Free Web NovelEven though the tower had collapsed, that didn’t mean the Dungeon itself was immediately destroyed. In most Dungeons, the Dungeon would be cleared the moment the Dungeon boss died, but not this one.
In this Dungeon, where “Automatons” reenacted the prosperity of the past through sharply woven mana spread over the entire city, even if the tower collapsed, the mana would not be withdrawn all at once.
Instead, cracks would slowly form in the mana. It would give us enough time to escape, while also allowing the “Automatons” that made up this entire city to sense something was wrong.
But that much was fine.
'The real problem is that the Dungeon Break has already happened.'
With two S-rank Hunters already inside the Dungeon, I didn’t expect the outside, where the Break had erupted, to have been perfectly handled.
The problem was, if those Automatons found the exit and escaped like us in this situation... from that point on, it was obvious it would turn into absolute chaos.
So for minimum losses, it would be better to get out as quickly as possible and destroy every Automaton after distinguishing them from civilians.
Of course, even if that weren’t the case, if we didn’t want to be buried alive here... we had to move fast.
'Buried alive, huh.'
With my hands shoved in my pockets, I looked up at the peaceful-looking sky.
Chase sometimes turned off his pager or tracker and wandered around when he was hunting Hunters.
So the delay in finding Chase could avoid suspicion well enough. On top of that, there were people in Chase’s group who knew about that hobby of his.
'It’ll be clean as long as we get out before that.'
Because once the Gate started closing, giving up the search would become simple.
I observed Sung Uijae as I helped Joo Seowon to their feet. I had been ignoring it the whole time, but in truth, there was one more reason we needed to leave the Gate quickly.
'The covenant is starting to....'
Joo Seowon had more or less accepted it and let me go, but that didn’t mean they were psychologically stable.
It was probably closer to them letting me go because of the fear caused by the situation. Even if I couldn’t know every tiny detail of their mental state.
Maybe because I’d left them with Sung Uijae, there had been no threat of death, so the covenant hadn’t activated. But they must have still been pretty frightened, because their face was pale.
I stared at Joo Seowon for a moment, then turned my head to check on Sung Uijae.
“So now we just leave?”
“Yes.”
“An S-rank Gate gets cleared like this? What the hell did you... how did you do it? No, before that, how do you even know all this?”
“Do you want to know?”
Well, I could lie as much as he wanted. It wasn’t hard. I had already lied to Joo Seowon ages ago and told them I had a prophetic ability, so it wouldn’t even fail to line up.
But Sung Uijae stared at me as if trying to measure my intentions, then picked up the pager and connected the communication.
“The Dungeon boss has been cleared, so everyone get out.”
There were no further questions.
Lowering the pager, Sung Uijae said briefly,
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Had he been keeping communications connected with the other team? I looked at Sung Uijae’s ear for a moment, then started walking.
We were walking in search of the exit when Sung Uijae suddenly stopped in place.
'Hmm.'
The other side had probably contacted him. Judging from the way his expression gradually twisted... the contents were pretty obvious.
Sung Uijae waited until the other person finished speaking, then answered belatedly.
“Got it. Then... we’ll search before we leave.”
Well, shit.
'We’re fucked, aren’t we?'
Sure enough, Sung Uijae ended the communication and relayed the message.
“They say everything, communications included, has been cut off since Chase left his position.”
“Is that so?”
“I think we’ll have to search the Dungeon a bit.”
Sung Uijae shifted his gaze from me and stared quietly at Joo Seowon.
“So, what type of Hunter did you say Hunter Seo’s friend was?”
“.......”
What a sharp bastard.
After maintaining a perfectly timed silence that didn’t feel unnatural, Joo Seowon answered right away.
“I do have a tracking Skill, but honestly... I haven’t used it much inside Dungeons, so I’m not sure how useful it’ll be. Haha.... I don’t really go into Dungeons.”
“Right.... Why? You’re B-rank, aren’t you? Isn’t B-rank the level where Hunters usually go into Dungeons a lot?”
“I, um, have some trauma. Family-related.”
“Ah.... Mm, that happens.”
Sung Uijae nodded as if he understood, then frowned slightly and asked me,
“Hunter Seo, how much time do we have left?”
“None. We need to leave.”
“Even if Chase Holt is an unlucky son of a bitch, we can’t just abandon him.”
It would take quite a while to find every scrap of flesh.
'No, with S-rank durability, could he still be alive?'
I had never experienced exactly how strong an S-rank was, after all. Of course, if he had survived that situation, he would immediately try to kill me, so from my perspective, the best-case scenario was that he was cleanly dead.
Sung Uijae made his judgment quickly.
“Hey. We’ll need you to use that tracking Skill.”
“.......”
“It’s basically already cleared, so just find Chase Holt. Even if he’s unconscious, I’ll handle it from there. Since you came this far anyway, you must have expected at least that much, right? Hunter Seo is with you too.”
Saying that, Sung Uijae lightly patted my shoulder and waited a moment, as if demanding Joo Seowon’s answer.
'This is inconvenient.'
After thinking for a moment, I answered in Joo Seowon’s place.
“Then let’s do that.”
“What?”
