Chapter Title: Who's the Prey Now?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"So, now who's the prey?"
The plump, voluptuous green breasts jiggled wildly as the Orc Wives chased right on our tails.
Thanks to them, the Beginner Course party members were sprinting like mad.
Maybe it was because all my stats were just 1.1.
"Huff... huff!"
"Ah!"
"Hyunjun-ssi!"
I figured I'd have better stamina than Park Haseon-ssi, the Priest Hunter, but nope.
I was actually the weakest of the bunch.
After sprinting for over ten minutes at a speed that covered fifty meters in five seconds, I could feel myself lagging further and further behind the party members up ahead.
'Is this really the end...?'
I'd heard that rookie hunters on the Beginner Course had about a one-in-ten-thousand chance of dying on their first dungeon dive.
Who would've thought I'd draw the short straw.
First life: crushed by a truck right before keeling over from overwork.
Second life: gang-raped by a bunch of monsters and died from massive internal injuries and shock.
"Ngh...!"
Of course, I didn't want to go out like that.
The thought alone sent fresh power surging into my thighs, which had felt like they were about to tear apart.
"Excuse me, Hyunjun-ssi!"
Even so, Instructor Kwon Sora snatched up the straggler—me—and hoisted me over one shoulder.
"I'd normally piggyback you, but it looks like I'll have to carry Park Haseon-ssi soon, too."
"Ah, no, it's fine!"
Wearing this suit must make it a pain to lug around. A sudden wave of helplessness clenched my fist.
We kept running, and soon a sheer cliff loomed ahead.
"Everyone! Jump down there!"
"Y-Yes?!"
"You want us to die?"
"Don't worry! There's an underground river below, and with E-rank hunter bodies, you won't die!"
"Ugh...!"
"Fine! Let's do it—what've we got to lose!"
Behind us, the horde of Orc Wives charging our way seemed endless.
No other choice.
With Instructor Kwon Sora leaping off first—me slung over her shoulder as an example—the Beginner Course party members hurled themselves into the river one by one.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Looks like this is the eighth layer of the dungeon called Dark Cave."
"What?!"
"The dungeon's..."
"...eighth layer?!"
Instructor Kwon Sora's call had been spot-on.
It was bridge-over-the-Han height, so everyone screamed on the way down at first, but thanks to our superhuman hunter physiques, not a single person was hurt.
We'd floated downstream on the underground river and washed up in a bizarre forest inside the cave, where trees somehow grew.
We lit a campfire there to dry our soaked bodies and sat in a circle around it.
Everyone but me was buck naked.
"Um... Hyunjun-ssi? Sorry for showing you such an unseemly sight."
"Huh? Oh, no..."
If anything, this was a jackpot.
"Hehe. Things happen in dungeons. Couldn't be helped~."
"Exactly. Hehehe."
"Hehehehehe..."
Even in this situation, the three party members blatantly spread their legs toward me or squeezed water from the tops of their breasts.
For a moment, I was glad my suit was waterproof.
If not, I'd be naked too—and I might not have resisted the temptation, pitching a massive tent right in front of them.
That would've turned into a full-on frenzy from the female hunters losing all reason.
Instructor Kwon Sora probably couldn't have held back either.
"Hey! You all know that's straight-up sexual harassment, right?"
"Eek?!"
"B-but Instructor..."
"It's a rare male... and a fellow hunter. This much should be..."
"Absolutely not. Unless you want a knuckle sandwich to the forehead, close those legs and cover your nipples? Got it?"
Anyway, back to the point: this was the eighth layer, right on the cusp of the mid-layers in the dungeon.
'The mid-layers start at layer ten—that's where C-rank hunters form parties to dive. No way E-ranks belong here.'
Without Instructor Kwon Sora from the start, we'd have been wiped out ages ago.
And as a B-rank hunter, she seemed to know the layout here pretty well.
"From here on, we'll head to the exit of the eighth layer."
"Ah, so we'll climb up layer by layer!"
