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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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The blinding white light faded, replaced by the oppressive green of a dense forest.
“Graaagh!”
In the distance, a horde of ogres charged towards us.
“Heheh… Yes! Finally!”
Kim Seong-ho, still in my grasp, let out a triumphant yell.
I threw him to the ground and unleashed a furious barrage of kicks.
Thump! Thump!
“You crazy son of a bitch.”
“Gah! Hack!”
“Still haven’t learned your lesson after that ass-kicking? Seriously?”
Frustration fueled each blow.
I only stopped when I heard the sickening crunch of teeth breaking.
“Scum like you is rare, even for me.”
“Heheh. Enjoy it while you can! This is where we both die!”
The emission-type dungeon, Forest of Ogres, was set to open in 14 days.
Given its creation time, it will open in two days from now.
“It’s over for you! I’ve won! I’ve won!”
“Idiot. We just walk out when they open the gate.”
“You think a D-rank like you can survive two days against hundreds of ogres?! You’ll be ogre chow long before that!”
Kim Seong-ho raved.
I ignored him.
“Yeah, yeah. You won.”
I pulled a rope from my pocket and tied him to a tree—directly in the ogres’ path.
“Y-you think this scares me…?”
Thump-Thump!
The ground trembled as the ogres approached.
Kim Seong-ho’s bravado evaporated.
100 meters.
He still tried to act tough.
“I’d go to hell itself to kill you…”
30 meters.
Terror washed over him.
“Gah! Untie me! Untie me!”
0 meters.
The coward was fully exposed.
“Please! I’m sorry! Forgive me! My arm! Aaaaagh! You bastard!”
The ogres descended, with their glaives a blur of violence.
‘What a pathetic waste.’
I’d planned a slower, more agonizing demise.
But here, survival came first.
He was expendable.
I left him to his fate and his screams echoed in the forest.
‘Two days…’
This dungeon endlessly spawned ogres.
The 5-kilometer expanse could become an ocean of monsters.
I might be trapped with nowhere left to run.
But I wasn’t concerned.
‘They’ll open the gate.’
They’d try to rescue me.
I just had to blend in with the horde and escape.
I ran, deeper into the forest, away from the approaching ogres.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
500 meters from the emission-type dungeon…
Wang Tae-in, the exasperated head of the Hunter Association’s Emergency Response Team, faced two furious women.
“As I’ve said repeatedly, this strategy meeting is for authorized personnel only.”
“Authorized?! I am authorized! I’m his teammate! How many times do I have to say it?!”
Han Yuri roared.
Wang Tae-in wiped his sweaty brow.
The Portan Guild Leader’s daughter.
He couldn’t afford to offend her.
“Regulations, ma’am. I can’t make exceptions.”
“Please, let them in. They have a right to be here.”
“Professor!”
Choi Ah-hyun’s face brightened as Irena nodded calmly.
“Ah… if Professor Irena insists… Please, come in.”
He led them into a tent crowded with Academy and Association officials.
There, sitting quietly…
“Oh? Seol’s here too?”
…was Lee Seol, with her face pale and tense.
Han Yuri glared at Wang Tae-in.
“Authorized personnel only, right?”
He coughed and avoided her gaze.
“Tsk.”
Once everyone was seated, Wang Tae-in began the briefing.
“Lee Seong-hyun is trapped in the Forest of Ogres due to Kim Seong-ho’s actions. We attempted to open the gate…”
“And you failed.”
“Yes.”
At Irena’s blunt response, Wang Tae-in displayed an image on a screen.
The normally black dungeon gate pulsed an ominous red.
“As you can see, the dungeon has mutated. We can’t extract the monsters. It appears someone entered prematurely.”
“…”
“It opens in two days. We hope the ogres won’t multiply by then, but… if they do, Lee Seong-hyun’s survival is highly unlikely.”
Crash!
A meteor scorched past Wang Tae-in’s head and slammed into the screen.
“One more word, and you’ll regret it.”
“…”
“Yuri! Calm down!”
“Those bastards! They let Kim Seong-ho escape, and now they’re saying he’s as good as dead?! I’ll—”
Han Yuri’s killing intent filled the tent.
The officials cowered.
Lee Seol and Irena remained silent, but their minds worked furiously.
Choi Ah-hyun calmed Han Yuri, who took a deep, steadying breath.
“So, you’re giving up.”
“Not giving up… It’s a matter of practicality. He’s D-rank. There are hundreds, perhaps a thousand, C-rank ogres inside.”
