DPGR 65

“Combat formation! Hold your positions!”

The monster was over three meters tall, its massive bulk covered in a hard exoskeleton. Its powerful mandibles clicked together with a sharp, menacing sound.

Its unfocused red eyes swept across the field, narrowing suddenly.

A brief silence.

Then, the monster threw open its jaws and let out a deafening screech as it charged.

Screeeeech—!

The air shook with a chilling noise, like nails on a chalkboard.

From its gaping mouth, a gush of bubbling green liquid spewed out.

“Hey—hey! Block it!”

The tankers, including Kijoon, rushed forward with their shields raised.

The green liquid hissed and sizzled as it splattered against the shields, melting into them.

Though it couldn’t corrode shields made from dungeon byproducts, the droplets that sprayed onto their clothes burned holes through the fabric.

It was acidic enough to melt human skin without issue.

“Ranged attackers, get ready!”

“Secure a safe distance!”

The espers’ faces turned pale. Still, experienced as they were, they quickly snapped into battle formation.

‘Not bad, considering they were caught off guard.’

It helped that Delta Team had many ranged espers.

And that this monster was acting alone, not part of a swarm—that, too, worked in their favor.

‘At this rate, we can take it down without too much trouble. But still…’

Using his shadow manipulation ability to restrict the monster’s movements, Dojin calmly took charge of the battle.

His sharp gaze scanned the surroundings—alert, wary.

Screee—KRRRRAK!

As the monster collapsed, gushing green blood, cheers erupted among the espers.

But Dojin barked a warning.

“Don’t let your guard down!”

The fight had made far more noise than expected. Loud enough to attract other monsters in the area.

His words jolted the others back to their senses.

Tension returned, heavy in the air.

Thud—

“We’ve taken down the monster!”

The giant ant-like creature finally fell, its body crashing into the sand and kicking up a thick cloud of dust.

Dojin soothed the others, making sure no one relaxed too soon.

But the next threat didn’t come from nearby monsters—it came through an urgent SOS from the Safe Zone.

Kzzk—shh—kzzt—

The radio clipped to his belt suddenly came to life.

—This is the Safe Z—currently—monster sw—collision—!

—Support—falling ap—!

The broken, static-filled words painted a clear picture.

Safe Zone. Swarm of monsters. Breached.

“What? Wait, is this saying the Safe Zone’s been overrun?”

“How—how the hell did this happen?”

“Shouldn’t we be heading back right now?”

The espers, especially those who’d left their pair guides behind at the Safe Zone, were visibly shaken.

Dojin was no different.

‘Jiho—Jiho’s still there…’

His heart pounded violently, and the mana inside his body surged uncontrollably.

For the first time in his life, fear seized him so completely it nearly broke his mind.

“Captain! Captain Baek!”

“…Huh.”

“You need to make a call—now!”

“A-A decision…”

It was Sehun who dragged Dojin back to reality.

Dojin, stammering like something inside him had short-circuited, finally forced himself to think clearly.

“For now… for now—Alpha Team will go support the Safe Zone. Delta Team, continue the raid.”

Alpha Team, smaller and more mobile with high offensive power, was best suited for the task.

No one from Delta Team objected to Dojin’s command.

And with that, Dojin took off—racing toward the Safe Zone.

When he finally arrived—

“…What… the hell…”

The air reeked faintly of blood.

Dojin came to a dead halt, as if something had caught him by the ankle. He stared at the scene with a dazed, hollow expression.

“Captain!”

The rest of Alpha Team, right behind him, froze as well.

“Uh… wait.”

“I-It’s… over?”

Just as Jihye said—

They had braced themselves for a full-blown disaster, but instead, what met their eyes were monster corpses scattered across the ground.

Dojin’s stunned gaze dropped to the lifeless body of a creature lying in the sand.

‘What the hell happened here?’

The guides—dusty and disheveled—were clinging to each other and jumping up and down, celebrating their survival.

***

The Safe Zone’s collapse happened in an instant.

The number of combat-type espers present was nowhere near enough to fend off the monster swarm.

The espers stationed near the guides were all support-type—unable to offer meaningful protection.

So when the barrier fell—

Woooo—

“R-Run! Run!”

The guides, clustered in defensive formation, panicked and scattered.

Even though the barrier was semi-transparent, its presence offered a huge psychological sense of safety.

Now, with it gone and the monsters fully visible, some spiraled into total panic.

Guides assigned to teams with many espers were used to heavy protection inside dungeons.

They all trained regularly with firearms, sure—but few had ever actually fired at real monsters.

“N-No! Don’t scatter—it’s dangerous! Regroup!”

