I Woke Up as the Villain

As the attack team escaped the trap zone, the Swamp River, a loud cheer erupted from both inside and outside the dungeon square.

“Waaaagh-!”

"How did they even come up with that?"

"Perhaps they already knew that?"

"But how did they already have such information about a dungeon with no data?"

“Maybe by future foresight or advanced exploration skills?”

Amidst the reporters' surprise and speculative remarks, an enormous cheer echoed from outside the dungeon square to reach inside of it. Hearing the loud cheer, Jin-Hwan and Jin-Young unconsciously smiled.

"He's our boss, but he truly is amazing," commented Jin-Hwan.

"Yes, he’s pretty unbelievable," said Jin-Young with a hearty laugh.

‘Choi Yu-Seong—he's such an interesting person.’

Jin-Hwan focused on Yu-Seong, who had once again taken the lead and was running at the forefront like the wind.

Yu-Seong moved quickly and brilliantly. Even among the attack team members, who were all outstanding and impossible to miss, he stood out in a unique way. Perhaps that was the reason why people always expected great things from him.

What kind of scene would Yu-Seong cause? Thinking about it, people also had a lot of expectations from him in the past. But now, their expectations of him were the complete opposite of what they used to be.

‘He has become completely likable, even though he was synonymous with negativity just two years ago.’

Indeed, it was an amazing transformation. Moreover, now Jin-Hwan himself was also a part of this miraculous transformation. He even had the feeling that he was standing at the center of history.

Jin-Hwan's heart pounded with excitement, stimulated by the endless desire and longing he had as a reporter.

However, it wasn't just Jin-Hwan and Jin-Young. All the reporters gathered here felt the same way, that perhaps they were all contributing to a page in history. The excitement was so intense that they couldn't let go of the drone controller.

"After this shoot, we're probably going to receive a flood of job applications, right?" Jin-Young asked cautiously with a slightly excited expression.

“We might get buried under all those job applications and not even be able to breathe," replied Jin-Hwan with a chuckle.

"Oh, my goodness. If dying like that is possible, I have nothing else to wish for," responded Jin-Young.

Jin-Young's exaggerated sigh made Jin-Hwan laugh again. Then, suddenly, Jin-Hwan remembered something and asked, "By the way, what time is it now?"

After escaping the trap zone, the attack team took a short break before moving forward again. Since then, they hadn’t taken any other breaks. In other words, they were still in the process of breaking the shortest record.

"It's just past four hours," replied Jin-Young.

Time seemed to be passing by faster than expected. Jin-Hwan felt an inexplicable tension and his gaze was drawn to the monitor.

‘Since they've already bypassed the trap zone, time doesn't really matter until we encounter the raid boss monster.’

The important thing was how quickly the attack team could defeat the raid boss monster.

About thirty minutes later, the enormous raid boss monster, whose size could not be captured by a single camera, shook the ground and revealed its form.

"Oh my god... What is that?"

"Is that a dinosaur?"

"It's so huge!"

Find the original at "pawread dot com".

"It's the raid boss monster...!"

The ground shook as a monster so big that it couldn’t be captured by a single camera appeared.

***

Rumble~

The ground shook under Yu-Seong's feet as he broke through the line of lizardmen rushing toward him and tore them to pieces.

In the depths of the dungeon, the boss monster had just revealed itself. The shockwave caused by its appearance was so great that space itself seemed to be torn apart; the tremors made most of the attack party lose their balance and stagger in place for a moment.

What was even more astonishing was that, with the appearance of the raid boss monster, the lizardmen that were attacking Yu-Seong's group began to scream and run in all directions. The reason for their behavior was not difficult to discern.

The enormous raid boss monster caught the fleeing lizardmen with its front paw, then bit down and chewed them up.

‘The Tyrant of the Swamp.’

As its name suggested, the enormous raid monster showed no mercy. It shouted and bit down anything in its path.

Kaaaaaa-!

With a loud roar, the raid monster opened its huge mouth, revealing its terrifying fangs that dripped blue blood and emitting a deadly aura.

Watching such a scene, Bernard hardened his expression and asked, "Excuse me, but, guys, that's not a dragon, right?"

"There's no way a dragon would appear in a Rank 7 raid dungeon, right?" asked Meghan.

Bernard now turned his gaze toward Yu-Seong, feeling as if he would know the answer. He asked, "Then, what is that?"

"It’s the Tyrant of the Swamp. It could be considered a type of dinosaur," said Yu-Seong.

In fact, in terms of appearance, there wasn't much difference between the Tyrant of the Swamp and the lizardmen they had encountered before. However, the Tyrant of the Swamp had a much more ferocious and aggressive demeanor, and its eyes showed no signs of reason.

"It seems like its scales are quite hard," said Do-Jin, who had activated his Insight skill to analyze the Tyrant of the Swamp's overall abilities, as he furrowed his brow.

"The hide also looks quite tough," said Yu-Seong.

"There's a high chance my sword won't work," said Do-Jin.

"That's highly likely," said Yu-Seong with a calm nod.

"Do you know how to beat it?" Yu-Ri asked.

Yu-Seong looked around the group in response to Yu-Ri's question, and he could see that everyone was looking at him expectantly even if they were trying to hide it.

Even Do-Jin was watching with interest, his gaze fixed on how Yu-Seong would handle the situation.

"Yes," Yu-Seong replied calmly amidst the intense stares.

"Of course..."

"Your future foresight ability is amazing!" said Do-Yoon and Yu-Ri.

Yu-Seong inwardly smiled bitterly at their words.

‘What I said earlier seems to be weighing on their minds.’

It felt like the Jin siblings were deliberately ignoring reality.

Yu-Seong looked at Meghan, choosing not to dwell on that part. He then said, "The most important thing here is the role of you two.”

