The time for the boss’s appearance drew near. The six gathered in the clearing, waiting to see if any remaining participants would show up.
The Thief, who had been checking the status window, let out a surprised “Huh?”
“The Doctor already left the dungeon.”
In other words, she’d given up midway. Since this dungeon wasn’t a survival-type but a reward-type dungeon where you could freely hunt monsters, it was temporarily permitted.
It was as good as declaring she had no intention of swarming together with others to catch the boss monster.
Those who already left must have their reasons. Fine, let’s leave it at that… but what about the people still in the dungeon?
“Then why aren’t Kaline and Archer-nim showing up?”
“Archer-nim probably already came and is hiding somewhere watching us, right?”
“Ah, right. Then what about Kaline?”
So they speculated. Archer must have convinced Kaline to hide. If he appeared here, he could become a common enemy and target for the rankers.
Archer was definitely hiding somewhere, sneakily waiting for an opportunity.
‘Not communicating with us at all… What’s he going to do if he goes off wandering alone like that and ends up falling?’
The Thief and the Brawler. And the relatively more mature Paladin and Bard. Even the taciturn Puppeteer.
[Boss appearance in 3, 2, 1……]
As the countdown rang out in the status window, their hearts pounded with anticipation.
Through mini dungeons and training, they had harbored many desires stemming from their gaming addict selves.
Being able to swing a sword around without practice. Their bodies moving nimbly to run up walls and do parkour. Puppets actually coming to life and moving like in the game.
If a certain farmer could naturally do farm work, they could instinctively engage in flashy combat.
So everyone anticipated it. The opportunity to demonstrate these combat abilities they’d honed like skills in a game against a large monster.
[Kill the boss to obtain experience points.]
Finally, something appeared before them.
“……”
Everyone’s gaze rose up and up endlessly toward the sky. Their necks bent backward.
The Thief gulped.
Even the composed Paladin couldn’t form words for a while, his eyes wide open.
It was as massive as a five-story apartment building. It had six arms, a disgustingly large head, and walked upright.
Kieeeeeek-!
The moment it opened its mouth wide, a terrible sound rang out as greenish saliva dripped down. It seemed to have over a hundred teeth, and inside its throat was a hole like a distant black hole.
One fact that the rankers—no, any human—might have overlooked.
Direct life-threatening danger is worlds apart from a game.
And one more thing.
Reality doesn’t wait for them to finish preparing.
The monster brought down all six of its arms at once, targeting one Hunter each. Thud, bang! Kwang! Sounds of the earth shaking rang out simultaneously.
“Aaaagh!”
The Brawler screamed, forgetting his pride. He barely dodged but had the most terrified expression.
“Ah…!”
“I’ll get you out!”
The Puppeteer couldn’t even dodge, and her leg was pinned under the monster’s arm. The Thief forgot about throwing his dagger and desperately tried to pull the Puppeteer by hugging her from behind.
The Paladin gritted his teeth. He swung his +3 enhanced sword and struck down at the arm crushing the Puppeteer.
Slash! Blood spurted. The monster screamed and opened its mouth wide. A maw the size of a house lunged toward the Paladin. The Paladin jumped to dodge.
That’s when Archer realized.
Ah, I can shoot that.
Thunk! An arrow lodged in the monster’s left eye. The monster’s screech—just hearing it made their skin tingle—shook the entire area.
“Why are the Bard and Brawler just standing there in a daze! Attack!”
At Archer’s sudden shout, the other rankers came to their senses.
But this was different from a game. Precisely everything flowed opposite to what they’d expected.
They couldn’t know the monster’s erratic psychology—who it would target from moment to moment.
Unless they could read the monster’s mind at that very instant……
“Anyone without high agility, hide in the forest and attack from there! Ranged damage dealers!”
The Paladin shouted as he jumped to dodge the terrifying hammer that came crashing down—BOOM—toward him.
Archer was already hidden somewhere out of sight.
The Puppeteer, limping on her injured leg, bit her lip hard and gave the Bard a look. The two quickly entered the brush.
They were so frantic that they couldn’t observe their surroundings well.
So no one properly saw Belsus.
Even though this was his first time fighting such a large monster, Belsus remained calm throughout. He didn’t perfectly dodge the monster’s attacks, but he avoided injuries that could cripple him as much as possible while landing the most effective strikes.
“Aaaah!”
