Ding.

[Shaman: Young-joon, did you do something?]  

[Chef:?]  

[Shaman: …No? I thought only you could pull off something like this]  

It was a message from Park Taejun in the mountains.  

Wondering what he meant, I waited for the next message.  

[Shaman: The misfortune foretold by the divination has been lifted]  

[Shaman: I think it’s okay to proceed with the dungeon challenge now]  

Even without a subject, it wasn’t hard to grasp the meaning.  

We finally got the green light to tackle the dungeon.  

***  

At the gathering of the squad members, the newly joined Jeong Soo-ah pointed to a location on the military map.  

“Here.”  

She shared this information with us immediately upon joining the squad.  

It was the location of the dungeon.  

“It’s not that far.”  

“Is this good luck?”  

The place she pointed to was a flat plain with nothing around.  

“It looks empty.”  

“Is there a cave or something?”  

“No, it’s not an empty place.”  

“Huh?”  

Looking at the map again, it seemed like a barren field.  

Soo-ah also glanced at the map and tilted her head slightly.  

“Uh… it does look empty. But the spirits didn’t show it as an empty place.”  

“What do you mean…?”  

“Oh. I got it!”  

It was Lee Sang-ah who responded to her words.  

“This is where a station is located.”  

“A station?”  

“Ah… I see.”  

The reactions split into two groups.  

The soldiers, including me, showed confusion.  

The survivors nodded in understanding.  

‘There’s a station in this remote area?’  

If that were true, there’s no way we, who served near here, wouldn’t know about it.  

We would have used the train when going on leave or returning.  

But there definitely wasn’t one.  

Even I always used the express bus.  

“It’s understandable that soldiers wouldn’t know.”  

“To be precise… it’s an under-construction station.”  

Ah.  

So, it was a subway station under construction.  

Dungeons were originally associated with underground prisons.  

“It makes sense as a potential dungeon site.”  

Our next destination was set.  

***  

After completing the preparations, our guild led the soldiers and set out.  

Unlike the relatively stabilized area near our military base, the world was still swarming with monsters just a little further away.  

Even a short distance made travel challenging.  

It was only after the completion of the combat vehicles that this became possible.  

And then, another change occurred.  

“Third floor, window of the gray building on the left. A monster is about to come out.”  

“Su-hyeok.”  

“Roger.”  

Bang—  

The squad leader, Corporal Seo Su-hyeok, fired his weapon.   

Thanks to the silencers made by the engineers, the sound was minimal.  

Crack…

The monster that was crawling out of the window, aiming to attack the unit, had its head blown off instantly.  

“Two blocks ahead, right corner at the intersection. There’s a group of zombies. Quite a few of them.”  

“Han-il, take your squad and handle it.”  

“Understood.”  

The zombie horde, which could have threatened the unit’s flank during the advance, was eliminated by the soldiers before it could get close.  

“Straight ahead…”  

“We should detour from here…”  

“That path is blocked…”  

A soldier with a different perspective observed the battlefield and continued to brief us about the upcoming dangers.  

Jeong Soo-ah.  

A spirit mage, who shared her vision with a spirit.  

‘It was already a powerful trait.’  

A trait that allowed her to share the vision of an invisible, freely flying spirit.   

The only limit was Soo-ah’s own ability.   

However, with the accessories provided by the guild skill, the dog tag, the uniform made of lizard leather, the handmade weapons crafted by Grandpa Park and the engineers, and my cooking, the abilities of ordinary awakened doubled upon joining our unit.  

And she was no exception to this fact.  

“Incredible… Even after using my abilities this much, I don’t feel any pain in my eyes.”  

Previously, our reconnaissance relied on the [EnhancedHearing] gained from my cooking.   

But now, that was merely an aid.   

Her spirit acted as a scout, informing us about the threats from the sky.  

The stability of our operations has increased significantly compared to before.  

Thanks to this,  

“There, that construction site.”  

We reached our destination, the subway station where the dungeon was located, without significant damage.  

“I didn’t expect to arrive this quickly…”  

“Ah… It’s an honor to have been of help to my benefactor.”  

Although her abilities were a great help, the truth was that the military base and the station weren’t that far apart to begin with.  

“Luck was on our side in many ways.”  

“Luck isn’t everything,” Min-jae hyung said.  

“Railroads have traditionally been used for military movement.”  

“Ho.”  

“While the station is mainly for civilian convenience, the location of nearby military bases would have influenced its selection. It’s natural for the station and base to be close.”  

It made sense.   

Railroads are the most efficient and fastest way to move the military. Especially since our ammunition battalion was responsible for supplying ammunition to the nearby area, the station’s location would have been chosen to ensure rapid supply in emergencies.  

Well, for us, it meant we could move without any damage.  

It’s all good.  

Upon arriving at the station, we entered the construction site.  

As we walked inside, Corporal Seo Su-hyeok tilted his head in confusion.  

“This is strange.”  

“What is?”  

“Considering it’s a construction site, I expected to see zombies or corpses of the workers. But isn’t it oddly quiet? I can’t even hear any zombies with my [Enhanced Hearing].”  

“Hmm… Now that you mention it…”  

“The Dooms Day happened on a weekend, so perhaps the construction was halted? I’m not sure.”  

Hmm.  

In any case, I decided to consider this as a fortunate turn of events.   

Without any zombie attacks, it became easier to enter the construction site.  

In the heart of the site, we found a small staircase leading down to the subway station.  

“Here it is.”  

This was the entrance to the dungeon.  

“Stairs, huh?”  

“Looks like we can’t take the combat vehicles down there.”  

“It can’t be helped. Engineers will stay outside to guard the vehicles.”  

We stationed a few soldiers on the surface to be prepared for any unexpected situations and then proceeded down the subway stairs with the rest of the troops.  

As the daylight above began to fade completely,  

“Flares.”  

“Deploying flares!”  

The soldiers threw the flares that they had brought, illuminating the dark underground space with a red glow that spread across the stairs.  

However, there was a spot that remained dark despite the flares.  

“That must be it.”  

At the bottom of the stairs, where it officially connected to the subway, there was a mysterious dark curtain that the flares couldn’t penetrate.  

As I focused on that spot, a series of messages appeared before me:  

[A dungeon has been discovered]  

[The beings of other realms possess diverse habits as varied as their kinds]  

[Some races have adaptive abilities that allow them to survive in any environment, while others may find lucky resemblances to their homeland in new surroundings]  

[Yet, some races find the new world’s environment extremely unpleasant]  

[They have decided to alter the environment to suit their tastes]  

[This is a clear act of invasion]  

[Do not tolerate this.]  

The information about the dungeon unfolded before me.   

Despite its length, it made clear what the term ‘dungeon’ meant in this world.  

“Beings from another realm, unable to adapt to the environment, have transformed it to suit their preferences.”  

In other words,

“Terraforming.”