These Lunatics are Obsessed With Me-Chapter 179

“Arghhh!”

“Hurry up and avoid it!”

The dungeon raid, to put it bluntly, was a complete mess. But it couldn’t be helped. The Ginnungagap Dungeon had just appeared—the first in ages. This was the first attempt to clear it, and its rank couldn’t even be measured. Even with an extraordinary raid team made up of top-ranked hunters from around the world, there was no way the raid could proceed smoothly.

“Damn it! What are the light-attribute hunters doing?!”

A voice echoed through the area. The figure who had shouted was completely shrouded in pitch-black darkness. The main difficulty of the Ginnungagap Dungeon was this darkness. As shown in the vision, the dungeon’s interior was in total darkness, without a trace of light.

However, this was no ordinary darkness. It seemed to have a will of its own, binding the hunters’ bodies. At first, they had no way to resist it. They managed to endure only because some hunters possessed light attributes. In addition, a sufficient number of hunters with healing skills had been brought along as a precaution. Without their support, the only one able to move freely in such conditions was Kang Yoo-hyun, an SS-rank.

“I-I apologize!”

Sweat streamed down Guseul’s forehead as she lifted a staff taller than herself. There was no time to dwell on the reunion; she was already using her ability to its fullest. She had grown taller since the last time I had seen her. Although she was about the same age as Do-gyul, the way she wielded her skills was steady, carrying the composure typical of a healer. I wasn’t sure when she had changed so much, but I found myself watching her with a sense of pride.

“Hyung, are you okay?”

“Ah, yeah.”

“Can you move?”

“Yeah, I can move.”

Thanks to the ability Guseul had just used, my body felt lighter. Do-gyul, who had been sticking close to me, looked at me with worry and asked a question. Seeing him like that left me with mixed feelings. As his older brother, I should have been the one showing composure, but instead, it felt like I was the one relying on him.

“It’s coming!”

“Ready the attack skills!”

“…!”

The atmosphere shifted in an instant. Ominous energy filled the air. Even I, watching from behind the support team, felt a prickling sensation on my skin.

「The One Tainted by the Abyss

Rank: ??

Level: ??

? ?? ?? ??, ?? ?? ??

…」

“…!”

Judging by the fact that it had a name, it was clearly a mid-boss monster. Its early appearance was unusual. Unlike other dungeons, this one revealed its true difficulty from the start—but that might have been for the best. If the battle dragged on, even the rankers would eventually wear out. It was better to face the mid-boss quickly and take it down. I watched from the rear as the hunters engaged the mid-boss monster.

“May you all… be… tainted… by evil…”

“…?”

The mid-boss monster, pierced by the spear of Anastasia Baranov, Guild Master of the Skadi Guild, spoke with difficulty. A mid-boss monster speaking? That had never happened before.

Perhaps the mid-boss monsters in the Ginnungagap Dungeon were as strong as the boss monsters in other dungeons. Considering that it had taken the combined efforts of the world’s top rankers to finally defeat it, this seemed like a plausible explanation.

[The mid-boss monster “The One Tainted by the Abyss” of Ginnungagap-??000 has been defeated. All items have now been bound.]

The system’s announcement of the mid-boss monster’s defeat echoed throughout the dungeon. Only then did the tense hunters finally exhale and regroup. At the front, Anastasia Baranov stepped toward Kang Yoo-hyun.

“….”

—May you all be tainted by evil.

I kept replaying the words the mid-boss monster had spoken. For some reason, they were hard to ignore. “Be tainted by evil.” A strange phrase. Perhaps it felt that way because of the thick darkness surrounding us. Whatever the reason, the words left a strong impression.

Darkness… nothing but darkness. The pitch-black surroundings seemed like a place crawling with demons. If this weren’t a dungeon, I half-expected ghosts to appear. For a moment, I was reminded of a VR game I had accidentally played before—back then, I had been so startled I thought I might faint.

“Hmm…”

Then a thought came to me. If that “evil” really referred to ghost-like spirits, it would mean such beings lurked within this darkness. Even high-ranked hunters struggled to move when their bodies were engulfed by it. What would happen if someone were tainted by this darkness? It probably wouldn’t mean that a spirit actually possessed them… would it? If that were the case, could it mean that something within the darkness might be able to control the hunters…?

“…Jin!”

“Hmm.”

Lost in my thoughts, I barely noticed someone calling my name from beside me. Then the voice grew louder, insistent.

