“Bwooo―”

The massive trunk of the Mammuthus came crashing down from above. With a single step forward, Sungshik easily evaded it.

Then, he swung the Heaven-Splitting Divine Sword!

Whoosh―

The fiery sword aura left a long gash across the beast’s chest.

“Bwooo!”

Despite its wounds, the beast continued its relentless assault. It was as if it disregarded its injuries, focusing solely on attack, attack, and more attack. Now in berserk mode, it was no different from a true berserker.

Shwak!

Suddenly, its tusks extended unnaturally, lunging at Sungshik.

“Tsk.”

He swiftly executed the Heaven-Splitting Step to evade, his eyes widening in disbelief as he watched.

“It can fire its tusks now?”

This kind of outrageous attack was completely unexpected.

Drurrrk.

As the tusks retracted, Sungshik swung his Heaven-Splitting Divine Sword once more.

“You may have come freely, but you won’t leave as you please.”

Crunch! Clang.

With a deafening crack, one of the Mammuthus’s tusks shattered and fell to the ground.

“Bwooo―”

Even in its frenzied state, it seemed to express rage at the loss of its tusk.

The battle raged on for several more minutes. The Mammuthus, once brimming with vigor, was now in tatters, its body covered in wounds. It looked as if it could collapse at any moment.

“Bwooo……”

Its roars had grown significantly weaker. It was time to bring this fight to an end.

“Alright, let’s finish this now, okay?”

But just then, a chill ran down Sungshik’s spine.

“Grrrr―”

The cry of a predator. A ferocious growl came from behind him.

Swish.

He turned around—and saw it. A wolf, nearly four meters tall.

Its appearance was strikingly unusual. Its body was split in half by color—pure white on one side, and earthy brown on the other.

“!”

Sungshik couldn’t hide his shock.

“Another boss?”

He had never heard of this before his regression. If another boss had appeared back then, he would have known about it.

‘Before my regression, the only boss was the Mammuthus…’

It was a baffling situation.

‘Did I miss something?’

Questions swirled in his mind, but he set them aside for now. The aura emanating from the wolf was anything but ordinary.

‘Insight.’

[Hidden Boss] Encroaching Tenril
Rank: 6-star+ (★★★★★★☆)
Combat Power: S-
― A being that has separated from Fenrir, the Ice Spirit King.
― Can wield a fraction of Fenrir’s power, though weakly.
― Was in slumber to awaken its power but was forcibly awakened by an unknown force.
― Currently being consumed by an unknown force, resulting in a severe imbalance in power.

“Fenrir?”

Sungshik was startled upon seeing the name.

Fenrir. A mythical being. And this creature possessed a portion of its power. The revelation made him tense up.

However, he soon tilted his head in confusion.

‘It’s being consumed by an unknown force?’

The black energy covering half of the wolf’s body—it seemed to represent that unknown force.

‘That…’

Yes. He had seen this phenomenon before. Not long ago, he had witnessed it in Han Eunyeong as well.

“This again.”

Sungshik had the sinking feeling that his fate in this life was inextricably tangled with this ominous black energy.

“Kraang―”

Before he could think further, the beast lunged at him.

“Tsk.”

He quickly shifted his footwork to dodge. Ignoring the nearly fallen Mammuthus, he retaliated against Tenril.

Shwak!

He swung his sword with full force, but Tenril dodged with ease.

‘It’s even faster than it looks.’

This Tenril was far quicker than expected. The way it effortlessly avoided his strike indicated that, at least in terms of agility, it was on par with him—or perhaps even superior.

‘And this is with reduced combat power?’

He couldn’t even imagine how fast it would be at full strength.

“Krat.”

Suddenly, Tenril opened its jaws wide.

“!”

Sungshik hurriedly moved out of its line of fire.

Shwak. Kwooom!

A laser-like blast shot straight from its mouth, barely missing him. Cold sweat trickled down his back.

‘It released such concentrated energy without any buildup?’

Tenril’s attack defied common sense. Normally, breath attacks required a moment to gather energy.

‘Usually, there’s some delay before unleashing an attack like that.’

That was the norm. Even among higher-ranked beings, only those at 8-star and beyond could eliminate that delay entirely. He never expected to see such an attack this soon.

‘Troublesome.’

As he braced himself for the next attack—

“Bwooarrgghh.”

Suddenly, Tenril turned on the Mammuthus.

It slashed at the giant beast’s chest, its claws wreathed in a mix of white and black energy.

Slash!

The attack was terrifyingly powerful. The Mammuthus’s massive chest was visibly gouged out.

“Bwoo… bwooo……”

With a final, pitiful cry, its eyes dimmed.

―Boss defeated. Eliminate the Hidden Boss!

“!”

A system message announced the Mammuthus’s death. This was an unexpected turn of events.

“What the hell…?”

But Sungshik never finished his sentence. The next scene was even more shocking.

Crunch—Crunch.

Suddenly, Tenril tore into the Mammuthus’s chest and devoured its heart.

The absurdity of the situation made Sungshik let out a hollow laugh.

‘Wow. I’ve only seen something like this happen once before, even before my regression.’

A boss-level monster hunting another boss-level monster. Even before his regression, Heo Sungshik had only witnessed such a thing once.

‘But this… could it be…?’

Heo Sungshik quickly realized why the creature had consumed Mammutus’s heart.

