Chapter 42: The Monster Beneath

Yoo Hobin thought one thing:

This is fucked.

The ground beneath their feet crumbled layer by layer, sinking lower and lower until it collapsed entirely. The moment everyone fled toward the edge to escape the surrounding monsters, the ground at the center tore open as if it had been waiting. Below it was an underground lake whose depth couldn’t be guessed.

In the chaos, people were scattered everywhere—but Yoo Hobin and Park Junsu, who had been stuck close together, didn’t fall.

“W-what…? What’s going on? What happened…?”

Junsu didn’t understand the situation, trembling as he wrapped both arms around his head protectively.

“Shut up. It’s nothing.”

Separated from the others, Yoo Heero barely stood on a single jagged ledge jutting from the cliff. If someone so much as nudged him, he’d go straight into the water.

Yoo Hobin scanned the area. If needed, he would use anything—anything at all—to push Yoo Heero off using his ability.

“I’ll show him what happens when you keep looking down on people.”

He wanted Heero to lose as much as they had. Hobin’s eyes caught the ledge under Heero’s feet. It wasn’t just narrow—three meters beneath it was a large hole. A cliffside cave.

Hobin lowered himself and crawled to the edge to check if the same hole existed under him. It didn’t. Only beneath Heero.

“…Jackpot, isn’t it?”

Hobin covered his twisting grin with a hand. The world was on his side—of course it was.

*****************

SCREEEECH!

A sharp, metallic scream echoed loudly. The vibrations alone shook the ground.

Chzzzzzzt…!

In response, the mole monsters began shrieking in chorus. Only then did people realize—the scream wasn’t the same as the ones they’d been hearing.

“…Doesn’t this feel wrong?”

A chill ran over Lee Hyerin’s skin as she rubbed her arms. She couldn’t describe why, but things were shifting in a dangerous direction.

“If something happens while we’re like this, I can’t do anything. You know that, right?”

Her voice trembled as she looked at Shin Yoonjae. Her ability was explosion. Using it recklessly while everyone was balancing on crumbling cliff edges would break everything apart.

Touch the wrong spot, and the whole cliff would collapse—everyone would fall straight into the water. She had to be careful not to use her ability even by accident. Her palms were drenched with sweat.

Shin Yoonjae nodded grimly. His lips were dry, and he felt sick with anxiety.

“They’re moving.”

He couldn’t see them, but he could sense the moles’ positions from vibrations alone. Every time someone felt tremors beneath them, they screamed.

Then, vibrations came from beneath Hyerin as well. She crouched and placed a hand on the ground to sense more precisely. Following the tremor with her eyes, she saw something pitch-black.

“…A hole?”

It was the very same hole beneath Yoo Heero.

“The moles are heading there.”

“Why? Is that… their nest?”

“What are you talking about? Nest?”

“Look. They’re all going that way—into that hole.”

“…….”

Shin Yoonjae finally noticed the hole her finger pointed at. He used his ability to send wind into the opening.

“No… there’s only one inside.”

He couldn’t sense multiple life forces. So it wasn’t their nest.

“But something’s… different.”

He closed his mouth and concentrated. And then—

A mole burst through the ground where they were standing.

BOOM!

It shot upward with a deafening crack, then fell straight down. Flailing, it plummeted into the water with a heavy SPLASH!

KWAANG! RUMBLE…!

The impact made the ground under Hyerin and Yoonjae crumble. They dodged quickly, but only tiny footholds remained. Enough to stand on tiptoes at best—and even they were separated now.

“f*ck!”

Hyerin cursed harshly.

“It’s different! The one inside the hole is—!”

Yoonjae shouted something, eyes wide, but the next explosion drowned out his voice entirely.

SCREEEEEE!

The earlier scream grew sharper and more violent. Then, cracks ripped through the hole beneath Yoo Heero. Something massive burst out, smashing the surrounding rock.

Heero leapt aside in time, landing on another jutting ledge. His original spot crumbled without a trace.

Keeeek! Chzzzt…!

