Free Web Novel—Thoom. Thoom. Thoom. Thoom.
—THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM!
'The fuck is that?'
The giant crashing through the snow grew larger and larger as it closed the distance. Because everything was buried in white, I hadn’t realized how far away it really was. Up close, its sheer size was overwhelming.
If it hit us, we’d be paste.
Its shape was hardly human—more like a massive primate covered in fur. It looked like something modeled after a yeti, only a hundred times more threatening.
Just as the distance closed to “way too close,” it swung its hand in a wide arc.
—Whoosh!
'Fuck. We’re dead.'
The enormous hand was coming straight for us, and by the time I realized I had to dodge, it was already right in my face.
And then, at the very last moment, the giant froze.
“Whew...”
Mental Domination (S) has activated.
Im Haekyung had stopped it cold with his skill.
'That’s some busted power.'
Wait—so inside a Gate, the status window actually narrates the activation of skills? Outside, no such text had ever popped up. In the original story, Kwon Taehan’s window did it everywhere, but clearly he and I weren’t the same case.
Either way, Haekyung had locked down something that massive with a single skill. Honestly, it wouldn’t have been strange if the dungeon boss had been replaced with “Im Haekyung” instead. Of course, with a difference in rank, this outcome was only natural.
'Still, this is insane.'
Hearing stories about S-ranks and actually feeling their presence were worlds apart. The moment his skill flared, the same suffocating pressure I’d felt before crushed down on me. I wasn’t the only one—the hunters lying on the ground were frothing at the mouth, unable to withstand it.
'Yeah... Haekyung’s not someone I should ever turn into an enemy.'
He froze the giant completely, then gestured for it to back away. While enduring that suffocating aura, I quickly straightened the fallen hunters, tilting their heads to keep their airways clear.
When he used his skill, even the air felt heavy. The threat from the giant was nothing compared to this. Im Haekyung was the real danger here.
I glanced at my own status window.
Mental Strength (S) nullifies Mental Domination (S).
Mental Strength (S) was one of my passive skills. But it wasn’t enough to cancel out the sheer gap in class. I could still move, but it felt like gravity had tripled or quadrupled just for me.
'So this is the penalty for being stuck with an F-rank body.'
And °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° sure enough—
Mental Strength (S) has activated.
Penalty applied due to rank disparity with caster of Mental Domination (S).
Yep. A penalty. At least the system spelled it out, so I knew I wasn’t imagining things.
I took a deep breath and moved closer to Haekyung.
“You’re holding up better than expected, Jehyun.”
“I’m just gritting my teeth through it.”
I told the truth, but he wasn’t really listening. His focus was entirely on the giant.
A random memory flickered in my head—some bullshit comment I’d seen online, people joking about putting Haekyung up against other hunters. Back then I’d dismissed it as nonsense. Maybe this was why it popped up now. Until I saw it firsthand, I’d never really grasped what a mental-type hunter could do.
So then, what is the best way for a mental-type hunter to massacre?
Haekyung spoke to the giant—words it couldn’t possibly understand.
“Why don’t you lie down for me?”
Even while controlling it, he spoke politely, like he was asking. A moment later, the giant actually complied, lowering itself into the snow. The packed surface dented deeply under its weight.
—THOOM!
The ground shook as it settled down.
Why make it lie down? I kept my eyes on both Haekyung and the giant.
'Ah... so that’s how.'
With a small wave of his hand, he made the giant lift its arm. Slowly, like a weight was tied to it, the limb rose—until the massive hand reached for its own throat.
“Excellent. Very good.”
With that gentle praise, the giant began to strangle itself.
It was surreal. fгeewebnovёl.com
A colossal, white-furred creature that looked like a myth come to life, lying on a snowy mountain, strangling itself to death.
No game or movie CGI could recreate something like this.
The giant struggled, thrashing, but it couldn’t pry its own hand off its neck. It went on and on until finally, its arm dropped limply to the ground.
(Deceased) Snow Giant (A)
A creature dwelling in the snowy mountains.
Can make snow fall endlessly.
Dead.