“Han Yi-jin!”

“Huh?”

Startled, I turned to the side. That’s when I saw Kang Yoo-hyun, his eyes locked on me. I was even more taken aback.

“W-what’s going on?”

“What were you thinking about just now? In a situation like this.”

“Uh… I wasn’t thinking about anything in particular.”

“…”

I shook my head at Kang Yoo-hyun, who gave me a doubtful look. I couldn’t speak carelessly about a hypothesis that wasn’t even certain. For now, the light-attribute healers were driving back the darkness. Even if this darkness truly harbored evil spirits attempting to encroach on our bodies, as long as we had light-attribute ability users with us, they wouldn’t be able to lay a finger on anyone else.

“But what’s going on?”

I blinked and asked Kang Yoo-hyun. He, who had softened his expression for a moment, spoke slowly.

“…Taking down the mid-boss changed the flow.”

“Flow?”

“Yes.” 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

I frowned slightly, not fully understanding what Kang Yoo-hyun meant. He nodded and continued.

“The energy around us is growing stronger, and it’s flowing opposite to the path Kang Soo-hyun found. Something feels off.”

“…!”

Kang Yoo-hyun, with his darkness attribute, was especially sensitive to the energies around him. If he was saying this, then it had to be true. Given that the energy was flowing opposite to the path Kang Soo-hyun had found with his detection skill… something was bound to happen soon.

“Don’t leave my side.”

“Okay.”

Originally, Kang Yoo-hyun and I had been moving separately. Since entering the dungeon, I had stayed with the support team at the back of the raid. But in case any problems arose, I needed to move to the front, where Kang Yoo-hyun was, so I could provide my auxiliary skill to the high-ranked hunters at any moment. I nodded at Kang Yoo-hyun’s words and headed forward. At the same time, the grip on my hand tightened, and I glanced to the side with a puzzled expression.

“Yong-sik-ah, are you okay?”

“…”

Yong-sik, who had been sticking close to me with Do-gyul, wore a serious expression. The slitted pupils of his purple eyes scanned the surroundings constantly, betraying his unease.

At my question, Yong-sik paused for a moment before turning his head. When his eyes met mine, they had grown noticeably calmer.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Yong-sik nodded repeatedly before turning his head. I watched him with a slightly concerned expression. The other hunters had received buff skills from the light-attribute healers, but Yong-sik had not. Although he appeared human thanks to his polymorph, he was not truly human. Originally, the summoned beast had been closer to a monster. Normally, if a summon was registered, it could receive buffs without issue.

But Yong-sik was a high-level dragon with a poison attribute. Since poison was similar to the dark attribute and the compatibility was low, he couldn’t benefit from the healers’ buffs. I couldn’t help but worry. Moreover, although Yong-sik was S-rank, he was in an unstable state. I couldn’t predict how the dark energy in this dungeon might affect him.

“Hyung!”

“Huh?”

Lost in thought, I slowly turned at Do-gyul’s shout. There, standing beside Eden, Do-gyul’s eyes went wide. What’s going on? The moment that puzzlement struck me, something suddenly struck my body.

“Ugh…!”

“Hyung…!”

“Yi-jin-ah…!”

Something slammed into me. I fell backward, pain shooting through my back. Something heavy pressed down on me. I lifted my head with a puzzled look—and froze.

“Yong… sik-ah?”

“Grrr….”

Yong-sik bared his teeth, letting out a growl more befitting a beast than a human. His normally hidden fangs protruded past his lips, and his vertical slit pupils had narrowed even further. I could tell immediately that Yong-sik wasn’t in a good condition.

“Yong-sik! Ugh…!”

“Kraaa!”

Yong-sik roared at something in the distance. That’s when I realized he wasn’t reacting to something trivial. I turned my head toward where he was looking.

“…!”

The ground where I had just stood had sunken. I shivered at the thought of what might have happened if I had stayed there. With a startled expression, I shifted my gaze.

There stood a hunter who seemed to have just used a skill on me. I couldn’t quite recall his name, but he was one of the high-ranked hunters fighting at the forefront.

“What are you doing!”

“…”

Even as Kang Yoo-hyun shouted angrily at him, the hunter remained silent. I frowned as I watched him.

That bastard… what’s wrong with him? There’s something strange about his eyes.

And the moment that thought crossed my mind, the entire raid team erupted into chaos.