Yeon-hee alternated between showing one finger and four.
“Fourteen minutes left?”
Nod.
Yeon-hee nodded back and beckoned me to come closer.
I rolled up the big boar leather I pulled from my inventory and tightly stuffed it at the entrance, then carefully slid beside her.
“Hehe… It feels just like a school trip… I’ve only been on one, though.”
Yeon-hee wore a playful expression, flashing a naive smile.
If I could show expressions, I wouldn’t have been able to hold back my laughter at her irresistibly charming face.
“Sigh… Today was really tough, right?”
Nod.
“But we made quite a bit of progress with the bats.”
Nod.
I reacted to her words, slowly admiring her face.
Yeon-hee was truly stunningly beautiful. Just looking at her face felt healing.
How could someone like her, instead of being an idol, suffer in a dungeon-like this… The world must be seriously messed up.
Wow—I’m recovering…
This wasn’t a joke.
The storm clouds in my mind that had been crowding in started to clear up just from sharing the space with her.
It’s melting away.
My mind, heart, and body. It felt as if I was dissolving like cotton candy in water, seeping down to the ground below.
‘…….’
At that moment, I felt a surge of emotions.
I was a person, but no longer just a human being.
I spent the day acting in the most inhuman way possible.
I swung my sword like a rascal, brutally chomping down on the disgusting bats repeatedly, swallowing them whole.
The slimy, vomit-inducing texture still lingered in my mouth, wriggling like a worm.
It started impulsively, but I endured because it was necessary.
Only the message indicating I was still analyzing the essence remained, but I had a hunch I could create a small minion soon.
‘Would summoning one bat really help…?’
Unless I could make hundreds of them like the ones stuck to the ceiling, one alone wouldn’t do…
Still, even though it hadn’t been hours, I had repeated that grotesque act over a hundred times and definitely didn’t want to do it again.
‘Thinking about it makes me feel sick again… Huh…’
Swooosh—
“Ah.”
I unconsciously leaned against Yeon-hee’s shoulder. It wasn’t an intentional action, so I was surprised when I touched her skin.
‘… Is that so…’
Yeah. Right now, I wonder if I want comfort from someone.
“You were having a hard time…? Just rest well…”
Maybe sharing my feelings a little made Yeon-hee’s eyes moisten. It shouldn’t be enough to make her cry… right?
“I was mad earlier when I couldn’t say anything… It’s so dumb.”
Yeon-hee sniffled with her unique unjust expression.
In truth… I didn’t think the Hunters were wrong, so I had no idea how to respond to her reaction, which was leagues ahead of mine.
But knowing her actions stemmed from a place of care for me made my otherwise empty heart warm.
“Il-wol, when things are tough, just say they’re tough… I do that with you. It helps a bit.”
She was acting more grown-up than usual.
But it didn’t feel awkward, so I just nodded and closed my eyes, resting my forehead against her.
Yeon-hee stroked my chin and neck for a moment before whispering a question.
“What about the thing around your neck? Does it have an effect?”
Nod nod.
“Right? I paid attention to how the others fought. They made great use of it. I really… prepared well ahead of time.”
“Clap, Clap, Clap.”
Indeed. It was as if her preparations were shining like she had the ability to see the future.
The summoned creatures held out against the improved bat swarm largely thanks to the armor Yeon-hee provided.
We waited quietly, leaning against her shoulder until the time for [Mimicry] arrived.
With my eyes closed, I scanned the area outside our tent.
Color—color—
The companions who had been watching me intently had now brightened their eyes, seemingly curious about what we were doing, but had soon fallen fast asleep. It seemed they were in such a deep sleep they wouldn’t notice even if someone carried them away.
Though it wasn’t as complete as our privacy, the tent surrounding us provided enough comfort to cover any curiosity we might have.
‘Thank goodness…’
Next to our tent lay Noh Ha-yoon, followed by Bae Joo-ah, Ham Eun-young, and Baek Ah-rin.
In fact, it was just like sleeping outdoors together, but under these conditions, it wouldn’t be wrong to just quietly play with Yeon-hee.
Outside the large tent, one Hunter from another party, who was taking turns keeping watch, along with Yeom Tae-seok and the thirty summoned creatures, were deeply concentrating on guard duty.
“Yawn…”
Yeon-hee’s eyes fluttered as she blinked drowsily, alternating between opening and closing them. I had intended to sleep if she fell asleep, but the intense desire not to let her see my altered figure was palpable, so I decided to meet her expectations.
‘I’ll mimic Yoon Han-gyeol.’
As soon as the mimicry cooldown ended, I transformed back into my original form.
I thought about changing into Yeon-hee too since the tent was cramped, but then I thought, why bother?
‘Hmm…’
Immediately after transforming, I cast my mini-map in my head.
I needed to check the special ability of [Mimicry] that allowed me to identify sinister groups.
There was a high chance there weren’t any villains within this cave.
With barely even thirty people, and if they were identified, it would likely be Hunters hiding from another group outside the hidden dungeon.
I wanted to believe that. I didn’t want to create more tiring situations. I was already barely keeping up with the fights.
– All attributes except for sense decreased by 50.
– Remaining time: <00:29:57>
– I have identified the nearest sinister group. I will continue to locate the target for the remaining time.
‘This… of all times.’
But my expectations were dashed.
‘A sorcerer…?’
