Chapter 60: There’s Still Another Boss

The mages poured out all their mana. Fire and ice erupted simultaneously across the giant body. The archers fired repeatedly into the wounds the magic had created. The melee hunters who were still standing charged in unison, slashing at the wolf’s legs and belly.

For the first time, the Boss’s black blood sprayed out. It raised its head, its eyes glowing red.

It opened its mouth, and a black sphere of lightning began to form between its sharp fangs.

Miya’s face turned pale.

"Get out of the way! That’s an area-of-effect attack!"

But there wasn’t enough time.

Yudian saw the wounded people behind him, saw Hanna exhausted, then glanced at Ular, who was still trapped near the Boss’s feet.

He tightened his grip on his sword.

"Ular, get down!"

Yudian charged straight forward.

He didn’t dodge the sphere of lightning. He slashed down through it!

A full-power sword strike tore the black bolt of lightning in half as it hurtled toward him. The tremendous pressure made both of Yudian’s arms tremble, blood running down between his fingers, but the sphere had been forced apart to both sides and exploded against the cliff wall.

"Hyung!"

"Don’t let everyone’s efforts go to waste!"

Yudian pushed off the ground and shot straight toward the wolf’s chest.

The Boss swung its claws.

He twisted his body to dodge to the side, letting the claws graze past his shoulder. Blood sprayed out, but Yudian didn’t stop. He stepped onto its massive arm, ran along the black fur crackling with electricity, then launched himself upward.

In that moment, all members of Black Rose attacked at once to open a path.

Ice locked the Boss’s legs, fire burned its belly, and arrows pinned both its flanks. Ular stabbed through the skin beneath its neck, forcing the Boss to lift its head.

The Boss’s heart was exposed through its fractured ribcage.

Yudian gripped the sword with both hands.

"Guild Black Rose... will not fall here!"

He struck downward.

Thud!

The blade pierced through the bone and drove straight into the heart glowing a dark red-purple.

The giant wolf froze solid.

A choked roar echoed from its throat. The black lightning around its body flickered out one by one, and the glowing red eyes gradually lost their light.

Yudian pulled the sword out.

The Boss’s massive frame crashed down, creating a small earthquake.

The entire Guild was silent for a few seconds.

Then Ular slumped to the ground, gasping for breath.

"Finally... we took it down."

Yudian leaned on his sword, staring at the Boss’s corpse with a heavy expression.

But no one noticed that, deep within the wolf’s chest, beside the energy stone still radiating light, a small black rock remained unbroken.

On its surface, red-purple lines were slowly moving.

Deeper within the Dungeon, another roar rang out.

The roar echoed from the depths of the Dungeon, making all members of Guild Black Rose turn their heads at once.

The sound was so heavy that the ground beneath their feet trembled in waves. Chunks of stone fell from the cave ceiling, and the black rock beside the energy stone continued to emit its eerie red-purple glow.

"What is that?" a member asked in a trembling voice.

No one could answer.

Yudian stared intently into the darkness ahead. They had just survived a life-or-death battle with the black wolf Boss, but this roar made his instincts scream far more violently.

"Take one step back."

Yudian’s voice came out hoarse.

"Don’t any of you move forward on your own. Miya, check everyone’s condition. Hanna, heal the wounded. Ular, gather those who still have the strength to fight."

"Hyung, we shouldn’t go any further." Ular tightened his grip on his weapon. "The Boss we just faced was far stronger than the intel suggested. If there’s another Boss ahead, it might even be stronger..."

"I know."

Yudian looked toward the pitch-black passage.

"But we can’t go back empty-handed."

Just then, a powerful surge of energy swept through the Dungeon.

All the red-purple lights on the cave walls flared up at once. The black rocks Yudian had stored in his spatial ring suddenly vibrated violently, as if responding to a call from the deepest place.

Yudian immediately reached for the ring.

"Hyung?"

"It’s fine."

He said that, but his face had already turned pale. Yudian could sense that something was very, very wrong.In Dong-San city, dawn had broken long ago.

Yet the morning light could not penetrate the red-purple sky that shrouded the entire city. The clouds curled into massive rings, dyeing the whole space a gloomy color like diluted blood.

Kei stood outside the store, looking up at that sky.

He pressed his lips tightly together.

The energy fluctuations from the Dungeons in the city were rising at a frightening rate. Not only were they stronger than at midnight, but they were also spreading little by little, throwing the mana in the air into chaos.

"Kei?"

Sora stood at the door, her expression worried.

"What’s going on?"

"Sora, stay inside the store." Kei turned his head to look at her. "No matter what sounds you hear, do not step outside."

Sora was stunned.

"What about you?"

"I need to go to the Dungeon and take a look."

After all, Kei couldn’t do anything right now since he had no combat ability left, so he could only take a look.

"It’s dangerous."

"I know."

Kei looked toward the gate radiating the strongest fluctuations.

"But if we don’t go check, we won’t know anything at all, and that would be even more dangerous."

He stepped into the store and walked over to the wall behind the counter. On it was a pale blue stone set in a small metal frame.

This was a store protection system installed by Grandma Kim a long time ago. Kei had seen it countless times, but had never activated it.

He placed his hand on the stone, and just one point of energy was immediately transferred into this energy stone.

Boom!