Ch.56The Double Dungeon Is Dangerous (5)

Crash!

Boom!

Chae Hwain slaughtered Lich’s undead with a blank expression and silent determination.

The process was terribly numb and peaceful.

Perhaps because she had only been revived recently? At a glance, her cognitive abilities didn’t seem fully restored yet.

“H-how could such a powerful undead…”

The Lich muttered in apparent shock as he watched his forces being continuously swept away.

Truthfully, I felt the same way. I thought it might be worth trying to resurrect Chae Hwain through a Death Knight’s body, but I hadn’t expected her to be this powerful once revived.

‘Does this mean S-rank Hunter material is that exceptional?’

Or perhaps Chae Hwain was simply a special case.

Either way, this situation couldn’t be better for me.

Kieek!

Crack!

Chae Hwain slashed through her opponents while shooting out aura like the wind. It seemed she could still use some of the power and skills she had possessed while alive.

Faced with this terrifying display, the Lich spoke with a hardened expression.

“…How unexpected. To think I’d have to use this here.”

Crash!

The Lich drove his staff into the ground and began chanting a spell while emitting aura.

It seemed he was about to use his trump card.

Crack.

Crunch.

Slither.

Tree roots extending from the staff broke through the ground and crawled across the floor like snakes.

And they were heading toward the hunters who had moved behind the Lich in support.

“Huh? What?”

“Aaaagh!”

Splash!

Crack!

The hunters’ bodies, suddenly impaled by the roots, had their life force drained in an instant.

Their bodies withered into emaciated forms like those who had starved for years, and the Lich placed his hand on the staff that had absorbed all their life force as he deployed his secret weapon.

“Rise.”

Rumble.

Black-stained stems rose up around the staff, forming a massive shape.

What finally emerged was a black tree that emitted ominous aura and curses in all directions.

“Cursed Ent, Morgan.”

It appeared to be a powerful plant monster that had been turned into an undead. It certainly possessed power worthy of being called a trump card.

“Kill them all.”

Swish!

Swish!

As the Lich’s command fell, numerous tree branches extended toward me and the other hunters.

However, Chae Hwain, firmly planted on the ground, swung her sword and cut down most of them in the blink of an eye.

Slash!

Crack!

Thud.

Boom.

Thud.

Her swordplay was beautiful enough to be called art. Even to me, who had seen the skills of renowned swordsmen elsewhere, Chae Hwain’s swordsmanship was impressively high-level.

“That one. Take care of that one first!”

Grooar!

At the Lich’s angry command, the Cursed Ent let out a loud cry filled with curses.

“Kyaaak!”

“Ugh!”

“M-my body won’t move!”

Even Chae Hwain momentarily flinched at that attack, and seizing that opportunity, twice as many branches as before rushed at her.

Bang!

Boom!

BOOM!

Under the full-force attack, Chae Hwain was slammed into the boss room wall, and parts of her armor shattered, causing significant damage.

But that was as far as it went.

“Can’t you tell at a glance?”

“…What?”

“We’re simply on different levels.”

Crack!

Without hiding her annoyed feelings, Chae Hwain tore out the branch stuck in her shoulder and readied her stance as she spoke.

“…Sword of Creation.”

And once again, a storm raged.

BOOM!

CRASH!

At the tremendous noise, all the hunters ducked down, only raising their heads after a while to assess the situation.

The once-massive Cursed Ent had been thoroughly sliced up, reduced to chunks of wood, with no will remaining in it.

Watching this scene, I smiled slightly and spoke to the completely stunned Lich.

“I have many questions for you.”

“D-don’t get cocky! You can’t kill me anyway…”

“Your life vessel? The one buried under that throne?”

“How did you know that!”

I’ve long been able to see through the minds of ordinary liches.

Since I was certain it would be somewhere in the boss room, I had been searching for the Lich’s life vessel since entering.

And I became certain when he summoned the Cursed Ent.

