Chapter 46: Matryoshka (2)

A space where Earth and the otherworld connect due to spatial-temporal distortion.

That is a dungeon.

Yet sometimes, during the creation process, two dungeons form at the same coordinates.

That is a “double dungeon.”

A malformed structure where an instance dungeon is additionally generated inside a normal dungeon.

The instance dungeon created this way is always higher in danger rank than the outer dungeon.

…Meaning, since this is a C+-rank dungeon, the instance is at least B-rank or above.

Then, Kim Cheolwoo’s voice came from behind.

“What’s up? Something wrong?”

He approached, dangling a fang extracted from the rock troll.

I pointed at the turquoise crystal door and said.

“There’s this thing here. Looks like the association missed it during their survey.”

“Oh?”

“If they’d known it was a double dungeon, they wouldn’t have rated this place C+. Report it with the mission log, and you’ll get hazard pay plus a bonus from the association.”

“No need for that.”

Kim Cheolwoo stroked his chin and nodded.

Then he grinned slyly.

“We already knew this was a double dungeon.”

“!?”

A sinister smile crept onto Kim Cheolwoo’s lips.

“A double dungeon the association doesn’t know about. Why report a gold mine like this? It’ll just get handed over to some big guild anyway. And we’d get a pathetic ‘performance bonus’—a few bucks and that’s it.”

He ground his molars.

“We discovered this dungeon! So every treasure, every artifact inside… it’s all mine.”

“Sure~ Go ahead.”

“What?”

I continued with a bored expression.

“Take it all. I won’t report it to the association, so don’t worry. No point in me getting involved unnecessarily. Ah, and thanks for helping me mine the mana stones too.”

…

“Anyway, I’m out of here. I won’t tell anyone, so no need to silence me with murder.”

“I won’t murder to silence you.”

“Good. Great. Then let’s part ways cleanly.”

Kim Cheolwoo fiddled with his steel gloves.

“But I will murder you.”

…?

Why specify?

Come to think of it, his intentions were definitely suspicious.

If he knew about the double dungeon from the start, why bring in an outsider like me?

Even risking unnecessary murder.

Then Kim Cheolwoo pointed at the floor beneath my feet.

“See the pattern on the ground? This isn’t the boss room. It’s an altar.”

Looking closely, the stone floor was densely engraved with bizarre hieroglyphs.

A massive magic circle covering the entire boss room floor.

At its center was a concave groove designed to pool something.

“I’ve seen something exactly like this before. Opening that instance dungeon gate requires a ritual. Human sacrifice. It won’t open without offering a life.”

“I…”

“So you’ll have to be the key.”

By then, Kim Cheolwoo and the raiders had completely surrounded me.

These bastards planned this from the beginning?

Kim Cheolwoo tilted his head toward me.

A blazing fireball immediately hurtled over.

Whoosh—!

The moment it hit my body, fierce flames erupted.

But only for a moment.

Fizzle…

The roaring fire died out in an instant.

Kim Cheolwoo’s pupils shook, as did the mage’s who had cast the fireball.

I brushed off the lingering embers and said.

“Let’s stop this. No need to make things hard for each other.”

The Cloak of Sulfur Hell.

Made from Cerberus’s hide, this cloak doesn’t burn in flames inferior to sulfur fire.

Of course, Kim Cheolwoo—unaware of that—only scolded the raid mage.

“Hey, you can’t even one-shot an E-rank? You idiot?”

“S-Sorry! This time I’ll pour more mana into it…!”

The raid mage fired another fireball.

This one was far larger and burned more fiercely than before.

But in that instant.

Something even more shocking happened from their perspective.

The fireball was being absorbed into my body.

Ding dong!

[Skill]

『Embers』 <A> [NEW]

→ The fire crow’s feathers burn even underwater, spreading unquenchable embers around. Additionally, it can absorb surrounding flames to recover lost health and mana.

Yes.

