TFN C50

Chapter 50

Kr-r-r-ruk?

The team stiffened, scanning their surroundings.

The monsters that had been hurling themselves endlessly against the cube suddenly ceased their frenzy and lifted their heads skyward in unison. Even the wraith-like creatures thrashed, as though trying to rise toward the place from which they had descended, but to no avail.

As Wonhyo raised his fan and stirred the air, the talisman he had sent aloft earlier finally ignited. At that, the black masses convulsed in agony, loosing hideous cries.

“They’re not about to go berserk, are they?”

Someone voiced the fear aloud, but Cheongmun remained composed, steady, waiting for the inevitable to unfold.

The blue flames, blazing high in the heavens, dwindled—then sharpened into blades that tore the very sky apart.

A fissure ripped open in the thick, glutinous void above, a pit so black it seemed even light would be swallowed whole.

Ch-ch-chr-r-rk.

With a deafening roar, the heavens began to shatter.

At that moment, Wonhyo opened his eyes and hurled another talisman upward.

Though not identical to the first, it was similar enough that the shadows prowling outside faltered as it rose. A spear of golden light lanced through the air and pierced straight through the pit.

Kwa-du-du-duk, thoom!

Screeeeeeeeech!

From the blue flame’s fracture spread a cascade of breaking shards, and pieces of sky came crashing down.

『The dungeon’s linkage with “HunterNet” has been severed.』

『All spawned monsters are purified and dispersed.』

With the system’s proclamation, the monsters convulsed like abandoned heaps of ink and exploded one after another.

Splutch! Splutch!

Fragments rained in every direction, but the cube shielded them.

Cheongmun raised his gaze, peering into the cracks of the sundered sky. Beyond the veil, there was nothing—only emptiness.

“Team Leader, look there.”

Where once the pit spewed monsters and the black pillars had surged upward, now that they had collapsed, the sight beyond grew clearer. The noise-pixel haze that had obscured their vision was gone.

“It looks like… a building, swept inside?”

The dungeon’s environment had not changed, yet things unseen now revealed themselves. It was proof enough that the illusion clouding their eyes had been dispelled.

『The swamp has been destroyed. Dungeon difficulty decreases.』

『The swamp has been destroyed. Partial information is revealed.』

『Styx Swamp (S-rank)

Beneath the river that divides life from death, those who exhale the breath of fury awaken.

Defeat them and prevent the seed of ￡∂▲Å from hatching.

※ Time until seed hatches: 06:23:17

※ Upon sacrificial deaths, difficulty will increase. 1/3』

The obscured quest window at last revealed its text.

“Styx? Isn’t that the name of the river of the underworld?”

“From Greek mythology, right? But was there a swamp, too?”

“I thought Styx was where mortals gained strength when submerged?”

Though new details had surfaced, the true nature of what was to hatch remained hidden.

“If it’s Styx Swamp, then it must be Dante’s Divine Comedy,” a clear voice cut in, providing the answer to their confusion.

All eyes turned at once.

There stood Wonhyo, folding his fan and gathering the golden cord and tent stakes he had used.

“Dante’s Divine Comedy—you mean the book?”

“Yes.”

Cheongmun posed the question, and Wonhyo confirmed it.

“As I recall, it was in the Inferno—the fourth or maybe the fifth circle of Hell. It was for those who showed no gratitude for their lives, who festered in wrath and discontent. Sister used to scold us endlessly with that story, so it stuck with me.”

She had always preached: Living itself is a blessing. Be grateful. Whenever he heard “Styx,” he remembered passages he had never even read.

He added, matter-of-factly, “Ah, I grew up in a church orphanage.”

Such a confession usually brought derision—raised in church, yet became a shaman?—but Cheongmun merely inclined his head slightly, showing no other response.

“Does the story say more?”

Wonhyo sifted through the dust of memory, dredging up half-remembered words.

“Something about a fortress of demons… Ah, yes, the city of Dis, ruling over the land where the river Styx flowed.”

“Demon fortress?”

The deputy exclaimed, and Wonhyo flinched before nodding.

“But Dis is another name for Pluto.”