A power that could force something to kill itself. Could this guy really be allowed to just roam free? Haekyung stared at the corpse with an unreadable expression.
“This won’t be the end.”
Of course not. The dungeon boss, the Cave Giant, hadn’t shown itself yet.
Luckily, we didn’t have to search for it. Even without a status window reading, there was a massive cave clearly visible halfway up the mountain.
Haekyung turned his gaze toward it, sensing the mana.
“The cave...”
“Most likely.”
Just then, something wet brushed my cheek.
Rain? No. Snow.
The previously blank sky had grown hazy, and now snow was starting to fall—light at first, then quickly heavy, thick flakes.
But unlike the snow already covering the ground, this falling snow was cold.
“Jehyun. What do you think is the most dangerous thing here?”
The question came out of nowhere. The answer was obvious: you. I glanced at him, but he was just holding his bare hand up to catch the flakes, staring skyward.
“Because I feel an immense surge of mana nearby. Is it coming from the snow? Or from something powerful behind it?”
He looked at me then—expressionless.
That’s when I realized it.
Snow. It was snowing. Even though this place was locked in its own rules, even though the snow on the ground wasn’t cold, suddenly the sky had opened up.
Snow Giant (A)
A creature dwelling in the snowy mountains.
Can make snow fall endlessly.
The dead giant lay still. But the snow kept falling.
—Thoom. Thoom. Thoom. Thoom. Thoom.
The ground shook again. Harder. Dozens of times stronger than before. No way...
Status window.
Snow Giant (A)
A creature dwelling in the snowy mountains.
Can make snow fall endlessly.
And then another.
Snow Giant (A)
A creature dwelling in the snowy mountains.
Can make snow fall endlessly.
And another.
Snow Giant (A)
A creature dwelling in the snowy mountains.
Can make snow fall endlessly.
Over and over, status windows bloomed across my vision.
'How many of these fuckers are there?'
Endless windows, converging on us from every direction.
***
“...Guildmaster.”
“Yes, Jehyun?”
“How many A-ranks can you control at once with Mental Domination?”
“I don’t know.”
“What if there are a hundred of these giants?”
Haekyung gave no answer. And seriously, why was this dungeon suddenly going off-script?
I forced myself to think calmly. Yeah. Entering a dungeon meant being ready to die. And even if I did, my status window would reset me, just like Kwon Taehan. In a way, it wasn’t real death.
That thought settled me. If I died here, so what? No real loss. With my head clear, the plan came easily.
There was no way we could kill them one by one. The only solution was to take out the dungeon boss. When the boss fell, everything else in the dungeon would collapse.
“To the cave.”
“The cave?”
“The dungeon boss is inside.”
Instead of asking how I knew, he simply nodded.
'Wait a sec.'
Sokcho’s snowy mountain dungeon. I remembered. The Cave Giant...
'It was made of ice.'
Even the status window before entering had described it as a cold, inorganic entity. Which meant Haekyung’s trick of forcing it to strangle itself wouldn’t work.
In that case—
'We’ll melt it.'
Basic logic: ice melts under fire.
'A fire-type would be ideal.'
I quickly checked the fallen hunters’ status windows again.
Name: Park Doyun
Age: 21
Rank: B
Title: –
Main Skills: Blazing Flame (B), Bow of Fire (B)
Growth Limit: B
Perfect. Fire abilities were common enough. I hoisted the unconscious Park Doyun over my shoulder—only for Haekyung to stop me.
“We can’t take everyone with us, Jehyun.”
“Huh?”
“With this many giants converging, we don’t have time. Better to clear the dungeon quickly and come back.”
What? That was exactly why I was bringing him. I gave him a baffled look.
“Yeah, that’s the plan.”
“We can’t carry every unconscious hunter—”
“Of course not. But I’m F-rank. All I can do is point out weaknesses. The Cave Giant is ice-type. You can’t make an ice-type choke itself to death, can you?”
“......”
His expression turned complicated. Maybe I should’ve asked that earlier.
“Guildmaster. You can control people too, right?”
Of course he could. And with someone unconscious, they couldn’t resist. Push them past their limit? No complaints. Honestly, it was a huge advantage.