"No. We'll wait there. Until the backup hunters arrive to protect our Beginner Course party—including me."
Instructor Kwon Sora's plan for us was dead simple.
Even if we made it up to the seventh layer with this party, she was our only real fighter until we reached the first.
No B-rank hunter could escort four wards through seven layers solo.
So instead, she'd told us to hunker down here and wait for the hunters ascending from the deeper layers below.
"If it was just me, maybe. But trying to reach the first layer like this? At least half of us would die."
"...!"
"Ah..."
"Let's be real. You brand-new E-rankers aren't helping at all on this layer."
It sounded harsh, but no one could argue.
We'd nearly been wiped by a single Orc Wife—the most common mob here.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Once we were fully dry, the Beginner Course hunters got dressed and set out toward the eighth-layer exit, with Instructor Kwon Sora in the lead.
"But Instructor, what if we run into another Orc Wife on the way?"
"Unlikely. We're already out of their territory. Doesn't mean it's safe, but at least no more Orcs."
True to her B-rank cred, her confident stride—and the jiggle of her chest bandages—put us at ease.
She must come here often; she stuck to monster-free side paths, and soon a brilliant white light filtered into view ahead.
The eighth-layer exit.
"Whoa... we're alive!"
"Yeah, yeah!"
The strongest in our party besides the instructor—the twin Thief Hunters Jo Yuna and Jo Heena—were already relaxing at the thought of just waiting there for rescue.
Priest Hunter Park Haseon was in the same boat.
Thud thud thud.
"...Huh?"
We watched it happen.
The portal light that had looked like salvation, slowly blotted out by the encircling green horde in front of it.
"How in the world...?"
The smiles drained from the party members' faces.
And paling fastest of all was none other than our guide, Instructor Kwon Sora.
Her pupils trembled in disbelief. She clawed at her red hair, then tsked as realization dawned.
"No way... Did these bitches catch the 'male' scent and chase us out of their territory?"
"Male..."
"scent?"
That clicked something in my head—info on Orc Wives.
Back in high school, I'd studied how Orcs were hyper-reproductive; they hunted using male bodily fluids as bait.
They'd smear urine or semen in front of hard-to-spot spots for ambushes without needless fights.
A species that reliably snagged multiples off even tiny amounts of bait like that.
And my Armament suit? Waterproof and face-concealing, but that's it.
Meaning they'd sniffed out my gender, left their turf, and tracked us here.
It wasn't impossible...
"Orcs swarming out of their territory like this..."
"Even I've never seen it as a B-rank."
"...This even possible?"
"Guess they wanted to fuck Hyunjun-ssi that bad!"
Were the females of this Reverse World—regardless of race—just pure avatars of lust?
"Dozens... no, at least a hundred?"
The entire nest must've emptied out; they'd surrounded our side path, barely under ten meters across.
Sheer walls on either side.
Endless Orc Wife hordes front and back.
"Everyone... I'm sorry."
If I hadn't been here, they'd all be safely waiting for rescue hunters by now.
If even one of them died here, it'd be on me.
I ground my teeth inside my helmet and apologized.
But.
"Hyunjun-ssi. Forgot what being a hunter means?"
"...Huh?"
Instructor Kwon Sora turned to me with a grin.
"Hunters exist to protect fragile men from monsters trying to crawl up to the surface!"
"R-Right!"
"If anything, dying in battle for a man..."
"...would be the most honorable end for a hunter!"
The other three echoed her, faces pale with fear but resolute—no regrets.
My chest tightened.
In this society where you could get jumped and raped any second, it felt like I'd glimpsed a rare light.
And right then.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Congratulations! You are the first in the Reverse World to earn the trust of multiple females. One of a master's core qualities is trusting the females he will subjugate.
I scowled at the bizarre status window popping up.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Special rewards granted.
"Special reward...?"
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ You may now purchase one skill costing 30 coins or less from the Shop Window immediately.
"...!"
A chance to turn the tables dangled right before my eyes.