When the Hunters returned to the Dungeon, every one of them shivered—without meaning to.
What lay before them looked like a battlefield trampled by some ancient behemoth. Bottomless cracks ran the length of the corridor. Ice crystals and rubble were strewn everywhere, woven into lethal obstacles. The biting cold turned every breath into white mist.
And the most eye-catching sight of all was the bone-armored giant's corpse—still standing tall even without its head…
Even dead, even decapitated, that mountain of a body still radiated mana so vast it made the spine go cold. S-Ranks on the weaker end, like Akari Shimizu, couldn't even get close.
Sung Jinwoo studied the giant's body, frowning slightly.
A giant this powerful—if he could claim it as a shadow soldier, it would become one of his trump cards. But when he tried, the System told him he couldn't extract its shadow. He had no idea why.
"Its soul has already returned to nothingness," Scáthach said as she strolled up to Jinwoo's side. She read the confusion on his face at a glance and explained. Then she added, "You could have Beru eat some of its flesh. If I remember right, Beru can evolve by devouring, yes?"
Of course, Beru's devour-and-evolve ability was nowhere near that of a certain adorable slime—otherwise Beru would've replaced Jinwoo as the protagonist a long time ago.
With the bone-armored giant slain, the next step was to head to the room at the deepest end of the corridor and deal with the Primordial Monarch Legia inside.
Legia had been sealed by the Rulers with a tool imbued with the Absolute Being's power. He couldn't move. The only thing he could do was release his pressure.
Among the Monarchs, Legia's strength ranked in the top three. Even while sealed, the pressure he exuded was something even S-Rank Hunters would struggle to endure.
That was why Scáthach recommended that only she and Jinwoo go to see him—she couldn't be sure Goto Ryuji and the others would stay safe under Legia's pressure.
But Goto Ryuji wasn't willing to accept that.
"Leaving without even seeing the Dungeon's true master… I can't accept it." His voice was tight. "I want to know—how big the gap is between me and the ones truly strong in this world."
Scáthach and Jinwoo exchanged a look. In the end, they agreed to let Goto come along.
At the corridor's end, they pushed open an ornate door carved with complex patterns.
Inside, they saw it—a gigantic figure, bound by countless chains, kneeling helplessly on the ground.
The black chains didn't merely coil around him. They pierced through his body and were nailed into the rock wall, as though punishing an unforgivable sin. Yet even in this absolute extremity, that mountain-heavy pressure still made them tremble.
Legia sensed the aura of a Monarch. He thought another Monarch had found him before the Rulers did—thought hope had finally come.
But the joy lasted only an instant.
Because the three people who had come before him… he didn't recognize a single one.
That was only natural. When the Rulers betrayed the Absolute Being, only the greatest fragment(s) of light, Ashborn, remained at the Absolute Being's side. But one alone couldn't hold back the many—Ashborn fell under the Rulers' siege, and when he awakened again, he had become the Shadow Monarch.
Before that awakening, the Rulers killed the Absolute Being and used that power to seal the Legia—whose strength was second only to the Monarch of Destruction. The balance of power between Monarchs and Rulers collapsed… until Ashborn, reborn as the Shadow Monarch, joined the Monarchs' side and slowly restored equilibrium.
Which meant that Legia—sealed here the entire time—didn't even know the Shadow Monarch Ashborn. He didn't know the ninth Monarch who joined later.
And of course, he couldn't possibly know Jinwoo, who had inherited Ashborn's power.
"Hu… man?" Legia narrowed his eyes and slowly spoke in a language no human could understand. "Why… is it… human?"
He could sense it: the Monarch's aura was coming from Jinwoo. Yet that person wasn't a Monarch—he was a human. The other man was human as well. As for the woman standing between them…
Even Legia couldn't tell what she was.
She looked human, but there was the lingering scent of Monarch's blood on her—this woman had killed a Monarch.
Legia didn't believe a human could have the power to kill a Monarch. In his memory, humans were ants you could crush between your fingers. The shockwaves of war alone could wipe them out entirely.
"Then I'll be the one to kill him." Jinwoo glanced back at Scáthach and Goto Ryuji. "Any objections?"