The woman sorcerer who had brilliantly lit up the cave using ‘Sphere of Light’ when we entered the hidden dungeon was identified as a sinister villain. Was her name Joo Ye-seul? It was probably that.
‘Hmm…’
Thirty-one had entered, but now only twenty-nine remained.
Among the twenty-three Hunters, excluding our party, if I had to pick the most capable, it was certainly the sorceress who used light.
The light attribute ability derives its strength from the faith one has in the deity they serve, but there were those who handled pure light as magic, and she was one of them.
She could obviously produce light spheres to illuminate the surroundings and absorb damage using a light barrier. However, her most significant ability was different.
Using light to distort our existence and evade enemy attacks with illusion magic—this had been enormously helpful in the battle against the bats.
The bats, deceived by her magical illusions, often targeted the wrong locations, and thus created a valuable window for us defenders.
But the woman was categorized as a sinister villain by the system?
‘Hmm… Well, at least it’s just one.’
There was no immediate need to kill her… of course. I’d have to suck her dry and discard her somehow.
She wouldn’t want to die here either, so I didn’t think she would do anything reckless… right? If she were in her right mind.
What I was curious about was which organization this sorceress belonged to.
If ‘Blue-Eyed’ was the tier-one villain organization, then the evolution stone manufacturing organization is considered tier two, and others like Nam Yong-seok or the soon-to-be taken down ‘Mad Judgment’ Cha Jin-hyuk would be tier three.
‘Hmm… She hasn’t really acted suspiciously.’
Joo Ye-seul, with her shorter stature in the late 150s, dressed in a style that clearly showcased her alluring figure, had managed to successfully capture the attention of male Hunters even in such a tense scenario. Besides, she didn’t hold back her fox-like grin either.
Thinking back, just being that way in a dungeon was already madness.
‘Still, during the fight, she moved around and cleverly used her illusion magic. It’s remained vividly in my memory.’
Today was chaotic enough for me to have no time to focus on anyone else, but for some reason, her impression stuck with me.
‘Hmm… I wonder why? Was it her breast size that made it so memorable…?’
……
After pondering for a moment, I recalled something.
‘The two people who died…’
In their dying moments, Joo Ye-seul had always been there.
‘Coincidence…?’
I remembered the man who had initially panicked and fled to the side.
Was it really that hard to defend against? As I mulled it over, it struck me as odd.
The veteran I was certain of was the guy who had apparently panicked when even Ham Eun-young was holding up.
‘Huh… Should I have had more doubts? Tch…’
I wasn’t a big fan of luck or coincidences, but this nagging coincidence was rare.
‘It’s not certain yet, so I should keep a close eye on her.’
Currently, Joo Ye-seul was fast asleep in her sleeping bag. There was nothing I could do at this time.
“Hm… How is it? No bad people, right?”
Yeon-hee had gotten close and was rubbing her eyes as she asked.
“There is…”
“Really…? Who?”
With eyes as round as a rabbit’s, Yeon-hee covered her mouth and whispered, trying to suppress her voice, and I leaned in to whisper in her ear that Joo Ye-seul was identified.
“……!”
Yeon-hee was so surprised that her sleeping bag shook as she nearly gasped, but she quickly covered her mouth with her hand and asked with her eyes if it was true.
“Yep…”
“Wow… She was next to me the whole time during that third battle, right? Oh my…”
Yeon-hee squinted up, recalling memories from the past.
“We can’t do anything right now, huh…?”
Nod.
If Hayom or Noh Ha-yoon were identified, we couldn’t just relax like this. But someone like Joo Ye-seul wasn’t a threat at all.
‘Illusions are nothing. I have nothing to worry about.’
I decided to just keep an eye on her and now had to think about what to do with my remaining time.
At that moment, everyone was fast asleep, completely exhausted.
Even the bats seemed to be in sync with our sleeping time, their biological responses drastically falling.
Inside the black sleeping bag, Yeon-hee, who had pulled the zipper all the way to her shoulders, looked at me and kept talking about Joo Ye-seul.
“Now I understand the face reading…”
“Whoa! A few guys earlier seemed to be hitting on her. Is that okay? If I don’t tell you?”
“It… What kind of organization could it be? If it’s the group that summons orcs…”
“The consequences of making that pact…”
I calmly patted her head while quietly watching her chatter on her own.
Swooosh—slip—
After a while of rambling on her own, perhaps due to my touch or her fatigue, Yeon-hee’s eyes began to droop again.
Initially, she couldn’t stand being close to me, but now she was comfortable enough to sleep in front of me. How many days has it been?
Thinking that made me slightly dissatisfied. For some reason, I felt, already?
She pulled her sleeping bag closer to me.
Yeon-hee, drawn over without resistance, looked at me wide-eyed, as if her sleepiness had vanished.
Her lips… slightly parched, caught my attention.
“Lips… cold…”
I accidentally let that slip out.
“What… huh?!”
Yeon-hee quickly covered her mouth with her hands, her face turning bright red. I couldn’t help but chuckle, wondering if she was going to pop.
I slowly unzipped the sleeping bag covering her like a cocoon.
Zzzziip—
“Hey? Wait a minute…!”
Yeon-hee, with a look on her face asking what I was doing, held my hand as resistance, but after planting a quick kiss on her cheek, her resisting fingers loosened one by one.
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