episode_0076

When unexpected events happen to people, their minds often come to a halt.

Events that go beyond their cognitive range can cause a temporary shutdown of their ability to cope with the situation.

“A dungeon.”

I used to experience this a lot in the past, but for some reason, it’s not the case now.

Perhaps it’s due to the survival instinct that instinctively tells me that if my mind stops here, I might die.

“There were no signs of a rampage. This place has been engulfed. Could it be the dungeon’s power suppressing spatial perception?”

The consciousness of the dungeon fundamentally seeks permanent sustainability. In any situation, it operates to maintain the dungeon.

This is why traps are set in the dungeon and monsters are created to repel intruders. External enemies usually have the intention to destroy the dungeon.

Once the dungeon fulfills its purpose of sustainability, it shifts its focus to a higher purpose.

Permanent sustainability. The will for further expansion.

When a dungeon continues and fills up with excess energy beyond a certain threshold, a rampage occurs. Therefore, regular subjugation is necessary when intentionally maintaining the dungeon.

“There were no signs?”

Excess energy. In other words, a noticeable immense power.

The Observation Tower always monitors the frontlines of the Maekyung. It reads the movements of monsters trying to invade the interior and detects the presence of high-ranking monsters lurking within the Maekyung.

With the remaining capacity, it also observes the interior. It observes villains classified as high-risk individuals and predicts dungeon rampages in advance.

There was no prediction. A sudden event. A rare occurrence that happens almost as casually as eating after graduating from the Shiyoram.

“Damn.”

Of all times… it had to happen while I’m here.

I suppressed negative emotions. I clenched my lips and reached out my hand. I wrapped my hand around the waist of the child who was fidgeting beside me and lifted them up.

“!?”

The startled child squirmed. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury to comfort the child right now. I picked up the child and slammed into the ground.

I wielded magical power throughout my body. With strong martial arts, my reinforced legs pushed the ground and propelled me forward.

A fierce wind swept over my body. I widened my senses. It was not the time to make excuses like my nerves are bothering me.

The wind carried various sounds.

Screams of terror, the horrifying sound of flesh tearing and bones breaking, the deafening noise of buildings collapsing and something bursting out, the cries of monsters…

Most of the sounds were familiar.

I’ve heard screams even in a shitty house when I was young, I’ve torn flesh and broken bones while killing monsters in dungeon practice. In the Tower of Growth, I’ve killed people as well.

But this was reality. It wasn’t just practice, and it wasn’t a safe test like in the tower.

Several people had already died. They wouldn’t come back…

“Shelter.”

It had been over a hundred years since humanity had been devastated by dungeons and monsters. It might be a very short time considering the history of humanity, but it was ample time to prepare countermeasures.

After the Great Cataclysm, most of the rebuilt cities had shelters in place for the possibility of entering the influence zone of a rampaging dungeon.

They could be used for typhoons, hailstorms, earthquakes, but their main purpose was to escape from the changed environment due to the dungeon and the randomly appearing monsters.

I widened my spatial perception.

More information came in. It wasn’t satisfying. Since the rampaging dungeon engulfed this place, the state of spatial perception had been extremely poor.

It was rough and turbulent. It seemed to be constantly pushing back against external forces like in a power struggle.

It was a familiar sensation. It was the feeling I had when spatial perception in the Tower of Growth couldn’t expand and was being crushed.

The outcome was different. Back then, I couldn’t resist and was being suppressed, but now, I was fiercely resisting and pushing back against the power of the dungeon.

Exploring the shelter, several monsters were spotted.

They weren’t numerous enough to be called several. Every time the space shifted, new monsters appeared.

The species varied, but the most common one was a beast with red fur. It walked on four legs, and its body was twice the size of mine.

“Red Leaf Hound?”

Based on the knowledge from the original work, the monster information learned from the System, and the observations from spatial perception, it was determined that it was a Red Leaf Hound.

Red Leaf Hound. A monster resistant to conventional firearms, ranked at Level 7 in the standard hierarchy.

Then, could the rampaging dungeon be at Level 4? It was fortunate in misfortune. If it had exceeded Level 3, the survival probability would have plummeted.

I snapped my fingers. The manipulated mana formed clusters of magic bullets.

Mana Bullets.

The magic bullets flew, drawing blue trajectories, hitting the head of the Red Leaf Hound.

Bang! With a loud noise, the head of the Red Leaf Hound exploded. Shattered skull fragments, broken brain matter, and brain fluids scattered in all directions.

I snapped my fingers again. The consecutively generated mana bullets scattered in all directions.

– Bang! Boom! Bang!

I shot mana bullets at all sorts of monsters entering my spatial perception. The heads of the monsters hit by the mana bullets exploded with a bang.

I wasn’t overly concerned about accuracy. Thanks to spatial perception, the accuracy of projectile attacks was almost perfect.

“I found it.”

While reducing the number of monsters and moving, I found the shelter.

The entrance of the shelter looked like a bunker entrance commonly seen. The thick metal door was wide open, as if urging people to come in quickly.

Survivors were entering the underground entrance in a line.

Two giants with anxious expressions were looking around on either side of the entrance. They didn’t seem to be at a very strong level.

“Hey, over here!”

The gaze of one of the giants turned towards me. He blinked and waved his hand. Fortunately, there was no misunderstanding that I was a villain.

He sat down in front of the entrance and put down the child he was holding. The child, with disheveled hair and a dizzy expression, staggered without even trying to fix it.

