Thud, thud, thwack!
Creeeak! Glug!
Snap!
The sound of bones breaking.
The sound of flesh being chewed.
It felt just like stepping into a slaughterhouse.
What was scarier were the monsters, not screaming even as they were being torn apart and devoured alive by those tentacles.
‘Those fucking monsters were screaming… because they found their prey?’
It’s a possibility.
Even while fleeing from that unidentified tentacle human, they didn’t scream. The horrifying creature grinned with a baby-like smile, never losing its grin even as its spine was crushed and it died.
‘Shit, it would be great at a customer service job.’
Thwack!
And the tentacle, having devoured all the nearby monsters, clashed its teeth together as if still hungry, pleading for more.
Jinseong and Yooha, hanging off the cliff, held their breath completely. Though they were veteran A-grade hunters, they trembled like a pair of children terrified of ghosts.
No matter how seasoned they were as A-grade hunters, they were still human.
The fear stemming from that grotesque form.
The physiological disgust triggered by the twisted valley.
The pitch-black darkness that limited their sight provoked the primal fears embedded in human genes.
Wasn’t it said that humans could summon courage only because they felt fear?
But an overwhelming fear could render a human unable to function as a human.
Thud!
Thud!
Crack!
Thwack!
The bizarre tentacle crawled through the ground and trees, as if it was searching for something.
If they had poorly hidden behind a tree or rock, they would definitely have been caught.
‘It’s coming this way…!’
Was the tentacle not bright in the darkness, or had its sight deteriorated? It meticulously surveyed the area, crawling over the trees and rocks, pressuring Jinseong and Yooha.
“Hah, hah… hah…”
“Shh…”
Yooha, usually so composed for a woman, couldn’t withstand the penetrating fear and was trembling.
Jinseong also felt his hands shake with fear, realizing he was the only one who could protect his girlfriend.
As they trembled together, the tentacle slowly closed in on the cliff where Yooha and Jinseong were hiding.
Jinseong was a close-range fighter type hunter, using a spear charged with lightning, confident in speed and close combat.
The tentacle’s movements were either slow due to gorging on monsters or it simply wasn’t that agile, allowing Jinseong to outpace and escape if he needed.
But now there was Yooha at his side.
Yooha shared sensory enhancements and sight with other hunters, a sensing-type awakened one who could pinpoint weaknesses.
Of course, as an awakened one, she had a stronger physique than an average person, but she was slower and weaker than an average A-grade hunter.
It was possible to predict approaching attacks and either dodge, deflect, or redirect them, but that skill was efficient only against humans or humanoids.
Against that massive, twisted tentacle, Yooha wouldn’t last a second before dying.
‘If we get spotted… can I escape with Yooha?’
Neither Jinseong nor Yooha knew the answer.
They probably couldn’t provide a definite answer with the fragmented information they had gathered so far.
They were uncertain about the extent of the tentacle’s abilities—its strength, speed, reflexes, whether it had eyes, or if it hunted with hearing or smell.
It was a bad idea to jump to conclusions with so little information.
‘Shit, I’m a man too. How can I run away with my girlfriend left behind…’
Jinseong made his decision.
Even if it meant becoming bait, he couldn’t hand Yooha over to that tentacle.
Objectively, even if he was to survive and join the other hunters, Yooha would be more beneficial to them than Jinseong.
There were other hunters capable of taking the front line besides Jinseong.
Hunters like Yooha, with sensing abilities to understand the battlefield and direct a raid party from behind, were rare.
Even if Jinseong died, he had to ensure Yooha’s survival so she could join the others and either dismantle this terrifying raid dungeon or buy time until the association sent a follow-up team.
‘Yeah, phew… Anyway, I owe Yooha my life once. It would be cool this time if I saved her instead.’
Back in the academy, Jinseong was known as the pampered heir of a wealthy family with an attitude prone to misunderstanding, which quickly led to him becoming an outcast.
Yooha was the girlfriend who stayed by his side till the end.
Jinseong whispered softly into Yooha’s ear as he held her close.
“Yooha. If we get caught, I’ll throw you over there, so don’t look back and just run.”
“W-what about you, Jinseong?!”
“I’m not that easy to kill.”
In truth, he was scared out of his mind.
He missed his mom.
He regretted coming here.
But Jinseong, worried that Yooha might be frightened, forced a confident expression, trying to lift his lips in a smile.
“When have I ever been dead meat? I’m not planning to die until I’ve knocked you up with triplets and gone on a honeymoon to the Maldives, you know? And I’m confident in my speed. You know that, right? I’ll buy some time, then veer off in the opposite direction to lure it away…”
“But…!”
“Be quiet. Right now, that’s our only option.”