He was curious how much experience a Monarch would give him. Last time, Scáthach had dealt with the Monarch of Plagues—because back then, facing a Monarch had been nothing but death for him. Even now, he still couldn't beat a Monarch in a fair fight.
Goto Ryuji shook his head. "The instant I saw him, I understood—I can't kill him. This pressure in the air is terrifying. I'd be pinned to the ground before I could get close, let alone raise a weapon."
Scáthach folded her arms, eyes lowered. "I'm not interested in someone who can't fight back. If we could lift his seal, he might make a decent opponent."
Jinwoo's expression immediately turned strange.
"…Shishō. Weren't you the one who said we can't help him break the seal?"
"That's because you can't," Scáthach replied lightly. "I'm not the same as you. Even if he were unsealed, I'm fully confident I could kill him right here."
She said it as casually as if she were talking about slaughtering a chicken—not some terrifying monster.
To Goto Ryuji, the sealed giant figure radiated an overwhelming sense of inevitability. But after everything Scáthach had done—the endless parade of impossible surprises—he found himself believing her without thinking.
Unfortunately, her words enraged Legia.
"A joke?" Legia snarled. "I am The Monarch of the Beginning, the King of Giants! You dare look down on me like this!!"
His fury made the pressure around him erupt like mountains collapsing and seas overturning. Goto Ryuji felt the air congeal into lead. Every inch of skin bore a crushing weight. He tried to lift an arm—only to find his movements crawling, like he'd been trapped in a nightmare. Even breathing became a costly struggle.
Legia's knotted muscles rolled under his skin like ancient dragons waking. Every line of his physique held brutish power. The black chains binding him trembled violently under his struggle, the links clashing with crisp, metallic chimes.
Scáthach stepped calmly in front of Goto Ryuji.
At once, the crushing pressure that had nearly broken him receded like a tide.
Goto doubled over, hands braced on his knees, gulping air. Cold sweat had soaked his combat suit through. He swallowed greedily, like a drowning man hauled up at the last second—each breath still trembling with survival. Only after a long moment did color return to his pale face.
Even someone as elite as Goto Ryuji looked this wrecked. An ordinary S-Rank wouldn't last a heartbeat here.
Jinwoo ignored Legia's terrifying pressure completely. His clear-knuckled hand tightened on his short blade, and he walked toward the helpless giant—one step at a time.
Legia stared hard at Jinwoo, then turned his gaze to Scáthach and bellowed, "If you've got the guts, undo this damned seal! Let me out! Or are you only good with your mouth? Are you afraid? If you've already pissed yourself, then run along and leave! You cowardly woman—if you break this seal, I'll crush you like a bug!"
Jinwoo glanced back at Scáthach. "Shishō, you're not going to fall for something that obvious, right?"
Scáthach only offered a smile that carried far too much meaning.
"Who knows?"
That vague answer made Jinwoo uneasy.
"Hunter Sung Jinwoo and Hunter Scáthach… you… understand monsters?" Goto Ryuji's baffled voice cut in.
Only then did Jinwoo remember—belatedly—that Goto Ryuji, an ordinary human, was still here. Humans couldn't understand the language of Monarchs and the denizens of that chaotic realm.
But Jinwoo had no intention of explaining. And he certainly wasn't going to silence a witness. Both would only invite trouble. Better to let it be.
He turned back to Legia, and a thick, icy killing intent seeped out of him.
The instant he felt it, Legia panicked.
He hadn't even seen the light of day again—how could he die here?!
"Wait!" Legia shouted at Jinwoo in a frenzy. "You shouldn't kill me!"
"Since you can't convince my Shishō, you're trying to convince me?" Jinwoo's gaze was cold. "Then tell me… why shouldn't I kill you?"
"I don't know you," Legia said, "but I can tell—you possess power that was never meant to be yours. And if you have that power, then its original owner betrayed the Monarchs. Now you've become a shared enemy of both Monarchs and Rulers… Aside from me, I can help you."
"I already have a Shishō," Jinwoo replied flatly. "I don't need your help."
