These Lunatics are Obsessed With Me

“…”

I was conflicted. Should I tell the guildmasters about this? Maybe Raisu was deliberately trying to confuse us. If that was the case, we’d just be playing into his hands again. But what if I was wrong?

"Hunter Han Yi-jin?"

"Yes?"

"Is something wrong?"

Park Yoon-sung, standing beside me, asked quietly. He had already picked up on my unease. When my gaze met his sunken, dark gray eyes, I knew there was no hiding anything from him. After a moment’s hesitation, I finally decided to tell him.

“That, Raisu…”

"…"

"What do you think he meant by that?"

Park Yoon-sung paused for a moment, lost in thought at my question. Then, his eyes widened in surprise as he muttered softly.

"Could it be a timed dungeon…?"

"…!"

A timed dungeon. A dungeon with a time limit. If you didn't clear it in time, the portal wouldn't open, and you'd be trapped inside forever. These dungeons rarely appeared, so they were seldom mentioned in the novel.

At first, the dungeon was called the Labyrinth because no one who entered ever returned. It wasn't until a few competent guilds cleared it in time that they discovered there was a time limit.

To think this was an S-rank timed dungeon—it was an incredibly tough challenge. And if what Raisu said was true…

"So, we have to clear an S-rank dungeon in under an hour? With only a small group?"

"If Raisu wasn’t lying…"

Park Yoon-sung didn’t seem to buy Raisu’s words either. It could have been a trick to throw us off, hoping we’d rush the raid and get wiped out.

Raisu was the kind of person who had taken on countless high-ranked hunters on his own. With someone like Raisu, it felt completely possible.

In the end, Park Yoon-sung couldn’t make a decision on his own and chose to share the information with the other guildmasters.

"That bastard Raisu, till the very end…!"

Cha Kang-tae erupted in anger, throwing a punch at the air. The other guildmasters also looked visibly uneasy. Just when they were preparing to tackle the dungeon, they found themselves caught up in Raisu’s words again. But they couldn’t afford to ignore such remarks. Seo Jin-han spoke up calmly.

"If this really is a timed dungeon… then even discussing it like this would be a waste of time."

"…"

There was a brief silence after Seo Jin-han’s words. No one could make a decision right away—it was understandable, considering their lives were at stake. After assessing the situation, I quietly raised my hand.

"Um…”

“…?”

All the guildmasters turned to me. I hesitated briefly under their gaze, but then I gathered my resolve and spoke up.

"If we play our cards right, we can clear the dungeon in an hour."

"But Hunter Han Yi-jin, that’s…"

"I’ll have to utilize my ability."

"…"

I could tell what Park Yoon-sung was worried about, and I figured the other hunters were thinking the same. The way Seo Ji-an divided the group was clearly meant to protect me.

Her plan was a scaled-down version of the formation Freya Guild used in the Sæ dungeon, where the priority was keeping me safe while we were on the move.

But I didn’t think that strategy would work in this dungeon. The Muspelheim dungeon was basically a trial for me, and while Seo Ha-joon was an annoying guy, there was one thing I had learned: I couldn’t just rely on the people around me.

Raisu. He might have lied, or he could have told the truth. But either way, the fact remained that we had to find a way out of this unsettling dungeon as quickly as possible.

I looked at the hunters with a serious expression and spoke.

"We can do this. Just follow my lead for now."

The hunters who heard me nodded in agreement.

Boom!

"Now!"

At Seo Ji-an’s shout, the hunters sprang into action, unleashing their attack skills on the monster in unison. The bat-like creature, clinging to the cave wall, let out a long, piercing scream.

“Kyaaaa!”

「The One Who Hides in the Darkness

Rank: ??

Level: ??

? ?? ?? ??, ?? ?? ??

…」

It must have been an S-rank monster—the first mid-boss we encountered. I had retreated to the opposite cave wall, protected by the guildmasters.

This raid was all about speed. We had to clear the S-rank dungeon within an hour. From the start, I cast my auxiliary skill on Yeo Min-jun, and we were already sprinting at full speed. I stayed at the front, ready to cast another auxiliary skill on a different hunter if necessary.

