Broken Possessors of Infinite Regression Academy

“Just give me a little time. I’ll bring those guys over.”

I whispered quietly right next to her, and Kang Rahae, who had slightly nodded to indicate that she understood, approached the other three. The three of them were still in shock, standing there dazed.

“It might be a trap.”

“A trap… is that what you think? May I ask why you think so?”

While everyone’s attention was on them, I quickly followed the path the ogres had taken when they ran away. The footprints were chaotic but went straight in one direction.

There were large pupils along the way, and the number of footprints increased each time they passed through such areas. It seemed like the ogres who had escaped first had invited the others to join them, as the area was completely deserted.

I couldn’t sense them with my abilities, so it wasn’t because they had seen me and run away. It was more likely that the ogres who had escaped first had encouraged the others to come with them.

After passing through many pupils, I reached a much larger clearing than any I had seen before. In the center were ogres cowering and groveling.

‘Found them.’

There were a total of 17 ogres, and a Twin-Headed Ogre was looking down at them. It was a sight that would give a weak hunter a heart attack.

‘I’m pretty sure I heard this was an A-5 grade dungeon.’

Even for Eternal Guild members, it wasn’t a place where four A-class hunters could come out unscathed. At least, not according to the standards of the hunters I knew.

It seemed like a side effect of rewriting the gate formula. Recently, there had been frequent cases where not only the gate grade calculation formula but also the dungeon break calculation formula was completely wrong.

If Kang Rahae or I hadn’t followed them in, there would have likely been a tragedy of the dungeon being upgraded from A-5 to an even higher grade.

Kuaaaaak!

The Twin-Headed Ogre smashed the head of an ogre kneeling in front of it. The sturdy ogre’s head exploded, and the remaining body twitched and convulsed, spraying blood and flesh as it fell.

‘I need to get back soon.’

It was a rare sight to see an ogre scolding another ogre, but I didn’t have time to stand here and watch. I released my invisibility magic and revealed myself, releasing mana.

Kuooh?!

The ogres, who had been meekly kneeling, screamed in unison and hid behind the Twin-Headed Ogre. It was a sight that would make anyone watching doubt their eyes.

The Twin-Headed Ogre, true to its name, had four eyes staring at me intently. Its body was about 1.5 times larger than the other ogres, and its limbs were as thick as two adult male torsos combined. The club it held in its hand was as big as its arm, a weapon that would cause a hunter to explode into a few drops of blood if hit.

‘This reminds me of the past.’

It was similar to when I first met Maker in an artificial dungeon. I remembered fighting a chimera that was assembled based on an ogre.

-Kuaaaak!

The monster swung the club in its hand and approached me. It would be fatal if I got hit, but I could avoid it.

I used body acceleration and enhancement simultaneously to get right in front of the Twin-Headed Ogre. The four eyes were rendered useless as the monster continued to stare at the spot where I had disappeared.

I swung Eternity and shattered its left knee, and before its body could wobble, I destroyed the other knee as well. I kicked the crumbling legs and completely shattered them, then jumped and landed on its broad chest.

-Kwaduk!

I grabbed its left head and pulled, and the head came right off.

-Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!

An ear-piercing scream came from the remaining head. The ogres hiding behind the Twin-Headed Ogre ran for their lives, trembling as they retreated to the walls.

-Kyaaaak! Kyaaaack!

The ogre with one head left and both knees destroyed writhed on the ground, its body spinning in circles.

-Kehuk?!

I stomped on its body, pinning it to the ground. It seemed to be confused by the fact that it was completely overpowered by a human whose body was a third of its size, and it struggled, coughing and sputtering.

Pajik, the sound of its bones breaking under my foot, finally quieted it down.

“From now on, you will go to the entrance and attack those people. Go die for them. Don’t make it too easy, pretend to fight a little. Do you understand?”

-Kuaaaak!

It didn’t seem to understand. The remaining arm, which was still intact, tried to hit me with the club. I swung Eternity and cut off its wrist, then smashed its head. Kwang! Its head slammed into the ground.

“I guess words don’t work.”

I tried speaking to it because I thought it might understand human language, but it was a lost cause. Anyway, it didn’t matter. I cleanly gave up and used a high-level healing magic on the head I had just pulled out, reattaching it to the empty socket.

-Kuo?!

The reattached head suddenly opened its eyes.

The other head, which had been pressed into the ground, lifted its face and the two heads looked at each other. They both had expressions that would have had question marks floating above their heads if this were a manga.

If it had been an ordinary monster, even with the healing magic, attaching the head back wouldn’t have brought it back to life, but this was a Twin-Headed Ogre.

-Kuek?!

-Kuaack!

Before the surprised emotion could fade from its faces, I quickly stabbed my hands into both heads.

If words didn’t work, I would have to make them understand physically.

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“The footprints continue further inside.”

“What are they trying to lure us into? What’s their plan?”

