In the Name of God - vanish into fiction

At the same time.

Every team except for Team 3, which Seong Do-yoon belonged to, was starting to feel that something was strange.

“This is weird…”

The Team 4 Leader was feeling an increasingly chilling sensation as no presence was detected around them despite the passage of time.

A team member with a short-range search skill stealthily approached him and whispered.

“Nothing is being caught even though I keep using the skill. Should I continue?”

The team member’s complexion was not very good. Having used the skill at regular intervals since they split into five groups at the dungeon entrance, he was bound to be exhausted.

Moreover, no matter how much he used the skill, there was no sign of monsters, let alone anything small to report; thus, a sense of futile anxiety and frustration was slowly gnawing away at his mental strength.

“…For now, please continue until we reach the rendezvous point.”

“Yes…”

As the team member replied with a sigh and used the skill again.

The sound of several team members standing in the back whispering could be heard.

“During the briefing, didn’t they say there would be a primary battle within about 30 minutes of entry?”

“It’s already been an hour.”

“What do you mean an hour? It’s been nearly two.”

A significant amount of dissatisfaction was buried in the team members’ voices.

In a raid of this scale, they thought there would be at least one or two opportunities to prove their worth before meeting the boss.

Specifically, among those belonging to the Association or dispatched from other clans, there were those who harbored a desire to reveal their skills and carve out a presence in front of unfamiliar Awakeners.

However, they had been merely walking for nearly two hours without a single reason to take a combat stance, so it was natural for them to feel frustrated.

Carrying that rising anxiety and frustration, they were soon able to arrive in front of the boss room without incident.

The boss room was a giant nest created by the intertwined branches of various trees. Since it floated like a cradle atop trees that were incredibly large and thick—incomparable to anything seen while passing through until now—the interior or top could not be seen from below at all.

There was simply an overbearing atmosphere that made one instinctively gulp just by witnessing the nest.

Team 4, who were letting out exclamations while looking up at the nest, were able to meet the other three teams that had arrived a step earlier than them.

The Team 4 Leader approached the leaders of Team 1, Team 2, and Team 5, who all wore the same suspicious expressions.

“Was there any combat?”

“No, we had none. I didn’t see so much as a strand of monster hair.”

“So it was the same for you as well.”

“By saying ‘as well’…”

The complexions of all three leaders darkened.

The leaders of each team were all 2nd-tier members of Black Tail, and they had records of entering this dungeon at least three times, and as many as seven times in the past.

Because the dungeon raid cycle was always similar, the monsters’ appearance patterns were also nearly constant; however, this was the first time they had reached the front of the boss room without fighting a single battle.

“Let’s wait for Team 3 for now.”

If even Team 3 reached the boss room without incident, there might be a problem with the dungeon’s monster generation cycle. If that were the case, instead of a raid team like themselves, a completely new investigation team should be formed to check the dungeon in detail from start to finish.

However, Team 3 did not show their faces even after an hour had passed.

“I have a bad feeling.”

The Team 1 Leader, who was the overall person in charge of the raid, showed a serious expression.

The time required for each team’s movement route was almost the same. If Team 3 had experienced nothing just like them, they should have arrived long ago.

But since they had not arrived even after waiting for an hour, one could only think that some kind of problem had occurred.

The Team 1 Leader discussed briefly with the other leaders and then raised his voice toward the other team members.

“Team 1 and Team 2 will standby here. Team 4 and Team 5 will check Team 3’s movement route.”

Perhaps the others also sensed that a problem might have occurred with Team 3, as they followed the instructions immediately without any significant pushback.

The task of retracing Team 3’s movement route to check on their safety was carried out under the command of the Team 4 Leader.

As a result of Team 4 and Team 5 heading back at a high speed, they were able to reach a spot that had become a complete shambles.

Unlike the paths the other teams had passed through, the traces of burned or broken trees and the remnants of sword strikes and gunshots were evident on Team 3’s route.

“It seems there was a severe battle.”

Judging by the remaining traces, it wasn’t an ambush by about fifteen monsters as usual.

It was clear that at least five or six times more monsters had surrounded and lunged at them simultaneously.

“Perhaps all the monsters that should have been dispersed were concentrated here.”

The two leaders, who spoke with hardened faces, immediately ordered the team members to prepare for battle. Since the combat traces of Team 3 were leading toward a cave that could be used as a temporary resting area on the map, they intended to track them to that location.

During that time, the Team 4 Leader belatedly realized that the number of personnel currently present was nineteen.

“Huh? It seems the number of people has decreased by one. Who is missing?”

One of the people who was buzzing and looking around raised their hand and reported.

“Lee Sunho of Black Tail is missing!”

The Team 4 Leader’s eyes distorted.

To leave his position at will in a place where not only Awakeners from the Association but also people from other clans were present.