Forcing Yooha’s mouth shut, Jinseong bit his lip.
He could now feel the tentacle approaching, slowly inching closer to the cliff where they hung.
Yooha couldn’t support Jinseong’s plan.
They both probably knew.
The gathered information was fragmented, and taking such a gamble in this dungeon was akin to betting their lives.
And Jinseong had already resigned himself to die in place of Yooha.
As her boyfriend, she wanted to stop him.
It was natural to want to live together.
However, listening to Jinseong talk about sacrificing himself made Yooha feel a mix of joy and disgust deep inside.
She liked Jinseong, but wasn’t she just a selfish person who found pleasure in the fact that she could survive?
“Don’t say anything. If that tentacle spots us, I’ll throw you over there.”
“……….!”
Please, listen to me before I hesitate longer, before I panic more.
As Jinseong read her mind, Yooha felt tears welling up in her eyes.
‘You bastard! If you looked a little cooler outside, we could’ve been making out by now!’
Always oblivious.
After graduating from the academy, you kept being all cocky and got in trouble with the senior hunters, and I had to apologize for you!
I constantly worried about when you’d finally wake up, and why did it have to be now, of all times?!
Damn it, just wait!
If we survive and get out, we’re definitely making out!
Crack! Thud, thwack!
“……!”
As the tentacle passed overhead, Yooha and Jinseong covered their mouths and held their breath.
Jinseong gripped his spear tighter, preparing to thrust it the moment the tentacle turned towards them.
[Kieeeeeek!!!]
Then, a chilling sound, like an adult imitating a baby’s cry, caused the tentacle to suddenly change direction and retreat.
What was happening? The tentacle quickly distanced itself from Jinseong and Yooha, then scampered up the trees and vanished into the darkness.
And even after the tentacle disappeared, they remained breathless, clutching each other tightly, trembling for a while.
“Shit, are we alive…?”
“Y-yeah. Nothing’s around… Hah, hah, hah…”
Finally clambering back up the cliff, Jinseong and Yooha plopped down, exhaling deeply.
“Damn, I thought we were goners…”
“Jinseong, you better do something about it when we get back.”
“Huh? What’s with the sudden urgency?”
“You thought you were gonna die, so why the sudden talk of…?”
[Joking aside, the moment you mentioned getting busy, I was like, “What?!”]
So a little later, Jinseong and Yooha leaned on each other, their bodies still shaking as they returned to the hotel ‘Yeongwoljung’ where they had stayed the previous night.
Fortunately, on their way back, they didn’t see the terrifying tentacle human or any grotesquely transformed monster humans.
Sure, the darkness might have left them hidden or camouflaged, but at least nothing had attacked Jinseong and Yooha until they reached here.
“Be careful, Jinseong. Someone’s here.”
“Here? Other hunters?”
“I don’t know. Something feels off.”
Jinseong and Yooha readied their weapons, nervously opening the door to Yeongwoljung.
Creeeek…
Unlike the darkness outside, Yeongwoljung was brightly lit, as though it were operating regularly.
The red carpet laid out at the entrance stretched down the hall, and aside from the absence of hotel staff, it felt like they had returned to the real Yeongwoljung, not some copy dungeon.
“……Alright. At least we can see…”
“Jinseong, watch out…!”
Crash!
“Agh, damn it?!”
Reacting instinctively to Yooha’s warning, Jinseong raised his spear and cursed as he felt a heavy impact against it.
As he prepared to counterattack, he realized that his attacker wasn’t a tentacle or a monster human from outside, but rather a familiar weapon.
“What the hell, was it an ally?”
The figure who sheathed their blade calmly was a hunter who’d fallen into this raid dungeon with Jinseong.
Of course, the dungeon still played tricks on their perception, so the familiar human form they knew looked grotesquely distorted like the other monsters outside.
I guess only another A-grade hunter would be able to evade Yooha’s sensing ability and hide their presence.
“I’m Choi Yooha, and this is Han Jinseong!”
“Oh, you’re those two!”
“You were the last.”
Only then did Jinseong relax as he sensed the presence of hunters who had clear intentions to keep them safe.
He and Yooha had arrived last due to the detours taken because of that tentacle human.
Of course, they hadn’t coordinated a meeting here, but the veteran hunters, having accumulated years of experience, instinctively knew where to accumulate to find their comrades, even if the dungeon randomized their positions.
“But why did you attack?! I had the identification mark!”
“If it’s blocked, then that’s it.”
“What would you have done if it weren’t me?!”
“If not you, then it would just mean it was a monster. If it was a monster, you would have been dead.”
“Even if they look horrible and scary, they aren’t that strong.”
