Beyond The Control

Chapter 68

If Jae-young hyung or I had been a little slower to grasp the situation, there would have been at least one or two people showing mild symptoms of poisoning. The thought that we could have been toyed with by monsters from the start made me feel uneasy. At the same time, it made me more cautious.

The team leader and other members were still looking at me. Was it because it had been so long since I’d entered a dungeon? Their expectant gazes, hoping for some tips, were a bit burdensome.

“As the team leader said, try not to touch any boxes or bags around. Especially if another rhinoceros appears, it might set traps like before, so be extra careful.”

Song Ji-hyeok, standing next to me, grumbled in dissatisfaction after hearing that.

“These monsters are getting ridiculous…”

He seemed embarrassed about attacking without thinking earlier. The team leader patted Song Ji-hyeok’s shoulder lightly and continued.

“We all know maze-types are tricky, so don’t get overconfident and proceed cautiously.”

I added one more thing.

“I’m not sure, but there’s a possibility that the dungeon structure itself is a trap. It might be good to leave your own markings instead of relying too much on devices.”

“Alright, let’s go in.”

Just in case, I looked around the room we were standing in one more time before calmly moving forward. The heavy footsteps of several people echoed in the narrow corridor.

Usually, teams split up for efficiency, but maze-type dungeons were different. Due to their structure, one team might enter a place another team had already been, or even enter the same place twice, so we decided to move together from the start.

After walking for a while, we heard the voice of Han Song-i, the only female Esper on this raid.

“We haven’t passed our room, have we? It feels like we’ve been walking for quite a while.”

I had been wondering the same thing. From experience and data, usually a new room appears after walking for just 1-2 minutes, but we had been in this narrow corridor for much longer than that.

Suddenly, the team leader at the front stopped and signaled us to halt. His action alone was enough to understand the situation.

The tension that had momentarily relaxed immediately returned. As we cautiously turned the corner, we encountered a new room.

‘Oh…’

I couldn’t help but make a stunned expression.

It wasn’t just because of the swarm of monsters. The scene before us looked very similar to the room where we had slaughtered the rhinoceros earlier.

“—-!”

There was no time to think. With the eerie sound of monsters, another battle began.

I quickly retreated to the very back. Not only because I hadn’t forgotten I was here as a guide, but also because the monsters in front of us seemed to be of equal or slightly higher level than me. If I jumped in unnecessarily, I might end up being a hindrance. In situations like this, taking care of myself was more helpful to the team.

There was no time to feel guilty about my low rank. I observed the battles happening all around, and during a lull, I left a mark on one of the walls. I couldn’t guarantee it would remain intact, but it was better than doing nothing.

The battle was swift and intense. True to their aggressive nature as Espers, everyone launched merciless attacks while showcasing incredible control to avoid friendly fire. Especially when I saw the team leader skillfully luring the monsters he was facing so that Song Ji-hyeok could use his skill to take them out together, I was genuinely impressed. This kind of technique couldn’t be learned through study; it could only be acquired through experience.

“Huh.”

Amidst the chaos, one monster charged recklessly towards me. Just as I was about to hurriedly fire off a skill, a flash-like energy from the side pierced the monster’s neck faster. It was Han Song-i.

“Thanks, Song-i.”

“No need to thank me. Stay right behind me.”

Han Song-i gave me a thumbs up before turning her back to me and continuing the monster slaughter. Meanwhile, I looked around the chaotic scene and finally spotted something.

“Team leader, that one on the far left! The deep purple wolf!”

“Got it.”

A water stream sharper than a spear flew relentlessly in one direction. The monster I pointed out seemed to dodge by leaping high, but it was a foolish choice. Song Ji-hyeok, standing a step behind, obliterated the monster with even greater force.

Thud- Thud thud thud-

In an instant, chunks of meat that had become flesh pieces fell from the air to the ground. The vivid sound of wet flesh hitting the ground sent a chill down my spine.

There seemed to be a moment of silence, but it was quickly broken by the team leader.

“Let’s go.”

There were tempting-looking bags placed in each corner of the room, but I turned my eyes away without hesitation and followed the team leader. Under normal circumstances, I would have pushed for the adventure of opening the bags, but I still had a bad feeling about this dungeon. Beside me, Jae-young hyung quietly asked, almost to himself.

“It’s better not to touch them, right?”

“Yes.”

“Tch… Such a waste.”

I understood how he felt. In an A-rank dungeon, not only monster cores but also byproducts could be quite valuable. Especially in maze-type dungeons, there were often many useful items, enough to be called a goldmine.

It would be great if we could get them for free, but the problem was that the world inside the dungeon wasn’t so easy. In the worst case, monsters could be summoned again or the ceiling could collapse, so usually, teams only touched these things two or three times near the end of the raid.

Of course, I’d heard of teams led by bold leaders who opened everything from the start. But not today. As long as our team leader was in charge, it was impossible to waste energy or take unnecessary risks.

“Team leader, those bags over there…”

“No.”

The team leader’s voice cut off Han Song-i’s words sharply. Thanks to that, I shook off what little lingering desire I had and focused solely on the path ahead.

As expected, it took quite a while to reach the next room. Though it might be too early to judge, I briefly thought this could be an extra-large dungeon.

At the same time, I felt a bit creeped out. In maze-types, the larger the size, the more time was spent wandering around or finding the way, which meant it took longer to clear.

Finally, another huge door appeared, but it wasn’t entirely good news. Usually, these doors would open automatically when they sensed our presence, or crumble to reveal the space behind. But even as we approached closely, this door remained shut. Even when the team leader put his hand on the surface and applied force, nothing happened.

“Should we break it?”

“No.”

The team leader immediately stopped Song Ji-hyeok’s suggestion. Then, feeling the gaze turn towards me, I scratched my neck and hesitantly spoke.

“It could be an all-kill dungeon.”

“Whoa. This dungeon is insane.”

As evident from Jae-young hyung’s reaction, all-kill dungeons were very troublesome. True to its name, you had to eliminate all monsters in the dungeon to be able to exit through the gate. Here, it seemed we needed to kill all the monsters in the previous room for this door to open.

If my inference was correct, it was going to be a headache. We didn’t know how many more rooms we had to pass through to reach the boss mob, and having to kill even the low-level monsters without missing any would be a significant waste of time and energy.

“I’ll go back.”

As soon as he spoke, Jae-young hyung turned and ran back. The team leader silently approved. Since Song Ji-hyeok had killed the boss-level monster in that room and only a few small fry remained, someone of Jae-young hyung’s skill could easily clean up.

As expected, it didn’t take long for the door in front of us to open. At that moment, I almost cursed out loud.

In a space that looked exactly like the rooms we had passed through but twice as large, there were easily over a hundred monsters drooling and glaring at us fiercely.

“Ugh!”

My body flew back pathetically, overwhelmed in the clash of forces. But there was no time to stay down. Roughly wiping away the gushing nosebleed, I stood up and concentrated energy in my other hand once again.

I watched the fearlessly charging monster without blinking, and when it roared and bared its sharp teeth, I unleashed the energy with all my might.

Thwack-!

Part of the monster’s body was crushed like rotten fruit falling to the ground. Even with its lower body gone, it howled and glared, a chilling sight, but I didn’t lose focus and attacked once more. Only then, confirming it was completely dead, did I catch my breath.

“Huff, huff…”

There was no time for a long rest. I first stopped my nosebleed and then readied myself for battle again, facing the C-rank monsters still surrounding me. The terrible roars, ear-splitting collision sounds, and foul smells coming from everywhere were disorienting, but taking my eyes off for a moment could mean saying goodbye to this world.