Chapter 3: The Protagonist

In that second, his memories came flashing back.

'Han, wait. Listen to me first. I didn't mean to!'

Han walked away.

Raydel felt a sharp pain in his heart, disappointed and mad at himself. Into his head flashed a thought, a feeling that had been buried deep inside his heart for a long time.

But I liked you for real.

…

[An anonymous hunter has entered the dungeon. ]

The message appeared on his phone's screen at the same moment Raydel fell on the boat. He held his curses in, before crawling away from the wriggling tentacles that tried to follow him.

The tentacles were crushed to pieces by the person who just arrived. Raydel's eyes went up to the hair of the person in front of him, and the light color confirmed that he really was the protagonist. Raydel was too stunned to even say a greeting.

It was a given that the protagonist would appear. In the novel 'Ways to Become the No.1 Hunter', he always went to dungeons in the countryside, fighting the monsters and bosses in there all by himself till he became strong. This dungeon must be one of those countryside dungeons. Did this mean that within one month, they went through about ten chapters of the novel?

The reason why Raydel believed that ten chapters had passed because of the physical appearance of the protagonist. Han was now even taller than him in the first chapter. He must have grown several centimeters, and his body was muscular and strong, a result from upgrading his physical power to around level five or six.

Apart from that, Han might still use an ordinary silver sword, but he must have that 'skill' now.

The special skill that made him stronger than any other hunters.

Rumble!

The sound of the boss emerging from under the water rumbled all around the arena. Raydel had to hold firmly to the gunwales because waves started to crash into the boat. Han didn't need to hop up on it because he had the power of physical magic, so he can stand on water. Yes, his two feet stood on water while he comfortably looked up at the boss!

Raydel, who was now soaked by the waves, shook his head. Startled by the sound of a sword slashing into flesh, he closed his eyes tightly. The boss' tentacles were cut into pieces, putrid green blood gushing out. It looked like a dead whale exploding, forcing Raydel to control the boat to sail away from the blood with his mind.

He was thinking of finding Jinny and then flee from the hospital together because with a hunter, there was nothing to worry anymore. But when he opened his eyes and saw that one of the boss' tentacles was attacking Han in the back, his mind automatically turned the boat back.

Raydel cursed, his feet planted onto the boat. Then, he sank his dagger into the tentacle.

"…!!"

Green blood spurted out from the boss' wound in an instant.

A huge wave crashed into them both and washed away all the blood. Raydel coughed, his body soaked to the skin. When he glanced up, he noticed that the other person was staring at him.

Silence prevails.

Raydel looked at the taller man. His eyes were quite wide open. Even when his whole body was soaked, his clothes and light hair made his sculpture-like face even more captivating.

They looked at each other without saying anything for a little while. The boss dove down the water at that moment, making the ocean glow peculiarly.

Raydel looked around, confused. Then, he heard a voice.

"You're not a zombie."

…The protagonist must have thought he was dead.

Raydel looked into Han's eyes and smiled softly as an answer. The protagonist was not a cold-hearted character who loved to look down on other people, so it was normal for him to greet him first. However, the coldness that his old self was afraid of was hidden within those words.

The kind of coldness where…they can talk like they had always done, but now they were just strangers.

Not friends. Not even acquaintances.

Despite this, the protagonist still looked at him normally. No signs of coldness, but Raydel could still feel the distance between them in the air, like an invisible wall. He had already passed the moment he betrayed the protagonist, so he knew that Han would not consider him a friend anymore. He decided to hold the dagger on the blade's side and aimed the dagger's handle toward Han.

"Take it, and from now on I won't interfere with your life ever again."

This was a goodbye.

If Han took the dagger, Raydel would turn the boat back and head toward the area at which he left Jinny. Then, after he escaped through the hole in the wall, it would mean that he was completely cut off from the hunter's world. He would never turn around to see Han or bosses again. This would be the last conversation between him and Han. Raydel made up his mind that he would never get involved with Han's life again.

However, his voice and face were so determined and calm that the other person was surprised. The protagonist inspected Raydel's unwavering stature for a moment. At first, he thought the other person would fall to his knees, begging for forgiveness just like he had always done.

'I'm really sorry, Han. Forgive me!'

'Han, I'll never betray you again. Believe me!'

At that time, Han could only say, 'enough, Raydel.'

No matter how hard Raydel cried or begged, he would never consider him a friend again.

But when Raydel said he would never be in his life ever again, without even a pinch of teasing, Han was stunned. He never thought he would be the one…to face Raydel's coldness like this.

Raydel gestured toward the dagger. "Take it."

"…"

Han hadn't moved an inch before the ocean beneath them was split in half.

Raydel pulled his hands back and quickly clung to the boat out of shock. In his ears echoed the sound of a large organism emerging from under the water again. This time, the water rose so high it was like he was in the middle of a harsh storm. Waves towered high up into the sky while a gigantic figure appeared.

…It was an enormous body with a face infested with octopus-like tentacles. Its wet bat wings spread out, and its whole body was dark green, no longer hiding behind any mist.

With bloody red eyes, all its tentacles thrashed around, closing all escape routes.

A message box appeared in front of Raydel.

[You have unlocked the name of the boss.]