Meanwhile, the giant who had waved at me urgently spoke.

“You must have grasped the situation, most of the city is isolated by the rampaging dungeon!”

I understood too. Except for those who were immediately killed by the rampage, there would be no one who didn’t grasp the situation.

“We need to buy time until the rescue team breaks through the outer wall! So…!”

I knew what would come next.

Modern citizens are educated on how to act in emergency situations like this. Even now, citizens who have survived are desperately gathering towards the shelter.

There would be many who couldn’t gather due to the monsters scattered around.

I shook my head and stomped the ground.

– Thud

That was the plan. My sleeve was pulled, and my leg stopped. The culprit was the child I had brought along.

The child urgently grabbed my sleeve.

The eyes that were half-closed as if bored were now wide open, showing worried pupils.

Where have I seen this child before? The question arose, but was immediately refuted. Even if the child had seen me before, they wouldn’t recognize me now.

Wearing the identity concealment bracelet personally given by the Vice-Chief, my appearance would look completely different. Therefore, even if they knew Lee Hayul, my current appearance didn’t resemble Lee Hayul. With well-controlled mana, it was impossible for them to think I was Lee Hayul.

“I want to tell them not to worry.”

I wanted to say that, but the curse prevented me from doing so. I could have conveyed my intentions through a hologram, but it was a waste of time.

I loosened my small fingers. Since there was nothing to compare the strength to, the fingers came off easily.

The pupils that seemed similar to someone else’s dimmed. I crossed the city, repeatedly striking the ground.

The appearance of Sipnahar came into spatial perception. It wasn’t a city that was particularly beautiful or had artistic value.

It was a city that was created decades after the great upheaval, where heroes and hunters who were attacking dungeons in the area gathered.

Perhaps that’s why this city was characterized by practicality rather than artistic value.

The city was crumbling. People were dying everywhere. The struggling spatial perception conveyed it very well due to the external forces and power struggles.

Thanks to that, my head felt cold. Thoughts of death and fear… were pushed back as the situation was the situation.

I shook my hand. The magic emanating from my palm drew a circle. I focused on neutralizing one monster at a time as much as possible.

There was no time to approach and kill each one with weapons. Even if it consumed some magic, it was better to use magic to kill them.

The depleted magic quickly recovered. Fatigue accumulated in the circuits and core, but there was no time to fool around.

To survive, to save more people, this situation had to be resolved somehow. I pondered.

“I have to contain the outburst.”

The dungeon is a huge non-space hanging in the world, likened to a ship temporarily anchored by dropping an anchor.

To stop the ship, you have to drop the anchor. If the anchor is pulled out, the ship will be swept away by the currents and drift on the sea.

The dungeon is the same. If the core inside is destroyed, the dungeon cannot exist and collapses.

“Where is the core?”

There are various types of cores. It could be a structure that looks special, or a giant magic stone larger than the others.

Or, it could be a monster responsible for the core’s role.

Monsters responsible for the dungeon’s core are naturally labeled as Alpha. These monsters are particularly dangerous among the Alpha entities.

The monster responsible for the core cannot leave the dungeon’s influence. Therefore, it absorbs the protection of the dungeon and exhibits overwhelming power compared to other entities.

“Did a Grade 4 go berserk?”

I felt spatial perception. It was constantly fluctuating, but it was functioning somewhat.

Pressure coming from all directions… Upon closer inspection, the source was not one or two. At least five or more…

“Damn.”

Are they all Grade 4? Then the standard hierarchy of the appearing monsters would be around Grade 8. What about the Alpha entities? Probably Grade 6…

“What can I do?”

The parasitic moth seen in the Tower of Growth was an Alpha of Grade 5. It was dead. Hong Yeonhwa killed it, and I also helped in its defeat.

I have grown since then. Can I kill it now? I wasn’t sure.

I haven’t confirmed if there is an Alpha entity responsible for the core, but if there is, I have to kill the Alpha entity to stop the outburst.

If I don’t kill it? There is another way. Wait for external rescue.

Since communication has been cut off, the situation in the city would have been known to the outside world soon. The Association would immediately send a rescue team composed of top-tier and high-tier superhumans.

The outer walls of the dungeon are solid. Before the outburst, I couldn’t dare to touch them, but the outer walls of the erupting dungeon become somewhat softer.

Even a Grade 4 dungeon, the lowest rank. If you keep knocking from the outside, the walls will surely collapse, and the rescue team will come in.

…How long will it take? Since it’s Grade 4, there is a chance of rescue.

From Grade 3 and above, rescue from the outside is practically impossible, and even a Grade 4 dungeon would take at least twice as long to break down the walls.

How many will die in that time?

And…

“Why are there so few superhumans here in the first place? Could they have withstood that time?”

I continued to ponder the question while trying to minimize the number of monsters.

For some reason, I didn’t encounter many supernaturals roaming around immediately. There must be clans responsible for the protection of this city, but I haven’t come across any of them.

There seems to be a shortage of manpower. There are few supernaturals out there subduing monsters. I don’t see any high-ranking supernaturals either. Why is that?

“Damn it…”

The situation is not good. My face involuntarily twisted as if the possibility of survival was fading.

– Jjeojeok

Suddenly, I heard a sound of something being torn apart. It sounded very close, but I couldn’t identify the source.

* * *

[Ability ｢■Neglect and Oversight□｣ is growing]