"That woman is dangerous," Legia pressed on. "After the Absolute Being was killed, we Monarchs and the Rulers became the greatest and strongest existences. And I'm certain—she is neither Monarch nor Ruler, and she cannot be human. Yet she has the strength to kill a Monarch. There are too many unknowns about her. She isn't worth trusting!"
"…Maybe you're right," Jinwoo said, eyes narrowing. "But why would I doubt my Shishō—someone I know—and then turn around and trust you instead? Why should I believe you?"
Legia smiled.
"Then I'll make you believe."
He drew in a deep breath, then roared a string of ancient syllables—so old even Jinwoo couldn't understand them. The words carried a primal power, rippling through the air in visible waves.
Jinwoo couldn't tell what Legia was trying to do. He was about to just kill him when a translucent System window flashed into view, cold mechanical text appearing line by line.
...
[The Monarch of the Beginning, the King of Giants "Legia" has cast the skill: "Pledge of Trust"]
[Once "Pledge of Trust" is accepted, the caster and the receiver cannot lie to each other.]
[Accept "Pledge of Trust"?]
[Yes/No]
...
"This is a [Pledge of Trust]," Legia said, that smile turning unpleasantly sinister. "If you accept it, I cannot lie to you—and you'll be bound as well. There will be no secrets between us. Well? Sincere enough for you?"
"You're already a thorn in the eyes of Monarchs and Rulers. Your power is pitifully small before them. But if you accept this oath and help me break the seal, I'll become your most solid, reliable ally—far more worthy of your trust than that woman over there."
Legia tried to drive a wedge between them right in front of Scáthach, yet she simply watched, making no move to interrupt.
Either she trusted her disciple wouldn't be swayed… or she trusted herself to crush both of them with ease.
Seeing Jinwoo fall silent, Legia assumed his words had shaken him and pushed harder. "You don't have much time left. The Gate opening here means the Monarchs and the Rulers will soon begin the next war. The people and things and world you want to protect—when that happens, they'll all be destroyed. You need my help. My power… I've said this much—are you still unwilling to believe me?"
Monarchs and Rulers were spiritual beings. When they died, their souls shattered and returned to nothingness. That was why Jinwoo couldn't turn them into shadow soldiers—and why Scáthach had told him to kill Legia directly and take the experience.
Jinwoo didn't answer. He kept his head lowered, impossible to read.
Then he slowly lifted his hand and tapped the System window with one finger.
He accepted Legia's Pledge of Trust.
Feeling the soul-deep constraint snap into place, Legia's fear vanished into delight.
"Yes! That's right! Only I can—"
Squelch.
A flash of steel, and Legia's head hit the ground. His face still wore a thick, stunned disbelief.
"Unfortunately," Jinwoo said coldly, violet light shimmering in his eyes, "I still don't trust you."
Killing Legia did, in fact, give him an enormous amount of experience. So much that the System actually needed time to calculate it—Jinwoo had never seen that happen before.
"So you went straight for the kill," Scáthach said behind him. "Didn't you have anything you wanted to confirm with him?"
Jinwoo turned to look at her. "You're here, Shishō. He's been sealed in this Dungeon for so long—I doubt he knew more than you do."
"I can lie," Scáthach said. "But with a [Pledge of Trust], he couldn't."
"But even without lying, you can still deceive someone," Jinwoo replied indifferently. "The skill says you 'can't lie to the other,' but it doesn't say you 'can't conceal things.' There are too many loopholes."
From the start, Jinwoo had never intended to ally with Legia. Doing so would mean betraying Scáthach—and Jinwoo didn't think even teaming up with Legia would make him a match for his Shishō.
And more importantly… the Rulers had implanted the command "kill humans" into the minds of most of the monsters in Dungeons. That included Legia. Legia might, by force of will, stand on Jinwoo's side—but he would never stand on humanity's side.
"Compared to that," Jinwoo said as he sheathed his short blade and returned to Scáthach's side, "you're still more trustworthy, Shishō." His tone was casual. "You won't betray my trust, right?"
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Scáthach flicked him on the forehead, smiling faintly. "You foolish disciple. Of course I wouldn't do something like that."
---
T/N: SHE GOT A 49 ON THE MOMMY SCALE pretty decent
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