Machine God with EX-rank talent (Deus ex machina)

Hyun Suho responded to Nova, puzzled.

"Superpowers?"

He had acquired three abilities from the skill book: teleportation, telekinesis, and electrical discharge. None of these had anything to do with the vision he had seen.

"[This is not from the skill book.]"

"Then what?"

"[Think of Phantom Hyun Suho. In his world, there were no skill books, and they were unaware of mana. Yet, Phantom became the world's greatest with just his superpowers.]"

"So you're saying I discovered superpowers on my own? Not through skills?"

"[Your stats have always been heavily concentrated in mental strength. Given that talent, it's not strange at all. The question is what type of ability it is.]"

It was only then that Hyun Suho understood what Nova was implying.

"Precognition…"

Since the dawn of the Hunter era, countless powerful individuals had emerged and vanished. Among them, precognition was considered the most powerful and useful ability. Japan, fully aware of its utility, revered their shrine maiden nearly as a goddess.

A person with precognition could foresee upcoming events, twist them, or redirect them entirely. To this day, the only known precognitive in the world was the Japanese shrine maiden. If what Heavenly Demon said about "interfering with destiny" was true, then Lakshmi must also be a precognitive.

"But me, a precognitive?"

"[This is an area beyond my calculations. It's merely a hypothesis.]"

An AI making hypotheses… An odd combination, to say the least.

"Then why did I get the Mechanized Infantry job?"

A job is determined by a person's potential. If he had such a rare gift like precognition, his job should have been aligned with that. After all, the Japanese shrine maiden was designated as a shaman. Shouldn't he have at least received a job like 'superhuman' or 'medium'?

Nova calmly replied.

"[Perhaps because your job, Arch Mechanic, is the most suitable for fighting Death Star? If, as Heavenly Demon said, the universe's energy has converged upon you.]"

Come to think of it, aside from the zero skills, every single one of his abilities was overpowered. Even if he had received a shaman job with precognition, he wouldn't have been as strong as he was now.

"[Moreover, I've heard that precognition requires an appropriate sacrifice. Are you willing to give up your five senses or even your lifespan?]"

"Of course not. Wait a minute… Sacrifice? Does that mean this precognition also comes with a cost?"

"[Your brain waves are normal, and your biological rhythm has returned to normal. There's no data indicating you've sustained any severe damage.]"

"That's a relief."

Based on the information so far, Hyun Suho speculated that the vision he saw was of a future event. The pressing question now was not how he acquired precognition, but why he had seen such a vision.

Looking at the still-recovering Cheonrima Guild members, he wondered.

"Is it telling me to prevent their deaths?"

In the vision, they met a gruesome end. If his precognition had suddenly activated, it must have been to prevent that outcome.

After organizing his thoughts, he approached the guild members.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes… I think we're okay now. But we…"

One of them, recalling the two comrades who had been dragged into the monster's mouth, wore a sorrowful expression and bowed to Hyun Suho.

"Thank you for saving us. If it weren't for you, we would have…"

They still seemed dazed. Understandable, given that they had just teetered on the edge of life and death.

But Hyun Suho didn't have time to wait for them to fully recover.

"What happened?"

"We don't know. We were hunting as usual when suddenly they attacked."

"Without any warning?"

"Yes. I swear, we've never seen them before. But they overpowered us and brought us here to do this…"

Hyun Suho, suddenly curious, asked, "Was there originally a dungeon here?"

"No, about an hour after we were brought here, the dungeon appeared."

"So they knew the dungeon would form?"

Nova could sense the energy when a dungeon was created. Could they have had a similar ability?

"What on earth is going on?"

Masked men and ant monsters. And now, precognition. Everything was a mystery.

Hyun Suho decided to examine the fallen masked men. He thought there might be some grotesque creature behind the mask, but…

"They're just humans."

The faces under the masks were ordinary. The only unusual thing was that they were a mix of different races, not just Koreans. Among them, one was still alive.

"Ugh!"

Clutching his chest, he struggled to rise. Hyun Suho quickly aimed his Genocide weapon, staying on guard.

"Did I miss?"

"[No, the bullet pierced his heart accurately. He must have a unique skill.]"

With all the different skills hunters possess, it wasn't surprising. After all, Akula had also resurrected several times. Moving even with a pierced heart wasn’t common, but it wasn’t impossible.

Fortunately, the man didn't seem intent on fighting. Instead of grabbing a weapon, he simply stood up.

"Wh-who are you? How dare you interfere with the Knights' ritual?"

"What? You insane bastards. Where did you lunatics come from?"

"Ugh! You don't understand anything. We serve the Great Spirit…"

"Talking nonsense, huh? Good. I’ll take you as a prisoner."

If he captured the man, he might gain valuable information. As he prepared to knock the man out, he heard something shocking.

"Heh heh! Less than ten years remain."

"What…?"

It was something he'd heard before. The man staggered, slowly backing away.

"The day of judgment is coming, when the ignorant and foolish humans will be judged. No one can stop the judgment on that day!"

