"?!"
Many hunters screamed when suddenly three people exploded at the same time. Their internal organs were scattered around on the ground while deep red sprays of blood spread out all over the room. It stained the nearby hunters as if they were splattered by a paintbrush, even though several of the hunters tried to step away but failed. Raydel was one of them.
Right now, his entire body was covered in the blood of the dead.
Sheryl and Shane were no different.
The three of them spat out the blood mixed with their saliva. Ringing sounds echoed in their ears as if they lost their hearing temporarily since the explosion happened so close to their ears. Wherever they looked, they only saw people drowned in blood and organs of the dead hunters. These deaths were so abrupt and gruesome that some hunters collapsed on the floor and vomited because of the scene in front of them.
"Hey… look!"
Raydel immediately looked up. His eyes went wide when he saw a new message box.
[Start a new countdown.]
[9:59 minutes]
The other hunters shouted.
"What does this mean?!"
"Why is there a new countdown?!"
"Argh!" Sheryl bent over and vomited out all the food in her stomach. She panted as Shane, who tried to wipe his face, patted her back.
The woman pursed her lips, snapping her eyes at the message box before spitting out one of the rudest words there was.
"If the time is up, we'll explode to death like those three," she said. "We are… infected."
Sheryl was right. The dungeon was based on the characteristics of the Black Death, so its mechanism would act as if there was a pandemic right now. The three hunters that died were infected through the blood of the cootie monsters, and then their blood came in contact with the other hunters which meant that they were all infected now.
The countdown was the time it took for the disease's symptoms to start showing.
Raydel opened and closed his hands. He noticed tiny dark spots on his fingertips.
The symptoms had already started.
"We don't have anyone who can cure a curse," Sheryl said. "And even if we do have one, we won't be able to cure it within the time limit if our ranks aren't high enough." Her face twisted, and then wiped the blood on her cheeks with the back of her hands. "We have to kill the boss—?!"
She stopped mid-sentence because she saw that in that blink of an eye, the Plague Doctor charged at one of the hunters.
It headed toward the girl.
She did not even see what was happening. She blinked before turning around to look at the boss who was next to her now.
It closed in on her… and moved past her without doing anything.
The Plague Doctor was aiming for Sheryl. The woman's eyes widened, raising her dagger to take the attack of the boss just quickly enough. But with the power of an A-rank boss, the attack easily penetrated her defense.
The blade hidden in the cane slashed at her wrist. Then, the boss kicked her stomach, throwing her across the room with one single attack.
Everything happened so fast. Nobody was prepared for the boss's attack. Shane, who was the closest to Sheryl, gritted his teeth. One of his arms was still hurt from the miniboss' trap, so all he could do was dodge the Plague Doctor's strike and stumbled onto the floor. At that moment, the boss tried to stab him with a knife as Shane struggled to avoid the attack.
Schunk!
The boss' knife impaled the ground, missing Shane's flank by just a few centimeters. It suddenly looked up and snapped its head toward Raydel who stood not far away from it.
Raydel had just smeared the blood of the dead on his face.
"...!"
He ducked the boss' attack by slipping under its arms. He felt his heart skip a beat because the boss turned around in no time, jumped at him and grabbed his ankle before dragging him with one powerful pull. Raydel found himself laying under the Plague Doctor's body. It held the knife with two hands and raised it up before plunging it down…!
Clang!
The knife collided with Shane's dagger that blocked it in time.
The man was kneeling above Raydel's head. His arms trembled from trying to parry the blow out of Raydel's face. That was the one short moment where they had a chance to land an attack on the boss, so Raydel thrusted his dagger into the Plague Doctor's stomach. It was startled and stopped froze in its tracks.
Above everyone's head, a message box appeared.
[Successfully fulfilled the secret condition, 'Successfully Landing a Hit on the Boss for the First time.']
[Unlock the condition to stop the curse.]
[The condition to stop the curse: Stop the Boss' Movements]
Stop the boss' movements? Raydel frowned. How…?!
"...!"
The boss' knife almost stabbed Raydel's face. He pushed his lower body up and kicked the boss' belly non-stop till it stepped back a little. When the chance to escape rose, Raydel and Shane scrambled up from the ground. They saw Sheryl who had just got herself out from under rocks and dust. She was still alive.
