Chapter 19

Chapter 19.

 

Lee Ha-kyung’s hypothesis was steadily turning into certainty.

The walls felt like masses of veins and muscle.

Monsters that looked like larvae crawled around, and different kinds of monsters were even fighting each other.

It really did look like some kind of battle between parasites and an immune system.

Lee Ha-kyung stared blankly at the writhing ceiling.

‘What if this entire dungeon is the inside of some gigantic monster’s body?’

It was an absurd thought, but then again, why not?

All kinds of bizarre things happened in the Abyss.

The moment Lee Ha-kyung grasped the truth of the dungeon, The Great Sage’s raid team ran into trouble.

“Kkiiik?”

The pack of Brood Eaters suddenly whipped their heads around.

Then the Hemobeasts, who had been in the middle of fighting them, followed suit.

Toward the raid team.

There was only one reason the monsters had done that.

Both groups had recognized Lee Ha-kyung and his team as enemies.

[The abyss dungeon boss, Brood Sovereign, detects danger]

[An order has been issued to attack the intruders]

“Kuuiiit!”

“Chirrrrit!”

The two swarms of monsters glared at the raid team.

There were nearly two hundred of them.

And on top of that, more kept appearing from who knew where.

There was no way a team this small could wipe out a force like that.

Not even if they made full use of the narrow space.

The raid team began backing away.

Then the Great Sage’s voice rang out.

“I thought a five-man dungeon might be manageable, but I suppose Incomprehensible still means Incomprehensible.”

Thanks to the tanker holding the front line well, they had a little breathing room.

Lee Ha-kyung glanced back and asked, “What are you going to do?”

“There is only one option. We kill the boss fast.”

It was not going to be easy.

The Brood Sovereign had countless subordinate monsters.

How were they supposed to break through a defensive wall that thick?

And yet the Great Sage’s voice was unexpectedly calm.

Lee Ha-kyung could not help but wonder.

‘Have they given up?’

But what kind of reputation did the Great Sage have?

Outstanding support abilities.

A sharp eye for finding dungeon locations.

And those mysterious wanderings through the Abyss as if it were their own home.

They were clearly not ordinary.

Even in a situation like this, they had to have some kind of backup plan.

Sure enough, the Great Sage spoke again.

“This was my misjudgment.”

Lee Ha-kyung caught the meaning hidden in those words at once.

Had this raid team not been assembled by the Great Sage in the first place?

And yet they were admitting defeat before even reaching the boss?

In the end, what else could that mean?

A bitter smile touched Lee Ha-kyung’s lips.

‘An unreliable tanker. Ranged dealers without enough firepower.’

That was what the Great Sage meant by calling it a mistake.

Of course, all of them were still capable awakened ones by any normal standard.

Their opponent was just too strong.

Could this team really withstand a relentless assault on that scale?

They would have needed at least one more fighter on Lee Ha-kyung’s level.

Pressing a hand against the writhing wall, the Great Sage said,

“Let us get out. I will open a path.”

“There is a way out?”

“Of course. This kind of thing happens to be my specialty.”

The Great Sage answered with a smile.

A moment later, a brilliant ray of light punched through the dungeon wall.

Tsu-pyung—!

A wormhole opened, just large enough for one person to fit through.

Lee Ha-kyung understood.

This was why the Great Sage was regarded as such a mysterious figure.

With an ability like that, of course they could appear here one moment and there the next.

There was no time to hesitate.

The monster count had already passed three hundred.

Kim Sang-woo was holding them back, but at this rate the line would collapse soon enough.

Lee Ha-kyung decided to cover the front while helping them retreat.

But then—

[‘Soul Brand’ detects traces of a fragment]

That sudden system message stopped him in his tracks.

‘…In that case, I cannot just leave this dungeon.’

An Ultimate Abyss Fragment buried inside a dungeon in The Void.

There had to be something incredible in a place like that.

Lee Ha-kyung came to an abrupt stop.

“Wait.”

“What?”

“If we clear all of those things out, do we not have a chance?”

