The hunters, though caught off guard, worked to maintain their composure as they scanned the interior of the boss room with heightened caution.
The floor was covered in cold, gray stone slabs.
The walls were adorned with ominous symbols, the kind one might find in an ancient tomb.
Dim chandeliers hung above, their faint light barely illuminating the room.
It was like stepping into the audience chamber of a medieval king.
And here, within this eerie hall:
“Grrrrk...”
“Keh-heh-heh!”
Countless undead monsters waited, standing in formation as if they had been anticipating the hunters' arrival.
Many of them were elite-level, powerful enough to be considered high threats.
Among them stood Hunter Yoo Byung-joon and the Cheongrim Guild’s rescue team, though their numbers were one short.
Hoo-hoo-hoo—
A chilling, sinister laugh echoed through the room, brushing past the hunters like a cold wind.
Involuntarily, their gazes were drawn to the farthest corner of the chamber.
At the center of the room stood a black marble throne, towering like a monument to death.
Sitting upon it, ruling like a queen of the dead, was a strikingly beautiful woman.
Her dress, black as the void, seemed to absorb the faint light in the room. Its hem cascaded down her body and spilled onto the stone floor like a flowing shadow.
Her face was pale, almost lifeless, and her icy blue eyes swept over the hunters like a predator sizing up its prey.
Her gaze moved slowly, methodically, until it stopped at one figure.
Her eyes narrowed, focusing intently on someone standing toward the back.
The person in question—Si-Hyun—met the woman’s gaze from beneath her veil.
The two locked eyes.
“......”
The woman’s expression twisted into a scowl.
Behind her veil, Si-Hyun furrowed her brow deeply.
The two were not strangers.
“Oh my, if it isn’t the hero’s little puppet?”
The woman’s voice was low and chilling, dripping with malice.
She spoke in a language unknown to the hunters, a tongue foreign to their ears.
But Si-Hyun understood every word.
Her teeth clenched at the insult.
The sense of familiarity she’d felt earlier solidified into certainty.
She had hoped it wasn’t true. She had prayed that it wasn’t true.
But deep down, she had known.
“No... maybe I knew all along.”
Perhaps she had simply refused to accept it. Refused to acknowledge the possibility of facing this person again.
“......”
Si-Hyun stared at the woman with a hardened expression.
This necromancer, once a member of the hero’s party, had tormented Si-Hyun relentlessly in the past.
Now, she was reborn—empowered by death itself. She was the master of this space.
She was the true boss of this dungeon.
“Hmph.”
Beside Si-Hyun, Ji-ah felt the intense tension in the air and turned her head.
She found herself meeting the burning gaze of the undead Yoo Byung-joon.
“Sister.”
“......?”
“That thing—he’s undead, isn’t he?”
Si-Hyun nodded in confirmation.
Ji-ah’s thoughts flashed back to a conversation they’d shared over wine:
“Simple corpses are weak. That’s why they make these walking cadavers.”
“They bind their souls through contracts or something like that.”
“Sure, they retain most of their strength from life. But at the end of the day, they’re still corpses.”
Ji-ah instinctively understood what was coming.
The moment the battle began, this walking corpse would be her opponent.
“...Huh?”
She felt a gentle tug on her sleeve. Turning, she saw Si-Hyun gesturing with her fingers.
Having spent all day watching Si-Hyun’s gestures, Ji-ah understood instantly.
“A two-on-two battle?”
The message was clear: Don’t be afraid—I’m with you.
Ji-ah couldn’t help but smile faintly.
The woman on the throne was clearly the necromancer.
Through her connection with the necromancer, Yoo Byung-joon had become significantly stronger.
But Ji-ah was no ordinary fighter either—she had Si-Hyun’s powerful buffs empowering her.
The stage was set for a proxy battle.
Ji-ah clenched her fists, steeling herself with unwavering resolve.
Hoo-hoo-hoo—
The necromancer let out another chilling laugh as she rose from her throne, gripping the ornate staff she had been leaning against.
The hunters, watching her closely, immediately shifted into battle stances.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then—
BANG!
The necromancer struck the floor with her staff.
“Kraaah!”
“Keh-heh-heh!”
“Kiiihihi!”
The undead army surged forward, and chaos erupted.
“Ha-ha-ha! You think a bunch of undead can stop me?!”
“Hmph...!”
Kang Cheol-min and the Dawn Guild’s tank moved to the front, holding the line as countless undead swarmed them.
The hunters began engaging the monsters with calculated precision.
Just as Ji-ah had anticipated:
Tatatat!
“Kyahhh?!”
The undead Yoo Byung-joon charged toward Ji-ah at lightning speed.
Ga-eul’s shrill scream echoed through the chamber, piercing and frantic.
“It’s too dangerous to fight here.”
Ji-ah quickly assessed the situation and made her decision.
To protect the rear team, she created distance between herself and the other hunters.
As she sprinted away, she felt a surge of power coursing through her.
Si-Hyun’s buffs were stacking rapidly.
Ji-ah had experienced Si-Hyun’s magic before, but today’s buffs felt more potent than ever.
