Chapter 26
Crunch. Crack.
The sound of thick gravel being crushed beneath combat boots was the only thing filling the silent passage.
Chaeho lightly flicked his sword through the air, shaking the sticky bodily fluid from the blade.
His breathing was remarkably calm for someone who had just broken through a large encirclement.
Behind him lay more than a dozen monster corpses.
But Chaeho wasn't looking back at the path he had already crossed.
His gaze remained fixed on the dark end of the cave ahead.
He had already passed the dungeon's halfway point.
From here onward, the texture of the ground changed, and even the flow of air became heavier.
It was a survival instinct Chaeho had learned through experience during the years he spent working as a porter, cleaning up after countless parties.
Just as Chaeho was about to take another step—
Wind?
A very faint current brushed past his cheek.
It was a strange chill that was difficult to feel inside a sealed underground cave.
He immediately stopped.
Slowly turning his head as if following a scent, he noticed a deep shadow in one corner of the damp dirt wall.
There was a narrow crack, barely wide enough for a grown man to squeeze through if he pulled in his shoulders.
Chaeho took the terminal from his coat and turned on the screen.
He compared his current position with the official map provided by the Association.
According to the map, the right side of the passage where he stood should have been completely blocked by a massive rock formation.
There wasn't even a mark indicating a crack or side passage.
"A path that isn't on the map."
Chaeho muttered quietly before putting the terminal away.
It wasn't unusual for the terrain inside a dungeon to change or for hidden areas to be discovered.
And unknown areas like this usually meant one of two things.
Either a horrifying trap capable of taking one's life was waiting inside...
Or valuable rewards that were almost impossible to find outside were hidden there.
Either possibility was enough to make an ordinary hunter's blood boil.
They might have immediately squeezed themselves through that narrow opening, thinking it was their chance to strike it rich.
But instead of approaching the crack, Chaeho turned around and looked back in the direction he had come from.
There's no need to rush.
Only amateurs became blinded by curiosity or immediate profit and left their backs exposed.
Back when Chaeho worked as a porter, he had seen more than a few hunters become distracted by treasure chests in front of them, only to have their heads torn off by monsters hiding on the ceiling.
If he couldn't control the safety of the situation, he was prepared to walk away without hesitation, no matter how valuable the reward might be.
Chaeho bent down and picked up a small stone lying on the ground.
He alternated his gaze between a corner of the ceiling, where stalactites were tangled together, and the thick darkness behind the rocks.
Then he lightly flicked the stone into the darkness.
Tak!
The instant the stone struck the rock with a clear sound—
Kirik!
An unpleasant scraping noise came from something that had been holding its breath in the darkness.
They were survivors from the group of Claw Monkeys that had poured out at the previous intersection.
Apparently, after watching their companions get slaughtered, they had been too frightened to attack recklessly and had instead waited for an opening.
Two Claw Monkeys kicked up clouds of dirt as they charged toward Chaeho.
Chaeho showed no sign of surprise.
He simply raised his sword at an angle.
Their speed and movement looked far too straightforward in his eyes.
They weren't opponents worth wasting his skill on.
Ta-at!
Chaeho kicked off the ground and rushed directly into their reach.
A claw flying through the air barely brushed past his shoulder.
At the same moment, Chaeho smoothly rotated his wrist, drawing a sharp silver arc through the air.
Slice!
With a chilling sound, the head of the leading monkey was cleanly severed.
Before its blood could even spray into the air, Chaeho immediately lowered himself and slid between the legs of the second monster charging behind it.
Then he struck the back of its knee joint hard with the end of his sword's hilt.
Kyaaak!
The beast lost its balance and crashed to the ground.
Chaeho turned around, planted his foot on the monster's head, and without the slightest hesitation drove the tip of his sword straight into the top of its skull.
Two breaths.
That was all the time he needed to eliminate the remaining monsters that had been hiding.
