The Dimensional Swordmaster C28

Chapter 28. The Fact That One Cannot Know (8)

It was clearly a system window or a status interface that Yurian could not see. Whatever the alert was, it must have appeared to everyone at once—because as if choreographed, all movement abruptly stopped.

Even then, lightning continued to strike. The tearing crash of thunder and the relentless flashes made Yurian rub at his eyes. With the world blinking white over and over, his vision began to sting.

As he pulled his cap down lower, Gong Siyoung muttered in disbelief.

“…What the hell does this mean?”

Green system text reflected in his eyes. The letters scrolled upward in jerky, glitching motions, like a screen filled with static.

[System Notification]

[ Reassessing the rank of First Circle: ‘Limbo’. ]

[ Measuring rank…… ]

[ The boss monster of this area is awakening. ]

[ Warning! ※Unable to determine this area’s rank! ]

[ Warning! ※Unable to determine this area’s attribute! ]

[ Warning! ※Unable to determine this area’s overflow! ]

[ Warning! ※System access restricted due to abnormal intrusion! ]

[ Warning! ※Abnormal access detected! ]

[ Warning! ※This area does not exist! ]

[ Warning! ※Abnormal access is being restricted! ]

[ System window partially activated! System window restricted, restricted! System window! Restricted! Warning! System window activated, activated! Restricted! Warning! Warning! ]

The overlapping warning windows multiplied rapidly, swelling into dozens. Gong Siyoung’s brow twitched. Then, in a blink, the screen vanished.

In place of the system window, a single green notice appeared.

[ Limited Use: ‘Limbo’ reset in 12:00:00 ]

Tick. Tick. The timer slid past 11:59:59, steadily counting down. The green text trembled faintly, then sharpened again.

Whether they were all seeing the same thing or not, no one moved—even as thunder and lightning raged around them. In the suffocating silence, Gong Siyoung instinctively tried to summon his status window.

Nothing happened.

The interface that had once responded as naturally as breathing refused to appear. Anxiety surged up his spine.

Forcing himself to stay calm, he immediately activated a skill. A chill spread from his fingertips, followed by the solid sensation of an ice spear forming in his hand. He clenched and unclenched his fist, feeling its familiar weight.

The status window remained silent—but the skill itself worked perfectly.

That only made the situation harder to comprehend.

“I can still use my skills, but…….”

Gu Jayoung’s barrier was still holding. Watching the unease spread across everyone’s faces, Gong Siyoung bit his lip.

Whether this was a temporary error or something more serious, everything informational had come to a halt. The system window, the status window—gone. All that remained was the unexplained countdown in green text.

This had never happened before. Not once since becoming a hunter, not after entering countless gates. His thoughts froze.

The others weren’t much different. Confusion quickly gave way to fear. Everyone must have been thinking the same thing.

Fight without a status window? Without knowing durability, skills, monsters—anything?

They were being forced to fight in a way they had never experienced. It felt as if a black curtain had been dropped over their vision.

“Why? What is it? What’s going on?”

Yurian tilted his head repeatedly, utterly lost. Since he’d never been able to see status windows in the first place, it looked to him like everyone was simply glaring at empty air.

“Is it bad news or something?”

“…A system warning appeared.”

“A system warning?”

“I can’t see my status window.”

Gong Siyoung bit his lip again, tension etched deep into his face. And it wasn’t just him—the atmosphere shifted sharply. Hunters who had gathered nearby began activating their skills, as if trying to confirm something.

They looked like ants bursting out of a disturbed nest. Even amid panic and fear, their desperation to do something was painfully evident.

Yurian scratched his head, equally confused.

It seemed serious, judging by their reactions… but was it really that big of a deal? Having never seen a status window, it didn’t quite register.

“But you can still use magic—uh, skills, right?”

He pointed at the ice spear in Gong Siyoung’s hand. If that was summoned without issue, then maybe it wasn’t so bad.

