A-Rank Dungeon - ??? Apocalypse (12)

When Kwon Seojin tore the scroll, a system message appeared.

‘If it’s Ghostification, I should turn transparent.’

Hyeonseong looked at her own body. She was still perfectly visible.

‘…He used a clone spell together with Ghostification.’

She raised one hand. She clearly lifted it, yet what she saw was an image that still had its hand lowered. Her guess was correct.

“This isn’t just a simple clone, is it?”

Hyeonseong asked Kwon Seojin.

“No. It’s a clone that’s detected like a real person,”

Kwon Seojin answered immediately.

“…Even weight and body temperature?”

Hyeonseong had already been thinking that, if possible, it would be best to lure the enemies into self-destructing on their own.

What Kwon Seojin had used was a clone spell that made exactly that possible.

‘This scroll definitely wasn’t cheap. With the effect and the area of application…’

Looking around, Hyeonseong realized that she wasn’t the only one with a clone. At a glance, every team member had one.

‘There were three scrolls.’

Hyeonseong quickly figured out what Kwon Seojin had used.

‘Ghostification, cloning, and an amplification spell that expands a skill’s effective range.’

It was a perfect combination to use in the current situation.

‘One of them alone would’ve been impressive, but having all three… and by coincidence, too.’

At this point, it almost looked as if Kwon Seojin had known this dungeon in advance.

‘Don’t tell me his trait is something like a prophet?’

Traits and skills related to prophecy did exist, so it wasn’t impossible.

However, aside from combat precognition, prophetic and foresight abilities were generally considered unimpressive.

‘If you could read information about a dungeon about to explode, prophets would be fought over everywhere.’

Seen that way, it wasn’t strange that Kwon Seojin might be hiding his trait.

If he truly had such an ability, even a small rumor would drag him into endless trouble.

“Anyway, it definitely looks good to use right now.”

Clearing the dungeon was far more important than suspicion at the moment.

Hyeonseong spoke while making an effort not to show doubt.

“Yes. I layered the spells with almost no time gap, so even the central system won’t notice right away,”

Kwon Seojin replied.

“With magic like this, the duration won’t be very long.”

“Then we should send them now. You said it was the 5th floor, right?”

Kwon Seojin asked. When Hyeonseong nodded, he moved the clones.

Soon, the assault team’s clones headed upstairs. Aside from the lack of conversation, their movements were nearly identical to the real team.

‘Since they went up…’

Hyeonseong briefly checked her status window. She needed to confirm Ghostification’s remaining time.

‘Four minutes is plenty.’

Hyeonseong immediately headed for the wall. When she placed her hand against it and pushed, her hand passed straight through.

Confirming that Ghostification was working properly, she stepped outside through the wall.

‘Wow… they really all gathered here already?’

The moment she exited, she saw a massive horde of monsters densely packed around the command center.

Mechanical monsters had formed ranks across both ground and air.

‘They probably haven’t attacked yet because of the ones gathered on the 5th floor. If those succeed, there’s no need to attack here.’

Hyeonseong kicked off the ground and lifted herself higher. A higher vantage point made it easier to gauge the assembled forces.

‘That’s disgustingly dense.’

The sight that came into view as she floated in midair made Hyeonseong grimace.

Every type of mechanical monster she’d encountered so far—plus zombies.

It looked as if every living monster in the dungeon had gathered here.

‘…In a way, is that better? Zombies were a problem since I didn’t know how to track them.’

Unlike mechanical monsters, zombies couldn’t be summoned or self-destructed via control systems. In that sense, having literally every monster gathered in one place could help with zombie hunting.

‘That’s only if we can survive this place, though.’

After checking the situation, Hyeonseong returned to the 1st floor. Less than a minute remained on Ghostification. She had to get back inside the command center.

‘The clones that went up should be reaching the 5th floor by now.’

Passing back through the wall into the lobby, Hyeonseong looked up at the ceiling. The building wasn’t very tall, and considering the remaining duration, the clones should arrive at the 5th floor any moment.

‘We don’t know where people are, so asking would be risky.’

They’d gone to the trouble of deceiving with clones; shouting to look for people would only raise the central system’s suspicions.

‘…This feels kind of like when I hide conversations from the Constellations.’

Thinking that, Hyeonseong waited in silence. Given the timing, there was no need to ask—results would come soon enough.

‘Should I block my ears in advance?’

Just as she had that thought and covered her ears—

—Pwoooong—!

A thunderous explosion rang out, right on cue.

Even with her ears covered, the sound was intense. If she’d left them uncovered, she might’ve suffered a hearing-related status ailment.

‘That timing is unreal.’

Right after that, Ghostification ended and her appearance returned to normal. At the same time, the building clearly began to shake.

—Kooong—
—Kuuuwoong—

Outside, debris from collapsing structures was falling, large fragments crashing down with deafening noise.

“That just exploded, right?”

Team members said as they stared up at the ceiling.

“Judging by the chaos outside…”

“So it really was in self-destruct standby. As soon as the clones went up, it blew.”

“Good thing it fell for it. I didn’t know what we’d do if it hadn’t.”

“But… isn’t this place dangerous too?”

A few team members asked anxiously. With the tremors still ongoing, their reaction was only natural.

“Is that really the most important thing right now?”

“More importantly, the 5th floor’s wrecked—what do we do about those things…?”

Others were more worried about the monsters swarming outside than the building itself.

