“They’re the ones who left the woman who was being dragged by those wolves behind.”
“What, are there really that many? I wonder if this is even worth it? Are they doing this as a hobby or something?”
The party with the bear beastman consisted of a whopping eight members. Given that most parties usually form with four to five people, it was hard not to raise an eyebrow at such a number.
“I guess this dungeon is more about collecting experience rather than making profit. Like, it’s just a pass-through dungeon, so they want to skip it quickly?”
“Is that so… But still, some of them seem pretty strong.”
“Uh… Is that really the case?”
Yeon-hee puffed her cheeks, looking unsure as she alternated her gaze between the group wearing cloaks and the bear beastman party.
“That group over there looks way stronger…”
Yeon-hee judged that the power of the four cloaked members was more threatening than that of the bear beastman party.
I thought the same, but we couldn’t ignore the number of people. After all, there’s a saying that quantity has a quality of its own.
About ten more minutes passed, and as we reached the end of the first round, we were eagerly choosing our next opponent.
“Let’s choose someone we can handle rather than a weak party, okay?”
“What about the bear beastman party then?”
“That many members is a bit daunting. Hmm… Or maybe we should stick to the party with the guys we faced at the start?”
“That seems a bit uncomfortable, doesn’t it? Feels like we might get dragged into something.”
“Or how about that party that only had sorcerers earlier?”
“That one’s too strong… It’s hard to gauge sorcerers, so… Can’t we take a turn off or something?”
“I’m fine with fighting sorcerers too. Their summoned creatures are sprightly.”
“The mirror… my mirror…”
“Ugh… sis…”
While we were busy chatting, Ham Eun-young was still staring intently at the non-functioning mirror.
“What on earth’s wrong with the mirror, sis? What’s different about it today?”
“Ugh… It looks different… My face… looks so bony… sob…”
“… Well, that’s…”
Joo-ah, who couldn’t bring herself to say that it was true, exchanged glances with us, signaling to let it go.
‘She doesn’t really belong in a situation like this anyway.’
But if it were another party, surely they’d have said something or, worse, even hit her a few times. It’s simply because we’re in a dungeon, and they’re rambling on about a mirror that we’re letting it slide.
“Alright, then shall we go for it with the sorcerers?”
“Got it! This time it’s my turn!”
“I think you should take a breather first. I’ll take the lead this time.”
‘I could totally do it alone, but…’
To be honest, I had a bit of competitive spirit, wanting to challenge all the hunters in this area at once. But considering I’ve already made enough of an impact, I should hold back a bit.
“There aren’t many chances to fight sorcerers, after all.”
As Joo-ah said, it’s quite rare for sorcerers to engage in magical duels. It’s not only because they tend to be enemies, but also because typically rational and composed individuals like them avoid creating a scenario to fight each other.
I’ve heard they often quarrel online, though…
But now that the stage was set, witnessing a magical duel wouldn’t be a bad experience.
Beeeee——
Once all the battles were over, the results were, needless to say, horrific.
Many of the hunters, over a hundred, had lost their lives or were rendered combat incapable. Four of those casualties were due to my actions, though.
“Oh dear… what the hell…”
The two administrators who had entered the isolated space without realizing the presence of mimics recognized they were trapped as soon as they stepped in and wore blank expressions.
However, they quickly started treating the most critically endangered individuals to accomplish their purpose for being here. No matter what, they were part of the national institution, so they had to do their job.
“Lizardman 17, 18, 19, 20. Move those people over there.”
Yeon-hee commanded the three Ilseom Guild members and the corpse of a fallen blue-eyed organization member to be moved to where the administrators were.
“Blue-eyed… I heard not long ago that those patterns don’t easily reveal themselves, but it seems Il-wol was quite frightened.”
“Ah, didn’t it just get etched there?”
Yeon-hee asked Joo-ah, who seemed to know about this information for the first time, and Joo-ah replied that it had become increasingly difficult to identify blue-eyed organization members since a few weeks ago.
“Ugh… I see… The patterns only show when you’re on the brink of death. This is troublesome.”
Knowing very well the wickedness of the ones she saw underground, Yeon-hee had no hesitation in glaring at the body being carried away by Lizardman 19.
In a hunter world where yesterday’s enemy can become today’s ally, it could be seen positively that a common enemy had emerged.
However, if they knew those foes were twisted enough for even the system to call them vile, Joo-ah’s reaction would likely have been quite different. After all, killing them wouldn’t even grant you stat points. Thinking back, those guys weren’t your average organization.
– Hey, humans! You’ve worked hard fighting. There were a few interesting battles, but I wonder if the great master was satisfied… I’d like to swiftly dispose of the weak, like bugs. Should I assist? Would you like that? Anyway—
The mimic jumped into the air, floating, and looked down at the people, shouting.
