Kwaaang!

Kiiiiiii!

Though operating at only 10% power, it was enough to alter the trajectory of the oncoming Lee Mooki.

Kuguuguung!

A deafening roar ripped through the air, shaking the ground violently. The undead Lee Mooki crashed into the left wall of the cavern.

Choi Jinho, barely escaping the crisis, landed safely and stared at me in shock.

“Lee Taejun… you…”

“I’ll buy you a drink later.”

”…”

I shook off the hand I’d been charging the Fireball with and shifted my gaze.

Meanwhile, the Lich, who had been observing from the air, turned its skull-like head toward me and spoke.

Intriguing. That’s no ordinary Fireball.

”…”

You’re special. I’ll leave your bones intact and make you one of my servants.

With a flourish of its skull staff, the Lich unleashed its power.

Tatatak!

From beneath the pitch-black mist engulfing the lich, pure white skeleton soldiers erupted.

The skeletons began to advance, brandishing rusty polearms.

Kiiiii!

“Ugh!”

Lee Mooki, who had emerged from the wall, charged at Choi Jinho once more.

Yet Choi Jinho was still an active A-rank Hunter.

Clang! Crack-crackle!

With calm precision, he swung his short spear, deflecting Lee Mooki’s fangs.

I glared at the struggling Jinhyuk and the approaching skeleton soldiers as I barked, “Kim Junhyun, how long are you going to stand there spacing out?!”

“Ah, s-sorry, hyung!” Junhyun, who had been frozen in shock, finally snapped to his senses.

“Cover me so the skeletons can’t swarm Choi Jinho.”

“Yes, hyung!”

“Do you still have the Mana I gave you?”

“If we conserve our energy, we can launch a few projectiles. But even if I can cover Jinhyuk-sunbae, those skeletons closing in…”

“I’ll handle them.”

I turned to see Kang Gun standing there.

His face was pale, but his eyes were clear and focused. He must have regained consciousness after Choi Jinho set him down.

“How’s your leg?”

“It’s not great, but we don’t have time to worry about that now.”

Kang Gun glared at the skeletons advancing toward us and assumed a fighting stance.

Thud!

He immediately kicked off his left leg, lunging toward the lead skeleton and delivering a decisive strike.

Whoosh!

A sharp, curved kick flashed through the air.

Pow!

A crackling explosion echoed, sounding like a sandbag bursting.

Clatter!

The skeleton’s bones shattered and disintegrated under the impact of the kick.

His movements were so swift, it was hard to believe he’d injured his leg.

His abilities were indeed commendable.

Whoosh!

Junhyun also began to exhale Breath to cover Choi Jinho.

Crackle!

The skeletons caught in the wave of flames writhed, their bones charring black as they stumbled.

Good.

This should hold the line for now.

Now all that remained was Yoo Se-rin.

“I’m going to die… I’m going to die here…” she whimpered, tears streaming down her face. “If I’d known it would end like this, I never would have taken that promotion exam… I should have listened to Yeonha unnie…”

Sigh, that’s no good.

A useless potato in this situation is out of the question.

I immediately approached Yoo Se-rin, who was trembling with unfocused eyes, and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her as I brought my face close to hers.

“Yoo Se-rin! Hunter Yoo Se-rin!”

Her head swayed weakly.

But the more violently it shook, the more her dilated pupils began to contract and return to normal.

“Huh…?!”

“Snap out of it. How can you lose your composure over something so trivial?”

“Ah, I… I…”

“I’ve heard plenty about you since my porter days. The next Ice Witch, they said. The fastest A-rank candidate ever. I thought you were someone truly remarkable—someone overflowing with talent and dedication.”

“Th-that…”

“But look at you now? There are guys with less talent than you fighting out there, giving it their all.”

Yoo Se-rin’s eyes fell on Choi Jinho, locked in fierce combat with an undead Lee Mooki, and Kang Gun, stubbornly fending off swarms of skeletons.

I turned toward Kim Junhyun, who was unleashing his Breath to cover them.

“Ah.”

“This entire assessment is a trap targeting you or Kang Gun, the Hunter.”

“Targeting me…”

“We, innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire, are giving it our all. But how can you just stand there like that?”

“I’m sorry…”

“Apologies aren’t necessary. Do what you need to do now.”

The light gradually returned to her eyes as she stared at me.

“I’ll get myself together. With so many incomprehensible things happening one after another, I just… lost my way.”

Even though she’d been raised like a hothouse flower, she was also the youngest rookie challenging for B-rank.

Serine soon asked me, her eyes regaining their sharp focus:

“What can I do?”

Considering her physical condition, she clearly didn’t have enough mana to use any large-scale attack skills.

In that case…

“Ice Link.”

A B-rank skill that rapidly freezes the ground around the caster.

For now, that should immobilize the skeletons’ feet.