“What do we do? We deal with them. And…”

Hyeonseong replied, glancing up at the ceiling.

Amid the sound of falling debris, a particularly heavy thud echoed once.

Not an explosion—something falling.

So the plan hadn’t completely gone off the rails yet.

“It doesn’t look like we need to give up already. So—”

Hyeonseong turned her gaze to Seona and the engineer.

“Let’s go up together. We need to check whether it’s workable.”

“Th-then what about those things?”

Team members shouted. The monsters were clearly starting to show signs of attacking.

“Head underground and hold out for now! There’s a shelter down there!”

Seona answered in her place. It seemed to be information she’d confirmed earlier while searching data in the central building.

“At least you’ll be able to hold out there.”

“But to enter a place like that—”

The team tried to argue.

“Take it!”

Hyeonseong shouted, opening a small Infinite Corridor beside one team member. An android captain’s card key, taken from the aerial battleship, dropped out of the corridor.

“Uh, this is…?”

The team member who caught it stared wide-eyed.

“That should be enough to make it work.”

“Are you sure it’s okay for all of us to go?”

At the question, Hyeonseong quickly scanned everyone’s faces. Then she glanced up at the ceiling once more before looking back.

“Come with us for just a few minutes.”

Hyeonseong selected a few people: Kwon Seojin, a mage specialized in defensive skills, and five members who could taunt weaker monsters and bunch them together.

“Monster taunting, you mean…?”

“Yes. I can do that one more time,”

Hyeonseong replied to the team member who seemed to catch on.

Even though monsters had gathered like clouds, most were around C-rank. There weren’t many A-rank-or-higher or special variants.

So if they reused the previous method, they could thin out the small fry to some extent.

“They might not fall for the same trick twice, but still—it’s better than doing nothing.”

“That’s true, but—”

—Kwaaang—!

The team member’s words were cut off by another blast. It looked like the bombing was about to start in earnest.

“We’re out of time. Let’s move.”

“Wait!”

Just before Hyeonseong left, several team members shouted. Purifier items were thrown toward those heading upstairs.

“You’re not taking any buffers! At least take these!”

Including Seona, everyone who didn’t have a purifier received one.

“Then we’ll be back soon!”

Activating a purifier, Hyeonseong shouted. Everyone except those going with her headed in the direction Seona had indicated.

Hyeonseong’s group ran up the stairs. Passing the 2nd floor, they reached the 3rd in moments.

“There!”

Right after entering the 3rd floor, one team member pointed at the ceiling. The spot was split wide open.

By instinct, Hyeonseong realized that a machine housing the command-center system had fallen there.

“Do we go up, or do we break that? Which do you prefer?”

Hyeonseong asked.

“Breaking that is better,”

Kwon Seojin said, briefly opening his bag and reaching inside. A long-handled hammer popped out.

“Need help?”

A team member asked.

“No, it’s fine. You’ll have work to do later—save your strength,”

Kwon Seojin replied, pulling out a potion.

‘An orange potion… Strength doping to smash it in one hit?’

Hyeonseong thought as she watched him drink it.

“Here I go.”

Kwon Seojin roughly tossed aside the empty bottle and gripped the hammer.

“Haah!”

He stomped and leapt, brown aura coating the hammer’s head.

‘Earth attribute this time?’

Earth was an attribute specialized not only in high defense but also in heavy, crushing attacks—perfect for demolishing part of a building.

‘When he used a spear, the aura was fire. His items were non-elemental and lightning.’

In this dungeon alone, he’d displayed four attributes. At this point, Hyeonseong was sure—they were all attributes embedded in items.

‘And always the ones best suited for the situation…’

—Kwaaang—!

The ceiling cracks deepened under Kwon Seojin’s hammering. Watching that, Hyeonseong frowned.

‘It helps, but it still feels unsettling.’

—Bang!
—Kwaang!

The earth-aspected hammer struck the ceiling several more times. The cracks widened, debris raining down.

—Kwaaang—!

The hammer struck once more.

—Rattle—

And immediately after, the ceiling began to collapse.

Cracks spread rapidly in all directions, then the structure caved in.

—Kuuuwoong—

“Well, it fell,”

Kwon Seojin said, having already pulled back. Amid the fallen debris, a machine was visible.

It was a pillar-type device similar to the one in the central building, with a control console attached.

“We found the device, but…”

“We need to see if it works. Here,”

Hyeonseong said, handing Seona a card containing mayoral authority. She took it and approached the machine with the engineer.

“Come on. We’ve got our own jobs,”

Hyeonseong said to the remaining members.

With the ceiling open, attacks would pour in through the gap.

They needed to block attacks and keep the small fry monsters clustered while the two operated the machine.

“Good news—it’s still alive,”

The engineer said brightly after checking it.

“Then I’ll handle the rest…”

Seona inserted the card Hyeonseong had given her into the machine. It powered up.

‘That side’s handled…’

Hyeonseong turned her gaze back to the ceiling.

Right on cue, several fighter craft were gathering energy in their cannons, aiming this way.

‘I’ll do what I need to do.’

Hyeonseong extended a finger into the air. With a light swipe, the Infinite Corridor opened wide beyond the hole in the ceiling.

—Thwoong—
—Kwaaang!

Every attack fired immediately after bounced harmlessly off the Infinite Corridor.

“Everyone, start! Kwon Seojin, take care of the ones coming down!”

Hyeonseong gave orders while keeping the Infinite Corridor open.

At her command, the rest of the team sprang into action.