Chapter 122

“It is not a particularly important question. But considering how entirely unbothered you seem by my attitude, ahjussi, I couldn’t help but be curious. It’s a bit strange, isn’t it?”

Simultaneously, Shin-hoo read the faint tremor of tension flickering across her face. It was the expression of someone bracing to be scolded—or perhaps, someone subconsciously hoping to be.

“Well. About that…”

Before Shin-hoo could finish his sentence, the ground violently lurched. The tremor was so severe that Da-on’s face, still protruding from the shadow, visually splintered into two or three overlapping afterimages. Haeju immediately sprinted over from the opposite side of the chamber.

“Stay back!”

Closing the distance in a flash, Haeju materialized Jinmu—elongating the weapon into a massive greatsword—and angled his body protectively in front of Shin-hoo.

“What’s happening?” Da-on asked, rapidly displacing herself through the shadows to regroup. She gripped a slender rapier in each hand.

It was a highly aggressive dual-wielding stance, prioritizing offensive speed by utilizing thin, lightweight, one-handed swords. While Da-on had yet to acquire her destined unique weapon in this timeline, the rapiers she brandished were clearly the high-grade handiwork of a master crafter Hunter.

“There was an anomaly on my side of the chamber,” Haeju reported tersely. “When I approached it…”

“It seems the boss has been summoned,” Shin-hoo noted.

“Perfect! Finally, some action.” Da-on cheered boldly, crossing her rapiers in front of her as she dropped into a combat stance. “Let’s see the face of the bastard who completely butchered my dungeon.”

The violent tremors beneath their feet escalated. The apex of the pyramid abruptly shattered, and a colossal deluge of sand cascaded downward like a thundering waterfall. The torrential stream of sand poured directly onto the empty throne at the center of the chamber.

Rapidly accumulating, the sand began to hold a defined shape. A pair of feet, each roughly the size of a grown man, materialized first, followed slowly by the towering silhouette of the monster. As if adorning a golden statue that shimmered brilliantly under the light, an array of extravagant jewels sprouted from the churning sand.

Finally, the waterfall of sand ceased. Studded head-to-toe in resplendent gemstones, the Sand King opened his eyes.

He sat upon his throne with aloof, regal majesty, staring down at the intruders.

[…]

The visage of the golden statue and its piercing, blood-red eyes were intimately familiar to Shin-hoo. It was the face of the mummy that had lain dormant in the sarcophagus when Shin-hoo had first cleared this dungeon in the previous timeline—and simultaneously, the exact form of the Sand King he had encountered during his four years of wandering.

However, its body was now riddled with black hieroglyphs, fracturing the golden surface like spreading cracks. The eyes, which had once moved with vibrant, erratic energy in his memories, were entirely devoid of reason or intellect.

[I am… the forgotten. The vanished. And the one who shall scatter.]

Its demeanor was so unbearably desolate it was impossible to reconcile with the petulant, irritated figure that had vanished while snapping at Nuckelavee. The mechanically synthesized voice echoed with nothing but profound emptiness.

[He who seeks to liberate me must follow the absolute order.]

Shin-hoo gripped the hilt of Luin Vuada. However, someone else moved faster.

“I’ll handle this one!”

Leaving Shin-hoo and Haeju in the dust, Da-on launched herself forward. There was no time to stop her.

“He is moving,” Haeju warned.

As Da-on closed the distance, the Sand King reacted. Generating a massive, blinding sandstorm that completely obscured their vision, the colossal entity slowly stepped forward. The King swung his arm. The motion was deceptively sluggish, but the sheer, devastating kinetic force behind the blow was undeniable.

“You two stay out of this!” Da-on yelled.

Haeju had already tensed to intervene, but Da-on’s sharp command beat him to it.

Evading the crushing wind pressure of the King’s swing, Da-on contorted her body and dove into her own shadow. She instantaneously reappeared on the opposite side of the chamber, adhering herself upside-down to the ceiling. As the homing sandstorm pivoted toward her new location, she effortlessly dropped into another shadow, narrowly avoiding the blast.

“Whoa. Even a glancing blow would be instantly fatal,” Da-on muttered.

Relying on blinding speed and razor-sharp precision as her primary weapons, Da-on maneuvered into the King’s blind spot and leveled her rapiers. Blinking into the shadow cast directly beneath the statue, she crossed her twin blades in an ‘X’ and viciously slashed at the back of the King’s ankles.

Shhhk—

The sound of cascading sand echoed loudly as the King’s balance fractured. But that was the extent of the damage. The sand that had been severed and spilled onto the floor simply levitated back into the air, seamlessly reconstructing the damaged limbs.

“Simple physical attacks won’t work on him,” Shin-hoo warned.

Ignoring the advice, Da-on used the King’s massive body as a foothold and launched herself upward. While navigating a constantly shifting opponent made of sand—which offered very few stable shadows—should have been incredibly difficult, she agilely located fleeting pockets of shade, rapidly closing the distance to the King’s head.

She’s impressive, Shin-hoo noted.

If the opponent had been made of anything other than sand, Da-on’s assault would have been devastatingly effective. Her combat style, which focused on concentrating maximum force into a microscopic striking area at breakneck speeds, was perfectly designed to instantly sever an opponent’s vitals.

But… it won’t work here.

Within the swirling vortex of the sandstorm, Shin-hoo could feel a massive, overwhelming flow of ether. It was an entity composed of pure, unadulterated power. It was fundamentally different from any monster they had ever faced. In fact, it couldn’t even be classified as a ‘monster’ in the traditional sense.

This particular boss was a complete anomaly. It was impossible to gauge whether physical or magical attacks would be effective.

