Chapter 160

 

The main quest that had been quiet for months was finally activated, but that didn’t even catch my eye. The sentence written in the system window.

“What…? What am I supposed to send up?”

I wasn’t stupid – there was no way I wouldn’t know what the ‘star’ the system window was referring to meant.

“Fuck that!”

I hugged Cloud tightly and backed away. It was clear that stepping onto the altar had activated it, but even though I retreated, the system window followed me persistently.

Seong San-ha reached out his hand to me. At the touch on my arm, I flinched without realizing it and pushed his arm away.

“Eui-jin…?”

“No. Cloud is… Cloud is…”

Even though it wasn’t a properly completed sentence, Seong San-ha seemed to understand immediately and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me back.

“It’s okay. Calm down and come back first.”

“Shit… It keeps following me.”

Now the system window was even flashing dangerously in red like a warning.

「Will you send up the star?」 

「Will you send up the star?」

 「Will you send up the star?」

“Gu-Guild Leader! The altar…!”

Along with people’s screams, black light shot up toward the sky from the altar. The black beams of light that split into multiple branches moved around like tentacles with their own consciousness, then all rushed toward me at once. Seong San-ha quickly stepped in front of me, but before his shield could even be completed, the invading tentacles covered Cloud in my arms first.

“Woof! Woof, woof!”

Rune, who had rushed from somewhere, crashed into me with his whole body and knocked me down. As I lifted my head while hugging Cloud, I saw threatening black masses plunging down where I had been standing just moments before. 

Just as I was breathing a sigh of relief and trying to check if Cloud was okay, I saw a black mass about the size of an index finger hanging like a leech on Cloud’s forehead and screamed in horror.

“Cloud!!”

“Meeeeeh!”

I tried to remove it, but before my hand could even reach it, it turned into light and connected Cloud to the altar. I flailed my hands trying to grab and pull out what looked like a straw stuck in Cloud. But there was no way I could grab something made of light.

「Will you send up the star?」

“No. No, damn it!! Cloud. Go back in. Huh? You can do it, right?”

Cloud’s form, which had been staring at me blankly, gradually became blurrier. As the weight in my arms decreased with that shitty feeling, I froze and just stared into Cloud’s eyes when suddenly a thunderous tearing sound echoed through the air, and the same system window appeared before everyone’s eyes.

「Does not meet the conditions for sacrifice. Please cancel the subordination.」

As Cloud came back into my arms with a heavy weight, I hugged him tightly, but with a floating sensation, my body flew backward.

“Ugh!”

“Ow ow ow…”

“Get off! You’re sitting on my leg!”

Groaning sounds could be heard from all directions. Looking around, it seemed like we had been bounced back to the front of the door before going up to the 20th floor.

“What on earth happened?”

“A sacrifice? Do we need to prepare another sacrifice?”

Complaints and puzzled questions erupted among the hunters. Seong San-ha passed by with a quiet whisper.

“Hide Hamal.”

At Seong San-ha’s words, I hurriedly zipped up my bag and hid Cloud.

As the situation settled to some extent, opinions were leaning toward investigating the sacrifice and altar first before re-entering. Worried that other hunters might connect the sacrifice with Cloud, I was holding Cloud tightly in my arms and keeping him well hidden when suddenly the area above my head brightened and I felt hot heat on the top of my head.

When I raised my head toward the ceiling, I saw several fireballs flying toward us.

“Ugh, it’s an attack!!”

Defensive skills unfolded from all directions, and I could see a familiar shield above my head. As soon as the fireball touched the shield, it exploded with a bang and scattered into pieces.

“It’s an ambush!”

“These dirty bastards! Using area skills in a cave?”

Lim Dan, with an angry expression, leaped into the air. The sight of her jumping on rising ice with bone-chilling cold was like a demon. Soon screams erupted from where Lim Dan had disappeared.

‘…Damn, she’s strong.’

Cheong, who had drawn his weapon, blocked in front of me and warned.

“Boss. It’s them.”

Without time to catch our breath, a second attack followed, and this time the shield was shattered.”

“Kang Eui-jin!!”

Seong San-ha struck down an enemy that had been charging at me with his rod and then ran toward me. He looked around with lowered eyes.

“We need to get out of here first. I’ll provide cover, so go down with those two. If you go down just 4 floors, there’s a one-way warp point to the 10th floor, so go straight there…”

“What about you, Seong San-ha?”

“I’ll just deal with these guys and follow right away. Right now, you and Hamal are the targets. …Hmm? So hurry.”

Nothing would happen to an S-rank guy, but…

I stared at Seong San-ha patting my waist and said.

“If you come back injured, you’re dead.”

“Then our Eui-jin can just make me a potion.”

“Bullshit. I’ll treat you directly.”

“Boss, now!”

At Zero’s shout, I hurriedly ran toward the path the hunters in front had opened. Whatever Seong San-ha did behind us, a bright light flashed so brilliantly it lit up the entire cave.

As Cheong cleared the way and I ran toward the warp to the 18th floor under Zero’s cover, I felt an ominous presence from the side. Guys with their faces hidden by black robes were using skills I’d never seen before.

“What is that…?”

It was energy that looked exactly like the black tentacles that had come out of the altar earlier. I stopped in my tracks at the unbelievable sight and tried to look more closely, but Cheong urgently grabbed my arm and pulled me.

