Climbing the stairs revealed yet another hallway. A massive portrait depicting an unidentifiable figure, countless doors clinging to the walls like parasites, carpets spread across the floor, and eerie decorations setting an unsettling mood.
But among it all, what stood out most was the large, imposing door sealed off by iron bars.
Contrary to its name, Tomb of the Awakening One, this dungeon was built like a grand mansion. The monsters appearing here were weak—but the boss was terrifyingly strong. And just beyond those bars was the boss.
Lee Myung-won grabbed the bars and gave them a shake, his eyes narrowing slowly.
“Looks like we’ll need to cut through. Baek Tae-beom, would you lend a hand?”
Baek Tae-beom slowly drew his sword. I was sure of it.
[Sword for the Meek D+]
[Though chipped, it still resembles a proper sword. Grants a new skill upon use. (Cannot be reused)
The aura of the Crimson Mist lingers along the blade. Stronger attacks can be unleashed.]
“You’re still carrying that thing around? That’s ancient.”
As I blurted it out, Baek Tae-beom flinched mid-swing, pausing to glance at me with a soft smile.
“You gave it to me, remember?”
“…We’ll talk later.”
Baek Tae-beom brushed off my remark with another smile and strode up to the bars. Then, he swung the sword.
A powerful gust brushed past us. Just as I instinctively shielded my face, a heavy thud rang out. Looking up, I saw the bars, now split cleanly in two, lying scattered on the floor.
Did he really just slice through that with a measly D+ grade item?
I poked at the bars, wondering if they were made of tofu or something, but unfortunately, they were solid steel. Lee Myung-won looked as if this was all to be expected. Kang Si-hoo, on the other hand, seemed so rattled he couldn’t utter a word.
“Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“Praise me.”
Baek Tae-beom leaned his head in toward me, catching me completely off guard. I gave his hair a rough tousle, and that seemed to please him. He pulled the corners of his mouth into a smug little grin.
I was starting to seriously question whether I was talking to a person or a puppy.
“There’s a keyhole here.”
Lee Myung-won, who had been inspecting the door, spoke up. Just as he said, at the center of the large door engraved with a bird, there was a keyhole perfectly shaped to fit a key.
“There’s a high chance people are trapped beyond this point.”
“B-boss might be… back there too… m-maybe…”
Kang Si-hoo stammered.
“I-I’m s-so weak… I d-don’t know if I’ll be of any help…”
“I think having even one more person is better. Don’t you agree?”
“Y-yeah… I guess…”
Baek Tae-beom replied begrudgingly. I pinched his side, and although I knew it didn’t hurt, he made an exaggerated fuss about the pain.
No matter how I looked at it, Kang Si-hoo was putting on an act. Weak, huh? There’s no way someone with his titles could be weak. If only I could get more information about that <Cryptic Mask> skill of his… As I stared hard at him, Kang Si-hoo fidgeted with his fingers.
Baek Tae-beom stepped between us, blocking my view.
“You have to stay by my side, hyung.”
“…Fine.”
‘Seriously, I need to train this guy.’
With that thought, I inserted the key into the lock. Click. The mechanism turned.
As if it had been waiting for this moment, the door slowly opened. What greeted us was a wave of heat. Flames blazed hot enough to incinerate the world itself. While the furniture remained intact, people were melting into sludge. The stench was nauseating. At the center, a nest.
And inside it—a massive egg.
That was the boss of Tomb of the Awakening One: the Phoenix.
“An egg?”
Lee Myung-won spoke with a puzzled look. At that exact moment, a crack split across the egg’s surface. I urgently shoved Baek Tae-beom and Kang Si-hoo forward and raised my staff.
“Rescue the people before it hatches!”
Baek Tae-beom bolted the moment I spoke. Kang Si-hoo hesitated for just a second before following. They sliced through the bindings holding the people and began dragging the survivors behind us. Meanwhile, I turned to Lee Myung-won.
“Get ready to fight.”
“What’s in there?”
“Something that flashes like your skills, probably. It’s not even born yet, and this heat—it’s unnatural. Whatever comes out of that thing won’t be ordinary. Do you have any defense skills?”
“I do.”
“Then use them when I give the signal.”
[CH.#990O3/One More Dazzling Than the Sun]: Do you really think you can stop it with that power?
[CH.#990O3/One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction]: Why not? Try making a better prophecy for once.
Better than burning to death, anyway. As I muttered to myself, Baek Tae-beom and Kang Si-hoo finished moving the rest of the people. The egg, which had been crackling all over, finally burst apart, revealing a bird cloaked in crimson feathers.
The moment it appeared, I slammed my staff into the ground.
[You have used a skill. Skill: Condemnation]
[Condemnation has been activated.]
But instead of a piano or a sink dropping from the sky, what came down was a tiny squeaky toy. Squeak!—it bounced off the phoenix’s head.
