Chapter 57 : Damn Raid 6

The hunters muttered to themselves as if they had already faced other abnormal humans on their way to Moonlit Pavilion of Yeongwol.

They all looked pretty grotesque.

One hunter, who resembled a bloated human with a babyish smile, mumbled about how he had almost wet himself out of fear while holding a gun in each hand.

There was also a companion with limbs thinner than chopsticks, covered in hair like fur.

Of course, it was all an illusion, so if touched, it would feel like human skin.

The sensation of the clothes, protective gear, and equipment they wore couldn't fool the hallucination.

"I still don't have a clue what kind of dungeon this is."

"It's dangerous enough just from the way the erosion level and threat rank keep fluctuating in real-time…"

"And it teleports any living being that enters to a random location."

"Ugh, I fell right in the middle of Nakdong River, and I'm still soaking wet."

"Yikes…"

As everyone sat in the hotel lobby, sharing their stories, Jinseong and Yuhwa seemed to finally relax a bit.

"Has anyone seen anything like a boss, by any chance?"

"A boss?"

"Aren't bosses usually holed up somewhere deep?"

"Jinseong and I saw something that looked like the boss of this raid dungeon on our way here."

"Tell us in detail."

At the mention of a boss, the atmosphere among the other hunters changed.

Though the mood turning serious, coupled with their grotesque appearances, was a bit frightening…

"It looked like a normal human figure. But its body was charred black like ash, and what seemed like hair was stark white. There was a hole where its face should've been. I'm not sure if it had a gender, but the body seemed feminine."

"It sounds more normal than expected? Compared to the other monstrous, abnormal humans…"

"Well, if you ignore the five tentacles writhing horribly from its back, I guess you could say that."

At Jinseong's words, the hunters seemed to sink into contemplation, letting out small groans.

"Five tentacles, huh… If the boss of a dungeon like this is that strange, we should at least assume it's an AA-rank to S-minus boss, right?"

"No, it's beyond that."

"Beyond that?"

Yuhwa was the only hunter with detection abilities in this raid party.

So her words carried more weight than anyone else's.

"To be honest, I can't even estimate its rank… It's not that I sensed mana, but something else strange… I can't explain it well, but I just had this gut feeling that if Jinseong and I had gone up against that tentacled creature, we would've died for nothing."

"What if we all attack it together?"

"…Five minutes, ten at most."

"Huh? Isn't that a pushover boss?"

"Taking it down in ten minutes? That sounds pretty…"

"We'll be wiped out in ten minutes."

"…Oh…"

It was hard to believe that 19 veteran A-rank hunters would be annihilated in just ten minutes.

The hunters gathered here were veterans, each with an official hunter name and experience successfully completing raid dungeons several times before.

They didn't overestimate their strength, but they at least had pride that they weren't weak.

If Yuhwa, the most objective and reliable of them all, was making such a grim prediction, it meant things were really hopeless.

"We'll have to rethink our strategy."

"But what kind of strategy can we even come up with? Other than fighting really well…"

"Excuse me…"

"Huh? Damn, you scared me!!"

"She's an ally, get used to it. You can see the identification mark, right?"

At that moment, a hunter under the illusion of having a fox's face raised their hand quietly from the corner.

Seeing the fox face didn't spark any thoughts of cuteness.

It looked like a human skeleton and muscles forcibly stretched and twisted to make a grotesque fox-like visage.

"Didn't we say we had 20 people?"

"20? Yeah, we definitely had 20 when we started…"

At that moment, Jinseong, Yuhwa, and the other hunters realized they were missing one person among the 19 gathered at Moonlit Pavilion of Yeongwol.

The silver-haired woman who had been issued a temporary hunter certificate.

Shia, the Returnee with a gluttonous appetite who had eaten non-stop at the buffet in Moonlit Pavilion of Yeongwol, was nowhere to be seen.

"…Could she already be dead…?"

"The drone signals are jammed, so we can't even confirm if anyone's died."

"She must be alone, separated from us like we were…"

The hunters sighed.

Coming to such a dangerous place with just a temporary hunter certificate was a mistake in the first place…

That thought crossed their minds, but still, they couldn't just leave someone to die without doing anything.

"There's a good chance she's already dead."

"But we should look for her. At the very least, we need to find her body and give her a proper burial…"

"Then let's set Moonlit Pavilion of Yeongwol as our base camp. Everyone, unload your gear from the transport drones. If Shia is still alive, we'll light this place up as brightly as possible so she can find us."

With that, the hunters began doing what they could in this dark dungeon, step by step.

○○○○

"Uhh…"

There were about 20 of us when we entered the dungeon at the same time, but what on earth is this unfamiliar landscape I'm seeing?

"Excuse me? Is anyone here?"

Of course, life wasn't that easy.

