We had already encountered 800 monsters, so it was obvious that the approaching ones were numerous.
Just by roughly estimating, I would say there were at least thousands.
Their bodies were surrounded by a faint red aura, which was definitely a buff given by ‘Nargul’.
If we defeat a monster with that buff, it would come back to life shortly after, allowing us to experience a nightmare of it wriggling back to life.
Of course, they couldn’t resurrect infinitely; each time they revived, all their attributes decreased by a certain percentage.
The immortal legion that keeps coming back to life would be quite the headache for anyone facing them.
I informed Yeon-hee of this fact and immediately approached the door.
Yeon-hee shared what I told her with the companions, and the faces of the hunters listening to the information looked utterly bewildered.
“Nargul…”
“What?! Are you sure?”
“How did the ones downstairs know we were here? I mean, how could they possibly know?”
“There must be a summoned creature with the ability of a guide.”
“A summoner is something else…”
“It’s probably a result of the dungeon being closed. I heard from a high-rank hunter that sometimes dozens of boss-level monsters appear in dungeons that are about to be closed.”
“Are you serious… so there are a ton of those here?”
“Given that it’s something that shouldn’t have been on this floor… it seems highly likely.”
“Wait… if we had gone straight for the exit… we could’ve been in deep trouble…?”
It seems everyone shared a similar thought; they looked at me with amazement.
Just the thought of all those people resurrecting and spreading stories about me on the internet gave me a headache.
I need to make those things keep quiet before we finish the quest… Hmm… what to do.
Creak creak –
First, I had to open this door. I tried pushing it by myself, but it didn’t budge at all. It shouldn’t have been this heavy… Damn… now even the smallest things are becoming hard to manage.
I gestured for Yeom Tae-seok to help with the door. We pushed together, but it still didn’t budge.
Seeing this, a few other hunters joined in to help, and finally, it started to open little by little.
“This is ridiculously heavy!”
“Uaaah…! Those monsters are coming! Hurry, hurry!”
“Don’t just stand there talking, help out…”
“What do you mean don’t be talkative to a lady?!”
“Ah, come on! Everyone, push together!”
In the distance, I began to see the shimmering blue smoke in the monsters’ eyes as they approached. We needed to hurry. The door felt much heavier than before, causing us to waste precious time.
“Damn… what kind of difficulty is this turning into?”
Boom!
We finally managed to swing the door open, and I leaped inside, holding Yeon-hee.
“Ah! Take us with you too!”
Ah-rin shouted, sounding disappointed, but I thought about it if I turned into a monster with many arms.
The party members quickly followed me, and the remaining hunters started rushing into the cave as well. They were likely motivated by the monsters that were now very close.
– Screeeech!!
As we entered the cave, the screams of the monsters faded behind us, and we were engulfed by thick darkness.
Just as I was about to pull out a magic torch to light the way, a short but busty woman stepped forward.
“Light!”
Among the 25 hunters besides our party, there were two sorcerers, and she was one of them. A sphere of light floated from her hand and began to circle around us.
As the sphere illuminated our surroundings, the previously hidden enormous passage revealed itself. This was followed by a startling message appearing before us.
– You have entered the hidden dungeon [Lair of the Corrupted Knight].
“Whoa…!”
“······?!”
“Ugh…!”
In the cave, where footfalls echoed like thunder, hunters quickly covered their mouths in response to the unexpected message. Their wide eyes and bloodshot expressions were directed at me, demanding an explanation. This was absurd.
“Seriously… am I asking too much of monsters?”
Without turning back, I quietly moved along the cave passage.
Everyone followed me, holding their breath.
Making noise in such a space was a taboo. It meant everyone knew the basics.
Bang! Bang bang! Craaash─!
“Yikes!”
However, just a few steps later, the sound of monsters recklessly pounding the door we had passed through echoed.
It was a door we had clearly left open, but it seemed to have closed again after we entered. Why smash it like that when they could just open it? Are they too dumb to open a door?
For some reason, they continued to yell and couldn’t seem to open the door, which was fortunate for us.
I was secretly glad about it. Since it was a separate space from where we had been, the system probably saw it fit to throw up the entry message.
Maybe this place has nothing to do with the closure of Nargul’s dungeon?
– New challengers wish to enter the hidden dungeon.
‘…… Is there more?’
Challengers want to enter? Please be a little more specific.
“What’s that supposed to mean? So they consider us challengers too?”
“That’s just ridiculous. Monsters being challengers…?”
“So… does that mean those guys can’t come in because we are currently challenging?”
‘That makes sense.’
