“Fuck.”
Getting out of the car that had stopped urgently, rough curses flowed from Hyukjin’s mouth. It was the ore dungeon at the very end of today’s dungeon occurrence report. An F-rank dungeon expected to disappear within a short time, a place where the field team only needed to confirm whether it naturally disappeared within a few days.
A dungeon that wasn’t in a danger zone so didn’t need attention, with a low rank and without even valuable ores.
In front of this common dungeon that frequently appeared and naturally disappeared, the car of one person he knew well was parked.
“Kang Raon. What have you done?”
He had been working overtime because of Nox’s test results from this morning. It was a consideration of an Esper who had ability values that exactly matched S-rank with no deficiency or excess, and had even formed a bond with C-rank Raon in a perfect match.
He wanted to know the limit of that ability but also felt fear. Just recalling Nox’s cool gaze looking down at him made his liver turn cold. Both Raon who told them to cover their eyes and say ‘boo’, and Nox who gladly followed it, and even the perfect result values—not a single thing was normal.
In the midst of that, an emergency rescue request that rang out caught Hyukjin’s attention.
Since the most efficient team members moved at the best time to clear assigned dungeons regardless of day or night, the Center was running 24 hours. As the situation was like that, emergency rescue requests sometimes came in, and teams on standby in the Center dispatched to the dungeon that requested rescue as quickly as possible.
Though it didn’t happen often, since it occurred about twice a month, Hyukjin’s gaze, which had glanced at the signal and was about to focus on the file, turned toward the rescue request again.
It was a rescue request from a dungeon that hadn’t even been assigned a team. Since there was no team dispatched, it might be a false alarm from machine malfunction. Though it was an alarm system that had never malfunctioned even once until now… Along with that, an ominous feeling wrapped around Hyukjin.
Coming to this place bringing A Alpha Team who were resting was quite an impulsive action. Even while doing something that would earn him a disciplinary action if nothing happened after checking, Hyukjin couldn’t easily put his mind at ease until arriving here.
“Team Leader-nim.”
“Yes.”
“…It shows as unmeasurable rank.”
After confirming that the car in front of the dungeon was Raon’s car and forcibly opening the car door to check, Hyukjin unhesitatingly spat out a curse after hearing the team member’s report.
“Nox?”
“We can’t reach him.”
Hyukjin’s eyes, staring at the rippling dungeon entrance, sank coldly. Raon and Nox who couldn’t be reached. The car in front of the dungeon and their outerwear inside the car.
The dungeon that changed from F to unmeasurable. And the natural disappearance time that wasn’t much left. There was no time to hesitate.
“A Alpha Team. Prepare to enter the dungeon. Have a Guide accompany, and I will accompany as well. Finish preparations within 3 minutes.”
His expression, putting on protective gear he had brought just in case, hardened stiffly.
How many days has it been since he went into a rampaging dungeon alone and brought back Nox?
“Team Leader Choi. Are there any additional check items?”
Standing in front of the dungeon entrance where he could enter with just two or three steps, Hyukjin deeply inhaled and exhaled at A Alpha Team leader Minji’s words.
“The information you all know and I know isn’t very different. To add, Nox’s measured ability value this morning was S-rank. And Nox’s Guide is Team Leader Kang Raon. Since they’ve already finished bonding, Guides don’t think about guiding Nox, and refrain from radiative guiding as well. Each focus only on your own Esper. It was an F-rank ore dungeon, but currently, as you all know, it’s an unmeasurable dungeon.”
As words that were hard to understand easily continued, bewilderment briefly appeared on the team members’ expressions, but as if they had soon regained their composure, emotions disappeared from their faces.
“There might be some kind of attack the moment we enter, so please prepare fully. Then.”
As soon as Hyukjin’s words ended, A Alpha Team attempted to enter the dungeon, and Hyukjin followed them last.
“Ppiyoong! Ppippiya. Ppiyaaang!”
At the monster’s sound heard at the same time as passing through the flickering entrance, Hyukjin immediately released the safety on the gun he was holding.
The team members who entered first were checking the surroundings in battle formation immediately.
“What sound is that?”
“It seems like a Gem Kitten.”
“The dungeon master?”
While listening to the conversation the team members were exchanging, Hyukjin, who was trying to check the tablet from the very back, blinked his eyes as something white that suddenly blocked his view quickly disappeared again. Team Leader Lee was clutching what seemed like a white cotton ball that had flown straight to him.
“Ppyak! Ppyaak. Ppyaaaaa.”
