The head of the “Swarm Mother”.  

Despite its massive body being far away, its snake-like elongated neck and face were lunging straight at me.  

‘It struck first!’  

Already at a disadvantage, I had a sense this battle would only get harder.  

Quickly, I raised my arms to take a defensive stance.  

But…  

‘…But there’s no attack?’  

I didn’t feel the pain.  

No, the attack I had anticipated never came.  

Not only was there no attack, but rather—  

-Kkeureuk, kkeureuk.  

The [Swarm Mother] was gently rubbing its head against my arm.  

From its mouth came a surprisingly soft sound, utterly unlike the expected harsh insect chittering.  

‘Could it be…’  

It wasn’t hard to understand what was happening.  

This is the hatchery where this Swarm Mother lays its young.  

‘Is this creature really…’  

And due to the effect of my cooking skills, I must be emanating an energy that this creature recognizes as its own kind.  

‘Is it seeing me as its own offspring?’  

-Kkeureuk kkeureuk kkeureuk.  

The Swarm Mother circled around, making those gentle sounds.  

I sensed no hostility in its actions whatsoever.  

Seeing this, I was struck by a shock of a different kind.  

‘Do these monsters… have maternal instincts?’  

I knew that these creatures had intelligence.  

Even those lizards have demonstrated strategic tactics in attacking us.  

But intelligence and emotion are entirely separate realms.  

Many creatures simply breed without caring for their young.  

This dungeon was likely shaped by the monsters’ own needs and desires.  

From the human perspective, it’s an outright act of invasion.  

This creature too, has encroached upon and reshaped human lands.  

But… this is a hatchery.  

‘So that invasion was ultimately for the sake of its offspring?’  

I felt a strange sensation.  

I had slaughtered this creature’s young ones.  

And now, I’m supposed to behead the monster that sees me as its own child?  

‘I wish it had just attacked me outright. Then I could have killed it with everything I’ve got.’  

Even with the monster thrusting its neck towards me, I had trouble mustering the resolve to swing my blade.  

‘…Mother.’  

The faces of my own parents, which I had been trying to forget, suddenly resurfaced.  

So, I stood there, unable to bring my knife down.  

-Kkeureuk? Kkeureuk kkeureuk.  

Perhaps sensing my unusual behavior, the Swarm Mother’s demeanor shifted slightly.  

Its cries, though incomprehensible, seemed to convey a question ‘What’s wrong?’  

‘I have to kill it, I know.’  

It feels unsettling, but if I don’t take this creature down, it will be us who perish.  

Just as I was about to grip the knife and swing—  

The Swarm Mother’s elongated head retracted back towards its body, disappearing from view.  

-Keureuk!  

It emerged carrying something in its mouth, dropping it in front of me.  

A gesture akin to a mother offering a gift to her young.  

But seeing the object it had brought, I couldn’t react with the excitement of a child receiving a present.  

Desiccated and contorted, but still clearly recognizable.  

 It was a human corpse.  

‘…’  

-Keureuk!  

When I didn’t react, the Swarm Mother kept pushing the corpse closer to me.  

The meaning behind its actions wasn’t hard to decipher.  

Seeing me standing still, it must have thought its offspring was weak and was offering me sustenance.  

This too, was entirely driven by maternal instinct.  

I looked towards the deeper recesses concealed beneath the Swarm Mother’s body.  

Though not fully visible, I could make out various things:  

Desiccated human body parts, bone fragments, weathered work uniforms, and a helmeted human skull.  

‘The subway construction site… those must be the workers.’  

The words of Sergeant Seo Soo-hyeok came to mind.  

As an active construction site, there would have been workers killed on the day of the apocalypse.  

I had wondered if their zombified forms might attack, but strangely, there were no zombies around the station.  

‘They were killed to be used as food.’  

These were also humans, someone’s family members.  

I had momentarily forgotten that in the face of its maternal behavior towards me.  

But the fundamental truth remains unchanged:  

I, as a human, cannot condone this creature.  

‘It’s not a matter of good or evil.’  

The creature eating humans may not be an evil act in itself.  

It’s a struggle for survival, for itself and its offspring.  

I have also done the same, eating its young to stay alive.  

Eating is an act of survival.  

Just as I consumed its young ones to get here, it was eating humans to sustain itself and its offspring.  

The distinction of good or evil doesn’t matter.  

What matters is only one thing and that is  

Survival.  

Both of us are ultimately locked in a relationship where we must consume each other to survive.  

So, “don’t hate it too much.”  

-Keureuk?  

Better to be the predator than the prey of these monsters.  

I had resolved this long ago.  

I reached out to stroke the creature’s head with one hand, while gripping my Dokkkogusik knife, with the other.  

Without even a moment of hesitation, I cleanly severed the unguarded monster’s neck.  

[You have slayed the Black Sand Swarm Mother]  

[The ‘Black Sand Dominion’ skill of the Black Sand Swarm Mother has been cancelled]  

[The dungeon is collapsing.]  

As the Swarm Mother’s severed head rolled on the ground, the pervasive magical energy dissipated in an instant.  

The devouring sand desert had been created by the power of this Swarm Mother.  

With her demise, it all came crashing down.  

The dungeon environment began to collapse rapidly.  

-Kiyaaaaack!?  

The larvae that had coated the walls started thrashing about wildly.  

They must have sensed the mother’s death and the hatchery’s destruction, thrown into a panicked frenzy.  

I opened the guild message window to observe their reactions.  

[Chef: I’ve taken down the boss monster. The floor should be returning to normal.]  

[Warrior: Sergeant Young-joon, are you alright!?]  

[Mage: You bastard Young-joon…!]  

[Chef: Now that the boss is gone, the confused monsters are in disarray. I’ll leave the cleanup of the remaining creatures to your squad.]  

After issuing orders to the main force through the guild message, I sat down on the Swarm Mother’s corpse to wait for the response.  

And shortly after,  

Kwaaaaaang…  

I felt a tremendous tremor from the distance.  

The soldiers had engaged the enemy.  

The monsters in this dungeon, while numerous, are not particularly strong.  

With the battalion’s mages specialized in wide area attacks, the monster horde would be swept away by the sheer firepower.  

And the system acknowledged this fact as well.  

[You have cleared the dungeon!]  

[You are the first from the human race to clear a dungeon]  

[A reward will be given to those who lead the way]