Furthermore, there was one critical distinction that separated it from a standard monster.

“The sand is spreading,” Haeju announced flatly.

Having morphed Jinmu into a greatsword roughly the size of a human torso, Haeju swung the massive weapon in a wide arc, violently repelling the encroaching sandstorm. Acting as an impenetrable shield to ensure not a single grain of sand touched Shin-hoo, Haeju called out to the rogue Hunter.

“Cease your independent actions and cooperate, Hunter Yoo Da-on.”

“I’ll think about it. But this is still my guild’s dungeon!”

Da-on twisted her body mid-air, moving with the blinding speed of a lightning strike.

“I have to at least try everything I can first!”

Blinking into a tiny shadow cast just beneath the King’s jaw, Da-on used the bridge of the statue’s nose as a springboard and vaulted higher.

Moving so fast she left afterimages in her wake, she aimed her strike directly at the center of the King’s forehead. It was the exact location where the largest, most radiantly beautiful jewel was embedded.

However…

“Gah!”

The moment the tip of her rapier made contact with the jewel, the King’s crimson eyes flared brilliantly. A concussive shockwave instantly blasted Da-on backward, violently hurling her across the chamber until she smashed into the far wall.

Hitting the floor with a heavy thud, Da-on hissed in pain, massaging her lower back as she slowly pushed herself up.

“Well, this is going to be annoying.”

Despite her attempt to sound casual, Da-on bit her lip hard. Her eyes swirled with venomous frustration; as an S-Rank Hunter, being unceremoniously swatted away on her very first engagement was clearly a bitter pill to swallow.

Shin-hoo’s gaze was fixed not on the fallen Da-on, but on the center of the statue’s forehead. For a fraction of a second, the localized energy ripple generated by the collision of Da-on’s rapier and the jewel lingered in the air.

“Yoo Da-on,” Shin-hoo called out calmly.

“Telling me to stop won’t work, ahjussi. If I collapse while fighting, you two can figure out the rest on your own.”

“How do you think the classification of this dungeon has changed?”

“Why are we talking about dungeon classifications right now?!” Da-on snapped, executing a flawless backflip to evade a tendril of sand that whipped past her bangs. Landing with perfect, ten-out-of-ten form, she cast a cursory glance at the boss. “It doesn’t look any different to me.”

“Look closer.”

Though she openly scowled at Shin-hoo’s teacher-like reprimand, Da-on ceased her evasive maneuvers and intensely scrutinized the boss.

As she analyzed the entity’s behavior, her eyes widened in realization.

“…What the hell is that?”

Dungeon classifications were determined by a multitude of intersecting criteria. The easiest method was simply checking the color of the gate prior to entry. However, when a dungeon mutated mid-raid, Hunters were forced to rapidly estimate the new difficulty level on the fly.

Veteran Hunters could accurately gauge a dungeon’s rank by assessing the monsters’ overall vitality, defensive capabilities, and attack speed. Judging solely by its sheer physical power and impervious defense, the boss they were currently facing was undeniably near the S-Rank threshold. Yet, it was completely missing the most crucial defining element.

“Does that thing… even want to fight?” Da-on asked incredulously.

It lacked hostility.

The degree of innate aggression and murderous intent directed toward humanity was the primary metric for evaluating a monster’s threat level. However, this boss completely lacked that fundamental animosity. If someone aggressively engaged it first, like Da-on had, it would retaliate mercilessly. But it completely ignored Haeju and Shin-hoo, who had maintained their distance and kept their weapons lowered.

It possessed absolutely zero inherent bloodlust toward humans.

Shin-hoo calmly walked over to Da-on. She looked utterly bewildered, clearly having never encountered a phenomenon like this before.

“At first glance, it appears to be a standard dungeon that has suddenly escalated in rank. However, it has actually mutated into a ‘Gimmick Dungeon’—a space that requires a highly specific methodology to clear,” Shin-hoo explained. “Therefore, the boss standing before us is not a monster to be slain, but merely a puzzle mechanic to be solved.”

The tip of Da-on’s blade had definitely struck the King’s forehead. Even though she had targeted the most theoretically vulnerable point, she had inflicted absolutely zero damage. The overwhelming ether flow concentrated around the jewel had violently rejected her approach, physically repelling her attack. It was as if the dungeon itself was screaming that her method was the incorrect answer.

“We need to dismantle the boss using an entirely different approach.”

“And how exactly are we supposed to do that? There’s literally nothing else here.”

Leaving the highly agitated Da-on to fume, Shin-hoo surveyed their surroundings.

Among the dense, indecipherable hieroglyphs, one specific detail had been nagging at him: the colors. And there was exactly one other element within this chamber that shared that vibrant, multi-colored characteristic.

“The jewels embedded in the King’s body,” Shin-hoo stated. “We need to target the colors of those jewels.”

Much like an ancient Egyptian deity, the Sand King was adorned with extravagant metallic jewelry. And the specific colors of the gemstones embedded within those ornaments perfectly matched the pigment used to fill the hieroglyphs carved into the walls.

“Oh…”

Having previously inspected the walls alongside him, Da-on instantly grasped Shin-hoo’s logic. She let out a small gasp of genuine awe before abruptly clamping her mouth shut. Looking slightly embarrassed by her own unguarded admiration, she quickly averted her gaze and asked, “So, which color are we supposed to attack first? Wait, how are we even supposed to figure out the sequence?”

“The boss gave us the hint at the very beginning,” Shin-hoo replied.

[He who seeks to liberate me must follow the absolute order.]

“If that is the case,” Haeju murmured, stepping forward from where he had been quietly listening.

“It seems we will have to shatter them all, in the correct sequence.”