#094
Lee Jaeha, looking drowsy after just waking up, ran his hand through his hair. His face was covered with fatigue.
“Jaeha, you look very tired,” Hyun Dowoon said.
“I’m fine. I slept enough,” Jaeha replied.
Jaeha rubbed his eyes a few times and strode over. Shin Haejun glanced at Jaeha cautiously. He didn’t want to take Jaeha into an S-class dungeon without a perfectly assembled team. He had hoped Jaeha would stay asleep so they could move him far away, but unfortunately, it seemed he had heard everything.
“It’s better to avoid it if we can,” Shin Haejun said carefully, trying to persuade Jaeha. But Jaeha shook his head with a determined expression.
“If this dungeon has appeared targeting me, moving far away won’t help much. It could appear there too.”
Seeing Jaeha’s calm face, Shin Haejun sighed softly, feeling frustrated. What kind of entity was targeting them that could create dungeons at will? He felt very uncomfortable and worried, sensing that he was the only one who didn’t know the answer.
“And if I’m to complete the experiment to reveal the truth to you, I must enter the dungeon,” Jaeha said.
Shin Haejun reluctantly understood Jaeha’s words. He had heard earlier that the laptop experiment had failed, and the next experiment required Jaeha to bring an item from inside the dungeon.
“Since it’s a lava dungeon, we should quickly change into light clothes… I just need to undress,” Hyun Dowoon said seriously, then noticed the half-naked Shin Haejun and Jaeha in his thin t-shirt, and took off his suit jacket, placing it on the sofa.
“Ah,” Jaeha exclaimed, suddenly realizing something he had forgotten. He urgently clung to Hyun Dowoon.
“We should all teleport quite far away together.”
“Why suddenly?” Hyun Dowoon asked.
“What if civilians get hurt? The situation is too urgent for evacuation,” Jaeha replied.
It would be troublesome if monsters poured out, or if the dungeon entrance appeared inside someone’s home. Hyun Dowoon stared at Jaeha with a contemplative face, then sighed.
“You’re not wrong. Are you sure the dungeon will follow you?”
“It’s definitely not a coincidence. If it’s targeting me, I think it will change location,” Jaeha said.
With about 2 minutes left until the dungeon’s appearance, if Jaeha’s judgment was wrong, it could lead to an even greater catastrophe. It would mean the dungeon would open in a place where all S-class espers had disappeared.
To prevent such incidents, they usually predict dungeon occurrences in advance and prioritize civilian evacuation, but this time it was too sudden to do so.
After thinking for a moment, Hyun Dowoon felt that Jaeha was right. Unlike other areas, the capital region had a system that closely monitored dungeon occurrences 24 hours a day. This dungeon wasn’t detected by that system. Considering that the interval between occurrence and entrance opening is usually at least a day, this was clearly an anomaly.
“Let’s go. Quickly, hold hands. Shin Haejun too,” Hyun Dowoon said.
Hyun Dowoon firmly grasped Jaeha and Shin Haejun. The place they teleported to was a deserted beach.
“It’s as you hypothesized,” Shin Haejun said, checking the gauge in his hand. The S-class lava dungeon, with just 1 minute left until its entrance opened, had moved to within a 1km radius of where the three of them were on the beach.
“Ah, thank goodness…!” Jaeha exclaimed softly, rubbing his face. Despite his certainty, he couldn’t help feeling anxious. Hyun Dowoon patted Jaeha’s shoulder and looked with a stern face at the energy swirling and condensing before their eyes. It was a phenomenon indicating that the dungeon entrance would soon open.
“It’s opening,” Hyun Dowoon said.
Soon, as they knew well, a swirling dungeon entrance formed. Fortunately, there were no people around. Shin Haejun created an ice barrier around the entrance to prevent anyone from accidentally entering, then headed towards the entrance.
[S-class Yellow Dungeon – 3 Entrants / Special: Lava / BOSS ???]
As they entered the dungeon, they felt a scorching heat. Shin Haejun routinely surrounded himself with cold air and turned to check on Jaeha and Hyun Dowoon.
However, before he could, Jaeha took out two necklaces and a headscarf from his inventory.
“These… have effects that maintain body temperature and protect the body,” Jaeha said.
He then offered the necklaces to Hyun Dowoon and Shin Haejun.
“I’ve already surrounded myself with cold air,” Shin Haejun said.
“Don’t waste your strength unnecessarily. Save that for combat later, just use this for now,” Jaeha replied.
After handing the necklaces to Shin Haejun and Hyun Dowoon, Jaeha wrapped the headscarf around his head and tied it tightly under his chin. Wearing the cloth that shimmered like silver thread, Jaeha finally wiped away the sweat that had been dripping and looked comfortable. Then he stood still for a moment, rolling his eyes as if deep in thought, and took out several items in his hand.
