Chapter 56

It was a ridiculous thing to say. Being here with a mental-type hunter meant I basically had no usable skills. What now, was I supposed to use Agitation?

Im Haekyung stayed still for a while, as if she really intended to test my skills. But when a decent crisis moment came and I still couldn’t do anything, she finally slammed the Cave Giant to the ground and forced it to destroy itself.

- Kuung!

The massive Cave Giant collapsed onto the floor and shattered its own body. Hard, high-density ice was split, crushed, and scattered by equally hard ice. Which was more dangerous — the power that made inanimate ice move, or the power that made it smash itself apart?

- Wadeudeuk.

With a chilling sound, the Cave Giant severed its own body. Since its entire body was ice, there was no blood or flesh, only living ice gradually shrinking away.

The recoil made the cavern shake with a booming rhythm. The Giant’s sheer weight was such that even a slight thrash lifted my feet off the ground for a moment.

It twisted wildly in displeasure at losing control, but it couldn’t break free of Haekyung’s restraints. The grating, rock-crushing sound repeated again and again until at last the Giant finally stilled.

(Dead) Cave Giant (B)

A creature dwelling in the snowy mountain cave.

Its body is composed of ice.

Dead.

Since Haekyung could go all out — and the rank was even one step lower — clearing it went quicker than expected.

"Mana ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) doesn’t seem to linger anymore. Is this the end?"

"Yeah... probably?"

But even after that exchange, the dungeon clear notification didn’t appear.

"Then how do we get out?"

"I don’t know."

"......."

Why isn’t the clear showing? Are we supposed to take something from the Giant?

Maybe Haekyung was thinking the same, because she asked me.

"Could that monster have something?"

"Not impossible."

I wasn’t certain, but like last time when a magic stone had appeared, there should be some reward-like item. Instead of moving herself, Haekyung tilted her head at me. Go on, in other words.

"Wait here."

"Mm."

Leaving Haekyung behind, I made my way toward the fallen Giant.

‘It’s just completely shattered.’

While stepping over large shards on my way, a sudden ominous sound rang out.

Jjeojeojeok.

"What the—"

I reflexively spun around and sprinted in the opposite direction, away from the sound.

Kwaang!

The instant my foot hit the ground, the cavern ceiling behind me collapsed in a roar.

‘Fuck!’

I leapt over shards and sprinted deeper inside. The thunder of collapsing walls and the slap of my feet on ice overlapped. I couldn’t stop to look back — if I did, the falling debris would crush me.

‘Damn it, I’m starving to death!’

I hadn’t eaten enough to have energy for this. My body felt drained even as I ran. If I was going to end up running like this, I should’ve eaten first.

Only after I’d run quite a distance did the cave finally stop collapsing. Watching the fallen rubble made my vision spin. Breathing hard, I bent my knees to hold on, then dropped flat to the floor.

"Ah... so hungry."

The scattered debris around me — was it from the Cave Giant, or the cavern itself? No way to tell. Worse, a massive ice wall now separated me from Haekyung and the others, leaving me trapped. Grinding my teeth, I forced myself up to assess the situation.

So everything from here to there had caved in?

I kicked at shards irritably, trying to vent my frustration. The worst part was that there was no one around to blame.

"We killed it, so give me the clear already, you bastard!"

My shout echoed as nothing but curses off the dungeon walls.

Sabak.

At that moment, something brushed my ear. A presence? I whipped my head around, trying to find the source. But the source found me first.

Something rustled softly against my foot. Looking down, I saw a fist-sized ball of fur nudging at me.

‘Dust?’

Beep!

Startled, I jerked my foot back, thinking I’d stepped on it, but it wasn’t squashed — it just bounced lightly on top of my foot, fluffy as ever. Was it... safe to touch? They say ancient ice can contain tens of thousands of years of bacteria.

After some hesitation, I picked it up.

"Status Window."

Fragment of the Cave Giant (B)

A separate avatar created from the Cave Giant’s core.

