S-Rank Corrosion Dungeon (7)

“Is that really possible? No matter what the Constellations want….”

Jeongha asked beside her in a worried voice. It looked like messages similar to what Hyeonseong had been seeing had also been sent to Jeongha.

“It’s not impossible. Melting it down completely is the best option, sure—but it’s not like there’s no other way to kill it.”

Hyeonseong replied, then tossed every skill card except the S-rank Mana Thrust into the Infinite Corridor.

“You’re going to break it with brute force?”

“Something like that.”

Hyeonseong checked the remaining time. It was tight, but if they hurried, they could make it.

“So, Jeongha—hold onto this.”

She handed the S-rank Mana Thrust card to Jeongha.

“What the—… huh?”

Jeongha, who took it without thinking, flinched as he examined the card.

“When the timing’s right, use that for me.”

“W-What are you going to do? We could just use this right now—”

“No. That alone probably won’t be enough. So…”

While answering Jeongha, Hyeonseong opened the Infinite Corridor. A pickaxe dropped into her hand.

“We make it so that one hit can finish it. Let’s go!”

With the pickaxe in hand, Hyeonseong sprinted toward the furnace. At the same time, the Bulgasari pushed itself up out of the fire.

She quickly scanned the Bulgasari now out of the flames. Its size was only a little bigger than a human. Its metal scales were glowing red—softened and partially melted.

‘At a glance, it looks doable… but.’

She tightened her grip on the pickaxe. If things didn’t go as planned, she could always shove it back into the fire again. She still had plenty of skill cards that could push the monster away.

‘Nothing to lose!’

She reached it in a heartbeat and raised the pickaxe—then brought it down.

CLANG—!

The pickaxe tip bit into the Bulgasari’s chest.

‘Got it.’

From the sound and the feel in her hands, Hyeonseong was certain. This was enough to get the result she wanted.

She yanked hard—and the Bulgasari’s metal scales tore away.

Kieeek!

The Bulgasari cried out. And right on cue, the Constellations’ reactions flew in.

Without replying, Hyeonseong swung the pickaxe again. With fast hands, she peeled off more chest scales.

Kyaaak!

The Bulgasari swiped at her, trying to knock her away. Hyeonseong ducked the attack, then slipped into the opening and swung again.

CLANG—! CLANG—!

She kept striking whenever an opening appeared. She couldn’t stop. The softened, glowing-hot scales could cool and harden again at any moment.

Kkaang—

As she kept at it, Constellations tied to metal and smithing joined the audience. Even sponsorship came in, but she didn’t have time to react.

‘No time to talk.’

She only skimmed the messages and swung again.

CLANG—

The pickaxe blade snapped. But she still hadn’t peeled off enough scales.

Even so, it wasn’t a problem. Hyeonseong immediately pulled a spare pickaxe from the Infinite Corridor.

Ignoring whatever the Constellations thought, she continued. If she tore off just three more patches of scale, the thrust card would have a clean line into the core.

CLANG—! KKAANG—!

Fast, precise swings stripped away even more armor.

Kyaaak!

The Bulgasari was furious—Hyeonseong kept dodging and ripping scales off. It swiped again.

CLANG—!

And at that timing, she tore off another plate. Hyeonseong knew it was time.

“Jeongha!”

She didn’t hesitate—she fell backward to evade the Bulgasari’s strike.

‘The time…’

There was almost nothing left of the time ‘Hands Faster Than Eyes’ had imposed. All that remained was for Jeongha to land the thrust straight into the monster’s heart.

The Bulgasari raised its foot over Hyeonseong. Hyeonseong didn’t dodge—she waited.

KWAANG—!

Kieeeeeeek!

Before the sole could crush her torso, a white beam slammed into the Bulgasari’s chest. The monster was driven backward and crashed back into the furnace.

‘No kill message.’

Its scream was vicious, but the usual “monster defeated” message didn’t appear. One hit wasn’t enough.

KWAANG—!

Another white beam flashed overhead with a booming impact. Jeongha had used the Mana Thrust card again.

Kieeeeeeeeeek!

With the loudest scream yet, messages poured in. The second thrust had completely destroyed the core.

‘That was tight.’

“Ugh….”

Hyeonseong, who’d been practically sprawled on the floor, pushed herself up. She wanted to lie there a little longer, but there was still work to do.

‘Gotta take what I can.’

She walked up to the Bulgasari’s corpse in the furnace. Opening the Infinite Corridor, she swallowed the corpse whole.

With its scales torn off and its size awkward, she didn’t know how much it would be worth—but she could sell it for something. Better to take it.

“Mr. Ye Hyeonseong!”

Jeongha ran over.

“Ah, right. You did great. You all did, too.”

Hyeonseong greeted Jeongha and the craftsmen.

“You did the most, Hyeonseong.”

Jeongha said, returning the skill card.

“It wasn’t just me. If I’d been alone, I never would’ve killed it.”

Hyeonseong replied.

“Shall we get out?”

Everyone agreed. Hyeonseong simply thought about leaving the dungeon—and at once, her vision darkened and a strange floating sensation wrapped around her.

A moment later, her sight returned. The scenery was still the same forge interior they’d been in—except now the colors had come back.

“Since we’re back, I should return these.”

After confirming the craftsmen were all out, Hyeonseong pulled out the equipment and materials she’d stored and set them down where they belonged. Putting things back was part of the service.

“Nothing missing, right?”

After emptying the compartment where she’d stored the forge’s goods, Hyeonseong asked.

“Everything’s here.”

“Honestly… we don’t know how to repay you.”

After checking quantities and condition, the craftsmen thanked her again.

