“Target? What do you mean a target?” one of the party leaders shouted.

  Monster waves had never targeted a specific person before.

  In a standard setup, the weakest members—mages, archers, supports, porters—stood in the back while the high-defense tanks formed a perimeter. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder, they conjured tall, rectangular [Shields], locking them edge-to-edge to create a wall of mana.

  In previous waves, driven by a mindless frenzy, the monsters had crashed against the front line evenly.

  But now, fixated solely on the “weakest hunter”, the monster hordes condensed into a spear-like wedge, driving the entire weight of the wave into a single point: the one tank unfortunate enough to be standing in the direct path.

  Not caring if they were tripping over wires or breaking their legs, the boars charged.

  The [Grease] backfired.

  Usually, in a narrow canyon, the slippery floor worked in the hunters’ favor; the chaotic pile-up of a mass charge would clog the pass, creating a wall of meat that slowed the enemy down.

  But here, without the pressure of a wide wave to pin the bodies in place, when a new boar smashed into a dead one, the carcass was squeezed out sideways like a wet bar of soap, leaving the [Shields] exposed for the next impact.

  The [Shield] in front of the tank finally started cracking under the pressure.

  His boots carved furrows in the red stone as he held back the crushing tonnage.

  While the lone defender was suddenly forced to bear all the attacks, the tanks merely a few feet to his left and right were stuck holding their own [Shields] in front of them. Stepping sideways to help would expose a breach in the line, so they were forced to stay in place.

  “Dammit, hold them back!”

  The situation was no different from the southern defense lines that had been forged in a hurry, forcing rookie tanks—whose original job was to [Taunt] so they couldn’t concentrate on one [Shield]—to fill the ranks.

  The pincer attack from both sides in the canyon denied the one crucial tactic that could have countered this concentration of force.

  Giving ground.

  In an open field, the targeted tank could retreat to absorb the shock, but sandwiched as they were, there was zero room to maneuver.

  “Shit, get out of the way!”

  An archer in the backline cursed, since none of them could fire at the beasts without shooting directly through the tanks.

  The mages were in an even worse bind. They had to discard their area-of-effect spells due to the narrow space, not wanting to blow up their front lines along with the enemy. Forced to rely on weaker, single-target skills, they couldn’t output enough damage to fend off the tsunami of monsters.

  While the hunters inside struggled, Shane was outside, waiting for the entrance to reopen.

  The portal sealed shut once the wave started, but observers could watch what was happening in a dungeon through the System screen if they stood within range.

  If Shane had gone in with the other parties, he would have been picked as the first target, fired a few [Fireballs] and then become monster fodder.

  His base stats were too low even if his skills were high rank.

  This was the worst kind of matchup for him.

  This is why I told them not to go in. He furrowed his brow.

  “No! Benson, get back here!”

  Andrew Benson, the D-rank hunter, had been trying to weave in circles through the center of the party to buy time.

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  But as the monster wave wedged the hunters together closer, and watching the front lines’ [Shield] finally fail, fear got the better of him.

  Since both North and South were blocked by monsters, his only choice was to run sideways.

  With the explosive leg strength of a D-rank swordsman, he launched himself at the canyon wall, his fingers digging into the stone as he scrambled up vertically.

  It was a desperate escape... which dragged the aggro train with him.

  He was using his own teammates as human speed bumps, but the beasts ignored the other hunters as long as they didn’t block them from getting to their target.

  Though the boars were not good at climbing, they piled up on each other for the chase, creating a writhing ramp of flesh and fur.

  “They’re bunching up! Hit them now!”

  Spears stabbed into the exposed flanks of the climbing beasts, and archers rained down arrows, chpping away slowly at their thick hides.

  Seeing the monsters finally clear of the tanks, a mage seized the chance. He anchored his feet, preparing his B-rank spell he’d been forced to hold back until now.

  As the boars scrambled over each other to reach the high ground, they lost their grip and rained down on the party below.