[The Boss 'Cthulhu' evolved to its second form.]

[Dungeon evolved to S class.]

[New condition to clear the tower: Survive for 5 minutes]

Five minutes?!

Raydel was stunned. Wasn't this an A class dungeon? The bosses in this classified rank only had one form, but S class bosses were far more brutal and stronger than A class bosses. They had three forms and hunters had to kill all three of them to complete a dungeon.

The fact that the dungeon evolved this early told him that the story was drifting away from the novel he had read. Raydel gritted his teeth before looking at Han's back. The dungeon had been upgraded, but the protagonist in the first few chapters was not as strong as in the middle of the story. The Han at this time would not be able to fight an S class boss. There was no way he could kill it.

Raydel heard several people gnawing their teeth from one direction. When he turned to see, he saw a group of around thirty zombies flocking together on the beach. Some were headless while some had distorted organs. They were reciting some prayers. He could hear it if he paid attention to it.

"Our Master has awakened. He is looking for someone worthy of him..."

"Blood glosses the water red. Blood cleanses chains cleaned…"

The zombies started to walk into the water. No matter how deep the ocean seemed, some mysterious powers were helping them walk over here.

Raydel froze before glancing at the message box that was floating visibly in the air.

[5 minutes]

It was a timer, but…

Raydel stared at the box till his eyes hurt, but the message never changed. It still displayed '5 minutes'.

Clang!

The sound of a sword crashing with flesh thundered.

The fight between Han and the boss had already started. Raydel quickly sailed the boat away while the zombies' prayers were still echoing in his ears. They swam closer and closer, scattering all over the water. They went after him as soon as they realized there was a living human nearby.

Raydel commanded the boat to turn away from a group of zombies that was about to jump at him. Their claws seized nothing as the boat intensely swerved and headed the other way. Raydel had to bend down and cling on to the boat, preventing himself from getting thrown out. He started to shiver in the cold air. His hair and clothes were wet and stuck to his skin against the strong wind.

He turned to see the message box again.

[5 minutes]

The countdown still had not begin yet.

The condition to complete the dungeon was to survive for five minutes, and if they could survive for that long, the dungeon might just disappear. The problem now was that the timer did not start, so even if he could run away from the boss and zombies for two hours, nothing would happen.

Why wouldn't it start?!

Was there some kind of a final condition? A condition to make the timer start?

But what was it?

"?!"

The boat crashed into a zombie that was in the way, and Raydel was almost flung out of the boat from the abrupt decrease of momentum. Three other zombies walked through the water, aiming straight for the boat and grabbed it. They also brought a swarm of zombie friends with them. The roaring sounds of their teeth clenching together provoked Raydel to run them overwith his boat and drown one of them in the process.

Raydel kicked a zombie that was trying to grab his shoulder, his foot hitting it in the face, before falling to the boat floor on his back as the boat took an unsmooth turn to the other way to escape from the zombies.

They swam after him, their mouths still muttering the creepy prayers.

"Our Master has awakened. He is looking for someone worthy of him..."

"Blood glosses the water red. Blood cleanses chains cleaned…"

Raydel froze.

"What if the condition to start the timer…." He mumbled before pushing his whole body to stand up.

He thought back to the content of the novel, remembering something about a sentence that went '…sometimes high-class bosses might appear just because they wanted to learn about the human world. They were just looking for humans that they wanted to play with….'

Raydel secretly swallowed before looking at the boss above the ocean.

His hands trembled from the conclusion he got. At that moment, he took a breath with his body shivering, and then, commanded his boat to race to Han that was fighting.

Raydel held his dagger firmly before slitting open a long wound on the boss' tentacle.

"…!!"

A low deafening screech from the boss shook the whole dungeon. Its crimson eyes went to him in an instant, burning with anger that made the ocean even more brutal than before. Its countless tentacles slammed into the water so hard it felt like a meteor just crashed into it. The boss them focused on Han who was the closest to it, its bat wings spread out so wide its shadow covered the whole area.

Han managed to raise his sword to block the first hit, but the tentacles sped up its attacks till he could not handle it. Raydel sailed his boat to Han and yanked him back. The protagonist fell onto the boat with a loud thud, dodging a sharp tentacle that almost impaled his body!

The tentacle dashed past their faces before circling back.

It was too fast for Han to parry the attack. Raydel clenched his teeth and leaped to stand in front of him.

He shut his eyes.

Sshhluck!

The sound reverberated in his ears.

The tentacle precisely impaled his body before wrapping around him tightly. Raydel started to suffocate with his own blood filling his lungs, and his vision began to blur. The confused, blood-stained face of Han was all he saw. Raydel clung to the tentacle that was slowly crushing his bones, and he thought to himself.

Don't be shocked. I didn't do it to help you.

At that moment, the environment changed. Pure darkness gradually engulfed Raydel's frame of vision. A message box appeared in front of him.

[You have successfully entered the secret dimension of Boss 'Cthulhu'. Start the countdown.]

[4:59 minutes]

'Our Master has awakened. He is looking for someone worthy of him...'

'Blood glosses the water red. Blood cleanses the chains…'

…This was how you were supposed to unlock the final condition.