Chapter 73: Knowledge is Power (2)

Boom!

The Swarm Lord’s carapace buckled inward, forming a crater-like depression.

As its massive body lurched violently under Kwon Giseong’s assault…

Thoom!

He timed his jump to the recoil, propelling himself upward.

His target: the seam where the Swarm Lord’s carapace met its abdomen.

Embedded in the center of this seam was the Abdominal Pouch.

The Swarm Lord’s Abdominal Pouch was tougher than titanium alloy; ordinary weapons couldn’t even scratch it. Destroying the pouch to reach the queen inside was deemed impossible.

That was the verdict of the encyclopedia, a repository of collective intelligence spanning all dimensions.

Impossible.

Hunting the Swarm Lord through brute force was futile.

Yet Kwon Giseong was determined to try anyway.

With the newly acquired Dragon Spirit Iron Wire, and the Soaring Dragon Divine Fist imbued with Fist Energy Forging Gang, he believed he might just make the impossible possible.

He sliced through the air like a bullet, drawing his left arm back with explosive force.

Closing the distance to the Swarm Lord’s vulnerable point, where its “brain” lay hidden…

I poured every ounce of my strength into a single, decisive blow.

Kiiiiing!

The golden mana infused in my gauntlet pulsed and churned like a living vortex. My fist, propelled forward with ferocious momentum, truly resembled the fang of a dragon ascending to the heavens.

No matter how tough the spider’s carapace might be, it couldn’t withstand the bite of a predatory beast.

Kwa-dud-dud-duk!

The supposedly indestructible carapace crumpled inward. My fist, now a jagged spike, plunged deep into the spider’s abdominal pouch, its momentum undiminished as it bored further inward.

Kreeeeeeeeak!

Amidst the spray of carapace fragments and viscous purple fluid, another scream mingled with the Swarm Lord’s death throes.

Deep within the shattered carapace, hidden from view, was a pristine white spider—a monster the size of my fist.

Its body gripped the Swarm Lord’s “brain.”

“Got it,” I murmured softly.

Boom!

The moment my feet touched the ground, the Swarm Lord’s lifeless corpse finally collapsed, its momentum spent.

“Ugh, dust everywhere.”

I waved away the thick cloud of dirt and surveyed the surroundings. The once chaotic dungeon had fallen into an eerie silence. With the Swarm Lord gone, the remaining Void Spiders had become completely inert, having lost their queen.

Of course, the situation wasn’t entirely resolved yet.

Manager Mi’s words echoed in my mind. There was still one loose end to tie up.

Squeak…

The swarm queen dangled limply from my hand, its legs twitching weakly. Eliminating her would finally put an end to this endless wave of Void Spiders.

”…Hmm.”

Instead of killing the swarm queen instantly, I stared at the spider, its eight eyes rolling wildly, and stroked my chin with one hand. “It’d be a shame to just kill it outright.”

Human greed truly knows no bounds.

I had already upgraded my Fireball spell, fully restored the Dragon Spirit Iron Wire, and even unlocked the Soaring Dragon Divine Fist—a more than satisfactory outcome. Yet the thought of defeating the dungeon’s final boss without any reward left me hesitant.

So, I reopened MonMonWiki and meticulously reviewed the entries for the Swarm Lord and queen. However, there was no record of any specific rewards obtainable from the swarm queen.

“Tch.”

No choice then.

Clicking my tongue, I began infusing Mana into the Dragon Spirit Iron Wire when—

“Huh?”

Something strange began happening to the swarm queen trapped in my hand.

“What kind of disaster is this?”

Choi Jinho clicked his tongue as he climbed the winding mountain path.

He had received the call from Alliance Headquarters just ten minutes ago. One of the nearby dungeons had suddenly reached its critical instability threshold. His orders were clear: cancel the expedition immediately and provide support.

“Hah, you’re telling me,” Choi Jinho muttered, and the Bicheon Guild members following behind him chimed in one by one.

“I was really looking forward to today’s expedition…”

“You’re not the only one! It’s been a while since we landed a big one, and I went and splurged on the latest full suit on installment payments.”

