Seeing Scáthach slowly materialize, every Hunter in the raid party—including Cha Hae-In—froze in shock.
Not a monster... but a human?
Why would a human appear inside a Dungeon?
"Who are you? Why are you here?"
Cha Hae-In neither lowered her guard nor charged in recklessly. She spoke first, cautiously sliding her hand toward the sword at her waist, fingers settling around the hilt in preparation.
But just as she touched her sword, another hand pressed firmly down on hers.
"Don't move."
The voice was so close it sounded directly beside her ear. Cha Hae-In even caught a faint, cool fragrance drifting from the other woman's hair.
"I've finally managed to suppress my fighting spirit. If you provoke me… it won't end well."
Cha Hae-In's pupils contracted sharply, panic flickering briefly in her trembling eyes.
When—?!
When did she get this close?!
I didn't sense her at all?!
"Hunter Cha?!"
"Captain?!"
A beat behind Cha Hae-In, the Hunters around her finally realized Scáthach had suddenly appeared among them. Fear, shock, confusion, helplessness—too many emotions surged at once, overwhelming their minds and leaving them unable to respond effectively.
"Wait! Don't attack!"
Cha Hae-In shouted, halting the Hunters behind her before they could strike. Everyone else had lost composure in their panic—only she still retained a clear grasp of reason.
Her call was undeniably correct. As Scáthach said, if their attacks awakened her fighting intent, the situation would spiral out of control.
"Mhm, that's better. There's no need to be so tense. I'm not some man-eating demon," Scáthach said, nodding approvingly at their restraint.
Man-eating demons and monsters were familiar sights to Dungeon raiders. They'd encountered countless—and slain just as many.
Yet the pressure radiating from Scáthach was far more terrifying than any monster they'd faced.
Still, there was one thing they could now be certain of—
She could be reasoned with.
Cha Hae-In's lips trembled. Her mouth was dry, but she forced herself to speak.
"May I ask… are you human?"
Scáthach studied her for a long moment.
"Oh? Interesting. You're opening with that question," Scáthach replied, the corner of her mouth quirking upward. "Whether I count as human… honestly, even I'm unsure."
At those words, Cha Hae-In's muscles instantly tightened—something Scáthach noticed immediately.
"But at the very least…" Scáthach continued, "…I consider myself human. That's the best answer I can offer you."
No matter how many worlds she'd wandered, no matter how many Heroic Spirits in Chaldea had aided her, she had never abandoned her identity as human.
Seeing Cha Hae-In still tense, Scáthach paused before speaking again.
"Then let me ask you this. In your eyes… are those National Level Hunters still human?"
"National… Level?"
Cha Hae-In jolted. She hadn't expected that term here—especially now.
Was there a deeper meaning behind Scáthach's words? Were National Level Hunters fundamentally different?
Cha Hae-In bit lightly into her lower lip, pushing the confusion aside to concentrate.
"I think… they're human."
"Then so am I."
Scáthach removed her hand from Cha Hae-In's sword, lightly patting her shoulder.
If one thought about it, she really did resemble those National Level Hunters.
They borrowed power from the Rulers.
She borrowed power from the Servants of Chaldea.
If National Level Hunters still counted as human, then logically, so did she.
"ROAAAR—!!"
A piercing, oppressive roar reverberated through the Dungeon, echoing repeatedly against the stone walls.
Simultaneously, everyone felt it—
A dense, overwhelming wave of mana.
"That fluctuation!"
"The Final Boss?!"
"It… it's coming this way? How is that possible?!"
"The Final Boss shouldn't leave its room!"
Cha Hae-In whipped her head toward Scáthach, her expression hardening.
"Was this your doing?"
"Hmm… perhaps it does have something to do with me?" Scáthach rubbed her chin, frowning thoughtfully. Even she didn't sound entirely sure.
Cha Hae-In clenched her teeth, glaring at Scáthach with barely concealed frustration. She knew this wasn't the moment to press—not only because the woman was unfathomable, but also because the Final Boss was rapidly approaching.
With an S-Rank like Cha Hae-In present, none of the Hunters truly feared the Final Boss of an A-Rank Dungeon.
But killing the Final Boss meant the Dungeon would close.
That would force them to abandon enormous quantities of resources—ores, monster corpses, and more. The Hunters Guild had paid a staggering sum to buy this A-Rank Dungeon from the Hunters Association. Losing it now would be a brutal, meaningless loss.
Cha Hae-In knew all this.
But under these circumstances, they had no choice.
Dragging a Final Boss around while allowing mining and recovery teams to work would be exhausting, inefficient—and dangerously reckless.
"So we have to abandon this Dungeon…"
As Cha Hae-In murmured to herself, the Dungeon's Final Boss—the skeletal giant—came into view.
"All units—formation!"
At Cha Hae-In's command, the Hunters cast aside their hesitation and raised their weapons toward the skeletal giant.
Cha Hae-In stood at the forefront, mana surging around her, her eyes sharp and clear—like a blade freshly drawn from its sheath.
Just as the clash was about to erupt, Scáthach flashed forward like a ghost, appearing directly in front of Cha Hae-In. Cha Hae-In blinked, startled.
"If we kill it now, your guild will lose quite a bit, won't it?" Scáthach remarked lightly. "If it left the Boss room because of me, then I can't exactly ignore it. I'll assist you. Don't worry—I won't steal your prey."
"…What are you planning to do?"
Cha Hae-In stared at Scáthach's back, brows knitted so tightly they nearly overlapped.
Scáthach gave no answer. Without looking back, she calmly approached the skeletal giant.
"DAL—!!"
