Free Web NovelNo matter how special this dungeon was, one thing was clear. A dungeon that had a dungeon boss could always be cleared if you killed the boss.
No matter how many questions there were, it was at most a B-rank dungeon. On top of that, I had Im Haekyung, who had promised to cooperate. Theoretically, it was obvious we could clear this dungeon.
We left the hideout and walked along the path toward the exit, looking around as we went.
With Yang Dokyeong pushed out in front, Im Haekyung was leading at the very front, taking light steps as if he were out for a stroll while looking around. There was no sign of tension or displeasure at all.
At the very back, Do Yehyun would glance at Im Haekyung now and then, but he didn’t show any particular dissatisfaction and quietly walked at my side.
“Not going to say hello to Haeseong’s Guild Master?”
“I did earlier.”
Answering in a flat tone, Do Yehyun turned his head toward me.
“We’re heading toward the exit?”
“Yeah.”
“You said we’re going to meet the god.”
“If we go toward the exit, it’ll be there.”
“Yes.”
He didn’t ask how I knew.
‘Obedient, huh.’
His attitude had obviously shifted. It was obvious enough to see with the naked eye that he’d been influenced by the “god.”
The more I thought about it, the stranger it felt that the “god” had mimicked my appearance in front of Do Yehyun and pulled its stunt.
‘Of all things?’
It got under my skin for no clear reason. I couldn’t tell if it pissed me off because it had copied me, or because it had used my face to mess with Do Yehyun.
I ruffled Do Yehyun’s hair with my hand, then moved my hand down to the back of his neck and kneaded it lightly. I could feel the faint goosebumps rising on the neck of the silent Do Yehyun as he walked.
I watched that for a moment, then took my hand away and focused on looking around.
We were retracing a path I’d already taken before, so the route was familiar.
We’d walked for quite a while when Im Haekyung slowed his stride to match my pace as I came up from behind.
“This place is even stranger than I’d imagined.”
A short evaluation followed. Saying that, Im Haekyung had set aside the usual smile he wore and was staring straight ahead as if he were genuinely intrigued.
“What part?”
At that, Im Haekyung silently scanned the surroundings for a while, then abruptly stopped in place.
“Is this... space?”
It sounded like he was talking to himself. He ran his hand over the wall and floor in turn, which clearly looked like inanimate objects, then lightly shook off the dirt that clung to his hand. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
Just in case, I pulled up my status window, but there was nothing in particular I could see.
Tilting his head, Im Haekyung looked as if something didn’t quite add up.
“Guild Master.”
When I called him, he finally turned his head toward me.
“What’s strange about it?”
“I’m thinking about why they built it like this.”
Throwing out that short line, he immediately elaborated.
“Normally, when you enter a dungeon, it’s standard procedure to look for a way to clear it. How the dungeon is structured, how the mana is distributed... what the dungeon boss’s weakness is. It’s not that hard to grasp. You can usually see the general flow at a glance.”
“......”
After pausing for a moment, Im Haekyung looked up at the sky and began a proper explanation.
“I said before that I could feel mana from the maze walls here. That it seemed like the dungeon boss was distributing its mana.”
“Yeah.”
“It’s similar, but a little different. From what I can see, this space itself seems to be a part of the dungeon boss.”
“A part?”
“Yes. The mana is excessively uniform. As if something that used to be one had been folded up and made into this. These walls and those walls aren’t separate structures.”
What the hell is he talking about? I tried to interpret the vague way he was putting it.
“So what you’re saying, Guild Master, is that the dungeon boss just created this entire space itself?”
“Yes. That’s more certainty than conjecture. The conjecture is... on a different side.”
Answering my question firmly, Im Haekyung met my eyes with a faint, ambiguous smile.
“Mr. Jehyun.”
“Yeah.”
“If these walls are a single entity and a being mana flows through, could we classify them as life?”
Was he trying to classify the wall as a life-form? At that question whose meaning I couldn’t quite grasp, I silently stared at him and shot back.
“Is there a reason you need to classify it?”
“It’s not essential, but I think it might open up a convenient path.”
From earlier, he’d been consistently focused on the walls. As if the maze walls that made up this dungeon were exceptionally abnormal.
