## Chapter 902 – Another World Dungeon

While looking at the map received from the royal army, we smoothly headed towards the unexplored area.

Since the first floor was ridiculously large, we had to explore diligently to find the path to the second floor.

The path to the second floor had yet to be discovered.

Logically, it was strange that stairs hadn’t appeared yet in such a large building, but strange things happen all the time, and we’d eventually find them if we kept going.

By the way… how many floors does this building have? No matter how rich someone was, they couldn’t build something like this.

No matter how you looked at it, it was bigger than a high-rise apartment building.

Whatever it was, the original owners of this palace must have had considerable technology. The fact that such people ended up in such a miserable state only raised more questions.

I wonder what’s at the top.

Whatever it is, we have to eliminate as many monsters as possible inside.

ㅡBoo-oooo-oooo-oooo!!!

Just then, the palace began to shake as if an earthquake had occurred. No, damn it, that sound… We immediately stuck to the wall and prepared to dash towards the entrance, but the shaking was brief.

“Katt. Did you hear that sound just now?”

As the brief earthquake subsided, Cloudie grabbed my shoulder and said.

“Yeah. I heard it.”

Of course, I heard it.

“What was that? Was it the sound of an earthquake?”
“No, rather… it felt like a monster’s roar!!”

As Hilde said, it felt like some huge monster was roaring with all its might. Big bastards inevitably have loud voices.

“I felt something similar too.”
“Right, right!!”

Hilde and Cloudie seemed to have felt something similar.

“Hmm… a monster’s roar… If that’s right, it could be the sound of a higher-level entity that Ari mentioned before.”

Liz-nuna said, touching her lips.

That could be it.

“We don’t know what it is yet, but let’s keep in mind that something like that could exist.”

We couldn’t judge based on the sound just now. At my words, they nodded, and we immediately started moving.

Let’s go further inside for now.

* * *

ㅡSquish!!

Although we came as a party of four, clearing the path was no problem. In the first place, the monsters from another world that rushed at us were all pushovers that weren’t even worth a punch in our eyes.

“Katt-nim! It doesn’t seem like any of them have tongues!”
“Okay, got it! Liz-nuna! How about your side!”
“No tongues here either!”

We opened the mouths of every monster we slaughtered to check for tentacles. We hadn’t found any creatures with tentacles yet, but overall, there were quite a few people who had gone missing or died inside.

They probably all became mutants… transformed like the cruel, vile, and evil human trash black looters during the LA riots.

If there are any of those guys, at least we should kill them properly as a form of salvation.

Anyway, we kept looking for brain monsters, but we couldn’t find any. We only found some rare metal junk. I wanted to reduce the number of those bastards if possible… but if they’re not found, there’s nothing we can do.

I immediately marked the location on the map and walked down the corridor of the unexplored area.

ㅡClatter.

How long had we been walking?

“…”

From the darkness at the end of the corridor, something slowly `walked` and began to reveal itself. The hell, it’s walking? The previous monsters had all run on four legs, and their body structures seemed optimized for running on four legs.

ㅡClatter.

But the bastard coming towards us didn’t show any signs of that. He walked proudly, as if walking upright was an unbearably proud hobby that he wanted to show to everyone in the world.

“Katt-nim…! It’s a new one!!!”

Hilde grabbed her head and was horrified.

“I’m watching too.”

ㅡClatter.

It’s slowly walking towards us, making a clattering sound.

Its appearance wasn’t much different from the other monsters. It had unpleasant flesh-colored skin that was shrunken and wrinkled, and incomprehensible white shells and horns were growing all over its body.

Nevertheless, its gait was as haughty and light as a model walking on a fashion show. The inhuman gait, which didn’t match its appearance at all, amplified the bizarreness to the extreme.

ㅡClatter.

I saw where that sound was coming from, and it was the sound of the carapace growing between its thighs rubbing together as it walked.

“W-what is that…?”

Liz-nuna, who seemed to be tired of the bizarre appearance, covered her lower face with the back of her hand and retreated a step.

“Katt. That guy is wearing a mask.”
“…”

Mask.

But the most differentiating part was the strange white mask it was wearing.

ㅡMask.

A long time ago, when I was still in Korea.