The Brawler, the physically strongest class among the rankers, tried to climb up the monster’s arm but was sent flying and crashed from the monster’s attack.
The Puppeteer didn’t retreat backward but ran forward instead.
In the wide-open clearing, the Puppeteer’s small frame looked utterly insignificant. Her frame was so small and light that her running footsteps didn’t sound like ‘thud thud thud’ but rather ‘patter patter.’
“Your leg’s injured! I said get back!”
The Thief, bleeding from his head, shouted. But the Puppeteer was unwavering.
“Fight, or die.”
“What?”
“I want to live here. I don’t want to go back to the original world. Then I have to live desperately every moment, don’t I!”
The Puppeteer bit her own hand. From the hand with a large teeth mark, red blood dripped down.
The cotton doll the Puppeteer summoned absorbed its master’s blood into its body, its belly turning red as it grew in size and tried to confront the monster. But thwack—! It was sent tumbling with one blow from the monster.
“Dodge!”
At that moment, the monster’s area-of-effect attack began.
Ziiing…… After an intense shockwave penetrated the area, their ears became muffled for a moment and a strange ringing sound was heard.
Everyone, including the Paladin and Thief, was knocked backward. But there was one person standing before the monster.
“Everyone fall back. I’ll finish it.”
Belsus spat out bloody saliva and spoke to everyone.
Even though the situation was clearly unfavorable, no one fell back because they still had lingering attachment to the boss monster.
If they retreated completely, they wouldn’t receive any experience points.
And Belsus too.
—There are three precautions. Can you follow them?
As he ran head-on toward the monster, only the voice of the person who gave him this scythe echoed in his head.
—There will be other Hunters there. ……People who know me. Don’t let those Hunters find out about my existence.
—Unless your life is in danger, don’t enter the subspace. The subspace can’t be discovered either.
And lastly.
—You must land the final blow on the boss monster.
Belsus wasn’t there to catch monsters for others.
To keep his promise with Hian.
He was there to ‘beat out’ others and devour the experience points himself.
‘The archer will definitely try to shoot an arrow to land the final attack the moment the monster’s breath is about to end.’
Belsus’s eyes flashed. It was his unique ability effect that only those who knew would recognize—a faint silver aura circling his gaze as it manifested.
‘……0.4 seconds from now, the monster will strike there.’
The Reading ability could read the monster’s mind for only 1 second, but that determined victory or defeat.
[Hunter Belsus has defeated the boss monster.]
* * *
[A boss monster will appear in the field in 10 minutes.]
Kaline raised his head upon receiving the status window notification.
As he was about to go that way, someone blocked his path.
“Hey.”
Definitely…… that impudent brat he’d seen before.
The brat he’d seen with Belsus, who’d tried to pull something by feeding him a sandwich, whom he’d threatened and who’d made him suffer an unforgettable humiliation.
Hian smiled wickedly as he blocked Kaline’s path. With a strangely overconfident attitude.
Had he really come all the way here just to gather herbs?
“It’s me. The one who ruined all your plans.”
“……”
“I’m the one who made Belsus strong.”
It was an obvious provocation right before his eyes, but one he couldn’t overlook.
Kaline knew it was a trap.
But he had no choice but to chase.
“Are you pissed? Then try to catch me.”
Hian disappeared the next moment. He opened the subspace to shake off Kaline, and when Kaline wandered around, he’d slyly open the door again and come out to thoroughly toy with him. Honestly, he was scared shitless but held it in. He had to keep Kaline occupied.
‘That way our Belsus can get the final blow.’
[Boss appearance in 3, 2, 1……]
Kaline’s eyes were flipped with rage as he chased the rat-like brat and didn’t see the system message.
Instead, he succeeded in grabbing the hair of Hian, who was slipping out of the subspace from behind.
“Kuk……”
He was kicked in the stomach and rolled on the ground. Kaline’s kicks landed several more times from above.
He didn’t hit him having lost his reason. It was to intimidate him.
And to confirm whether the brat before his eyes was a strong Hunter despite appearances or a weak Hunter.
‘The fact that he entered this dungeon means this one’s also a Hunter.’
Pressing down on the fallen Hian’s body with his foot, Kaline brought his sword tip to his throat.
Swoosh, as he scraped it, blood flowed down again this time too.
He was a Hunter weaker than himself.
“Die.”
Kaline’s sword was about to plunge into Hian’s throat this time for sure.