Tears were dripping from the Gem Kitten’s eyes as it made urgent sounds while alternately looking at him and inside the dungeon. The Gem Kitten, which twisted its small body this way and that to escape Team Leader Lee’s hand, circled once above Hyukjin’s head and flew straight into the dungeon.
After moving away like that, it stopped, looked back, and cried out squeaking.
Unable to rashly follow the Gem Kitten, Hyukjin checked the tablet first. On the tablet linked with the tablet Raon had brought in, a perfect map of the dungeon was completed and appeared in an instant. Multiple green dots appeared at the dungeon entrance. And a black dot slowly appeared in what seemed to be the dungeon master room.
“Let’s follow for now.”
At the same time as saying that while looking at the black dot he was seeing for the first time on a dungeon tablet, the team members moved quickly. Following them from the very back, Hyukjin clenched his molars tightly. The number of green dots moving in this place exactly matched the number of team members who entered the dungeon.
The team members’ entry was so smooth that it made their heavy vigilance entering the unmeasurable rank dungeon where they couldn’t know what had happened inside seem pointless. Rather than the expression ‘smooth’, the words ‘just went straight along the path’ were more accurate. He even thought that maybe it was F-rank as originally predicted rather than unmeasurable rank.
If it weren’t for the countless rare ores embedded in the walls, it would seem right to say it was an F-rank ore dungeon. While having to check the black dot at the very inside of the dungeon and following the Gem Kitten that seemed to be guiding them as it went ahead, the feet of the ability users who knew the value of ores hesitated moment by moment.
Because even if they just mined one thing embedded in that wall right now and went out, they could live luxuriously for a lifetime.
10 minutes after entering the dungeon, they set foot in the deepest part of the dungeon. Facing the huge black energy rippling in the middle of the wide space and urgently looking around, Hyukjin raised his hand and swept down his face.
They’re not here. Neither Raon nor Nox.
They hadn’t encountered a single life form while coming all the way here.
“Shwiyoong.”
As if really intending to guide them to this place, the Gem Kitten flew above the black energy and cried softly. It even went in and out of the energy as if it wasn’t dangerous. Even if it was harmless to the Gem Kitten, a life form of the dungeon, no one knew what might happen to humans who were no different from invaders.
Still unable to drop their battle stance, the team members’ gazes that had been looking at the black energy reached Hyukjin.
“Esper Choi Nayeon. Can you blow away the energy with wind…”
“Ppyak!”
Hyukjin’s words were cut off by a scream-like sound from the Gem Kitten that suddenly interrupted. The fur color of the Gem Kitten, which hadn’t shown even a bit of aggression toward the team members until just now, changed moment by moment. A red light seemed to ripple in its large golden pupils. The next moment, the Gem Kitten’s gaze was fixed on Hyukjin.
“Team Leader Choi!”
Hyungjun, who noticed that the Gem Kitten’s target had become Hyukjin, instantly created a fireball and attacked. However, the Gem Kitten, which moved first before that, snatched Hyukjin in an instant and threw him into the black energy as is.
“Keuok!”
Suddenly flying through the air and slammed onto the rough ground, Hyukjin curled his body in pain and crawled on the ground. As if he had hit somewhere wrong, every time he coughed, it felt like something was squeezing his chest.
*Cough*.
Hyukjin’s eyes widened as he barely managed to sit up while holding his upper body with his arm.
He saw Nox sitting with one knee bent, leaning on a large sword, and a person burrowed into his arms. Though not properly visible because hidden by Nox, it was definitely Raon.
What on earth happened? Hyukjin’s movements slowed as he felt pain once again while urgently standing up. After one bout of severe pain passed, another thing entered Hyukjin’s eyes as he moved his body more carefully than at first.
The Gem Kitten at Nox’s feet and something round that didn’t fit in this place at all. Unable to be certain whether it was a white stone or an egg, but the appearance of these four was not harmonious at all. Moreover, Hyukjin’s hair flew wildly in the black energy that whirled around frantically, and just as the inside wasn’t visible from outside, the outside wasn’t visible from inside either.
Since he had disappeared like that, at least the team members’ voices should be heard, but there was nothing audible except the whirring sound of wind.
Stopping his feet at a distance where he could reach with just an outstretched hand, Hyukjin barely swallowed the saliva that had pooled in his mouth. Nox who had frozen like a statue and this person who he didn’t know whether was held in his arms or holding him. The name “Kang Raon” flowed from Hyukjin’s mouth as he confirmed that the being, who he didn’t know whether was asleep or dead, was Raon.