—Sssssssss—

From its entire body, an aura began to flow. This was the process of Tenril absorbing and consolidating the energy from Mammutus’s heart.

In truth, if Sungshik had wanted to stop it from consuming Mammutus’s heart, he would have had to interfere the very moment it attacked. But the creature had cunningly unleashed a breath attack at Sungshik, forcing him to create distance. In that fleeting instant, it had attacked Mammutus and devoured its heart. The whole sequence had happened so swiftly that even if Sungshik had foreseen it, stopping it would not have been easy.

—Ssssshhhh—

The aura radiating from the creature now interwove white and black light. The two energies seemed to exist separately, as though alive.

They clashed, twisting around each other. It was as if they were engaged in a struggle for dominance.

‘What is happening?’

For the first time, Sungshik witnessed such a phenomenon occurring within Tenril's body.

—Patzztzzzt—

The white and black auras swelled and shrank, writhing against each other with increasing intensity.

Instinctively, Sungshik realized something.

‘The white energy must win.’

He felt it instinctively—things would be better if the white energy prevailed. And at the same time, he understood something else.

‘I must not interfere with Tenril right now.’

Sungshik considered attacking the seemingly defenseless Tenril but his instincts warned him—it would be a terrible decision.

‘How can I help the white energy win?’

Just watching felt inadequate, so Sungshik wracked his brain for a way to help. There had to be something he could do.

‘The black energy has the attribute of darkness… Maybe healing magic would be effective against it?’

The thought seemed plausible. He contemplated whether he should cast a healing spell.

Then, at that very moment—

“Lightning Bolt.”

“No, stop!”

One of the mercenaries had launched an attack at Tenril. Sungshik shouted too late—the spell had already been unleashed.

“Damn it!”

Even as he yelled, he used his movement technique to rush forward, trying to intercept the attack. But he was one step too slow. The attack struck Tenril just before Sungshik could intervene.

—Fwoooosh—

The moment the attack hit, the black energy expanded violently. It was as if the black aura had absorbed the attack.

Seeing this, Sungshik quickly turned his head, glaring at the attacker.

“No, I… I just… it looked defenseless, so I…”

The mercenary stammered, trying to explain himself under Sungshik’s sharp gaze. And truthfully, he wasn’t entirely wrong—Tenril had appeared vulnerable.

‘Letting them get this close was a mistake.’

So focused on Tenril’s transformation, he had failed to notice the mercenary approaching so closely. And it wasn’t just him—several others had also drawn near.

Rather than dwelling on what had already happened, Sungshik decided to focus on the immediate crisis before him.

“Step back.”

The superhumans who had approached quickly retreated, heeding Sungshik’s command. Even without his warning, Tenril’s state now looked clearly abnormal.

—Fwoooosh—

The black energy was nearly overwhelming the white energy, surging violently to envelop Tenril’s entire body.

‘As expected…’

Seeing this, Sungshik swallowed hard. He had seen this situation unfold before.

“W-what is that?”

“It feels… incredibly ominous…”

Those watching from a distance murmured in alarm. Most of them had never seen anything like this before.

“That’s…”

Among the Baekdu Guild members, including Seo Haneul, some swallowed nervously. Unlike the mercenaries, they had heard of this phenomenon before.

“A mutated dungeon…”

Indeed, this was a phenomenon known to occur in mutated dungeons, affecting their bosses. It had been happening more frequently in recent times, and word of it was spreading.

—Shiiiiiik—

At that moment, the swirling black energy finally began to settle.

And then, a silhouette emerged. The pristine white fur that had once covered half of its body was now completely gone. Instead, deep black fur cloaked it entirely.

“Grrrrr—”

The creature’s growl had changed, now carrying an intensely foreboding tone.

‘Insight.’

[Hidden Boss] Corrupted Tenril
Rank: 7-Star (★★★★★★★)
Combat Power: S+
― A fragment separated from the Ice Spirit King, Fenrir.
― Although weak, it possesses some of Fenrir’s power.
― It was in slumber, waiting to awaken its power, but was forcibly roused by an unknown force.
― It has been corrupted by an unknown force.

‘Tsk, just as I thought.’

Analyzing Tenril, Sungshik clicked his tongue. He had suspected this, and now it was confirmed—it had ascended to a 7-star rank.

Gripping his Paragon Divine Blade tightly, Sungshik’s tension mounted. Though he had often ignored a single-rank difference in power by surpassing his own limits, things changed at 7-star rank. Currently, he was at 6-star+, capable of exerting strength close to 7-star.

But "close to" was not the same as "equal to." If he had been at 5-star+, he could have easily taken on a 6-star opponent. His unique traits and skills allowed him to disregard normal rank gaps.

However, from 7-star onward, the disparity became much more pronounced. While he might have been able to handle a newly ascended, inexperienced 7-star being, Tenril was not such an opponent.

‘It’s at least a fully matured 7-star, if not stronger.’

The sheer force radiating from it made that abundantly clear. And with an S+ combat rating, it was evident that this wasn’t just an ordinary 7-star entity.

‘Should I use Future Sight?’

Future Sight—the ability he had kept in reserve for dire situations. Now, he seriously contemplated whether this was the moment to use it.

As Sungshik steeled himself—

“Grrrr…”

The creature let out a pained groan and slowly lowered its head to the ground.