Chapter 34: The Third Stage (4)

Raydel wiped the blood and sweat off of his face. But does Han need the power of Valkyrie? Well, he's already so strong; let's just share this one with Sheryl. He thought to himself.

Since there were no enemies left around, the hunters jumped down from the roof. Everyone was still shocked after witnessing Sheryl's one-man show. They breathed a sigh of relief once they noticed she was standing amidst the bodies with the sword still shining in her hand.

"Did we clear the dungeon?!"

"The boss is dead. The boss is dead!"

"Where's the exit?!"

They were all exhausted, but the excitement had them shouting and jumping up and down happily. Then, a message box appeared above their heads.

[Successfully met the condition 'defeat the boss'. The final boss will now be awakened.]

The hunters' jaws dropped.

"Huh? The final boss?"

"What does that mean? We still haven't cleared the dungeon?!"

"This is absurd!"

Now they were bawling.

Raydel sighed tiredly. He was not surprised that there was still more. Since Valkyrie appeared without the Wild Hunt, he thought it could be just a distraction. And he was right. They still had to fight the real boss of the dungeon.

The real boss, the boss of the Wild Hunt.

And if he guessed it right…

"Someone who's related to Valkyrie," Raydel said to himself. "Odin, the god of the Norse."

The others were left stunned.

"What? Odin?!"

"You're kidding, right?"

"How can we win against Odin?! How is he even related to this dungeon?"

"It's because the monsters on the horses are the Wild Hunt," Raydel explained to them and smiled awkwardly. Right, how can we fight him? It was a god of all the gods they were talking about.

Odin represented a lot of things, such as magic, battle, knowledge, healing, war, and various others. He could even see the future. Raydel could already imagine how difficult it would be to fight him, especially when Odin was the boss of the Wild Hunt. The god might even possess the power to summon bad luck and death.

As he was contemplating how to fight Odin, he heard a sound.

'No.'

Raydel stopped his thought. Cthulhu?

'No, it's not.'

"..." Raydel whispered to himself. "What do you mean? No? Not Odin?"

Cthulhu did not respond. Raydel touched his chin, confused as to why Cthulhu, out of nowhere, decided to tell him he was wrong. Could Cthulhu know what the dungeon's boss was? Had he knew all this time but never helped? What an asshole.

"I don't think Odin will be the boss of a C-ranked dungeon. Is it even possible? Something must be wrong," the other hunters started saying. "If those monsters really are the Wild Hunt, the boss can be something else."

"Right, but does anybody wonder where all the people from the Hunter Guild have gone? Too many people have died. They need to cancel the exam now!"

When one person said it out loud, the rest agreed. They had just realized it.

"You're right. Not a single one of them is here. Where have they gone?!"

The hunters tried to look around for the Hunter Guild staff, but all they found was the emptiness of the winter and nighttime.

"Hey, is there any staff here?!"

The shout echoed back. Then, everything fell silent again, so quiet in a terrifying way. The hunters collectively slumped their shoulders.

"What should we do?"

"Follow the message box," Sheryl said.

"What?"

"It's the only way, isn't it? Follow the message box. It says we need to follow it to find the boss, which means it'll lead us there for sure. We defeat the boss and we can get out of here."

Panic spread among them, and one of them changed the topic.

"Actually, we haven't tried looking at the entrance yet, right?"

"Right. Let's go see if the gate is still at the entrance. If itis, we can just get out."

Of course, when everyone went to the entrance area, all they found was emptiness. The gate had disappeared, meaning there was no way to get out of there except to follow the Wild Hunt to the boss at the center of the dungeon. Many of them lost the will to fight, but when they saw Sheryl was still standing bravely with the exquisite sword in her hand, they felt a glimmer of hope.

At least she could probably carry them to victory!

Eventually, everyone had no choice but to follow the Wild Hunt into the forest. It was densely packed with trees, with only faint moonlight to guide them. After a while, they emerged from the forest and found themselves in an open field with ruins standing in front of them. It looked dilapidated, as if it had lost a battle against time.

"Hey, is that a human?! That uniform… the people from the Hunter Guild!"

One of the hunters was so excited to see other humans that he ran to the person who was sitting down, resting his head against the ruins. But when he reached there, he cried out loudly.

Sheryl rushed after him. What she saw shocked her. Raydel was running after her and saw what had happened. He felt sick in his stomach.

It was a dead body.

And beyond this one, countless bodies of the Guild's staff were lying on the ground, dead.

"What is this? What does this mean?"

"The Guild's staff are all dead?"

"Who killed them? What's going on!?"

