Trapped in a Dungeon with the Boss Monster

Suddenly, the system window displaying dungeon accessibility glitched, and letters started breaking apart.

The party members’ faces turned pale, stumbling backward.

Evie’s expression hardened as well.

Soon, some party members broke into screams and bolted toward the gate as more windows appeared.

The first party member to reach the gate was thrown backward by a purple barrier. Others frantically punched the barrier like mad, but the gate was already blocked, trapping them inside.

Panic spread like wildfire, and the dungeon descended into chaos.

“Arghh! I’m getting out of here. Let me out!”

“We cleared it, damn it! Open the fucking gate!”

“Someone, please do something…!”

Evie stood there motionless, paralyzed by uncertainty. She had no idea what to do. If the Second Gate were to truly open, she would likely be the first to die.

The weakest member of the party.

A low-rank hunter with only buff skills. Evie’s hands trembled.

The lush orchard scenery gradually dissolved from the far end.

The faint smell of blood and ripened fruit sweetness vanished, smothered by an ominous, nauseating blackness enveloped the dungeon.

The shabby gazebo, fruit trees, nearby ladders and straw hats, and even the corpses of sugar monkeys – all were swallowed in an oozing blackness.

With just a few blinks, the surroundings had entirely transformed from moments ago.

A grim hallway tinted pitch and red. The air reeked of blood. Evie hurriedly covered her nose and mouth with her hands, fearing she might regurgitate the chocolate and cookies from earlier. Her insides churned uneasily.

Her stomach rolled like riding a rickety bus for hours. The smell of blood was overpowering.

Even though most had rushed toward the gate, creating quite a distance from them to Evie and the leader, the gap between them closed in an instant.

For a while, an eerie silence hung in the air, filling only the sound of their breathing. No one was in the right mind to speak.

Despite the presence of light, the hallway remained shadowy. Dim fluorescent bulbs, barely intact, emitted a feeble glow amidst the shattered ones.

Even those lights flickered intermittently, making it difficult to see ahead. Evie shut her eyes tightly and then opened them again. Her eyes stung.

Only after some time passed was Evie able to survey her surroundings. The hallway was a wreck. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all drenched in crimson red—no spot remained untouched.

Numerous spots bore gouges as if something sharp had struck them. Pieces of the ceiling fell with thud sounds, startling the party members.

Blood. Blood was splattered everywhere.

Only upon closer look did she realize the red wall under the dim light. The walls, ceiling, and floor—everything covering this place was someone’s blood. Some dried so dark it was impossible to guess their age, while others dripped freshly red as though recently splashed.

Evie withdrew her foot with a pale face. Squelching sounds emanated as if water slightly flooded the floor.

As she backpedaled unaware, Evie felt something pulpy underfoot. Looking down, Evie gagged in horror at what lay on the floor—eyeballs, crushed and burst.

It was human eyes.

“Ugh…”

It wasn’t just eyes. As her consciousness took hold, she saw it all. Human flesh, torn fabrics, limbs crudely severed. Blood oozing from those cross-sections.

Killing monsters and handling their corpses were two different things.

While monster corpses could turn profits, handling remains was not something most could stomach for long. No reward justified enduring such trauma.

When Evie had almost died in the dungeon for the first time, she had sworn off dangerous places and joined the Corpse Disposal—only for less than 30 minutes was she unable to flee. She was weak, and so was her constitution.

Suppressing the urge to gag, she shouldn’t vomit here.

She knew she would be the first to be abandoned in dangerous moments, so she had to keep her wits. Fighting back dizziness and nausea, Evie looked around through watery eyes.

Rooms lined both sides of the hallway. The odd thing was that every single door was wide open.

– droplets falling from the ceiling hit the pooled liquid on the floor. The droplets and pooled water were all blood.

Evie averted her gaze to check the wall beside her. Incongruously amid the eerie atmosphere, a picture frame hung adorned with cute party decorations.

Due to spatters and splotches of blood over their faces, it was hard to distinguish the individuals. Yet, the person in the largest photograph at the top was still discernible.

The man gazing into the camera, smiling brightly, was quite handsome.

With thin round glasses, slightly tousled gray hair, prominent eyebrows, and well-defined features, his look appeared scholarly.

However, the fact that a “building” used by humans had become a dungeon indicated a dreadful event beyond words.

Such dungeons were several times harder to overcome than regular dungeons of the same level, with nightmare difficulty of B-level or higher.

Unlike “Hurem’s Orchard,” which Evie’s party had previously cleared, the following dungeon was formed based on a condition, even not a human-built structure, as it was enclosed by walls on all sides.

The worst dungeon, even as a Second Gate, had appeared.

Unconsciously, Evie shook her head.

It was over.

There was no way out alive.

In Evie’s party, the highest-ranked hunter was D.

How could a party of low-ranking hunters hope to survive in the Second Gate? Perhaps suicide now would offer a kinder fate.

Evie bit her lip, clutching her trembling hands together.

“We’re going to die, all of us…”

“Mom, Mom… Save me…”

Except for the leader and Evie, the other party members were losing their sanity. Some slumped where they stood, muttering nonsensically, and one even wet themselves.

It was then.

One of the flickering fluorescent lights at the far end of the hallway went out. Everyone jolted, holding their breath. A party member stepped backward and tripped over torn fabric on the floor, letting out a scream.

“Aahhh, huagh!”

“Quiet! How can you scream when we don’t know what’s there?!”

The leader, who, like Evie, managed to retain his composure, quickly covered the mouth of that loud-cried party member. However, his efforts soon proved futile.

As soon as one party member caught Evie’s gaze, their expression contorted, and they lunged toward her, shouting.

“You! It’s your fault!”

“Ugh, why are you… Let go!”

The party member seized Evie by the collar and shook her violently. Her throat constricted, making it difficult to breathe.

Evie exerted all her strength to pry the party member’s grip on her, but the more she resisted, the tighter their hold became. Bloodshot eyes bore into Evie’s.

As someone started blaming Evie, the sentiment spread like wildfire among the others.

The crowd closed in on Evie, yelling and cursing.

“That’s right! She’s the culprit! She mentioned the Second Gate earlier!”

“Change it back right now! I need to leave!”

“Let me out!”

Evie’s head spun.

She felt ready to vomit.

Right now, these people crowding in to kill her seemed even scarier than this space.

At that moment, a new system window appeared before their eyes. The one grabbing Evie’s collar and the others surrounding her were startled enough to withdraw, distancing themselves from her.

Evie slumped to the floor, clutching her throat and gasping for air.