Thump, thump. 

The Tyrant of the Swamp could be heard moving, searching for new prey. It had devoured all the lizardmen that had tried to escape from behind the attack team.

"Is that my and Meghan's role?" Bernard asked, waving his arm.

"No," Yu-Seong said, shaking his head and looking at Yu-Ri.

“Me?” asked Yu-Ri.

"Yes, I believe that, Meghan and Yu-Ri, you two are capable enough to do it," Yu-Seong replied.

"What do we have to do?" Meghan asked quickly.

"If you ride on top of its neck and look closely between its scales, you'll find a small blue gemstone buried there. That’s hitting its nerve," Yu-Seong explained.

"It does have some similarities to a dragon," Yu-Ri commented.

Yu-Seong nodded with a slight smile. "Exactly. It even breathes fire, but if you can pierce the nerve precisely, the Tyrant of the Swamp will lose its strength and its skin will become much softer."

"But there will be consequences, right? It's called the nerve for a reason."

"Yes, it will increase its attack power and become much faster," Yu-Seong confirmed.

Indeed, it was a dangerous method, but there was no other way to penetrate the scales and skin of the Tyrant of the Swamp with their current team composition. This was the only way.

"Of all parts, why on the top of its head…? It would take some effort to ride up there.”

Among the attack team members, Yu-Ri and Meghan had the best mobility. It was not difficult to understand why Yu-Seong chose them.

"What about me?" asked Bernard.

"For now, the role of the rest of us is to attract its attention. Bernard Yoo and Jin Do-Yoon in the front, and Kim Do-Jin and myself from the side," Yu-Seong explained.

The relatively safe rear position was assigned to Ye-Ryeong and Jin-Hyuk.

After each member acknowledged their position and nodded with a tense expression, Yu-Ri asked, "What about after hitting its nerve?"

"After that... Kim Do-Jin and I will take care of it," Yu-Seong answered, turning his gaze to Do-Jin.

Naturally, everyone turned to look at the two of them.

"..."

Instead of giving an answer, Do-Jin simply nodded in response to Yu-Seong's words.

"Although it's important that Yu-Ri and Meghan do well, if we don't attract its attention, the Tyrant will notice them. That's why every one of us has to give our best effort. If Chae Ye-Ryeong and Yoo Jin-Hyuk feel that it's too dangerous, you two can step away immediately. Don’t overdo it," Yu-Seong explained.

“You can trust me, boss!" said Ye-Ryeong,

"I won't disappoint you, hyung!" said Jin-Hyuk.

Yu-Seong watched their firm response and nodded.

By the time the strategy meeting was over, the Tyrant of the Swamp had already crept up behind them, casting its shadow over their backs.

"Okay, then... Let the raid begin!"

With those words, Yu-Seong and the others scattered in all directions.

Bang-!

With a loud noise, the Tyrant of the Swamp hit the ground where the party had just been with its thick tail, leaving a deep crater in the earth.

Feeling the sense of crisis, the attack team stared at the deep crater and took a deep breath.

‘I knew it’s big, even from far away, but…’

Seeing it up close, the Tyrant seemed even bigger than they had anticipated. Above all, the location of battle was not very favorable.

‘There are too many swamps around here.’

Although the Tyrant of the Swamp did not have any special abilities or intelligence, the surrounding environment and its physical strength made it difficult for the attack team to strike back.

Fortunately, Yu-Seong had prepared Tellintra liquid for everyone based on the information he had read in the original novel. He had even prepared some spare liquid just in case the effect disappeared over time.

Yu-Seong believed that the attack team had a solid chance of success.

Finally, the attack began from the front. Do-Yoon had turned into a complete werewolf, running toward the Tyrant of the Swamp's front paw, which was raised in a threatening posture, without hesitation.

Although it was a terrifying situation where he could become minced meat at any moment, there was no hesitation in Do-Yoon's movements.

Bang-!

With a loud sound, a low beast cry escaped from Do-Yoon's mouth as he blocked the enormous raid monster’s front paw with both arms.

“Krrrrrrr…”

Soon after, mana began to boil all over Do-Yoon's body, and he began to push the front paw of the Tyrant of the Swamp away.

‘Mountain Push!’

Bernard added explosive power to Do-Yoon's special move and delivered a punch, enhancing the explosion of strength.

Bang-!

With a loud noise, the Tyrant of the Swamp swayed, as if it was about to fall over, but it quickly regained balance by hitting the ground with its enormous tail. Then, it shook off Yu-Ri and Meghan who were cautiously climbing its back.

When the Tyrant of the Swamp opened its mouth wide and glared, Yu-Seong shouted urgently, “It’s the Breath!”

Do-Yoon and Bernard quickly stepped back, having already anticipated the attack.

Quaaaah-! 

A dark bluish liquid poured out of the raid monster’s mouth, covering the ground where Do-Yoon and Bernard had just stood. The targeted ground surprisingly melted into a swamp-like shape.

Even if they had applied Tellintra liquid, if they were hit by that kind of breath, they would have lost the ability to breathe and would have sunk right into the swamp.

While Do-Yoon and Bernard caught their breath after retreating to a safe distance from the impact of the breath, Yu-Seong and Do-Jin rushed in from the side.

"I'll push you. Stab it as hard as you can," Do-Jin said.

"Huh?" questioned Yu-Seong.

Although he had reacted with a question, Yu-Seong understood exactly what Do-Jin was talking about.

While being surprised by the power of Do-Jin's magic-reinforcement, Yu-Seong twisted his body and aimed for a relatively weak spot between the tightly packed scales of the raid boss monster.

‘Lance Charge.’

Yu-Seong activated the magic-reinforcement version of Lance Charge. There was a loud whooshing sound as the air was pushed aside when the lance penetrated the swampy area.