Seeing that sight, I thought of only one thing.

‘So that’s why the title Predator…..’

I looked at Allen with a pale face.

The demon sword swallowed up the life force of the zombie businessman to the very bottom.

The body of the zombie businessman, which had been a dark green face, gradually turned ashen, and his limbs withered and twisted as the flesh fell away.

Though his dry lips quivered, even his final scream did not come out of the zombie businessman’s mouth, as if his vocal cords had also twisted.

Soon Allen pulled out his sword as if he had finished his business.

Not a drop of blood came out of the zombie businessman.

Because everything had been taken away.

There was an even more amazing sight.

Allen drew out the green aura mixed with demonic energy from the demon sword to the outside of the blade.

Then another sword identical in appearance to the demon sword was formed.

He had replicated the sword with magic power.

“This is my ability.”

Allen said calmly.

Allen nudged the zombie businessman who had collapsed carelessly on the desk.

The small body that had been sucked dry fell to the floor like an insignificant fallen leaf.

“I can absorb the magic power of boss monsters.”

* * *

Predator (捕食者).

Dictionary definition: an animal that preys on other animals.

Just as whales are apex predators of the sea, Allen’s sword preys on boss monsters. Allen is, in a sense, the apex predator of monsters.

Allen spoke calmly, but we simply couldn’t listen casually.

An awakened one who not only kills bosses but absorbs them and turns them into swords.

No, but is it really just bosses he can absorb? Can’t he absorb other people too?

When I sent a suspicious glance, Allen, whose gaze met mine directly, smiled.

“You don’t have to look at me so scary, Juno. Even if it’s a demon sword, it can’t eat humans.”

“Do you happen to have telepathy with me?”

“Of course. We’ve known each other for years.”

Victor glanced at Allen with a distrustful look.

“Are you sure? You really only absorb boss monsters?”

“To be precise, I absorb the magic power of boss monsters. My sword can absorb the magic power of bosses and then replicate swords with the absorbed magic power.”

Does that mean the sword gets stronger as you keep clearing dungeons and absorbing the magic power of bosses?

‘This is a more dangerous weapon than I thought.’

“For now, let’s go outside and talk about what just happened step by step, Jade. The New York team probably already knows about this.”

Benjamin said after organizing the situation.

“Since we’ve defeated the boss, the exit will open soon. We need to leave quickly.”

“Wait a moment.”

Just a moment ago my head was complicated from seeing the effect of Allen’s title, but I still had to take care of what needed to be taken care of.

I quickly shook off my thoughts and pointed to the magic stone elephant statue that took up an entire wall.

“That’s all high-purity magic stone. Let’s take that.”

“But Juno, that thing is too big and…”

“We can put it in the inventory!”

I was about to call up my inventory right away.

That’s when it happened.

Rumble rumble rumble…

“Huh? What’s that?”

Teacher Gina looked towards where the passage connected.

At that moment, the entire mine shook violently and sirens began to sound.

A status window appeared before my eyes.

“Why is there a status window now…”

[System: Passive skill of ‘Evil businessman zombie (D)’ activated.] [Executing ‘Even in death, with gold (D)’. Self-destruct skill. When the ‘Evil businessman zombie (D)’ dies, the bombs planted in the mine explode.]

“What?”

* * *

At that moment, my brain stopped thinking.

My A-grade inventory is very spacious and can accommodate many items.

The reason I couldn’t put in the rabbit doll Adrian gave me last time was simply because it wasn’t an item made of dungeon by-products.

So I should be able to put magic stones mined from the dungeon directly into my inventory.

But the entrance to the inventory has a fixed size, and although it can fit large objects, it takes time to stretch the entrance like pizza dough.

How carefully would I have to approach to put into my inventory a huge sculpture that filled an entire wall of the office, with a large elephant lifting one foot and dancing with butterflies, and even the grass underneath all carved from magic stone?

There was no need to think about this for long.

I had already finished the mental calculation that we had to leave behind the magic stone elephant statue.

…But!

‘But what but? The mine’s about to explode. Do you want to die buried in a landslide inside a dungeon? And after you die here? Is there any guarantee you’ll be reborn in a better world?’

‘I’m not trying to loot all the magic stone buried in this mine. I just want to take that elephant statue right in front of us. With just that, I could become Juno who became rich at 18, you know?’

‘Shut up, Juno Huntington. Do you want to become one of those annoying Hollywood sweet potato characters who endangers the whole team by doing reckless things blinded by gold? Is that what you want?’