Sheryl's entire body now was covered with blood and grime. She slowly pushed herself up, staggering left and right. It looked like she was trying to regain her composure.
C-rank hunters and hunters with no rank, Raydel thought hopelessly. How will we kill the A-rank boss?
It seemed as if Sheryl was thinking the same thing, so she yelled at the other hunters.
"What the hell are you all waiting for?! Find a way to open that door now! We need help from the high-ranking hunters!"
It was like her personality suddenly shifted. Colors disappeared from everyone's face when they were scolded harshly by Sheryl. They all turned around and ran to the door that was shut tight. Power and weapons were used in the efforts to destroy the door. When the Plague Doctor noticed, it walked slowly to the hunters at the door. But then, it instantly stopped halfway when it smelled something foul in the air.
Raydel was standing there. He held his breath, scooped the blood on the ground up with his hands, and smeared it all over his body.
When the Plague Doctor charged at the girl earlier, it did not hurt her.
At that time, Raydel looked all over the girl's body in confusion before realizing that she was clean with no blood marks at all as she stood the furthest from the other hunters.
She was the only one who did not come in contact with the blood of the dead.
"The Doctor will attack only those who are infected," Raydel said as he rubbed more blood on the parts of his body that were still clean, "and if we're infected, we would attract it further."
Now, the boss was staring at only Raydel. Its legs brought its body toward him. The 'thud' sound of its heels stomping on the ground echoed in Raydel's ears. He glanced at his hands and saw that dark spots were spreading to his wrist. He started to feel worried about it.
[8 minutes]
Only eight minutes left.
Am I going to die in this dungeon? Raydel thought sadly before gritting his teeth and raising the dagger in his hands up to parry the boss' blow instantly!
Clang!
The Doctor had massive strength. It almost sent him colliding into the wall, but Raydel dodged the next attack in time, so it accidentally thrusted its knife into the ground with full power. It stayed bending over like that for a moment, so Raydel used that chance to stab his dagger into the middle of its back…
"?!"
A transparent shield appeared and protected the Doctor from Raydel's attack!
His eyes widened as he suddenly stepped away from the boss who had just pulled its knife out of the ground.
Shit. Raydel cursed in his head. A-rank dungeons were difficult to clear because of the diverse abilities the bosses and monsters in there possessed. In low-ranking dungeons, killing a boss was simple. A method like kept hitting it until all of its HP disappeared worked just fine.
But with high-ranking bosses, it was like gambling. Hunters had to be prepared for whatever hidden abilities bosses might have. For example, with the Plague Doctor, after getting hit for the first time, its hidden ability like the shield was revealed. It was a given that the durability and strength of the shield would align with the level of the boss, so hunters like them never had a chance at destroying it.
They could never kill the boss.
But what would be able to hold it in place still?
He looked at the countdown.
[7:30 minutes]
Raydel blinked to get rid of the sweat mixing with blood on his eyelids.
There had to be a way.
[7:28 minutes]
"...!"
Suddenly, Shane dashed in to block the boss' attack aiming at Raydel.
Raydel started. The Doctor got to him with just a few seconds he spent trying to come up with a plan. Luckily, Shane saw what was coming and rushed in to protect him, saving Raydel from the claws of death just in time.
"Get away!" Sheryl shouted.
She appeared behind the boss and slashed at the shield non-stop.
The dagger collided into the shield with loud bangs, but no matter how many times she hit it, it could not pierce through the shield. Sheryl's face was distorted with anger. She tensed her arms before stabbing again. This time, about one centimeter of the blade penetrated the shield!
Raydel burst out.
"Contract!"
Shane and Sheryl were stunned.
Raydel was extremely excited. He pointed at the girl who stood watching them fight with a frightened expression.
"The Doctor won't attack those who aren't infected because of the contract!" Raydel said.
"And…?!" Sheryl urged him to continue.
Raydel swallowed and got a full bitter taste of blood. In the age where the Black Death was spreading everywhere, plague doctors made a contract with the governor of each city that they would not cure those who were not infected with the Black Death. That was why it did not attack the girl.
