Chapter 4

"It seems the dungeon's map has changed. Our first clear was a forest, however we're now situated in a mansion," Rion loudly uttered the words to everybody.

Though everyone had analyzed the recording of the first clear in advance, no one was sure except for Rion if this had been there before.

"Mansion… Usually the enemies in a residency would range from the undead to humanoids with consciousness," Larsson in the lead of the hunters stated. For this hunt, he'd be the Lead Berserker.

"Hypothesis: Bipedal enemies with intelligence. Notes: Traps, ambushes, are to be wary of. It would be wise to strategize our next plans of action," a green haired woman wearing glasses at the center of the formation of hunters stated. She was named Ryoha, a japanese woman in charge as the Lead Mage.

They were currently at a hall, the mansion doors right behind them.

The blue-haired male hunter next to Larsson stopped the advancing hunters with a gesture. His name was Alessandro and was the Lead Archer.

He took out his bow and carefully walked towards open corners and halls from the far side, checking for clearance.

"Weirdly… there's no monsters…"

"Hypothesis: Intelligent creatures very, very likely. The suggested course of action would be to stay together to prevent ambushes. Formation should be phalanx styled. The tanks should form a curved shield wall," the japanese woman said in one breath and continued once again,

"Note: In case of a boulder roll trap, it is recommended for mages to have their magics ready in case of such a situation. To prevent flanks from the back, it is recommended for berserkers to divide themselves behind the tanks and at the rearguard. Mages, Archers, Healers are to remain in the center."

The hunters all went to their respective places. Rion was put at the rearguard.

If nothing went wrong, he'd be the safest. However, if everything went wrong, he'd be responsible for the lives of everybody else.

In short, he'd been given an important position; though no position was unimportant as the cooperation of everyone was of utmost importance for success.

…

…

A team filled with B-Rank hunters and A-Rank hunters would have absolutely no problem in a B-Ranked Dungeon. Of course, though this dungeon was a peculiarity, the expected result was still true.

The hunters had no problem clearing the dungeon, especially with every single human in full concentration of being in an unusual dungeon.

With Ryoha's unusual genius, Larsson's melee prowess, and Alessandro's meticulous attention, the clearance seemed like field-day to the party of hunters.

As expected, the monsters had been undead knighted warriors but were accompanied by ferocious bats and rats. For each monster there was its corresponding mini-boss. An Undead Knight Captain, an albino giant bat, and a king rat.

The final boss of the dungeon would most probably be the master of a dungeon. A bipedal supermonster was to be expected.

Most thought it would be a necromancer based on the fact that unintelligent undead warriors had fought them in an organized manner.

"Be careful everyone. It was when we entered the boss room that we found the Sentinel."

Everyone in the party knew of the terrifying existence that was the Sentinel. It had become the largest topic in the world and also the main reason why so many high end A-Rank hunters were dispatched to a B-Class dungeon rather than an A-Class one.

The hunters tensed entering the Boss room. Even through the recording they could sense the terrifying power of the blank, robotic-like humanoid.

The boss room would be the main hall of the mansion. The atmosphere was very strange and hair-raising. No hunter would willingly wander in such a place by themselves.

What they expected to happen but desperately wished not to happen greeted them immediately upon entering the room.

For the first time, the high rankers felt the terror the first clearers had gone through.

[Sentinel]: Ah, I see stronger humans have joined this time around… Well, the more the merrier.

Though the Sentinel had offered no hostility so far, no hunter dared to let their guard down.

Afterall, this being had the power to wipe them out.

[Sentinel]: Hmm… This time you'll need to go through me first to kill the boss of this dungeon…

A pit formed in the stomach of all the hunters. They had to kill that monstrosity?

Almost immediately, the Sentinel spoke again.

[Sentinel]: Let's see. I'll revive you three… and give you a headless warrior to help out. Since the humans have mages, it would only be fair for a Banshee to fight them back…

As the words cut through into the ears of the hunters, presences filled with mana began flying through to the outstretched hands of the Sentinel.

The Undead Knight, the Albino Bat, and the Rat King had returned.

Their previously dead eyes opened again to show a glaring ferocious crimson red. If it were not for the Sentinel's restraining hands, the despicable monsters would have long gone to ravage the rankers.

The hunters warily stood in a fighting stance.

Not long after, a Dullahan elegantly walked towards them; albeit missing its symbolic dark stallion.

However, the Banshee that had been summoned was not visible to them. The hunters wished such a thing wouldn't fight them, but they knew the Sentinel would not lie.

"Tanks, usual positions at the front. Berserkers, protect the mages and healers. Archers, kite the motherfuckers. We've already killed them once, we'll kill them again," Larsson snarled orders to the hunters in a strict but calm fashion.

The blue haired archer, Alessandro remarked, "Everyone, be wary of the Banshee. Mages please set up sound curse barriers to protect against screeches. The Dullahan will be difficult to fight, Rion, please fight it for us."

Rion quickly raised his sword he had quickly began to trust and admire and calmly strode towards the elegantly still Dullahan.

[Sentinel]: Now humans, please begin the fight.

Immediately as the Sentinel's inhuman arms unclenched, the fury of the monsters was unshackled. The three revived monsters were in a state of permanent Berserk after having being revived from death, the hunters would not have such an easy time killing monsters on steroids.

Rion swiped his sword towards the floor and cautiously approached the Dullahan.