The four of them grumbled but steadily moved deeper into the dungeon. If clearing wasn’t possible, they needed to at least find out what was inside. That was the purpose of the Eternal Guild’s visit.

Everyone was visibly tense. Only Kang Rahae, who was pretending to be tense, seemed unfazed, probably because she wasn’t impressed by mere ogres.

“What’s the situation in the back?”

“There’s still no sign of them trying to cut off our escape route. All five drones are intact and patrolling, and nothing suspicious is showing up on the cameras.”

The hunter who was checking the status of the drones with the device briefly reported. The drones had been set up to ensure a quick escape if the monsters tried to cut off their retreat or if there were any changes in the gate.

“Alright. Keep moving forward. Set the next drone about three minutes further ahead…?”

The leader’s words trailed off as her eyes fixed on the distant, empty darkness.

“…… Am I the only one feeling this?”

“No, I feel it too. The ground is shaking.”

Everyone instinctively aimed their weapons. The entire gate was shaking.

The silence was short-lived as the leader, spotting a faint figure in the distance, shouted urgently.

“What the hell! It’s a Twin-Headed Ogre!”

“What?!”

The other two hunters exclaimed in shock. In contrast, Kang Rahae casually drew her sword.

‘A Twin-Headed Ogre.’

It was the monster I had ordered Karn to catch with his bare hands for physical training.

“Damn! It’s not alone! There are more behind it!”

Following the Twin-Headed Ogre were a dozen or so regular ogres. The three hunters’ faces paled at the sight of what seemed to be a double-digit number of monsters.

“Oh no! Should we just retreat?!”

“…… Even if we try to escape, they’ll catch up to us in no time. There’s no other way but to fight.”

“Understood. I’ll activate the emergency escape protocol with the drones, so buy us a few minutes.”

The hunters, true to their A-class status, quickly snapped out of their panic. As Kang Yuna and the leader drew their weapons, the hunter operating the drones frantically tapped on the device.

The three of them, overwhelmed by the quality and quantity of the monsters, didn’t notice, but Kang Rahae could sense it. In the way the monsters were running towards them, there was a contradictory sense of disorder and order.

At first glance, it seemed like the monsters were simply charging towards them to tear them apart. But in reality, they were running towards their deaths. Most likely, they had been led here by that Mira kid.

“Of course. When I go out, I’ll have to report to the guild leaders that this gate deserves a higher rating than A-5. It’s definitely not just an A-5 with…… what the hell are you doing?!”

Kang Rahae stepped forward, taking the lead. It was time to repay the favor after setting the stage for her.

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“Haa, haa, haa…!”

The party, having slaughtered a Twin-Headed Ogre and twelve regular ogres, plopped down on the ground. As the adrenaline wore off, they were hit with sudden fatigue.

Unlike the other three, Kang Rahae calmly collected the loot and walked out. The leader sincerely admired her.

“You’re incredible. How did you…?”

In essence, Kang Rahae had cleared the gate on her own. While the three of them were busy with four ogres, Kang Rahae had single-handedly slaughtered nine and even taken down the Twin-Headed Ogre by herself.

Moreover, she had left no wounds on the corpses. According to them, she had climbed onto the ogre’s arm and stabbed its eyes. It seemed like an impossible feat for a human.

“Are you crazy? How is she only an A-class hunter?”

“I don’t know, so don’t ask me. Maybe the guild leaders gave her a hard time again?”

“But weren’t the guild leaders the ones who got her in here? They said she didn’t even take a test and just parachuted in. I’ve heard a lot of people grumbling about that.”

“Shh. They might hear you.”

Of course, they could hear her, but Kang Rahae, used to such gossip, ignored it and focused on simulating her next actions in her mind. After all, those two weren’t important people.

Kang Yuna, unaware of her inner thoughts, remembered what her sister had said yesterday. She had told her to definitely get close to Kang Rahae, who was almost certain to become an S-class hunter soon.

At the time, Kang Yuna had lied, saying that becoming an S-class hunter wasn’t easy, so don’t make up stories. But now, it seemed like her sister had simply stated a fact.

‘I definitely need to get close to her.’

Kang Yuna made a firm decision.

After the incident with the Twin-Headed Ogre, Kang Rahae’s standing within the Eternal Guild rapidly improved. Rumors spread quickly, and her reputation soared.

Kang Yuna had also tried extremely hard to get close to her, and her enthusiasm was almost suspicious. It made one wonder if she had some ulterior motive.

“Didn’t you tell me to get close to her?”

“I did, but…”

I had suggested that she make friends with someone other than us, but I never expected her to be so proactive about it.

Surprisingly, Kang Rahae also got along well with Kang Yuna’s sister, their personalities clicking in a way that was unexpected. The two had become closer much faster than I had anticipated.

“Hey, I’m going out for drinks with that unni. Tell Mom that for me.”

“Huh?”

She was already close enough to say something like that to me.

‘What’s going on?’

How did they become so close so quickly?