Chapter 96 – The Invisible Hunter

[Blue Shell of the Giant Centipede]

– Category: Collectible

– Grade: A

– Characteristic: Bound Item

– Description: A collectible needed for clearing the Giant Centipede dungeon. Looks hard but surprisingly soft.

Min Do-jun obtained this item while monopolizing the centipede cave.

“Now I just need to get the red shell to finish.”

Having collected one of the two shells needed, he’d achieved half his goal.

“With 8 hours left, there should be enough time to get it.”

While extremely bad luck could mean not getting any in 8 hours, Min Do-jun wasn’t worried.

“Unlike others, I have my lucky charm.”

With a charm that brings luck just by possessing it, getting a shell shouldn’t be difficult.

From now on, he needed to focus on hunting the red giant centipedes.

“Since there are no more branching paths anyway, better to clear this quickly and get out.”

No branching paths meant no more centipede caves to monopolize.

It would be better in many ways to quickly get the remaining shell and match for another dungeon.

“For that, I need to let them know about getting the shell.”

Min Do-jun approached his party members who were preparing to hunt.

They were discussing the shells.

“Sigh… still no shell?”

“Yeah. We’ve been hunting non-stop for 4 hours…”

“I wonder if we’ll get penalized at this rate.”

While everyone wore worried expressions, Min Do-jun joined the conversation.

“I got one shell.”

“What…?”

“The swordmaster did?”

Their surprised faces quickly turned skeptical.

“Really? You have a shell?”

“If a shell dropped, we would have known. We’ve been hunting together.”

Min Do-jun shook his head.

“I didn’t get it while hunting together. I got it earlier while hunting alone at the fork.”

“Alone? Ah…!”

The party members finally understood.

Centipedes did appear at the fork after all.

“But only one or two appear at the fork, right?”

“You got a shell after killing just a few?”

Min Do-jun nodded.

In reality, he had killed 400 to get it.

“I got lucky.”

“Wow… that’s amazing.”

“That’s not easy to do.”

Everyone expressed amazement while showing somewhat relieved expressions.

“That’s fortunate. At least we got one shell.”

“What color did you get?”

“Blue.”

“Now we just need to get the red one.”

“Ah, that’s a relief.”

The party members gave Min Do-jun a new appreciative look.

A look that said he wasn’t as useless as they thought.

‘Not like I’ll see these people after today anyway.’

Though it was laughable, he quietly followed the party to maintain his weak persona.

Thanks to Min Do-jun obtaining the shell, the party gained some breathing room.

They could now handle the giant centipedes more leisurely than before.

Since there were no more forks ahead, the party members could focus on hunting without splitting up.

“Should we take a break?”

“Let’s do that.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear.”

At leader Kim Ji-hoon’s words, the party members sat down on the dirt floor one by one.

Having one shell meant they could rest without worry.

Kim Ji-hoon’s gaze turned to Min Do-jun but only briefly.

He soon looked elsewhere, showing disinterest.

Min Do-jun’s seemingly low skills still couldn’t capture Kim Ji-hoon’s attention.

Though such disinterest was exactly what Min Do-jun wanted.

“I’m going to relieve myself.”

“Go ahead.”

One party member got Kim Ji-hoon’s permission and left his spot.

He didn’t go too far, just walking a bit further where he was out of sight.

“Whew, had to hold it in for so long.”

Even hunters can’t fight nature’s call.

Spending long hours in dungeons meant having to deal with such needs one way or another.

Whoosh-

After finishing his business in a corner, the party member was adjusting his pants when suddenly.

Whoosh-

“Huh?”

A sudden wind blew, making his hair flutter.

“What? What’s with this wind…”

Thud-

A moment later.

Another party member who came to the same corner for the same reason discovered the collapsed party member.

“H-Han-seop!”

The party member who remembered his name immediately shook the fallen Kim Han-seop.

“Han-seop! What happened! Wake up!”

“Ugh… uh…”

But Kim Han-seop showed only the whites of his eyes and remained unconscious.

Thinking he might have been ambushed, the member looked around but saw nothing.

With no visible injuries on Kim Han-seop’s body, the situation was even more puzzling.

“Why is he…”

Suddenly, the party member shaking Kim Han-seop felt dizzy.

Thud-

* * *

You can’t bring watches into dungeons.

Regardless of whether they work or not, items other than clothes disappear upon entering dungeons.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t check the time.

– Clear Progress: Giant Centipede’s Blue Shell (Obtained), Giant Centipede’s Red Shell (Not Obtained)

– Time Remaining: 6 hours 33 minutes 12 seconds

“Hmm…”

Kim Ji-hoon, who was checking the time through the progress window, stood up.

“Leader, are you going to relieve yourself too?”

“It’s been 10 minutes and those who went haven’t returned. We should go look for them.”

“They must be doing number two.”

“Nothing serious could have happened.”

Though everyone spoke casually, Kim Ji-hoon had an ominous feeling.

“Still, you never know what might happen in a dungeon.”

Leaving those words behind, he started walking, and the party members reluctantly got up.

They couldn’t just sit while their leader was moving.

Min Do-jun, who had been resting against the wall, also followed the party members.