My younger sibling had bought a mask of the protagonist from a manga called Bleach from somewhere. The mask was obviously a grotesque and cruel demon mask. It was because the protagonist of that manga was a grim reaper-like guy, so the mask looked like that. It’s the one who uses Getsuga Tensho.

My father, of course, beat the shit out of my sibling for bringing such a devilish, satanic, trashy mask. It was a sudden situation, but it was something I had expected to some extent. It was absolutely impossible for my father to understand the concept of `Bleach`, and if I said it was a grim reaper, I would definitely get beaten even more.

Still, when I asked him the reason later, it seemed that my father thought the mask was some kind of cursed item.

Looking back, my father was extremely superstitious, and especially about curses, he showed an extreme defense mechanism close to a seizure. It would be more abnormal if such a person didn’t go crazy after seeing such a grotesque mask.

He was a common adult.

An adult who blindly believed that you would die if you turned on the fan while sleeping, or especially if you turned on the fan with your head facing north, you would definitely die without a doubt, or if you stepped on the threshold that day, you were already dead without a doubt. In his worldview, so many people were dying from trivial things that hell was overflowing.

He worships the bizarre and believes in the grotesque. That’s why he’s extremely afraid of things like curses.

I thought that my father probably acted like that because he had been bullied by his classmates in the guise of such curses when he was young…

Anyway.

The mask that guy was wearing was a normal mask that couldn’t be compared to those things.

It’s just a white, round mask.

It was a mask that fit perfectly to cover the guy’s hideous face. But even so, it felt very unique. It was because it had two cross-shaped grooves in the part where the eye holes should have been.

In other words, it’s a cross-eyed mask.

A mask that was so clean that it didn’t match the guy’s wrinkled and fucked-up skin at all. That must be an artificially made mask… There’s no way such an existence would make and wear a mask on its own!!! Or it could be a mask that it wore when it was alive!!!

That mask made me extremely uncomfortable because it looked like the strange white conical hats worn by the cruel murderers of the KKK!!!!

“I think those bastards are strong… Let’s kill them first. Cover me. No. Let’s surround it.”

According to the information, it seemed that the special individuals wearing masks could only be caught by knights. That means that the knights had killed them at least once.

Then there’s no problem.

ㅡSwish.

At my command, they scattered to surround the guy and approached him at the same time. I also advanced towards him, holding Viggard in front and being wary.

Why is it wearing a mask?
Let’s kill it and analyze it.

It was then.

ㅡTsupat!

The guy stretched out his fist as if punching from that far distance.

ㅡSwaaaaaak!!!

His arm stretched out long like a rubber band, and the guy’s fist rushed towards my face with the feeling of a launched tentacle. It was very fast and seemed to contain intense power.

This would have at least the power of a knight’s lance charge.

ㅡPaat!

“You fucking bitch.”

But avoiding it wasn’t difficult. I simply took a step back, turned my head, and easily avoided the tentacle’s strike.

ㅡSgeong.

I quickly raised Viggard and lightly cut off the tentacle arm that was flying past me. ㅡPshak. Black blood splattered immediately, and a grotesque scream erupted.

“Kku-oooo-oooo-oong!!!!!!!”

And then, as if a long-stretched rubber band was restored to its original state in an instant, the guy flew towards me at a very fast speed and reached out his hideous hand towards my face.

I immediately raised my fist and.

“I won’t forgive you!!!!!!!”

I threw a counter punch towards that grip.

ㅡPuhuk!!!

The time it took to collide was literally a split second. The fist I threw while generating Ki shattered the guy’s hand, and it wasn’t enough, it easily penetrated while smashing the bones that were supporting the guy’s forearm.

ㅡSwaak!

I grinded up to the guy’s elbow like that.

“Wild Blood Jade Hand.”
“…!”

I quickly let go of Viggard, grabbed the guy’s side of the head with that hand, and, ㅡKwaang! I kicked off the ground intensely, slammed that head into the wall of the corridor, and crushed it.

ㅡKwajik.

Black fluid splattered along with the sound of the skull breaking. It was literally a moment’s work. The guy just trembled, forgetting to scream.

I grabbed the guy’s side of the head tightly, stretched out my opposite hand, grabbed the guy’s neck, and.