The mole that had fallen resurfaced, thrashing violently like it was delirious. A massive shadow loomed over it. The creature from the hole opened its enormous jaws and swallowed the mole whole.

CRUNCH.

Bones—skull and spine—shattered loudly.

GULP.

The swallowing echoed vividly. A horrifying moment. At first it seemed like one monster eating another of its own kind—but they were different.

Most people panicking around them didn’t notice, but Gu Minah did. As someone who handled divine beasts, she’d studied countless animal species.

The creature that devoured the mole was—

“…A shrew?”

A shrew. Cute name aside, they were ferocious carnivores. They ate anything they could catch, driven by an extreme survival instinct—if their stomachs were empty too long, they died.

And this one… clearly hadn’t eaten in a long time.

Kriiii! Kriiiik!

It must have starved long enough that it finally ate the mole monsters.

From that, Gu Minah understood the dungeon hierarchy.

The moles weren’t the main monsters. They were simply food couriers—fetching prey for the shrew. Humans were normally brought to it as meals.

And after days with no humans delivered…

“…Shit! What the hell is that!?”

Someone screamed. If moles alone required all their strength to kill, and that wasn’t even the real boss, despair was understandable.

Gu Minah exhaled shakily.

Her divine beast, after fighting two moles, was resting inside the recovery capsule that Seong Jiwoo had created. Normally, divine beasts stayed in a non-material realm and could be summoned freely—but since getting the capsule, she kept hers materialized constantly.

But now… she couldn’t use it.

She looked around. Their party, which relied on herself, Hyerin, a debuffer, and a necromancer, was useless now. No corpses for necromancy, the debuffer was drained, and all three of them were exhausted.

“Everything’s a mess.”

If Heero hadn’t forced his way in, they might have cleared the dungeon by tomorrow—or the day after.

Her irritation boiled. Ironically, the only dependable person now was Yoo Heero. An S-rank ability user trained by Seong Jiwoo. That was all she knew.

But the problem was the two idiots trailing behind him like goldfish poop.

“Why the hell did he drag that trash in here? Is he like Seong Jiwoo—collecting garbage as a hobby?”

“Hey. What do you think our chances of surviving this are?”

Watching the chaos, Yoo Hobin spoke quietly. Park Junsu flinched.

“Don’t be scared, you little shit. If a man gets scared, he dies. Got it?”

Junsu wanted to scream—What man? Who cares about that now!?—but as always, he said nothing.

“It’s do-or-die, isn’t it?”

Hobin was insane—you never knew what he might do. Anyone could tell from his voice that he was in that state. Whenever he got like this, he always caused huge trouble. Trouble that screwed everyone nearby.

Junsu tried to inch away from him. He needed to avoid getting dragged down. Hobin’s refusal to learn from past dungeons was almost impressive. After all the beatings he’d taken, he still had energy to stir shit up.

Junsu wanted safety—even if it meant betraying Hobin. He’d already lost his eyesight, but he still wanted to escape Hobin’s grip.

“Shouldn’t we test whether Yoo Heero really has what it takes to be a Hunter?”

“…What are you planning?”

“I’m curious whether that bastard only helps the people he likes. If he’s trash who picks and chooses who’s worth saving.”

“What…? Waaagh!”

Hobin kicked Junsu straight off the cliff—just like the mole that met its miserable end.

f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck!

The swirling water rushed toward him. His blurry vision filled with chaotic waves.

Junsu cursed Hobin hundreds of times in his mind. He wanted him dead. Rage burned. That idiot must have forgotten Junsu had an ability too—time to remind him.

“You crazy fucker! Burn!”

Fwoosh. Hobin’s clothes caught fire. A distant scream rang out. Junsu smirked.

I’m not dying alone.

They said people gained superhuman accuracy at death’s door—and blind as he was, he’d hit his target perfectly.

He held his breath, accepting death—

Swoosh! Whip—!

His body jerked to a stop, hanging midair. Something had wrapped tightly around his abdomen. The surface felt hard and rough.

So I’m going to get eaten alive instead. Drowning would’ve been less horrifying…

He let his body go limp, praying the next person to die would be Yoo Hobin.