– If there’s a fool who would give up the chance to meet the golden mimic Tanya, raise your hand now!
Uhhh………
The hunters, who had thought the next battle was about to begin, suddenly felt their heads go blank. However, they soon gathered in a circle, urgently discussing among themselves.
“Phew… what a relief.”
Yeon-hee inhaled a sigh of relief first. I didn’t know what part she was relieved about, but since not every battle offered a reward, I welcomed the fact that we wouldn’t needlessly expend our energy.
“The sorcerers seem to be having a serious discussion too. Are they thinking of conceding?”
“If everyone except us concedes, we’ll meet that golden mimic! How exciting!”
‘Well… I’m not so sure. If we get pulled into the space and end up fighting a monster shaped like Necrosquall, conceding might actually be wise.’
While a whirlwind of complex thoughts rattled around, the mimic twisted its short legs like a pretzel and suddenly yelled.
– Uwaaa! Hurry up and decide!! You slow-poke slugs!!
It hadn’t even been 30 seconds since it spoke, and the place erupted into chaos. What a ridiculously insane wooden box.
The brown mimic tiny was a character that couldn’t be figured out at all. Thus, its booming voice increasing the hunters’ anxiety also meant their clarity of thought was declining.
Beeeee——
– Oh? Only eight parties remain in the voting result, and the rest have all conceded! Phoohoohoo! So dumb! Keykey, I forgot to mention that there’s a penalty for conceding! Oops, my bad!!
――!!
“Is that even allowed?! Suddenly a penalty out of nowhere?!”
“This rotten box!! Why didn’t you mention that before!”
The hunters who had agonized over their choices yelled in agitation at the unexpected penalty for conceding. However, the mimic merely raised its arms as if to say, “What do you want me to do?”
– For the crime of forgoing the once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet Tanya!! I’ll cast a curse that halves your experience points for a month! Hehehe!!
―――!!!
“A month?! You crazy son of a bitch!!”
“This is outrageous!! This is just too much!!”
“This is unfair! This doesn’t make sense?! System! What are you doing?!”
They clamored loudly over the injustice.
Yet, with just a blink, they all vanished without a trace, leaving behind only the eight parties that decided to challenge.
Even the injured and the corpses, the administrators had vanished cleanly.
‘This is insane… A high-rank sorcerer wouldn’t even achieve this level of multi-teleportation. Does that mean that guy is equivalent to a supreme sorcerer?’
The monstrous box, possessing abilities rivaling that of an S-rank hunter, now came back into view. If we slipped up even a little, it could wipe us out in an instant with those ridiculous round hands. It was an existence that casually cursed us for an entire month without a care.
Gulp—
A common thought among the hunters was that something had gone horribly wrong, but it was already too late to back down.
The brown mimic tiny pulled out a thick tongue from its box and licked it eagerly as it stared at the remaining hunters.
······
‘……’
Thud-!
At that moment, the boy-looking man among our four-person “Veil” group and I surged forward simultaneously.
‘Sorcerer—’
‘Sorcerer—!’
By mere coincidence, the boy in the black cloak and I reached for one of the sorcerers among the group at the same time.
Beeeee——
[Baek Ah-rin and 3 others – Kim Sang-jun and 3 others. Please fight! Quickly!]
“Damn! This isn’t fair! I was closer?!”
As the boy in the black cloak rightly pointed out, I was closer by a few meters, yet I was the one who reached first.
‘I guess he had a bit of confidence in his speed, but I won’t be losing on that front.’
He quickly snapped out of the shock and leaped like lightning toward his next target.
‘Hehe.’
As I enjoyed a small victory, three different energies combined with magic came flying toward me simultaneously.
Swish——!
I couldn’t see it yet, but I felt the sharp wind’s energy and narrowly dodged by just tilting my head. However, the range of the wind was broader than I had anticipated, and the tips of the thorns on my shoulder were slightly sliced off.
‘Did it cut my thorns?!’
It was definitely an attack-oriented sorcerer. Although merely trimming the tips of my thorns wouldn’t slice through the core of my bone armor, this wasn’t about myself.
‘Yeon-hee and the others… That guy is dangerous.’
Wind attribute sorcerers are among the rarest even compared to those of other elemental affiliations. Wind isn’t as distinctly visible as others, making it difficult to develop their abilities.
In other words, the sorcerer using this magic was someone full of sense.
Initially, I planned to just monitor the nuisances while Joo-ah fought, but my thoughts shifted.
‘I need to push that guy away!’
I could already sense Joo-ah and Yeon-hee swiftly nearing this spot.
A sorcerer with the power to take any of us down, including myself. He had to be stopped at all costs.
But I couldn’t just execute that right away due to the simultaneous attacks from other sorcerers.
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