Sending all living things entering the dungeon to random locations, and now…

Ugh, there's no one around…

Shia felt like she had been left behind at a rest stop during a school trip, returning from the restroom only to find everyone else had disappeared.

At least there was a transport drone, so she didn't have to worry about food or supplies.

Growl…

I was sure I ate a ton before coming here, back at Moonlit Pavilion of Yeongwol, but I'm already hungry.

How strange. I know I have a big appetite, but it hasn't even been five hours since I ate at the hotel buffet.

I could eat more if I wanted, but why do I feel so hungry…

Sniff sniff…

Oh, what a nice smell.

Finally, Shia realized why she was feeling this sudden hunger.

This dungeon was filled with malevolence and malice.

From the way it scattered all living beings to random locations, to the darkness without a single ray of light.

From a human's perspective, this dungeon seemed like a malevolent trap by its very existence.

Naturally, the dungeon was brimming with malevolent energy that Shia could sense.

"Slurp…"

The scent of malevolence filled the air, the trees, the ground—everywhere.

For other humans, it would feel like they had been thrown into a terrifying, dark world, but to Shia, it was as if she had stepped into a sweet and fragrant world of candy.

If she were truly starving, Shia might have buried her head into the dirt and started licking the ground right then and there, considering how the malevolent energy faintly emanated from it.

To Shia, this raid dungeon was a sweet delight, stimulating her sense of taste.

"Hah, this is the first time a dungeon itself has looked delicious… slurp… lick…"

Click, click, click!

Without even needing to use a miracle, the tentacles that had sprung from her waist smacked their lips in agreement.

Though the dungeon had no sun, nor stars or moon to light the night sky, Shia's vision somehow extended a few meters, about two or three meters, around her.

Even when she used the transport drone's light to illuminate the area, the light didn't reach more than three meters, as if the darkness itself was devouring it.

'There's no problem enhancing my senses with holy power. My body is moving fine as well.'

Shia tested her movements a bit, preparing to get up and search for the scattered hunters.

As important as eating was… I need to find the others first…

Crunch!

"Ouch…"

Just then, Shia looked down to find something biting her leg.

[Screech, grrk, grkkk!]

There was a human biting into Shia's leg, its eyes taking up more than half of its face, with the rest of it grotesquely split by jagged teeth.

Luckily, Shia's skin was harder than steel.

If she had been anyone else, or even an A-rank hunter, that bite would have immediately torn a chunk of flesh off.

But the most terrifying thing was the appearance of that jagged-toothed human.

Its very form seemed to chip away at one's sanity and induce primal fear just by looking at it.

Crack!

[?]

Smash!!!

Of course, to Shia, the Saintess of the Dead, it was nothing more than a light snack.

No, it wasn't even enough to be called a meal—a mere bite-sized appetizer at best.

Crunch! Smash!

Gulp!

[Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!!!!!]

Her tentacles quickly crushed the arms, legs, head, and body of the jagged-toothed human, devouring it entirely.

The last time her tentacles had relished a meal like this was when they had devoured the Centipede Dragon.

Incidentally, the food her tentacles hated the most was the butter-grilled orc belly and dungeon cabbage in oyster sauce dish Shia had made a while ago.

"Hey, does that taste good?"

Crack, crunch!

Instead of answering, the tentacles smacked their lips joyfully, savoring the malevolence contained within the jagged-toothed human.

The malevolent energy was so delicious that Shia could feel it being converted into holy power inside her body.

"Hah… ah… it's delicious… Should I try eating it myself…?"

But there couldn't possibly be more monsters with this kind of rare malevolent energy.

Maybe that jagged-toothed human was a unique or mutated variant.

"Oh?"

However, Shia's thoughts were pleasantly betrayed.

[Ugh…]

[Argh…]

[Grrr…]

[Snarl…]

[Argh…]

Footsteps echoed from afar.

No, could you even call those footsteps?

A human dragging itself toward her, its face split in half, leaking brain matter and facial bones.

A human crawling on all fours with arms and legs stretched several meters.

A winged abnormal human with hollow eyes staring directly at Shia as it flew toward her.

A human wriggling like an insect with skinny arms and legs, flicking its tongue at her.

And dozens of other types of abnormal human monsters were approaching Shia.

'Oh… Did they come because of the scream from that jagged-toothed human earlier?'

Maybe the scream from the jagged-toothed human her tentacles had just devoured had attracted all these abnormal creatures.

But Shia didn't feel troubled at all.

"Heeheeheehee!!!"

Because the stench of malevolent energy filling her nose was already causing her mouth to water.

"Thank you for the meal!"

What a kind and gracious dungeon this was!

Shia offered a prayer of thanks to whatever god might be listening as she opened her mouth.

Ah, this is going to be delicious.

So delicious.

That must be the real taste of human flesh!