S-Rank Corrosion Dungeon (4)

‘At this point…….’

Whether the Constellations whined about phantom pain or not, Hyeonseong ignored them and focused only on the Bulgasari’s movements.

The Bulgasari quickly pushed itself up. For something with blood gushing from its eye, it was absurdly fast. Since it was an S-rank in name, that wasn’t exactly strange—but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was unfair.

‘With that kind of power, a human would just die on the spot.’

Maybe the real, genuine S-ranks treated like quasi-transcendents were different, but normally, that was how it went.

‘……Anyway, it worked.’

The Bulgasari glared at Hyeonseong with its reddened eye. It would’ve been perfect if that hit had crushed its skull, but that was obviously asking too much.

Whether it was because the one wielding the EX-rank skill was Hyeonseong herself, or because the monster’s toughness was sturdy enough to endure “strength within the system” at least once—

She couldn’t tell. The result was the same: the hunt had failed.

‘But the taunt worked just fine.’

The monster’s eye tracked Hyeonseong’s slightest movements. That meant the provocation had succeeded.

The goal had been taunting from the start, so she’d achieved what she needed. Hyeonseong tossed the EX-rank Mana Pierce card back into the Infinite Corridor.

‘From here on, I have to do this right.’

Hyeonseong’s eyes went to the furnace in one corner of the workshop. With the craftsmen having let go of it, it wasn’t burning properly.

“I’ll keep that thing busy—get the fire going in the meantime!”

Hyeonseong shouted to the craftsmen.

Whatever the reason, it didn’t seem easy to bring down the Bulgasari with pure physical damage. She’d have to use fire, its extreme counter.

A blacksmith furnace fire should be able to melt steel. If they could raise the temperature high enough, it would definitely do meaningful damage to the Bulgasari’s scales and defenses.

‘If we could melt it down completely, even better, but…….’

Hyeonseong wasn’t expecting that much. If the metal scales wrapping the Bulgasari were ordinary iron, melting it to death wouldn’t be impossible—but it was S-rank.

No matter what material it was, its durability wouldn’t be trivial. The best move was to apply heat and reduce its defenses.

‘……Let’s do what we can.’

The Bulgasari lifted a foot. It didn’t lower its body forward, so it wasn’t a charge. That meant it was likely an earth-splitting or shockwave-type attack. It could be both.

Hyeonseong watched the direction of the lifted foot. The monster angled its toes toward where Hyeonseong stood.

That told her all she needed. It was a skill where the firing direction was set by the angle of the toes.

‘The furnace is over there.’

The furnace and the craftsmen were completely outside the toes’ line. Judging by the motion, it was unlikely to be a circular AoE or debuff. Hyeonseong held her ground and waited.

‘Now!’

The Bulgasari stomped down.

“Spread out left and right!”

Hyeonseong shouted to the people just before the impact.

Kwoong—

The moment the Bulgasari stomped, the ground where its foot had been split open with a crack.

The earth trembled from the impact, but no wave-type attack or debuff occurred. It was a simple earth-splitting strike.

‘Can they get out?’

After dodging to the right at the exact timing, Hyeonseong glanced back. The workshop door was open, and the ordinary employees who had followed in were running toward it one by one.

They made it out safely. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any “blocked” areas inside the corrosion zone.

‘There weren’t monsters anywhere else, but…….’

Hyeonseong turned her eyes back to the Bulgasari. It stomped the ground repeatedly, as if in rage.

It wasn’t the earth-splitting skill, but since it was a huge chunk of metal, tiny vibrations still traveled through the floor each time it stomped.

“You two.”

Hyeonseong called out to the two Awakened besides the archer, Shin Jeongha.

“Yes?”

“W-What.”

The non-combat Awakened answered with a start, while the whiny one reacted like something had hit home. After seeing one of the monster’s eyes crushed—even if it had been the power of an item—he looked intimidated.

“If you’re not going to introduce yourselves, then at least look after the employees who just got out. We don’t know if more monsters might show up besides this one…….”

While she was giving orders, the Bulgasari moved into its next attack. This time it lowered its body forward and stomped—no need to think further. It was a charge.

Hyeonseong cut off her sentence and dodged right again. The other three Awakened dodged left.