When he had once asked an older sister during volunteer work, terrified by the story, how much gratitude was needed to avoid Hell, she had told him: Ignore the moral. They turned the god of the underworld into a devil just to frighten people.

It was the same as his mother hurling salt at a churchwoman who had come to their shrine to proselytize.

“Pluto? Isn’t that Hades?”

“No—the ruler of Hades is Pluto.”

“What?”

“Hades is the god’s name, right? He can’t be ruled by another.”

“In Greek, Hades is the god. But in Roman tales, ‘Hades’ also meant the underworld itself.”

“Books say that? I learned from comics.”

The conversation grew suspiciously steeped in Greco-Roman lore.

Wonhyo scratched his head and glanced at Cheongmun, who had yet to speak.

Without warning, Cheongmun dismissed the cube encasing them.

Dust and stench rushed in, acrid and raw.

“I’ll head for the center. The rest of you spread out and search for survivors.”

“What? You’re going alone?”

Kim Joogwan asked. Cheongmun nodded.

“Now that the illusions have lifted, it is better to deal with the boss swiftly.”

The deputy frowned.

“Still—”

“Weren’t you the one insisting earlier I should move alone?”

“Well, yes, but—”

Cheongmun ignored their hesitation, turned instead to Wonhyo.

“Yoon Wonhyo, it would be better for you to go with the others to safety.”

Wonhyo blinked at the words.

“I think… I should go with you, Team Leader.”

He lifted his eyes briefly.

Above floated a gleaming golden box, blinking with light.

『You have pierced through the Deceiver of Wrath.』

『Hidden Quest complete. You are awarded the class item Mask of Hoya.』

He had heard items could sometimes be gained at random in dungeons, but he had never thought he himself would receive one.

He did not know what the Mask of Hoya was, but he knew who Hoya was: Oh-Ho Janggun, the great general who devoured wicked spirits, fearless and invincible.

The mask must be like the head of a lion mask from a shaman’s dance.

He hesitated, waiting to consult Cheongmun before claiming it.

“With this, I might actually be better suited against ghosts than anyone.”

At his words, the team gestured frantically for him to accept it.

Wonhyo awkwardly tapped the hovering box. A large mask dropped into his hands.

He snatched it up, afraid it might shatter on the ground.

It was strange—hard wood to the touch, yet as light as paper.

『You have acquired the item “Mask of Hoya.”』

『Dance of the Lion is unlocked.』

『(When equipped) Ritual Lion Dance is unlocked.』

『The skill “Hundred Entertainments and Songs” is temporarily unsealed.』

“Oh.”

His breathless admiration sparked the others’ curiosity.

“A fine mask.”

“Ah, yes.”

The deputy, smiling broadly at Wonhyo, then shifted his gaze toward Cheongmun.

“Take him with you.”

Cheongmun narrowed his eyes.

“Bringing a low-rank Awakener into the boss’s lair risks mana backlash.”

But the deputy chuckled.

“Doesn’t the mask repel spirits? Then obviously, he belongs at your side, not with us searching survivors.”

The others looked uneasy but stayed silent.

Leaning close, the deputy whispered, “He seems rattled even being near us. In a dungeon this warped with psychic distortion, it’s safer for him and for us if he stays with you.”

Cheongmun exhaled softly, then looked at Wonhyo, clutching the mask tightly in both arms.

“Can you manage? This will be your first dungeon boss fight.”

Wonhyo swallowed hard.

“If it’s a ghost… then that is my domain.”

He hugged the mask closer, trembling eyes flicking to the others before returning to Cheongmun.

Realizing time could no longer be spared, Cheongmun made his decision.

“Then I will take Yoon Wonhyo with me to confront the boss. Deputy, gather survivors. Within a ten-kilometer radius, I am already providing protection. Beyond that, you must search further.”

“Ten kilometers?”

“Yes.”

Cheongmun removed his glasses, gazing into the void.

“Seventy-one people are currently under my protection.”

“…Understood.”

The deputy asked a few more questions, baffled how Cheongmun could be protecting seventy-one souls while never leaving their side, then split the team.

With so few, there was not much to divide.