Dead Men Tell No Tales

Elsewhere, outside the Dungeon. At the Demigod guild headquarters.

Cha Tae-hyun and the other hunters from Team 2 had finished and closed the tier-4 Portal Gate.

"Has Team 3 not returned from the tier-3 Portal Gate?" Tae-hyun asked the front desk clerk.

"Not yet, sir. Um, there's no notification either if they were done with the Dungeon, sir."

Tae-hyun left the front desk and walked to the entrance.

"Where are you?"

Tae-hyun was on the phone with the gatekeeper. After inquiring about the circumstance, he rushed over to the level-3 Portal Gate because these two operations were under his supervision.

However, when Tae-hyun reached the place, he felt uneasy looking at the Portal Gate.

"Sir?"

"You can be busy yourself. I'll handle it from here on."

"Yes, sir."

The gatekeeper didn't actually have much to do. But in the end, he just complied and returned to the post.

It was the hunters' business, not something an ordinary person could bother with it.

Do-cheol took out his phone and called someone.

"Leader~nim. Can you make a trip to the tier-3 Portal Gate here?"

There was no answer for a few seconds.

"I'm not in Seoul right now. What happened?"

Do-cheol told his team leader about the Team 3 situation.

Team 3 shall be able to close the Portal Gates within the same timeframe or maybe faster than usual with 50 hunters in one group. But, as of now, it looked like Team 3 wouldn't be able to get out of the Dungeon any time soon.

"Aren't you just worrying too much?"

"Leader~nim, this is for precaution."

"Alright. It will take quite some time."

"Thank you, sir!"

---- ----

Inside the tier-3 Portal Gate dungeon, Do-cheol had stabilized his transformation thank to the C-rank healer.

"You two can go and join the two of them. Just open a path for our team hunters to escape and keep those Sabertooths busy."

Do-cheol gave his orders while pointing at the two spellcasters.

"With myself and those six hunters. I will be able to keep the Demon Ape here."

The two hunters nodded at Do-cheol. Want it or not. They had to do it even if their lives were at stake.

Meanwhile, Az'kal had taken control over the course of the battle. The six hunters could no longer hold him in place.

Hargh!

Duag, Bok-

Bang, Bang!

Az'kal threw fast punches with his four hands. Like a machine gun bullet that went out without stopping, destroying the defense and counter-attacking the six hunters.

"Death!"

It was only a matter of time when some of these hunters would die at Az'kal's hands.

Thud!

Az'kal was surprised that someone blocked his punch.

"Get ready for the follow-up attack!"

It was Do-cheol who blocked Az'kal's punch with his arms above his head. He shouted to warn the nearby hunters. Because he knew Az'kal had the momentum at the moment and was likely to continue his attacks without giving the hunters time to relax.

And it had come true!

Az'kal dropped down into a one-handed handstand position and spun once to kick the opponent hard in the ribs with his heel.

Buog!

Do-cheol held up his left arm, assisted by his right arm to block the attack from the left side.

It was a good thing that Do-cheol withstood the kick with his Sacred Bull's 2nd form. Otherwise, the ribs wouldn't get saved at this time. But, a successful defense wasn't enough to keep him from being thrown away.

The other six hunters were also didn't just stand idly by looking at their team leader. They squeeze out their remaining strength to jump at the Demon Ape again.

However, this time it was a different story from before. Right now, it was an easy task for Az'kal to repel the encirclement of these six hunters.

Az'kal unleashed his Mana presence and launched swift attacks on the hunters. The Demon Ape's strength had now gotten elevated by one level from before. Meanwhile, the weakened hunters had become vulnerable targets for him.

Buog, Deng--

Bang, Bang!

Several hunters could block the attacks. Some others took a direct hit from the mighty blow, causing severe injuries upon them.

And with this turn of events, it got halved the overall force of the hunters. There were only four hunters who were still able to stand up and fight. Even then, with a much-reduced strength.

"Keep fighting!"

Boom!

Do-cheol ran toward the Demon Ape, followed by the other four hunters.

Az'kal did the same. He rushed over and collided with the hunters.

Bang, Kaboom!

The ground shook and crumbled. A cloud of dust covered the surroundings.

On the other side, the three spellcaster hunters couldn't bear to watch the battle of their team leader and the other teammates with the Demon Ape. They were only focusing on the opportunity to break through the siege.

"Magic of Fire, Incinerate blast!"