“What’s the plan?”
“…We’ll deploy A-rank Hunters when the dungeon opens.”
The only option.
Han Yuri clenched her jaw and closed her eyes.
Lee Seol placed a comforting hand on her arm.
“Hyeon-ah will be fine.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“I have no proof. But…”
Lee Seol’s gaze, sharp and cold, swept over the officials.
“He will be. He has to be.”
Her words were a chilling command.
The officials turned pale.
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“Graaagh!”
“Ugh!”
A crushing blow from an ogre sent Lee Seong-hyun sprawling.
He’d mitigated the impact, but…
“Aaaaagh!”
…another ogre’s glaive awaited him.
Crash!
“Ugh!”
He parried with Eve, but the force sent him flying.
He was a pinball in a game of brutal attrition.
10 minutes.
Until the dungeon opened.
‘Shit, shit, shit!’
The ogres had multiplied exponentially.
A thousand now.
47 hours of constant pursuit.
No sleep. No respite.
His clothes were rags, his body a tapestry of wounds.
His left arm, broken, hung limp.
Dried blood caked his skin.
Dodge, run, repeat.
He was nearing his limit.
“Gasp… gasp…”
A thousand. A thousand ogres.
Slower, yes, but their numbers were overwhelming.
“Grrrr!”
“Ha…”
Surrounded. No escape.
The square was sealed off after passing through both flanks.
[Pain Points: 0]
Super Regeneration, Lightning God, Equivalent Exchange’s physical enhancements.
They’d kept him alive this long, but they were failing.
‘This is it…’
His vision blurred, his body screamed in agony.
Mana backflow threatened to consume him.
With the last of his strength, he channeled his remaining mana.
“I’m not going down without a fight!”
His final gambit.
Bzzzzzt!
The air crackled with energy.
A deafening roar, like a god’s wrath, reverberated through the dungeon.
The sky tore open, and a spear of golden light descended.
[Lightning God Activated!]
“Graaagh!”
“Screech!”
A wave of pure destructive power washed over the ogres and incinerated them.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
10 minutes before the dungeon opened…
A-rank Hunters from the Association, members of the Portan Guild, and Academy professors stood poised.
The elite of the Hunter world, assembled for a single D-rank student.
But the atmosphere was grim.
Death.
They all assumed the worst.
Irena stood at the front, her face hardening with steely resolve.
Wang Tae-in approached hesitantly.
“Professor… are you certain you’re alright? You haven’t slept in two days.”
“I’m fine. Go to your position. It’s almost time.”
“Yes… but you’re unwell… We can handle this…”
“I said I’m fine.”
Irena’s quiet voice held an unshakeable firmness.
Wang Tae-in retreated.
For 48 hours, she had stood vigil, her eyes fixed on the pulsating red of the dungeon gate.
Waiting. Hoping.
“…”
A recurring nightmare.
Fate, it seemed, was determined to torment her, forcing her to relive her greatest loss.
She clutched a faded photograph to her chest.
‘Seong-yul…’
Her heart beat erratically, with a painful, irregular rhythm.
She should be hospitalized, but she couldn’t leave.
Not now.
This had happened before.
The same palpitations, the same suffocating anxiety.
There had only been one time before when this happened—right before entering the dungeon to save Lee Seong-yul.
It was eerily similar.
Irena swallowed the metallic taste of blood.
Anxiety and fear threatened to overwhelm her.
She bit down hard on her already raw lip and pushed back the terror.
‘He’s alive.’
“Three minutes. Prepare for entry.”
No time for grief.
No time for despair.
“Two minutes.”
‘He’s alive.’
Cold. Calm. Focused.
“One minute!”
‘He’s alive.’
A faint blue aura emanated from her, the residue of her mana.
She forced her battered spirit to ignite, for one final time.
“The dungeon is opening!”
Boom!
The ground shook violently as the gate ripped open.
Irena surged forward.
“P-professor!”
A reckless, impulsive act.
But she didn’t falter.
‘He’s alive.’
She plunged into the torrent of monsters pouring from the dungeon.
The forest welcomed her with a white light.
48 hours.
The place she’d yearned for every second of the last 48 hours.
For every single minute and second.
“Seong-hyun is…”
A thousand shadowy hands erupted from her back.
“Alive!”
The A-rank Unique Skill, once known as the ‘Shadow that Covered the World’, awakened once more.
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