“As long as nothing’s missing, that’s enough. Then….”

“Um—are you all okay?”

A voice came from the open doorway. Turning her head, Hyeonseong saw the two Awakeners and the remaining staff filing in.

“Yeah. We’re fine. You guys okay too?”

Hyeonseong answered the non-combat Awakener who approached.

“Yes. The staff are all okay too. No new monsters showed up, so… but….”

The system message cut in before the conversation could continue.

‘#1…?’

Hyeonseong’s eyes widened. She never expected to place first. She immediately scanned the reward list.

‘This time it’s issued as a card.’

She accepted it without much expectation. Up until now, every skill card she’d received had been unusable for her.

‘So I’ll just sell it again… if it even sells— huh?’

As she checked the item info out of habit, Hyeonseong froze and reread it.

‘…I can use it?’

She checked again—same result. Instead of “learns the skill upon use,” the card clearly displayed remaining uses.

‘Wait—then what about that one?’

Her eyes snapped to the quest reward notification.

Even the reward ‘Hands Faster Than Eyes’ had dangled was issued as a skill card. Hyeonseong received the ‘Magician’s Hand’ card and checked it too.

Same again. It was a card Hyeonseong herself could use.

Sure enough, ‘Hands Faster Than Eyes’ was clearly unhappy about the reward being issued as a card.

‘Does that bastard even know I can use this?’

The question rose naturally in Hyeonseong’s mind—then she dismissed it as pointless.

‘Whether it knows or not, the moment I use it even once, it’ll find out. And since it’s seen skills can get issued as cards, it’ll never offer skill rewards again anyway.’

Even now, it was still trying to steal the reward. Thankfully, the system shut down its thieving instincts cleanly.

“Oh my, ‘Hands Faster Than Eyes’? What’s this—such a generous reward?”

Hyeonseong greeted it while deliberately twirling the ‘Magician’s Hand’ card between her fingers. “I’ll accept it gratefully—and use it well.”

Whether it truly “left” or not, one thing was clear: it was furious. Hyeonseong barely held back a laugh.

Finally, the item promised by the watching Constellation arrived. As she received it, a slender twig tipped with a dark-red ember dropped into her hand.

It looked so flimsy she almost wanted to complain—but considering the item name and the Constellation who gave it, it might be better than it looked.

“Thank you to ‘Hellfire Karma’ as well. Judging by the name…”

“Huh? So Jeongha wasn’t #1? Then….”

The grumbling Awakener’s voice cut into Hyeonseong’s ear mid-thanks. Hyeonseong’s eyes turned toward him automatically.

“That guy?”

“What.”

Hyeonseong shot back at the suspicious tone without thinking.

“You two aren’t pulling some kind of prank together, are you?”

“Why would we? There’s not even a single coin in it.”

Hyeonseong replied with a slanted attitude.

“If you don’t believe it, check for yourself.”

She didn’t want to waste time on nonsense. Without further argument, she pulled up the dungeon clear record registered on the Interstellar Network.

Once she showed the clear record that anyone with access could verify, the guy finally shut up.

“How did you do it?”

The non-combat Awakener asked, fascinated.

“It’s nothing special. I just got lucky and picked up some pretty useful items a few days ago.”

Without Hyeonyeong’s S-rank cards, this would’ve been brutal—so it wasn’t even a lie.

“And those useful items are…”

“By the way, didn’t you not even tell us your names earlier?”

The questioning was about to get intrusive, so Hyeonseong redirected the topic.

The non-combat Awakener introduced herself—Choi Mina, an A-rank tailor.

And the constantly complaining Awakener turned out to be Han Juyeong, a C-rank water mage—the most useless piece of information she’d gotten all day.

“…Anyway, Mina, you did well too. Looks like you handled the staff well.”

Hyeonseong said once the late introductions ended.

The non-Awakened staff who returned with Mina weren’t injured, and none looked visibly panicked. That meant Mina had kept them calm and guided them properly.

“It wasn’t just me. Juyeong helped too.”

“…That guy?”

At Mina’s words, Hyeonseong looked at Han Juyeong—who shot her the same eyes Hyeonseong had given him earlier.

“W-What is it?”

Han Juyeong snapped defensively. Hyeonseong ignored him and looked away.

“Then we should disperse. Oh—right. I collected the monster corpse, so….”

All that was left was the practical matter of loot distribution.

In ad-hoc teams, that often turned into a fight—but today the split was decided surprisingly smoothly. All three Awakeners entitled to a share agreed Hyeonseong should take the largest cut.

Han Juyeong clearly agreed through gritted teeth, but still.

“Then I’ll head out first.”

Mina left first once everything was settled. Before she went, she handed Hyeonseong a business card for her workshop.

Starting with Mina, the people trapped in the dungeon filed out one by one.

‘Me… I’ll deal with this guy, then leave.’

After sending the others off, Hyeonseong called up the Infinite Corridor’s item list.

She checked Compartment 29—the one that had swallowed the Bulgasari’s molten-metal breath.

‘This one didn’t get absorbed as a skill card.’

The item in Compartment 29 wasn’t a skill card. It was an item labeled ‘Unidentifiable Molten Metal.’

‘Maybe because the “skill” was that kind of form. Either way, it says it’s high-grade material…’

While reading the molten metal’s info, Hyeonseong paused, thinking what to use it for.

‘Making a real weapon wouldn’t mean much, and metal armor doesn’t suit me… ah. I should just make that.’

Before long, she decided exactly what it was for.

‘Might as well place the order right now.’

Hyeonseong’s steps headed straight for the forge office.