“Hunter Chase is S-rank anyway, so unless he ran into something especially serious, he should be alive and well. Though we can’t rule out the possibility he wandered somewhere strange.”
“Right. And?”
“I mean there’s no need for Hunter Sung to come along just to find him.”
Sung Uijae understood what I meant a beat late.
“You’re saying the two of you will go?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think I’m going to accept that?”
“No.”
“.......”
Obviously not. At my quick answer, Sung Uijae lost his words for a moment and stared at me in disbelief.
“Hunter Seo, you really....”
I cut off Sung Uijae just as he looked ready to start lecturing me.
“There’s a Dungeon Break outside.”
“.......”
“And this place is collapsing. Then there’s a chance more Automatons will pour out of the Dungeon, so shouldn’t you get out first and kill them? To reduce damage.”
When I suggested something reasonable, Sung Uijae frowned slightly, then answered,
“If that’s the case, you should get outside first instead. Since you can tell people apart anyway, wouldn’t you be more useful? I’ll find Chase Holt with your friend and leave.”
“Well, that works too. It is more rational.”
I accepted it obediently. Sung Uijae’s expression immediately filled with suspicion.
“Why are you being so compliant?”
“It’s an emergency.”
“No, since when have you cared about that?”
“From the beginning?”
When I shrugged and answered calmly, Sung Uijae’s brow twitched.
Of course, just as Sung Uijae said, I had never planned to go outside and manage the Break in the first place.
But if I acted this way....
“Um, Hunter Sung.”
“.......”
“If you go out first, we’ll search and bring Hunter Holt out.”
“Aren’t you a little old to start talking about friendship?”
“...I’m worried.”
In the end, things flowed the way I wanted.
Sung Uijae stared at Joo Seowon’s expression for a moment as they said that, then eventually nodded.
“Do what you want.”
Before moving, Sung Uijae pointed at the pager in my hand and added,
“If it gets dangerous, call me. You understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes, of course.”
I looked at Sung Uijae with a kind smile. He couldn’t erase the suspicion from his face until the very end, then finally left.
The moment Sung Uijae disappeared from sight, Joo Seowon’s voice reached me.
“I don’t want to wander around an S-rank Gate.”
“Right.”
“...Let’s track him quickly and bring him out. If he’s an S-rank Hunter, he should still be alive. Maybe he cut off contact just to screw with everyone. He seemed weird. ...And public opinion about him isn’t good either.”
Listening to Joo Seowon mutter, I looked at them sidelong. Maybe they felt my gaze, because Joo Seowon slowly met my eyes.
“...What?”
At that question, tinged with strange unease, I answered with another question.
“Are you scared?”
“What?”
“You don’t like Dungeons.”
“That’s why I’m saying we should hurry up, find him, and get out...!”
I cut Joo Seowon off midway.
“We were in the middle of a conversation earlier, and the Dungeon Break interrupted us.”
“I don’t think this is... the time to talk about that.”
“Really? Then when is the time to talk about it?”
I asked because I was genuinely curious, but Joo Seowon’s reaction was pretty bad. I let out a small laugh and met their eyes.
“No, I’m just curious.”
“.......”
“There’s no reason for your route and the head of Haeseong’s to overlap... so if you met, that side must have approached you.”
“...Yeah.”
“Then you must have contacted each other separately too.”
“.......”
“Mm....”
'I should know what kind of bullshit they’re trying to pull.'
I reached out and lightly tapped near Joo Seowon’s fingers as I said,
“I’m not planning to provoke you here. If I corner a scared kid when they’re already terrified and it all goes to shit, I’m the one who gets fucked.... Right?”
“Don’t talk like you’re... threatening me.”
“Why would I threaten you? Maybe the head of Haeseong, sure. Though even calling that a threat is kind of ambiguous. The weight classes don’t match.”
“.......”
I looked at Joo Seowon’s hand, then slowly scanned the still-peaceful “tomb.” It looked calm for now, but that calm would collapse in an instant.
I paused for a moment, then slowly met their eyes again. I could see the complicated emotions wavering in the eyes facing mine. I was a little curious how much of it was fear and how much was worry....
'Well, does it matter?'
Before Joo Seowon could say anything, I spoke first.
“So what I’m curious about is this, Seowon.”
“.......”
“Why didn’t I know?”
Boom—!!!
The moment the question ended, a massive roar rang out. Proof that the city was collapsing.
'We still have time.'
While my gaze shifted away for a moment, Joo Seowon started saying something else.
“Let’s talk about that shit after we get out. Right now....”
“We need to find Chase Holt?”
“...Yeah.”
I looked for a moment at Joo Seowon, who was actually making an effort to answer firmly, then replied dryly,
“We can’t find him anyway. We just need to kill time and leave.”
“It’s not like I can’t track that much. Chase has a pretty huge amount of mana, so....”
I cut off their attempt to explain the tracking Skill.
“No, Seowon. I think you misunderstood me... I meant there’s no need to search.”
Kooong—! Rumble....
The sound of the city collapsing rang out once more.
Was the noise pounding fiercely against my ears the sound of the city falling apart, or....
'My pulse?'
I stared quietly into Joo Seowon’s eyes and slowly opened my mouth.
“You still don’t understand what I’m saying?”
“.......”
“He’s dead, Seowon....”