There was another point.
"A prohibition in the contract," Raydel said. "Plague doctors can't treat patients if there's no guardian in the area."
Then, he pointed at the skeleton in the middle of the room.
"Kill the skeleton! And the Doctor will stop moving!"
As soon as Raydel finished speaking, Sheryl changed her target, aiming at the skeleton in the middle of the room instantly!
"...?!"
She screamed because the boss suddenly turned to her instead of Shane. It swiftly lifted the cane up to block the dagger that Sheryl threw at the skeleton.
"AHHH!"
The boss pulled her hair and smashed her into the ground with a loud bang!
"Sheryl!"
Shane rushed in to help her. Raydel took the chance and charged at the skeleton, but he noticed that the boss was storming at him with an incredible speed. He raised his arms to defend against the powerful kick of the Doctor. A sharp pain as if his bones were breaking exploded in his arms the moment it took the great force of the attack. The boss could push him over with one single kick!
His back hit the ground and the impact hurt more than anything else.
It really is protecting the skeleton. Raydel thought.
Although the sweat and blood dripped over Raydel's eyelids were blurring his vision, he still managed to roll to the side, successfully dodging the knife aiming at him. At the same time, Shane charged at the boss, giving Raydel a moment to crawl away from it.
Raydel looked at the hunters who were trying to open the door and then moved to the pale face of the girl.
He quickly shouted at her.
"What's your name?!"
The girl was startled before answering softly.
"Min… Minnie."
Raydel clenched his fist before yelling.
"Minnie! There's only you now. Kill the skeleton!"
The student was the only one who was not infected, so the Doctor would never give any attention to her.
Minnie stood still. When she opened her mouth to say something, whether it was a rejection or whatever, Raydel yelled, interrupting her.
"GO!!"
Her shoulders jerked and her whole body trembled.
She slowly walked toward the skeleton.
The girl reached out and a sword suddenly appeared in her right hand. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen. She walked past Shane, Sheryl, and the Plague Doctor. Her neck fixed toward in front of her, trying not to turn around and look at the fight beside her. But each time the boss' knife smashed into Sheryl's dagger, she would sniff in fear. Her lips shivered like she was about to cry.
Minnie held the sword with two hands.
She neared the skeleton and lifted the sword above her head, preparing to strike…
Splash.
The sound stopped the fight between the boss and Sheryl instantly.
The Doctor swiftly turned to look at the girl who had just… stepped on a puddle of blood.
"No," Sheryl whispered before screaming, "KILL THE SKELETON!"
But Minnie was already frozen by her fear.
The girl hadn't even regained her composture yet when Raydel, who had just got up, sprinted toward the skeleton.
His movement pulled the boss' attention away from Minnie, but it did not have the time to protect the guardian now because Raydel already got to it.
He tightened his grip on the dagger and lunged it in at the center of the skeleton's breastbone…
"?!"
The skeleton caught the dagger. After standing still for a long time, it looked up and stared at him with its hollow eye sockets.
In that short yet prolonged moment, Raydel had goosebumps while thinking, why did I think it would stand still letting me kill it with ease?
The skeleton tilted its skull before grabbing Raydel's neck. He thought to himself then, shit.
I'm going to die.
He instinctively closed his eyes, thinking that this death would happen so fast and he would not suffer much.
But despite his assumptions, he heard a voice in his head.
'Sacrifice.'
Raydel stopped.
'Sacrifice something to me and you'll survive.'
Sacrifice? Raydel thought.
His consciousness suddenly flowed to the ring finger next to his middle finger in a bandage.
He felt the invisible tentacles wrapping around the ring finger…
"Sacrifice…"
Raydel could only say that much when he heard an explosion.
He opened his eyes wide and saw that the wall behind the skeleton was abruptly blown up. There was smoke everywhere, and something with a tint of silver slashed through the hand of the guardian, sending it away. Raydel cursed out loud because he was sure someone pushed him so hard, he staggered back away from the skeleton.
Raydel slipped and rolled onto the ground and was miraculously stopped by someone grabbing his shirt collar. That person easily lifted him up from the ground.
Raydel turned to look at the person. His jaw dropped in shock.
"Han?!"