“Boss! We have to go!”

“Uh, yeah!!”

As I was turning my gaze away, I made eye contact with Tae Jae-heon in the distance. Tae Jae-heon, who had been swinging his weapon with an expressionless face, raised his head as if he’d been waiting and met my eyes.

I was the first to look away. Just as I ran frantically and reached the warp, the ground beneath my feet shook greatly from side to side. Soon a huge rock fell from above my head.

Thanks to Zero grabbing my arm, I avoided being crushed to death by the rock, but my body naturally stiffened at the rock that grazed right in front of my nose.

‘Shit. This is why I hate dungeons.’

But the real problem was something else.

“Boss. Are you alright?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Let’s go quickly… Huh? What?”

Where I had been standing. That is, exactly on top of the warp, a house-sized rock had fallen. The warp pieces that had split in half, unable to withstand the weight of the rock, looked pitiful.

“What’s this? The w-warp is… How do we deal with this?”

Zero, who had been examining the cracks in the rock, shook his head.

“Oh no… It’s completely destroyed. There’s no way to get out until the dungeon resets.”

“So we’re trapped here?”

I hugged Cloud while looking up at the ceiling where large rocks were falling. Dungeon reset or whatever, we’d be crushed to death before that.

“It’s complicated here, so let’s move to a safe place.”

“Is there even a safe place?!”

“Hmm, you’re right. Let me correct that. Let’s move to a relatively safe place.”

There was no time to be leisurely. The vibrations caused by the falling rocks were making the cave ceiling shake again. Eventually, the rocks that had cracked along their grain crashed down.

“Get away!!”

Dust rose with a thunderous roar. What had fallen from the ceiling became a wall that divided the space. Screaming hunters were running toward us.

“There’s only one way out. Let’s go straight.”

What followed was a series of frantic running. Since there was only one direction to go, everyone rushed toward the same place. However, since their target was me and Cloud, no matter how much I ran, they persistently followed only behind me.

The hunters who had been running with us gradually disappeared, and before I knew it, only Zero and Cheong remained around me, along with two hunters I’d never seen before.

One of them looked back at the black tentacles that were chasing us tirelessly and shouted in annoyance.

“What the hell are those things?”

“Seeing how they all use the same power, it seems like a shared skill or item they illegally acquired somewhere.”

Unlike typical monsters, they were tenacious creatures that didn’t easily disappear even under S-rank attacks. Even though they’d all be dead if the cave collapsed, they acted as if they didn’t care at all, recklessly using wide-range, high-powered attacks that made them difficult to defend against.

Eventually, one of the hunters who had been leading the way stopped and shouted to us.

“I’ll handle those bastards, you go ahead!”

“Thank you.”

Cheong bowed his head briefly and passed by them. When the hunter stretched his hand toward the rear, thorny plants instantly grew from all directions, creating a wall.

As expected, I had suspected since earlier, but they were definitely not ordinary hunters – they must be the S-ranks who had been following me.

However, with their leech-like persistent pursuit and strange power I’d never seen before, it would be nearly impossible to completely shake them off while protecting me and Cloud, unless it was a head-on confrontation.

“We’ll block here, so run down the left path!”

“I’ll step up this time.”

“…Protect the boss properly.”

Eventually even Cheong disappeared, and I was left with just Zero, catching my breath while pressed against the edge of a cliff.

“It’s damn wide. I guess we’re lucky that there are many places to hide.”

“We’ve only been moving the shortest distance between warps until now.”

Both Zero and I looked terrible. I wondered if Cheong was safe, and Seong San-ha and Lim Dan, the other hunters and even Tae Jae-heon. I was dying to know where they all were and what they were doing. Though now wasn’t the time to worry about others…

When I hugged Cloud, who was drooping inside the bag, tightly again, Zero made a meaningful “hmm…” sound and suddenly sent several paper cranes I’d seen before flying into the air.

After a few moments, only one paper crane returned.

“Oh dear, this is desperate.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Could you lend me a hand for a moment?”

I looked at Zero questioningly as he took my hand. Just as Zero lowered his head, I felt a sharp sensation at my fingertip.

“Ah, …shit, what are you doing!”

I pulled my hand away in shock at the hot, wet sensation of him sucking on my fingertip. I hurriedly poured purified water and scrubbed vigorously at that disgusting feeling and when I looked up, Zero’s face had changed to mine.

“What the hell are you really…”

“Hehe. It’s just one of my tricks.”

His voice was still Zero’s. Even his build too. I stared at him with displeasure as only his face changed into mine but the rest looked the same, but Zero spoke quickly.

“There are five directions we can go from here, and they’re chasing us from three of those places. I’ll leave traces and go right, so you go left, boss.”

“You want to split up here?”

“Yes. You must go left at every fork in the road.”

“Until when?”

“Forever.”

I stared at Zero in bewilderment. The bastard grinned annoyingly with my face and pushed my back.

“Hehe, but there’s no time.”

I hesitantly got up and took a step. Before entering the left passage, I turned around and met eyes with Zero who was looking this way. He waved his hand lightly.

“Don’t get caught no matter what.”

I hesitantly stepped backward then turned around and started running. I ran frantically forward while hugging Cloud.