“Use it to freeze as wide an area around us as possible. We need to restrict their movements.”

Yoo Se-rin nodded and immediately created an ice crystal imbued with mana in her hand.

She plunged the crystal straight into the ground.

Thud!

A wave of icy energy erupted from her, and the earth began to freeze.

Crackle!

The marching skeleton soldiers visibly slowed.

This should buy us some more time.

But even so, it was only about ten minutes.

Hoping for external intervention during that time was impossible.

Therefore…

I absolutely must defeat the Lich.

No matter how many skeletons I annihilated, it would all be for naught as long as the Lich remained alive.

Yet, as far as I knew, the Lich’s physical form was impervious to most attacks, leaving it completely unscathed.

Still, should I try? What I know might be wrong.

I checked my remaining mana reserves.

Without hesitation, I raised my left hand and aimed at the Lich.

Whoosh!

After channeling 100 mana:

Thoom!

I hurled a fiercely burning fireball at the creature.

Screeech!

The cerulean mass of flames streaked across the pure white skulls and frozen earth like a meteor.

Thud!

Skeletons caught in the flames collapsed, their bones charring black as they hit the ground. A single trail of fire blazed across the frost-covered earth.

But…

“Foolish.”

The lich didn’t dodge.

Even as the raging flames surged to within inches of his nose, he merely narrowed his eyes, a sneer playing on his features.

Boom!

The lich’s body shattered into fragments upon impact with the fireball, his remains scattering in all directions.

“Huh…?”

Yoo Se-rin, who had been focused on casting the spell, froze in shock.

Her basic skill had somehow bypassed the lich’s high magic immunity and struck him directly.

But I never took my eyes off the direction where the lich had vanished.

“Hehehe, futile.”

Right.

After all, destroying the lich’s “physical body” was meaningless, no matter how thoroughly it was done.

“Your magic… it wasn’t just a simple 1st-circle Fireball after all, was it? And your contractor was so careless. To throw such an interesting research subject into my hands, hide in the Screaming Pit, control subordinate demons, and then retreat to your dimension!

The voice echoed from slightly behind the spot where the lich had vanished.

“Well, I never intended to hide or enslave that so-called White Ghost Lee Mooki alive anyway.”

Swish.

Dark mist coalesced, and the lich reappeared, completely unharmed. His eyes glinted coldly as a low, raspy chuckle escaped him.

“Despair, but don’t even think about fleeing. The moment I teleported you here, I sealed this chamber, cutting off all external connections.”

He was far more talkative than expected.

Since he was confident no one could understand him, Lich freely divulged the information.

In any case, based on Lich’s account, let’s briefly summarize the current situation.

It’s now certain that there was a force manipulating the assessment from the beginning.

However, they didn’t want Lich to take center stage.

If Lich’s existence were revealed, it would expose the manipulation of the assessment.

Their plan was for all four members of Team 4 to fail their objectives and be eliminated during the assessment, defeated by the Thousand-Year White Snake under Lich’s control.

At worst, they would have settled for eliminating them at the Thousand-Year Weapon level.

Everything had to happen within the framework of the originally scheduled “B-rank assessment,” with Kang Gun and Yoo Se-rin being helplessly eliminated.

And their defeat would be broadcast to the public unfiltered via live streaming.

“There have been cases before where the monsters used in the trials were deliberately strengthened to create a false sense of difficulty, providing ample loopholes to cover up any manipulation.”

To brazenly manipulate things to this extent…

The group rigging the trials must have long-standing connections with several high-ranking officials at the Alliance headquarters.

If they were to issue a statement under the Trial Management Department’s name, claiming they “merely adjusted the difficulty slightly to match Kang Gun and Yoo Se-rin’s skill level,”

they could easily conceal the extent of their manipulation.

In such a scenario, any failure to complete the trial could be blamed on the individual shortcomings of the 4th Group members.

“That is, if all members of the 4th Group fail during the trial, and the lich returns to its home dimension unnoticed by anyone.”

In other words, the current situation.

The Ice Demon Lee Mooki, originally the boss monster of this trial, hadn’t merely been subdued—it had become undead.

Nor was it the manipulator’s intention for the lich to appear before us in person.

Judging by the lich’s words, the entire 4 trillion won had been temporarily summoned into the boss room.

The blocked escape routes and our complete isolation from the outside world were also the result of the lich’s unilateral actions.

And the likely culprit behind all of this…

It’s probably me.

By dealing with the Thousand-Year White Snakes too easily, I had inadvertently drawn the lich’s attention to the trial participants.

The situation had spiraled completely out of control, drifting far from the manipulator’s original plan.

But I stopped my train of thought there.

That was enough to assess the situation.

I narrowed my eyes, staring intently at the lich, who stood before us unscathed.

“As expected, ordinary methods won’t damage him.”