“Probably.”

“Then we’re fine.”

He’d thought it was something major. Losing access to magic would be catastrophic, sure—but not being able to see a status window didn’t erase actual combat ability.

“Your power didn’t disappear or anything. Looks like they’re fine too.”

Gu Jayoung’s barrier held strong, and the shields other hunters had deployed were functioning normally. At a glance, nothing had changed.

It was unsettling, yes—but enough to cause this level of panic?

“No, if this continues—”

Before Gong Siyoung could finish, Yurian grabbed him around the waist and kicked off the ground, soaring upward. The earth beneath them split open as something squirmed out.

A monster burst from the ground, undulating grotesquely. At first glance, it resembled a mass of earthworms tangled together.

It looked like melted yarn knotted into itself—or shadows clumped together without form.

With each lightning strike, more black masses crawled up from the ground. Their numbers multiplied rapidly, until bare earth was no longer visible.

“This is getting annoying.”

The writhing shapes merged one by one, growing larger. As the monster swelled in size, chaos erupted among the hunters.

“A monster! Attack!”

“H-How are we supposed to attack? We don’t even know its rank!”

“How are we supposed to fight like this?!”

Their panicked shouts cut through the thunder. They were a complete mess.

They had to protect fallen teammates, lightning kept striking, and movement was heavily restricted. On top of that came complaints about not being able to fight without status windows.

At least there was one small mercy—the monster’s attention was focused solely on Yurian.

Tentacles stretched upward toward the two hovering in midair. They couldn’t quite reach them yet, but monsters were still crawling up relentlessly. If all of them merged into one, they could be trapped.

“Can you fly on your own?”

Gong Siyoung nodded and pushed Yurian’s hand away. The moment Yurian released him, Gong Siyoung rose smoothly into the air.

“I’ll keep the shield up. Don’t stray too far.”

“Are you going to attack directly?”

Yurian shrugged. Below them, chaos reigned. Some teams were already retreating through the gate. Myeong Haejin’s group was still holding on, but even he looked shaken.

He’d been told explicitly to do nothing—but standing idle here wouldn’t solve anything.

And many hunters were still down, barely conscious. It was better to eliminate as much as possible while the monster’s attention was fixed here.

“You can use skills, right? Freezing?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Dick Shadow is an organic entity—it has a connected neural network. You can cut and slice it all you want; it won’t die. It’ll just keep wriggling. You have to take out the core.”

The towering mass of squirming flesh was revolting just to look at. Tentacles—or bodies—twisted together in a slick, pulsing knot.

Yurian didn’t look away for a second.

“I’ll tear it apart as much as I can. When I give the signal, attack. Dick Shadow is weak to cold.”

Grotesque as it looked, it wasn’t a monster worth risking one’s life over. Find the core, and it would die quickly.

And if they couldn’t… well, then they’d run.

He glanced at Gong Siyoung. When their eyes met, Siyoung nodded a beat later.

That explanation should’ve been clear enough—but just in case, Yurian checked once more.

“You can do it, right? If it’s too scary, say so. I can handle it alone.”

Only Yurian would treat an S-rank hunter like a child left by the water’s edge.

But he was serious. Gong Siyoung hadn’t shown much yet, and now he couldn’t even see his status window. It was hard not to worry.

Was he really okay?

As Yurian debated whether to just take care of it himself, Gong Siyoung spoke, jerking his chin downward.

“How are you going to find the core? It’s all tangled together—how do you even pick it out?”

“Oh, that? It’s not that hard. You just check them one by one.”

After gauging the distance, Yurian let out a quiet breath. Maintaining the shield around Gong Siyoung, he dropped straight down.

His body plunged into the writhing mass of crawling flesh. He swung his sword at the tentacles closing in around him. The familiar scent of green blood filled the air, and a smile spread across his face without him realizing it.

“Long time no see, guys.”

Not that he’d missed them.