Of course, the Brood Sovereign was an extremely troublesome boss to deal with.

But was it stronger than the Abyss Ruler’s Remnant?

No matter how he thought about it, the answer was no.

Was this not a small dungeon with a five-person limit?

At Lee Ha-kyung’s words, the Great Sage nodded.

“If not for that enormous swarm of subordinate monsters, it would be a fight worth trying.”

“Good. Then I will make an opening.”

“What?”

The Great Sage looked puzzled.

Lee Ha-kyung had already cut down Brood Eaters with ease.

As though they were nothing more than trash mobs near the entrance of the Abyss.

But the enemy numbers were still increasing.

The team stared at him with concern in their eyes.

Naturally, Lee Ha-kyung did not care how they looked at him.

‘It is obvious what I need to target with Kin-Eater. The real problem is whether I can withstand that thing’s abyss energy….’

Lee Ha-kyung squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again.

Kim Sang-woo was holding the front for now,

and if anything happened, the Great Sage would heal him.

And if it came to that, they could escape through the wormhole.

‘Move forward. If I let fear stop me before I even try, I will never grow.’

Lee Ha-kyung made up his mind.

[Kin-Eater Skill Target Set]

[Target: Abyss of Infestation]

PEEEING—!

A sharp sound sliced past his ears.

At the same time, a vivid gray-white aura surged around Lee Ha-kyung.

The team could not hide their alarm.

“Uuugh?”

“Th-the pressure is incredible….”

“Get back first.”

At the Great Sage’s shout, the team pressed themselves flat against the wall.

The sensation was revolting, but they had no choice.

It was the only way to avoid being caught up in the enormous force surrounding Lee Ha-kyung.

His face was twisted in pain.

That was because an immense quantity of abyss energy was tearing through his entire body.

[Cloak of Command Activated]

[You are immune to pain]

[The force acting on your body has exceeded its limit]

[Cloak of Command Deactivated]

Even Cloak of Command’s pain-transfer effect was useless.

The sensation of his body collapsing flashed through Lee Ha-kyung’s mind.

He grabbed his wrist tightly.

[Tyrant’s Bracelet Activated]

[Your body is recovering rapidly]

SSSSSS—

‘This should buy me a moment to breathe.’

Sure enough, the pain that had been choking the breath out of him eased.

It seemed his body was recovering faster than it was falling apart.

Lee Ha-kyung fixed his eyes on the Brood Sovereign.

‘If I can finish the boss with this power, that would be perfect. But it is too far away.’

On top of that, the thing was thoroughly hiding itself.

It was staying in the rear, focused solely on laying eggs.

Apparently, that was where the Brood Eaters kept coming from.

Lee Ha-kyung gripped the karambit’s handle with both hands.

It was a weapon meant for one hand, but he had no choice right now.

If he did not do even that much, the shaking would not stop.

At last, he forced the words out.

“……Move.”

“What?”

Kim Sang-woo tilted his head, apparently thinking he had misheard.

It was understandable. He was busy holding the front line.

Lee Ha-kyung gritted his teeth and shouted, “Move!”

Then he swung the blade, now stretched to fifteen meters.

He had unleashed the longest, thickest Soul-Sever he had ever used.

Startled, Kim Sang-woo immediately threw himself flat on the ground.

It looked ridiculous, but it was exactly the right response.

Because Lee Ha-kyung’s horizontal strike tore through everything in its path.

KWAAAAAH—!

The gray-white flaming blade swept across the battlefield.

The monsters struck by Soul-Sever froze in place.

For a moment, they simply stared at Lee Ha-kyung in confusion.

Then their upper and lower halves split apart and collapsed.

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT!

The corridor filled with mangled monster corpses.

Lee Ha-kyung dragged in ragged breaths.

“Huff! Hah!”

The force he had just handled was so immense that it nearly threw him into hyperventilation.

His vision spun.

Even so, he quickly scanned the battlefield.

‘I wiped out most of the subordinate monsters. Now only the Brood Sovereign is left.’