"As expected, there were still a few left."
After completely removing even the hidden threats, Chaeho lowered his sword.
Standing in place, he slowly inhaled and exhaled while checking his physical condition.
There was no fatigue in his muscles.
He had just fought through a large group of monsters, yet his footwork hadn't become tangled, nor was he gasping for breath.
More importantly, he still had plenty of time remaining for his greatest weapon—his skill.
By dividing its activation into extremely short bursts of 0.1 to 0.5 seconds whenever danger appeared, he still had more than half of his daily fifteen-second limit remaining.
It was the result of training himself not to keep time slowdown active for long periods, but instead to use it like a brief flash at only the most critical moments.
Finally, Chaeho reached into his inner pocket and touched something cold that felt like a small pebble.
It was the emergency escape stone he had purchased for a considerable amount of money.
He could feel a faint flow of mana beneath his fingertips.
Even within the dungeon's dense demonic energy, the escape stone's internal circuit remained stable and ready to activate.
If the worst possible situation occurred, he could break the stone and instantly be thrown outside the Gate.
With this much preparation, it's worth trying.
Only after confirming that this wasn't a gamble with his life did Chaeho finally turn around.
Once every possible threat behind him had been eliminated, he headed toward the narrow crack.
He squeezed through the narrow, winding gap for quite some time, his shoulders constantly scraping against the walls.
The air gradually became colder.
The stale smell of damp earth disappeared, replaced by a cool and clean sensation that stung his nose.
At last, the passage opened up.
A completely different space appeared before him.
It was a small separate chamber hidden inside the cave.
The floor gleamed like polished obsidian, while the ceiling curved upward into a rounded dome.
And embedded all across the chamber walls were mana stones glowing with blue light, densely scattered like stardust.
A rare mana-stone vein.
Chaeho narrowed his eyes.
Blue mana stones of that size and purity were extremely valuable.
Even gathering enough to fill a single storage box and selling them would earn as much as the total reward from clearing an average C-rank dungeon.
If he collected every mana stone covering those walls, he would undoubtedly walk away with tens of millions of won in one go.
However, Chaeho abruptly stopped just as he was about to approach the wall.
His gaze quickly left the valuable mana stones and locked onto the enormous silhouette blocking the center of the chamber.
Crack. Rumble.
With the heavy sound of rocks grinding against one another, the crouching silhouette slowly rose.
Even within the dark chamber, its form was clearly visible.
Its enormous body was completely covered in thick, solid armor made of rock.
It stood easily twice the height of a human, and its arms and legs were made of stone pillars as thick as logs.
A Stone-Armor Golem.
Among the stronger monsters that could appear inside C-rank dungeons, it was an especially troublesome creature whose defensive power ranked near the top.
BOOM!
The ground shook every time the golem took a step.
A deep red glow poured from the two holes in its face, filled with unmistakable hostility toward the intruder, Chaeho.
An ordinary C-rank warrior's sword would have difficulty leaving even a scratch on that thick stone shell.
Carelessly striking it would only send the impact back through the weapon, potentially snapping the blade and destroying the wielder's wrist along with it.
The creature raised its enormous stone fist and assumed a threatening stance, as if it might charge at any moment.
But instead of drawing his sword and meeting it head-on, Chaeho quietly stepped backward and increased the distance between them.
His eyes had turned cold and focused.
There was no impatience.
No fear.
He merely observed the golem's heavy footwork, the arrangement of stones around its knee joints, and the tiny change in the angle of its shoulders whenever it shifted its weight.
No matter how hard the rock is, there has to be a gap. If it wants to walk and move, it needs joints.
Chaeho lightly rested his hand on the sword at his waist and lowered his center of gravity.
He had never intended to smash through the rock with brute force.
There was only one thing he needed.
A single soft connection point where his sword could slip through.
Until that deadly weakness revealed itself, Chaeho silently waited, sharply studying every movement the golem made.