‘Damn this cursed RNG!’
The phoenix let out a roar of rage at the same time.
[The dungeon’s final chamber has opened.]
[A new quest has been updated.]
[Dungeon: <Tomb of the Awakening One>]
[There is one who endlessly oscillates between death and life, awakening again and again.
Stop them.
Reward: ???]
“Lee Myung-won!”
A golden instrument materialized in Lee Myung-won’s hands. When he struck it hard against the floor, a resonant ding echoed as a glowing shield materialized in front of us.
[You have used a skill. Skill: Falling Stars]
[Falling Stars has been activated.]
From my gloved hand, blue stars formed of liquid burst forth, blanketing the shield and even reaching the people behind us. Then the searing heat hit like a wave.
“Hyung!”
“Stay behind me, I’ve got this!”
I shouted, focusing on channeling the skill. I could feel something being drained straight from my body. The sweltering heat singed the ends of my hair, rising all the way up to the ceiling. Just as I thought I couldn’t take any more, the flames finally ceased.
“A phoenix… I’m not seeing things, right?”
Lee Myung-won muttered, but no one was in shape to answer. The armor I wore helped me endure it this time—but at most, I could probably survive one or two more rounds of that.
The phoenix before us was glaring with irritation, ruffling its wings as if angered by having its sleep disturbed.
Normally, it would’ve drained the life from all the people and awakened in its fully developed form, but now, it was smaller than expected. We had fewer numbers than in the original, but this might still be doable.
“What should we do, hyung?”
“We have to seal its beak first.”
“The beak?”
“We can’t let it scream, no matter what. Can you handle it?”
“I think I can do it.”
Just as Baek Tae-beom was about to respond, Kang Si-hoo cut in.
“I-I have a skill for that… one related to it.”
“No one asked you.”
“Tae-beom.”
“What? Are you seriously getting attached to this guy?”
[Your Contractor is feeling furious.]
“Now’s not the time to be arguing. What’s with you today?”
“What’s with me? This guy—!”
“What the hell are you two doing? Now of all times—”
Lee Myung-won had just started to intervene when Baek Tae-beom suddenly bolted forward with his sword.
“Tae-beom!”
The phoenix didn’t react, even as Baek Tae-beom charged right up to it. And then—he swung. The blade sliced cleanly through the phoenix’s head. Flames burst upward in a dazzling blaze. I instinctively shielded my face against the heat and squinted—only to see the phoenix’s head slowly regenerating.
“Shit!”
“Baek Tae-beom, get back!”
[Constellation ‘One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction’ shouts at Baek Tae-beom to retreat.]
The phoenix’s wings flared. In an instant, it lashed out at Baek Tae-beom. It looked like he was going to get flung, but instead, he kicked off the wall and launched himself up—directly over the phoenix.
I could see his flesh roasting. His expression twisted in agony, and I frantically activated a skill.
[You have used a skill. Skill: Hand of Sunlight]
[Hand of Sunlight has been activated. The Constellation’s blessing is bestowed.]
“Choi Ga-hyeon, that skill—!”
Whether Lee Myung-won was startled or not, it didn’t matter—the skill I cast struck the phoenix squarely, lodging itself deep into its body. The phoenix spread its beak again, seemingly about to scream from the arrow embedded in its torso.
“No, don’t!”
[You have used a skill. Skill: Falling Stars]
[Skill: Falling Stars has been canceled.]
[Reason: Cannot be used consecutively.]
Just as I was about to bolt forward, someone grabbed me—shockingly, it was Kang Si-hoo. He pulled me back behind him and unsheathed his sword. My staggering body was caught by Lee Myung-won. Kang Si-hoo glanced back to make sure I was okay, then turned his gaze forward again.
For a moment, it felt like the mouth under his mask was… smiling.
And then, Kang Si-hoo cleaved through the rushing inferno in a single stroke.
As the flames split clean down the middle, I could only stare with my mouth agape, watching Kang Si-hoo’s back. Lee Myung-won was frozen in place as well.
Heat shimmered like waves across my cheek. Was this what the people felt like when Moses parted the Red Sea? The fire, far from gentle or miraculous, was a suffocating blaze—but it had been cut.
As the flames subsided, my thoughts jumped immediately to Baek Tae-beom. I shook off Kang Si-hoo’s grip and rushed forward. The phoenix’s flames weren’t just fire—they were something else entirely. A life-stealing blaze. If exposed directly, it would drain the very essence from you.
“Tae-beom…!”
But I had severely underestimated what an S-rank Hunter was capable of.
On the other side of the dissipating fire, Baek Tae-beom stood—his sword embedded in the ceiling, as if gravity had been flipped. Aside from his hair cascading downward, he stood with such composure it made me question whether I had been the one standing wrong all along.
His eyes gleamed in a cold, piercing blue. With his blade raised, he braced himself, unmoving—anchored where he stood.