Even the eggs that had been on the verge of hatching were all destroyed.

Now the only thing left was a direct fight with the real boss.

But Lee Ha-kyung could not move.

His internal injuries were severe now that the Tyrant’s Bracelet effect had ended, and both his abyss energy and mana were nearly drained.

He glanced back without thinking.

The Great Sage hurriedly erased the dazed look from their face and said, “W-we will handle it from here.”

“I am counting on you.”

Honestly, he had already done enough.

No, he had done more than enough.

He had wiped out over three hundred subordinate monsters by himself.

Before long, the raid team’s counterattack began.

The four awakened ones, led by the Great Sage, engaged the Brood Sovereign.

The start was very smooth.

As befitted the queen of an insect swarm, the Brood Sovereign itself was not especially strong in direct combat.

Of course, that only meant it was weak for an Incomprehensible-rank boss.

It was absolutely not something they could afford to underestimate.

As the battle looked like it might drag on, Lee Ha-kyung’s eyes lit up.

‘This is my chance. I can step away for a moment now.’

He moved in the direction Soul Brand was guiding him.

His body was in terrible shape, on the verge of collapse from exhaustion.

Even so, he should still be able to move.

The signal kept growing stronger.

Lee Ha-kyung’s heart began pounding wildly.

[‘Soul Brand’ detects traces of a fragment]

[The signal has grown clearer]

The Abyss of Infestation was unbelievably complicated.

And on top of that, it was structured nothing like an ordinary maze-type dungeon.

That only made finding the way even harder.

He had definitely felt the signal coming from this direction, but it had turned out to be a dead end, and he had been forced to circle around for a long time.

Still, somehow, Lee Ha-kyung found the path.

‘Here!’

The signal felt strong enough to pierce straight through his spine.

On instinct, he pulled out his folding shovel.

But then he hesitated.

“This place… I cannot dig here.”

The Abyss of Infestation was the inside of some gigantic creature of unknown identity.

The ground was packed with veins and masses of muscle.

Pink tissue twitched now and then.

Lee Ha-kyung drew his karambit.

If he damaged the ground, of course the dungeon would convulse.

From a human perspective, it would feel like getting bitten by a bug.

Naturally, it would jump in shock.

But he could not afford to give up.

Lee Ha-kyung gritted his teeth.

‘If I want to find the Ultimate Abyss Fragment, I have no choice. I just need to do it as fast as possible.’

Fwoosh!

He unfolded Abyss Refinement, but the blade was only twenty centimeters long.

That was because he was low not only on mana, but on abyss energy as well.

Still, it should be enough to dig.

Lee Ha-kyung drove the blade in with all his strength.

Thrust! Riiip—!

When he slashed sideways and tore the tissue open, he saw something deep inside.

A black crystal.

It was an Ultimate Abyss Fragment.

Ignoring the blood pouring out, he thrust his arm forward.

‘Reach it. Please!’

Only after he had jammed his arm in up to the shoulder did his fingertips finally brush against something hard.

Lee Ha-kyung seized it at once and yanked his arm out with all his strength.

Squelch!

“Got it!”

His face lit up with exhilaration.

Honestly, the odds that an Ultimate Abyss Fragment would be here had always been high.

Every high-rank dungeon he had entered so far had contained one.

But every time he obtained one, it felt new all over again.

To everyone else, it was poison.

To Lee Ha-kyung, it was a stepping stone to rapid growth.

He immediately moved to open the Ultimate Abyss Fragment.

But then, right at that moment—

RUMBLE!

The entire dungeon began shaking violently.

Lee Ha-kyung’s expression darkened at once.

‘So the monster really is lashing out.’

It felt like he ought to use the wormhole the Great Sage had created right away.

But his eyes stayed fixed on the Ultimate Abyss Fragment.

He did not care in the slightest that the dungeon was convulsing around him.

Lee Ha-kyung immediately swung the karambit.

“First things first. Digestion comes before anything else.”

Slice! Chiiiing—!