‘Ah....’
I slowly caught on to the situation.
If the walls functioned as a “life-form”...
“Planning to use a skill?”
“Think it’s possible?”
If there was any will at all in this wall that was no different from inanimate matter, there was definitely a chance.
Either way, Im Haekyung had the ability to manipulate others through Mental Domination.
“If it doesn’t work out, we can just go back to the original plan.”
“Following the maze?”
“Yeah. We’ll just have to factor in a few traps.”
“Traps?”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it. If they went out of their way to build a maze.”
What the hell is obvious?
“Oh....”
“......”
“I don’t get it.”
I answered proudly.
Im Haekyung stared at me wordlessly for a moment, then obediently went on to explain.
“They’re trying to buy time.”
“Time.”
“Yeah.”
Answering as if it were nothing, he jerked his chin toward Yang Dokyeong standing in front.
“That guy told you, didn’t he. That the dungeon boss is near the exit.”
“Yeah.”
“There’s a reason they deliberately expanded the maze and made people wander. I think the dungeon boss is trying to control the timing of when it meets people. It seems like it’s also adjusting the frequency of encounters while people wander in the maze.”
That made it even harder to understand.
According to Do Yehyun’s explanation, the thing was made of desire and had to swallow others’ desires to maintain its form. Why would something like that go out of its way to regulate the frequency and delay the meeting time?
It seemed Im Haekyung had a similar question to mine. Before I could say anything, he added,
“It is a bit hard to make sense of.”
“......”
“That’s why I don’t want to give it any pretext. I don’t want to give it time to prepare.”
I silently watched him as he said that, then spoke briefly.
“Let’s do it.”
If he was this confident, then it meant there was definitely something off here.
From the start, I’d never doubted Im Haekyung’s ability, only his character.
At that, he let out a short, audible laugh.
“Even if I’m wrong, don’t be too hard on me.”
“Yeah.”
Striding up to the wall, he reached out to touch it and activated a skill.
Mental Domination (S) is activated.
To think he’d try to control a wall.
Once again, Im Haekyung’s skill felt utterly, overwhelmingly threatening.
Like he was grasping the wall’s structure, he pressed here and there, then slowly opened his mouth.
“Let’s... rearrange it a little, shall we?”
His tone was gently phrased, as if making a polite request, whether or not the target had any will.
It was the sort of behavior that should have seemed bizarre, but the fact that the one doing it was Im Haekyung made it feel like just an ordinary request.
And then—
Crrrack.
A tremendous noise came from the wall, like something old was splitting apart.
Thud, thump.
From the wall where his hand rested, small chunks of stone fell to the ground.
“......”
It was a bizarre sight.
All he’d done was lightly touch a wall that had just been standing there, yet it was now shuddering like it was about to collapse.
Soon, starting from the wall he’d first touched, the maze walls as a whole began to tremble.
“Hyung.”
Hearing Do Yehyun call from behind, I slowly pulled the corners of my mouth up.
‘So it works.’
I’d known he could read the mana, but I hadn’t imagined his skill would actually take.
Crrrack, crrrack.
The sound of walls splitting hammered threateningly at my ears. On the ground near the walls, I could see signs of the earth mounding up as if something were moving beneath it.
And at last—
KWA-BOOM!
The walls began to push aside.
Like something with life dwelling inside, the wall moved as if it were alive. It tilted, toppling like a line of dominoes, then, like a wave, settled into an orderly formation one after another.
‘Seriously....’
It was one of those sights that were hard to put into words.
‘Facing Kwon Taehan might be easier than facing Im Haekyung.’
Once again, his abilities really hit home.
In an instant, the maze had opened a path down the middle, becoming such a warped space that you couldn’t even call it a maze anymore.
“Ah....”
The enormous space, covered in dirt and grass, was completely open now, stretching out into «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» a vast, distant expanse.
And, surprisingly, at the very end of it, I could see a small human figure.
“Hyung.”
“......”
“It’s over there.”
The figure across that vast distance felt less threatening than unreal.
I quietly fixed my gaze on the someone still too far away to make out, then replied,
“Yeah.”
