Chapter 186: Accident (1)

Episode 186

“They finally made it.”

Tian, the Vice Master, spoke up as they were watching the match together in the executive meeting room.

“Once they clear this stage, it’s the boss fight.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“Yes. But this stage might take a while. The door to the exit only opens when both the right and left stages are cleared at the same time.”

“Ah… I remember now. It’s like an ‘escape room’ kind of thing, right?”

“Some hunters actually call it the escape room stage.”

Francisco, listening to Esteban and Tian’s conversation, thought to himself,

‘It’s almost time.’

He quietly stood up and said,

“I need to make a quick call…”

No one questioned his actions as he left the meeting room.

Everyone knew that Francisco, as the leader of Team 1 and the representative of all the team leaders, was always on the phone due to his busy schedule.

He exited the meeting room and headed towards the emergency exit stairs, a familiar route.

He stopped halfway down the stairs to the basement, the only place without CCTV cameras or listening devices, and made a call.

However…

‘…Why isn’t he answering?’

Francisco frowned as the phone rang over ten times without an answer.

He had specifically warned the person to answer his calls no matter what…

‘…Maybe he’s too busy to answer. He wouldn’t have changed his mind so suddenly.’

He tried to convince himself, but the fact that the main PD had never missed his calls before bothered him.

‘I should tell him to send me a text message once he sees the missed call.’

He left a message for the main PD and returned to the executive meeting room.

He sat down and immediately checked the broadcast.

‘…They’ve already started fighting.’

He saw Juan, Alopsky, and the other five participants who had entered the right stage, battling a giant monster.

‘I need to stop the broadcast from that camera soon…’

He anxiously checked his smartphone again.

It was almost time for the ‘accident’ to happen. It was absolutely crucial that the scene wasn’t broadcasted.

That was why he had gone to make the call, but the main PD hadn’t answered, nor had he sent a reply yet.

* * *

**Caaaaaw!**

A monstrous roar echoed through the vast cave.

At the same time, countless ‘feathers of light’ rained down on Juan and his party.

“Ha!”

Chano activated his ‘Bulletproof Shield’, enveloping everyone in a protective barrier.

The feathers of light bounced harmlessly off the shield.

“Good! Well done, Chano!”

Juan shouted and looked up.

A giant bird-like creature, seemingly made of light.

It was ‘Aildrium’, the mid-boss of the 30th floor.

**Bzzzt!**

Aildrium opened its massive beak and fired a thick laser beam.

“Dodge! We can’t block this!”

Chano shouted, but the participants were already scattering, moving out of the beam’s path.

The laser missed everyone and melted the ground instead.

“Stay focused! Just focus on dodging until it descends!”

Juan continued shouting instructions, fulfilling his role as leader.

“It’ll descend soon and use a skill similar to the Sunlight magic I used before. That’s our only chance to attack.”

Aildrium would only descend within their attack range once. Juan was explaining that timing.

“Don’t try to attack recklessly until then, just focus on dodging…?”

He couldn’t finish his sentence as he saw someone leaping towards Aildrium.

It was Alopsky.

“Hey!!”

Ignoring Juan’s shout, Alopsky jumped near Aildrium and prepared to swing his sword.

“You idiot!! You can’t damage Aildrium with physical attacks…!”

**Slash!**

“…?!”

Juan’s eyes widened again, his words cut short.

Alopsky’s sword had sliced through more than a third of Aildrium’s left wing.

‘No way…!’

Juan was shocked as he saw the severed wing disintegrate into a burst of light.

‘Aildrium’s weakness is its legs… That’s the only way to damage it…’

Then why was it being cut so easily? Did this mean his past experience of spending hours raiding this dungeon was useless?

Moreover, Alopsky’s attack wasn’t over yet.

“He’s moving to the other wing!”

“How is he flying so freely in the air…?”

They looked at Alopsky again, their voices filled with shock. He was maneuvering in the air like a bird, flying towards Aildrium’s other wing.

He swung his sword again, and

**Slice.**

He successfully severed almost half of the other wing.

At the same time, Aildrium started plummeting towards the ground. It couldn’t stay airborne with both wings severely damaged.

“How should we attack?”

“…Huh?”

Juan, who had been staring at Alopsky in a daze, snapped out of it at Chano’s question.

He saw Aildrium landing on the ground and stammered,

“…A-attack! Focus on its legs!”