“Let’s buff up first. I won’t take the lead like before. I need to save energy for guiding later,” Jaeha said.
It seemed to be a decision to reduce energy consumption. Jaeha gave Hyun Dowoon a bracelet and a small jewel, and put a ring on Shin Haejun’s finger.
“Dowoon’s items temporarily increase the attack power of summons and can block physical attacks about 3 times. And Haejun, yours has a function that reflects the opponent’s attacks with a 20% probability,” Jaeha explained.
Listening to Jaeha’s explanation, the two carefully caressed the items they received. Especially Shin Haejun, who received the ring, was so moved that he inwardly vowed never to take it off.
After handing the items to the two, Jaeha pinned a boutonniere-shaped brooch to his t-shirt, took out a dagger, and looked at them confidently.
“Let’s go!”
After completing all preparations, the three soon peered down into the pit where lava was flowing.
Hyun Dowoon and Shin Haejun exchanged glances. While Shin Haejun engaged in close combat, Hyun Dowoon planned to help Shin Haejun with summons from afar and protect Jaeha.
The dungeon conquest was going very smoothly. To be precise, no monsters were visible at all. Usually, in lava dungeons, monsters would float around in the lava, but this time there were no such minions in sight. Instead, the lava just looked a bit hardened and viscous.
It wasn’t a particularly good situation since they needed to defeat monsters to escape the dungeon.
“This is strange…” Jaeha suddenly stopped and muttered as they were following the lava path.
“I used an item that can detect monster locations, and it shows that monsters are swarming right next to us. But there’s nothing here…”
Then he looked around with a very serious face. All that could be seen was the viscous lava flowing around.
“Could it be…?” At that moment, Shin Haejun had a sudden thought. He applied anti-gravity to the lava, lifting the sunken things into the air. Then, various monster faces bulged out from between the rising lava.
Just as they thought they could catch these, the lava writhed lengthily. As soon as they sensed something was off, Hyun Dowoon and Shin Haejun quickly grabbed Jaeha’s arms and leapt backwards.
Kuaaaaaah!
Fortunately, their quick intuition was right, as the lava roared like a living creature. It was an intense sound that felt like it could burst their eardrums.
Shin Haejun felt Jaeha’s body trembling. He held Jaeha’s quivering arm tightly and asked quietly, “What’s wrong? Why are you shaking?”
“That… I think it’s the boss. All the monsters that should be in this dungeon are inside that lava… and the boss indicator is showing up with them,” Jaeha replied.
At Jaeha’s words, Shin Haejun and Hyun Dowoon’s faces simultaneously hardened. There had never been a reported case of monsters eating other monsters.
Although it was a situation they had never encountered before, they judged that the power of a boss monster that had eaten other monsters couldn’t be the same as usual. The regular monsters in an S-class dungeon each had tremendous power, so a boss with enough strength to eat them all would likely be more powerful than in a normal situation.
“It’s okay, we can handle this,” Shin Haejun said, sounding more confident than usual to prevent Jaeha from worrying.
“There are two S-class espers here. We’ll get out soon and eat something delicious,” Hyun Dowoon also reassured Jaeha with his usual gentle smile.
Jaeha responded with a slightly embarrassed face, pouting his lips, “I’m not worried, you know? It’s just gross.”
Indeed, the strange monster faces popping out from the lava were quite hideous. Shin Haejun, trying to lighten the mood, said while holding back laughter, “We should hurry for the sake of our hyung’s eyes.”
Then he leapt and used his power towards the lava. The instantly decomposed lava dropped to the floor, then quickly gathered and clumped together again.
The unnamed boss monster seemed very angry and raised its body. As the massive lava rose like a skyscraper, it felt like watching a volcanic eruption up close.
Hyun Dowoon firmly held Jaeha, who was struggling to maintain balance due to the severe ground tremors, while helping Shin Haejun by summoning ice-type monsters.
The battle continued for a while. They tried various attacks, but because the monster was in a sticky liquid form, even when shattered into pieces, it quickly rejoined.
Moreover, lava droplets were spraying everywhere. It wasn’t just from Shin Haejun’s attacks; it seemed the boss was deliberately flinging small lava droplets towards Jaeha and Hyun Dowoon in the rear.
“Can you cover for about 3 minutes?” Shin Haejun shouted towards Hyun Dowoon, deciding he needed to deliver a proper blow. Instead of answering, Hyun Dowoon’s summons moved to block in front of Shin Haejun. Then Shin Haejun concentrated intensely, using his matter manipulation to roll up the long, river-like body of the boss monster.
Condensing and decomposing such a massive, river-like object was extremely difficult and energy-consuming. Especially if that object was twisting and turning to break free.
Sweat dripped from Shin Haejun’s face. The residual energy from using his power inside his body sparked and popped, interfering with his control.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
Blood vessels bulged on Shin Haejun’s neck and face. He could feel his body being overloaded.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
