Chapter 94
“Damn it!”
“These damn mole bastards!”
Jack and his raid team wore exhausted, disgusted expressions.
Covered in the blood and fluids of Hell Moles, they pushed forward with difficulty.
It was only because the Inazuma raid team was holding the front line that things were manageable—if they had been leading, the casualties would have multiplied exponentially.
“Ghk!”
“S-save me…!”
The Awakened who didn’t belong to either raid team were swallowed by the Hell Moles’ assault and vanished from sight in an instant.
Their fate was obvious.
Jack shouted to Kerner,
“Give us a buff!”
“Got it.”
A brilliant light burst from the dwarf Kerner’s body.
Those within its range felt vitality surge through them, their strength increasing.
Kerner’s awakened ability was buffing.
His direct combat ability was weak, but he was a valuable asset who could temporarily amplify the entire team’s power.
Alongside healers, buffers were essential for dungeon raids.
But like healers, buffers were extremely rare, and it was unusual to find one in a typical raid team.
The fact that Jack’s team had such a rare buffer was surprising in itself.
“Uwooooh!”
Declan roared.
His eyes were bloodshot red.
Declan was a berserker—and he was the one most affected by his brother Kerner’s buff.
Crash! Smash!
Using his massive body, Declan crushed Hell Moles indiscriminately.
Watching this, Koji muttered,
“Good. At this rate, we’ll reach the boss in no time.”
Thanks to Kerner, even the Inazuma team’s combat power increased.
Their advance through the dungeon became much smoother.
Then Shuhan’s voice rang out from ahead,
“We’re almost there! Just a little further!”
“Uwooooh!”
“Graaah!”
The Awakened squeezed out their remaining strength.
Boom!
With a deafening crash, a massive stone door shattered.
Moments later, Inazuma, Jack’s raid team, and the surviving Awakened entered a vast chamber.
They had finally reached the boss room.
Koji shouted,
“Block the entrance! Don’t let them join the boss!”
“Hraaah!”
Bairun swung his axe at the pillars near the entrance.
The passage they had come through collapsed, sealing off the incoming Hell Moles.
“Haa…”
“Phew…”
Only then could they catch their breath.
But only briefly—their crisis was far from over.
Rumble…
A grotesque breathing sound came from behind them.
“The boss.”
“Damn it!”
The source of the heavy breathing was the Hell Mole Boss.
True to its status, it was ten times larger than a normal Hell Mole.
Its back was covered in dense spikes like a hedgehog, and its snout appeared to be made of some unknown metal.
But behind the boss, something strange caught their eyes.
“What is that?”
Stone structures shaped like coffins were scattered around.
From the tops of these stone coffins, human heads protruded.
Zeon clicked his tongue.
“Tch… another raid team got here first.”
He had expected this.
The Hell Moles were too experienced in dealing with humans.
They must have learned from those who came before.
Zeon’s gaze fixed on one of the coffins.
There was a familiar face.
“Old man Clexi…”
The pale face with tightly shut eyes—it was undoubtedly Clexi.
“The Guild Master!”
“He’s over there!”
Jack and the others shouted.
Guild Master? Yoo Sehui was called that too… Then he must be the former Guild Master. Related by blood?
That explained everything.
Why Yoo Sehui had looked so desperate when she made her request.
For some reason, Clexi had entered the dungeon ahead of them with a raid team and gone missing.
No wonder she had been anxious.
The problem is rescuing him safely from the boss.
The coffin-like structures were one of the Hell Mole Boss’s abilities—
The Coffin of Death.
It turned sand into stone and trapped living beings inside.
Those sealed within would fall into a death-like state, while the boss absorbed their life force.
Naturally, those drained would eventually die.
Just then—
Screeeech!
The Hell Mole Boss launched an attack on the intruding humans.
Shhhk!
Spikes from its back rained down like a storm.
“Watch out!”
“Dodge!”
The Awakened activated their skills, either blocking or evading the spikes.
They spread out and began attacking the boss from all sides.
Boom! Crash! Bang!
A barrage of dazzling skills struck the Hell Mole Boss.
Unable to evade, it took the attacks head-on.
“We did it.”
“It’s down!”
Joy spread across the Awakened’s faces.
In contrast, Zeon’s eyes sank deeply.
They didn’t know.
The true ability of the Hell Mole Boss.
It wasn’t particularly strong—but it possessed a very troublesome skill.
Crimson Cloud.
And then—
A blood-red mist suddenly began to spread throughout the boss room.
“What is this?”
“Watch out!”
Koji and Jack shouted at the same time.
As experienced Awakened, they immediately sensed that the crimson mist was no ordinary phenomenon.