‘You can’t let your guard down in a dungeon.’

He too agreed with Kim Ji-hoon’s words.

The following party members still had dissatisfied expressions.

“It’ll be really awkward if we catch them in the middle of…”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

They just grumbled in low voices so Kim Ji-hoon couldn’t hear.

Min Do-jun looked at them with contempt.

‘Why worry about such trivial things in a dungeon where life and death are at stake.’

Safety negligence wasn’t limited to ordinary citizens.

Soon after, when they reached where the party members had been, they witnessed an unbelievable sight.

Crunch- Crunch-

A hideous giant bug with dozens of legs was chewing on something.

It looked different from the giant centipedes.

“W-what is that?”

“Were there other monsters besides giant centipedes?”

When the hunters approached, the bug stopped eating and vanished in the blink of an eye.

“W-what? Did I see things?”

“You weren’t the only one who saw it, right?”

While the party members were confused, Kim Ji-hoon rushed to the fallen party members.

“Oh, no…!”

“What’s wrong, Leader… gasp!”

The party members who arrived later stopped in their tracks, shocked.

The two party members who had gone to relieve themselves were lying there with their limbs torn off.

Their equipment had disappeared, indicating they were already dead.

“To think Chan-seop and Hyung-won would…”

“It-it must have been that thing from earlier!”

“Where did it go?”

The party members looked around frantically, but the monster from before was nowhere to be seen.

The surroundings were quiet as if they had imagined it all.

“I didn’t imagine it, right?”

“I saw it too. A long monster with many legs. Like a Grima…”

“Leader, haven’t you seen such a monster before?”

Kim Ji-hoon shook his head.

“Never.”

He had cleared the Giant Centipede dungeon hundreds of times from level 1,600 to 2,000, but he had never seen such a monster.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve been this tense.’

Kim Ji-hoon looked around at the party members and shouted.

“Everyone, keep your weapons ready and stay alert! We don’t know when it might appear!”

It was a natural decision given two members had died, but Min Do-jun internally shook his head.

‘It won’t appear if you show such obvious preparation.’

He knew the identity of the monster that had eaten the party members.

The Fast-legged Grima.

It was a rare creature in the Giant Centipede dungeon.

‘Though it’s not the boss.’

The dungeon had a separate boss, the Black King Centipede.

It looked completely different from the Fast-legged Grima.

‘The Grima looks more disgusting.’

It made the giant centipedes look cute in comparison.

But such repulsiveness could only be felt when seen directly, and the chance of meeting a Grima was even lower than meeting the boss.

‘Unlike the boss, it’s almost unknown.’

There was a reason for this.

It rarely appeared before people.

‘More accurately, it can’t be seen.’

The Fast-legged Grima was, true to its name, an incredibly fast monster.

Too fast to be seen with the naked eye.

‘It’s not even using invisibility, just pure speed.’

It was so fast that it could only be seen when stationary.

‘Plus, it won’t appear when people are on guard like this.’

The Grima was very cautious when hunting humans.

When people were armed like this, it would sense the threat and stay away.

‘Despite its appearance, it’s quite cowardly.’

This was also why it fled from its meal when other hunters appeared.

Its basic nature was to ambush when guards were down.

‘There’s a reason it’s called the Invisible Hunter.’

The reason the Fast-legged Grima wasn’t well-known was probably because its hunts were perfectly successful.

‘It definitely won’t appear while they’re being this cautious.’

Sure enough, even after standing tensely for over 30 minutes, the monster showed no signs of appearing.

“Is it gone?”

“Seems like it.”

“What should we do now, Leader?”

“Hmm…”

Kim Ji-hoon fell into thought.

Should they spend time waiting for the unknown monster, or continue with the clearing?

The deliberation wasn’t long.

“Since it doesn’t seem like it’ll appear anymore, let’s continue clearing.”

“What about the… bodies?”

“Sad as it is, what can we do? We have to leave them.”

They couldn’t take the bodies outside the dungeon anyway.

Those who die in dungeons are buried in dungeons.

The party members said a prayer for the deceased and turned away.

Though they had lost two members, hunting wasn’t a problem.

They were all skilled enough to handle centipedes alone.

After 2 hours of hunting, it was time for another break.

“I need to use the bathroom.”

When one party member tried to leave, Kim Ji-hoon half-rose.

“Want to go together?”

“I’m worried it might be dangerous alone.”

“Don’t worry. I’m just going right there.”

“If you say so…”

Kim Ji-hoon sat back down.

It was the same situation as before, but did they think the unknown monster wouldn’t appear again?

‘No, that’s not it.’

While everyone else seemed to have dismissed the Grima, Min Do-jun was the exception.

‘It’s not over yet.’

Min Do-jun knew.

That the Grima never lets go of prey it has found.

“Do-jun, do you need to go too?”

“Yes.”

Min Do-jun followed the party member who had gone ahead, maintaining some distance.

Then, when no one else was looking, he equipped all his gear.

And.

Swoosh-

He completely concealed himself with invisibility.

Now, when people had let their guard down, was exactly when the Grima would appear.

‘I’ll be the one to catch the Grima.’

And in this process, the party member ahead would serve as excellent bait.