"Wait! Hold on…"

Hyun Suho wanted to hear more, but he couldn't. The man suddenly sprinted toward the dungeon entrance, which transformed once again into a giant mouth and swallowed him whole.

Hyun Suho couldn’t understand how a dungeon could turn into a monster.

But that wasn’t the end of the strange events.

"The dungeon is evolving."

Accompanied by a mysterious system message, Hyun Suho’s vision suddenly turned pitch black.

[Master, be careful! A large-scale teleportation function has been detected.]

"What?"

Startled by Nova's shout, Hyun Suho tried to respond, but it was already too late.

Just like when he used his teleportation ability, his body felt like it was being sucked somewhere.

Zzzzt!

"…What the?"

When he regained his senses, he realized he was no longer outside under the open sky, but inside a tightly enclosed cave.

"Is this… inside the dungeon?"

The dungeon was sealed off on all sides. This was undoubtedly the inside of the dungeon that had transformed into a monster.

These are the instant dungeons that suddenly appear all over Earth and only disappear when cleared by a Hunter.

Many dungeons had appeared on Earth, but never had he heard of one that forcibly dragged people inside.

It was probably related to the system message about the dungeon evolving.

"It’s dark. Bippo, can you light up the area?"

( • ᴗ - ) ✧

[Bzzt! Pop!]

When Bippo's body lit up like a lightbulb, the surroundings became visible.

He quickly looked for an escape route, but there was none to be found.

"Nova, can you figure out where we are?"

"This location is believed to be about 2 km underground, Master."

"That deep?"

No wonder it felt so warm—it was due to geothermal heat.

Hyun Suho looked up and shook his head.

Digging his way out with a drill would take ages. If the ground collapsed while he was digging, he could be buried alive in this deep place.

"We're still in Korea, right? We didn't end up in another country or another world?"

"The latitude and longitude match."

"That's a relief."

A small consolation, but it didn’t help much in the current situation.

"But where are the others?"

If the vision he saw was indeed precognition, then those four would meet a terrible fate here.

So it was likely that they had been caught in the teleportation too.

"I'm detecting life signs nearby. They're very close."

"Lead me to them."

Fortunately, the others weren’t far away.

One of the four seemed to be a mage, as they were barely managing to light the area with a light spell.

When Bippo's bright light approached, they tensed up and pointed their weapons, but relaxed and sighed in relief when they saw it was Hyun Suho.

"Are you all okay?"

"We're fine."

Fortunately, they were well enough to move. The woman who had been treated with the healing factor earlier was also able to move, though she was still a bit unsteady.

Their physical condition was better, but the real concern was the psychological trauma. They had been suddenly attacked, and two of their comrades had been devoured by a monster right before their eyes.

Hyun Suho decided to discuss the situation with them and give them some time to recover.

"It seems we've entered an instant dungeon."

Since they were still in Korea, it wasn’t a dimensional dungeon. It was likely an instant dungeon that had been created, as it didn’t appear on any map.

The man who seemed to be their leader spoke cautiously.

"We saw them create the entrance to the dungeon. They used some kind of ritual. I've never heard of anyone creating an instant dungeon before."

"They created it?"

Dungeons and dimensional dungeons are discovered, not created. Although this world has Hunters with various unique abilities, creating dungeons was something he had never heard of until now.

Suddenly, Hyun Suho remembered his conversation with Akula.

"Don’t act so noble! The easiest way to break a seal is by offering human sacrifices. Your Knights' Order uses that trick too, don’t they?!"

Come to think of it, Akula had also sacrificed humans to obtain quests. The masked men had pushed people into the dungeon.

Dungeon and quests.

Though they manifested differently, the methods were strikingly similar.

“What kind of dungeon could they have created by sacrificing people?”

Akula had unlocked a hidden epic quest, after all. Though it was a trick, it was the only way Akula could gain the divine power stat. If his guess was right, this dungeon surely held something grand as well.

Just as he thought that, the long-awaited system window appeared before everyone’s eyes.

《Hidden Epic Quest Discovered》

◆Quest

Seed of Destruction

▷Objective: ???

▷Reward: ???

Sure enough, another hidden epic quest had appeared, just like before.

To obtain his previous hidden epic quest, Akula had poured in two years of effort and immense dedication. The members of the Knights' Order must have put in a comparable amount of effort.

“Could this be another opportunity?”

He had unintentionally (?) stolen Akula’s quest before and reaped massive rewards. This time could be the same. Although he hadn’t been able to prevent the human sacrifices, taking the quest from them could at least serve as a form of payback.

The problem was the quest’s difficulty. Last time, he had to defeat the demon Kraken to clear the quest. A beast at level 9. Without the quest item, it would have been an impossible opponent.

This time, too, he might need a special quest item.

“...No point in worrying about it, is there?”

Unlike before, there was no option to flee this time. They were deep underground. Clearing the quest was the only way to open a portal back to the surface.

Fortunately, he didn’t feel any guilt about stealing the quest again.

“Whatever it is, I’m taking it.”