No matter how powerful my skills or attacks, obliterating him seems impossible.

The lich’s true form isn’t actually that skeletal mage.

It’s an object called the Sacred Relic, or Life Vessel.

“But I don’t see anything in this boss room that resembles an object.”

The Life Vessel is the source of his power.

Therefore, it must be located relatively close to the lich.

A hint.

Is there anything that could serve as a clue?

“Wait.”

Suddenly, something peculiar caught my eye.

I stared intently at the dungeon map.

“The position of the crown-shaped dot hasn’t changed.”

The red dots representing monsters were moving chaotically.

But the crown-shaped dot representing the lich boss…

That alone remained stubbornly fixed in place.

Even though the Lich, who had been annihilated by the Fireball, reappeared in an entirely different location.

I shifted my gaze to the crown-shaped marker blinking on the dungeon map, indicating his true position:

Atop the altar in the center of the boss room, etched with a hexagram.

Yet there was nothing unusual to be seen there.

And then there was another thing.

A hidden word embedded in the Lich’s parting taunt:

“So I should hide in the Screaming Caves, commanding subordinate demons, and crawl back to my original dimension?”

The Screaming Caves.

That’s got to be a hidden cave.

“Manager Mi.”

Yes, Taegoon-nim!

“Can you render the navigation map in 3D?”

Absolutely! Would you like me to do that now?

“Right away.”

Displaying 3D terrain of the Demon Sealing Cave with Parsley Navigation.

The entire layout of the Demon Sealing Cave materialized before my eyes in three-dimensional form.

A smile curled at the corner of my lips.

“As expected.”

It was exactly as I’d anticipated. The Sacred Relic was located there.

I extended my left arm toward the lich, charging a Fireball at my fingertips.

Whoosh!

The orb of flame crackled fiercely, sucking in the surrounding air as it whirled.

Foolish creature. No matter how powerful your magic may be, it is useless against this body.

Don’t worry. I’m not targeting you this time.

As the remaining Mana in the Fireball concentrated, I shifted the focus of my fingertips, which had been aimed at the lich.

Instead, I directed them downward—toward the altar inscribed with a hexagram.

After aiming, I cast Fireball.

“Huh?”

Fwoooom!

The fireball shot from my fingertips, arcing past Junhyun—weakened and pale from mana exhaustion—and narrowly missing Kang Gun, who was kneeling and catching his breath.

Craack!

It tore through the frozen ground and the advancing skeletal army.

Whoosh!

It slammed into the altar, striking the six-pointed star pattern perfectly.

“W-what?! How…?”

Amidst the flying dust and shattered rocks, the Lich’s panicked voice rang out through the acrid smoke.

But then…

Thud!

I had already darted forward like lightning, surging through the path cleared by the fireball.

“S-stop him! Stop that bastard!”

Leaving Lich’s urgent orders behind, I dove into the hole beneath the altar, shattered by the Fireball strike.

Crack!

In the chaos, the action cam on my suit was torn off and completely destroyed against the debris.

Whoosh!

Sliding down almost vertically like riding a slide for about ten seconds…

Thud!

I landed in the center of a small room, remarkably similar to the place where the ‘key’ had been hidden earlier. The space was no larger than ten square meters.

And in the middle of it…

“Found it.”

Hiss…

Sat a Bone Chamber, radiating a pitch-black aura.

I immediately rushed over to grab it.

“How…”

By a hair’s breadth, a sinister voice echoed from behind me.

“How did you discover the existence of a Sacred Relic beneath this place?”

Turning, I saw pitch-black mist flowing into the hole I had fallen through.

The mist swiftly coalesced into a skeletal wizard, its eyes glowing with eerie blue light.

“This is the Dungeon’s Secret Chamber, known only to Contractors. To conceal all killing intent and traces, I’ve stationed no subordinates here… yet you’ve somehow infiltrated it!”

The wizard radiated murderous intent, as if ready to pounce and kill me.

Yet it couldn’t easily close the distance.

For I was holding the Sacred Relic—more precisely, its heart.

At that moment, the battle’s outcome was sealed.

And with the Bone Chamber clutched to my side, I manipulated a function on the Current Status Window.

The “Simultaneous Interpreter” converted the caster’s speech into Ancient Turkic, the long-extinct language of the Dekameron dimension.

“Anyway, there’s no point in asking you anything… you…”

“Ah, ah. Can you understand me?”

”?!?”

The Lich’s glowing eyes constricted like a startled cat.

“How… how do you know the language of that ancient empire… that’s been dead for so long…?”

“That’s none of your concern.”

“So, he’s not a normal human after all. I don’t know what’s going on, but if that’s the case…”

“Ah, stop opening your mouth already.”

He gently placed his fist against the Bone Chamber tucked under his arm.

“Or shall I break it?”

The Lich’s glowing eyes shrank to about half their previous size.