“If you understand, then get out!”

Hyeonseong shouted again to the two Awakened besides Shin Jeongha. The non-combat Awakened moved first, taking several ordinary employees and customers and leaving the workshop.

‘Why isn’t that bastard leaving?’

Hyeonseong furrowed her brow when she saw the whiny one still lingering.

She’d already checked the corrosion area while confirming whether monsters existed. Back then, there had been nothing.

But there was no telling when or how the situation inside a dungeon could change. Who knew whether the dungeon environment might shift while they were here?

‘The one who left said they were non-combat. That guy is probably combat-type. I don’t know his rank, but in case something happens, it’s better to have him here.’

While she watched the entrance situation, the Bulgasari assumed a charging stance again.

The moment it stomped, Hyeonseong dodged right again. The Bulgasari mercilessly trampled the spot where Hyeonseong had been.

“What are you doing—leave!”

Hyeonseong shouted at the whiny one. The guy hesitated, then finally left the workshop as if forced.

His gaze had flicked toward the monster, as though he regretted having to step back from the hunt.

‘If you wanted in, you should’ve introduced your abilities from the start.’

Someone who still weighed pros and cons in a situation like this was useless.

‘Now only the people who need to be here are left. We have to hold out until that furnace heats up. And…….’

The Bulgasari turned its body toward Hyeonseong and opened its mouth wide. Its chest swelled, making it painfully obvious what skill it was about to use.

‘That’s a breath attack, no question.’

Hyeonseong pulled out an S-rank slashing-type skill card that Hyeonyeong had made for her.

Molten metal burst from the Bulgasari’s mouth like a breath. Hyeonseong activated the card’s power toward the pouring torrent.

The skill she used drew five slashes through empty air and fired them all at once—an aura slashing technique. It wasn’t a defensive skill, but its cutting power should split the molten stream and create openings.

The molten metal and the crisscrossing aura slashes collided in midair. The molten stream, split by the slashes, couldn’t shoot forward in a single line and instead scattered left and right. The red-hot metal melted the floor.

Chiiik—

As the breath created an opening, Shin Jeongha seized the gap and fired a volley of arrows. The volley pierced the Bulgasari’s left eye—the same spot already deeply wounded by the EX-rank skill.

‘If that had hit me, there wouldn’t have been enough left to even identify.’

With a brief moment to breathe, Hyeonseong’s eyes went to the puddle of molten metal on the floor. Not a single drop had touched her, but seeing it still eating through the ground made her spine go cold.

If she had the real stats of a true S-rank, she might have endured it to some extent—but with Hyeonseong’s own stats, that was a fantasy. She stared back at the Bulgasari with tense eyes.

‘For now, we just have to survive until the furnace hits max temperature. And we also need to consider what we do if even throwing it into the furnace doesn’t solve it.’

Dodging the Bulgasari’s continuing attacks, Hyeonseong kept thinking. While evading a charge, she glanced at the furnace where the craftsmen were working. They were frantically raising the firepower.

Whoosh—!

Next, the long tail lashed out. Hyeonseong ducked under it while checking messages on the Constellation Network.

Constellations that sounded fire-related just from their names were unusually numerous. It was probably because, unless this was some special mutant, the weakness was obvious.

‘If you’re bored, then sponsor some fire, you bastards…….’

For a moment, Hyeonseong nearly let her true feelings slip out.

Of course, the method she’d been keeping in reserve was to use fire itself—or to induce sponsorship of fire-starting items or one-time skill support.

But you couldn’t be blatant about fishing for sponsorship. Begging openly was something most Constellations naturally despised.

‘If the furnace fire doesn’t work, I’ll have to squeeze fire out of them. Not the low-tier ones—something more credible.’

Hyeonseong dodged another earth-splitting attack and pulled out the Necklace of Ironclad Protection from her inventory.

Right after that, several arrows flew in, aimed at the Bulgasari’s flank. It looked like Shin Jeongha’s suppressive fire to buy time for Hyeonseong to equip the item.

Then even familiar Constellations sent messages. From a spectator’s viewpoint, it really was about the time they’d start getting bored.

‘Normally, this is when I should say some nonsense or something…….’

Kraaah—!