However, considering the nature of the dungeon, the challenge time wouldn’t be infinite. But since the remaining time hadn’t started showing up yet, it seemed like we had over 24 hours…
We walked for about 30 minutes until we arrived at a colossal chamber that took my breath away.
This place was unbelievably vast, making my jaw drop.
Giant pillars were erected in the middle of the chamber, preventing the space from collapsing. As I got closer to one of the pillars, I noticed something densely inscribed upon it.
“This is?! Ancient civilization script!”
“… Then the chances of finding an artifact here are high…”
“……”
The feelings of greed that the people who had just run for their lives began to perk up.
It was the kind of emotion everyone would feel after entering a space no one had ever set foot in. But…
‘Sadly, it seems you need to eliminate that thing before you can have the artifact.’
There was no need to waste strength already searching…
“Don’t push!”
“I was ahead of you, why would I push…?”
But the hunters, holding magic torches, were already scattered around, searching the vast chamber with their strengths.
Those near the pillar were even growling at each other while keeping quiet. They probably thought there was something buried at the base of the pillar.
‘There is nothing…’
But at this changed moment, an artifact that had never been here could potentially be discovered.
So I spread my sense waves as wide as possible to survey the area.
However, this time, I couldn’t find anything different.
I approached the pillar and gazed up at the script I had encountered again, surpassing a lifetime.
‘… Again, I don’t know what it says.’
But the engravings on the pillar remained delicate and sophisticated.
It showed just how high the level of those who created this space was.
The space and the pillar, filled with white materials, had a texture no different from smooth stone; however, the faintly wafting magical energy was so sacred that it was clear it wasn’t an ordinary stone-polished space.
And while the others were still oblivious, my sense waves had detected small winged creatures densely sticking to the ceiling, out of sight.
Overall, they resembled bats, but with triangular faces, a single large eye set in the center, and two pairs of wings neatly gathered like they were praying, indicating they were beings from another world.
Especially the three long, curved claws on their upper wings were specialized for scraping something off.
Their main attack method was to swoop down using those hook-like claws to drain blood from the hunters. However, I wasn’t sure how that would apply to me.
As the only beings in Nargul’s dungeon that lacked living organisms, these guys were waking from their slumber, and their bodies were only the size of a sparrow.
But the more they drained blood, the bigger they would grow, eventually becoming several times larger, creating a considerable oppressive presence with their big outstretched wings.
They remained still like stones, showing no signs of life, but soon started to shake off the dust clinging to their bodies.
Flap flap flap-
‘They probably won’t just charge at us right away…’
However, it was also quite difficult to take the initiative against creatures that were that high up. Moreover, the [Contaminated Breath] wouldn’t effectively activate in such a wide space.
As I carefully placed Yeon-hee on a conveniently sized rock, my party members also cautiously caught their breath while looking around, finally stepping down from the lizardman’s shoulder.
“Heh, man. Today’s youth are quite the mystery.”
Yeom Tae-seok tilted his head while watching the hunters, who were still intent on finding artifacts that didn’t have a visible light.
‘He’s not even young enough to use that term.’
Yeom Tae-seok wasn’t that old. When Joo-ah casually asked, he replied he was in his mid-40s, but considering awakening individuals typically didn’t age quickly, his short-sightedness was indeed peculiar.
“Anyway, at least we have a bit of relief now…”
Bae Joo-ah broke the silence.
“It seems we’ve succeeded in entering. But what are we going to do now?”
“Hmm… I guess we should clear this dungeon…?”
In response to Yeon-hee’s answer, Bae Joo-ah followed up with a question.
“Do you think we can last a week here? If the monsters that followed us open the door, we might be ambushed.”
“Definitely… we need to clear it quickly before that happens.”
“I heard dungeons within dungeons have high difficulty levels. Honestly, it feels unnerving how empty it is right now.”
“Should we think of it as a C-rank dungeon…? This will be a great experience.”
Ah-rin pulled a cardigan from her inventory and put it on, trying to reassure herself. Noh Ha-yoon smiled even more, igniting her spirit.
“Il-wol, are there monsters here? Can you confirm that?”
When Yeon-hee asked, I raised my head to quietly look up at the ceiling, and the gazes of the people began to slowly rise.
······
“…… There’s something up there?”
“Damn… if the monsters live in the cave…”
“Slime? Cave-dwelling Arachnes? Freaky Bats?”
‘Those bat creatures don’t come out of here, so I’m just calling them Hook Bats.’
We had to defeat those black hanging bats and pass through a maze tangled like an ant hole to reach the chamber where the Skeleton Knight lay dormant.
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