He couldn’t help but stutter, still in shock.

But he quickly came back to his senses.

“…W-wait!”

He saw Alopsky falling from the sky towards Aildrium’s head.

He was holding his sword above his head, ready to decapitate Aildrium.

“Don’t kill it yet!!”

Juan shouted urgently.

“We have to clear this stage at the same time as the team in the left cave! If you kill it now, they’ll be trapped inside until the boss is defeated!”

Did Alopsky hear him?

He lowered his raised sword, mid-descent.

He then twisted his body in the air and landed away from Aildrium’s head.

‘Phew…!’

Juan sighed in relief. He had been terrified that Alopsky would kill Aildrium on his own.

“I’ll say it again, we have to defeat it when all the jewels above the closed gate are lit. That’s the only way both gates will open. Got it?”

Alopsky turned his head towards the exit at Juan’s words.

A massive gate stood firmly closed, with five green jewels embedded above it.

Currently, only the two jewels on the left were lit, indicating that the team in the left cave had cleared two stages.

“So stop being reckless and follow my instructions! Stop trying to show off your strength and acting like a lone wolf!”

“…”

“Are you listening to me?! …Hey!!”

Juan’s eyes widened again as he saw Alopsky charging towards Aildrium once more.

He reached Aildrium in an instant and swung his sword.

**Slash!**

**Caaaaaw!**

Juan watched in horror as Aildrium’s legs were severed.

Alopsky then proceeded to completely sever its remaining wings.

“It’s okay as long as I don’t kill it, right?”

Alopsky asked Juan as he sheathed his sword.

…He was right.

As long as they defeated Aildrium at the same time as the team in the left cave finished solving all the puzzles, there was no problem with incapacitating it like this.

‘The problem isn’t that, it’s him…’

Fear crept into Juan’s eyes as he looked at Alopsky.

‘Can the four of us even defeat this monster…?’

His plan had gone perfectly according to script.

They had incapacitated Aildrium before the team in the left cave finished all the puzzles. Now, they had time to gang up on Alopsky and kill him.

‘That’s why I specifically chose the Blue Team members. I had a feeling the Red Team members wouldn’t listen to me because they seemed to be getting along with Alopsky.’

He had secretly briefed the other four members, excluding Alopsky, early this morning.

Once the plan was in motion, the main PD, following Francisco’s instructions, would stop broadcasting from all cameras covering the right stage.

That way, they could claim that Alopsky had died in an ‘accident’.

‘But he seems a lot stronger than I thought…’

He hadn’t expected Alopsky to almost kill Melahel earlier, nor had he imagined that he would make such short work of Aildrium.

Let’s think about it the other way around. Could the four of them, excluding Alopsky, replicate the same feat against Aildrium?

Impossible.

He could tell just by looking at Luca and the other two, who were glancing at him nervously.

‘Are we really going to fight that monster? Just the four of us?’

Their eyes were filled with fear.

Honestly, Juan felt the same way. His instincts were screaming at him to stay away from that monster.

‘…But this is our only chance.’

He bit his trembling lip.

His ambition to become the strongest hunter on Earth, surpassing even the Triunfo Clan, couldn’t be crushed in a mere newbie showdown.

* * *

“…This is strange.”

Inside the temporary monitoring area set up near the entrance to the 30th floor of the ‘Tower of Trials’,

Sergio, the evaluation director, spoke up, and his subordinate looked at him.

Sergio gestured towards the monitor showing Juan’s party.

“Doesn’t the atmosphere around Juan’s group seem a bit off?”

His subordinates all looked at the same monitor.

Everyone except Alopsky was exchanging nervous glances behind his back.

It was as if…

“Doesn’t it look like they’re about to gang up on Alopsky?”

“What?”

“No way…”

His subordinates all denied it in surprise.

They couldn’t believe that something like that would happen during a live broadcast.

But Sergio remained suspicious.

He was a team leader of a Major Clan, and the evaluation director.

He had seen a lot in his long career, and this atmosphere felt familiar and ominous.

**Buzz!**

A faint vibration sound.

Sergio turned his head to the left.

“…Aren’t you going to answer that? It’s been ringing for a while.”

“Ah…”

The main PD finally picked up his smartphone from the table.

But he didn’t bother checking the caller ID. He already knew who it was.

‘What should I do…’

He turned off his smartphone and started agonizing.

‘I don’t really have to listen to Francisco anymore…’