As the tension reached its peak in preparation for battle, the sudden change in Tenril drained the strength from Sungshik.

“Kkiiing―”

That wasn't the end of Tenril's strange behavior. He even started making noises like a puppy desperate to relieve itself.

“Grrrr… Kkiiing… Grrrr……”

Now, Tenril had completely buried his head into the ground, thrashing about as if in agony.

“Uh… What’s wrong with him?”

“How should I know? How could I possibly know what's happening?”

Even the onlookers were just as bewildered by Tenril’s sudden affliction.

At the very moment when even Sungshik was looking on with confusion, white and black light began to flicker alternately from Tenril’s eyes.

‘That must mean the remnants of the white energy are still there.’

Sungshik quickly grasped the situation. The remaining white energy seemed to be putting up continuous resistance.

Watching closely, Sungshik realized this was an opportunity to strike. He had already lost a perfect attack chance due to hesitation earlier.

‘I should have just attacked back then.’

When the white and black energy were struggling for dominance, if he had known the situation would turn out like this, attacking might have been the better choice.

‘And… if my assumption is correct…’

There was a chance he could end this battle much more easily.

With a whoosh, flames surged up the Heaven-Splitting Divine Sword. The sword, engulfed in fire, was infused with yet another energy.

Fsssss.

The energy of wind gathered around the Heaven-Splitting Divine Sword. However, it was different from the usual wind energy—flames had mixed into it, forming a fiery whirlwind.

As the flame-infused wind began swirling around the sword, Sungshik swung it toward Tenril.

“Heaven-Splitting—Firestorm Scar.”

Fwoooosh!

A massive storm of blazing sword energy surged forward, swallowing everything between Sungshik and Tenril. It was a powerful new attack that Sungshik had just created.

“Grrr—”

Tenril tried to react to the attack, but it was already too late.

Fwoosh!

The fiery sword energy engulfed Tenril, melting the surrounding snow and consuming his massive body.

Whoosh—

The overwhelming heat swept past Sungshik, reaching even the distant spectators.

“Whoa… That heat is intense.”

“With this level of firepower, not even a boss monster should be able to survive, right?”

Watching from afar, everyone believed the battle had been decided. The heat was so intense it sent shivers down their spines.

Heat strong enough to melt rock. No matter how extraordinary Tenril seemed, it was impossible to imagine him surviving such a direct hit.

However—

“Grrr—”

Step. Step.

“!!”

Even while completely engulfed in those raging flames, Tenril steadily advanced toward Sungshik.

“T-That’s impossible.”

“H-He’s completely fine?”

Everyone watching was frozen in disbelief at the sight of Tenril walking through the fire unscathed.

Can we… even win this?

The same thought crossed everyone’s minds simultaneously. That thought soon transformed into fear.

“Uh… Uhm… Should we just run back to the entrance…?”

“D-Didn’t you see how fast that thing is? We should fight together instead…”

Just as fear began to settle among them—

Sliiide.

Tenril lowered his body in front of Sungshik. Even sitting down, his massive four-meter frame loomed above Sungshik’s head.

Fwoosh.

The flames still burned, covering Tenril’s entire body. Sungshik watched him for a moment before casually waving his hand.

Whoosh.

The fire, which had seemed like it would burn eternally, flickered out with just a single gesture from Sungshik.

And the Tenril revealed beneath it—

“No way… He turned white again. Completely.”

The onlookers gasped in shock. Just moments ago, Tenril’s fur had been pitch-black, radiating an ominous presence. But now, he was pure white, as if he were a swan.

“Grrr……”

Tenril let out a low growl that resonated in everyone’s ears. Sungshik looked at him calmly and thought to himself.

‘Just as I expected.’

Yes. What Sungshik had used was none other than the Flames of Purification.

Thanks to the "Phoenix Heart" trait, he had gained the ability to wield this flame, which had the power to purify all things corrupted.

Sungshik had thought—if he could use the Flames of Purification, perhaps he could cleanse the energy that had taken over Tenril’s body.

“Grrr……”

—Thank you… human.

At that moment, an intent was transmitted directly into Sungshik’s mind. He immediately understood—it was coming from the giant wolf before him.

“Was that… you?”

Sungshik asked for confirmation.

—Yes. Because of you, I… was able to retain myself.

Tenril seemed to be struggling to transmit each thought. His condition was visibly deteriorating, his life force waning.

“…No need to thank me. You seem like a fragment of a transcendent being—how did this happen to you?”

That had been Sungshik’s biggest question while fighting Tenril.

Tenril was a fragment of Fenrir, an entity classified as a "god." Even as a mere fragment, there should have been traces of divine essence in his being. There was no way he should have been overtaken by such a sinister black energy.

—I… do not know. I… was in slumber, seeking to awaken my power… but… someone invaded… my consciousness.

“They invaded the consciousness of a being in slumber for awakening? Is that even possible?”

Sungshik asked in disbelief.

And rightly so. On rare occasions, beings would enter a dormant state to awaken their power. Sungshik had personally encountered monsters in such a state before.

During this time, their physical bodies would automatically release mana to form an initial protective shield. Moreover, their minds would be fortified with an impenetrable mental barrier.

Attacking a being in such a state—

It was supposed to be impossible.

―That’s right. A presence overflowing… with wicked energy… Yes, that person… was human.

