Chapter 137: Kang Ian Vanishes

A young hunter stared down at Kang Ian’s face, his voice laced with unease. Watching a powerful high-rank hunter suddenly plunge into a deep sleep barely half an hour after entering a Dungeon, only to sleep-smile like that... it looked deeply ominous.

Indeed, the corners of Kang Ian’s lips were curved upward.

It was a very faint smile, yet it radiated a sense of peace that bore no resemblance to his usual expression.

The hunters exchanged wary glances with one another.

Their Guild Leader was notorious for constantly scowling, suffering from chronic insomnia, and radiating an oppressive aura that kept everyone at a distance. Yet right now, he was lying flat on the ground, sleeping as soundly as a child, even smiling while he dreamt.

"Should we take the Guild Leader back with us?"

Someone spoke up.

"What if moving him makes his condition worse?"

"Then leave someone here and wait for Guild Leader Moon So-Yeon to arrive?"

Another hunter shook his head, looking unconvinced. "We can’t just have everyone stay behind indefinitely, either."

The debate quickly grew tense.

This Dungeon was far too bizarre. There were no monsters, no traps, and no discernible patterns they could make sense of. Everything inside was restricted to a silent forest and bizarre flora incapable of being removed from the premises.

Kang Ian was the strongest member of the team, and the only one capable of making executive decisions when crises struck.

Yet right now, he was lost in a deep sleep.

An A-rank hunter had just stepped forward, intending to shake Kang Ian once more, when he abruptly noticed a glow emanating from beneath his body.

"Wait."

The hunter’s voice shook. "Everyone, look at that!"

The hunters whipped their heads around in unison.

Faint blue lines of light had begun blooming across the earth. They radiated outward from the exact spot where Kang Ian lay, weaving together into a bizarre array of light.

No one knew when this light matrix had manifested, nor had anyone detected a single trace of prior energy fluctuations.

A hunter instantly leaped to his feet, drawing his weapon. "Fall back!"

But it was too late.

The radiance beneath the ground flared abruptly.

The blue stream swallowed Kang Ian’s body whole in the blink of an eye. The hunters threw their arms up to shield their eyes, stumbling backward amid a piercing shriek of howling wind.

"Guild Leader!"

Someone lunged forward, but their hands clutched at empty air.

The light vanished.

Kang Ian had vanished right along with it.

The leaf-strewn ground remained undisturbed, exactly as it had been before. There were no signs of excavation, no plant residue, not a single drop of blood. There was only an empty space where Kang Ian’s body had just been resting moments ago.

The hunters stared blankly at one another.

Not a single soul uttered a word as a cold sweat slowly trickled down their spines.

After a long beat, the youngest hunter finally spoke in a trembling voice:

"This..."

He stared at the patch of empty earth before him.

"This is bad!"

By the time Moon So-Yeon received word an hour later, she felt as though the sky were collapsing right before her eyes, her trembling fingers entirely incapable of keeping a firm grip on her pen.

"Say that again."

Moon So-Yeon forced her voice to remain steady, though the final syllable still warbled with panic.

The hunter standing before her swallowed hard. He had recounted this exact story no less than five times on the journey back with the other hunters, yet each time he repeated it, his complexion remained drained of color.

"The Guild Leader lay down beneath a tree. He was sleeping so deeply he couldn’t be woken up. Then... a matrix of light appeared underneath him."

"What did the matrix look like?"

"Blue lines of light. It spread outward from where the Guild Leader was lying and expanded rapidly, just like a gate."

Even now, residual terror clung to him.

"Were there any energy fluctuations?"

"None. At least, before the light flared, we didn’t sense a thing."

"Did you see anything emerge from the matrix?" Moon So-Yeon frowned.

"No."

"Did anyone touch the Guild Leader right before he disappeared?"

"No. We were only planning to shake him awake, but the light manifested beforehand and swallowed the Guild Leader whole."

Moon So-Yeon pressed further. "Are there any traces left to track his location?"

"Nothing is left. No signs of a struggle, no bloodstains, not even a scrap of torn clothing. The Guild Leader vanished entirely into thin air."

The hunter looked on the verge of tears as he delivered those words.

Moon So-Yeon closed her eyes.

She had digested countless operational reports concerning Dungeon anomalies. Ambushing monsters, traps, collapsing spatial planes, even erratic teleportation gates. Yet never had she encountered a case like this.

A living, breathing man suddenly plunged into a deep sleep, only to be swallowed by an imperceptible light.

And he was one of South Korea’s mightiest hunters, at that!

No one knew where Kang Ian had been hauled off to, nor did anyone know whether he was dead or alive. With him currently unconscious in a deep slumber, even a moderately formidable monster could easily ambush and butcher him.

"Is the scouting team still inside the Dungeon?" Moon So-Yeon asked.

"Yes. They are standing guard over the exact spot where the Guild Leader vanished, awaiting further instructions."

"Order them to evacuate immediately."

Moon So-Yeon opened her eyes. "No one is permitted to step foot in that sector ever again. Furthermore, do not arbitrarily touch any of the flora inside that Dungeon."

"But if the Guild Leader is still inside..."

"I know." She cut him off flatly. "However, if this is a trap, we cannot afford to let anyone else vanish alongside him. I will dispatch a request for reinforcement to the Hunter Association, this shall be classified as a national-level emergency!"

Moon So-Yeon’s voice grew hoarse.

Saying that decision was no different from admitting with her own hands that she could not save Kang Ian.