Its growth potential is limitless.

What the hell? Am I supposed to kill this thing too?

Parting the fur revealed two eyes. This looked less like an ice monster, more like... an animal.

"Where’s your vocal organ?"

I pawed through its fluff, trying to find the source of the sound it made, but there was no mouth. Just... a lump of fur.

"What the hell is this."

Could it replicate the Giant’s skills? I put it on one hand, pressing and squishing it like a rice ball, trying to guess its form, but it was nothing but fluff. Or maybe a fur animal.

Then, out of nowhere, a quest window appeared.

Hidden Quest.

Would you like to recruit an additional companion?

We support ‘Seo Jehyun’s’ wise choice.

Failure Penalty: None

Time Limit: None

‘...A hidden quest?’

Sometimes in quest-type dungeons, a hidden quest appears only for certain participants — but I never thought it’d be me. And judging by the timing, this was obviously telling me to accept this furball as a companion.

‘Hmm, looking closely, it is kind of cute.’

White fluff, with two eyes. Like a pet.

Switching my gaze between its sparkling eyes and the shimmering quest window, I made my decision.

"No."

It reeked of being some kind of beast. Pets are something you adopt carefully. And I already had two people in my house — I didn’t need a beast on top of that.

I set the fluff down and waved politely.

"Take care."

Somehow it seemed to understand. Its big eyes drooped in sadness. What would I even do, keep it in a freezer?

‘That’d make it completely useless.’

And yet, even after refusing, the hidden quest window remained. What, was I supposed to reject it more forcefully? I stated my stance clearly.

"You can’t even bring animals overseas without inspection. You think I can just drag a living creature from another-world dungeon to Earth? Be serious. Living beings belong in their own homes. Mine is on Earth, and this one’s here. Goodbye. Grow up well, and maybe one day I’ll see you as a dungeon boss."

...No, that’d be bad.

"Cancel that. Let’s just never meet again."

Better that than one of us dying.

But even then, no dungeon clear appeared. What, had they already decided the answer and were just forcing me to choose? I was getting suspicious.

I started kicking aside the larger rubble irritably, but the fluff kept following me. Annoyed, I picked it up again, intending to stash it somewhere far away. But the thing wriggled and clung tightly to my palm.

"Go."

I flipped my hand to drop it, but instead of falling, it heated against my skin.

"You little shit."

Shaking my palm furiously didn’t dislodge it.

What the hell?

Instead, just like how the dungeon floor had swallowed corpses, the thing squirmed and sank into my palm.

"What the—"

By the time not a single strand of fur remained, only a white snowflake pattern was etched into my palm.

"......."

Then, the quest window text changed.

Hidden Quest Completed!

"What the fuck?"

I clenched and opened my fist, but the tattoo didn’t vanish. Would a tattoo-removal laser get rid of this too?

I was pondering the question when the sensation surged back from my palm — hot? Or cold? The white pattern covering my palm glowed, and a vivid, undeniable sensation awoke along the mark.

‘This is....’

Unexpected, but somehow I knew exactly how to use the fluff. What flowed up through my palm was clear mana.

Mimic (S) is activated.

The ability of the Fragment of the Cave Giant (B) is activated.

It had never used it before, being restrained by Haekyung — but the ability wasn’t low-rank, so it should be usable.

I let the power flow, curious like I was watching some surprise event.

- Paaat!

The instant I opened my palm, a blast of frost surged out, freezing the collapsed wall solid once more. The shards and debris iced over, forming new smooth walls as if sketching lines of frozen architecture.

But the chill didn’t stop there.

Climbing the walls, it spread further and higher, until it skimmed the cavern ceiling above me.

- Sarak.

A soft brushing sound against the walls and ceiling.

And then.

"Ha!"

At last, snow began to fall inside the cavern.

Tiny ice crystals drifted slowly to the ground within the sealed ice cave.

It was... an utterly unreal sight.