I wouldn’t have been able to keep up on my own, but with Eden’s wind ability, I was able to stay with the front line. That’s how we managed to encounter the mid-boss monster in just ten minutes.

“Kyaaak–!!!”

In its final struggle, the mid-boss monster released a shockwave from its entire body. The air rumbled and quaked, and then an immense wave of energy hit us.

"Ugh…!”

However, the shockwave was blocked before it could reach us. I turned to see the figure standing firmly in front of the bat-like monster.

No matter how tall Yeo Min-jun was, he was still just a human. Standing alone in front of the mid-boss monster, he seemed like he could be swept away at any moment. But his legs were firmly planted on the ground.

What Yeo Min-jun held in both hands wasn’t a weapon, but a massive shield that towered over his height.

As he activated his skill, light burst from the shield, flooding the cave with a bright glow, as though a wall had materialized around us.

"Attack!"

"Kyak! Kyaaak!"

At Seo Ji-an’s shout, the attack was launched again. In the end, the battle finished without a single attack from the mid-boss monster reaching us. Soon after, the system’s voice echoed.

[You have defeated the mid-boss monster ‘The One Who Hides in the Darkness‘ of ∬∋∂∀-S99. The item is now bound to you.]

“…”

The system’s voice finally revealed the dungeon’s name, but it sounded oddly unclear. I checked the bound item to confirm and found a string of unfamiliar characters.

∬∋∂∀? Aren’t these just random special characters? Why would a dungeon name look like this? Normally, they’re linked to Norse mythology…

I tilted my head, and it seemed the other hunters who had finished the battle were just as puzzled. Their expressions, as they checked their inventories, showed the same confusion I felt.

Cha Kang-tae then turned to Yeo Min-jun, who had returned after collecting the remaining items.

"Good work, Min-jun-a."

"It was nothing."

Before receiving the auxiliary skill, Yeo Min-jun was already an exceptional tank. Now, with his stats boosted, he could block all the attacks from a mid-boss monster on his own. His gaze naturally shifted to me.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Hunter Han Yi-jin’s auxiliary skill.”

“Haha…”

Until now, I’d always used my auxiliary skill on the hunter with the strongest attack abilities, but that was only possible in a raid team with plenty of supporters around. When tackling a dungeon with such a small group, I figured it would be better to cast my skill on a tanker like Yeo Min-jun.

And it turned out to be the right choice. With Yeo Min-jun blocking all the monster's attacks and drawing its aggro, we were able to take advantage of the opening he created and defeat it much more easily. It didn't take long at all.

"How much time do we have left?"

"…About 40 minutes."

"Hmm…"

We took down the mid-boss monster in just 20 minutes. If another one showed up, we’d be running out of time to clear it. But if the boss monster appeared next, we’d have plenty of time. Either way, we had to hurry, since we couldn’t predict how the dungeon might change again.

"Let’s get ready quickly and leave right away."

"Alright."

With no healer, we had to rely on potions to heal our wounds and restore our energy. Yeo Min-jun and the other hunters on the frontline started taking potions from their inventories and drinking them.

I watched them for a moment before checking my own inventory to see what item I’d received from the mid-boss. But when I looked, I found something strange

‘What is this?’

「External Communicator (S)

Allows you to communicate with external entities.

Has a limited number of uses and channel restrictions.」

The name "communicator" indicated it was a device for communication within the dungeon, but it had limited uses and channel restrictions. The channel must refer to the dungeon, right?

Does it only work for communication within the dungeon and not outside? And if so, what do "external entities" mean?

Curious, I took out the item. It was called a communicator, but its shape was a bit odd—like a long, rectangular stick. When I held it, it resembled a microphone.

"What on earth is this…?"

Before I could even finish my sentence, I heard a voice in my head.

[…Jin?]

"…!"

[…Yi-jin?]

Zztt. Zzzttt. Someone's voice echoed in my head, accompanied by a jarring noise. After a moment, his voice grew a little clearer.

[…Park… Ho-su?]

"…!"

And at the same time, everything around me turned white.