It was because the skill essence “Embers”—obtained during the Vigilante attack—had activated.

The absorbed flames were immediately converted into health and mana.

…Meaning most fire magic is basically healing for me now.

As I stared calmly, the raid mage spoke in a trembling voice.

“An E-rank hunter… h-how…?”

The raid mage gathered even more mana.

A red mana wheel began spinning rapidly.

He glared with bloodshot eyes.

In that moment.

Roar roar roar roar!

A fireball overwhelmingly larger than the previous two rose into the air.

The turquoise crystals on the ceiling melted from the intense heat, dripping down.

Soon, it charged toward me ferociously.

Rumble rumble rumble—

I reached out toward the approaching fireball.

At the same time.

Ding dong!

<Activating skill Inherited Skin Oil!>

Gigasnail’s oily mucus began flowing from my palm.

I shaped the mucus into a large sphere and kept pouring more in, condensing it.

Slosh slosh slosh slosh—

The oil mucus ballooned like a water balloon, soon matching the fireball’s size.

Then, with a light flick of my fingers, the oil mucus mass surged forward.

A black sphere and a red sphere.

The two massive orbs collided mid-air.

Rumble rumble rumble—!

In that instant, the oil mucus spread like a net and swallowed the fireball whole.

The A-rank monster Gigasnail’s oil mucus had absorbed inferior flames.

The oil mucus mass that devoured the fireball began writhing bulgily.

Through the translucent oil, shadows of violently burning flames were visible.

A black sun-like swollen oil sphere.

The heat filling the boss room melted the surrounding crystal stalactites, causing them to drip down.

…

…

Kim Cheolwoo and the raiders could only watch in horror.

And in that moment.

Kabooom—!!

With a ferocious explosion, the oil mucus sphere detonated.

Burning oil mucus scattered in all directions.

At the same time, the flames that had expanded inside erupted like a storm.

Roarrr!

In an instant, the boss room filled with the raiders’ screams and agonized cries.

“Aaaargh—!”

“S-Save me!”

“Gaaah!”

Some had hair and clothes catch fire. Some rolled on the ground desperately trying to extinguish it.

One even shoved his burning hand into the rock troll’s moist mouth.

But the one who suffered the most was the mage who’d fired the fireballs at me.

“Aaaagh! Aaaargh—!”

Engulfed in crimson flames, the mage thrashed with wretched screams.

But only briefly.

He collapsed face-first into the concave groove at the altar’s center.

In that moment.

Rumble rumble rumble—!

The turquoise crystal door began vibrating violently.

Ding dong!

<The human sacrifice ritual has been successfully completed.>

<Instance dungeon ‘Congested Blood Castle’ is now open.>

Beyond the wide-open turquoise crystal door, spatial distortion shimmered.

A gate.

The entrance to the double dungeon had opened.

Soon.

Dash!

I immediately leaped into the gate.

Dazzling light surged in reverse like a tidal wave, filling my vision.

At the same time, the raiders’ shouts in my ears cut off abruptly.

Faithful Raiders, huh. The raid name felt off from the start.

I’ve never seen a decent place that stuffs words like “faith” or “loyalty” into their name.

Anyway.

This actually worked out well for me.

I have a mountain of things I want to experiment with.

I just hope this dungeon is high enough rank to serve as a proper testing ground.

***

But not too high, either.

Ding dong!

<You have entered the instance dungeon ‘Congested Blood Castle’!>

Unlike the Rethe Tower, I didn’t feel mana stabbing my body during the passage.

Meaning it’s not S-rank.

Probably around B to A+ rank.

…Perfect.

Soon, I surveyed my surroundings.

A completely different landscape from the previous dungeon.

An endlessly stretching corridor lay before me.

The floor was covered in antique red carpet, and brass lamps on the walls dimly illuminated the area.

The air carried a damp, fishy smell.

Then my gaze landed on the frames densely covering the walls.

Portraits?

Every single one depicted the same woman.