Everyone was disgusted by the scene. The only explanation was that they had been dead since the test started. That was why a number of hunters were left to die in this brutal dungeon. They began to wonder who was behind all of this. The thought had them all shivering. The darkness surrounding them appeared even more daunting. Nobody knew what else was hiding in it.

Thud.

One of the hunters startled as he heard footsteps. He pointed his sword at the darkness.

The Wild Hunt stepped out from the darkness. There were nine of them.

[The nameless hunters]

[Level: 70]

Finally, they learned the name of these monsters. The nameless hunters encircled the surviving hunters, who stood back-to-back, frozen in fear. Yet, the monsters did not attack. They just stood their ground. The horses, with their glowing eyes, panted as if they could not hold back their desire to trample over the hunters anymore. The wolves and hounds quietly closed in on them as well.

Sheryl stood in front of everyone. She raised her sword and looked down anxiously, readying herself for a fight.

Yet, the nameless hunters stood still. Then, they moved aside, making way for someone.

When Raydel looked behind them, he saw a woman seated on the ruins. Both of her hands were covered in blood, and traces of it were on her body. She threw a dagger in her hand just for fun before looking up. A legendary artifact she wore as a necklace shimmered and gleamed brightly.

"...Christa?" Raydel murmured.

Before this.

'Take it. You're going to need it.'

'An artifact…?'

'A legendary artifact.'

'What's its power?'

'You'll know.'

…

The legendary artifact possessed the power of Odin, the king of the Wild Hunt.

Christa had no idea how her mother had obtained it. It looked so elegant and expensive. She did not think it could be easily found in the Hunter Guild's marketplace. However, when she took it, she could sense that this legendary artifact was different from the other artifacts she had known.

When she examined it closely, it seemed as if its surface could move. It had an eye that stared back at her, looking just like an illusion. When she blinked, it disappeared. All that remained in the palm of her hand was an artifact that radiated a faint aura.

Even though it contained the power of Odin, it was not his real power. Instead, it felt like a mere 'scent' of a fraction of his power. The power of Odin had been diminished to a small amount of its origin strength, allowing her amateur body to handle it. It would not make her excessively powerful, but just enough to control the nameless hunters.

That was her duty, controlling these monsters and accelerating the mutation of the dungeon.

That was her mother's request.

For a moment, when her mother told her to 'accelerate the mutation of the dungeon and disregard any hunters in the test', she questioned herself. What had happened to her? Her mother's order meant that she would have to kill so many people, but her heart was so calm. There was not even an ounce of fear. Instead, she felt a perverse sense of joy in the act of killing.

When did it begin? Was it since her mother recovered from the accident? Christa sensed that several things changed completely, things between her mother and herself. When her mother sat quietly, looking at the trees outside the hospital, she felt some sorrow in her. It was as if her mother was reminiscing about her late husband.

That sorrow started to grab a hold of her heart as well. It seeped through her emotion effortlessly.

Christa started crying not long after. She felt great sadness over the loss of her father. But mom's still here. She tried to tell herself, repeatedly consoling her beaten heart. Still, she kept crying. She was so young back then. She did not understand why this horrible thing had to happen to her family. Was it a punishment from God? Was it because she had a fight with her mother and hurt her feelings before they went to the restaurant? Was it because she questioned the identity of God at the church? Was it… because she felt something with women?

Disgusting. Revolting.

Christa was so afraid that something bad would happen again. She feared that this was not the end, and fear drove her to cling to anything she could grab.

Perhaps it was the God she worshiped.

Or the God her mother whispered about in her ear every day.

That was the only way to help with her fear.

She plunged deeper and too far gone into the maze from unknown moments.

Her mother's whisperings were no longer enough. She started to have some disturbing request. Christa was so afraid that if she disobeyed or treated her mother too harshly, something awful might happen again. Then, she'd lose her mother and be forsakened in this lonely, cruel world.

She did not want to lose her mother.

Fear could drive people to do things they would never dare.

It probably started when she looked into the eyes of that small animal before killing it and cooked it for her mother.

Once she started, she could never stop.

Christa found herself unable to stop. She started to love the smell of blood.

'Once the dungeon mutates, you'll definitely find him right away,' her mother had said.

Christa held onto those words in her mind. Her mother had given her a stone, saying it was a 'gift' form someone who would be proud of her.

When she took it, she could sense the chilly aura it emitted. She did not know whom the gift was from, but it possessed the power that could mutate the dungeon without waiting for twenty-four hours.

Why would her mother want the dungeon to mutate?

But she would never ask. If it mutated, she would meet Han.

When she thought about his face, she could not help but smile.

We'll finally meet.

