Chapter 30
Part 5. The Moon Halo Dungeon (3)
His shoulders were shaking slightly, but he was standing upright.
Yoo Hanseong seemed to say something briefly, but it didn’t come through on the broadcast.
Instead, his gestures looked like a signal telling Sol to slowly step back.
The team members regrouped behind them.
A notice appeared at the bottom of the screen saying they had passed the psychological shock zone.
Only then did I quietly let out the breath I had been holding.
Normally, at this point, Lee Haesol would have collapsed, and two other team members would have been put in danger trying to help him.
But this time, that didn’t happen.
Everyone was still standing.
They were enduring the psychological waves.
I thought it would be a small change, but I hadn’t expected it to make such a big difference.
The broadcast screen zoomed in again.
The floor of the core area was split apart.
Shining fragments floated in the air, forming a swirling vortex.
It was a sign that the boss was about to appear.
The Moon Halo boss took a form mixed of shadow and ice.
Its voice always creaked harshly, scraping at people’s minds.
Remembering that moment, I slowly lowered my hands.
“Core pattern initiated.”
The caption appeared.
The lounge collectively held its breath.
Two teachers murmured in what sounded like a near-silent argument.
“The pattern is fast.”
“Is the support team still not here?”
“How are they supposed to endure this?”
I didn’t take my eyes off the screen.
The boss’s silhouette flickered in a twisted shape, and behind it, multiple shadowy hands split off.
The team quickly shifted their positions.
Yoo Hanseong was leading all of those movements.
His silhouette moved so fast it almost blurred.
He divided the area, blocking attacks.
Within that, Lee Haesol’s silhouette cautiously raised a hand.
Perhaps because Haesol’s attribute was ice, the screen suddenly flashed with a deeper blue light.
That moment was Lee Haesol’s first counterattack.
It felt like watching from far above.
Haesol was focusing with everything he had, within the limits of what he could do.
The anxiety on his face was slowly fading.
Once the mental waves passed, he stopped wavering.
When the boss swung its shadow heavily, the screen tore black for a moment.
One team member’s silhouette was flung far backward.
Yoo Hanseong pulled that student back while simultaneously changing the attack route.
In that instant, points of light scattered.
It was the Moon Halo boss’s fragment attack.
I clenched both hands tightly.
Soon after, a loud rumble spread through the core area.
All the students in the lounge startled and shifted.
Then, the screen stuttered and flickered.
“Boss pattern phase one successful.”
I let out a long breath.
At this level, it was okay.
If it stayed like this, it really would be okay.
The words “Boss pattern phase one successful” remained on the screen, but the image was still shaking.
The Moon Halo core had always had low detection accuracy, so the graphs kept cutting in and out.
Lines disappeared and reappeared repeatedly.
I kept tensing my fingertips.
If only it would stabilize a bit more.
As long as it didn’t collapse.
That was all I needed.
Someone in the lounge spoke quietly.
“That team is really holding on.”
There was surprise mixed into their voice.
They were a little slow and a little shaky, but they kept moving forward.
The screen switched back to silhouettes.
The boss’s shadow moved violently again.
Black hands spread out in multiple directions.
One of them stretched toward the team.
A team member staggered backward.
I clenched my hands on my knees even tighter.
That attack ate away at the mind before the body.
In the original story, about two people died at this timing.
Yoo Hanseong moved.
His silhouette split apart with blinding speed.
He plunged into the fragments, and the sensor graph showed the shadow hand being severed.
As the mana output values appeared, a teacher muttered quietly,
“That student… was he always that strong?”
Doubt was thick in his voice.
Yoo Hanseong had always been known for his speed.
But today, he was faster and more solid than ever.
He looked like an unshakable center.
While he held the front line, Lee Haesol watched the movements of the other team members from the rear.
Whenever Haesol’s silhouette wavered, blue light spread in patches.
A faint ripple of ice-attribute mana.
I followed the screen closely.
Several times, Haesol looked like he was about to lose his balance, but each time he held firm.
Maybe because he had endured the mental waves, he looked far more stable than at the start.
A teacher spoke again.
“His resistance to mental attacks is abnormally high.”
“Even if Haesol is an honor student, that’s on par with seasoned hunters.”
I barely managed to suppress the heat rising to my face.
I didn’t want the help I’d given to be noticed.
Too much attention like this would be dangerous.
I quietly lowered my gaze to the floor, then looked back at the screen.
The boss’s silhouette suddenly swelled.
The Moon Halo boss always shook its body dramatically once at the end.
That was the signal for a pattern change.
If the team didn’t spread out at that moment, they could be hit all at once.
In the original route, this pattern caused the most casualties.
The students in the lounge held their breath.
Without realizing it, I hunched my shoulders.
The vibration graph turned red.
“Final wave detected.”
The caption flashed on the screen.
The silhouettes began to scatter.
Yoo Hanseong moved from the center to the right, and the team changed formation behind him.
Haesol moved slightly left of center.
His movement was slow, but he clearly knew where he needed to be.
The boss’s shadow slammed down heavily on the right, fragments scattering like light.
Yoo Hanseong blocked it.
His silhouette barely wavered.
Another shadow fell on the left.
Toward Haesol.
I leaned forward slightly from my seat.
Haesol gathered icy energy.
Blue dots spread from his fingertips.
A shadow collided with it and vanished.
A short blue line spiked on the sensor graph.
Haesol didn’t lose his center until the very end.
Someone in the lounge let out a tiny gasp.
The sound struck my ears clearly.
I exhaled slowly, watching the screen.
After unleashing its final wave, the boss began to sway.
Its form started to collapse.
The silhouettes’ movements slowed, and fragments fell away from the surface.
Text appeared at the bottom of the broadcast.
“Boss pattern phase two successful.”
And soon after, another line appeared.
“Moon Halo dungeon entry team: final pattern cleared.”
I slowly loosened my clenched hands and drew in a quiet breath.
If they’d made it this far, they would be okay.
There was little chance of collapse now.
They could come back.
Maybe… all of them.
The sound of an elevator opening echoed in the hallway.
Someone shouted,
“They say it was S-rank! It just popped up in the staff office!”
Two or three students ran off at once.
I listened for a moment, then slowly stood up.
On the screen, the last remnants of the moon halo were dispersing.
The core area was closing.
The blue fissure of the moon halo was gradually fading away.
At a glance, it looked like everything was over.
But I knew better.
That was an illusion.
I whispered quietly.
“Come back alive.”
If possible, without getting hurt.
[Hmph. You worry too much.
As the Moon Halo’s interior deepened, the screen’s shaking increased.
I stood in front of the monitor with my hands clasped.
Until earlier, the team’s stamina graph had been steadily dropping in a straight line.
Now, it was rising slightly.
If that meant meaningful recovery, that would be wonderful.
As the one who had given them recovery potions, I let out a small sigh.
***
The corridor barely received any light.
Silvery powder clung to the walls, and every time the ice underfoot cracked, a long, brittle sound echoed.
The team members leaned against the walls, gasping for breath.
The boss had fallen, but the residual patterns weren’t over yet.
The surrounding currents were still dangerous, and if they let their guard down even a little, frozen fragments could fly again.
One team member rummaged through their backpack with trembling hands and took out a small glass bottle.
It was a recovery potion that Hari had slipped in secretly.
A faintly warm light flickered inside the bottle.
“…Will this even work here?”