The Second-Tier Dungeon Bicheon had secured for today’s expedition was notorious among Hunters for its laughably easy difficulty. Though the average monster threat level was C-Class, it offered abundant resources and minimal traps.

After fierce competition with numerous guilds, Choi Jinho had finally secured the expedition rights. But just as he arrived at the dungeon entrance, he received a call from Alliance Headquarters.

Things just keep going wrong lately, he thought.

He wasn’t far from reaching S-Rank, but recently, that goal felt impossibly distant. Nothing came easily anymore. The Venom Spore Gate on Yanghwa Bridge had been cleared before he could even lift a finger. The unprecedented manipulation scandal during his B-rank Promotion Examination. And now, today’s sudden dungeon rampage.

There’s no choice but to stay positive, Choi Jinho told himself, quickly clearing his mind.

Every cloud has a silver lining, they say.

This was a direct order from Alliance Headquarters.

Successfully clearing a raging dungeon would undoubtedly be a significant advantage during the S-Rank Promotion Examination. However, tackling a dungeon surging at a 1.5-tier level was an exceptionally dangerous undertaking.

“Vice Guild Leader, we’re approaching the coordinates designated by Alliance Headquarters,” a Bicheon Guild member called out as they navigated the mountain path.

Choi Jinho simply nodded. He already knew. Even in broad daylight, the surroundings were darkening as if shrouded in fog—a clear sign of an impending dungeon rampage. Mana leaking from the dungeon’s Dimensional Gate was encroaching upon the surrounding area.

“Ah, it’s been a while since we’ve faced a dungeon on the verge of raging,” Choi Jinho remarked.

“They said the gauge is at 1.5-tier. Let’s not let our guard down.”

“Shit, does that even make sense? How can a 5th-Tier Dungeon suddenly jump to a 1.5-Tier level…?”

As the Bicheon Guild members grumbled in discontent, a sinister light flashed ahead.

Kwaaaaaah!

Simultaneously, a massive mana surge erupted from the point where the light had flashed, radiating outward with overwhelming force.

Crack!

The mana wave crashed through the forest, toppling ancient trees and flattening thick undergrowth in its wake.

Choi Jinho reacted with lightning speed, drawing his spear and thrusting it forward.

Shwaaah!

The wedge-shaped spear in his hand unfurled like an umbrella, intercepting the onrushing mana surge.

Kwaaaaaah!

Only after the colossal mana wave had swept past them, devastating the surrounding landscape…

Choi Jinho and the Bicheon Guild members looked around, swallowing hard.

They were no longer standing on a secluded mountain path deep in Gangwon-do.

Instead, they found themselves in a muddy, squelching dungeon, surrounded by the corpses of Kobolds and unidentifiably charred monsters.

Has the encroachment begun?

The danger of a dungeon outbreak wasn’t just that it unleashed monsters into the mortal realm.

A rampaging dungeon literally breached the boundaries of reality.

Centered around the Dimensional Gate, it overlaid sections of the dungeon’s interior onto what had originally been Earth’s territory.

Therefore, if the outbreak wasn’t stopped swiftly, the land encroached upon by the Otherworld would never revert to its original form.

The area had transformed into a hellscape where even survival was a struggle for ordinary people.

That was exactly the situation they were in now.

If left unchecked, the entire Macheon region of Gangwon-do would become part of the Otherworld.

Just then…

Woooong…

A sinister resonance echoed from the distance.

Countless violet Dimensional Gates materialized near the Bicheon Guild members.

Kreeeeeeeeeak!

A chilling, ear-splitting shriek burst forth from the portals.

“V-Vice Guild Leader!”

“Th-that thing…!”

The Guild Members turned, their faces ashen as they cried out.

Choi Jinho also turned to look.

Kreeeeeeeeeak!

Giant spiders surged from the violet Dimensional Gates, charging straight toward them.

A massive swarm of spiders, so vast it resembled a stampeding herd of buffalo, charged toward them.

“What the hell is that?”

“I… I don’t know. I’ve never seen a monster like that before.”

“Ice Sphere!”

One of the Hunters immediately unleashed a sharp ice spear.