Long, drooping ash-gray hair. 

Pomegranate-red eyes and pallid complexion.

Undoubtedly beautiful, but with an impression utterly devoid of life.

I started walking toward the end of the corridor.

“First, I need to find some monsters to do anything.”

There are two things I want to experiment with.

First, skill testing.

I snapped my fingers to open the skill window.

Ding dong!

[Skills]

▶ Open – <Rank: ?>

▶ Close – <Rank: ?>

『Seven Demon First Strike Secret Art: Gluttony Slash, Beelzebub』 <Rank: S>

▶『Inherited Skin Oil』 — <Rank: A>

『Embers』 — <Rank: A>

“It started with just Open and Close.”

From the asymmetrical powerhouse Gluttony Slash secret art, to skills from Gigasnail and the fire crow.

Plus various item skills from artifacts.

The number of usable skills had increased significantly.

And each one was powerful enough to be called elite few.

Among them, the one I wanted to test today was “Embers.”

Well… I did unexpectedly use it in live combat just now.

When Embers activates, fire crow feathers sprout over my body.

Those feathers absorb surrounding flames and convert them to energy.

A cheat-like option surpassing fire resistance or immunity.

But Embers has one more use beyond flame absorption.

Then.

[Uuuuuh…]

[Grrrr…]

[11, 1100…]

Eerie voices echoed from beyond the corridor.

Sunken, rotted eyes; bodies decayed in patches.

A foul corpse stench assaulted my nose.

Soon, something humanoid dragged its legs into view.

Ding dong!

<Ghoul>

– Danger Rank: D

– Discovery Location: Chiaksan, Wonju City, Gangwon Province ‘Congested Blood Castle’

A corpse risen from the grave under black magic influence.

Highly aggressive toward all living things; creatures afflicted by ghouls turn into ghouls.

Five ghouls crawled toward me down the corridor.

Far tougher than goblins.

However.

“Kinda awkward…”

Not quite the right monster for skill testing.

With my current physical stats, I could burst them with a kick.

Let’s check it out anyway.

I kicked off the ground and dashed forward.

The distance to the ghouls closed in an instant.

I planted my left foot, twisted my waist sharply.

Then lifted my right leg, loaded my weight, and spun a roundhouse kick!

Crack!

With the sensation of smashing a watermelon, the ghoul’s head vanished without a trace.

My body feels light.

Not just power—speed has risen incomparably from before.

I cleaned up the remaining ghouls in moments.

As expected, skill testing needs monsters far above ghouls.

Think of killing a cockroach as an example.

1. Smash it with your hand.

2. Burn it.

3. Shoot it with a gun.

4. Drop a nuke on it.

The cockroach dies either way.

You can’t objectively compare which method was most effective or powerful.

In short, to test strong power, you need a correspondingly sturdy sandbag.

One tough enough not to break after one or two skill uses.

Thinking that, I continued down the corridor and soon arrived in a spacious room.

Black frills and lace, pitch-black silk curtains.

An ornate gothic-style room.

Yet in the very center sat a creature utterly mismatched to the atmosphere.

Crunch— crunch— crunch— crunch—

It ceaselessly chewed something in the middle of the room.

Soon, it turned its head toward me.

Blood clots and grease clung around its massive mouth; shredded flesh was wedged between yellowed front teeth.

Yes.

It slowly rose.

A colossal build reminiscent of an elephant.

A face devoid of even a speck of intelligence.

Its identity was none other than.

Ding dong!

<Ogre>

– Danger Rank: A

– Discovery Location: Chiaksan, Wonju City, Gangwon Province ‘Congested Blood Castle’

Descendant of the giant race with superior physical abilities.

Possesses enormous size and terrifying strength, but single-celled intelligence and irritable temperament.

Particularly fond of glittering treasures and beautiful women, which it hoards in caves.

Records exist of ogres destroying nearby nations after having treasures or women stolen.

What a perfect sandbag.