Grrr, Rawr--

The B-rank hunter launched a concentrated beam of fire to rapidly heat up a target to the point of being able to get slightly melt the ground.

The big flames caused the Sabertooths to sidestep and open a path for the hunters.

"Go, now!"

All the hunters, except the ones who fought the Demon Ape, ran with all their strength.

Grrr, Rawr--

The Sabertooths saw the escape and charged at the hunters. But, before they caught up, another hunter chimed in.

"Magic of Water, Submerge!"

The Sabertooths, who tried to chase the fleeing hunters, were swallowed up by the water bubbles, stopping the beast's movement.

However, whether Incinerate blast or Submerge, it could only hold the Sabertooths for a moment.

Grrr, Rawr--

A Sabertooth charge at one of the spellcaster hunters,

"Fu**!

"Magic of Fire, Spiral flames!"

The hunter used the swirling fire shield to reduce the crash damage from the beast.

Buog, Deng--

The hunter only suffered bruises from being thrown to the ground. And Sabertooth, knowing the encounter was not connected, continued the attack.

Another spellcaster utilized an AOE magic spell to stop Sabertooth from coming to his teammates.

"Magic of Electricity, Thundergod's wrath!"

Bzzt, Trzzt--

A series of lightning struck the beasts that were near that hunter. It also had a paralyzing effect, giving the spellcaster hunters a moment of breathing.

All of the Team 3 hunters who were still alive had fled from the battlefield, leaving behind only 10 B-rank hunters against 20 Sabertooths and the Demon Ape.

Outplayed both in number and strength!

Tep, Tep--

There was the sound of footsteps running in the arid forest of the Dungeon. In some place quite far from the battlefields by the Hunters and Demon Ape.

Slowly, the sound of the footsteps faded away.

"What?! Why stop!? We have to keep running and find a place to hide. Who knows, maybe some reinforcements will come from outside if we wait. Hurry!"

Dong-hyun tried to persuade Yu-jin to keep running.

"You can go alone. I'll be back there."

Dong-hyun couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Are you crazy!? Why do you want to go back there? You can't do anything to those beasts and that Demon Ape."

Dong-hyun then caught Yu-jin's hand.

"Let's go. We have to run from here as far as we can and hide. We are only an ant in the battle of the elephants."

Yu-jin brushed off Dong-hyun's grip.

"I'm stronger than you, and I'm not a coward. Even an Ant also have their own role in a battle! Go! Leave! I'm not a kid. I can decide for myself!"

"Damn it! Get a hold of yourselves! I do this because I don't want their sacrifice in vain!

Both Dong-hyun and Yu-jin looked at each other silently.

"Fine! Do whatever you want!"

Dong-hyun ran as fast as he could until Yu-jin couldn't see his back anymore.

"Just because she's a D-rank hunter, does she think she's omnipotent?! A hunter, who could defeat and kill those creatures?! Hah! Crazy!"

Dong-hyun grumbled as he ran. Suddenly he tripped and fell.

"Ouch... What the heck!?"

Dong-hyun's face had turned ghastly white at that instant. There were two Sabertooths before his eyes, lying on the ground without any movement. He also saw that black liquids were flowing under the corpses of those two beasts.

"I-It looks like it's n-new!?"

Dong-hyun gulped.

'There is no one capable of killing these beasts. Even for our team leader. Are there any other powerful beings besides the Demon Ape? No, no. No creature could be stronger than the Dungeon owner here, and they wouldn't kill their allies, would they?'

Thought Dong-hyun as he crawled backward, wiping the ground with his butt. And before long, his back touched the tree, and he quickly stood up, running to a more spacious place without many dry trees.

However, instead of increasing his speed while running, Dong-hyun slowed down and stopped.

Creak--

Dong-hyun accidentally stepped on and broke a tree branch on the ground.

Even though Dong-hyun was a low-rank hunter, he knew what was ahead of him. One look, all was clear. The human-like creature that he saw held the Sabertooth with one hand at its height must be the reason why these beasts' corpses were lying on the ground.

The creature that held the Sabertooth, who was some distance away from Dong-hyun, closed the distance between them in an instant.

It happened in a flash.

As if it had teleported, the creature appeared before Dong-hyun. And immediately choked his mouth and then lifted him off the ground.

That creature spoke, "Dead men tell no tales."

It was at this moment Dong-hyun knew..., he fucked up!