The stems that had been digging through the ground showed noticeably less aggressive movement near the throne.

“Damn it all! To think that I would be defeated by the likes of you…!”

With Chae Hwain at my side, I approached the Lich and said:

“What do you know about the dungeon?”

This Lich’s behavior was unusual. He had been hiding in a low-rank dungeon and even planned to use hunters as hostages to fight against outside entities.

At the very least, he was aware of the relationship between dungeons and Earth.

“Tell me everything you know.”

“I-I can’t tell you.”

“Then die.”

The Lich shook his head in panic at my threat. Finally, he began to reveal the truth.

“I-it’s not that I won’t tell you, but that I can’t. Almost all memories related to that are gone from my mind.”

That was quite an interesting testimony. It suggested the existence of someone behind the scenes who could manipulate this Lich at will.

“Then you’re useless.”

“W-wait a moment!”

The Lich shouted urgently and began to concentrate as if trying to recall something.

What he said after struggling desperately was somewhat shocking.

“I’m not sure if this is something I heard from someone or deduced myself. My memories are unclear. But there’s something faintly remaining in a corner of my mind.”

“…”

“That all of this is a process, and we’re still only at the beginning.”

A very meaningful yet confusing statement.

However, it certainly wasn’t positive.

After pondering for a moment, I looked at the Lich with cold eyes and lowered my head to speak quietly.

“Should I spare you?”

“…You won’t kill me?”

A completely reversed situation from before.

At my sweet offer, the Lich waited for an answer with a confused expression.

Whoosh.

I took out the Book of Death, pointed to it with one hand, and continued.

“If I destroy the vessel, the dungeon will probably be cleared and a portal will appear.”

“…”

“But I can preserve your soul separately using this as a medium. You can tell this isn’t an ordinary artifact just by looking at it. Since you’re a lich, you can be revived as long as you have a suitable body, right?”

Originally, I hadn’t planned to go this far. The Lich was powerful but not impressive enough to be worth using a blank page in the Book of Death.

But I changed my mind.

It was worth the effort to take him out of here.

“I need to revive your memories.”

I smiled meaningfully.

#

Afterward, I made a soul contract with the Lich, Gordon, and transferred him into the Book of Death. I also made sure to destroy the life vessel.

Whoosh.

“A p-portal!”

“We’re saved!”

“…Is it real this time?”

“…Whatever it is, I just want to go home now.”

The hunters showed relief but maintained a somber atmosphere. There had been too many sacrifices to fully celebrate their survival.

“Over here! Call the medical team!”

“Is Leader Yoon Byungho here?”

“What happened? Where are the others?”

Outside, forces were standing by in preparation for a break due to the delayed clearing period.

Because of this, the commotion continued for some time.

And the next day, the world was in an uproar.

[Now a Double Dungeon? We can’t even trust rank measurements anymore.]

[Only eleven survivors out of thirty-four. A tragedy in a B-rank large dungeon.]

[Hunter Association promises to care for survivors and do their best to understand the phenomenon.]

Double dungeon. Following the previous conditional dungeon, another dungeon that completely destroyed conventional wisdom had appeared, naturally raising awareness of the situation to extreme levels.

Countries dispatched researchers to investigate the phenomenon and were desperate to extract information from the survivors.

And at the center of it all was none other than me.

[Baek Eunha, survivor of the conditional dungeon, also participated in this double dungeon raid.]

[After experiencing two tragedies, netizens show support for her.]

It seemed that being continuously involved in unusual incidents since last time had drawn public attention.

And now, as the center of attention:

“R-really, I’m fine.”

“Absolutely not. Stay here quietly until the day after tomorrow. Oppa is badly injured too.”

“B-but I can’t…”

“…If you keep this up, I’ll just break your computer.”

“Ugh.”

As soon as we cleared the dungeon, Seoha had rushed over, and now I was hospitalized for intensive examination and treatment.

I swallowed my tears as I thought about my account, which was probably still losing points in real-time.