Chapter 55

“…This is the place.”

After arriving at the entrance of the cave, Yoon Yeon fell silent for a moment before speaking.

“Definitely… this doesn’t seem like a normal or rare-grade dungeon. You all made a really good choice by refusing the request. If you had entered as planned, it would have been dangerous.”

Yoon Yeon began praising us for not being blinded by the reward and deciding to abandon the request.

“….Thank you, Clan Master of Myth Clan.”

“No need for thanks. We’re about to enter. What about you, Yoo Ju?”

“I agree. Then… let’s proceed.”

As soon as we entered the cave, an alarm sounded.

[You have entered the dungeon – Mad Dark Sorcerer Bahan’s Laboratory.]

The members of Myth Clan could be heard chatting.

“…Another dark sorcerer? Wasn’t the last dungeon also related to dark magic?”

“Dark sorcerers are almost never sane. No wonder the Holy Kingdom kills all dark sorcerers except trainees.”

‘…No wonder the reputation of dark sorcerers is in the gutter.’

Whether they’re foreigners or not, even the indigenous dark sorcerers are doing this kind of stuff. No wonder the reputation of dark sorcerers is in the gutter.

‘Damn it…’

Even at the training facility, I was the only dark sorcerer.

“By the way… who is Bahan?”

“He seems to be the boss of this dungeon… Are the ghouls outside also appearing because of his experiments?”

“Anyway, be careful. The Clan Master said this is at least a hero-grade dungeon.”

They must be nervous too. Hero-grade dungeons are too difficult for first-year players to tackle.

Normally, it takes at least two or three years before players can handle hero-grade dungeons.

As soon as we entered the dungeon, no monsters attacked us. The only thing that stood out was the disgusting decorations plastered all over the cave walls.

“Wait.”

After advancing a bit, Yoon Yeon stopped everyone.

“….What is it, Clan Master of Myth Clan?”

“Everyone, look up.”

Following Yoon Yeon’s words, we looked up and saw a horrifying sight.

‘What the hell is this…?’

People’s faces were plastered all over the ceiling as if they had merged with it.

Perhaps because the cave was a bit dark and the ceiling was far away, we hadn’t noticed until now.

“Crazy…!”

“Ughhhh!”

Most people reacted by cursing, but those with weaker constitutions screamed and fell to the ground.

Even I almost screamed, so I don’t need to explain how horrifying it was.

Yoo Hyun, for example, was sitting on the ground, stuttering and unable to regain his composure at this unnatural sight.

“Ugh, ah… ah…!”

“Yoo Hyun…! Don’t look up! Okay?!”

“Nu, nuna…”

It was a terrifying sight for a 15-year-old boy.

One of the Myth Clan members spoke to Yoon Yeon.

“Cl, Clan Master… these things seem to be alive.”

As the man said, upon closer inspection, the faces couldn’t speak but were changing expressions.

“Ugh… ughhhh!”

Some people seemed to be vomiting. Our party was no exception.

“Hey, Cha Hyeon-jin! Are you okay?”

“Ughhh…! W, wait… ugh… nuna…”

“Ha-eun!”

“Ugh… ugh… sorry…”

‘This isn’t good.’

Being overwhelmed by the dungeon’s atmosphere from the start wasn’t good.

Yoon Yeon frowned and spoke.

“Ha… I don’t know what kind of guy Bahan is, but he seems to be a complete lunatic.”

I agreed with her. Most dark sorcerers are crazy, but this guy seems even worse.

If the entrance of the dungeon is like this, the inside will be even worse.

As we moved further in, monsters with insane appearances began attacking us.

“…Is this a chimera?”

The monster was larger than a person. It was a mass of flesh about 2 meters tall and wide, with human faces stuck all over it.

– Save me! Save me! Save me!

“Damn it!”

I cursed involuntarily. Unlike the faces on the ceiling, the faces on the flesh were speaking.

A battle broke out immediately. As Yoo Ju stabbed the monster’s torso with her spear, the faces began screaming.

– Aaaah! It hurts! It hurts! Stop! Stop!

“What the hell is this?”

Kang I-seo, who hadn’t expected such a monster, cursed with a dazed expression.

Bam!

Yoon Yeon threw a few punches, and the monsters’ bodies exploded.

“Phew… Everyone, pull yourselves together and fight. The monsters are just creepy-looking. They’re not strong at all.”

“…..”

“Clan members? Don’t disappoint me.”

“S, sorry…”

As the Myth Clan members struggled to regain their composure, Yoon Yeon scolded them.

“Get it together. It’s been a year since you came here. Got it?”

“S, sorry, Clan Master. We’re fine now!”

“…Good, that’s how it should be. Anyway, let’s move further in. Everyone, follow closely.”

The situation in the dungeon became more absurd the further we went. Other monsters began to appear, but they also had abnormal appearances.

If the previous monsters had human faces stuck on flesh, these new monsters had human bodies with bull heads and were wielding weapons.

“Ha… damn it, their appearances are just…!”

“Nuna… do you think the dark sorcerer here did human experiments?”

Hyeon-jin’s question was answered by me.

“These are all chimeras.”

“Chimeras?”