The support espers tried to rally the guides and reform a defensive stance, but it was no use.

“Shit! We’ll split up too—just stay with someone!”

Eventually, even the support espers had no choice but to grab the guides and flee across the sand.

The formation collapsed in seconds, and Jiho was swept away with it, running blindly with the crowd.

“Guide Jiho! This way!”

Thankfully, Geonwoo was nearby.

Exceptionally athletic for a guide, he managed to stay upright even in the deep, shifting sand—and even led Jiho forward.

Thanks to him, Jiho didn’t get trampled or trip over the terrain.

But not everyone was so lucky.

“Ah!”

A scream rang out by Jiho’s ear, sharp and panicked.

It was a woman’s voice. Jiho whipped around, worried it might be Sena.

“P-Please—help me!”

It wasn’t Sena, but the woman was small and appeared younger, much like her.

She seemed to have been injured when she fell, unable to rise, clutching her ankle as she only moved her hips.

Behind her, a monster with horns raised, snorted, and charged toward her.

The monster’s red eyes, filled with excitement, gleamed as it locked onto its prey.

‘No…!’

Perhaps it was because their gazes met, with tears welling up in the woman’s eyes.

Jiho couldn’t just ignore her. He drew his gun from his waist and took a shooting stance.

Given his skill, this was a reckless move.

“Guide Jiho!”

Click-

Geonwoo, realizing Jiho’s intention too late, tried to stop him. It was more important to protect Jiho and escape safely.

But before Geonwoo could stop him, Jiho pulled the trigger.

Bang-!

The gunfire from the silver barrel sparked. With a loud shot, the bullet flew.

Naturally, Jiho’s shot missed the monster. Instead, it grazed the monster’s face, leaving a small scratch, which only stirred its excitement more.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the monster’s attention shifted from the woman to Jiho.

The monster’s crimson eyes fixed solely on him. A murderous aura radiated so intensely that it could be felt like prickling hairs.

“Jiho…!”

Bang- Bang- Bang-!

But Jiho didn’t hesitate and fired continuously.

Meanwhile, an esper near the fallen woman helped her up and moved her to safety.

Bang- Bang-! Bang-!

Jiho’s bullets either missed the monster entirely or hit non-vital areas.

Click- Click-

To make matters worse, Jiho ran out of ammo. He had to reload, but his hands were shaking, making it difficult to reload while keeping an eye on the monster.

Noticing Jiho’s situation, the monster let out a low growl and began to approach him.

At that moment, the white fox stepped forward, showing its teeth and growling.

Bang-! Bang Bang-!

Gunfire rang out from behind.

Before Jiho could even process the situation, the monster, which had been charging toward him, staggered and collapsed with a thud.

Looking closer, a hole had been blown in its forehead. Three shots had hit the same spot.

“Guide Jiho! Are you alright?”

A voice, slightly trembling, called out. When Jiho turned around in surprise, Geonwoo, holding a gun in one hand, was checking on him.

“Uh, uh…?”

“Ah. I shot that. It was really urgent… You’re not hurt, right?”

Geonwoo gave a small smile, comforting Jiho, who was still stunned. Jiho, realizing where Geonwoo’s gaze had landed—on his gun—nodded understandingly.

“I learned shooting from Captain Baek after joining Alpha Team.”

Ah, so that’s how it was.

Jiho, who knew how strict Dojin was in the shooting range, understood, nodding in acknowledgment.

Most likely, Geonwoo had endured a lot under Dojin’s training to reach this skill level.

Geonwoo, happy that someone acknowledged his skills, made a joke before looking around.

The guides were still panicked, running in all directions, while the support espers worked hard to evacuate them.

There were even combat espers clearly in a disadvantaged position.

“This is…”

Guides, who lacked physical abilities compared to Espers, couldn’t escape far.

Running on the sand, which swallowed their feet, was a bothersome task even for Espers.

Some of them fell or tumbled, just like the woman earlier.

Geonwoo approached an esper who was helping an injured guide to their feet and asked.

“Has the support request gone through?”

“Huh? Ah, yes, we’ve tried sending a transmission…”

“No reply, I see.”

“Yeah. I think the signal isn’t great. But there’s probably a team that received the transmission.”

“Good to hear. Well then…”

As Geonwoo spoke with the Esper, Jiho, exhausted, was helping another guide who was stumbling from fatigue.

Even Jiho himself seemed to be struggling to stay on his feet.

‘Well, it can’t be helped.’

Geonwoo, watching Jiho, tightened his grip on the gun.

He had originally planned only to protect Jiho, but it seemed Jiho didn’t want to just focus on his own survival, so it was better to support him for now.