The Forest Of Screaming Corpses (1)

The next day.

Gyeonggi-do Anyang ¹ Region Association, [Branch of the 3rd Guild].

Me and Meowi, having thoroughly prepared not only equipment but also consumables, headed there early in the morning.

“You’re all set.”

The female staff, um… so, the one who used to attend to us before being temporarily replaced by the bespectacled lady for the recent test.

‘…Er, was her name Arirang or something?’

Anyway, she welcomed us with a smile.

Her expression hinted at a suppressed affectionate feeling towards Ma Hana.

“You were the first to apply. I’ll open the gate for you now. You understand the precautions, right?”
“Yes!”
“Yep!”

The female staff handed us something with a bright smile.

It was a medal made of metal, a qualification badge for ‘test applicants’ issued by the Order.

This medal was necessary to activate the special object at the test location today.

‘…Dancer’s Shrine.’

The official name of the second test was ‘Dance of the Dancer.’

As you can guess from the word Dancer, it was literally a dance regarded as a kind of ritual, and to pass it, one must earn a passing mark at a place called the ‘shrine.’

The shrine was in the dungeon.
Also, as it was such an important place, it was usually blocked off to prevent anyone from entering it.

Therefore, entry to this place was only allowed for those taking the test.

“I can’t believe the day has come for me to receive a medal…”

Ma Hana looked at the medal with twinkling eyes.
A sobbing sound came to her ears.

“……”
“…E-excuse me, staff member?”

The female staff member shed tears as if she couldn’t hold her emotions in any longer.

“…I’m sorry. It’s just… so admirable.”

And then, she came out and hugged Meowi so tightly.

Meowi’s eyes widened at the sudden hug and then started to water little by little.

“Hana… you are so brave. Yes, even your father would be proud.”
“…Thank you, Unnie…”

I looked at the two and smiled warmly.

Pajijik!
A blue light source flickered in all directions around us.

With the sensation of my body moving to a completely different world, an information window appeared, cluttering my mind.

The thick, unique magic of the dungeon flowed through my body.

Me and Meowi, who were stretching here and there, looked at each other and nodded.

Carefully, we began to move forward while being cautious of our surroundings.

The environment here was like a dense and thick forest, similar to the <Goblin Habitat> or the <Village Area>.

However, it was a complete contrast to the place where the energy of life could be felt.

‘…So creepy.’

The sounds of birds and insects did not resonate at all.

It was full of weeds surviving in a barren environment and grotesque ancient trees, unlike the common grass.

I could also see a stream nearby, but the purple-colored water gave me a gut feeling that it would be lethal when touched.

The scent that brushed against my nose was unmistakable.

“…Meeoow.”

Meowi, who had a keen sense of smell, covered her mouth with a mask as if in distress with the scent.

“…Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I can bear this much.”

Not only Meowi, but I also knew the identity of this smell well.

The smell that emanates during the process of a corpse decomposing and returning to nature.

In other words, it was the stench of death.

The dungeon we had entered was a place with the terrifying alias [The Forest of Screaming Corpses].

Its rank was D, not much different from the [Goblin Village].

The main monsters appearing here were undead, like zombies and ghouls.

The boss was also an ordinary D-rank boss, called the ‘Mad Ghoul’.

‘It’s bothersome that they are undead.’

In ‘GAL,’ undead were classified as fairly notorious monsters to tackle.

Their durability was low, so it wasn’t hard to defeat them, but as they were fundamentally corpses, they had no fear of death.

This meant they’d charge at you recklessly, no matter how injured they’d get.

And combined with their strong hatred for the living, they became a hard counter for some characters with low ‘mental’ stats or trauma related to [Necrophobia].

‘Still, there’s no problem.’

[The Forest of Screaming Corpses] was a special place for promotion.
The difficulty was significantly lower than that of ordinary undead dungeons.
However, there was one thing we had to be careful of.

“Are you talking about the unexplored route?”
“Right. As expected of our Meowi. So smart.”

I’ll reward you with a pat on the head.

“…Meow. Seha, I may look like this, but I’m a senior by a year. I know more!”

This place was one of the dangerous mutation areas where the difficulty level would rise dramatically, limited to the [Unexplored Route].

Usually, the unexplored route differs by one step, but here, it becomes drastically more difficult.

‘Was there a Dullahan?’

I wasn’t sure since I hadn’t gone in myself.
But I heard that at least C-grade Skeleton Knights and even B-grade Dullahans appear here.

I heard from the community that in the final area, there was even an A-rank undead, the powerful Death Knight.

Maybe that’s why.

This place was subject to various speculations among the guides.

There must be a reason, for sure.

And I was able to find out, thanks to Meowi.

“Ah, so this place was originally accessible only to at least B-grade hunters?”
“Yes, originally it was a high-level place that mid-tier hunters, or B-grade, would challenge… But by chance, it was discovered that there is a shrine in here.”

