In the Name of God - vanish into fiction

“Next, I will announce Team 3.”

Before I knew it, the list for Team 3 was being announced, following Team 1 and Team 2.

“……Seong Do-yoon from Black Tail, Kwon Jeong-han from the Association, also from the Association…….”

As expected, Lee Sunho’s name was not on the list for Team 3, where I belonged. His name was included in the Team 4 list called afterward.

The reason for forcibly splitting pairs was simple.

In a large-scale raid, it is more efficient to maintain a balanced level of stability across each team rather than allowing power to concentrate in specific combinations.

Furthermore, those gathered here were rookie Awakeners within their respective clans or the Association who were in dire need of diverse experiences. To check whether they could perform their roles and judge situations on an individual level, and to allow them to accumulate such experience, it was actually more appropriate to temporarily dismantle familiar combinations.

At first, it might seem somewhat disorganized and they might not harmonize easily.

However, since five veteran 2nd-tier members—who had conquered everything from B-rank to D-rank within Black Tail—were placed one by one into each team, there shouldn’t be any major issues.

Unless a “big incident” occurs, as Lee Sunho mentioned.

***

Upon entering the dungeon, everyone could understand why such a large number of personnel was needed for this raid.

“I received the briefing, but seeing the real thing, this is quite…. No, excessively…….”

Someone who was muttering couldn’t finish their sentence and gulped.

‘Right, it’s excessively vast.’

The entrance to a dungeon formed on the surface usually takes the shape of a cave. Occasionally, there are underground dungeons in the form of sinkholes, as seen in Disaster Zones, but the most common form was as described before.

This dungeon was the same; from the outside, it was just a large cave entrance that looked no different from any other.

However, once inside, I could feel that it was merely a passage pretending to be a cave.

As soon as we passed through the short passage, what unfolded was a vast forest.

The thick-trunked trees that easily towered over our height were clearly a peculiar species not found in Korea, and their branches—tangled messily like living octopus tentacles—covered most of the sky. The sunlight filtering through the gaps was also excessively white, making it feel as if someone had densely placed white lights atop those trees.

All that was visible was a forest teeming with trees.

It was a dizzying landscape where one might lose their sense of direction if they entered blindly.

‘This is my first time seeing a field-type dungeon in person.’

There are rare cases where a wide field unfolds instead of a cave or indoor-style dungeon; these are commonly called “field-type dungeons.” Just like some other dungeons, electronic devices become completely useless in field-type dungeons like this one, so in the end, the only things that could serve as guides were maps and the intuition of the Awakeners.

The five Black Tail 2nd-tier members assigned as leaders for each team took out maps from their pockets. They were complex paper maps that would be impossible for a first-timer to decipher. We were each handed a copy just in case, but for now, it was important to quietly follow the leader who could navigate the map skillfully.

The five teams soon took their respective routes and split up.

We had probably been walking for about 20 minutes.

‘Seriously, nothing is happening.’

I did hear it during the briefing. That the monsters in this field are very quiet, stealthy, and cautious.

So, I was told that we wouldn’t see even a single strand of monster hair for at least 30 minutes to an hour after entering the field.

If one keeps walking for 20 minutes in a state where the enemy is neither visible nor felt, anyone is bound to let their guard down.

In fact, most of the team members who had been stiff with tension upon seeing this landscape were now even engaging in small talk. Since the leader of Team 3 seemed to be a bit soft, he didn’t appear to be imposing any particular restrictions.

However, I was still keeping my nerves sharp.

—It’s an enormous amount, Master….

Echo’s whisper reached me.

Inside my head, scan data transmitted by Echo in nearly real-time was repeatedly piling up.

—One more just increased, so it’s exactly 90.

The “90” Echo mentioned was the number of monsters moving along with us, surrounding us within a radius of about 50 meters.

‘It’s so amazing that they haven’t attacked even after gathering like this.’

There are ten of us in total.

The number of monsters following us had increased from ten—matching our number—to 90 in the meantime.

At this rate, more than a hundred of them are going to swarm us.

‘According to what I heard during the briefing, the monsters appearing during the first ambush would be about fifteen at most, but this is already six times that.’

It wasn’t like a swarm of bees gathered around a honey pot; this was simply too many.

I couldn’t just stop the leader and the group blindly to relay this information. The monsters caught by Echo’s scan were completely invisible even to my eyes.

‘Bothersome.’