘her’.

“Good work. I’ll handle this now.”

With a flick of the androgynous mage’s finger, the heads and spines were sorted and placed in a corner.

Then, after imbuing their staff with magical power, they methodically crushed these bones one by one like pounding grain.

The androgynous mage was particularly unique even in Amon’s already distinctive party.

They could use attack magic, defense magic, and support magic, but their methods were far from orthodox.

They would crush enemies with barriers and claim it was attack magic, or alter projectile trajectories with levitation magic and insist it was defensive magic.

The reason being to achieve maximum efficiency with minimum magical power.

As the androgynous mage finished their grinding work, this battle came to a smooth end.

“Good work everyone.”

After the battle, the party immediately began weapon inspection and feedback time.

Unlike the F-rank party Amon was in before, this party took weapon inspection and feedback seriously.

The six members checked their weapons while discussing safer methods.

They were a perfect party that never rested on their victories.

The more Amon observed this party, the more his anxiety grew.

‘What’s going on? Is this a bug?’

In Amon’s previous life, an Eastern sage once said:

– “When five humans gather, there must be at least one piece of trash among them.”

Amon had always kept this wisdom close to heart.

Even in a different world, that saying couldn’t possibly be wrong.

At least, that’s what he thought until a week ago.

‘Why is this a dream team?’

After running dungeons together for a week, he could be certain.

There wasn’t a single piece of trash in this party.

Of course, the party members weren’t completely flawless.

Amon and Kathy had the cost issue of wanting to go together despite having the same position, but there was nothing wrong with them as people.

However, the other members each had disqualifying factors that prevented them from finding parties.

The minotaur tank Torso had a defect from gene therapy that made him severely excited when seeing allies’ red blood.

The human sniper Vans couldn’t speak due to surgical side effects.

The ogre heavy gunner Vox often destroyed loot with his excessive equipment.

Finally, the androgynous mage Hen had great utility but lacked firepower for a mage.

It was clear why each individual couldn’t find a party.

But when they came together, they could cover each other’s flaws.

The minotaur tank’s excitement at seeing blood was solved by Vans’s optical camouflage magic inscription that hid blood from view.

Conversely, the sniper’s muteness was instantly resolved by the minotaur tank’s telepathy ability.

Even if loot got caught in the ogre heavy gunner’s firepower, the androgynous mage could easily retrieve it from explosions.

And the mage’s lack of firepower was compensated by the ogre heavy gunner.

The synergy was so perfect it seemed like fate.

Their synergy was so excellent that Amon’s party had long since gained enough combat power to advance to the middle layers of the dungeon in just a week.

Yet the reason they were still playing with skeletons at the entrance was…

‘What disaster is waiting to happen…’

If there were no problems within the party, then problems were likely waiting for them outside the party.

That’s why Amon wanted to be thoroughly prepared.

“Let’s prepare enough to handle any unexpected problems before going deeper.”

Nod.

None of the party members disagreed.

Rather, they actively agreed with Amon’s opinion.

“I like this party too. I really want to break that awful jinx.”

The androgynous mage lamented.

Coincidentally, all party members had the same jinx as Amon—every party they joined would disintegrate after just one exploration.

For them, this was the first party to last more than a week.

It was so precious to them that they couldn’t be too careful.

Amon gave a bitter smile upon realizing his party members shared his thoughts.

“I think we just work too well together.”

The party members chuckled softly.

They continued exploring the dungeon entrance.

They decided to advance to the middle layer after completing their 13th exploration.

***

<Howling Darkness>

That was the name of the dungeon Amon’s party ran daily.

The theme of this dungeon, nicknamed Saddark for convenience, was undead.

The lich residing deep within the dungeon continuously created undead to protect itself.

If an explorer died fighting these undead, the lich would use that explorer as material.

This phenomenon was more prominent in the middle layers where people started dying in earnest, rather than the entrance.

The high mortality rate in the middle layers was partly due to increasing danger with depth, but the main reason was carelessness.

Explorers who had just left the entrance often underestimated the danger of the middle layers and died all at once.

That’s why senior explorers repeatedly emphasized to those heading to the middle layers:

Never let your guard down.

And here was a party faithfully following that advice.

“Enemy confirmed ahead. Death Knight and ghouls. We’ll engage with the formation we discussed.”

At Amon’s instruction, the party members moved in perfect unison.

The expressions of those who had just descended from the entrance showed not the slightest hint of carelessness.

They fulfilled their assigned roles diligently, dispatching the ghouls and Death Knights in an instant.

Breaking formations, sniping commanders, grinding down hordes all at once.

“Situation clear. Let’s take a short break.”

Hearing Amon’s words, the party members sat down and checked their weapons.

During their feedback time, Kathy pointed to a Death Knight’s corpse and said:

“I wonder if those were explorers too?”

“Probably.”

While the two contemplated the explorer who had transformed into a Death Knight,

The androgynous mage flicked their finger and extracted a mercenary ID from the corpse.

“This one’s quite a lucrative source of income too.”

After sharing a laugh at the frugal mage, Amon’s party got back on their feet.

The expressions of Amon’s party exploring the middle layer were far from good.

They looked anxious, as if being chased by something.

Clearly, dealing with ghouls or Death Knights was easy for them.

Amon’s party’s combat power was overspecced for the middle layer, and considering their coordination, they could have advanced to the deep layer.

Yet they remained anxious.

For one reason only.

“Things shouldn’t be going this smoothly… there must be some disaster waiting.”

It was too smooth.

The smoother the exploration, the greater their anxiety grew.

The party members sympathized with Amon’s feelings.

In their anxiety, they suspected and guarded against everything.

Then Amon’s party spotted a group.

A group covered in protective gear-like equipment was incinerating the dungeon interior with flamethrowers instead of guns.

The group was burning everything, showing no interest in loot or trinkets.

Then, the eyes of this unidentified group met Amon’s party.

“…”

A member of the unidentified group said something to their companions and pointed at Amon.

The group stopped their incineration work and switched from flamethrowers to rifles and swords.

Watching this scene, Amon shrugged and said:

“What are the chances these people are friendly?”

Hearing this, the ogre heavy gunner replied:

“Honestly, I hope they’re not. If we solve this, our party will be safe.”

Despite the ogre’s limited vocabulary, the party members understood his meaning.

“Things have been going too smoothly.”

Kathy also drew her spear.

Eventually, Amon’s party engaged the unidentified group as if they’d been waiting for this moment.