The headless horseman raised its massive sword and a giant blade of titanic proportions pierced the ground which Rion had been standing on from the sky.

"...Fucking bas—," interrupted from his curses, the Dullahan rushed the flustered Rion with abnormal agility.

Barely blocking the massive blade that was wielded with one hand by the Dullahan with the Dread sword in a two-handed grip, Rion kicked the Dullahan's strong chestplate.

With his superhuman strength, the Dullahan naturally was pushed back.

Rion jumped back to regain his breath and composure. Having achieved a few milliseconds of respite, Rion decided to take the initiative this time.

The berserker ranker swung his blade at the Dullahan who had no choice but to block the quickly traversing sword with his own massive sword.

Rion feinted a kick to the Dullahan's knees and used the momentum from his fake to swing at the Dullahan from the closed distance.

The headless knight barely evaded the first swing, but Rion's second swing struck the headless knight with the added power of the first swing.

The Dullahan was sent shooting behind and with a thud crashed against the wall. His armor had been chipped though many steps away from shattering.

The cold B-Ranker rapidly approached the Dullahan and once again struck with his sword.

The Dullahan, however, was willing to receive damage to its armor. Letting the blade strike its armor and chipping it even further, the Dullahan lunged at Rion and attempted to bisect the ranker in half.

Rion avoided the attack, but once again narrowly avoided a massive sword that had planted itself where he was previously.

It seemed the Dullahan's sword could also summon gigantic swords that would strike wherever it wanted. Seeing as it was not spamming that same move, Rion assumed there was a cooldown to such an overpowered skill.

Though Rion was curious to see how the others were doing, looking away would mean certain death. He could only pray that they were doing well and do his best to quickly defeat the headless knight.

Rion rushed to the now inelegant knight with certain ferocity in his movements and once again swung at the Dullahan.

Noticing an opening from the swordsman, the Dullahan quickly struck the weak point of Rion's stance.

The bait had been taken. Rion spinned to dodge the attack and add momentum to his strike. For even more power, he coated the Dread sword with Mana. His sword cut towards the back of the Dullahan.

However, the Dullahan had long ago expected this to be a bait and rammed into Rion with his shoulder. Though its armor still took damage, Rion was sent smashing towards the wall.

Coughing blood and with a dizzy expression debated whether hitting the Dullahan's armor had been worth it.

The Dullahan slowly approached the Rion who was still recovering from the stun smash.

"...What a bastard,"

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" The Dullahan spoke for the first time.

"Fucker, I kissed your mom with this mouth."

The Dullahan chuckled at the warrior who he thought admirably cold and quiet.

"Seems like I hit you pretty hard for someone like you to suddenly start cursing."

"Shit, I hit your mother hard from the back. I'll fucking kill you."

The headless warrior derisively laughed.

"Hey, fucker."

The Dullahan turned to look at Rion's bloodshot eyes radiating a terrifying lust for blood.

"...Shit."

Rion smashed his heel against the enemy's kneecap which prompted the Dullahan to stagger towards the floor.

Radiating Mana in his fist, he uppercutted the falling Dullahan's chestpiece. Feeling a satisfactory crack in the armor of the enemy, Rion sent a downward hammerfist with crackling mana in his fist.

The Dullahan fell towards the floor having a cracked hole in its chestplate armor.

Knowing the battle was far from over, Rion evaded the mana explosion coming from inside the Dullahan's chest.

With enough space between the two, Rion let himself regain his breath.

"...Ah. Usually that would do it…"

As the smoke cleared, Rion noticed the Dullahan's helmet hidden inside the chestplate.

"Don't ask how I got my head in here," the warrior pointed at his head snugly positioned inside his armor, "it took me a few hours."

A Dullahan's weak spot was in its head. It was the first time any Dullahan had ever hidden its head inside their chestplate; usually due to pride and a warrior's honor, a Dullahan would have its head out.

"Why so quiet again?" The Dullahan asked as it shot towards Rion with impossible speeds.

Rion narrowly blocked the massive blade which originally was easier to block as it was being used one-handedly; however now with two hands, the force blasted him crashing towards a wall.

Rolling away to dodge the relentless blade that assaulted him once again, Rion had to jump backwards desperately to evade the gigantic sword planted where he was.

Impeding Rion from recovering, the horseman pierced towards Rion's heart with his massive sword.

"You better block with your sword…"

However, what the Dullahan expected did not happen. The young talent that knew the Dullahan would keep rushing him dodged towards the Dullahan and pierced towards the head with his own blade.

The Dullahan had overextended.

A squelch sounded as Rion's attack successfully met its destination.

Rion twisted his blade inside the Dullahan's weak point as it struggled ferociously.

With a stronger stab, the Dullahan ceased movement and fell towards Rion's body. He unstuck his sword and allowed the Dullahan to fall towards the floor.

Just immediately after, a horrifying ear-piercing screech sounded next to his ear.

Combined with mana as a sound curse, the barrier was able to detect its presence and successfully block the curse. However, the mana injected in the curse exploded and ragdolled Rion, smashing towards the other hunters.

Rion couldn't hold back the blood pooling inside his insides and vomited out the internal bleeding.

The Lead Healer hurriedly casted the Healing spell on Rion who kept vomiting his blood.

Rion stared at the direction of the Banshee's attack and noticed the Dullahan beginning to rise up again.

His eyes sharpened and tensed at the slain Dullahan's puppet-like moves.