“Human?!”

It was an unbelievable statement. At first, Sungshik thought a demon from the psychic realm had descended. Normally, demons only made their full appearance starting from the Night of Trials, but given how things were unfolding in a much more unpredictable manner than before his regression, it wouldn't have been strange if demons had appeared earlier.

In fact, if Han Eunyeong had been left alone, she would have completely transformed into a demon.

―Yes. Without a doubt… that person… was human.

“Grrr… grrr……”

Tenril, who had been struggling to send his thoughts, was now visibly gasping for breath.

“That……”

Just as Sungshik was about to ask for more details—

―It seems… my time has run out… Thank you… human……

With those words, Tenril’s body began to glow. Then, starting from one side, his body crumbled into dust and scattered.

“Ah……”

Sungshik let out a sigh of regret as he watched the scene unfold.

―It seems… we shall meet again. I look forward… to that day.

Just before he completely disappeared, Tenril left those cryptic words behind and then vanished.

―Congratulations. You have cleared the Hidden Boss. The dungeon core has appeared.

Before he could even fully process Tenril’s words, the system notification announced the completion of the dungeon raid.

The raid team emerged from the A-rank gate after successfully clearing it. In the end, the raid had been a complete success, with no casualties.

This marked the second successful A-rank gate raid following the one in Busan. The media heavily covered the Baekdu Guild’s achievement, highlighting the significance of an A-rank gate being cleared.

And naturally, amid all the media attention, Sungshik’s presence stood out.

“Every time he swung his sword wreathed in flames, five-star monsters were cut down in a single strike! I knew it then—this guy isn’t just anybody~!”

“The dungeon boss was this mammoth-like creature, massive enough to be at least twenty meters tall. It was a truly monstrous entity. This wasn’t just any six-star creature—it was something beyond that. When it moved to crush half our frozen team, I thought… Ah, this is the end. We’re done for. Despair began to set in.”

“But then! This mercenary named ‘Big Sir’ suddenly stepped forward alone to block the boss! I swear, it was like something straight out of the comics I used to read as a kid. That scene… I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life.”

“And then, he just… dominated the boss single-handedly, wielding only a single sword! Watching that—seriously, I was speechless. A human, not even two meters tall, taking down a twenty-meter beast with just a sword… It was unreal. And the most shocking part? That boss was likely a six-star+ entity. I had never seen anything that ferocious and overwhelming before.”

“Huh? Are you asking if he was a six-star himself? Listen, weren’t you listening? He took down a six-star+ boss alone! Does it make sense to say he’s just a six-star? I saw it with my own two eyes! You think I’m making this up? Go ask anyone else who was there, see if they say the same.”

The testimonies from the Baekdu Guild members and mercenaries ignited a firestorm on the superhuman community forums, as people scrambled to verify the claims.

[Title: No way, a six-star+?]
[If that’s true, then he’s stronger than Kang Hanil. LOL. Makes no sense.]
└Yeah, even Seo Haneul confirmed it. GG.
└As if Seo Haneul is some kind of ranking authority? LOL. We need actual proof.
└Agreed. Can’t just claim things without evidence.

[Title: Who is this ‘Big Sir’?]
[Has anyone ever heard of a superhuman called ‘Big Sir’? First time I’m hearing it.]
└Same, never heard of him.
└Seriously, who is he? I’m curious. LOL.
└Just wait a bit. Someone from the raid team must have seen his face.

[Title: So where is the boss’s mana stone?]
[Huh? Where’d it go?]
└They say a ‘hidden’ boss showed up and ate it.
└Oh, LOL. Stopped reading at ‘hidden boss.’ Feels like a bad novel.
└Has there ever been such a thing as a hidden boss? LOL. Never heard of it in the six years since the cataclysm.
└That’s because they just made it up.

[Title: Then where’s the ‘hidden’ boss’s mana stone?]
[Yeah, go ahead and tell me it got eaten too.]
└Yup, they fried it up on the spot and had a snack. That’s the academic consensus.
└Ah, lame.
└My bad.

The superhuman community was ablaze with debate. It was understandable—what the Baekdu Guild and mercenaries were claiming was hard to believe.

The first A-rank gate in Korea, as well as several others that had appeared overseas, had always had six-star boss monsters when their mana stones were analyzed. This meant that, so far, every recorded A-rank gate boss had been six-star.

Yet now, they were saying this one was six-star+? It was only natural that people were skeptical.

To make matters worse, the only possible proof—the mana stone of the boss, Mammutus—had been consumed along with Tenril’s heart. There was no way to verify its classification. And to top it all off, Tenril had vanished without leaving behind a mana stone of his own. There was simply no evidence to support the claim that the boss had been a six-star+ entity.

Moreover, according to superhumans who had cleared A+ gates abroad and faced six-star+ bosses, the difference between a six-star and a six-star+ was staggering.

That made this even harder to believe. If the boss had truly been a six-star+ and a superhuman named ‘Big Sir’ had taken it down alone, then this would mean Korea had just seen its first ever six-star+ ranked superhuman.

A six-star+ superhuman appearing out of nowhere, with no prior records or mentions? It simply didn’t add up.

And then, suddenly—

[Title: ★☆BREAKING NEWS☆★ ‘Big Sir’s’ identity has been revealed!!]