“Yeah, whether it’s mixing monsters with humans or monsters with monsters, they create all sorts of bizarre things. It’s called chimera synthesis. The dark sorcerer here must have been experimenting with making chimeras.”

“Then…”

“…..They probably mixed living people with monsters.”

Everyone listening to me made faces like they were about to vomit. Depending on how you think about it, the monsters we’ve been killing could have been people.

‘…The questionable part is whether they used people as materials…’



“Where did you get this if you’re writing it?”

As far as I know, there haven’t been any disappearances in this territory. It’s just that ghouls have been showing up.

If this many people had gone missing or been kidnapped within the territory, things wouldn’t have ended like this. The situation should have escalated.

“Or… did they bring people in when setting up the lab?”

Anyway, one thing I realized is that the people used in Bahan’s experiments were at least not from this city or its surroundings.

And as the battle continued, I noticed that these creatures only look weird but aren’t that strong in combat.

As the battle calmed down, Yoon Yeon looked at our party and exclaimed in admiration.

“….Impressive. It hasn’t even been three months since you left the training facility, right? The rumors are definitely justified.”

“Phew… The monsters… aren’t that strong, so that’s probably why.”

“What are you talking about? If you see Yoo Ju fighting, no one would say the monsters look weak.”

“….Thank you. By the way, you can drop the formal speech.”

“….Really?”

“It’s fine. You’re the senior here. Besides, it seems like you’re frustrated using formal speech…”

“….I like your straightforward personality.”

“Actually, you even use informal speech with Yoon Seong…”

Rumble—!

While Yoo Ju was talking to Yoon Yeon, the cave wall collapsed, and a huge monster started to appear.

“….Is this a mix with an ogre?”

Yoon Yeon’s words reminded me of the ogre monster I saw in the monster book.

‘It definitely looks like the one in the book. But…’

The newly appeared monster looked like the ogre from the book but had some differences.

‘Why does it have a tail? And four arms?’

It had a tail and four arms, which were the differences.

One thing was certain: it looked much stronger than any monster our party had faced so far.

“Damn it… Bro, are we really going to be able to take this down…?”

While Hyeon-jin was overwhelmed by the monster’s pressure, Yoo Ju shouted to the entire party.

“Stay calm. Avoid rushing in recklessly. Focus on long-range attacks, and those in close combat, be careful.”

Yoon Yeon responded to Yoo Ju’s instructions.

“Good call. But… I’ll take the front this time. It seems like the chicks might struggle with this one.”

After saying that, Yoon Yeon immediately approached the ogre-like creature.

Judging that this monster was a threat to everyone, she kicked its leg, and one of the ogre’s legs exploded and flew off.

‘Crazy… She’s on another level.’

“Kwoooaargh! My leg! My leeeeg!”

‘Can it talk?’

Yoon Yeon seemed momentarily taken aback when the creature spoke.

From her reaction, it seemed that ogres normally can’t speak.

As the creature with one missing leg collapsed, everyone started launching long-range attacks.

“Everyone, fire! Mages, cast your spells!”

“Kwoooargh! It hurts! Buraka! It hurts!”

“….Hup!”

Thud—

“Kwoooargh! Who’s there! My eye! Who, who, who is it?!”

When Kang I-seo’s arrow hit one of its eyes, the creature started going berserk.

“Huh?”

Unfortunately, a member of the Myth Clan was about to get hit by the creature’s swinging tail.

“Shield of Protection!”

Yoo Hyun immediately cast a shield, but…

Clang!

Crash!

“Ugh…!”

The shield shattered instantly, and the man was sent flying by the tail. It seemed the impact was stronger than the shield could absorb.

“You… idiot…!”

Before the man could crash into the wall, Yoon Yeon jumped in and caught him.

“Ugh… cough… C-Clan… Master…”

“….Idiot. That’s why I told you to be careful. This isn’t a monster you can handle at your level.”

“Cough… Sorry…”

“It’s fine, these things happen. Priest, heal him! He’ll live.”

“Yes, yes…! Myeong-su…!”

A woman who seemed to be a priest immediately approached the man and started healing him.

“Don’t worry, he won’t die. That kid over there softened the impact with his shield, so he’ll be fine.”

Thanks to Yoo Hyun activating the shield in time, the man’s injuries weren’t severe.

“Kwoooargh! I’ll kill you! Kill you!”

The ogre started crawling towards Kang I-seo on all fours.

“Shit…! This bastard’s pissed at me!”

‘Well, you did shoot its eye, you idiot.’

But with one leg missing, the creature was helpless. The Myth Clan’s close-combat members quickly moved in to finish it off.

“Phew…”

Our party members seemed mentally exhausted from their first battle with a high-level monster.

“….That was intense. I lost all will to fight as soon as I saw the monster… I was too scared…”

“…It’s okay, Hyeon-jin. Don’t blame yourself. That thing was just out of our league.”

“….Thanks, bro.”

“Thanks for what… I was scared too and didn’t know what to do. Everyone felt the same, so don’t worry.”

“Yes, bro.”

As everyone calmed down, Yoon Yeon spoke up.

“…Let’s continue the raid. Everyone…”

Yoo Ju interrupted Yoon Yeon and spoke up.

“Wait a second.”

“…What is it?”

“There might be items where the ogre came from. Shouldn’t we check it out?”