The instant Hyeonseong put the necklace on, the Bulgasari bellowed. Hyeonseong hurriedly covered her ears.

A debuff hit right after. It seemed she’d already heard the sound before she could fully block it.

‘Ugh…… it’s hard to even talk like this.’

She could feel her balance falter. Her head felt heavy, like mild nausea or the haze of alcohol creeping in.

Thud! Thud!

Sensing that Hyeonseong had been afflicted, the Bulgasari charged immediately. Hyeonseong barely managed to dodge right.

“Mr. Ye Hyeonseong!”

She heard Shin Jeongha shout. Hyeonseong turned her gaze toward the sound.

Shin Jeongha was holding steady, bow drawn. It seemed he hadn’t been afflicted by the debuff.

‘B-rank stats are way better than mine, after all.’

Hyeonseong ran toward Shin Jeongha’s position. Heavy footsteps pounded behind her. The sound of arrows cutting the air rang out.

Pak—!

Shin Jeongha’s arrow again lodged in the Bulgasari’s left eye. Struck again in the same wound, the monster roared.

‘Ugh, so loud…….’

It wasn’t fear-infused like before, but with her dulled head it was still harsh. Hyeonseong frowned and summoned the Infinite Corridor’s item list.

While Shin Jeongha engaged the Bulgasari, Hyeonseong pulled up the compartment where she stored potions and quickly scanned the list.

‘There should be an anti-dizziness potion.’

She found it quickly. Confirming it was inside the Infinite Corridor, Hyeonseong immediately opened the corridor and retrieved it.

The moment she drank it, the debuff vanished. Her mind cleared instantly and her balance returned.

‘Thought I was going to die.’

Once she was back to normal, Hyeonseong’s eyes immediately went toward the furnace.

Even from a distance, the firepower had risen quite a bit. The craftsmen seemed to have managed to pull themselves together—judging by how much the flame had climbed in such a short time.

“How long until you reach max firepower?”

Hyeonseong asked loudly while watching the Bulgasari’s movements.

“Uh…… just five more minutes!”

Several craftsmen answered in urgent voices.

“Five minutes. Got it!”

In combat, that was never a short time. But it wasn’t impossible to endure, either.

“Alright, then—shall we hold out just a little longer?”

Hyeonseong deliberately raised her voice. It was for the Constellations to hear.

As soon as Hyeonseong spoke up, the messages—quiet for a while—updated in a rush.

Thud—!

“Yes, ‘Wail That Heralds Death,’ thank you for the encouragement! ‘Hands Faster Than Eyes,’ if you’re tired, why don’t you just go wash your feet and sleep? ‘Flame Demon,’ thanks for the offer, but my soul’s a bit pricey!”

She responded to each message as it came into view.

In the meantime, the Bulgasari stomped and cracked the ground again, but Hyeonseong dodged it easily. It wasn’t an attack worth being surprised by anymore.

‘……Ignore them.’

She decided to ignore the baiting conversation. It was idle chatter that didn’t help in the slightest.

‘More importantly, isn’t it about time it fired another breath?’

She recalled the scale and power of the molten-metal breath from earlier.

She called it a breath because it resembled one, but compared to a typical dragon-type breath skill, it was clearly weaker.

Converted into skill rank, it was probably A-rank at best.

‘Which means the cooldown should be over by now, no matter what.’

Weaker than dragon breath or not, the molten-metal breath still had plenty of power. If it saw even a usable opening, it would fire again immediately.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

It charged at Hyeonseong again. When Hyeonseong dodged left, a tail swing followed right away.

This time, Hyeonseong leapt high to avoid the tail. She caught a glimpse of it whipping past as she flipped in the air.

Paaang—!

Kiyaaaak—!

The moment Hyeonseong landed, she heard something explode. Then came the Bulgasari’s scream. It seemed Shin Jeongha’s arrow had once again successfully torn into the monster’s wound.

Right after that, with another barrage of heavy footsteps, the Bulgasari charged again—this time toward where Shin Jeongha stood. Shin Jeongha threw himself aside to evade the rush.

‘That guy……!’

Hyeonseong clicked her tongue when she saw the direction Shin Jeongha fled.

Of all places, it was toward the furnace. It looked like he’d panicked at the sudden charge and hadn’t thought about his evasion path.