The angel and devil in my head fought fiercely.

But no matter how I thought about it, I didn’t want to become that kind of stale forced character.

Holding back the team here by arguing for capitalist values is the type of character I hate the most.

“Squirrel, let’s get out of here quickly!”

Victor shouted, pointing to the passage we had come through.

The others were already preparing to leave.

While my brain was sunk in sadness, my feet quickly headed towards the passage.

Bang! Bang!

The sound of bombs exploding in sequence could be heard from afar. There must be hundreds of bombs planted here and there to bring down the huge mine.

At that moment, there must have been bombs planted in the passage as well, as an explosion was heard from the middle of the passage.

Benjamin immediately closed the door to the passage and latched it.

“This won’t do. We can’t get out this way. Let’s try to get out through that side door over there. Adrian, please freeze this door. The passage will collapse and there will be a landslide. We need to buy time.”

“Yes.”

Benjamin calmly guided us to the side door. I followed behind awkwardly, my wrist grabbed by Victor.

In the end, Victor impatiently picked me up.

“Hold on tight!”

“…”

Victor hoisted me onto his shoulder like a doll and ran out at full speed.

That’s how I was separated from the giant magic stone elephant statue.

I dangled limply, clinging to Victor’s shoulder.

Several minutes later, the magic stone mine was buried under numerous explosions and landslides, covered in red earth.

* * *

Fortunately, the side door was connected to a stream outside the mine.

After emerging from the long passage and seeing the light, Victor exhaled deeply and set me down on the ground.

Then he looked at my face and tilted his head.

“Why do your eyes look red? You’ve become a rabbit, not a squirrel. We got out safely, why the long face?”

“Just leave me alone. I want to be by myself.”

I said, sniffling.

Victor, who had been teasing jokingly, awkwardly hovered around me, as if faced with an unexpected situation.

“Ah, no. Were you that scared? It was just an explosion. We got out fine, why are you like this, squirrel… Look, we came out to a stream.”

I pouted with a tearful face.

Victor, who has his Ivy League admission confirmed and comes from a wealthy family, won’t understand my 108 agonies just now.

I didn’t want anyone to understand in the first place.

Yes, just look at the clear sky once and forget about it, Juno. That’s the best you can do. Tomorrow will have tomorrow’s dungeon.

“Juno, this…”

Adrian, who had escaped the mine with us, hesitated as he was about to hand me something. Adrian had also seen my reddened eyes.

Looking back and forth between me and Victor, Adrian glared at Victor with cold eyes.

“McQueen, what on earth did you do.”

“Hey, what did I do? Is there anything more than carrying the squirrel while running? You’re accusing an innocent person.”

Victor raised his voice as if bewildered. Yet he kept glancing at me.

“Ah, the exit has opened over there!”

Teacher Gina said.

A black gate was floating next to the trickling stream. It was the usual exit that appears when you defeat a boss monster.

Before heading to the exit, Benjamin offered a handshake to Allen.

“It was a pleasure to see the skills that the New York team has been raving about. We would have missed a great opportunity if we hadn’t brought you. I learned a lot.”

“You flatter me. I hope we’ll have the chance to meet again.”

Allen said with a kind smile. It was the genial smile he usually gave to adults.

I watched that scene, then let out a long sigh through my nose and walked towards the gate.

The ground around the stream was more slippery than I expected due to the moisture. Especially the large rocks were smooth with no sharp edges.

I stepped on whatever rocks I could find.

That’s when my foot slipped.

“Whoa.”

Although it was called a stream, it was closer to a brook with only a thin trickle of water flowing, as if it hadn’t rained in quite some time.

In the moment I slipped on the wet rock, I spotted Allen. Out of the five, Allen was closest to me.

Within arm’s reach.

Even as I staggered towards the stream, I instinctively reached out to Allen.

Allen also reached out to me with a surprised face.

But Allen’s hand only extended to a certain point before stopping in mid-air.

‘Huh.’

My fingertips and Allen’s fingertips collided, but I couldn’t grasp his hand.

And then,

Splash!

I plunged straight into the stream and instantly became a drenched rat. I could see water splashing everywhere and everyone’s shocked expressions.

“Juno!”

I made a foolish expression with my lower half completely submerged in the water.

Soon after, a shadow fell over my head.

Allen bent his knees, reached out his hand, and asked.

“Are you okay, Juno?”

I looked up with a dazed face.

Allen was looking at me.