She could sense Si-Hyun’s unwavering determination through the spell.
“Thank you!” Ji-ah shouted, her voice filled with resolve, as she launched herself toward Yoo Byung-joon.
Shing—Clang!
Sparks flew as their weapons clashed, the sharp sound of metal cutting through the air.
Both fighters moved with breathtaking speed, their movements almost invisible to the untrained eye.
They traded blows in a relentless, high-speed exchange.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The metallic rhythm of their battle filled the room, steady and unyielding.
“He’s strong!”
Ji-ah felt her heart pounding as she struggled to keep up.
She was an A-rank hunter, but Yoo Byung-joon was S-rank. The gap in power was undeniable.
But losing was not an option.
This fight wasn’t just hers—it was Si-Hyun’s pride on the line as well.
With a sharp glint in her eyes, Ji-ah forced herself to remain calm, sharpening her focus to the limit.
“Kyaaah!”
Yoo Byung-joon roared, his spear radiating an aura of death as he lunged.
Boom!
Ji-ah countered with her own skill, their clash creating a deafening explosion that sent her skidding backward.
“I won’t lose!”
Despite the pain, Ji-ah kept her thoughts sharp and her determination blazing.
She had to move faster.
She had to swing her spear harder.
The desire to become stronger and the firm resolve to protect those around her drove Ji-ah forward.
And then—
“I have Si-Hyun!”
Hadn’t Si-Hyun said it herself during their dungeon runs together?
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep you alive.”
Not once had Si-Hyun ever lied.
“Hoo!”
Ji-ah made her decision.
As long as the injuries weren’t fatal, it didn’t matter.
No matter the wound, Si-Hyun would heal her immediately.
This wasn’t dependency—it was trust.
“Let’s do this!”
Ji-ah began to shift her combat style.
***
The necromancer watched intently as Ji-ah and Yoo Byung-joon clashed.
She could feel the burning desire emanating from Yoo Byung-joon, her newly created undead.
A powerful longing—to personally destroy that woman himself.
Moreover, his opponent seemed to be on close terms with the hero's plaything.
She had deliberately refrained from directly controlling him, allowing the battle to take on the appearance of a proxy duel.
She even commanded the other undead to stay clear of the area.
The result was a ferocious contest between two spearmen.
As Yoo Byung-joon gained the upper hand, the necromancer felt a vicarious thrill, a shiver of delight running down her spine.
But then—
“...It seemed like he had the advantage at first.”
Even without her interference or that of the hero’s puppet, Yoo Byung-joon’s superior skill was evident.
It had been clear from the beginning.
And yet—
“Huff...!”
“Kyaaah...!”
At some point, the tide began to shift.
It became difficult to tell who was undead and who was not.
The woman opposing him fought without regard for her injuries, trading blow for blow.
Even when struck two or three times, she always managed to land a decisive counterattack.
As the fight continued, it almost seemed as if she was improving, her movements gradually becoming more refined.
The necromancer frowned.
Unwilling to let Yoo Byung-joon lose, she poured a massive amount of mana into their connection.
So much, in fact, that her attention to the other battles waned.
But it wasn’t enough.
Slash—!
A long gash appeared on Yoo Byung-joon’s arm.
Soon after, Ji-ah began to regain ground, and Yoo Byung-joon started to falter.
“...Useless.”
The necromancer clicked her tongue in frustration.
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Her plan had been to humiliate the hero’s puppet by crushing her ally in this proxy battle.
But instead, it was backfiring, leaving a deep wound on her pride.
She severed the mana flow she had been feeding to Yoo Byung-joon.
The moment she did, the balance tipped decisively.
Crack!
“Kraaah...!”
“Huff...!”
With the necromancer’s support withdrawn, Ji-ah’s spear sliced cleanly through Yoo Byung-joon’s body.
His regenerative abilities ceased, and his undead form crumbled to the ground.
Not willing to leave it at that, the necromancer cast a malicious spell on his fallen body.
The corpse began to swell grotesquely, bloating unnaturally until—
Boom!
It exploded with a deafening roar.
“Hmm...”
Fragments of the body scattered in every direction, the blast powerful enough to crack the stone slabs beneath them.
But it had been anticipated.
The female spearman shielded herself with a potent barrier, emerging unharmed from the explosion.
The necromancer shifted her gaze, locking onto the barrier’s creator.
“The saint I remember wasn’t capable of this.”
How much could someone grow in just a few years?
What she had witnessed so far was only personal enhancement.
But what the necromancer excelled in was overwhelming numbers.
“Let me show you the true terror of a necromancer.”
Her eyes gleamed with malevolent intent, a sinister light reflecting in her gaze.
The staff in her hand rose slowly.
Bang!
When it struck the ground, a massive ripple of mana surged outward, detonating like a wave.
Hwaaaaah—!
From the necromancer’s body, a tide of jet-black mana erupted, spreading in all directions like a tsunami.
Its mere touch threatened to sap the life out of any living being.
The air in the boss room grew heavy, oppressive, and stifling.
“Let’s end this.”
Her voice echoed low and menacingly through the chamber.