The group that went crazy over the information about the ‘Shrine’ was the Cult.

With the justification of eradicating evil, they cleaned up this place through a large-scale dispatch, and it was said they even started charging an entrance fee, turning it into one of their test locations.

“And do you see this on the ground?”

What Meowi pointed to was this yellow stone that had caught my attention earlier.

Although it was weak, the divine power was flowing tightly together.

“This is a kind of low-class holy relic, and thanks to the power it gives out, it is said that a B-grade undead cannot appear here. I guess the priests are dispatched into this place periodically to do such things.”

“…Aha.”

As expected of religious places.
They were sincere when it came to their role.

Well, thanks to that, B grade was downgraded to D grade, so I was happy about it.

Anyway, I wanted to make the story blossom more, but I couldn’t.

Because at that moment, I felt uneasy.

The red energy, which felt weak, suddenly soared stronger.

There was the sound of the wind blowing something.

Its source was none other than a crude hatchet.

“Seha!”

Before I could step forward, Meowi moved swiftly.

She confidently took out her shield and smashed the incoming hatchet, which came at us.

“Enemy!”

Kweeeee!

A bizarre scream echoed from the bushes.
What emerged were about five corpses.
They were zombies with green skin, like those often seen in movies.

“Roooar”
“Kweee!”

From the start, they seemed to target me, rushing towards me.

For normal zombies, they were quite fast.

‘…Is it because they’re less decayed than the usual ones?’

Then, Meowi, who was on guard for me, furrowed her fine eyebrows and stepped forward bravely.

“…How dare you aim at Seha?!”

As she raised her shield high, the orb inside it began to glow.
An intangible energy spread out in all directions.
It was the skill [Cry of Provocation] using [Transformation].

“Kweee?!”
“Kwooo!”

As the aggro was forcibly focused on her, the zombies turned to look at Meowi.

“Meow. Seha, now!”
“Okay!”

At Meowi’s shout, I deployed [Flowing Slash] towards the front without hesitation.

Meanwhile, at the same time Yu Seha and Ma Hana were fighting zombies.

There were people watching them from a distance.

“Can you see that?”
“…Yeah, I can see well.”

The ones conversing were two women.

Each with striking hair colors of green and orange, they were the duo of thieves who had been thoroughly beaten by Ma Hana a few days ago.

The green-haired one, holding binoculars, sent a burning glare towards Ma Hana, who was beyond her view.

“…Damn furball.”

Her fists trembled involuntarily.

‘…I will definitely kill you.’

After losing the 3★ promotion exam, their reputations hit rock bottom.

To be precise, their reputations were never great to begin with, but losing to Ma Hana, who was called a dropout by all, was the final blow to their career.

They were no longer included in parties, and their hard-earned 50 million won flew away into thin air.

Every time they passed by, they heard sneers like, ‘Did you hear that they lost?’, ‘Serves them right for being so cocky.’

‘…I can’t forgive you. I can’t forgive you. I can’t forgive you!’

Considering all this, the thing they couldn’t tolerate the most.

It was the fact that Ma Hana, who was clearly below them, had surpassed them.

Thus, they decided to seek revenge for that.

Of course, strictly speaking, this situation made no sense.

The special designated dungeon for the promotion exam could only be entered by a party formed by a reserved team.

However, these two were lurking, as if they had been waiting.

The first reason this was possible was because an ‘employee’ of the Guild, whom they maintained a close relationship with through constant bribery, secretly opened it for them.

‘…The second reason is…’

The silver-haired woman standing silently with her arms crossed next to the two was the second reason.

The silver-haired woman, standing at an unbelievable height of 180 cm for a woman, had a body packed with bulging muscles like a raider.

The enormous curved blade strapped to her back indicated she was a close-combat class.

And putting all that aside, the thing that needed attention was the purple aura emanating from her mouth.

The power that instinctively induced aversion, as if whispering.

‘…Demonic energy.’

The silver-haired woman was a demon, the enemy of humanity.

Though the demonic energy she exuded was crude, indicating she wasn’t of high rank, she was still a demon.

She was certainly stronger than the duo.

Lastly, the bat tattoo on her shoulder, breathing fire, indicated where the green-haired woman came from.

‘Class Hunter.’

An organization involved in human trafficking, hunting rare and powerful classes to sell.

In other words, a hunter of the underworld.

“…It’s the guy next to you.”

The green-haired woman handed over the binoculars she was holding.

The silver-haired woman slowly examined Yu Seha.

“…Unbelievable. That such a delicate-looking man has such a reputation.”

The green-haired woman agreed with this sentiment.

Impossible, impossible.

That damn gigolo like bastard…

Who would have known he was a [Sword Saint]?