The dungeon air changed the moment he took his third step forward.
It wasn't visible—not at first—but the silence thickened, as if the space itself had decided to hold its breath.
The Stone Fang Wolves stopped growling.
Their claws scraped against the dungeon floor as they backed away, muscles trembling, hackles standing straight up. One of them let out a low whine—soft, broken.
Hunters watching from the rear froze.
"Why… aren't they attacking?"
"No aggro response. That's impossible."
The dungeon's difficulty rating hovered in the air:
[Recommended Level: 35–40]
And yet—
[Warning: Hostile Units Experiencing Fear Status]
Fear?
Fear wasn't supposed to exist for monsters below boss-tier.
Jin Tae-Hyun didn't look surprised.
He felt it instead.
A subtle pressure pushing outward from his core—not mana, not killing intent, but something deeper. Something wrong.
The system pulsed.
[Anomaly Detected]
[Source: Player Jin Tae-Hyun]
[Classification: Undefined]
The wolves suddenly turned.
They ran.
Not tactically. Not retreating.
They fled.
Claws tore against stone as they crashed into each other, scrambling toward the tunnel they'd emerged from, yelping like frightened animals.
The hunters stood there, mouths open.
"What the hell did he do?"
Tae-Hyun exhaled slowly.
"…So it's getting worse."
He hadn't activated any skill. Hadn't raised his weapon.
Just existing was enough now.
A hunter finally stammered, "Y-You scared them off… without fighting?"
Tae-Hyun glanced back.
"Don't spread that."
Silence.
Then—
A sharp, metallic chime echoed through the dungeon.
[Dungeon Recalibration in Progress]
[Threat Level Adjusting…]
The walls trembled.
Cracks spider-webbed across the stone as the dungeon tried to fix itself.
"Recalibration?" someone whispered. "That only happens when—"
A roar interrupted them.
Not from ahead.
From below.
The floor split open like rotten flesh, stone collapsing inward as a massive silhouette forced its way up.
Red system text exploded across the air.
[Emergency Boss Spawned]
[Name: Devourer of Depths – Gorgon-Class]
[Reason: Power Balance Failure]
The hunters screamed.
"That's not possible! This isn't a boss dungeon!"
The creature rose fully into view—towering, armored plates layered like obsidian scales, a single glowing eye burning with rage.
Its gaze locked instantly onto Tae-Hyun.
Not the group.
Him.
The system trembled again.
[Boss Target Locked: Jin Tae-Hyun]
The Devourer opened its mouth—
And stopped.
Its massive body shuddered.
Then, slowly, impossibly, it lowered its head.
The dungeon shook as the boss knelt.
The system froze.
[ERROR]
[ERROR]
[Behavior Pattern Invalid]
Every hunter stood paralyzed.
A boss monster… kneeling?
Tae-Hyun stared at it, expression unreadable.
"…You too?"
The Devourer trembled harder, pressing its head to the stone, a low, submissive rumble vibrating through the chamber.
The system screamed.
[CRITICAL FAILURE]
[Dungeon Authority Overridden]
Somewhere far above, in the Hunter Association's control room—
Every monitor went black.
And one final message appeared across all systems worldwide:
[NOTICE: A VARIABLE BEYOND SYSTEM PARAMETERS HAS EMERGED.]
Tae-Hyun sighed.
"Yeah," he muttered.
"I figured."