ㅡJjwaaaaaak!!

I spread my arms with all my might as if spreading wings and tore the guy apart on both sides. ㅡTududuk. A sound more grotesque than the monster’s scream echoed. I tore off the guy’s head as it was.

After finishing the battle, I immediately threw the enemy’s remains on the floor and picked up Viggard.

I have to make sure it’s dead.

Just as I raised my sword.

“Huh? The hell? It died with this?”

What the hell is this bastard.

It came out like it was so strong, but it’s a pushover… no.

I’ve become too strong.

“Katt-nim, you’re so cool!!! It was literally instant kill!!! You killed it in an instant!!”
“As expected, your combat movements… are really good. It was a great suppression.”
“Oh, oh. Yeah. Thank you. It’s really natural for me.”

I was able to unleash Sword Flame, but I ended up smashing a new enemy without even being able to use it.

“Katt. That was a very cruel attack. So, I think I have a sense of how strong it is?”
“This… it’s strong, but it’s not that strong.”
“Hehe, what is that.”
“I know.”

This pushover bastard!!!

“But the sound that came with the earthquake earlier.”

Liz-nuna said.

“Could it have been the sound that this mask guy made?”
“No. I don’t think so.”

What came with the earthquake was a whale-like sound, but this bastard just let out a grotesque scream unique to monsters. If it exists, it would be a separate existence.

Anyway, I dissected the corpse of this mask guy. There wasn’t anything special… I could only tell that the mask was stuck to the skin of his face. I was going to take it, but I suddenly remembered the curse from earlier, so I just trampled it and turned it into powder. Damn it, it’s making me nervous for no reason.

“Then let’s go further.”

I continued the exploration like that, but there wasn’t much to gain today.

* * *

The morning of the day three days later.

As I approached the palace, I rarely saw the royal knights, the combat mage unit, and the key figures of the lord’s army and the royal army wearing unified uniforms gathered in one place and arguing with someone.

I wondered what kind of bullshit was going on again, so I went closer and saw that men with long ears were standing in the center of the group with their arms crossed.

“Be quiet, human. You’re noisy.”
“Can’t humans, who are full of barbarism, communicate unless they speak loudly?”
“Look at our ears. There’s no doubt that our hearing is good, so we can hear everything without speaking so loudly. Of course, that includes your rotten inner thoughts.”

Three ear-guys threw out a word each with a tone full of contempt.

They were all blonde.
ㅡElves.

Elves who live in the Elven Forest.

“Full of barbarism! You’re saying that after trespassing on the border without saying a word!!”

A man who appeared to be a knight belonging to the royal knight order shouted with a vein in his neck, and an elf with long golden hair turned his eyes up as if teasing someone, put his fist to his long ear, and answered while clenching and unclenching his fist.

“I can understand border trespassing. But is it something to be so excited about?”

They were wearing leather-based armor and had swords on their waists. Could these bastards be the elven warriors of the Forest Marauders I heard about last time?

The aura I felt was unusual.

These bastards were 100% professional serial killers.

“Do you think it’s normal to ask if it’s something to be excited about, elf!!! Border trespassing is a serious matter!!!”
“Ah, ah. You’re definitely talking about border trespassing. Were you excited because you thought we wouldn’t understand that?”

The elf said that.

“Geuheuhe!”
“Hehehe!”
“Keukeuke!”

Then, as if they had succeeded in some witty standing comedy, the three elves grabbed their stomachs and laughed all at once… what is this? Is this a psycho group?

Are they mentally ill?

“T-to laugh…!”

The royal knight clenched his fist with his face red as if his head would explode at any moment.

“Ah, ah. C-calm down a bit. Human. If our human eyes aren’t crooked, you’ll see the ominous otherworld fortress summoned in front of that lake.”

The elf answered nonchalantly towards such a knight.

“I heard that a terrible monster that easily transforms creatures into otherworld monsters is appearing inside… Shouldn’t you have sent us an envoy immediately if you had such information?”

The information leaked.

“If we hadn’t known and you humans had made a mistake and they had invaded the forest, we would have been shot with an arrow while drinking water. In that situation, what’s so great about talking about border trespassing, human. If you want to talk about infringement of rights, fulfill your obligations.”