Ch.50The Large Dungeon Is Dangerous (3)

‘A large dungeon…’

Basically, dungeons classified as large are enormously bigger compared to small or medium dungeons.

Unlike smaller dungeons where ten people are sufficient regardless of size, large dungeons require at least thirty people.

Without that many, it’s nearly impossible to find the boss room and clear the dungeon before the break.

Therefore, quite a large number of people would be participating in this dungeon raid.

“Was it thirty-four people?”

“Yes. Sixteen members from the Hanul Guild’s main force. And there are three small parties like ours.”

In such cases, it’s common to divide personnel and search for the boss room from different directions.

Because of that, I could somewhat guess what role would be assigned to us.

After completing all preparations, the raid party gathered at one point for a brief departure ceremony.

“After entering, I’ll first assess the surrounding terrain before giving precise instructions.”

And so, we finally entered the B4-rank large dungeon.

Whoosh!

“This is…”

“A, a snow field?”

“Huff. The air is extremely cold.”

As soon as we entered, bewildered voices leaked out among the raid members.

Wheeee!

Rustle!

A snow-covered field so white it filled our vision in every direction.

A dense forest stretched ahead, and snow swirled through the air with fierce winds.

The scenery was quite different from what we expected. At the very least, it was terrain not commonly found in dungeons.

“…This is troublesome. Not a good environment for long-term activity.”

That was Yoon Byungho, an A-rank hunter from Hanul Guild and the person in charge of this raid.

As he said, the combination of a large dungeon and this environment certainly increased the difficulty.

“No signs of monsters detected in the vicinity!”

“No unusual circumstances here either!”

“Then let’s set up a base camp here first.”

After establishing our base, we began our full-scale exploration.

“According to the advance team’s reconnaissance, there’s only a steep cliff to the rear. Therefore, we’ve decided to divide the front into three directions for exploration.”

At the Hanul Guild raid hunter’s words, we decided to explore the left direction along with another party.

“My name is Kim Kyungsik. Looks like I’ll be working with the party that’s been making waves recently. I look forward to working with you.”

“The pleasure is ours.”

The leader of that party was a middle-aged man, and judging by the massive sword on his back, he seemed to be a vanguard-type who wielded a greatsword.

Since we hadn’t worked together before, we decided to maintain some distance and move in our own formations, heading into the snow-covered forest along with the porters hired by Hanul Guild.

Squish.

Squish.

Crunch.

“Ugh, my feet are sinking in.”

“Ah, geez. Why did we agree to come to this kind of dungeon?”

Although we had prepared for the cold in advance, Song Hayeon and Kwak Minji, who were particularly sensitive to cold, complained.

“Indeed, in this environment, it might be difficult for me to perform at my best during combat. We’ll need to be careful.”

We had been walking for an hour already, but we hadn’t encountered any monsters or anything else yet.

To be honest, it wasn’t a good sign.

“Is it normal for encounters to be this rare?”

“For now, it’s likely just a matter of luck. But…”

If this situation continued, it meant the dungeon was enormously vast.

It was quite concerning.

‘……’

Even for me, this kind of environment was unfamiliar, so I wasn’t particularly pleased. I was already starting to want to go home.

Thud.

“Multiple monsters ahead! White Fangs!”

Whether fortunate or not, a group of monsters attacked us, breaking the silence.

Giant wolves with pure white fur fluttering in the wind. They were White Fangs, B5-rank monsters.

“Let’s split the pack and deal with them. We’ll take half.”

“Understood.”

The two party leaders quickly made their decisions and directed their groups. We ended up facing eight White Fangs.

“Undead call!”

Whoosh!

[Grrrr!]

[Grrrk!]

Song Hayeon’s Phantom Wolf, which had finally learned a new class after my constant nagging, confronted the enemies, while the other party members took up their now-familiar formation and began combat.

As I watched from behind, Song Hayeon asked me:

“Why aren’t you summoning anything?”

“…I already did.”

At that moment, a fierce howl came from behind us.

Grooooowl!

My Phantom Wolf, which I had sent out after noticing another enemy’s presence in advance, had begun fighting.

I clicked my tongue as Song Hayeon looked at me with admiration.

“Geez. I keep telling you, maintaining awareness in all directions is basic.”

“No, normal people can’t notice that even when concentrating! They were that far away…”

After the battle ended, the leader of the other party came over to thank us.

“I’m indebted to you. We could have been in danger if we’d been ambushed from behind.”

We briefly backtracked to confirm the identity of the attacker.

Upon seeing it, Kim Kyungsik’s party stared at me with dumbfounded expressions.

“T-this is an Ice Troll! How did you defeat a B3-rank large monster alone…?”

“Wow, even three people together would struggle against this thing…”

“That’s incredible. How did you manage to kill it?”

I felt proud of their reactions but also uncomfortable with their stares, so I slowly distanced myself.

Perhaps recalling what they had been told beforehand, Kim Kyungsik’s party members apologized and moved away, maintaining formation as we continued.

Several hours passed like that.

Squish.

Squish.

Thud.

“We seem to have reached our target point.”

There had been several battles since then, but nothing particularly noteworthy.

The monsters we encountered were limited to White Fangs, Ice Trolls, and B4-rank creatures called Rock Boars.

“…Let’s head back now.”

Since the porters had already gathered the magic stones and materials, we returned to camp to report our exploration results.

#

“Good work. I’ll issue new instructions tomorrow after compiling all the information, so please get some rest.”

The first day’s exploration yielded similar results for all groups.

Most encountered similar monsters, with nothing particularly noteworthy. We had no choice but to continue further in the same direction.

“Let’s continue our exploration while establishing forward bases.”

And so the second day passed.

Another group confirmed the appearance of new monsters, but again, there was nothing special.

“…No results today either.”

The third day and fourth day continued to pass, and as time went on, supplies and manpower began to visibly decrease.

Some couldn’t withstand the harsh environment and fell ill, while others were injured in repeated battles.

“How are the injured doing?”

“We’re monitoring them closely, but due to the environment, recovery is slow. It will take at least two more days before they can return to full strength.”

Time continued to flow, and soon ten days had passed since we entered the dungeon.

Even for a large dungeon, this would normally be enough time to find and clear the boss room.

Just as anxiety began to sprout in the raid party’s hearts, good news finally arrived from the advance team.

“T-terminus! We can see the edge of the dungeon!”

Hurriedly preparing ourselves and moving forward, we saw a space blocked by a wall that seemed to have no end.

Commonly referred to as the dungeon wall, it marks the outer boundary of the dungeon and is a structure found only in large or larger dungeons.

This meant there was no space beyond this point, so the boss room must certainly be nearby. It was truly hopeful news.

However, it didn’t take long for that hope to turn into despair.

“It’s not here!”

“Not on this side either!”

The boss room, which should definitely exist, was not found anywhere for some reason.

Even after deploying exploration-type hunters and using mages’ detection spells, the result was the same.

“…What’s going on here?”

The raid party fell into confusion. Since they hadn’t missed any areas during exploration, the boss room should have been found somewhere.

After all, a dungeon without a boss room couldn’t possibly exist.

As they continued to investigate near the wall, one hunter who had maintained a gloomy expression finally spoke up hesitantly.

“…There is one place we haven’t explored.”

Everyone quickly turned their attention to him. Raid leader Yoon Byungho asked with puzzlement:

“What do you mean?”

“Behind our starting point where the base camp is. Do you remember?”

There was no need to try to remember. There was only a steep cliff behind that area.

As the hunters thought about this, their expressions suddenly froze.

“…That’s exactly the cliff I’m talking about.”

Those words brought despair to everyone in the raid party.