But even though the attack struck the lead spider squarely,

Shatter!

The ice spear shattered like glass, dealing no damage whatsoever.

“What…”

Choi Jinho and his Guild Members stared in stunned disbelief.

Ice Sphere was a B-rank skill, powerful enough to instantly crush most armored monsters.

The fact that it had dealt absolutely no damage meant…

The fact that these violet spiders, each the size of a dump truck, were classified as at least B-rank threats meant that each one was as formidable as a low-tier dungeon boss.

“Fucking hell, what the hell are those things?!”

“How tough are they if an Ice Sphere doesn’t even scratch them?!”

Amidst the chaotic panic of the Guild Members, Choi Jinho gritted his teeth and barked, “Prepare for battle!”

Now that they had been swallowed by the dungeon’s corruption, there was only one way to escape: defeat the dungeon’s boss and halt its rampage.

The Bicheon Guild Members, fully aware of this grim reality, reluctantly drew their weapons, despair etched across their faces.

“Shit, I should have at least called my wife…”

“Damn it, can we even hold out until reinforcements arrive?”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The ground trembled as if an earthquake were shaking it.

The swarm of spiders and the members of the Bicheon Guild were rapidly closing the distance.

Choi Jinho infused his spear with Mana.

Then, like a bolt of lightning, he surged forward toward the Void Spider at the front of the pack.

Kreeeeeeee!

The monster advanced relentlessly, its sharp, venomous fangs glinting menacingly.

As the distance narrowed until the tip of Choi Jinho’s spear was about to reach it…

Swish!

He thrust his spear straight at the creature’s forehead.

Clack!

The attack wasn’t a direct hit.

The sharp spearhead tore through half of the spider’s eye, leaving a deep gash.

Choi Jinho spun around, raising his toxin-covered spear, ready to parry the enraged creature’s counterattack.

But then…

“What the hell?”

Something bizarre had happened.

The monster Choi Jinho had just struck didn’t charge at him.

In fact, it wasn’t even there anymore.

Instead, the creature—

Screeeeeech!

As if the one who had attacked it didn’t matter in the slightest, the Void Spider continued its relentless charge in a single direction.

“What…?”

The attack wasn’t fatal, but it was powerful enough to hinder its movement. Yet the Void Spider, blood spraying from its torn head, didn’t slow down.

“W-what’s going on? It wasn’t targeting us?”

“Vice Guild Leader, these things are acting strangely! They’re not attacking us!”

The Bicheon Guild members, who had braced themselves for a fierce battle, were equally bewildered.

The swarm of Void Spiders brushed past the guild members without so much as a glance.

For a moment, everyone was stunned by this bizarre turn of events.

Then Choi Jinho suddenly realized something, and his eyes widened.

It’s not that they can’t resist.

They simply don’t care to.

They were rushing somewhere urgently, completely ignoring the guild members.

Ignoring his fallen comrade and his own near-fatal wounds, Choi Jinho stared intently at a distant point, as if compelled to rush there immediately. His gaze followed the direction in which dozens of Void Spiders were sprinting at full speed.

Only then did he notice something he had overlooked before.

About 500 meters ahead, beneath the sunset-hued sky of the dungeon’s inner dimension, a massive cloud of dust billowed from the top of a mud-caked hill. The swarm of Void Spiders pouring out of the Dimensional Gate was frantically scrambling up the slope toward it.

Could the boss be inside? Or… could it be something worse?

Choi Jinho conjured the worst possible scenario in his mind:

Are these spiders merging within that dust cloud to evolve into a higher-tier monster?

If that were true, he couldn’t afford to stand idly by. He had to catch up with them and thin their ranks as much as possible.

Emerald Mana seeped into Choi Jinho’s eyes, activating an enhanced version of Clairvoyance that allowed him to instantly grasp distant situations.

He needed to assess the situation more thoroughly.

His vision expanded momentarily, encompassing the entire dungeon, before narrowing to the perspective of an eagle diving through a dust cloud.

Clutching his spear tightly and gritting his teeth, he focused intently on the scene within the swirling dust.

“Huh?”

Choi Jinho’s mouth hung agape in stunned disbelief.