The skeletal giant loomed so huge it could barely straighten inside the cavern. Each enraged bellow whipped up winds fierce enough to blanch every face present.
Scáthach moved at an unhurried pace—hands by her side, no weapon drawn.
The skeletal giant took a single step forward, its massive foot crashing heavily into the rock. The impact sent loose stones raining down from above.
But then…
It never took a second step.
BOOM!
The skeletal giant—menacing just moments ago—collapsed onto its knees before Scáthach. Its skull slammed hard into the rock floor, forming a deep crater, as if crushed by an invisible weight.
Its skull, palms, knees, shins—all were forced inch by inch into the stone. Cracks spread outward like spiderwebs, widening rapidly.
The skeletal giant shook violently, struggling in desperation against the strange pressure.
Its efforts yielded only the shrill, brittle crackle of bones splintering.
The Hunters' jaws nearly hit the floor.
This was the Final Boss of an A-Rank Dungeon.
Even ten A-Rank Hunters could easily be wiped out by it if things went wrong. Only Cha Hae-In had been confident of victory.
And this woman?
No one even understood what she'd done—but the fearsome skeletal giant had been suppressed so thoroughly it couldn't resist at all.
"Alright. It's taken care of," Scáthach said.
She turned to face the stunned crowd, her tone casual—as if the fearsome Final Boss was merely a troublesome dog that needed discipline.
"With me watching it, it won't interfere with your work. If you want to gather the Dungeon's resources, do it now. Once you're finished, I'll hand the Final Boss back to you."
Though still dazed by shock, the Hunters—including Cha Hae-In—exchanged glances and nodded.
What other choice did they have?
As more and more people Awakened, the greatest authority on Earth was no longer wealth or status.
It was power.
With enough power, wealth and status would follow naturally.
And right now, the strongest presence in the room—with unquestionable authority—was Scáthach.
...
Choi Jong-In, still dressed in his raid gear, rushed over from the Dungeon he'd been supervising to the one Cha Hae-In commanded.
When he arrived at the construction site surrounding the A-Rank Gate, he immediately sensed something off. The air felt heavy, stagnant—as if even the wind struggled to pass through it.
He briefly greeted the Hunters stationed on site. As Guild Master of the Hunters Guild, his presence steadied their nerves and bolstered morale.
He then moved directly toward Cha Hae-In, arriving just as she spoke with the leader of the mining team.
"Hunter Cha, we never abandoned our posts. We've been guarding the Gate the entire time. We didn't see anyone suspicious, and no one entered the Gate."
Cha Hae-In's expression darkened. After leaving the Dungeon, she'd immediately questioned the Hunters assigned to watch the Gate.
She'd learned nothing useful.
"Then she didn't enter through the Gate… she appeared from inside the Dungeon…"
Then what is she? Human… or monster?
"Hunter Cha—tell me everything that happened here," Choi Jong-In said firmly.
Flame-like intensity burned in his eyes as he regarded her seriously.
"What you said on the phone… I need details. Now."
...
Inside the Dungeon, Scáthach neither knew nor cared about the conversation taking place outside—or the turmoil consuming Cha Hae-In's thoughts.
She remained alone, seated casually beside the skeletal giant.
"I see. So you used to belong to Ashborn's Shadow Army," she said, her voice idle. "No wonder you went berserk and charged out the moment you sensed me. We must have met before, though I honestly don't remember you."
Scáthach finally understood who the skeletal giant had once been—and why it had fled the Boss room.
And her memory was accurate. She genuinely couldn't recall it.
Ashborn's Shadow Army was the largest and mightiest of the nine great armies. Its soldiers had come from countless races, countless worlds.
Scáthach had no reason to remember every faceless grunt—especially those who couldn't withstand even one of her spears.
Within the Shadow Army, the only two she remembered clearly were Ashborn's right and left hands: Igris and Bellion.
Just then, Scáthach's [Clairvoyance] detected someone entering the Dungeon.
Cha Hae-In.
She'd returned—and was coming this way.
When Cha Hae-In arrived, the first thing she saw was the skeletal giant, still immobilized. Only afterward did she notice Scáthach seated nearby—the giant's enormous frame far too prominent to miss.
Cha Hae-In covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief. The mana stench rolling off the skeletal giant was torment—worse than fermented seabird and canned herring combined. The cloth dulled it but couldn't erase the stink saturating the air.
Each Dungeon exploration alongside other Hunters was a trial.
She'd heard that some Hunters abroad had it even worse—needing gas masks to avoid fainting whenever they drew near other Hunters. But she'd never met one personally.
Their eyes met. Scáthach showed no intention of speaking first, prompting Cha Hae-In to break the silence.
"We've notified the mining and recovery teams. They'll enter soon to finish their work."
"Oh? You trust me that much?" Scáthach's lips curled slightly. Reflected in her crimson eyes, Cha Hae-In appeared washed in blood. "Aren't you afraid I might do something?"
"That's why I came here to watch you personally," Cha Hae-In replied evenly, unflinching as she faced Scáthach directly. "And the Hunters Guild is South Korea's number one guild. Trust me—if you act recklessly here, you'll lose your freedom internationally. No matter how powerful you are, it won't matter."
Cha Hae-In's words were so naive Scáthach almost laughed.
The only reason Cha Hae-In believed "no matter how powerful you are, it won't matter"… was because she'd never seen a true powerhouse.
In the war between the nine Monarchs and the Rulers, innumerable stars had dimmed and been extinguished.
To humans on Earth, the world seemed vast.
To the nine Monarchs, Earth was no more than a speck of dust.