  A five-hundred pound monster plummeted from twenty feet up, snapping the neck of the mage below.

  The hunters scattered like ants as boulders of meat and fur crashed down.

  Andrew didn’t even have time to cry for help.

  The first monster caught his ankle, jaws crushing down to the bone, before dropping him from the wall. The rest of the pack swarmed over him in a heartbeat.

  A heavy, terrified silence descended over the hunters.

  Then, the chaos abruptly stopped, as the monsters that were frenzied and piling on Benson stopped digging. Snouts lifted into the air, sniffing.

  [Monster wave targets are set from lowest rank upward!]

  [Target: Michael Cohen (D-rank)]

  Every muzzle snapped toward Michael.

  “N-no...”

  As Michael scrambled back, the horde erupted into motion again. He didn’t make it three steps before the fur and muscle buried him.

  But amidst the gore, the veterans started noticing something strange.

  When the horde charged Michael, they trampled right past a frozen archer without sparing her a glance.

  It was the same with the next victim.

  As the slaughter continued, a dark flicker of hope appeared on the faces of the veteran hunters.

  Unless a hunter foolishly stood directly in the path, the monsters ignored them.

  ...They only wanted the target.

  Even more shocking was that once they began to feed, they ceased all aggression, leaving themselves wide open for less than a minute.

  Exchanging dark glances, the veterans all landed on the same ugly idea without saying a word.

  Ditch the rookies and use them as bait to thin out the horde.

  Slowly, they stopped stepping in to defend the newly assigned victims.

  With targeting locked on lower ranks, the monsters ignored the stronger hunters. And while the beasts were busy feeding on the dead, the veterans moved in to cut them down.

  The important thing to keep in mind was creating a narrative for the System recording, making sure it looked like they were fighting their asses off.

  The dungeon had targeted the weak first. That wasn’t on them.

  They would make a show of charging in, then pretend they were unable to reach the victim in time.

  Most people watching the raid footage later would just see it as an unavoidable loss.

  Since none of the dead had powerful families or any special talent, their guilds wouldn’t raise a fuss about it, either. There were still a dozen D-rank rookies across the parties.

  They had plenty to spare.

  There was, however, one veteran who was genuinely trying to save people. He threw himself in front of a monster right as it was about to bite a target’s head off.

  “Th-thank you,” choked the rookie as she scrambled to her feet.

  “Don’t talk, just get back!”

  It was the B-rank hunter who kept stealing Shane’s dungeons.

  His name was Ryan Rowland.

  Ryan was fighting and taking hits to shield the targeted rookies. He wasn’t strong enough to really protect them, but compared to the other vets who were merely putting on a show, he was actually fighting tooth and nail to ensure at least one more person survived.

  Watching all this from outside the dungeon, Shane narrowed his eyes.

  He’d never seen this happen before.

  In the game, every veteran gave up on the rookies as soon as they figured out how to exploit the targeting system.

  He made a mental note of the change as he checked the portal, which was still sealed into a long, vertical crack.

  Any minute now, it would open its ugly mouth again.

  And this time, Shane was going to accept the invitation.

  At last, the horde started to thin out.

  There were monster bodies piled high enough to slow down the next rush. A little breathing room opened up, and with it, hope.

  “Hold your heavy skills! Wait for them to bunch up!”

  Steadily, the hunters pressed through the swarm in their new formation.

  But the push cost them.

  Fighting for hours without a break was taking a huge toll, their muscles locking up if they paused for even a second.

  Bur for the veterans, with the end finally in sight, they had enough brainpower to think. They were all mentally kicking themselves for not listening to the guy who told them to stay out of the dungeon.

  “We’re almost there! There’s only a few dozen of them left!” someone cried.

  A System window popped up as if to answer.

  [The dungeon monsters sense a crisis and call upon their master’s power!]

  [Dungeon difficulty is increasing!]

  [Dungeon Rank: C → B]

  [All monsters herein will now evolve into ‘Divine Beasts.’]