Christa thought about this all the time, from her house all the way to this dungeon. She thought about it throughout the negotiation with the Hunter Guild that had tried to send her back. Then, she found herself in the dungeon with blood in her hands.

Now… she just needed to use the stone.

Christa clutched it so tightly in her fist that it began to crack.

As soon as the object in Christa's hand broke, everything around them disappeared. They now found themselves standing in the midst of the downtown area.

Raydel was confused, and the other hunters looked around with the same feeling. The dungeon had disappeared. What stood in front of them now was the downtown area packed with ordinary people. They looked up from their phones, perplexed. They exchanged their glances, wondering what was going on.

Behind everyone, the sky was in complete darkness. No cloud. No stars. No sunlight.

Christa smiled widely and murmured.

"When will they appear?"

A moment of silence followed. Then, she smirked and said, "Bang," as she did a finger gun.

The nameless hunters started charging right at the downtown!

Chaos immediately exploded. People screamed. In that blink of an eye, weapons cut through fleshes, causing blood to spray in all direction. The people ran around for their lives as a message box appeared above everyone.

[I said don't run.]

"You guys, stop the monsters!" Sheryl commanded the hunters.

Though shocked and unwilling, they followed her order and rushed to position themselves between the townspeople and the monsters. As the fight went on, Raydel looked at Christa. The stone in her hand shone brightly and every time it dimmed, the nameless hunters would slow down, as if affected by the stone. That made him believe that as long as she touched the stone, the nameless hunters would continue their rampage.

The area was filled with chaos and bloodshed. Raydel summoned the Plague Doctor and told him to protect the people. Then, he ran toward Christa.

As she looked up, he punched her face with all his strength!

"...!"

Christa fell to the ground, her eyes widening in shock as she tried to speak. "You…!" Raydel yanked her by the collar and punched her again!

Blood appeared at the corner of her mouth. She kicked him, trying to break free from his grip. Christa fought like her life was on the line. She pulled his hair and tried to slam his head onto the ground while the other hand hid the stone away. Raydel gritted his teeth, his heart pounding like a drum. He did not understand why the nameless hunters considered her their queen. She must have something that made her almost as powerful as Odin. It could be the artifact she was wearing.

However, she was truly the one behind all these crazy situations.

She was the reason why so many people died.

Raydel had never did something like this. But in this kind of situation, he had to grab her neck and squeeze to stop everything.

"Kaf!" Christa coughed, struggling to gasp for air. She twisted and hit his stomach with her knees. It hurt, but he would never give up. He had to… he had to kill her.

Raydel made the decision to summon the dagger, and at that very moment, as he was about to stab her…

"...!"

A nameless hunter grabbed him and threw him away from Christa!

Raydel cried in pain as his back crashed into the ground. Meanwhile, Christa, who was massaging her bruised neck, chased after him and sat on top of him. She smirked like a madman and leaned in closer.

"You summon your boss with your tongue, right?"

Christa covered his mouth. He bit her hands, drawing a lot of blood but she did not budge.

Her blood filled Raydel's mouth, causing him to choked on its bitter taste. Christa let out a soft laugh and whispered.

"If I cut your tongue off, you won't be able to summon your boos ever again. Am I right?"

She pulled out her dagger. It glistened and reflected the light of the downtown.

"Stay still so it won't hurt," she said softly.

Christa tilted her head and pushed her fingers into his mouth. She dragged out his blood-covered tongue as he tried to resist. She lowered her dagger. Her cheeks flushed with satisfaction. Her gaze softened as she dreamed of meeting 'him' after getting rid of Raydel.

Christa was so overwhelmed by the happiness that she could not help but pressed the dagger on Raydel's cheek and cut open a little wound. She smiled when he flinched in fear.

"I'll dissect you to pieces…"

Suddenly, Christa heard some footsteps.

She immediately looked up, thinking some hunters might be stupid enough to try to interfere. However, she froze when she realized who was walking towards her. Her grip on Raydel's cheek unknowingly loosened.

Her eyes felt as if they were burning with excitement.

'He' was here now.

It was as if everything stopped. No more chaos. No more killing. She forgot everything else because this was the moment she had been waiting for.

Finally, we meet, my knight.

Christa imagined that 'his' face must be full of delight to see her.

He would smile and approach her, the air would fill with sweetness and happiness…

But her dreamlike scene lasted just a few seconds. Han, who should have been pleased to see her, wore an expression of nothing. Rage stormed in his eyes. When he noticed the dagger in her hand, pressed against Raydel's cheek, his face became even more furious.

Han walked closer. Christa choked on her own excitement, thinking of a warm greeting from him. But she was left dumbfounded a moment later.

Because at that moment, Han kicked her full force right in the face.