It billowed like clouds and quickly filled the entire chamber.
There was nowhere to escape.
“Ghk!”
“I—I can’t breathe…!”
The Awakened from the slums clutched their throats and collapsed.
Yuri shouted,
“Everyone, gather around me!”
A violent wind surged around her, forming a protective barrier.
The wall of wind blocked the crimson cloud from approaching, allowing the Inazuma and Jack’s raid teams within its range to remain safe.
Maintaining the barrier, Yuri spoke,
“I can’t hold this for long. We need to kill it within three minutes.”
“Got it.”
Koji steadied his breathing as he answered.
Komain spoke beside him,
“Looks like we’ll finally see your skill, Death Frenzy, again.”
A technique that infused aura into every strike, unleashing eighteen slashes in an instant.
Because once the blade began its dance, it inevitably brought death, it was called Death Frenzy.
“I’m going in.”
“I won’t be outdone.”
Jack stepped forward as well.
If Koji was the leader of Inazuma, then he too was a leader.
He couldn’t afford to fall behind.
Shhhk! Shhhk!
Death Frenzy and Jack’s skill, Silent Funeral, were unleashed simultaneously.
While Death Frenzy delivered eighteen rapid slashes in a single breath, Silent Funeral concentrated all power into a single decisive strike.
Aside from both using swords, the techniques couldn’t have been more different.
Their styles reflected the vastly different temperaments of their wielders.
Screeeech!
The Hell Mole Boss let out a pained cry.
“It’s done.”
“We got it.”
Everyone cheered—
Except Zeon, who sensed danger.
“Everyone, watch out—”
Boom!
Before he could finish, the wall of the boss room collapsed.
Something poured in.
A writhing mass of grotesque creatures surged forward, instantly engulfing Shuhan and the dwarf Kerner.
“What the—?”
“Aaaagh!”
The two screamed, struggling to break free—but there were far too many.
At that moment, Zeon waved his hand.
A massive blaze erupted, incinerating the creatures swarming over them.
“Gasp!”
“Ugh!”
The two barely escaped death, gasping for air.
Zeon didn’t even spare them a glance.
His eyes were fixed on the broken wall.
From beyond it, more of the creatures kept pouring in.
“Ghost dragonfly larvae… so this was the real threat.”
The writhing swarm was identical to the ghost dragonfly larvae Zeon had dealt with before.
The Hell Moles were certainly troublesome.
Especially in an underground environment like this.
But they weren’t quite enough to serve as the true boss of a dungeon.
That’s why Zeon had suspected there was something else.
“But Hell Moles and ghost dragonflies… that’s not a natural pairing.”
At first glance, “hell” and “ghost” might seem fitting together—
But in reality, the two species occupied entirely different habitats.
Hell Moles thrived underground.
Ghost dragonflies required open skies to fly.
Their larvae could exist underground—but once they matured, they needed vast open space to spread their wings.
And the sheer number of larvae here meant there had to be just as many adult forms.
Creatures like that wouldn’t naturally inhabit a place like this.
Rooaaar!
To make matters worse, the Hell Mole Boss—thought to be defeated—rose again with a roar.
Though badly wounded by Koji and Jack’s attacks, it was still very much alive.
“What now?!”
“Damn it!”
Koji and Jack couldn’t hide their shock.
The Hell Mole Boss unleashed Crimson Cloud once more.
Combined with the swarm of larvae, the battlefield became true hell.
“Aaaagh!”
“Argh!”
Screams echoed relentlessly.
Zeon shook his head slightly.
“At this rate… everyone will be wiped out.”
For a so-called raid team, they were completely unprepared.
They had cleared many dungeons—but only those near Neo Seoul.
The types of dungeons that appeared nearby were extremely limited.
Strangely repetitive in nature.
So while they had experience, they lacked diversity—and when faced with unexpected variables, their response was slow.
Half-baked, aren’t they?
He had no intention of getting deeply involved—
But at this rate, annihilation was inevitable.
“Fire Rain.”
Zeon muttered, raising his right hand.
In an instant, flames rained down across the chamber.
Using his superheated gauntlet, he unleashed the skill.
The fiery downpour incinerated the ghost dragonfly larvae filling the room and dealt a heavy blow to the Hell Mole Boss.
Thanks to that, the raid team escaped the brink of death.
“Haah… haah…”
“Damn… we almost died.”
The survivors gasped for breath.
Koji quickly looked around.
“Where is he?”
Zeon was nowhere to be seen.
After saving them, he had vanished without a trace.
But there was no time to search for him.
The Hell Mole Boss, reeling from Fire Rain, staggered.
If they missed this chance, it would recover again.
They had to finish it now.
“Damn it! All-out attack!”